Hi everyone, Joe for jaspyscasebrakes.com coming at you with That right there little hoops premium stock a 20 box blaster case from jaspyscasebrakes.com No vet commonship and you got a chance at the pelicans if you bought at least two teams So let's sort by column a Let's see Dario got two teams. That's an entry ea got two teams. That's an entry Harrison You got two teams. That's an entry Jay got three but to count the purpose of the promo. That's an entry Jeremy port got ten teams That's five entries Logan got two teams. That's an entry Nate two teams one entry sherry two teams one entry and Tyler two teams one entry So that's a total of 13 entries here I'm gonna put your names into this list and the name on top after Six and two eight times. We'll get the pelicans for this break one two three four five six seven After eight there you go Jeremy port definitely had the odds And he gets the pelicans for this particular break We'll put a little rooftop next to your name. So you know where you won that. Let's delete this column right here Let's get this back alphabetized by team name No, I do not want to merge cells. I just want to put boxes. All right. Good luck everybody All right, so there it is there's the premium stock blaster case A little bit of a mess here, but if you look at the top camera, you can see all the boxes. There's five ten and Then 15 20 right up here So I'm gonna open up a handful of these at a time official print out here Yes So here's how it all shakes out boys and girls. Thanks everyone for getting into it Little room for this What look at full crystal blasting away dust pollen dirt and grime Yeah, look at look at that dope on a ladder With a with a with a spray bottle. No, look at this that person's on the ground It's just blasting water 27 feet into the air our windows disappear May have issues with birds Try to fly through it Double it.  We finally have It's been a little quiet on in terms of live sports recently basketball being gone for for that all-star weekend But we tomorrow we got wizards at Grizzlies tomorrow And then the NBA Network game is gonna be spurs at maps So just two games tomorrow and then a huge slay the game for the TNT night Thursday night It should be a lot of fun looking forward to that. I don't know what it Myers Leonard apologizing for using an anti-semitic slur Come on, dude. When was this in a video that surfaced to social media? But what was the context during a recent video game lives?  Don't do that You know Who was the other what was it will Myers it was it a base another baseball player I think was playing like a video game and he had he didn't say anything like like racist or anything like that But I think he was talking about how much he doesn't like his coach or something like don't do that You're on a live stream People are looking for anything that they could like record and then like, you know break news Be be first to to uncover your Cover what you said look what happened to Kyle Larson the NASCAR driver I mean the word that Myers Leonard says is it's right up there Yeah, when you're in the spotlight people look to tear you down Sorry, Harrison Gotta be gotta be smarter than that when you're on a live stream.   Come on, man That makes in Galloway number. No, it's not but it ships do all-card ship No, no vet commons ship. All right, so let's take a quick look so stuff like this Jared Allen Lonzo ball knock on a ship The seer little yes will ship rookie card Dramon green. Yes, because that's a refractor that will ship Daniel House Jr. No Rudy Gay. No Dean Wade. Yes Alfonzo McKinney. Yes, because it's a red parallel Those will ship Jay Carter will not ship Fred Van Vleet. Yes, that's a mojo refractor Inserts. Yes, of course. They should their insert zero gravity will ship. I think the only exception is To the no vet common rule that's a standing order here at Jaspie's is Is LeBron commons ship? Second-year Luca Donchich commons ship. I don't know if Kobe's on this checklist, but he would ship if he was Zion Silver Deer and Fox Zion will go to the Pelicans that was won by Jeremy Port. That's a start Jeremy. We got next insert Zion There's Montrez Clippers Edition Hachimura That's what I was trying to forget It was like it's like there's one more player Rex is right Yannis as well is also on the on the vet commons that do ship list. Usually I try to Usually I try to catch it as we as we go through the break so The shipping team doesn't have to worry about it, but if we forget it they They know to keep an eye out for that too Thanks Rex, and we got a Hachimura Doesn't look any different from the other ones, but Slipped around maybe there is a redemption there is Chris Paul that guy's important John Morant Silver Kuzma Speaking of Yannis everyone see that all-star game Yannis went like 16 for 16 from the field Not all of them were dunks either but 16 from 16 from the field and The most impressive thing three for three from three See that that's terrifying if Yannis starts to If Yannis starts to develop that outside shot, I think he was interviewed by it after the game There he is right there speaking of Yannis think he was interviewed after the game and Regarding his outside shooting which has not been very good You know relative to what the modern NBA needs have to yet But if he starts developing that and he was saying that interview he thinks he wants to I Think he kind of said he wanted to play more loose. He wanted to play fun Not be afraid of taking that outside shot, you know, not you know, which I think could be a terrifying attitude Good for the Bucks bad for the rest of the league guy is the Mahomes the only NFL comment that ships Yes him and And Tom Brady are the are the NFL comments that ship in a no-vet common ship break But a lot of times we ship that commons these days. I think when when this premium stock first came out I think like the first week or two We we would ship all cards So it's only until a product has been out for a while where we start to lean more Lean more no-vet commons. Let's see. What else is happening leading back in the second half of the season? This is Blake Griffin going to the Brooklyn Nets do anything to move the needle for anybody. I'm sure if it does What is he but hey? Good for Blake though He's on a team that's most likely gonna go very deep into the playoffs. He doesn't have that Doesn't got that he doesn't have that bounce anymore that he used to have but you know You might get a lot of opportunities Where they're in the lead Right where he can be part of the second unit. He can kind of work on a work on a Jump shot on the fly We'll see what he can do drive to the basket. I'm so sure he can do that There's very little pressure for him on that team I mean, I'd be if you're Blake Griffin, you're happy if you get like 15 minutes a night I'm gonna go deep into the playoffs. Maybe maybe get a ring out of it I'm like, I'm happy about that Towards the end of your career Has been decimated by injuries Yeah, I guess I guess it's a before the before we start the second half of the season Harrison's right We got a for real not for real conversation Are the jazz for real Harrison's asking So going into the first half there are 27 and 9. I mean if they're healthy, why not? That's a terrifying team right if they're healthy Nice one DJ Depends on if you like the saxophone Play jazz a lot of other instruments too Depending on what kind of jazz you like Donovan Mitchell's for real Mike Conley is strong They got boy on Bogdanovich Joe Ingalls me over that like Royce O'Neill in that small forward spot. That's been pretty effective Right a Royce O'Neill can play power for it too. And then they got Ilya sova and all those guys can switch around in those Three-four spots and go bear is strong and Jordan Clarkson looks like he could be like six man of the year So only only health can really stop them. I think Jordan Clarkson is a pretty interesting part of that team You got to count on Donovan Mitchell and Rudy go bear being like the two superstars Mike Conley's a strong veteran. So is Jordan Clarkson. Ah You're in your inheritance of nuggets guys, so Hey nuggets are looking good, too. I think let's go to the nuggets depth chart. Well, first of all Let's see nuggets are 21 and 15 They're only six games behind in the In the number one seed they're definitely gonna be a playoff team. Let's take a look at their I want to see a little more Maybe this is maybe this is a misinformed statement, but I do do we want to see a little more consistency from Jamal Murray Let's go bear right there But Nikola Jokic Yeah, Murray slipping a little this year, right? I think that we need it You know if you're a Denver Nuggets fan you need You need him to really be more consistent and just really just