Static Age WIP, Track, WWII, Nice Things, Little Girl Hair!!
Did I ever post these? I was looking through 5770 and realized I had forgotten about this piece. I don't plan on finishing it - it took forever to do because this is actually referred to from a photo, so the person is real.. he's from a band called 'A Static Age'. I don't listen to them, but I loved the portraits of the each band member I looked at. They were maybe an inch tall each.
In other news, I have dye in my hair for the second day in a row. Yesterday I re-bleached my roots, and as usual, I didn't get the dye up far enough so.. I'll just say it was bad news, hahah. After track practice I fixed that shit immediately! After I take a shower, I'm going to paint my nails, yayyy.
Track is still kicking my ass in that it makes me tired, but hopefully I'm getting in shape or something. At least now I know I can honestly run at least half a mile! It doesn't sound like a lot, but you try full-on running 800 meters. That shit is exerting.
Yeah I'm definitely slow as hell compared to people who aren't, uh, doing their first year of track. After sixteen years of avoiding running at all costs. Because running is a very love-hate thing - perhaps hate-love is more fitting in most cases. Strangely enough, although I am not fast by any means, my events are currently the 400 (one lap around a track, or one-fourth of a mile) and the 800. Typically, in a meet, the order of these events goes something like: 400 meters, then a brief respite as the 100 meter high hurdles are run, and then the 800 meters. Why is that important? Because it means I pretty much sprint a quarter of a mile to the best of my ability and then have one short event to recover before I run another half a mile. Yes, that does suck in many ways, especially considering I am sooo not a runner at heart (now that's a novel idea), but it is also a good thing to have to run the 400 so soon before because it does wonders for loosening me up to run the 800. Also, by having the two events so close together, I get my part of the meet done rather quickly, which is always good. I think that once I can run a decent mile time (I have no idea what my current one is, but last time I ran one for gym, which was in the beginning of the year, it was under nine minutes, so maybe it's not such a tragesty of a number now..) I'll drop probably the 400 and then do the 1600 (mile) and the 800. But I'll have to see how that goes. The mile is before the 400, so it's not like it's so far away from the 800 and I'd get a lot of time to rest between events. But, I mean, it's kind of amazing to see myself finish some of the things we do in practices and even at the meets and scrimmages, so I know I could at least get the events done, even if not with good times.
As I stated earlier, I'm simply not fast - I'd love to do sprinting events, but I don't think I'm made for it, just like how my legs are simply too short to not have trouble doing hurdles. The one coach, Coach Capone, said that I could do it because my legs are strong, but that it would be difficult, and to be honest I just don't think it would be worth training so hard when I could put that kind of effort into something I'd excell more at. And that even is crazy difficult - it's not only doing a 400, but it's doing a 400 while jumping up really high over fucking hurdles. Yeah, not a big loss on my part at all.. I sometimes wonder that, if I had trained for sprints from the beginning, if I would have become decent at it by now, or if it would have just been fruitless. Whenever I think of sprinting, I think of ninjas flying across the ground or the surface of a lake, and it would have been cool to kind of do that.
I also wanted to try pole vaulting, but the coach I work with, Coach Hagy (I call him Mr. Hagy because he's also a gym teacher, and I've referred to him as that since freshman year), told me to stick with running. I think it's so that I'll work hardest on improving that, which I understand entirely, as I certainly can improve. In my opinion, I'm really not a very good runner, although Katie, who is a crazy good runner (she's been doing this and cross country for three years now and is the reason why I'm doing cross country this coming year; also, the inner parts of the cross country course are beautiful and the dirt path is much easier on the legs than the track) says that I am actually doing quite well considering how I've never run before. One of the nice things about track is forming a sense of camaraderie with the other girls.. for example, we ran one drill where the girls were divided into two halves. One of the halves had to run one-by-one on the track, jogging for 100 meters along the straight portion of it (tracks are typically somewhat oval-shaped with long, straight sides and two curves) and striding the 100-meter curves (striding is like running with really huge strides, and while it is easier to sustain them than full-on sprints, striding for extended periods of times can be fucking beastly). The other half of the girls then went on either side of the inside of the track (that's where our football field is, actually; we're lucky in that our track is in a very grassy location) and cheered the girls on as they went along doing their two laps. It was really nice because, for one, I finally learned everyone's names, and also it was just a nice bonding kind of thing, and it made everyone feel good. I've never been on a sports team, so I'm not sure if that's just a Mr. Hagy kind of activity or if most teams do things like that. That was a fun practice day - we spent the entire time doing neat team exercises like that, and then we had 'laughing exercises' and played games.
