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sad-trash-writing · 6 years

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if ur accepting promps skimmons and trick or treating? teenagers au?

Sorry this is super late for Halloween… Enjoy!

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The minute hand on the clock ticked closer and closer to the end of class. Daisy had given up any pretense of listening to the teacher try to answer their dumb questions on trigonometry. Daisy didn’t pay attention to a word of the lesson, but she was sure she could ask questions later.

The paper spiders hanging on a strand of garland draped over the clock danced in the slight draft of the room, seeming to mock Daisy as the minute hand slowly crept towards the 12. Daisy’s eyes glazed over and the numbers started to blur. So close, but so far away.

Her best friend, Jemma, sat next to her, scratching away at her notebook, to jot down every word the teacher said. Daisy snorted and rolled her eyes fondly. At least Daisy could borrow Jemma’s very detailed notes later.

Finally, the minute hand reached its target and the final bell sounded. Daisy was out of her chair before the bell had even stopped ringing and heading to the door. Today was Halloween and they had tomorrow off school for ‘teacher conferences’ (which was really code for 'sleep off your candy-hangover’ day) and Daisy had a date with her pajamas and Netflix.

She was halfway to her locker when she heard someone calling her name.

“Daisy! Wait up!” Jemma’s voice rang through the crowded hall.

Daisy paused and let a cluster of freshman push past her while Jemma jogged up the hall.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry? Big plans for Halloween?” Jemma probed once she caught up.

“The biggest.” Daisy smirked. “Me, a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, and Stranger Things Season 2.”

Jemma’s face fell. “You’re not going trick-or-treating?”

“Uh…no?”

“Why not?”

Daisy shrugged. “I’ve never been before, why start now? My Halloween tradition was always to sneak a scary movie from Blockbuster past the nuns.”

Jemma gaped. “You have to experience trick-or-treating. It’s a rite of passage!”

“Aren’t we a little old for that now?” Daisy asked.

Jemma shook her head. “We’re sophomores. This is one of the last years we can get away with it before Halloween devolves into contests of who can be the mostly scantily clad.”

Daisy didn’t know what to say. For years, she was gutted when the nuns wouldn’t allow trick-or-treating, but lately, Daisy resigned herself to it. It was just one more part of a 'normal childhood’ that Daisy missed out on, even after getting out of the orphanage.

But now, Jemma was standing in front of her, wide-eyed, insisting that she needed to experience it.

How could she say no?

“I…I don’t even have a costume,” Daisy tried.

“Come to my house. We have a giant box full of old costumes from other Halloweens,” Jemma countered.

The hopeful look in her eyes was too much.

Daisy sighed. “Fine. Just let me call Coulson to let him know I’m going out.” “Great!” Jemma replied with a grin and jogged off to put her books in her locker.

Daisy quickly tapped out a text to her adopted dad that she was going trick-or-treating. She expected something snarky or confused from him but she got a series of happy emojis and thumbs up. Also followed by a few cat face emojis, which Daisy assumed were accidental.

She smiled and agreed to be home before 11, before meeting Jemma at her locker and walking towards the bus stop.

“So, why do you care so much about Halloween?” Daisy asked, while they waited for the bus. “It doesn’t seem like something you’d be into, with all the ghosts and monsters and such.”

“Oh, I think it’s fascinating,” Jemma replied. “The whole history and psychology of Halloween is a doctoral dissertation waiting to happen. If I wasn’t going into biology, I would have already written it.”

“Dude, we’re sixteen and you’re already thinking about doctorates? I haven’t planned past the history test on Monday,” Daisy responded.

“It’s never too early to start preparing.” Jemma shrugged.

Daisy just rolled her eyes, but didn’t respond because the bus had pulled up.

On the ride to Jemma’s house, Jemma regaled Daisy with stories of past Halloweens trick-or-treating with her neighbors in England and interspersed insights on the psychology of fear and intentionally getting scared.

