My husband and I have been celebrating our marriage in small ways pretty much daily since we tied the knot at the Jefferson County Courthouse on a cold, rainy October day last year. I'd only been living in our shared Denver apartment full time for a few days at that point, having severed my employment in Trinidad just a few days earlier. It was a tremendous relief for me to finally arrive home for good when I left my office after my last day at work and drove three hours north to Denver.
We didn't plan to get married the following week, but it worked out that way because the county clerk's office was empty when we arrived. No lines. No waiting. We were in and out in less than thirty minutes. We arrived as two single people looking forward to getting married within the next thirty days. We left as husband and wife, a little stunned by how quickly and easily we'd tied the knot, but thrilled nonetheless.
I hear all the time that marriage is difficult. That it's the hardest thing you'll ever do, next to parenting; and I wonder sometimes if there's something wrong with me or my husband or our marriage because our union has been easy from the start. I think we'd both fully committed to spending the rest of our lives together before we ever talked about marriage. When we did have that conversation, the issue was settled in a matter of minutes.
Neither of us is particularly romantic. We're both more practical, yet there's something sort of romantic and magical about a union, such as ours, that works so smoothly and effortlessly. That's not to say that we don't put any effort into our marriage because we do. I'm prone to some pretty strong mood swings, and with our daughter now living with us full time, there are three of us crammed into a tiny 2-bedroom apartment. I occasionally feel fenced in, and when I need to withdraw and recharge (introvert that I am) there's simply nowhere to go. Those days are pretty challenging, but my husband and I are unshakably united, so we know we'll get through them.
All my life I've been accused of not being a team player, but what this past year has taught me is that I am absolutely a team player when I'm on the right team. This lesson is huge for me because I believed, like most people, that life would always be a struggle. That wherever I go, there would be strife and conflict, so I'd just have to learn to deal with it. We're told from an early age that we need to grow a thick skin and learn to tolerate being treated poorly by others, and we're supposed to silently endure the incompetence, ignorance, or inappropriate behavior of those closest to us for the sake of "getting along".
All of that is nonsense, of course. Those are the lies people tell themselves in order to justify staying in bad marriages, toxic friendships, and unrewarding jobs. There's a better way. It's entirely possible to have relationships that are based on mutual respect and appreciation. It's equally possible to find highly evolved, competent, and intelligent people with whom we'll resonate. We can either find or build high-functioning teams where we'll achieve more working together than we could possibly achieve alone. The key is that we have to learn to be a lot more discerning about the people we're willing to allow into our lives. And we need to learn to say no to those who are unwilling or unable to rise to higher standards of conduct.
I'm not sure I can convince anyone that there really is a better way to live, but I'd like to. Had anyone told me I'd eventually find a man who is a perfect match for me, I probably wouldn't have believed it. Yet I intuitively understood that the combative and dysfunctional relationships I've had with certain relatives, friends, and coworkers through the years may have been completely "normal" according to current social standards, but they certainly weren't healthy. I secretly hoped to find better ways to relate with people, and I found glimpses of those better ways through a few rare individuals—an old boss, a handful of friends and even a couple of old boyfriends. It wasn't until my husband and I started dating, though, that I fully understood that virtually all of the obstacles to lasting, happy, and healthy relationships would be obliterated if people would only choose their mates, friends, and business associates more carefully.
My husband and I are similar in many ways, but we're also quite different in other ways. His strengths balance my weaknesses, yet we share the same core values. As a result, it is remarkably easy for us to map a course for our future and work together to achieve our long-term goals. While dividing the work of running our household, we take into consideration our individual preferences and strengths so neither of us gets stuck doing the things that we dislike most.
We argue infrequently, we rarely bicker, and the closest thing to nagging that happens in our household is that we occasionally have to remind our daughter to do her chores. The result is an overwhelmingly happy and almost effortless marriage and home life. My wish is that you, too, will find the sort of well-balanced relationship that my husband and I enjoy. Can you imagine what we could achieve as a society if we all held ourselves and those closest to us to higher standards of conduct, and if we were far more discerning when choosing those we allow into our inner circles?
Life is too short for all the drama and nonsense that most of us resignedly tolerate daily in our personal relationships and in the workplace. Choose your mate, friends, and coworkers more carefully so you can look forward, as I do, to a bright future beside someone you trust absolutely to have your back.
Thank you, Matt, for a wonderful first year of what I'm certain will be a very long and happy marriage. I love you.


LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - People who live near roads laden with heavy traffic face a higher risk of developing dementia than those living further away, possibly because pollutants get into their brains via the blood stream, according to researchers in Canada.
A study in The Lancet medical journal found that people who lived within 50 metres (55 yards) of high-traffic roads had a 7.0 percent higher chance of developing dementia compared to those who lived more than 300 metres away from busy roadways.
Independent experts said the Canadian study had important implications for public health around the world. Tom Dening of the Centre for Old Age and Dementia at Britain's Nottingham University said the findings were "interesting and provocative".
"It is unlikely that Ontario has the worst air quality in the world, so the risks might be even greater in cities that are habitually wrapped in smog," he said.
Chen's team analysed records of more than 6.5 million Ontario residents aged 20 to 85 and found 243,611 cases of dementia between 2001 and 2012. Then they mapped residents' proximity to major roadways using postal codes.
The increase in the risk of developing dementia went down to 4.0 percent if people lived 50 to 100 metres from major traffic, and to 2.0 percent if they lived within 101 to 200 metres. At more than 200 metres, the elevated risk faded away.


As technology makes its way into today's Ft. Smith homes, many appliances and other aspects of a home have started to become more and more aligned with computerized capabilities.
Of all the systems in a home, the smart thermostat has seen tremendous advances made in its ability to merge with computers to create almost unlimited possibilities.
While features continue to be added to these systems, certain features have been nothing short of life-changing.
Believe it or not, today's smart thermostats can track the location of a homeowner and make adjustments to the home's heating and cooling systems.
This has been a great feature for people who work late-night shifts or other unpredictable schedules, allowing them to have their homes be cool on summer nights or warm on winter nights. Using sophisticated GPS systems and Wi-Fi capability, these systems continue to grow in popularity.
As more people than ever before have smartphones, it's only natural that smart thermostats are able to combine with these apps to let homeowners perform a number of functions while away from home.
For people who don't want to get off the sofa to adjust the thermostat, they can simply log in to their smartphone and increase or decrease the temperature from where they are.
And for people who want to check in on their system while on a business trip, they can use an app to have their home feeling toasty warm when their kids get home from school.
The apps can also be used to check on the system's maintenance, allowing a person to see if any upcoming maintenance is needed or schedule service calls with a technician.
While smart thermostats can't completely predict the weather, they're getting closer and closer every day. Today's thermostats, when linked to Wi-Fi, are able to check on weather conditions and the latest radar data from the National Weather Service.
By doing this, the thermostat can automatically adjust the temperature of a home based on the current conditions, as well as anticipate future conditions and pre-program temperatures for later on in the day.
Along with these features, people can program multiple temperatures into their thermostats for different parts of the day, allowing them to customize their system as the weather conditions change.
This feature is useful for very hot or very cold days, letting Ft. Smith homeowners ensure they will have a home with perfect climate-controlled conditions.
Wanna save money in your Ft. Smith, AR home? Don't wait, and Call Mountain Air Cooling & Heating at (479) 782-4328 today, and get information on how to get a thermostat upgrade.


Nothing says Christmas Pride like a custom "We Chop Local" message. Printed on 14 pt plastic- these cards will last outside on the trees, and also look cool hanging from your rear view mirror.
Our Tree Tags are customized with your farm name, hashtag or website address on the front, and your own customized message on the back. Use them to bring customers back to your lot next year!


im a newbie to this website, i must apologize if my english is hard to understand, because english is my second language.
i've been going through this website for quite some time now and i am interest in playing this game.
i want to ask you guys where could i get fate stay night visual novel original version, not the realta nua one.
Thanks for buying the game! You can buy F/sn from JList (list price USD115) and PaletWeb (list price USD98), and probably cheaper if you get a secondhand one through Yahoo Japan auctions (and using a YJA proxy buying service). Or keep an eye on ebay perhaps?
or can i just buy this game from any legal game shop in Thailand with englis language sub?
Unfortunately an English version of Fate/stay night does not exist. You will have to buy the Japanese game, and then use our translation patch to install it.


