#i had this idea for days and i just had to visualize it GRRR
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MGA SEASON 4: EPISODE 7 STARTS NOW!
The start of the episode is a great reminder of the impacting ending of the last one. Firstly, they show the faces of each contestant that made their way back as a Wild Card. And then, the news of a lack of elimination is repeated for everyone to rejoice over. However, the next challenge comes with tricks and twists, and the members are picked by the contestants themselves.
A white room is shown, empty except by the table with the names of each available song. When the door opens, the first person to arrive is Kang Daniel. As the leader of the winning team from the previous challenge, he was allowed the privilege of choosing his challenge first. “Ah, what should I do?” He says while holding his head with both hands and staring down at the unlimited options in front of him.
“I’ll go with Amazing Kiss”, he says with a nod. His teammates flash by in a quick editing move before it stops at Kim Junmyeon from the second-ranked group. “Wah!” he laughs and throws a fist in the air. “I don’t have to dance this week! Thank goodness!” Just like so, it also shows Kim Yongsun and Lee Luda choosing the same song as the two boys, meaning the first vocal team was filled by the time the second team started picking.
They appear sitting together inside of KT Entertainment’s building and their high rankings are highlighted above their heads. They’re all singers as well, and it’s clear they’re thankful for this week’s challenge. The two girls are put in charge of distributing the lines while the boys sit by themselves. Junmyeon decides that, not only are their vocal abilities important, but they also need to practice their facial expressions. He turns to Daniel before biting at his lips, which receives a loud laugh from the younger who eventually covers his own face when the expressions keep getting more intense.
Soon enough, the girls return with the lyrics and what each person was going to sing, but the camera zooms into Daniel’s face and its lack of joy. He stays quiet until the group disperses and he gets the chance to speak to Yongsun by himself. “Yong noona. I know all of you are better singers than me but I was wondering… if there are any other lines you think might suit me?” She looked surprised at his request but was kind enough to give the boy a couple more.
Between the four of them, Daniel lacks in skill the most, and he seems to know so as well. They are each shown practicing their lines by themselves, as well as Luda and Junmyeon spending some of their time rehearsing expressions in front of the mirror individually whenever they have the time. This time, the competition is purely solo, and it couldn’t be clearer than by the way they acted. The show is slowly coming to an end, and only the best will get to survive.
The crowd cheers as they walk to the stage and stand in a line. “Hello we are Shooting,” there’s a pause as they lift their hands, making finger guns, “Star!” As they say the last word they fire their finger guns. They each say their individual introduction before it’s time for their performance to start. The stage is dark and the sound of the piano comes from the silence. Yongsun starts the song, showcasing only a bit of the vocals she was known for.
Each member gets their turn to sing, though the key points are mostly sung by Yongsun and Luda. The grand moment of expectation is the joint high note, and Luda swiftly joins Yongsun to make a great delivery and to highlight who were the main vocalists of the group. Daniel says the last line, and the crowd erupts in applause at the powerful performance.
For the next scene, the white room is shown once again, but this time with Kim Jinhee, Minatozaki Sana, Hwang Hyunjin, Jeon Somi, Kim Chungha and Jeon Wonwoo. They all chose the dance-focused song “Instruction.” They meet on the following day, seeing familiar and unfamiliar faces waiting for them - even at this point in the competition, some still have to learn how to work with each other for the first time.
The week already starts a bit tense. Everyone shows their interest in a more powerful, slightly dark performance, or, well, everyone except for Sana. The girl constantly disagrees with their vision but the rest of the team chooses to ignore her opinions. It’s a tough start and, unlike the vocal groups, they actually relied on each other to deliver a full, beautiful performance.
Somi is shown visually upset, but this time her team actually notices something isn’t right. “What’s wrong?” Jinhee asks her, and one by one the rest of the teammates gather around the younger girl. She tries to say she’s fine, but her eyes eventually betray her and give in. Somi is still very young, and a lot of her classmates seem to have taken a liking for making fun of her and her current status on the competition. Their comforting moment slowly turns into a conversation about each of their own stories and how, unfortunately, they were all bullied at one point in life. Chungha offers walking Somi to school and the members decide on each taking her on a different day. They choose to use their stories as their team name “The Revengers”, and even if the subject started somber, with the help of each other, the team managed to turn it into a good memory.
It doesn’t last for long, however. Later on, Sana suggests them to change their concept a bit since it was a bit too dark for her taste, and Chungha quickly snaps at her. “We can’t just do everything you want. We all have ideas, but we decide with group majority. You’re not the leader.” The japanese girl blinks in surprise before her face shows clear anger. “I know I’m not the leader. And so far, we haven’t done anything I want. I’m trying to make sure the performance doesn’t suck so that we don’t end up eliminated.” Wonwoo, who had been sitting next to Chungha at the time, nervously stares at the two of them, unsure of what to do, before Chungha throws back her reply. “Just because you don’t like the choreography doesn’t mean it sucks.”
Sana takes a deep breath and runs a hand through her hair. “Sorry. I think I’m getting hungry.” There’s a chuckle, but Chungha obviously isn’t buying it. “What a fake personality that is”, she says, shaking her head. The other leaves the room, and their sudden argument comes to an end. However, Sana isn’t ready to give up. She shares her idea of mouthing the high note as part of the choreography while also stating she wanted to do it and the team finally agrees with one of her ideas. The girl is finally satisfied, and soon it was time for their stage.
“Show ‘em who’s boss.” Hyunjin introduces them, “Hello, we are Revengers!” When they move over to their position, they each put a mask on to cover their face. The song starts with the loud sound of drums and the team sways along to the rhythm. Their moves are constantly powerful and following every beat. When the correct one comes, they throw away their masks, and then a few moments later they turn around to show their jackets spelling “BOSS.” Sana mouths her high note as she had requested, and the song eventually comes to an end.
Back to the white room, Lai Guanlin, Kim Taehyung and Lee Minhyung are shown choosing their song “Born Hater.” They’re one of the smallest groups with only three members, and they already seem to be getting along better than the previous teams. Taehyung suggests the team name “Baby Skull” while poking at the youngers’ cheeks and Guanlin boldly replies with his own line: “So is hyung… the skull?”
They all help Guanlin with his Korean while Taehyung uses his experience to give good lyrics writing advice to the boys. It’s a strong song, and both Guanlin and Minhyung are still children. The eldest of the group tries to encourage them, telling them they should be angry, “like grrr.” He growls and the boys show their own angry faces, which people would probably agree aren’t as ferocious as they’d thought it was. What truly matters is what kind of face they’ll show on the stage, and the scene changes to them standing on top of it.
“Hello, we are Baby Skull!” They introduce themselves before moving to their places. Guanlin goes first and performs with the lyrics written by himself with the help of his teammates, mentioning all of his struggles so far, as well as some misconceptions the public has of him. Minhyung follows up, and his lyrics are a different kind of shocking when he says “I’m the only talented minor in my team.” The camera focuses on Guanlin’s face before the song continues on until it comes to an end.
It’s time to go back to the vocalists, and the song ‘Love In The Ice’ receives its special focus on top of the table. The contestants who choose it are: Lee Sungyeol, Koo Junhoe, Moon Bin, Park Kyungri, Seo Soojin and Kim Hyunjung. They divide the lines quickly, and just as expected, each moves to their own space to practice their parts. Unlike the first group, however, one of this song’s most important parts is the harmonies.
One by one, the members starts talking with each other and discussing how they would sing together. Sungyeol approaches Hyunjung for help, and the girl gives him an important reminder. “It’s not always about technique, it’s also about emoting, engaging with the audience. They have to feel what the song wants them to feel. Otherwise, they’ll get bored, they won’t feel connected with you as a performer.” ‘Love In The Ice’ is a song worthy of tears, and if they’d like to make their performance memorable, they’d have to make an emotional show out of it.
The day of the performance comes, and the group makes quick work of introducing themselves. “Hello, we are Crystalline!” Once they’re in positions, the performance already starts with a highlight of their harmonies. Soojin is the first one to sing a line by herself and uses that chance to show her powerful abilities. When it’s time to harmonize, the members make sure to not only look at each other, but also take the time to enchant the crowd. Unlike the other groups, the crowd stays in silence until the very end when they break in applause for the beautiful performance.
With the end of all vocal-focused songs, the edit pushes the audience to the future. All teams are found standing on stage and Katie Lee does the honors of sharing the first announcement. “Today we had two groups under the singers category, and ten total contestants fighting for a safe spot under such title. However, simply surviving is not enough. Right now, I’ll announce who ranked first among all the vocalists.”
An intense music starts to build up, and the camera pans over all the contestants from the two groups. “The best vocalist is…” The woman takes a single moment to grin before looking directly towards the winner. “Lee Luda. Congratulations.” She stops for a second to let people clap before she continues speaking. “I think this was the first week you actually got to shine and you did it incredibly well. You not only reach high notes without much problem, but you also manage to enchant the crowd during your verses. I think your image helped a bit as well; it compliments your voice perfectly. We hope to see more of you in the future.”
There’s cheering again, and a focus on Luda’s face as she’s crowned the current best singer of the competition. The result was, of course, chosen by our dear CEOS, but wouldn’t it be fun to know the opinions of a few other friends?
It’s a different white room this time, and Junmyeon is shown carefully walking inside. “Wah… you guys are full of surprises!” Somi appears already sitting on the chair by the table, pouting at the staff. “You’re not going to make me choose my favorites, are you?” And just like that, a big text appears on the center of the screen with ‘Who Is The Best ___?’ written on it. In the background, Somi’s voice could still be heard. “You’re mean.”
The first question arrives - ‘Who Is The Best Singer?’ - and the contestants start to think about their response. “I’m terribly indecisive - so please bear with me”, Hyunjin says while staring down at every photo in front of him. “He has great stage presence and he seems to be aware of his pitch vocally.” Chungha says about her pick before the scene cuts to Jinsoul. “His tone is really good, and his high notes are no joke.”
Daniel turns a picture towards the camera, and sparks comes out of it once the favorite pick is announced. “Ha Sungwoon hyung, no doubt! His style is very powerful, and suits a variety of styles.” A staff member asks Sungwoon why he didn’t pick himself and the man quickly blinks before bursting into laughter. “Oh man, no way. I don’t think I would put myself on that list in a million years.” Moon Bin leaves the final statement. “Your height might be lacking but you make up for it with your powerful voice~! Sungwoon-ah fighting!”
The second question appears on the screen: ‘Who Is The Best Dancer?’ Yoongi taps on the blurred picture twice. “She’s talented. I like her style.” The picture slowly wobbles, and the next person to receive the sparkles is... “Kim Bora - she’s something”, says Longguo. “I’ve worked with her before on the show - she’s an amazing dancer.”
“Bora is amazing,” Sana says before the scene cuts to Jinsoul next. “Bora has a lot of energy, and she makes every movement look really big and really sharp.” A quick scene of the girl dancing on previous challenges appears on screen, and soon it is time for the next question, ‘Who Is The Best Rapper?’
Sungyeol appears on the screen. “She’s got massive talent. Her rapping is the best I’ve ever seen and she can command the stage like it’s nobody’s business.” Jinhee shows up next. “I bet you thought I’d pick Hyuna, didn’t you?” But when she turns the picture to the camera it shows a very familiar face. “You’re right.”
Jaewon waves her picture as well. “Kim Hyuna. This one’s a no-brainer, huh?” Changmin continues speaking with his usual bright personality. “I remember seeing it on tv and thinking ‘Wow, this is really what it must be like to be a true artist.’”
