Fandom deplores a vacuum

A group of 6 college kids were ahead of us in line and started chatting with me. Full on just having a fun conversation with someone literally going through the beginning of a very awkward middle school period. I was so shocked they wanted to talk to me. I think my mom mentioned it was my birthday. They were very nice about it. When we got on the ride they told us to go ahead of them so we could sit at the front of the car since it held 8 people.

Now the ride (called Journey to Atlantis - I believe it is sadly no longer there) started with a slow ride of beautiful visuals of dolphins and oceans and computerized images of this imaginary Atlantis before going up the hill to the beginning of the coaster, where it paused for about 30 seconds, and then the ride started. The college kids must have known there would be a pause. Maybe they’d ridden it before I’m not sure.

But as we sat there on that peak, 6 people I’ve never known, and will never know again, sang a very very lonely 11 year old happy birthday. Loudly. And with gusto. They were happy and laughing and joyful. And it made me feel less alone in the world.

I am 29 years old this year, and I still remember them. I still remember that kindness. It is so important. It doesn’t go into a vacuum. It exists beside me in my daily life. And I love the idea that I have been that person to someone else too.

You are very brave. You are bravest human I have ever met. Is joke! I only meet one human, and is you!

I couldn't get a bunch of shots of his whole body since for some reason they never want us to see anything below his knees but in every scene except the scene where the research centre explodes (where he's wearing black pants and black rainboots) he's wearing his blue jeans and white converse!

🌏 for earth, for erid 🌏

Grace: That's me!

I bet he used to be a MENACE. He probably mellowed a lot after Denmark and carefully controls himself now that he's a teacher.

While it's not 1:1 we can see in both the book and movie that he's given to snark and a little impatience for what he sees as nonsense (like demanding immediate results on studying a brand new species). "Wow! Nothing happened!" isn't something a spineless person says to a group of obviously important people. He's a little smart ass who, imo, took a major hit to the ego and had his internal foundation rocked. And because of that maybe retreated into insecurity and finds it difficult to believe in himself.

But those basic personality traits are still there. He'll still tell Stratt she's being a jerk. He'll still say things like "sure seems optional to me" then get in his car and leave. He'll still demand to be let back onto the project and refuse to take no for an answer. He's still the guy who was taking random drugs from strangers back in the day.

This version of Grace is infinitely more interesting than the woobified version I see sometimes. The character is many things, but weak was never on the list. That man is a retired crashout who just might take things all the way left if pushed and the deep breathing/countdown combo doesn't help.