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Eastern RPG
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What was the start of all this? When did the cogs of fate begin to turn? Perhaps it is impossible to grasp that answer now, from deep within the flow of time...
Chrono Cross, a Role-Playing Game developed by Square for the PlayStation, is the follow-up to Chrono Trigger. More specifically, it is a remake, or re-imagining, or sequel (sort of—it's confusing) to Radical Dreamers, a Visual Novel based on the Chrono 'verse.
The story revolves around Serge, a village boy who accidentally blunders into an Alternate Dimension while trying to get a gift for his sweetheart. This other world is mostly similar to his own, but has a number of very important differences. For starters, in the other world, he's dead. This scenario leads to Serge trying to learn why he's so important to both timelines, getting dragged along on an adventure by a certain pugnacious Aussie girl, mastering the art of dimension-hopping between his Home World and Another World, and, just maybe, saving all of space and time.
There's much more, including a scythe-wielding cat-man with a personal interest in Serge, an ambiguously aligned harlequin, dragon knights, pirates, a Mexican wrestler, cyborgs, musicians who fight with The Power of Rock, dragons, robots, a masked magician, dinosaurs, an undead clown, aliens, a living turnip, and a grand total of 45 playable characters. There isn't room on the page for the charts and diagrams necessary to explain all the tangled plots and overlapping schemes going on.
Chrono Cross is finally available on the PSN for those who missed the game the first time around. There were rumors of a sequel when Square registered a trademark for the term Chrono Break, but it has since faded into Vaporware.
Tropes used in Chrono Cross include:
Aborted Arc: There is speculation that the game was originally intended to contain a subplot going into greater depth about Serge's role as the Arbiter of the Frozen Flame. More generally, the game itself is widely suspected to have been rushed and incomplete in its later stages of development, which would why many major plot threads are resolved only in the form of a Info Dump right before the final battle that was added for the North American version of the game.
Actually a Doombot: The first battle with Lynx.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: FATE.
Alien Sky: Dual moons, one white and one red. Oddly, both Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers only have one.
Somewhat Justified in that the Second Moon came into existence when Dinopolis was pulled into the world during the Time Crash.
All Myths Are True: Subverted; some of the legends you hear early in the game about the Frozen Flame and the Dragon Gods turn out to be perversions of the truth, if not outright falsities. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of making the game's already dense narrative even more confusing.
All There in the Manual: If you haven't played Chrono Trigger, the plot will make even less sense. If you have played Chrono Trigger... well... um... you'll recognize some of the characters? The DS remake of Chrono Trigger has some added content that reinforces the link between the two games, however.
Always Check Behind the Chair: All over the place.
Always Save the Girl: The player has the option to choose Harle when she asks him to choose the world or her: if he picks her, she laughs and says she knows he's lying. Subverted in what looks like a But Thou Must! situation involving Kid early in the game—the player can confess he isn't sure he can save the girl, leading to a different branch of the plot than if they jump at the chance to rescue her.
Angst Coma: Kid enters one after dicking about with the Frozen Flame.
Another Dimension: The beginning of the game revolves around the main character being pulled from his "Home World" to "Another World", an alternate timeline where he's been dead for ten years.
Anti-Grinding: It's impossible to Level Grind, meaning you also can't just level up to burst through difficult boss fights. Your characters do get stat gains, but they're directly linked to plot progression and gaining "stars", which expands their element grid, for completing boss fights.
Arbitrary Headcount Limit: In a game with 45 playable characters, you're only allowed three in battle, and one of them must always be the main character, except in New Game+ where you can replace him.
Armor-Piercing Slap: Leena and Macha both have one as a Tech. So does Pierre.
Artifact of Doom: The Frozen Flame is the main one, but the Masamune also counts.
Ascended Fridge Horror: When Marle is temporarily removed from the timestream early in Chrono Trigger, she's still alive and conscious in some sort of void. Chrono Cross explores the implications of changing the timestream and condemning people to that void.
Ass Kicks You: One of Macha's Techs.
Attract Mode: Featuring The Dream That Time Dreams.
Awesome but Impractical: Summon Elements require you to convert the entire field to their alignment color before use, making them an more trouble than they're worth if you're just trying to kill things. The various "field" spells (which turn the entire field the appropriate color instantly) make casting summons a lot easier, but neither black nor white have one. What they are useful for is turning enemies into "shiny" items needed to create the best equipment in the game... even if that's not anything like necessary to actually beat the game.
Bad Moon Rising: The theme of Harle's techs. Belthazar later exposes her as the Dark Moon Dragon.
Badass Family: Fargo's family (consisting of the man himself, his children Nikki and Marcy, and his sister-in-law Irenes) make up one very badass family.
Badass Normal: Miguel, and arguably anyone on your party who was just a peasant before joining you.
Baleful Polymorph: Sneff turns Serge and co. into cats during a magic trick.
BGM Override: Several times.
The game's opening Dream Sequence has a slightly altered version of "Between Life and Death", the Battle Theme Music for Boss Battles playing the entire time.
The song "Prisoners of Fate" plays during Miguel's Exposition Break in the Dead Sea, and then continues during the Boss Battle with him.
The Marbule sequence has the song "Magical Dreamers ~ The Wind, Stars, and Waves" overriding the normal music. Makes sense, as it's Source Music being played by Nikki and his band at the time.
"Orphan of Flame" plays throughout the entire burning orphanage scene.
Big Bad Ensemble: The Dragonians and FATE. With the added twist that the latter is a Necessary Evil for the preservation of humans.
Bonus Boss: Dario can be fought as one, as can Ozzie, Flea, and Slash (Magus' lackeys from Chrono Trigger). The Criosphynx on Earth Dragon Isle is one that doubles as a Puzzle Boss.
Boss Corridor: A pleasant example on Sky Dragon Isle: a long stairway decorated with greenery and plant life. Later revisited as Terra Tower, with ghastly faces in place of the vines.
Boss in Mook Clothing: The Beebas the first time you fight them. The game doesn't recognize them as a boss, but there are five of them, they will attack you between your attacks, and have around 300 HP (very high at that point in the game).
Bragging Rights Reward: Getting all the playable characters. It requires you to play the game three times on the same file via New Game+, and you can't actually get the characters from previous playthroughs back until near the end of the game anyway.
But Thou Must!: Notably averted with Kid, who you never actually have to recruit despite being a main character. She'll show up independent of the party at plot-important moments. Played for Laughs if/when you recruit Nikki; he offers to play a song for you, and your possible responses are "No thanks", "Nah", and "Maybe later".
Canis Latinicus: The game translates "where angels lose their way" as "Angelus Errare". In fact, that phrase is not conjugated or declined. The correct translation would be "Quo angeli errant".
Can't Drop the Hero: Until New Game+, that is, but his overworld model would not be replaced.
Catch Phrase: Peppor replaces his verbs with "shake" and Solt repeats his adverbs and adjectives (eg, "truly true" or "perfectly perfect").
Cerebus Retcon: Chrono Cross acts as one to Chrono Trigger as a whole as part of its Deconstruction of Trigger's Time Travel storyline. In short, it explores the questions of what happens to timelines that are eliminated by time travel, an issue raised only briefly in Trigger.
Character Filibuster: This was scriptwriter Masato Kato's Magnum Opus, and it shows.
Character Level: Notably averted, and in a JRPG at that. Rather than using XP and levels, characters just gain raw stat points from enemies, and get more slots for elements from defeating bosses. See Anti-Grinding, above.
The Chessmaster: Quite a few, but Belthasar probably takes the cake.
Cloning Blues: When it's revealed that Kid is Schala's "daughter-clone", she's unwilling to accept it at first. How it's resolved depends on your interpretation of the game's Gainax Ending.
Color-Coded Elements: Inverted; the colors are the elements. Red incorporates fire and magma, blue is water and ice, yellow is earth and lightning, green is wind and plants, black is darkness and gravity, and white is light and meteors.
Combination Attack: There are many, although they are actually much rarer in practice than in Chrono Trigger, mainly due to the game's Loads and Loads of Characters.
The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The rules imposed on the player for combat don't apply to the enemy—they can basically do whatever they want. In addition, the success percentages given for your physical attacks are quite difficult to believe; prepare to miss frequently if the percentage is anywhere below 85%. This is especially blatant in the monster arena Mini Game.
Contemplate Our Navels: Given that much of the game revolves around the nature of time, reality, and existence, it was sort of inevitable.
Cosmetic Award: One of the things you can find is a collection of new skins for dialog boxes.
Creepy Child: The Ghost Children.
Cruelty Is the Only Option: The requirements for Razzly's Lv. 7 Tech is to pick all of the bad outcomes in the Hydra Marshes—bump off the Hydra, allow the Hydra's offspring to be stillborn, and let Razzly's sister die.
Dark Reprise: Both versions of Arni Village use the same melody. However, Another Arni's melancholy theme reflects the sadness of Serge's absence.
Darker and Edgier: Compared to the endlessly upbeat optimism of Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross's story, in which the characters are often suffer through confusion, anger, and despair, comes off as such, despite its colorful, hand-painted visuals and character designs. Fans are split on whether or not this worked in the game's favor.
Defeat Means Friendship: How Grobyc joins your party.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: You can choose to simply punch out the Time Devourer, but he gets better. Which is bad. The right way to defeat him is... a little more complicated.
Disc One Final Boss: Three times, in conjunction with the three Disc One Final Dungeons mentioned below: Lynx, FATE, and The Dragon God.