Magazines...I love them. There is something about holding a magazine in your hands and reading it. However, magazines can build up. If you don't take care of your magazine pile then pretty soon you have a mountain. That mountain that was supposed to bring you joy now creates stress.
So in comes the thirteenth step of my Stay Sane Cleaning Series. That is to purge your magazines. This step is by far my favorite step. I love it because I get time to do something that I love. Yes. I have to put this time down on my cleaning schedule. If I don't then sadly I won't take the time and my magazine pile will quickly get out of control.
This step is really simple and like I said...fun. So here is the breakdown.
Step #1: Wait until you have some quiet. Don't do this with kids screaming and bothering you. Do it when you can relax. Yes. I just said that you can relax while doing a step in my cleaning series.
Step #2: Grab your favorite drink and a couple of magazine in your magazine pile.
Step #3: Set your timer for 10 minutes. I know it isn't that much time, but there are two positives with only 10 minutes. #1 is that you should be able to relax 10 minutes in a week. (You should be doing much more than that, but this will assure that you actually get at least 10 minutes of relaxing in). Second, even with doing this 10 minutes a week you will still be taking control of your magazines.
Step #4: Look through the magazines. I usually tear out pages that interest me. I read articles that I want to and skip the others. I delve into each magazine. Some weeks I get through 3 magazines. Some weeks I don't even get through one. It all depends on how many pages interest me in the selected magazines.
Step #5: Take the torn out pages and write down the information that needs to be written down. If it can be found online then find it and pin it to one of your Pinterest boards. If there is too much information to write down or it can't be found online then I usually take a picture of the page. Then get rid of it. The point is to get rid of the magazines and move on. Make room for new ones and don't let your magazines weigh you down.
After the timer goes off put the remaining magazines that you didn't have time to look through in the magazine pile and know that next week they will be looked at. If you do this pretty soon you will feel more relaxed and get in control of your magazine clutter.


The government has set some ambitious apprenticeship targets.
In fact, they've committed to delivering over 3 million new apprenticeships across all sectors by the end of 2020 – that's more than one new apprentice starting every minute!
With so many major changes and big challenges on the horizon, it's time to start thinking about how you can prepare for the new trailblazer apprenticeships. At OneFile, our trailblazer experts are at the top of their game, so we've racked their brains to come up with some easy ways to stay one step ahead.
We all know it's true; 'failing to prepare is preparing to fail' – but with so much uncertainty surrounding trailblazer apprenticeships, doing your homework is not as easy as it sounds. Reading about the new standards is a good place to start. You can research specific programmes, standards and groups to see how the changes may affect your training.
There are tons of great ways you can stay in the loop. As well our Explore area, the government has set up plenty of interactive channels to help – including social media pages to follow, petitions to sign and open consultations to be a part of. You can find all government-backed engagements here.
Don't sit back and wait to be invited – get stuck in! Trailblazer groups are required to consult with relevant companies in their sector to ensure the standards are relevant for everyone. So if you're interested in being involved first-hand, take a look at which standards are still in the consultation stage. You could also meet with other companies in your sector to see what preparations they're making.
Apart from the new employer-led standards, trailblazers will also have an End-Point Assessment (EPA). One of the biggest changes to apprenticeships in recent years, the EPA will be a GCSE-style test taken by every learner to prove their competencies.
The concept is simple – apprentices must pass the test to complete their qualification – but it brings huge changes to the way courses are run and graded.
At OneFile, we've already adapted our software to support trailblazer apprenticeships. We've created interactive employer accounts that fully involve the employer in the learner's journey. Standards and terminology can be customised to suit each trailblazer, and each learner's progress is then tracked against the standard. You can also create bespoke forms to meet the requirements of each trailblazer. These features ensure the entire learning process is fully inclusive for not only the provider, but the learner and employer too. Learn more about OneFile and Trailblazers.


This Black and Decker toaster oven has defrost, bake, toast, and broil functions and has a removable crumb tray. It is 15 inches wide, 8.5 inches high, and 12 inches deep. I would still be using it except I was given a new toaster oven as a present. The only problem with this one is that one of the hinges is broken, and this makes it, on occasion, slightly inconvenient to open.


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Home > HEADLINES > MTN IPO to Be Executed in Two Phases Amid Row With Govt
MTN IPO to Be Executed in Two Phases Amid Row With Govt
By Clara Nwachukwu
The long-awaited listing of the shares of South Africa-based, mobile network provider, MTN, will now be executed in two phases for better value, which will commence at the end of the second quarter or at the latest early third quarter.The phased listing, which will not be as big and extensive as initially anticipated, is to enable the network operator to get better value for its shares, while resolving other outstanding issues with the Federal Government.
MTN Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ferdinand Moolman, who denied that the much-hyped listing and initial public offering (IPO) by the telcom firm is being used as bait in its row with the Government, insisted that the network provider is committed to the offer.
Besides, he revealed, Nigerians already owned 20 per cent of MTN shares, which are not publicly traded, but were sold through over-the-counter (OTC), and other investment schemes, while the listing at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), will usher in more indigenous investors.
Moolman and his team of managers told senior journalists in Lagos yesterday that the offer is now been phased as a show of commitment to the IPO, saying: "MTN has always been very serious about listing. There was a lot of work that we did on the listing and our thought was to list in 2018.
"We needed to change to a public company because we are a private company at the moment before we can list. We need to send our directors to training for compliance with SEC requirements. So a lot of work had happened to prepare for the listing. Then the CBN issue happened."
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in August last year, had ordered MTN to refund to its coffers the sum of $8.1billion allegedly repatriated illegally, which was later settled out of court, with the payment of $52.6million in fines by the network operator.
In this regard, Moolman argued that it would have smirked of irresponsibility if the listing was done while these issues were raging. "Truth be told, it would not be wise to offer shares to the public if we had outstanding issues still hanging. We thank God we were able to resolve it on the 12th of December. So now we are feverishly working toward listing, and we plan to do the listing before the end of H1 or early Q3 of this year."
He said the initial listing will happen despite MTN's current row with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, in September last year, had slammed the company with $2billion in outstanding taxes for 10 years.
On whether the market would remain as excited as twhen the news of the IPO broke in 2016, Moolman assured MTN's good performance and balance sheet in 2018, is more than enough to show investors that "There is a lot of value we can bring to this market; and we anticipate to do it in two phases – the first phase will be to list and then start trading in our shares and then lifting it for bigger participation."
MTN had initially hoped to raise up to $500million from the IPO, which plan was revealed in 2016. But constant postponement of the offer had damped investors' appetite for the investment, which is anticipated to be the biggest ever in Nigeria.The telecom firm in its 2018 financial reported over N1.037trillion in revenue about 17 per cent growth year-on-year, boosted by contributions from its Voice, Data, Fintech, and Digital platforms, from a capital investment of over N2.5trillion in the network so far.
Champions League quarter-final draws: All you need to know
Nine dead, scores injured in collapsed Lagos building

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In other stipulations, it's the traditional way of mixing a cocktail. As the exact last step after the cocktail was made, utilize a vegetable peeler to acquire a 2 in. piece of peel from an orange. There are specific cocktails that are timeless. The classic conventional cocktail is among those drinks that's quite easy to tweak. If you adore Old Fashioned cocktails made out of whiskey, I advise you to consider trying bourbon for a shift.
It is possible to use bourbon or rye within this recipe. A tiny amount of whisky will frequently have a relaxing influence on the drinker, another reason it could settle the stomach. Serving whiskey may keep your bar, tasting space, or lounge on trend and permits you to try all kinds of new drinks. As an easy cocktail, it is critical to use the optimal/optimally whiskey for an Old Fashioned. It's tough to select an awful whiskey for this drink and it is a terrific venue to try new finds, so pour whatever you enjoy. If you're drinking a costly brandy or other kind of liquor and wish to be sure it stays cool then require the Sipping Stones Whisky Chilling Rocks. It uses apple whiskey to produce a completely enjoyable cocktail.
Old wine should be kept at specific temperatures and humidity amounts so as to maintain flavor and composition. The original drink isn't an alcoholic beverage whatsoever, it's just soda. Some of these drinks are described in detail, and some basic ones have only a few ingredients, which means you understand what you're getting. It's a fairly straightforward drink as it doesn't involve many ingredients.
When it regards cocktails, Americans' tastes have developed a significant bit over the previous decade. It's a delicious cocktail but it's also quite distinctive because of its simple ingredient list. Luckily, it's likewise an effortless cocktail to make. Further, it's one of those cocktails which are perfectly acceptable to construct in the glass, which is, obviously, an old-fashioned glass.
If you're all set to begin a whiskey assistance, utilize this guide to assist you in making an educated decision when stocking your glassware. Today, a lot of the rye whiskey that can be found on the marketplace is distilled in Kentucky. It is really an exact important add-on to the drink. There you've got that, when the decision is made, you know that you're either a red or white drinker. You also have a decision to make about the alcohol used. There are likewise a whole lot of crafts you can possibly make with wine corks. The purchase price for your initial two bottles ought to be in between $12-$18.
Most obviously, it's necessary for you to find and purchase sugar cubes, and a muddler. The glasses are extremely thin, which makes for a terrific drinking experience. As a consequence, these glasses are excellent for high-volume bars. Rocks glasses are a fantastic chance to inject some personality in your glassware since they arrive in several colours, shapes, and designs. A tiny silver or golden eyeliner is able to make your eyes seem more attractive. This one works nicely with orange bitters or, better yet, grapefruit if it is possible to discover it.


