Podcasts about Gee

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2025 81:13

Send us a textOkay, so here's the story: When the moon is destroyed in 1994, it ensures that “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” isn't just an album, but a way of life. Flashforward 2000 years where recognizable monuments are rusting, “Jaws 9” was a thing, and a group of heroes try to put right what once went wrong. Or, something like that. Here now is the story of how this super-science show came to Saturday Morning. Who were the post-apocalyptic creators of this show? Did “Star Wars” play a role in the creation of this series? Just what is a lord of light? All these questions, and more, will be answered in this look at THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN! Again! Ariel, Ookla, ride!Thanks for ‘tooning in. Share With Us: SatMornPod@hotmail.comBluesky: @SatMornPodYouTube Us: tinyurl.com/yyhpwjeo (Don't waste your time) Featured Music:“Nostalgic Happy Music” by AudioJungle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtxSUR6MQhw&t=2s “Happy Life” by Fredji - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzQiRABVARk Various Music by Oneul - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by302C2YhxY “I Feel You” by Kevin MacLeod” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw8E3jjbUCE “Nostalgic” by OrangeHead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wExcRoNNzAc “Breakfast Club” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Spi22l3m5I “Horizons” by Atch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-u53MADIag “80's Hijack” by Gee - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndVqzJ9Lk6M&t=26s “Synthmania” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6r20TKnA6M “United” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArjGQFCcHxA “Cool Blue” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp5cxZWP-wc #ABC #NBC #CBS #The80s #80s #cartoons #cartoon #animation #SaturdayMorning #1980 #1981 #1982 #1983 #1984 #1985 #1986 #1987 #1988 #1989 #Filmation #HannaBarbera #DePatieFreleng #RubySpears #Disney #Thundarr

Dj Timon - Happy Hardcore №44 [ Live Dj Set 8-11-2025 ]

Dj Timon

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2025 57:58

All We Need is RAVE!!!#makina #happy_hardcore #uk #uk_hardcore #happyhardcore #ukhardcoreYouTube TwitchFacebookVKTrackList:1 Noc - Love is Going Nowhere (Gabber) 2 Riko, MaddHatter - Go Crazy 3 Gee, Mikey P - Brand New Me 4 Lone Raver - The Switcher 5 Kinn, Bridgey B - Go Low 6 Kinn, DJ HerVz - Pieces 7 Kinn - Close Your Eye's 8 Brett Cooper, Joe Boylan - Sweetest Rhyme 9 Dav-e, Jen Cox - Heaven Sent You 10 Kel X-Cyte - HYPNOTISED 11 Kinn - Love Me After 12 Diakronik - Home (Eufeion Remix) 13 Smeets - Lost Me 14 Riko, james K - All Of Mine 15 S3rl, PiNKII - Boy Slut 16 Nobody, Koegawa - One Last Dance

rave gee timon dav live djs riko kinn live dj set happy hardcore all we need s3rl

Christian College Sex Comedy: Part 27

ExplicitNovels

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2025

Christian College Sex Comedy: Part 27 Appreciation? In 30 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the podcast at Explicit Novels. Children must face the scrutiny of their parents The Dining Hall was almost a relief. That relief died the moment I saw the banner over the front of the serving area in the Hall. 'Zane Appreciation Day'. Since every word was spelled correctly, it wasn't some stunt of Rio's, but beyond that, the list of suspects was too large to consider. This could be a genuine outpouring of acceptance and sympathy for what I had endured here. If you believe that, I have to ask you: 'Do you want your leprechaun pissing Guinness or Irish Malt?' Most likely, this was going to be some sort of humiliation, and I think I knew the flavor, and I definitely knew how to find out. See, in every seat of the Dining Hall was a big, bowling ball sized white box with a name and secured with a gold and green ribbon, so no cheating; no peeking. That last bit didn't deter me, though. I snuck up on the box marked for Holiday Carpenter. "Zane, does that have your name on it?" Virginia Goodswell asked me, my English teacher and Spiritual Advisor. Hell, if it had been Mrs. Marlowe, I would have opened it anyway, but Virginia was my buddy so her next question didn't mean to stab a stake of regret through my heart. "Where is Vivian?" "I left my room before she was done." I looked to the ground while I kicked some imaginary dust off the slate floor. "Why don't you see if she's been calling you?" she suggested. "She's probably worried." Worried, or homicidal because, ya know, I had sort of run off without my phone, wallet, watch, book bag, or anything else a 21st century student might need. "I ran away like a big, fat chicken," I confessed. "Anything not glued to my body I left behind." "I'll give her a call." She pulled out her phone and hit speed dial #2. I crap since her sick mother is probably #1. I am such a big problem for her, she has my guardian on speed dial! "That is Holiday Carpenter's box, Zane, not yours. Besides, there are strict instructions to not open the boxes until instructed." The panicky response I overheard from Virginia's conversation with Vivian hardly helped my mood. She wanted to know if Virginia knew where I was, she did; that I was okay, I was; and finally, what upset me, because the other girls weren't talking but apparently Mercy had started slapping Barbie Lynn around until Rio and Val pulled her off. Now, that made less than no sense. Wasn't that supposed to work the other way around? Virginia did a double check and sure enough, Mercy had slammed Barbie Lynn into an open wardrobe on my behalf, and Rio and Val had pulled her back. WTF! I am sure that Rio was right beside me on that one. Vivian triple checked that I was physically and mentally okay and she sounded so disappointed, in herself, as she did so. She was bringing my stuff; yes, I am an earthworm. Virginia promised for me that I would remain here until she arrived. Some stupid gesture like a loud public apology, done on bended knee, was blatantly unfair to Vivian, who only meant the best for me. I made a quick apology, not trying to meet her eyes as I said the words and took my stuff. All of 'my' girls seemed equally subdued. A minute after we had garnered our victuals, Vivian put a hand on my elbow. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Zane," Vivian smiled warmly at me. "You take a lot of stress and pressure on yourself. I understand that from time to time you need to take in a tiny bit of private space for yourself. Clearly, you can't schedule any such time because nothing around you stays a secret for very long and no one respects your privacy or even asks what you need." "Vivian," I was puzzled, "you deserve to be righteously pissed with me. You are my Guardian and I promised to stay by you or at least tell you where I was." "Zane, we let you down," Vivian assured me. "It is your dorm room and we are your guests, and we have been rather poor guests at that." "How about we call a truce?" I offer. "I can live with that," Vivian smiled. "Cut the Kumbaya-time, kids," Rio snorted derisively. "Zane, what the fuck happened with Mercy?" Rio playfully punched Mercy's arm to emphasize her uncertainty. "Rio, Bro, drop it," I asked sincerely. "Act like it didn't happen." Rio studied me a second, then got this wickedly evil grin. "What the hell are you talking about, Glenda?" she hefted the box up then shook it. "It seems my damn box is glued shut. Are we celebrating one thousand cunts licked by you, or what?" Because Rio rarely expounded at a level below full volume, next thing we hear is Mrs. Marlow snapping, "Ms. Talon, watch your language; there are good Christian women being forced to sit within the sound of your voice!" "Gotcha, Ms. Mouthful," Rio snapped off with a snap and a finger raised up like a pistol in the air. "What did you say?" Marlowe closed the distance. "She was repeating what I pointed out," I turned and smiled. "I said that you really had it going together this morning; that you were more than a mouthful. That's a hip/trending term to describe someone who is expressing themselves through clothing and make-up." "You are lying, Mr. Braxton," she snarled. "You are probably right, as I do so to you on general principle, but good luck proving it in student court," I grinned right back. We locked wills and she blinked first. "Ms. Phillips," Marlowe turned on Vivian, "what are you going to do about this?" "Zane and Rio, would you please apologize for being rude and insensitive to an educator who only wishes the best for the student body?" Vivian requested. "I so apologize," I bowed my head. "I so apologize as well," Rio tacked on. Only after Marlowe had gone to spread love and sunshine somewhere else did Rio lean across me and whisper to Vivian. "You rock!" Rio giggled gleefully. After all, Rio and I had not apologized to Mrs. Marlowe because neither one of us believed for a minute that she was 'an educator who only wishes the best for the student body'. To that nameless entity, we owed a debt, and to Mrs. Marlow we owed a generous 'fuck you,' and Vivian had made it all possible. "Why, thank you, Rio," Vivian nodded her acceptance of Rio's praise. "Jesus is the Peacemaker and we all should attempt to emulate his teachings." "So, I still don't get to lick you senseless?" Rio snickered. "No, no, you don't," Vivian smiled, even though she didn't look at either of us. Vivian's going to rock as a mom. The next half hour passed quietly. Everyone was curious about the boxes but no one was too worried until a rumor suddenly appeared. When it was suggested that they might have to put on bikinis, the fear set in. I blamed, I don't know but I wish I had thought of it. I was still kicking myself for the missed opportunity when my alien with the right face black and left face white shows up with the right face white and left face black, Mhain and Millicent. "Death Match and you get to referee," Rio teased me. "I'm so jealous; 500 bucks on the one with the soul." Mhain glared hate at us while Millicent looked more than amused. "Zane, come with us," Mhain gloated. I figured that somehow my ordeal was coming to an end so I'd play along. I rose and they steered me to the largest exit, flanking me. Christina and Company grabbed their boxes and jumped up quickly to follow me, though they looked as confused as I was, confirming none of them were the architect of my discomfort. No sooner had we stepped into the cool, sunlit lawn than everyone's phone rang, except mine. I was loving this, right up there with having sandpaper buffing my sunburned abs. "Open the box and follow the instructions," Christina informed me. "Is anyone going to do this?" My phone vibrated once, then my whole body tingled before I could respond to the call. "I am," Mhain gloated. "I was promised something." She knelt and opened her box with enthusiasm; the others did likewise but at a more sedate pace. What came out of each box was almost identical, different only in the anatomical part of the body indicated by the instructions. The objects were all grapefruit-sized fur-balls that made darling little squeaks, squeals and murmurs, amongst other sympathetic noises, all in tiny little voices. They were to be placed on my body, but I didn't know how that would work. "Are we going to do this?" Chastity began to say. "It isn't sticky," Hope was also saying when Mhain's flew out of her hand and hit the side of my left knee. She reached out carefully to retrieve hers while the other girls circled in. The little darlings were proving to be resilient little bastards. Several more leapt at me from the hands of their owners. All this time the furry grapefruit were giving little 'wee!' noises when they shot at me and screeched like demons when they were removed, which was painful when they were on my flesh. I knew who was responsible and she was going to pay, but not right now. I saw my closest allies pulling back. "TLM, Christina," I sighed in resignation. "Let's get this over with." I was being totally self-sacrificial; girls were starting to pile-up on us coming out of the Dining Hall. I didn't want a riot. Mhain had technically tagged me first but not in the designated spot, so I had Christina go first, she put one over my heart, not that I thought Cordelia was stupid, but now she was just piling it on. Mhain went next and she was sizzling and excited, she put it on my lips, shutting me up. At least the girls were polite and organized enough to come at me patiently. A few didn't get the 'memo' and their little rug rats slipped out of their owner's grasp and got to play gleeful kamikaze as they plowed into me. It didn't hurt but I had this secret fear that the tiny terrors would sprout fangs and tear into me. These little guys were murmuring and mumbling and it wasn't until I was truly buried that a horrific realization was made, the more that were on me, the greater their clinging power. In retrospect, this would have been more useful if we hadn't passed the 700 mark. I looked like a puffy, overweight, Sasquatch baby. I could move but sitting down was a dream, as was running or going to the bathroom. The damn things wouldn't shut up either. It fell to Hope and Iona to hurry me (as much as possible) to Assembly; you know that place where I 'sit' in front. At least no one could ask me anything with the expectation of receiving an answer. I no longer wondered how bad it could get; I knew it would get worse, and while I didn't know how, I knew it would be soon. At the start of Assembly my little friends joined in the singing, not using words but in the tinny little noises they made, though admittedly they were enthusiastic and determined. But it gets worse. There was a discussion on stage after that fiasco about removing me. Chancellor Bazz wanted me gone; Vice Chancellor Scarlett was not in attendance but Virginia took up my cause. After all, it wasn't my fault, she claimed. "Well, Black, do something," the first three rows heard Bazz demand of our Head of Security. "I am not an engineer or a chemist," Black replied. "Do you want me to shoot them off him?" Oh, yeah, my girl Bazz wanted that, so bad. Of course, what she really wanted was for Black to miss, but that wasn't going to happen. Finally, the teachers decided to soldier on. When Chancellor Bazz stepped up to begin services, the frightening fur-balls belted out 'Hail to the Chief.' No one said a word, not a murmur. Chancellor Bazz stopped and the munchkin chorus stopped too. Two more starts later and she gave up and grudgingly took the 'praise' from my infestation. They were good throughout the message and sermon but took up 'Hail to the Chief' when she tried to leave the podium. "Do something!" she screamed at Black. This time, Gabrielle sedately headed my way. I didn't want to think of the pain coming my way. My little buddies had my back. When she got within five feet the all screamed, and I mean SCREAMED, in the loudest cacophony most of us present had ever heard. I saw something I thought I would never see; Gabrielle flinched. Not so oddly, I was fine, hearing almost nothing. The little guys on my ears soaked up the sound so I received a very watered-down version of what they were doing. Gabrielle fell back and at the five foot mark, the little guys shut up, mostly. They seemed to be making comforting noises to one another, like one Zane-sized colony of brown mold. "Get away from him; just get away from him," good old Doctor Melrose Bazz pleaded as she moved her hands away from her ears. "Braxton, you stop this right now." I had a wee beastie on my mouth and Bazz was not on the small list of people I would devour this thing for. If she's looking for a conversation today, she's out of luck. She throws her hands up in desperation and starts to storm off. My little cock-sucking furry gonads (yes, I was getting angry) fired up 'Hail to the Chief' yet again, and kept at it until she sat down. Virginia got to thinking it's appropriate to call for the end of this travesty but she's dealing with Cordelia Dresden, Top Gun of the Time Lord Mafia. The weapon of choice; 'She's a Lady' by some guy named Tom Jones, the ladies in my life will inform me about this later. For a half a second she tries to fight her smile but she surrenders, even letting the little guys go through the entire score before talking. The little tinny voices were humming a song I didn't know but damn it, it made me want to take Virginia out to a smoky Jazz club and dance until the sun came up. Virginia actually started tapping her foot to rhythm and I began thinking I might not be able to beat Cordelia. I'm not used to that sensation. "Okay, now, whoever is doing this has put Zane through enough and should remember that we should, as Christians, make students feel safe and not make them subjects of humiliation," Virginia addressed the student body. "I think we can end Assembly fifteen minutes early today for a little bit of Christian charity. We can do it at Zane's first class, 204 Denning Hall." By the way, I apparently have a play list. As Virginia headed back, the fella's changed it up with 'Baby Got Back'. I wanted to die. Virginia Goodswell has a truly fine ass, of this there is no doubt, I often compare it to Barbie Lynn's, but please. Virginia stopped, turned toward me with a dazzling smile and waggled her finger at me, then resumed her way to her seat. How is any of this my fault? I imagine I was lucky it wasn't the Thong Song. I would have died, then come back as the undead to take Cordelia to hell with me. It was with some relief that Vivian and Hope rallied to my side. They had to both keep other students away, the other girls loved poking me in different critters to make them call out in different pitches and tenors, which was pleasant to hear if you liked overdosing on helium. Surprise, surprise; no one came to my succor before English class. I couldn't sit down. Okay, I tried, but any part of my body that bent or that I sat on screamed bloody murder until I got off of it or stopped putting on the press. I've heard about girlfriends like this but I've always assumed I would have the courage to jump out of a 50 story building to escape. What do you do if they come with you when you jump besides basking in the vicarious thrill that comes from crushing half of them beneath you before you go? I managed to do okay standing in the rear of the class, only once giving in to the crushing fatigue of holding my arms somewhat elevated for two hours. The two under my arms were especially cooperative and didn't get too vocal when my arms did slip to my sides. I couldn't do a thing about the occasional girl twisting in her seat but either Raven's glare or Goodswell's cough brought their eyes forward once more. At the end of class, Virginia decided to call Ms. Black and have her take me to the Vice Chancellor's office to end this matter. Vivian and Mercy provided support while Gabrielle kept her distance and cleared a path. Rio helped out by playing my musical miscreants as if they were a drum set while some part of the 700 members of my new posse and I yelled at her to leave us alone. She really is my best friend. My tragically slow pace was not my friend and everyone had to depart for their classes before I finished the arduous travel to the Administration Building. Gabrielle's eyes measuring you for a casket is a remarkable motivator but didn't stop Rio from blowing a kiss to her "Mi Negro Naughtiness". I know, I know; one day, Rio is just going to vanish without a trace. "Ms. Reveal, I need an emergency meeting with the Vice Chancellor," Ms. Black requested of Doctor Scarlett's personal assistant. Ms. Reveal didn't miss Gabrielle keeping her distance from me. She did make the call and I noticed the pictures of Ms. Mittens were still in evidence. "Who are you inside that suit?" Ms. Reveal asked me. I guess she assumed I wasn't a real baby Sasquatch; I was really a baby Sasquatch disguised as a half-baked marshmallow. If three geeks and a man working beneath his means jump out at me with proton-packs, I am running for my life, which is to say 'I'm going to die.' "This is Zane. He is not being rude, he can't speak," Ms. Black was kind enough to cover for me. "Oh, I understand," Ms. Reveal nodded, but in such a way that expressed she didn't understand anything. "You two can go in now," she said several awkward seconds later. "Zane, you move as close to Ms. Reveal's desk as you can while I get the door for you," Gabrielle instructed me. "Come in when I call for you." I'm sure Marisol Reveal was curious as to why Gabrielle was dancing around me, trying to keep her distance. We almost made it; right as she made it to the doorway, Doctor Scarlett opened the door and attempted to see what the delay was. She was actually putting an award on a shelf she had just received, the reason she missed Assembly, if you find that suspicious, and was placing it on a shelf near the door. Gabrielle responded as any slightly unbalanced killer would do; she spun around, pulled out her gun from the unseen Realm of the Gods of War, and pointed it at the stunned Victoria. That took her one half-step too close to me and my little fellas let the world know it. I will give them this much; they were still defending my eardrums. By the way Marisol was holding her ears as her tears flowed down her face it must have been pure agony for her since I was right next to her. Gabrielle scoped up Victoria and sprinted into her office and they obediently shut up. "Za-, Zane, what was that?" Marisol blathered. Since the furry meatball gone bad was still on my lips and I hadn't become that hungry, I kept my silence. "Zane!" Gabrielle called for me. I did my best to shrug but it wasn't like I had a neck anymore so I don't know what she made of my movement. I shuffled to the door and got a few good squeaks as I moved inside. I was more than a little disturbed by the reaction I received from Doctor Scarlett when she saw me from her seat behind her desk. She looked at me and I swear, hand to my heart, she had an orgasm. "You are covered in Tribbles," she gasped. I had no fucking clue what a Tribble is but apparently, I was in the vast minority. I staggered forward and since Gabrielle was on the right side of the room, I angled to the left. I move halfway around Doctor Scarlett's desk so that Gabrielle could go close the door, where she took up post and, from what happened next engaged a Romulan Cloaking Device, whatever the Muggle-tech that is. Victoria was in some sort of dream-like trance. When she started stumbling around the desk toward me, I waited for the musical assault that never came. To my credit, I caught on in a second. If these creatures existed, singing wasn't their normal activity, and Cordelia wanted these little 'Squeaky Meals' to be as real as possible, for Victoria. I was nothing but bait. Victoria reached out to caress the same one Christina had placed over my heart. The little bugger cooed and Victoria clamped her thighs together to contain another orgasm that coursed through her loins. Cool, all I have to do to feel the wonders of Victoria Scarlett is dress myself in furry grapefruit. I'm kicking myself for not seeing this obvious ploy. She touches more and each makes a subtly different purr of pleasure. This goes on and on until she's cuddled up against me, her arms stroking over my back and rubbing her left leg up and down mine. "Vice Chancellor, you do realize Zane Braxton is TRAPPED inside those, contraptions," Gabrielle sounds the slightest bit peeved. The troops all make those little high-pitched notes of longing as Victoria retreats a few steps, bringing Victoria almost to the point where she launches herself back into me to comfort her little friends. I am second fiddle to a discombobulated guinea pig; sometimes a man can feel pretty small. "Okay. How did this happen to you, Zane?" Victoria asked. "He cannot talk; one of those Tribbles is attached to his lips," Black stated, "by an unknown force. Before you ask; I am not an engineer or chemist." Victoria made this adorable little 'o' expression, then reached for an offending Tribble. "It hurts him to remove them," Gabrielle got out just in time. "Does it hurt the Tribble?" Victoria inquired. Gee, thanks, Vic. "Hold your ears," Gabrielle commanded. Well, I couldn't comply, and Victoria had only started to scream 'stop' when Gabrielle materialized a knife and speared 'Diddley-boo' off my shoulder. I heard the little guy's death wail, then his death rattle, as Gabrielle pulled him/her away until she was out of screaming range. Diddley-boo? No, I have no idea what his/her name really was but I'm going to have ICE check his immigration status when all of this is over, wait, I can't do that; Gabrielle wacked the little snot and giving her up to the Feds is a great way to create many widows and orphans. Diddley-boo was still twitching erratically while Victoria was stuck between ecstasy and horror. "You are a Klingon agent!" Victoria gasped as she pointed an accusatory finger at Gabrielle. I am vaguely aware that they are the stock-villains of Star Trek Universe and this odd snapshot of rightly tight, athletic buns in tighter pants, but the reference memory for the scene escapes me. By the facial reaction Gabrielle gives, Victoria just called candy sweet, or jalapenos hot; she appreciates the comparison. All the surviving members of the Tribble tribe wept a cacophony of pain and loss. I would have had more sympathy if their moans had not been vibrating my body like a jello mold. "Romulan," Gabrielle countered; the other stock Trekkie villains, but they have better teeth. First amongst our Honored Dead, DB hardly quivers as Ms. Black dissects it. It bleeds/oozes and appears to be a living organism of some kind, but Gabrielle points to several electronic devices, a CPU, and wires connecting all kinds of things inside the organic body. "It is an organic husk over a sensory/auditory device," Gabrielle tried to explain. "Oh, my God," Victoria's mind worked feverish to defy reality, "they've been turned into Borgs." She tore the one attached to my lips off. I didn't cry like a televangelist publicly begging God for forgiveness for a moment, or 147 moments, of weakness with a rather sad-looking prostitute, but that was coming. You see, Victoria gripped her weeping diminutive fuzzy engine of humiliation tightly when she yanked it off, so she let go of it because the little blighter sounded hurt. It gave off a more muted and mournful 'wee' as it smacked into the corner of my mouth. I was able to dodge a direct hit. "Scarlett," Gabrielle seethed, "if, you, would, listen, for, a, moment; they are painful to be removed from his flesh and they will attempt to reattach themselves to him if they are brought within one foot. I have no idea why." "Zane, are you in much pain?" Doctor Scarlett inquired while scanning my body fungi. "Yes, but I'm sure if you kick me in the nuts, I'll feel better," I mumbled through a joke. "I can't do that," Victoria gasped. "You have Tribbles down there." Yes, I feel special. "That's it," Gabrielle snapped. "I'm going to get help." She spun around and breezed out the door, slamming it in her wake. "Thanks for abandoning me, Gabby," I shouted as loud as I was able. "It's not like Vic's totally lost her mind or anything like that." "I have not lost my mind," Victoria responded with a deceptively calm, soothing tone. She reinforced my calm by locking the door, then locking in the deadbolt, yes, I felt much safer. My merry band of orphan coconuts helped things along the cliffs of sanity by cooing and 'talking' to Victoria as she walked around the office, and she gaily responded to them. "Ms. Reveal, this is going to be a difficult intervention. Inform me when lunch time gets here," Victoria communicated to her assistant, then added, "I need a box of outdoor trash bags; leave them at the door." Having a hot lady like Victoria Scarlett lock the door and asking for almost 3 hours of 'alone' time with me is a mature pipe dream of mine, and that dream really meets a bloody end when she asks for roughly 30 bags with a fifty-gallon capacity each. If she pulls out a hacksaw or a 'cow-stunner,' I'm racing for the window behind the Doc's desk. I'll be gone in 90 seconds, sort of like an inexpensive microwave dinner. Doctor Scarlett returned to her desk, turned her spy-cam around, and started making calls. I honestly maintained a miniscule hope that she might still help me. She was talking curtly to another doctor whose name I didn't recognize. What came out of her mouth next sounded like a combination of eating raw meat all your life and gargling with sand regularly; add to that an inflection of someone wanting to kick elementary kids into the paths of oncoming busses and you had the language she was using. Victoria's stance even changed. She thrust out her chest, put her hands on her hips, and a predatory sneer took up permanent residency on her lips. She even beat on her desk hard during this little exchange before laughing in a way that made kittens piss on themselves before you hung them. "Vice Chancellor, Doctor Victoria Scarlett, umm, what's going on?" I said careful. I'm not so much terrified of Victoria at this point, as I am suspicious of my ability to fight at the moment. "Everything is fine, Zane," Victoria assured me. "In essence, I am bringing in some experts in the field. You can trust me on this; we've been expecting contact like this for years." Huh? "So, ah, that was an Albanian Biologist?" I hoped. "No, that was Vor' Dura, Flight Leader of the Blood Quasar Fleet of the Klingon Empire," Victoria explained sedately, in the same way any SANE individual described a Navy Commander. She turned her computer screen so I could see the person's profile pic. "How does she breathe in that thing?" I wondered. "That's one hell of a corset." "That isn't a corset, Zane, its body armor. My suit was created by the same armorer," she stated. "You have something like that?" I boggled. "Yes, the precise same suit. Vor' Dura is not as blessed by her bloodlines, she's shorter, but otherwise, we are identical; our alliance ended recently and soon she must face me in ritual combat; yield or die." 'Yield or die' isn't what is centermost in my mind. "Don't your boobs ever pop out of that thing?" Because if you have been paying any attention; I am an idiot where sex is even a remote possibility. Victoria can't meet my gaze but turns as red as her namesake. "On a few occasions," she confessed. I'm thinking 'a few'. "Now I have a few more calls to make." Yes, she's lost her ever-loving mind, and I have no reasonable expectation of exit or rescue. I won't be able to get up enough speed to bust out of the window so being on the first floor is meaningless. She has the deadbolt key and when I stack up my Tribbles against her Science Fiction fanaticism, I lose. She turns the monitor around and makes her next call. This one starts with the victory salute, but the one done with two fingers to each side. "Excellent news," Vicky declares. "We have confirmation of the temporal events from Deep Space Nine. I have compelling data that I have encountered genetic derivatives of the dominant herbivorous life forms of Iota Geminorum IV." And everything went to turkey-based insanity after that. Again, they spoke rapidly in a language I knew nothing about. They acted like giddy little schoolgirls, just schoolgirls with their emotions surgically removed. The final call went much same way except that this time, the tone of the language was like the second but with the taint of a sleazy pimp or grifter thinking she was a mob boss. These were the kinds of girls you never let babysit your kids if you ever wanted to see them again. The way Vic looked at me and the fellas made me worry about how long I could last in her brothel and inspired an unexpected sympathy for these pests. "Zane, do you promise to stay here while I, umm, get some, umm outfits?" Victoria requests respectfully. She realizes she's asking me a bizarre favor. Balthazar's Balls, I've been tied to a cross; how much worse can this be? She scoots up to me, kisses me chastely on the lips and waits. "It is a given that my morning class schedule is toast, and I'm no stranger to the entertainment industry so knock yourself out," I allow, but I will have to pee at some time." "Check; I'll stop by the infirmary and get a catheter," she nods, then she kisses me lightly on the lips once more. "Thank you for this, Zane." She's off like a shot but is careful enough to get the deadbolt on the way out. Since I doubt Ms. Reveal can get a fire-axe through the door if the building catches fire, my buddies and I really are going to experience total protonic reversal on a life-ending scale. Only now does it occur to me that these fuzzy navels might have toxic side effects. I'm waiting around for God-knows how long when I hear some muffled noises, more muffled than having a Tribble in my ear. Scratch, scratch, "Girl, you get away from that door," Ms. Reveal shouted (I guess). "Quick, Mercy, hold her back," Rio shouted in response. "This deadbolt is a bitch." A scuffle ensued and I tried to shout loud enough to call Rio off when I heard two rapid-fire thumps. "Thank you, Ms. Black," Marisol Reveal huffed. Mercy had put up quite a fight, I guessed. "I will formally press charges when the Vice Chancellor returns." "You will go and sit your ass behind your desk, you incompetent buffoon," Black snapped. "I will deal with this and if you bother me again today, or mention this incident to Scarlett, I swear you will never see your cat again; and if you don't hop-to in the next six seconds, I'll make an audio recording of me strangling that shit-dumper and play it by your bedroom window every night until you go mad. Do I make myself clear?" "Ugh," is all I make out, but I hear Marisol's chair squeak soon after. The sound of a body, or bodies, being drug off faded away as Black left the office and headed down the hall. Hell, I warned Marisol. I can't do anything for Rio right now and I don't have too long to ruminate. "Marisol, are you okay?" I hear Victoria ask her assistant. It is a testament to their bond that even the hysterical Doctor doesn't miss her friend's distress. "Sorry, Victoria, I'm a bit, umm, heart-sick is all," Marisol murmurs. "Don't you worry about it." "Well, when you want to talk about it, let me know," Victoria stated. Marisol must have nodded because no words were spoken and Victoria came in with two carry-on bags and three dress bags while kicking the trash bag box ahead of her. Happy fun time was about to begin. "Sorry for the wait, Zane," Victoria told me. "Doctor," I made a desperate Hail Mary plea for reason, "you are a highly respected educator. We really need to take a step back and re-examine what's going on here." "Zane, this is my first teaching job ever," she related as she checked on the progress of her 'Trekkie' Posse. "My doctorate is in Philosophy; my Master's Degrees are in Comparative Religions and Women's Studies," she informed me. "All my graduate work was done as a researcher. I've never had a student." I blink dumbly at her; and here I thought my opinion of the Board of Directors couldn't get worse. Victoria goes over the language dance with her friends, switching fluidly from tongue to tongue in a manner that impresses and even fascinates me; and I've been to Bangkok where if you are trying to buy and/or sell anything and don't speak at least ten different languages or dialects, you might as well hand them your wallet or purse and go home. "Who do we need?" Vic said in English (just making sure everyone knows that the Tribbles aren't suddenly translating for me). "Kar'Thon," Vor' Dura states eagerly; "This matter is a racial imperative." "Are you sure the young man is old enough?" The second woman inquired. "Jarrod went all obsessive last time a boy crossed our path. We almost sent the kid to college." "That's what you get for marrying a Ferengi," Dura snidely remarked, and the rest laughed along with it; meanwhile, I'm going 'a what?' Some infighting goes on until Victoria and 'I married a Ferengi' call for peace, then babble a little more. Then the name 'Zane Braxton' comes up and I'm not sure I'm happy or sad that only one of them replies in what was clearly elation and surprise, the sleazy one knows of me. "Zane, I need to surgically remove some of the alien organisms," Victoria tells me. "It is going to sting like hell," I mutter, to which Vor' Dura says something and sleazy girl laughs. I do not like where this is going at all. On the bright side, Victoria doesn't rip one off of me right away; she goes over to one of the dress bags and opens it up. She's pulling out bondage gear, oops, my bad; she's getting ready to put on Klingon body armor. I have lost all preconceptions of what I was dealing with once Scarlett began stripping in front of me. She even gave me an appreciative smile and I was the one who was doing the appreciating! The little fuckers started going off. Remember, they don't like being moved and I was moving some around at the moment. No, my legs and arms were perfectly still but my crotch was striking up a chorus, its Handel's Messiah. There was this 'still' moment where Victoria stopped opening her blouse and the three strangers regarding me through the webcam became mute; then the laughter began. Victoria resumed her stripping but she couldn't stop smiling and snickering slightly. The three, the Klingon uber-cook or whatever she was and her two unknown accomplices, were laughing so hard they could barely communicate. It got better; when I was fully aroused and stopped moving around my pants, they didn't shut up and I was suddenly, desperately searching my mind to know how long that song was. This was because Vic got down to her, Oh, fuck, this white thong, and calling it white is generous as it looks like someone stole an under-achieving spider's web and gently placed it over her crotch, and I know my hard-on was not going anywhere but into something before it went away. Victoria was working her make-up on when two of the voices got themselves together enough to ask something. Vic looked up at the web-cam, over to me, then said a few sentences. "So, which one of you likes your ankles placed behind your ears?" I politely asked in Thai. "What was that, Brax' Zane?" Victoria asked. "I'm curious if I can take your virginity with my tongue?" I continued in Thai. "I cannot understand you," Victoria said again. "What are, ah, " "I think we should engage the Federation citizen in the Galactic Basic," the second voice requested of the room. The third voice, the sleaze, said one more then in her native tongue, then the second voice, and Victoria jumped on her. "I said, 'I think the native is getting restless'," sleazy girl grudgingly repeated. "Now, I think we should see if our plan 1.0 can be implemented." "Before the scourges make themselves hoarse shrilling out the hellish noise or I lose patience, transport over there, and kill them myself," Dura growled playfully. I'm glad someone else was having fun. Victoria walked up and took a deep breath, which caused her well-disciplined, thirty-ish breasts to bounce tantalizingly close. Her look was desperately fearful yet almost childlike too. "Kar'Thon, I desperately require your assistance before these creatures drive me mad," I tried to sound masculine yet pleading. On the computer screen, Dura quickly slammed her right fist to her right shoulder; I was later to learn that was a salute. "This is no way for a Starfleet cadet to die," Victoria beamed at me, "even if I know I must someday slaughter you in battle." Whoa, I've never considered NASA as a career choice. Maybe Klingon bondage gear/standard uniform could change my mind. The first person to tell me university life is boring I will punt to the Moon. "I am T'Luminareth of the Vulcan Science Academy and Reserve member of the Starfleet Exploration Corps here," the second voice spoke up. I caught sight of a picture of her with this, troll? Or maybe a dwarf with the worst case of cauliflower ear ever. "I would like to assure you that every logical effort is being put forth on your behalf." "Is that right, Tight Luminescence? Is it going to kill you to show a fellow sentient an ounce of compassion when you know he is about to suffer a fatal toxic shock from prolonged exposure to these vermin?" the third girl snarkily interjected into the conversation. "I'm Hical Cretak, Romulan freebooter and purveyor of ancient, exotic, and misunderstood goods." "You are a thief, and since you aren't in some asteroid prison, you must be an above average one," I said to the Romulan. "I confess that I am a bit happier to see a member of the Vulcan Science Academy since, well, I'm suffering a splintered memory. Some things make perfect sense but large details are simply missing." I figured I could provide Victoria some good game. She began rubbing my crotch and there was an effect alright, two in fact. The simple and expectant one was my trouser titan trying to unchain itself so it could get revenge on all of Victoria's orifices for taunting him so. My torturous tiny titmice began belting 'Let's get it on' by Marvin Gaye. I think as an infant, I had a mobile playing this song in my crib. I started to really admire T'Luminareth's acting ability because she alone kept it together. Victoria made larger and larger circles over my crotch up to my beltline while Dura and Hical lost it hysterically. "Pssst," I murmured to Victoria. She looked at me and I darted my eyes toward her makeup kit and clothes. I am getting more clothes on her, why? Besides, I'd gotten a better look at her suit and it didn't have a butt-zipper that said 'Come Get Some,' but those pants rolled down like a candy wrapper and that 'body armor' has a back flap. I'd have to get Rio a set and I doubted Victoria would deny me her armorer's number. I was definitely looking into getting Mercy a matching Orion Slave Girl outfit, and here people don't think I make constructive use of my time. I was sure Victoria/Kar'Thon was breaking speed records to get herself ready while the other ladies began talking to me about a whole universe that was brand new to me. Getting three different and very conflicting versions of the rise of the Human-dominated Federation of Planets was amusing. Out of the blue, T'Luminareth decided she was going to create a team to rapidly move to my planet and take me back for further study. Vor' Dora countered that and Hical gleefully sought out salvage rights for the wreckage of the two expeditions. "That might not be possible," I intervened. "Some of what you've told me has fused some memories together." They all fell silent. "At Starfleet Academy, an Engineering Team and a select group of cadets," I continued to fantasize, "were directed to work on a, phased ionic drive." Ion drive was 'old' tech, or so Hical had let slip. "The drive failed catastrophically and we couldn't save the impulse drive, power was failing, we couldn't transport. The phased ionic drive detonated in the planet's atmosphere, creating a trans-harmonic disruption. I don't know if there were other survivors of our vessel. I saw another vessel either investigating our explosion or attempting a rescue but they burned up on their approach," I looked pained. "I don't think I could communicate with them and the only survivor I could locate was Kar'Thon." "Only a combination of our two vessels' technology has been able to punch a hole through the disruption and I'm not sure how long this effect will last." I now sounded grim but determined. "We probably need three things: We need to know if there were any special modifications to the Klingon Scout vessel because I don't think it was a standard model to get so close to an experimental Federation vessel." "Secondly, someone needs to pry out of Starfleet the precise specifications of that vessel, and that's definitely not me," I confessed. "Finally, we need to find a way to fuse those two designs together because if Tribbles are already being affected by an increased magnetic field, how much longer do we have before even the planet's magnetic field collapses totally and we fry (a SciFi movie plot, thank you)." Once more, there was silence and I was afraid I'd stepped way beyond my bounds. Only when I took in the masked facial expressions of Kar'Thon did I realize I'd done well. I was hit with the realization I was a word and a whisper away from having sex with her, she was so pleased with me. "I have friends at Starfleet Academy and they might be able to shed a light on what their cadets were up to," T'Luminareth stated serenely, but I could see a fire in her eyes. "I will research into every work published on Phased Ionic Drives, and we may be forced to work on a theory of what went wrong in case Starfleet is not forthcoming." "Not that I admit that the Klingon Empire ever had any such vessel operating in the area, Vor' Dura got out before Hical Cretak interrupted. "You have an officer on the damn planet, you cowardly idiot," mocked Hical. "I am a deserter," Kar'Thon declared. "I would say I was a 'scum of the Orion Colonies' but I found that you already claimed that title," she aimed at Hical. "You must die, you traitorous dog," Dura jumped on the offered plum. Thon/Victoria wasn't a deserter but she was ready to take one for the team, so to speak. "The Klingon Empire cannot allow your stain on our honor to exist. Now that we finally have you pinned down, we are coming to end you once and for all, and if the Federation insists on harboring a traitor (we were theoretically in Federation space) then, "I owe you a death, Vor' Dura," Thon seethed; "your death." "You may not enter Federation space," T'Luminareth insisted. "Before you two go to war, again, why don't you let me go in," Hical mediated. "I'm a free trader and have been to both Federation and Klingon planets." "You are a spy," Vor' Dura growled. "Being a successful agent doesn't make you any less of spy for your Romulan Senate," T'Luminareth seemed almost furious. "Unfounded rumors started by my, Hical almost finished before the Tribbles screamed. Not as loud as they had for Ms. Black, but they now didn't like Thon around either, now that Victoria was a Klingon. Cordelia scares me; this time Hical had the little 'hiccup'. "This is going to be fun," she chuckled, barely above a whisper. "I will get these vermin no matter how much they hurt the frail human," Kar'Thon snarled, but Victoria's eyes blazed with fanatic amusement. I was mildly curious if she could even respond to her true name but decided not to test that. She pulled out a rather wicked looking knife that I had to double-take to make sure it was plastic. The conversation went on around us as fictitious bits of data collided with innuendo, falsehoods, threats, and lies. This was roleplaying by some actors who took it as