Disc One Nuke: Several sidequests, minigames, and hard-to-find items count.
Before entering Viper Manor, you can get the Profiteer's Purse from Gogh's house. Then you can either use it to increase gold drops for the rest of the game, or dismantle it for 3 copper and 3 iron (the latter of which is very powerful at that point in the game).
A bit later on, in Viper Manor, a minigame involving the care and feeding of dragons nets you a piece of iron equipment if you get the best result... and you can just keep trying until you win.
You can easily acquire Serge's Mastermune way sooner than you're supposed to be able to by exploiting a bit of Artificial Stupidity on the part of the boss you have to fight to get it.
Distress Ball: Kid catches it a few times, although her clearly-established impulsive nature makes it slightly easier to swallow.
Don't Think, Feel: The advice given to the sailor guy played by Nikki in his concert/pretentious Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe skit, in order to play the song of Marbule.
Downer Ending: The main ending is actually not a downer ending in the least, but a number of the bonus endings are.
Dragon Rider: The Acacian Dragoons.
Dressing as the Enemy: At Viper Manor.
Dual-Wielding: Glenn uses the legendary sword Einlanzer for his ultimate weapon... and can also retrieve its alternate-timeline counterpart and use them both at once.
Dual World Gameplay: One goes between parallel worlds although there was only one point at which you could travel between them, and you didn't receive the ability to do so until late in the game. Despite being parallel worlds, one side could affect the other e.g. cooling scorched ground on an island in one world allows plant life to grow in the other world.
Dub-Induced Plot Hole: The penultimate boss, the Dragon God, is labelled "Time Devourer" in the North American release. Given that the Time Devourer is the True Final Boss and the relationship between the two isn't exactly obvious, this just makes the already confusing story even more so.
Easing Into the Adventure: Serge's bossy girlfriend wants him to make her a scale necklace.
Eldritch Abomination: The Time Devourer.
Eldritch Location: The Darkness Beyond Time, and probably the Dead Sea as well.
Elemental Crafting: The weapon forging system ranks.
Everyone Is a Tomato: The people of El Nido are the descendants of scientists from Chronopolis. On an even grander scale, Home World is a splintered reality, and thus the false one.
Evil Versus Evil: Chronopolis vs. the Terra Tower, in the game's distant past.
Evil Is Not a Toy: The Frozen Flame.
Expy: More than a few, as may be expected of a game with Loads and Loads of Characters.
Glenn, a young greenish-grey-haired knight named for and modeled after the human form of Frog from Chrono Trigger. Like his namesake, he emerges from obscurity, claims a legendary sword, and generally kicks ass and takes names. He can even initiate Frog's X-Strike Dual Tech with Serge.
Guile is a complicated case. Based on Magil from Radical Dreamers, who turns out to be Magus from Chrono Trigger keeping an eye on his sister, that part of Guile's backstory was dropped during development but the Expy-ness remained. Then the DS remake of Chrono Trigger implies that Guile is an amnesiatic, alternate dimension Magus. Word of God states that Guile is neither Magil nor Magus, bringing us full circle.
Leah is also an Expy of Ayla. Beating the game with Leah in your party implies that she is actually Ayla's mother. Yay for time travel?
Extranormal Institute: Chronopolis fits the bill.
Family-Unfriendly Violence: Kid's stabbing scene is probably enough to give most younger players nightmares. Even the writer expressed concern that the scene may have been too intense.
Fan Service: Serge's naked scene. It even has a good shot of his bare butt. Kid, Orlha, and Janice (a bunny-girl) also probably count in general.
Fantastic Racism: Humans and Demi-Humans do not get along, and players will experience that firsthand from both sides.
Fate Worse Than Death: The Abyss Beyond Time, where everyone from a no-longer valid timeline rots for eternity. Yes, that includes everyone from the Bad Future that the cast of Chrono Trigger rendered null by stopping Lavos. Ouch.
Fetal Position Rebirth: Serge's rebirth in human form, complete with floating in a giant bubble of unexplained fluid as he rapidly grows from infancy to his actual age before waking up.
Field Power Effect: The colors in the field.
Fighting Your Friend:
Serge/Lynx versus Kid at the top of Fort Dragonia.
The boss battles against Miguel and Dario.
Flying Saucer: And it's plot-relevant, to boot.
Forbidden Zone: The Dead Sea.
Foreshadowing: When the Dead Sea is destroyed, ribbons of flame emerge from three triangular spots on the water. These spots correspond to Chronopolis's isles in the mirror dimension.
For Want of a Nail: Serge's presence (or lack thereof) is the driving force in the differences between Home and Another world.
Funetik Aksent: Practically every character, due to disc space limitations—rather than write out every character's dialogue for every possible situation, the programmers wrote algorithms for different verbal tics. An almost-tidy way to make different characters speak differently.
Fusion Dance: The Time Devourer is a fusion of Schala and Lavos. And the Dragon Gods fuse once FATE falls.
Gaia's Vengeance: The dragon gods are quite interested in dishing this out—once they're in a position to do so, anyway.
Gainax Ending: No surprise here, as Masato Kato did work for Gainax previously. The game's final Cutscene shows the Time Devourer is defeated, you merged the worlds together again, and... now there's a girl running around Tokyo? Yea, good luck figuring that out. One of the developers has since explained that this ending is intended to make players "think about the reality of their own world", and that part of the ending is to make the player think that there might be a Kid in their world. Presumably a reference to the game's themes of alternate dimensions and such.
Gambit Pileup: There's at least half a dozen plans working at cross purposes throughout the game. In rough order of Unwitting Pawn-ness: the Arcadia Dragoons and Porre are trying to Out Gambit one another via Lynx, who is actually trying to break the restrictions on FATE, while the dragon gods manipulate Serge, so that he'll free them by killing FATE, all of which was part of a plan by the Prophet of Time meant to result in the final defeat of the Time Devourer.
Genre Deconstruction: Of time travel. Particularly the time travel in Chrono Trigger. CC asks the question "what happens to the people of a changed timeline?", and rips right into it.
Ghost Ship: Subverted then played straight. While sailing through dense fog, the party runs across a ship rumored to be a ghost ship, but turns out to be a pirate vessel using the legend to its advantage. The pirates are then attacked by an actual ghost ship.
Giant Wall of Watery Doom: The Dead Sea was in the middle of getting pummeled by these when it froze.
God Guise: The inhabitants of El Nido seek guidance from the Goddess of Fate, going so far as to directly ask for advice from the aptly-named "Records of Fate". Little do they suspect that they're actually communing with a Master Computer from 1400 years into the future, the artificial intelligence FATE.
Good Morning, Crono: A callback to its predecessor.
Gotta Catch Them All: With 45 playable characters and the requirement of three playthroughs to get them, what do you expect? A more straightforward example is the need to fight all six Dragon Gods and obtain their relics before you are allowed to enter the Sea of Eden.
Grand Theft Me: Lynx and Serge forcibly swap bodies as a step in the former's Evil Plan.
Groundhog Day Loop: The ghosts of Chonopolis are stuck in one.
Guide Dang It: Several of the optional characters, as well as the best weapon of the game and many characters' Level 7 techs. And, of course, the good ending.
Happy Ending Override: Several events in Chrono Cross's backstory have unpleasant implications for the characters of Chrono Trigger, though their fates are never directly addressed.
Hartman Hips: Even though many of the female characters embody this trope, Lady Riddell stands out the most.
Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Lynx vs. Kid in Fort Dragonia.
Heel Face Turn: The Dragoons. Harle... kind of. And to a lesser extent Lynx/You.
He Knows About Timed Hits: Radius kindly instructs the player on Field Effect in the beginning of the game, while Solt and Peppor explain a new mechanic to you almost every time you fight them.
Hijacked by Ganon: The whole game is, ultimately, an elaborate scheme to kill Lavos in a way that doesn't result in a Time Paradox.
Other supporting baddies, the Reptites and Mother Brain, also turn up in new guises.
Hello, Insert Name Here: You can't, however, name Serge "Crono".
Humans Are the Real Monsters: Many demi-humans have this opinion. One of the endings revolves around it.
Hustling the Mark: How the alternate world Fargo takes your boat. It backfires.
I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Lots of fun places in El Nido, like Death's Door, the Dead Sea, and the Isle of the Damned.
Improbable Weapon User: A few characters fight with "domestic" implements (like brooms, mixing spoons, and frying pans), several others use instruments (a guitar and a harp, for example), and one uses carrots. Serge's swallow, a spear with curved blades on each end, is actually a boat oar—it's based on eku-jutsu, a real life Okinawan fighting style using boat oars.
Info Dump: The Chronopolis segment is particularly guilty of this. The apparitions on Opassa Beach right before the final battle also lay it on thick.
Interdimensional Travel Device
It's All Upstairs From Here: Fort Dragonia and, later, the Terra Tower.
Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: The game deals with numerous different periods of time (from the far future to prehistory) in more than one timeline broken into alternate dimensions. You only actually play in two dimensions, both at the same point in the timeline, but it's an open question whether this makes it more or less confusing.
Joined Your Party: Those messages are personalized for each character's accent/verbal tic/gimmick. "Marcy, like, joined your party!" (has some Valley Girl speech patterns), "ZOAH JOINED YOUR PARTY." (speaks in ALL CAPS, ALL THE TIME), and "Greco tagged into your party!" (is a Masked Luchador) come to mind.