The final question comes, and it’s probably the trickiest. ‘Who Will Win?’ Yoongi reaches for a picture on the table, and from a certain angle the camera manages to catch that it’s his own. The man then quickly snorts. “Jus’ kiddin’.” He tosses the picture away in a funny matter, and then we’re quickly back to seriousness.
“I pick Kim Junmyeon, of course,” Sungwoon says. “He’s charismatic and a fair singer.” The next one is Sana, but she seems to have a different opinion. “Honestly? I think Hyuna-ssi has a really good shot at winning.” Chungha expresses the exact feelings of the discussion, saying “Either Hyuna-ssi or Junmyeon-ssi will”, and the screen announces it was a fair tie.”
Junmyeon quickly appears on the screen, and his opinion seems relevant. “Me. Kim Junmyeon. I think I’m going to win.” He smiles softly. “I have been working very hard every week to improve myself so I have overcome my flaws. I’ve also made Katie Lee smile, so that is in my favor”, he laughs. “Also have a powerful wink, which is a powerful tool in this competition. I will use it in the upcoming battles to ensure success!” And so, the special session ends with a powerful wink. Did you opinion match the contestants’ picks? They already got one wrong from the judges, but will they manage to get something right?
The usual show returns, and right back into the white room. The next song is ‘Stay’ and its members consists of amazing dancers such as Bae Joohyun, Joo Haknyeon, Dong Sicheng, Kim Doyeon, Choi Yoojung, Kim Jonghyun and…
They’re all sitting together in the practice room but someone manages to stand out. Ha Sungwoon, the voted best vocalist, sat in between them. His team had ranked low on the previous week and the rules of this challenge were clear. There’s a different air around him, but it isn’t like his teammates also don’t show worry about his presence. Joohyun and Sicheng are quickly assigned to choreograph and the team slowly starts with their struggles.
Most seem to be stressed, especially Joohyun with the weight of her duties, while Sungwoon and Yoojung looked particularly sad. And there was someone else…
“Fresh Jeju tangerines!” Haknyeon announces as he takes the fruit out of his box. “Take as many as you want!” The scene cuts to the boy sitting by Sungwoon’s side and handing him one of his tangerines. “Hyung, here. I can see that you’re working very very hard hyung, and I’m sure that your hard work will never fail you.”
The show of support doesn’t stop there. Joohyun is monitoring her own movements on the mirror one day when Jonghyun pulls her aside. Her expression is of confusion, but the anticipation of something bad quickly comes to an end. “Noona, you’re doing great. The choreo is amazing and it suits us!” Her lips hint at a smile and the girl properly thanks him. “I’m… trying my best.”
Happiness, however, quickly comes to an end as it seems to be the theme of the week. They’re all practicing by themselves when a loud sound is heard all across the room. The source of it is nothing less than Doyeon fainting in the middle of practice. They all run to her side and Joohyun places a hand on her shoulder to check if she’s okay. Even if the girl says she’s fine, it’s obviously not true. Haknyeon, who so far had only shared positiveness, throws in his word of thought. “What’s the point of dancing so hard if you push your body to the point that it can’t move?!” He raises his voice like he had never done before, and Doyeon can only apologize. “That won’t happen again.” The boy, however, doesn’t miss the opportunity to offer her a tangerine which by now has healed every disease possible in the duration of the show.
They’re on top of the stage and the crowd cheers for the members. “Hello, we are team Forever Young!” And just like that, they move to their starting positions. The song is more on the chill side, but the beat keeps it interesting. Doyeon who wasn’t doing too well manages to deliver her part with grace, doing a spin and ending with perfect balance. They use the white choker as part of the choreography, amazing the public. However, whenever the camera shows a more complete cut, Sungwoon can be seen always a beat behind than everyone else. Even so, the male is awarded the final center spot and brings an end to the song.
The next one is another rap, and the first two members of the song are Kim Hyuna and Kim Mingyu. The third, and highly unexpected, is the Wild Card, Kim Donghyun. “This is a joke, right?” His choices were between the two rap songs and ‘Handclap’, but it was no joke, and the boy ends up picking ‘Who You’.
On the very first day, the boy is quick to let his teammates know he is far from a rapper, apologizing for the inconvenience, but they show him support. Although, they do have to write their own lyrics. The members are shown sitting by themselves, each working on their own piece and sometimes the camera gives a tease or two about which lines will be on the performance later on.
Mingyu looks up at the camera at whichever time he has. He only smiles at it most of the time, but sometimes he leaves comments for those who are watching. “I feel good about the performance I will be doing this week. I get to show my creativity again which I think is one of my advantages. Please pay attention to me this week! I think you will be surprised.”
At the end of the week, Donghyun gathers his teammates to say a few words of thanks and encouragement. “Thank you for being so patient with me,” he said with a proper smile on his face, “You both helped me a bunch and I hope you both make it through to the next round. You really deserve it!” They’re all soon found on the stage, and the instrumental starts playing in the background. All the lyrics were written and delivered by themselves, even if some stood out more than the other. The song comes to an end with them chanting the words together, and soon the screen turns to black.
Tiger JK takes the microphone this time, the CEOs matching the building where each category practiced at during the week. “There weren’t a lot of rappers left in the competition, but I think that only makes this more of a challenge, doesn’t it?” The corner of his mouth goes up a little as he scans the face of each contestant on the stage below him. “You all got to showcase your skills, but only one can have the title of the best rapper, and that person is…” There’s a pause for dramatic effect. The camera once again shows the faces of each contestant under the category until it lands back on Tiger JK. “Kim Taehyung.”
There’s a short time for claps before the CEO quickly wins back the attention. “You were the oldest by far in your group so it should be a relief it wasn’t one of them winning over you. It feels like you have experience in the area, and your flow is very good as well. We will get to see more of you. Congratulations.”
The screen returns to the white room. Kim Bora walks inside and picks ‘Handclap’ without complaints. Her teammates, however, seem to share mixed feelings. Jin Longguo walks in next, a vocalist. “Vocal position, vocal position, vocal position” Jung Jinsoul chants as she walks into the room only to find that all vocal positions were already taken. The next one in line is already a Wild Card, and Min Yoongi chooses the song as the last option between the dance options. Jung Jaewon and Ji Changmin, however, have no choice at all as it is the only song left between all the rest.
When Bora meets her team, it is possible to see a slight twitch of her lips before she tries to cover her surprise with a smile. They all introduce themselves, and the obvious fact is quickly made known by all of them. On their dance-focused group, there were only two main dancers, half of the group consisted of Wild Cards, and their song was the last one to fill up. They were, basically, the leftovers.
Instead of focusing on their worst qualities, they all decide to help with what they had. Jinsoul quickly throws in her own creative ideas, even if she wasn’t a dancer. “I think it’s important that we all get to shine, so we should all have a few center parts.” She stops for a second to look at the ground before returning her eyes to her teammates. “And I know we’re not all dancers but I think if we all take what we’re good at and put it into this performance, we can look good and um… Let’s all work hard!”
Bora does most of the choreographing as their main dancer while Jinsoul and Longguo help with designing formations to make their performance look good. They’d all have at least one moment to shine, and so everyone worked hard on their own part. Most of them were at risk of leaving the show but they all had the strength to keep working for their spot.
The creative couple, Jinsoul and Longguo, had a bit of a high-risk type of performance in plans. The girl was to throw her entire body towards the floor in a beautifully planned drop, but the boy would need to be there to not actually let her hit the floor. The first try is painful, and a loud thud of a body against wood is followed by Jinsoul exclaiming in pain. But she keeps herself strong and gets up again, ready to try it one more time. “It’s fine! Let’s try it again.” Jaewon is good at spotting mistakes, Changmin is good at keeping up the mood, and Yoongi uses his dancing skills to help the others with anything they need. As a well-oiled machine, they all make their way to the stage.
They introduce themselves as team Boom Boom, and the energetic song that plays proves it is a good name. Jaewon starts in the center and they’re all positioned in a line towards the audience. The man crouches down, and each member pops out with a different pose until they reach Longguo who makes a big heart. The performance continues smoothly. Yoongi does the splits, Changmin does an acrobatic flip and Jinsoul shows a bit of wacking. During the toughest parts, Bora takes the center stage to show their best talent. When it’s time for the drop, Jinsoul and Longguo move to the side and deliver a perfect version of it, the girl standing back up without any injuries. It ends up with Changmin showing his b-boying skills, and the crowd cheers until the screen goes dark again.
It’s time for the final winner, and Hyun Bin is to deliver the announcement. “This was the biggest group of contestants with three different performances so it took us a while to decide on the winner, but we believe they are very deserving.” The camera goes a bit faster this time, having to show the face of each dancer. “The best dancer today is… Jeon Wonwoo.” The cheering begins once again and the man lets it go for a bit before continuing.
“You often got space to dance in the previous performances, but we believe you shone the most today. It was a very powerful performance with strong moves, and there were pieces that most dancers wouldn’t feel comfortable doing, but you did them anyway. Dance requires a lot of comfort and you have that, and the talent that goes with it. Congratulations.”
People seem to be excited about the winners announcements, but there’s still one thing left. Baek Jiyoung is the one in charge now, and she quickly brings silence to the room. “We already let everyone stay last week, so we must make up for it this time around. Today, we’ll have another big elimination, and ten people in total will be going home.”
The intense music starts playing again, and Jiyoung looks down at her notes before continuing. “Firstly, we’ll announce the departures from between the vocalists.” The camera focuses on the two groups standing side by side. “All of you were mainly singers who got lucky getting their main skill but, still, a few of you will have to go home. And the first elimination is… Koo Junhoe.” The scene zooms into his face for a reaction before returning to the judge. “While you have a good voice, we believe it is still lacking comparing to the others. You have a very specific color to your tone and sometimes that may come as a disadvantage. Hopefully, you’ll work on it and continue to develop your talent in the future.”
So Jisub catches the attention, ready to announce the next departure. “The second eliminated today is… Kang Daniel.” The camera focuses on the boy’s face and also some other reactions across the room. “You’re a very good contestant, but when it comes to singing, there’s no way to compare you to the others. The chosen winner today was in your group, as well as other talented singers. You have the base to continue growing, but right now you aren’t ready to continue on the competition. We wish you well.”
The next one is Katie Lee, looking as marvelous as ever. “The third, and the final vocalist to leave the competition today is… Park Kyungri.” Her face appears on the screen before the judge can continue speaking. “You’re a good singer, though your ranking thus far has been constantly low. You continue your journey based on what we believed was your personal talent when compared to the others, but once you were actually among other singers, we decided it was your time to go. Hopefully you’ll continue practicing, but you’ll be leaving the competition today.”
And so, the eliminations for vocalists are done. “Right now, we’ll move on to the dancers, meaning that anyone else under the singers category is safe for another week.” Katie Lee smiles at their particular section before allowing Tiger JK to proceed. “The fourth contestant, and first dancer to leave us today is… Jung Jaewon.” The man who had only recently returned was about to leave once again. “We all know you’re a good rapper, but, as a dancer, there’s no way to keep you in this competition. You’re still very stiff, but at least we could notice you had some enthusiasm in you. If you start to practice the skill, then maybe we’ll be able to hear from each other again. Right now, however, you’ll be leaving the show.”
“The fifth person to go home today is…” Hyun Bin stops for the intense music to pick up again. “Ha Sungwoon.” The camera pans over the chosen best vocalist by the contestants, but who today was, sadly, a dancer. “Much like Jaewon, you’re a great vocalist instead. You have a great voice and a great skill to entertain as well, but your dancing still needs a lot of polishing. There isn’t, really, a raw skill, and it can only be learned from a lot of hard work. So, you’ll be leaving us today.”