christmas god jesus christ women director money head black children english stories china master man hell stand speaking doctors christians ms girl moon owner open mom surprise chief nasa security philosophy fantasy human jazz rights thailand act narrative guardian ice studies rio reveal sexuality sci fi stephen king shining wtf appreciation balls homecoming phillips worried peacemakers scratch doc top gun thai spring break misery gabby realm bangkok assembly bro federation vic explicit handel feds sasquatch planets za inform novels db harley davidson hail mary dura sane jarrod smack chino posse cpu gee vulcans tmi motorcycles tom jones erotica ewoks thon truthfully red lobster police academy gotcha deep space nine vice chancellor klingon executioners wookies marlowe albanian gringo marlow starfleet christian women ocs ion balthazar comanche klingons muggles mittens golden opportunities brainiac mouthful manuals christian colleges ferengi kumbaya tribble spiritual advisor romulan tribbles valarie time lords comparative religion wild ones vera wang sirius black unfounded screamed navy commander starfleet academy star trek universe thong song borgs plp court jester tlm brax klingon empire sex comedy bazz wormtail literotica msonospacing diddley administration building uncle josh ffu

Hour 3: Gee's Sauna Rules

sauna helvetica gee messagebody we hear you

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2025 36:00

GUEST: James Lynch on the breaking end to a cold case // Gee's sauna rules // AGREE TO DISAGREE: More gym rules // WE HEAR YOU! and WORDS TO LIVE BY

Solos degradados emitem carbono e precisam ser recuperados, alerta professor

Notícias Agrícolas - Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2025 9:59

A recuperação dos solos como estratégia de mitigação das emissões de GEE e garantia de incremento do potencial produtivo das propriedades rurais

professor alerta gee solos precisam carbono

Leading at the Edge of Innovation - Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott '85