Cory's mom kept our kids overnight last night.
So the air around here is quiet and blissful.
This was our first "real" alone-all-nighter in almost a year, since the last time our kids were gone we ended up with the stomach flu, but I'd really rather not think about that.
I've been on a couple of fun friend trips lately and they've fed my soul in so many important ways. But there's always a part of me that wishes for the same with Cory. This is the first time in forever we haven't done a long-weekend getaway and there's really nothing in the cards.
24 hours? I'll take it.
Maybe not everyone needs this kind of white space, but I just do. And I'm so thankful when it finds me.
Then I did my favorite thing in all the land: I puttered around in a quiet hour.
There is nothing better. Nothing. Don't even try.
Mexican food for lunch, because we're no dummies.
Holley and her husband adopted a 21 year old. I can't tell you how this story breaks me apart and fills me up.
Jenny came to my session at Hope Spoken. As I talked, my eyes kept meeting her and I felt for sure I knew her from somewhere. I bolted over to her afterward and introduced myself. She said I seemed familiar, too. She mentioned that she sings in my area sometimes. Alas, I don't think we've ever met.
At the time, I had no clue she was scheduled to sing and lead worship later. (I can be painfully out-of-the-know.) That evening, I accidentally whopped her cutie daughter on the head with my dinner plate. And then she sang for us. Her hour at the mic was one of the favorite moments of many of the people I spoke to, including mine. Jenny used to sing for Addison Road (I actually blogged about them ages ago!) and now she's doing her own thing. She has a special passion for incarcerated women and women held captive by so many different things.
"If you've been been hurt by the church, you have something in common with nearly every Christian on the planet. If you've left the church because you were hurt there, you've got something in common with me..."
And now, as a token of my love for you, I leave you with The Fun Salad.
I know, it doesn't look very special.
But I can honestly say it is my favorite. Ever. Ever.
It's something about the dressing, which is a little cheaterish, but why reinvent the wheel?
Everyone I've ever made it for clamors for more and asks for the recipe.
Upping its fancy cred, I was introduced to it over 10 years ago by the wife of Cory's boss, a US Congressman at the time.
Basically, this salad is maybe four or five degrees from Olivia Pope.
Combine all ingredients by whisking or shaking.
GO FORTH AND BE AMAZED!
You had me at "goat cheese".
I'm not sure if anyone has said this yet, but PLEASE PLEASE keep reminding us to vote, even if it's just a P.S. at the end. I'm forgetful. I need reminders.
PS Rhinestone Jesus is just like Radical. It's all I can do not to move to sell everything I have this moment. And I'm only halfway through.
Yes! That salad def. looks fun!! I'll shall have to try. And totally agree... the kids to bed. What a great whole other side to the day.
So that's how you crumble goat cheese! Learn something new everyday. This one will come in handy, for sure. Also I am jealous of your alone time with the hubs minus the children. I am in need of some myself. I'll have to get to work on that.
Too many times, my life mirrors yours. With no family close by, we struggle to have a date night too. But, I'm just telling ya, that yours was absolutely perfect! Hoping that me and mine get one like that real soon! Heading over to vote again, thanks for the reminder!
Please include the link everyday so we can easily vote again for you!


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©2017 BY NEW ENGLAND CENTER FOR OCD AND ANXIETY. PROUDLY CREATED WITH WIX.COM
NEW ENGLAND CENTER FOR OCD AND ANXIETY
Learn to Thrive
Consultation & Training
Learn To Thrive Blog
LISA W. COYNE, PHD
Founder and Director, New England Center for OCD and Anxiety
NECOA Boston
Lisa W. Coyne, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked to improve the psychological well-being of children, teens and families for nearly 20 years. After teaching as a tenured professor in the APA-Accredited Clinical Psychology at Suffolk University for 9 years, she is now an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, where she founded the McLean Child and Adolescent OCD Institute (OCDI Jr.). She is a peer-reviewed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Trainer, and a Faculty member of the Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF). She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and chapters on anxiety, OCD, and parenting and is the author of The Joy of Parenting: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Guide to Effective Parenting in the Early Years, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Clinician's Guide for Supporting Parents, and Stuff That's Loud: A Teen's Guide to Unspiraling when OCD Gets Noisy. She and Dr. Phoebe Moore are currently writing a book on treating adolescents with OCD and anxiety that is due out in 2020 with Guilford Press. To contact her directly, email dr.lisacoyne@newenglandocd.org.
NECOA Boston Staff
PHOEBE S. MOORE, PHD
New England Center for OCD and Anxiety Co-Founder
NECOA Central MA
Phoebe S. Moore, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist who has specialized in the treatment of adults, children, teens and families affected by obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders since 1998. Dr. Moore joined the faculty at Duke University Medical Center in 2004 and then came to the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2011. She is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at UMASS. Dr. Moore specializes in in exposure with response prevention (E/RP) for OCD, and she also uses exposure-focused, evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatments to treat anxiety disorders such as social phobia, generalized anxiety, and separation anxiety. She regularly incorporates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) into her clinical work, and has co-developed with Dr. Coyne a parenting protocol using ACT to help parents of children with OCD and/or anxiety to thrive in their parenting role. To contact her directly, email phoebemoorephd@OCDcentralMA.com.
NECOA Central MA Staff


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Festivities - Throws, Balls & Music
The Throws:
The tradition of throwing trinkets to the crowds during Mardi Gras parades was initiated in the early 1870s by the Twelfth Night Revelers and has become a time-honored expectation. In 1884, the Krewe of Rex threw the first medallions (silver-dollar-sized commemorative coins later called doubloons) instead of the customary trinkets.
Today's doubloons are usually aluminum and anodized in a variety of colors, depicting the parade theme on one side and the emblem of the particular Krewe on the other. Many of these doubloons later become collectors' items. Early medallions were much heavier than those minted today and were usually awarded only as ball favors.
The custom of throwing trinkets from floats and from the balconies of the city is one of the older traditions in New Orleans and began one year when the parade featured Santa Klaus aboard a float, dispensing small trinkets to the watching children. Other popular throws include long strings of pearlized beads and plastic cups bearing the emblems of the Krewes.
The traditional cry of parade-goers who are pleading for throws is: "Throw me something, Mister!"
The Balls:
Private masked balls and parties have been held in New Orleans since at least 1718, when the majority of such festivities were hosted by the French inhabitants. However, when the Spanish government assumed control of the city, parties and street dancing were banned and it was not until 1827, when the United States came to power, that the right to party in mask was restored.
During the 1850s, the elite of New Orleans and their elegant Mardi Gras celebrations provided quite a contrast to the wild party atmosphere and near-rioting which took place in the streets. Most official Mardi Gras balls are (and always have been) formal and private affairs, with the only attendees usually being members of the individual Krewes and their invited guests.
An integral part of any Mardi Gras ball is the revealing of the reigning King and Queen of the Krewe, whose identities are a closely guarded secret until the night of the festivities. This tradition is employed to enhance the mystique of the celebrations. Debutantes are presented at the Ball Tableau as a formal introduction to society. The climbing of this social ladder begins much earlier in life with the children serving as pages to the court. Women dress in ball gowns and hope to be issued a "call-out" card.
If fortunate enough to receive such a card, the woman is seated in a selected area and waits her turn to be "called out" for a dance by the Krewe member who sent the card. Such an honor is customarily accompanied by the presenting of a small gift (known as a "favor") from the Krewe member to his chosen partner. At some balls, general dancing will follow the "call-out."
Attendance at the older and more aristocratic balls is strictly "by invitation only." Many people have been (and still are) omitted from this prestigious list over the years...including some former Governors of Louisiana who have expressed a desire to be in attendance. Originally, ball invitations were die-cut and printed in Paris. Today's versions still continue to be quite colorful and considered by some to be valuable works of art.
Many invitations are looked upon as collector's items and, as such, are frequently framed and prominently displayed in the home...serving as intersting conversation pieces. Many of the old-line and most prestigious Carnival organizations do not hold actual Mardi Gras parades, but host only balls (usually in large hotel ballrooms with attendance by invitation only, of course).
Not all parading Krewes host a ball after their parade, but the majority do indulge in such festivities. Some Krewes...notably Bacchus and Endymion...throw large-scale parties which include headlining entertainment. Prior to the actual dancing, many Krewes stage Tableaux. A Tableau is a "still-life" depiction of a scene by costumed Krewe members and based on the theme of the ball itself.
The Music:
Mardi Gras music (basically a second-line beat, which is the same rhythm which propels New Orleans brass bands) is comprised of various forms, including the orchestral and big-band arrangements played at tableau balls, carnival-themed rhythm-and-blues numbers that explode from jukeboxes, jazz tunes, Afro-Caribbean chants complete with percussive rhythms which are associated with Mardi Gras Indians and parade-time beats from the school bands who march between the floats during parades.
Traditional carnival favorites include: "Carnival Time" (by Al Johnson); "Mardi Gras Mambo" (by The Hawketts and written in 1954 by Art Neville); "Iko Iko" (written by James "Sugarboy" Crawford and performed by many artists including the Dixie Cups, Dr. John and the Neville Brothers); and "Big Chief" (considered to be a classis and first recorded in 1964 for Watch Records during a session which included Professor Longhair...for whom the song was writted by guitarist-composter, Earl King...and Mac Rebennack, a native of New Orleans who would later become known as "Dr. John").
However, it seems that each year brings the introduction of new would-be anthems. In the late 1800s, New Orleans had over 100 brass bands, most of which were affiliated with fraternal orders, fire departments and militia companies, in addition to various social and benevolent organizations.
Around the beginning of the Twentieth Century, white maskers began to hire black bands to ride with them in spring wagons, providing music for their dancing. Thus were these horse-drawn or mule-drawn wagons forerunners of the bandwagons found in modern Mardi Gras parades. The early brass bands (which played mostly dirges, marches and quadrilles) were composed of musicians who had some formal training and who could, therefore, read sheet music.
Jazz emerged when this tradition overlapped with Latin and African cultures...particularly the improvisational style of the black musicians. The official theme song of Rex (and therefore, by default, of Mardi Gras itself) is "If Ever I Cease To Love You." Not particularly an immensely popular public song, it was first played in 1872 during the visit to New Orleans of Grand Duke Alexis of Russia.
The Grand Duke had ostensibly fallen in love with the American singer Lydia Thompson after seeing her in a New York burlesque-type musical called "Bluebeard." This song was featured in that show and to honor the Grand Duke's presence at the celebrations, the newly-formed Rex organization set the tune to "march time." It has remained the "song of the season" ever since...even though it has absolutely nothing to do with a "carnival theme."
(NEXT PAGE - St. Patrick's Day)