Daisy was far less interested in the later stories, but she listened fondly anyway. Jemma’s passion about things most people would find boring or gross was one of the things Daisy loved about her. Some people were put off by it (like Kara, when she found out her cat died of cancer and Jemma asked if she could dissect the body), but Daisy found it weirdly adorable.

They pulled up to Jemma’s stop and scrambled off the bus. Jemma led the way, still talking about how excited she was about her costume and brainstorming ideas for Daisy’s.

They briefly said hello to Jemma’s parents when they reached her house and headed directly for the attic. Jemma clambered up into the dark space and dropped a massive cardboard box down for Daisy to catch, which she did with great difficulty.

They dragged the box into Jemma’s room and started tugging things out. Among the plastic weapons, there were tangled piles of cheap fabric in various colors. Jemma insisted most of them were her parents’ costumes or things that friends and neighbors had given them.

After nearly an hour tearing through the box and making fun of the older costume choices, Jemma decided on one for Daisy. Daisy rolled her eyes, but went to try it on anyway.

She came out of the bathroom in and blue and red spandex dress with a large red and yellow ’S’ across the chest and a red cape Velcroed to the shoulders. The costume was clearly made before the TV show aired and was just a feminine version of the Superman suit with a tiny skirt. Daisy tugged on the skirt, trying to get it to cover more of her legs.

The glee on Jemma’s face made Daisy forget her discomfort with the costume.

“I’m not really big on superheroes,” Daisy protested weakly.

“Are you serious? You’re totally a superhero!” Jemma argued. The way she said it made Daisy think she was referring more to Daisy’s life story than just the costume. Daisy flushed slightly and fidgeted with the costume more.

After a bit more ogling and Jemma showing Daisy how to strap on the boot covers, Daisy changed back into normal clothes and headed downstairs for dinner. While they were eating, Daisy noticed the decorations covering nearly every surface of their home in spiders and ghosts. Halloween was clearly big for the Simmonses.

As the sun crept down towards the horizon, they cleaned up dinner and went their separate ways to get dressed. Jemma’s parents were apparently going to a Halloween party tonight so they had to get into costume as well. Daisy changed back into the Supergirl costume and waited for Jemma to come back downstairs.

When she did, Jemma was wearing a long, black Victorian dress and her hair was pulled up into a rough bun and powdered gray.

“What do you think?” Jemma asked, spinning around to show off the outfit. “Looks great! I loved the Woman in Black movie,” Daisy replied.

Jemma frowned. “I’m Marie Curie, not the woman in black.”

She brandished a printed out X-Ray of an arm to make her point.

“I knew that,” Daisy defended.

Jemma rolled her eyes and handed Daisy a small, hollow plastic pumpkin with a handle on it.

“What the hell is this?” Daisy asked.

“It’s for candy.”

Daisy blinked at the tiny pumpkin basket. “This is ridiculous.”

Jemma just shrugged and waved the one she had shaped like a tiny cauldron.

“We didn’t have any other options.”

She led the way out the door and Daisy trailed after her. It was barely dark and some of Jemma’s neighbors were busy dragging out fire pits and lawn chairs. Some of the tinier kids were walking around holding their parents’ hands and clutching similar baskets to the one Daisy had in her hands.

Daisy tried to shoot Jemma a withering look, but Jemma had already started marching down the street and Daisy had to jog to catch up with her.

Jemma confidently marched up to the front door of her next door neighbors house and rang the doorbell. Daisy trailed slightly behind her, still not sure of this whole situation.

The door opened and a dark-haired, middle-aged woman stood behind it. A wide smile lit up her face when her eyes landed on Jemma.

“Jemma! I wasn’t sure you’d be trick-or-treating this year,” the woman said.

“It’s tradition! Plus, I had to introduce my friend, Daisy to it,” Jemma responded.

Daisy awkwardly waggled her fingers in a slight wave as the woman’s attention turned to her.