Justified Save Point: People pray to the Records of Fate for good luck. It's a machine devised by FATE to experiment on her progeny and prevent them from interacting with the outside world.
Last-Disc Magic: The titular Chrono Cross, which is only effective on the Final Boss (and required for the good ending).
Lethal Joke Character: Poshul and Pierre, two rather pathetic characters, get significantly powered up when equipped with the proper key items. Poshul only needs one, but Pierre needs three
Let's Play: The Dark Id's playthrough is as hilarious as it is informative, managing to be both critical and celebratory at the same time. Serge becomes a slacker who quickly becomes the Only Sane Man when confronted with transdimensional weirdness, Kid and Leena get along like a house on fire, the villains' nebulous objectives are repeatedly mocked, the Anvilicious green aesops and "Humans Are the Real Monsters" messages are soundly refuted, AND ZOAH BECOMES A FAN FAVORITE.
Living Memory: Used to represent destroyed timelines. Three of them take the forms of chibi versions of Crono, Lucca, and Marle, but this appears to be primarily a Red Herring (or a Player Punch) rather than having much relevance.
Loads and Loads of Characters: With extreme variations of relevance to the plot. Then again, if you ever wanted to form a party with an animate, talking voodoo fetish or a sentient turnip, have we got a game for you!
Lost Forever: A lot of stuff: characters, level 7 techs, and other things. It's actually impossible to gather the full party on your first go-around; you have to play the game three times on the same save file to get everyone... and even then, many things that are Lost Forever are huge Guide Dang It moments.
Luke, I Am Your Father: Maybe a record of how many times this trope is used in a game. Several characters are revealed to be related. Admittedly a lot of the times both parent and child know of their relations, it's just Serge & his party that get the reveal. Examples include:
Serge, Lynx is your father.
Kid, you are...uh, your own mother. Kind of.
Nikki, Fargo is your father. And Marcy is your sister, as well. Such varied job titles in one family!
Mass Teleportation: Chronopolis semi-accidentally did this to itself, creating both the Sea of Eden and the Dead Sea.
Mecha-Mooks: There are some in the Dead Sea, but Chronopolis crawls with them.
MacGuffin Title: Notable in that it is entirely possible and quite likely, if you aren't playing with a guide, to avoid getting the Chrono Cross.
Mind Screw: And how!
Musical Nod: The soundtrack contains numerous references to both Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers, some more subtle than others:
The opening theme, "Scars of Time", contains a passage reminiscent of part of the opening theme for Trigger
"The Dream that Time Dreams", "Fields of Time" and "Chronomantique" all contain the iconic main theme to Trigger
Lucca's theme from Trigger is used as the victory fanfare for Cross, with two different versions of it for regular battles and boss fights
The theme for the Dead Sea bears some subtle resemblances to "The Sealed Door" from Trigger
The theme for the Earth Dragon's Isle contains passages from the Lavos Core boss theme in Trigger, which is perhaps a subtle hint as to the Dragons' ultimate fate.
The Dragon God's boss theme contains nods to the Millennial Fair theme from Trigger
"On the Shore of Dreams" and "The Dream that Time Dreams" contain passages from "Faraway Promise ~ Dream Shore" from Radical Dreamers
"Jellyfish Sea" contains a brief portion taken from "Epilogue" in Radical Dreamers
The pieces "Gale of Battle", "Infiltrating Viper Manor", "The Girl who Stole the Stars" and "The Frozen Flame" are straight-up reused from Radical Dreamers; not surprising, since Chrono Cross is essentially an expanded remake of that game.
Mythology Gag: The game is packed full of them, not only referencing Chrono Trigger but also Radical Dreamers.
Glenn's name is a reference to Frog, whose real name before his transformation was... Glenn.
In Japanese, Guile's original name is "Alf", a reference to the name of Janus' cat Alfador.
Serge's brief journey into Kid's past is a mirror of Lucca's trip to her mother's. They both involve a main character going to Lucca's house in the past in order to prevent something terrible from happening to someone important to them.
In Home Arni's tavern, some customers make a throwaway reference to the Radical Dreamers, Kid's gang in the titular game.
Never Found the Body: Home World's Dragoons have all vanished, having gone on a quest for the Frozen Flame. They're all dead, having been led to the Dead Sea and frozen by Lynx.
New Game+: Required not once, but twice (meaning three total play-throughs) for One Hundred Percent Completion. As with Chrono Trigger, beating the New Game+ at different points in the plotline will also result in different ending scenes.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Repeatedly. Serge named the item on The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Cliches.
Only the Chosen May Wield: Used with the Einlanzer.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Subverted with Fargo (another) as he does lock you up when you first encounter him. Played straight with home Fargo, as the most he does is cheat people of their money through rigged gambling.
Kid is a world renowned thief...but is never actually seen stealing anything.
Perfect Poison: Lynx has poison-laced throwing daggers. One slice will knock you flat.
Post Modernism: Throughout the game the distinction between Serge and the player is repeatedly blurred, until in the good ending it is demolished entirely.
The Power of Rock: Nikki's main attack, and the method of activating the Chrono Cross. Also, the way to reach the Black Dragon involves saving Marbule by having his band perform nearby.
Punny Name: Some of the monsters suffer from this. Many of the names fall into Incredibly Lame Pun territory as well. (A red-elemental canine monster named HotDoggity, anyone?)
Recurring Boss: Lynx, who is fought five times: twice as Lynx and once each as Serge (in Fort Dragonia), Dark Serge, and finally in his true form as FATE.
Ret-Gone: The ultimate goal is to activate the Chrono Cross with the Song of Time to remove Lavos from existence, freeing Schala and stopping the Time Devourer permanently.
Ripple Effect Indicator: The Dead Sea replaces Chronopolis in Home World. As Crono didn't stop Lavos in that timeline, Chronopolis likewise was never built; the sea changed to reflect that status.
Sad Battle Music: "Prisoners of Fate" plays during the climax of the game's Wham! Episode in the Dead Sea. It culminates in a showdown against someone who really does not want to fight you, but will kick your ass seven ways to Sunday regardless. The same theme plays while fighting Bonus Boss Dario.
Scenery Porn: And how! This game has some of the most astonishing hand-painted backgrounds of the PlayStation era.
Schizo-Tech: Contains, among other things: medieval dragoons, an early 20th-century army, an 18th-century pirate, a futuristic cyborg, a cave girl (who, admittedly, probably time traveled by accident to get to where you find her), robots from the distant future, and a modern rockstar.
A very subtle one, but not to Chrono Trigger: the "Sea Swallow", the name of Serge's initial weapon, was also the codename of the character Irene Lew in the NES Ninja Gaiden games, which the writer of the Chrono series had previously worked on.
Gaea's Navel is likely a Shout Out to "Gaia's Navel" from Secret of Mana.
One of the available window frames is the same one used in Xenogears (which was developed by the same team).
Starky's Japanese name is Star Child.
Spell My Name with an "S": Seen with the soundtrack of all things; there are a lot of different translations floating around for the track titles. The best example is probably "The Dream That Time Dreams", aka "Watching the Dream of Time" and (more nonsensically, but ironically probably the most popular translation) "Time of the Dreamwatch".
Spiritual Successor: The developers' original goal for Chrono Cross, as it had been for Radical Dreamers, was allegedly not so much to make a full-fledged sequel to Chrono Trigger as to make another game set in the same world, hence the immensely different style, tone, story and gameplay. Even after its release, the developers were adamant that Chrono Cross was not Chrono Trigger 2. Chrono Cross itself got its own Spiritual Successor of sorts in Baten Kaitos, a game (with a sequel of its own) for the Game Cube featuring some of the same developers, the same unique visual style of 3D character models set against a hand-drawn background (hand-drawn by the same person, no less), a vaguely similar battle system focusing on multi-hit combos and customizable move sets, and in the first game, the same writer. It's not exactly another Chrono game, but fans looking to recapture just a bit of that Chrono Cross feel are suggested to check them out.
Star-Crossed Lovers: Serge and Kid, though the ending leaves it ambiguous whether, in some time period or reality, they will eventually be together.
Storming the Castle: Viper Manor and, later, the Terra Tower.
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Many fans believe that Crono, Marle, and Lucca are dead, due to Porre's invasion of Guardia and Lynx's attack on Lucca's orphanage. They also appear as "ghosts", but see the Living Memory entry above. Robo, who became the Prometheus Lock keeping the FATE supercomputer in check, is actually "killed" near the end of the game, unless it was a copy of his programming rather than his actual "self". Magus, however, is implied to be alive, though that's a whole 'nother Fan Wank.
Good lord, even the mascots aren't safe! Johnny's mangled corpse is strewn on an interstate in the Dead Sea, and the singing robot Gato is about to fatally short out when Serge travels back in time to Lucca's orphanage.
Surprise Creepy: The game starts out as a typical JRPG, introducing its unassuming hero in a colorful setting. Oh hi, wormhole. This is even echoed in the enemies: The goofy looking Beach Bums in Opassa Beach are replaced by giant flying piranhas.
A Taste of Power: The opening dungeon (which is a premonition of future events) has everyone armed with Mythril/Silver weapons and a few hundred HP. Of course, by the time you get to that point of the game, you can't get Silver weapons; the best you can do is Iron. Once the premonition is over, you're back to bone weapons and a few dozen HP, as well as much fewer element levels.
Time Crash: Trope Namer. The Dead Sea is the site of a Time Crash, where the bad future from Chrono Trigger tried to reassert itself into time.
