WinForPooh

I should add disclaimer that there are parts of the subcontinent where it's not so pronounced, and lots of lovely places to visit, where people are generally nice and far more used to, let's say, diversity. But I live in a city where being different will get stares and there are all kinds of tensions, so... *shrugs* There are still nice people everywhere. It's just that usually, the IQ of a crowd is the square root of the IQ of the biggest idiot in it, and idiots are always the loudest.

Twice braised pork... Why.

Indian subcontinent. The part of Asia that E-Asia seems to dislike, and the part that views all E-Asians with suspicion. Prejudices everywhere.

Strawberry shortcake! He apparently likes it? And rice and a richly flavoured stew of some sort, without too many spices, he'd like that. I wonder how he feels about coconut milk... I'd keep him in a hotel room with an air purifier until I could book him a flight out, because I'm not letting him out to breathe all of that pollution in this heat - yes, it's very hot here - and get an asthma attack. He'd want the first flight out anyway, I'd think. The weather is usually awful, pollution is awful, and people stare at anybody with E. Asian features. Unless he's particularly interested in beautiful old architecture, enough to brave heat and crowds, nothing for him here. lol @ gold scarves and layout details.

Hey, you released nothing into the universe for us to play with. So who's to blame for that, hmm? Shorties of the planet unite? We can stand one on top of the other and wear a huge trenchcoat, like in cartoons? I'm 5'2" if I cheat a little bit, but the good part of that is that everybody looks tall to me. Over about 5'6" everybody might as well be seven feet tall to me, and I'm so used to it that I don't even blink. If we got a giant invasion, I might not even sure I'd notice.

With casual watchers - who will be the majority during the Olympics - it's all about the spin. But not the spin on the ice. Anybody who has started really watching skating will see beyond the 'so many quads' hype. It's just one more than Yuzu now, anyway, it makes me grumpy. Hence my hand-waving dismissal and hyping of the axel, about as subtle as Nathan's triple axel landing. (I honestly have so much respect for him for getting the flip and the lutz right, it's unusual, but when it's war...) I'm sure skaters know technique when they see it, because if they don't get it right, they'll feel the bruises and the aches and pains.

With very casual watchers, I'm beginning to play a little dirty. "Oh, Nate? One to watch out for, to be sure. But he doesn't even have a proper triple axel yet. The axel is the only mandatory jump because it's the most difficult, you know. Nathan just barely manages to land his. Yuzuru Hanyu is the only one who has landed a quad axel even in practice, but he says he probably won't do the quad axel in the Olympics. Doesn't need it to win, so he'll make do with his four quads and the best triple axel in the business."

The final battle, on which hinges the fate of the planet! Out soon (not), at an arena probably not near you at all.

He tried to punish her by levelling her down, but that backfired and now he needs to learn that honey works better than vinegar.

There's only one Empress and there are a few concubines, a few out of favour concubines who have become a little bitter, an evil (if we're going to be binary about it) Lady 4F who wanted to be the Empress and now schemes against the Emperor, and a whole bunch of international dalliances and alliances to keep the Emperor on top. There's an evil shadow organisation that conspires against (we're not sure what yet, the Emperor? The Great Ideals?), there are pretenders.... An uneasy alliance between the F-Clan and the Ivil Shadow Union will be the background of the Second Great Battle. (Lady 3F is now a tragic figure, she was a traitor in the First Great Battle but regretted it immediately and now is sworn to serve him for all eternity. This means that she is now considered a traitor by her F-Clan. But she still harbours love for Lady 4F and hopes against hope that Lady 4F will see the light and be welcomed by the Emperor.) The battle must be won before the Princess 4A's birth cleanses the universe of all... something, I'm losing steam here a little, and the looming 5T will be the Third Great Battle. And we're the little busybodies about court.

@Xen is in for a bit of a surprise when she logs in again. Unfortunately I have to catch up on work that has piled up because of my obsession with the Emperor. Have fun.

I think Prime Minister Pooh is very busy, handling all these... umm... Diplomatic Relations.

Aha! I happen to know that the Duchess Biellmann has been spending time with a few Pretenders. Will there be intrigue there?

Duchess Sit Spin's realm was simply not powerful enough to form the kind of alliance he needed to become the Emperor. They were childhood sweethearts, now become the best of friends, and they know that they will always be together, no matter how many others there might be. My, what a busy little Emperor we have!

But there's evil in the F-line. When Lady 3F was caught out, she didn't accept her fate so easily. She sought revenge, and made her Emperor stumble during his Great Battle, when he trusted her to be by his side! Dark deeds may be wrought by Lady 4F...

The Duchess and the Emperor retreat into his chambers every visit, and sometimes the Emperor is caught wincing after she leaves. But she always leaves her smirk behind.

Let's not forget the wonderful alliance with Countess Ina Bauer, too. 4A will be the loveliest and also the most frustrating baby quad in the universe.

But then there will come the vengeance of the lady 4F, who secretly yearns to be with the Emperor, supplanting all others and being his only love. The neglect turns that love into something far darker, and with her secret arts, she casts a shadow over the land that slowly creeps up on it, unnoticed as the court and all on the planet anticipate Princess 4A with such gladness. Hmm, I don't like this 4F.

Lady 3F: an unusual lady who was considered fickle and quick to anger in her youth, but has slowly grown into one of the steadiest and most dependable at the court. But her very steadiness means that she is often overlooked, and there is one incident when she, in her youth and anger, betrayed the emperor that lives on in memory. That, they say, is because there's a touch of something strange about her,. Her repentance and the tears shed over that ill-judged moment were real, but the consequences follow her. It might be her doom. Because of it, the emperor will not even consider bringing her prouder friend, the 4F, as her companion for she is lonely. But having once betrayed, she is determined to do her duty to the very end, even if she knows she will never be favoured again.

That troublemaker 4Lz. But I've always had a soft spot for troublemakers. Which seems to be all of them except 3A, but the 3A needs no soft spot, the 3A is the princess, so... No idea where I'm going with this metaphor lol.

Poor 4Lo, gone from the star of the... harem? to being taken for granted. No wonder the 4Lo got upset, but the surprise is that it got 4T to join in a little rebellion. And even 3T!

Ha I think 4Lo is plenty temperamental and was out to remind Yuzu and us of that this time.

I prefer him omitting it to doing it and depending on his fed to get the edge calls sorted out. The ladies flutz and lip so much! But his lutz looked really really good in practice.

No arguments there. But I really think another year before the pressurecooker of an Olympic season would've given the younger ones time to find a better balance. (If their skating federations and coaches and so on would cooperate, of course.) But then we'd have another younger generation (Vincent lol) with the same story. We forget poor Mika Kolyada completely in all of this. His 4lz in practice looked great and he can really sell the right kind of programme.

I'm working from home today and I got mad at the dogs. An encore would be nice now, Yuzu!