Baek Jiyoung goes once again, this time with one of her smiles on to give the contestants hope. “The sixth elimination today is… Jin Longguo.” The scene focuses on the male’s face and reactions before returning to the judge. “You and your team were very good as a unit and probably the most exciting performance, though not necessarily the best one. You have a good voice, and your dancing isn’t actually as bad as some of the other vocalists in the competition. Although, of course, it isn’t better than the actual dancers amongst us. If you continue working on it, we believe you may actually have a shot in the near future. Therefore, you’ll be leaving today, but good luck in the future.”
The three eliminations are over, but Jisub continues with the announcements. “Since the group of dancers is the biggest one, it’ll have one more elimination than the others. So, the seventh and final dancer to leave us today is… Min Yoongi. You’re a very talented dancer but, as you’ve been eliminated before, there’s still a bit for you to grow that you didn’t manage to do in that week you weren’t in a practice room. The performance today was well separated to highlight each person’s skill, but even if you were one of the best dancers on the team, you still managed to fade. You’ll be leaving us today.”
The final category comes, and it’s time to announce the eliminations for the rappers. Katie Lee starts it off by saying the dreaded phrase. “The eight elimination of today is… Kim Donghyun. You only recently returned, as well, and your choice to go with rapping was very intriguing. Sadly, your rapping skills aren’t good. You had two better rappers around you and no stage presence is able to cover up your skills. I won’t really tell you to keep working on it while you’re gone since I’m sure it’s not exactly the area you’re interested in, but, in case it is, you have a lot of practice to do.”
Tiger JK continues on, only two eliminations left. “The ninth person to be eliminated today is… Lai Guanlin. You’re still not completely familiarized with the Korean language, and your abilities are still in a very early, raw stage. I suggest you to keep writing lyrics to practice both your writing and your Korean. You must continue to practice your base skill as well, of course. There’s still a lot in front of you, but, today, you’ll be leaving us.”
Finally, Hyun Bin takes his microphone, and it’s time to take the eliminations to an end. “The tenth and last person to leave us today is…” The music is as intense as it’s ever been. There are only three rappers left eligible to leave, and when the camera stops at the last eliminated, “Kim Hyuna” everyone gasps at the news. “You were probably, by far, the person people were looking forward to the most at the start of this competition, and they had every right to feel like that. Your first two or three performances were incredible, but ever since you’ve been lowering your quality episode by episode. You had a very high bar to keep and you kept hovering below for too long. You are a talented woman, and hopefully, you’ll be able to find yourself soon enough. Today, you’ll be leaving the competition.”
To see all of this season’s current contestants, click here!
And now, let’s see what’s in store for our eight episode!
After surviving a challenge of pure skill, only the best have remained to run for the spot of the winner. Next week will be the official semi-finals, meaning it’s the only elimination left before the grand finale. If you make it there, it means you’ll go down in MGAs history. As for the next challenge, the contestants will be separated into five different groups and perform one of the latest hits by each of the five companies’ seniors.
However, getting a spot in your desired song won’t be too simple to most. Contestants will get to pick which song they’ll partake in order of ranking. The three contestants who ranked first in each of their skill will get to go first in order of their contestant number, followed by their teammates. The remaining group with the most eliminations will go last, meaning the official order is: Lee Luda, Kim Taehyung, Jeon Wonwoo, Instruction, Amazing Kiss, Born Hater, Stay, Love In The Ice, Who You, Handclap. Choices will be, once again, a secret, and made the same way as the previous episode, but this time it’s riskier than ever.
The song choices for this week are as seen below:
KT ENTERTAINMENT
All Night - ChiChi
1 - Lee Luda
2 - Kim Yongsun
3 - Jeon Somi
4 - Minatozaki Sana
5 - Kim Doyeon
TRC ENTERTAINMENT
FXXK IT - BIGSTAR
1 - Kim Taehyung
2 - Kim Junmyeon
3 - Lee Minhyung
4 - Seo Soojin
5 - Kim Mingyu
ROYAL ENTERTAINMENT
Why So Lonely - H.A.M
1 - Kim Chungha
2 - Bae Joohyun
3 - Kim Bora
4 - Jung Jinsoul
5 - Ji Changmin
SPHERE ENTERTAINMENT
Can Be Better - ChAOS
1 - Lee Sungyeol
2 - Choi Yoojnung
3 - Joo Haknyeon
4 - Dong Sicheng
5 - Kim Jonghyun
NOVA ENTERTAINMENT
Tell Me - MYNAME
1 - Jeon Wonwoo
2 - Kim Jinhee
3 - Hwang Hyunjin
4 - Kim Hyunjung
5 - Moon Bin
This time around, there will be no ranking in between teams, but between the contestants under the same song instead. The weakest member of each group will be eliminated at the end of the episode. However, the live audience this time around will be much bigger than ever before. The semi-finalists will perform their songs live in Hongdae in a show open for the public to watch. A special area was closed-off in front of the stage where 200 lucky people who signed up via the website will get to stay. They’ll all return to the usual set afterward for elimination announcements.
There will be no leader system for this episode. Together, all members should come up with a team name that will represent them during this week.
Tune in next Sunday, the 19th, for our eight episode!
MGA Season 4 episode eight preview: It’s the semi-finals and only 25 contestants remain. The sun is hot out in Hongdae, but a huge crowd is still expected to form around the stage to watch this special performance. Be sure to keep yourself hydrated because the MGAs contestants will be coming in hot!
On Friday, after the performances are done, all of the contestants are to line up on stage and go through a high-touch event with the 200 people who signed up via the website. They’ll only have a split moment with each fan, but it’s their only real chance to interact with fans face-to-face. No gifts will be given and only palms should touch as to not create a hog on the line (no interlocking fingers). Fans are also free to skip the contestants they don’t like.
[ All teams had their introduction and performance aired. Any other part only made it to the final cut if it was mentioned in this post.
Muns will be approached one by one in order of ranking based on what’s written on this post by Mod Mira to choose their song choice for this week, but if you'd like to speed up the process please dm her with your muse's top 3 song picks. The members of each song will only be revealed once everyone has chosen their song as to not influence their choices. Please, don’t share your choice beforehand to avoid this.
Contestants have until 5PM EST of Sunday, the 19th, to post their 200+ words solos about their performance of their senior challenge stage. That’s at 5PM, not midnight. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga4 and #rkmga4senior.
To win +1 CHARISMA, contestants may write a 200+ words solo describing their time during the high touch event. Posts should be up until 9PM EST of Wednesday, the 15th, at the same time as the activity check. That’s at 9PM, not midnight. This is bonus content and won’t impact in any way the results of the episode. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga4 and #rkmga4touch. After the post is up, feel free to ads the point to your points sheet! Please link this post as verification.
When at their designated company’s building, contestants should not interact with any trainees and should mostly keep themselves inside the practice room except for meals or bathroom breaks. This time around, muses not part of the MGAs may be part of the live audience. More information about this will come in a future post.
Any group chat made as a way for the muns of the contestants to interact with each other for this mission should have Mod Bianca and Mod Mira (@luvseungjoon and @allevicte on twitter) added to it. They will be there to monitor everything, but any questions should be sent to the rkevent inbox in case someone else had the same question and so it won’t be seen as an advantage to your group.
To award everyone for making it this far, feel free to add +1 CHARISMA and +1 SHOWCASED SKILL to your points sheet! This includes members eliminated on this episode. Please link this post as verification. ]
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I don’t know how this is possible but I deleted my blog a while ago, and now that I’m back your blog and builds are EVEN MORE AMAZING than when I left! You are and will always be one of my favourite simblrs. That is all. Have a nice day 😄
ahh thank you !! you’re too kind. I love building so this means a lot
more asks I haven’t replied to in the past few months I’ve been gone:
1. I love how you wrote that you have a couple of questions and then asked one hehe. the answer is yes totally completely unabashedly yes I referenced LiS !! glad you could tell ;)
2. not at all! unless my builds are private or I don’t post em at all, you’re free to use for stories, legacies, anything! please tag me if you do!!
3. oh .. yeah I do, DM me!
4. my inspiration comes from tv shows, movies, comic books, real life, etc! like, i started building a house i was staying at in portland because i liked how the owners had decorated. i just took pics and tried to recreate it. or I have a broad idea i wanna replicate, like a small nyc apartment or a big desert ranch. then i just google things to help me visualize and get ideas i never would’ve thought of! and i spend a lot of time doing it and slowly combing through the catalog. i also wanna get better and learn more!! im glad i can inspire
5. not atm!! i still wanna fulfill all the build requests i received, but for the moment, i’m set on playing the game and exploring everything in the recent packs i havent experienced. and especially decide which family/sims im gonna explore seasons with!! for the first time in a while, i want to play a legacy and have generations. i was just waiting for seasons so that time feels like it’s actually passing! grrr i cant wait.
thanks for all the wonderful asks and comments !! xoxo
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How to get rid of tom cat who is hassling my cats…..
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arfy Mon 01-May-06 16:19:57
<<Sigh>>
Have been wondering why my 3 cats aren’t out enjoying the sun much, and why one has taken to pooing in the bathroom overnight (grrr)
Then we spied a neighbouring tom cat spraying the fence and ground right outside our cat flap several times – looks as though the pooing cat is now frightened to go out much.
How do I get rid of this blinking tom cat? Any ideas – will citrus work. Needs to be something that then doesn’t stop my cats going out. And WHY don’t people neuter their cats FGS, it is infuriating.
Also, it has become obvious that we are going to have to rehome our cats when we move to NZ in September
(we’ve decided the trip just isn’t fair on them) – how on earth am I going to find a home for a cat who craps in the bathroom?
fullmoonfish Mon 01-May-06 16:51:57
Keep a couple of loaded water pistols to hand and squirt this tom (up the jacksy is fun) every time you see him. He will hopefully get the message.
Not sure whether vitrus works or not, but another tip I read is to spray aftershave round the catflap (outside) to mark the territory of your biggest and most dominant inhabitant (ie you or your partner)
No idea whether this works, sorry, but was suggested to me by a barkingly cat-mad friend of mine when I had similar prob. I found water worked best and was greatly satisfying too
Miaou Mon 01-May-06 17:07:48
oh ditto fmf – we keep a loaded supersoaker by the back door and have been known to blast at the offenders through the cat flap … hehehe very satisfying!
arfy Mon 01-May-06 17:26:21
ooh interesting about the aftershave – not sure anyone here believes that DH is the biggest and most dominant person round here but never mind. I have never heard that before! but possibly worth a try
noticed some water pistols in the supermarket yesterday, may go back and get one and then hang out by the cat flap. what fun!
arfy Mon 01-May-06 17:26:41
oh and where’s me manners? Thanks!
Read more: See Igglepiggle and friends live on stage – In the Night Garden Live is on tour now!
1Baby1Bump Mon 01-May-06 18:12:49
i dont think there is anything you can do about it.
Surfermum Mon 01-May-06 18:40:10
I looked into this as we had a problem with cats pooing in our garden. Apparently what you need to do is get some poo from a cat that’s bigger than the one doing the poo, such as a lion. Sorry that’s probably no help unless you’re on the doorstep of Longleat.
arfy Mon 01-May-06 18:42:18
ah yes, zoo poo
Thanks guys. Think I’m going to have to watch out for the bugger and then chuck some water over him. I feel really sorry for my cats, especially now I’ve got to look for new homes for them
. but also do not want cat crap in the bathroom and zoo poo outside the backdoor as the flat is going on the market in a couple of weeks!
twocatsonthebed Tue 02-May-06 19:03:43
two things that might also help…I had a similar problem a while back.