turn it up and turn it on That's that's crucial for that team's postseason success DJs thinking playoff Murray will show up because otherwise that's a solid team. You know what you want You want Michael Porter Jr. Really to start? I love T.H.T. right here. Sure. There he is town horn Tucker I don't know why he's getting sleep and top loaded alongside a Alongside but that's my Lakers bias But this guy's Guys a beast. I mean Nikola Jokic can literally take over games and you just need Jamal Murray and and Will Barton and Gary Harris and Michael Porter Jr. to just be Solid and consistent and they've got enough depth there that can that can scare a lot of teams he did he did He did kill in the bubble, but I wonder if that's because Because there's no fans there sometimes the no fans help See we need more out of Jamal Murray, you know, and I think Jamal Murray will There's LeBron right there Jamal Murray's only 24 Right he's been in the league since six 2016 right one two three four five. Yeah, so this is his fifth Full season in the league So now if you look at a lot of players like look at Kevin Durant And look at his career there's Alfonso McKinney of 99 for Cleveland EA But you look at Kevin Durant and there is no doubt that his talent the talent was there But he did not really like kind of peak Until you until like the fifth sixth seventh season in the league where Where he would where it all kind of clicked together nice ion right there We're not the scoring was there, but then the defense was there the understanding of the game came, you know all the Maturity came blah blah blah blah and so a lot of her a lot of players especially since they start so young that I think that but Jamal Murray is in that sort of window where like Is he gonna take it to the next level or not? You know Dante saying and be Joanne Bede for MVP I think he if he keeps it up and and stays healthy and plays plays more the majority of the game I think he is I think he is gonna be it be the MVP I Mean I Who do you who do you pick you almost have to lean? Yolk it's just because he can demonstrate that he's healthier and he can give you a full season of games But when and Bede is on my I Don't know how you stop that guy No, Luca, this isn't the place for you to test your material. Thanks though Yeah, Yolk it just really carrying that team. I saw that one This one 50 point game that he had where he was just He's just just taking over well speaking of MB. Do the Do the Sixers get over the home? I mean so the Sixers are the number one seed 24 and 12 is their record Brooklyn just half a game behind him. No doubt the Sixers will make it to the playoffs, but do they Do they have enough? No, I agree. Yeah, you know Yolk it Definitely sees the floor better than MB. I don't know MVP voting is a little weird I feel like I feel like that's gonna go with more of a thing Harrison mentioned this earlier. Maybe go with a little bit of a More popular East Coast bias team. Yeah, I mean I would I'm not saying I'm B'd I mean we're splitting hairs here Dante between MB'd and Yolk it Both are pretty incredible. I'm saying that that Yolk it should probably get a Little more love for the MVP award than he's probably currently getting We're not disputing MB's credentials though, but yeah, BJ's mentioning the point About health can't tell you what the nuggets are without Yolk it's because he plays every game But yeah, I don't know yet doesn't be need to see the floor more on that team because of Simmons I think Simmons has played pretty well. I have a friend in Philadelphia who says who says that he sees what He sees Ben Simmons, you know what I mean, but apparently a lot of fans just don't see Ben Simmons For what he is and could could how important he is to that team really if he's healthy Everyone's just thinks where's the you know, they want Steph Curry on that team You know, they want Steph not Ben Simmons. I don't know. I think Doc Rivers is a pretty solid coach. I Like shake Milton shake. I mean, why do you need Ben Simmons? Shake shake Milton can shoot threes Matisse Tybalt can shoot threes I saw I saw fur con Cormaz cork maz in a game I think the game when they were resting a lot of the guys in the game before the the all-star break I Was thinking threes left and right and the flexibility that you can get was Ben Simmons So you can probably play them one through five I think you know the next five boxes and the last five are right over there We're almost done folks squeeze five more box in this trash can that's getting really full I Sleugand d'Orte silver for okay. See that's for Jeremy We got neck Zion Williamson insert I'm sure my what my Lakers are gonna do Think they don't have anything to trade for anybody So I think they just have to count on some sort of buyout market whatever emerges from the buyout market, but You really got to see if Charles Barkley flipped around why that was flipped around maybe a short print But the Lakers could use a bit of size to help To help Anthony Davis not have to play the center role as much Andre drumming maybe Andre drumming. I think they said they you'd have to get There's something weird he'd have Cleveland would have to trade him and then There would have to be the buyout We might not find too many willing trading partners to do that You need three-point shooting They started off the first month or so of the season I feel like they were They were shooting the three ball so much better and I was like, all right Anstin they still play pretty solid defense all around but that the three-point shooting has just slipped significantly for the Lakers we really need a Little bit of that KCP could go five for five from three one night And then 0 for seven one for seven from the field the very next night So he's a little inconsistent. I mean, maybe they're just It's harder to just turn it on I think In the playoffs this year, I feel like it's gonna be a lot more difficult this year not for all teams For any any top team Can't just switch it on this year with fans potentially back in the stands by by the time the playoffs roll around at least for some states But no, yeah, you cannot can't cannot play off of LeBron that playoff LeBron definitely needs a healthy Anthony Davis Which I hope will happen. I think we'll start to see In the next week or so we'll see what update on Anthony Davis's calf situation Next five boxes were we wrong here's another question. Were we wrong about the Brooklyn Nets? We're I Think I think for now I could say that I was wrong I think so many people were like we're like, oh that team's not gonna work Now are you gonna share the ball with James Harden and Kyrie and KD on that team, you know, but I think I Think they quickly adapted I think they're like them play with KD a lot, but I think they've quickly adapted I Think Kyrie was like, yeah, James hards are point guard and James hardens. I get I'm gonna get a ton of assists every night That's gonna be my job, you know and still be dangerous from three But he's gonna facilitate run the floor a lot more, which I think he probably does Basketball IQ eyes probably does run the floor probably better than Kyrie. Maybe Kyrie's better off the ball And now if those two can play together well when KD's consistently back in the lineup if that team doesn't You know that team doesn't melt down in the playoffs I can't imagine Steve Nash and Mike Dantonio coach team They're respected dudes. It's not like they're respected dudes But that team looks terrifying You know when that when that Brooklyn Nets team is on and if they kind of play They got a little bit of depth issue. Maybe that's why they needed Blake Griffin just to gobble up some minutes I do have Landry Shamet, Joe Harris, Bruce Browns out there Those guys will need to play Play at least solid Decently in the playoffs And that team can if that team can kind of get together Yeah, Harrison you were wrong about them if that if the Nets could get together and play just a little bit of team defense when it counts It's a dangerous playoff team who wants to see those guys in the club. No one does Especially for seven games. They're gonna wear you out and Deandre Jordan is a decent rim protector still I guess It's a big body out there We can still alter some shots Yeah, doesn't it Dante Dante's I feel like they can drop a 150 on you whenever they want James Harden 40 points Kyrie You know James Harden could score 30 points Kyrie could score 40 points KD could have another 40 points Everyone and everyone else fills in points here and there and boom all of a sudden Like a hundred and fifty hundred and fifty points. That's a scary team Seven game series though, let's see, you know smart coaching Coaching is gonna be the thing right you can find a coach that could that could scheme against these guys They get a little too predictable Yeah, I think that's Jim did do a good job and I kind of like People kind of forget like I really like Mike Dantone being a bench coach there Pretty much. I'm pretty sure that Mike Dantone is is basically coaching the team You know I mean he's he's probably calling plays running practice, you know drawing up plays Developing schemes and then and then all all Nash has to do is just talk to the media Deal with the front office Talk to the players You know That's it and Dantone. He doesn't have this doesn't have the stress of you know He's an older guy. He doesn't have that he can kick back a little bit, right?  All right last five boxes. There's a ja-maran. There's another ja-maran Yeah, let's finish strong here now. We still have second half of the season folks. We still have That and a long playoff run to go Think are we thinking there's gonna be any surprises? J goings by the way with the Grizzlies getting all these ja-maran's some surprises Nick's Could they could they win a playoff series? No, I don't think that anyone gonna surprise. Are we under rating the Hornets? Or I'm sorry the Raptors Hornets I think still need another year or two to develop, but they look like they're ahead of schedule, but It can't be all chalk, right in the playoffs or the rest of the season That Lankford might be numbered, but it's not there's got to be an upset somewhere Who gets bounced early, you know, we need Yannis in the finals. That's hashtag good for the hobby Right Phoenix is a good story. They're in second place 24 and 11. They're ahead of the Lakers and the Clippers Phoenix has been an excellent story. Could they be a surprise team? I Mean they're on the right half of the They're on the right half of that Western Conference bracket They'd be playing a lower-seated team if they could stay in the top eight or top four Which they might be able to This guy's been beasting out You know like take a look at that team Austin Rivers to 99 Phoenix depth chart here. I think they're pretty I think they're pretty scary Right Chris Paul's running that team Devon Booker doesn't have to worry about it Chris Paul runs that offense Devon Booker just runs around off the ball shoots you know Michael Bridges Frank Kaminsky Jay Crowder was a good pickup You know and Deandre Aten is a it's really nice big man Playing a lot of great basketball like For like daily fantasy players check out Deandre Aten's numbers and he's just logging in solid minutes after solid minutes Such a consistent chunk of points every time you play him You know And he remember he's a number one overall pick and I'd argued that his cards on a secondary market his rookie cards might actually be under Might be undervalued. I want to say I mean maybe they're creeping back up I haven't really been paying that close attention to his stuff, but My guess is that It's got to be He's got to be a little underrated cards wise and all it takes is like You know and there's also so many good big men in the game right now Anthony Davis Yolk it should be you know But all it takes is Deandre Aten to have a few signature games here and there You know and I feel like his his stuff could really skyrocket back to what it should be for a number one overall pick Lonnie thinking Mavs upset the Suns. I think the Suns could be the surprise that up that upsets That move like maybe wins their first series and God knows how long There's another LeBron for the Lakers and it'll be for Sherry It's Joe LMB. He's playing great basketball MVP level basketball Zubat Dear and Fox dame time you see that three-pointer. He took to win the To win the All-star game also Before I close this break I really think that the elum ending that you see at the end of the all-star game should be for all Regular season over times. What a fun way to end that game. There you go ladies and gentlemen I'm Joe for jasphys case breaks calm. Thanks for watching. Thanks for breaking with us And I'll see you next time for the next one. Bye. Bye You


And he breathed into Adam his spirit, so the creation of man was complete. And he breathed into Adam his spirit, so the creation of man was complete. He had all that was needed to begin his journey. He was blessed with a soul and given a status not seen before, one of which even Jibrail was unworthy. It's not hard to imagine him crafted to perfection, but he wasn't perfect yet. God hadn't finished. Well, nearly there was a piece of knowledge that was missing from the very first human, one that would finally let him see clearly. Without it, he'd eat a fruit. Without it, he'd eat a fruit, and truly he cannot be blamed. He approached the tree innocent, and sincerely without the names God then taught him, none of us would stand a chance. Without the names God then taught him, none of us would stand a chance without the name Fatima, we're not even human really. Her name sprung an ocean, which we now call this world. Her name sprung an ocean, which we now call this world. It lit a match, we called the sun, and pushed planets that around it circled. She mothered everything from her father to Heaven's river. She mothered everything from her father to Heaven's river instead of cradling Muhsin, the universe she cradled. I found myself scattered. There were souls everywhere. God had gathered us together, some information to share. We'd been there for so long wondering what was next. Some whispered to each other but to speak louder, no one dared. I met others, and felt in a strange way connected. I wanted to ask, do I recognize you from somewhere? But surely not, this was just the beginning. Surely not, this was just the beginning. I didn't know what I was, let alone who, or when, or where. Most were preoccupied running from themselves. They begged to be let down, others already kneeled, uttering a prayer. It was a land of souls. It was a land of souls waiting for something, and when the moment God chose came, an angel announced, lower your glare, a soul croaked in light would enter our crowd. The rest of us couldn't see. We found ourselves bowed, and just as the weight became all too much, she raised a hand and it began, just as God had vowed. What was to be my life began in a mercy of God I would grow. What was to be my life began in a mercy of God I found myself grow. There was more to me now, there were fingers and there were toes. I was able to move a little, although space was limited. My heart began to beat. My heart began to beat and flesh surrounded it, like clothes. I was breathing through a tube. I was breathing through a tube, air that was fed to me. I don't know what I'd have done if that tube had closed, but by the mercy of my Lord, who adorned my soul with bone, I realized I wasn't alone, and my eyes from their sockets rose. And as the first ray of light entered developing cells, I realized there was just one source to all of the light that glows. Her light pierced every organ I had in me forming, and to devote every part of me to her. In that moment I chose from the womb in which I was blessed to begin. She was by my side from day one. It was like having a twin, but how I wish my life ended right there. And instead continued the life of Mohsin. I sat in comfort and warmth and heard all my mother heard. She'd speak to me sitting on her prayer mat. We'd go for early walks, and she'd describe the streets. I'd picture the world throughout our morning chats, and one day she took me to a new place. It made me nervous. There were sounds. I'd not heard anything like them yet. So she felt my distress and placed a hand over my house. She pulled out a name that I would never forget. His name was repeated with every hardship she felt, every cramp and every pain to her saying she'd dedicate every eye wet. And in these gatherings she'd take me to from before I'd exist. Listening to his name was like watching a sunset. It was around this time that I came to realize at each stage of my being I'd have infallible allies. It became clear their holy lies would be full of sorrow and I prepared myself to share their every pain and every cry. I'd spent all that time alone, just me and my Lord. Before I came into this world I bore witness to his power. I felt like I had a connection. I felt like we had a connection, a secret or two, like the turning of a bud into a flower. It was only when I sat through my first majlis I heard there was someone who God loved more. It was only when I sat through my first majlis I heard there was someone who God loved more. He loved her so much that she became God's secret who the rest of creation was created for. All this time I had thought I was the most important to God. Each second of my presence, each second of his presence I'd exalt and adore. He made me feel like I was the only existence and that all of his attention was focused upon me. I could have swore my life had only just begun but I realized my mistake when I heard them describe her and claim they'd die for her sake. I felt her light inside me more than the air in my lungs and I felt my bones rot when they said her rib would break. I slowly started to understand she was even more than I thought. I thought she was an angel sent down to look after me alone. I'd have to repent for years now after finding out the truth. I didn't know who she was. If only I had known. How could I reduce her to a simple angel? Why didn't God tell me for my sin how can I atone? It might be because had I recognized her before him it might be because had I recognized her before him it might be because had I recognized her before him. I slowly started to understand she was even more than I thought. I thought she was an angel sent to look after me alone. I'd have to repent for years now after finding out the truth. I didn't know who she was. If only I'd have known how could I reduce her to a simple angel. Why didn't God tell me for my sin how can I atone? It might be because had I recognized her before him maybe Zahra I would have worshiped alone. How merciful is that Lord who endowed me first with his spirit only then from her light the skin on my bone was sewn. Whenever this bounty some call life comes to an end. After the name of God write her name on my tombstone. I grew older life took over people came and went but she was always there Fatima and her children. They became more like friends. I didn't have many others and I could never have guessed how much I'd need them. I was studying day after day. I'd learn something new. She'd inspired me to go out and gain an education behind each classroom door that I would enter. There was a room full of knowledge and information. One day she showed me another door. One day she showed me another door her very own and how behind it stood nothing but illumination. I was taught before I enter a room I should knock and she revealed how they failed to obey this regulation. I saw them raise a hand. Towards her door I couldn't tell which was louder her scream or his roar. I never knew light so beautiful could be burnt. I never knew God's secret they would dare to ignore. There was one friend I remember. He was quiet unlike the others. I kept catching him staring straight up to the sky. He described it as a mental health day when he didn't turn up one day. That wasn't like him. So I had to do it. We spoke about his worries. For some time he said he had none. It took a while but then he began. I'd empathize with the maze we both had for our heart.  He told me it was his sister. She was no longer pregnant. I gazed upwards like he would. I stood there stunned. He'd told me it was his sister. She was no longer pregnant. I gazed upwards like he would. I stood there stunned. He'd cry. So would I. But not for him. Would recall the whale of Fatima. Oh father. They've taken away your grandson. And so this is how it went on. Each moment I shared with the family to whom I allegiance I declared from birth to this moment and until the very end to see that light one more time I prepared and when the time came I found myself scattered. There were souls everywhere. God had gathered us together some information to share. We'd been there for so long wondering what was next. Some whispered to each other but to speak louder. No one dared. I met others and felt in a strange way connected. I wanted to ask do I recognize you from somewhere? Surely not. This is just the beginning. I didn't even know what I was let alone who or when or where most were preoccupied running from themselves. Some begged to be let down others already kneeled uttering a prayer. It was a land of souls waiting for something. And when the moment God chose came an angel announced lower your glare and a soul cloaked in light would enter our crowd. The rest of us couldn't see. We found ourselves bowed and just as the weight became all too much she raised a hand and it began just as God had found.


So we'll begin our other convergence test with a special test that applies for alternating series, known as the wait for it alternating series test. If we have an alternating series, we can apply the alternating series test. Suppose I have a series that is eventually alternating. If the absolute value of An is eventually decreasing and the limit as n goes to infinity of these absolute values is zero, then our series converges. Otherwise the test is inconclusive. And an important thing to remember is that the alternating series test only applies to alternating series. So if possible, let's see if we can determine whether the series minus 1 to the n over n converges or diverges. The first thing we notice is that the minus 1 to power n will make odd numbered series terms negative and even numbered series terms positive. So this is an eventually alternating series where the eventually is right now. So we can apply the alternating series test. So first of all, we need to determine whether or not the terms of our series are eventually decreasing. Now the minus 1 to power n may make things a little bit more difficult. Fortunately, we only have to worry about whether the absolute value of the terms is eventually decreasing and so that minus 1 to power n can be ignored and so we need to determine if 1 over n is eventually decreasing. So the thing to remember is that if our derivative is negative, then our function is decreasing. So we'll find the derivative and we see that this derivative is eventually actually always negative. So 1 over n is eventually actually always decreasing. Now we'll check out our second requirement. We'll find the limit as n goes to infinity of the absolute value of our series terms. Again, since we're taking the absolute value, that minus 1 to power n just changes the sign so we can drop it out and then find the limit and since our limit is zero, we pass both requirements of the alternating series test and so we know that this series converges. Let's take a look at a different series. This one is minus 1 to power n times a n, where a n will have different expressions depending on whether n is even or odd. However, we might note that a n will always be positive. So the sign of the terms is going to be determined by the minus 1 to power n, which will alternate between positive and negative. So we have an alternating series and we can apply the alternating series test. So we need to compare the absolute values of the sequence terms. Well, since our sequence terms are defined depending on whether n is even or odd, let's consider those two cases. Suppose n is even, then the actual term will be 2 over n. The next term will be for n plus 1. But since that's an odd number, the actual term is going to be 1 over n plus 1 squared. And now we want to compare 1 term to over n to the next term, 1 over n plus 1 squared. Now, we don't know whether that's smaller or larger, so let's leave the inequality unstated and follow the algebra, putting the inequality in at the end. So we can cross multiply and since both n and n plus 1 squared are positive numbers, that won't change our inequality. We'll expand and do a little algebra. And now we have to ask ourselves, self, what is the relationship between 2n squared plus 4n plus 2 and n? Now, this could be larger or smaller depending on the value of n, but remember we're talking about a series. So what we care about is what happens eventually for n sufficiently large. And if n is a sufficiently large number, then 2n squared plus 4n plus 2 is larger than n and that inequality cascades backwards to the beginning. And so if n is even, the next term is smaller. But if n is odd, the corresponding term is going to be 1 over n squared and the next term, where n plus 1 is going to be 2 over n plus 1. And again, we don't know what the relationship is between the two, but we can leave the inequality unstated and do a little bit of algebra. We'll cross multiply and we'll ask ourselves, self, what is the relationship between n plus 1 and 2n squared for n sufficiently large? And we see that eventually 2n squared will be greater than n plus 1 and so 1 over n squared will be less than 2 over n plus 1. So if n is odd, the next term is larger. But this is a problem. The alternating series task requires that our series be eventually decreasing. Since the terms of this series are not eventually decreasing, the alternating series test is inconclusive. And since our series is not eventually decreasing, this is a harder problem and we have to do something much more difficult. And for that, we have to learn a little bit more and pick up a few more convergence or divergence tests.


Hello everyone, and welcome to Inside Leather History, a fireside chat. I'm Doug O'Keefe, I am the host and the co-producer of the chats with Mistress Joanne Gaddy. Inside Leather History, a fireside chat is a program of the Leather Archives and Museum. Today, my guest is the pup Fifi, who is a community educator and a motivational speaker. You're in, is it South Bend, Indiana? Is that right? Okay, well, we were supposed to do this interview last year at iPod, but of course, COVID interrupted all of that. So instead, we're doing it via Zoom because I want to be able to capture your story. What are your thoughts about iPod being interrupted and it's looking like it may or may not come back into business? I think it's really sad that iPod may or may not come back, but I also, I want to reserve my judgment for that because I want to stay ever positive that with the hope that we haven't lost this because I think that if we have, we also have GLLA that may not be coming back or, so my lineage, my history is kind of disappearing in front of me and so I don't want to lose sight of the fact that there are still such a need for both those events and both those communities to still be aware that we're all here and still together.  Hi, can we do something? Can we go play? Can we go play? Tell us a little bit about your early life and your family growing up. Like I grew up in central Illinois, but I always knew that I was a city girl because my mom would take me up to Chicago to go shopping, to do Macy's, to do, you know, Michigan Avenue. And so I grew up going, oh, this is the town. I remember knowing that I liked girls too when I was like, I don't know, nine, but I didn't understand it was different. Like I didn't know that nobody else, like I didn't realize that how I felt wasn't the way everybody felt. I was just such a nerdy kid. I was a gamer, a comic book geek. I was the computer geek from early on and I didn't and I have two younger brothers and we didn't really see eye to eye. So I didn't really get along with them. And I understand family and I understand my love for my family, but I choose to surround myself now with my logical family rather than my biological family. You said you were the black sheep of the family though. Because I was the city girl and I was surrounded by family who were excited to get a shotgun for their 15th birthday. I was like, can we go to a club or something and go dancing? I was the one who was in like the punk clothes and was always a little bit on the edge of everything. And I had, you know, a country kitchen with apples and baked pie, you know? That was, no, my mom, but I've found, especially as I've gotten older, I am my mother's daughter. I'm absolutely my mother's daughter. She got married young to give me a family because she thought she needed to do that for me. At one point in time, she used to get scared because I'm Polly and I have open relationships and I believe in love and that you can have love with more than one person. And the first time I introduced her to a couple that I was with, she was very nervous about it. And it took her years later to say, you know, I just felt very protective of you. I didn't want you to get hurt. But once I figured out that that's what made you happy, I was okay with it. And from then on, my mother doesn't question who I'm with, whether it's male or female, because I'm openly bisexual and I'm openly polyamorous. And so my mother does not question like, everyone else should be like, so is this just a friend or is this more than a friend? Like what kind of birthday present do I need to get for them? So she welcomes everybody into my life and into my home. And so where I came from and where I am now are so vastly different. Cause I came from a very well off family until my parents got divorced. And then my mother and I had nothing. At 18, I was living in my car for a while. I was 17, I was 17 living in my car. And that was 1989. That was seeing, I had friends dying.   I mean, not that it ever is, but at least there are more options nowadays, I think. There was just nothing there. It was literally, I'd park in a gas station parking lot. So that I could fill up the car with gas when it was cold. Were you alone at this time or was the other with you? No, well, my mother at the time was a drunk. So now she's almost 30 years sober now. So I'm grateful for that. But yeah, it was a bad time in our lives. Oh, you know what? I do not regret a moment of it. It was a step that let me know I was gonna be able to take care of myself. And no matter what, I will survive. How long did that go on? It didn't last, that didn't go on for very long because the guy at the gas station, the gas station guy said, hey, you know what? You can come sleep on my couch if you want. And I was like, all right. Oh my God. So I walked in his house and this girl that I went to high school with who absolutely hated me, that was her boyfriend. So to have me walking in the door, that was just a bad situation. But you know what? It was a warm place that I didn't have to fill up with gas every night. So I sucked it up and took care of it. Stayed there for a few months. In the mean, my friends had let me come over and I would go shower at first. I knew what time everybody's parents left for work so I could go shower because I still had a job. And that was another thing that I learned from that experience. I will never not have a job. The core of me says, have a job, keep a job. Teach the young people that no matter what, just have a job because that will be your saving grace. It gives you a reason to keep getting up every day and doesn't let you fall into that whole of depression. Cause I could have been a very sad and depressed and there were times when I was very sad and depressed as an 80s kid because, well, we thought live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse. We didn't think we were gonna make it to 30. Lord knows, we didn't think there'd be social security or I'd be worrying about a 401K ever in my life. But I made it, I made it through all that and now I get to be here today and now I look back and I go, wow, all those things happened. I shock myself some days that I am still alive and kicking. What was the next step after staying with friends and living in the car? What happened after that? So I had a family that took me in and said a family of somebody had gone to high school, finished high school with the public school at one point politely asked me to leave and go to find a different institution to finish your education. So I went to a private interdenominational Christian school to graduate high school. But so one of the families took me in for a little while, helped me get back on my feet and then I just started to work and I would keep working and got my own apartment and kept working. So then you said as a later team you went into Chicago, tell us about that. Chicago was amazing. The first time that I walked into the vortex on Halstead, I walked in and was like, I am at home. So a group of us, several of my friends and I we were like, listen, and we started, which guy when we figured out we could get in and not get carded. Again, late 80s, they weren't, we were coming in, we had money, we were buying drinks, you know? So I don't know how my friends decided that we were gonna go to Halstead.  So we went to Halstead because nobody cared. Nobody, it was, we could all be who we wanted to be and be who we were. And we would go to Roscoe as we were going out at the vortex. Oh, I love the vortex. That was my favorite cell block and the manhole. And I remember the first time I went to the manhole because all my friends stayed down at vortex. I was like, guys, I gotta go check this place out over here. I was already messing with kink at that point in time. I was into the leather. I was into getting tied up.  Cause well, we do that, you know, at least somebody's getting tied up. There's hope if somebody's getting tied up. And I remember the first time I walked into the manhole which that's not even there anymore, is it? Well, it's a different place now. Yes, it's a different manhole. And I remember walking in and seeing just the porn on the walls and being like, and I went around cause of course all the entryway you had to go in, bouncer right here, you had to go around the wall before you could even get to the bar. And I went in, sat down at the bar, ordered myself a vodka cranberry and sat there and I went, this is amazing. What's this back room I must go to?  You couldn't be wearing a shirt to go in the back. I'm sure they were not expecting that a woman was walking in there to do it. Cause that was what they said. They were like, well, you can't be wearing a shirt. I was like, okay. Like, no, no, I was like, what? You said I can't wear a shirt. All right, I took my shirt off. What else do you want? And I guess that like is how I, that is like, how I've always thought about it. Well, if this is your rule, all right, fine. No shirt, fine. I never thought about the different, like men and women being different. I've never thought about the fact that, hey, maybe the guys want to have their own space and maybe girls want to have their own space. And I mean, I think I was at, I never went to any of the quote unquote lesbian bars cause I was always more comfortable at the giant club or the kink bar. Well, tell me about some of the things you experienced at that time. What was new to you? What was fascinating? Kissing a girl in public. I had met a girl and she met up with me at the vortex and I remember standing upstairs at karaoke bar. We were in the karaoke bar, in the karaoke room and leaning against a pole. And I remember putting my arms around her and kissing her. And it wasn't like we were, you know, doing this heavy makeup session or anything. I just remember that moment of kissing her on the lips and smiling and seeing the smile in her eyes back.  Like nobody around us cared that we were kissing. If anything, it was incredibly tame compared to what else was going on. What else was going on? Oh God, okay. I didn't realize it was Mardi Gras and I didn't understand what a big deal Mardi Gras is to the gay community. Not at 18, I didn't. I think it was 19 or 20 at this point. But I remember walking into the vortex and I had gone up alone this weekend because none of my friends could come with. I was like, that's family, I need to go.  And yes. And the picture frame has little bones all on it. And he goes, I'm bona Lisa. And I know, I know. And at the time I was pretty wasted. When I like, I hadn't expected, like I walked in wasted and I was like, I was not emotionally prepared for this night because the costumes and everything. I remember at one point just standing in a corner going, this is amazing. I never had to go home. I always found somewhere to crash for the night because I lived an hour south of the city. But I never once partied all night and then drove back to Kankakee because there was always an after party and always a wonderful gay man who was like, just stay with me, sister. You can come stay with, oh yeah. I never went home. It was such, yeah, I obviously look back on that so fondly. But you told me when we were preparing for this interview that you used to be able to call the bouncers at various bars and find out what was going on? Yeah, yeah, we would call ahead, find out who the bouncer was at the front door. Hey, who's working the door tonight? Because we knew the names of the guys who would let us in and not card us. And it was like, how did we find these things out?  We would literally add a house phone, dialing, and we would call up ahead of time, find out who's working the door and then we would know which bars we could get into. Cause like once a month we couldn't go to Vortex, we would get carded. And then once a month, and that's the nights that we usually ended up at Roscoe's for some reason. So it was like once a month we were at Roscoe's and the rest of the time we were at the Vortex and then I would run away from the Vortex and go to the sub block or manhole while my friends were hanging out. Incredible. Yeah. Well, that was back when as you go to a rave you actively had to have a passcode, call a phone number, tell them that passcode they would give you a different phone number to call which would then give you a different passcode which then give you a different phone number call to get an address. And once you've got there you had to give me a passcode to get into the building. Wow. It was, yeah. That was a totally different. These kids today don't know what we had to do to get to a party. But when you went to, for example, the manhole or sub block, what was going through your mind as you were experiencing that element of the community, the kink, the leather, SM, whatever? Like to me it didn't feel different. Like my friends, it was obvious it was different to them when they walked in the door. They were like, what are we doing here? And I'm like, what? Don't you like seeing a nice hot-looking man in a leather vest? Like, I wanna touch their chest. Like, it was never, it just, to me it just, I walked in and it felt comfortable. So I never wanted to leave. A crazy thing though, that girl that I kissed in the vortex when I was 18, she found me last year, Oh. Came out to see me. And we are, so 30 years later, and now I'm gonna be going out to see her again soon. Where is she now? She said, she still lives in Chicago, right outside of Chicago in the suburbs. So we've already made plans to COVID. COVID has canceled three of our different weekends together. But yeah, so after 30 years, we still are getting together. Wonderful. You identified as a slave at one time. Did you not? Or have at least? Yes. Okay, tell us a little bit about that. So when I first started venturing out and found out there was an actual kink community, I was blown away. I remember walking into my first event and my first munch, and it was me, one other, two other women and one guy. The other, one of the other girls, this was her very first munch as well. So there were two of us, it was our very first munch. And then the other two were the people running the munch. Okay. And I remember walking in and going, you mean there's other people like me? And so when I walked in, when I walked in and I remember feeling such a feeling of relief, because I'm like, I'm not crazy and I can do this safely without risking my life. Yeah. I would literally, I remember calling up my cousin on the phone and saying, listen, I'm gonna go do some stuff tonight. And I don't want you to ask me what I'm doing. But if I never come back, here's an address you need to be aware of. That was it. Mm-mm. But walking in there and I went, I knew I was on the submissive end. I always liked to be the tied up. I always liked to be spanked. I always liked to be, but I liked to be of service. And I figured that out really quickly. And I didn't understand that was even a component. It was I always enjoyed, yes, sir, yes ma'am, what can I get for you? How can I make you happy? What can I do to take care of you? Cause if you're happy and taken care of, ooh, you take such a good care of me. Yeah. And when I was out in the community in central Illinois, it was a very small community and it was very sadly, very misogynistic, very heteronormative, very, and so I was always the one who was driving out of town to go try and find another event to go to somewhere else. We had some, we all had homemade bondage equipment. So there was St. Andrew's Cross, this big black St. Andrew's Cross that needed to have the back leg fixed. And I don't know how a bunch of country bumpkins couldn't figure out how to fix it, but they said somebody in Chicago is going to fix it for us for free. And Amy, you've got a truck and Amy, you like to drive to Chicago. Would you mind taking that up to the Leather Rose? I was like, all right, what's the Leather Rose?  I'm like, no. They're like, well, it's a BDSM club in Chicago. I was like, excuse me, I'm packing overnight bag and if you don't hear from me for a month, I'm good. But yeah, literally I put the St. Andrew's Cross in the back of my little Nissan pickup truck, drove from Bloomington, Illinois to Chicago with it. I knocked on the door at the Leather Rose Park right out front. So Fullerton, black Nissan truck and a Giant St. Andrew's Cross sitting in the back of it. And I just walked up to the door and was like, hi, I'm supposed to be bringing this cross today. And I met Mr. Simone. And I had no idea who she was. As far as I knew, she was just the chick behind the counter and then come to the end of the day, I find out, well, no, no, she's the mistress in charge of this stuff. And my hands were behind my back, my shoulders are back. I was like, yes, ma'am, what can I get you, ma'am? How can I help you, ma'am?   And so yeah, I walked in the door and because I had already known then that service was something that I liked because I would go do things for the male dominance in the community just because I needed time to do it. Even if they weren't a play partner or anything of mine, like I would go clean a kitchen or it just always felt good to help make sure somebody was taken care of. And I'd probably get that from my mother who's been a nurse my whole life and in nursing, nursing homes and has made me volunteer on numerous occasions but it feels good to do it. So as a regular vanilla person, helping others is a joy to me. In the kink world, there is just so much more added extra to it. Yeah. It's just extra. I find that I rarely attend an event that I'm not volunteering at. I think this past year, I did one or well, you know, the pre COVID year, I did one event that I did not volunteer at because I made myself do it. I was like, no, go be an attendee. Go be an attendee and enjoy all the things at an event because that is absolutely hard to do. I hear you. So when I met Mr. Simone and then very shortly thereafter met her husband and I was just like, how am I? There's two of you.  What's better for me? A couple and I love couples. I think it's fantastic.  It means they get to have their, they have their primary relationship when they're over here.  But I have a safe home and I have people to come home to. And I realized looking back that so many of my poly relationships were that dynamic from the time I was 18. So when I met the girl that I was dating and when I was 18, she had a boyfriend. So I was dating her and her boyfriend. And then I had a different married couple in my 20s that I was dating a married couple. And I found that over my life, that's what I didn't. So when I met Mr. Simone and her husband, I was like, whoa, this is the shit right here and moved to Chicago, dropped everything, got rid of all my stuff, moved to Chicago to be with them. I lived above the leather rose for a little while. And then she was like, that's it. No, no, no, you're just gonna come home with me. I proved that I could keep track of money like to the penny. And her husband, my other owner said, look, I'll get a lot more value out of her if she just works from home with me because he ran an online business, comic books and we ran the video business. So I stopped working outside the house and that last paycheck and that realization that I am a 24 seven slave, that I lived in a collar. And in Chicago, you could do that. Like I woke up in the morning, wherever I was, got, you know, crawled or either crawled over or got climbed out and got on my knees and the collar was put on me the minute I woke up in the morning and it was only taken off when I went to sleep. And it was living a lifestyle that so many people don't get to live. I had an opportunity to like live and play every day. And I found who I was and although I don't think I could ever go back to being a 24 seven slave, my life has changed. I have a career, I have things that I wouldn't want to give up for my own safety and security because I had that opportunity and lived as a 24 seven slave. That faith that I built in myself has helped me get to where I am now. Yes. How were you introduced to the puppy community? So Mr. Simone had a household and we had multiple slaves but I was struggling to find something that could be special and be just for the two of us. I was online and I found this website that was Human Puppy Play and it was all the stances.  And this is why I wanted to get this out because I found my journal from that day. Oh. Yes. It was August 21st of 2002 at 3 a.m. Have you ever felt like you wanted to shout out to the world once you figured out something about yourself? Service dog and training. And that was the day puppy pee pee was born. Wow, fantastic. Yeah. So when I found that I was like, oh my God, because I literally saw those sites and suddenly I just printed everything off and I crawled over to her with this paper in my mouth. Ma'am, please look at this ma'am, please, please look at this ma'am, please, please, can we do this ma'am, please, please, can we just, because I knew that this was gonna be time on her. Now I'm about to ask her to do something strictly because I want it. And as a slave, you just don't do that. And, but all I could say was this is for us ma'am, this is for us. I swear I won't chew on your shoes. I did not follow that swearing. I had to chew down the shoes. But it was such this moment of, even now the feeling that I got when I saw that, when I saw that stuff was, it gave me this feeling of, oh my God, that's what you're supposed to be doing, oh my God. And so we started doing puppy play at home and I was looking online again and I'm like, ma'am, ma'am, there's a contest, there's a contest.  So I was already aware of the Leather Contest.  And then we found out it was at the cell block. I'm like, oh my God, it's the cell block. Wow, life sure has come around that she was like, all right, fine, but you have to be perfect. I am not gonna take a shabby dog. So like I knew from the get-go, I better be on point, which was perfectly fine with me. It was like, that's what I wanted.  I'm like, I'm a poodle because I'm a princess.  I'm like, that's probably true. So I am a standard poodle that thinks they're a toy poodle and I'm a circus dog because I'm a show off and I love attention and I'm a square two two. So we figured all that out real quickly. It wasn't hard to figure out who I was as a dog and we went to the cell block and showed up, I was like, we got to go do this and Joy and Caddy was there and Mr. Skenda was there and the current Imsel was there. And like, and at the time I was like, who are these people and aren't they adorable? And I'm sniffing their toes. It didn't phase me that I was in a mail bar because I never thought of that place as just a mail bar because I'd been going there since I was 18. And so I remember walking in the door and again, I never knew, I didn't think about any of this stuff being, well, this is the guys are doing this because it was a website and dogs are male and female. Well, we have male and female dogs. We have male and female dogs. Why would I assume that this is the only game in? Now, have you a puppy mask that identifies as Puppy Fifi? Actually, I never did. Recently I got one. I did get one when I traveled this year when I went to Australia because these have always been what gave me, my hair has always been, I used to have electric pink hair. And when I put my hair up in my ponytails up here, these are my ears and this is who I am. And it was like, because we didn't have masks. I mean, like if you saw somebody in a puppy hood then, and this, cause again, this was 2002, if you saw somebody in a puppy hood, they were usually somebody who was a leather bottom, who was wearing it as a form of restriction. Oh. Those were the majority of the puppy hoods you saw at the time. I see. Yes. So now the neoprene, and I do have one now, this is the only one I have right now and I'm working on getting, so I'm trying to find my face. Like it's a thing that guys do, but I ripped the ears out of, I ripped holes into the ears cause I pull my own hair through here. Got it. I interviewed Pup Scout in Australia about two years ago and he was explaining how his different hoods brought out different personalities for his pup identity. And that's where I was asking you because for me, this is still very new information. So last year I had the opportunity to go to Dallas for a weekend and then I left from Dallas and went to Australia and I got to go to Australia for Mardi Gras, be on the parade float with all the puppies. That was amazing. But for the first time ever I bought a hood and I remember the first mosh that I did afterwards with that hood on. Like I didn't truly put on that hood until I got to Australia and I was staying with Sir David who was the current international handler and I put it on with nobody else around. Like I needed to just kind of figure it out and I put it on and I was like, oh, I get it now. Now I know why the guys do this. Oh my goodness. There is such a moment of freedom. When you get to put that mask on, when you get to put that hood on, it changes the game. Cause instantly this human face is gone and instantly I only know people, I only know that dog. I know that that's pup serious cause I know that face. And it's not when that hood's off, that's somebody else. There's- Fascinating. There's that weird feeling of, oh, cause I've been on, I've been out in mosh pits and puppy, puppy, puppy piles and I was playing rough with these two puppies. And I'm weird, like going to town, like wrestling and snarling and barking and there's sweat and there's scur. And okay, so mosh is done. The event's done. It's time to start cleaning up. So we both, all of the three of us crawl over to the side of the thing and kind of sit back on the steps while they start picking up mats and we're like, we need water. And we all three took off our hoods and I looked at them both and I'm like, cause I thought I had known who they were, which is why I felt absolutely comfortable just going to town with them. Yeah, I didn't have any clue who they were. I was like, hi, I'm the puppy baby, nice to have met you guys. Fascinating. But you were the first female international puppy holder. Tell us about that. Yes. So when we went to that first contest at CellBlock, again, we walked in the door, I'm on a lead, I've got jeans shorts on and a puppy tail butt plug. And so we showed up and there was one other dog competing and so do, do, do, do, go. And I looked at him and I remember seeing him go into the back like because we were separated for the different parts of the competition. And I was like, ma'am, all he has on is a jockstrap and a chest harness.  And I looked at her and I just went just second.  And I got back on the floor and I went. And so I was like, uh-uh, if he gets to do this without his shirt on, I get to do it without my shirt on. And we went to the back and at that point in time, they would put us up on a table and we got judged just like the Kennel Club. Yes. Got the pop down, got the squeezes, got the, you know, I got a newspaper on my nose. And so I won. I won a Great Lakes Puppy and Handler contest, Great Lakes Puppy 2003. And I was like, this is amazing. Oh, this is so cool. And all I could think of was, oh cool, I'm a Chicago puppy. You know, and that's the way I thought of it. And it was, it was, it was fun. And then Ms. Kendra was like, yes. And so you'll need to know some things for when you compete in Dallas. And I went, what, what? She goes, well, you guys are gonna go to Beyond Vanilla in Dallas and compete for the international title. I went, excuse me. And I looked at her and I'm like, cause now I've just signed up my owner for something even more. Right? Again, she is doing this for me. I have a slave and I am asking and it's like, she goes, there's another contest. I go, yeah, apparently the international title. So we made plans to go to Dallas. And it was held at Beyond Vanilla in Dallas, Texas. And we showed up and I, and so there's this other event going on and it's a event similar to, like it's a very Petro event. And they were holding the international puppy contest alongside it, kind of to share expenses and, you know, work together as a community, which I have always said was amazing. And I met Patrick and he's the owner of the international well, he was the person who created the international puppy contest. And I remember showing up and thinking, oh my God, it really is an international contest cause the other competitors Canadian. But I had no idea what to expect. We're like, here's the things you've got to do. And I'm like, all right, says I got to do my performance.  And when they said I won, there was a moment where I was like, what? What's going on here? And then I went, of course I did, it's me. And so we came home and it literally, it was at that weekend that I started to figure out that the fact that I was doing this was an anomaly, or was what was the norm at the time, which always made me laugh cause I was like, what? All I was doing was being who I am. I was not running out to try and be the first at anything. I was enjoying my service and enjoying something special between my owner and I. And maybe that's why we won because for us, it was just us being who we were. And we weren't out for the title. We were just really enjoying showing people who we were. Suddenly I'm the first female international puppy title and that has stayed on for quite a while. Well, what advice do you have when you're coming into the community? Honestly, we can do whatever we want. We make the rules. This is a lifestyle where the relationships that we have, we make our own rules for.  I can have that kind of relationship. If I don't wanna have that kind of relationship, I don't have to. If I wanna have a relationship where 75% of the time I'm in service and 25% of the time, I'm not, I can do that because we make the rules. It is, there was a time when Old Guard had specific sets of standards and rules and you earned your leather and we have moved away from that because I, because we can, because we can accept everyone now. We don't have to be scared and we don't have to keep ourselves hidden over here and have to have the rules so we know somebody's true to the game. Like we had those rules back, well before I got into the community, those rules were there to keep us safe. It let you know somebody was true to the game and you didn't have to fear them. It let us know who really knew what we wanted and we don't have to do that anymore because we can talk about it and say what we want now. So I think to me, that's why we have evolved beyond the Old Guard as much. Not that, but dear God, that we need to remember those things. Thankfully, the Leather Archives Museum is helping to keep that spirit alive. I went in and got to see the patch for my first international puppy patch. Oh. I got my 04. Oh, beautiful. Yeah, so I saw the number one and it made me cry. I actively sat down on the mat and just started to cry to have seen that there because it was so emotional to me to see all of that glory being shown. And we're lucky now because we get to, we have been able to move past what we share in our saving there, but we get to do that because we now have faith in belief in each other. So if there's one thing I can say to somebody new coming into this, it is believe in yourself because you can do whatever you want to do. Wonderful. Another thing you brought up when we were preparing for this interview was the concept of the difference between new pups and old dogs. Would you leave with us a bit about that? It's kind of funny. So for a while I was a member of the Wendy City Boys' Troop and again, whose home bar is cell block. So like that path got started long before I was ready. But back then, Wendy City Boys' Troop, we would be the ones who did all the volunteering and if the other clubs needed something, Hellfire and all the different clubs, they needed something, we were there to help volunteer and do it. And I see now it seems like the pups are now the ones doing that. In the years to come, we will watch as they evolve and watch as they grow both in their human forms and their puppy forms. And that's what I'm so looking forward to that. I had a really amazing experience when I was in Australia and two young puppies walked up to me. They asked me, they're like, how'd you get into this? And I said that, I'm just being who I am. And I looked at them both and I just wanted to, I just wanted to pinch them both and say, well, look, cause they're, one of them was transgender and they were both standing there in each other's arms. And I was like, you're already doing it. Wow.  So it's okay. Yeah. Keep going. That's true. So yeah, sorry, that one got me a little bit. You're entitled. Yeah. What's the biggest misconception about you? Oh my gosh. In the vanilla world, the biggest misconception is that I'm dominant. That cracks me up on a regular basis. Like if somebody cracks a kink joke in the vanilla world, they will literally say, oh yeah, we have no problem picturing her with a whip in her hand. Like that has been said out loud on more than one occasion. And so I laugh about that in the vanilla world cause I will, depending on who's around, I'll look and go, yeah, no, sorry, I'm on the other end of that whip. But it does make me realize that even in my vanilla world, I'm an alpha. And I understand what that means. I am an alpha. I report to somebody and I will make sure everything they need gets done. And all you other little plebs you're going to make sure you take care of it. All this work. But in the kink world, I think the biggest misconception is that because I'm an extreme extrovert, I'm such an extrovert that I'm always ready and I'm not. I need downtime from time to time. Cause I will continue and I will just, but something else is going on, something else is going on. FOMO, I have huge FOMO. Fear of missing out, man. So that's probably the biggest misconception is that I'm always ready to go and I'm not. The pup, Fifi. What an amazing interview. This has been so much fun. I'm so honored to have been here.  Absolutely. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being part of Inside Another History, a fireside chat.