bring home a haunting (1/12)

Fandom: The Haunting of Bly Manor

Pairing: Dani Clayton/Jamie Taylor

Rating: M

Wordcount: 11,511

Summary: Dani almost has her life together, when a familiar face arrives back in town after ten years. A childhood friends AU written with @youngbloodbuzz

read it below or read it on AO3 here

Keep reading

WE’RE LIVE BABEY

THE RITUAL
2017 | dir. David Bruckner

Tess is very very determined and nothing is going to stop her from doing what she wants.

Escape attempt foiled by own desire to nom

despite staff's recent changes, we're... winning??????

yo thats steven bradbury, winner of the short track 1000 metres at the 2002 winter olympics! yooo!! he’s the first man from THE ENTIRE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE to win a gold medal in the winter olympics!!!

hold on, lemme tell you about steven bradbury because the man’s olympic career is WILD. not to be an annoying australian but the whole “purely out of the luck of everyone else crashing, i unexpectedly won!” thing is like 50% myth. lemme explain

so the man actually won gold in the world championships as part of the australian relay team in 1991, but when the team went to the winter olympics the next year, they dropped from third to fourth in the semi-finals and failed to make the finals. get this: the reason is, his teammate lost his footing and crashed. (bradbury was a reserve at the time)

so in the 1994 winter olympics, the australian relay team (with bradbury as an active racer) decided to take a safe and conservative approach. they prioritised staying safe on their feet and hoping other teams would crash. sure enough, the canadian team had a crash, and while they got back up again it lost them significant time and allowed australia to eke out a bronze--this bronze was also the first medal australia EVER won at the winter. in fact, australia could have gone for the silver, but richard nizielski (the same teammate who crashed at 1992) decided to cede the silver to the american he was racing against in order to avoid risking another crash. safe, steady, conservative.

bradbury didn’t just compete in the relay team at the ‘94 winter, though. he was also in the 500m and 1000m short track, and he was INCREDIBLE, but also had insanely bad luck. for the 500m, he came second in his heat and then WON his qtrfinal. he ultimately came fourth in the semi, losing his shot at the finals, after he was suffered a crash from being knocked down by another competitor, and ended up limping over the finish line. for the 1000m, he was ILLEGALLY SHOVED OVER by another competitor, dropped his position, and was elimated.

but his worst luck came at the montreal world cup of the same year when, during a collision, another competitors blade sliced through his thigh. he was in the middle of competing, his heart rate was high because of the adrenaline, blood was pumping like crazy through his body--right out his wound as a result. he lost four litres of blood. all four quadriceps had been sliced through by the blade. he almost died. he later recounted that he was fighting to stay conscious because he thought if he lost consciousness  he would definitely die (he probably would have). he ended up with ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN STITCHES in his leg, which he could not move afterward for three months. he ended up needing 18 months to get his leg back to full strength.

not only did the man almost DIE short tracking, he almost got a death sentence on his career at the time. his leg was almost disabled, and even though it healed, he was out of training for over a year because of the injury.

but he didnt die, and his career didnt end. bradbury kept training, and remained on the australian team. the man almost died and he still went, yeah nah, i’ve got a few good years left in me.

so bradbury comes back in the ‘98 winter olympics, both on the relay team and in the 500m and 1000m. the relay team unfortunately fails to qualify. devo. for the solos, bradbury was actually considered a real contender, he was still top of his game, but in the end he didn’t qualify for the quarterfinals. the reason for this was that his time had dropped due to collissions with other competitors. so he went home with nothing but a relay bronze. but bradbury was determined to see a short track win.

too bad fate fucking hates him apparently.

now, if you think almost dying because a skate blade sliced through your thigh and you almost bled out was bad, bradbury’s career was really threatened in 2000. during an exercise one of the other skaters fell in front of him. bradbury tried to jump, instead not only did he clip the other skater, but it caused him to lose his balance and he stacked it straight into the barrier, fracturing his vertebrae.

not only did the man spend months in a halo brace, not only did the man need to get pins skull and plates and screws bolted to his back and chest, but he was told explicitly by doctors he would never, ever be able to get back onto the ice again. that was it. he survives almost dying in the 94 world cup only to have his world crash and burn in a training exercise six years later.

anyway, fuck that, bradbury got back onto the ice. clearly. because goddamnit, he wanted that winter gold on a solo win.

look, not only did the man have a near death experience and metal bolted to his bones, but he was also aging up past the prime of an olympic athlete. he was, what some may say, not in his prime. it was a longshot. he admitted this. but he also wanted that fucking medal, and i guess everyone really liked him or felt incredibly bad for all the bad luck he’d had, so come the 2002 winter olympics, he’s on the team.