There is one girl who is an incredible runner on my team. She's a freshman, and her name is Julia.. she's one of the sweetest girls I've met, and she's tiny and so cute. It's amazing how fast she is! She does distance running, so she's also a cross country runner - I happened to party with her brother once, which is kind of funny. I think that at the last meet we went to, she ran a mile in something like 5:50 (five minute and fifty seconds, which is excellent - most girls strive to get a six-minute mile). And she does the two-mile race on top of that! It's insanity. I love watching her do her events because she kicks ass so hard - the last time I cheered her on, I said, "Julia, I can't even remember what lap you're on because you run so goddamned fast.", haha. For a girl who is skin and bones (but with such a pretty face, I think), she has incredible strength and endurance to be able to push herself so hard. And if she's only a freshman this year, then I can't even imagine how amazing she'll be when she' a senior. How wonderful!
Sometimes, when my legs hurt or when school is over and I would love to just go home instead of wait for practice, I wonder to myself as to why I of all people joined the team - the answer is to get in shape and probably always will be, but besides that, the feeling of accomplishment after the day is done and now having that nice feeling of being part of a team you like make it very much worth it. To deal with the pain, I try to take ice baths as much as possible. An ice bath is when you stand around mid-thigh-deep (I try to go in as much as possible without getting my underwear wet) in really cold, whirlpooled water in order to stave off soreness of the legs.. I go in for about fifteen minutes and try to keep the water temperature to fifty degrees. Most people don't like ice baths because, uh, you're standing in fucking freezing water that makes your legs red and numb, but I actually love taking them. If I could stay late after practice every day I would take one each time without question. I haven't taken one in about a week now, and it makes me uneasy - I don't want to be sore. I actually have a meet tomorrow, so although I'm slightly sore now, I will make it through that and hopefully recuperate after. Runners are supposed to ice themselves regularly, whether by ice bath or by simply holding a bag of ice to your knees or whatever else is sore, and I haven't done either for days now.
So, that's what takes up so much of time now.. it's nice because I know that if I came home, I'd just fuck around instead of get good exercise and doing something challenging and new. Although my legs wouldn't nearly as tight, haha. My philosophy on that is, once I can't do splits, that's when I'll get worried. I didn't realize that I was so alarmingly flexible until I started getting a lot of comments about it from girls on the team. It's strange.. I didn't dance or anything (I should have, though), and I only did gymnastics when I was younger. Maybe doing Tae Kwon Do did it? I don't think so, but maybe doing high kicks and things of that nature helped perhaps slightly? I miss my old instructor (we called him Master Lee) - he was really quite an incredible man, and we were very close with him. Our attendance to the school eventually tapered out to not going anymore, and then we moved.. I would love to visit him, but that drop in commitment makes me feel guilty, even though I was really young when we stopped going and it's hard to hold it against me in that light. I actually wouldn't mind taking those classes again, even though I'd have to re-learn all of my forms. I'd be willing to demote myself from a black belt in order to re-earn my way to that point again; it's only right, as you shouldn't just hold onto that privlege for status.. what a shallow, dishonorable idea, really.
Brandon and I talked about World War II last night, and it was really quite fascinating. I honestly do like history - I'm sure that if I had learned about whigs and Jeffersonian democracy and James Madison's plans for the American banking systems in a different way than I had last year, it would have been entirely more interesting. I love my class this year, especially since we're on more current topics such as the World Wars and now the Vietnam War. We have a seperate book that we use at times regarding the Vietnam War. It's somewhat strange to see all of these Vietnamese names.. it gives me a feeling that I can't quite describe. I don't have any reason to feel connected to anything Vietnamese except for my bloodline, but I do get some kind of feeling when reading about what happened and about the people involved. It makes me think of my father and how there are worlds about him I don't know. I learned a lot about him when researching his side of the family for the family tree project I had last year, and not only about just who was who regarding family members, but about his story of what happened to him when he left Vietnam and the events that followed after.