Time Stands Still: One of the most chilling things about the Dead Sea.
Trippy Finale Syndrome
Tron Lines: Present in Chronopolis's architecture.
Unexplained Accent: Unavoidable with so many accents on display, but Kid's Aussie twang is somewhat baffling.
Unholy Holy Sword: The Masamune.
Unholy Nuke / Black Holes Suck: Blackhole.
Unlucky Childhood Friend: Leena. She is the childhood friend, the first girl, and they are most definitely dating, but then Serge meets Kid and Leena is forgotten about. The poor lass even has the game's fortune teller bluntly inform her (well, her alternate-dimension counterpart, at least) that she's not getting a boyfriend for some time. Ouch. Whether she actually ends up with Serge or not depends on which ending you get.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: You can recruit a pink dog that sounds like Elmer Fudd, a glam rocker, a skeleton clown, a plant baby, a voodoo doll with a three-foot iron nail through its chest, and a psychic luchador priest, among other things. Few NPC's if any will bat an eye.
Unwitting Pawn: Serge just keeps falling for it. Fortunately for him, the ultimate Chessmaster in the game, Belthasar, is a good guy, so everything works out in the end... assuming you defeat the last boss the right way.
Vancian Magic: The Element Grid.
Verbal Tic: Too many to count.
Video Game Settings:
Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The waterways beneath Viper Manor.
Amazing Technicolor Battlefield / Final Boss, New Dimension: The Darkness at the End of Time.
All the Worlds Are a Stage: The Dragon God, in a call back to Chrono Trigger's final boss.
Big Fancy Castle: Viper Manor. Oddly, after the first visit, Serge can waltz in and out unsupervised.
Bleak Level: The Dead Sea took this trope to new heights.
Broken Bridge: Can you say Death's Door? Dark Serge placed the Masamune there; the thing is so utterly Made of Evil that Lynx has to fetch the Einlanzer to counter its effect. That still leaves the door, which requires a Plot Coupon to unlock.
Capital City: Termina.
Casino Park / Gang Plank Galleon: The S.S. Zelbess. Only a "level" in the sense that you fight one enemy on it - the Sage of Marbule.
Cave Behind the Falls: Divine Dragon Falls.
Chokepoint Geography: Fossil Valley is the only road to Termina until you acquire a boat.
Disc One Final Dungeon: Three times, with Fort Dragonia (the first visit), The Dead Sea, and Chronopolis.
Fantastic Nature Reserve / Prehistoria: Gaia's Navel.
First Town: Arni Village.
Gravity Screw: The Dimensional Vortex looks like an M. C. Escher design as painted by Vincent van Gogh.
Hailfire Peaks: Mt. Pyre, should you choose to exploit a key item and cause the magma to freeze over. In a fit of sadism, the treasure chests also freeze, preventing you from ever opening them.
It's All Upstairs From Here: Fort Dragonia.
Meat Moss: The Isle of the Damned.
Monster Arena: The Grand Slam.
Monster Town: Marbule, once it's repopulated.
Noob Cave / Palmtree Panic: Opassa beach.
Nostalgia Level: Played for Drama in the Dead Sea.
One-Time Dungeon: The Dead Sea.
Ominous Floating Castle / The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Terra Tower.
Port Town: Guldove.
Recurring Location: Viper Manor's round library. For some odd reason, Belthasar is a welcome guest in here, along with the Neo-Epoch (which is squirreled away in a Bookcase Passage). An Eldritch version of the library appears in Terra Tower.
Remixed Level: Quite a few, obviously. Most are just duplicates of the same map, even Home World's Hydra Marsh, which is still a toxic wasteland even with the Hydra alive. Viper Manor was demolished in Home World, leaving only the sewer and prison intact.
Secret Level: The Bend in Time allows you to revisit old enemies. Useful for Sprigg's Morphs and leveling up Pip.
Ship Level: The Ghost Ship, later followed by the S.S. Zelbess.
Swamps Are Evil: Hydra Marsh.
Techno Wreckage: The Tower of Gheddon
Tomorrowland: Chronopolis.
Under the Sea: El Nido Triangle.
Where It All Began: Opassa Beach.
Villain-Beating Artifact: One can kill the Time Devourer by force, but he'll return. The only way to get rid of him once and for all is to use the Chrono Cross.
Villains Out Shopping: One of the endings is like this.
Warmup Boss: Mama Komodo. Incidentally, you've just finished killing all of her babies, and she's pretty steamed. Her Death Cry Echo is rather piteous, too, making this (yet another) instance of You Bastard.
Wasted Song: The amazing song "The Dream that Time Dreams" (frequently translated as "Time of the Dreamwatch"), which consists of melodies from the original Chrono Trigger soundtrack and the theme of Radical Dreamers done in Chrono Cross's signature style, plays in exactly two places in the game: one of the more obscure Multiple Endings, and the game's Attract Mode. At least it's on the OST...
Weapon Tombstone: Both Dario and his father Garai's graves (in their respective dimensions) are marked with the Einlanzer, a sword they both used. While Garai's Einlanzer is obtained through the course of the game no matter what, Glenn can retrieve Dario's after some Character Development and use them simultaneously.
Weird Moon: Viper Manor's suspension bridge is overshadowed by two of these babies.
Wham! Episode: Fort Dragonia; appropriate, as a Disc One Final Dungeon. Chronopolis is another example.
Where It All Began: This works on multiple levels. The portal to the Final Boss is located at Opassa Beach.
Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The El Nido archipelago is located somewhere in the Chrono Trigger world, but the game never clarifies where in the world map it's located, particular in reference to the Zenan continent and it's oft-mentioned country of Porre.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Schala, the Friend to All Living Things from the first game, fused with Lavos and formed the Time Devourer, which wants to destroy all of existence.
The DS re-release of Trigger elaborates on this a bit: because of the intense hardship of her life, Schala deeply wished for all the horrible things in the world to have never occurred... or in fact, for everything about the world to have never occurred, which gave Lavos an opening to take over her soul.
Word Salad Lyrics: Used by a random NPC. "Lah lala lalah! / I don't need a recipe book / Because I'm the happy cook / Who feeds the people gook!
You Can't Fight Fate: Numerous characters will express this to you over the course of the game. Whether or not you can is the Driving Question that represents the game's central philosophical theme. It turns out, you can. Quite literally. It's a Boss Battle!
You Can't Go Home Again: This seems to be Serge's lot in life. In the alternate universe, none of his friends or family recognize him, and when he finally gets back, he's in Lynx's body.
You Will Not Evade Me: What happens if you run away from boss fights. At least it gives your party members time to heal.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.fandom.com/wiki/Chrono_Cross?oldid=788863"
Science Fiction Video Games


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double c = a + b;    // Declare variable "c" and assign it the sum of "a" and "b"
Datatype for floating-point numbers larger than those that can be stored in a float. A float is a 32-bit values that can be as large as 3.40282347E+38 and as low as -3.40282347E+38. A double can be used similarly to a float, but can have a greater magnitude because it's a 64-bit number. Processing functions don't use this datatype, so while they work in the language, you'll usually have to convert to a float using the (float) syntax before passing into a function.


text:
Йоганна Саксен-Гота-Альтенбурзька (), ( 1 жовтня 1680 —  9 липня 1704) — принцеса Саксен-Гота-Альтенбургу з Ернестинської лінії Веттінів, донька герцога Саксен-Гота-Альтенбургу Фрідріха I та принцеси Саксен-Вайссенфельської Магдалени Сибілли, друга дружина герцога Мекленбург-Стреліцу Адольфа Фрідріха II.

Біографія
Народилась 1 жовтня 1680 року у Готі. Була восьмою дитиною та шостою донькою в родині герцога Саксен-Гота-Альтенбургу Фрідріха I та його першої дружини Магдалени Сибілли Саксен-Вайссенфельської. Мала старших сестер Анну Софію, Доротею Марію та Фредеріку й братів Фрідріха та Йоганна Вільгельма. Ще дві сестри померли до її народження.

У віці трьох місяців втратила матір. Батько в тому ж році оженився вдруге із Крістіною Баден-Дурлахською. Коли Йоганні було десять років, помер і він. Правителем став її старший брат Фрідріх.

У віці 21 року стала дружиною 43-річного герцога Мекленбург-Стреліцу Адольфа Фрідріха II. Весілля відбулося 20 червня 1702 у Штреліці. Для нареченого це був другий шлюб. Від першого він мав сина та доньку. Спільних дітей у подружжя не було.

Герцогиня померла два роки потому у Штреліці. Була похована у крипті замкової кірхи Мірова.

Генеалогія

Примітки

Посилання
 Саксен-Гота-Альтенбург
 Профіль на Geni.com
 Профіль на Thepeerage.com
 Генеалогія Йоганни Саксен-Гота-Альтенбурзької
 Генеалогія Адольфа Фрідріха II Мекленбург-Стреліцького
 Великі герцогині Мекленбург-Стреліцу

Уродженці Готи
Ернестинська лінія Веттінів
Мекленбурги
Німецькі принцеси

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
ExtraCrispy®
Bottomless Brunch Is the Worst Thing in the World, and Also the Best
Image via Flickr user Joe Shlabotnik
Unlimited mimosas and unlimited scorn
Matt Gross
The first thing I noticed, as my eyes adjusted to the dining room's low-wattage Edison-bulb lighting, was that I was going to be sitting next to a fedora. At least, I think it was a fedora. It could have been a trilby or a homburg, though definitely not a porkpie. But I was in a multi-story restaurant with faux-aged wooden planks on the floors and walls, buttoned-leather banquettes, broad mirrors, and equally broad screens perma-tuned to ESPN and its subchannels—and, more vitally, I was in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan on a Sunday afternoon. So the hat, which for the next two hours did not leave the head of its owner, who was wearing a fancier version of the maroon Adidas tracksuit I sported back in fifth grade, was a goddamn fedora.
