The Pros and Cons of Breathing

so..i'm Jamie, not 21 any more. Not in Oxford. England any more either... You would think I would change it really! (Still Jamie though)

[willo290592-blog]

Puppy Bowl XIII Preview - Team Ruff vs Team Fluff

This weekends full line up can be found here: http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/puppy-bowl/photos/puppy-bowl-xiii-starting-lineup/

After a season of unbelievable plays, joyous victories, and heartbreaking losses, it all comes down to this. In 2017 America, it’s, perhaps, a Bowl game that could unite the Country in a manner a President never could. As millions of US and, indeed, worldwide fans tune in this Sunday, there is a belief that this game has possibly never held a greater importance than it does this year.

Puppy Bowl XIII, once again, pits Team Ruff vs Team Fluff in a winner take all battle to determine the greatest puppies on American soil. These sides have contest the past two Puppy Bowl events, with Team Ruff coming out on top, comfortably, on both occasions. Scores of 73-45 and 70-44 show a clear disconnect in the talent levels between the two sides.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Changes made prior to the start of the season by Team Fluff have yielded positive results, however. Moving on from longtime Head Coach, Lassie, in favour of that dog from Air Bud, Buddy, have given a shot in the arm to the two time runners up. That’s not to understate the impressive level that rookie Paw-terBack, Alexander Hamilpup, has played at this season. Pomskies tend to struggle to adapt to the speed of the professional game, however Hamilpup has proven himself to be more than capable making the step up. Fluff will rely on his youthful vigour, as well as his almost telepathic connection with Wide Retriever, Blitz, to help balance this historic rivalry.

Alexander Hamilpup has played at an exceedingly high level this season (Photo Courtesy of animalplanet.com)

DEFENSIVELY STOUT

The improvement of their defensive unit, however, has been noticeable as the season has progressed. Middle Leash-backer, Precious, has managed to carve a niche in blitz packages, as well in the base set. Her upper-tier speed from sideline to sideline forces teams to run straight up the middle, which has played into the hands of Fluff nicely.

Additionally, undersized safety, Wilma, former runt of the litter turned defensive superstar, has truly come into her own in Buddy’s cover-three system. With playmakers all over the field, Team Fluff have every reason to feel confident as they get pup close and personal with the reigning Puppy Bowl champions.

Wilma has shown that size doesn’t matter when it comes to playing safety (Photo Courtesy of animalplanet.com)

A DYNASTY AWAITS

Looking to add a third Puppy Bowl collar to his burgeoning collection, Head Coach Bill Bark-ichick has steered Team Ruff to another successful season. Despite the offensive prowess on show from Team Fluff this season, it has to be said, defensively, the play from Ruff has been at an elite level. Chew-erBack duo Puddles and Striker have covered Wide Retrievers at such a high level that teams have often been forced to abandon the air game, and adopt a more ground based approach. Despite leading the league in fetching this season, Fluff will have to established a running game early to keep the chains moving.

Offensively, Ruff have managed to open teams up. Under centre, Beebop played the Paw-terBack position as well as anyone, often elevating the level of play of her receiving options. And on the ground, Smooshie, a Shar Pei, picks up the tough yards to make this unit as efficient has Team Ruff have historically been.

Smooshie will look to continue to succeed on the ground (Photo Courtesy of animalplanet.com)

What they lack, however, is a truly great Wide Retriever. Woody and Sully have enough ability to cause anyone problems, but the loss of Bonio-chocinco late in the season leaves Ruff without a true game-breaker.

HALF TIME FESTIVITIES

Almost as big as the game itself is the half-time show, and this season is no different. Kittens will take to the field this season, and inspect a myriad of scratching posts, laser pointers, and the traditional balls of yarn. There are some concerns among fans that cat-nip abuse is rife among the kittens involved in this seasons halftime show. However Meow-ncé assured us at her press conference this week that she hasn’t touched the substance in months, and her entourage has been instructed to stay away from it also.

One of Cat-Kind’s biggest solo artists, Meow-ncé, will help provide entertainment at half time (Photo Courtesy of dreamatico.com)

PREDICTION

It’s all going to come down to who can look after the ball, however. Both sides are well coached enough that it may well turn into something of a Fetch-fest, despite the pedigree being shown by Team Ruff’s defense this season. That sort of game will favour Fluff over Ruff. With that being said, however, you have to take into account Bark-ichick has been given two week to prepare, so expect Ruff to have a solid game plan to take away the threats Fluff hold on offense. And with his experience, and the relative inexperience of this young Fluff team, I feel Ruff may well add a third title to their name. They are good dogs, though, and the future is very bright for Team Fluff.