bradbury won his 1000m heat.

too bad in the qtrfinals he was racing against the gold medal pick of the host nation (ohno), and also the defending world champion (gagnon). only top two finishers could proceed to the semis.

bradbury came third. that was it. he was out. his olympic career was ov-

BUT WAIT, WHAT’S THAT! ON THE HORIZON! IS IT... A DISQUALIFICATION??? YES FOLKS, GAGNON WAS DISQUALIFIED FOR OBSTRUCTING ANOTHER RACER!! BRADBURY WAS IN!

he was in, but he still had the semis and the finals to get through. bradbury had, it was fair to say, an indomitable will, but his body was not in the same shape as his competitors. it had been through some shit. he knew he was slower than his rivals. so he took the same strategy as the australian relay team did all the way back in ‘94: conservative, steady, safe.

so here’s the thing. bradbury had a whole career, and body, full of proof that falls happen in short track. may as well call it short stack. it was a question of when, not if. people fall down, people collide, people trip, and medal chances are missed due to lost time. isn’t that what happened to him over and over again? so this is where i say that the whole “oh golly gosh who’da thunk everyone would fall down and i would just win!” thing is 50% a myth.

because that was his whole strategy.

you can’t be 100% certain the favourites are gonna fall, so of course there’s an element of chance, which is why i say only 50%, but bradbury’s plan for the semis and the finals was always to cruise along behind the other competitors, concentrate on skating safe and staying on his feet, avoiding collissions and trips, and just hoping (expecting) the other competitors to eat ice. he just wasn’t faster than his competitors, he was older, he had injuries, and he had to do (if things went well) four races in one night. it was a good strategy.

during the semis, bradbury’s “cruise behind the other races” strategy put him firmly in last place for most of the race. but then the other competitors all crashed, including a defending champion. bradbury cruised right into first place and went on to the finals. which is not the events of the picture above.

yep, that’s right. come the finals, bradbury repeats the exact same strategy. crusing behind the four other competitors, he kept a firm hold of last place and just concentrated on safety and steadiness. and then it happened. it wasn’t just a crash. it was the crash. a four-skater pile up. li (china) took the fall on the last turn of the race, just short of the finish, and triggered a chain crash that took all three other favourites down. bradbury was trailing 15m behind, putting him well clear of the collission.

bradbury hoped to get a bronze. he skated away with the first gold ever taken by an australian, by any man in the southern hemisphere, at the winter olympics.

he had over a decade of crashes and bashes. he almost died, twice. he almost had his career permanently destroyed, twice. he almost grabbed medals countless times, only to lose them to trips and shoves. he was the second oldest competitor, and the oldest of the finals. he was slower than everyone else. he was past his best. but let’s allow bradbury to say it best himself:

"Obviously I wasn't the fastest skater. I don't think I'll take the medal as the minute-and-a-half of the race I actually won. I'll take it as the last decade of the hard slog I put in."

and what a goddamn slog. i want to say, firmly and proudly as an australian, the man didn’t win the gold at the 2002 winter olympics because he got lucky when seven competitors all tripped and fell. he won the gold at the 2002 winter olympics because he survived a ten year olympic career despite all the odds, never gave up despite the long shot, and used what he knew.

if there is a lesson in this as it relates to the original picture, it’s that while other social media platforms like twitter and reddit are jostling and shoving each other in competition to take first, tumblr has been slowly and steadily trailing behind, just focusing on keeping itself afloat, because it knows the simple truth that taking a fall is a matter of when, not if. and now everyone else is caught in a pile up and all it needs to do is keep cruising.

also, raise a glass to steven bradbury. man earned his medal.

Violence set to happy music will never get old to me. Blood splattering to an 80s pop song is like a sister to me because I'm not allergic to fun.

I feel cheated. no one on Reddit told me that tumblr is a serotonin factory. Keep liking and reblogging my posts please thanks

Just don't fly too close to the sun.

Throw me to the sun and I’ll get it pregnant

Fellas (gender neutral), you heard him. Ready the catapults.

current note count: 4,872

Source ~ @/lizmac927

[Video ID: Recording of green hills and trees with a clear blue sky. Text on the top of the video reads "Ahh... The sounds of the Welsh Hills."

Man 1: *in the distance, shouting desperately to his sheepdog* "No, Ted! Fucking hell. Away! Away! Ted no!"

Man 2: *behind the camera. Laughing.*

Woman: *behind camera* "What's he trying to get? He's herding up the sheep."

Man 1: "Get here! Here, here, here!"

Woman: "Come on, Ted."