Thus began my first ever bottomless brunch, an exploration of the worst possible meal anyone can consume. This is not an opinion. It has achieved the status of objective fact, thanks to Anthony Bourdain, who's been hating brunch in general at least since 1999 ("The 'B' word is dreaded by all dedicated cooks," he wrote in The New Yorker), and Gawker, which has paid considerable attention to a place called Pranna, which it dubbed "Manhattan's Notorious Bottomless Brunch Vomitorium."
The logic behind this hatred is easy to understand. Take brunch—the unimaginative dishes (omg eggs!), the slapdash execution, the crowding and hurrying and absolute unrelaxedness of the experience—and combine it with unlimited alcohol (unlimited, that is, within a certain time frame, usually one-and-a-half to two hours, and usually for an extra charge), and you've got a guaranteed shitshow: terrible food served to terrible people. This shitshow, it must be said, is as insanely popular as ever.
You've got a guaranteed shitshow: terrible food served to terrible people. This shitshow, it must be said, is as insanely popular as ever.
Well, "as ever" is a relative term. Until July 2011, bottomless brunch did not exist, if we are to believe Google Trends. Which is not to say no one drank at brunch before then. It was pretty standard for your unexceptional eggs Benedict to come with a complimentary mimosa or bloody Mary—you'd consume it and pay for the next one. Or you'd finish up, then hit a nearby bar and spend the rest of the day drinking there.
But then some evil genius, whose name has been lost to history, realized that brunchers brunched mostly so they could continue the drinking they'd begun the night before, and deftly pulled the bottom out from under brunch. When brunch is bottomless, of course, you never hit rock bottom.
I, however, was going to try! First, I had some requirements: nowhere too gourmet, too nightclubby, or too divey. What I wanted was pure normcore, and Tavern 29 stood out by not standing out at all. Its Yelp! reviews said things like "I come to Tavern 29 for bottomless brunch far more often than I should, but it really is a great spot" and "Drinks were strong and they did not rush us even though we went over the two hours bottomless brunch" and "There is a downstairs and upstairs." Sold!
As it happens, my friend Erin and I were seated upstairs, very close to the fedora and his six companions, who were of Indian and African-American descent. This was notable for one important reason: Bottomless brunch at Tavern 29 was incredibly white.
There were white girls everywhere, all of them seemingly 24 to 26 years old, with long, straight, dark hair and perfect makeup. Their cheeks! So round, so meticulously blushed (though maybe it was the mimosas), so uniform from face to face to face, as if they'd all taken contouring lessons from the same YouTube channel. They sat in large groups, six or ten to a table, with maybe a guy or two in their midst, or maybe none at all, and they stared at their phones and laughed loudly and freely, and asked servers to take group photos.
Next to them, Erin and I stood out—she blond and wavy-haired, me geriatric—and our neighbors, fedora and all, even more so. But how to interpret this? Were they a sign of the restaurant's overall diversity, or did their presence merely serve to point up the overwhelming homogeneity? Worth noting, too, is that, peacocking headgear aside, they were dressed exactly as everyone else was, the girls in dark solids, the guys in striped or checked shirts—as basic as it gets, but also precisely what is called for.
The same could be said of what we were all eating here at Tavern 29: various combinations of meat (ham and bacon, especially), starch (biscuits, home fries, french fries), and eggs. There was a lobster Benedict on the menu, and pancakes and French toast, and some kind of Buffalo chicken salad, if that's your thing. But it's probably not. If you're the type to choose salad, even a salad topped with Buffalo chicken, you're probably not also the type to spend an extra $25 on bottomless drinks.
To look over the menu was, in retrospect, a weird process. Did it matter what we were going to order? The point of eating at all was not to sample a chef's innovative hollandaise or to consume a healthy balance of nutrients, but to provide a spongelike foundation in our stomachs for the drinking we were about to do. And yet, in the moment, I really did wonder: Would I be happier with the hangover burger (which is topped with a fried egg) or the hangover pizza (topped with two fried eggs)?
In the end, Erin (who had a mild hangover) ordered the burger, while I (who did not) got the pizza. Guess what? They both tasted just fine! Want more detail than that? Then you're reading the wrong story—because this is a story about drinking.
At Tavern 29, bottomless drinks cost an extra $25. That gets you a full two hours to consume as many mimosas, bloody Marys, and/or beers as you possibly can. They ain't fancy; the liquor isn't top-shelf, the orange juice isn't fresh-squeezed, the beer is Tavern 29's own anonymous pilsner. What they are is plentiful, and frequently refreshed.
Photo via Flickr user Robb1e
Erin and I began with a carafe of mimosas—or, as our waitress kept calling it, a "craft of mimosas." This was, on that Sunday, an unusual choice. "Almost everybody's drinking bloody Marys except for, like, three people!" one of the bartenders sputtered as she hurriedly mixed up a new batch. "You can never predict which way it's gonna go."
And so we drank, first the craft of mimosa, then bloody Marys (for Erin) and beer (for me). We drank and we ate, we ate and we drank. We talked about whatever. We ordered more drinks. (But not coffee—no one drinks coffee at bottomless brunch.) I read some texts from my wife, who was taking our daughters for gelato. Every once in a while, I caught a glimpse of bowling or women's basketball on one of the TVs. Alicia Keys's "Empire State of Mind" was the only song that played clearly enough for me to hear. I stopped eating my pizza and started stealing Erin's french fries.
What was this all about again? Why do we feel compelled to hate on bottomless brunch? All around us were groups of friends doing precisely what we were doing, eating and drinking and talking. None of them looked over 30, none seemed to be coupled-up—they were young and single and free, and what you do in New York when you're in your mid-20s and you have a good (or good enough) job and you want to celebrate being in the exact demographic in the exact neighborhood you've always wanted to be in is to go with your friends, the people you want around you forever, and drink and eat as much as you feel like, with no limits. Because at that age you feel unlimited yourself—"There's nothing you can't do / Now you're in New York!"—and if you don't feel that way, well, for $25 you can cast off those shackles for a couple of hours.
What was this all about again? Why do we feel compelled to hate on bottomless brunch? All around us were groups of friends doing precisely what we were doing, eating and drinking and talking.
Or maybe even a little bit longer? About two hours into our brunch, our waitress let us know our table had been reserved by another party, and she shifted us to the bar, where she kept pouring us new drinks. At one point, I looked back at the table where our Indian neighbors had sat, only to realize they'd been replaced by an entirely new table of Indians, who were counting down "five, four, three, two, one" as one of their friends chugged a craft of mimosas directly from the craft. I wasn't sure what to make of the racial dynamics of this anymore, partly because I'd had four or five beers myself, plus half the first craft of mimosas, and it was four in the afternoon and thus time to get out of there.
Except I really didn't want to. This was the best. How could it be anything but? How could Bourdain and Gawker despise this world? It was silly and juvenile, in only the way that young adults can be juvenile, but it also had a purity about it. This—this eating and drinking and spending time with close friends—was likely the only thing that any of us would be doing that day, and we were all deeply committed, in the tank for bottomless brunch, our alpha and our omega. Why would we ever eat anything else again?
Matt Gross is the former editor of BonAppetit.com and was the Frugal Traveler for the New York Times from 2006 to 2010. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, his daughters, and his collection of hot sauces.
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text:
Movie Review: 13 Hours by Michael Bay
January 25, 2016 /in Movie Review /by Jay Ruud
RUUD RATING
2 JACQUELINE SUSANNS
On the night of September 11-12, 2012, two American compounds in Benghazi, Libya—one an ill-defended consulate and the other a secret CIA base—were attacked and overrun by Libyan extremists, and in the process four Americans, including J. Christopher Stevens (American Ambassador to Libya), State Department employee Sean Smith, and two contract security operators named Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, were killed. As everyone knows, the events have since become the stuff of political controversy, as U.S. bases in striking distance of Benghazi were not put into action at the time, and accusations of a mysterious "stand down' order were circulated in the aftermath. Was there a government cover-up of the events? Was Secretary of State Clinton ultimately at fault in the affair? Or is such speculation purely Republican propaganda?
Michael Bay's new film, 13 Hours, is the first cinematic treatment of the attacks, and there is some question of whether it may be too soon after the events to have achieved any perspective on the meaning of the incident. But the fact is Bay does not seem interested in such perspective or meaning. To be sure the film, thankfully, takes no overt position on such questions, but leaves them to the politicians. Screenwriter Chuck Hogan's script was adapted from the 2014 nonfiction bestseller of the same title, a book written by Mitchell Zukoff, a Boston University professor of journalism, based on the accounts of five surviving hired security contractors—essentially paramilitary mercenaries who call themselves "operators"—hired to provide security for the secret CIA annex. The film, like the book, focuses on these five operators—John "Tig" Tiegen, Kris "Tanto" Paronto, Mark "Oz" Geist, Dave "D.B" Benton and Jack Silva, plus Tyrone "Rone" Woods, the operator killed in the attack. Basing his story on the minute-by-minute account in Zukoff's book, as provided from these operators on the ground during the attacks, Bay notes at the beginning of his film that it is a "true story." In fact it is true in the same sense that Fox News is "fair and balanced." Certainly it is "true" by comparison with the Transformer movies that Bay has been making lately. But Bay takes a large number of liberties with the accounts in Zukoff's book, at one point, for example, turning a bus into a delivery tool for a huge explosive device merely because he wants a big explosion at that point, not because it ever really happened. If truth has to be sacrificed to special effects movie violence, it always seems to be the first thing to go in a Bay film. This is, after all, the same person who made Pearl Harbor seem like a great American victory.
