-Screaming "Simple And Clean" Inside My Motorcycle Helmet While I Wait For The Red Light To Change. These

-Screaming "Simple and Clean" inside my motorcycle helmet while I wait for the red light to change. These past two weeks, phew. KH3 was good, lookin' forward to more.

Never had coworkers who played videogames when Kingdom Hearts all first started, Garwik was the one who was interested in it, I was sort of noncommital. I'd discovered Studio Ghibli in 1997 and was increasingly unimpressed with how cliche and uninspired Disney films seemed comparatively. I'd played a few Square games, but meh? Running around in the stupid derivative media Mouse worlds? For some reason I started playing it anyway, and Riku caught my attention as a character. Yah, yah, the tortured hero schtick.

And it's, what, 17 years later?

It's fun with the internet and social media now; to see everyone talking and sharing and making art and coming up with plot theories. You're all awesome.

I got a Riku hoodie for Xmas, maybe I'll wear it to work next week and see if anyone comments. A couple years back I had a Tevinter Imperium sweatshirt from Dragon Age 3 and one of the actors was like !!! and we both ignored work for five minutes talking about who we romanced, as you do. (DORIAN).

some of you haven’t been playing kh since 2002 and it shows

Don't talk to me, my children, my baby, or my 300 twin siblings ever again.

Lamp maintenance at the Festival Stage!

No, not Osram as a company.

Just their FEL 1k bulbs. And even that seems suspect. I was being fed lines by the technical director, who was being fed lines by all the distributers he was calling.

But across several theatrical supply companies, when he said he needed FELs the response seemed to range from "Hahahah good luck!" to "We deal in Osram brand and we can't sell their FELs in Canada anymore."

Maybe the total energy inefficiency? Or the Chinese anything-goes chemical content? I know we're supposed to turn dead bulbs in for special disposal these days, like batteries.

He managed to find a box of FEL on EBay, out of the back of someone's car trunk probably. But looks like we'll have to drop down to EHG 750w.

Maybe next time he'll order things when the Technician says "We are down to two, get more," instead of leaving it until "We have zero, and a burn out." It's the old "We don't want to spend money on the space" whinging. Great, but when you're also charging people to rent it? I expect to be able to provide them ALL the lights.

My Kingdom (hearts) for an FEL

So apparently the venue fixture lamp bulbs I advised they get more of last October…

Weren’t ordered…

And the supplier can’t get more from Osram?

Because they’re made in China and now they’ve been outlawed?

FEL why you gotta break my heart like this?

Why is 1000W of blinding brilliance so unloved?

We had mandatory swimming lessons in grade 4. I was never comfortable if I couldn't touch bottom. So they try and wean you off that by dragging you over to the deep and and making you tread water. It only made me more terrified. I'd had some bad ear infections at younger ages that had hampered my summer freedom and progression of water skills. My confidence was low, accordingly.

Final test day was swim one lap, do some exercises, tread for a minute, play beach ball water polo in the shallow end, and then, when you've burned out the last of your energy, swim another lap. I didn't want to. I could tell I was burned out. I stalled. I pleaded. The instructors were patiently stern. It wasn't that big a deal. Just get in and it'll be done with. About 1/3 of the way from the deep end wall all my strength gave out. I remember gasping and pawing at the surface and then slipping under with a terrified dismay, and also possibly a little "I told them so!" and then a very panicked life guard was in beside me and pulling me out. So I sat on the edge of the pool and cried, and choked, and coughed, and sputtered, and cried some more, and then they told me... If I didn't finish the lap I couldn't pass, and they needed me to pass.

If I had known how to swear at that age I would have used it to full effect. As it was, I dumbly submitted to 'adult authority' and walked back to the deep end in a daze. THIS time they had the life saver swim next to me the entire distance, offering words of encouragement I was too numb to register. In arms reach, just in case. Just in case I started drowning -again-. That strikes me now as a bit fucked up.

So I made that final lap and climbed out the shallow end ladder and looked over at my classmates sitting on the edge, only to realize this was a whole new group of students. They had sent my class off to get changed, meaning TWO entire classes of children got to watch me nearly drown and then do a lap of shame. The word 'humiliated' isn't strong enough.

Despite all that -

I love swimming? It's just that pesky 'needing to breathe' that ruins everything. So now my default 'near water' pack includes goggles and snorkle. Flippers are amazing because they give me more confidence to go out where I don't know how far away the bottom is, but also bulky.

Garwik and I were camping interior Algonquin Park some years back, we always go at least one portage in. We wanted to swim but I was anxious, so I grabbed a life jacket and tethered it to my waist with a rope, so I had the confidence there was always something I could grab nearby. That proved awkward so I ended up just putting the damn thing on. Garwik thought it looked fun and grabbed his. Next thing we knew we'd dog paddled the entire width of the lake, could rest whenever we needed. Probably looked uncool as hell. And life vests want to flip you in your back so that took some finangleing. But oh well. It was fun!

I guess my point is, there's nothing wrong with recognizing your limitations and having fun within them, or looking like a dork while doing it, especially when the alternative is drowning?

According to the CDC, in 10 percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch the child do it, having no idea it is happening. Drowning does not look like drowning—Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene magazine, described the Instinctive Drowning Response like this:

“Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.

Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble—they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the Instinctive Drowning Response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long—but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

Head low in the water, mouth at water level

Head tilted back with mouth open

Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus

Eyes closed

Hair over forehead or eyes

Not using legs—vertical

Hyperventilating or gasping

Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway

Trying to roll over on the back

Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK—don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you all right?” If they can answer at all—they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents—children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Source/article: [x]

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This sparks with me on a primal level. I had a save file right near the end and would replay the final fights when I was going through a pretty dark time.

Fact: I would replay the entire 25 hours of KH2 just to be able to spend the last 30 minutes looking at Sora and Riku linking up and fist bumping after their link attack.

The person who came up with “Righty tighty, lefty loosy” has had quite the influence on the world as we know it.