“How nice to see kids your age doing wholesome things still,” the woman sighed. “Anyway, I bet you want your treats now.”

The woman grabbed a giant bowl from just inside the door piled high with full-size candy bars. Daisy perked up. She knew free stuff was involved with trick-or-treating, but she did know it would be this easy or this good.

Jemma chatted with her neighbor for a few more minutes before a small cluster of toddlers ambled up behind them, already chanting 'trick-or-treat,’ while their put-upon parents trailed behind.

Jemma led the way next door, where a group of kids was already lined up at the door. When the door swung open, they all shouted 'trick-or-treat’ in unison while the couple in the house fawned exaggeratedly over all their costumes. Once the crowd cleared, Jemma and Daisy could sidle up.

“Trick or treat!” Jemma said as a greeting, with all the gusto of the 11-year-olds that had just left.

The couple at the door smiled, dropped a candy bar in each of their buckets, and made small talk for awhile, before heading back inside.

They continued down the road and knocked on the door of every house they passed. Most gave out fun-sized chocolates, some had cheap, little toys. One house had the audacity to hand out airplane-issued bags of pretzels, which Daisy scowled at and Jemma politely accepted.

They reached the end of the street and turned back towards Jemma’s house. Daisy’s feet were starting to hurt and her legs were freezing. Daisy think she would be jealous of Jemma’s costume, but Jemma was at least fully covered and protected from the autumn chill.

Daisy watched as Jemma rooted through her tiny bucket of candy and picked out the things she didn’t like to pass over to Daisy’s bucket. Daisy smiled fondly.

“Hey, Jemma?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks,” Daisy said.

Jemma blinked at her. “It was just an Almond Joy, no need to sound so sappy.”

“No, not for the candy. For all of tonight,” Daisy clarified. “It felt nice to act like a normal kid for a night.”

Jemma smiled. “Of course. Anytime you need someone to make you feel normal by parading you around to get free candy from strangers, you know who to call.”

Daisy snorted and shoved Jemma gently with her shoulder. Jemma slipped her arm around Daisy’s and they wandered home arm in arm, through the swarm of tiny ghosts and monsters.

#skimmons #bioquake #jemma simmons/daisy johnson #halloween au #trick or treating #aosficnet2

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type2diabetestreatments-blog · 7 years

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Diabetes Polar Flight, Take-Off Today!

New Post has been published on http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/diabetes-polar-flight-take-off-today/

Diabetes Polar Flight, Take-Off Today!

I first "met" Douglas Cairns (via phone) when I interviewed him in college for a teen diabetes website. Douglas has an incredible story and I'm excited to hear he's off on another adventure!

After getting kicked out of the Royal Air Force when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 25, Douglas didn't give up on his passion for flying. Living in Taiwan, he began flying with the Thai Flying Club, and later learned that it was legal to privately fly in the United States with diabetes. In 2003, Douglas launched the Diabetes World Flight (DWF), the first round-the-world flight by a licensed pilot with type 1 diabetes. The journey covered 26,300 nautical miles through 22 countries over five months in a twin-engine aircraft, and raised $26,000 for JDRF.

Today, Douglas is launching a new attempt to set a speed record to the North Pole. When we spoke recently, Douglas shared how he'll do it and why he does it. To follow his trip at home, you can visit Diabetes Polar Flight.

DM) The last time we spoke was in the mid or early 2000s, and I hear you've been breaking records since then?

I think we spoke after the around the world tour, [so around 2005 or 2006]. Since then I came back to the UK from the US in November 2007, back to London, and back to the asset management industry... I've decided to make the flying with diabetes my focus in my spare time. I've ended up doing some really exciting projects because of this. I think when we last spoke, I had probably set 5 speed records in the US and two transcontinental records.