THE LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP PODCAST

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2025 69:03

The path to progressing as a leader isn't always linear. SUMMARY Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott shows how a childhood dream can evolve into a lifetime of impact—from commanding in uniform to leading innovation in healthcare and national defense. Hear more on Long Blue Leadership. Listen now! SHARE THIS PODCAST LINKEDIN | FACEBOOK MIKE'S LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS A leader worth his or her salt should be comfortable not being the smartest person in the room. Striving for a lack of hubris is essential in leadership. Setting a clear vision is a fundamental leadership skill. Moving people without authority is crucial for effective leadership. Resource management is key to achieving organizational goals. Acknowledging what you don't know is a strength in leadership. Effective leaders focus on guiding their teams rather than asserting dominance. Leadership is about influencing and inspiring others. A successful mission requires collaboration and shared vision. True leadership is about empowering others to succeed. CHAPTERS 00:00: Early Inspiration 06:32: Academy Years 13:17: Military Career Transition 21:33: Financial Services Journey 31:29: MOBE and Healthcare Innovation 40:12: Defense Innovation Unit 48:42: Philanthropy and Community Impact 58:11: Personal Growth and Leadership Lessons ABOUT MIKE OTT BIO Mike Ott is the Chief Executive Officer of MOBĒ, a U.S.-based company focused on whole-person health and care-management solutions. He became CEO in April 2022, taking the helm to lead the company through growth and operational excellence following a distinguished career in both the military and corporate sectors. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Mike served as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves before shifting into financial services and healthcare leadership roles including private wealth management at U.S. Bank and executive positions with UnitedHealth Group/Optum. His leadership ethos emphasizes alignment, acceleration, and human potential, building cultures where teams can thrive and leveraging data-driven models to improve health outcomes. CONNECT WITH MIKE LinkedIn MOBE CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Send your feedback or nominate a guest: socialmedia@usafa.org Ted Robertson | Producer: Ted.Robertson@USAFA.org Ryan Hall | Director: Ryan.Hall@USAFA.org Bryan Grossman | Copy Editor: Bryan.Grossman@USAFA.org Wyatt Hornsby | Executive Producer: Wyatt.Hornsby@USAFA.org ALL PAST LBL EPISODES | ALL LBLPN PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS OUR SPEAKERS Guest, Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott '85 | Host, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99 FULL TRANSCRIPT Naviere Walkewicz 0:00 A quick programming note before we begin this episode of Long Blue Leadership: This episode will be audio-only, so sit back and enjoy the listen. Welcome to Long Blue Leadership, the podcast where we share insights on leadership through the lives and experiences of Air Force Academy graduates. I'm Naviere Walkewicz, Class of '99. Today, on Long Blue Leadership, we welcome Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott, Class of 1985, a leader whose vision was sparked at just 9 years old during a family road trip past the Air Force Academy. That childhood dream carried him through a 24-year Air Force career, culminating in retirement as a colonel and into a life of leadership across business, innovation and philanthropy. Mike is the CEO of MOBE, a groundbreaking company that uses data analytics and a revolutionary pay-for-results model to improve health outcomes while reducing costs. He also serves as a senior adviser to the Defense Innovation Unit, supporting the secretary of defense in accelerating commercial innovation for national security. A member of the Forbes Councils, Mike shares his expertise with leaders around the world. A former Falcon Foundation trustee and longtime supporter of the Academy, Mike has given generously his time, talents and resources to strengthen the Long Blue Line. His story is one of innovation and service in uniform, in the marketplace and in his community. Mike, welcome to Long Blue Leadership. We're so glad to have you here. Mike Ott 1:29 Naviere, thanks a ton. I'm glad to be here. Naviere Walkewicz 1:31 Yes, yes. Well, we're really excited. I mean, you're here for your 40th reunion. Mike Ott 1:35 Yeah, it's crazy. Naviere Walkewicz1:37 You came right in, and we're so pleased that you would join us here first for this podcast. Mike Ott 1:39 Right on. Thanks for the time. Naviere Walkewicz 1:41 Absolutely. Well, let's jump right in, because not many people can say at 9 years old they know what they want to do when they grew up, but you did. Mike Ott 1:48 Yeah. I guess some people can say it; might not be true, but for me, it's true, good or bad. And goodness gracious, right? Here for my 40th reunion, do the math team, and as a 9-year-old, that was 1972, And a lot was going on in the world in 1972 whether it was political unrest, Vietnam and all of that, and the Academy was in the thick of it. And so we had gone — It was our first significant family vacation. My father was a Chicago policeman. We drove in the 1968 Buick LaSabre, almost straight through. Stopped, stayed at a Holiday Inn, destination Colorado, simply, just because nobody had ever seen the mountains before. That was why. And we my parents, mom, mom and dad took myself. I have two younger sisters, Pikes Peak, Academy, Garden of the Gods, Royal Gorge. And I remember noon meal formation, and the bell going off. Guys at the time — we hadn't had women as cadets at that point in time — running out in their flight suits as I recall lining up ready to go. And for me, it was the energy, right, the sense of, “Wow, this is something important.” I didn't know exactly how important it was, but I knew it was important, and I could envision even at that age, there was they were doing good, Naviere Walkewicz 3:21 Wow. Nine years old, your family went on vacation, and it just struck you as this is important and something that I want to do. So what did that conversation look like after that experience that you had as a 9-year-old and kind of manifest this in yourself? How did that go with your parents? Mike Ott 3:36 Well, I didn't say too much about it, as I was in grammar school, but as high school hit, you know, I let my folks know what my plans were, and I had mom and dad — my mother's still alive, my father passed about a year ago. Very, very good, hard-working, ethical people, but hadn't gone to college, and we had been told, “Look, you know, you need to get an education.” They couldn't. I wish they had. They were both very, very, very bright, and so I knew college was a plan. I also knew there wasn't a lot of money to pay for it. So I'm certain that that helped bake in a few things. But as I got into high school, I set my sights. I went to public high school in Chicago, and I remember freshman year walking into my counselor's office, and said, “I want to go to the Air Force Academy,” and he kind of laughed. Naviere Walkewicz 3:21 Really? Mike Ott 3:22 Well, we had 700 kids in my class, and maybe 40% went on to college, right? And the bulk of them went to community college or a state school. I can count on one hand the number of folks that went to an academy or an Ivy League school or something of that. So it was it was around exposure. It had nothing to do with intelligence. It was exposure and just what these communities were accustomed to. A lot of folks went into the trades and pieces like that. So my counselor's reaction wasn't one of shock or surprise insofar as that's impossible. It was, “We haven't had a lot of people make that commitment this early on, and I'm glad to help.” Naviere Walkewicz 5:18 Oh, I love that. Mike Ott 5:19 Which is wonderful, and what I had known at the time, Mr. Needham... Naviere Walkewicz 5:23 You Remember his name? Mike Ott 5:24 Yeah, he was in the Navy Reserves. He was an officer, so he got the joke. He got the joke and helped me work through what classes to take, how to push myself. I didn't need too much guidance there. I determined, “Well, I've got to distinguish myself.” And I like to lean in. I like a headwind, and I don't mind a little bit of an uphill battle, because once you get up there, you feel great. I owe an awful lot to him. And, not the superintendent, but the principal of our school was a gentleman named Sam Ozaki, and Sam was Japanese American interned during World War II as a young man, got to of service age and volunteered and became a lieutenant in the Army and served in World War II in Europe, right, not in Asia. So he saw something in me. He too became an advocate. He too became someone that sought to endorse, support or otherwise guide me. Once I made that claim that I was going to go to the Academy. Naviere Walkewicz 6:30 Wow. So you mentioned something that really stuck with me. You said, you know, you didn't mind kind of putting yourself out there and doing the hard things, because you knew when you got to the top it was going to feel really great. Was that something you saw from your father? Was that something, there are key leaders in your life that emulated that? Or is that just something that you always had in yourself? Mike Ott 6:51 I would say there's certainly an environmental element to it — how I was raised, what I was exposed to, and then juxtaposition as to what I observed with other family members or other parts of the community where things didn't work out very well, right? And, you know, I put two and two together. y father demonstrated, throughout his entire career what it means to have a great work ethic. As did mom and, you know, big, tough Chicago cop for 37 years. But the other thing that I learned was kindness, and you wouldn't expect to learn that from the big, tough Chicago cop, but I think it was environment, observing what didn't occur very often and how hard work, if I apply myself, can create outcomes that are going to be more fulfilling for me. Naviere Walkewicz 7:48 Wow, you talked about kindness. How did you see kindness show up in your journey as a cadet at the Air Force Academy? Or did you? Mike Ott 7:58 Yeah, gosh, so I remember, started in June of 1981, OK, and still connected with many of the guys and women that with whom I went to basic training and all that. The first moment of kindness that I experienced that it was a mutual expression, but one where I recognized, “Wow, every one of us is new here. None of us has a real clue.” We might have some idea because we had somebody had a sibling or a mother that was in the military or father that went to the academy at the time, but none of us really knew, right? We were knuckleheads, right? Eighteen years old. Maybe there were a couple of prior-enlisted folks. I don't recall much of that, but I having gone to a public high school in Chicago, where we had a variety of different ethnicities. I learned how to just understand people for who they are, meet them for who they are, and respect every individual. That's how I was raised, and that's how I exhibited myself, I sought to conduct myself in high school. So I get to the Academy, and you're assigned, you know, the first couple three nights, the first few weeks before you go to Jacks Valley, you're assigned. It was all a alphabetical, and my roommate was an African American fellow named Kevin Nixon. All right, my God, Kevin Nixon, and this guy, he was built. I mean, he was rock solid, right? And he had that 1000-yard stare, right? Very intimidating. And I'm this, like, 6-foot-tall, 148-pound runner, like, holy dork, right? And I'm assigned — we're roommates, and he just had a very stoicism, or a stoic nature about him. And I remember, it was our second night at the Academy, maybe first night, I don't quite recall, and we're in bed, and it's an hour after lights out, and I hear him crying, and like, well, what do you do? Like, we're in this together. It was that moment, like we're both alone, but we're not right. He needs to know that he's not alone. So I walked around and went over his bed, and I said, “Hey, man, I miss my mom and dad too. Let's talk. And we both cried, right? And I'll tell you what, he and I were pals forever. It was really quite beautiful. And what didn't happen is he accepted my outreach, right? And he came from a very difficult environment, one where I'm certain there was far more racial strife than I had experienced in Chicago. He came from Norfolk, Virginia, and he came from — his father worked in the shipyards and really, really tough, tough, tough background. He deserved to be the Academy. He was a great guy, very bright, and so we became friends, and I tried to be kind. He accepted that kindness and reciprocated in ways where he created a pretty beautiful friendship. Naviere Walkewicz 7:48 Oh, my goodness. Thank you for sharing that story. And you got me in the feels a little bit, because I remember those nights, even you know me having family members that went through the Academy. There's just something about when you're in it yourself, and in that moment, it's raw. Mike Ott 11:13 Raw is a good word. Naviere Walkewicz 11:15 Oh, thank you for that. So you're at the Academy and you end up doing 24 years. I don't mean to, like, mash all that into one sentence, but let's talk… Mike Ott 11:22 I didn't do very much. It was the same year repeated 24 times over. Like, not a very good learner, right? Not a very good learner. Naviere Walkewicz 11:30 Yeah, I was gonna ask, you know, in that journey, because, had you planned to do a career in the Air Force? Mike Ott 11:36 Well, I didn't know, right? I went in, eyes wide open, and my cumulative time in the Air Force is over 24 but it was only it was just shy of seven active duty, and then 22, 23, in the Reserves, right? I hadn't thought about the Reserves, but I had concluded, probably at the, oh, maybe three-year mark that I wanted to do other things. It had nothing to do with disdain, a sense of frustration or any indignation, having gone to the Academy, which I'm very, very proud of, and it meant an awful lot to who I am. But it was, “Wait, this is, this is my shot, and I'm going to go try other things.” I love ambiguity, I'm very curious. Have a growth mindset and have a perhaps paradoxical mix of being self-assured, but perhaps early on, a bit too, a bit too, what's the word I was thinking of? I wrote this down — a bit too measured, OK, in other words, risk taking. And there were a few instances where I realized, “Hey, man, dude, take some risk. What's the downside? And if it isn't you, who else?” So it was that mindset that helped me muscle through and determine that, coupled with the fact that the Air Force paid for me to go to graduate school, they had programs in Boston, and so I got an MBA, and I did that at night. I had a great commander who let me take classes during the day when I wasn't traveling. It was wonderful. It was there that I was exposed to elements of business and in financial services, which ultimately drew me into financial services when I separated from active duty. Naviere Walkewicz 13:17 Well, I love that, because first you talked about a commander that saw, “How can I help you be your best version of yourself?” And I think the other piece of financial service, because I had to dabble in that as well — the second word is service. And so you've never stopped serving in all the things that you've done. So you took that leap, that risk. Is that something that you felt developed while you're at the Academy, or it's just part of your ethos. Mike Ott 13:41 It developed. It matured. I learned how to apply it more meaningfully at the Academy after a couple, three moments, where I realized that I can talk a little bit about mentoring and then I can come back to that, but mentoring — I don't know, I don't recall having heard that term as a mechanism for helping someone develop. I'm sure we used it when I was a cadet at the Academy and out of the Academy, and having been gone through different programs and banking and different graduate programs, the term comes up an awful lot. You realize, wow, there's something there helping the next generation, but also the reciprocity of learning from that generation yourself. I didn't really understand the whole mentoring concept coming out of Chicago and getting here, and just thought things were very hierarchical, very, very command structure, and it was hit the standards or else. And that that's not a bad mindset, right? But it took me a little while to figure out that there's a goodness factor that comes with the values that we have at the Academy, and it's imbued in each one of you know, service excellence, all of those pieces. But for the most part, fellow cadets and airmen and women want to help others. I mean, it's in service. It's in our DNA. Man that blew right past me. I had no idea, and I remember at one point I was entering sophomore year, and I was asked to be a glider instructor. I'd done the soaring and jumping program over the summer, and like, “Hey, you know you're not too bad at glider. You want to be an instructor?” At the time, that was pretty big deal, yeah, glider instructors. Like, “Yeah, no, I'm not going to do that, you know? I've got to study. Like, look at my GPA.” That didn't really matter. “And I'm going to go up to Boulder and go chase women.” Like, I was going to meet women, right? So, like, but I didn't understand that, that that mechanism, that mentoring mechanism, isn't always bestowed upon a moment or a coupling of individuals. There are just good people out there that see goodness in others that want to help them through that. I had no clue, but that was a turning point for me. Naviere Walkewicz 15:56 Because you said no. Mike Ott 15:58 I said no, right? And it was like what, you know, a couple months later, I remember talking with somebody like, “Yep, swing and a miss,” right? But after that, it changed how I was going to apply this self-assuredness, not bravado, but willingness to try new things, but with a willingness to be less measured. Why not? Trust the system. Trust the environment that you're in, the environment that we're in, you were in, I was in, that we're representing right now, it is a trusted environment. I didn't know that. And there were a lot of environments when I was being raised, they weren't trusted environments. And so you have a sort of mental callous mindset in many ways, and that that vigilance, that sense of sentinel is a good protection piece, but it prevents, it prevents... It doesn't allow for the membrane to be permeated, right? And so that trust piece is a big deal. I broke through after that, and I figured it out, and it helped me, and it helped me connect a sense of self-assuredness to perhaps being less measured, more willing to take ambiguity. You can be self-assured but not have complete belief in yourself, OK? And it helped me believe in myself more. I still wish I'd have been glider instructor. What a knucklehead. My roommate wound up becoming one. Like, “You, son of a rat, you.” Naviere Walkewicz 17:29 So tell me, when did the next opportunity come up where you said yes, and what did that look like in your journey? Mike Ott 17:36 I was a lieutenant. I was a lieutenant, and I was looking for a new role. I was stationed at Hanscom Field, and I was working at one program office, and I bumped — I was the athletic officer for the base with some other folks, and one of the colonels was running a different program, and he had gotten to know me and understand how I operated, what I did, and he said, “Hey, Ott, I want you to come over to my program.” And I didn't know what the program was, but I trusted him, and I did it blindly. I remember his name, Col. Holy Cross. And really good guy. And yeah, I got the tap on the shoulder. Didn't blink. Didn't blink. So that was just finishing up second lieutenant. Naviere Walkewicz 18:26 What a lesson. I mean, something that stuck with you as a cadet, and not that it manifested in regret, but you realized that you missed that opportunity to grow and experience and so when it came around again, what a different… So would you say that as you progress, then you know, because at this point you're a lieutenant, you know, you took on this new role, what did you learn about yourself? And then how did that translate to the decision to move from active duty to the Reserve and into… Mike Ott 18:56 You'll note what I didn't do when I left active duty was stay in the defense, acquisition, defense engineering space. I made a hard left turn… Naviere Walkewicz 19:13 Intentionally. Mike Ott 19:14 Intentionally. And went into financial services. And that is a hard left turn away from whether it's military DOD, military industrial complex, working for one of the primes, or something like that. And my mindset was, “If I'm not the guy in the military making the decision, setting strategy and policy…” Like I was an O-3. Like, what kind of policy am I setting? Right? But my point was, if I'm not going to, if I may, if I decided to not stay in the military, I wasn't going to do anything that was related to the military, right, like, “Let's go to green pastures. Set myself apart. Find ways to compete…” Not against other people. I don't think I need to beat the hell out of somebody. I just need to make myself better every day. And that's the competition that I just love, and I love it it's greenfield unknown. And why not apply my skills in an area where they haven't been applied and I can learn? So as an active-duty person — to come back and answer your question — I had worked some great bosses, great bosses, and they would have career counseling discussions with me, and I was asked twice to go to SOS in-residence. I turned it down, you know, as I knew. And then the third time my boss came to me. He's like, “OK, what are you doing? Idiot. Like, what are you doing?” That was at Year 5. And I just said, “Hey, sir, I think I'm going to do something different.” Naviere Walkewicz 20:47 Didn't want to take the slot from somebody else. Mike Ott 20:49 That's right. Right. And so then it was five months, six months later, where I put in my papers. I had to do a little more time because of the grad school thing, which is great. And his commander, this was a two-star that I knew as well, interviewed me and like, one final, like, “What are you doing?” He's like, “You could have gone so far in the Air Force.” And I looked at the general — he was a super-good dude. I said, “What makes you think I'm not going to do well outside of the Air Force?” And he smiled. He's like, “Go get it.” So we stayed in touch. Great guy. So it had nothing to do with lack of fulfillment or lack of satisfaction. It had more to do with newness, curiosity, a challenge in a different vein. Naviere Walkewicz 21:30 So let's walk into that vein. You entered into this green pasture. What was that experience like? Because you've just been in something so structured. And I mean, would you say it was just structured in a different way? Mike Ott 21:48 No, not structured. The industry… So, I separated, tried an engineering job for about eight months. Hated it. I was, I was development engineer at Ford Motor Company, great firm. Love the organization, bored stiff, right? Just not what I wanted to do, and that's where I just quit. Moved back to Chicago, where I'm from, and started networking and found a role with an investment bank, ABN AMRO, which is a large Dutch investment bank that had begun to establish itself in the United States. So their headquarters in Chicago and I talked fast enough where somebody took a bet on me and was brought into the investment banking arm where I was on the capital markets team and institutional equities. So think of capital markets, and think of taking companies public and distributing those shares to large institutions, pensions funds, mutual funds, family offices. Naviere Walkewicz 22:48 So a lot of learning and excitement for you. Mike Ott 22:51 Super fun. And so the industry is very structured. How capital is established, capital flows, very regulated. We've got the SEC, we've got the FDIC, a lot of complex regulations and compliance matters. That's very, very, very structured. But there was a free-wheelingness in the marketplace. And if you've seen Wolf of Wall Street and things like that, some of that stuff happened. Crazy! And I realized that with my attitude, sense of placing trust in people before I really knew them, figuring that, “OK, what's the downside? I get nipped in the fan once, once or twice. But if I can thrust trust on somebody and create a relationship where they're surprised that I've trusted them, it's probably going to build something reciprocal. So learn how to do that.” And as a young fellow on the desk, wound up being given more responsibility because I was able to apply some of the basic tenets of leadership that you learned and I learned at the Academy. And face it, many of the men and women that work on Wall Street or financial services simply haven't gone to the Academy. It's just, it's the nature of numbers — and don't have that experience. They have other experiences. They have great leadership experiences, but they don't have this. And you and I may take it for granted because we were just four years of just living through it. It oozed in every moment, every breath, every interaction, every dialog, it was there.But we didn't know it was being poured in, sprinkled across as being showered. We were being showered in it. But I learned how to apply that in the relationships that I built, knowing that the relationships that I built and the reputation that I built would be lasting and impactful and would be appropriate investments for the future endeavors, because there's always a future, right? So it wasn't… again, lot of compliance, lot of regulations, but just the personalities. You know, I did it for the challenge, right? I did it because I was curious. I did it because I wanted to see if I could succeed at it. There were other folks that did it simply because it was for the money. And many, some of them made it. They might have sold their soul to get there. Some didn't make it. Maybe it wasn't the right pursuit for them in the first place. And if I go back to mentoring, which we talked about a little bit, and I help young men and women, cadets or maybe even recent grads, my guidance to them is, don't chase the money, chase the environment, right? And chase the environment that allows you to find your flow and contribute to that environment. The money will come. But I saw it — I've seen it with grads. I've seen it with many of the folks that didn't make it in these roles in financial services, because I thought, “Hey, this is where the money is.” It might be. But you have to go back to the basis of all this. How are you complected? What are your values? Do they align with the environment that you're in? And can you flow in a way where your strengths are going to allow success to happen and not sell your soul? Naviere Walkewicz 26:26 Yeah, you said two things that really stood out to me in that —the first one was, you know, trusting, just starting from a place of trust and respect, because the opportunity to build a relationship faster, and also there's that potential for future something. And then the second thing is the environment and making sure it aligns with your values. Is that how you got to MOBE? Mike Ott 26:50 Yeah, I would say how I got to MOBE, that certainly was a factor. Good question. Naviere Walkewicz 26:57 The environment, I feel, is very much aligned Mike Ott 27:00 Very much so and then… But there's an element of reputation and relationship that allowed me to get there. So now I'm lucky to be a part of this firm. We're 250 people. We will do $50 million of revenue. We're growing nicely. I've been in health care for four years. Now, we are we're more than just healthcare. I mean, it's deep data. We can get into some of that later, but I had this financial services background. I was drawn to MOBE, but I had established a set of relationships with people at different investment banks, with other families that had successfully built businesses and just had relationships. And I was asked to come on to the board because MOBE, at the time, great capabilities, but struggled with leadership during COVID. Lot of companies did. It's not an indictment as to the prior CEO, but he and the team struggled to get through COVID. So initially I was approached to come on to the board, and that was through the founders of the firm who had known me for 20 years and knew my reputation, because I'd done different things at the investment bank, I'd run businesses at US Bank, which is a large commercial bank within the country, and they needed someone that… They cared very little about health care experience, which is good for me, and it was more around a sense of leadership. They knew my values. They trusted me. So initially I was asked to come onto the board, and that evolved into, “No, let's just do a whole reset and bring you on as the CEO.” Well, let's go back to like, what makes me tick. I love ambiguity. I love a challenge. And this has been a bit of a turnaround in that great capabilities, but lost its way in COVID, because leadership lost its way. So there's a lot of resetting that needed to occur. Corpus of the firm, great technology, great capabilities, but business model adaptation, go to market mechanisms and, frankly, environment. Environment. But I was drawn to the environment because of the people that had founded the organization. The firm was incubated within a large pharmaceutical firm. This firm called Upsher-Smith, was a Minnesota firm, the largest private and generic pharmaceutical company in the country, and sold for an awful lot of money, had been built by this family, sold in 2017 and the assets that are MOBE, mostly data, claims, analysis capabilities stayed separate, and so they incubated that, had a little bit of a data sandbox, and then it matriculated to, “Hey, we've got a real business here.” But that family has a reputation, and the individuals that founded it, and then ultimately found MOBE have a reputation. So I was very comfortable with the ambiguity of maybe not knowing health care as much as the next guy or gal, but the environment I was going into was one where I knew this family and these investors lived to high ethical standards, and there's many stories as to how I know that, but I knew that, and that gave me a ton of comfort. And then it was, “We trust you make it happen. So I got lucky. Naviere Walkewicz 30:33 Well, you're, I think, just the way that you're wired and the fact that you come from a place of trust, obviously, you know, OK, I don't have the, you know, like the medical background, but there are a lot of experts here that I'm going to trust to bring that expertise to me. And I'm going to help create an environment that they can really thrive in. Mike Ott 30:47 I'm certain many of our fellow alum have been in this experience, had these experiences where a leader worth his or her salt should be comfortable not being the smartest gal or guy in the room. In fact, you should strive for that to be the case and have a sense of lack of hubris and proudly acknowledge what you don't know. But what I do know is how to set vision. What I do know is how to move people without authority. What I do know is how to resource. And that's what you do if you want to move a mission, whether it's in the military, small firm like us that's getting bigger, or, you know, a big organization. You can't know it all. Naviere Walkewicz 31:30 So something you just mentioned that I think a lot of our listeners would really like, would love a little bit to peel us back a little bit. You said, “I know how to set a vision. I know how to…” I think it was move… Mike Ott 31:45 Move people without authority and prioritize. Naviere Walkewicz 31:47 But can we talk a little bit about that? Because I think that is really a challenge that some of our you know younger leaders, or those early in their leadership roles struggle with. Maybe, can you talk a little bit about that? Mike Ott 32:01 For sure, I had some — again, I tried to do my best to apply all the moments I had at the Academy and the long list of just like, “What were you thinking?” But the kindness piece comes through and… Think as a civilian outside looking in. They look at the military. It's very, very, very structured, OK, but the best leaders the men and women for whom you and I have served underneath or supported, never once barked an order, OK? They expressed intent, right? And you and I and all the other men and women in uniform, if we were paying attention, right, sought to execute the mission and satisfaction of that intent and make our bosses' bosses' jobs easier. That's really simple. And many outsiders looking in, we get back to just leadership that are civilians. They think, “Oh my gosh, these men and women that are in the military, they just can't assimilate. They can't make it in the civilian world.” And they think, because we come from this very, very hierarchical organization, yes, it is very hierarchical — that's a command structure that's necessary for mission execution — but the human part, right? I think military men and women leaders are among the best leaders, because guess what? We're motivating men and women — maybe they get a pat on the back. You didn't get a ribbon, right? Nobody's getting a year-end bonus, nobody's getting a spot bonus, nobody's getting equity in the Air Force, and it's gonna go public, right? It's just not that. So the best men and women that I for whom I've worked with have been those that have been able to get me to buy in and move and step up, and want to demonstrate my skills in coordination with others, cross functionally in the organization to get stuff done. And I think if there's anything we can remind emerging graduates, you know, out of the Academy, is: Don't rely on rank ever. Don't rely on rank. I had a moment: I was a dorky second lieutenant engineer, and we were launching a new system. It was a joint system for Marines, Navy and Air Force, and I had to go from Boston to Langley quite often because it was a TAC-related system, Tactical Air Force-related system. And the I was the program manager, multi-million dollar program for an interesting radio concept. And we were putting it into F-15s, so in some ground-based situations. And there was this E-8, crusty E-8, smoked, Vietnam, all these things, and he was a comms dude, and one of the systems was glitching. It just wasn't working, right? And we were getting ready to take this thing over somewhere overseas. And he pulls alongside me, and it's rather insubordinate, but it was a test, right? He's looking at me, Academy guy, you know, second lieutenant. He was a master sergeant, and he's like, “Well, son, what are we going to do now?” In other words, like, “We're in a pickle. What are we going to do now?” But calling me son. Yeah, it's not appropriate, right? If I'd have been hierarchical and I'd relied on rank, I probably would have been justified to let him have it. Like, that's playing short ball, right? I just thought for a second, and I just put my arm around him. I said, “Gee, Dad, I was hoping you're gonna help me.” And mother rat, we figured it out, and after that, he was eating out of my hand. So it was a test, right? Don't be afraid to be tested but don't take the bait. Naviere Walkewicz 35:46 So many good just lessons in each of these examples. Can you share a time at MOBE when you've seen someone that has been on your team that has demonstrated that because of the environment you've created? Mike Ott 35:57 For sure. So I've been running the firm now for about three and a half years. Again, have adapted and enhanced our capabilities, changed the business model a bit, yet functioning in our approach to the marketplace remains the same. We help people get better, and we get paid based on the less spend they have in the system. Part of some of our principles at MOBE are pretty simple, like, eat, sleep, move, smile, all right. And then be thoughtful with your medication. We think that medicine is an aid, not a cure. Your body's self-healing and your mind controls your body. Naviere Walkewicz 36:32 Eat, sleep, move, smile. Love that. Mike Ott 36:35 So what's happening with MOBE, and what I've seen is the same is true with how I've altered our leadership team. I've got some amazing leaders — very, very, very accomplished. But there are some new leaders because others just didn't fit in. There wasn't the sense of communal trust that I expected. There was too much, know-it-all'ing going on, right? And I just won't have that. So the easiest way to diffuse that isn't about changing head count, but it's around exhibiting vulnerability in front of all these folks and saying, “Look, I don't know that, but my lead pharmacist here, my lead clinician here, helped me get through those things.” But I do have one leader right, who is our head of vice president of HR, a woman who grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, who has come to myself and our president and shared that she feels liberated at MOBE because, though this firm is larger than one that she served as a director of HR, previously, she's never had to look — check her six, look right, look left and seek alignment to ensure she's harmonizing with people. Naviere Walkewicz 37:49 Can you imagine being in an environment like that? Mike Ott 38:51 It's terrible, it's toxic, and it's wrong. Leaders, within the organization, I think you're judged more by what you don't do and the actions that you don't take. You can establish trust, and you will fortify that trust when you share with the team as best you can, so long as it's nothing inappropriate, where you made a mistake, where we went wrong. What did we learn from that? Where are we going to pivot? How we're going to apply that learning to make it better, as opposed to finding blame, pointing the finger or not even acknowledging? That happens all the time, and that toxicity erodes. And regretfully, my VP of HR in prior roles experienced that, and I don't have time. Good teams shouldn't have time to rehearse the basic values of the firm. We don't have time the speed of business is like this [snaps]. So if I can build the team of men and women that trust one another, can stay in their lanes, but also recognize that they're responsible for helping run the business, and look over at the other lanes and help their fellow leaders make adjustments without the indictful comment or without sort of belittling or shaming. That's what good teams, do. You, and I did that in the Air Force, but it is not as common as you would think. Naviere Walkewicz 39:11 20 we've been talking about MOBE, and you know, the environment you're creating there, and just the way that you're working through innovation. Let's talk a little bit how you're involved with DIU, the Defense Innovation Unit. Mike Ott 39:21 Again, it's reputation in relationships. And it was probably 2010, I get a call from a fellow grad, '87 grad who was living in the Beltway, still in uniform. He was an O-5 I was an O-5. Just doing the Academy liaison work, helping good young men and women that wanted to go to the Academy get in. And that was super satisfying, thought that would be the end of my Reserve career and super fun. And this is right when the first Obama administration came in, and one of his edicts and his admin edicts was, we've got to find ways to embrace industry more, right? We can't rely on the primes, just the primes. So those were just some seeds, and along with a couple other grads, created what is now called Joint Reserve Directorate, which was spawned DIUX, which was DIU Experimental, is spawned from. So I was the owner for JRD, and DIUX as a reserve officer. And that's how we all made colonel is we were working for the chief technology officer of the Defense Department, the Hon. Zach Lemnios, wonderful fellow. Civilian, didn't have much military experience, but boy, the guy knew tech — semiconductors and areas like that. But this was the beginning of the United States recognizing that our R&D output, OK, in the aggregate, as a fund, as a percentage of GDP, whether it's coming out of the commercial marketplace or the military DoD complex, needs to be harnessed against the big fight that we have with China. We can see, you know, we've known about that for 30 years. So this is back 14 years ago. And the idea was, let's bring in men and women — there was a woman in our group too that started this area — and was like, “How do we create essential boundary span, boundary spanners, or dual-literacy people that are experiences in capital markets, finance, how capital is accumulated, innovation occurs, but then also how that applies into supporting the warfighter. So we were given a sandbox. We were given a blank slate. Naviere Walkewicz 41:37 It's your happy place. Mike Ott 41:38 Oh, super awesome. And began to build out relationships at Silicon Valley with commercial entities, and developed some concepts that are now being deployed with DIU and many other people came in and brought them all to life. But I was lucky enough after I retired from the Reserves as a colonel to be asked to come back as an adviser, because of that background and that experience, the genesis of the organization. So today I'm an unpaid SGE — special government employee — to help DIU look across a variety of different domains. And so I'm sure many of our listeners know it's key areas that we've got to harness the commercial marketplace. We know that if you go back into the '70s, ‘60s and ‘70s, and creation of the internet, GPS, precision munitions and all of that, the R&D dollars spent in the aggregate for the country, 95% came out of DOD is completely flip flopped today. Completely flipped. We happen to live in an open, free society. We hope to have capital markets and access a lot of that technology isn't burdened like it might be in China. And so that's the good and bad of this open society that we have. We've got to find ways. So we, the team does a lot of great work, and I just help them think about capital markets, money flows, threat finance. How you use financial markets to interdict, listen, see signals, but then also different technologies across cyberspace, autonomy, AI. Goodness gracious, I'm sure there's a few others. There's just so much. So I'm just an interloper that helps them think about that, and it's super fun that they think that I can be helpful. Naviere Walkewicz 43:29 Well, I think I was curious on how, because you love the ambiguity, and that's just something that fills your bucket — so while you're leading MOBE and you're creating something very stable, it sounds like DIU and being that kind of special employee, government employee, helps you to fill that need for your ambiguous side. Mike Ott 43:48 You're right. You're right. Naviere Walkewicz 43:49 Yeah, I thought that's really fascinating. Well, I think it's wonderful that you get to create that and you just said, the speed of business is this [snaps]. How do you find time in your life to balance what you also put your values around — your health — when you have such an important job and taking care of so many people? Mike Ott 44:06 I think we're all pretty disciplined at the Academy, right? I remain that way, and I'm very, very — I'm spring loaded to ‘no,' right? “Hey, do you want to go do this?” Yeah, I want to try do, I want to do a lot of things, but I'm spring loaded. So like, “Hey, you want to go out and stay, stay up late and have a drink?” “No,” right? “Do you want to do those things?” So I'm very, very regimented in that I get eight hours of sleep, right? And even somebody, even as a cadet, one of the nicknames my buddies gave me was Rip Van Ott, right? Because I'm like, “This is it.” I was a civil engineer. One of my roommates was an astro guy, and I think he pulled an all-nighter once a week. Naviere Walkewicz 45:46 Oh, my goodness, yeah. Mike Ott 45:50 Like, “Dude, what are you doing?” And it wasn't like he was straight As. I was clearly not straight As, but I'm like, “What are you doing? That's not helpful. Do the work ahead of time.” I think I maybe pulled three or four all-nighters my entire four years. Now, it's reflected in my GPA. I get that, but I finished the engineering degree. But sleep matters, right? And some things are just nonnegotiable, and that is, you know, exercise, sleep and be kind to yourself, right? Don't compare. If you're going to compare, compare yourself to yesterday, but don't look at somebody who is an F-15 pilot, and you're not. Like, I'm not. My roommate, my best man at my wedding, F-15 pilot, Test Pilot School, all these things, amazing, amazing, awesome, and super, really, really, happy and proud for him, but that's his mojo; that's his flow, right? If you're gonna do any comparison, compare yourself to the man or woman you were yesterday and “Am I better?”. Naviere Walkewicz 44:48 The power of “no” and having those nonnegotiables is really important. Mike Ott 45:53 Yeah, no, I'm not doing that. Naviere Walkewicz 45:56 I think sometimes we're wired for a “we can take on… we can take it on, we can take it on, we can take it on. We got this.” Mike Ott 46:03 For sure. Oh, my goodness. And I have that discussion with people on my team from time to time as well, and it's most often as it relates to an individual on the team that's struggling in his or her role, or whether it's by you know, if it's by omission and they're in the wrong role, that's one thing. If it's by commission, well, be a leader and execute and get that person out of there, right? That's wrong, but from time to time, it's by omission, and somebody is just not well placed. And I've seen managers, I can repatriate this person. I can get him or her there, and you have to stop for a second and tell that leader, “Yeah, I know you can. I'm certain that the only thing you were responsible for was to help that person fulfill the roles of the job that they're assigned. You could do it.” But guess what? You've got 90% of your team that needs care, nurturing and feeding. They're delivering in their function, neglect, there destroys careers, and it's going to destroy the business. So don't, don't get caught up in that. Yeah. Pack it on. Pack it on. Pack it on. You're right. When someone's in the crosshairs, I want to be in the crosshairs with you, Naviere, and Ted, and all the people that you and I affiliate with, but on the day-to-day, sustained basis, right to live, you know, to execute and be fulfilled, both in the mission, the work and stay fit, to fight and do it again. You can't. You can't. And a lot of a little bit of no goes a long way. Naviere Walkewicz 47:40 That is really good to hear. I think that's something that a lot of leaders really don't share. And I think that's really wonderful that you did. I'd like to take a little time and pivot into another area that you're heavily involved, philanthropy side. You know, you've been with the Falcon Foundation. Where did you find that intent inside of you? I mean, you always said the Academy's been part of you, but you found your way back in that space in other ways. Let's talk about that. Mike Ott 48:05 Sure. Thank you. I don't know. I felt that service is a part of me, right? And it is for all of us, whether you stay in the military or not. Part of my financial services jobs have been in wealth management. I was lucky enough to run that business for US Bank in one of my capacities, and here I am now in health care, health care of service. That aligns with wanting things to be better across any other angle. And the philanthropic, philanthropic side of things — I probably couldn't say that word when I was a cadet, but then, you know, I got out and we did different volunteer efforts. We were at Hanscom Field raising money for different organizations, and stayed with it, and always found ways to have fun with it. But recognized I couldn't… It was inefficient if I was going to be philanthropic around something that I didn't have a personal interest in. And as a senior executive at US Bank, we were all… It was tacit to the role you had roles in local foundations or community efforts. And I remember sitting down with my boss, the CFO of the bank, and then the CEO, and they'd asked me to go on to a board, and it had to do with a museum that I had no interest in, right? And I had a good enough relationship with these, with these guys, to say, “Look, I'm a good dude. I'm going to be helpful in supporting the bank. And if this is a have to, all right, I'll do it, but you got the wrong guy. Like, you want me to represent the bank passionately, you know, philanthropically, let me do this. And they're like, “OK, great.” So we pivoted, and I did other things. And the philanthropic piece of things is it's doing good. It's of service for people, entities, organizations, communities or moments that can use it. And I it's just very, very satisfying to me. So my wife and I are pretty involved that way, whether it's locally, with different organizations, lot of military support. The Academy, we're very fond of. It just kind of became a staple. Naviere Walkewicz 50:35 Did you find yourself also gravitating toward making better your community where you grew up? Mike Ott 50:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of my dear friends that grew up in the same neighborhood, he wound up going to the Naval Academy, and so we're we've been friends for 50 years. Seventh grade. Naviere Walkewicz 50:53 Same counselor? Mike Ott50:54 Yeah, no. Different counselor, different high school. His parents had a little bit of money, and they, he wound up going to a Catholic school nearby. But great guy, and so he and I, he runs a business that serves the VA in Chicago, and I'm on the board, and we do an awful lot of work. And one of the schools we support is a school on the south side, largely African American students and helping them with different STEM projects. It's not going to hit above the fold of a newspaper, but I could give a rat, doesn't matter to me, seeing a difference, seeing these young men and women. One of them, one of these boys, it's eye watering, but he just found out that he was picked for, he's applying to the Naval Academy, and he just found out that he got a nomination. Naviere Walkewicz 51:44 Oh my goodness, I just got chills. Mike Ott 51:46 And so, yeah, yeah, right, right. But it's wonderful. And his parents had no idea anything like that even existed. So that's one that it's not terribly formal, but boy, it looks great when you see the smile on that kid and the impact on that individual, but then the impact it leaves on the community, because it's clear opportunity for people to aspire because they know this young man or this young woman, “I can do that too.” Naviere Walkewicz 52:22 Wow. So he got his nomination, and so he would start technically making class of 2030? Mike Ott 52:27 That's right. Naviere Walkewicz 52:28 Oh, how exciting. OK Well, that's a wonderful… Mike Ott 52:27 I hope, I hope, yeah, he's a great kid. Naviere Walkewicz 52:33 Oh, that is wonderful. So you talk about, you know that spirit of giving — how have you seen, I guess, in your journey, because it hasn't been linear. We talked about how you know progression is not linear. How have you grown throughout these different experiences? Because you kind of go into a very ambiguous area, and you bring yourself, and you grow in it and you make it better. But how have you grown? What does that look like for you? Mike Ott 53:02 After having done it several times, right, i.e. entering the fray of an ambiguous environment business situation, I developed a better system and understanding of what do I really need to do out of the gates? And I've grown that way and learn to not be too decisive too soon. Decisiveness is a great gift. It's really, really it's important. It lacks. It lacks because there are too many people, less so in the military, that want to be known for having made… don't want to be known for having made a bad decision, so they don't take that risk. Right, right, right. And so that creates just sort of the static friction, and you've just got to have faith and so, but I've learned how to balance just exactly when to be decisive. And the other thing that I know about me is I am drawn to ambiguity. I am drawn… Very, very curious. Love to learn, try new things, have a range of interests and not very good at any one thing, but that range helps me in critical thinking. So I've learned to, depending on the situation, right, listen, listen, and then go. It isn't a formula. It's a flow, but it's not a formula. And instinct matters when to be decisive. Nature of the people with whom you're working, nature of the mission, evolution, phase of the organization or the unit that you're in. Now is the time, right? So balancing fostering decisiveness is something that that's worth a separate discussion. Naviere Walkewicz 54:59 Right. Wow. So all of these things that you've experienced and the growth that you've had personally — do you think about is this? Is this important to you at all, the idea of, what is your legacy, or is that not? Mike Ott 55:13 We talked a little bit about this beforehand, and I thought I've got to come up with something pithy, right? And I really, I really don't. Naviere Walkewicz 55:18 Yeah, you don't. Mike Ott 55:19 I don't think of myself as that. I'm very proud of who I am and what I've done in the reputation that I have built. I don't need my name up in lights. I know the life that I'm living and the life that I hope to live for a lot longer. My legacy is just my family, my children, the mark that I've left in the organizations that I have been a part of. Naviere Walkewicz 55:58 And the communities that you've touched, like that gentleman going and getting his nomination. I'm sure. Mike Ott 56:04 Yeah, I don't… having been a senior leader, and even at MOBE, I'm interviewed by different newspapers and all that. Like I do it because I'm in this role, and it's important for MOBE, but I'm not that full of myself, where I got to be up in lights. So I just want to be known as a man that was trustworthy, fun, tried to meet people where they are really had flaws, and sought to overcome them with the few strengths that he had, and moved everything forward. Naviere Walkewicz 56:33 Those are the kind of leaders that people will run through fire for. That's amazing. I think that's a wonderful I mean that in itself, it's like a living legacy you do every day. How can I be better than I was yesterday? And that in itself, is a bit of your living and that's really cool. Well, one of the things we like to ask is, “What is something you're doing every day to be better as a leader?” And you've covered a lot, so I mean, you could probably go back to one of those things, but is there something that you could share with our listeners that you do personally every day, to be better? Mike Ott 57:05 Exercise and read every day, every day, and except Fridays. Fridays I take… that's like, I'll stretch or just kind of go for a walk. But every day I make it a moment, you know, 45 minutes to an hour, something and better for my head, good for my body, right? That's the process in the hierarchy of way I think about it. And then read. Gen. Mattis. And I supported Gen. Mattis as a lieutenant colonel before I wanted to and stuff at the Pentagon. And he I supported him as an innovation guy for JFCOM, where he was the commander. And even back then, he was always talking about reading is leading none of us as military leaders… And I can't hold the candle to the guy, but I learned an awful lot, and I love his mindset, and that none of us can live a life long enough to take In all the leadership lessons necessary to help us drive impact. So you better be reading about it all the time. And so I read probably an hour every night, every day. Naviere Walkewicz 58:14 What are you reading right now? Mike Ott 58:15 Oh, man, I left it on the plane! I was so bummed. Naviere Walkewicz 58:17 Oh, that's the worst. You're going to have to get another copy. Mike Ott 58:22 Before I came here, I ordered it from Barnes & Noble so to me at my house when I get home. Love history and reading a book by this wonderful British author named Anne Reid. And it's, I forget the title exactly, but it's how the allies at the end of World War I sought to influence Russia and overcome the Bolsheviks. They were called the interventionalists, and it was an alliance of 15 different countries, including the U.S., Britain, France, U.K., Japan, Australia, India, trying to thwart, you know, the Bolshevik Revolution — trying to thwart its being cemented. Fascinating, fascinating. So that's what I was reading until I left it on the plane today. Naviere Walkewicz 59:07 How do you choose what to read? Mike Ott 59:10 Listen, write, love history. Love to read Air Force stuff too. Just talk to friends, right? You know, they've learned how to read like me. So we get to talk and have fun with that. Naviere Walkewicz 59:22 That's great. Yeah, that's wonderful. Well, the last question I'd like to ask you, before I want to make sure you have an opportunity to cover anything we didn't, is what is something you would share with others that they can do to become better leaders? Maybe they start doing it now, so in the future, they're even stronger as a leader. Mike Ott 59:42 Two things I would say, and try to have these exist in the same breath in the same moment, is have the courage to make it try and make it better every day, all right, and be kind to yourself, be forgiving. Naviere Walkewicz 59:59 That's really powerful. Can you share an example? And I know I that's we could just leave it there, but being courageous and then being kind to yourself, they're almost on two opposite sides. Have you had, can you share an example where I guess you've done that right? You had to be you were courageous and making something better, and maybe it didn't go that way, so you have to be kind to yourself. Mike Ott 1:00:23 Yeah, happy to and I think any cadet will hear this story and go like, “Huh, wow, that's interesting.” And it also plays with the arc of progress isn't linear. I graduated in '85 went to flight school, got halfway through flight school, and there was a RIF, reduction in force. And our class, our flight class, I was flying jets, I was soloing. I was academically — super easy, flying average, right? You know, I like to joke that I've got the fine motor skills of a ham sandwich, right? You know, but, but I didn't finish flight school. And you think about this, here it is. I started in 1981 there were still vestiges of Vietnam. Everyone's going to be a fighter pilot. Kill, kill, kill. Blood makes the grass grow. All of that was there. And I remember when this happened, it was very frustrating for me. It was mostly the major root of frustration wasn't that I wasn't finishing flight school. It was the nature by which the determination that I wasn't finishing was made. And it was, it was a financial decision. We had too many guys and gals, and they were just finding, you know, average folks and then kicking them out. So our class graduated a lower percent than, I think, in that era, it was late '85, '86, maybe '87, but you can look at outflows, and it was interesting, they were making budget cuts. So there was a shaming part there, having gone to the Academy. Naviere Walkewicz 1:02:02 And knowing since 9 years old. Mike Ott 1:20:04 Right, right, right, and I knew I wanted to go the Academy. I'd like to fly, let's check it out and see if it's for me. I would much rather have been not for me, had I made the decision I don't want to do this or that I was just unsafe and didn't want to do it. The way it turned out is, and this is where I learned a little bit about politics as well. In my class, again, I was very average. Like, nobody's ever going to say, like, yeah, I was going to go fly the Space Shuttle. Like, no way, right? Very, very average, but doing just fine. And a lot of guys and gals wanted to go be navigators, and that's great. I looked in the regs, and I learned this as a cadet, and it's helped me in business, too. If there's a rule, there's a waiver. Like, let me understand the regs, and I asked to go to a board. Instead of just submitting a letter to appeal, I asked to go to a board. And so I went to a board of an O-5 five, couple of threes O-4 four, and ultimately shared the essence of why I shouldn't be terminated in the program. And son of a gun, they agreed, and I still have the letter. The letter says, “Recommend Lt. Ott for reinstatement.” Nobody in my class has that letter, nobody makes the appeal. And I'm like, I'm going downstream. I'm going downstream. And that's the Chicago in me, and that's the piece about… but also move forward, but forgive yourself, and I'll get to that. And so I, I was thrilled, My goodness, and the argument I had is, like, look, you're just not keeping me current. You put me in the sim, and then you're waiting too long to put me in the jet. The regs don't allow for that. And like, you're right. So I'm assigned to go back to the jet. My pals are thrilled. I'm going to stay in the same class. I don't have to wash back. And then I get a call from the DO's office — director of operations — and it was from some civilian person so the DO overrode the board's decision. Heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. Naviere Walkewicz 1:04:12 You were so high, you did all of your work. And then… Mike Ott 1:04:15 Yeah, and then heartbreaking and frustrating, and I guess the word is indignant: anger aroused through frustration. In that I figured it out. I knew exactly what's happening. I made the appeal and I won. And it wasn't I was expecting to be assigned to fly a fighter. It was like, “Just let me, let me express the merits of my capabilities. It's how the system is designed.” The son of a gun, I jumped in my car and I ran to base and I waited and reported in. He didn't really know who I was. That's because he didn't make a decision. It was just it was that decision, and that's how life comes at you. That's just how it is. It isn't linear. So how do you take that and then say, “Well, I'm going to be kind to myself and make something out of it.” And he went through, you know, a dissertation as to why, and I asked him if I could share my views, and it's pretty candid, and I just said, If my dad were something other than the Chicago policeman, and maybe if he was a senator or general officer, I wouldn't be sitting here. That lit him up, right? That lit him up. But I had to state my views. So I knew I was out of the program. Very, very frustrating. Could have had the mayor of Chicago call. Didn't do that, right? Like, OK, I understand where this is it. That was very frustrating and somewhat shaming. But where the forgiveness comes in and be kind to yourself, is that I ran into ground. I ran into ground and drove an outcome where I still… It's a moment of integrity. I drove an outcome like, there you go. But then what do you do? Forgive yourself, right? Because you didn't do anything wrong, OK? And you pivot. And I turned that into a moment where I started cold calling instructors at the Academy. Because, hey, now I owe the Air Force five years, Air Force is looking for, you know, things that I don't want to do. And thank goodness I had an engineering degree, and I cold called a guy at a base in Hanscom. And this is another tap on the shoulder. Naviere Walkewicz 1:06:24 That's how you got to Hanscom. Gotcha. Mike Ott 1:06:27 There was a friend who was Class of '83, a woman who was in my squadron, who was there. Great egg. And she's like, “Hey, I was at the O Club.” Called her. I said, “Hey, help me out. I got this engineering degree. I want to go to one of these bases. Called Lt. Col. Davis, right? I met him at the O Club. I called a guy, and he's like, “Yeah, let's do this.” Naviere Walkewicz 1:06:44 Wow, I love that.. Mike Ott 1:06:46 It was fantastic So it's a long winded way, but progress isn't linear. And progressing through that and not being a victim, right, recognizing the conditions and the environment that I could control and those that I can't. Anything that I could control, I took advantage of and I sought to influence as best possible. Ran into ground and I feel great about it, and it turns out to be a testament of one of my best successes. Naviere Walkewicz 1:07:17 Wow. Thank you for sharing

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Novembro começa com cenário positivo para alta da arroba

Notícias Agrícolas - Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 3, 2025 49:01

No quadro PRODUÇÃO X PRODUTIVIDADE, na semana que antecede a COP30 fomos conhecer uma iniciativa privada que têm apoiado produtores a recuperar solos degradados. No quadro MANEJO EFICIENTE, pesquisador explica como a recuperação de solos degradados podem mitigar as emissões de GEE.

positivo gee novembro arroba

Episode 70: The Twelve Kingdoms

Read Right to Left

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2025 117:29

This month, join Gee and Ray as we mix an episode of Gee's (Light) Novel Corner and Debut Spotlight together and talk about The Twelve Kingdoms. Revisiting this amazing series as it (re-)debuts in English, has this cult classic persisted for the right reasons? Hear our thoughts this episode!Follow RRtL on ⁠BlueSky⁠!Follow Ray on her channel ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Whimsical Pictures⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BlueSky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And if you can't get enough of me, Gee, be sure to follow me on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BlueSky