Lazy blackholing lets some ST calculations complete that shouldn't.
When this is compiled with -O -feager-blackholing, it produces a <<loop>> exception as expected. When it's compiled with -O0 or with -fno-eager-blackholing, it prints 15.
Should we reimplement fixST to do something like what fixIO does? Or should we consider this sometimes-lost bottom tolerable?


text:
The Japanese manga series Nana, written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, features a cast of fictional characters of which the two main characters share the name Nana. The series chronicles their friendship and their lives as each chases her dreams. Nana Komatsu is a small town girl who goes to Tokyo to follow her boyfriend and college friends, with the hope of having her dream life. Nana Oosaki was in a popular punk band in her home town. Nana Oosaki's friends include her bandmates in the Black Stones (Blast) and her former bandmate who is involved in a band called Trapnest.

Main characters

Nana Osaki

Nana Osaki is a 20-year-old woman who moves to Tokyo to pursue a professional music career with her band, Black Stones, of which she is the main vocalist. From a young age, Nana O. was abandoned by her mother and never knew her biological father, leading her to grow up with her grandmother. Throughout high school, Nana O. was also a loner and feared by her classmates until Nobu befriends her. She was expelled from high school after she was falsely accused of prostitution. Nana K. views her as stylish, beautiful, and reliable; however, Nana O. fears losing the people around her.
Nana O. initially dates Ren after being introduced through Nobu, and they all played in the band Black Stones with Yasu. However, they break up after Ren is recruited to be in Trapnest, as Nana O. stubbornly refuses to allow his fame to be the reason for her success. After moving to Tokyo, Nana O. resumes her relationship with Ren, but she continues to resent Trapnest for causing him to leave Black Stones in the first place, as well as Nana K. eventually choosing Takumi, a Trapnest member, over Nobu. Nana K. leaving her motivates her to make Black Stones successful at any cost to win her back. However, this also causes her to develop a panic disorder, which continues to worsen.
In the present timeline, Nana O. has cut contact with everyone and has fled to England, with Nana K. and the others searching for her.

Nana Komatsu

Nana Komatsu is a 20-year-old woman who moves to Tokyo to join her friends and her boyfriend, Shoji. She has a penchant for falling in love easily, and when she was in her third year of high school, she was in an extramarital relationship with Asano before Asano ended their relationship. Due to her kindness and faithfulness, Nana O. nicknames her , after the dog Hachikō. Wildly imaginative, Nana K. often blames her misfortunes on the "demon lord."
After breaking up with Shoji, Nana K. becomes involved in an on-and-off relationship with Takumi, while falling in love with Nobu at the same time. Once Nana K. becomes pregnant, despite not knowing who was the father, she chooses to be with Takumi, as he was readily able to support her financially. After moving and becoming engaged to him, she becomes afraid of facing Nana O. and Nobu, believing that she has betrayed their trust. After reconciling with them, Nana K. is told by Nobu to stay with Nana O. to emotionally support her.
In the present timeline, Nana K. has two children, Ren and Satsuki, with Takumi. She lives with Satsuki in Japan, in hopes of Nana O. returning to the apartment they shared.

Black Stones
Black Stones, known as  for short, is a punk rock band with Nana O. as the lead vocalist. Ren was once a member of the group, but, after his departure to join Trapnest, they recruit a new member, Shin. They attract a large following, and ultimately sign a deal with Gaia Records.

Nobuo Terashima

Nicknamed , he is the guitarist of Black Stones and Nana O.'s best friend from high school. After befriending Nana O. during their second year of high school over punk music, Nobu introduces her to Ren, his friend from junior high school, and Yasu, where they formed Black Stones and performed until Ren was recruited to join Trapnest. Bright and friendly, unlike the rest of Black Stones, Nobu does not smoke and has a low alcohol tolerance. He also hails from a wealthy family who owns a Japanese-style inn and disowns him when he pursues a music career.
Nobu idealizes women to a fault, but he slowly realizes he is in love with Nana K. After affirming his love for her, the two date until Nana K. becomes pregnant. Despite suspecting that the child belongs to him, Nana K. chooses to be with Takumi. While Nobu still loves her, he sets aside his feelings to allow her to make her choice. When Black Stones move to a dormitory following preparations for their major label debut, Nobu begins dating Yuri while still being in love with Nana K. However, he promises to teach her child how to play the guitar.
In the present timeline, Nobu and Nana K. have gotten closer, and while they still hold feelings for one another, they are not in a relationship.

Shinichi Okazaki

Nicknamed , he is Black Stones' 15-year-old bassist. He initially lies that his age is 18 years old, but Black Stones let him stay even after finding out the truth. He is mature for his age and acts as a confidant to Nobu, while he views Nana K. as a mother figure. Because he was born and raised in Sweden, Shin is not familiar with some Japanese words and customs.
As a child, Shin was born out of an affair. His mother committed suicide, while his mother's husband adopted him yet refused to acknowledge him as his son. After Shin moves to Japan, he meets Ryoko Kashiwagi, a flight attendant who introduces him to drugs, alcohol, and sex. This leads to Shin moonlighting as a prostitute, with Reira becoming one of his clients. The two fall in love with each other until Reira ends their relationship out of fear of scandal. Following their break-up, Shin returns to Ryoko and gets arrested when the police find marijuana in her apartment, which causes Black Stones to withdraw from their first tour and Shin to be on probation for one month. After sorting out his feelings, Shin realizes that he is not mature enough to support Reira and promises to return to her once he is older and stable. However, after realizing how much Reira depends on Takumi, he decides to give up on her. In the present timeline, Shin is an actor but has yet to reconcile with Reira.

Yasushi Takagi

Nicknamed , he is the drummer of Black Stones. Outside of the band, he is a trainee lawyer. Acting as the band's leader, he handles business partnerships and financial decisions needed for the band's success. Due to his maturity, he acts as an older brother figure to Black Stones.
Yasu grew up in the same orphanage as Ren before being adopted by a wealthy family and attended the same high school with him, as well as Takumi and Reira. He dated Reira for two years during that time, but they eventually broke up after he realized he could never help her get over her feelings for Takumi. After meeting Nana O., he falls in love with her, but he never pursues her out of respect for Ren. When Black Stones prepares for their major label debut, he meets Miu and eventually gets into a relationship with her.
In the present timeline, Yasu remains close with Nana K. and the others, acting as a father figure for Satsuki, the daughter of Nana K. and Takumi.

Trapnest
Trapnest, known as  for short, a band under Cookie Music. Due to their popularity, Nana O. sees them as her rival and wants Black Stones to overtake them in Japan. In the present timeline, Trapnest has disbanded.

Ren Honjo

Ren is Trapnest's guitarist, performing under the stage name . Prior to being recruited, he was Black Stones' original bassist, as well as Nana O.'s boyfriend. From a young age, Ren grew up at an orphanage with Yasu and found school boring, opting to practice his guitar alone. He is a fan of the Sex Pistols, particularly Sid Vicious.
Ren is deeply in love with Nana O., but the two initially break up when Ren leaves for Tokyo to join Trapnest, as Nana O. felt that his success would cheapen her own fame. The two get back together; however, Ren begins feeling that he and Nana O. have been growing distant, especially when Black Stones begins to become famous, which causes him to resort to cocaine and marijuana to cope. Even after Ren proposes to Nana O., eventually his drug addiction and Nana O.'s jealousy towards Trapnest worsen and he insists to Takumi and Reira that he wants to quit Trapnest. Once Ren and Nana O. have a falling out, he dies in a car accident, partially from drug overdose, on the way to visit her the night before her 21st birthday.