I've broken two very, very interesting records in the US using a twin engine Beech Baron. I broke an existing record to land in all 48 continuous states in the US which, was a race against time. The last record was five and half days and we managed to break it in 4.5 days. I was really delighted with that. I had two pilots with diabetes, myself and a friend with type 2 but he's on insulin, so he has the same protocol to meet when flying.

Last year, I also broke the old record to land in all 50 states. The last record was over 15 days, and I did it in 5 days and 15 hours, so I really smashed that. I had to install extra fuel intakes to allow for a 14.5 hour flight between Hawaii and Los Angeles. I also had an official observer to record all the landings, and a technical crew member to look over all the systems.

I bet the Air Force is regretting losing you, now that you're a celebrated pilot.

I was delighted last month to receive an award for that flight from the National Aeronautic Association. They basically recognized it as one of the most memorable aviation records of 2010. It was a real honor and a pleasure. It was great to stand up for about 5 minutes and explain why I'm doing all these record flights... showing what you can do with diabetes, rather than be told what you cannot do when it comes to flying. Only five countries will allow private flying for pilots with type 1, and the US is the only country that has unrestricted pilots privileges for people with type 1 diabetes.

I'm really trying to get out positive messages. Showing what you can do and also really highlighting a key message that diabetes need not limit the scope of people's dreams and ambitions.

Tell us about the flight you're launching on April 18 (today!) to the North Pole.

I've been planning a flight to the North Pole in the Beech Baron in 2005, and nearly did it in 2006 but funding fell through. One of the benefits of going back to work was that I can help finance these trips myself now. I do have some sponsorship, but the aim is to have all the flying costs funded by private funds and sponsorships, so any donations made go directly to JDRF.

This particular project has two aims. First, to set a world speed record from Barrow, Alaska and the North Pole, and the second is to make the first-ever landing at the North Pole in a light twin engine piston parrot aircraft. We cannot find anyone who's done it before, so we're trying to register this as another unique aspect of this record flight.

But really the key aim that it comes back to is flying solo with diabetes. It'll be an endurance flight, taking 16 hours to complete. The aircraft has extra fuel tanks to allow me 20 hours of cruising time. There's also the added challenge that you're in an extremely cold, isolated environment. So we're really highlighting what you can do with diabetes when it comes to flying.

Sounds pretty dangerous / crazy...?

It's a pretty extreme project, but we've made a huge amount of preparation going into this. And I'm working very closely with an arctic aviator called Ron Sheardon. I'm hoping very much that he will have a single engine plane to fly up to the North Pole. If he does, he'll fly up ahead of me [with another person] in a single engine plane with skis on and he'll find a suitable piece of ice. That will allow me to land on a 2,000 foot strip of ice and it will be cold enough to use the breaks effectively. I've done the training in Alaska and I'm feeling comfortable enough to do it with two people on the ice, having prepared a strip beforehand. And after the training, because there are no trees getting in the way (it's the North Pole!), it should be a relatively straightforward experience. But if Ron cannot get a hold of an aircraft and prepare the ice, I'm going to do this flight solo, flying over magnetic north pole and the geographic north pole, but I won't land because the risk is just too great not having a strip prepared for me.

So how do you manage diabetes while flying for 16 hours straight, with no stops?

In fact, it's very straightforward. I'll have a supply of water, sweet drinks if my sugar's trending a bit lower, sandwiches and snack bars. The protocol is to test 15 minutes before take off, every hour while flying and 30 minutes before landing. Your blood sugar range needs to fall between 100 to 300 mg/dl. It's a very wide, workable range. If you're above 300, you need to land as soon as practical. In over 10 years of flying, not once have I gone above 300 and I have no intention of doing so. If you're under 100, you don't need to land, but you do need to ingest 20 grams of carbs.

The flying issue is really interesting, because when you're flying you can fly straight and level for quite a number of seconds with your hands off the controls. Similar to sailing, you can "trim" the controls so the plane can carry on flying straight and level. It might begin to gradually wander off, and if you're in turbulent air, that will happen. I also have an auto-pilot on the aircraft, so you can sit back and relax and just monitor your settings. It's like sitting at a kitchen table and testing your blood sugar then.