english blue sky gee twelve kingdoms

Reflection: When Cancer Affects a Family Member

Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2025 20:49

Listen to JCO's Art of Oncology article, "Reflection" by Dr. Jamie Riches, who is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University and Director of the Hematology Oncology Hospitalist Service. The article is followed by an interview with Riches and host Dr. Mikkael Sekeres. Dr Riches shares a deeply personal narrative, reflecting on the profound personal and professional impact of losing her young family member to cancer, illuminating the intimate intersection of grief, loss, and healing. TRANSCRIPT Narrator: Reflection, by Jaime C. Riches, DO If I stand this way, with my shoulders back, my chin lifted, if I hold my breath for a moment, my skin fits my bones just right. Each subtle motion is an effort to make my clavicle more prominent, to manifest my ribs. I feel so ignorant about beauty. I was at the side of her hospital bed as she uncovered herself and asked me to look away. Her eyes, glassy and hollow, met mine. "I'm so ugly right now." It's an interesting piece of practicing medicine, to be an observer of bodies, their look, their feel, and their function. Which lines are strength and which are fatigue…which ones are scars and how they have healed. My words were soft and aching, "You are beautiful" I said, knowing that her skin fits her bones too tight. They are almost all that's left. My 38-year-old cousin's oncologist is my colleague, my friend. When she was diagnosed, he reminded me that there were excellent treatments available. I reminded him that none of them would allow her to see her children start kindergarten. Redefining excellence, I thought, sounded like a cancer center's marketing strategy that just missed the mark. As I looked away, a piece of me splintered. It isn't the same when it's someone you know, when it's someone you love. Maybe I feel shame for underappreciating my own fertile marrow, my fat and muscle, and my own existence. Maybe it's guilt for dedicating my whole life to work that can't save her, for being the one to look her mother in the eye and say she can't be saved. Maybe, just sadness. This lonely world, that only exists right at the bedside, is like a magically devastating song and I am humming the rhythmic asynchrony of being a doctor, and just being. "From where do we yearn?," I wonder. It's from within these little spaces we look to fill the absence of something beautiful. The moments that we're longing to be a part of. We are all mothers—the seven of us now in her room, aunts and cousins united by a last name—by the successes and losses we previously thought unimaginable. We've known the brittle anticipation of a new life, the longing, the joy of spending time, and the sense of simply existing in these spaces. We are the daughters and sisters of firefighters. We are women who know the low bellow of the bagpipes, women who own "funeral clothes." We've tried to disinherit the same shades of blue, and all of our distance has brought us right here, where they're making her comfortable. She knows that her time has been spent. Her eyes are the color of her favorite flower, a yellow rose, and her once sterile room appears almost sunlight by the garden of bouquets. Her mother is sitting by her side, gently moving her fingers across what would be a hairline, the way you would touch a newborn in those moments when you're just realizing you didn't know you could love someone so much. There's a song running through my head, "Golden Slumbers" (The Beatles, Abbey Road, 1969). Even playing in my memory, it gives me chills, starting right beneath my jaw and circulating through my limbs. Once, there was a way To get back homeward Once, there was a way To get back home Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry And I will sing a lullaby Nothing illustrates the frailty of existence like a mother preparing for her inevitable goodbye. Once you see it, you can be certain that biology is imperfect. We're convinced that we're grieving throughout the whole of motherhood, as our babies become grown people of their own, as they live their lives. But it isn't grief. We're simply living a life that is singular, in a series of moments that are final. "Golden Slumbers" doesn't actually seem to end. It just subtly transforms into the next track as if they were one, and before the chills are fully absorbed, you're struck by something totally new…triumphant trumpets. When her breath stopped, it wasn't held. I don't think she realized the bravery it took to leave this world with such grace, to be unlonely. I've been witness to so many punctuated pulseless yawns, but not this one. I wish I knew by which of these wounds am I softened and by which I am hardened, but I don't. They heal, with secondary intention, naturally and slowly, from the inside out. Mikkael Sekeres: Welcome back to JCO's Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology. This ASCO podcast features intimate narratives and perspectives from authors exploring their experiences in oncology. I'm your host, Mikkael Sekeres. I'm Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Hematology at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami. Today, I am so thrilled to be joined by Jamie Riches, who is Assistant Professor at Columbia University and Director of the Hematology Oncology Hospitalist Service. We'll be discussing her absolutely gorgeous article, "Reflection." At the time of this recording, our guest has no disclosures. Jamie, I want to thank you so much for contributing your essay to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and welcome you to discuss your article. Jamie Riches: Thank you so much for having me. Mikkael Sekeres: I have to say, I was so moved by this and just loved the writing. I don't drop the 'G word', gorgeous, very often when describing pieces, but this was truly moving and truly lovely. Jamie Riches: Thank you. Thank you so much. It was a really deeply personal story to me. Mikkael Sekeres: So I wonder if you can tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, and walk us through your career? For example, where did you do your training? Jamie Riches: Well, I am from Brooklyn, New York, and I did my training at an osteopathic medical school in Harlem called Touro, and my residency training at what used to be called St. Luke's-Roosevelt, and now is Mount Sinai West after many of the New York City mergers. I did a chief resident year at Memorial Sloan Kettering and started my oncology hospitalist career there for many years and have been at Columbia now for three years. Mikkael Sekeres: Wonderful. Isn't it interesting how the institutions of our youth are no longer, and that seems to happen at a faster and faster pace? Jamie Riches: I know. I feel the need to reference the old name sometimes when I'm discussing it. Mikkael Sekeres: Can you tell us a little bit about your own story as a writer? How long have you been writing reflective or narrative pieces? Jamie Riches: I have probably always been a jotter. I think that's for as long as I can remember, and I've enjoyed that process. And I think once I was an undergrad, I studied chemistry, I majored in chemistry, but I really filled up a bunch of elective time with writing classes and learning what I could about the processes of writing. And I guess almost 10 years ago now, I enrolled in the graduate certificate program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia. And that program helped me explore a little bit in terms of form and function and in terms of really relating my writing to my own personal experience as a physician. Mikkael Sekeres: And if I'm not mistaken, the field of narrative medicine was really in part born at Columbia, wasn't it? Jamie Riches: It was. Yeah. Rita Charon was the founder of the practice as a field, yeah. Mikkael Sekeres: And what was it that that experience- what did the formal training teach you that you couldn't have figured out on your own by the iterative process of reading and writing? Jamie Riches: I think there's something to having a group of people critiquing you that really allows you to become better in any field, in any practice. And I think there's something to having a, you know, a relatively safe space to explore different ways of doing something. For example, writing poetry, which I really hadn't done much of before and have done a bit of since. I think having a space where there are both educated critics and experts being able to look at your work and say, "This is working and this isn't," was really helpful for me. Mikkael Sekeres: You know, I've heard with writing, the notion that your first critics should be people you trust and feel as if you're in a safe space with because you're so vulnerable with writing. Even exposing it to relative strangers in a formal course can be, I don't want to use the word damaging, but I guess damaging, or at least get you out of a safe space that you need for writing. Do you have an inner circle that you trust for your writing? Jamie Riches: I do. I do. Mikkael Sekeres: If you feel comfortable doing so, can you tell us what prompted you to write this piece? Jamie Riches: This piece just sort of came out. This piece is real, and it's a real experience, and the processing of this experience has happened on so many different planes for me, and writing is really one of them. And once I sat down and said, "Let me write some of this down," it just kind of poured out. Mikkael Sekeres: Sometimes we write to process. I once heard somebody say that writing is the only time in life when you get a free redo, right, or a do over. We say something or we post something on social, and it's out there in the universe. But with writing, it's very personal, and we can look at a paragraph or a sentence and say, "Gee, that just doesn't feel right," and rework it if it's not communicating exactly what I was hoping it would. The other aspect of writing, of course, is that it allows us to ruminate on something that's just occurred and to try to make sense of it. Do you think that was some basis for writing this? Jamie Riches: I think so. And I think maybe just relating one really specific experience into the greater realm of the work that we do every day, and how that experience both stood on its own, but also is woven into so many other patient encounters and encounters with families. And that's a form of processing, I think, for sure. Mikkael Sekeres: Can you tell us in your own words about the main character in this piece and what was going on? Because you write it in a lovely way that allows the reader to discover what's transpiring gradually, but if you could tell us in your own words, who is this person? Jamie Riches: Yeah. So the person that I'm talking to in some parts of the story and talking about in much of the story is my cousin, Patrice, who was diagnosed with bladder cancer at 38 years old and who has had interactions with the medical field as a patient but is not a physician, is not a medical professional, and so had a lot of questions and a lot of trust and reliance on those of us in the family who had some medical knowledge and experience. And so I wound up being pretty intimately involved in her care as a family member, and that was really a fine line in a lot of ways because my friends and colleagues were the care team, and I was the family member. And many of us have been in that position in many different ways, but it's always a fine line. And she was young, and she was very positive throughout really the course of her illness. She had twins who were two years old at the time of her diagnosis. And I think, I'm a little bit speechless now, as you can see, I think she just was so incredibly graceful, and I think I used this word in the story, throughout the entirety of her illness, which included multiple lengthy hospitalizations where she had spent time away from her children. And I still don't know how she did it with the patience and the thoughtfulness and the love for everyone else that she did. Mikkael Sekeres: You really honor her in this piece and paint such a beautiful portrait of her. In the essay, you write, "It's an interesting piece of practicing medicine to be an observer of bodies, their look, their feel, their function. Which lines are strength and which are fatigue, which ones are scars and how they've healed." It's a beautiful couple of sentences. In this case, you aren't really playing the role of doctor, are you? Can you talk a little bit more about when that line's blurred between being a family member and and the practice of medicine when people are relying on you to help out with their medical care? Jamie Riches: Yeah, I think most of us know this gray area fairly well, and the gravity of the situation really dictates how blurry the line is. And it's true, I wasn't the doctor in this situation, and I had as much information about the scans and the clinical picture and the day to day trajectory and the lab results and the toxicity profiles and the data from the studies that the regimens were approved based on. And that made it impossible to step out of the doctor role or mentality, and I also wasn't making the formal recommendations by any means, but I think it's hard to sort of exempt yourself from that space once you're in it. Mikkael Sekeres: Yeah. I think we also sometimes don't realize how even the smallest contribution we have in advising somebody about their medical care becomes very, very meaningful and how much those words can have an effect on somebody. I recall my uncle was diagnosed with acute leukemia, so that's right in my bailiwick, of course. And I remember talking with him about transplant and being as neutral as humanly possible about whether he should proceed with the transplant given the characteristics of his leukemia. And months later, after he had gone through the transplant, he said, "You know, I went through this even though you really advised me not to." So as neutral and trying not to sway someone and giving advice as we are, people hear us differently. Did you find that also with your cousin? Jamie Riches: I did. I phoned into one of her oncologist appointments, and her oncologist, who I have to say is wonderful and who I have the utmost respect and really love for, who took great care in taking care of her, went through in detail everything they could about her disease and about treatment options and really explained everything, and took a minute and said, "Okay, do you have any questions?" And my cousin said, "No, whatever Jamie thinks." So I said, "Okay, well, we'll chat a little bit later." But that made me realize, which I think I just hadn't before, how much having an opinion matters. Mikkael Sekeres: Yeah, and that it's a gift to people when they can cede some of that decision making or some of that knowledge to somebody else and feel as if they don't have to take it on themselves. Jamie Riches: Yeah. Mikkael Sekeres: I want to read one other quote from your piece. I could just reread the whole piece, I enjoyed it so much and keep quoting it. You write, "We've known the brittle anticipation of a new life, the longing, the joy of spending time, the sense of simply existing in these spaces. We are the daughters and sisters of firefighters. We are women who know the low bellow of the bagpipes. Women who own funeral clothes." There's a lot that swims beneath the surface, I think, in that quote, that family members get together at births and deaths, that these become the occasions for the family to get together, that we put on uniforms for them, and that they happen frequently enough that we actually own the uniform to be part of them. Is that what defines us as families? Is that what we've come to? Or how about us as physicians? We own uniforms as physicians also. Are the gatherings, the only gatherings we have with our colleagues at tumor boards when we discuss successes and failures of our patients? Jamie Riches: That's a great question and a great reading, and thank you for these questions. I think every family is different, obviously, and I won't speak for the masses here, but there is a bit of a structure to the events that you're expected to attend and that you're expected to not be absent for, to sort of show up for. And those events are sort- you're right, you know, births and funerals and weddings, and they have a bit of a code to them. And as physicians, it's interesting to think about things like tumor board as the gathering spaces, because although as colleagues we're not families, we are the closest thing to going through some of these moments together. And I think these moments at the bedside, and I use that term so often because I work in the hospital, and I am literally often sitting in a hospital bed holding someone's hand, talking to them. Those are the moments that we feel. We feel them in our bodies. I can feel it right here, and I'm touching my chest when I say that. I don't get that same visceral feeling from looking at most scans, looking at most lab reports, or even having academic conversations with people. And I think that you're right, things like tumor board or even other academic conferences really are the gathering spaces for physicians, but that makes me question if those are the spaces that matter most. Mikkael Sekeres: I think that's a great point also to end our time together. It has been such a true, true pleasure to have Jamie Riches on our JCO Cancer Stories podcast to talk about her gorgeous piece, "Reflection." Dr. Riches is Assistant Professor at Columbia University and Director of the Hematology Oncology Hospitalist Service. Thank you so much again for submitting your piece to us. Jamie Riches: Thank you so much. Mikkael Sekeres: And thank you to our listeners for choosing JCO Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology. If you've enjoyed this episode, consider sharing it with a friend or colleague or leave us a review. Your feedback and support helps us continue to have these important conversations. If you're looking for more episodes and context, follow our show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen and explore more from ASCO at asco.org/podcasts. Until next time, this has been Mikkael Sekeres. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. Show notes: Like, share and subscribe so you never miss an episode and leave a rating or review. Guest Bio: Dr Jamie Riches is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University and Director of the Hematology Oncology Hospitalist Service.

Gee Atherton: Bottling Fear, Mindset, Hardline Future & The Crash That Changed Everything

The HKT Podcast - The Mountain Bike & Action Sports Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2025 144:15

The legend, Gee Atherton is on the podcast! In this episode Gee opens up like never before. From bottling fear and the brutal lessons of the Knife Edge crash, to the mindset shift that's carried him from World Cup Downhill racing into big mountain freeride projects. We get into the story of Atherton Bikes and why the family had to start their own brand, why having a World Cup race team was non-negotiable, and what it really takes to build a bike/brand with his family. Gee talks about the future of Red Bull Hardline, why the course has to keep getting bigger, faster and gnarlier, how fear bonds the riders together, and whether it's spawning a brand new discipline: Super Downhill. He also reflects on Rampage (two 2nd places), why walking away from a feature hurts more than crashing, and shares the training hacks that keep him riding at the top level after decades of injuries. Gee teases a brand new edit that almost required him to ride in a stab proof vest and his next big-mountain project in Nepal. This is a rare look inside the mindset of one of the sport's most iconic characters, this episode is unmissable and we hope you enjoy it. If you do, share the episode with your friends! Gee's latest project drops here @AthertonRacing The Ride Companion Christmas Ride at BikePark Wales! Episode Sponsors:- - Invisiframe → 15% off kits, decals & more with code REFRESHANDRIDE: https://www.invisiframe.co.uk - Troy Lee Designs brand new stage pro knee guards are now live. Learn more at https://troyleedesigns.com/products/sp24-stage-pro-knee-guards-solid-black - Looking for a new car or van and don't want to deal with dodgy dealers? Check out cargurus.co.uk Get early access & ad-free episodes → https://www.patreon.com/theridecompanion You can also support our long term partners: - Marin Bikes: marinbikes.com/gb - Focus Bikes: focus-bikes.com - HUEL: Get 15% OFF with code 'RIDE' at huel.com/ - Hiplok: https://hiplok.com/the-ride-companion - Play Fantasy Downhill at The Race Companion: theracecompanion.com instagram.com/theracecompanion - Get 10% off Troy Lee Designs with code 'theridecompanion' at saddleback.avln.me/c/OzduCWvjtcOr - Athletic Greens: Get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs at athleticgreens.com/RIDECOMPANION - Compex: Get 20% off with code 'THERIDECOMPANION' at compex.com/uk/ - Worx: Get 15% off with code 'THERIDECOMPANION' at worx.com - LAKA: Get 30 days of FREE insurance with code 'RIDECOMPANION30' at laka.co - HKT Products: Use code 'PODCAST' for 10% off the entire site. Follow Olly Wilkins Instagram @odub_23 YouTube @owilkins23 The Ride Companion Instagram @theridecompanion YouTube @TheRideCompanion YouTube clips and BTS channel @moreridecompanion Get official Ride Companion merch, find old episodes and more theridecompanion.co.uk

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This is Penny Rimbaud - Part One

Bureau of Lost Culture

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2025 60:00

Penny Rimbaud , who has spent more than half a century living the ideals that most of us only talk about, has been described as an activist philosopher, an anarchist, a Zen Buddhist. Though he would likely not recognise those descriptions, he is certainly a poet, a musician, an artist. Born Jeremy John Ratter in 1943, in the late 1960s, together with artist Gee Vaucher, he founded Dial House, an open community and creative refuge in rural Essex. It became both a home and a hub — a living experiment in anarchism, art, and radical living, from which emerged Crass, a band that tore apart punk's nihilism and replaced it with a fierce moral energy: anti-war, anti-sexism, anti-consumerism — but pro-peace, pro-freedom, and defiantly DIY. Their black-and-white graphics, polemical lyrics, and uncompromising stance made them one of the most influential and challenging acts of their time. When Crass disbanded in 1984, Penny kept on creating, often with Gee. He became a prolific poet, writer, and spoken-word performer, continuing to explore themes of love, pacifism, and spiritual autonomy. Now in his eighties, he still lives and works at Dial House — still questioning authority, still seeking truth through art and language. We range back and forth across Penny's personal history and his thoughts on culture, capitalism, art and the very notion of the self. In his own words: “There is no authority but yourself.” ---- During this conversation, we hear: 'Dulce et Decorum Est' - from What Passing Bells (The War Poems of Wilfred Owen) ‘How?' - from How? ‘Of Summer's Passing' - with Peter Vukomirovic - from Of Summer's Passing 'Oh America' - with Youth - from Oh America #counterculture #crass #pennyrimbaud #anarchism #capitalism #dialhouse #artschool #

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11 E214: Education That Breaks Down Walls: Dr. Emily Auerbach Talks Metaphors Can Change Your Life

education breaks change your life walls gee metaphors uw madison auerbach

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2025 59:20

Dr. Emily Auerbach is a great storyteller and cares deeply about helping make other people's stories great. Hear the story of her work of leading the Odyssey Project and mentoring non-traditional students through literature and the humanities. Dr. Auerbach talks about their whole family approach that brings all generations into the learning opportunities. The hope is that the program is a launching pad into further education at UW-Madison. Dr. Gee and Dr. Auerbach share so many connections to graduates who have completed degrees and are active in the community. They also share the development of those that don't think they have more potential and draw it out of them. Support Odyssey – UW Odyssey Project – UW–Madison alexgee.com Support the Show: patreon.com/blacklikeme Join the Black Like Me Listener Community Facebook Group

11 E214: Education That Breaks Down Walls: Dr. Emily Auerbach Talks Metaphors That Can Change Your Life

education breaks change your life walls gee metaphors uw madison auerbach

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2025 59:20

132. The Blob

Rotten Horror Picture Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2025 71:39

Gee whiz, folks, it's time for a brand-new episode of The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, and this week Clay and Amanda are talking about one of the all-time greats of old-school creature features — The Blob from 1958! You know the one — that big ol' red goo from outer space that slurps its way through small-town America, eating everything (and everyone) in its path. It's the movie that made a young Steve McQueen a star and gave teenagers everywhere another reason not to trust meteorites. Clay and Amanda dig into the film's low-budget charm, its clever special effects, and why it's still such a perfect slice of drive-in-era horror. A monster that's literally just a blob shouldn't be scary — and yet somehow, it's terrifying.Now, I gotta be honest with you — as I am a teenager from the year 1958, this whole “podcast” thing? It gives me the willies. I mean, what is it, exactly? They say you listen to it on “the internet,” but I don't even know where that is. I looked behind my radio — nothing. Tried turning the TV knobs real slow — still nothing. Apparently, it's just floating around in the air, like… invisible radio waves, but for computers? And people are out there “streaming” it? Buddy, the only thing I want streaming near me is a nice cold root beer down at the soda fountain.But I'll tell ya, Clay and Amanda sure know their monster movies. They've got that hep-cat way of breaking down the scares, the science fiction, and the cultural panic of the atomic age. If you can figure out how to “download” it — whatever that means — you're in for a swell time. Just, uh… maybe keep an eye on your record player. I heard The Blob likes to start small.And be sure to catch our coverage of the remake over at Patreon.com/thepenskyfile!

america tv buddy blob steve mcqueen gee

Running for CSM Interview with Arrowspeeed Bounty - Oct 25th 2025

Federation Front Line Report - Eve Online Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2025 67:17

Arrowspeeed Bounty's Eve Story and ExperienceI started playing Eve in 2014, working my way through the new player stage with 2 friends, all of us learning together. Both friends have long since left the game (one through a sad death, the other still in contact in a Steam chat), but their characters still sit in my corp, my own sentimental salute to the Eve friendship machine.One of my first light bulb moments in Eve was when I pulled up the full Eve map, while still trying to figure out what an asteroid looked like on the screen. "OMG, each one of those ovals is a region …. of constellations …… of systems …….. of planets? This is a pretty big game.”Next light bulb moment was when I realized how much trouble it is to MOVE things places. “Gee,” I thought to myself, “seems like a good business could be started just by moving things around for people”. (This was before I noticed that lots of people had thought of the same idea, of course.)And then – once I made my way into an alliance – there were those fleets that everybody said I had to join. “Wait, they're all flying away somewhere … wait, wait for me – where are you? – what is this red circle being drawn on my screen and why is my body floating around all weird and looking … well, dead?” Which is what made me think it might be a good idea to have training classes for people new to fleeting. (OK somebody else already thought of that, too.)These new player moments were the seeds of several of my first space jobs like new player fleet training and logistics services,I got started in my more serious rental manager career the day I got furious at somebody for something (forgot what) and exited both corp and alliance in one angry click. Next day, to my surprise, a chat screen popped up from an alliance leader saying “Arrow, we want you back, what would it take to get you back?” I was amazed that I was missed at all, much less getting an offer to ask for what I wanted if I returned. But I did ask for what I wanted which was a space job that would allow me a voice in the alliance. I got the job and the voice, and returned to the alliance the next day. The job was setting up and managing a new rental program for Phoenix Federation (some may remember them).From there, I found that my primary interest in Eve is running space businesses and leading teams that provide good services Eve players. I started by creating and running a logistics team, then managed rental businesses for several alliances (and still do for Fraternity), and then later took on other projects like setting up a moon rental system, an alliance recruitment team, rule/wiki management, and managing a coalition diplo team.What do all these have in common? Listening to and understanding what those I serve want – and then delivering what they want. Whether it is fast, low cost delivery services, rental space with responsive and fair management, training classes for specific fleet roles, rules that are clear and consistent, or an organized diplo case management system that consistently hears both sides of a case and follows through. (And no, we don't keep everybody happy doing this, that would be impossible – but we do care – and try – which is appreciated — well, most of the time ….. OK some of the time.)

running steam omg arrow bounty gee fraternity

S11E10 FLIP! and 2HIP4TV

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2025 106:36

Send us a textOkay, so here's the story: A comedian and the kid of a famous singer get together at a bowling alley and have a great time. They perve on women, they introduce bubbling-under bands, and constantly clash with the executives of the network they're on. Sounds like a great time for the kids. Here now is the story of how this kids variety show came to Saturday Morning. Who were the hosts? Was MTV responsible for… whatever this is? Did anything good come from this show? All these questions, and more, will be answered in this look at 2HIP4TV! But wait, there's more!Okay, so here's another story: There was an “Entertainment Tonight” show aimed at kids to keep them informed of trends and fads. And this one time they profiled a guy who turned out to murder a woman he was raping. Is this the dark side of Saturday Morning? Not really, it was just a misplaced belief in a role model. Here now is the story of how this kids news show came to Saturday Morning. Who was involved? Seriously, there's no imdb page. How long did it run? Wikipedia had nothin'! Is there a third question to ask? I don't think I have enough information to ask that question. SO, no third question. All these questions, and more, will be answered in this look at FLIP!! Roll it!Thanks for ‘tooning in. Share With Us: SatMornPod@hotmail.comBluesky: @SatMornPodYouTube Us: tinyurl.com/yyhpwjeo (Don't waste your time) Featured Music:“Nostalgic Happy Music” by AudioJungle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtxSUR6MQhw&t=2s “Happy Life” by Fredji - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzQiRABVARk Various Music by Oneul - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by302C2YhxY “I Feel You” by Kevin MacLeod” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw8E3jjbUCE “Nostalgic” by OrangeHead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wExcRoNNzAc “Breakfast Club” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Spi22l3m5I “Horizons” by Atch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-u53MADIag “80's Hijack” by Gee - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndVqzJ9Lk6M&t=26s “Synthmania” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6r20TKnA6M “United” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArjGQFCcHxA “Cool Blue” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp5cxZWP-wc #ABC #NBC #CBS #The80s #80s #cartoons #cartoon #animation #SaturdayMorning #1980 #1981 #1982 #1983 #1984 #1985 #1986 #1987 #1988 #1989 #Filmation #HannaBarbera #DePatieFreleng #RubySpears #Disney #FLIP #2HIP4TV

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Hour 2: HELP ME UNDERSTAND

democrats scenarios helvetica gee messagebody

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2025 34:56

Gee thinks it's time for the Democrats to cave // HELP ME UNDERSTAND // SCENARIOS!

Hour 3: “Get Over It”

ai democrats doritos helvetica gee agree to disagree messagebody we hear you

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2025 35:16

Were Fridays better as a kid? Gee thinks it's time for the Democrats to cave // AGREE TO DISAGREE: "Get over it" // AI mistakes a bag of Doritos for a gun // WE HEAR YOU! and WORDS TO LIVE BY