Something about WWII interests me greatly. It started when we studied it very lightly when we read Hiroshima in the 8th grade. I was fortunate to have an excellent teacher (I'd love to go visit her as well) for that period of time, as she was very intelligent and made me interested in her class by not providing fluffy lessons but lessons with substance. That book is still one of my favorites, even though it makes me sad (Hiroshima was, after all, a terribly sad event). I already had a much more expansive knowledge of WWII than my other classmates did because I grew up with a brother who watched the History Channel, but I learned more on my own as we read that book. I spent a lot of time learning about concentration camps from looking at many, many, many websites online - the wonderful thing about the Internet is this wealth of information, even if a good deal of it should be taken with caution. And what is also wonderful about the Internet is how easy it is to find images to enhance the text you can read. That's part of what spurred me to keep learning about concentration camps. Learning about them branched to learning about other issues that are linked to WWII, such as the A-bomb. I loved looking at pictures of mushroom clouds - they is something terrible about them that demands silence and, though respect is not the word I want, it is the first that comes to mind. It is like seeing something horrible in a person that, in a certain way, makes them beautiful because it makes them human. Hopefully that is not too abstract a statement.
Also, hearing my boyfriend talk about the reasons why he finds Erwin Rommel (one of the most skillfull military commanders like ever, also called the Desert Fox) interesting and hearing him tell me in detail about the tactics he used in North Africa (which earned him that nickname) and about how Patton (Allied military leader) finally figured him out was honestly one of the most alluring things I can imagine. Brandon has a really nice speaking voice to begin with, but to be captivated by an intelligent and refreshingly erudite conversation for over an hour was like a reminder of how extremely fortunate I am to have randomly found someone who I find almost painfully sexy for reasons that have nothing to do with his appearance (I got lucky in that respect as well, though; I'm just a very lucky girl, really). I love that I don't feel as if I am the intellectual or 'deep' one; I feel matched. I like being with someone who can write well and who writes things with substance, something that reflects a person who has a gravity that draws me, rather than someone who only floats with me. And yet he also likes Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It is interesting, to see the parallels between that and how I can't stop myself from constantly thinking and reflecting and composing and feeling alive in some way, while still having things like dancing pastries and childish noises and outrageous, offbeat comments bubble forth from my head. I don't know if it is more accurate to describe me as a thinker who is playful or a playful person who thinks, but to be with someone who is at least something like that (it would probably be exhausting to be with someone as playful as I am, let alone if they were unpredictable about it) is fulfilling without having to make it so. And of all the wars to talk about, to have WWII be the one to display this is almost unbearable in that I live so far away and can't act on such felicity. I suppose you can't have your cake and eat it, too. Life is just a big cake nazi, I swear.
Yesterday my brain was raped violently, as I had an exam in everything but history and creative writing (but had a project due in creative writing, ugh!). I honestly had a headache by the time my final exam, a French one about pronouns that makes my soul shudder, was finally over. And then I had practice on top of that! We've had two easier days in a row since we had a meet on Tuesday and one tomorrow; after that I am hoping it's back to normal, because, like I said, I joined track to get in shape, haha.
Spring needs to make up its mind as to whether or not it wants to stay or go. And if it does stay, I demand that it stop bringing cold winds and rain, because I spend time outside now, damnit. The weather for the meet tomorrow (in the morning) is going to be unpleasant, I can just tell. Ugh.
I don't know if I will be massacred for my report card this marking period, but then again, it's been like that every marking period since freshman year, so I don't think it even matters at this point. I had a fantastic quiz average in math, but the test one was ugly and brought my grade down like ten points. So lame! It's strange; you'd think if I can do the quizzes and gets hundreds consecutively that I could do decently on the tests. Not the case, it seems.. though, I was one of the only two people who solved a particular puzzle he had on the board today, out of all of his students. That's so awesome. I did it because the prize was a bottle of Gatorade, which I wanted badly because we had a half day, which meant my food for the day was Cheez-Its and granola bars and an apple. I needed something refreshing, and, honestly, what isn't refreshing about lemon-lime Gatorade? I personally prefer fruit punch flavor above anything, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm just glad I figured out the puzzle. He showed the class how to solve it on the board before I finished, and I covered my head and didn't look up because I was fucking determined to solve that bitch. Did I ever!