The film is not "true" in the sense that it gives us an exhaustively factual account of a complex situation by providing us with multiple perspectives and a reasoned and logical explanation of the background and the consequences of these events. The truth it tells, if not always strictly by the letter, is the immediate and emotional truth of these events as they directly affected the first responders, six hired security operators. And in this it is quite successful, due largely to solid performances by John Krasinski (as Jack Silva) and James Badge Drake as his former fellow Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods. It is Silva who acts as our focal point as the audience—we are with him when he arrives in Benghazi, with him we meet the other members of the Global Response Staff, it is with him we get used to the job of these security operators: to protect CIA operatives and American diplomats.
The film's first half acclimates us to Benghazi and to the job of the American security officers. Bay also spends some time manipulating our emotions by showing us Silva's skyping with his family on various occasions, so that we come to know him as a husband and father, and of course, his wife is pregnant. We also get to see Woods' calls home, with his own toddler son. It works, of course, so that in the second half of the film, when all hell breaks loose and we are with the two of them on the roof of the CIA compound, under attack, we're really really hoping that they come out of this alive. After all, they've got those kids, right? (The other security officers are fairly indistinguishable, so that you'll have trouble figuring out who's who in the battle scenes. Mainly they all merge together into a single attitude: "we're tough and we know what to do, so get out of our way and let us do it.")
The second very long half of the movie (there are times when you might think the "13 hours" refers to the length of the film, but that is really only a snappy two hours and twenty-four minutes) chronicles the attacks, which begin at the consulate around 9:40 p.m. on September 11. At the CIA annex a mile away, the six paramilitary operators want to move in to assist the consulate, but are delayed by their CIA chief, "Bob" (David Costabile), who wants to leave the defense and rescue of the ambassador to the local Libyan guards, called the 17 February militia. As you might suspect, this turns out to be a bad idea, and by the time the security team arrives on the scene, they are too late to save the ambassador, who is later brought to a local hospital by friendly Libyans, dead from smoke inhalation as the attackers set fire to the compound.
With consulate and CIA personnel now inside the no-longer-covert annex, the contractors set out to defend their position against three waves of enemy attacks. Outnumbered and waiting for reinforcements from somewhere, the defenders set out to protect their little fortress in a scenario not unintentionally reminiscent of the Alamo. Thus Bay utilizes the nearly archetypal motif of the courageous defenders holding on to the end in a lost cause while defending the right.
Essentially this appears to be Bay's sole purpose in the film: a celebration of uncommon valor in the face of impossible odds—a situation with universal appeal. There is no doubt that the individuals who engaged in this defense deserve this sort of praise. So Bay is successful in achieving his chief aim.
It's just that there are other things that bother me about this film. Most obviously, the very simplified world view depicted in the film is disturbing: the first unexamined premise is that Americans are the good guys. While it does appear that Ambassador Stevens (Matt Letscher) has the Libyans' best interests at heart, no one else in the film makes any distinction between Libyans who might be on "our side" and those who are not—every face in the crowd from the beginning of the film on is seen solely as a possible terrorist. The identityless "Other" is seen as a threat, period. During the chaotic battle scenes throughout the city, the Americans, particularly the contractors, have no idea who is on their side and who is not, and this is no surprise: nothing in this film suggests that any of the contractors has ever made an effort to get to know anything about the people whose country they are inhabiting. They can't speak the language and they have no feelings about the country or its people. Indeed, as the movie draws to an end Silva expresses his feelings that they may well die here in a place they care nothing about for a cause they don't understand, and that their deaths will be meaningless.
Perhaps Bay or perhaps some viewers will see this as a condemnation of the U.S. government, which has sent these soldiers here without having any clear policy and in doing so is wasting these soldiers' lives. But, first, these aren't soldiers but rather paid security personnel who have taken on this assignment for a $150,000 salary. They are not U.S. military personnel. And secondly, as depicted in the film, these operators have taken no time or trouble to try to understand anything about the place they are in. That's not their job.
But this is only the most obvious difficulty in the movie. There are hints early on of a particular attitude on the part of the filmmakers. The CIA consulate personnel, whose job it actually is to understand the people of Libya and to try to work out the complex process of putting a fragile democracy together, are people with degrees from Harvard and Yale. In the film, this translates into condescending little pipsqueaks who think they know better than the common sense operators and must be put in their place by an enemy attack on their compound. Then there is the CIA director "Bob": a weaselly little wimp without a backbone or an idea, who keeps insisting he is in command until told by Woods that this is no longer the case. And then, of course, there's the real U.S. military and the invisible government, who can't seem to get anything right and are unable to get it together in time to rescue anybody. That is to say, the only people who have a clue and are in any way competent are the militia. Outside of any chain of command, they don't need to follow orders—or they can just decide that they are the ones now giving the orders when they decide their commanding officer is wrong. (One wonders if that is why they are in this paramilitary organization and not the real thing, since following orders seems to be outside their natures). If a paramilitary militia is good enough to take over a wildlife sanctuary in Oregon, then by God one is good enough to take over the defense of CIA compound in Benghazi. At least that seems to be Bay's sub-text.
This film is good for what it's good for. It celebrates the American heroes of Libya. It gives us action-packed sequences that feel very much like playing a video game. It puts the viewer down in the middle of a chaotic battle where you can't tell yourself who is on your side and who isn't. It's not trying to be a political statement, but in its oversimplification, it's doctoring of the "truth," and its clearly anti-intellectual, anti-government, anti-Muslim atmosphere, I can't help thinking it does more harm than good in its presentation of events. I'll give it two Jacqueline Susanns—if you want an action movie and you don't want to bother to think about it, this may be the film for you. Otherwise, I'd give it a pass. Maybe read the book instead.
http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/13hours.jpg 440 1030 Jay Ruud http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/JayRuud.png Jay Ruud2016-01-25 10:18:082016-04-05 08:42:57Movie Review: 13 Hours by Michael Bay
Poetry With Dogs: September 1, 1939 by W.H. Auden Poetry With Dogs: Infant Sorrow by William Blake


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Offshore (novel)
Sea (astronomy)
Sea (EP)
Offshore (1979) is a novel by Penelope Fitzgerald. It won the Booker Prize for that year. It recalls her time spent on boats on the Thames in Battersea. The novel explores the liminality of people who do not belong to the land or the sea, but are somewhere in between. The epigraph, "che mena il vento, e che batte la pioggia, e che s'incontran con si aspre lingue" ("whom the wind drives, or whom the rain beats, or those who clash with such bitter tongues") comes from Canto XI of Dante's Inferno.
List of Characters and Their Boats (in order)
Richard Blake, husband, aged 39
Laura Blake, wife, also known as Lollie
Harry, Maurice's acquaintance, who uses the boat for his own purposes but does not live on board
Nenna James, mother
Martha James, Nenna's teenage daughter.
Tilda (Matilda) James, Nenna's younger daughter, who is six years old
Edward James, estranged father and husband, who visits the boat only once
Stripey (the cat)
Willis, painter, widower, 65 years old
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Offshore_(novel)
A sea is a large body of salt water that is surrounded in whole or in part by land. More broadly, "the sea" is the interconnected system of Earth's salty, oceanic waters—considered as one global ocean or as several principal oceanic divisions. The sea moderates Earth's climate and has important roles in the water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle. Although the sea has been travelled and explored since prehistory, the modern scientific study of the sea—oceanography—dates broadly to the British Challenger expedition of the 1870s. The sea is conventionally divided into up to five large oceanic sections—including the IHO's four named oceans (the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic) and the Southern Ocean; smaller, second-order sections, such as the Mediterranean, are known as seas.
Owing to the present state of continental drift, the Northern Hemisphere is now fairly equally divided between land and sea (a ratio of about 2:3) but the South is overwhelmingly oceanic (1:4.7).Salinity in the open ocean is generally in a narrow band around 3.5% by mass, although this can vary in more landlocked waters, near the mouths of large rivers, or at great depths. About 85% of the solids in the open sea are sodium chloride. Deep-sea currents are produced by differences in salinity and temperature. Surface currents are formed by the friction of waves produced by the wind and by tides, the changes in local sea level produced by the gravity of the Moon and Sun. The direction of all of these is governed by surface and submarine land masses and by the rotation of the Earth (the Coriolis effect).
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Sea
The Sea or the Water is an area of the sky in which many water-related, and few land-related, constellations occur. This may be because the Sun passed through this part of the sky during the rainy season.
Most of these constellations are named by Ptolemy:
Aquarius the Water-bearer
Capricornus the Sea-goat
Cetus the Whale
Delphinus the Dolphin
Eridanus the Great River
Hydra the Water serpent
Pisces the Fishes
Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish (not named by Ptolemy)
Sometimes included are the ship Argo and Crater the Water Cup.