Christian College Sex Comedy: Part 14

ExplicitNovels

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2025

Christian College Sex Comedy: Part 14 Wagers In 30 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the podcast at Explicit Novels. An army is one man's courage and a thousand men's discipline "Oh! Pay up, pay up," Opal called out. "Damn," bitched Rio. "I keep hoping my boy Zane will develop some standards, but oh, well." "They were betting on you bringing me back for sex?" Paige whispered, but her desire was glowing bright. I shook my head and chuckled. "Don't worry about it; I still see you as a whirling vortex of passionate lust," I assured her. We passed around the Chinese screens that separated my area from the rest of the floor and I was relieved to see everyone but Barbie Lynn had left, and Barbie had curled up on the near side of the bed and was still asleep. As we moved around the bed, Paige's resolve began to falter. "Sit down, let's talk," I said softly. Paige was clearly confused. "The most powerful tool in sex is the brain," I continued. "I want to know you a little better first." "I should be great at this," she replied. "How many boys have you kissed?" I asked as we sat down. She looked surprised by the question. "Two," was her curt response. "Zane, I want you to take my virginity." Now it was my turn to be surprised, but I was only put off for a moment. "Tell me about those two times," I persisted. Paige had started tugging her shirt out from her skirt and was clearly not pleased with my request. "Zane, didn't you hear me? I want you to pop my cherry, break me in, fuck my cunt, whatever you want to call it," she told me. "Yes," I nodded, "and I'm looking forward to that, but answer the question please." "I, I've been kissed by two boys, one kiss per boy," she replied, but I could tell there was more to it. "Do I have to play twenty questions with you?" I gave an exasperated sigh. Paige flushed with anger. "Fine, damn it," she growled. "The first boy, I paid to kiss me on the lips. He did so, and he looked at me like he wanted to throw up." That looked like it hurt her to admit. "The second time, it was a joke, a dare. I closed my eyes, he kissed me on the lips, and then I heard the applause. They congratulated him for kissing the freak," she recited with anguish. "They laughed at me while I ran away." She looked furious and miserable at the same time. I tilted her head up toward me. I let my first kiss barely brush her lips. I let her study my reaction, and then I kissed her again. The third kiss pressed our lips together, and on the fourth, our tongues touched. The fifth saw her wrap her arms around me and hold me tight for nearly a minute. She was panting for breath when we came up for air. I used that moment to pick her up and place us both farther into the bed. "Eep!" she exclaimed, then she started to giggle. I straddled her and dove in to nibble her neck. Paige beat at my chest with her fists but couldn't stop laughing. "That tickles!" We fell back into kissing for a while; Paige didn't need to rush into sex despite her declared desires. "Shouldn't we take our clothes off?" I responded to that by sitting up, grabbing her shirt in both hands over the breasts, and ripping it open. Buttons went flying everywhere and Paige's eyes expressed her shock. I reached for her bra but Paige's hands flew to mine. "Wait," she gasped. "It unsnaps from the front." I even let her open the bra for me, exposing her ghostly breasts and pale pink areolas and nipples. I shifted down Paige's body and latched my lips to her left breast, causing her to cry out in pleasure. "Oh, damn," she purred, "this is so much better in real life." I wasn't sure I knew what that meant, or that I even wanted to know. I feasted on each nipple and breast in turn until they were fully engorged and bright, rosy pink from my attention. She'd spread her legs wide open and was humping her hips up against me. I pulled away long enough to get my shirt off before descending on her for kisses once more. In the midst of that, we rolled over where she grabbed me by the side of the head and covered my face with butterfly kisses. "I've always wanted to do that," she beamed pure joy at me. I moved my hands down her ribs, waist, and hips until I was able to pull up her skirt and grab her ass. Paige aggressively humped me in response, smiling at me and breathing heavy. Without any urging, Paige pushed up my body until she dangled her breast against my lips. I greedily sucked one in, teasing her nipple with my teeth. Paige yelped but followed me down without comment, cradling my head into her chest and rocking me back and forth. "Careful, Honey, he's addictive," Barbie Lynn sleepily intervened. "He's going to take my virginity," Paige exulted. "Is he now?" she grinned at me. "She's asked; I'm considering it, but I want to know she's really ready for it first," I mumbled back between mouthfuls of tit. "Wait," she panted, "you promised me." "Paige, Rule #7 for guys: when sex is involved, we lie," I informed her. "Oh, what lie did you tell Barbie Lynn?" Paige inquired. "He forces me to orgasm so he can bask in my post-orgasmic bliss," Barbie Lynn sighed dreamily. "Besides," I said, as I ran my hands through her fine white hair and tucked a few locks behind her ears, "I am not saying we won't do it, but you are an incredibly tough read and we aren't going to do something I don't think you need." "How come you get to decide?" Paige sounded annoyed. "I'm the only guy you've approached who you didn't find on an escort service website; we are in my bed; and, oh, yeah, I've had sex hundreds of times and you are in all ways a virgin," I listed off the reasons. "Paige, you only get to do this 'first time' once, and I would like it to be something you love and want to do again and again." "Well, I know what I want. I am in your bed and you're half-naked already," she emphasized by grinding her pelvis into me. "I'm also on top and I don't think you can get rid of me that easily." "This one is a little firecracker," Barbie Lynn chuckled. "She's that," I commented, "but you should always be leery of someone who thinks they are always right." My words didn't stop me from pressing my cock up against Paige's twat. "We could always have a little butt-sex instead," I teased. "No!" Paige squeaked. "You are huge and my asshole is tiny." "Oh, God," I laughed. "You actually looked at your ass in a mirror." Paige blushed furiously. "Listen, Paige, trust me on this. You can go into town and find some college guy who will jump at the chance to screw you. What you have to wonder is how much he'll care about you and your needs as well as how good he is at sex. Let's get naked." "Finally," Paige mocked. She rolled off and shed her clothes so fast they left angry red tracks down her legs. I took my time but Paige didn't seem to mind. She reached out and ran a hand over my bicep and shoulder. "He's real enough," Barbie Lynn assured her quietly. "How did you know what I was thinking?" Paige mused. At least she only implied Barbie Lynn was stupid. "Paige, sweetie, how many of us FFU girls expect to be able to choose our man, much less one worth having? And don't you be disparaging of Zane, now, either. I can smell your arousal from here," Barbie Lynn said with a sexy curve to her lips. Paige was thinking of her retort when she gasped as I caught her distracted and slipped two fingers along the folds of her cunt. When her razor sharp focus latched onto me once more, I pushed her onto her back and mounted her. Her legs splayed out to either side and the location of her hips against my stomach reminded me of how narrow her hips were, narrower than even Iona's. She still did her best to wrap her legs around me as she placed her hands on my shoulders. "Are you going to make me scream?" she asked nervously. "Every girl is different so don't worry about it," I grinned. "Besides, I can tell you'll be really good at this." "How can you know I'll be any good at sex?" Paige snapped. Yes, that was the sore point I was looking for. "Your eyes sparkle when you touch me, you react instinctively to my touch, you are in good physical shape, and you're very sensitive all over your body," I explained. "What you saw as fooling around was me mapping out how your body works and where your erogenous zones were. No two women are the same and I love exploring. Now I'm getting back to it." I began placing kisses along her sternum, down toward her navel. Her stomach pulsed when I kissed the belly button. "Oh, aha," Paige moaned. I licked and stroked the area around her navel, causing her torso to gyrate from the sexual stimulation. "Umm, that feels nice." Unlike previous encounters with other women where I avoided the cunt while I worked around it, I instead placed one hand immediately to the area, squeezing two fingers into her cunt and wiggling them around. I left the clit alone for now because I was encouraging a slow boil, not a flash burn. I wanted Paige in an erotically charged high before I challenged her vaginal virginity. Paige's skin had this false translucent quality to it that was exciting to watch. You could track the arousal of a touch by the blood rushing to the skin around the excited area. Physically, she could conceal nothing, and she was far from sexually experienced enough to stifle her vocalizations of pleasure. "I just want to be fucked," she moaned," I just want to be fucked, aha, oh." Her words said one thing but her body expressed its desire for more excitement. "No, she groaned as she ground her hips against my lips. When I stabbed my tongue to her clit, she acted like a jolt of electricity arched through her body. Now, when I've performed cunnilingus on a girl, I expect a bit of movement; I'm doing something wrong if she lays there. Paige was all over the place, pulling away then thrusting back as well as rolling her hips rapidly side to side. At the moment her thrashing turned into trembles, I withdrew my lips and fingers, causing Paige to whimper and look down at me. "Huh?" she pleaded. I gave her a mischievous grin, then blew on her clit. Paige hiccupped, then threw her head down on the bed violently. I began sucking on the inside of her thighs for about one minute, letting her settle down, then leapt on her clit with my tongue once more. "Oh, God!" Paige squealed. I moved my tongue off, trading off with two fingers parting her labia and flicking her clit with my thumb. I alternated back and forth over five minutes until I noticed Paige was sobbing and tearing up the sheets with her fists. "Have mercy, Zane," Barbie Lynn whispered. I gave a quick nod before placing my lips around Paige's clit and sucking on it with growing intensity plus twirling the tip of my tongue along its tip. I also made tiny fucking motions with two fingers into her cunt. She didn't last thirty seconds. "Oh, my, God, Zane!" she growled. She wasn't loud but she rumbled her orgasm from deep in her chest. It was kind of surprising, coming from such a lithe, ephemeral being. Paige was sucking down further sounds internally so that they were merely sobs. I crawled up to her side, rested sidewise, propped up by an elbow, and placed a hand on her stomach as I watched over her. When she started gasping for air, her eyes locked with mine once more. Paige feebly pushed on my chest so I let her push me on my back. She struggled to rise over me, then collapsed on my chest. "I, that was, you still didn't fuck me," she wheezed. I sighed in frustration, pulled Paige on top of me, chest to chest, and then began playing slap-happy with her ass. "Ow,ow, ow, ow, ow," she squalled. "Stop that; I bruise easily," she added, with tears in her eyes. "Damn it, woman, is it going to kill you to accept that I know what I'm doing?" I responded angrily. "Since you are clearly clueless, what we just did was foreplay. I wanted to relax your body before we moved to the next step." Paige had enough common sense to look embarrassed but not enough to keep quiet. "Well my ass still hurts," she pouted. "What?" I questioned. "Did you say you wanted me to hurt your ass?" I grabbed each ass cheek and pulled them apart. "No!" she squeaked, "You are too big." She grabbed my hands in her smaller grip and tried to pry them off. We rocked back and forth until we rolled over. She struggled but I soon ended on top of her, Paige on her stomach, and my legs prying hers open. "No, no," she pleaded as she felt my cock resting on her ass cleft. "Relax," I whispered into Paige's ear, "have you ever heard of doggy style?" "You aren't, going to have anal sex with me?" she gulped. I pushed my body up and after a moment, Paige followed, pressing her back against my torso once more. "I'd never do anything to you that you didn't want me to," I assured her, "though I am going to have you begging me to bugger you before this semester is over." "Uh-uh," Paige assured me, "not going to happen," but she did wiggle her ass against me playfully, testing my resolve. I balanced on one hand so I could use the other to pull her hair away from one side to the other. Her neck, ear, and the side of her face were now revealed. I sucked on her shoulder while I repositioned my cock so that it slid down her ass, past her anus and cunt, so that it pressed along her pubic mound from below. Paige began humming pleasurably and gyrating her hips against me. I put my free hand on her breast and massaged it as well. "Promise me you won't keep me waiting this time," she murmured. "Promise you'll take me." "Of course I will, Paige. You have to relax and enjoy yourself and not get worked up about us having sex," I comforted her. She rocked against me and I pushed back. "Nice and slow," I cautioned her. "I'm not going anywhere." With a little effort, she did as I requested. I kept running my hand down from her breast to her stomach, each time going a little farther down. She'd tilted her shoulders and neck so that we could kiss but she also found my lips on her neck to be tantalizing. I was tricky enough that I had my cockhead parting her puffy lips before she realized it. In fact, I had three separate penetrations that elicited moans, then she looked up at me. "Don't be afraid," I told her sympathetically. "Remember the faces of all the girls you've seen me with while we are having sex and know that it is going to be just as good for you." Paige looked down at the mattress and nodded her head. She pushed back but it wasn't easy. Her entrance felt like a vice restricting my entrance. Even totally wet, her vaginal muscles were blocking my progress initially. I patiently kept at it, incrementally advancing with each coaxing touch. When I brushed against her hymen, Paige didn't even recognize the moment had come. I subtly brought my arm down to her stomach and wrapped her up in my arm while teasing her ear with my teeth. "Yip!" Paige exclaimed as I pierced her virginity. "Oh, God, it burns," she sobbed. I gave her a few seconds to adjust before penetrating even deeper. "No," she moaned, and tried to pull away, but I didn't let her. "Zane," she pleaded for me to let her go. "It hurts." I kept at it. "I never thought it would hurt this bad, please." She gave one final gasp as I pressed the final inch into her, then we remained there, locked in sexual congress while she wept and trembled underneath me. I considered it a minor miracle Paige had remained on her hands and knees as we reached this point. Now I had to get her past the stage where pain dominated pleasure. "We'll move when you feel you are ready," I instructed her. Paige nodded, then nothing else for some time. She caught me off guard when she flexed her grasp on my cock. "Umm," she purred. "Did you feel that?" My groan was my reply. Paige pulled away a tiny bit until the pain kicked in and she stopped. Seconds later she repeated the process, withdrawing several inches, then reversing the procedure and allowing me deeper in once more. "It hurts less," she admitted. A moment later as she shifted to a faster rhythm, "it is really quite nice." "You might want to ask Zane how he is doing," Barbie Lynn chided Paige. "But I honestly don't care," Paige noted. "If you want to do this again, you might want to start caring," Barbie informed her. I winked at the blonde sex angel. "Zane, do you like having sex with me?" Paige asked in a much kinder tone than normal. She must have been truly appreciating the lovemaking she was receiving. "It feels like you are trying to rip my cock off," I ground out. "You are damn tight, then you are adding those contractions on top of that. I may not be able to have sex for a week." "Paige, I like you, but if Zane is telling the truth, I going to seriously rearrange your anatomy," Barbie Lynn promised with dangerous intent. "I apologize," Paige pouted. To prove how sorry she wasn't, Paige rotated her hips down then back up several times rapidly. So that's how she wanted to play it. I placed both hands on her shoulders and let her make a few more tentative moves before slamming my member all the way in. "Oh, fuck," she gasped. I slowly drew back my full length, then rocketed back in time and time again. Paige was sweating and panting from earlier exertions but now she was barely hanging on. Slap, slap, slap, my hips mashed against her ass. Paige gave a breathless grunt each time I drilled her, and that was followed by a relieved sigh as I pulled back. By the desperation in her voice, I knew she wouldn't last much longer. "Oh! My! Fucking! God!" she growled loudly. I now knew what it felt like to have put my cock in a fire hose and had some asshat turn the water on. Paige's cunt juice had been plentiful the first time she had an orgasm. This time they were copious and forceful, and my cock was simply in the way; what got past stung the hell out of my ball sack. Normally I have really good control over my sexual climax but I was being sorely tested. Worse, I couldn't simply pop out of Paige because that would cause her pain. The odds of her using birth control were next to nil and none, so it fell to me to find something to center my mind and not ejaculate. "Zane, are you okay?" Barbie Lynn said in a hushed, worried tone. I could only nod. Paige was erratically pushing up and down on my cock, to the point where I grabbed her hips in order to not have a nasty accident when her muscles relaxed and my overstimulation ended. "Don't, move," I panted painfully to Paige. Paige didn't quite comply but I didn't blame her because her arms gave out and she slumped forward. I held up her rear by my hold on her hips. I carefully let her slide off my cock and finish splaying out on the bed. I sat back on my heels, breathing deeply and fighting for control. "Come here, Baby," Barbie Lynn ordered, picking up on my distress. I moved over Paige's leg toward Barbie and she joined me by turning around, meeting me half way. "I've got this," she purred, as she wrapped my cock in one hand and placed her lips over the head. Despite Paige's vaginal fluids and some blood, Barbie loved it. She bobbed up and down twice before my resolve finally crumbled. "Cumming," I gasped. Barbie Lynn shot me a quick grin, then pumped and sucked with renewed vigor. When I started ejaculating, Barbie Lynn made some half-hearted swallowing efforts but I knew she was holding something back. I smiled at her as I ran my hand through her honeyed locks. When I finished unloaded into Barbie Lynn's mouth, I pulled her up, she leaned into my body, and we kissed. I tasted my semen on my tongue as we swapped fluids. Barbie Lynn licked her lips in a highly sensual manner as we broke our kiss. She gave me a little wink, acknowledging how much I'd changed her in our short time together: kinky, sexy, and beautiful. "Whoa," whimpered Paige as she opened her eyes and looked in our direction. "That was intense." She sighed and took a deep breath. "I should have mentioned this earlier, you didn't need to pull out. I had, issues when I was little and my ovaries were removed. I'm never going to have children." I switched back to Paige and kissed her on the forehead. This was probably time for some sympathy, if Paige had been anything approaching a normal girl. "You fucking wait to tell me this now?" I chided her. "Do you have any idea the panic attack you put me through? I was stuck inside you and you were so damn hot I nearly lost it. I was trying to figure out what I was going to tell your father, damn it!" "Father?" she seemed confused for a second, then, "Oh. Why would I ever marry you?" "I'm a billionaire philanthropist genius playboy," I joked. "You are Iron Man?" she mocked me. "Or Batman, your choice," I volleyed back. "If you hadn't made me feel so fantastic right now, I'd recode your computer to operate in Mandarin," she snickered. "Iron Man is one of my heroes and I will not have him mocked by the likes of you." "Clearly, the first round of spanking didn't work, but I'm nothing if not persistent," I glowered. Paige's hands flew to her vulnerable and still rather red backside. "Don't you dare," she threatened. I pivoted, she flinched, then I leaned down and kissed her ass cheek. "What?" she murmured then I kissed her again and again. I slowly pried her hands away and soon had planted little signs of affection all over her tender, sore flesh. "Kiss ass," Paige teased. I had to wonder if she was taking social lessons from Rio. "Tell me something: how did you get to be so quiet? I'm normally pretty good at not letting anyone sneak up on me but you have done it to me twice already," I asked. "That's not a totally stupid question," Paige answered. "I have been basically friendless most of my life, if you don't count the internet. I was small, different, and was picked on. I learned to be quiet and go unnoticed," she explained. "I admit to having a harder time with you than with most people." "Because I lived out in the jungle and became more observant?" I queried. "No," she sighed in exasperation. "Because I've wanted to grab you and drag you back to my room since I first laid eyes on you, Zane. Mentally, you are unremarkable, but physically, you scream out 'Sex, sex, sex!'" That observation made Barbie Lynn laugh out loud. My pained and confused expression only caused them to laugh louder. Someday I'm going to come out on top of one of these exchanges. Then I'm going to run away from school because I want to leave on a high note and I'm not likely to ever win a second time. Girls, Relationships and the Chancellor too. "Zane? God Damn it, Zane!" Raven screeched at me as she barged into my room. What could I say? Barbie Lynn was halfway under the sheets but her tumultuous breasts were clearly exposed. Paige was totally naked, face down on the other side of me but had clearly been fucked thoroughly and her tight pale ass spanked hard. Oh, yeah, and I was kneeling between the two, totally naked as well. I vaulted over Barbie Lynn (who was closer to the entrance and Raven) because I didn't want to hurt her injured knee, snatched up my robe, and put it on. "Very complicated, long story, we can laugh about it later," I dazzled Raven. I took her by the elbow and headed her out of my bedroom. "Why don't we study on the far side of the main Solarium?" The look of betrayal in Raven's eyes destroyed any doubt that she was crushing on me in a big way. For the love of God, I really needed to find some lesbians to hang out with because these straight chicks were driving me crazy. Before we could leave, Iona nearly piled into us. "I'm sorry, Zane. She slipped past me," Iona apologized. "I only wanted to talk with him and, and he was in bed with yet another girl," Raven bitched. "I'm still ready to study with you," I offered. "How can we study if you are always having sex with other women?" she stomped her foot in frustration. Iona shot me a worried look. I put a hand on Raven's shoulder and made eye contact. "Raven, I promise you we will get this project done, you'll get your good grade, and I'll carry my part of the project. I'm here for you," I assured Raven. "You, you aren't giving any thought about us, our project together," was her accusation. "What do you want me to do?" I asked evenly. "I, I think I should go to Ms. Goodswell and request another partner," Raven sighed. I looked to Iona who looked to the living area past the Jacuzzi. "Ms. Goodswell is right over there," Iona indicated our teacher who was sitting with Dana and five other teachers who had come in while I was, busy. "Your place has controlled access," Iona answered my unasked question as to why I had so many other educators in my place. "Bazz's people can 'accidentally' step in." Raven was not deterred by the other teachers hanging around Virginia as she made a beeline across the room. At least she was polite enough to wait while Virginia disengaged from the others so she could talk to us. "Raven, Zane, how can I help you?" Ms. Goodswell inquired, yet I had a sneaking suspicion that she was way ahead of the situation. "Ms. Goodswell," Raven started, "I really need to get a new project partner." "Why is that, Raven?" Virginia asked. "We simply aren't working out," she sounded exasperated. "And, I think the other girls were right; I don't feel safe around him," she tacked on. I lowered my head and sighed. This sucked. "Very well. Zane, do you want a new partner?" Virginia turned to me. "Sure, whatever. If Raven doesn't feel safe, she deserves someone new," I shrugged. "Alright, then, but I want you two to know a few things," Virginia began. "First off: Raven, I don't like being lied to." She held up a hand to forestall Raven's protest. "You were so uncomfortable with Zane's presence that you came up to his dorm uninvited, asked his whereabouts, and went into his bedroom unescorted. At what point in time did you feel unsafe?" "He was in bed with two girls, Barbie Lynn Masters and Paige Zeller," Raven said angrily. "Did you ask Zane what was going on or did you simply assume something and storm out?" Virginia stated. Raven opened her mouth, then shut it. "Now, do you think I assigned you to Zane solely because you answered one question incorrectly?" "You mean why I didn't want Zane as a partner initially?" Raven suggested. "Precisely. Raven, you scored the tenth highest placement score for English. That is why you are in my room, I have the top twenty freshmen in my class. Do you know what Zane's placement rank was?" "I don't know," she finally admitted. "He was second," she informed Raven, and me. I had no idea and really, such things don't interest me. "Raven, I didn't place you with Zane to help out Zane; I put you with Zane to help you." "Oh," Raven said in a small voice. "I didn't know." "What you have committed is reverse discrimination," Virginia explained. "Everyone assumes that since Zane is attractive, that he's not too bright. It is the same way most guys perceive bubbly blondes with big breasts, mentally insignificant." "Finally, your real problem with Zane is not his intelligence, his self-control, or the time he is willing to spend with you; it is his libido," Ms. Goodswell instructed. "You may want to ask yourself why you are upset with what Zane does with other students in his spare time and discuss this with him. He is standing right next to you, after all, and he could be elsewhere if he desired." "Very well," Raven conceded, "I'll work with Zane as long as he agrees to not get distracted while we are together." She looked to me for confirmation. "Agreed, I mean, I will try," I responded. Raven didn't seem totally satisfied but she allowed my promise to stand. "Let's get started." "Good," she said, but then she hesitated while she looked around at the other girls in various groups in the Solarium. "Let's go back to my room," I suggested. Seeing her skeptical look, "I need my tablet and then we can pick out a place and start studying." "Why do I need to come with you?" she glared. "With you, I'll be safe," I informed her. "Sometimes the ladies can forget I am here to get a degree and you help remind them of that with your seriousness." Raven shrugged and followed me back to my room. When we got there, Barbie Lynn was sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling up her socks. She was otherwise dressed. Paige was spread-eagled on the middle of the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Hey, Zane," Paige smiled. "Are you finished?" "We came back for his tablet, Paige," Raven growled. "We haven't started yet. Stay where you are; we have work to do." Paige's mouth dropped open in shock and outrage (Raven is a freshman, after all). I was happy Raven didn't call Paige a slut because I knew that was actively on her mind. I grabbed my backpack, retrieved another bathrobe from the wardrobe, and walked over to Paige. "Here you go. Take a little time in the Jacuzzi," I suggested. "I have nothing to wear," Paige rolled her eyes at my stupidity. "Go naked; you have a beautiful body that's a pleasure to behold," I told her. Paige studied me, weighing my dare to her. Barbie Lynn shot me a smile and a wink for me pressuring Paige. "Zane, we need to go," Raven insisted. She took hold of my elbow but didn't try to move me. "As you wish," I bowed to Raven. As we turned to leave, Paige called out, "The Princess Bride!" she laughed. Raven looked at me to make some sense of that. "It is a movie I like; it's old," I explained. We trecked out but I deviated from our course long enough to grab Rio, who was publically molesting Mercy. "Take it to an alcove, you two," I said softly. Rio challenged my stance but then we both started chuckling. "I can't promise to keep it quiet, Bro," she winked. "Stuff your panties in her mouth," I suggested. "I'm not wearing any," she grinned. "Put her panties in her mouth, then," I told her. "She's not wearing any either," Rio teased me. "Fine, I give up," I threw up my hands and continued off with Raven. "Was it like this for you, before you came here?" Raven asked me once we sat down in an isolated area. "It was different but similar. After a few weeks everyone knew everyone else, so it wasn't like us kids weren't aware of one another," I explained. "So you've always lived like this?" Raven sounded incredulous. "Raven, how would you describe your relationship with your parents?" I began. "I'm not sure what that has to do with anything but my father died of cancer when I was twelve and I have been raised by my mother ever since," Raven explained. "We are pretty close and we've both worked to raise my brother, who is four years younger than me." "So you had a partnership of sorts," I filled in. Raven nodded. "My parents and I were very close; we did almost everything together, and I was a part of their lives for as long as I can remember. When they died, I went to the far side of the globe to guardians who didn't want me hanging around, yet expected me to act in a very restricted moral way with no training or incentive." "My Uncle only had enough time for me to punish me for not living up to his moral code while my Aunt parroted his beliefs. I guess it was only natural that I formed my own code of ethics and relationships. I had a strong sexual curiosity and personality that drove me to express it," I added. "Where is this going?" Raven sighed. "It means I have no serious understanding of monogamy outside of marriage. Worse, I have little respect for restrictive authority. Mindless discipline strikes me as unnatural. Don't get me wrong, though; I don't really care how you, or anyone, choses to live, as long as you respect that right in others." "Couldn't you have conformed to what the rest of us want at this school?" Raven countered. "This is a Christian Girls School and we shouldn't be having sex." "I think we have a fundamental misunderstanding here," I nodded. "We both accept that I want to have sex, but why do you assume that some girls here don't?" "That is not what matters," Raven declared. "What matters is that they wouldn't be succumbing to temptation if you weren't here." "That, I have to agree with you there," I admitted, which stunned Raven. "I doubt any of the girls I am with now would go trolling the local college for guys to score with." "So you see what a problem you are and how you shouldn't be at FFU," Raven concluded. "Belief without temptation has no merit," I quoted. "A promise to abstain from boys is nothing more than empty platitudes if there are no boys around." "Zane, we came here because no boys are allowed. Our pledge is a declaration of solidarity with our fellow students," Raven stated. "But the pledge is voluntary so you should respect their decision to do something else if the situation changes," I suggested. "A lot of girls here treat me nicely but aren't jumping my bones, girls like you." Raven didn't comment for several seconds. "I only wish more girls felt like I did," she said weakly. "Well, I'm glad you feel that way about me," I told her, as I pulled my legs up to a lotus position, adjusted my robe, and got ready to work, "because I find you very attractive and that would make things difficult." "Yes, that would make things difficult," Raven muttered sadly. It didn't really matter how Raven ended up beside me, her legs curled up under her and her head poised at my shoulder looking over our choices of works to read through. She didn't have Iona's insightful genius but she had a dedication to detail that was remarkable. She was apparently impressed with my ability to link Irrelevant Detail A with Curious Reference B. In two hours, Raven was excited over the progress we'd made. "Of course you are happy," I teased her; "you expected nothing from me so everything you get is a bonus." "I apologize," she said softly. "Don't worry about it," I chuckled, "you are hardly the first girl on this campus to think I'm an idiot." No sooner had I spoken those words than Paige hopped over the seat behind me and took the armrest of the chair opposite Raven. "You are a moron, not an idiot," Paige corrected me. "Now, it has been two hours and I've finished my homework. Let's go." "Hey!" snapped Raven. "Excuse me, but did we have plans?" I addressed Paige crossly. "You have been sitting over here for two hours with this bimbo. If she hasn't finished working with you by now, she's even duller than she looks," Paige informed us. "Bimbo!" responded Raven as she stood up to confront Paige. "Paige," I cautioned, "why are you doing this? This is way beyond your normal anti-personnel skills." "I don't like her, and I like her spending time with you even less," Paige declared. "At least I didn't have to spread my legs to make him spend time with me," Raven retorted. That seemed to upset Paige so I intervened. "That's not true," I told Raven. "I hang out with Paige because she is intriguing and smart, like you. Anything else is a private matter between her and me." "I don't like her," Raven replied. "You suck up oxygen that would be better used by mewling infants," Paige countered. "Enough!" I snapped. I turned, cupped Raven's jaw, and kissed her on the lips, leaving her shocked. I turned to Paige and with my countenance, I let her know she'd gone too far. I walked off, looking for somewhere else to be, but the floor was pretty occupied by freshmen now, in their little groups studying and relaxing. I even caught sight of Rio playing pool with Valerie and enjoying herself. Iona was with a group of students I recognized but Barbie Lynn and the teachers were gone. Only Dana remained, an isolated island of calm, watching her television and drinking her beers. I slouched down on the seat next to my former coach. "You are not getting a beer," she told me. "Do I look like I want a beer?" I sighed. "No, you look like you need a beer," she chuckled, "which is worse." "Man, that is a sad assessment of my situation," I groaned; "accurate, but sad." "You need to say 'No' occasionally, Zane," Dana observed. "Since I can no longer keep these girls safe from you, you need to keep yourself safe from them. If you don't set some boundaries, there is going to be trouble." I digested that for a minute. "You are laughing at me on the inside, aren't you?" I remarked. "Pretty much, yes," Dana winked. "This is some twisted plot of yours to make me take some responsibility, damn you," I continued. "Yep," she quipped. "You would think that having so many girlfriends, or potential girlfriends, would be a great thing," I stated. "My problem is that there are so many wonderful girls to meet and I want to get to know them, and it isn't like I get to know someone in one hour, or one day, or even one year, really." Dana laughed out loud so hard she started to cough. "Who would have thought you were a romantic," she snorted. "If you limited yourself to one-night stands, your life would be far easier." "I frankly don't think that is a possibility for me," I shrugged. "Even Paige?" Dana asked, "I know she annoys the crap out of you and she's a total stalker." "She is not," I defended Paige. "She's different but I like her intensity." Dana smirked and a set of arms wrapped around me from behind. Paige rested her head on my shoulder and kissed my ear. "I came back to bitch you out for taking Raven's side over mine," she said softly, "but now I think I'll simply forgive you and be done with it." "Damn it, Paige," I snapped nervously, "would you stop sneaking up on me?" "No," she responded after a moment's introspection. "I want you to be somewhat afraid of me." "Paige, you might want to consider what the hundred and some other girls are going to do to you when they learn you want exclusive rights to Zane," Dana grinned. "We don't have to be exclusive," Paige informed her, like I wasn't even there (this happens to me way too much). "He only needs to be available when I need him. We'll work out other arrangements for us by the end of the semester." "Paige, you accept me on my terms or we don't get together at all," I warned her. "Part of your appeal is that you do so many other things so well," I continued. "You don't need me." "Zane, I gave you, she reminded me with a mixture of anger and sadness. "Paige, you were my first, too," I enlightened her. "I've never taken a woman's virginity before." "It was special to me," she whispered. I turned my head and shoulders far enough around to kiss her. "It was special for me, too, but I know it meant more to you. What I did can't compare to what you went through," I related. "It is not meant to. I haven't forgotten my first time; that doesn't change the fact that I love someone else and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. It has nothing to do with you or any of the other girls. I feel she is the one for me and it doesn't make rational sense," I explained. "I respect that, Zane," Paige allowed. "You are an idiot and a moron; I'm going to need to train you to accept what is best for you, which is me. I became a woman through your exertions and I'm not willing to surrender that glorious feeling to anyone." Dana laughed uproariously while I groaned in despair. "Fine, I'll let you deal with Christina and company," I grumbled. I stood up and disentangled from Paige. She followed me around the sofa until she was cuddled up against me. "Do we have some time?" she inquired while rolling her hip along my pelvis and getting a response from my suicidal cock. "Dinner first, but I wouldn't be opposed to some bedroom time with you," I grinned to Paige. "I'm thinking a hot oil massage, then some cowgirl action." That definitely excited her. Food did end up taking precedence over sex because I was desperately hungry. The meal time was tense, with bandaged members on both sides of the aisle. The big news was that the Board of Directors was meeting tomorrow morning in an emergency session. No mention of the fates of Coach Gorman or Heaven was made. When I got back, I borrowed Gorman's phone and I gave Heaven a call. She exploded all over me when she realized it was me and not the Coach. "I was afraid something had happened, damn you," she snapped. "There is a little thing known as caller ID." "Um, Heaven, you didn't let me get a word in," I pointed out. "How are you doing?" "I'm going nuts," she groused. "I think it is worse, being so close and not being able to help." "Being here isn't all that great," I related. "We are all stuck in our rooms, pretty much. The Coach was fired so she's over here, drinking beer and watching TV." "That has to be weird," Heaven noted. "Are you okay?" "Actually, all my problems are solved," I told her. "Paige Zeller has decided she owns me." "Zeller? That little albino Science Club geek?" Heaven muttered. "When I get back, I'll fix her ass." "Gee, thanks," I chuckled, "but I think I can handle her. The important thing is that we are going to get you back, and as soon as we do, " The TV went dead. "What the, a few of the girls working at the computer stations and at their laptops exclaimed. Our answer was twofold. Ms. Marlowe and five security guards came up the stairs and stared out over the room. My 'room' was a lot to take in the first time around. The arrival of campus security explained the loss of outside access. When the guards entered the security code for the door, it had alerted the system the Science Club had put in place and stopped security from finding our illegal hook-ups with a cursory search. "Ms. Gorman," gawked Ms. Marlowe, "do you have beer up here?" Dana raised a half-drained beer up, examining it intently. "Yes, that would seem to be the case, Edith," Dana responded. "Do you want one? I have five left." "No! This kind of behavior is not allowed," Ms. Marlowe declared. "I'm not employed here anymore, or did you miss that outburst this morning?" Dana chuckled. "You can't kick me out of my room for a month, or so my contract states. I'm not letting any of the students have any, if that makes you happy." "Are you drunk?" Edith inquired. "Not yet, but I'd like to be," Dana sighed. "How about you get on with the security sweep you are here for so I can get back to it." Edith Marlowe shook her head in disgust, then dispatched her guards to look around. There was blatant hostility being generated their way by the present student body. On any other day, that anger would have been the end of it, but one girl started handing out pool cues and girls lined up to get them. "Put those down right now," Ms. Marlowe commanded. "Get stuffed," Vanessa Hutchins, a freshman, shot back. She'd been particularly impacted by Rhaine's actions, having been propelled twice down different stairwells. "Zane," Dana cautioned me. I stood up and walked over to Vanessa. I took the pool cue from her hands gently and placed it on the pool table. "Come on, ladies, the sooner we let them get done, the sooner we can get back to ignoring them," I said to the students. Slowly the sticks were put aside and the guards returned to their search. "Ms. Hutchins, you are coming with me," Ms. Marlowe stepped forward. I turned and looked down at her. "Don't press your luck," I told Marlowe evenly. "We aren't resisting this search but tempers are high and only going to get worse if you push things." "Edith, try to remember that you not only have to get out of this room, you have to get out of the building," Dana pointed out. "I underestimated these students so I'm now sitting here drinking beer and considering my job options." Ms. Marlowe looked down her nose at Dana, who didn't appear to give a crap about her opinion, then motioned the guards to resume looking around. Campus Security hadn't been gone five minutes before Rio came running up to me. "Hey! I heard that there was almost a fight here," she asked me. "Nothing much to it," I shrugged. "Vanessa over there decided that Ms. Marlowe should become familiar with the grain of a certain pool cue and I had to put a stop to it." Valerie and Iona came up in time to hear the explanation. "I guess it was too much to hope that the Chancellor would leave you alone," Iona moped. "People with her personality type don't let go easily," Valerie commented. "I've met more than my share in law enforcement. Their power over other people is how they define themselves." "Therefore, we need Zane to keep her preoccupied," Paige gloated. Mother Fucking God! "I'm going to have to get you a collar with a bell, damn it, Paige," I growled to my albino ghost. "Of course," she hugged me, "I'll wear a black velvet one with an electronic chime on it and you get to wear a shock collar so you can keep your limited intellect on the important things." "Important things?" Valerie grinned. "Yes; important things like obeying me," Paige grinned triumphantly. "Paige, could you please walk this way with me," Iona said sweetly. "We need to talk." "Not right now, Iona; I'm busy with Zane," Paige dismissed Iona. "Paige, come with me right now or I will inflict such painful force upon your person that even Rio will blanch at the damage delivered," Iona stated with a terrible resolve. Paige regarded Iona with disdain. I was about to break things up but Valerie held me back with a small shake of her head. "I'm not afraid of you, Iona Becket," Paige remarked. "Then you haven't studied the implications of our fight. You will win, and Zane won't have anything to do with you anymore. Rio and I are his first friends here and you understand how he weighs such things," Iona told her calmly. "Hurt me, and kiss him goodbye." Paige's face grew grim. "Now let's take a walk and talk this over, Science Clubber to Science Clubber." "I accept the validity of your socio-dynamic theory. Let's talk then." Paige nodded her acceptance of Iona's statement and with a tiny bit more respect for my diminutive friend, the two geeks walked off. Valerie found the exchange to be both confusing and amusing. "Zane, the girls and I were looking over my ride and talking about taking a few weeks off after the spring semester ends and riding out in my territory," Valerie informed me. "I figure I could teach everyone to ride; I could teach Iona basic mechanics; and Rio could learn to fight." "What do you need me to do?" I asked. "Honestly, you are learning to shoot guns and bows, plus you have martial arts training, so you should do fine. I also heard a rumor that you know something about outdoor survival, which is also handy," Valerie continued. "As long as we can keep you away from the other ladies, we should be okay." "That sounds great. Maybe we could put in some rock-climbing once we get there," I suggested. "Didn't, didn't your parents die in a rock-climbing accident?" Valerie asked. "Yes, so? It was something they loved to do and something they taught me to love," I responded. "I won't give up that part of them over one bad memory." "I can't tell if that's cold or touching," Valerie smirked. "I'll let you figure that one out," I grinned back. "Some things you tell the world, some things you tell your friends, and a few things you keep to yourself." "Is that why you don't pry?" Valerie noted. "Rio says you've never asked her about her history, which makes you pretty unique. 'What were you in for?' was my first question to her." "It is my business to know who you are, not who you were," I told her. "I have to live with you in the present, so that's my business." "My Mom is going to love you," Valerie grinned. "How about your Grandfather?" I inquired. "Touch me in a sexual manner and he'll break out of Maximum Security to kill you," Val winked. "I'm not afraid," I boasted. "Oh?" Valerie arched an eyebrow. "Yes. I have a passport and am not afraid to use it," I joked. "Wow," Dana observed, "so this is what Zane is like when he has blood flowing to his brain; he actually makes sense." "Why am I being nice to you, again?" I questioned Dana. "I haven't a fucking clue," Dana shrugged, "after all, I kicked your ass and beat you to unconsciousness." "You knocked Zane out?" Valerie asked. "If you ever have to teach Zane, you'll end up feeling the same way I did," Dana sneered. "It was an accident," Rio informed Val. "Zane threw his face at her fist and she was forced to defend herself." "What really happened, Zane?" Valerie inquired. "I haven't a clue. I heard 'Ready, set,' and I woke up staring at the ceiling thirty seconds later," I answered. "I punched him, but to be fair, he'd knocked me down with a kick in our previous encounter," Gorman admitted. "I was actually surprised he went down because Zane can take a beating." "That's the second nicest thing you've ever said about me," I commented. "What was the first?" Dana said. "You told Ms. Lane I wasn't a total waste of effort," I related. "Speaking of which, you did her, didn't you?" Dana asked. "I like keeping my relationships discreet, I started, then several girls around me groaned, ", if that is what they want, so no comment." "Let's just say that I've seen teeth marks on Zane's shoulder that have a slight gap on the left like a certain someone we both know," Rio snickered. Dana snorted. Before I could respond, I saw Iona coming my way and Paige angling for the door. I nodded to Iona and mouthed a 'thank you' to her, then angled to cut Paige off. "Where are you going?" I questioned her. "I get it; I'm not wanted, you have better things to do, and I am not going to get what I want so I'm leaving," Paige sounded hurt. "Did I say I didn't want you around?" I asked. "Iona said that you spending time with me was something the other girls wouldn't allow. Even Cordelia feels that way, apparently," Paige informed me. "I think you misunderstood," I clarified. "I want to spend time with you but I can't simply kick other girls aside because I do." "So now you want to spend time with me, but why should I spend time with you?" she countered. "I don't know," I replied. "Why did you come over and hassle Raven and I?" That brought her up short, not because she didn't know the answer but because she didn't want to admit it. "I was jealous," she said softly. "You don't need to be," I told her. "We are study buddies, nothing more." "You are a moro