One is to really clean around the cat flap, as toms come back to spray where they have sprayed before. To get it really clean, you need to use biological washing powder, then wipe it down with surgical spirit, to get rid of any smells. This does work in the long run, but you might have to do it a few times.
The other is to get some Feliway from the vets (spray or a plug in airfreshner kind of thing) for your poor bullied cat – it’s a kind of cat pheremone which will calm them down and make them feel better (and hopefully stop them crapping in the bath!). Also, do they have a litter tray indoors – might be worth it for the short term.
HTH!
BadHair Tue 02-May-06 19:10:07
My cat is most definitely neutered and he sprays like a fire engine. It’s not always un-neutered cats that do it. Still annoying though.
tuppenceworth Tue 02-May-06 19:14:29
My sister has a tomcat that is coming into her house, spraying, getting the kittens pregnant (they’re too young to be neutured!) and then buggering off again!! (typical male?!)
A few weeks ago she caught him, put him in the cat basket and drove him 10 miles away. The cat was back two days after. She caught him again, drove him 20 miles away to the other side of Sheffield and the cooking fat (!!) still came back! It’s going to Aberdeen next time!
BettySpaghetti Tue 02-May-06 19:18:13
tuppenceworth -surely it’ll work out cheaper to take him to the vets to get his nads chopped off
Milliways Tue 02-May-06 19:18:31
My German SHepherd Dog happily clears the way of unwanted cats for our cat
I’m sure our cat lures them into our garden just to watch the fun!
arfy Tue 02-May-06 22:43:58
blimey tuppenceworth – what a nightmare!
Thanks everyone, and especially 2catsonthebed.
I was hoping to get away with no litter tray as only one out of the the 3 is pooing indoors (and weeing in the bath – nice!) but think you right, might have to do it. Never heard of Feliway, will investigate – thanks for the tip
I didn’t realise neutered cats spray too – but this bugger is definitely a tom. grr
Mimmie123 Thu 23-Mar-17 20:35:11
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ElloDAAAVE Wed 26-Apr-17 11:02:13
I feel your pain.
All my cats are done, but other people around here refuse to spay their females, and the result is feral rapey tomcats yowling under our window all night, spraying all over our front step, and not being able to open our windows in summer or we get invaded and sprayed.
Getting a few dogs certainly helped…nasty toms won’t set foot in our back garden now…but the front garden is a different matter.
Which is why I’m often seen haring down the garden path, barefoot, hair flying, broomstick in one hand and squirty water bottle in the other, yelling “FUCK OFF YOU RAPEY PISSYCATS, I MIGHT BE ALMOST VEGAN BUT I’LL HAVE YOUR PISSYBALLS AS EARRINGS YOU LITTLE WANKER”
Related. All the neighbours think I’m mad.
Squirty water bottle works though.
For a while.
Artyfartygaga Sat 03-Jun-17 18:55:48
I feel your pain. Since my , really very lovely neighbor moved in next door (genuinely- not sarcasm), about a year ago with her bully -self admitted- cat, who is neutered, my two cats have changed their behaviour big time. One, I’m not so worried about, he seems to try to stand his ground but the other ( they’re brothers) is very obviously not handling the situation at all. Next door’s cat is spraying by the front door, shitting in the front garden and getting in the back and middle garden a lot. My son has seen him in our house. There is a smell of cat pee in the house all the time, although I’m constantly washing the carpets and furniture. We live in a row of tiny cottages. My poor boy that can’t cope has taken to crapping in the living room and by the outside doors- I believe this is called middening; a visual sign to mark their territory. To add to the problem, this poor, sweet boy is epilectic, on a fairly large scale- can fit even in his sleep- and he’s obviously really unhappy. I just don’t know what to do. Can’t keep them in as it would be unfair on his brother. It would be difficult to speak to my neighbour as I don’t see what she could possibly do about it. As it is I think she only lets him out when she’s home. So awkward. What can I do? Any positive advice please? I love my cats.
Artyfartygaga Sat 03-Jun-17 19:43:46
Epileptic. Has fits on an irregular basis. Can be 3 times a day or nothing ( that we’ve witnessed) for 3/4 weeks. Otherwise healthy and very lovely and calm and loving.
MandaBee66 Tue 27-Jun-17 07:37:59
I hope that’s a joke because it’s a disgusting thing to do!
MandaBee66 Tue 27-Jun-17 07:40:10
This is what a boy cat did to my poor girl cat! He came in the house to find her. If I find out who owns him they are getting a vets bill!
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Super Sonic Thieves Chapter 10
Chapter 10 - When in Rome...
The Set Up:
Sly, narrating: “The Thievius Raccoonus warned us that another Cooper had been lost, this one being Augustine Cooper. Somehow, he was the inventor of being able to defy gravity, staying in the air for days at a time with no effort. Of course, as a Cooper, he used it to rob people at his leisure, especially the kings and guardsmen. To others, his gift seemed to be a gift of the gods, but actually… well, no one knows, and he was very secretive about it in the book too. In any case, it seems that Eggman has captured Augustus for his own nefarious plots, and it looks like we are going to have to go rescue him.”
*The camera pans among some marble columns, until it stops on a few that get chiseled out to say the title: ‘ When in Rome ’.*
-----
Hub Layout:
Sly and the gang have made their hideout in the smaller homes of the poor side of Rome. In the center of town is the famous Colosseum. Surrounding it are the large palaces, then the marketplaces and the smaller homes. A large mountain stands to the far North, home to ‘Mt Olympus, and to the far South is a deep chasm the locals have referred to as ‘The Underworld’.
Enemies:
Goats: Guards on the lookout for sneaky thieves. If they spot you, expect horns in your backside with a fast charge. Carries/drops 12-14 coins and has 10% chance of treasure to pickpocket.
Wolves: Grey wolves on the prowl for thieves. Be wary of provoking them, as they will bite and scratch endlessly and chase after you. Carries/drops 16-18 coins and has 25% chance of treasure to pickpocket.
Lions: Big cats with an even bigger bite. They will seriously make an attempt to keep on your tail to maul you, so get them quick. Carries/drops 16-21 coins and has 50% chance of treasure to pickpocket.
Rhinobot: Those charging rhinobots have gotten an upgrade in size and speed, making them a bit more dangerous than before. Still, a good whack shall smash them good. Drops 16 rings when smashed.
Roman Pawns: Toga!!! It’s Egg Pawns in togas and head wreaths, of course. Don’t let their simpleness fool you, as they can fire lightning bolts from their hands. Drops 18 rings when smashed.
Helmeted Egg Hammers: Egg Hammers that have gotten into the time travel spirit wearing Roman helmets and gladiator armor (on top of their regular armor, for some reason. :P ). They attack the same as regular Egg Hammers, but they have even more armor to make destroying them tougher (Defense over attack, you know?) Drops 20 rings when smashed.
Egg-Cerberus: Eggman’s gigantic loyal guard ‘dog’ has come back, but has now gained 2 more heads to fit the Roman theme. It still has the same weakness of being controllable to careen into walls and other things.
Treasures:
From Guards:
Small Necklace: Worth 75 coins and 38 rings.
Medium Necklace: Worth 95 coins and 48 coins
Large Necklace: Worth 115 coins and 58 coins
From Pedestals:
Golden Head Wreath: Near to the front gates to Mt. Olympus. No booby traps. Worth 1500 coins and 750 rings.
Hercules’ Shield: Near to the gate of the Colosseum. It’s extremely heavy, so a strong character has to take it back. Worth 1750 coins and 875 rings.
Hermes’ Sandals: Tucked away around the palaces. No booby trap. Worth 2250 coins and 1125 rings.
Lightning in a Bottle: Near to the canyon going down below. Damage sensor trap and will zap you dead if broken. Worth 2750 coins and 1325 rings.
The coins have a lightning bolt design on them.
Secret Clockwerk Sighting: A marble statue stands in one of the plaza’s that looks just like him. But is he underneath that marble coating? Hmm...
-----Jobs-----
Roman Recon
Recon Rome
Sly: “Well, this doesn’t look good. Rome’s empty, and this is supposed to be a bustling city.”
Blaze: “I’d guess that Eggman’s helper here scared them all away. But it sure is odd when there is no damage anywhere at all.”
Bentley, over the binocucom: “Just be careful in case they should rear their ugly head around here.”
Sly, sarcastically: “Don’t we always?”
Bentley, over the binocucom, smugly: “Unless the ‘head’ is Carmelita, then you go basically blind.” *An audible high five is heard.*
Sly: “Ouch, Bentley. But at least that head is very pretty.”
Carmelita, over the binocucom: “Sweet save, Ringtail.”
*The player heads of to take recon photos of the Colosseum, the group of palaces, Mt Olympus and the Underworld.*
*Upon taking a picture of the Colosseum.*
Sly: “Odd, these gates seemed to have been blocked before everyone ran off, considering the feet prints.”
Blaze: “Does it look a little off in general too?”
Sly: “Hmm, yeah. Bigger and more recently built, which is impossible. Hmmm…”
*Upon taking a picture of the palaces.*
Blaze: “Sure are a lot of Eggman’s mechs walking around here to be doing nothing in particular.”
Sly: “Do you think they are looking for something?”
Blaze: “That, or just waiting in general.”
*Upon taking a picture of Mt. Olympus.*
Blaze: “Such very odd gates, tempered with very high heat that I’ve ever seen.”
Sly: “So we won’t be able to get in this way.”
Blaze: “No, at least, not forcibly. We need to find a way in somehow…”
*Upon taking a picture of ‘the Underworld’.*
Sly: “Wow. That’s a deep chasm if I’ve ever seen one. And dark too.”
Blaze: “I could light the way, but we have a problem.”
Sly: “What, getting down there? There are some stairs there.”
Blaze: “Someone has made a magical barrier or something to stop us. We can’t get in without finding an object to pass through.”
Sly: “We better keep an eye out then.”
*Once done.*
Sly: “Hmmm, good intelligence, but not a lot to go on.”
Bentley, over the binocucom: “Can you guys return to the safehouse? Silver says he’s got an idea where Augustus is.”
JOB COMPLETE
-----
Palacian Bash
Listen in to the guard’s conversations.
Find Augustus.
Sly: “So where do you think is Augustus, Silver?”
Silver: “I have to admit it’s not a certainty, but I think I may have a location. Ever since we got here, I’ve felt a strange psychic power at work, and after some divination, I believe he is hiding in the palaces to the East.”
Sly: “That does sound like how Augustus’ powers work, so it may be him. And we just came from there; there are many pawns and guards patrolling there. Let’s go.”
Bentley, over the binocucom: “Hang on, Sly. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go. His psychokinesis intrigue me… and I have a feeling I may be able to get us more information on what’s happening around here.”
Sly: “Fair enough then.”
*Sly returns back inside the safehouse, and Bentley comes out.*
*The player heads on over to the palaces, and in the first one, find a Wolf guard and Lion guard chatting to each other next to a well.*
Silver: “They appear to be talking, but how do we hear them?”
Bentley: “Leave that to me and my grapple camera. It can listen to them and play it for us here.”
*One short grapple cam moving later.*
Wolf Guard: *Some stomach growling can be heard.* “Grrr… I’m annoyed the boss scared away everyone. Now with no one trespassing, there’s no food to eat!”
Lion Guard: *His stomach growls as well.* “I know, but what can we do when our boss is 20 feet tall!”
