#(outside of hostel though. I think you have bad taste)

[napalm-death]

Watched two movies last night (the substance, hostel) and like… both fucking sucked The substance (to me) felt very hamfisted and I feel like we’ve seen this movie multiple times before (the idea of youthfulness, etc) and also the fact that it was 2 and a half hours long (😭) Hostel was bad just generally. I haven’t seen it up until now bc I didn’t gaf and knowing Eli Roth directed it means that there’d be like 1 billion gay jokes. I think it’s okay that they were tortured in Slovakia actually

[gentlemen-of-lies]

Gentlemen of Lies, chapter 4

Who needs to follow the Law(son)?

————

(Beginning)

(Next chapter)

(Previous chapter)

————

“So how did it go?” Asked Owen, the following morning. Curt was sitting with him in a sandwich shop near the hostel. Terrible place, with terrible sandwiches. But the coffee was decent, and it was weirdly full most of the time, which made for a good spot to swap notes.

“I found out which café he goes to after work, so following him will be a piece of cake. We’re already on friendly terms.” Curt took a bite out of a ham and cheese sandwich, a combination so simple he couldn’t believe anyone could screw it up, yet somehow the shop had. And this was their profession. He didn’t take another bite.

“Not bad. Any information?”

“On the first meeting? All I found out was where he worked, and I already knew that.”

“That’s it? How long did you stay with him?” Curt didn’t know how to tell Owen that he’d only stuck around for about ten minutes before rushing off to trail Lawson, so he didn’t.

“Nearly two hours, but the guy’s not a talker, and he was starting to get pissed at me. What did you want me to do, make him suspicious?” Owen scoffed, a usual occurrence when he was around Curt, even when nothing seemed to call for it. He hadn’t ordered anything either, which inexplicably made Curt even more infuriated at him.

“So what’s the plan for the day?” Prompted Curt. Owen leant back in his seat, and pondered for a moment.

“That’s up to you,” he concluded.

“Huh?”

“We’re supposed to be partners. Not teacher and student. You figure it out. If you screw it up, it’s your problem. I’m heading into the agency today for more files on the suspects. You can do whatever you think is best.”

“Oh well... okay then.” This was perfect! Curt now had the free rain to investigate Lawson. He’d been thinking about it all last night, in between sips of stale whiskey. He needed to find away to make proper contact with Lawson, and he couldn’t count on the guy being as talkative as Hayes, because what were the odds of that? So sitting down in front of him in a café may not be his best option. He needed a guaranteed plan to strike up a conversation- maybe even some semblance of a friendship with Lawson.

But for that, he needed more information. So for now, tailing him was all he had.

Lawson had already left for work by the time Curt arrived at his apartment building, which meant he had a good few hours to investigate, and perhaps he could find a way to talk to one of the neighbours, find out any information from them. Either they knew something useful, or they knew nothing- which would add even more suspicion to his growing case.

Curt didn’t want to hang around outside making a plan, in case any residents spotted him, so he ducked into the alleyway to try and figure out how to make contact with the neighbours. He supposed he could pretend to be a police officer, asking around for a case, trying to find witnesses. He didn’t look like a police officer, nor did he have a badge. But if he found someone gullible enough, and told them he was undercover, or off-duty, he might be able to find something out at least. He just had to be careful. No loitering, or messing around. If none of the neighbours accepted his claims of being an officer, he’d have to just walk away without a fuss. If he blew this case while investigating someone he wasn’t supposed to, he’d never hear the end of it.

He neatened himself up, and exited the alleyway, making his way up the front steps of the apartment building. He looked at the little metal plaques on the side of the building, trying to work out from name which neighbour might help him. On the first floor lived a couple, the plaque simply said “The Davidsons”. Couples were usually helpful. Even if one wasn’t, the other tended to be. Better if they had a child; if they thought a crime had been committed they’d be eager to help for their own safety. Curt rang the doorbell next to their name, and waited for a few moments. The front door of the building soon clicked open, and a young woman appeared, a baby sitting sitting on her lap, looking up at Curt curiously.

“Hello?” She said.

“Morning. Sorry to bother you,” began Curt, reverting to his British accent. “I’m from the police force, investigating a crime, and I just wanted to ask around the area for any witnesses or evidence. Standard procedure, nothing to worry about ma’am.” By this point, Curt was winging it with his dialogue. But he wasn’t bad at bluffing his way through acts.

“You don’t look like a police officer,” observed the woman, rather predictably.

“No, I’m technically off-duty. But the sooner this case gets solved the better.”

“What’s the case?”

“Just a burglary, up the street from here. I wanted to know if you’ve seen anyone or anything suspicious.”

“No, nothing. I haven’t heard of any burglary...” Shit. Maybe burglary wasn’t a good option. People talked, neighbours talked. Of course this lady would know about a burglary in the area.

“Well, oddly enough nothing was taken. Just a broken window. It may not even have been a burglary. I expect the owners didn’t feel the need to say anything. They’re in the building four doors down from the alleyway. Flat 1?”

“Oh, right. Mr Harris. He’s old. Reclusive. No wonder he didn’t say anything.” Curt silently breathed a sigh of relief, disbelieving of his own luck.

“Yes, exactly. And you definitely didn’t see anything?”

“Not that I remember. When was the incident?”

“Late evening last Tuesday. Around nine thirty?”

“No, my husband and I were out at a show, we left the kids with a babysitter. I can always call her if you want, she might have seen something.” Ah jeez... it’d be weird for him to say no, but Curt was starting to dig himself into a hole.

“Of course, why don’t you write down her contact details, I can reach her later.”

“I’ll go and grab a pen, if you give me five minutes-”

“Actually, before you do that,” interjected Curt, really not wanting to stand outside for five minutes with no more information than he had started with. “Would any of your other neighbours know anything do you think?”

“I mean, you can certainly ask, but I know Gerald was away on Tuesday, he lives in flat 2A just upstairs.” Flat 2A? Well this was perfect. Not only did he have the name of Lawson’s direct neighbour, but he also had an opportunity to bring up Lawson in the first place.

“What about flat 2B? I noticed it wasn’t listed on the building?”

“Oh, no one really knows the man who lives there. His name’s John I think. Forgot his surname. Lives alone. He doesn’t talk to us much, smiles on his way out to work though, so I suppose he’s a nice bloke.”

“Was he out on Tuesday?”

“Lord knows, probably. He’s out a lot. He’s out right now actually, but then so is most people, come back later and you can talk to him.” Curt didn’t want Lawson seeing him, at least not yet. It was too risky. But he’d definitely be back, perhaps to talk with Gerald, whoever that was. But he still had to deal with his duty of tailing Hayes, and hopefully shaking off Owen for long enough as well.

Curt waited out the rest of the hours in the café that Hayes went to after work, since it was fairly near to Lawson’s building. And the sandwiches here were much better, with bread that didn’t taste like a sponge, and ham and cheese that didn’t share a concerning likeness to plastic.

The sun grew higher in the sky, and Curt wondered what Owen was doing right now. The man didn’t seem to be very involved in the case, leaving everything up to him. Perhaps he’d been instructed to stay out of it as much as possible, so Curt could gain “experience”. But whether the explanation was a mark on his competence or not, Curt didn’t care, since he was certain the case would go much quicker without Owen telling him what he could and couldn’t do.

The bell near the door tinkled and Curt looked up absent-mindedly. Hayes had just walked in, which was a surprise. Curt glanced at his watch. It was already going on five...? He’d barely noticed.

He waved Hayes over.

“Howdy,” he greeted. Howdy? Going too far, Curt, you’re not a cowboy.

“Hello. I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.” Hayes sat down opposite, depositing his briefcase on the floor.

“Well, I was just passing, thought I’d stop in for a coffee.” Curt was already itching to go back to Lawson’s building. If he made an excuse now, he could easily leave. Say he had a deadline to meet, writing stuff. Really musn’t stay.

“This is great, you can tell me all about America. You know I really am interested, i’ve only ever been around Europe, never to the States, at least not yet. So I don’t know much-” jeez this guy really was a talker. He actually wanted to know about America? That was just something Curt had said to be polite, to say when he had nothing else to say. He wasn’t a teacher and this wasn’t a lesson.

But Hayes was still a suspect. Which meant Curt couldn’t blow him off, leave him disappointed and risk him not opening up again. Besides, he suddenly thought. This guy worked in the same building as Lawson. Perhaps the two knew each other. Of course, Curt couldn’t bring Lawson up; he was supposed to be a travel writer from America. How would he know Lawson? But it was still in his best interest to keep Hayes on good terms.

So Curt ended up sitting in that damn café, getting through two cups of coffees and a bagel, talking all about his life in America, to a guy who simply would not lose any sign of his curiosity.

He supposed it was nice in a way, almost like a break from work and just talking about life before he became a spy. But Lawson was on the back of his mind the entire time, so he couldn’t help but feel very restless, and by the end of the conversation, he was almost exhausted from talking. Along with being chatty, Hayes also asked question after question. It was like dealing with a toddler. A balding toddler with a suit and briefcase.

By the time the clock reached six, Curt decided that he simply couldn’t stick around. He’d said enough. Excusing himself would no longer be impolite.

“This has been great, but I really have to get back to my hostel. It has a curfew you see.” Technically the curfew was at ten, which still gave Curt plenty of time, but Hayes didn’t need to know that.

“Oh of course! I’m sorry if I’ve been so persistent.” Curt brushed his apology off with a wave of his hand.

“Not at all, it was nice.”

“It was! I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.” Hayes was a sweet guy. If he did turn out to be the mole, Curt would genuinely be disappointed. But then maybe that was a red flag. Perhaps he was too nice.

“Sure thing. I’ll be seeing you.” Curt stood up, placed a handful of coins on the table for the waiter, and finally left the shop, the sun already starting to set.

Now for Lawson. If Owen wasn’t so stubborn, surely Curt should be praised for his dedication. Two suspects in one day. Not bad.

[escherstrange-ffxiv]

Layers: Escher Strange

Tumblr failed to notify me that @yvesoix-sellemontiere tagged me. How dare.

WARNING: Mildly NSFW.

LAYER ONE: THE OUTSIDE

—–

Name: “Escher.”

Strange isn’t his real surname so he avoids using it when he can.

Eye Color:  “Yes, it’s pink. Your point?”

A DIY fantasia potion gone wrong gave him one purple eye, though there may be other aetherial reasons behind it.

Hair Style/Color: : “Of course it’s naturally pink, I got it from my grandfather! I used to keep it short, but one day it grew out and I looked into the mirror and-”

He absolutely did inherit the pink hair from his grandfather, though Tia is convinced it’s actually lime green. He never keeps his hair long at the back, only in front.

Height: “The fates are fair - what I lack in height, I compensate elsewhere. >)”

He’s like 175 cm max. Not min height, but what I’d ideally like to be. As for compensating, he’s just slightly larger than the average midlander (7 ilms approx). 

Clothing Style: “My family never had a reason to dress finely but now I do, and you bet I’ll milk it for all it’s worth.”

His regular MSQ glam is the screenshot above: Scion Adventurer’s Jacket + Pants, Expeditioner’s Thighboots, Leonhart Gloves, all in Jet Black Dye. Depending on his mood he’ll go full ham or something subtler but still stylish. He doesn’t look too good in baggy stuff so it’s mostly fitted.

Best Physical Feature: *Flips hair* 

I initially picked his pink hair for shits and giggles, but it’s started to grow on me, and his face looked surprisingly good once I removed his facial hair. I know this because the FFIV subreddit confirmed it.

LAYER TWO: THE INSIDE

—

Your Fears: “Have you seen Tia when he’s angry? Trust me when I say you don’t want to make Tia angry.”

He’s still scared of sharp things to the face, though it’s slowly being replaced by Tia.

Your Guilty Pleasure: “How does one feel guilty from pleasure? That makes no sense.”

He’s always been the sort to do what he likes when he likes. Getting copious amounts of sex in Eorzea was just the cherry on top of the cake.

Your Biggest Pet Peeve:  “When people just aren’t open to new things. It’s just for science, you’re not going to die! ...Okay maybe you might die a little, but think of what you’ll contribute to the future!”

Your Ambition for the Future: “I said I’ll prove that one man can cause a calamity, and I intend to see it through. But after I taste test Tia’s cookies. It’s not a metaphor for anything, gods damn it!”

LAYER THREE: THOUGHTS —

Your First Thoughts Waking Up:  “Did I burn anything last night, and am I in the correct bed?”

What You Think About the Most: “How well would this burn?”

What You Think About Before Bed: “Have I done all that needs to be burnt today?”

You Think Your Best Quality Is: “My ability to focus.”

He gets quite easily distracted, but once he finds something to hold his attention (usually fire), he concentrates at the expense of all incoming danger.

LAYER FOUR: WHAT’S BETTER?

—

Single or Group Dates: “It’s hard to excuse ourselves to commit extremely silly and reckless crimes if we’re in a group. Manners and everything.”

To be Loved or Respected: “Respect. Anybody can be loved. Respect must be earned.”

Beauty or Brains:  *Looks at Tia* *Looks at Kieo*  “...Beauty. I have enough brains for the both of us.”

While not book-smart, his partners make up for it with a LOT of common sense/street smarts to get him out of trouble.

Dogs or Cats: “...Cats.”

Tia is a Moon Keeper Miqo’te while Kieo was a half-Keeper Elezen. Escher confirmed to have Chiao Churu treats in his blood.

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU?

—

Lie: “If I lie, I’d have to lie to you now, and then what would be the truth?”

Believe in Yourself: “Of course. You can’t do explosions otherwise.”

Believe in Love:  "I’m going to die horribly if I say no, aren’t I?”

Want Someone: “I already have Tia. What’s left to want?”

LAYER SIX: EVER?

—

Been on Stage: “Tia won’t let me. Something something set the stage on fire. Pussy.”

Done Drugs: “Haven’t found the right one for me.”

Changed Who You Were to Fit In: “I didn’t do it in the Studium, I’m not doing it anytime soon.”

LAYER SEVEN: FAVORITES

—

Favorite Color: “Black. Pink. Blackpink. Heehee.”

Favorite Animal: “Tia- hey ow! It’s true, you have cat ears and- OW! Not the face!”

Favorite Food: “I’m Sharlayan, my taste buds are too dead to like anything.”

Favorite Game: “The game where I burn everything and see if nothing lives- what?”

LAYER EIGHT: AGE

—

Day Your Next Birthday Will Be: 6th Sun, 4th Astral Moon (July 6)

How Old Will You Be: “Add 5, carry 4, square root of 7.43 factored by 12...TIAAA, how old am I again?!”

32 at ARR, 34 by Shadowbringers. Escher is just phenomenally bad at math (except things that require gil transactions).

Age You Lost Your Virginity: “I’m not counting the one that happened at 18 because I don’t remember anything, so....add 7 to the power of 3.4....KIEOOO how old were we when we did it on your dad’s bed?!”

When he was 18 he drank spiked punch at a graduation party and woke up naked between a male Elezen and a fem Roe. Since he can’t remember a thing, his reasoning is “if I don’t know it happened, it probably didn’t happen.” The other virginity loss was at 32 at the First Steps, a hostel/guild for new adventurers. Nobody talks about it. Ever. (Like IC don’t go and talk about it, this incident actually caused mild OOC drama. 💧)

Does Age Matter: “As long as the FBI isn’t on our lawn. Tia, what IS an FBI?”

LAYER NINE: IN A BOY OR GIRL

—

Best Personality: “Someone said this about my taste in partners: Gay, feral, powerful, and slightly dumb.”

Best Eye Color: “Rolanberry red.”

Tia’s eyes are red.

Best Hair Color: “Pink, duh!”

Best thing to do with a Partner: “Sitting at a high point watching the world burn, like cuddling in front of a roaring fireplace. And then we eat cake.”

LAYER TEN: FINISH THE SENTENCE

I love: “The heat in my face from a massive explosion.”

I feel: “Warm. And fuzzy. Is there alcohol in this drink?”

I miss: “The friends I lost, the hearts I burned. I’ll never be able to heal that.”

I wish: “To burn the world. What, you thought it was ever going to change?”

----

And done! *flop*  Tagging @finallyfancy14​, @fenrishion​, @aelyriawindrunner​ and @forthyn​ because I don’t have enough FFXIV friends on Tumblr (should everyone be glad though...?).

[paradisobound]

Seeing is Believing

Summary: Dan would have never guessed that Phil being horny in a London hostel would unleash a new kink he didn’t fully realize he had. 