Christian College Sex Comedy: Part 13

ExplicitNovels

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2025

Christian College Sex Comedy: Part 13 Exiled In 30 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the podcast at Explicit Novels. You can live without freedom the same way you can live without light, happiness, or music Chastity, Hope, and I were exiled to our rooms for the rest of the day, and I pretty much spent it in isolation. Cordelia had disabled my own private internet hookup in case my domicile was ransacked so I was left with school work to go over. At 12:30 they brought me lunch and at 6:30 a student brought me dinner. As I was eating, there was another knock on my door. This time there was a girl I didn't recognize from the dorm. "Yes?" "Hi, I'm Alice Hendricks, and I'm your new Dorm Mother," this bright-eyed brunette with pigtails and a gymnast's body greeted me. "Good for you," I replied then started to shut the door. "Wait," she said hurriedly. "The code you gave Barbie Lynn Masters doesn't work." I sighed. "Do you see that green pad beside the keypad?" I indicated the object. "Yes," she nodded. "It is the thumb pad scanner. You enter your code and scan your thumb," I told her. She entered the code and scanned her thumb, and nothing happened. "It doesn't work," she noted. I rolled my eyes. "Let's think about this," I groaned. "You used Barbie Lynn's code and scanned your thumb." I watched as the wheels turned behind her eyes. "Oh, my thumb doesn't match the code, how is this going to work now?" she questioned. "I need to access your room." "Fine," I shrugged. I pushed her aside, covered the keypad with my body, and entered the proper code to generate a new number. "4-7-4-4 is your number. Punch it in and scan your thumb and you're set." "Good night," I told her, and headed back upstairs. "Wait. I need to check out your room," she informed me. I grunted, turned, and faced her. "Do you have a phone?" I asked. Alice nodded. "Can I see it?" She hesitated but handed it over. "You are one of the Enemy," I stated. "What do you mean?" Alice asked. I handed her phone back. "The majority of the girls in this dorm don't have phones anymore because of the Chancellor. You only have one because you are in with the Chancellor and you are pretty much going to be hated for it. Don't get caught alone in the showers, you scumbag," I warned her. "That's not fair," she declared. "Oh, we are past being fair, Alice. Now come upstairs and get your tour over with," I shrugged. Once we got there, Alice stumbled and gasped. "How am I going to search through all of this?" she wondered. "That's not my problem," I told her. "I will be in my bedroom." I went in that direction and I noted she was following me. I flopped down on my bed and listened to her low whistle. "This is your room? How did you get all this, stuff?" she inquired. "I bought all of this for the freshman class to use so we could be safe from the Handmaiden's Duty from time to time," I answered. The door opened and a double set of footsteps came running up the stairs. Rio and Iona came bolting into my room, stopping short when they saw Alice. "Hi, I'm Alice, your new Dorm Mother," she stated crisply. "What are you doing in Zane's room?" "Oh, the fuck you say?" snapped Rio. "Where the hell is Barbie Lynn?" "That is quite enough of that, Ms. Talon," Alice demanded. "Can you please give us some space?" I requested. "No, I don't think that would be wise," Alice countered. "Fine, whatever," I shrugged. "What's the news, girls?" "They sent 40 of our people to the infirmary," Rio said while glaring at Alice. "They preferred to shove us down stairs. Barbie Lynn hurt her knee and Pandora Jaspers bust her scalp open." "Alice, you are going to go out and sit on the sofa now," I told her. "No, I am not," she responded. "This is your last chance to keep things civil, Alice," I cautioned her. "You seem to have forgotten why I am here," Alice replied. "I haven't forgotten, Alice, but you clearly don't understand the cost of that decision," I said. "What is that supposed to mean?" she shot back. "Ladies, I'll see you tomorrow, but we clearly aren't going to be given any common courtesy tonight," I told my ladies. Rio came up, kissed me hungrily, and then glared at Alice. "Cordelia needs to see you at the corner of the Clegger Building at 12:15," Iona whispered in my ear as she hugged me. I gave her a wink as we parted. The girls left and I had to put up with Alice for an hour as she tried to make conversation and I did my best to ignore her. "Zane," Dana Gorman called out as I reclined on a sofa and Alice skulked around. "Over here," I motioned. "You have been temporarily reinstated by the Review Board," she informed me. "Don't waste this opportunity." It was 8:00 o'clock at night so I had to wonder what discussions had taken place. "Am I supposed to be grateful?" I scoffed. "I didn't hear an apology for treating us students so shabbily, nor Heaven being re-admitted. All you did is give us something today that you plan to take away tomorrow." "Don't be an idiot," Dana snapped. "You aren't in a position to make demands." "Well, it was nice to see you, Dana," I shrugged. "I am sorry about this morning. You were very impressive, by the way." Dana shook her head in disgust and left. "You shouldn't have been mean to Coach Gorman," Alice scolded me. I shrugged. Alice tried to be nice, insisting she wasn't in the way, but ended up staying with me until my last bathroom break. I pretty much hated her. Retribution, Removals, and Recouping strength. The post-midnight meeting with Cordelia and a rag-tag group of students was probably the most insane stunt I'd pulled for some time. I thought Cordelia was nuts but my opinion was not solicited. I was wanted for my upper body strength and long reach. See, one of the Administration's greatest tools was the school's surveillance network. As Cordelia saw it, there was one point of weakness for the system and that was in the heart of the Security Center, the system servers that coordinated all the incoming data and video feeds. We weren't going to sabotage it; that would be simple. No, we were going to steal it, and that's exactly what we did. I had to admit that was the last thing Gorman would have suspected us of trying to pull off and the best part of it was that all the surveillance devices were rendered impotent because we stole the objects that held the information of our misdeeds. We stole out the back gate of the campus and buried the equipment out in the woods. Lightning Strike I knew there would be hell to pay and I couldn't contact my normal shower-mates so I went to the shower early and was back in bed by the time Dana Gorman stomped into my room. "You weren't in the shower," she growled, "but several other students were." "Why are you angry for me not being in the shower with the girls?" I yawned. "Because it would give me leverage to make you give me back my security system, you Jackass," she snapped. "And you blame me, why?" I slipped out of the covers, naked, and started to get dressed. Dana didn't seem to mind looking me over. "This is no longer a game," Dana pointed out. "You've stolen thousands of dollars of University property. If I can't find things and quickly, I am going to have to bring in the Sheriff's Department and that equals criminal charges." "Should I take it you've made no progress in the assault on the students yesterday, or is their support for Christina good enough reason for you to let them suffer?" I continued. "You are being an idiot again," Gorman accused me. "We can deal with that once you and the others stop treating this like some social experiment and get back to your studies." "I think this is the point where we cease having anything to discuss, Coach," I muttered. Gorman looked down at the ground and clenched her fists in frustration. "A third of the Soccer team walked off yesterday. I lost half the Karate club as well," she ground out. "Archery disbanded, and it looks like Orienteering and Marksmanship will do the same today. I'm telling you, this is nuts. I've worked my ass off making this school athletically competitive and everyone is throwing that away." "I don't know what to tell you except that I doubt any of this would have happened if someone hadn't been gunning for Rio on our first day," I said. "I certainly made mistakes but you made the first one. I do have one thing I want you to think about." "What is it?" she asked warily. "How do you like your war now?" I stated with intensity. She didn't laugh it off this time. "You think this is going to keep going?" she questioned. "You have our backs against the wall; you are beating and expelling us," I explained. "We don't have many options." "I won't let you win," she said evenly. "I'm afraid it is out of our hands, Dana," I warned her. I didn't know for sure things were going to spiral out of control but I couldn't see any way out of it. Dana shook her head and left. Around 6:45 Alice came to escort me to breakfast. She talked; I remained quiet until I picked up Rio, Valerie, and Iona. We were crossing campus to the Dining Hall when Valerie nudged me. I looked in the same direction she was and saw Hope walking across the lawn on a definite mission. It didn't take me a second to see where she was heading; Rhaine and two of her associates were in huddled conversation. Rhaine never saw what hit her. Hope did a spin kick to her head and sent her flying. She punched the other two, followed up with a heel kick to one and two blows to the head to the last one. Hope then swooped down, snatched up their phones, and rapidly walked away. The first attack hadn't lasted ten seconds. "This is your last chance to get out of this," I whispered to Valerie. "I'm sorry, Mother," Valerie sighed. I didn't have time to know what that meant because I figured the open nature of Hope's attack was Christina's way of telling the rest of us it was time to strike back for what Rhaine's people had done to our side yesterday. I turned and clocked Alice hard enough to knock her down. "Rio, get her phone," I hissed to my friend. Rio was surprised for a second, then jumped on Alice's body. People around us began murmuring but most were in shock. I didn't wait around because I had spotted a group of five of Rhaine's people a few feet ahead. The ripples of Hope's attack started to reach them when I kicked the first one in the back. Valerie was right at my side, flipping a second girl over before she had a chance. I saw Iona grabbing up their phones even as we fought on. The remaining three were able to turn and face us but it didn't do them any good. We steamrolled over them, punching and kicking them into the ground. The first girl near us began to scream as I closed on the next group. This turned out to be Joy and Mercy. Valerie was about to pummel them but I held her back. "Joy, Mercy, sit on the ground and give us your phones," I growled. They hesitated and tried to back up. "Mercy, do it," Rio hissed. "I don't want to see you get hurt." That did it for Mercy, and she took to her seat and handed her phone to Rio. Rio showing compassion toward Mercy was unlooked for and something we'd have to talk about when this bout of madness ended. Joy went down beside Mercy, allowing Valerie and I to move on. By the time we closed on the fourth group, the general student body had figured out something bad was happening and parted like the Red Sea as we approached our quarry. The three girls we approached knew we were coming. I could read their disbelief in their eyes; they couldn't imagine that the attacks they'd perpetrated on our people were coming back to haunt them. One got a blow into my stomach before we finished them off, giving their downed forms a few extra kicks before heading for our last targets. There were four of them, with the added complications of a history teacher named Mrs. Cunningham who was a matronly, sixty-something-year-old instructor. They were standing at the four doors that entered into the Dining Hall and if I had been them, I would have run, but I guessed that the teacher standing so close made them assume we'd hold back; we didn't. The first girl stepped up to say something to me when I split her lip and sent her stumbling back. I kicked the one farthest away while Valerie punched another one in the throat. I chased the second girl down and while she was bent over, I pounded her in the cheek and planted her in the ground. I spun back and kicked the first girl in the face, flipping her over, and witnessed Valerie run the fourth girl into a door and knock her out. Mrs. Cunningham finally recovered enough to grab my arm. "What are you doing?" she muttered weakly. "Yesterday, these girls thought it would be fun to kick some of their fellow students down some stairs, landing them to the infirmary," I responded. "Today they reaped what they sowed." I had no idea if any of the girls I'd attacked had actually beaten up any of Christina's people, but that wasn't the point. The Administration had let Rhaine's girls know that they wanted Christina's people intimidated and suppressed. Not being schooled in the application of force, things had escalated when Christina's people had not backed down. The Chancellor had let them think they were entitled and we'd just shown them they were not; they were going to be held accountable for what they did. Mrs. Cunningham released me and bent over the first moaning girl. Iona came up with a handful of phones. "What do we do with these?" she asked. "Give them to me," chuckled Rio. She took the phones, took out the memory cards, and chucked the phones up on the roof. In the end, Christina only used twenty of us to send eighty of Rhaine's people to the infirmary, and we accomplished it all in under five minutes. We brazenly arrived at breakfast, most of us making for the food line but Rio sprinting for the bathrooms to flush the evidence. Up with the teachers, things were in utter chaos. Gorman's walky-talky didn't seem to be working (thank you, Cordelia) so she grabbed the closest student and wrote them a message. She handed it to the girl (a freshman) who promptly read it, then ate it right in front of the coach. Coach sat that girl down, grabbed a second girl. This one took the message and ran straight to the bathroom and flushed it. Around Chancellor Bazz a storm was boiling over. Several teachers had witnessed the violence and wanted something done about it before one of them was drug into the matter by means of a physical confrontation. They were demanding the attacking students to be rounded up immediately. Several teachers, led by Doctor Larson, were begging, pleading, and demanding that the Chancellor call it quits with this whole suppression scheme. Bazz refused to budge, ordering Gorman to round everyone up and hold them in the parking lot. Gorman was trapped. "That's insane," Dana snapped. "What am I going to round them up with, students? We've seen how well that's worked. I don't have enough security guards to peacefully bring them in and my only alternative is to bring in the Sheriff's Department and use force, and I'm not going to do that." "You will if I tell you to," the Chancellor threatened. Dana threw her hands up in the air and backed away. She paced for about a minute, long enough for us to get our food and take our seats, which were all in one section of the Dining Hall due to some 'screw up' (read: Cordelia) in their seating assignment. There appeared to be around three hundred of us now and morale was high. I caught sight of Gorman angling toward Christina and starting to talk. Christina signaled for her to stop but only long enough to summon three people to her, one being me. Temperance, the senior, was one of them, and the third was a girl I'd only known by her photograph. She was Hannah Cartwright, the Sophomore Class President. "I'm asking for a cease-fire," Dana reiterated. "The fighting ends on both sides, strict discipline will be enforced for any and all infractions, and there will be no administrative actions for what has happened over the past forty-eight hours." "We want our phones, tablets, and laptops back, plus the ability to use them," Temperance stated. "All expulsions are to be cancelled and the procedure to bring Heaven back is to begin immediately," I continued. Dana nodded to both addendums. "I want my security system back," Dana countered. "We will start looking for it as soon as this deal goes through," Christina agreed. "That is the best I can hope for," Dana sighed. She stuck out her hand to Christina, who stood and shook it. "Deal?" Christina looked around to get our consensus. "Deal," Christina echoed. I wanted to sit back and savor our partial victory but Christina was tense and nervous and that infected us all. When Dana got back to the Chancellor, she made her case. Doctor Bazz glared at her for a moment but the words that followed, while spoken in a low voice, reverberated throughout the hall. "That's idiotic; we will not negotiate with these children. Your incompetence has led us to this point, Ms. Gorman; you are fired." Several teachers immediately protested but Dana simply put down her walky-talky, turned, and strolled out of the room. Doctor Bazz cancelled classes for the day and confined everyone to their dorm rooms and dorm floors until the situation was resolved. Christina told us to ignore the travel restrictions but to keep in groups and avoid confronting security. When we were ordered from the hall, I noticed everyone was traveling in groups now, even the teachers. Things had become totally crazy. As Valerie, Rio, Iona and I returned to our dorm, we ran across Alice coming back from the nurse's office. When she saw us, she looked hurt and a bit afraid, but she showed enough courage to confront me. "Why did you hit me?" she demanded. "I did nothing to deserve that." "Alice, you were sent to spy on me, or did you search every dorm room as thoroughly as you searched mine?" I shot back. "I was told to do that when I accepted the position of Dorm Mother," she replied. "Did it occur to you that I might resent being singled out for persecution and, if given a chance, I'd strike back?" I explained. "If not, it should have, especially after yesterday." "I had nothing to do with what happened to those other girls," she shook her head. "Listen, you stupid cunt," Rio snapped. "You got orders from the same person who sent those girls to hurt our friends." "When you chose to take Barbie Lynn's place, you placed yourself side by side with those mean girls, Alice," Iona added. "You chose to be a soldier in their army. Soldiers get shot, even if they don't get involved in shooting at the enemy themselves." "It is time for you to go," Valerie told Alice. Alice stayed in the hallway as the rest of us walked away. By the time we made it to my door, Pandora, Paige, Brandi, and Opal had joined us. "Cordelia wants your hook-up activated once more," Pandora informed me. She had a bruised right eye and a bandage above the eyebrow. "She figures any minute now, the Chancellor will shut down our regular internet lines." "Sure thing," I agreed. "I'll get the hot oil and work Valerie over after that tough fight she was in," Rio volunteered. "Boundaries," Valerie cautioned my buddy. "Besides, if anyone works over this body, it will be Zane." Rio chortled and I gave the tall biker-chick a skeptical look. "Just kidding," she laughed, "though we both could probably use some stress relief." That train of thought was interrupted by a fresh group of freshmen entering the area. I went over to one of the glass panels that gave me a view over the campus. Small groups of students were violating the curfew, and here and there a lone campus security guard gave chase but it was an uneven struggle. Students could run inside a dorm and vanish, and Campus Security didn't have the resources to search every dorm room. The pair that came up the stairs thirty minutes later was a real stunner. It was Barbie Lynn with her knee wrapped up, being supported by, Dana Gorman. Dana also had a backpack that clinked very time she moved. "Look what I found sneaking across campus," Gorman snorted. No one said anything; she was the Evil Henchman, after all. "Thanks, Dana," I said, as I took Barbie off her hands, "take a seat and relax for a while. What brings you to my room, anyway?" Barbie looked terribly concerned by this turn of events. "My cable is dead, no internet or TV, and I don't have access to the few remaining security systems, so I figured if anyone had access to the outside world, it would be you," Dana related. "What do you need?" I continued. "I'd like to watch some international soccer," she told me. I looked toward Paige, who shrugged, then nodded. Dana took a spot on the closest sofa to a TV and sat down. She unzipped her backpack and pulled out a beer. Rio homed in on that and jumped over the sofa beside Dana. "What do you think you are doing?" Dana asked Rio as my friend put her hand into the satchel. "Getting a beer; I figure we are all rebels here," Rio smirked. "No, you are a rebel; I'm unemployed, and I don't want to add a criminal conviction for giving alcohol to a minor to my list of accomplishments," Dana explained. "Come with me," Valerie commanded, as she scooped up Rio's arm and headed away. "Let's play some pool." "Oh!" Rio bubbled, "Are you going to use your big hard stick on me?" "Yes; it is called caning," Valerie retorted. Barbie Lynn, Iona, & Zane Iona was looking lost with everyone seemingly going in different directions, so I took her by the hand and, with Barbie Lynn, retired to my bedroom. "I love you two," I sighed as the stress slowly started to recede. Barbie Lynn pulled close to my side and when I looked at her, we kissed. Iona pressed into my front and rested her head on my chest. Our lips parted and I looked to Iona, who was giving me a wide-eyed smile. We kissed for some time until Barbie Lynn began massaging my rod through my pants. I returned to Barbie until Iona hugged me tight, resulting in me going back and forth for a while. "Let's go to bed," Iona suddenly spoke up. Barbie Lynn chuckled at the smaller girl's assertiveness while I marveled at how far she'd come from the scared girl who had grabbed my arm only a few weeks earlier. I sat Barbie Lynn down on the edge of the bed and worked off her skirt first. I stopped Iona from doing the same, preferring to undress her next. I alternated taking off items of clothing until they were finally naked on the bed, side by side before me. "Well, Zane," Barbie Lynn began, sliding one leg up until the heel was touching her thigh. "What are you waiting for," Iona finished, mimicking Barbie's movements. "I would like to express right now how much I've missed the both of you," I swore to them. "Less talk; more action," Barbie Lynn instructed. I began stripping as fast as I could and the girls crawled underneath the covers. Iona was on her back, propped up on her elbows as I finished shedding my clothes. Barbie Lynn surprised her by rolling onto her side and taking a nipple into her mouth, causing Iona to give a startled squeak. Iona had not expected to be the center of our attention, that was normally Barbie Lynn's role, so she couldn't mount an effective defense against our combined affections. We each feasted on a nipple, taking the occasional stop to kiss Iona deeply, or one another, with Iona's breasts rubbing against our cheeks. Both our hands made our way to Iona's honey box, pulled her reluctant legs apart, and began rubbing all over her pubic area. We pushed fingers almost a knuckle deep into her super-tight virgin cunt. Barbie and I spread her juices around, making the whole pubic mound slick and fluid. We even put our fingers on opposite sides of her clit and rolled them back and forth, sending her over the edge. "Jesus," she panted. "Oh, thank you, thank you, oh, thank you," she gasped. "This feels so good, Yes!" she cried out. At this point, I was thinking about letting Iona go but Barbie Lynn kept flicking her clit and probing her cunt while sucking in and twirling her breast. I added a finger to the mix and kissed Iona, who desperately tried to suck my tongue out of my mouth, ouch! At the same time, Iona's back arched off the bed again and again, her thighs trembled, and she clutched at the headboard so hard it shook. At the point I feared Iona's heart would explode, I pushed Barbie Lynn's hand away and she looked up with her lips slick with the saliva generated by sucking on Iona's tits. "She is the best friend I've made all year," Barbie Lynn confided in me. "Better than me?" I questioned. "Honey," she drawled, "I think we can agree you're a tad more than a friend." "What am I, then," I teased; "pen pal, cyber-fan, bosom buddy?" "I think bosom buddy, she grinned as she squeezed her magnificent orbs together, ", is closer to what I'm aiming for." "My cunt is still quivering," Iona mumbled in a tiny voice. "Did I lose my virginity?" "No, Baby," Barbie Lynn cooed to her, "You had a really good one is all. That is what an orgasm is supposed to feel like. That is what Zane does to me every time." Huh? I do? "Oh," Iona sighed dreamily, "I like that. Isn't it your turn now?" "It certainly is, and Zane knows what I want, don't you," she winked. "I'll get it," I feigned annoyance, "but I'm still going to take my time with you. I'm not rushing into anything." "I like the way you think," Barbie Lynn purred. She laid out on the bed, her beautiful breasts spreading out and her hair cascading over the pillows she rested on. It hurt to move away from the sight of her. I got a small tube of lube, crawled over to her, and wedged the tube to the small of her back. Letting her body warm it up would make the sensation more pleasurable. "Whoa, that's cold," she gasped and wiggled. "Let me warm you up, then," I grinned. I moved underneath the sheets and then between her legs. "Hello," she said demurely, my body poised over hers, our faces nose to nose. She rested her elbows on my shoulders with her arms up. "This feels good, Zane, feels right." Her thighs pressed against mine and my cock rested on her pubic mound. I moved my face down and stole a quick kiss. Barbie followed suit and soon we were lip-locked. In time we were trading kisses on the neck and earlobes, our heads playfully moving back and forth. When I reached the top of her breastbone, Barbie Lynn flinched; she'd tried to loop her bum knee over my leg and the pain had been a sharp reminder of her limitations. I lowered myself and took a nipple into my lips and tickled it with my tongue. "Does that make it feel better?" I teased her. "Uh-huh," she purred, "now get back to it." I hardly felt inclined to deny her request and began alternating each nipple and breast. I let my lips and tongue go over every inch of her breast, especially along the base where a slight taste of sweat mixed with the scent of her body soap. "Zane, I want you in me," she pleaded with sultry passion. "But I want this," I responded, running my hand along her puffy cunt lips. "I promise we can do that later, you know how much I love your tongue, but I'm missing something else even more," she expressed her desire. I thought about the body dynamics of the situation and decided the best solution was to roll Barbie Lynn's hips on their side, lifting her left, uninjured leg to my shoulder. Retrieving the warm lube, I rubbed some liberally over her ass hole and two of my fingers, pushing the middle finger gently in first. Barbie Lynn flexed her body and moaned as the finger pressed into her. Soon she was rocking her hips and pushing down on my hand. "That still looks painful," Iona whispered as she moved in for a closer look. "The pleasure far exceeds the pain, Shugah." Barbie Lynn expressed what was about to come. I leaned/crawled over her hips, one hand still working Barbie's tits over while I kissed a nipple and tugged on it with my teeth. Barbie was letting her arm roam around when Iona intercepted it and put the blonde's fingertips to her mouth. Unbidden, Iona began sucking on those fingers and I could see that Barbie was torn between the eroticism of the act and the fact it was innocent little Iona who was doing it. Barbie Lynn used her free hand to push her succulent boob deeper into my mouth, not that there was any way I could get it all into my mouth. Iona went from finger to finger, spending extra time on the thumb. Barbie's chest began heaving from the excitement and took a jolt when I sunk my second finger into her rectum. "Are you okay?" Iona worried. "Yes, yes, yes," Barbie Lynn exulted happily, "and it's going to get better real soon." I decided to move two fingers along her sopping wet slit and let my thumb depress her clit and rub it around. "Aha, ah, oh, yeah," she panted as my hands began working in tandem. I could tell Barbie Lynn was fighting a losing battle against her orgasm and I wasn't in a mood to make things easy. I rammed my two fingers deep into her ass while biting her nipple and strumming her clit as fast as I could. "Lord Jesus loves Me!!!!" she went off. "Gah! Yeah, yeah, oh, ugh, baby, Yes!" Barbie Lynn went on and on with increasing volume. Her cunt dripped all over my fingers, slick and sensual to my touch. I brought those fingers to my lips, going back for a second taste while her body still shook from her climax. "Don't mind us," Rio announced as she strolled into my room, pulling a reluctant Mercy behind her. "My bitch is here and I'm going to bite a chunk off." "Hi, Mercy," Iona waved. Mercy shot her an embarrassed smile. Rio led her to the far side of the bed. I was a bit concerned that too many people were coming into my room but I couldn't look everywhere and pay attention to Barbie Lynn and Iona too. I took up the lube and coated my cock. Before I could spread it out evenly, Iona reached down and did the job for me, even sharing a shy smile with me as she did so. She even helped me lodge it against Barbie Lynn's anus. Iona felt the tension along my cock until Barbie's sphincter gave way and let me in, then she moved her hand away. "Wow," she whispered, even as Barbie Lynn sighed in satisfaction. As a counterpoint, we heard "On your knees, Slut-Bunny," Rio barked to Mercy. She pushed Mercy forward face-first on the bed, flipped up her skirt, and took a bite out of her ass. Mercy yelped and buried her face in the sheets. Sometimes Rio could be sane, but totally nuts was her default setting. I measured the tremors in her body as I gently pressed my body onto Barbie Lynn's hips, deepening the penetration of my cock into her back passage. "Oh, God, Zane," she moaned. "This never gets old, filling me up like you do." I slapped her meaty ass cheek hard enough to leave an angry red handprint. Barbie gave a deep intake of breath that became a squeal of joy. Mercy grunted as Rio yanked her panties off her ass and down her legs. "Crawl over there and give Barbie Lynn a kiss," Rio demanded. Mercy gulped and hesitated to respond so Rio hauled off and smacked her ass hard enough for people outside the room to hear. Mercy's eyes grew wide, her mouth gaped open, and her cheeks flushed, then she smiled. She made her way slowly across the bed, clearly enticing Rio to spank her several more times. Mercy first brought Barbie Lynn's gaze over toward her by tipping her chin with one careful hand. The first kiss was tentative and tender. SMACK! "Kiss her like you want to be kissed, you whore!" Rio taunted Mercy. As she spanked her with one hand, she drove two fingers into Mercy's cunt with the other. I had to assume that Mercy was already pretty wet because instead of pulling away from the penetration, Mercy leaned forward on her elbows while thrusting her hips back against Rio's intrusion. While I was being sensitive to the slow burn Barbie Lynn was going through, Rio drove her hand rapidly like a maniac. It was a good thing that Mercy liked it rough, but then she chose to be with Rio as much as Rio chose to pick on her. At the opposite side of the expression spectrum, Iona curled up against Barbie's other side and let her lips gracefully flit along the shoulder and arm. Mercy returned for another kiss at the same time I reached my full expansion inside of Barbie Lynn. "Oh, my," Barbie gasped. I waited as she adjusted internally while Mercy kissed her with a lot more passion and intensity. That didn't stop Rio from administering a few more sharp smacks to Mercy's bottom, compelling Mercy to rumble with a hunger for more. Iona let her lips migrate from arm to hip, and leading up Barbie Lynn's hip to my stomach. "Reach a hand back here and take over, you slut," Rio told Mercy. When Mercy made the maneuver, Rio began stripping down. Unlike this weekend, she had only her two labia piercings in, though she still had her tattoo along the hip. She gave me both raised eyebrows to go along with her insane grin as the clothes finished coming off. I partially withdrew my member from Barbie Lynn, eliciting a moan. Iona settled up against me, resting her hands on my chest and hip. I kept a grip on Barbie's hip and slipped a hand around Iona's hip and buttocks, rubbed it along her anus, ending at her cunt. "Ugh," Iona grunted, as I stroked her kitty and sunk a finger inside. The group of us got into a rhythm once Rio knelt behind Mercy and began lapping up her cunt and squeezing her ass. By the way Barbie Lynn was pushing and rotating her hips, grabbing the sheets in tight fists and moaning between her kisses with Mercy, she was approaching her second orgasm. "Zane, Jesus Christ, Zane, oh, God, Baby, ah, aha, Yes!" she screamed. Her ass muscles gripped, twisted, and squeezed my cock so hard, it took all my concentration to not shoot off into her rectum. Barbie Lynn kept pulsing and rocking over the sheets as waves of intense pleasure crested and slowly worked its way through her system. Iona and I started seriously kissing as she stood on her knees beside me. "I want to try something," I told her. "He wants to try something?" I heard Valerie's voice talking to an unseen party. "Somehow the current five-way isn't enough for him." There was a snort in agreement of that. I pumped Barbie Lynn four times in quick succession, then leaned back until my cock was at the very edge of leaving her ass. My torso pivoted, I slipped my arms between Iona's legs and pulled her up by her buttocks and to me. "What?" she gasped. As Iona rose up and I twisted back to a face-forward position, I licked and tongue-tickled my way from her chest, to her stomach, and finally to her pubic hair. "Ah, oh, okay," Iona exhaled with pleasure. She put her hands on my shoulders, moved higher, and moved her legs over my arms and rested them on my shoulders. I still had to hold tight to her ass and raise her to the point I could get my mouth fully on her clit and moist lips. "Oh, damn," Rio giggled, "Zane's making me pull out my toys." SMACK! "Mercy, you behave." Rio moved off the bed, stopped, and said, "You had better not remember where I'm getting these from," to another person. "I wouldn't think of it," Dana Gorman allowed. Clearly my surprise showed in my body because she spoke again. "I wanted to see what all my girls were giggling and whispering about in the showers. I put it down to standard virgin girl hysteria. Now, " "I half expect some porn director to say 'Cut, print' at any second," Valerie added. I really didn't need my sex life critiqued at this moment. I was balancing one girl on my face, licking her silly, while pounding Barbie Lynn's ass. Seriously, can't a man have a simple three-way with two college girls in his room in peace? I was soon too overwhelmed by the price of my sexual ambition to worry about that question. I drank deep of Iona's nectar, licking along the folds from top to bottom while letting my upper lip press against her throbbing clit. She took one hand from my shoulder, wrapped it up in my hair, and cautiously pushed my face deeper into her cunt. "Oh, God, Zane, ah, yes, yes, yes," she panted. "That's it, right there, Ah!" Iona began riding my face with greater and greater vigor. Barbie Lynn gyrated against my crotch. I heard a vibrator cut on and Mercy groaned as Rio did something to her. I suspected that was moving her off Barbie because Barbie began using greater force against me. I began to feel a tightness building up in my guts as my blood pounded from the exertions I was putting myself through. "Come here, Mercy," Rio coaxed, "On your back, my little slut, and spread those legs." I wished I could see what she was up to because soon Mercy was moaning and gurgling all over the place. "Please, Rio," Mercy pleaded, "please, " "Do you like that?" Rio teased. "Wiggle that ass for me, then, Baby." "Ah, oh, Rio, I love you," Mercy moaned. Smack! "None of that, you skank," Rio snapped. "You are my toy, nothing more." "Yes," sobbed Mercy. "Good girl," Rio responded. Mercy gave off a hiccup, then a gasp of pleasure. "You know you are my tight-ass whore; right?" Her victim lurched and moaned several more times. "Yes, yes, I understand," Mercy gasped. "I'm yours, whenever, you want." SMACK! "Good girl. Now shake that ass, Bitch," Rio continued. Mercy began making choking, sobbing sounds. "Don't you dare cum until you get me off. Work that tongue like you mean it." I could now visualize Rio and Mercy in a sixty-nine, Rio on top, with a dildo up Mercy's ass. While figuring that out, I almost missed Iona starting to spasm on my face. I could feel her cunt contracting on my tongue. One hand was yanking and releasing my hair while the fingernails on the other dug into my shoulder. I moved my tongue and latched onto her clit with my lips and sucked on it for all I was worth. "Ah, oh, oh, oh, Zane!" Iona screamed. Her fluids dripped over my nose, into my mouth, and down my chin, but that wasn't my problem. My problem was that Iona's body was convulsing, bending her backward toward the head of the bed and me forward into Barbie Lynn. Of course, if I couldn't stop Iona's progress, she'd topple onto Barbie Lynn too. "Oh, God fuck damn!" Barbie exploded as I rammed my full length into her inadvertently. "Jesus, love, which was cut off by her orgasm taking over. Her anal muscles constricted and that was it for me. Hot semen shot down Barbie's gut, causing her to scream even louder. My whole body was trembling from my ejaculation, plus the strain the two women were putting on me. Somehow I hung on long enough for Iona to reach behind her, catching the headboard, while Barbie Lynn extended her arms up to brace Iona from tumbling over. "Fuck, yeah, that's what I'm talking about," Rio laughed. "Mercy, you can come now." "Uh, uh, thank, oh, God," Mercy gasped out. "Rio, umm, ugh," she choked out before she buried her face into Rio's cunt and muffled further expressions of ecstasy. "Gurr," Rio growled, before burying her face into the top of Mercy's thigh. I figured by Mercy's thrashing that Rio took a bit of a nip out of her playmate's flesh. In a shuddering heap of sweaty flesh, Iona, Barbie Lynn, and I flopped onto the bed without anyone being crushed. They lay there while I remained on my knees. "Damn," Valerie chuckled, "I feel like a virgin all over again." "Hell, I need to take a shower and I just sat here," Gorman agreed. I moved between Barbie Lynn and Iona. "Fuck, he's still hard." "Zane's like that," Barbie Lynn laughed between gasps of breath. "He's always hard after the first round, God bless his soul." Iona snuggled into me, kissing my chest between gulps of air. "It's only been thirty minutes," Iona sighed. "We'll let him recharge a little bit before going at him again." "Yes, my ass hurts," Barbie Lynn added. "I won't be ready for, say an hour." Rio dismounted Mercy and rolled next to Barbie Lynn. "Mercy, get up here and kiss me, damn it," Rio breathed huskily. Mercy staggered around on all fours and crawled up Rio's body until she straddled her. A dreamy smile on her face, Mercy went to kiss Rio on the lips but Rio stopped her. "No, you don't, you cunt," Rio chastised her. "Here," she indicated her chin. Mercy kissed it. Rio then led Mercy on a slow quest over her nose, cheeks, earlobe, and finally the lips. Rio grabbed Mercy's hips and pulled the older girl down on top of her. "Okay, I have to ask; how did Rio end up in bed with Mercy? Mercy is one of my better martial artists and Rio is, well, Rio, kind of an annoying little twerp," Gorman wondered. "I won her playing bingo," was Rio's smarmy comeback. "They developed a relationship when you put her in our path," I was a bit more honest. "Mercy discovered something about herself and someone in Rio who could satisfy her needs." To emphasize the point, Rio spanked Mercy's ass hard and the girl humped Rio in response. "So, besides Cappadocia, are there any of my other girls you, have a relationship with?" Dana inquired. She even leaned forward on the chair she was sitting on. "What makes you think Cappy and I have a thing?" I asked. "On Monday," Dana rolled her eyes at my naivet , "she hated you and on Wednesday, she couldn't keep her eyes off of you and couldn't drive the other teammates out of the gym for your, private lesson. Just because I'm over thirty doesn't mean I'm soft in the head." "That's not fair, Coach," Rio smiled past Mercy. "We never thought you were bright." Before I could say or do anything, Barbie Lynn elbowed her. "Ow!" Rio snickered. "Why are you hitting me?" "I owe you. You said a bad thing, and Zane says never fight yesterday's battles. Now that the Coach is no longer the bad girl, we don't pick on her," Barbie Lynn explained. "But I'm always annoying," Rio countered. "Why is this time special?" "Rio, don't you think Zane deserves a break? He's always throwing himself onto the train tracks for you and you give him shit for it," Barbie Lynn sounded a bit cross. "After all, you wouldn't have Mercy if you'd had your way. Zane was right about you being good for the rest of us to know, and he was right about saving Mercy. I trust him about Coach because I trust you too." "Trust, smust, I'll keep my spank-o-matic," Rio grimaced. She clearly got Barbie Lynn's point but admitting it at the moment wasn't in her. "So, does anyone want to give Mercy a hard spanking? If not, I'm going to get my big strap-on and ream her ass until she is so hoarse, she can't scream anymore." "Don't you think you two need to grow together before using the 'OMG' model?" I warned her. That thing would tear Mercy's unprepared ass to shreds. I reached over Barbie Lynn and spanked Mercy four times, two to each ass cheek. She yelped and jolted with each contact, and while tears welled in her eyes, she couldn't have been happier. "I'm getting my favorite strap-on, then," Rio wiggled from under Mercy. "Hold her back," Valerie joked. "She's lost her mind." Mercy buried her face in the bed, shook her head, and raised her ass up in the air. "Fine, if it's the Spas-monkey you want, so be it." "Have some of this," Barbie Lynn fished out the lubricant and handed it to Mercy. "I don't know how patient Rio is going to be when she gets back." Rio, who was only a few feet away getting out and attaching her strap-on, stuck out her tongue at Valerie and Barbie. "Spas-monkey? I prefer Vibrator-Bunny, or didn't you two get my tweet?" "How about Vibrating Spas?" Iona suggested. Rio howled and charged the bed. "That's it," she giggled, "that tight little virgin ass-hole is mine!" Iona squawked and buried herself under my side. "That's my virgin ass to nurture and enjoy, bro, not yours," I taunted Rio as I reached around and put a comforting arm around Iona. I wasn't sure how Iona would take that. Her kisses to my ribs ended those worries. "I'll nipple twist you for her," Rio grinned. Belying her threat, she was lining up behind Mercy while Mercy was rubbing lube all along her ass cleft and anus. "I never considered the benefits of anal sex in a school full of virgin school girls," Valerie mused. "Oral sex, I expected, but not anal." "Somehow, when the Founders created the Purity Pledge, I suspect they were forbidding all kinds of intercourse, but they never counted on Zane," Dana stated. "Rio, I'm not going to take you on in a contest you love and I hate," I smiled. "How about a shoot-off? I'll spot you two orgasms." "Four," Rio hissed. She'd spread the oil over her dildo and was slowly pushing it into the ass of Mercy. Mercy had her face still buried in the sheets, her fists balled up and her hips pushing back. "Uh, uh, uh," Mercy groaned, as Rio penetrated with short jabs. She rested her hands on Mercy's shoulder and neck. "Okay, now I'm grateful I sleep on my back," Valerie commented. "I promised Zane I wouldn't break her, but if I felt that poking my hiney, I'd stick it somewhere she'd not soon forget." "Do the world a favor and stick it in her mouth," Dana smirked. "Hardy, har-har," Rio chuckled. She reached down beside Mercy, retrieved her vibrator, and began rubbing it along that girl's cunt slit and clit. Barbie Lynn reached for my cock and began stroking it, rubbing it along her ass and between her cheeks. "I need another beer," Dana sighed. "All this is doing is reminding me that plastic doesn't really get the job done." "Get me a Coke and I'll get the popcorn," Valerie said. "After all, I have an open invitation to join whenever I want." I had to wonder when that had happened, then I remembered Rio and her big mouth. Iona had settled in on her side, head propped up on her elbow, as she watched me push into Barbie Lynn once more. I had my hands on her hip and thigh, pushing in with more force this time around. "Feels, so, good," Barbie Lynn sighed, as my cock filled up her rectum. "Make me feel good, Daddy." I lifted up her left leg, then gingerly took her wounded leg and raised it to my shoulder as well. As I felt the deep reaches of her bowels envelop me, Barbie Lynn arched her back and let out a sob of joy. "Oh, that's what I need," she moaned, "That's what I've missed." Unlike our first round, this time we were raw with our hunger for one another. I kneaded her breasts, teasing and pulling the nipples from time to time. Her body was folded up so that our faces were close enough for me to lock onto those gorgeous bedroom blue eyes. Barbie licked her lips and blew kisses at me. I was so into Barbie sensually that I almost missed Mercy going off next to us. "Oh God, oh fuck, oh God!" she verbally exploded. "Please!!!" Rio kept up the slap, slap, slap of her thighs against Mercy's ass. "Don't you give up on me, Bitch," Rio taunted her. She grabbed a handful of Mercy's hair and pulled her shoulder up off the bed until she was balancing on her hands and knees. Rio shot a look my way and mouthed 'I love you' as she kept working Mercy over into one cascading orgasm after another. I was pounding deep into Barbie Lynn's tight orifice, Rio was happy, and Iona was giving me a dreamy, contented look. Life could hardly be better. "Zane, we need to, Oh, My God!" Virginia Goodswell cried out in a shocked voice. "Here, have my seat, Virginia," Gorman grinned. "You look like you are about to fall over." I hadn't even heard Dana or Valerie return. "Zane, what are you doing?" Virginia questioned. "I'm a little busy," I ground out. Fucking was hard, attention intensive, and pleasurable work. "Virginia, he's having anal intercourse with Barbie Lynn Masters," Dana chuckled. "I thought that would have been obvious. Rio Talon is using a strap-on and a dildo on Mercy Chaplain, and Iona, having been touched and licked to two orgasms, is sitting this round out." "I can see that and, Dana, what are you doing here?" Virginia, my Spiritual Advisor, asked. "I'm unemployed so they aren't my students anymore," Dana snorted. "Also, Zane's got one of the few illegal internet hook-up plus satellite TV. My apartment is a tomb, comparatively." "This was the farthest thing from my mind when I learned my Dad was sending me to an All-Girl Christian University," Valerie added. "It is the skirts," Rio giggled. "Zane can't keep his hands off the skirts." "In my experience, Zane has the pathological desire to worship the female form," Iona joined in. "Listen, I knew Zane was having, relationships, but coming in and finding him in bed with four women, girls, students is a bit much to wrap my mind around," Virginia related. "My sex life has been a bit vanilla." "I prefer to think of mine as disappointing," Dana confessed. "All my boyfriends have lived under threat of dismemberment, so I've had it pretty safe too," Valerie stated. "Threat of dismemberment?" Virginia stammered. "She's a member of a major criminal biker organization in the Rockies," Dana informed her. "We are a motorcycle club," Valerie defended her family. "I'm having sex here," I growled. "If you don't mind, " "We are good, Zane," Valerie replied. "Don't worry about us, and Barbie needs you." "Gee, thanks," I grumbled, but she was right; Barbie Lynn needed my attention. "Ms. Palmer, every one of your known associates, except your baby sister, has a criminal record," Dana said. "I've never been convicted of anything," Val countered, "and Mom got off on a bad search." Mercy cried out as Rio shifted to sharp powerful jabs with her artificial cock. "I've got a record," Rio crowed proudly. "That only means you were sloppy enough to get caught," Valerie pointed out. "It wasn't my fault; I ran out of road while driving a stolen Porsche," Rio told us. "You stole a Porsche?" Valerie asked. "How do you run out of road in an expensive, high-performance sports car?" Virginia wondered. "Yes, take that, Mercy, you bitch," slap, slap, "I stole a Porsche and I ran out of road when I cruised into another car showroom on the far side of town. Who knew that those dumb sons-of-bitches didn't put a back way out that place?" "Rio, why did you steal something that didn't belong to you in the first place?" Iona begged to know. "Blame drugs, teenage hormones, or the fact that it was a school night, I hadn't studied for a test the next day, and this sounded like the best way of not having to take it," Rio suggested. I would have told them that was Rio-speak for 'I have no idea' except I'd finally stretched Barbie Lynn's hamstrings to the point we had our tongues entwined, mouths pressed, and teeth nibbling on each other's lips like famished lovers. I could feel her anal spasm vibrating up through her body and her lungs fighting for air. She was getting close and I thought it was going to be a big one. "That would be an exhibition of low impulse control," Dana chided Rio. "I think it shows poor life choices," Virginia stated. "I think it shows she's fucking nuts," Valerie declared. "Fine, whatever, but I'm one of the two people fucking a sweet piece of ass while you dykes are sitting on the sidelines," Rio taunted them. "You are my students," Virginia began, "I don't, She was interrupted by Barbie Lynn. "Ugh, Oh, Lord Jesus, Zane," she gasped then, "Ai!" she screamed so loud I was afraid my brain would explode. She kept trying to buck me off and thrash about so violently that I was afraid she'd hurt herself, or me. I rode that wave for almost a minute before Barbie Lynn made one final strenuous effort, then went limp in my arms. I gently shifted her legs down my sides to rest on the bed. I remained propped over her until her eyes focused on me and an ephemeral smile graced her lips. "Umm, sleepy," she purred. "Okay, Babe," I said, then kissed her nose. Her eyes closed and her breathing became low and regular. "Okay,&quo

