Christian ponder draft pick

This year’s NBA Finals is already historic. The Heat are the first play-in team to claw their way out of a 44-38 record and 8th seed to land themselves in the NBA Finals. The Nuggets have never made a Finals, had the best record in the battle hardened West and the city is absolutely stoked. What are NBA heads saying about the series? What are fans around the world hoping to see? How are coaches going to keep these ballers away from Denver’s number one trending story of the year: Shotgun Willie’s Gentleman’s Club, which infamously siren songed the Grizzlies’ Ja Morant into stacking cash on every inch of the private dance room? Slap a booty and get ready for the last NBA basketball of the year.
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1 - How to stop Nikola Jokic?
The two time MVP is having yet another killer season. He’s been, arguably, the best player in the playoffs of all time. He’s averging a triple double on 29.9 points, 13.3 assists, 10.3 rebounds and around 1 block and 1 steal per game. This guy can do it all and has undoubtedly contributed to the Heat coaching staff’s lack of sleep. Luckily the state just decrminalized a fanny pack of plant based drugs that may help.
Everyone knows how much the Heat love running zone defense. Can the zone even stop Jokic? Doubt it but the Heat are going to try. They run a fluid 2-3 zone which can flow directly into a 1-3-1 formation. The Heat need to pack the middle of the floor and push Jokic to the sidelines on the pick and roll using their 1-3-1. If the Heat can keep Jokic out of the middle of the floor that limits his options on the center-point guard pick and roll that he runs to perfection with Jamal Murray. Look for easy rebounds and putbacks on the weak side from Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr.
Can the Nuggets outshoot the zone? Damn right they can. Will they? We’ll see. The Heat run out and defend every single three point attempt. They held the sharp shooting Boston Celtics to 30% from 3, down from 37% during the regular season. However, this series may be won from the three point line if the Nuggets can run and the Heat can get Butler into the lane for kickouts.
2 - Who can guard Jimmy Butler?
Aaron Gordon most likely. We will see if he’s too slow to stay in front of Jimmy. If Butler still has that nagging injury he’s been battling the past two series that will help out AG. There are a couple bodies that the Nuggets can throw at James Effin Buckets. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is an underrated defender with sneaky strength. Reggie Jackson is rusty but used to be able to defend at a high level. Bruce Brown has the heart of fiesty chihuahua but he’s too small. Jamal is too small too. We’ve all seen what Jimmy’s done to smaller guards, he’ll bully his way to the lane and make defenders look stupid with his pump fakes, footwork, interior passing and little chip shots. If Jimmy gets stuffed this series, who will show up for the Heat?
3 - Malone vs Spo
Erik Spoelstra has solidified his standing as one of the greatest coaches of the era, possibly all time. This will be his 6th NBA Finals since taking over the reigns from Pat Riley in 2009. I have no doubt that Spo has some tricks in the bag and having the Godfather on speed dial doesn’t hurt either.
But Malone is no stranger to NBA legacies. His father Brendan was an assistant for the champion Pistons in the late 80’s and then again with the Knicks Finals run in 1999 and the Reggie Miller Pacers in 2000. Michael himself was an assistant during LeBron’s first Finals in 2007. So he does have some experience here in the promised land.
This coaching matchup will come down to, you guessed it, in-game adjustments. Each coach’s ability to change on the fly will be crucial to finding the weak points in each other’s schemes. Every possession will matter in these games. Look for Malone to push the pace with his crew and try to get some quick transition buckets before the Heat can set up their defense. Jokic excels in the rebound-and-go game. In the half court, Malone will try to move Jokic around to different points on the floor and it will be especially interesting when he puts Joker back to the basket in the post. He has the passing, vision, strength, length and creativity to be dangerous that close to the basket.
Spoelstra on the other hand will walk the ball up, play through Butler and try to swing the Nuggets defense from side to side. Expect him to set up Duncan Robinson and Max Strus on the wings where they can be dangerous driving or shooting the three off the Butler-Bam Adebayo pick and roll. Kevin Love can still knock down an open jumper and may have some post move tricks up his sleeve. But he’s so old he can’t even drive a golf cart anymore. Love can be another big body that Spo can put on Jokic to give him different defenders.
4 - Bench Scoring - Who will shine?
The bright lights may burn the bench guys but some will bask in the glory. Kyle Lowry is due for a big game after struggling against the Celtics top tier wing defenders. The Nuggets don’t have the bench defense to hold down all the Heat shooters so we will see a game won by a Heat backup, like we’ve seen in plenty of games so far this playoffs.
The Nuggets bench has issues. Jeff Green is too old. Christian Braun is too young. Reggie Jackson and Thomas Bryant have yet to work their way into the rotation. DeAndre Jordan is a mascot. However, expect some decent minutes from…Vlatko Cancar if the Heat bench is outperforming Green, Brown and Braun. Cancar can guard Love and Robinson. Really this Nuggets bench goes how Bruce Brown goes. If he has a hot game on both ends, the bench looks unstoppable. If he withers like a winter flower then the Heat bench will dominate like they’ve done all year.
5 - The crowd, the altitude, the experience, the refs
Intangibles. The stuff numbers can’t measure. The Nuggets crowd will be loud, fired up and intense. The Heat crowd, not so much. They’ve been spoiled over the years, show up late and leave early. They do wear the white shirts though which looks nice but makes the empty seats even more noticeable.
Do players play worse at altitude? Short answer, yes. Long answer, it depends. The altitude will effect the Heat at the beginning and end of games. The biggest concern is dehydration which means keeping the Heat out of the club and focused on basketball. Heat culture will play a big role here with everyone, top to bottom, 100% ready for each game.
The Heat have much more experience in the Finals than the Nuggets. They have two NBA champions in the rotation in KLove and KLow, three if you count the corpse of Udonis Haslem. They also have a few returning from their 2020 bubble Finals against the Lakers where they lost a heartbreaker to an Anthony Davis fall away three. This grizzled Heat team will be angry and hungry but what else is new? Their Finals experience may end up being the overriding factor in this series, especially among the coaching staffs. The Heat will stay calm and collected even with the intensity through the roof.
Finally, the NBA’s middle management, the refs. Who does the NBA want to win? What will revenue more? This is a coin flip. With the Lakers, Knicks, Celtics and Warriors all on the couch, gone fishin’ or 1-2-3 Cancunin’, the refs will likely call this series as even as they can. A Jokic ring would be the icing on the cake for Eastern European basketball which hasn’t ever had an MVP champion.
So who ya got? The Nuggets in 5 seems like a solid bet at +225 against a hobbled Heat team. But if the Heat push it to six and get back home expect them to finish hard and force a game 7. Heat in 7 is +1000 and it’s tough to bet against them the way they’ve defied all odds.