If this took up half of anyone's friends page, I... don't feel the slightest bit of remorse. That's what the scroll bar is for, after all. Although I do understand how terribly exhausting it is to have to move your finger around a few times. Really. I haven't even posted in ages anyway.
To finish:
In other news, I have dye in my hair for the second day in a row. Yesterday I re-bleached my roots, and as usual, I didn't get the dye up far enough so.. I'll just say it was bad news, hahah. After track practice I fixed that shit immediately! After I take a shower, I'm going to paint my nails, yayyy.
Track is still kicking my ass in that it makes me tired, but hopefully I'm getting in shape or something. At least now I know I can honestly run at least half a mile! It doesn't sound like a lot, but you try full-on running 800 meters. That shit is exerting.
Yeah I'm definitely slow as hell compared to people who aren't, uh, doing their first year of track. After sixteen years of avoiding running at all costs. Because running is a very love-hate thing - perhaps hate-love is more fitting in most cases. Strangely enough, although I am not fast by any means, my events are currently the 400 (one lap around a track, or one-fourth of a mile) and the 800. Typically, in a meet, the order of these events goes something like: 400 meters, then a brief respite as the 100 meter high hurdles are run, and then the 800 meters. Why is that important? Because it means I pretty much sprint a quarter of a mile to the best of my ability and then have one short event to recover before I run another half a mile. Yes, that does suck in many ways, especially considering I am sooo not a runner at heart (now that's a novel idea), but it is also a good thing to have to run the 400 so soon before because it does wonders for loosening me up to run the 800. Also, by having the two events so close together, I get my part of the meet done rather quickly, which is always good. I think that once I can run a decent mile time (I have no idea what my current one is, but last time I ran one for gym, which was in the beginning of the year, it was under nine minutes, so maybe it's not such a tragesty of a number now..) I'll drop probably the 400 and then do the 1600 (mile) and the 800. But I'll have to see how that goes. The mile is before the 400, so it's not like it's so far away from the 800 and I'd get a lot of time to rest between events. But, I mean, it's kind of amazing to see myself finish some of the things we do in practices and even at the meets and scrimmages, so I know I could at least get the events done, even if not with good times.
As I stated earlier, I'm simply not fast - I'd love to do sprinting events, but I don't think I'm made for it, just like how my legs are simply too short to not have trouble doing hurdles. The one coach, Coach Capone, said that I could do it because my legs are strong, but that it would be difficult, and to be honest I just don't think it would be worth training so hard when I could put that kind of effort into something I'd excell more at. And that even is crazy difficult - it's not only doing a 400, but it's doing a 400 while jumping up really high over fucking hurdles. Yeah, not a big loss on my part at all.. I sometimes wonder that, if I had trained for sprints from the beginning, if I would have become decent at it by now, or if it would have just been fruitless. Whenever I think of sprinting, I think of ninjas flying across the ground or the surface of a lake, and it would have been cool to kind of do that.
I also wanted to try pole vaulting, but the coach I work with, Coach Hagy (I call him Mr. Hagy because he's also a gym teacher, and I've referred to him as that since freshman year), told me to stick with running. I think it's so that I'll work hardest on improving that, which I understand entirely, as I certainly can improve. In my opinion, I'm really not a very good runner, although Katie, who is a crazy good runner (she's been doing this and cross country for three years now and is the reason why I'm doing cross country this coming year; also, the inner parts of the cross country course are beautiful and the dirt path is much easier on the legs than the track) says that I am actually doing quite well considering how I've never run before. One of the nice things about track is forming a sense of camaraderie with the other girls.. for example, we ran one drill where the girls were divided into two halves. One of the halves had to run one-by-one on the track, jogging for 100 meters along the straight portion of it (tracks are typically somewhat oval-shaped with long, straight sides and two curves) and striding the 100-meter curves (striding is like running with really huge strides, and while it is easier to sustain them than full-on sprints, striding for extended periods of times can be fucking beastly). The other half of the girls then went on either side of the inside of the track (that's where our football field is, actually; we're lucky in that our track is in a very grassy location) and cheered the girls on as they went along doing their two laps. It was really nice because, for one, I finally learned everyone's names, and also it was just a nice bonding kind of thing, and it made everyone feel good. I've never been on a sports team, so I'm not sure if that's just a Mr. Hagy kind of activity or if most teams do things like that. That was a fun practice day - we spent the entire time doing neat team exercises like that, and then we had 'laughing exercises' and played games.