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The Key to Successful First Descents with Christina Lustenberger and Guillaume Pierrel

The Duffel Shuffle Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2025 106:07

Together, Christina "Lusti" Lustenberger and Guillaume "Gee" Pierrel have teamed up for some of the most notable and impressive first descents in recent years. Lusti is an Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) Ski Guide and professional skier. A career that started with alpine ski racing took Lusti all the way to the Olympics, but more than five knee surgeries later, a career pivot has taken her to ski some of the most impressive and challenging lines around the world. Gee, a french IFMGA Mountain Guide, got his start on skis through Nordic racing, but a love for the outdoors and the mountains brought him full circle. He too made a career pivot in his 20's, and what started out as ski instruction eventually led him to guide certification. Lusti and Gee join Sam and Adrian to talk about the partnership they've developed and the keys to their success in the mountains:- With their first big mountain experiences on New Zealand's Mt. Cook in October 2024, Lusti and Gee recount their first descent on the mountain. - Following their success in New Zealand, Lusti invited Gee to join her on a more-than-a-decades long project on Canada's Mt. Robson. - With the ultimate partnership developed, and technical skills that complement each other nicely, Lusti and Gee have the ultimate potential to push forward the sport of Ski Mountaineering. Lusti and Gee's latest film, Robson, debuts at the Banff Mountain Film Festival on November 1. To learn more about Lusti and Gee, and follow their adventures, find them on Instagram @christinalusti and @geepierrel.Follow our podcast on Instagram @duffelshufflepodcast where you can learn more about us and our guests. Visit our website at www.duffelshufflepodcast.com and join our mailing list. The Duffel Shuffle Podcast is supported by Alpenglow Expeditions, an internationally renowned mountain guide service based in Lake Tahoe, California. Visit www.alpenglowexpeditions.com or follow @alpenglowexpeditions on Instagram to learn more.

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Hour 3: World Cup Tickets Are Selling for $1 Million

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2025 36:15

Gee shares a positive take on the Mariners // World Cup tickets are selling for $1 million // AGREE TO DISAGREE: Forgetting your anniversary // WE HEAR YOU! and WORDS TO LIVE BY

Revolting 201

Revolting

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 19, 2025 68:12

Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. We express a lot of opinions on this show, and opinions are like smart phones. Everyone has one and they all destroy your brain. Even if we're right that Foo Fighters make terrible music, how do we hold real and genuine space in our […]

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Hour 1: Ursula Is Proud of Her TDS

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2025 36:18

URSULA'S TOP STORIES: The Mariners lose // WA AG wants a new law to notify of workplace immigration raids // The new sales tax on service // Ursula is proud of her Trump Derangement Syndrome // Gee responds to Ursula's TDS

Learning PODS and Social Emotional Learning: What Parents Need to Know

OZ Media

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2025 42:14

Send us a text The education game is changing—and parents at GEE are right at the center of the conversation. Are learning pods the answer to concerns about Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in public schools? What do parents really need to know before making a decision that could shape their child's future?In this episode, we break down the facts, the fears, and the faith-based alternatives that are driving education choices in our community.Our guests are: Shorouq Alhayek, Basma Illyan and Ali Sultan.What You'll Learn:How learning pods actually work—from setup and costs to who's really running them in MichiganWhat Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is all about—the real curriculum, the controversies, and why some parents are raising red flagsIslamic learning pods and co-ops—are they the future for Muslim families in Dearborn?Firsthand stories from local parents and educators navigating these tough decisionsPractical tips on questions to ask, legal requirements, and potential pitfallsHow mosques and Islamic centers are stepping up to provide community-driven education optionsWhy This Episode Matters:With so many parents in our community questioning public school policies and looking for values-aligned education, this episode gives you the honest, practical info you need—without the spin. Whether you're a parent, educator, or just concerned about the future of our kids, this conversation is for you.Jump into the comments:Share your story, ask your questions, and let's support each other as a community.Subscribe for more real talk on education, parenting, and the issues that matter to Muslim families.More resources and support at Ozmedia313.com#LearningPODS #SocialEmotionalLearning #MuslimParents #DearbornEducation #IslamicEducation #Homeschooling #EducationChoice #ParentRights #OZMedia #Michigan #MuslimCommunity #AlternativeEducation #PublicSchools #FaithBasedEducation #CommunityEducation

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Hour 3: Gee Thinks Bad Bunny Is a Terrible Pick for the SB Halftime

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2025 36:48

Blue Jays fan doesn't think her team has a prayer // The World Cup could cost you // Gee thinks Bad Bunny is a terrible pick for the SB halftime // AGREE TO DISAGREE: Is Kim Kardashian's new line of underwear in poor taste? // Whidbey Island business getting rid of pennies // WE HEAR YOU! and WORDS TO LIVE BY

Episode 69: Manga Mavericks Books

Read Right to Left

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 13, 2025 73:34

This month, we explore some of the debut releases from newest indie publisher on the block - Manga Mavericks Books! Alongside their partnership with Red String Translations, this collection of books has something for everyone. Join Gee and Ray as we explore these new releases.Follow Ray on her channel ⁠⁠⁠Whimsical Pictures⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠And if you can't get enough of me, Gee, be sure to follow me on my ⁠⁠⁠Youtube Channel⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Twitter

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S11E09 Going Bananas

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2025 56:01

Send us a textOkay, so here's the story: There's a night when an escaped zoo monkey gets zapped by an alien ship and then develops alien abilities. The only thing left to do is take up with a brother and sister and their grandmother. Oh, and throw in some flim flam men who are constantly trying to steal your monkey. Because that's how you comedy. Here now is the story of how this bananas show came to Saturday Morning. Where did this lost media show come from? Was it an overlooked hit that time forgot? Monkeys. Why did it have to be monkeys? All these questions, and more, will be answered in this look at GOING BANANAS! Thanks for ‘tooning in. Share With Us: SatMornPod@hotmail.comBluesky: @SatMornPodYouTube Us: tinyurl.com/yyhpwjeo (Don't waste your time) Featured Music:“Nostalgic Happy Music” by AudioJungle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtxSUR6MQhw&t=2s “Happy Life” by Fredji - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzQiRABVARk Various Music by Oneul - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by302C2YhxY “I Feel You” by Kevin MacLeod” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw8E3jjbUCE “Nostalgic” by OrangeHead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wExcRoNNzAc “Breakfast Club” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Spi22l3m5I “Horizons” by Atch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-u53MADIag “80's Hijack” by Gee - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndVqzJ9Lk6M&t=26s “Synthmania” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6r20TKnA6M “United” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArjGQFCcHxA “Cool Blue” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp5cxZWP-wc #ABC #NBC #CBS #The80s #80s #cartoons #cartoon #animation #SaturdayMorning #1980 #1981 #1982 #1983 #1984 #1985 #1986 #1987 #1988 #1989 #Filmation #HannaBarbera #DePatieFreleng #RubySpears #Disney #Superheroes

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Hour 1: Antifa Roundtable

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2025 34:58

URSULA'S TOP STORIES: The Mariners lose and it's all Gee's fault // Mayor Harrell's orders on federal agents in Seattle // Trump's antifa roundtable // GUEST: Sgt. (ret) Mark Satterfield, Gee Scott’s former military school resource officer // WOULD YOU RATHER?

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Hour 3: What Are You Most Concerned About?

concerned helvetica gee messagebody we hear you

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2025 36:23

What are you most concerned about? Gee responds to the top problems // AGREE TO DISAGREE: Illegal taco stands // WE HEAR YOU! and WORDS TO LIVE BY

Hour 2: Gee Agrees With MTG??

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Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2025 35:28

WH: federal workers aren't entitled to back pay // Gee agrees with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene? // HELL TO THE NO // SCENARIOS!

Hour 3: Women Are Leaving Their Kids, Partners and Jobs to Travel

Nobody's Listening Anyway

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2025 35:38

GUEST: Ashlynn Mejia, Gee & Ursula Show legal analyst on the government shutdown and upcoming SCOTUS cases // AGREE TO DISAGREE: Wha is fairness in media? // Women are leaving their kids, partners and jobs to travel and WORDS TO LIVE BY

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Sep 16: Jacks-Drake, Yotes' season-saving (?) win, Wentz takes over Vikings, Sanford International recap

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2025 73:28

NOTICE: This weekly show is now part of the "Happy Hour with John Gaskins" daily podcast, which you can find at SiouxFallsLive.com, MidwestSportsPlus.com, and most podcast platforms like the one you find here! So, if you enjoy the topics Matt & John cover, you'll get those topics, plus relevant local guests, every Monday through Thursday on Happy Hour... so we highly recommend you check that out! So far in this young football season, the Jackrabbits, Coyotes, and Vikings offenses — to varying degrees — continue to struggle to explode for big plays and satisfying full-game performances. At times, they implode. In the Yotes and Vikings cases, for full games.Gee, if only there was a local team to watch right now, in-person!, that has provided fireworks all season long, including a so-far spectacular postseason. Oh, wait, there is, and you don't even have to drive one to four hours to see them.The Sioux Falls Canaries — highest-scoring, most home run-hitting in their league by far — are three wins away from their first American Association championship in 17 years and only their second league title in the 33-year modern inception of the club. So far, they've averaged 10 runs in their five playoff wins, including victories of 7-2 and 11-2 in their two series-clinching win-or-go-home games, propelled by the Birds' best-ever player and league's all-time career home run king Jabari Henry's five total dingers in those two deciding games (three blasts to eliminate league leader Sioux City in the first round on the road, then a pair of homers including a grand slam and 8 RBI in The Birdcage to knock out Fargo-Moorhead). So, before Happy Hour host John Gaskins and Sioux Falls Live sports editor Matt Zimmer break down the bummer offenses — to varying degrees! — of this region's three most popular football teams, they celebrate the culmination of what has been a 15-year climb up a Mt. Everest of rocky obstacles for the Canaries — once the league's worst and near-lowest-budget squad — just to return to the league finals.Then, it's pick-apart time for 3-0 SDSU, 1-2 USD, and the 1-1 Vikings, their offenses, and their quarterbacks Chase Mason, Aidan Bouman, and J.J. McCarthy. How much of the team's struggles have been the field generals' faults, and where do we see things headed?Is it unfair for Jacks fans to be unsettled if not complaining about "only" 37 points and "only" a 16-point win over a non-scholarship team? Is it five-alarm fire time for USD after narrowly escaping Northern Colorado and an 0-3 start?What do we make of both the seven quarters of bumbling of young J.J. McCarthy (save from the amazing fourth quarter in Chicago, which counts for a lot) and the ankle injury that has sidelined him against Cincinnati, which gives journeyman and NDSU legend Carson Wentz his latest and maybe last-ever shot to return to his once-Pro Bowl form?John and Matt answer these questions, then toast the Sanford International and its latest winner Retief Goosen. Finally, rumination on why the once-massive Sunday crowds have fizzled a bit in the eight-year-old event that shares crown jewel status in Sioux Falls with the Summit League Tournament.

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Episode 1107 - The WNBA Can't Get Out of Their Own Way

Dumbasses Talking Politics

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2025 37:34

The WNBA can't seem to take the opportunity to be a legitimate sports league. Pope Leo is being wishy-washy when it comes to bad behavior. And Great Britain is running into a little problem they haven't had to deal with since the 6th century. Gee, I wonder what changed. Watch the video supplements to the podcast: https://rumble.com/user/DumbassesTalkingPolitics?e9s=src_v1_cmd Visit the Dumbasses Talking Politics web site for all show notes, videos, and links: https://rumble.com/user/DumbassesTalkingPolitics?e9s=src_v1_cmd Subscribe for free to Gene's Substack (Dumbasses Talking Politics): https://dumbassestalkingpolitics.substack.com/?utm_source=global-search

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Transformation with Trish K.

Organize 365 Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2025 49:18

In this episode, I introduce you to Trish K. who lives with her adult daughter and grandson. On long car drive home, Trish was listening to her older sister tell her about this thing called the Sunday Basket®. When Trish got home, she hopped on the website and got a Sunday Basket®. It just made sense to her, one place for all the paper and a system to process it? Sold! Trish enjoys the Sunday Basket®, the Productive Home Solution™, and the binders. But the biggest benefit she has gotten from Organize 365® was when she spoke outloud, her dream to walk the Camino Trail. Many years prior in night school another student shared she was taking 2 weeks to go walk the Camino Trail. Trish was in throws of active parenting and knew realistically she did not have 5 or even 2 weeks to go walk any portion of the trail. When Trish went through embrace and then attended the workshop with Rhonda afterwards, she remembered how to dream. And a long time dream resurfaced, walking the Camino Trail. She's not one to share dreams unless she's prepared to take steps towards it. But in the safe space with no friends or family, she confessed she dreamed to walk the Camino trail without intent to do something about it yet. She got so much positive feedback from everyone in the group that she decided to go for it! She trained for a couple of weeks before she told her family and friends what she was going to do. She walked the Camino Trail and documented it all through a blog. It was a spiritual journey that she suspected may break her emotionally but it didn't. She had a spiritual journey and learned a lot long the way, those 34 days and 500 miles. She got to walk through the country not buzz by in a car but really take in the beauty of Spain. She shared a few accounts with us in this interview. The blog started out just as a way to let “her community” know that she was ok and share updates. A common thread in Organize 365® is “What's next?” It's funny you complete one room in your house and it's so rewarding that you think “What's next?” And Trish has realized to do the same with dreaming. So what's next on the dream list for Trish? To write a book. She got such great feedback from her blog that she wasn't intending to do anything with. Now she's gonna write a book! She's dreaming now! It's no longer a mental barrier, she knows how to pursue a dream. She feels permission to think about what she wants, to use her resources on herself. She's bumped herself to the top of the list. Community, we agreed, is the other theme that runs deep in Organize 365®. The community where everyone is so supportive and inspiring. Trish first got to try out her idea in this non judgmental community that offered nothing but support to her. Her now friends. They cheered her on along her journey, read the blog, and commented. That community kept her going. Dreams flourish in community! When you are in community, people like Trish are an example of what is possible. And in community, you can lean on others' strengths. What you don't understand or see how to accomplish, someone in the group has been there, done that, and eager to help! This community is so eager to help we talked a little bit about the Disaster Relief Resources where we can help people in need and ask for things we need. No one needs to go through things alone! We are a community! Trish's advice is, “If you have internal messages questioning what you want to do come talk to someone in the Organize 365® community. Because they will give you the support and say ‘Do it!' ‘What do you need to do it?' What can I do to help you do it?' And to me, that's they same thing as ‘Gee, I have 18 boxes of paper or I have this whole house to organize.' It's all about starting…just starting. Get the Sunday Basket® and just start. And if that's too much, start listening to the podcast.” EPISODE RESOURCES: Trish's Blog: Listen and Bloom The Sunday Basket® The Paper Solution® The Productive Home Solution® Embrace - Self Guided Retreat Blitzes and Bootcamp Disaster Relief Resources Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

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S11 E12:The Work Is About Empowering, Not Doing: With Harry Hawkins

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2025 74:14

Dr. Gee welcomes Harry Hawkins back to the show again to discuss what it means to lead a cross-cultural organization that is focused on empowering the Black community. Harry Hawkins has moved into the President and CEO role of the non-profit Nehemiah, as Dr. Gee transitions into new endeavors. The two innovative leaders discuss what it is like serving the Black community in a predominantly white community. They have both had to navigate cross-cultural environments in their work. The discussion covers drawing out underserved groups, like Black women and young Black men. Hear Harry Hawkin's background story and how his experience formed the skills needed for his work with Nehemiah. Justified Anger: Courses - Black History for a New Day Course alexgee.com Support the Show: patreon.com/blacklikeme Join the Black Like Me Listener Community Facebook Group

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Hour 1: Gee Scott's Traffic Nightmare This Weekend

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Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2025 36:32

URSULA'S TOP STORIES: Luke Duecy live in Portland// Sully explains why traffic was so horrible this weekend // Root Sports shuts down // WE NEED TO TALK! Gee's interviewed JSN!

S11E08 Wolf Rock TV

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2025 68:00

Send us a textOkay, so here's the story: a rock and roll DJ is tasked with running a TV studio named after him. His young assistants are along for the ride, and they get into adventures of unspecified magnitude. Mainly because this show was [echo] LOST MEDIA! Here now is the story of how this wolf rockin' show came to Saturday Morning. Who was the Wolfman? What do we know about this show? Did I ever think I'd be able to cover this series? Hmmm… All these questions, and more, will be answered in this look at WOLF ROCK TV! Roll it!Thanks for ‘tooning in. Visit our friends at CHERRY BOMBS: THE UNDERAPPRECIATED MOVIES PODCAST. Find Dustin and Nik here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cherry-bombs-the-underappreciated-movies-podcast/id1490726384 Share With Us: SatMornPod@hotmail.comBluesky: @SatMornPodYouTube Us: tinyurl.com/yyhpwjeo (Don't waste your time) Featured Music:“Nostalgic Happy Music” by AudioJungle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtxSUR6MQhw&t=2s “Happy Life” by Fredji - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzQiRABVARk Various Music by Oneul - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by302C2YhxY “I Feel You” by Kevin MacLeod” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw8E3jjbUCE “Nostalgic” by OrangeHead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wExcRoNNzAc “Breakfast Club” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Spi22l3m5I “Horizons” by Atch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-u53MADIag “80's Hijack” by Gee - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndVqzJ9Lk6M&t=26s “Synthmania” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6r20TKnA6M “United” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArjGQFCcHxA “Cool Blue” by Vodovoz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp5cxZWP-wc #ABC #NBC #CBS #The80s #80s #cartoons #cartoon #animation #SaturdayMorning #1980 #1981 #1982 #1983 #1984 #1985 #1986 #1987 #1988 #1989 #Filmation #HannaBarbera #DePatieFreleng #RubySpears #Disney #WolfRockTV #WolfmanJack #music

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Episode 374 – Unstoppable Marketer with Gee Ranasinha