Score Prediction: Team Ruff 61-50 Team Fluff

[voldemo]

[squidyword]

darn it

[alegbra-deactivated20131116]

have you ever gotten to that certain point in the school year where you just

[mosellegreen]

Ah, yes. The second day.

[thedaysofforever]

[njfresh]

Never hit the reblog so hard in my life.

[sothisisnursing]

Me after 13 hours on shift:

[bestlols-deactivated20140726]

[jackslenderman]

This is great, but I wanna see the next photo where he pile-drives his friend into the pool.

[tweetsdaily]

[princesconsuela]

[bitchycode]

me

[watsonlove]

[vivienvalentino]

[finzione712]

Respect to this soldier, he’s basically just put his middle finger up to these bigots.

[awesome-picz]

Cats Who Immediately Regretted Their Poor Life Choices.

[jeanqrey]

[dawnstone-ironbull-deactivated2]

[thestoryandyou]

[whichwayisout]

So 1 year ago yesterday was probably one of the most challenging days of my life. I was a fresh faced first year at university studying for a nursing degree and the 23rd May started out like most other days, except for the fact I was getting ready to go home to visit family and friends. At about 11am everything got turned upside-down.

We hadn’t seen Alex in a few weeks, but that was nothing new. As the year had progressed he had got more and more reclusive, at the start of the year we would see him cooking mountains of pasta in the kitchen or sitting in the corridor trying to get wifi so he could watch Arsenal play. Either that or he would be in the common room playing fifa, I suppose we just thought he was out with other people or just busy doing work. We tried to invite him out with us but I suppose I just felt that we were annoying him.  

I was getting ready to go home and had just eaten breakfast so was doing my washing up when the maintenance guys showed up to change the shower heads as they did every now and then. They were working their way down the corridor when one of the came to get me. They had opened Alex’s door and seen him lying on the floor, when they hadn’t got a response I was the first person they saw and asked me to check on him. The words still ring loudly in my head “can you come and check on your mate”. A little confused I walked into his room and saw for myself why they were worried. There was Alex, lying next to his bed, wearing what he always did, a red t-shirt and beige 3/4 lengths.  I knew something wasn’t right but wasn’t quite prepared for what I would see, I called out his name a few times and didn’t get a response so I walked further into the room. Then I saw the whole picture, a bag over his head with tubes going to gas canisters, my heart dropped. How long had he been there? could I help him? what should I do?

I bent down to shake him and as soon as I touched his skin I knew it was too late. I had never seen or touched a dead body at that point but it doesn’t take an expert to know when someone is beyond saving. He was freezing cold and stiff. In shock I pulled the bag off from over his head and checked for a pulse... nothing, I don’t know why I checked, I knew I wouldn’t find anything but I had to be sure. I did the only thing I could think of and called 999. I’d done it before but never while in this kind of shock.

“Emergency services, which service do you require” I froze. What service did I require? I knew the ambulance service couldn’t do anything but it was the first thing that sprung into my head so I went with it.  “Ambulance service tell me exactly what’s happened” “It’s my flat mate, I think he’s dead, he’s cold and I can’t find a pulse” The rest of the call was a bit of a blur. I remember being told to open the window and leave the room if there was gas but that’s about it. I went outside and a paramedic turned up within about 3 mins. I directed him inside and he confirmed what I already knew when he radioed control and said there was nothing he could do. 

I must have panicked the emergency services when, in my shock, I said there was gas canisters in the room (Tiny, empty, helium canisters but gas none the less). Next thing I know another two ambulances (one being the Hazardous area response team), several fire engines and at least 4 police cars show up and i’m lost in a flurry of activity. They had evacuated the whole building, my other flat mates were showing up wondering what was going on and I had to break unthinkable news, this person you’ve lived with for the last 8 months has killed themselves.

The rest of the day is all a bit fuzzy, I had to give a statement to the police and then some councillors and other people from the uni turned up to find out how we were coping. The only thing going through my head was wondering how bad it had to get for someone to think they were better off dead than living. How could I have let this happen so someone who lived just 2 doors away. I was training to be a nurse, I was meant to be resolving suffering, how could I let this happen?

I suppose I wrote this for a couple of reasons, one of them being to get a few things off my chest, the other one being that if one person reads this and decides that suicide isn’t the option then that can only be a good thing! We never found out why Alex killed himself, It might have been because he didn’t want to do the course at uni, It could have been that he didn’t like living in this country. I guess we’ll never find out.

All that matters is that suicide isn’t the answer, It might seem like it’s the only way out and that the people around you would be better off if you weren’t there but that’s just not true. There are always people who love you and will be more than happy to listen to you. You don’t have to go through things alone. It’s not the end of the world if things aren’t going well, please, talk to someone, ring the samaritans (116 123 (now free to call)) there are people who will listen.

Just remember, things will get better.