What diabetes tools do you use?

I'm delighted to have support from Roche's Accu-chek Mobile meter. It's all self-contained. A little test strip is rolled out, and the finger pricker is attached to the meter. But even if you're using a more old-fashioned meter, where you have to insert strip and have a separate finger stick, you can do it step by step. You can take your hands off the controls and do one step, and then put your hands back on the wheel.

Although it's not required, I also use a continuous glucose monitor. I'm very happy to work with DexCom and use one of their Seven Plus CGMs. The beauty of that is that I have a velcro strip on the back of that monitor and I attach it to the instrument panel so I can just press a button as often as I like to see my blood sugar levels and trends. By combining CGM and blood testing every hour, I can absolutely guarantee that I will not go low. It really works terrifically well.

Isn't the BG testing distracting?

When you're flying for a long period of time, there are certain cockpit checks and procedures you need to go through to monitor everything. The diabetes management and testing just becomes part of your cockpit test regime.

What kind of advocacy have you done on behalf of other pilots? Have any other countries begun allowing pilots with diabetes to fly?

In terms of advocacy, my main aims are to get awareness out and show what we do with diabetes, through the aviation magazines and other channels.

We have a group in the UK called Pilots with Diabetes. The aim is to really help open doors for the British Aviation Authority to become more flexible. We have been proposing ideas for commercial flying. We've attended meetings to highlight what we're doing and how we can do this. So we're quietly working away here, and anyone anywhere else can get in touch with us.

I did act as a witness for a gentleman in Australia, who was getting a consideration to fly solo in Australia. This was a number of years ago, about 2005. Funny enough, I phoned up the tribunal hearing in Melbourne or Canberra, Australia. I was just standing by my aircraft, about to hop in it, at night time by myself, over the Rocky mountains flying back to Denver. I was able to relay all this and I was delighted that the review panel decreed that that gentleman could then also fly solo.

Australia has since then amended their policies, though I don't know the exact details, but I understand they are a bit more flexible now.

In which countries are PWDs allowed to fly solo?

Now it is the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and we understand Israel as well. All the other countries outside the US have some restrictions we're aware of. In the UK, you can only fly alone in a single engine plane below a certain weight and it needs to be during daylight. Canada has similar restrictions, although you may be allowed to have one passenger. In America, there are no restrictions. You can fly what you like, where you like, whatever you like, and in whatever conditions you like as long as they're safe. In Australia, we understand that you're only allowed to fly with a safety pilot, which of course takes the freedom away to fly, and they're telling you that you're not safe unless you have a chaperone. Of course, we know this is not the case because in America, we have over 1,000 pilots flying on the system with Pilots with Diabetes, and they've been doing this safely and effectively since 1997.

Once you're done with the trip to the North Pole - which I just think is really cool, say hi to Santa for me - what are you planning on doing after that? What's the next big thing?

The next big thing is: I would like to break a record here in the UK, specifically the existing record to fly around the coast of the UK. So that's 3,500 km. I'd like to do that this summer, in a single engine aircraft. I do have other goals in mind, but I'm going to keep them quiet because I don't want anyone to get the same idea. There are more endurance records I would like to break in the US. The North Pole flight I'm doing now is setting a brand new record, since that one doesn't exist yet!

What is it about setting about world records that changes the game for people with diabetes?

For all those aviation authorities that prevent people like me from flying, setting and breaking world speed records is kind of an official way to showcase what we can do — because in their countries they wouldn't even allow a person with diabetes to sit in the plane and fly it. Setting and breaking records is a very nice way of getting recognition. It's a nice challenging project that has a nice achievement attached to it.

That's putting it mildly, Douglas! You rock. Readers: don't forget to follow Douglas at Diabetes Polar Flight.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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