Unstoppable Mindset

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2025 75:08

Sit back and relax but pay attention to my conversation with Gee Ranasinha. Gee lives in the Northeast part of France. As he puts it, his marketing experience goes back to the “days of dial-up internet and AOL CDs”. During our conversation Gee tells us how he progressed from working with film, (do you know what that is?), to now working with the most advanced digital and other technological systems. He is the CEO of his own marketing company KEXINO. He talks a bit about what makes a good marketing firm and why some companies are more successful than others. He says, for example, that most companies do the same things as every other company. While labels and logos may be different, if you cover up the logos the messages and ways to provide them are the same. The successful firms have learned to distinguish themselves by being different in some manner. He practices what he preaches right down to the name of his company, KEXINO. He will tell us where the company name came from. You will see why I says he practices what he preaches. Gee gives us a great history of a lot of marketing efforts and initiatives. If you are at all involved with working to make yourself or your company successful marketing wise, then what Gee has to say will be especially relevant to you. This is one of those episodes that is worth hearing more than once. About the Guest: Gee has been in marketing since the days of dial-up internet and AOL CDs. Today, he's the CEO of KEXINO, a marketing agency and behavioral science practice for small to medium-sized businesses. Over the past 17 years KEXINO has helped over 400 startups and small businesses in around 20 countries grow awareness, reputation, trust - and sales. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute Of Marketing, Gee is also Visiting Professor at two business schools, teaching Marketing and Behavioral Science to final-year MBA students. Outside of work Gee loves to cook, listens to music on a ridiculously expensive hi-fi, and plays jazz piano very badly. Ways to connect with Gee: KEXINO website: https://kexino.com LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ranasinha YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Kexino Instagram: https://instagram.com/wearekexino TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@kexino Threads: https://www.threads.net/@wearekexino BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/kexino.com About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:16 Well and a gracious hello to you, wherever you may be, you are now listening to an episode of unstoppable mindset. I am your host, Mike or Michael. I don't really care which hingson and our guest today is Gee Ranasinha, who is a person who is very heavily involved in doing marketing and so on. Gee has been marketing for a long time, and reading his bio, he talks about being in marketing since the days of dial up and AOL and CDs. I remember the first time I tried to subscribe to AOL. It was a floppy disk. But anyway, that's okay. The bottom line is that does go back many, many years. That's when we had Rs 232 cables and modems. Now people probably don't mostly know what they are unless they're technically involved and they're all built into the technology that we use. But that's another history lesson for later. So Gee, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here. This should be a fun subject and thing to talk about. Gee Ranasinha ** 02:27 Well, thank you very much for inviting me, Michael, I do. I do appreciate it. Michael Hingson ** 02:31 Well, I'm looking forward to it and getting a chance to talk. And love to hear some of your your old stories about marketing, as well as the new ones, and of course, what lessons we learned from the old ones that helped in the new ones. And of course, I suspect there'll also be a lot of situations where we didn't learn the lessons that we should have, which is another story, right? Gee Ranasinha ** 02:50 Yeah, history does tend to repeat itself, unfortunately, and Michael Hingson ** 02:55 that usually happens because we don't pay attention to the lessons. Gee Ranasinha ** 02:59 Yeah, yeah, we, we, I think we think we know better. But I mean, it's, it's, it's funny, because, you know, if you look at other other industries, you know, if, if you want to be an architect, right, you would certainly look back to the works of, you know, Le Corbusier or Frank Lloyd Wright or Renzo Piano, or, you know, some of the great architects, and you would look back on their work, look how they did it. And you would, you know, turn back the the annals of history to to see what had gone before. But for some reason, in our industry, in marketing, we we don't think we can learn from the lessons that our erstwhile peers have had in the past, and we've so as a result, we tend to sort of rename things that have gone before, so that the newer generation of marketers will actually pay attention to them. So we give things new names. But actually, if you, if you scratch the surface and look a little bit deeper. It's actually nothing new at all. And I don't quite know why that is. I think people think that they know better than the people who've gone before them, because of the technology, because you know so much of the execution the promotion side of marketing is technology based. They I'm guessing that people don't see a relevance to what happened in the past because of the technology aspect being different, right? But what I contend is that the the essence. Of marketing is about understanding human behavior and their reactions to particular inputs, impulses, right? Um, in which case, we have plenty to learn from the people who've you know, who've walked in our in the walk this path before, and we should be a little bit, maybe a little bit more humble and open minded into accepting that we don't know everything, and we maybe don't even know what we don't know. Michael Hingson ** 05:36 I always remember back in what was it, 1982 or 1983 we had a situation here in the United States where somebody planted some poison in a bottle of Tylenol in a drug store. I remember that, yeah, and within a day, the president of the company came out and said, This is what we're going to do to deal with it, including taking all the bottles of all the pills off the shelves until we check them over and make sure everyone is clean and so on. And he got right out in front of it. And I've seen so many examples since of relatively similar kinds of crises, and nobody takes a step to take a firm stand about how we're going to handle it, which is really strange, because clearly what he did really should have taught us all a lesson. Tylenol hasn't gone away, the company hasn't gone away, and the lesson should be that there is relevance in getting out in front of it and having a plan. Now I don't know whether he or anyone really had a plan in case something happened. I've never heard that, but still whatever he got right out in front of it and addressed it. And I just really wish more marketing people, when there is a crisis, would do more of that to instill confidence in consumers. Gee Ranasinha ** 07:07 He did the right thing, right? He did, he did what you or I would have done, or we would like to think we would have done in this place, right? I, I'm, I'm guessing it was probably, not the favorite course of action, if this had been debated at board stroke shareholder level. But like I said, he he did what we all think we would have done in his place. He did the right thing. And I think that there are many instances today, more instances today than maybe in the past, where the actions of an individual they are. An individual has more freedom of expression in the past than they've had in the in the present, and they don't have to mind their P's and Q's as much. I mean, sure we know we're still talking about profit making organizations. You know, we're living in a pseudo capitalist, Neo liberal society. But surely we're still there still needs to be some kind of humanity at the end of this, right? You know, reputations take years, decades, sometimes, to build, and they can be knocked down very quickly, right, right? There's so I think some somebody, somebody, somebody a lot older and wiser than me, well, certainly wiser older. Said a brand's reputation was like a tree. It takes ages to grow, but can be knocked down very quickly, and there are plenty. You know, history is littered with examples of of organizations who haven't done the right thing. Speaker 1 ** 09:16 Well, the Yeah, go ahead. No, go ahead. Tell me Michael Hingson ** 09:20 the I observed this actually not too long ago, on a podcast, this whole discussion to someone, and they made an interesting point, which I think is probably relevant, which is, today we have a different environment, because we have social media. We have so many things, where communications go so quickly, and we we see so many people putting out information right or wrong, conspiracy or not, about anything and everything that comes up, that it causes people maybe to hesitate a little bit more to. Truly study what they want to say, because everyone's going to pick up on it. But at the same time, and I appreciate that at the same time, I think there are basic marketing principles. And as you point out, and as you're well aware, there is such a thing as human behavior, and while people want instant gratification, and they want to know right now what happened 20 minutes ago. The reality is we're not necessarily going to get that. The media doesn't help because they want to put everything out and get the story. But still, the reality is human nature is human nature, and ultimately, Truth will win out. And what we need to do is to really work more toward making sure that that happens. Gee Ranasinha ** 10:48 I, I actually don't agree with that. Okay, in in, you know, in the, in the with the greatest respect, firstly, I think, I think as a cop out to use social media, information channels, news cycles, that sort of thing, because, if anything, because of the pace of the news cycle and The, you know, the fire hose of social media today, me, we're in a better position to say what we mean and not regret it, because it's forgotten it 20 minutes. Yeah, so it works, it's, it's an argument for what we're talking about not, not against Michael Hingson ** 11:41 it, yeah. I agree. Yeah, go ahead, Gee Ranasinha ** 11:45 yeah. And the second thing you said, truth will out. And I think truth does not without and there are plenty of people who continue to spout out misinformation and disinformation, yeah, constantly at every level of corporate at a corporate level, at a political level, at a geopolitical level, or at a local level, right? I don't want to sort of go down that rabbit hole, right, but there are, there are plenty of misquotes, myths, truths, which are never, never withdrawn and never counted, never excused and live out there in the ether, in perpetuity. Michael Hingson ** 12:35 Yeah, it's true, but I also think that in the end, while some people continue to put their inaccurate information out, I think there are also others who have taken the time, or do take the time they put out more relevant information, and probably in the long run, more people buy into that than to misinformation. I'm not going to say it's a perfect world, but I think more often than not, enough positive information comes out that people eventually get more of the right answer than all the yammering and bad information. But it may take time. Gee Ranasinha ** 13:18 I would love to believe that, Mike, I really would maybe I'm just too cynical, right? Michael Hingson ** 13:27 I hear you, I hear you, and you know, I don't know I could be just as wrong. I mean, in the United States today, we've got a government with people who are definitely talking about things and saying things that most of us have always felt are untrue, but unfortunately, they're being said and pushed in such a way that more people are not opposing them. And how quickly that will change remains to be seen. And for all I know, and I think, for all I know, maybe some of what they're saying might be right, but we'll see. Gee Ranasinha ** 14:05 I think that's the issue. I mean, I, as I said, I don't really want to jump down that politics rabbit hole, but no, not really. I think, you know, the issue is, if you say a lie enough times, people believe it. Yeah, right, yeah. And the fact that nobody's fact checking this stuff, I'm like, I said. I'm not. I'm not singling out politics. I'm singling out messaging in its widest in its widest interpretation, right, false messaging of any sort, if left unchecked. Yeah. Correct. I think the people who know an alternative reality or know that it's a lie know that it's an untruth by not publicly facts checking it, by not calling these. People out are complicit in spreading the lie. Michael Hingson ** 15:03 Yeah, well, I think that's true, and you're right. It doesn't matter whether it's politics. It doesn't matter whether it's well, whatever it is, it's anything. And I think there's one of the beauties of of our country, your country. And I didn't explain at the beginning that G is in the you said, northwest part of France, right? Northeast, northeast, well, east, west, northeast part Gee Ranasinha ** 15:29 of Yeah, well, near enough, you know, if you go, if you go, if you go east, far enough times you get, you get to West Anyway, don't you? Well, you get back where you started. Or maybe you don't, I don't know if, depends who you listen Michael Hingson ** 15:39 to, right? If the Earth is flat. Well, even the Flat Earthers have had explanations for why the earth is flat and people don't fall off, but that's okay, but yeah, so northeast part of France and and I hear, I hear what you're saying, and I think it's important that people have the freedom to be able to fact check, and I, and I hope, as we grow more people will find the value of that, but that in all aspects, but that remains to be seen. Gee Ranasinha ** 16:14 Well, I think especially in you know, perversely, now that we have the ability to check the veracity of a piece of information a lot easier, right? Almost in real time. Yeah. I think the fact that we can means that we don't, you know, you probably know the quote by what was his name? Edwin Burke, who may or may not have said that, you know, evil triumphs when good men do nothing or something like that. Along that sort of lines, some people say that he didn't say that. He did say, it doesn't matter who said it, right? It's a great quote. It's a great quote. It's a great quote. And that's what I mean about being complicit, just by the fact of not calling this stuff out, feeds the fire. Yeah, to the to the point where it becomes and especially, I'm talking with people who maybe are a little bit younger and haven't and are more likely to believe what they see on screens of whatever size, simply because it's in the public domain, um, whereas The older strokes more cynical of us may may question a lot more of what's thrown in front of our eyes. So I think all of us have a responsibility, which I don't think all of us understand the power that we yield or we're afraid to or afraid to? Yeah, absolutely. Michael Hingson ** 18:08 So tell me a little about kind of the early Gee growing up and so on, and how you got into this whole idea and arena of marketing and so on. Gee Ranasinha ** 18:18 Well before this, I was the CMO of a software company. I was there for seven years, and before that, I was working for a company in London, working with in the print and publishing industries. So I've been around media for most of my working life, and after, after being at the software company for seven years, sort of hit a little bit of a ceiling, really. I mean, the company was a small company, and it could only grow at a certain rate, and so I wasn't really being challenged anymore. I had to wait a little bit until the company could fill the bigger shoes that had been given, if you like. You know, I mean growing pains. It's very common for companies of all sizes to go through this sort of thing. So to be honest, I probably was treading water a bit too long. But you know, you get you get complacent, don't you, you get comfortable in in the, you know the corporate job, and you know a salary at the at the end of every month, and you know corporate travel and company BMWs and expense accounts and all of that sort of trappings. And you know, I, I fell for all of that. You. Um, but I finally realized that something needed to happen. So at the end of 2007 beginning of 2008 Me and a couple of colleagues decided to start the agency, which, as you will remember, 2008 was not exactly the best time to start a marketing agency. Good time to start any agency, Michael Hingson ** 20:29 to be honest. The other hand, there were a lot of opportunities. But yeah, I hear you. Well, yeah, Gee Ranasinha ** 20:34 glass half full. Glass half empty, right? Yeah. But you know, luckily, with with a number of very, very supportive clients in those early days, you know, we weathered the post recession? Yeah, slow down. And 17 and a half years later, here we are. We've now. We started off with three. We were three. We're now 19. We're in nine countries. Nine of us were in the US. The rest are in Europe, South Africa, Japan, and two people in Australia. That's that, that's, that's who we are. So, you know, we're a a team of marketing, creative and business development specialists, and we work with startups and small businesses primarily in the US, even though we're based all over the place, and we combine marketing strategy, proper strategy, with a thing called behavioral science, which works with organizations to increase their awareness, their reputation, their trust, and most of all, of course, sales Right? Because sales is name of the game. Sales is what it's all about. So yeah, I'd say probably 80, 90% of our clients are in the US and, well, certainly North America anyway, and it's all sorts of industries, all sorts of sizes. We've we've got, we certainly had in the past. You know, solopreneur type businesses, small businesses and larger businesses, up to around 40 to 50 mil to revenue that sort of size, anything bigger they usually have, usually got, you know, quite well, working teams within the organization. So we're, you know, the amount of effective contribution that we can add to that is, it's obviously going to be as a percentage, much lower. So it's, it's, it's really for that, that smaller sized profile of organization, and it's not sort of limited by particular industry or category. We've, you know, we work with all sorts. We've worked in sports, healthcare, FinTech, medical, professional services, software, publishing, all sorts, right across the board. Michael Hingson ** 23:34 What got you started in marketing in the beginning, you you know you were like everyone else. You were a kid and you grew up and so on. What? What really made you decide that this was the kind of career you wanted? Gee Ranasinha ** 23:46 Marketing wasn't my first career. I've had a few others in the past. I actually started off my first first company, and I founded, way back when was a media production company. I was a professional photographer, advertising photographer, working with advertising agencies as well as direct corporate commissions. This is in the days of film. This was way before digital image capture. Michael Hingson ** 24:20 So this is going back to what the 1980s Gee Ranasinha ** 24:23 it's going to late 80s to early 90s. Yeah, and I was working with eight by 10 and four by five view cameras, sometimes called plate cameras. It was mainly studio stuff. I was happier in the studio that we did location stuff as well. But studio was where I was happiest because I could control everything. I suppose I'm on control freak at the end of the day. So I can control every highlight, every nuance, every every part of the equation. And. And and that's where I started. And then after doing that for a while, I came I got involved with professional quality digital image capture. Is very, very it is very, very beginning. And was instrumental in the the adoption of digital image capture for larger print and publishing catalog fashion houses who were looking for a way to streamline that production process, where, obviously, up until then, the processing of film had been a bottleneck, right? You couldn't, you couldn't process film any quicker than the film needed to be processed, right the the e6 process, which was the the term for using a bunch of chemicals to create slides, die, positives, transparencies. I think it used to take like 36 minutes plus drying time. So there was a, you know, close to an hour wait between shooting and actually seeing what what the result was. And that time frame could not be reduced up until that point in time, the quality of digital image capture systems wasn't really all of that, certainly wasn't a close approximation to what you could get with with film at The time, until a number of manufacturers working with chip manufacturers, were able to increase the dynamic range and the the total nuances that you could capture on digital Of course, the problem at that time was we were talking about what, what were, What today is not particularly large, but was at the time in terms of file sizes, and the computers of the day would be struggling to deal with images of that high quality, so It was always a game of catch up between the image capture hardware and the computer hardware needed to to view and manipulate the image and by manipulate it was more more manipulation in terms of optimizing the digital file for reproduction in print, because obviously that was the primary carrier of, yeah, of the information. It was for use in some kind of printed medium. It wasn't like we were doing very much with with email or websites or anything else in the in the early 90s. So the conversion process to optimize a digital image captured file, to give the best possible tonal reproduction on printed material has always been a little bit of a black art, even when we when we were digitizing transparency films, going to digital image capture made things a lot more predictable, but it also increased the computational power needed, number one, but also for photographers to actually understand a little bit more about the photo mechanical print process, and there were very few photographers who understood both, both sides of the fence. So I spent a lot of time being a pom pom girl. Basically Mike. I was, I was, I was waving the pom poms and preaching large about the benefits of digital image capture and how and educating the industries, various in photographic industries, about, you know, possible best practices. There weren't any sort of standards in place at the time, Michael Hingson ** 29:41 and it took a while for people to really buy into that they weren't visionary enough to understand what you were saying. I bet Gee Ranasinha ** 29:48 Well, we were also taught very few were enough, and there were two reasons. One of them was financially based, because. We were talking about a ton of money, yeah, to do this properly, we were talking about a ton of money. Just the image capture system would easily cost you 50 grand. And this, you know this, this was in the days when 50 grand was a lot of money, Michael Hingson ** 30:18 yeah, well, I remember my first jobs out of college were working with Ray Kurzweil, who developed Omni font, optical character recognition system. Oh, my goodness me, I did not know that. And the first machine that he put out for general use, called the Kurzweil data entry machine, was only $125,000 it worked. It still took a while to make it to truly do what it needed to do, but still it was. It was the first machine, and a lot of people just didn't buy into it. It took a while to get people to see the value of why digitizing printed material was so relevant, some lawyers, Some law firms, some banks and so on, caught on, and as people realized what it would do, then they got interested. But yeah, it was very expensive, Gee Ranasinha ** 31:14 very expensive. And I think the other reason for the reticence is just nature, to be honest. Mike, I mean, you know, as as people, as human beings, most of us are averse to change, right? Because change is an unknown, and we don't like unknowns. We like predictability. We like knowing that when we get up in the morning, the sun's gonna come up and we're gonna go through our our usual routine, and so when something comes along that up ends the status quo to the point where we need to come up with adopting new behaviors that's very uncomfortable for many people. And you know, the adoption of digitization in, you know, any industry, I think, in everybody who's worked in any particular industry has has plenty of anecdotal evidence to show how people would consciously or unconsciously dragging their feet to adopt that change because they were happier doing stuff that they knew, Michael Hingson ** 32:32 who went out of their comfort zone, right? Gee Ranasinha ** 32:35 Absolutely, it's natural, it's, it's, it's who we are as as as human beings, who most of us are as human beings with, obviously, we're talking about the middle of the bell curve here. I mean, there are plenty of wackos on either side just go out and do stuff, right? And, you know those, you know, some of those get, you know, locked up with in straight jackets. But the other ones tend to, sort of, you know, create true innovation and push things forward. Michael Hingson ** 33:04 Steve Jobs, even Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, good examples of some of the people who did things that most people didn't think could be done. Gee Ranasinha ** 33:18 You know, the true innovation always happens at the periphery, but we tend to over emphasize the median. We know we try to make averages of everything, yeah, but averages aren't what moves the needle, right? No. And you know Britain, you know, for even for marketing, obviously, that's very much, very, very much my sort of thing. Um, most organizations, most business owners, certainly most marketing managers, find comfort in in executing their marketing in ways in which they are comfortable, in ways which are somewhat expected within the industry. But the problem is, it doesn't get you noticed. It doesn't get you attention. If you're in the middle, right? You know the worst, the worst place to walk on the in the street is in the middle of the road right, pick a side, but don't walk in the middle. 34:27 Not a good idea yet. Gee Ranasinha ** 34:30 That's our our job is to is to, number one, generate attention, because there's no way we can communicate a message unless we have someone's attention. Everything starts from the attention side of things. Now there are very, you know, various ways that we can attract attention, but attention needs to come and needs to come from somewhere. And you know the definite. Of creating attention is to to create some kind of visual, audio, or combination of the two, experience which is somewhat outside of the norm, and create some kind of emotional response that our brains want to pay attention to, right? Want to notice? Because if you're not noticed, then there's no it doesn't matter how great your product is, doesn't matter how wonderful your customer service is, or it's available in 27 colors, or it's free delivery, or what you know, all the rest of it doesn't matter, because you know, unless people know who you are, what you do, who it's for, and why they should give a crap, then you know anything else you do after that Time is is moot, is irrelevant. Michael Hingson ** 36:00 I read an interesting email this morning from someone who was talking about why speakers don't tend to be as successful as they should be. And this person talked about you could have the greatest speech in the world. You could be Michael Hingson ** 36:17 talking and getting standing ovations and so on, but you're not getting a lot of speaking engagements, and his comment was the reason you're not is that your talk isn't necessarily relevant. I thought that was interesting. I think there's some things to be said for relevance, but I think it's also that you're not helping to get people to think and realize that being different and getting people to think and value that is more important than we tend to want to recognize as well. Gee Ranasinha ** 36:59 I would, I would, I would wholeheartedly agree relevance is a very important component. But, you know, I maintain that it starts with attention. Yeah, relevance, I think, within the speaking world, I yes, there's so much we can do with relevance by by coming at a subject matter topic from a totally different perspective. Yeah, right. You know, just because you have the same message as 100 other competitors doesn't mean they have to say something in the same way, right? And so even if the core message is similar, the way that we choose to present that can be, you know, 100 101 different ways. And I think that is something that we forget, and I think that's one of the reasons why so much of the marketing that we see today is ignored. Yeah, you know, there's a there's a marketing Well, I wouldn't say the marketing model. There's a communication model, okay? Sales model actually called Ada, Ida, a, I D, A, okay. So even if you've not, not worked in sales or marketing at all, if you've even seen the film Glengarry Glynn Ross, or the play that it was based on. It's actually playing in New York City at the moment. I believe, yeah, a, I D, A, which is tracking the customer experience in four steps. So the idea is you have awareness, interest, desire and action, right? A, I, D, A, and it's understanding that there are four steps to getting to the position of negotiating the deal with a prospective buyer, but number one starts with awareness. You know they need, they need to be aware that you exist and nobody's going to buy from you if they don't know who you are. They need to know who they need to know who you are before they'll buy from you. Right then obviously needs to be an interest a product market fit what you're selling is something that they could conceivably use in terms of solving a particular problem that they perceive as having the desire. Why should they buy from you, as opposed to somebody else? Why do they. Need to buy your product, as opposed to a competitive product, and then finally, action, right? So that's what we might call sales, activation or performance marketing, or, you know, sales in the old terms, right? As they would say in that film, it's getting the getting the buyer to sign on the line that is dotted. But all of this stuff starts with attention and when we're not doing a very good job, I think as a mark, as an industry, we used to be really good at it, but I think we've taken our eye off the ball somewhat, and hoped that technology would fill in the gaps of our incompetence at being able to, excuse me, being able to shape the way that we market to customers, to buyers, in ways which create the memory structures in the brain to a sufficiently acute level so that when they are in The position to buy something, they think of us, as well as probably a number a handful of other suitors that solve their problem. And this is why, I think this is the reason why, because of the over reliance of technology, I mean, this is the reason why so much of our marketing fails to generate interest, sales to generate the tangible business results that are expected of it. Because we're, we're marketing by bullet point. We're expecting buyers to buy off a fact sheet. We've, we've exercised the creativity out of the equation. And we're and, and we were just producing this vacuous, generic vanilla Michael Hingson ** 42:12 musach, yeah, if you Gee Ranasinha ** 42:14 like, Okay, I mean, again, you know, think of any particular industry, you can see this. It's pretty much endemic. You can have two totally different organizations selling something purportedly solving the same problem. And you can look at two pieces of you can look at a piece of marketing from each company. And if you covered up the logo of each person of each company's marketing output, 10 will get you five that what's actually contained in the messaging is as equally valid for company A as it is for Company B, and that's a real problem. Michael Hingson ** 43:00 It's not getting anyone's attention or creating awareness. Gee Ranasinha ** 43:03 It's not creating attention or awareness. And worse, it's creating a level of confusion in the buyer's mind. Because we're we're looking for comparisons, we're looking at a way to make an educated decision compared to something else, and if we can't see why product A is miles ahead in our minds of Company B or product B, what often happens is rather than make a wrong decision, because we can't clearly differentiate the pros and cons between the two products, what we end up doing is nothing. We walk away. We don't buy anything, because we can't see a clear winner, which impacts company A and company B, if not the entire industry. And then they turn around and say, Oh, well, nobody's buying. Why? Why? Why is our industry lagging behind so many others? It's because we're just on autopilot, creating this, this nonsense, this generic sea of sameness in terms of communication, which we just don't seem to have a grip on the fundamental understanding of how people buy stuff anymore. We used to Yeah, up and up and up until probably the 90s. We used to know all this stuff. We used to know how get people going, how to stand out, how to create differentiated messaging, how to understand. Or what levers we could pull to better invoke an emotional reaction in the minds of the target buying audience that we're looking to attract. And then for some for, you know the if we plotted these things around two curves, you know, the point at which these curves would cross would probably be the adoption of technology, Michael Hingson ** 45:29 whereas we came to reproduce the same thing in different ways, but you're still producing the same thing. The technology has limited our imagination, and we don't use re imaginations the way we used to. Gee Ranasinha ** 45:43 We we've we're using, we're using technology as a proxy for reach. And getting in front of 1000 eyeballs or a million eyeballs or 100 million eyeballs doesn't necessarily mean any of those eyeballs are fit in the ideal customer profile we're looking to attract. Right? More doesn't mean better, and what what we're doing is we're trying to use technology to to fill in the gaps, but technology doesn't understand stuff like human emotion, right, and buying drivers and contextual messaging, right? Because all of this stuff human behavior is totally contextual, right? I will, I will come up with a and I'm sure you're the same thing. You will have a particular point of view about something one day and the next, the very next day, or even the very next hour, you could have a totally different viewpoint on a particular topic, maybe because you've had more information, or just maybe for the for the hell of it, right? We know we are we are not logical, rational, pragmatic machines that always choose the best in inverted commas solution to our issue. Michael Hingson ** 47:23 Do you think AI will help any of this? Gee Ranasinha ** 47:29 I think AI will help in terms of the fact that it will show how little we know about human behavior, and so will force forward thinking, innovative marketers to understand the only thing that matters, which is what's going on between the ears of the people we're trying to attract. I think AI is already showing us what we don't know, not what we know, Michael Hingson ** 48:04 right? And it's still going to be up to us to do something about that and use AI as a tool to help possibly create some of what needs to be done. But it still requires our thought processes ultimately, to make that happen, Gee Ranasinha ** 48:23 AI can't create. All AI can do is remix what has already been in existence, right? Ai doesn't create what AI does. The thing is, we're using AI for the wrong stuff. AI is really good at a ton of things, and it sucks big time at a load of other things. But for some reason, we want to throw all our efforts in trying to make it better at the things it's not good at, rather than use it at the things that it's really, really good Michael Hingson ** 49:04 at, such as, Gee Ranasinha ** 49:08 such as interpreting large data sets, Creating models of financial models, marketing models, marketing matrix, matrices, spotting, spotting trends in data, large, huge, like huge models of data, which no human being could really, in reality, Make any head in the tail of finding underlying commonalities in in the data to be able to create from that, to be able to draw out real, useful insights on that data to create new. New messaging, innovative products, services that we haven't thought of before because we haven't been able to see the wood for the trees, 50:13 if you like, yeah, right Gee Ranasinha ** 50:17 for that sort of stuff, for the grunt work, for the automation. You know, do this, then do this, and all of that sort of stuff, A, B, testing, programmatic stuff, all of that stuff, banner ads and, you know, modifying banner all of that stuff is just basic grunt work that nobody needs, needs to do, wants to do, right? Give it all to AI it. Most AI is doing it, most of it anyway. We just never called it AI. You know, we've been doing it for 25 years. We just called it software in those days, right? But it's the same. It's the same goddamn thing. Is what we were doing, right? Let it do all of that stuff, because it's far better. And let's focus on the stuff that it can't do. Let's find out about what levers we need to pull at an emotional level to create messaging that better resonates in the minds of our buyers. That's what we need to do. Ai can't do that stuff right. Michael Hingson ** 51:16 Where I think AI is is helpful today, as opposed to just software in the past, is that it has been taught how better to interact with those who use it, to be able to take questions and do more with it, with them than it used to be able to do, but we still have to come up with the problems or the issues that we wanted to solve, and to do it right, we have to give it a fair amount of information which, which still means we've got to be deeply involved in the process. Gee Ranasinha ** 51:53 I mean, where it's great. I mean, if we're looking at, you know, Text, type, work, right, right, or I, or ideas or possibilities, or actually understanding the wider consideration set of a particular problem is that the hardest thing is, when you're staring at a blank piece of paper, isn't it? Right? We don't need that's the hardest thing, right? So we don't need to stare at a blank sheet anymore with a flashing cursor, right? You know, we can engage in a pseudo conversation that we need to take into consideration that this conversation is taking place based upon previous, existing ideas. So the chance that we'll get something fresh and original is very, very small. And as you just mentioned, you know, the quality of the prompt is everything. Get the prompt wrong and without enough granularity, details, specificity, whatever else you get just a huge piece of crap, don't you? Right? So in other words, having a better understanding of how we as humans make decisions actually improves our prompting ability, right, right? Michael Hingson ** 53:12 And I think AI, it is not creative, but I think that AI can spew is probably the wrong word, but AI can put out things that, if we think about it, will cause us to do the creating that we want, but it's still going to be assets involved in doing that. Gee Ranasinha ** 53:35 The problem is, and what we're seeing, certainly in the last couple of months, maybe even longer, maybe I just haven't noticed. It is just we were, you know, there's this old saying, you know, just because you can doesn't mean you should, right? I just see an absolute tsunami of vacuous, generic nonsense being spouted out across all types of channels, digital and otherwise, but mainly digital, all of it AI generated. Sometimes it's images, sometimes it's videos, sometimes it's both, sometimes it's text, whatever. But we we're adding to the noise instead of adding to the signal. So the inevitable result of all of this is going to be numbness. We're going to becoming different to marketing of all sorts, the good stuff as well as the bad. You're going to be it's we're just gonna get numb. So it's going to make the attention stuff. That's why I've been banging on about attention all this time, right? It's gonna, it's, yeah, there's, see, there is a method to my madness here. So the the point is that creation and maintaining. Attention is going to be even harder than it would have been before. Yeah, and, and we, you know, we're getting to the point where, you know, you've got agentic AI, where you've got agents talking to other agents and going around in this feedback loop. But we're not, we're not, we're not creating any emotional engagement from a, from a from a buyer perspective, from a user perspective, yes, it all looks great. And as a, as an exercise in technology, it's fantastic. So wonderful, right? But how has it increased sales? That's what I want to know has has it reduced or altered the cost of acquiring a customer and maintaining that customer relationship, because that's where the rubber hits the road. That's all that matters. I don't care whether it's a technological masterpiece, right, but if it hasn't sold anything, and actual sales, I'm not talking about likes and comments and retweets and all of that crap, because that's vanity metrics. Is nonsense Michael Hingson ** 56:11 signing a contract. It's, you know, Gee Ranasinha ** 56:16 there needs to be as an exchange of money at some point in time. Yeah, right. Is that happening? And I contend that it's not. And I think there are loads of people, loads of business owners, who are throwing money at this in the vain hope they you know that basically they're playing the numbers. They just need one horse to come in, 100 to one to be able to justify what they've spent on all of this stuff, right? Yeah, but I think those odds are getting longer and longer as each month goes, yeah. Well, you I think there's going to be an inevitable backlash back to stuff that actually resonates with people at a human level, at an emotional level, a psychological level, it has to Michael Hingson ** 57:08 you started your marketing company 17 and a half years ago, caxino. Where'd that name come from? Gee Ranasinha ** 57:18 From nothing? Okay, it doesn't mean anything I needed. I needed to have something which number one, that the domain was available. Of course, I needed to have something which was short, something that didn't mean, you know, something incongruous in another language and and so after a lot of to ing and fro ing, there were two schools of thought. At the beginning, we didn't know whether to go with something abstract, like caxino or something which was, you know, based based upon the the butting up of two existing words you know, like you see, you know, so many times, you know, big red table, or, you know, whatever. So we did, we decided to go with something abstract, so that we weren't encumbered by language. Michael Hingson ** 58:22 You practiced what you preach pretty much. You're different, yeah, but why don't you call it? You don't refer to it as a digital marketing agency. Why is that? Gee Ranasinha ** 58:34 No, I don't see us as a digital marketing agency, because digital marketing is not all we do. And not only that, I think, Well, I think there's, there's a number of reasons. Number one, I think we're using the word digital is, is a curveball. Firstly, because everything that we do is digital, right? Everything is already digital. Print is digital, TV is digital, billboards are digital. So saying digital is like saying electrical, electrical marketing agency, it makes as much sense to be honest. So that's number one. But I think the bigger issue is that by categorizing a marketing agency as being a digital marketing agency does a disservice to its work and indeed its outlook, because The object is not to be digital in your marketing, it's to do marketing in a digital world, which are two very different positions, okay? Because digital, the way that we're talking about it, is not a attributive noun, and it's certainly not an adjective. You. In the context that we're talking about it, digital is a channel. It's simply one way of getting in front of our audience. But it's not the only way of getting in front of our audience. Okay? So, yeah, along with many other reputable agencies, we happen to use the most appropriate channel of communication that makes sense to address a particular target audience group, and that's it. Okay, if that's digital, great. If that's walking down the street with an A frame with something written on the front of it, that's also great, okay, but it's, it's, it's not about it's not about the channel. It's about you being in the places where our target target audience group expects us to be. And so that's why I don't think of us as a digital marketing agency, because digital is only part of what we do, right? And we do many other things. And also, I think it puts it, it puts blinkers on things right? Because if you know, supposing, supposing you go to a Facebook marketing agency, of which there are many. Now, if you go to a Facebook marketing agency and you say, Okay, I want to do some ads. Where should I advertise? What are they going to tell you? Right, maybe Facebook, right? So there's, there's a thing called Maslow's hammer. Okay, in Maslow, as in the hierarchy, the Hierarchy of Needs Maslow. Okay to say, Maslow. He came up with this idea of Maslow's hammer. It's also known as the law of the instrument. And basically what it means, we can distill it down, is, if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail, okay? And what that means is, you're looking to solve any problem that comes along by the tools that you have in your toolbox, regardless of whether that's the best way of moving forward, which I think is a very short term and myopic view. So that's why we we don't like to think of ourselves as the marketing agency, because there are many other there are many ways of solving a particular problem, and it doesn't necessarily have to be Michael Hingson ** 1:02:50 digital, Gee Ranasinha ** 1:02:51 digital or promotional or, you know, it's, it's like, you know, are we a video marketing agency? No. Does that mean we don't do video, not at all. Of course, we do it, right? We're not an AI marketing agency, right? In the same way, okay, when we're not a we're not a YouTube marketing agency, Michael Hingson ** 1:03:11 you're a marketing agency. We're a marketing agency, right? What are some of the biggest mistakes that small businesses make when it comes to marketing? Gee Ranasinha ** 1:03:21 I think the single biggest mistake, and I speak to business owners pretty much on a daily basis, right? I think the single biggest issue that comes up again and again and again is something which I call self diagnosis, which is the business owner, approaches the marketing agency, or even digital marketing agency, approaches the marketing agency, and says, You know what, I need you to do this for me. Whatever that this is, okay. So you know, maybe it's some digital ads, maybe it's some videos, maybe it's a website, maybe it's a whatever. It doesn't matter what it is, but basically, the business owner is coming to us, coming to the marketing agency, dictating what the tactic is to be, which presumes a number of things, not least, that they think they have come to the conclusion that this particular tactic is going to solve their marketing problem based upon usually waving a wet finger in the air, yeah, or they've seen a YouTube video or something, okay, it's not based on any marketing knowledge experience or education, because, with the greatest respect, these people do not have any marketing knowledge experience. Into education, right? And why would they? Because they're running a business, right? They don't, you know, they it doesn't mean that they've had to do this marketing stuff. So they're, they're, they're presuming that a particular tactic is going to solve a business problem, a marketing tactic is going to solve a business problem. And so what what happens is the the particular tactic is is executed. Nothing changes revenue wise. And so the business owner says, well, that marketing agency was crap. Let's go to another marketing agency and ask them to do something else. So it's playing pin the tail on the donkey. Really, just trying stuff and hoping so. The point is that. The point is that if you're going to pay somebody who does this for a living, the idea that you know more than they do is already setting the relationship on a uneven kill, right? Yeah, you know, if I, if I go, if I go and see my doctor, and I say, and I wake up in the morning and I've got a pain in my chest, and I thinking, oh my goodness, I go and see the doctor, right? So on the way to the doctor's office, I do the worst thing possible, which is go on the internet and say, Okay, what does pain in my chest mean? Right? And I go into the doctor's office, and I sit down and I say, Okay, I've got a pain in my chest, doctor, that means I've got angina. Can you give me some heart medication, please? What's the doctor gonna tell you? Doctor's gonna tell you, shut the hell up. Yeah, I'm the doctor in the office. I'm the actually, where's, Where's, where's your medical degree doesn't exist, does it? No, and Michael Hingson ** 1:07:00 just because you have a broken rib, we're not going to talk about that. Are we right? Gee Ranasinha ** 1:07:04 So, What? What? So what's the doctor going to do? The doctor is going to ask you a bunch of questions, right? What did you do the last couple of days? Right? What did you eat? Did you go to the gym and over exert yourself? What's your history? Do you is there a history of heart disease in the family, you know, maybe there's is going to he or she is going to take some blood, maybe they're going to run a few other sort of tests. They're going to do a diagnosis, and at the end of this diagnosis, the doctor is going to come back to you and say, You know what? So, based upon all the questions that you've kindly answered, and based upon the blood work and all these other tests and scans we've done, it turns out that the the pain in your chest is nothing to do with angina. The reason you got a pain in the chest is because you had some spicy food last night. So you don't have you don't have Anjali, you have gas. Yeah, right, right, so I prescribe you a couple of packs of Tums. Yeah, sorted, right. And that's the point. The point is the doctor knows what he or she is doing, and you have to have confidence in that particular medical practitioner to diagnose the issue and prescribe a solution to that issue, right? Your job is not to say what you think is wrong with you at this stage of the conversation. Your job is to tell me where it hurts. That's it right now, I'll come back to you with a list of things which I think we need to do to move forward. Now you can go and get a second opinion, just like at a doctor's office. You may think I'm full of crap, which is absolutely your prerogative. Or you may say, I know better than you. I'm going to do my own thing, which, again, it's your time Absolutely. But if it all goes to crap, you can't turn around and say, well, if only this person had said this, or, you know, If only, if only, if only, and play the victim, because that's also just not going to wash. And I see this time and time and time again. You know, we've tried, well, we've tried a number of different agencies, and none of them have been able to help us. And then you sort of dig a bit deeper, and it's because they're never allowed to do what they're supposed to do, because they've always been second guessed. Yeah, that is probably the single biggest issue that I see coming up again and again and again with small business in market now, if and if it's a question of not having faith in that. Uh, agency, then you shouldn't have been employed. You shouldn't have that agency in the first place. Michael Hingson ** 1:10:05 Get a second opinion. Gee Ranasinha ** 1:10:07 You know, not all, not all agencies are great, just like not all plumbers are great. Not all mechanics are great. Same thing, right? It takes time to find the good ones, right? Um, but just because you found a bad one, because I don't know they were cheap, or they were local, or they were whatever, you know, whatever, whatever criteria you tend to use to base your decision upon, right? You can't, you can't criticize what they did if you didn't allow them to do what they were actually being paid to do. Michael Hingson ** 1:10:47 Well, speaking of that, if people want to reach out to you, how do they do that? Gee Ranasinha ** 1:10:53 Best way to get hold of me. Gee is on LinkedIn. I spend most of my time on LinkedIn. I post twice a week. I post videos about some of the sorts of things that we've been talking about today, and they're only sort of 60 seconds long, 90 seconds long. It's not sort of taking up anybody's time very much. You can find me there. Would you believe, Mike, there is only 1g runner scene on LinkedIn. Can you imagine fortuitous? How fortuitous is Michael Hingson ** 1:11:27 that? Yeah, really, and G is spelled G, E, and how do you spell your last name? Gee Ranasinha ** 1:11:33 You could eat. I'm sure all of this still, the stuff will be put in. It will, but I just figured it we could. But yeah. G, renasina, you can find me there. Otherwise, obviously you can find us on Kexino, k, e, X, I, N, o.com, which is the website, and there's plenty of information there textual information, there are videos, there are articles, there are all sorts of bits and pieces that you can find more about us Michael Hingson ** 1:12:04 there. Well, this has been absolutely wonderful, and I really appreciate you taking more than an hour to chat with us today. And I hope this was fun, and I hope that people will appreciate it and will reach out to you and value what we've discussed. I think it's been great love to hear from all of you out there. Please feel free to email me. Michael H, i@accessibe.com so that's m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I at A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, and love to hear from you wherever you're listening. Please give us a five star rating. We value those ratings very highly, and we'd love to to to hear and see you rate us and get your thoughts. If you know of anyone else who might be a good guest for unstoppable mindset. Gu as well, we'd sure appreciate your referring them to us. Introduce us. We're always looking for more people to to chat with, so please do that and again, gee, I just want to thank you one more time for being here. This has been great, Gee Ranasinha ** 1:13:02 absolute pleasure, delighted to be invited. Michael Hingson ** 1:13:10 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Hour 1: There's nothing like sports on the radio

hawks gee nothing like we need to talk elementtoproof

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2025 36:38

URSULA'S TOP STORIES: Mariners and Hawks win //Luke Duecy with the latest on Travis Decker // Charlie Harger love sports on the radio and the voices behind them // WE NEED TO TALK! Gee's terrible trip to the grocery store

Hour 1: PLAYOFFS, BABY!

babies jimmy kimmel dui helvetica gee richard sherman we need to talk playoffs baby messagebody

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2025 35:57

URSULA'S TOP STORIES: Mariners in the playoffs! // Kimmel returns // Richard Sherman defers 2nd DUI // Our listeners respond to Gee's post about people on the autism spectrum // WE NEED TO TALK about Spirit Air

Champagne Lane

On That Note

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2025 66:30

Jackson Welch is back on the pod, this time repping his band Champagne Lane and their debut album The World In Your Eyes. He and his bandmate Jake Rogers spent five years producing the record, and we get into what that long process was really like. We also talk yacht rock influences, Mk.Gee, nerding out on gear, and plenty more.

music interview champagne mk gee music interviews jake rogers in depth conversations

Holding Doors

For the Record, An AACRAO Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2025 42:15

In this conversation with Dr. Cié Gee from the University of Texas at San Antonio we explore the idea of leadership through the roles of line leader and door holder–familiar responsibilities from elementary school. Dr. Gee argues that the door holder is a less glamorous but potentially more important role than the line leader, and we discuss ways door holding opportunities present themselves in the normal course of work. Key Takeaways:Being the line leader can be fun, but being a door holder is a critical role for the success of any venture. Leadership doesn't require a title, and it doesn't require grand gestures to convey care and concern for the people one is leading. As Mother Teresa said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”If you're thinking about someone who held a door for you at some point in your career, reach out to them to let them know the effect they had on you. Host:Doug McKennaUniversity Registrar, George Mason Universitycmckenn@gmu.edu Guests:Dr. Cié GeeAssociate Vice Provost for Career-Engaged Learning, University of Texas at San Antonioginnifer.gee@utsa.edu References and Additional Information:Core Competencies: Leadership and ManagementCie Geehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ciegee/

university texas leadership holding doors san antonio customer service references gee registrar key takeaways being student service aacrao

S11 E211: The Erasure Of History: "It's A Shell Game Of The Most Grotesque Kind" With Professor of History, Stephen Kantrowitz