Reira Serizawa

Reira is Trapnest's 22-year-old vocalist and lyricist. She has been friends and in love with Takumi since childhood, but she is frustrated that he sees her nothing more than a muse and the face of Trapnest. She dated Yasu for two years in high school and becomes one of Shin's clients to sate her loneliness.
Following a scandal where Reira was photographed with Ren, she ends her relationship with Shin to protect Trapnest. After they break-up, Reira attempts to pursue Takumi aggressively, after realizing he will never love her romantically, she decides to continue singing for herself rather than for him. At the same time, Reira comes to understand that while she can never give up her feelings for Takumi, Shin also remains important to her. In the present timeline, she has yet to reconcile with Shin and has given up singing, only being able to do so when Nana K. and Takumi's son, Ren, plays the guitar.
While her name is often romanized as "Reira," she reveals that her real name is Layla, having been named after the song by Eric Clapton. However, her label forces her to hide her half-American background.

Takumi Ichinose

Takumi is Trapnest's 23-year-old leader and bassist, performing under the stage name . Handsome and somewhat of a playboy, Takumi is a workaholic and dedicated to cultivating Trapnest's image, particularly Reira. As a child, he grew up with only the company of Reira, as his mother died, his father was alcoholic, and his older sister had married due to a pregnancy. Takumi finds value in Reira's singing voice, to her dismay. While he acknowledges Reira is in love with him, he views her as a sister, though Nana K. suspects that his feelings may be deeper.
Takumi is Nana K.'s favorite member in Trapnest, and the two begin having an on-again, off-again relationship. Despite Takumi cheating and generally being uninterested in serious relationships, he grows fond of her and begins to show possessive tendencies towards her, especially after she breaks up with him to be with Nobu. Once Nana K. becomes pregnant and becomes unsure of who the father is, Takumi offers to provide for her and the child regardless. In the present timeline, Takumi lives in London with his and Nana K.'s son, Ren.

Naoki Fujieda
 a.k.a.

Played by: Momosuke Mizutani
Naoki is the drummer of Trapnest. Like Nobu in Black Stones, he is the "clueless", loud-mouthed member of his band. As with the rest of his bandmates, he is a friend of Yasu. His musical interest was awakened by Takumi during middle school. He hoped attract attention from girls by playing in the band. He was the playboy of the band, tricking groupies to fund their cause, to which end is not explained. It is shown that in the future he has a daughter named Momo as he refers to her in conversation with Takumi. It is unknown who the mother or how old she is.

Supporting characters
People who have interacted with Nana K. personally at given times of her life. They do not address her with her nickname, Hachi, and have deeply affected her perceptions on certain situations. As they are not deeply involved with the two bands, she will often reflect on her experiences with them for reassurance when she is in doubt of her simultaneous loyalties to Blast and Trapnest.

Played by: Anna Nose
Junko is Hachi's sensible and no-nonsense best friend. She is much more emotionally mature than Hachi and often pushes her to be more independent and responsible. She works part-time at Jackson's, and is the host of the omake (bonus) section at the end of each manga volume, reading fan mail and displaying fan art. She is often called "Jun" by Hachi.

Played by: Takehisa Takayama
Kyousuke is Junko's boyfriend who currently shares an apartment with her. He is also good friends with Hachi and Shouji. His laid-back attitude to life may deem him a slacker in the eyes of many, but he is actually quite perceptive and he coddles Hachi more than Junko would like. Both he and Junko are studying to become artists (his art being Romantic and hers being Post-Modernistic). Although Shouji has said several times that he used to be a player, Kyousuke says very seriously that he would never cheat on Junko because he is afraid of losing her. He also says that he liked Junko the moment he saw her.

Played by: Yuta Hiraoka
Shouji is Hachi's ex-boyfriend. He is a struggling art student and works as a waiter. He met Hachi through his old friend, Junko, and Hachi originally moved to Tokyo to be closer to him. However, their relationship gradually cooled and he cheated on her with Sachiko, a co-worker and classmate. Even though he still has feelings for Hachi, he leaves her for Sachiko. Junko later guesses that Shouji felt rejected by Hachi when she refused to fight for him, and that the real reason he chose Sachiko was because she openly showed her love for him. This is opposed to Hachi who was so "one-way" and made Shouji feel as though she only loved him because he loved her. They meet by chance some time later at Jackson Hole and talk for the first time since breaking up. They speak casually, and Hachi admits that she thought that after the drama of him cheating on her died down that they would be friends again. When they part, Shouji tells her that he now realizes that what she was asking for was not really too much, and that he had fun talking to her. Because of this, he says sadly that would not see her again. They part in tears, and Shouji meets up with Sachiko to look at fireworks. He tells her that he can only see things clearly from far away and that the closer things are, the more he loses sight of them. She assures him that that is the same for everyone and they hold hands while watching the fireworks.

Played by: Saeko
Sachiko is Shouji's restaurant coworker who becomes his girlfriend. Early on in the manga, Hachi dreamed of Shouji two-timing her with a buxom, Prada-loving city girl named Sachiko (she thought of the name randomly), although Kawamura is different in appearance, being petite. She confesses to Shouji and he moves in with her later.

Nami is Hachi's younger sister and the youngest in the Komatsu household. She has the appearance of a ganguro girl because of her suntan and bleached hair. Nami is very outgoing and loud who is also a Trapnest fan.

Nao is Hachi's older sister who looks quite a bit like Natsuko. Even though Nao is married, she still lives near the Komatsu family home.

Natsuko is Hachi's mother. Kind and understanding, she is a model mother to her daughters, and Nana Osaki considers Natsuko to be cool.  Hachi, however finds it weird since she thought that her family is nothing but "normal".

Satsuki is the daughter of Takumi Ichinose & Nana Komatsu. Not much known about her, and she makes only a few appearances later in the series. When she appears, she is six years old (presumably showing the future outlook of the story) and well-loved by her mother's friends. It is not known if she is truly Takumi's or Nobu's child, but she bears a striking resemblance to Takumi, as she has his black hair and hazel eyes. She is revealed to have a crush on Shin, though his reciprocation (or even his knowledge of her feelings) is unlikely. During her pregnancy, Hachi and Takumi unofficially called her "Sachiko". Her name, Satsuki, was chosen by Ren at the request of Hachi, who was unable to think up any name other than "Sachiko". It is implied that Ren may be seen as her older brother as once her mother had asked whether she would give her Valentine chocolates to "older brother". She currently lives in Japan with Nana while Takumi and Ren live in London.

Ren is a morose young boy initially seen in the company of Reira during the segments depicting the future. He is depicted as being close to Takumi, who is assumed to be his father. He is currently living in London with Takumi and he doesn't want to return to Japan. In the future, Reira apparently has given up singing, but will sing when Ren plays the guitar for her.

Hachi's first lover. A handsome, older, married man, Asano carried on a secret affair with Hachi that ended when he was abruptly transferred to Tokyo. Though Hachi believed that she was in love with him, she was convinced that he saw her as just an easy girl to play around with. When Hachi encounters him again in Tokyo, later, it is implied that he actually had serious feelings for her, but never told her because of her insistence in describing their affair as a mere "fling". After resolving her own personal issues with him, tells him to stop cheating on his wife.

Music industry characters

Gaia Records
Black Stones eventually sign a full contract with Gaia Records. Due to the tabloids' interest over Nana and Ren's relationship, Blast members relocated to one of Gaia's facilities and voluntarily shared housing with other talented individuals under Gaia's name.

The leader of the corporation which owns Gaia Records.

 a.k.a.

Blast's manager. He talks in a very feminine way (unless angered), is openly gay, and he has a questionable interest in Yasu. In Nana's eyes, Ginpei is the second "baldy" related to Blast—the first being Yasu.

 /

An ardent fan of Blast since its inception, Misato loves Nana and has befriended the band. However, "Uehara Misato" is not her true name. Mai claims that a fortune teller told her that if she used the name "Uehara Misato" she could become closer to Nana, but may have actually chosen it because it is the name of Nana's half-sister. She later joins the staff at Gaia, Blast's record label. She came to know about Nana and Blast when she read her grandfather's diary and discovered that he and Nana's grandmother were once lovers. Recent chapters reveal that Mai may actually have a secret she prefers not to reveal since the tabloids have discovered Nana's father's surname may actually be "Tsuzuki", which would imply that she, like Uehara Misato, is Nana's half-sister.

 a.k.a.

A placid and soft-spoken actress who shares a boarding house with Blast and Yuri. She is older than she looks (27) and her name is often mispronounced "Myuu" by Nobu. Miu wears long sleeves to hide the scars on her wrists from self-mutilation. Also, in volume 11 (the volume where she first appears), it is shown that she is a very good mahjong player (she claimed that she learnt her skills by having special training for her role in a mahjong movie as a nameless rival).  Miu was first introduced to Nobu during Nana's first hyperventilation attack, when she lends Nobu a paper bag to help Nana deal with it. After a few more confrontations with Nobu, they become fast friends, and he is immediately smitten by her. However when he makes a move on her, she reveals her age and indirectly rejects him for being "unreliable." She eventually begins dating Yasu, although it is implied that their relationship was built out of convenience - Yasu to give Nana independence and Miu because she thought Yasu was stable. However, Miu expresses jealousy towards women that Yasu appears to have strong emotional relationships with, particularly Nana and Shion, which Yasu becomes aware of. Although she was initially reluctant to have sex with Yasu, she gives in, feeling pressure that Nana might snatch him away.
Despite Miu's apparent aloofness, she is sincere and perceptive enough to predict what Yasu will do. She quickly befriends Hachi and Nana notes upon meeting Miu for the first time that Miu and Hachi got along well.  Because of her close friendship with Hachi, Miu reveals to her that she would stop cutting herself because she did not want to upset Yasu. In the future, it is seen that Miu and Yasu remain together and she has cut her long hair. Her long standing friendship with Hachi is still evident.