Wolf Guard: “Might as well loot the food stocks again…”
*They both walk away.*
Silver: “20 feet tall? That’s a giant! And we don’t know any giants.”
Bentley: “Hmmm… we better listen in to more guards then.”
*The player moves on, entering a second palace and finding a goat tinkering with a Rhinobot like a mechanic. They grapple cam over, and listen in to the guard.*
Goat: “Bah, good-for-nothing Saturn making us have to work on these stupid contraptions. If Saturn weren’t so big, I’d give him a piece of my mind.”
Bentley: “So the big guy is named Saturn, like the King of the Titans in Roman myths.”
Silver: “Then he’s clearly not from our world. It makes no sense.”
Bentley: “Yeah. Well, that’s the way it is. Little bits of information for the whole picture.”
*The player goes to the third temple, and for once, find a Roman Pawn talking to an Helmeted Egg Hammer. They must come in from behind them because the robots can detect the camera from the front.*
Roman Pawn: “NO SIGN OF AUGUSTUS COOPER FOR OUR BOSS FROM THE CITY.”
Helmeted Egg Hammer: “WELL, WE WERE ORDERED TO KEEP LOOKING FOR HIM AND CAN’T RETURN ‘TIL THEN.”
Roman Pawn: “HOPEFULLY WE FIND HIM SOON. I NEED AN OIL CHANGE.”
Silver: “Huh, I never thought Eggman programmed his badniks to speak, unless whoever’s here tinkered with that.”
Bentley: “I think the more important thing is that Saturn has not found Augustus yet, which means we got a good shot finding him. Is he close?”
Silver: “Yes, very close.. Just a few rooms away.”
*A bit further on, the duo end up finding a room with a vault door at the end. Clearing the guards away with darts, bombs and psychokinesis…*
Silver: “He’s here… but where? I think he’s hiding visually from us with his psychokinesis.”
Bentley: “It’s not like a Cooper wants to be found. But I think I got an idea how to lure him out. Let’s open the vault. I’ll tell you what numbers to turn it to.”
Silver: “Okay.”
*In a bit less annoying safe-cracking game, Bentley listens for the numbers and the player has Silver twist the knob with psychokinesis to the correct numbers. The vault opens and shows the gold and jewels inside. And as expected, Augustus appears from his hiding spot.*
Augustus, rather unemotionally: “It took a few days of waiting, but it’s finally paid off with all that treasure. Now to get rid of the witnesses.” *He attempts to psycho-kinetically kick out Silver and Bentley, but is unusually stopped. With a bit more emotion in his voice:* “Huh? Why can’t I grab you guys?”
Silver shows he’s using his psychokinesis too. “Not when I can do the same. Now, please stop, cause we’re actually looking for you.”
Augustus: “Looking for me? Daresay you be friend or foe?” *He tries to raise his power…*
Silver matches it however. “Friend, obviously. Please, just stop and listen.”
Augustus, with a bit more emotion: “I was listening, you know. You mentioned Coopers. You sensed me! How can I trust you?!”
Silver: “Well, like I said, I use psychokinesis too, and I was able to sense yours here.”
Bentley: “And, it may be a bit hard to believe, but we are from the future and are friends to your future numerous-greats grandson.”
Augustus: “The future? Well, it’s not the weirdest thing I can believe, but I do.” *He lets his psychokinesis go, and so does Silver.*
Bentley: “Come on and follow us back. We can explain more in safety.”
JOB COMPLETE
----
Augustus: “My, what a group of quirky characters, I dare say.”
Sly: “Quirky, but we get our jobs done well.”
Augustus: “I can believe so, if your friends are anything to go by.”
Sly: “So, what’s been happening?”
Augustus: “Sorry, future son, but I’ve been too focused on that vault to notice what’s been happening outside. All I did notice was the people changing to those weird, noisy things a few days ago, but that’s it. You understand, right?”
Sly: “Yeah, a big job can really mess up any other plans.”
Bentley: “Never fear, Silver and I have learned a bit of what’s been going on here. It seems that one literal giant, a Mr. Saturn, is controlling these robots and guards to do his bidding. They’re still looking for Augustus, so that should buy us some time.”
Dimitri: “Pardon my history, but wasn’t Mr. Saturn in Roman myths many feets tall?! Why haven’t we seen him?!
Bentley: “I can only speculate that he probably is spending time in Mt. Olympus, waiting for news from the badniks. I think it may be best to go out now and get things done to attract him out, and find a way to open the gates to Mt. Olympus.”
Blaze: “I think Sly and I should go back out there and find a way down that chasm. Whatever’s down there must be important, and might just attract Saturn out of his hiding spot.”
Sly: “Yeah, and we can handle whatever’s down there.”
Silver: “And Augustus and I have talked, and we might try to divinate the gate. Maybe we can find a way to open it.”
Augustus: “This adventure of yours intrigues me, and I want in.”
Bentley: “Wow, didn’t even need to ask.”
Sly, smugly: “We know our place by now.”
Bentley: “Well, let’s get to it then.”
-----
Going Down…
Find a way into the ‘Underworld’
Destroy the Energy Power plant.
(Blaze and Sly return to near the gate and a Lion guard walks through to Rome.)
Sly: “Huh?”
Blaze: “What is it? See something?”
Sly: “Yeah. I saw a small glimmer in his pocket that wasn’t money. I think it might be our way down there.”
Blaze: “Go get him then.”
*The player has Sly sneak after him and pickpocket the Lion of his item, a green orb.*
Blaze: “An orb?”
Sly: “Yeah.” *They walk up to the barrier and it drops for them.*
Blaze: “Such an odd little key, though there are orbs in our world that do similar things.”
Sly: “Hmm. Well, we better hurry up before anyone gets wise of who we are.”
*The player travels down the long stairs and to the bottom of the canyon. The place is bathed in an eerie green, but Sly notices something more in the dark as Blaze alights herself.*
Sly: “I smell, and see, smoke clouds.”
Blaze: *Cough* “So that’s what I was smelling above.”
Bentley, over the binocucom: “I knew I was sensing abnormal energy readings! It must be a crude energy production facility!”
Blaze: “The smell reminds me of Eggman’s smog, but it’s tinted green. But he’s had a dramatic flair for theme, so it’s probably to scare people away.”
Sly: “Whatever this is, we better shut it down.”
Bentley, over the binocucom: “I suggest just destroying everything. Subtlety will just take too long.”
Sly: “Way ahead of you.”
*The player goes and destroys all the machines by either hitting them, or using Blaze’s flame aura to ignite the clouds to explode machines. Once done...*
Sly: “And there it goes, back to dust and broken pieces.”
Blaze smiles wide. “Heh he, that was fun!”
Sly: “Let’s hurry back before someone notices.”
JOB COMPLETE
----
Home of the Gods
Find a way to open up the gates to Mt. Olympus.
(Silver and Augustus stand in front of the gates to Mt. Olympus, and attempt to use their psychokinesis to ‘divine’ the gate open, but their efforts fail.)
Silver: “I don’t think this is working, Augustus. Something is preventing these gates from being opened.”
Augustus: “Indeed, this is a waste of energy.”
*They both stop.*
Silver: “I think it the source of it is inside. But how do we get in?”
Augustus: “We float, of course. We make our own paths, as psychokinetic users.”
*The player has them just float themselves over the gate to the inside. As they float to the objective...*
Silver: “Where did your powers come from, Augustus? Were you born with it?”
Augustus, sounding a bit defensive: “Well, yeah, of course, I mean, where else would you get it? Like from the gods or something? Heh…”
Silver, getting a bit saddened when he starts to trail off: “I was just asking. I was born with it, but of course, we need to be taught to use it correctly, lest we… well…”
Augustus: “... Screw up royally?”
Silver: “... Yeah.”
Augustus: “Looks like we both know that… and maybe I need a little more training…”
Silver: “I’ll help you with that when we get a chance.”
Augustus: “Thank you. Now, ahem, let’s go find the gate opener.”
SIlver: “Right!”
*The player heads through Mt Olympus’ huge temple halls, either being sneaky or fighting off guards and badniks while making their way to the back of the building. Out in the backyard are rows of electric generators, connected to the fence and keeping the gates shut.*
Silver: “Aha! Some generators that produce electricity to hold the gate closed!”
Augustus: “Electricity?”
Silver: “It’s what people use in the future to power things.”
Augustus: “A future thing, I see. Okay.”
Bentley, over the binocucom: “Well, you don’t need to understand it when I’m going just simply ask you to destroy this electric farm. It’s only really helping the enemy, and it doesn’t belong here.”
Silver: “You got it, Bentley!”
*The player has Silver and Augustus destroy the generators with badniks, guards, and anything else they can grab with their psychokinesis.*
Silver: “Okay, Bentley! We’re done!”
Bentley, over the binocucom: “Excellent. That ought to make it easy for us to get in later.”
Silver: “Sure, we’re on our way back- Agh! Wait! Who are you?! AH!!! S-SATURN!!!”
*Screams of Silver and Augustus can be heard, which slowly fade away to nothing.*
Bentley: “Silver? … Augustus? … Oh crap.”
JOB COMPLETE(?...)
-----
Studying Saturn
Follow and listen in on Saturn.
Bentley sighs: “I screwed up. It seems I let Silver and Augustus be captured by Saturn by the sound of it…”
Sly: “No one could have predicted that Saturn was just waiting for them in Mt. Olympus. It wasn’t your fault.”
Bentley, very saddened: “I should have. It’s my job to predict the risk of everything, and I didn’t even think that.”
Tails: “You can’t predict everything the enemy is going to do. Even we get surprised by Eggman and his tricks sometimes.”
Bentley, a little surprised: “Really? You guys don’t really see Eggman as much of a threat.”
Sonic: “Oh, we do. We just snark and make fun of him to not give him the satisfaction of stroking his ego, which is massive as it is already, heh.”
Bentley, getting a bit more back into it: “Maybe… you’re right guys.”
Saturn’s massively booming voice blasts across the city. “To the mighty annoying thieves who are hiding in the city: I have your friends and demand that the rest of you turn yourselves in to me. Reveal yourselves soon, or else your two friends will have a very unpleasant time…”
Bentley covers his ears: “Ugh, the taunting. Quite the salt in the wounds. But… I mustn’t let this get me down. Knuckles, shall you accompany me on listening to Saturn unknowingly?”
Knuckles: “I’d be honored too. And don’t worry, I’ll keep you out of trouble.”
*The player leads the turtle and echidna sneakily as close as they can to Saturn, and send the Grapple Cam as close as possible to it.*
Saturn: “Heh, who am I kidding? This is Sly, Bentley, Murray, and the gang. Of course they aren’t going to show their faces. Let’s see… I’m supposed to destroy more stuff in this big mech suit to get them out of hiding, I guess..” *He moves elsewhere in the level.*
Bentley: “It’s a mech suit? I guess that does make sense with the energy plant we found in the ‘Underworld’.”
Knuckles: “I wonder if Eggman designed it, since he’s made mechs like that before.”
Bentley: “Let’s continue listening.”
*The player moves on to Saturn’s new location.*
Saturn: “I’m surprised Bentley sent Augustus and Silver straight into my hands. He really didn’t know I was there? Anyhow, they may have gotten the gate to Mt. Olympus open, but Bentley doesn’t know that, I think. Aw, well. I hope I didn’t leave him crying like last time. SInce I had to work with Eggman, I hope he will be pleased that I got their data or whatever.” *He moves on.*
Knuckles: “Well, it’s not Eggman in there, that’s for certain.”