Some water-themed constellations are newer, so are not in this region. They include Hydrus, the lesser water snake; Volans, the flying fish; and Dorado, the swordfish.
Celestial ocean, a mythological concept, not specific to astronomy
Lunar sea
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Sea_(astronomy)
Sea EP is the second EP from Doves. It was self-released on the band's Casino Records label on 24 May 1999 on limited CD and 10" vinyl. The band dedicated the EP to Rob Gretton, who helped fund Doves' early releases as well as when the band played as Sub Sub. Rob died of a heart attack only a few days before the EP was released. In the music video for "Sea Song," the opening title card reads "For Rob."
All songs written and composed by Jez Williams, Jimi Goodwin, and Andy Williams.
Casino Records CHIP002.
All songs written and produced by Doves.
Keyboards on "Sea Song" by Richard Wheatley.
"Sea Song" engineered by Matt Ollivier.
"Darker" engineered by Jez Williams.
Sleeve design and artwork by Rick Myers.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Sea_(EP)
seaoffshorelogistics.net
seaoffshore.com
seaoffshorelogistics.com
blackseaoffshore.com
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nyoffshore.com
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What's Behind Japan's Sudden Thirst for More Spy Satellites
by Paul Kallender-Umezu November 13, 2015 January 23, 2023
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, shakes hands at the beginning of a 2013 meeting with then-U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida and Minister of Defense Tsunami Onodera. Credit: Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo via Wikipedia
TOKYO — Japan is planning to expand its fleet of reconnaissance satellites as part of an effort to improve the nation's monitoring of North Korea and the Chinese navy. The move comes as Japan strengthens its military ties with the United States.
A Nov. 11 report by the Space Policy Commission, Japan's top decision-making body for space matters, recommends doubling the number of Intelligence Gathering Satellites (IGS) to eight satellites and launching two relay satellites to support the expanded constellation. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is expected to adopt the recommendations in December.
Japan established the IGS program following the 1998 flyover of a North Korean Taepodong missile that North Korea claimed was a satellite launch. Fourteen Mitsubishi Electric Corp.-built IGS satellites have been launched since 2003.
The constellation originally was designed to include two optical and two radar satellites with one on-orbit spare. The current IGS fleets consists of four optical and three radar satellites, one of which is serving as a spare.
The so-called Revised Basic Plan released Nov. 11 updates a plan announced in February recommending Japan "strengthen" its orbital surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for land and maritime observation but the Space Policy Commission — which reports to Abe — had left the number of IGS satellites open for discussion.
The Revised Basic Plan confirms the increased importance of space assets in Japan's national security, said Christopher W. Hughes, professor of international politics and Japanese studies, and an expert on Japan's military, at England's University of Warwick.
"We need to [view] Japan increasingly seriously as an important player in military space in East Asia," he said.
Japan's posture has evolved rapidly since Abe became prime minister in December 2012. A National Security Strategy released in December 2013 called for Japan's space policy to be integrated into the nation's military defense strategy and closely coordinated with the United States. In April, Japan and the U.S. updated joint defense guidelines for the first time in 17 years, agreeing to promote "seamless" cooperation while boosting Japan's use of space in support of the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance. In July, Japan ended its ban on collective self-defense, freeing Japan to more readily support the United States if the U.S. comes under attack in a conflict in East Asia.
"Japan's ambition to in essence double the number of its Information Gathering Satellites demonstrates its increasing seriousness about outer space as a key dimension of its overall reform and strengthening of its security stance," Hughes said.
"The IGSs are…military in nature and will serve an important function of developing Japan's [Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance] capabilities to respond to Chinese activities in and around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, and further reinforce Japan's ability to offer space capabilities in the service of the U.S.-Japan alliance as pledged in the revised U.S.-Japan Defense Guidelines in April this year and made possible through the collective self-defense legislation in the early autumn," he said.
Tagged: IGS, Japan, Military Space
Paul Kallender-Umezu
A graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where he won the Horgan Prize for Excellence in Science Writing, Paul Kallender-Umezu is co-author of "In Defense of Japan: From the Market to... More by Paul Kallender-Umezu


text:
Home National GOP congressman dared people to prove he's racist — so they did
GOP congressman dared people to prove he's racist — so they did
Rep. Mark Meadows insisted during the Cohen hearing that he is not a racist, but video shows him pushing racist rhetoric and conspiracy theories.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) angrily denounced criticism of a racist stunt he pulled during the House Oversight Committee testimony of Michael Cohen. But the congressman has a history of racist comments that make his supposed outrage look phony and contrived.
Attempting to defend Trump from Cohen's description of him as racist, Meadows placed HUD official Lynne Patton, who is a black woman, next to him like a prop. Without having Patton speak, Meadows said her role in Trump's campaign disproved the charge.
Rep. Ayana Pressley (D-MA) first pointed out how disingenuous Meadows' argument was by asking Cohen about Trump's documented history of racism.
"Would you agree that someone could deny rental units to African Americans, lead the birther movement, refer to the diaspora as shithole countries and refer to white supremacists as fine people, have a black friend, and still be racist?" she asked.
Cohen replied, "Yes."
Later, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) directly called out Meadows' stunt: "It is insensitive that some would even — the fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman, in this chamber, in this committee is alone racist in itself."
Meadows angrily demanded that Tlaib's comment be struck from the record, arguing that it was a personal attack against him. He noted that he has black nieces and nephews, and cited his relationship with Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who is black, as evidence that he isn't racist.
But there are multiple instances of Meadows being racist that have been caught on video.
Meadows, like Trump, supported the racist conspiracy theory that falsely alleged that President Barack Obama was not an American citizen.
Campaigning in 2012, Meadows told rally attendees, "2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is."
Meadows repeated the racist comment at a tea party event in North Carolina. At the same event, he promised attendees that he would pursue an investigation of Obama's birth certificate (like Trump did at the time).
What Meadows did at the hearing with Patton was a racist act. It comes from a man with a history of racism who was defending Trump, a noted racist.
Reps. Tlaib and Pressley were accurate when they called him out for his actions. Meadows' track record shows that his protestations were the equivalent of crocodile tears and don't change what he did or his sordid history.
Ayana Pressley
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Former research fellow at Media Matters for America who has been blogging about politics since 2001. Follow him on Twitter @owillis.


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The Health and Environmental Effects of Air Pollution on Auckland
Rose Kamal
Auckland City Skyline
A Brown Haze Over Auckland. | Source
What sort of health and environmental effects does air pollution have on Auckland? Air quality matters tremendously because it has a direct impact on public health. Although air pollution is a multifaceted and a widespread issue throughout the world, this article is based specifically on Auckland city, in New Zealand. Auckland city was chosen as the focus area for air pollution because it has more health risks associated with anthropogenic air pollution since there is a higher quantity of motor vehicles running there than in any other region in New Zealand (Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand, p. v). Furthermore, this article will discuss how other human activity such as "… burning coal, oil, wood, petrol and diesel in domestic fires, motor vehicles and industrial processes" (Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand, p. 5) also have a large impact on Auckland's air quality. The health risks that arise due to these human activities can be as subtle as sub-clinical effects, and can lead to severe cases such as impaired pulmonary function and physiological changes in the cardiovascular system. Human health isn't the only thing that has been affected; air pollution has had significant impacts on our Ozone layer as well. Finally, this article will conclude how well these health and environmental issues are being managed.
Health Impacts
The essentials of human life are natural resources like food, water, and clean air. The geographical location of New Zealand's south island plays a crucial part in providing Auckland with fresh and relatively pure air, particularly because of how isolated the south island is. However, a majority of daily human activities often cause much of the pure air to degrade by releasing chemicals and particulates which rise and contaminate the air. The most common pollutant that largely impacts human health is known as PM 10, a particulate matter that is only ten micrometres in size (Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand, p. iii). Some human activities that cause this contaminant to be released into the air are burning materials like coal, wood, petrol, oil and diesel. These materials are usually burned and/or spread in the air through domestic fires used for home heating, industrial processes, open burning, motor vehicles and some natural resources like sea spray and windblown dust. Not only does this contaminated air produce unpleasant odours and hazy days that reduce air clarity, but it also has a lethal impact on human respiratory and pulmonary functions. One-third of respiratory hospital admissions in Auckland are cases that occur in children aged one to four years (Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand, p. v). In the study undertaken by Fisher et al. (2007), on Air Pollution and Health Effects in New Zealand, sixty-seven urban areas were evaluated based on ambient and population monitoring data from 2001. The results concluded that of one thousand and four hundred premature deaths per year, one thousand and one hundred were attributed to anthropogenic contaminants in the air (Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand, p. iii). In 2006, there were two hundred and sixty-eight respiratory related hospital admissions for all ages throughout Auckland, of which fifty cases were caused by domestic fires, fifty-seven by motor vehicles and an astounding one hundred and thirty-eight were the result of natural respiratory problems (Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand, p. A1-5).
New Zealand's quality of life depends on clean and healthy air, "not only people's health, but also the natural functioning of and the "beauty of the natural and physical environment" (MfE, 2007). Air and air quality are both a taonga and a part of the kaitiakitanga for Maori." (Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand, p. 5). Ozone is a crucial layer of the upper atmosphere because it protects our planet from ultraviolet radiation emitted from the sun. The ozone layer is colourless, has a distinct smell and is very highly reactive. There are two factors in determining the levels of ozone in the Auckland region: the concentration of the natural background; and the ozone gas that is formed at ground level as a result of photochemical reactions. The air arriving at north islands coastline is composed of only 20.9% Oxygen, the rest of the components are 78.1% Nitrogen, 0.9% Argon and 0.1% Carbon dioxide and other trace components (State of the Environment and Biodiversity, p. 96). When the Nitrogen component in the air comes in connect with VOCs from motor vehicle emissions at ground level, they react and ozone gas is formed. Furthermore, one of the main components of photochemical smog is caused by ozone gas at ground level. Ozone gas at ground level is so harmful it can reduce visibility significantly. It also damages sensitive plants and causes materials like paint and rubber to deteriorate. Humans that come in contact with the ozone gas often develop problems with their respiratory system. Asthmatics experience runny eyes, irritation in their nose and throat and breathing problems. Excessive exposure to ozone gas can cause lung damage and can increase chances on developing respiratory related illnesses, particularly in elderly and in infants.
Pollution City
Auckland's air quality is poor and regularly exceeds national environmental standards. | Source
A majority of health and environmental effects are associated with air contaminants produced by natural sources, which is why it is challenging to manage the quality of air effectively with policies and practices. Therefore, realistically speaking, only anthropogenic sources of air pollution can be managed with air quality policies. Management has been taking place since 2001 when substantial improvements were made in fuel quality and emission standard requirements. Furthermore, the introduction of wood burner standards, clean heat retrofit programmes and insulation have had comparable improvements in domestic fire emissions. Open burning has also been banned in many regions since 2006, although the positive impact of this change is expected to be visible in the near future. "Although the use of solid fuels for domestic fires is declining slowly, the population is growing. Consequently, the levels of PM 10 and PM 2.5 particulates have levelled off in recent years but are still at levels that can cause significant adverse health effects" (State of the Environment and Biodiversity, p. 116). Auckland Council is responsible for maintaining air quality in Auckland region. Some of the ways in which they fulfil this responsibility is by monitoring air pollutants at 13 fixed sites throughout Auckland, including two mobile monitoring stations that can be moved to locations of interest. Air quality monitoring records show that concentrations of air contaminants have decreased previously, because of advantages offered by modern vehicle and industrial technology. However, the average concentration of smaller particulates has remained stable in recent years. Concentrations of other pollutants have decreased as well including, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Although nitrogen dioxide still carries a strong concentration. (Managing Auckland's Air quality).
As far as the management of photochemical reactions and production of ozone gas goes, there is only so much that can be done since natural sources are involved. Often the monitoring systems are only able to give approximations instead of accurate concentrations of pollutants in the air. This is a result of Auckland's windy weather. Policies and regulations for cleaner fuel have somewhat improved air quality in the Auckland region. According to the Auckland Council, "Lead levels in petrol were reduced after 1986 and were eliminated in 1996 (State of the Environment and Biodiversity, p. 116). Especially at roadsides, lead levels in the air have significantly decreased as a result. Even though Auckland has achieved promising results so far, these improvements are slightly overshadowed by the increasing number of motor vehicles, kilometres travelled and the aging vehicle fleet.
Pollution - A Problem in Auckland
Maintaining air quality is crucial, not only to reduce air pollution-related health impacts on humans, but also to protect plants and the environment from deteriorating. Human activities that cause harmful chemicals to mix with the air we breathe can be minimized, or carried on using alternative methods that are safer. Houses can be insulated to avoid domestic fires resulting from home. Motor vehicle usage can be minimized, and public transports can be used where applicable to avoid VOCs reacting with nitrogen and producing ozone gas at ground level via a photochemical reaction. If the public does their part to improve the environment with government authorities, slowly but surely a less harmful atmosphere will be achievable for Auckland.
a) Kuschel, G., Metcalfe, J., Wilton, E., Guria, J., Hales, S., Rolfe, K., Woodward, A. (2012, March). Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand. http://www.hapinz.org.nz/HAPINZ%20Update_Vol%201%20Summary%20Report.pdf
b) Shaw, S.,White, L. & Deed B. (Eds.) (2013). Health, Wellbeing and Environment in Aotearoa New Zealand. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
c) Auckland Council. State of the Environment and Biodiversity. http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/documents/technicalpublications/Chapter%204_0%20-%20State%20of%20the%20environment%20and%20bioversity%20overview%20-%20%20and%204_1%20-%20Air.pdf
d) Auckland Council. Managing Auckland's Air quality.
e) Fisher, G., Kjellstrom, T., Kingham, S., Hales, S., Shrestha, R. (2007, June 5th). Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand. http://www.hapinz.org.nz/HAPINZ%20Exec%20Summary%20Final%20Clean%20June%202007%20v3.pdf
© 2017 Rose Kamal
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Last January was one of the greatest new beginnings that I have experienced, and I didn't even plan it. I hadn't made any sort of resolution that led to this new start, but the Lord had worked things in my life that forced me to resolve to begin anew in some ways.
I had been very sick for 3 months without a known cause until discovering in January that my wide range of frightening symptoms all stemmed from problems with my spine and the nerves running out of my upper back and neck.
When finally settling on the diagnosis, my doctor said that I absolutely must start exercising regularly or just accept that I would likely never feel better. My back was weak and discs and vertebrae were suffering, and exercise was required to build muscle to support my spine. I literally hadn't exercised in years. I had neglected to take care of myself physically to the point that I was greatly incapacitated by lack of stewardship of my body.
So, given the ultimatum to exercise or suffer, I started back to ballet, which I had studied until I was a young adult. I knew it would be good exercise and good for my posture, and hoped it would be enjoyable too. You see, when I had quit, I had completely burnt out and never thought I'd desire to dance again. At this moment though, dancing seemed more interesting to me than other options, so I decided to give it a try.
I showed up to the first class, and to my surprise, I experienced one of the biggest surges of joy that I had experienced in years. I was reminded of a long faded passion for music, movement, and beauty. I immediately felt the benefit to not only my body, but to my emotions and soul that come about through physical exercise and doing something I had once loved. My physical symptoms resolved over a period of weeks, and my emotional and spiritual health also greatly improved.
A picture from after class in November.
As a mother of 4 young kids serving overseas, life always feels intense. There doesn't feel like there is space for anything superfluous, and in reality there rarely is. But what I have been learning is that caring for myself is not superfluous. It is necessary. It is necessary for my ability to be a good mom and wife, it is necessary for longevity on the mission field, it is necessary to keep me from imploding under the weight of all that urgently needs to be done in this life, and it is necessary to remind me that I am loved by the Lord and that He desires to care for me as His daughter. I am not His slave, but His beloved daughter whose mind, body, and soul matter greatly to Him.
Last year was the beginning of a journey in learning how to make sure that I am a good steward of my physical, emotional, and spiritual health. I was forced to fit a hobby/exercise back into my life, and realized that though it does take time, my capacity has actually increased. I am better able to love and serve others and to accomplish my daily tasks because I am so much more refreshed than I have been in years past. I also have had so much more authentic joy in the Lord.
I write this to you as encouragement to those of you who, like me until God forced a change, feel like there just isn't any space for you to care for yourself. To me it literally felt impossible to add anything to my life at the moment that I was forced to do so. It does take creativity, and at first it will look like sacrifice and perhaps even an impossibility like it did to me until receiving the doctor's ultimatum, but often there really is a way if you we are willing to work to find it. As mothers and missionaries, we are very used to and skilled at putting our needs aside for long seasons, but sometimes we need also to remember how to be good stewards of the mind, body, and soul given to us by the Lord. He loves you and cares about all aspects of who you are!
2. What are some things that bring me joy, fulfillment, and health in this area? What are some things that I have benefited from in the past in this regard, or what is something that I've always wanted to try?
3. If I were commanded by an authority that I absolutely must make space in my life for one of these things, how would I do it? What would I cut out to make room? How practically could I make it happen? Whose help would I need to make this a reality?
4. Without being literally commanded to do so, could I try stepping out in faith to care for myself in this area of need?
Have you had similar new beginnings with regards to your own self-care? Are you willing to share an area where you are feeling depleted and perhaps need to begin caring more for your own well-being?
I tend to equate self care with selfishness, no matter how hard I try and end up feeling guilty. I'm in much the same boat, though - where I have to keep physically active or my joints and back give me a lot of grief. I'd finally gotten myself in a good routine before moving to Quebec and am now struggling to find that routine again... and also looking for a dance outlet (although not nearly so classical - I used to perform with a folk and international dance troupe).
Great, great questions! Thanks for including them.
I totally relate with you on the self-care=selfishness struggle. That has always been a battle for me too. Even now I sometimes fear the potential of swinging too far and making too much of self-care and forgetting that God often calls us to sacrifice and perseverance. I think this year is the first year, though, when I have seen as clear as day what a difference it has made not just for me, but for my family and others that I serve when I take care of myself. I think the medical stuff was a unique and intense situation, and I have wondered if God didn't allow it because I am pretty dense when it comes to certain lessons and just needed the Him to shout at me on this one!
How fun that you too are looking for a dance outlet! I hope you find something that is just right for you! I love watching various types of folk dance and dances from various countries. Let us know if you end up finding something!
I can relate to the struggle with self-care. Once I realized stress was affecting my health, I was able to make some changes, slowly. It helps me to write things at certain times on my calendar. Then I'm more likely to do it, or to tell someone "no" about something happening during that time.
Have you come to take away our souls?