 /

A giggly, giddy AV idol (porn star) who shares a boarding house with Blast and Miu and tends to speak crudely. Her real name is Asami Matsumoto. Yuri was a teenage runaway before she starred in adult videos, and she has financial problems due to her sleazy manager and her own fickle nature. She has a large advance to pay off, but is pressured by her manager into continuing adult films when Yuri has nearly paid off the debt when he promises that her new contract will allow her to star in a movie adaptation of a popular novel. Nobu begins dating her after he is rejected by Miu. However, because Nobu still has feelings for Nana Komatsu, Yuri dislikes and is jealous of Hachi, whom Yuri refers to as "Takumi's wife". Her relationship with Nobu becomes increasingly strained when she expresses her frustration towards Hachi with insensitive remarks towards both Nana and Hachi after Ren's death.

The security guard who guards the hostel where Blast stays in. He has the look of a gangster, and frequently sleeps at his post.

One of Gaia's recording producers and the first to scout for Blast in Tokyo. He does not know much about punk or rock but is thoroughly impressed with the band's charm and Nana's charisma. He is kind-hearted and fully believes in Blast's success despite skepticism from executives and his peers. Though high enough in the company to have influence, he was unaware of Gaia's leak to the scandal surrounding Nana. Originally, he declined to sign Blast an official contract as the pay Gaia was willing to compensate for each member would have been less than they deserved. Yasu, however, privately convinced him that dreams were more important and he sealed the deal.

President of Blast's Private Fan Club and a long-time fan of Yasu since his days in Brute. She keeps in contact with Mai and divides the fans by their interests in the members. Her devotion to Yasu is unfailing and she relays any news outside of Gaia's influence to him. When questioned about her financial situation, she replied to have some dependency from her rich "father"—though he is not biological. First seen in the story as a bobcut-haired groupie, later as a platinum blonde during her late teens, and re-introduced with curled black hair as an adult; Shion's only constant traits include the mole underneath her left eye and the tattoo on her right arm.

Cookie Music
Trapnest's official record label which is also a homage to the magazine that serialized the manga. Unlike Blast, members are assigned more managers who ensure that they meet their appointments and affirm each member's status.

The head of Cookie Music, Narita is flamboyant, but reasonably talented with music. He works frequently with Takumi when it comes to Trapnest's music and marketing strategies. Narita also provides Ren with drugs (a powder which Takumi later identifies as heroin). In exchange, Ren must continue to write hit songs. It is implied that Narita introduced Ren to heroin but later regretted this after Ren had become addicted.

Trapnest's director. He is easily moved by tales of romanticism and love. Though he is supposed to direct during recordings, he usually sets appointments or sends requests to the president of the company, leaving all artistic direction in Takumi's hands.

One of Trapnest's assistants. Occasionally, he will check on Ren and take him to recordings. He loves the quality of Ren's cars.

Reira's personal assistant and manager. She is intelligent and has experience as a student at a law university.

 a.k.a.
Assistant in charge of Trapnest's publicity. Out of the assistants mentioned so far, he is the one that Takumi trusts the most. Members of the band often address him as "Take".

Search Magazine
A magazine that shares similar characteristics to the Japanese magazine, Friday. They are a part of the "paparazzi" that track both bands. When Blast was becoming popular, they were given a leak that connected Nana O with Ren and have not stopped from spreading negative (and sometimes false) information about them.

The editor in charge of the tabloids surrounding Blast and Trapnest. According to Arai, he is supposed to answer to a higher supervisor, Yokoyama, but he chooses to be more impetuous in his actions. He employs Miyake and Kurada to investigate in his place.

Search magazine's editor-in-chief. He has already been married for two years. He is often the one to chide Kudou for his brash methods of investigations.

Photographer hired by Search magazine to track Nana O. and Ren. He has conflicting opinions with his employer, Kudou, and claims that once he sees a face, he will never forget it. Curiously, after investigating Nana at a later unspecified time, he reports that "Nana died at that sea". The depth of these words have yet to be explained.

Kurada's partner in crime who frequently stalks Nana O. for a private interview. Yasu punched him on one occasion, which later lead to a negative article about Yasu being published in their magazine. He finds nothing wrong about pestering the couple, thinking that their relationship is fragile to begin with.

The only woman in the editorial group. She does scold her peers for their cruelty, but also finds their harassments of Nana O and Ren as testing their love for one another.

Other characters

Owner to a cheap vintage furniture and clothing store near both Nana's apartment in Tokyo. He hired Hachi but soon closed the store to move back home. He later sends her a postcard with a wedding photo with him and his bride (a childhood friend), ironic to Hachi's lament at the time.

A 38-year-old woman who is Hachi's boss at her new job at the magazine production industry. She is crude and scornful, and will not hesitate to throw insults at all sorts of minor imperfections that Hachi has made.

A waiter at the Jackson's Burger restaurant. He is friendly with Hachi, Junko, and Shouji, who all curiously address him by his full name.

 Nana Oosaki's maternal grandmother, the owner of a small shop who adopted and raised Nana after she was abandoned by her mother. Nana and Miyuki's relationship did not seem particularly good and she was hard on Nana, though Miyuki's relationship with her own daughter did not seem to be much better. Miyuki dies shortly after Nana is kicked out of high school after she does not refute the false accusations of prostitution; Nana believes that her grandmother died of grief and would have fought against the charges if she had known that her grandmother would have lived.

Nana Oosaki's half-sister who appears before Nana at a special "thank you" concert for Blast's fans. She lives in Osaka, her parents own an okonomiyaki shop. She is also known as "Misato Number Two" by Nana. Though she bears a striking similarity to her, she is unaware of her true relationship with Nana and ironically became one of her newer devoted fans. Mai has said that it is not a good idea for Nana and Misato to become too close because they share the same mother, who abandoned Nana O to her grandmother when Nana was just a child. When her mother's relationship to Nana is revealed, Misato's house is bombarded with paparazzi and Misato's mother disappears. Misato, stricken with the revelation, winds up running away to Tokyo and wandering for two days until she is found by Shion.  Eventually, her mother takes responsibility to find Misato and bring her home.

 Nana Oosaki and Misato Uehara's mother. Shortly after the real Misato's appearance, Nana's mother is revealed to be living a life as a housewife and she refuses to acknowledge any connection with Nana.  In response to learning who her mother is, Nana shows little emotional reaction, being only mildly disappointed at how ordinary her mother is, and still apparently unaware that the real Misato Uehara is her half-sister.  When her relationship to Nana Oosaki is publicly exposed, Misuzu flees from her family in Osaka, leaving them to the paparazzi. When Kurada tracks her down and implies that Misato is in danger after running away to Tokyo, Misuzu reluctantly reveals that she abandoned Nana because she wanted to be with a man who hated children. Afterward, she attempts to have her stepson bring Misato home and is forced to do so herself when he refuses because he wants her to take responsibility for her actions.

 Misato Uehara's older half-brother from her father's previous marriage; as a result, he is not a blood relative of Nana Oosaki. He is mostly uninterested in Nana or her music, but becomes involved when his family become a target of paparazzi as a result of his stepmother's relationship to the singer. He and his family take refuge with relatives in Okayama, but he becomes increasingly worried for his sister when she runs away to Tokyo until he learns of her whereabouts through his girlfriend, , who is contacted by Shion because she happens to be a fan of Yasu. When Misuzu attempts to have him bring Misato home, he refuses because he knows Misato will not willingly return with him and because he wants Misuzu to take responsibility for her actions. He later becomes engaged to Kayoko.

 The grandfather of Mai Tsuzuki. Mai learned through her grandfather's diaries that he and Miyuki Oosaki may have been lovers, which suggests the possibility that she and Nana are somehow related by blood, though even Mai appears to be uncertain. Through her grandfather's diaries, Mai became acquainted with who Nana was, and eventually became one of Nana's earliest fans.

She is the real Misato's friend, a fan of Blast and Shin in particular. She was among the trio selected to represent Kansai at Blast's special fan gathering.

Ryoko is a flight attendant who took in Shin to live with her shortly after he moved to Japan, after which she introduced him to drugs, sex, and alcohol. She bears a slight resemblance to Reira. After Shin and Reira break up, he returns to her until they are both arrested for marijuana possession. She remains in custody of the police after they also find out she had been running a sex trafficking ring for underage boys.