*Bentley oddly stays quiet, just pointing for them to move on.*
*At the next location.*
Saturn: “Ugh, I see why Sonic and his critter friends don’t necessarily like Eggman. You have to do things as he says, or expect to die! If it weren’t for that robot army of his, I’d give him a piece of my rodent mind. I’m pretty smart too, you know! I’ve built RC cars, and even that time machine with him! … At least he let me build this mech suit. Heh he, Bentley is going to be jealous of this.”
Knuckles: “Uh… whoever’s in there seems to know you.”
Bentley, with worry in his voice: “I think I know…” *Does a breathing in and out to relax and his voice goes back.* “But I need to make sure… We got some work to do, Knuckles.”
JOB COMPLETE(?...)
-----
Saturn Loses His Cool
Force Saturn to go and recharge at Mt Olympus.
Break out Silver and Augustus.
Knuckles: “And what sort of work is that?”
Bentley: “Well, we got rid of Saturn’s power supply, so whoever is in there is having to rely on backup power right now. We have to drain Saturn of whatever power he has left so that whoever is inside will be forced to get out. We’ll know who is reigning here then.”
Knuckles: “I see. And how do we do that?”
Bentley: “We force the mech to run around to do meaningless things, make it overheat.”
Knuckles: “Aha. I can do that.”
Bentley: “Then let’s go.”
*The player, while still keeping out of sight of Saturn, must go around the city and cause noisy distractions (like knocking over pillar dominoes) to lure Saturn to move around, raising its heat level. Once it fully raises, Saturn complains about the heat.*
Saturn: “Ah! Heat levels are too high! I gotta get out of here! But not in town, gotta hurry to Mt. Olympus, or he’ll see me!”
*Saturn runs off and the player follows him back to Mt Olympus. Just out of sight, the player sends the Grapple Cam from behind cover to show who comes out…*
*A light purple dutch mouse in a tracksuit suddenly pops out of the chest of the machine.*
???: “Ah! Whew! Finally out of that mech! Any longer and I would have suffer hyperthermia. *Sigh* I better get to work on fixing the problem…”
Bentley: “P-p-p-Penelope… How could you work for Eggman? He’s not going to help you…”
Knuckles: “She might have been tricked by Eggman. I should know, he’s tricked me before.”
Bentley: “He has? Hmmm…” *With determination in his voice.* “Come on, Knuckles, we’re getting Silver and Augustus out.”
Knuckles: “Okay, but where-”
Bentley: “Just follow me, I think I know.”
*The player heads into the huge temple area, and find the psychics surrounded by badniks and guards in a cage.*
Knuckles: “Woah, there they are. How are we going to get them out?”
Bentley: “As much as I dislike confrontation, we got to fight them.”
*The player fights the badniks and guards, and free Silver and Augustus from their prison.*
Augustus: “I’m free! Phew.”
Silver: “Thanks, Knuckles and Bentley!”
Bentley: “Let’s get back to the safehouse. An operation cannot wait any longer.”
JOB COMPLETE
-----
Sly: “Are you alright, Bentley? You seem… worried.”
Bentley: “Yeah, I’m worried. I’ve seen Penelope. She’s our villain here.”
Sly: “Oh… can you go on? I know you left on a better note back then, but I’m worried about you.”
Bentley: “It’s fine. I… I need to go out there, and talk to her.”
Murray: “How are you going to do that when there’s a three-headed dog on the loose in town?”
Sonic: “Huh? Does it look like a mechanical dog?”
Murray: “Yeah, looks like it’s sniffing around for us.”
Sonic: “Ah, I see she has called the Egg-Cerberus. I can handle that mutt. And I guess you want to come with, Bentley”
Bentley: “If it won’t be too much trouble, yeah.”
Sonic: “It won’t be.”
-----
Operation: Turtle and Mouse
Defeat the Egg-Cerberus
Defeat Penelope
Sonic: “Alright, time to go after the Egg-Cerberus.”
Bentley: “We’re going to lure it to the Colosseum and fight it in there.”
*The player uses Bentley’s grapple cam to lure the Egg-Cerberus into the large Colosseum, and then head inside to defeat the Egg Cerberus. Bentley can stun it with bombs, but like with the old one, Sonic must grind onto its middle head and force it to ram into a wall or pillar to severely damage it. The dog should soon go down.*
Sonic: “Hah! It’s still a lousy robot mutt.”
Bentley: “No time to celebrate yet… she’s coming.”
*Soon, Penelope in her Saturn suit breaks the entryway to reveal herself.*
Penelope: “Aw! How come you guys had to destroy the Egg-Cerberus? I was starting to love the robot dog.”
Sonic: “Sorry, but if it’s Eggman property, I gotta smash it. I don’t trust anything he makes.”
Penelope: “Fair enough. And I see that Bentley is here too.”
Bentley: “Penelope… how could you work for such an evil man?”
Penelope: “I unfortunately had to, Bentley. He offered a deal… and it was really hard to refuse…”
Sonic: “What, did he point a gun to your head?”
Penelope: “Yeah, his whole badnik army’s worth. And his deal was quite hard to say ‘no’ to as well.”
Bentley: “What was so worth throwing away any last bit of your decency from what Le Paradox left you?!��
Penelope: “I told you already, Le Paradox showed me I could do greater things than just working for a ragtag gang of thieves and an officer who are just busting the villain of the day. And now, Eggman gave me a similar chance. Look, I even got free reign to make this mech suit. How is that not worth it? I get to not waste my talents on the small things.”
Bentley: “...Was it like this ever since I met you?”
Penelope: “Yes, Bentley. I did love you in the beginning, but I thought we were going to go off and do great things together, and not just sit around waiting for the next big job Sly had in mind. I just… don’t want my talent squandered…”
Bentley: “... If that’s what you felt… then why didn’t you tell me?”
Penelope: “Because you seemed like you were too far in with Sly, like he clouded your judgement. It always seems to be for the good of the Cooper clan.”
Bentley: “Well, he is my best friend for many years now, and I am their brains, so I do have to work for Cooper… but if you really wanted to expand and do more, you could have just asked. I mean, that’s why we made the time machine, so we could do a project together.”
Penelope: “... It wasn’t really made just for Sly interests in case he returned?”
Bentley: “I mean, yeah. I asked you what you wanted to build, and you asked for a time machine. We made it together. We could have went on dates with it on any time, if we had the right object.”
Penelope, saddened: “... … I’ve been a fool. Unfortunately, I have an obligation to Eggman now to defeat you…”
Sonic: “Don’t, Penelope. He says he wants to advance you further, but he doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He will toss away anyone he works with once he gets what he wants from them.”
Penelope: “He will?”
*As if on cue, Eggman appears in the mech cockpit to stop the interaction.*
Eggman: “What the heck are you doing, Penelope? Why haven’t you killed the blasted hedgehog and the Cooper Gang yet?”
Penelope: “I-I-I don’t know! I can’t get myself to want to defeat them… I don’t... want to hurt him…”
Eggman: “Then allow me to do that myself! You thought you had free reign of your mech, but in the end, it’s all MINE!!!”
*Eggman takes control of the mech from wherever he is and forces the mech to do a kick at Bentley.*
Bentley freezes up. “Ah!!!”
Sonic: “No!” *He jumps and pushes Bentley out of the way, but gets kicked himself into the Colosseum wall. He collapses, unconscious, but not dead.*
Bentley and Penelope: “No!!!”
Eggman: “Grrr… no matter, I’ll get back to him. I have a problem with you, Bentley, and I’m going to kill you personally!”
Penelope: “Hey, what’s going on?!”
*The mech suit closes up on her, and he tries to attack again, but this time, Silver and Augustus appear on the Colosseum roof and grab Bentley and float him to their level.*
Silver: “Trying something evil, Eggman? It isn’t going to work here!”
Augustus: “I can’t believe that this metal man is alive, but I shall defeat you all the same.”
Bentley: “We gotta save Penelope from that mech!”
Silver: “Already planned on it. Let’s go.”
*The Saturn mech mostly attacks with either its laser eyes across the roof, or pinpoint shooting, punching and throwing its hands down to smash you, or missiles in an attempt to scare you. To be able to defeat the Saturn mech, Silver/Augustus should throw either a missile or any flying piece of debris Eggman shoots up, and toss it back at the mech. Other than just hurting it, it will also stun the mech for a time and make it fall forward to the roof. In that time, Bentley can go over and bomb the power core of the mech. The mech will jump back up again after a bit and repeat the process over. As a note, the arms can be destroyed while it is leaned over to lessen the number of attacks the mech does. Just keep up the bombing on it, and it will soon fall down.*
Silver: “Yes! We did it!”
*The mech starts a self destruct sequence of 60 seconds, but also opens up its head section where Penelope is, collapsed from the shock.*
Bentley: “Penelope!”
*While Silver and Augustus psychically lift Sonic up, Bentley jumps down and rolls and grabs Penelope and puts her on his lap. Silver notices, and then grabs them both too. They all escape off the roof, just as the mech explodes into pieces.*
JOB COMPLETE
-----
The Getaway:
Penelope opens her eyes to see the Cooper and Sonic gang. “Huh? You guys saved me?”
Silver: “Well, Bentley was the one who went to the mech and grabbed you before it exploded.”
Penelope: “Really? After all I’ve done to you, Bentley?”
Bentley: “Y-yeah. I-I just had to. I… um…”
Penelope: “Same here… I don’t know anymore either.”
Sly: “Um, Sonic? Tails says your friends have sent us something.”
Shadow, on Tails’ Miles Electric: “I can’t believe I have to ask this, but we need your help right now. Some strange villains have come through a portal and started taking over our world. GUN and the rest of us are trying our best to take them, but they’re using some powerful robots that look to have been made by Eggman. These are what they look like.” *He shows pictures of the villains who look quite familiar...* “Hurry, we don’t know how long we can last.” *The transmission ends.*
Carmelita: “What the heck? They said they were reformed! I knew they were lying and just waiting to be free of prison totally!”
Murray: “All the past villains we put away are running around in your world, Sonic!”
Sonic: “Not if I get a say with them!”
Sly: “We’ll help you, Sonic. We’ve dealt with them before… and I’m thinking this is not just a point of conquest.”
Bentley: “I smell revenge. Why else are they all there?”
Sly: “Exactly. We have to deal with them.”
Penelope: “Was I just… a distraction for him? Hmph, I’m not going to play that game. I’m helping too!”
Sly, narration: “It looks like our adventures through time are over, and a new adventure to begin in a different world altogether. How did the villains we put away escape, and could we do it again? In any case, we better deal with them before they mess up all time in a new world.”
Next Time: We return to Sonic’s world to deal with an ‘artsy’ bear.. in Prehistropolis City Zone.
#Isakthedragon's fanfiction#Super Sonic Thieves#Super Sonic Thieves Chapter 10#SST#SST: Chapter 10#The last Cooper that we visit.... Augustus Cooper#Hope people like him.#And we also got the city of Rome here#And... a certain mouse makes an appearance.
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Response to AMA.
A few days ago I received an AMA. I responded that I wanted to take some time to think about it. Unfortunately, tumblr seems to have deleted the post! [GRRR] As I don’t remember the name of the one who asked, I am going to post here. I am paraphrasing the question to protect the sensitivity of the question [& I don’t remember the exact words. :-)] But first, to the original author: I’m terribly sorry I wasn’t more careful w/ your AMA.
How do I encourage my wife to be more engaging sexually?
The original question was more specific to many ideas that I write about in my feed, but since I’m making this open to everyone I am making it a bit more general.
The “too long; didn’t read” version is this: I can only tell you about my journey. I have tips & resources at the bottom that I hope can help you better. At least they did for us.