Man 1: *seen in the distance on a 4-wheeler* "No!!"

End ID]

PRIDE MONTH CELEBRATION WEEK 2023
Day 6 - Colour
  ⤷ Dani x Jamie Playlist / (insp.)

patron saint of one-way trips and other journeys from which you can never return

ALT

this post is about her

The everest chronicles

anti-everest posting is such massive obvious cope from people who probably can’t bother to go outside or take a shower daily, truly some of the most naked posting on the internet

So you're aware, and I can't speak for all of the folks here, the anti-climbing-everest posting is because it's quite literally... insane. It's very much unlike what people normally think of as mountain climbing or hiking. It's less "running a marathon" and more "cutting off both your legs on purpose so you can say you ran a marathon as a double amputee".

First, Mount Everest is ridiculously dangerous to climb, because of the low oxygen levels and freezing temperatures, as well as potential for dangerous weather conditions. Once you get high enough, if you run into trouble, it is often impossible to perform a rescue. Oxygen deprivation often leads to impaired decision making, which can worsen with hypothermia. In later stages, oxygen deprivation will cause brain swelling and rapidly lead to death. It's very nasty. This is worsened by the sheer number of people attempting to summit--it's only safe(ish) to climb for a brief period, so a large number of people attempt at the same time, leading to literal lines on the mountain. Oftentimes, people are unwilling to help others because they are so focused on summiting, but it's also because they literally can't. Sharing supplies could mean that they don't have enough to make it down safely themselves.

It's also very exploitative. Sherpas are often forced to take up work as guides for money since it's one of the most lucrative careers in the area. They are more adapted to the low oxygen environment than others, but still often become the victims of avalanches. Because of this, people often hire teams of Sherpas to carry their equipment for them (hence the last tweet; they often do almost all of the work, including set up tents). Additionally, Everest holds religious/cultural significance for them, and climbing it is generally considered disrespectful.

Beyond all this, because of the extreme conditions, both waste and dead bodies are not usually removed. Oftentimes, it's functionally impossible. The waste is one thing, seeing trash piled up at points in the trail and damaging the ecosystem, but dead bodies are another. Climbers report passing by dead bodies next to them on the trail, and sometimes even stepping directly over them. They sometimes become trail markers, and sometimes they're covered in snow and only discovered much later. Succumbing to personal opinion, any dude who would willing walk over a dead body to climb a mountain **twice** is several shades too crazy to date.

Basically: people are mocking him because climbing Mount Everest is egoistical and dangerous for no reason, disrespectful and dangerous to locals, bad for the environment, and also just, generally fucked up in a lot of ways. Not just because they're terminally online.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/world/asia/mount-everest-deaths.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/06/mount-everest-has-lost-its-magic/591025/

I can provide more articles if you're interested. I'm morbidly fascinated by everything Mount Everest has come to be--both culturally and literally--so this is a chance to share, not a personal attack.

Yeah the notes on this post made me Google "dead bodies on Everest" and fam no haunted house could hold a candle to this horror movie shit. Even setting all the colonial exploitation and environmental degradation aside, it's one thing to fight a terrain, it's another to have to see mummified dead bodies that can never be removed along the way while you do it.

I just want to amend: it's not disrespectful to climb the mountain. I mean ideally it would be great if everyone could stay the fuck off the mountain, but that's not going to be possible and the sherpas themselves (which is the name of the indigenous Himalayan community that considers Everest part of their homeland) depend on climbers for their income. What the Sherpa community does want instead, is for the Nepalese government to put tighter restrictions and limitations on who can climb it and during which seasons. The unchecked commercialisation of Everest is responsible for unseasoned climbers who aren't true mountaineers flock to the place for bragging rights. This is what makes a dangerous and unpredictable terrain a high-traffic zone (and therefore exponentially more littered).

The sherpas already have final say on whether you're allowed to climb each level, but (from what I have gathered) letting the Sherpa community actually administrate and regulate Everest tourism themselves is what would make the real difference. Unfortunately the Nepalese government are colonizing shitheads who can only see dollar signs and doesn't give a fuck about their ethnic minorities. This is something that can only be helped by international pressure, as the solution to the growing Everest death toll.

From a consumer standpoint, climbing Everest isn't itself disrespectful or unethical, it's attempting to climb it without being an experienced climber or having the mountaineer's drive and knowledge to leave terrain as pristine as possible that is the problem. Do climb Everest if you love climbing mountains and are willing to advocate for and respect the sherpas. But if you want to do it because you have too much money and just wanna say you did it, go fuck yourself.

@pscentral event 16: pride colors
↳ dani clayton & jamie taylor & the rainbow flag