 The second generation guitarist for Trapnest and Ren's predecessor. He only appears in flashbacks, though is mentioned in a conversation between Takumi and Ren when they are reminiscing about Trapnest's past.  Atsushi eventually quit the band after getting punched by Takumi after getting into too many disagreements with him, mostly because Atsushi was tired of following Takumi's vision without question or compromise.  At the time, Naoki was upset that they had lost another guitarist and felt as though Atsushi had abandoned them, though he eventually gets over it.

Works cited
 "Ch." is shortened form for chapter and refers to a chapter number of the Nana manga.
 "Ep." is shortened form for episode and refers to an episode number of the Nana anime.
 LA refers to one of the live-action Nana films.

References

Nana

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Michael helped us purchase our first house about 13 years ago and we still recommend him to others in the area. He was attentive and listened to what we wanted/needed.
Michael is an excellent realtor. I was a first time home buyer, in a very unique situation (a first for him I believe) had a lot of questions and he answered all of them. No question was off limits no matter how many times he had to answer the same one differently until I 'got it'. What I liked about him the most is he was very straight forward, but not intimidating and made sure I was comfortable and taken care of through the entire process. I have and would highly recommend him as your first, or next, realtor.
My condo had been listed for almost a year before I signed with Michael. Within a month, he sold my property for nearly the asking price. Working with Michael is a pleasure. He's honest, reliable, cheerful, hardworking, and cares about his clients, whether buyers or sellers. Over the years, I've bought and sold more than a dozen properties and worked with as many Realtors. I can honestly say Michael Driver was far and away the best.
I just wanted you to know what a pleasure it was to have recently worked with Michael Driver. I decided a few months ago that I wanted to try my hand at rental property and he immediately started showing me possibilities. He didn't waste my time on properties that he intuitively knew were not right, and as a result we only looked at four houses before I found exactly what I was looking for. He is knowledgable, ethical, and enthusiastic about his work. I knew I was being well represented when we met one morning with a seller's agent and a repairman- Michael was right there pointing out items that needed attention, even some things missed by the inspection. He always made himself available to answer my many questions and concerns. I am a very happy customer and I look forward to the opportunity of referring someone to Michael Driver.
My husband and I spent nearly a year looking for the "perfect house" with Michael Driver as our Realtor. We had to sell a townhouse in another town before we would have money to purchase a home, but we also had to find it. Michael took us everywhere we wanted to go, sent us e-mails when new things within our price range and requirements came on the market, and finally we located a home just under construction that was perfect. Michael prepared the contracts and when we needed to have a few changes made Michael was right there to take care of the amendments. He even met me at the house to check out the progress when my husband was working out of town and couldn't be there. We added a second, separate garage into the "mix" and though Michael would gain nothing from that he was right there with suggestions and assistance through it all. Since the townhouse had sold we were able to close and move in on our schedule and Michael was at the closing, of course, but appeared on moving day as well to lend a hand for a few hours. This was more than just a job and a paycheck for Michael. He took great pleasure in seeing us completely satisfied in all respects.
Once we knew when our new home would be completed we put the townhouse we were living in on the market. We listed it with Michael and he immediately proceeded to take pictures, do the virtual tour, held an "open house", etc. Since we were in the process of moving he even located someone to clean the carpets for us and replace some vinyl in the bathrooms. The day before closing several minor items came up from the buyer's inspection, and Michael himself pitched in with my husband to get them done so the closing wouldn't be held up. This is a young man who truly goes the "extra mile" for his clients – whether he represents you as the buyer or the seller. He is honest and forthright, open and easy to be with, pleasant and never pushy, informed about the area and most things pertaining to building codes and standards, looking at both the good and bad aspects of each house we viewed. He is very professional yet we quickly came to think of him as a part of our family. We can't say enough good things about Michael and highly recommend him to any and all who are looking to buy or sell a home.
I wanted to let you know of our great pleasure in working with Michael Driver on a recent home purchase.
We were looking for a home that our son would use while finishing his senior year at UNCG (and, hopefully, graduate school!). We began our search online, using the UNCG zip code. When I noticed one particular property and then many others in the Glenwood area that were listed by Michael, we made contact.
Michael was tremendously helpful in providing information about the neighborhoods around the university, listening to our needs for affordable housing in a safe area, and he showed us a variety of listings. It's obvious he does a good job – we probably drove by six or seven homes where owners that Michael previously assisted waved as we drove by.
Once we chose a property, Michael was pivotal in getting the contract negotiated, providing some local recommendations for mortgage companies, electricians, plumbers, and other services that we'll need over the coming months.
We had only a month to close on the house, which was completed yesterday. This wouldn't have been possible without Michael's help. He was impressively responsive and helpful throughout the process. You'd think he was negotiating a million dollar contract, but gave us that kind of service for a sale that was less than $100,000.
Our son is now in a great home in a nice neighborhood. Michael is a great ambassador for your company – and we wanted to let you know!