Abstract: To reach out to an outside observer for help, looking for one’s best fit type, is a common theme in this sub. While this makes sense in theory, real-life paints a different picture. The following thread discusses the typing process as a whole and argues that the failure of online typing usually is on both sides: The typing practitioner as well as the subject to be typed. While it does not give any solid rules, it illustrates tendencies that may, once pondered and understood, enhance your typing process in general, be it when writing a “Type me!” thread, analyzing such a post, or self-typing.
First, it is important to understand that Socionics views a Sociotype as ideal. The Socion consists of sixteen ideal images, each fitting perfectly next to each other in the cyclic progression of social phenomena.
While this fact is never discussed explicitly, many disagreements in other parts of typology are based on this as an underlying factor. Socionics is a form of modelling psycho- and sociological phenomena by a system of various layers of abstractions. To put it blatantly, these abstractions and their interrelations are first and foremost made up. There is no way to prove them empirically, and even worse, there is no way to disprove them empirically, either.
The logical part of Socionics only happens on the inside of the borders of the system. Socionics is a set of static terms and rules; using them internally allows for total theoretical predictability. A type leading with Intuition of Opportunities has definitively Comfort Sensing as its suggestive (Model A) or dual (Model G) function in its stack.
However, most online discussions don’t touch this internal and closed theoretical part. Instead, the primary concern of disagreements is what precisely happens at those borders of the system. How do these things play out in real-life? How many of those perfect symmetries can we expect in a real person? ― Needless to say, this shift from the ideal to the real is of utmost importance in the field of typing.
Typing has an analytic and a synthetic element. In the following I will refer to the side typing the individual as “the practitioner”, to the side in need of typing as “the subject”. The analytic moment in typing consists of breaking down the information provided by the subject. This requires a decent amount of skill and experience on the side of the practitioner, as reality does not come in parts perfectly fitting this ideal rasterization Socionics theory is.
This detail is worth special emphasis: This difficulty that the analytic aspect of typing requires does not exist because reality would somehow conceal its fragmentation into information aspects. To assume that the information provided by the subject must somehow fit theoretical dichotomies, symmetries or even basic terms, is a misleading influence. In the analytic stage, the mind of the practitioner should indeed take such perfect fits into consideration, like recognizing “a perfect example of leading E”, but it never should jump to such conclusions out of a lack of alternatives. However, this community has already normalized this behavior up to a point where the exclusivity of such an approach is seen as self-explanatory. Again, the underlying cause here is a loss of sight of the scope of Socionics or modelling in general. The typical hobby typologist unconsciously projects inconsiderate demands onto the system.
Socionics is a system of high causal density. Everything is connected to everything else in a strictly deterministic way. For example, from telling you only one thing, namely, that I refer to the type leading with -I, you can immediately tell me the rest of the stack. The irrelevant part is that this could be done by memorization; what is relevant, instead, is that the construction of the stack (of IEE) is also possible by applying deductive reasoning according to theoretical components; in this example: right/left, ir-/rational, polarity of functions, and the other basic symmetries to fill the rest of the stack.
This causal density is Socionics’ curse when it comes to smoothly fitting reality. Imagine the number of possible assumptions the theory makes for a person that expresses nothing but qualities all perfectly fitting -I lead. Theoretically, we are allowed, even encouraged to make such assumptions, but again, the moment we enter real life, such theoretical enforcement becomes questionable.
The answer to this question should stay flexible in the mind of the practitioner. Information directly contradicting the theory can be expected. However, the quest of the practitioner is not to solve these contradictions. The moment he or she begins to frame reality according to the theoretical rasterization, the track of the real qualities of the subject is lost, substituted by a personal interpretation of the facts, making them somehow converge with the theory, at last.
However, Socionics’ high causal density also allows for a multi-angular analysis that is not only horizontally (“flat”), but vertically. A flat multi-angular approach would be to fragment any model, be it Model A or Model G, into smaller parts and attribute the subject’s information to them individually. As already mentioned, this approach is part of the typing process and may prove helpful in scenarios where a statement needlessly conforms to the ideal expression of one fragment. Thereby, the flat approach does not capitalize on the theoretical interrelations of fragments, as it puts them each in total isolation.
A vertical approach is to reason theoretically first how certain fragments may interact by using the structure of a model. An example is given by the idea of “blocks” in Model G. A block combines two known fragments (functions) and reasons about how their interaction transcends what could have been explained by viewing each one individually. It follows the concept of emergency from systems theory and thereby allows for a hierarchy of entanglement of states. Functions interact in blocks, but (how) do blocks interact? And so on.
These stacked layers of theoretical combinations allow for more flexibility in the typing process. The concept naturally helps to balance the fact that the subject usually does not give its information in a theoretically pre-rendered way. For example, when describing a basic outline of one’s life, like what job you have, if you like it and why, how you got where you are, and so on, an entanglement of more than one function can be expected. If the practitioner then goes for the usual method of cutting this picture into smaller parts, following this up with mapping each one on its most likely function or element, then counting them for their final position in the stack, the result, be it in terms of type descriptions or theoretical integrity, is expected to be inaccurate.
So, instead, in the analytical section of the typing process, the practitioner should stay on a layer of abstraction that is theoretically undemanding. Only then synthetically building up assumptions, for example by the basic dichotomies of Intro-/ Extraversion, Ir-/Rationality. These two can be seen as especially helpful in interviews, as these qualities usually show without any need of directed questioning, but by simply letting the subject freely talk about its life. The focus then becomes dependent on already existing assumptions, be it in the form of recursive validation (“Is the subject really introverted?”) or in further, more specific investigation (“Being most likely introverted and rational, the subject should express at least some signs of either L or R lead.”) Higher levels of entanglement, like the “Social Mission” of a type, may act as low granularity validation mechanisms, after a sufficiently specific assumption has been formed (“Does the subject as a whole make sense as an approximation of IEE?”)
This wholistic approach is especially helpful, as contradicting information still acts as a guidance at these higher layers: What specific information does not fit? Are there any other angles that could explain such an outlier, like subtypes, shifts, situational functional states, trauma, special upbringing, you name it. This is different from finding indications for strong use of L after you already found indications of E lead. You have more degrees of freedom utilizing the vertical layers of abstraction, and it is this freedom that may ultimately counteract the idealistic rigidity that stabilizes each layer horizontally.
Of course, this typing scenario is idealistic, as well. Most of us have no chance to get a real interview in the form of a conversation with an experienced practitioner. But I believe that keeping the ideal in mind is a good thing to put the real into perspective.
Most of the “Type me!” posts are from people that already have some understanding of the theory. This is especially harmful to a smooth typing process, as the information comes already pre-rendered according to Socionics theory; even worse, most often according to the lowest layers like the function stack with its information elements. While some people are very explicit about this, even listing the information grouped into functional aspects, I see those tendencies also in posts that don’t follow any explicit order of this kind.
There is little emphasis on basic information, like age, sex, gender, how you do in your job or school, what your outlook on the next years is, etc. It’s like there is an unwritten rule that a person can only be typed by knowing its most special, snow-flakey information about takes, likes, dislikes, and skill ― while the exact opposite is true. If anything, a large community could be utilized to get a broad perspective on where one fits into a thousand people. But this becomes unlikely proportional to the degree the presented information is special, meaning hard to compare objectively on a large scale.
So, in the typical scenario, a post consists of pre-cut, small fragments of information; often listing the most special shards out of the mosaic the subject views itself as. The practitioner side then behaves exactly like the worst-case example I presented before, ignoring the underlying person which would pick such fragments, instead, dealing with every list item in isolation. I suspect that this is done mainly to avoid too much conjecture. Extrapolating of this kind is indeed the opposite of factual, but from my point of view this is the price you must pay. Let's consider the alternative:
Avoiding such extrapolation and instead relying on the parts of information provided results in a warped picture of the typing dynamic.
Usually, an external (compared to self-typing) practitioner is useful, precisely because of his or her perception from outside. When self-analyzing, one often is hindered by a lack of perspective, focusing too much on contextual details that are expected to constantly change but deemed important from a closed off internal, echo-chamber like perspective. Simply not being the subject is naturally a huge step towards being capable of such a perspective.
However, this advantage gets lost in the common online dynamic of practitioner and subject. The latter is both the one in need and the expert at the same time. It pre-renders information according to its understanding of the theory. The practitioner becomes more of a critic that is concerned about the correctness of the subject’s understanding than its potential type. The subject is merely assisted in its theoretical understanding, while the part of putting things into perspective becomes non-existent.
So, that was it. As always, my threads have no clear result but should present an overview of the topic under concern. Maybe this will help you to put certain things in your (self-)typing journey into perspective.

Hello fellow cubers,
I wanted to share my latest creation with the world and potentially get some feedback or inspire others.
I recently built a chaos/mystery cube. While I love cube, designing as well as drafting. I found that a carefully curated limited environment is not something that is easy for other people to pick up. It's hard to draft without being familiar with the card pool and interactions. As a result my cubes would not get drafted much or the matches were not fair.
I have however also always loved chaos draft. Going to GPs the chaos draft was always my favourite side event. Later they got replaced with mystery draft and that was equally fun. You have to evaluate cards on the fly and find synergies between cards that are not necessarily designed to synergize with each other. And because the environment is largely random, no one has an advantage of knowing exactly what to look out for.
In the end mystery draft is just a list of cards from magic's history curated by Wizards, 'I can do that too' I figured.
So for this cube I looked at the mana curve of the mystery draft card list and then scoured all of scryfall and started to make lists of cards I would find fun to play with again. Trying to get a mix of old and new cards, while not being overly fussed with archetypes, balance etc. Ofcourse there might be some synergies and I've tried to keep things from getting to degenerate but in general I've tried to just let it run wild.
The cube is 1260 cards as that was what I could fit into the largest box I could find. I then realized I also needed lands so now I carry an extra land/token/dice box around. Still easier then making another 200ish cuts. The size is to help make it feel random and not have people expecting or hoping for certain cards. You really have to take it as it comes.
I make packs of 15 and seed 2 rares in every pack. Rares are often an exciting part of a normal draft experience and I tried to find rares that are powerfull and just good, as well as rares that can be built around. There are even some 'stinkers' like there would be in most draft formats.
I've drafted the cube 3 times so far and the response from my playgroup has been pretty good. The people that normally don't love cube seem to enjoy this more. While they might still be disadvantaged when it comes to card evaluation, they no longer need to 'understand' the cube and the archetypes to stand a chance and have fun.
​
Here's the list: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/6d6ba2c0-3395-4eb8-b7ed-4c60828080fc
Curious to hear what people think and if there are any other similar lists out there.

(from oca.org)
The Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher was born around 114 at Sychem, an ancient city of Samaria. Justin’s parents were pagan Greeks. From his childhood the saint displayed intelligence, love for knowledge and a fervent devotion to the knowledge of Truth. When he came of age he studied the various schools of Greek philosophy: the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans, the Platonists, and he concluded that none of these pagan teachings revealed the way to knowledge of the true God.
Once, when he was strolling in a solitary place beyond the city and pondering about where to seek the way to the knowledge of Truth, he met an old man. In the ensuing conversation he revealed to Justin the essential nature of the Christian teaching and advised him to seek the answers to all the questions of life in the books of Holy Scripture. “But before anything else,” said the holy Elder, “pray diligently to God, so that He might open to you the doors of Light. No one is able to comprehend Truth, unless he is granted understanding from God Himself, Who reveals it to each one who seeks Him in prayer and in love.”
In his thirtieth year, Justin accepted holy Baptism (between the years 133 and 137). From this time Saint Justin devoted his talents and vast philosophical knowledge to preaching the Gospel among the pagans. He began to journey throughout the Roman Empire, sowing the seeds of faith. “Whosoever is able to proclaim Truth and does not proclaim it will be condemned by God,” he wrote.
Justin opened a school of Christian philosophy. Saint Justin subsequently defended the truth of Christian teaching, persuasively confuting pagan sophistry (in a debate with the Cynic philosopher Crescentius) and heretical distortions of Christianity. He also spoke out against the teachings of the Gnostic Marcian.
In the year 155, when the emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) started a persecution against Christians, Saint Justin personally gave him an Apology in defense of two Christians innocently condemned to execution, Ptolemy and Lucias. The name of the third remains unknown.
In the Apology he demonstrated the falseness of the slander against Christians accused unjustly for merely having the name of Christians. The Apology had such a favorable effect upon the emperor that he ceased the persecution. Saint Justin journeyed, by decision of the emperor, to Asia Minor where they were persecuting Christians with particular severity. He proclaimed the joyous message of the imperial edict throughout the surrounding cities and countryside.
The debate of Saint Justin with the Rabbi Trypho took place at Ephesus. The Orthodox philosopher demonstrated the truth of the Christian teaching of faith on the basis of the Old Testament prophetic writings. Saint Justin gave an account of this debate in his work Dialogue with Trypho the Jew.
A second Apology of Saint Justin was addressed to the Roman Senate. It was written in the year 161, soon after Marcus Aurelius (161-180) ascended the throne.
When he returned to Italy, Saint Justin, like the Apostles, preached the Gospel everywhere, converting many to the Christian Faith. When the saint arrived at Rome, the envious Crescentius, whom Justin always defeated in debate, brought many false accusations against him before the Roman court. Saint Justin was put under guard, subjected to torture and suffered martyrdom in 165. The relics of Saint Justin the Philosopher rest in Rome.
In addition to the above-mentioned works, the following are also attributed to the holy martyr Justin the Philosopher:
1) An Address to the Greeks
2) A Hortatory Address to the Greeks
3) On the Sole Government of God
Saint John of Damascus preserved a significant part of Saint Justin’s On the Resurrection, which has not survived. The church historian Eusebius asserts that Saint Justin wrote books entitled
The Singer
Denunciation of all Existing Heresies and
Against Marcian
In the Russian Church the memory of the martyr is particularly glorified in temples of his name. He is invoked by those who seek help in their studies.
The holy martyrs Justin, Chariton, Euelpistus, Hierax, Peonus, Valerian, Justus and the martyr Charito suffered with Saint Justin the Philosopher in the year 166. They were brought to Rome and thrown into prison. The saints bravely confessed their faith in Christ before the court of the prefect Rusticus. Rusticus asked Saint Justin, whether he really thought that after undergoing tortures he would go to heaven and receive a reward from God. Saint Justin answered, “Not only do I think this, but I know and am fully assured of it.”
The prefect proposed to all the Christian prisoners that they offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. When they refused he issued a sentence of death, and the saints were beheaded.
Troparion — Tone 5
You emptied the cup of the wisdom of the Greeks, but you thirsted again, until you came to the well where you found water springing unto eternal life. And having drunk deeply, you also drank from the cup which Christ gave to His disciples. Therefore, O Justin, we praise you as a Philosopher and Martyr of Christ.
Troparion — Tone 4
O Justin, teacher of divine knowledge, you shone with the radiance of true philosophy. You were wisely armed against the Enemy. Confessing the truth, you contested with the Martyrs, with them, O Justin, always entreat Christ to save our souls.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Through the wisdom of your divinely-inspired teachings, O Justin, the Church of God, adorned in its entirety, enlightens the world by the radiance of your life. By shedding your blood, you received the crown of martyrdom. As you stand before Christ with the Angels, pray unceasingly for all of us.
Kontakion — Tone 3
As a breath from Paradise, the dew descending upon Aermon, Christ the Power and the Peace and Wisdom of God the Father, came upon your thirsting spirit, O Martyr Justin, making you a Fount of Knowledge for all the faithful, when with true valor you endured death as a Martyr, to live forever in Christ.

Hey y'all! Coming up on this years rookie draft in dynasty. Right now I have picks 2.01, 2.06, 2.09 and may be involved in a trade that gives me 2.12.
Running mock drafts, I'm really unsure who I should be targeting at 2.06, 2.09, and 2.12. I don't even know who I would take at 2.01
Let me know your guys' thought!

13. Dorian Finney-Smith, Kings (via Suns)

Original pick: Georgios Papagiannis
Finney-Smith's original draft position: Undrafted
It's somewhat unbelievable that Finney-Smith went undrafted in this class. He's much better than any of the players left and his skillset as a 3-and-D wing is extremely valuable. He has guarded some of the best stars in the league capably — it's not a coincidence that the Mavericks went into the tank after they traded him. — Noh
Source: https://www.sportingnews.com/sg/nba/news/redrafting-2016-nba-draft-jamal-murray-ben-simmons/xfgl78mav6vjizcfy7fv2hdb

Hello ladies,
I wanted to share my story in the hopes this will give at least some of you a bit more comfort going into your surgery. I found there were lots of negative post surgery experiences here and in the wider realms of the internet, so I thought I should probably share a positive one too! I am now Day 10 post-op.
Surgery type: Laparoscopic myomectomy
Insurance: Private. Pre-diagnosis, ladies, not to sound like I am advertising private insurance, but even if you have a tiny inkling something might be wrong (but haven't been to the docs yet and no diagnosis), get private insurance - it gives you a bit of security that even if nothing is wrong you could have had the opportunity to get medical attention fastebetter quality.
Age: 32
Fitness level: High/athletic - I do lots of gym-ing, running, surfing, skating, cycling. I was a bit overweight in my early 20ties (not massively so, maybe like 2kgs over my BMI), so after my ovarian cyst surgery I was paranoid to get PCOS so I really changed my lifestyle around and got into sports, which now has turned into a lifestyle I can't really live without!
Living situation: Live on my own in a rural town, but close friends live nearby.
Previous surgery: Ovarian cyst surgery where they also had to remove my ovary (very large cyst) circa 10 years ago. Didn't have any symptoms back then even, just thought I had IBS (which I think a lot of us do) - turns out there was a cyst the size of a small basketball growing on my ovary, and they had to remove both...which sucks of course, but when your in your early 20ties you don't really think about how this may affect your future ability to have kids. Mine was an emergency surgery performed after I went to ER with crazy gas pain in tummy, in a foreign country, so overall this whole experience was really traumatic emotionally and I am still dealing with the aftermath of this.
Symptoms before surgery: No real symptoms - normal periods, bit of bloating (assumed IBS), bit of hormonal acne here and there. Been on birth control pill since my ovarian cyst surgery, so keeping hormones in check through that.
Diagnosis: I pulled what I thought was a hernia at the gym, went to GP, got a ultrasound which funnily enough found nothing, so they attributed it to a one off random told me to ease off exercise for a couple of weeks and start again. However, I instinctively knew something was wrong with my body, so TRUST YOUR GUT LADIES! Because I had a previous cyst and my ovary removed circa 10 years ago I got into real panic mode about my fertility, so I requested a referral to a OBGYN in case there was an issue with my other ovary. Note ladies, private insurance if you live in a country where healthcare is horrible is so important. I saw the OBGYN within a week, if that wasn't the case I would have needed to wait about 6-12 months to see one on the public system. OBGYN sent me for another ultrasound (this time transvaginal) and they originally didn't see any problem, but by the end of the app, they weren't quite sure what they had seen (useful, I know), so OBGYN sent me for an MRI. MRI found 1 med-large fibroid on uterus. I then had a long chat with OBGYN as to the best treatment type, and because of my age and the desire to have children she recommended removal through laparoscopic surgery.
Fibroid numbetype: 1 med-large subserosal fibroid 7cm, and the surgeon found two others ( 1 x 4cm and 1 x 1cm) during my surgery (did not see them on the MRI, I know crazy!). OBGYN also now suspects I have adenomyosis, which is something I will have to deal with once I have recovered from surgery. I know, fun!
Day of surgery: Had to only wait a month between my app with OBGYN and surgery (again, thanks insurance). Hospital was boujie as (had never been in private hopsital) and everything from the admission to surgery just felt like a well oiled machine which was really good to keep the stress levels down. I had my friend there with me and we chatted all the way until I got rolled away for surgery. Surgery lasted about 2 hrs.
Waking up post-surgery: I woke up to see 2 nurses monitoring my vitals, and they rolled me to my room where my friend was waiting. I was pretty out of it and asked some silly question to my friend, which I am sure she loved sharing with our friend group. I had an afternoon surgery so I was in my room by dinnertime, but believe you me I did not want to eat anything. I drank lots of water overnight, and they kept coming in to check my vitals and give me pain and anti-nausea meds + laxatives and some other stuff that helps with heartburn etc.
Day 1 post op: In hospital, had a bit to eat for brekkie (eggs - high protein), they took my catheter out from my lady parts, so I can pee by myself. Didn't hurt at all taking it out (also they put the catheter in while you're under so you feel nothing). Went for my first pee, went for a little ponder round hospital (about 5mins in the hallways), and spent the rest of day watching series, reading etc. Pain was totally fine, and I was just on paracetamols etc., didn't need anything stronger. Had pretty bad nausea, but they kept me topped up for that. Lots of sleeping, but generally because of the pain meds I didn't feel any pain at all! Getting in and out of bed was a bit hard, but I have really strong arms from surfing so i was able to push myself up quite easily. Every hour or so, I tried to get up and do a couple of laps (5-10min) in the hallway. Because I was doing fine and was mobile, I could do this by myself, but there were lots of people who did the same thing but needed to be accompanied by a nurse. Drink lots of water gals, this will help with triggering your need to pee independently and getting your bowels moving, and also helps flush your body.
Important things to make your stay at hospital more comfy: Loose low rise sweatpants - I actually bought a pair a size too big so it was more comfy. Oversized t-shirts and jumpers, something you can easily put over the catheter in your arm. I-pad (life saver for me, I could catch up on netflix), magazines or crosswords. I had a book, but my brain was deffos not ready to engage while I was still in hospital. Electrolyte drinks - these were incredible and really helped to get my bowels moving too! Heat wrap - they had some in the hospital, and they're essential pain relief for anesthetic leaving your body pain (my right shoulder was in pain) - they kept heating it up round the clock which was so GOOD.
Day 2: Discharge day/first day at home - they would not discharge me until I had a bowel movement, so I was drinking water like crazy to help trigger some gut movement. Otherwise you will have to shove pills up your bum to get the party started. Luckily for me all of my drinking, and eating regular, yet small meals during Day 1 did the trick! My friend came to pick me up and we had a 2 hrs drive to get home, and this was not something I had thought about before. This was probably the worst part of my entire experience. I was so motion sick the entire way home, that the car had to be made into a freezer (AC pumping) and I had to do deep breathing all the way home not to throw up (which I did when I got home, but thankfully not in caon roadside). Once I got home, I pretty much just dropped into my bed and slept for about 5 hrs. I threw up once, while clutching a pillow to my abdomen to make it hurt less. Did some small walks around the house, friends dropped off some food, so I didn't have to cook or anything. People dropped in really regularly to check on me. My friends bought me heat packs for shoulder pain (still from anesthetic and gas leaving your body), and it was the best.
Day 3: Started day off with small walk outside to the post box and back, felt exhausted afterwards, but with little pain. I clutched a soft pillow to my abdomen while doing so (just felt more comfortable this way). I was managing with paracetamol every 6 hours, irrespective of whether I felt in pain or not. This is what docs advised on discharge. I had no pain really, discomfort in my tummy area sure, mainly just felt odd with the stiches. What I found hardest was breathing while walking (I know, weird right), I felt really out of breath every time I tried to go for a longer walk (200m plus). I just listened to my body and stopped when this happened, while also attempting to increase the length I walked bit by bit to train my lungs. Bowel movement back to normal pretty much, some light bleeding (doc said this is normal), but stomach was huge (as in 6 month pregnant huge). I called my doc as I was concerned about why it's so large, she said it's normal and swelling should subside in a couple of weeks (yikes!). I was drinking lots of water (2-3L a day), and eating a primarily veggie & high protein diet. I cut dairy, red meat an processed foods out during my recovery as I had read this helps. Ate a lot of kiwi fruit to help my bowels. Overall, by day 3 I did some light house work and did about 2 hrs of work (e-mails etc.)
Day 4: Walked about 1km in the morning, felt tired after so took a nap. Pain almost completely gone, bowels normal, no more spotting/bleeding. Feeling almost normal (ish). Did some housework, couple hours of work. Another 1km walk later in the arvo. Diet still restricted to protein, fibre, no dairy, no red meat and not processed foods.
Day 5: Dropped my meds, as I did not feel pain at all, my stomach felt fine, and tummy swelling had gone down. Felt okay all day, bit bloated, but walking really helped. Did about 2km walk in mooning and 2km walk in arvo, with small stints of walking around the house all day. Still more tired than normal, so lots of resting & naps.
Days 6-10: Nearly back to normal (well normal-ish) - no pain, everything regular, have been off painkillers for 5 days. Introduced dairy back into diet, felt fine. Had an ice cream :) Increased walk length to 3-5kms per walk (2 x daily) - feeling puffed still, lungs still feeling exhausted during walking but getting better every day. Have been doing about 5-6 hrs of work each day, while still taking lots of mini break for naps and resting.
Day 10: (today) - OBGYN has cleared me for short drives with car (initially she said 3 weeks no driving), as I have been off pain meds for over 5 days and feeling fit and alert. I feel almost normal to be honest, the area where the stiches are feels a bit tender, and still a bit swollen, but swelling has gone down heaps. Hoping to keep upping my walk distances and that my lungs will catch up slowly.
Something I really struggled with: Emotionally, I was a bit of a wreck after surgery. The additional diagnosis of adenomyosis really left me questioning whether I will be able to have children in the future, so I had a good cry with my friends about it (whom immediately jumped in to be surrogates). I'm trying to not think about it too much during recovery, but it's something that is heavily weighing on my mind as one of the main 'side effects' is infertility. I am hopefully going to see a fertility specialist after I have recovered to talk about my options. Obvs doesn't help that I am single, but I am so ready to be a mom (emotionally and financially), so am I ready to explore what else is out there for me to hopefully start on a journey that will lead me towards a wee addition to my solo independent lady family.
Also, I struggled with just being and home and not doing ANYTHING. I am normally really active and exercise helps me to relieve stress and sleep better, so not being able to do that has been driving me up the wall. I am very lucky to be self employed so I have no pressure from anyone else to get back to work, but I feel guilty for doing little work for over 10 days. I'm a workaholic, so it's really hard for me to 'just rest.' I will hopefully go back to working full time from next week, but I will really need to check myself to not be 'overdoing' it and set myself back in recovery.
Key takeaways: If you feel up for it, get up and start doing small walks as soon as you can after surgery - this well help get your bowels moving and heal faster. Drink lots of water! Eat a diet that's high in protein & fibre (pre and post op for sure), cut out dairy, red meat and processed food if you can. I am a young fit adult and this really helped with recovery as my body is trained to be under stress and has a high pain threshold, by being fit my recovery is up to 3-5 faster than an average person. Even if you're not fit now, there's a lot of studies (goggle them, I kid you not) suggesting that physical training before surgery, like gym exercises or running boosts the odds of a good outcome, so if you've got your surgery scheduled for a couple of months time see if you can incorporate some exercise in your daily routine.
Also you might be okay psychically, but it's okay if you feel like a mess emotionally. A good network of close females was so important for me. I cried, I laughed and I felt supported by them in allowing me to talk through my emotional trauma, especially relating to the potential fertility issues in the future. Anything to do with woman's health for me has been so hard to talk about, as it feels so personal, and you feel less of a 'normal female' if you have fertility issues. Most of my life I have been trying to avoid even thinking about it, so it felt so nice to just let it all out! I really hope you all have those people in your life you can open up to and be vulnerable around!
Having the support of close friends/family will be key while you're in hospital and for the first week or so - I could have never done this without my close friend group, they were with me at the hospital and took turns bringing food and drink and attending to most of my whims while I was at home, so make sure you have some support with you during this time!
Anyways, I hope my essay helped someone - I think I can put my good experience down to 3 simple factors: excellent pre-existing fitness, private health insurance and having a good movement regime/diet structure post-surgery.

• trade Parker for a late round draft pick, sign Hopkins

QB Mac
RB Rhamondre / Robinson
3DB Montgomery
WR Hopkins / Thornton
WR JuJu / Boutte
WR Bourne / Douglas
TE Hunter / Gesicki / Firsker
Our defense improves upon last years performance… I like our chances to win the East if Mac gets back on his rookie year trajectory if we can put a legitimate receiving core in front of him!

https://www.espn.com/nba/insideinsidestory/_/id/37757403/2023-nba-mock-draft-post-combine-pro-day-impacts-draft-class
Thought this snippet from the ESPN mock draft was interesting. We know Weltman leaks nothing which is why no one knows who they target in the draft, but if they're shopping picks word could get out via other FOs in the league. Weltman has talked about not wanting too many rookies at one time, but I hope we if we trade it's for a veteran that can help rather than future picks which may be less valuable

Source
It's under paywall, but I'll throw out the proposals:

• BoucheOPJ for 10/Bertans
• OG/Thad for 10/Green/THJ
• 15/Capela for 10/THJ
• 15/Hunter for 10/Green/Bertans
• 21/O'Neale/Mills for 10/Bertans
• Holmes for Bertans
• Nance/Hernangomez/Temple for Bullock/McGee

It depends on whether Walker and/or Hendricks are available at 10, but if they aren't I still don't think I'd do any of these aside from the Nance deal. Maybe Bertans/Holmes, but that's just a maybe given how washed Holmes has looked.

I was banned very fast in the religious cheesecake community. I could tell from the ban, they don't want to be confronted with someone who went to Catholic school for 8 years, had to go to therapy for Catholic Guilt, experienced traumatic events such as being SA'd as a 12 year old boy by a mentally ill stranger, and never got any care from any of the school I went to besides one teacher Mrs.Grant. The church we belonged to only decided to call my grandpa after my father shot himself in a 16 hour standoff with our local swat team, to ask why they didn't come to church so my grandpa can do the reading of whatever passage it was that day.
Needless to say, they stopped going to that church, and asked why they never cared for me, why they continued to punish me for being a rebel against the rebels, instead of understanding why a child that was recently touched by a man was acting out, who was also abused physically by their father. I have read so much of the bible, I have went to church 2 times a week at Catholic churches, baptists, Presbyterian churches, etc. I have been judged many times for just being me, I have been told I'll go to hell for just being me.
God let the women of the Israelites be raped, how can I follow a religion that does that? That accepts that? How can one follow a religion that teaches men to take the innocence of women? A religion that is anti-science, and just anti-human?
2) Murder, rape and pillage of the Midianites (Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)
This isn't about me, it's about the other kids that are now being abused by these terrible abrahamic cults, and their teachings. They always refer the scriptures of love, and peace, yet skip over and cherry pick the rest of the book which is just evil. Christian Nationalists have taken over my nations government, it has taken the rights from trans adults, and children. They have not seperated church from state, rather combining it, and using their religious beliefs and their political power, to instill these whitewashed traditions of segregation, of hate, and impulsive behaviors based on how they were taught to hate others that different from them psychically and mentally.
I broke down when they took books away from public libraries that my tax dollars go to. I bawled no lie, as I was abused as a kid from my father who didn't break the cycle of abuse, he tried his best and on his good days when took his meds, he was the best to be around, but when I was struck for spilling a drink, or accidentally knocking something over and getting struck, my mind would go to those worlds in those books I read. Characters that felt pain like I did, that had no hope but eventually overcame the situation(s). These books took me to worlds where I didn't feel much pain, only joy, and love for these worlds. To Kill A Mockingbird, the amount of symbolisms in that book is just beautiful. Atticus talking to scout about climbing into another person, and seeing from their perspective, taught me to do that. It stuck with me, the fact that everyone was scared of Boo Radley someone people that was a monster, was just misunderstood and was kind. Jim and the dog that went mad, was just insane, intense, I felt like I was there.
I notice as someone who is left of politics, my fellow lefties get upset, and then not actually tackle problems in their local communities, this has led to these book bannings especially in my state of MO. These books they're banning are ridiculous, it's insane, they're banning books that kids need to read and discover, these christian nationalists force the ten commandments into Texas public schools. Everyone has an agenda, no matter who you are, but everyone should share an agenda of educating our kids, and not holding them back from gaining knowledge and information.
Book bannings will only make rebellious kids and teens want to rest those books even more. The first Nazi books banning was of Trans medical documents and research of a trans medical facility that helped trans, gays, lesbians, intersex children etc. They killed half of the doctors and destroyed amazing research into the trans and intersex community. They then forced their religious views, their twisted beliefs into their society.
I personally think the bible the Torah should be banned, but that is wrong to do, and goes against the foundation of education, the ability to wander aimlessly through rows of books containing so much information.
What can we (I) do to help my community to be educated on the fact our education system is already terrible and this only makes it worse? I am in a one man band music project, I plan on getting money from my shows and putting it towards a women's shelter, and the local orphanage, and build multiple community gardens. My goal is to get kids outside, active, learning to grow herbs, plants, and learning to work together and solve problems. I have researched that these christian nationalists instill fascism, and hate into children over time, and I think with these community gardens, it would have kids interact with those they normally wouldn't, and build relationships with others. Hate is taught, and I want to abolish that, if I, and others can get kids and teens into the city and create beautiful gardens, I do think kids would be less likely to be in gangs, or have racism instilled into them as that form of hate is also taught.
We need to ban together, left or right, to stop this, to abolish these actions that cross the line. The abuse of power these people hold towards us, they serve US, we don't serve them. We have to let kids learn, and grow. For the sake of knowledge and learning, future generations, if this continues, will be so ignorant, and uneducated. They will fall more easily for misinformation than those with a higher education, and our nation is ranked 14th, that's terrible for this country, and insane. I'm sorry for the rambling, I just care about knowledge, and I care that kids should be able to escape the harsh world into a beautifully crafted world whatever it may be.
Knowledge is power, and builds our charcter.

Context: every year during free agency contending teams have the midlevel exception (MLE) to round out their roster (approximately $6 mil) and fill out the rest of the team through draft picks and minimum contracts. Sometimes the value of these minimum contracts (which range from $953,000 to $2,720,000 depending on the player's NBA experience) vastly outweigh the salary paid, and in these cases the player almost always receives a pay raise the following year for the MLE. That being said, who were the best minimum players this season, and which minimum contract players had the most impact on your team?
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Last year's bargain bin steals, as well as their following pay raises (data from BBref):
SG Malik Monk (Lakers): 13.8 PPG on 47/39/80 splits, 3.6 win shares signed for 2 yrs, $19 mil with Kings
PF Otto Porter Jr (Warriors): 8.2 PPG on 46/37/80 splits, 2.7 win shares signed for 2 yrs, $12 mil with Raptors
C Andre Drummond (76ers/Nets): 7.9 PPG on 57/00/52 splits, 5.1 win shares signed for 2 yrs, $6.5 mil with Bulls
SG Gary Payton II (Warriors): 7.1 PPG on 62/36/60 splits, 5.2 win shares signed for 3 yrs, $26 mil with Blazers