There is one girl who is an incredible runner on my team. She's a freshman, and her name is Julia.. she's one of the sweetest girls I've met, and she's tiny and so cute. It's amazing how fast she is! She does distance running, so she's also a cross country runner - I happened to party with her brother once, which is kind of funny. I think that at the last meet we went to, she ran a mile in something like 5:50 (five minute and fifty seconds, which is excellent - most girls strive to get a six-minute mile). And she does the two-mile race on top of that! It's insanity. I love watching her do her events because she kicks ass so hard - the last time I cheered her on, I said, "Julia, I can't even remember what lap you're on because you run so goddamned fast.", haha. For a girl who is skin and bones (but with such a pretty face, I think), she has incredible strength and endurance to be able to push herself so hard. And if she's only a freshman this year, then I can't even imagine how amazing she'll be when she' a senior. How wonderful!
Sometimes, when my legs hurt or when school is over and I would love to just go home instead of wait for practice, I wonder to myself as to why I of all people joined the team - the answer is to get in shape and probably always will be, but besides that, the feeling of accomplishment after the day is done and now having that nice feeling of being part of a team you like make it very much worth it. To deal with the pain, I try to take ice baths as much as possible. An ice bath is when you stand around mid-thigh-deep (I try to go in as much as possible without getting my underwear wet) in really cold, whirlpooled water in order to stave off soreness of the legs.. I go in for about fifteen minutes and try to keep the water temperature to fifty degrees. Most people don't like ice baths because, uh, you're standing in fucking freezing water that makes your legs red and numb, but I actually love taking them. If I could stay late after practice every day I would take one each time without question. I haven't taken one in about a week now, and it makes me uneasy - I don't want to be sore. I actually have a meet tomorrow, so although I'm slightly sore now, I will make it through that and hopefully recuperate after. Runners are supposed to ice themselves regularly, whether by ice bath or by simply holding a bag of ice to your knees or whatever else is sore, and I haven't done either for days now.
So, that's what takes up so much of time now.. it's nice because I know that if I came home, I'd just fuck around instead of get good exercise and doing something challenging and new. Although my legs wouldn't nearly as tight, haha. My philosophy on that is, once I can't do splits, that's when I'll get worried. I didn't realize that I was so alarmingly flexible until I started getting a lot of comments about it from girls on the team. It's strange.. I didn't dance or anything (I should have, though), and I only did gymnastics when I was younger. Maybe doing Tae Kwon Do did it? I don't think so, but maybe doing high kicks and things of that nature helped perhaps slightly? I miss my old instructor (we called him Master Lee) - he was really quite an incredible man, and we were very close with him. Our attendance to the school eventually tapered out to not going anymore, and then we moved.. I would love to visit him, but that drop in commitment makes me feel guilty, even though I was really young when we stopped going and it's hard to hold it against me in that light. I actually wouldn't mind taking those classes again, even though I'd have to re-learn all of my forms. I'd be willing to demote myself from a black belt in order to re-earn my way to that point again; it's only right, as you shouldn't just hold onto that privlege for status.. what a shallow, dishonorable idea, really.
Brandon and I talked about World War II last night, and it was really quite fascinating. I honestly do like history - I'm sure that if I had learned about whigs and Jeffersonian democracy and James Madison's plans for the American banking systems in a different way than I had last year, it would have been entirely more interesting. I love my class this year, especially since we're on more current topics such as the World Wars and now the Vietnam War. We have a seperate book that we use at times regarding the Vietnam War. It's somewhat strange to see all of these Vietnamese names.. it gives me a feeling that I can't quite describe. I don't have any reason to feel connected to anything Vietnamese except for my bloodline, but I do get some kind of feeling when reading about what happened and about the people involved. It makes me think of my father and how there are worlds about him I don't know. I learned a lot about him when researching his side of the family for the family tree project I had last year, and not only about just who was who regarding family members, but about his story of what happened to him when he left Vietnam and the events that followed after.