Here is why that question is hard for me. If I were to go back in time to a younger me & tell me just how damaging my thoughts on sex were to my marriage, I’m not so sure I would believe myself. I had to hit a pretty hard low in order for the truth to hit me. I had to come to the realization that marriage is hard & I have to be just as proactive & engaged in working to build it as he was. I had to make myself realize that serving my husband visually, sexually, and physically was a ministry of service to him, our marriage, & then to myself.
It wasn’t immediate. It took time before my husband began to have a desire to serve me & my needs for emotional & spiritual connection. It wasn’t until that healing began that I could properly express my desires for him to step up & lead the family in the way that I & the children needed him to.
For some time, I worked HARD to serve him w/ little of my needs met in return. It’s tough work to kill it in the gym & lead a healthy lifestyle. It’s tougher to do that & raise young children. To add to that the time & energy to shave my legs daily & dress in ways that were visually appealing to him was a massive task. But all of that & then to give my body to him as well? There were days I wondered if it was worth it at all.
Now I know that YES! It IS worth it! Once hubby & I were communicating in love [& not yelling] we realized we work together quite well as a team. He leads the family as we need him to [including spiritually], & he seeks to meet my needs for our emotional connection. I seek to be a #VisuallyGenerousWife for him. As a family we are leading a more fit & healthy life which is great as we have support & encouragement w/ each other.
But I still have to work at sex. A lot. It is hard to push out distractions of the day some times. I have to force myself to learn & discover sex. While it has gotten SO much easier to enjoy [& I do enjoy it], it still doesn’t come as naturally as it does him. His drive is just much higher. I also had a LOT of garbage anti-sex rhetoric when I was younger [which I have ranted on in past posts]. It took SO much work for me to relax & begin to explore my sexuality w/ my hubby. But I learned so much when I finally did.
Honestly, one of the things that freaked me out at first but ended up being such a blessing, was when we made a rule together that basically said “In me, or on me.” I wanted to be a part of his every orgasm to better understand his drive. I knew he masturbated & it irritated me but mostly because I didn’t understand his need for release 3+ times a week. The first few times were awkward & near embarrassingly painful. I was terrible at providing visual stimulation & just laid there quiet & motionless [Please wives, don’t EVER do that!]. He felt just as awkward as I did. But we soon realized that I didn’t want to just be present, I wanted to be engaged & he NEEDED me to me engaged even if it was as simple as a smile & a wiggle of the hips.
I found that I loved how much he adored me & looked forward to the times when I would tease him. He loved watching me dance & be provocative. It took SO LITTLE work on my part & we felt so much closer together as we cuddled in his post-masterbation-orgasm. On nights when I did want to have sex, that closeness was even sweeter.
If you don’t want to read about more “non-traditional” sex acts, please just skip this paragraph. The next step we took was when I let him pleasure himself w/ my legs. I work HARD to keep them looking good & I work HARD to keep them smooth. Yeah! Of course I want him to enjoy them! He’d better enjoy them every day for the work I put into them!! But especially on the days when I don’t want sex! It was such an easy next step as it required nothing more then what I was already doing, keeping my legs pleasurable. He did the work & we shared in the beautiful bonding after. [It took a while to go from ‘this is kind of weird’ to ‘this is really kinky & really hot that my hubby gets so excited about me’]. Another example. If you were to go back to me just before I got married & that me was to be told “You are going to absolutely adore the sexual pleasure your husband gives your ass that you are actually going to excitedly long for it” I can promise you I would’ve been so freaked out that I would’ve run away & never married. The abusive religious stigma that was my sexual education would’ve parallelized me even thinking about such a “degrading” act. Instead, it started w/ a post-gym-squat-challenge massage that felt amazing & I wanted more. 6 months later, I was craving his touch on my cheeks as we moved into exploratory. A YEAR & 9 months after the massage that it was sexual & the lies of my past were shattered when I said “How have we missed out on this for so long?!”
Here’s the thing, going from my “Good girls don’t do that” to “sex is fun” to “#MarriedSexRocks” to “Including non-traditional sex which can be delightful!” isn’t small steps. I don’t think there is any way you could have convinced the younger me to make those leaps. It absolutely is, in my opinion, “a journey of a thousand miles begins w/ one step.” I could NOT HAVE EVER allowed such things to happen if I didn’t absolutely trust my hubby, & it took us a lot of time, effort, & hard work to build that relationship to that point.
Back to the original question: How do I encourage my wife to be more engaging sexually?
First, realize that women don’t have the same sex drive as men. Rude jokes, crude statements, & lewd behavior doesn’t work on us. The VAST majority of us need to have an emotional connection.
Second, if a woman doesn’t feel emotionally, financially, & physically secure, it is going to be harder for her to open up & relax. Establish trust & work to meet her needs. Trust me. This isn’t easy. This is hard. This is a lot of work. But it is worth it. The bonus, this is essentially a HUGE step of foreplay for a woman.
Third, talk about sex freely. Get over the embarrassment. Have honest conversations about what you each want. Don’t be pushy, but be honest.
Fourth, seek help from people who have made it real priority in their life to deal w/ these kinds of topics & advice. There are a ton of great materials out there. As a Christian, these are the ones that helped me the most.
For Books
Sheila Gregoire - The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex
Dr. Douglas E. Rosenau - A Celebration of Sex
Francis & Lisa Chan - You & me forever [I adore this book! Great for the spiritual connection that encourages spouses to be spiritually active]
Kevin Leman - Sheet Music: Uncovering the Secrets of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage [Another I love]
Tim Kimmel - Grace Filled Marriage: The Missing Piece [This helped us both through a rough patch; the timing was perfect for us on this one.]
For blogs
http://forgivenwife.com/ she speaks to my situation & does so far better than I could.
https://www.hotholyhumorous.blogspot.com/ Parker has an amazing talent for dealing w/ women's sexual issues. She is so encouraging.
http://www.the-generous-wife.com/ & www.the-generous-husband.com are both excellent sources of information & encouragement. Paul & Lori also run themarriagebed.com which I am a HUGE fan of. If you follow me on Gab or Twitter, I post/repost about them all the time.
For Sex exploration
http://www.christianfriendlysexpositions.com/ is a great resource for position ideas.
http://www.marriagebed.tips/ gives excellent advice on things to try in bed.
I hope that helps you some. May God heal your relationship & bring insane amounts of pleasure to your marriage bed.
Edit & Update:
Maurine made a great comment on Gab.
“Sometimes it is simple things like good hygiene, doing chores so she has energy. Date nights...“
That is so good. Personally, I craved the emotional connection. I was ok w/ date nights happening infrequently & didn’t mind it being a cheap restaurant & a movie. But now, our monthly date nights are things that I really look forward to because we connect on so many more levels. Also, when hubby does chores off my to do list, that is sexy. :-)
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The Drobo FS inside and out, Part 2: everyday utilize In Part 2 of this top to bottom survey of the Drobo FS, Ars takes a gander at what it's like.
The past portion of this audit looked behind the drape at the enchantment that Drobo does keeping in mind the end goal to give you a chance to have heaps of circles without bunches of administration. That is just fine, however I'm certain you're kicking the bucket to know precisely what it resembles to utilize it.
I requested my Drobo FS from Amazon, exploiting a trial Prime enrollment to get it to me speedier keeping in mind the end goal to satisfy my uncontrolled feeling of entitled consumerism. The machine touched base in an extensive Amazon box, within which was a substantial Drobo-marked box.
Inside that was a case of embellishments, and the Drobo FS itself, which arrived in a pleasant reused texture pack.
Here it is unwrapped, roosted on a table. Its dark cover and featureless face sort of take after Keanu in the notice on the divider behind it.
The bezel is secured attractively to the front of the unit, covering the circle narrows, and on its back it has a sticker which clarifies the implications of the drive straight LEDs. Squinting red is awful.
The rear of the Drobo FS has an on/off switch, a gigabit ethernet port, and an attachment for power. Through the grille you can see the 120mm fumes fan for keeping the works cool.Beneath the removable bezel are the drive narrows. Each straight's plastic cover is spring-stacked and flips internal and up when a drive is embedded, and the sounds have SATA information and power connectors in the back. Drives are embedded and require a touch of weight to situate, and are held immovably both by connector contact and the dark spring cuts on each bay.The Drobo FS accompanies a CD and encourages you to introduce its application before really playing with the equipment, yet as typically happens, the Drobo Dashboard application on it was a rendition outdated, so I pulled the most recent from the Data Robotics site and set it up. At that point I flew in the two Western Digital EARS 2TB drives I'd acquired alongside the Drobo and flipped the thing on.
Boot-up time was about a moment, amid which I was dealt with to a fine light show from the status lights, and after that the gadget told me through the Drobo Dashboard application that it required a firmware refresh. I let it know proceed and it dealt with itself, fiddling for a couple of more minutes and rebooting once more. From that point forward, it was prepared for utilize. I set up a couple shares utilizing the Drobo Dashboard (more on that right away) and began duplicating information from the Windows Home Server that I'd purchased the Drobo to supplant.
I'd done some spring tidying and wound up with around 1.3TB of gathered media to move over. A large portion of it was video (motion pictures and TV), with a couple of gigabytes of documented programming and some photographs and music. The duplicate, lamentably, affirmed one of the general negatives I'd heard in other more established Drobo item audits—the thing is insane simple to utilize, however it's quite recently amazingly moderate.
I saw reliable maintained record exchange velocities of 26-28 MB/sec from the WHS by means of gigabit ethernet, about portion of what I get between my iMac and my WHS for supported exchanges (my work tablet, with a shabby Samsung SSD, can duplicate information from the WHS at ~85MB/sec, which works out to about the maximum irregular managed read speed of the SATA circles in the WHS when representing overhead and an ostensible framework stack).
Along these lines, better believe it, it's moderate. It took an entire day—somewhat under 24 hours—to move over around one and one-thirds terabytes from the Windows Home Server. There were timeframes where the Drobo would drop down to an ingest rate of 1-2 MB/sec for quite a long time at any given moment, additionally stretching the general exchange. I don't generally recognize what the story is on those to a great degree moderate periods, either. Windows Home Server in its pre-Power Pack 1 incarnation would accomplish something comparable, yet that was on account of it had a little "arrival zone" for replicated information to come into, and it would then re-duplicate the information to its repetitive target. The Drobo doesn't have any idea of landing zones or re-duplicated repetition, so its gradualness is brought on by something else.
In the event that I needed to conjecture, I'd say that the Drobo's drowsiness is an immediate consequence of BeyondRAID's messing around in programming at the record level. The Drobo has an ARM processor in it, and it's conceivable that it just doesn't have the drive to do the majority of the vital computations to bolster its hashing and lumping and reflecting and striping any quicker than it as of now is. This is bolstered by the system IO diagrams when duplicating a lot of information to the Drobo—they level. Instead of shooting here and there, the movement chart rises rapidly to the 30MB/s stamp and after that nerves appropriate around there without much critical variety until the duplicate is done.After everything was replicated over, I close down my WHS and yanked everything except its essential plate, then slapped the two 2TB and one 1TB into the Drobo FS, anxious to perceive how much usable limit I'd wind up with and if the additional circles would do anything for the Drobo's speed. One of the 2TB plates which had been impeccably fine in the WHS quickly lit up red, which prompted a couple of hours jabbing and pushing at the thing before choosing that in moving it from the WHS to the Drobo, I'd some way or another broken it. Western Digital's RMA page says the guarantee has lapsed, thus I figured out how to lose 2TB of limit in the move. Grrr.
Amid the time gone through with the unit up until this point, I occurred over my second dissension—in addition to the fact that it was moderate, it's annoyingly uproarious. This is a completely subjective claim, and I don't have a sound meter to really chart the dB the thing puts out, however when sitting on the covered floor around ten feet behind me I could in any case hear it, making a low whoooooooooshing air sound as it worked. I could hear it more than two iMacs, a tablet, my home-assembled WHS, and two different PCs that live in that room. When it was handy to do as such, I moved the Drobo into a storeroom, in light of the fact that the measure of fan and air clamor it produces is startling and disillusioning.
Programming
Like an Airport Extreme, the Drobo FS shuns a customary Web interface for an altered application. I don't know what the heck API Data Robotics used to construct the Drobo Dashboard, yet it's certainly not Cocoa—nonstandard gadgets and catches proliferate, and they even figure out how to blend distinctive catch styles in a solitary window.
The Drobo Dashboard opens up with a skewed detonated pie graph demonstrating the framework's aggregate, accessible, and devoured limit, and the gadget's offers. At the base is a haul out drawer demonstrating the amount of the total limit is being utilized for excess versus accessible for data.Clicking the "Propelled Controls" catch takes you to a two-tab window, with the "Information" tab chose and demonstrating a live chart of the Drobo FS, with exact delineations of the status lights (counting the blue limit markers). Any issues with the thing will appear here, with the virtual status markers coordinating the condition of the physical ones on the crate. This may appear like a little needless excess for a solitary Drobo, yet for a framework manager dealing with numerous containers from a remote area, this sort of visual status reflecting is a welcome feature.The "Instruments" tab yields intriguing choices, including a catch to squint the lights (another helpful capacity in the event that you have different Drobos and you don't know which one you're signed on to right now). The application can likewise be designed to caution you to issues through a few distinct strategies, however the decision of four radio catches is befuddling, best case scenario (there's no sign what sorts of alarms choosing "by means of Growl" will send—this ought to rather be four radio catches and a check box).
The "Settings" catch gets down into the meat of the Drobo's configurable choices. The main tab that opens is "General," which is the place the double circle excess component talked about before in the audit can be empowered here if craved. This gives the Drobo the capacity to survive a couple of circle disappointments rather than only a solitary disappointment, at the cost of limit. For my situation, with 7TB crude and 4.5TB usable, turning on double repetition drops my usable ability to just 2.7TB, so I've abandoned it off. I'd unquestionably consider turning on double repetition in the event that I were running five 2 TB circles, yet the drop in usable space is too high for me with the plates I have presently introduced.
Drive turn down time can be controlled here, however I have the element incapacitated. I've never discovered much use for it and the modest power reserve funds it gives are immaterial contrasted with waiting for your plates to turn up. At long last, this tab likewise contains a checkbox to diminish the thing's lights. They're effortlessly sufficiently brilliant to disturb your rest, so this is a decent choice in case you're anticipating keeping a Drobo in an indistinguishable room from your bed.Next is the system tab. You can give the Drobo a DNS name and give it a workgroup to help with NETBIOS offering to Windows, and after that you can pick DHCP or a static IP address. Out of the crate, the Drobo FS is set to DHCP and will get an address from any server it can find.The administrator tab contains the administrator account name and secret key (clearly), and a checkbox to empower DroboApps. DroboApps are applications that keep running on the Drobo—there are a couple of accessible to give some essential usefulness (two http servers, an uPNP media server, a bittorrent customer, and a couple others), yet I discovered them truly baffling. Neither the Apache nor the lighttpd port give any SSL-TLS usefulness, making them sort of pointless to me for sharing records over the Internet, since I would prefer not to do that decoded. The relative lack of applications is by all accounts on the grounds that the Drobo FS has an ARM processor, and getting doubles gathered for the thing implies getting an ARM toolchain and, on the off chance that you need to do it the correct route, setting up a cross-aggregating condition. We'll get further into DroboApps shortly.The "Shares" tab indicates nearby client records, shares, and the consents for those offers.
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ADA Conference 2011: Product Updates!!
New Post has been published on http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/ada-conference-2011-product-updates/
ADA Conference 2011: Product Updates!!
We're officially conference-weary after running around the San Diego Convention Center for four days of ADA briefings, sessions, meet-ups and expo booth visits. We lugged home loads of material that will surely keep us post-happy here at the 'Mine for weeks. So what was super-new and hot? Spoiler Alert: Not all that much this year.
Our overall impression was that a lot of cool technologies we've already seen are stuck in the holding pen while FDA increasingly drags its feet on the approval process. Grrr.
Case-in-point: Intuity Medical's Pogo all-in-one meter including built-in lancing device and test strip cartridge. I believe this was the third year in a row we oggled the design in the company's booth, yet still nothing to market. It's just a glucose meter, for goodness sake — not some radical new therapy! *sigh*
Anyway, Intuity has had plenty of time to soup up their demo models. Check out this "race car" design:
Also, weirdly, some of last year's hottest prototypes were glaring absent this year. No booth for Debiotech, for example, which wowed us with their Jewel patch pump last year.
Some new stuff we did learn about:
* A company now called Spring (formerly NiliMEDIX) is working on a new "hybrid patch pump" that's kind of wacky, in a good way. It's in development and so far only lightly described on their website, but we snapped a brochure pic, below. The part that attaches to your body will be a "cradle" that allows you to disconnect the "pod" portion (as with the Roche / Medingo Solo pump design). But here's the wacky part: you can also switch to wearing it as a tubed pump whenever you like, just by popping off the "pod" portion and plugging the infusion set right into the cradle connector. Wow!
Look and feel? Currently the "pod" part is a 2x2-inch-looking white square. Yes, a SQUARE — and yes, I told them we don't like to wear sharp corners on our contoured bodies, right? The remote control looks like a slick white iPhone/iPod, complete with a color touch screen and scroll wheel for commands. Also:
the remote control has an integrated glucose monitor
you'll be able to bolus with or without the remote control
you can suspend the pump at the push of a button
the whole thing will be IPX 8 water-tight, which is BIG, and I'll tell you why...
Having taken another look at the Solo patch pump that Roche acquired from Medingo last year (which is still in the holding pen, btw), I discovered that it is NOT WATERPROOF. The Accu-Chek folks claim that in order to make it detachable, the device cannot be completely air sealed. Which means that the advantage of being able to disconnect is offset by the disadvantage that you are FORCED to remove it each time you shower, bathe, or swim. That's bad news, IMHO.
* On Friday, the folks at Spring submitted an application for European CE Mark approval of their "regular" Springâ„¢ Zone Insulin Delivery System, the updated version of their spring-driven insulin pump. We covered the details of this pump last year here.
As a reminder, once approved, the sporty-looking Spring would be the smallest tubed insulin pump on the market. Other advantages the company is touting are: that it doesn't use a motor, but rather draws energy from pressure created via a controlled-release mechanism — and this no-motor approach reportedly makes the system "virtually fail-proof" and very low-cost to manufacture. It also offers a highly sophisticated error sensing and alarm system.
Related to that last bit is the company's new SpringNow Universal Infusion Set, designed for the highest level of error protection. Its proprietary "Detach-Detect" mechanism actually triggers a blocking device that creates an occlusion in case any part of the infusion set base becomes detached from your body. It also features "high-transparency tubing (that) enables visual air-bubble detection." (Yes, I talked to them about the colored tubing idea, too!)
SpringNow is newly FDA approved, and compatible with all standard Luer Lock connectors (pretty much all pumps except Medtronics, which use their own proprietary connector.)
* Roche is also working on a system called the Accu-Chek Combo — a new competitor to the Animas Ping which uses Bluetooth technology to connect the meter and pump. What's special about the Combo is that you can control all pump features from the glucose meter, including basal rates and temp basals. You can also program in preset "add-ons" to your bolus calculations. For example, if you're dosing for a 45-gram-carb muffin and hit your preset "sick" rate, the system would automatically add 20% (or whatever increase you pre-programmed for "sick") to your bolus dose. Sweet! The Combo is not yet approved in the U.S., needless to say.
Roche has a few more pre-approval things up its sleeve, including the FastClix (pictured), an upgrade to the popular MutliClix lancing device, and the Accu-Check Aviva Expert, with a bolus calculator built into the glucose meter — designed for patients on shots. The Expert keeps track of boluses and insulin on board (IOB) too. That one's available in Europe already.
* CellNovo's new mobile-technology-enabled pump system was making a nice splash on display in that company's booth.
Earlier this year we published an in-depth conversation with the CEO, Bill McKeon. We were finally able to get an up-close and personal look at this quasi-patch pump. Why quasi? Because despite the fact that the pump can sit directly on your skin, there is still tubing to a set. In other words, it's almost like a patch pump that's attached to you with tubing.
There's a separate, wireless controller (the cool part that's got people excited), and you can choose to wear the reservoir "patch" portion either hanging off of long, standard tubing, or wear a velcro-like adhesive stuck to your body that will keep this portion in place. With the latter option, you would definitely be wearing two things stuck to your body.
Now, we at the 'Mine had a bit of a debate on this point. Allison, a long-time tubed pump user (Medtronic since 2000), is in favor of having a bit of tubing even if it means having a separate site, in case there's an issue with the insertion, or if the adhesive comes off. But I (Amy) thought it looked kind of like the worst of both worlds: you've got this tiny patch-like pump, but you still need tubing to use it, and your wear options are basically to tape it to your skin, or have it dangling off you with no good clip option that I could see.
CellNovo is still looking at a fall 2011 launch in Europe, but due to regulatory restraints at the FDA that have been discussed ad nauseum, the U.S. launch will be later — by late 2012 if they're lucky. Though at the rate the FDA is going, we wouldn't bet money on it...
* Two new type 2 drugs also seem quite hot.
Cycloset:
Most drugs for people with type 2 focus on the obvious: the pancreas (producer of insulin) or the liver (producer of glucagon). But this new drug from the folks at Rhode-Island-based VeroScience is making an attempt at managing diabetes starting in the brain. Their theory is that it stands to reason that the control center of the body would have some kind of impact on diabetes. They found that people with diabetes have lower levels of dopamine (yep, that feel-good hormone), and that if they could turn it up in the morning, it could have a benefit for people with type 2 throughout the rest of the day. In their clinical trial, people on Cycloset vs. a placebo saw a 1% drop in A1C over a year, and it was shown to be safe for the heart.
The downside: the average dose is between 3.2 mg and 4.8 mg, but the tablets are .8 mg because Cycloset needs to be titrated at an average of one pill a week. That means that by the time you're at the average dose, you're taking anywhere from 4 to 6 pills. They're small, about the size of an Advil, but you have to take all of them at one time at breakfast. Seems like an awful lot to gulp down with your oatmeal every day, or...?
SGLT2 Inhibitors:
This is an entirely new class of drugs that will be hitting the market real soon, we hear. A subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson called Janssen is looking at using the kidney to flush out sugar from the body. What SGLT2's essentially do is force the body to rid itself of the glucose through the kidney, excreting it via urine. One woman at the booth likened these drugs to diuretics in that they use the kidneys to flush sugar. Patients will basically "pee out" the extra sugar. Sounds kind of weird, but apparently it is safe. Janssen's formulation is currently in clinical trials so the reps had sealed lips on any more info about it, but we'll be sure to share more as soon as we hear.
In addition, there were many briefings about data results in closed-loop research (we wish the reality were closer), and some very positive data reported on type 2 patients successfully using CGM systems.
And of course, there was lots of aggressive marketing going on. Like this:
Oh yes, they did.
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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