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News @ UVU
UVU Magazine
An unexpected class helps UVU graduate Fabio Sagebin find his niche in the medical world
A dozen years ago, soon-to-be UVU student Fabio Sagebin was doing research — on whether or not higher education was for him and, if so, where he should enroll. A dozen years from now, Dr. Sagebin will again likely be doing research — this time on better ways to repair hearts.
Currently a member of the University of Rochester Medical Center's cardiothoracic surgery integrated residency program, Sagebin says a decade ago, he was "fully intending to finish high school, go on a mission, and come home and work construction with my dad." His family — who had emigrated when he was 3 years old to Utah from a small city in southern Brazil, near the Uruguayan border — had begun a successful business, building steel-frame homes. His mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had taken him to New York City, specifically Brooklyn and Queens.
A visit with his mission president "changed the trajectory for me," Sagebin remembers. "I worked closely with my mission president, and during that mentorship he planted the seed that I really needed a formal education.
"Unfortunately, I had not really prepared for that at that point. My parents were wonderful people, hard-working people, but we didn't have the social infrastructure necessary for college prep. It was not something that was inculcated in my family culture. I didn't take the SAT or the ACT, and I really hadn't prepared for college. So, when I came home, I just looked for an open-enrollment college."
After a semester of working in Salt Lake City and studying part-time at Salt Lake Community College, Sagebin was engaged to be married and living in Utah County, staring again at the prospect of beginning a trek into higher education.
"I was now more serious about my education," he says. "I decided to become a full-time student, and to help pay for school, I managed a group home for kids with disabilities. This gave me the flexibility and latitude to tailor my education around work and still take full-time credits. UVU was open enrollment so it was a no-brainer; I started the journey there."
The first step was to meet with a counselor and start a core of university classes, Sagebin says, so he began with an introduction to biology course and other standard introductory classes. He says he registered for Dr. Wayne Whaley's biology class, thinking it was an intro-level class. "Back then, there was intro to biology and a much different course, biology for pre-med, which was the one that I ended up matriculating in," he says. "And I just remember it being really hard, and I was surrounded by kids who were pre-medical and pre-dental, and I had no idea that was what was happening."
After confirming with several fellow students over lunch that they were, indeed, pre-medical students, the light toward the future came on for Sagebin. He says though it was a very hard class for him, he worked hard and was one of only a few students who received an A grade. An adviser in the biology department showed Sagebin several paths to take if he wanted to be a physician.
"I had no aspirations to do anything medical until then," he says. "But after that happened, it was like the first time it occurred to me that if I tried really hard I could be a good student. I had no professional aspirations at all — I was really expecting just to take over my dad's business. So, at that point, when the whole coursework was laid out for me, it was the first time I had considered doing anything medical."
As semesters passed, Sagebin and his wife, Christa, began to look at possible medical schools, including the University of Utah. Sagebin remembers that a graph on a webpage at the U of U showed averages in several categories for students in their program, including the average GPA, average MCAT scores, average courses taken, average hours in clinic, service hours, and so on. "I took that document and said, 'Well, if I can double these averages, exceed the average expectations…that would be our goal,'" Sagebin says. "Our theory was that if I did that in every one of those metrics, I can probably get into a good medical school."
Sagebin was one of three students offered "early acceptance" by the University of Utah, but he instead chose to go back to New York City for his continuing education. With his mission background there, Sagebin said a return to New York to attend NYU became "an exciting prospect for us."
During his time at NYU, Sagebin participated in clinical and basic science research, focusing his efforts on bone-tissue engineering. He was also affected by his experiences surrounding Hurricane Sandy. He was involved in the evacuation of the NYU Medical Center — which was right in the middle of a massive power outage in lower Manhattan — carrying patients down flights of stairs to waiting ambulances, including a patient who had recently received an artificial heart. This helped galvanize his decision to pursue a career in surgery.
"It was one of those formative experiences that steered me toward acute, serious, kind of life-and-death surgery, and I couldn't find anything more elegant and life-changing than cardiac surgery," Sagebin says. "At the time, they were developing and offering these new integrated residencies — where before it used to take about 10 years, these new residencies were offering the same experiences in six years. There were only a few of them nationally and luckily through a lot of hard work and persistence, I was able to get one of them. That's how I ended up at the University of Rochester as part of one of these integrated surgical residency programs."
Sagebin, now 35, has been at the University of Rochester for five years, with one year left, and then plans to move on to a new career, for which he is actively interviewing. At URMC, in addition to clinical training in the operating room, he is involved with a number of research projects, including less-invasive approaches to heart surgery, and creating improved strategies for managing patients who need artificial hearts or who are suffering from advanced heart failure. He is also heavily involved in surgical education research, which focuses on surgical simulation and the training of surgical residents by developing training tools to help teach residents the craft of cardiac surgery.
Sagebin also works with a team at the University of Rochester biomedical engineering department to develop surgical devices for minimally invasive cardiac surgery — "the university actually got one of our devices patented," he says — and is continuing to hone in on that topic as his sub-specialty.
The future?
"I see myself being part of a busy clinical program doing high-volume cardiac surgery," Sagebin says. "The jobs I'm looking at now have a need for minimally invasive heart surgery, which is a newer branch of cardiothoracic surgery, where you are able to accomplish the same thing using minimally invasive approaches. Instead of opening the chest in the front, you're using smaller incisions on the side, using cameras and different tools to accomplish the same thing…so my goal would be to start a minimally invasive cardiac surgery program somewhere in the country, and grow it and make it successful, and maybe eventually transition back into academics where I'd be involved in teaching residents and research."
If all that doesn't sound like enough to keep the couple — who have three young sons, Asher, Luca and Kai — busy, Sagebin and Christa also chair The Guimaras Foundation, a nonprofit that provides academic and scholastic aid to underprivileged schools in the Philippines. Begun by Marley and Bruce Sutton, an aunt and uncle to Christa, the foundation works with textbook suppliers in North America and donates thousands of textbooks to schools on the island of Guimaras.
Sagebin and his wife developed relationships with textbook publishers who were throwing away thousands of textbooks every couple of years that were considered outdated. "We were sending huge quantities of textbooks to this island in the Philippines and they were then distributing to elementary, middle school, and high school students," Sagebin says. "It's something that we are very proud of. We started doing it while at UVU and it's something we are passionate about."
Sagebin notes that incoming UVU president Astrid S. Tuminez has been instrumental in taking the foundation to the next level and led the effort in getting the foundation accredited as a nonprofit organization, to help with the benefits and legalities of donations. President Tuminez is a sister to Sagebin's mother-in-law, Julie Ludlow.
Additionally, Sagebin notes that he and Tuminez also have shared thoughts about his history at UVU and the school's strong dual-mission role in education.
"I know (President Tuminez) well and have spent time with her and her family. I love her family," Sagebin says. "We both believe UVU is a very unique place. It is filling very different needs. It is remarkable to me that it is a place where you might have a single mom trying to rebuild her life, you have a high school student learning a trade, and you have a fresh high school grad who is pursuing a career in law or medicine. It is really unique to have an institution filled with people with such varying and wide goals."
Sagebin says he also believes it is unique to have an institution that is filled with administrators and faculty so committed to the personal development of individual students.
"There were times I considered transferring, but every time I did I felt like the people at UVU were invested in my success," he says. "I remember walking into Dr. Whaley's office the day I got the early acceptance letter from the University of Utah and he walked over to me and gave me a hug. It was that important. He was invested in my success. It meant a lot to me. This was an inspiring thing, that he took the success of his students personally. And I think you get that at an institution that is catering to many different needs. The administration needs to continue being that invested in identifying those students who have those ambitions, and creating an infrastructure that will allow them to succeed, and I think they will continue having these success stories."
Sagebin said he envisions a time when UVU will have a "robust pre-medical society" with clinical experiences and resources coordinated to help a growing fraternity of pre-medical students, many of whom are being accepted into prestigious universities. "I think that would be just incredible," he says.
UVU is a very unique place. It is filling very different needs.
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The More Things Change in Armenia,The More They Stay the Same
03-11-2021 14:02:06 | Armenia | Politics
The title is derived from a French expression which I have used to describe the situation in Armenia.
After 30 years of independence, one would expect substantial changes in the conditions in Armenia. Regrettably, that is not the case.
In the initial years of independence, whenever someone would point out the flaws in the leaders' decisions, they would respond: "We are still a young Republic." They continued giving the same excuse without having the slightest interest in listening to any advice and wanting to make any changes. Three decades later, Armenia is no longer a young Republic, but the same mistakes are being repeated by Armenia's current leaders.
In 2018, a neophyte with no experience in governing came to power as a backlash against the despised former leaders. The new Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, cleverly capitalized on the public's resentment of the previous presidents, and gained the people's trust by making numerous promises for a better future. Armenians everywhere, desperate for a change, believed what they were told and blindly followed the new "Savior."
Regrettably, in the last 3.5 years, nothing substantial has changed in the country. In fact, the situation has gone from bad to worse, culminating in the devastating defeat Armenia suffered during last year's war. The lavish promises offered by the new leader did not materialize. Pashinyan, the self-described democrat, shockingly campaigned during the June 20 parliamentary elections, while holding a hammer in his hand, pledging to smash the heads of his political opponents. Even though he came to power as the man of the people, he quickly turned his government into a one-man rule, ignoring not only the public, but also the advice of his own cabinet members, resulting in the resignations of two successive Foreign Ministers.
Not surprisingly, Pashinyan also mishandled Armenia's relations with the Diaspora. He began by closing down the Diaspora Ministry without consulting with any of the Diasporan leaders or organizations. When some of them cautioned him not to take such a misguided decision, they were completely ignored.
Pashinyan's excuse was that the Diaspora Ministry had not been effective. Instead of shutting it down, wouldn't it have been preferable to restructure it with better leadership? With the same faulty logic, he could also eliminate the Defense Ministry, if he thought that it was not operating properly!
After disbanding the Diaspora Ministry, the Prime Minister appointed Zareh Sinanyan, one of his devotees from Glendale, California, as the "High Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs." In the 2.5 years since becoming "High Commissioner," Sinanyan does not have much to show for his efforts. He has repeatedly engaged in partisan politics, disparaging the regime's critics in the Diaspora, which is not his job. Incredibly, he suggested that Armenia attract Arab migrants to boost the country's dwindling population, forgetting that immigration is not a part of his duties. His job is to improve relations with Diaspora Armenians, not other nationalities.
On October 21, Sinanyan announced the government's new plan to appoint "Diaspora Commissioners" in various Armenian communities around the world.
These Commissioners are to be appointed by Prime Minister Pashinyan at the recommendation of Sinanyan. Their purpose "is to develop the Armenia-Diaspora partnership and increase the efficiency of both sides. It also seeks to ensure sustainable relations between the Armenian communities, involve the entire potential of the Diaspora, as well as support the preservation of the Armenian identity, repatriation and the organization of events aimed at the integration of Diaspora Armenians in Armenia."
This is the modified version of an idea copied from the former Diaspora Ministry which had appointed a Board of Directors to represent the Ministry in various countries. I served on that Board for 10 years. In addition, the Diaspora Ministry in conjunction with the Foreign Ministry appointed staff in Armenian Embassies and Consulates to serve as a liaison between the government of Armenia and the local communities.
It remains to be seen whom Pashinyan and Sinanyan will appoint as their representatives in Diasporan communities. But given the blatant partisan politics of the current government, no one should be surprised if they appoint their own unqualified supporters whose real task would be to engage in pro-regime propaganda.
Interestingly, it was reported that Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan had objected to seeking the approval of foreign governments before appointing local commissioners. He pointed out correctly that such approvals are only needed to appoint diplomats, such as Ambassadors, in foreign countries. Therefore, the plan was amended eliminating the need for such approvals. Nevertheless, Sinanyan surprisingly announced that the Armenian Parliament had to adopt a law before appointing local Diaspora Commissioners. It is not clear why the government has to pass such a law. These individuals are to serve in an advisory capacity with no official powers and without pay.
Given the serious split among Armenians both in Armenia and the Diaspora, no matter whom the government appoints he or she will be criticized for belonging to this or that organization, church or political party. There will be endless complaints about these appointees.
There was no need to reinvent the wheel. The proper way to select a Diaspora representative is to have each Diasporan community elect its own representative by popular vote. Only then, it can be said that the elected individual is the true representative of his or her community. No one, including the government of Armenia, has the right to appoint such a representative. Ironically, the Prime Minister and Sinanyan were personally informed of this formula and yet chose to ignore it. The representatives elected by their communities will then constitute the future Diaspora Armenian Parliament.
Once again, the Pashinyan government is taking decisions without consulting with anyone. It is time for the government to consult with the people in Armenia on internal matters and with elected Diasporan representatives on Pan-Armenian issues.
News from Armenia and Diaspora - Noyan Tapan
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So these are the top 3 Parody Videos that I personally like and want to share with my readers here.
1. Wanna gain some experiences in video-making with famous Youtube stars in Malaysia. I always admire these Youtube stars on how they produce good quality videos and be shared by everyone in Malaysia as well as worldwide!
2. I can learn on how to be a Youtube star one day if I have the opportunity to work with them.
Now let me show you the best impression of a KL Gangster.


Derrick Lewis' run of comic wizardry in his post-fight octagon interviews has made him the clown prince of the UFC.
Or maybe they'll be crowning him king.
Houston's Lewis (21-5) emerged this week as an unlikely main-event entrant in UFC 230 on Nov.