Something about WWII interests me greatly. It started when we studied it very lightly when we read Hiroshima in the 8th grade. I was fortunate to have an excellent teacher (I'd love to go visit her as well) for that period of time, as she was very intelligent and made me interested in her class by not providing fluffy lessons but lessons with substance. That book is still one of my favorites, even though it makes me sad (Hiroshima was, after all, a terribly sad event). I already had a much more expansive knowledge of WWII than my other classmates did because I grew up with a brother who watched the History Channel, but I learned more on my own as we read that book. I spent a lot of time learning about concentration camps from looking at many, many, many websites online - the wonderful thing about the Internet is this wealth of information, even if a good deal of it should be taken with caution. And what is also wonderful about the Internet is how easy it is to find images to enhance the text you can read. That's part of what spurred me to keep learning about concentration camps. Learning about them branched to learning about other issues that are linked to WWII, such as the A-bomb. I loved looking at pictures of mushroom clouds - they is something terrible about them that demands silence and, though respect is not the word I want, it is the first that comes to mind. It is like seeing something horrible in a person that, in a certain way, makes them beautiful because it makes them human. Hopefully that is not too abstract a statement.
Also, hearing my boyfriend talk about the reasons why he finds Erwin Rommel (one of the most skillfull military commanders like ever, also called the Desert Fox) interesting and hearing him tell me in detail about the tactics he used in North Africa (which earned him that nickname) and about how Patton (Allied military leader) finally figured him out was honestly one of the most alluring things I can imagine. Brandon has a really nice speaking voice to begin with, but to be captivated by an intelligent and refreshingly erudite conversation for over an hour was like a reminder of how extremely fortunate I am to have randomly found someone who I find almost painfully sexy for reasons that have nothing to do with his appearance (I got lucky in that respect as well, though; I'm just a very lucky girl, really). I love that I don't feel as if I am the intellectual or 'deep' one; I feel matched. I like being with someone who can write well and who writes things with substance, something that reflects a person who has a gravity that draws me, rather than someone who only floats with me. And yet he also likes Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It is interesting, to see the parallels between that and how I can't stop myself from constantly thinking and reflecting and composing and feeling alive in some way, while still having things like dancing pastries and childish noises and outrageous, offbeat comments bubble forth from my head. I don't know if it is more accurate to describe me as a thinker who is playful or a playful person who thinks, but to be with someone who is at least something like that (it would probably be exhausting to be with someone as playful as I am, let alone if they were unpredictable about it) is fulfilling without having to make it so. And of all the wars to talk about, to have WWII be the one to display this is almost unbearable in that I live so far away and can't act on such felicity. I suppose you can't have your cake and eat it, too. Life is just a big cake nazi, I swear.
Yesterday my brain was raped violently, as I had an exam in everything but history and creative writing (but had a project due in creative writing, ugh!). I honestly had a headache by the time my final exam, a French one about pronouns that makes my soul shudder, was finally over. And then I had practice on top of that! We've had two easier days in a row since we had a meet on Tuesday and one tomorrow; after that I am hoping it's back to normal, because, like I said, I joined track to get in shape, haha.
Spring needs to make up its mind as to whether or not it wants to stay or go. And if it does stay, I demand that it stop bringing cold winds and rain, because I spend time outside now, damnit. The weather for the meet tomorrow (in the morning) is going to be unpleasant, I can just tell. Ugh.
I don't know if I will be massacred for my report card this marking period, but then again, it's been like that every marking period since freshman year, so I don't think it even matters at this point. I had a fantastic quiz average in math, but the test one was ugly and brought my grade down like ten points. So lame! It's strange; you'd think if I can do the quizzes and gets hundreds consecutively that I could do decently on the tests. Not the case, it seems.. though, I was one of the only two people who solved a particular puzzle he had on the board today, out of all of his students. That's so awesome. I did it because the prize was a bottle of Gatorade, which I wanted badly because we had a half day, which meant my food for the day was Cheez-Its and granola bars and an apple. I needed something refreshing, and, honestly, what isn't refreshing about lemon-lime Gatorade? I personally prefer fruit punch flavor above anything, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm just glad I figured out the puzzle. He showed the class how to solve it on the board before I finished, and I covered my head and didn't look up because I was fucking determined to solve that bitch. Did I ever!
If this took up half of anyone's friends page, I... don't feel the slightest bit of remorse. That's what the scroll bar is for, after all. Although I do understand how terribly exhausting it is to have to move your finger around a few times. Really. I haven't even posted in ages anyway.
To finish: