Vorlonagent

That's what Patereon is for.

You're doing a lot of speculating over what-ifs and might-have-beens and we really don't have canon information to process any of it. How does any of this relate to comparing Rhoda and Nanase's relative "S-Rank"-ness? Or their relative needs to magically train before Awakening? I'm still not getting a clear sense of what you mean.

We might be due, but we currently do not know of any way for an individual to awaken without realizing it except for an Immortal doing it.

Took me a moment to follow your logic train, but when I did.... [muttley snicker]

Could you expand on that? 'Cause I still think an Immortal did it.

We don't need another 9/11 commemoration...

I'm not really sure what you're trying to say here. We don't have any data on how Norko awakened, when or how. How does that affect comparing Nanase and Rhoda? My point only rests on the idea that, magically speaking, Nanase > Rhoda. I feel pretty secure in that. My point holds even if Nanase = Rhoda.

I don't know about Lazy but Pandora judged Rhoda by her passivity and missed a few bets. I want to compare Rhoda to Nanase, who was as close to a literal born mage as anybody could be. She's as "S-Rank" as you can get. Nanase still needed ASMA training to Awaken. We have no continuity to say that she could have awakened easily without it. Rhoda cannot be a greater S-Rank talent than Nanase so Rhoda must also have needed time and use to develop her abilities. Probably more than Nanase did. For Rhoda to have Awakened so fast she must have used her Mark a lot and incurred some kind of Awakening event. I don't seriously believe Rhoda and Catalina making out awakened Rhoda, but that's all the drama that we know has been in her life since she got her mark. So when we're constrained by a short time period between Rhoda being marked and now knowing she is awakened, and no drama to precipitate an awakening and the need to practice for even a S-rank talent to awaken regardless, the odds skew pretty far toward a combination of Rhoda making a lot of use of her Mark and and Immortal awakening her.

Rhoda talks about her mark disappearing very casually. I take that to mean she didn't notice when it happened. Further we have never seen any relationship drama between Rhoda and Catalina mentioned or implied and I consider drama to be essential for Rhoda to Awaken this fast after being Marked, S-rank or no. The only drama in Rhoda's life that we know about is her changing-room makeout sessions with Catalina. The way I see it, Rhoda either Awakened by getting busy with Catalina or an Immortal did it. I don't see to many other viable options.

Agreed. It makes for some great dialogue, such as Superman to Batman in "Kingdom Come" (printed in the 90s). "Peel away everything the Batman is, you find someone who just doesn't want to see anybody die."

Hey you're a shapeshifter. Flirting is always an option...

We'll crack open a 5000 year old sealed pot of grain to honor your return.

How personal is it? It sounds like you need more emotional support than you're getting. Are you familiar with the podcast writing excuses? There are episodes from there I could post but a lot of it could be stuff you already know.

Agreed. But Rhoda's Awakening was smooth and seamless like Justin's. Neither knew when they awakened. Rhoda just thought "Oh hey, that weird mark's gone again". That's something I associate with an Immortal. Certainly Nanase's Awakening was known to have been done by an Immortal and was just as seamless and easy as the other two. It's just Nanase knew it happened. If Susan's Awakening is any judge, emotional awakenings tend to be dramatic.

I think it's a function of the place that even an immortal is not immune to. Everybody in Moperville is at least a little bit geeky.

Voltaire came to mind here as well. Not sure what his motive would be either, but since it just seemed to happen to Rhoda one day and all other Immortals we know are pretty fresh from resets (may not be able to Awaken) and don't seem the sorts to Awaken just for the giggles of it, Voltaire is the prime suspect by default. I'm not even sure what a S-rank is. Perhaps someone with native magic potential but no magical aptitude the way Susan, Diane (and apparently Sarah) have.

Rhoda must have played with her spell. A lot. She seems to have awakened properly without energy buildups and without an on-screen angsty moment like Susan's. Was she Awakened by an Immortal? When Susan Awakened, Jerry said Susan would have at least one new spell. She got one (the hammers). Rhoda has at least two new spells. If she only got one new spell when she Awakened, she's earned a new one since. Which means she is still playing with her spells a lot.

I'm doing NaNoWriMo right now and writing my first novel. From what I have been told, rejection notices come with the territory. Rejections are not a judgement on your work though it's so personally a part of you that's hard to remember. Do you have a writing group or beta readers? Support systems help a lot.

I try to present information from the public record and analysis as I see it. If I just threw out boilerplate party rhetoric, first it'd be lazy, second I'd get stomped from 10 different sides, and third, I'd just reinforce stereotypes. Ehh...why bother with that? Much better to actually challenge myself and my opponents with my A-game. Passing the budget hasn't seemed to be a problem. Anything else...well...nothing is perfect. RE budget: There was that one government shutdown but the Republicans who did the shutting-down did not fare well. (As an aside I think that shutdown was as much an internal squabble between Republican old guard elites and new guard populists as it was between Republicans and Democrats) I think these might be decent posts to bow out of the topic for a few weeks. While I love a good discussion, I think I might just be twisting the knife right now. It really isn't the end of the world, just a peaceful transfer of power.

It took a while. Decades. And lots of genuinely good intentions.

I never saw Obama as willing to compromise on substance, bending over backwards or being even polite about it. I saw him as saying "let's compromise and do it my way", which might have happened more often if the Tea Party Republicans weren't so insubordinate (inflection meant to imply insubordination in this case as a positive trait). I remember Obama as saying things like "get in their face", "bring a gun to a knife fight" and the perhaps ill-chosen "Don't call my bluff". The latter spoken during a particularly nerve-wracking face-to-face negotiation session where Obama threatened to take his case to the American people. The Republicans also remember 2007-2008 when it was a Democrat Congress blocking a Republican President. Payback. Then there's the constant drumbeat of demonization that Republicans get. Obama saying "pretty please with sugar on top" won't cut any ice. Same thing with the Senate and Obama's Judicial appointments. Democrats in the Senate did the same thing to GW Bush. If Trump wins tonight, Senate democrats will return to this practice without a moment's care for the Constitutional complaints they made when it was Republicans blocking them. The "hold" strategy will once more be lauded as important and valuable. Also complaints about gridlock will disappear and it will be the Democrats getting payback once more.

Don't worry. He's going to pick up a minimum of 230 or so electoral votes. Even though I prefer Trump over Clinton (which is like saying I prefer a sucking chest wound to brain cancer), I handicapped the odds at 65% Clinton, 35% Trump. The dice are still rolling.

2010 - 2013. With the exact schedule for what phases in when in front of them since 2010. Incompetence or Executive Overreach. I accept no "dog ate my homework" option. This was 2009. There was no Supreme Court ruling in hand and no case before the Court to be ruled on. Arguably, until the Supreme Court actually rules on a law, it is still Law and to be treated as such. There is no allowance for maybe not enforcing a law when it is under Judicial Review, just in case the Court rules against it. The Supreme Court would have issue a stay order to temporarily suspend a law while it is under Review. I'm pretty sure that only occurs when the constitutionality of a newly passed law is questioned, which wasn't the case with DOMA or many such anti-gay marriage statues across the US. With no case before the Court in 2009, Obama simply refused to enforce a law that conflicted with his political convenience.

ACA became law in 2010. The Obama administration had 3 years to prepare. I see no reason to accept "we weren't ready" excuses in 2013 or 2014. Either the Obama's Administration was hopelessly incompetent or Obama intentionally suspended the law till the midterm elections were over. I'll accept either answer. You won't find that in the constitution. It's a part of the concept known as "Rule of Law" or if you will, "Equality under the Law". These are concepts that went into the writing of the Constitution. The Chief Executive does not get to pick and choose what laws he enforces. I'm pretty sure "Stimulus" was a one-time thing in 2009. It was disbursed over several years because Obama was short on "shovel ready" projects. I don't remember a repeat stimulus package passed in 2010. 2010, Congress and the President simply spent money like crazy. At worst, it was the usual repaying political contributors with government dollars that both parties do. At best, they told themselves the "spending = stimulus" bedtime story Keynes wrote for them. Keynes was wrong. In 2011, we got a Republican House and the return of gridlock, Obama and the congressional democrats suddenly couldn't spend as freely and the deficit starts dropping.

You're welcome.