Word Count: 1.5k

Genre: PWP-Porn Without Plot 

Warnings: Smut 

A/N: I’ve already completed a BINGO on my first card so this is just for fun mostly but I’m still aiming to complete another BINGO on this card which is my second! Also...I don’t do dirty talk and find it mostly cringe so I apologize if this comes off bad lol 

Written for the @phandomficfests​ Bingo Fic Fest: Prompts Used Were- awkward sex, dirty talk, oral job 

View My Card | Read on Ao3

“Phil, we can’t.” 

“They’re asleep. They’re never going to know.” 

Dan turns his head to towards the other side of the hostel that he and Phil are sharing with an, actually really nice, young woman. It was a quick trip to London and they couldn’t afford to split the difference for a hotel so they opted for a cheap hostel instead, hoping by some form they wouldn’t be sharing the room with someone but they were. 

“They’re definitely going to wake up.” Dan counters, grabbing at Phil’s wrist that was connected to the hand that was currently snaking its way inside of Dan’s pajama pants. 

The bed was a bit too small, and the air in the room was a bit dusty and stale. So it wasn’t like the mood was heightened. It just so happened that, for whatever reasoning, Phil decided the best thing for them to do was to fuck with another person sleeping in the same room as them. 

“No they’re not.” Phil laughed back. “They’re literally snoring right now.” 

Dan tried to still his breathing to listen to the sounds around the room. Outside the window was the classics sounds of London, sirens and loud car honks every few seconds. Beside them was definitely snoring but that didn’t help to ease his worry about them waking up, in fact it made it a hit harder to adjust to this knowing someone was beside him. 

“Phil...” 

“If you really don’t feel comfortable doing anything, I’m not going to make you.” Phil says, moving his hand out of Dan’s pants and packing it onto his stomach, his warm palm soothing Dan’s knots. 

“I know,” Dan says, biting his lip. “I just don’t want them to wake up.” 

Phil turned his head towards the black room and narrowed his eyes a bit before turning his attention back to Dan. “They’ve got their back turned towards us.” 

“Are you sure!” 

“I can see the back of their hoodie so yes.” 

Dan feels a bit of the tension leave his stomach and he lets out a small breath before placing his hand on top of Phil’s and lowering it back to the front of his pants where he was beginning to feel the blood rush south. 

As Phil smiled and leaned down, he connected their lips together and Dan let out a breathy sigh as his brain melted and clouded over like it always does whenever Phil kisses him. 

Phil reaches inside of his pants and below his boxers to take him in his hand and Dan moans lowly into Phil’s mouth. Phil swallows it down and then pulls back to shush Dan with a chuckle as he continues to stroke him up and down, the fluidity if his movements getting faster the harder Dan gets. 

Phil’s starting to stroke with a bit more vigor when the bed creaks next to them and Phil’s hand shoots our of Dan’s boxers like he’s been scolded. Dan holds his breath as he waits to see if the girl is going to say anything to them. He turns his head and sees that she’s turned to them now, but her eyes are still closed. 

He feels like he can’t do this anymore and he looks up at Phil with a sympathetic glance as Phil just shrugs and falls besides Dan, no longer sitting between his legs. Dan turns to Phil so they’re both on their sides and ignores the throbbing between his legs as his cock rubs against the fabric of his underwear in the most delicious way now that he’s worked up. 

“I can still get you off?” Phil whispers, reaching between them where the girl definitely wouldn’t be able to see now besides just the jerking motion of Phil’s shoulder. 

Dan bites his lip hard and turns to try and hear snores, which he does, before he turns back to Phil and nods quickly. 

“Be quick.” 

And Phil does try to be quick, but his hand gets stopped in the barely there give of Dan’s boxers and the awkward arm placement makes it for Phil’s hand to begin to cramp and suddenly, it’s just not going well. Phil’s arm is cramping up, Dan’s not enjoying it anymore, and the awkwardness of their situation is weighing heavy on Dan’s mind. 

He shoots Phil a knowing glance and Phil just signs and nods as he pulls his hand out again and rests it on Dan’s side. 

“Another time.” Dan whispers, leaning forward to kiss Phil. 

Phil kisses back and nods. 

***

Turns out another time is a few days later when they’re back in the Manchester apartment. It’s a lazy night on their sofa watching anime when Phil reaches over and begins to smooth his hand along Dan’s thigh. Dan let’s him for a while, but then Phil’s hand reaches higher and Dan turns his head to the male sitting beside him. 

“What are you doing?” 

“I want to get you off.” Phil huffs. “We never did do anything after London.” 

Dan let’s out a snort. The London hostel...God, Dan wanted to desperately forget about that. After they had both went to bed and everything seemed alright, they were woken up by a fire alarm going off at 4am due to the kitchens toaster smoking a bit. 

When they came back into the room after standing on the slightly bitter cold London street, the girl who was rooming with them blushed and asked if they wanted her to give them some privacy. Dan had been mortified and he wanted to ask her if she had seen them but instead he just blushed and shook his head and vowed to never do something so stupid again. 

“Who says who should do it now?” Dan asks. 

Phil pouts, a genuine bottom lip out pout, and Dan laughs so hard he snorts as he grabs Phil’s hand and places it on his budding erection. 

“Fine. You can get me off.” 

“Hard already?” Phil asked, slipping off from the couch and gathering himself between Dan’s legs. “Someone thinking about London?” 

“Phil, that was mortifying!” 

Phil shook his head and reached up, grabbing at the waistband of Dan’s pants to pull them down. Dan life’s his hips up to help as Phil yanks and they come off down to his calves. 

“Hm...but wouldn’t that have been so amazing though? Knowing someone as watching you get off?” Phil asks, tutting his tongue along the roof of his mouth. “I bet she would have enjoyed the show. Wanted to join in maybe?” 

Dan’s dick twitched at the thought of someone watching him get off. He never thought it was a thing that would do anything to him. He knew from various Skype calls with Phil that he enjoyed knowing someone was watching him get off. 

Phil licks a stripe up the side of Dan’s cock and takes the head in his mouth, sucking lightly before pulling off and repeating the lick up the side. “Do you like knowing someone is watching you get off?” 

Dan let’s out a loud moan and reaches between his legs as he grasps Phil’s long hair in his hands and tugs. Phil groans in response and goes back to sucking him. He takes Dan further down and Dan loses the battle with his hips to stay put as his hips canter up and Phil pulls off just enough to avoid hitting his gag reflex. 

“Tell me, Dan. Are you getting off on the idea of someone watching you?” Phil asks, stroking Dan’s cock with a new fluidity as the velvet skin became slicker. “Maybe we should go back to the hostel and fuck with the people next to us watching. Maybe they’ll even enjoy the show just as much as you’re getting off?” 

Dan’s mouth falls opens in a silent moan as his hips stutter one last time and he finishes with Phil stroking him off. He lets himself collect his breath as he looks down at Phil, who is smiling like he’s really proud with himself right now. 

“Wow.”

“I know.” 

“Gonna be honest,” Dan says, his voice out of breath. “Didn’t think that voyeurism was a kink of mine.” 

Phil laughs and sits back in his heels and Dan looks between them to realize Phil’s hand is moving fast inside the confines of his own pajamas. 

“Come here.”

Phil gets up and sits on the couch beside Dan as Dan bends over and lowers the waistband enough for Phil’s cock to pop out and smack wetly against his stomach. He takes the deliciously red head into his mouth and sucks, hollowing his cheeks as he strokes the rest of Phil that he couldn’t quite get down yet. 

Phil finishes fast and Dan swallows it down, pulling away just as he winces from the bitter taste. Phil was lucky that Dan loved him because Dan thinks the taste of cum is the most horrific thing in the world but he’ll gladly swallow for Phil because he knows Phil likes to watch him do it. 

They both tuck themselves back in, the anime playing unwatched in the background. 

“Maybe this is something we can play around with?” Phil asks. 

“What?”

“You know, you liking being watched.” 

Dan let’s out a laugh. “Just because I like being watched by you doesn’t mean I want a stranger to watch me cum my brains out.” He leans over and pecks a quick kiss on Phil’s cheek. “There are certain things left just for you.” 

[withabackpackandcamera]

February 21st, 2020

Day 7: Island Hopping and Snorkeling on Tour A Off The Shores of El Nido

The day for island hopping had finally arrived! When I planned my Philippines trip, there were two activities that I was looking forward to most: canyoneering in Cebu and island hopping in El Nido. And today, I got to take part in the second of the two. But first, breakfast. The hostel’s breakfast was actually pretty good. The spread was pretty large with a variety of things to eat. After looking through all the options, I had some rice porridge with a boiled egg, toast, fruit, an omelet, some pancakes, and an orange juice. It was a good breakfast to start the packed day.  

Because the morning pick-up for Tour A wasn’t until later in the morning, I just hung out and got ready for the trip. But I did leave the hostel briefly to head into town to look for a waterproof bag that I had seen tons of people purchasing the day prior. After walking around for a while, I finally found one for a cheap price. With bag in hand, I returned to the hostel, packed all my stuff into my new waterproof bag, and waited for the guide to pick us up.  

And he finally came. Besides me, there were four others from the hostel who had booked the same tour as I had: Claudia and Carmen from Switzerland and Zach and Ghita (Rita) from Morocco. They were all really nice and outgoing and it was fun to be on the tour with them, especially the latter two who I hung out with for most of the tour. Anyhow, we walked to the beach and waited for others to arrive with the guide before we all got into the water and made our way to our floating boat. The boat didn’t leave for what felt like forever. I wasn’t sure what they were waiting on (I think it ended up being some people) but after a while, we were finally on our way. The clouds above us by this point were thicker and more abundant than I had wished but luckily, the sun was still out... at least in some patches of open sky.  

We left the bay or area where the boat was parked and zoomed out toward our first island stop, some island beach that I didn’t catch the name of. On our way to that beach, we spotted Helicopter Island in the distance. It really did look like a helicopter from afar! When we actually arrived at the first beach, I got off the boat with my snorkeling gear and walked/swam into shore (while trying to avoid the half-dead coral beneath me). The water was actually pretty nice even though the sun wasn’t really out to heat it up to a more pleasant temperature. Once on shore, I walked along the short shoreline of the beach to the other side of the island before jumping back into the water and snorkeling my way around a limestone rock as I made it back to the other side of the beach and back to the boat. It was amazing to see all the fish and coral in the water as I snorkeled around. It was beautiful! And it had been so long since I’d seen lively coral and fish... probably since all the way back to my days doing morning swims on the Great Barrier Reef off of Heron Island!  

After a quick first peek at the water, fish, and coral, I was back on the boat headed to our next stop: Shimizu Island, named after a Japanese person who died in a bad scuba diving accident long ago. At Shimizu Island, all I did was snorkel on the far end of the island in the little channel way leading out to the open water. The snorkeling was superb! There were so many coral and so many different types of fish swimming around! I swam around for quite a bit while trying to take photos here and there of what I was seeing. I was probably out there snorkeling for 20-30 minutes before I started getting tired of continually moving around in the water and kicking my legs. By this point, it was time to start heading back to the boat. It took a while to turn around and swim all the way back into shore but eventually, I got back to the boat and we were off again to the next stop: the Secret Lagoon. 

The stop at Secret Lagoon was pretty short because the only reason we stopped there was to take a look at the Secret Lagoon, which wasn’t so secret anymore. But it was kind of cool to see. To get in to see the lagoon, you have to climb through a small hole in the limestone rock that was both the entry and exit point for the Secret Lagoon. And because it was the only way in and out, of course there was a line to get in and out of there. Hilarious to see, annoying to deal with. Anyhow, before long, I was in, checking out the Secret Lagoon. The water was not as crystal clear and blue as you thought it might be but it made sense. With high tide coming only twice a day, there was no way for the water inside the lagoon to turnover and refresh unless the water level came up as high as the entry hole. So that’s probably why the water here didn’t look as nice. Either way, the lagoon was nice to check out with Ghita and Zach.  

Once we were back at the boat, it was lunch time. Because it was raining outside, we ended up having to eat lunch on the boat instead of on the beach. Lunch was well prepared and yummy. There was white fish, chicken, squid, mussels, eggplant, veggies, rice, and yellow watermelon. I had two servings because it was so good and I was so hungry after swimming around so much.  

Next was the main attraction of Tour A: Big Lagoon. It took some time to get there from where we were but by the time we got there, the rain was coming down. Luckily, no thunder. Since we were going to be wet anyways, it didn’t bother us too much that it was raining. Big Lagoon was pretty big. And the cool part was getting in and out. The boats actually anchored outside of the lagoon and we were given the option of swimming (which would be quite difficult and far) or kayaking into the lagoon. Zach, Ghita, and I decided that we would team up and kayak into the lagoon and check it out. And it was fun! It was a little challenging to kayak at a good speed at first but after a while, Zach and I got the hang of it, with me being in front and him in the back. Lucky Ghita, she was just in the middle enjoying the ride. We kayaked into Big Lagoon and stopped a few times for photos before looping around and kayaking back out to the boat. Of note, there were tons of other kayakers here as well, so it wasn’t as picturesque as it would’ve been had it been just us.  

Finally, it was time for the last stop of the day: Seven Commando Beach. This stop was just for hanging out and refreshments before heading back to El Nido. I walked around the beach for a short bit before jumping in on a volleyball game that was just starting with some other tourists. It was a great way to pass time since I was good with swimming and snorkeling for the day. The volleyball game was fun and surprisingly competitive. There were people of all skills but overall, a great two games of beach volleyball. Before finishing the second game, it was time for me to get back to the boat to head back into El Nido.

The tour had come to an end. The weather was pretty terrible for an island hopping experience but overall, it was still fun. It just wasn’t perfect. Once back in El Nido, Ghita, Zach, and I walked back to the hostel and split up to do our own things. I hung out at the hostel and washed up before hanging around for a bit due to the ongoing rain showers outside. I met a nice couple from South Africa, Karen and Mac, and chatted with them for a while until they left. At that point, the rain was starting to calm down and stop, so I took the break in the rain as an opportunity to head back into town to find some food for the evening. 

I had my eyes on one restaurant that was recommended to me by hostel staff but once I got there, I realized that it was closed. After strolling around the wet streets for a while to figure out what was open and what options I had, I ultimately decided on dinner at Mang Gary’s Bulalo at Silog. The wait for my food took awhile but when it finally came, I was glad I stopped at this restaurant. For dinner, I had kare-kare with garlic rice and a coke. The portions were huge and I had a surprisingly difficult time finishing it as the rain fell outside. But I eventually finished my huge bowl of kare kare and headed back to the hostel. By this point, I was pretty tired. I thought about dropping by the bar for another evening of hanging out but ended up deciding against it since I was starting to feel strange and unwell. So I just washed up and headed to bed, hoping that I would get a good night’s rest and be ready for a long trip back to Puerto Princesa in the morning.  

5 Things I Learned Today:

1. The coral reefs here in Palawan are pretty impressive! Lots of variety and lots of color! And for the most part, they look pretty healthy despite global warming. Also, these reefs are pretty close to shore, something I didn’t quite expect when I went into the water. 

2. After a while, snorkeling can get tiring. At first, I thought I could just float there with a snorkel and all would be fine. Nope. After some time, you just want to stand and you can’t until you swim your way back to shore. 

3. Shimizu Island was named after a Japanese girl who died in a tragic accident while scuba diving around the island. Supposedly, she and another person got disoriented and lost during the dive (because the dive can get really dark) and eventually died when they ran out of oxygen while lost. They named the island in honor of her. I think the event was in the 1970s.

4. There are watermelons with yellow insides! Amazing! But they taste about the same as the watermelons with pink insides. 

5. Kare-kare is a traditional dish of peanut-based sauce with meat and veggies (in my case, it was beef with eggplant and green beans) served over rice. It’s just like a peanut sauce-y curry.

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Animal Instinct + Dead Disco | Writing Update

Hey People of Earth!

We’re back with another Moth Work update because ya girl has finished two chapters and is here to spill all the tea! If you missed update one, and two, be sure to check them out before reading this one! I’ve been having a bit of cabin fever with this project lately which has made it difficult to really immerse myself into the project. But we’re almost at the 20k mark of this project which is wILD! I never imagined writing so much of this story (which was initially just a guilty pleasure) and I’m happy with how much I’ve learned about my characters just through this small detour in the series.

The first chapter I’ll be updating on is chapter four, ANIMAL INSTINCT. 

This chapter was a giant pain to finish! It had about 5000 revisions mid-draft, and I definitely feel like I had blinkers on when writing it. Because of that, I lost sight of the big picture and really got stuck on the little things, like the writing and overall quality of the project. This was not actually the purpose of Moth Work--it was supposed to be a dumping ground for whatever. However, in this chapter, I became really hyperfocused on all the small details I disliked which made drafting it a month-long process. I’ve now come to a slightly healthier place with quality in this draft, and found a middle ground between trash-dumping and nitpicking. 

What’s it about?

Animal Instinct is a major point of tension for Lonan and Harrison as their goals deviate. This chapter focuses heavily on the volatility of their relationship and highlights Lonan’s current irrational mental state. The title stems from this idea of calculated action for the sake of a single person’s benefit. 

The writing bit: 

I struggled to write this chapter quite a bit. It took me the majority of July to complete because of a major logic problem I kept running into. After struggling for a few days, I finally realized by fleshing out what I’d written initially, I could overwrite the logic problem. The solution took a lot of work/test scenes to figure out, but eventually I got it!

Excerpts:

I shared this excerpt before because it’s one of the only paragraphs I don’t mind in this chapter! I think the flow is a lil funky but I dig the concept! This outlines the last bits of the cabin, specifically Harrison’s final check around the perimeter. 

Around the corner, the back patio is static—like Anna and her son never stopped sitting there. Her bowl of avocado and Greek yogurt—the holistic remedy Emily said would make her glow like an angel—sits gummy and pestered with flies. One of Milo’s toys is wedged under the cheap lawn chair. It haunts him, seeing them while not seeing them, but he leaves everything like it is. Anna and her son will always remain on the patio, Anna with her cheekbones splayed for the moon, Milo babbling mildly about his father like he hasn’t made the connection. They’ve gone invisible.  

After this first scene, Harrison does some driving in the dark which gives me major book three vibes lol, and eventually pulls into a motel somewhere in Nevada. This route from Oregon to Boston makes no sense but I conveniently needed Lonan to end up in Vegas, so!! do it for Vegas!!

In the motel, Harrison meets Jeremiah, his potential new man lol. Harrison is focused on getting in and out of there as quickly as possible, but he’s like dang mans teeth are the straightest I ever did see (me too tho). Because he gets distracted, he fails to notice his car turn off, and only makes the connection after passing it a few times in the parking lot. He minorly paniques as he looks for Lonan, but eventually finds him around the building. 

The scene that follows gets volatile as heck, and really showcases how similar Lonan and Reeve are? Like dang that whole family tho? (Can I join?)

I’m not going to share much of this scene because she gets dramatic, but this is the wildest dialogue I’ve written in a while and I think I’m going to steal it and make Reeve say it because something like this would come out of her mouth:

“Do you feel that, Harrison? I could burn you with a cigarette and call it a wolf bite and nobody would know the difference.” 

sounds normal at first then NOPE

The next chapter (chapter 5) is called Dead Disco:

This chapter came together very quickly because I’d had it basically planned out, however, it veered into an emotional direction I wasn’t expecting. This chapter was supposed to be fun and lighthearted, and it ended up being... not that??  

What’s it about?

After the tragic drama that occurs in the previous chapter, Harrison wakes up the next morning to notice that Lonan has #left and #taken the car. This is v/ not good, but instead of getting super worked up he chooses to chill out at Jeremiah’s place and chill ft. some disco. I meant for it to be cute but Harrison ends up in a mental place I wasn’t expecting, so the chapter feels a bit “derealized” to me. After both Lonan and Harrison head out on their solo endeavors, they meet back up and this encounter ends *badly*. 

Playlist:

July 31st Rachel was feeling very enthusiastic about the playlist for this chapter (I was writing while listening to music) and wrote down a list of songs that describe the progression of this chapter (in order + all Nothing But Thieves because predictable!):

Holding Out For A Hero

Crazy

Afterlife

Hanging

Excuse Me

Forever & Ever More

You Know Me Too Well

I’m Not Made By Design

Amsterdam

Number 13

Itch

Hostage

BUT SHOUTOUT TO: Disco by Surf Curse

Probably the most accurate vibe here lol

Excerpts:

This first excerpt is Harrison angsting hard about missing his friends. I don’t *love* her but I don’t *hate* her! I tried revising it but it... flopped, so here’s the failed revision:

Lonan could say those words and it haunts him, how easily he taints him like a bad omen. There are so many things Emily would tell him to do to cleanse the bad magic, but Harrison recalls none of them properly. He remembers words like moon, and black walnut, and quartz crystal, and cardamom, but can’t think of what to do with any. He wishes he were like Foster, curious enough to carry around a pocket dictionary, or like his mother, clever enough to make something up on a whim. All Harrison can do is bury his face in his palms outside the restaurant and hope no one watches him. The main road bustles by and he wishes to be invisible, like Anna and her son. He wants his friends back. Foster could lull him to consciousness with a quiz on the different kinds of plants, which are edible, which are poisonous. Reeve would split a cigarette with him and scare him back to life with her driving. Emily will never speak to him but at least she’d cast a curse on him, and even that’s better than his nullified state of living. It’s disorienting, to feel asleep while awake. Harrison blinks hard, but everything feels the same—the buildings all shimmering, the people staring barely even people, everything derealized like it’s all been coated in REM. 

(tag urself i’m foster’s pocket dictionary)

This next excerpt outlines Harrison getting turnt with his new man and then getting philosophical? drunk Harrison be Aristotle and Madonna smushed together idk

Harrison knows he shouldn’t drink around a stranger but Jeremiah’s got a handmade bracelet and scribbly tattoos on his forearm so it’s hard not to trust him. Photo prints of hostels in Japan, statues in Europe, cathedrals in Paraguay decorate the walls in perfectly cut rectangles. Each is plumed with a dried flower and it reminds Harrison so much of Emily, he has to look away, back to the Lonan-coloured drink. He studies the shot glass like it isn’t transparent, the grooves around the perimeter, the engraving that reads Cancun 1987. He loses Jeremiah’s absent swish around him, and gets lost in the blue. The trifecta amazes him, how a colour as unnatural as this has manifested in Lonan’s eyes, his earring, this drink. He tips the glass back and finishes it in one go, and even though it’s strong and should taste like artificial blueberries, his mouth is tasteless and numb.

“You live here alone?” Harrison asks, raking his fingers through his hair. The apartment overlooks the strip across the street and Harrison gets lost in it, the artificial signs like bad advertising, the neons ill like influenza. When he looks toward Jeremiah again, his glass is refilled and he has to think hard to remember if he emptied it in the first place. 

This is where Harrison manages to make disco big sad + some lowkey salt at Lonan which is always! a! win!:

Together, they move in a trance, limber and manic. The glass in Harrison’s hand isn’t a weight—it’s a lifeline. The apartment blurs, and waves in slow motion. Harrison doesn’t hear the music or taste the drink; he feels nothing in the ground, and everything in his tongue. His hair swims in his face like Lonan’s, moving like he did in the water, careless in his forehead, his eyes. The pictures on the wall become the pictures in his bedroom, and the blinking doesn’t get rid of them. In his sidesteps with Jeremiah he sees him, in the glass, across the street, under a streetlamp. Taking his cigarettes, his light, his car, his mouth like a cannibal. 

To end this update, here’s some dialogue ft. savagery:

“You’re patronizing me.”

“You’re patronizing yourself.” 

A meme to accompany this lol:

So that’s it for this update! At the time of drafting most of this post (which was a few weeks ago), I wasn’t really feeling this project, however, after writing chapter 6 and switching POVs into Lonan’s head (where there’s lots of messy stuff to work with), I’ve been having a lot of fun!

I’m sorry updates have been slow on this blog--I’m in the process of moving so I’m getting busy, however, I hope to post at least one more update before I go off to school! Thanks for reading. :)

--Rachel

[jessiewre]

Day 57

Sun 1st Mar

KILIMANJARO 5KM FUN RUN DAY (& half marathon apparently) 🏔🏄🏻‍♀️🥇🏃🏻‍♂️

Despite Phil’s clear natural ability to run extremely well, he gets himself all worked up when he has a race on, so he woke up that day feeling a bit anxious. He did about 8 nervous poos before we even left the hotel.

I was still not convinced about wearing running leggings in the heat and while Phil was in the loo, I looked around his bag for alternatives. Phil’s bag is a treasure trove of comfortable items and I needed something comfortable - shorts ideally - but not too short shorts. And then Walaaa! I found some. Perfect. I put them on and they were SO comfortable and airy. There was just one problem...which Phil spotted straight away.

Phil walked back into the room and looked at me with wide eyes, shaking his head

‘Jess, no, no no no you cannot wear those. You look...ridiculous’.

Ok so maybe Phil’s surfer board shorts weren’t the normal choice for running but they ticked so many boxes!

‘But they are comfy!’ I said, knowing full well that he was right.

I did look a little...casual and surfer-like.

He then said the ultimate supportive thing (even though he didn’t mean a word of it) and told me that If I wanted to wear them, then screw it, whatever would make me most comfortable. And I have to say I appreciated him saying it.

But I had a moments clarity and changed into the running leggings, crossing my fingers I wouldn’t regret it. Phil breathed a sigh of relief that I would not be embarrassing him in front of all his running pals.

Phil managed to stomach a banana and we left in the dark to flag down a tuc tuc. Annoyingly, 3 people had just left the hotel and were trying to flag one down in front of us, but they weirdly walked a few metres up the road. So we ended up flagging a tuc tuc down before them. As we went to drive past them, I told the driver to stop and asked them if they wanted to jump in, cos I’m a dead nice person an that.

I did have to sit on Phil’s lap which I don’t think his legs were very grateful for considering the task that lay ahead of them, but I personally thought it worked out fantastically for us as our guests insisted on paying, saving us a whole £1. THINGS WERE LOOKING UP, THIS WAS GOING TO BE A GREAT DAY AFTER ALL.

There were thousands of people around (none in board shorts weirdly and lots in running leggings) and we went into the stadium to watch the beginning of the marathon. The view directly behind it was an EPIC clear view of Kilimanjaro mountain. Amazing!

There was a great buzzy atmosphere and we watched as Olympian standard runners stood in position ready to go at the front of the pack. Then BOOM, off they went, all 800 of them! As soon as they did though, the panic set in with Phil. We rushed off to find his starting position for the Half marathon, as awkwardly, it was starting in a completely different place outside the stadium. We did a cringe speed-walk up to the start point where THOUSANDS of people were piling in to do the half marathon (WAY more popular than the full marathon - I guess people are just lazy huh). Phil made his way into the middle of the crowd, but I spotted a route to get closer to the front so shouted him over to give it a try. It worked, and he got closer to the front, but frustratingly I knew he would have been better even further forward as lets be honest, he’s normally faster than the majority of runners 💪🏽 😏

It was too late though and 7am arrived, Phil set off and that was it. GOOD LUCK PHIL I thought as I watched his butters red hat disappear into the crowd. But then I walked off to find the 5km starting point and thought Screw it, I need the luck now, he’ll be fine.

The 5km was full of all shapes, sizes, ages & genders. Some people had jeans on (still no board shorts though), there were LOADS of children and it was all very lighthearted with tons of people doing a lot of walking. A real mixed bag that goes to show that taking part is the most important thing. I was determined to run the whole way though and for the first 3km, I was feeling good! A few kids had started to run with me and we highfived as we went along, overtaking tons of people. But by 4km, they had run out of energy and sunk back as I stormed ahead (yep, I’m faster than 10 year olds, no biggie) and suddenly I could see the finish line! OMG I looked at my phone and realised I could achieve a sub 28 minute 5km here! Jeez I hadn’t run that fast in years! I picked up the pace a bit and felt so happy (that it would be over soon). I was BUZZIN. But as the finish line got closer, I started to notice that no one was stopping. What weirdos I thought. They were all continuing forward. Hang on a minute...oh shittttt I was approaching the START line, it was NOT the finish line. Urgh, my mood dipped and I was GUTTED. Taking part SUCKS, I thought and I trudged on feeling very tired. The next 5 minutes of uphills were not so fun and there were so many corners, every time revealing that the finish line was not there. But I FINALLY made it back into the stadium and finished the bloody thing, without walking at all (god I wanted to walk up those hills) and devoured the bottle of water they gave me. I looked at my phone. 34 minutes. Not 28 minutes lol but not bad. Considering I was at high altitude and there were so many hills, I was happy, and at least I did it like. Ok fine, it IS the taking part that counts. But no time to lose, it was nearly 8:30am and I needed to get into position to see Phil finish!

I wobbled my way over to the stands like a granny with piles (nb. Not all Granny’s have piles), and watched as half marathon runners trickled in. The weird thing was though that NO ONE was cheering or clapping. It was so quiet. Hundreds of people were watching on happily, smiling away, but there was zero whooping. So weird. I’ve not done loads of races but the ones I have done in England have been amazing, mainly due to the crowds of people cheering you on and offering support and encouragement. I felt kind of bad for the runners as reaching the end of the race with a quiet crowd staring at you looking like a bit of an anti-climax.

I found a spot by a sagging fence and was able to see the runners turn the corner onto the home straight. Every time anyone with red appeared, my heart skipped, but it wasn’t for another 15 minutes that I spotted Phils red vest powered towards the finish. Fortunately he was not wearing the hat but I saw that he hadn’t lost it, it was just strapped to his vest. Damn He was going super fast but I managed to film him as he finished with pure pain and relief on his face.

He got his medal and water and I ran round to congratulate him, but mainly for him to congratulate me of course.

He said the race had been super hard, with 10km of UPHILL to start off (HOW GROSS IS THAT) followed by some super steep downhills. But he said the views were incredible and that it was an amazing experience. He was glad he’d done it and he was glad it was over. I told him, its the taking part that counts babe.

We shared some cashew nuts and had a few beers in the shade then realised it was not even 9am 😂.

We went across to the unofficial ‘warm down’ that some bloke had decided to host and had a bit of a laugh doing that. But it was quickly getting much hotter and I still had my leggings on of course, so we jumped into a tuc tuc back to the hotel for showers and a refresh. We were back by 10:30am, madness to think about what we’d already done that day. And the fact that we’d basically had nuts and beers for breakfast.

We ate the leftover pizza slices from the night before and had a chill out for our aching bodies. Well, I was pretty knackered from the run, but on the other hand, Phil seemed rather spritely. Hunger kicked in and chirpy Phil offered to go and collect a takeaway for us! Well it was funny he said that, cos I was just about to offer myself, but hey, he got in there first. Good for him, and even better for me.

Phil rocked up 45 minutes later with a bag of curry - dahl makhani, veg biryani & garlic naan - and we sat on the floor having our romantic curry picnic like it was a midnight feast. An awesome way to celebrate my running achievement & also Phil’s half race.

After more rest, we went out to find a sports bar to catch some football, but Pepper’s bar was soooo dry with no vibe (or WiFi, can you bloody believe it) . We figured there must be a marathon party, so followed our hostels advice and ended up at the HUGE beer garden of Hugo’s. It was rammed with people who had obviously been drinking all afternoon (or perhaps since before 9am??) and they were having a great time. There were empty bottles everywhere as the staff couldn’t keep up with the drinking speed, with a DJ on a stage and TV screens showing football. In the middle of peoples seats, mini dance floors were popping up as peoples favourite tunes came on. We grabbed some beers from a lady who insisted on serving us like table service despite everyone else using the bar, and we found a box to sit on and watch the crowds & Man Utd game at the same time.

We drank beers for a few hours, chatting to people and having a laugh with others who were dancing. It was really fun. But Phil suddenly dipped and said he was too tired to stay out any longer. It had been an early start I suppose.

So we hopped into a tuc tuc and tipsily headed off back to the hostel for showers and bed, popping into a shop on arrival for some dinner-substitute snacks (Phil had discovered a certain crisp that tasted a lot like Wotsits apparently).

It was only when we got back to the (very hot) room and got ready for bed that I realised it was only 7:30pm...

[yjkyungwan-blog]

𝐒𝐔𝐏 , 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐒 𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐒  !   i’m  very  excited  to  finally  be  here  !  the  name’s  ysa  (  she / her  ,  pst  )  and  i’m  coming  to  you  live  ,  acai  bowl  in  hand  ,  to  introduce  you  to  the  biggest  pain  in  my  ass  ,  CHOI  KYUNGWAN  .  okay  ...  maybe  not  the  biggest  ,  but  he’s  up  there  .  he’s  been  at  the  yujaen  sharehouse  for  about  a  month  now  and  currently  works  as  an  employee  at  the  LAVISH  DRAGON  SPA  as  well  as  a  part  time  DELIVERY  BOY  for  kentucky  fried  chicken  .  his  detailed  profile  and  connections  page  will  be  linked  below  and  if  you’d  like  to  plot  with  him  ,  please  GIVE  THIS  POST  A  LIKE  and  i’ll  be  sure  to  make  your  hotline  bling  via  the  tumblr  ims  .  or  if  you’d  much  rather  prefer  to  figure  things  out  on  d*scord  ,  feel  free  to  add  me  @  stream  me  by  clc#5398  .  * mark  lee  vc *  let’s  get  it  !!

               profile  .  connections  .  //  trigger  warning  for  death  mention  .

NAME:  choi  kyungwan  .

FACE  CLAIM:  jung  jaewon  .

PREFERRED  PRONOUNS:  he / him  .

AGE:  twenty  two  .

DATE  OF  BIRTH:  october  30  ,  1996  .

ZODIAC:  scorpio  sun  ,  gemini  moon  ,  cancer  rising  .

PERSONALITY  TYPE:  istp  .

ROOM:  yugji  building  ,  room  1b  .

+  witty  ,  perceptive  ,  flexible  ,  leisurely  ,  charming  .  /  -  blunt  ,  dishonest  ,  reserved  ,  unorganized  ,  noncommital  .

AESTHETICS:  #being  paid  on  time  ,  #vegetarian-friendly  food  options  at  restaurants  ,  #tyrian  purple  ,  #winning  bets  ,  #smoking  cigarettes  ,  #getting  the  last  laugh  ,  #cats  ,  #pineapple  on  pizza  is  good  you  just  have  terrible  taste  ,  #denim  jackets  ,  #staying  up  late  ,  #cold  beers  ,  #spraying  febreze  ,  #buying  lottery  tickets  ,  #sarcasm  ,  #bragging  rights  ,  #sour  gummy  worms  ,  #the  rush  of  adrenaline  from  catching  your  bus  or  train  at  the  last  second  , #wellness  shots  ,  #the  nightmare  before  christmas  ,  #happy  delirium  ,  #when  the  ocean  refuses  to  stop  kissing  the  shoreline  ,  #finding  money  in  your  pocket  that  you  forgot  you  had  .

born  in  yongsa  ,  south  korea  .  only  child  .  grew  up  under  the  care  of  both  his  parents  and  lived  quite  comfortably  .  his  family  owns  lavish  dragon  spa  ,  which  is  considered  to  be  the  biggest  and  most  popular  bathhouse  in  town  .  his  father  is  the  primary  owner  and  keeps  an  eye  on  all  the  day-to-day  activities  ,  while  his  mother  runs  the  books  and  takes  care  of  everything  from  a  public  relations  standpoint  .  as  his  parents  worked  full  time  ,  a  lot  of  his  childhood  was  spent  in  daycare  facilities  or  with  his  late  paternal  grandfather  .

out  of  all  his  immediate  family  members  ,  kyungwan  considered  himself  to  be  the  closest  with  his  grandfather  .  his  most  favorite  memory  of  them  spending  time  together  was  when  he  was  three  years  old  ;  in  the  middle  of  summer  ,  he  distinctly  remembers  ,  walking  along  the  seashore  of  yongsa  beach  ,  holding  hands  and  laughing  as  he  eats  an  ice  cream  cone  and  accidentally  drops  it  into  the  sand  .

when  he  passed  away  ,  kyungwan  took  a  long  time  to  process  and  accept  it  .  the  concept  of  death  was  a  hard  pill  to  swallow  for  a  kid  his  age  ;  he  was  a  little  confused  and  a  lot  sad  ,  and  didn’t  exactly  know  how  to  deal  with  it  .  he  also  wasn’t  one  to  be  outwardly  emotionally  expressive  ,  still  isn’t  to  this  day  ,  so  instead  of  spilling  tears  or  talking  about  it  ,  he  withdrew  into  this  shell  for  a  good  chunk  of  his  first  year  of  middle  school  .

things  took  an  upturn  when  he  got  involved  with  tennis  .  his  mother  ,  worried  sick  about  his  well-being  ,  forced  him  into  the  idea  in  the  midst  of  his  “  i  don’t  want  to  do  this  ,  you  can’t  make  me  ”  tantrums  because  she  believed  he  needed  to  do  something  ,  anything  to  get  him  out  of  the  rut  he  was  in  ,  and  she  was  not  going  to  stand  by  and  watch  her  son  sit  tight-lipped  and  grieving  .  turns  out  ,  he  had  a  knack  for  the  sport  ;  he  didn’t  want  to  admit  it  at  first  but  he  liked  it  ,  and  he  liked  that  he  could  channel  all  of  his  negative  energy  out  on  the  court  .  it  was  a  way  for  him  to  express  himself  without  actually  having  to  express  himself  ...  verbally  .

unfortunately  his  interest  in  tennis  lessened  over  time  ,  just  as  his  interests  in  other  things  grew  over  time  ,  and  he  doesn’t  play  much  anymore  .  he  still  considers  it  a  hobby  ,  though  .

as  briefly  mentioned  above  ,  kyungwan  works  as  an  attendant  at  lavish  dragon  spa  .  it’s  a  job  some  may  consider  a  “  hand  out,  ”  due  to  the  fact  that  his  parents  are  the  ones  in  charge  ,  but  don’t  let  him  catch  you  saying  that  .  he  doesn’t  mind  it  ,  working  there  ;  it’s  basically  a  second  home  to  him  .  his  father  keeps  on  insisting  to  groom  him  for  management  but  he’s  not  entirely  sure  he  wants  to  commit  to  that  yet  .  it’s  nice  to  think  about  ,  a  good  backup  plan  ,  but  he’s  not  100  %  sold  .  he  doesn’t  want  to  be  tied  down  .  wants  to  explore  all  his  options  .

aside  from  his  job  at  the  bathhouse  ,  he  also  makes  money  through  a  part  time  job  doing  deliveries  for  kentucky  fried  chicken  .  which  is  so  ironic  ,  given  that  he  doesn’t  even  eat  meat  ,  but  who  is  choi  kyungwan  if  not  a  walking  paradox  ?  he  responded  to  a  wanted  ad  one  day  ,  went  in  ,  got  the  job  ,  and  it  sticks  .  he’s  not  complaining  .  most  nights  he’ll  come  home  smelling  like  grease  and  fried  chicken  .  and  depending  on  who  you  ask  ,  that  could  not  be  a  bad  thing  .

to  be  specific:  kyungwan  is  pescetarian-vegetarian  ,  which  means  he  follows  a  strict  plant-based  diet  with  an  incorporation  of  seafood  .  he  doesn’t  eat  meat  for  any  extreme  reason  ,  he  just  doesn’t  like  it  .  feels  nauseous  and  sluggish  after  eating  it  .  he’s  not  going  to  go  out  of  his  way  to  hound  people  who  do  eat  meat  ,  and  he  doesn’t  get  bothered  if  you  eat  some  infront  of  him  .  he  merely  won’t  have  a  bite  .  period  .

kind  of  charming  ,  kind  of  an  asshole  .  knows  how  to  use  words  to  get  by  and  truly  believes  karma  doesn’t  apply  to  him  .  sugarcoating  isn’t  in  his  vocabulary  ;  he’ll  tell  you  how  it  is  ,  plain  and  simple  .  sometimes  he  can  come  off  insensitive  in  this  regard  ,  but  he  doesn’t  mean  to  hurt  people  intentionally  .  nine  times  out  of  ten  ,  the  things  he  says  or  does  are  for  his  own  benefit  and  the  people  around  him  are  an  afterthought  .  but  that  doesn’t  mean  he  doesn’t  care  about  his  friends  and  loved  ones  .  he  does  .  he  just  understands  that  at  the  end  of  the  day  ,  the  only  person  that’s  going  to  take  care  of  him  is  himself  ,  and  he  wants  to  protect  his  heart  above  all  else  .  he’s  been  careless  before  ,  too  trusting  ,  and  has  had  ex  friends  and  ex  relationships  walk  all  over  him  .

has  an  affinity  for  smoking  .  it’s  a  habit  he  picked  up  from  those  he’s  been  hanging  around  with  these  days  .  he  won’t  smoke  in  the  sharehouse  ,  he  knows  better  not  to  ,  but  he’ll  light  a  cigarette  outside  .  there  are  times  where  he  has  tried  to  quit  but  it  hasn’t  broken  ground  yet  .  the  longest  he’s  gone  without  smoking  was  two  months  ...  let’s  see  if  he  can  beat  that  .

tends  to  get  into  fights  .  mighty  prideful  .  his  parents  ,  or  more  so  his  father  ,  hates  the  kind  of  person  kyungwan  is  becoming  and  they  never  see  eye  to  eye  on  his  choices  .  his  mother  ,  on  the  other  hand  ,  always  gives  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  and  stays  perpetually  worried  about  him  .  she’s  been  like  that  ever  since  he  was  young  and  he  knows  she’ll  never  change  .

he  moved  out  of  his  parents’  house  because  he  couldn’t  stand  the  suffocation  he  felt  from  living  under  their  roof  .  they  constantly  argued  and  went  back  and  forth  ,  and  at  the  time  things  seemed  definite  and  final  .  he  then  moved  in  with  his  now  ex  girlfriend  and  lived  with  her  for  a  few  months  before  their  imminent  break  up  ,  prompting  him  to  find  a  new  place  to  stay  .  he  contemplated  going  back  to  his  parents  ;  was  actually  about  a  block  or  two  away  from  the  front  door  before  he  talked  himself  out  of  it  and  went  to  look  into  hostels  and  every  other  possible  affordable  accommodations  .

and  that’s  how  he  wound  up  at  the  yujaen  .  this  living  situation  is  more  tentative  than  anything  ,  though  it’s  already  been  a  month  and  he’s  still  there  .  he’s  not  the  worst  roommate  or  housemate  in  the  world  but  there  are  definitely  some  things  he  needs  to  work  on  .

[sgnolivia]

weird flex— are you okay??

two days into maybe-olivia’s eat-pray-love-crush-enemy-skulls pillage of cleveland, she’s struck by a migraine so searing that she has enough presence of mind to google psnn hesd dyig strook e ? before she’s left twitching in a trash heap behind starbucks.

two days into maybe-olivia’s eat-pray-love-crush-enemy-skulls pillage of cleveland, she’s struck by a migraine so searing that she has enough presence of mind to google psnn hesd dyig strook e ? before she’s left twitching in a trash heap behind starbucks.

it’s still light out when her brain stops trying to design, manufacture, and detonate it’s own atomic bomb. maybe-olivia isn’t sure if it’s been three hours or three days. the double chocolate chip frappe she bought t-minus five to blackout (ha!) has solidified on her pants. she can taste seafoam under her tongue.

she stares up at the sky in muted exhaustion. 

god, it’s me, she thinks. i would like to invoke my right to choose. 

perhaps if the zygote tube had been pro-choice, none of this would be fucking happening. 

the lizard takes over all executive functioning at that point, forcibly ejecting her from the drivers seat. when she blinks down at her shirt it’s neon green and has a fun i love chicago! written across a black skyline. 

maybe-olivia wonders if she saw the blue bedroom and doesn’t remember it. hopefully the lizard wrote it in the unicorn book.

not that it matters. what’s another forgotten thing in the grand scheme of it all? it’s a fifty-fifty shot she’ll remember anything she’s written in the notebook, anyway. her memory is half a step above melted swiss cheese. 

from that point on, every decision is like russian roulette with a gun that’s fully loaded. maybe-olivia has no fucking idea what’s going to set her spinning into a migraine or send her flying off the realm of human existence or remind her, hey, she fucking loves macaroons. it’s a lot of calculated risks and maybe-olivia discovers that she’s very bad at math. 

it goes on like this for an indeterminable amount of time. 

she tries to balance her world-wide assassination tour with her brain’s need to self-destruct every seventy-three seconds. it is difficult. 

after the act of dying her hair a soft brown sends her tripping into a panic attack, shivering violently and puking all over the nice bathroom of the vacation home she’s squatting in, maybe-olivia decides this isn’t working. 

the unicorn notebook is full, so maybe-olivia unpacks the glittery purple one she bought to replace it. the pen that lights up was lost somewhere in bolivia so she has to settle for a fatter pen that holds four different wells of ink. she feels traitorous for liking it more than its predecessor. 

option 1:

die. 

honestly, this is the easiest and most cost-effective route. at this point she’s ninety-five percent sentient machine gun. there wouldn’t be much lost. blackout was set to be decommissioned after operation foxtrot anyway. maybe-olivia would just be finishing what was set into motion a long time ago. 

she switches the pen into the blue inkwell and sets up a t-chart.

pros:

no more migraines.

won’t wake up in romanian hostel.

stop randomly puking.

permanently get rid of lizard.

cons:

maybe-oliva sits back in the chair. this list is marginally harder. 

agency is exhausting and confusing. some days she’s completely post-verbal and other days she can only speak argentinian spanish, despite having no memories related to argentina. some days she physically can’t wake her body up for more than six minutes at a time. most days she throws up everything she tries to eat. 

maybe-olivia wishes she was strapped back into her holding cell in the unnamed facility, twelve floors below the earth. 

this transforms her body into a wet chihuahua. it takes four hours to pull her bones back inside her skin and another two just to get off the floor. 

jesus, she thinks, and adds keep bones in skin to the pros list. 

she ruminates on her death for a bit, losing time to daydreaming about the endless sleep that might await her. none of her training covered the afterlife so this is as much a guess as everything else in her life. maybe it’s an endless blank void. maybe it’s burning in a pit. maybe it’s a another shot. maybe-olivia hopes not. she doesn’t know if her spirit can handle another go-round of this. 

but, her brain lizard pipes up, then they would win!

maybe-olivia growls out loud and pointedly tells it to shut the fuck up even if she begrudgingly admits that it has a point. 

if she dies, then director howard lives. 

this alights something hot deep in her gut. it feels like she has to puke and run fourteen miles at the same time. there’s no way in hell marcus fucking howard gets to live over her. fuck that. fuck that. 

and really, doesn’t she deserve that? doesn’t she deserve the right to drag howard out of his villa safehouse, shove a piece of rubber in his mouth, break all his fingers, and ask what her real goddamn name is?

project sisyphyus has been trying to kill her— the real her— for eleven fucking years and they still haven’t gotten it done. she wins, they lose. they’ll have to try harder. 

she writes fuck that in the scrawling, bunched together lettering she’s beginning to associate with her own personal handwriting. it’s nice. it feels like she owns something.

fuck that.

if they want me dead, they better fucking find me.

option 2:

get it the fuck together

there are no cons to this. she doesn’t need a t-chart. 

getting it together proves to be a con all on it’s own. her brain is a glorified vegetable but it’s all she’s got. it’s not like she can swap it out for a new one. it needs serious repairs though, and short of hooking her scalp up to a car battery, maybe-olivia isn’t sure how to go about this. 

google is, though.

and google doesn’t care if she has to look something up four times an hour. it points her towards helpful websites. searching how do i get my memories back and following it with who the fuck am i six times in half as many hours points her to a self-help thread which leads her to a diagnosis forum. she has acute brain trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative episodes, panic attacks, and sometimes seizures. also, maybe arthritis. she has to ask google what dissociation means. 

maybe-olivia is struck with the overwhelming knowledge that other people know what she’s going through. there are other people who fell head first out of a plane with no parachute and have been hurtling towards the ground for as long as they can remember. sure, they haven’t been tortured and brainwashed and denied the basic human rights that are allocated pretty much across the board but she doesn’t care. she feels connected to these people who live half outside of their skin, wondering the earth like zombies chewed up in the garbage disposal. 

they teach coping strategies. ways to fake normal existence so that it seems like they’re living in the same reality as everyone else. how to breathe when her lungs collapse. how to avoid physical contact in day-to-day situations. 

a lot of them gently suggest finding creative outlets for her feelings. she tries writing but after penning an expansive four page letter in cantonese only to suddenly forget how to read cantonese, she gives that up. 

she decides she isn’t really ready to sift through her emotions. her bodies fucked up instincts are enough without trying to decide if she’s depressed, furious, or anxious on top of it. 

google assures her that recovery happens in stages and at her own pace. if you aren’t ready today, try a little bit more tomorrow. 

her brain still jerks her around like it’s the worlds most aggressive dog owner and she’s the runt of a teacup poodle’s litter, but it works to her advantage. no one can track her if even she has no idea where she’s going next. the targets come in migraines, in hallucinations, in dissociative fits, but they come and maybe-olivia dutifully follows, even if she can’t remember doing it. it’s admittedly a reckless strategy but if there’s a part of her that isn’t a screaming disaster then she hasn’t recovered that part yet. 

she reviews her notebooks every few days, now. they look like they’ve been written by at least four people, one of them being a small child. there’s a variety of languages, handwriting styles, codes, and small illustrations. one page just says fuck licorice in increasingly bold font, fiercely underlined and surrounded by aggressive exclamation points. 

it doesn’t do much except reaffirm that she has the minimal amount of control required to be a human being, but that’s okay. 

a lot of her problems sort themselves out once a helpful blog post points out that she’s eating about a third of what’s required of adult women. this is mostly because she constantly throws up anything that tastes more flavorful than wheat bread but also because she’s never really had to feed herself before. hunger is just another loud, shrieking signal her body sends at her to inform her that something’s wrong, but it sends fifty of those a minute. how’s she supposed to know where the problem is?

a steady combination of pedialyte, muscle milk, and a bottle of gummy vitamins becomes the solution. she has to set alarms to remind herself to drink them and it isn’t ideal, but it keeps her caloric intake up, and solves the arthritis issue. 

it also makes it easier to actually keep the memories she recovers which is a huge win. 

that doesn’t mean things are smooth by anyone’s standards, including her own. random things still absolutely kneecap her— a dad yelling at his son, a lawn mower starting up outside the motel, her own abilities blinding her first thing in the morning. but every incapaciting moment gives a clue. 

a car backfires on the road and maybe-olivia darts behind a minivan, seeing both the tan metal under her hand and white sand beaches. 

239948S462569W

maybe-olivia has never infiltrated a fully-staffed enemy facility on her own before. that’s alright. it can be a learning experience for everyone. 

[dondake]

[mistagio] roman holiday

rating: t summary: Mista doesn’t target tourists, but he’ll make exceptions. AO3 Link

It wasn’t that Guido Mista was homeless, except - ever since he was evicted for not paying three months worth of rent (“I’ll have it next week...or the week after that, promise on my grandmother’s grave.”), he had been flitting from couch to couch to keep a roof over his head. And it wasn’t that he was penniless and couldn’t afford even a bare bones efficiency, as his stars shone over him and let him move from part time job to part time job as he pleased, but it was a hassle to negotiate lease terms and bicker with new landlords. After Bruno politely kicked him out after two weeks and Fugo forbade him from taking advantage of Narancia’s generosity for more than two whole months, Mista had taken to honing his charisma to charm his way into the beds of those who would take him. But now the girl he had been staying with, a trusting assistant baker, had hesitantly asked him when he thought the plumbing at his place would eventually be fixed and he knew his days on her borrowed patience was coming to an end.

Taking some money from her counter, he told her he would go check on his apartment and come back with pastries and espresso and trotted down the alleyway behind the building with no intention of returning. The sun was beginning to peek through the tops of the trees sparsely littering the street; the weather was going to be nice for the next few days, which was fortunate if he struck out and had to resort to sleeping in the park for the night. Of course, that was not preferable, so he did go to the closest shop and buy buttery cornetti and three cups of hot coffee.

Narancia was outside his store when Mista came up, keeping his gait casual. While Narancia was not one to notice the mood, he did not need the boy tipping Fugo off about his intentions before he had properly launched into his petition. “Oh, it’s you, Mista.” Setting up his sign, promising accurate models and other handcrafted figures if one would just step inside, Narancia straightened up and grinned. “I was wondering if you’d gone ahead and got married! That’s got to be the longest time you’ve overstayed your welcome like that!”

“Good morning to you too,” Mista said, choosing to ignore the backhanded commentary. “Have you eaten yet? I thought about you when I was getting breakfast; there’s some for the sour thistle too, before he chases me out for not being an accommodating guest.”

“Well, I’m not going to say no to food! Come on in.”

What he needed, Mista thought, was a reliable source of income. Narancia had been every bit of a blue collar, bullet-nosed kid raised on the streets like he was, but now he was the proprietor of a humble little toy shop on one of the main streets of Naples. While it was no fancy boutique, the wooden shelves were neatly painted, polished, and sturdy, holding the metal miniatures of airplanes and trains that were imported from Spain. The shades were drawn closest to the stuffed animals on the west wall, and the middle of the floor plan held the delicate tables where the carved wooden pieces Narancia whittled and tinkered with were displayed. Narancia was good with his hands, good with a blade, but he would have been any ordinary craftsman were it not for the scowling man who glowered at Mista as he approached the back counter.

“What do you want, Mista,” Fugo said. Heir to a wealthy import company, he had since wrested his share of the family fortune to co-own Arrowsmith with Narancia as the shop’s bookkeeper and sales liaison. “No, you cannot stay the night with Narancia. Have you cycled through your little black book of friends already?”

“Oh, what’s it to you,” Mista scoffed, putting the coffees down on the counter and pulling his hands away in time to avoid Narancia’s grabbing for his share. “You’re not Narancia’s roommate and you aren’t sleeping with him, so I’m not displacing you or anything.” Only Narancia was oblivious enough to think Fugo had no ulterior motives for providing the capital for his shop and staying behind after closing to teach him how to accurately calculate his profits for the day. The comment made Fugo’s mouth twist, a mortified shade of pink coloring his ears.

“You got kicked out? Do you need a place to stay?” Narancia said, between bites of pastry.

“Maybe. I’ll get back to you. You’ll lend me your couch for a night or two, won’t you? Can’t you help your pal, who’s down on his luck?”

Narancia opened his mouth to say yes, but Fugo spoke up first and louder. “Just find your own place already, Mista. Aren’t you tired of moving from place to place? I can’t imagine what this is doing to your sleep cycle. You do know that people’s brains don’t fully settle when they’re in new surroundings for the first time, right? You’re not feeling well rested because your body is in a state of alert since you keep changing bedrooms.”

“You could have cured cancer if you weren’t playing with toys,” Mista said, waving a hand to dismiss him. “How about it, Narancia? Only if I can’t find someone to room with. You know I stay out; you won’t even know I’m there.”

Narancia opened his mouth again, before closing it and glancing at Fugo. For a horrified moment, Mista thought he had lost his closest ally to the clumsy advances of someone younger than both of them, who insisted that his clothes weren’t raggedy, they were worn and lived in. But Narancia shifted the weight in his feet anxiously and said, “Well...maybe, okay. Only for a few days. Fugo got us a contract with the tourism board so I’ve got to make some miniatures of the Duomo di Napoli that they’ll sell in their offices. You know a ton of people go through them, so it could really put...put Arrowsmith on the map.” This was Fugo’s script, for sure. “But...and don’t take this the wrong way, but when you’re around, I won’t get them all done in time. I mean, I like hanging out with you, but you really go all out sometimes and that’s fun, but…”

“I get it, I get it.” Mista shrugged. Perhaps he had taken the wrong gamble and should have visited Bruno first with the breakfast money; now he would need to needle the bureaucrat empty-handed. “That’s great, though. Can you imagine the things you make sitting in the houses of someone from across the ocean?”

“Yeah! And I won’t need to make Fugo translate for me to sell them.” Fugo, with his knowledge of several major languages, was invaluable for a little local shop that attracted tourists with artisanal tastes; Narancia was a favorite with the kids in the neighborhood, but he let Fugo do the talking for the rest of their clientele.

Mista raised his brows. “Then you’d better look for another job, since Narancia won’t need you anymore soon.”

Fugo was finished with his espresso or else he would have probably thrown it in Mista’s face. “Just get out, you freeloader.”

Bruno would most likely be busy at this point in the morning and would not be particularly generous while he was at his office; Trish was probably sleeping and her wrath at being deprived of her beauty sleep would make Bruno even less inclined to do him any favors. The shipping company he was with would not be receiving any deliveries until later in the week, so he was waiting on his heels for his next paycheck. His best bet was to linger in the marketplace and do any odd jobs and run errands for pittance to get a bed in one of the back alley hostels. If he was lucky, he’d find his next victim - he was good at scoping out someone who was good natured and trusting of his sob stories, even if they weren’t always convincing.

The marketplace was becoming busy, with older women making the rounds to snatch the freshest produce before the latecomers arrived. Hanging back, Mista took stock of the girls running the stands; he had fooled around with Maria’s sister, so she would be wary around him; Felicia was friends with two girls whom he had parted with on bad terms, so she was also a no go. He doubted Anna would want to pick up her brother’s sloppy seconds, and he was not eager to reintroduce himself into Antonio’s household anyway. There were a few fresh faces that Mista did not recognize; they were most likely tourists by the way they were looking around with careless awe. Their pockets would be picked before the sun set. Mista did not usually try to pick up tourists; they became too cautious when he suggested they return to their hotel and he had to admit he did not really look the part of a good, upstanding Italian citizen.

While most of the tourists were traveling in tight packs, there was one person wandering by himself. Holding a piece of paper, the blonde stranger walked down each aisle with careful precision, examining each table’s wares. He was dressed too well to be an American and his features were decidedly European, though Mista would not be surprised if he was biracial with his less severe cheekbones and a lighter skin tone than the Italians in the region. In fact, Mista had been about to write the man off as a native until the man came closer and Mista saw through the paper what looked to be an address and a crudely drawn map. Naples was big, but not big enough to confuse someone who had lived in the area for years. “Hey,” he called, leaning back against the fountain to expose his neck and appear open and unthreatening. The man turned to him, startled but not jumpy; this was a tourist who had been to Italy before or had a good enough head on his shoulders not to be fooled by more basic swindlers. “Are you looking for something? Do you need any help?”

The man stared at him for a long, silent moment. “I’m looking for a particular dried goods store. I was told that they sometimes sell here, but I can’t seem to find them. I’ve just recently arrived, so I’m still figuring out my directions.”

“Oh? Let me see; I can probably point you in the right direction.” Speed Wagon was an old establishment, well known despite not being on a very public street. “It’s pretty close, maybe a ten minute walk. Just go up until you get to the seamstress, then bear left and go diagonally across the square and pass the newspaper stand and the butcher. But not the butcher with the hog’s head plaque; you need to go further to the one with the wreath of grain. It should be down the cobblestone side street.” He was being purposefully vague with his directions, practiced in casually using his hands to talk. He would not offer to take him there; it had to be a request, so he knew he was not wasting his time with someone as vigilant as Bruno.

The man took back the paper with the address and terrible map and stared at it for another long moment. “I suppose you won’t help me out any more without a price. I’m a sitting duck, with how I’ve told you that I’m new to the area. But I’m Italian, just like you are; I can navigate my motherland even with that convoluted explanation.” He began to walk away, only pausing when Mista began to laugh.

“Alright, alright. I’ll help you out. For free, and you can hold that on my good name.” The stubborn ones were fun; the prideful ones made his conquest even better. This tourist could appeal to his nationalistic side all he wanted, but he was still new to Italy and Mista had no loyalty to someone who had chosen to call somewhere else home.

“Then you should share your good name,” the man prompted. Mista laughed again; everyone here knew of him, and he had done most everyone a favor once or twice. His enemies would be the enemies of any tourist, prepared or not, so he had no fear of revealing himself.

“Guido Mista. Call me Mista; that’s what everyone else does.” The man did not volunteer his name, but Mista looked at the piece of the paper with the address that had an elaborate letterhead. “I’m going to assume that GG are your initials; care to return the favor?” A nice letterhead - and the man was wearing nice leather shoes and a nice pressed shirt. Tourists with money were hard to crack, but the payoff was always worth it.

“Giorno. Giorno Giovanna.”

“Alright. Matches your hair.” The sun was just as bright a gold as Giorno’s head, a neat plait as perfect as a meticulously shaped challah. It was appropriate, Mista thought; he appreciated a good looking man when he saw one. It was natural that those who were blessed with classically beautiful features attracted people to themselves. Bruno was polished and put together and Trish had good proportions; she might have had inherited roots in government with a politician father, but Mista always thought they would have had their names in the papers by look alone. To contrast, Abbacchio was a peace officer who operated alone because he was just too gloomy.

“So how long have you been in Naples?” Tourist marks got nervous if you were too quiet. And frankly, Giorno’s guardedness and understated privilege suggested that Mista might get the jump on if he wasn’t careful himself.

“Only a few days. My...father has a few affairs he wants me to take care of at his house.”

“Your family house is in the area? How can you say you’re new? Where are you coming from?”

If Giorno was put off by his questioning, he did not show it. “I’ve spent some time in Florence and Rome, but I’ve returned from Japan after visiting my mother. It is unfortunately time I cannot get back.”

“Tell me about it! My mother will never get off my case when I go home; she’s always asking what I’ve done with my life. Nothing, apparently, since I’m still alive, huh?”

That made Giorno chuckle, though level and restrained. Still, the sound had a funny way of sticking in Mista’s ear. A passing thought wondered what Giorno’s genuine laugh would sound like. He felt Giorno’s eyes case over his head at the hog’s head sign over the first butcher and then at the grain wreath over the second butcher’s door. What a little fool - only a novice thief would lie about everything from the start. They arrived at Speed Wagon, tucked away in a back street with only a flickering light illuminating the spoked wheel crest. “Thank you,” Giorno said. “For helping me find this place.”

“No problem. Actually, now that I’m here, I guess I’ll grab some jerky for a snack. May as well, since I’m never over here.” Again, Giorno’s apprehension of Mista sticking around didn’t show on his face, and he held the door open for Mista. Wandering into a back corner, he kept his ears alert as Giorno approached the counter.

“Pick-up? Under what name?”

Giorno paused. “Dio,” he murmured. Mista heard the crumple of the paper in his hands and looked between the shelves at Giorno pushing it into his pocket.

“Ah...our least favorite regular. Will he be visiting the house soon?”

“I guess so. His business is none of mine.”

There seemed to be some unspoken understanding between Giorno and the shopkeep. Mista had never heard of the Giovanna name, nor of a Dio, but he was not one to rub shoulders with the elite. He’d keep the names in mind to ask Bruno, who had his hand to the pulse of the city. “I only ask because...his order was three cases of red wine. Now, I’m not doubting your strength but this is a tall order for a single person and I know your father is...particular of who fetches his things and enters his house.”

“Wine? I thought this was a dried goods shop.”

“We are. But you must understand we also have connections and will carry what we’re asked of.” The man brought out each case of bottles and set them on the counter with a significant weight behind the sound of them settling on the wood. “You could carry them individually but I suspect it will take time for each…”

“I’ll help,” Mista volunteered, stepping out from where he had been watching. Giorno did not seem surprised at his suggestion. Mista thought that Giorno had been aware of his whereabouts the entire time they had been in Speed Wagon. “I’m currently working out at the docks; two cases should be no problem.”

The shopkeeper turned to Giorno. “A family friend?”

“That would be generous.” Giorno studied the wine. “I suppose I have no choice but to rely on you again, Mista.”

Upon leaving Speed Wagon, Giorno did not return to the main road, where most of the cars were parked. Hitching the crates of wine under his arm, Mista hoped whatever penthouse suite Giorno was returning to was far enough away that he could really flex and show off his muscle definition to sweeten the deal. But Giorno merely continued walking, a crate of wine in his hands, and walked right out of the center of the city. Mista was no slouch, he worked out in his spare time, but he did not usually carry heavy items for significant distances. Just as he contemplated asking Giorno for a break, they emerged from the road to a grand villa on the outskirts of Naples, right where the buildings began to move further and further from each other. “Welcome to my father’s house,” Giorno said, gazing up at the gate in front of them. He turned back to Mista, quietly and expectedly.

“You aren’t going to invite me in, give me a drink or nothing?”

Giorno sighed, but he allowed Mista to follow him into the main house. Mista had gone to a nice house like this once, when he was temping for a catering firm, but the constant flow of guests had kept him from really taking in the extravagance. The pillars bordering the little courtyard inside, where a red clay fountain bubbled in the center surrounded by lush shrubbery, had to be made from stone straight from the source, smoothed by hand. The floor was marble tile, with barely a scratch. Giorno’s shoes were real leather, but Mista’s sandals were almost dirt cheap and boldly striding across enough stone worth a month’s paycheck. They bypassed the kitchen and Giorno led him to a small, cool wine cellar at the foot of a flight of wooden stairs. The three crates of wine seemed insignificant against the already impressive collection displayed around them. Giorno set his crate on the ground and Mista stacked his on top, casually rubbing his biceps with as little expression as he could muster. He would be sore tomorrow, for sure.

“Thank you again,” Giorno said.

“Sure thing.” Mista stared up at the dirt ceiling, his voice sinking into the soil and brick around them. “Do you wanna fuck?”

“Here?”

“Uh, no, unless you want to. I’m sure there’s got to be a bed or something in this huge house.”

Giorno blinked his beautiful blue eyes at him. The adrenaline was really coursing through his blood if he was being this reckless, calling Giorno beautiful despite knowing the man for less than half a day. Mista knew his way around many a beautiful Italian, but there was something different in the way Giorno carried himself - ethereal, yet the gold around the edges could be pure and soft or gold plated pewter. Mista wouldn’t know, but he did want to take the risk and sink his teeth in. “I thought you said you wanted to come in for a drink,” Giorno said, finally. He cradled his arms in front of his chest, defensively, but it wasn’t a no.

“We can get a drink and then we can fuck. What, do you have an order you like to do these things in?”

Giorno poured two tall glasses of water, as they had been lifting wine in the sun, but they were left mostly full on the table next to the window. Mista doubted the bedroom Giorno brought them to was his own, personal one, but with the different rooms they had passed, Giorno could sleep in a different bed for each night of the week and it wouldn’t matter. Tourists scrambled to explore Naples on a budget, but lucky boys like Giorno only had to to book a flight and fall right into his father’s house for a quick holiday. It made Mista feel less guilty fucking Giorno right into what felt like expensive sheets, paid for by a faceless older man. Giorno’s skin was hot in his hands, a flash of fire, like the setting sun. He hadn’t timed it right, Mista though, wiping his brow with his wrist, buried halfway into the boy beneath him. If had bided his time and waited until the sun was completely below the horizon, he could spin a tale that it was just worth it to stay the night.

“You’re distracted,” Giorno said, reaching back and pulling Mista close by the hip. “Finish what you started.”  

Afterwards, they returned to the city for dinner. Giorno was leaning against the wall, the buttons on his shirt done low so Mista could see dark red hickeys where neck met shoulder, staring out the window of the pizzeria when Bruno walked up to the table.

“I heard from Fugo that you would be looking for me, but it looks like you won’t be needing my help.” Bruno was not one to judge openly, but Mista knew he had seen them from a distance and had studied Mista, hunched forward in his chair over his plate, and Giorno, practically sprawled along the booth. “Who is your acquaintance?”

“Bucciarati, this is Giorno. Giorno, here’s the man who practically runs all of Naples. Effectively.”

“A pleasure,” Giorno said, taking the hand Bruno extended to him. “Bruno Bucciarati. I’ve heard of you. If you’re here, then you must also be with--”

“We should order pick-up next time,” Trish said, sliding up to Bruno’s side and wrapping an arm around his arm. “Ugh. They’ve got a new girl taking orders and she’s seen me perform before. I could not get in a word edgewise. She’ll get her mother, or her father, so be careful and don’t engage. We’ll be here until midnight if we let her chatty family catch us.” Trish let her complaint trial off, recognizing Mista, who had returned to eating. “Oh, hello Mista. Haven’t seen you in a while. Who’s your catch now?”

“Trish,” Mista said, giving her a look. Bruno clasped a hand over hers on his arm and squeezed - subtly, but Mista saw Giorno follow the movement with his eyes. “Giorno. Giorno, Trish.” He hated introducing the people he was sleeping with to the gang. Without labels, it became awkward and troublesome to describe. Not that there was a label for someone he had only slept with once, but he was regretting not going somewhere with a lower likelihood of running into someone he would know.

“A little...no, a lot out of your strike zone, Mista. Oh, I’m kidding!” Trish threw her hands up. “Can’t a girl make a joke! It’s nice to meet you, Giorno. Don’t mind me, but I hope you’re keeping Mista in check. He’s really not for everyone.”

“He’s not,” Giorno agreed.

“I haven’t seen you around,” Bruno said. “Are you new to Naples?”

“My flight landed two days ago. I’m just getting over the jetlag.”

“I see. I welcome you to the city. As Mista so generally put it, I do work in administration so it’s my duty to make sure your time here is enjoyable.”

“There’s so much more to see than Mista’s random assortment of haunts,” Trish said, laughing when Mista began waving her off. “I’m not performing until Thursday, so hopefully you’ll be free then and can come watch. Bruno always reserves a table, and I’m sure he’d love the company.”

“You’ll love his company until Trish is done performing, then you’re a third wheel,” Mista groused. “Hey, Bucciarati. I actually think I will come over. When will you be home?”

Giorno turned to him. “How long are you planning to be out? I’m a little tired as it is, so I don’t know if I can stay out too late.”

Closing his mouth before it was obvious he had let his jaw drop, Mista put down his piece of pizza. “You...want me to come back to your place with you?”

Trish leaned into Bruno’s shoulder. “I think we should leave them now,” she whispered, loud enough for Mista to overhear. Bruno offered a polite farewell before excusing the both of them. They sat a fair distance away, and for Trish’s credit, did not look back or watch them.

“I just,” said Mista, “didn’t think you’d...I mean - I had a good time, but you’ve only got so much time before you’ve got to go-” He was shooting himself in the foot; he wanted a place to sleep, and now he was talking too much. There had been others who had been enamored early, whom Mista had taken full advantage of, but it was the unlikely combination of Giorno’s means and options he was bound to have - and Trish was right, boys like Mista could be found on any block in any neighborhood.

“Go? Where am I going?”

“You’re on holiday, aren’t you? Staying at your father’s house?”

Giorno studied him. “I’m not on holiday. I’ve just moved here. My father’s gifted me his house, so yes, I’ve got some of his affairs to take care of, but I own that property. It’s big to be alone in, and while I must admit you wouldn’t have been my first choice…” He folded his hands, and Mista felt rooted in place, caught in Giorno’s snare. “Unless, you mean to say that you only slept with me because you were expecting never to see me again.” He wore a frown, but there was no real heat in it. Giorno could find someone else and forget him with a blink of an eye.

Mista felt able to breathe again, exhaling with a shaky laugh. “It would have been easier,” he admitted. He followed Giorno back to the villa, back to the same room, and they fucked again, lazily because Giorno was tired. What a brilliant stroke of luck, Mista thought. He had a roof over his head for the night. But more than that - he was known to be a bit laser focused when catching someone in his sniper scope, unrelenting until he’d gotten what he wanted. It had been a while since he’d been caught in the crosshairs of someone else’s aim, and the gaze Giorno had on him wasn’t besotted but one of conquest. Giorno had full intention of making him kneel, pledging his loyalties to a golden haired golden boy - and while Mista had no intention of bending to another’s will, the thought of submitting to Giorno made him shiver.

“I hope you won’t mind,” Giorno yawned, swadling himself with pillows as Mista laid next to him, staring at a curious star-shaped birthmark on his nape, “but I’ve offered board to one of my closest advisors while I’m here. Polnareff knows to be discreet, but I’d rather keep my private life private.”

“Is that all you think of me as?” Mista asked, grinning cheekily. “An on-call booty call, kept man that you can summon at any time, left to wander on my own when you don’t want me?”

Giorno ran his fingers through his hair, curly from the braid. “Is that such a bad life?” He rolled over, coming up so close that he pushed Mista onto his back and splayed his fingers out on his chest. “Tell you what - I know this estate’s been the place of many attempted break-ins while my father wasn’t around. You can be the hired muscle to keep my enemies away from me. In exchange, I won’t expect you to be at peak performance whenever I want you.” Giorno leaned in, and Mista remembered they hadn’t kissed - and in spite of himself, his breath caught in his throat. It was the kiss of death, and he was signing away his life to be in Giorno’s services. It wasn’t exactly what he had in mind for a carefree life, but as he kissed back, he thought it was excusable for now.

[chaletnz]

Phitsanulok Temple Tour

I woke up early for a shower and to make myself some toast for breakfast in the kitchen. The Karma Home Hostel has an honesty system so that you can give some money towards anything you used or drinks you took from the fridge. I got some tips from the owner Mark about what we should visit in the city during our stay here and he suggested we join a temple tour with two British girls that were staying in tents on the rooftop. I was definitely in but Olga decided she wanted to rent a bike and ride two hours out to an ancient city. So we split up for the day as I don’t like riding scooters or motorbikes and never felt comfortable knowing insurance doesn’t cover any accidents that we may have given the high frequency of them in Thailand. Mark led myself, Anna and Georgie out down the road passing loads of trees and bushes with fruit we could nibble on like custard apples, bananas, berries, mangoes and dragonfruit with our first stop being the flea market. It was mostly a load of old crap laid out on dirty mats but I had an icy cold orange juice made from freshly squeezed green-skinned oranges that I’d seen around Thailand a lot previously! Mark let us have a taste of his banana chips flavoured with BBQ seasoning which were amazing so we each bought a bag for 10 baht and couldn’t stop munching as we walked onward. We fed some fish in the dirty river and Mark told us about how his daughter fell in one time and I shared my story about the fish pond we’d seen in Pai with all those frenzied fish lunging on top of each other for food. From here we headed to the Buddha Chinnaraj temple which Mark told us is the second busiest temple in all of Thailand. As we were taking off our shoes to go inside the temple some school students approached me and asked if they could make a short interview with me about my views of Thailand as a tourist. I obliged and answered their questions while Mark, Anna and Georgie stood watching and having a bit of a laugh at me. In order to go inside the temple I needed to borrow a shawl to cover my shoulders as I’d worn a singlet. Inside we knelt down with the rest of the visitors as photos are not allowed to be taken standing up. Mark pointed out that there are 52 donation boxes inside the temple for each week of the year and said each one has a different recipient of the donations. There were also four bronze elephant statues inside and Mark explained to us what they are for - you should make a wish and then pick up the elephant with your pinky finger. Once we were back outside we saw all of the Buddha statues in their different positions. Mark explained what each Buddha means and we learned that each Buddha represents personality characteristics based on the day of the week that you were born. I am the Wednesday alms Buddha apparently! We walked over to a park nearby to meet a 94 year old man and his bicycle that Mark kind of knew; he had a small notebook with prayers written down in Thai inside that he wanted us all to take a photo of as he shakily held it out to us. Next we were taken into another market, this time indoors though, and Mark bought some strange kebab things wrapped in leaves. He gave us each one leaf packet to try and it was definitely one of the weirdest things I’ve ever eaten - it was very chewy and had conflicting flavours of ginger, nuts, spicy sauces and whatever else was wrapped up in there out of sight! In the same market we stopped for lunch together and given the odd appetizer I wanted to play it safe for lunch and ordered what Mark told me was a yellow chicken curry. When it arrived it was covered in egg and onion, both of which I hate, and it wasn’t much of a “curry” although I think Thais use that word pretty loosely. As we ate Mark taught us how Thai people order the bill by making small circles with the index finger and when we had finished our meal Anna was brave enough to try it and hope she didn’t offend anyone. After lunch we visited another temple with a large gong hanging outside that you can rub with your hands to make a really loud noise from the vibrations instead of banging on it. There was also a tree full of Buddhas that we all were instructed to climb up and walk through for luck. Inside the temple there were several paintings depicting the king’s various historical achievements and also some traditional prayer books written on pieces of bamboo. We visited the 700 year old Buddha which had a strange network of strings hanging all over the place and it turned out that they were all connected to the finger of the Buddha so you can tie a string onto your own finger as you are praying and then you can supposedly feel the energy of the Buddha. Mark showed us how to use the fortune telling sticks by shaking the container until one fell onto the floor and the corresponding number would be your fortune. Mine wasn’t a particularly good fortune so I was told to leave the paper there so that maybe I could escape the bad fortune. Our last stop was the black Buddha which had an interesting story to go along with it - it was waiting to be painted gold but during the night it rained and leaked through the roof spilling red paint onto the mouth of the Buddha. The same night a monk had gone missing so the tale was that the Buddha had eaten him! We wanted to do a Thai cooking class with Mark’s wife, Mint, for our dinner and so I went with Mark to the market for some ingredients and was astonished by how cheap everything was! Mark bought a block of tofu for 8 baht, 10 limes for 20 baht and I had to be dragged away from the donut stand with 4 donuts for 20 baht. Mint showed us how to start preparing our ingredients for the spring rolls and we enthusiastically got to work however Mint had to keep correcting us! Our spring rolls weren’t the best but at least we’d had fun making them and the satisfaction of eating our own Thai creation was quite good too! The girls wanted to do some laundry so I walked them to the laundromat I’d seen and right as they had started the load a toothless old woman came over and started to try and tell them something like maybe she was closing soon. Georgie waited with the laundry to ensure it’s safe cycle and Anna and I walked to the market to buy some fruit. We returned with a kilo of libuten, a kilo of oranges, a packet of jackfruit, a dragonfruit and two packs of pineapple with spicy sugar on the side. Olga had arrived back from her day out on the scooter and was starving so Mint started us off with the pad Thai cooking lesson. It was really very easy to make; starting with frying up the tofu, fermented lettuce and egg, then throwing noodles and water on top, adding splashes of soy sauce, tamarind paste and sugar, then topping it off with sprouts, chopped nuts and a drizzle of lime juice. After dinner we still had room for dessert so we all sat together and tried a fruit buffet with all of our exotic fruits. It was going great until I tried the jackfruit and had a strange reaction that made me think that I could be allergic!

[jessaadventures-blog]

Week Five: Craziness!

Sunset at the water tower!

Wow. SO much happened this week! It ended up being full of adventures and unexpected surprises!

P.S. I’m going to start posting on Mondays permanently because I rarely have time to write the post for Friday and we generally don’t have much wifi over the weekend! This post includes both last weekend and this past weekend.

The EcoHouse

Isa and I with our new sign!

We’ve had some more change over in the house this week! Isa left on Friday after being here for two months, and it’s definitely weird without her. She was my cooking buddy, so now I’ve gotta find a newbie to help me make food (or convince the guys to help me make their huge portions of food haha). Isa is off to Lima for a few days and then she’s heading to Cuzco and Machu Picchu before going home to her second year at Florida State. A pretty impressive trip for her first time out of the US!

Brady left this Sunday, and it’s weird without him here too. He was our funny southern fix-it guy and he definitely had a big presence in the house! He’s heading home to study for the LSAT and then (hopefully) heading to law school in Vermont. He’s a super intense skier and really wants to come ski at Mt. Baker, so maybe I’ll see him someday soon!

We also had two new arrivals this Saturday! Orianna goes to Northeastern and just finished her second year there in engineering. She’s going to be helping out with renewable energy and restarting an aeroponics project using solar panels to grow herbs super fast! She seems great, and we’ve already gone out surfing together, she seems like a go-getter.

Seth is from Indiana University and did his bachelor’s in environmental science and is doing his master’s in energy, so he’s also here for renewable energy (we have seven volunteers right now and six are here for renewable energy, so a lot of awesome energy stuff is going to be happening)! He’s starting a project called Hole in the Wall, where a computer is put in an outdoor wall in a public area and protected so the screen can’t be touched (basically cemented inside a concrete wall with a thick plastic barrier over it) and there is a keyboard stuck outside and the computer is given internet access and powered using solar panels and left there. Then the community (especially kids) can use the computer at any time to teach themselves various things, but they have to figure it out on their own. At other Hole in the Walls there’s apparently been a really impressive rate of learning by the kids that use the computer; they’ve taught themselves English and complicated science concepts and other cool things. We’re going to try to create Peru’s first Hole in the Wall!

We also have a volunteer coming today, Claudia, and I’m excited to meet her!

Other than the volunteer change overs, we had some good food again this week. We did our classic taco tuesday and made some vegan cookies for dessert, which we ate while playing Secret Hitler (our favorite board game) and drinking pisco sours. On Wednesday night Isa and I had a lasagna-off (we had a ton of lasagna noodles to use) and she made a non-vegan lasagna while I made a vegan one. Both turned out really good and not many people could tell that mine was vegan! I’m getting better at improvising recipes, and I really liked the way I made that lasagna (although I only had sweet soy milk to use, so it turned out a little sweet but it would be amazing with unsweetened almond milk). 

Isa and I also made her a crazy vegan going away cake that was pretty damn amazing (and super rich). It was two layers; the bottom layer was vanilla chocolate chunk (Andres found vegan chocolate in Talara) and the top layer was vanilla with strawberry puree. We made vegan chocolate ganache and put it between the layers with fresh strawberries and drizzled it on top as well. Everyone agreed that it was delicious! We also had a bunch of pears going bad, so Andres made a sugar-less pear crumble one morning that really didn’t need any sugar; it was really good!

Our yummy vegan layer cake :)

I also tried to make a lentil curry this weekend, which kind of worked but we didn’t have all the spices I needed so it mostly just tasted like slightly spicy lentils. I’ll try again soon and hopefully it’ll turn out better!

Work

An EcoTeam jumping selfie from our hike day! (See the adventure section)

Work this week was pretty chill, but we still got a lot done! We had friends join for planting day again, a guy named Connor from Ireland who is staying at La Casona came and helped out and there were some friends of one of the members of EcoSwell’s UK team that were visiting so they helped out as well! Our veggie garden is half planted and we transferred some seedlings and planted more seeds for germination! Most of planting day was spent removing invasive tree stumps from the front yard though. We hacked away at those things forever and ended up removing two huge stumps and a few little trees that were springing up. It was a fun planting day with some groovy music though!

As for the distiller, we painted it with wood primer because the water was starting to damage the window frame (it was nasty, sticky stuff that got in my hair and is still in my hair a week later…) and I fixed the door handle and we found some bigger water jugs to distill the water into. We’re getting more silicone today, so this week we have to seal up any little cracks and make the whole distiller as air-tight as possible to keep the heat and the water vapor in! We’re also working on some really cool components that should increase the efficiency even more, stay tuned! We tested the distiller again this week and got similar results (about 10 liters out when we put 40 liters in) so hopefully our next test, after all the improvements, will give us a higher yield!

On Thursday morning we all went hiking in Piedritas, a nearby town! See the adventure section for the story.

Other than that, I’ve been organizing social media posts three times a week and have finally started lining up facebook posts and instagram posts, so there’s been progress there! Isa and I also painted a cute sign for the EcoSwell entrance, because before you could only tell that this is the EcoSwell house coming from one direction. I think we did a pretty great job and it was a fun creative outlet!

Adventures

The interns grabbing a beer in Mancora!

There were a lot of adventures this past week! I’ll try to make this section short-ish, but there’s lots to tell :)

Last weekend was Peruvian Independence Day and, coincidentally, Brady’s birthday. All of the volunteers decided to go spend a night in the famous beach/party town of Mancora to celebrate! Mom and I had gone for a quick day trip the weekend before, so I was the only one that had  spent any time there (Isa had bussed through Mancora, but that was it). We headed out after an early lunch on Saturday, caught the combie to Talara and a van to Mancora and checked into our hostel, Palosanto Backpackers, as soon as we got there. There were seven of us, so we got a whole hostel dorm room to ourselves! The hostel had a bar, a pool, a restaurant, and a bunch of comfy hammocks. Once we were settled we headed to the beach to check out the town and the crowds (there were TONS of people ready to celebrate Peru’s independence). Music was blasting all along the beach, and we found a restaurant on the beach to grab a snack and a beer while we people watched. There were banana boats and crazy water hover boards speeding around just off the shore, and it was fun to watch some of the beginner surfers trying to stand up. After some yucca fries and our beers (have I mentioned that the beers here are 650 ml and about $2 USD and quite good?), we wandered around the booths for a bit before stopping at a convenience store to stock up for our party night. We got some Pisco, of course, because you have to drink Peru’s national liquor on their independence day! We weren’t allowed to bring the alcohol into the hostel, so we went back to the beach and hung out watching a soccer game and sipping our drinks. Isa and I bought a coconut to drink, in classic tourist fashion. The guy who sold us the coconut told us to make it a “CocoLoco” by adding some of our Pisco, which was a wonderful recommendation ;) Once the sun had set, we went and played some games in our room to pass the time and then went to find some veggie burgers for dinner. We ended up in a place that was only playing the Red Hot Chili Peppers and had a funny bartender in a big chef’s hat. The food was okay, and we wandered around afterwards trying to find the best place to celebrate. The beach was crazy, there were lights flashing and so many different bars playing different music and lots of drunk people taking pictures. There’s also a famous hostel called Loki that apparently has the craziest parties, but the line was huge so we ended up back at our hostel, which was also throwing a party. However, the party didn’t start until 1am and didn’t pick up until almost 3am, by which time most of us were fast asleep (we usually go to bed at 10 in the EcoHouse). Most of us made it until around 2 and got a bit of dancing in, but only Ale and Brady saw the true Mancora party scene, and they were out until 5am! In the morning we got our free breakfast at the hostel and hung out on the beach for a bit before gathering our things and grabbing lunch at the Black Sheep (the really yummy vegan restaurant that Mom and I went to the weekend before) and hopping on the Eppo bus home. Needless to say, the rest of that day was very chill and everyone went to bed early that night, but it was a fun adventure that brought us all closer together!

On Monday night we hiked up to the water tower for the sunset, which was nice but there was a marine layer blocking the lower part of the sunset that you could just tell was amazing! That night, a group of us had gotten back from dinner at Tranqui’s and were talking when Andres noticed a fire up the hill. A nearby house had caught fire (they figured out it was an electrical fire) and people were gathering trying to put it out (Lobitos doesn’t have a fire department). We ran to help out. It was pretty scary because this area is very dry, so the fire could have easily spread and destroyed much of Lobitos. Luckily, the community really rallied, bringing fire extinguishers and carrying buckets of water and shoveling dirt on the flames, and the fire was put out and no one was hurt. I was impressed and inspired by how many people drove from all corners of town to help fight the fire, it shows how close-knit the Lobitos community is. 

On Thursday the Directors decided to take us on a work outing to Piedritas, the little town between Lobitos and Talara, to show us the hiking trails that EcoSwell is trying to develop into an ecotourism and education destination. We spent four hours hiking the rough trails in the dry forest, spotting cool birds and other wildlife, identifying plants, jumping across a muddy stream or two, and admiring the view over the dry forest from the highest point on the trails. It was a really fun day and showed us the beauty and the potential of the area. The trail project is about to take off, so I may get to help a little with that before I leave! Maybe my trail work experience will come in handy :)

Heading out on the hike in Piedritas!

On Friday morning we had the opportunity to go jump off one of the abandoned offshore oil rigs, and most of the volunteers decided to go (including me)! Tullio, the same guy that took us fishing, loaded us and a bunch of other people from nearby hostels into his boat and we puttered off to the platform. When we got there there were two huge sea lions lying on the stairs, so we had to scare them off by yelling at them until they sleepily rolled off the platform. The oil platforms have three levels, one four meter (13 ft), one eight meter (26 ft), and one fourteen meter (46 ft). We got to choose which to jump off of, and almost everyone went off the tallest one. It was high!! But the adrenaline rush was great and no one was hurt worse than a couple of tight muscles and bruises from landing wrong (I landed well and was perfectly fine!). I’ve done a lot of cliff jumping, and it was different to jump into the big ocean waves but nice to not have to try to avoid rocks when I jumped. It was definitely an experience and took some nerve, but it was a lot of fun and now I can say that I’ve jumped off the top of an offshore oil rig! 

The oil rig we jumped off of (those stacks of tires at the bottom are about as tall as me, for reference).

I also went surfing twice in the past few days, and I’m determined to start going more often! It was a lot of fun, and both times I got up on the board at least four times. Also, the water has been really warm lately, so there’s no need for wetsuits! I’m ready to become a surfer girl :)

Finally, we went out to El Cuartel (a restaurant/hostel mom and I went to) for the first time with the EcoTeam for Isa’s last night and it was delicious! Most of the guys got veggie burgers (Ale is going vegetarian for August, yay!), I got a quinoa salad, and Isa got what looked like an amazing seafood risotto! On the way home it was pitch dark and everyone was admiring the milky way and the constellations. It was a fun night with everyone, and El Cuartel is becoming my favorite restaurant in Lobitos (though it is the furthest away from the house).

Phew! I think that covers all the adventures this week. This past weekend was really nice and chill; I spent most of the time reading (I’ve moved on to rereading the Harry Potter series), hanging out on the beach, surfing, and cooking. I’m looking forward to the next four weeks and what adventures they bring!

Looking out over the Piedritas dry forest :)

It’s been the craziest and most fun week yet, but I also have been missing home more than ever. When I can get online, the pictures of the mountains and green trees remind me of all the hikes I love in the summer and the mountain views that I love so much. I’m sad to be missing summer traditions, but this is truly an incredible experience and I’m trying my best to live in the moment! I’m sure I’ll have my fair share of mountains, trees, and views in my three weeks in Patagonia at the end of summer!

That’s all for now, miss and love you all! Look for another update next Monday :)

[denisecua]

While working on our Taiwan itinerary, I realized there aren’t as many available travel tips and guides online about the country, as there are for Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. So upon getting back from my trip, I figured I should let my experiences be learning grounds for your future travels here. And without further adieu, let me present to you Taiwan (or Taipei) in lists of tips, tricks, hits and misses.

Flight: AirAsia

Very cheap roundtrip flights from Manila to Taipei– PHP 3,000 without check-in baggage and PHP 5,000 with 20kg of check-in baggage. Both include (strictly) 7kg carry-on allowance. Travel tax excluded.

AirAsia flights to Taiwan is only once a day apparently. Took the 11:15 PM flight out and the 1:45 AM flight back to Manila.

One of my fastest check-ins ever, especially during departure. Finished everything in 15-20 minutes! Way less people compared to Cebu Pacific which had super long lines heading to Taipei at the same time.

Flight was comfy, and the plane was nice and clean. Leg room, as you can expect, is quite limited, such that when I’d cross my legs, my knees would hit the next seat.

No blankets for lending!!! You’d have to purchase their AirAsia-branded blankets at PHP 500. Not cool! Or should I say, too cool because I was nearly freezing?!

For in-flight meals, you have to pre-book them if you don’t want to take chances. Pretty cheap, at around PHP 150-200 a meal.

Weather in August: H-O-T!!!!

August is Taiwan’s hottest month. Clearly we didn’t research prior to booking! Can go as high as 38 degrees Celcius!

Recommendation: Don’t book in August so you can maximize your stay! We got tired too easily due to the debilitating heat.

Money

Their currency is New Taiwanese Dollar.

Conversion from NTD to PHP is 1.7.

For money exchange, you have to do it at the airport upon arrival or at the banks. They don’t have FOREX stalls everywhere like in Hong Kong. So carefully plan your exchange in advance.

For pocket money, average spend a day (given our itinerary — available upon request) would be at around PHP 3,000-4,000 excluding shopping.

Accommodation: Meander Hostel

Definitely a place I’d recommend if you’re traveling on a budget! It’s a hostel but with private rooms.

Got the Triple Room with 1 queen bed and 1 double bed–comfy. Spacious enough. Looks new and clean. Has minimalist design.

Had troubles with the air conditioner–wouldn’t get cold enough for a day or two!

Shower area is more than sufficient, and heater works great! I could take showers for hours. Jk.

Total cost for 4 nights was at PHP 17,000 but thanks to Agoda Rewards, we got it for PHP 15,000. Just PHP 5,000 per head! So affordable!

No windows in the room; could use better lighting = Not very ideal for girls who spend a long time putting on makeup!!!!

Has a common room at the G/F. Very cozy and you can mingle with fellow travellers. You can also bring food and eat there. Has free-flowing water and wintermelon tea. Also coffee, milk tea, bread and fruits in the AM for breakfast.

Not allowed to bring outside shoes in. They give you slippers to use. Not sure if that’s hygienic but I think they sanitize it after every use. The upside is that you don’t have to bring your own slippers anymore.

Location is a-ok! Just 10 minutes away from Ximending on foot. You just have to walk one straight line/street so you won’t get lost. Also has nearby convenience stores.

Transporation

From Taoyuan International Airport, we shared a cab going to our hostel since it was late already (2AM) and it was cost-effective given that we were 4 people.

Getting around is mostly thru their MRT which is super easy to understand. We didn’t have to buy stored value cards since buying single tickets was always a breeze. Never a line! MRT is also very clean and not so crowded.

Most frequented line is the blue line–Bannan. That’s where Ximen is located right smack at the middle. This is why I recommend you choose a hotel in Ximen, since it’s close to the many areas you’re likely to visit as a tourist.

Going back to airport, we asked help from our hostel and they booked us a 9-seater van for just NT 1700. Not bad! From Ximen to Taoyuan, we only took 40 minutes.

Advantages of Taiwan over Hong Kong

Much, much friendlier people.

Less fast-paced so you can travel more calmly.

Cleaner, especially the toilets!

Generally cheaper.

Shopping

For international clothing brands, they have H&M and Uniqlo in Ximending (more expensive though) and GU, Pull & Bear, ZARA, and Bershka in Taipei 101 area.

They also have the usual sports stores like adidas, Nike, New Balance, and Jordan  in Ximending, but I never entered. Hihi.

Speaking of Ximending, they say that’s Taipei’s counterpart of Myeongdong in Seoul. While I still managed to have fun (because I will always, always find a way to shop successfully), I recommend not expecting too much. I found that there aren’t as many interesting stores, and even their food offerings were underwhelming.

Highlight for me was the skincare variety. They have super cheap sheet masks, so better hoard! Go for 86 Shop and Paris Strawberry, as they have better pricing. More on this here.

For Taiwanese delicacies (pasalubong alert!), buy from the corner/semi-hidden stores that don’t look fancy. The well-lit and nicer-looking ones have higher prices. For instance, I got salty yolk cookies for just NT 120 a pack while at the better-looking stores, they were selling it to me for NT 180. Nonetheless, they all provide free tastes so you can make sure the goodies are yummy before you buy them!

Re: Supermarkets, I’m not sure if I was just blind but there weren’t so many. I only found Jason’s Marketplace in Taipei 101 and in Ximending (near Exit 1 of Ximen Station). My favorite purchases were the frozen fried rice–huge variety (salmon, sausage, hawaiian, kimchi, smoked pork, etc.) and super cheap (NT 48–definitely more affordable than the Spam kimchi fried rice packs in Korea). Note: Put in carry-on because it’s not allowed for check-in baggage.

Food

Gudetama Cafe in Zhongxiao Dunhua is super cute! But, food could be better. I say don’t go there starving. Just get snacks or desserts there for Instagram purposes. Do note that you have to reserve in advance. I did thru eztable.com, and they require advanced consumable payment of NT 200 per head.

Yong Kang Street has a lot of restaurants and stalls you can try out: Scallion Pancakes (yum!), Smoothie House (line too long), etc. They also have the first ever Din Tai Fung there but waiting time is usually about 45 – 75 minutes. Personally, I find that it tastes the same as those in HK and SG, and nothing more.

Mala Hotpot!!!! Best hotpot buffet ever!!!! Their beef cuts are so generous, premium and lean! Soup tastes heavenly! They also have unlimited Haagen-Dazs ice cream with about 12 flavors. Unlimited canned drinks, too, and free-flowing coffee and tea. YUM YUM YUM! Per head: NT 598 for lunch and NT 698 for dinner and weekends. Note: Must call ahead of time for reservation.

Chose Raohe Night Market over Shi Lin because they say it’s less crowded there. Didn’t regret it. Place isn’t packed, and has good variety of food stalls. Do come with friends though so you can share food and try a lot of different things. My faves from there include the Walking Steak Cup and the big-ass chicken. Oh and the candied strawberry, too, for dessert!

7-Eleven is also close to my heart because they have this microwavable packed Spicy Chicken similar to KFC’s Hotshots that taste so yummy! Also very cheap at NT 38 if I remember correctly.

Mos Burger (originally from Japan) is also

Milk tea!!! If you’re not watching your sugar and dairy intake closely, go all out!

Attractions

Taipei 101 is a must-visit because it’s a key attraction in Taipei. It also has many stores from fashion to food. The Observatory is another thing. You pay about PHP 800 and the lines are excruciatingly long (maybe because we went on a weekend) and the view is meh. The outdoor viewing was also closed when we visited so that added to our disappointment.

Visited Huashan 1914 Creative Park for the “Hello My Name is Paul Smith” exhibit. I found that it was a breath of fresh air from the usual Taipei scene. Very artsy place! The exhibit was funky and colorful as expected. You’d leave the place with very nice pictures for sure. The entrance fee is not bad either at NT 280 for foreign visitors, and exhibit is set to run until September 3, 2017 only. [Note: Clearly, I published this too late.)

Joined KKday’s Day Tour from Taipei at USD 33 each, inclusive of bus transfers starting from Taipei Main Station but exclusive of entrance fees and food:

First stop: Yehliu Geopark for the rock formations. Very unique but also very hot. Remember to wear sunscreen–we forgot!!! Good thing this was first in the agenda, otherwise we’d have no energy to go around given the vast place and the hell-like heat!

Commercial: Be wary of the time. If tour guide says meeting time is at 11:00, she really means it. Otherwise, you’d get left behind just like our friend. Hahaha! It’s funny now but it was stressful at the time it was happening.

Second stop: Shifen Old Street for the lantern flying and lunch! For the lanterns, you can buy based on what you wish for (i.e. Wealth, Marriage, Happiness, and the like) and they cost at NT 200 a piece. You also get to write and draw your wishes on it usng a chinese pen (mopit), and take photos/videos as you let it go up in the air. They do this along the railway. As for the food part, I say it’s one of the best! We had Yakult slushie, barbecued chicken wing with rice inside, fried cuttlefish, and peanut ice cream roll. Gooda gooda in mah belly! ❤

Third stop: Shifen Waterfalls — underwhelming to be honest! I don’t know, maybe we were exhausted at this point but walking all the way to the falls didn’t feel worth it. It was smaller in person than in the photos. 😦

Fourth stop: Jiufen. If you’re a fan of the movie Spirited Away, be sure to visit! But if not, I honestly didn’t find it that interesting. It’s just an old alley that’s uphill–so many steps. We kept grumpling because we were so tired and sweaty and I was having allergies from my sweat and sunburn from Yehliu. We wondered how come the oldies have more energy than us. Hahaha! Highlight: Cute cat shops. There are about three!

Things I’d Do If/When I Go Back

Elephant Mountain because a pretty Canadian girl we met at the hostel recommended it for its view — you can see Taipei skyline including Taipei 101; I realize the skyline is only nice when the tower is in sight.

Cat Village because nobody wanted to go with me 😦

Mala Hotpot because it’s the bestest!

Meander Hostel because I miss their sofa :))

National Palace Museum because the hostel people said it has interesting treasures from China. Hmmmmm.

IKEA because apparently Taiwan has one!

Ichiran because apparently they just opened there, and we were plain oblivious.

    [Long Overdue Post] A Roundup of My Taipei Trip While working on our Taiwan itinerary, I realized there aren't as many available travel tips and guides online about the country, as there are for Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.

[writemywalks]

Letters to the piece of my heart: Ushuaia

After last year events I haven’t flashbacked much, in fact, they cured me of all the drama-related crap and now I barely whine or regret about trying new things like  i rarely feel that out-of-nowhere sadness. Sometimes true sad things set life priorities for you and you just chill the hell down.

Ergo, with that mindest I left home (aka new home/grandma house) a day after Christmas to the airport with a clenched butt, since my budget for the actual trip was very low and I had no credit card to back me up. But in spite of it, with a whatever comes attitude, me and my friend took off and myself finally enjoyed a flight for the first time, since the last two i did, I had a bad time being suspended on air in a locked-up plane.

For the first time in my life, I made this trip with zero expectations, like I wasn’t daydreaming or creating likely scenarios in my head. The only thing that was at the back of my brain was that, this Plan B was going to be made in honor of what Plan A should have been about. Even though our flight was delayed for almost three hours, everything was fine and we made it safe and sound.

Outside the airport while looking for a taxi, we came to realize that it was very windy and that in fact, there wasn’t a drop of the heat we left back in Buenos Aires. We were kind of insecure about the hostel we booked, since it looked too good to be true, but at this point we were already free falling. Once we checked-in and settled in our rooms, we saw that, in fact, everything was just like in the booking page pictures, and we had a plus: our shared bedroom had a dreamy view with mountains that seemed to be 5′ away. 

Gotta say I love having anecdotes of roomates farting in the middle of the night, or people having smelly feet that make you almost pass out, you really hate it when you’re there but I look back laughing now.

I think our first tour was “The end of the world” train that is basically a comfortable train with big windows indeed that takes you throughout dreamy landscapes while you’re being told the old prisoners stories that used to work in the mines located there.

It was a nice ride and bet my life that must be a whole dream on winter, with all those mountains and landscapes full of snow. There were some waterfalls, little lakes, and some good scenery that a movie would do.

On the same day we also booked a tour to the “Canal Beagle”, a channel where there’s the iconic “end of the world lighthouse”, sea lions and pinguins. This was the tour which worth every penny we payed. When we took our sits inside the catamaran, the view from the window of the city from afar looked similar to the Niek Engelschmanbrug buildings in Amsterdam. Once the city landscape was out of sight, we decided to approach the bow of the boat and there are no words to express how much freedom, feeling like singing and all that carefree crap i felt right there. I was like, living in the present is the moto one should live with.

After our first tour we went back to the hostel and spent the following two days boring the hell out of us. Me neither my friend are what we would call antisocial but we are really laid back people, so we weren’t having much sucesss regarding making new friends in the hostel, so we spent the time drinking mate, laying down in the sofa listening to music and scrolling down IG (and with our friend scolding us from her own beach vacation through FaceTime for being lazy asses).

The following day we woke up very early since we had to go to Laguna Esmeralda, a 2 hour and a half trekking to a Lake with a emerald color with white-peaked mountains as far as eye could see. I must have lost almost four pounds walking up and down those muddy paths where I baptized half leg after my friend pulled me down when she almost slipped herself.

Even though you stop to take some pictures, none of them does justice to what your retinas and brain keep for the rest of your life. The most I remember was being eager to reach the lake, the wind against my face, feeling so small in front of those enormous and even more majestic mountains, Indeed some things that a snapshoot would never show.

The first thing we did when we arrived to the lake was devouring our ham and cheese sandwiches, we were starving like mad after such long walk. Then well-fed and full, we decided to take a 5′ nap in front of this movie set-like place. I tried FaceTiming my family but we were so far from everything that we didn’t have any signal at all. I remember trying to capture a lot of videos of my camera and there’s some pictures on my cellphone with my ass laying near the lake trying to capture some good shoots from below. Some other people were icing their beer amongs the rocks since the water was quite cold and there were people gather here and there chatting and with the same wide-eyed gaze we probably had.

When we had enought rest, we walked beside the lake and tried to find some another view closer to the white-peaked mountains. Whatever we looked, it looked dreamy and sadly, we only had 40 minutes to record that in our minds before the truck came to take us to the city again. Our way back to the entrance seemed to take hours, since we were completely out of air and our legs were already giving up. 

Since my budget was low, I just knew these were about to be the only three tours and experiences I would have in the whole trip. They weren’t THAT expensive but I didn’t have much to spend around and we still had to buy our New Year’s Eve dinner. 

On December 31th, me and my friend woke up with the idea to just walk around the city since even walking the streets was a dream. Don’t ask us how but we ended up taking another tour since I remembered I had the hostel deposit left, I made my last bet and we made our way to Glaciar Martial.

The way to the Glaciar was non-stop uphill, we would stop once in a while to catch some air because contrary to the Lake, the path never went downhill. But as we got closer to the peak of the mountain the air was not only more fresh but we saw from afar people playing in the peak of the mountain full of snow?

Let me tell you, my experience with snow is ZERO, I never had a winter holiday and I never seen it falling down and played like in a Christmas movie. I remember watching some vlogs of people playing with snow before I left for the trip but I knew it wasn’t winter season so there was no chance of seeing snow. I remember reaching the summit with my friend and walking over it with my trainers and since we had left with the idea of just walking around the city, my boots were sleeping in the hostel room and I told my friend “I feel I’m walking over my freezer” and my friend who already went to the South in winter said behind me “girl, this is what snow feels like” and I remember sliding down the hill and sincerely having the time of my life. 

And again, a picture never captures your ass freezing, the back of your mind singing that new song you just listened to and feeling the world is so full of wonder and a lot yet to be seen. The view from the top was outstanding. On our way back down, turning to the entrance some grief came out of nowhere and I started tearing up again. That’s how it works, I guess.

.While we were walking down, we were talking with my friend how much of a dream the ski center must be on winter, since there were some chairlifts hanging there and a winter place off service and my longing to see snow falling increased a bit more. Someday.

My wet ass and my friend came back the hostel and some guests were just chilling so we decided to call our Chilean friend we had made two days earlier and fetch some dinner, since the supermarkets closed at 6 pm.

Wish I could tell how much fun I had that night. Meeting a group of Russians, making Italians taste some Argentinian homemade beverages, eating different Chinese dishes made by a guy from Hong Kong who talked in a spotless british accent, laughing with the tall German guy who suggested picture poses and laughed everytime. I bet he barely spoke spanish or english but we understood each other. And ending up dancing with all this people. Duuuude, it’s so odd seeing foreign people dancing to local music but we laughed and man, the beer made in the South, let me tell you, it’s the best I’ve tasted in a while.

The countdown was such a thrill, that’s when I knew I wanted to spend every NYE ahead at places I haven’t seen yet. The rest of the night we spent it, chillin with the only people awake in the hostel: the Argentinians. Everyone else were already sleep by 2 am. Extremely odd for our culture.

I wish I could tell how much I learned from this trip, how people who traveled on their own encourage us to do it, how safe I felt walking around the city at night with the friends we made there, that if you’re open enough, chances can be infinite.

I’m looking forward to more adventures like that.

It’s never too late to wake up to life.

[just-kateblr]

I was tagged by @my-wanton-self

1. What’s your biggest pet peeve? Willful ignorance and people who are purposefully inconsiderate.  (They’re related, I suppose, but can manifest differently.)

2. What one fear would you like to conquer?  Currently, my biggest that I would like to conquer is openly presenting myself as female to the world. 

3. What’s your favourite song lyric and why? There are quite a few it’s hard to pick just one.  The one I’ll go with is from Sweet Jane from the Velvet Underground: Some people they like to go out dancin’/ and other people they have to work. Just watch me now/ and there's even some evil mothers/ Well there gonna tell you that everthing is just dirt/ you know that women never really faint/ and that villians always blink their eyes/ that children are the only ones who blush/and that life is just to die/ But anyone who ever had a heart/ they wouldn't turn around and break it/ and anyone who ever played a part / They wouldn't turn around and hate it.  Why do I like it?  I think it kind of speaks for itself.

4. If you could shop at one store for free, which would it be?  I would have to flip a coin between Nordstrom or Costco.

5. Which language would you like to speak fluently? Spanish.

6. What secret super power would you like to have, and why? Shapeshifting. You could get into just about anywhere.

7. Would you like to be famous and what would you like to be known for? I have no desire to be famous.

8. What was the worst haircut you ever had? A long time ago, I moved to Northern Virginia and needed a haircut.  I went to a barbershop that apparently specialized in military cuts and while I just asked for a trim, he got out clippers and after the first pass, I knew I was in trouble. I ended up with something pretty close to a high and tight.  It was awful. 

9. What are the most important qualities in friends? Honesty, intelligence, the willingness to share thoughts and opinions, good sense of humor, empathy, and a desire to make things better somehow.  I love having a common understanding and, at the same time, being able to challenge and be challenged.

10. What’s the most significant lesson you’ve learned in life so far?  People’s needs will not always match your own; it’s what they do at that point that is important.  Also, sometimes life is shitty, but it generally improves eventually.  Maybe not in the way you thought, but you’ll find that it’s no longer shitty.  (Yes, I know, that’s technically two. I’m lousy at following the rules.)

11. What makes you laugh the hardest? My daughters. They’re just plain funny.

12. What’s your proudest accomplishment? That’s a hard one because I tend not to look back too much. Plus, much of what I’ve accomplished has also been because other people have played along, so I can’t take full credit.

13. If you could have any view out the window of your room, which would it be?  The ocean. I grew up near the water and am now in the middle of the US.  I would love to be near a large body of water.  

14. If you could eat dinner with one celebrity, who would it be, and why? I can’t say that he’s a celebrity, but Barack Obama is certainly famous and would be an amazing dinner companion.  I’d probably want to have a ranging conversation about policy, his life, and experiences as President.  Plus, for bonus points, I’d try to get him to open up and vent about how he really feels about Trump.

15. If you could do something dangerous just once with no risk, what would you do?  I can’t think of much, I’ve already done a number of things that people consider dangerous.  I think removing the fear of danger would take away the adrenaline and most of the fun.

16. What’s your all-time favourite music video? Undercover of the Night by The Rolling Stones. It’s a great video; almost like a short film.

17. Which three words would you use to describe yourself? Smart, funny, empathetic.

18. What’s the first thing you’d do if you suddenly changed into the opposite sex? As a trans woman, I’m going to write my own rules here.  I am a woman, but if I suddenly had the body of a cis woman, I’d explore my tits and bits, then masturbate like there was no tomorrow. 

19. What’s your favourite website, and why?  I have eclectic tastes and moods, so it varies by the minute and the hour.  I love all of the information and places that I can go with the internet. 

20. If you got a tattoo, what would you get and where would you put it? I cannot think of one thing I would want on my skin forever.  If I had to choose, I might either get “Be Here Now” in a nice font on my wrist OR a butterfly on my shoulder for the symbolism. 

21. When you’re down, what do you do to feel better? I try not to wallow too long and look to do something to change the channel. That usually involves moving my body in some way or another.  I also reach out to dear friends for conversation and engagement.

22. If you could go on tour with a band for a month, who would it be, and why? Not my thing.

23. What’s you favourite dessert? I have a weakness for cannolis. Good ones, though.  The kind where the outside is freshly baked and then filled immediately before serving, so you have the mix of the crunch and the softness.  Divine! 

24. What one thing would you want to do most if you had all the money in the world? Ensure that money was not a barrier to anyone seeking further education.

25. Who’s the least obvious person you’d like to kiss? Least obvious? Maybe Sam Rockwell. There is something about him that I find strangely sexy. 

26. Would you join in at a topless beach? At this point, if I had a nice set of boobs, I would happily share them at a topless beach.

27. Where would you most like to travel?  I have too many choices to list here.  I would travel almost incessantly if I could.  I’ve not yet been to South America, Africa, or Antarctica, so those would be on the top of my list.  

28. What would you eat for your ultimate birthday dinner?  I tend to like food that is good and fresh.  I’d start with a fresh salad, with bleu cheese and bacon.  Grilled filet mignon. Very fresh corn on the cob.  Freshly baked bread with a nice crunchy crust.  Roasted brussel sprouts.  Good cannoli for dessert.

29. What was your most embarrassing moment? Eh, if you really want to know, hit me up in chat. It’s a bit of a story that involves Chinese food and getting sick in a work colleague’s hotel room.  It was mortifying when it happened, but it’s pretty darned funny.

30. What historical sporting event would you like to witness? In person, I’d love to the 1999 Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.  My alma mater, the University of Connecticut, was the underdog and upset heavily favored Duke for their first national championship.  It was great to watch on TV, but it would be amazing to see in person. 

31. Which song evokes the strongest memories for you? Missing You - John Waite

32. What’s the best birthday celebration you can imagine? I don’t ever want a huge celebration, I’d love to have a bunch of close friends around where we can talk, drink, eat, laugh, and generally just enjoy everyone’s company.

33. What’s your favourite ethnic food? Mexican.

34. Do you have any habits you’d like to give up?  Procrastination.

35. What would you save first if your house caught on fire? Children, spouse, then pets.

36. Who would you trade places with for one month?  I’m not picky, and this might sound shallow, but I’d trade places with an able bodied cis woman who is considered above average in appearance. In other words, I’d love to see what it was like to live as an unequivocally gorgeous woman. 

37. What’s the story behind your first name? I had the joy of being able to select one for myself, which ended up being harder than I thought.  I like what I landed on, though.

38. What’s been the biggest obstacle in your life so far?  I don’t like the word obstacle.  I take it to mean a barrier that blocks things.  While I have had plenty of challenges, I try to not let those things block me.  My hope is to always move forward, even if it is slowly. No question, my biggest challenge is being trans. 

39. Have you ever stolen something? What was it? Why did you steal it? Ugh, yes.  I was traveling in Australia some years ago and I noticed a wallet sitting on some phone books at the post office. I looked inside and there was a couple hundred dollars in it.  I left it sitting there and went to make my call, but kept my eye on it.  Someone else from the hostel I was staying in walked in, saw the wallet, and then we locked eyes.  I indicated that I didn’t know whose it was and he reached in an pulled out the cash.  I figured, if it was going to be stolen, I was going to benefit from it (I was low on cash at the time).  We walked around the corner, he split the money with me and we went our separate ways.  I still regret doing this and wish that I had picked up the wallet when I first saw it and turned it in.

40. To you, what’s the secret to happiness? I believe happiness is really just enjoying life’s simple and pleasurable moments.  We’ve got so much that goes on that has peaks and valleys of emotion and it is important to feel those, for the good and the bad.  It is the small moments that are the glue to our lives, though.  A laugh with a friend.  Warm sunshine on your skin on a cool day.  The smell of salt air.  To me, it’s enjoying those moments that are what make for happiness and joy.

Please do not feel compelled to do this, but I’m going to tag a few people whom I would love to see their responses.  I tag @mymindisdrawinga, @annacaffeina, @perfectlyscrumptious, @perfectlywhelmed, @visionaria, @tumbleweedsinmyvagina, @ptero-bites, @misslondoncallin, @vampysquid, and I started thinking this list was getting long, so I stopped, but please feel free to respond away if you are taken with the idea.

[terrierontour-blog]

Week 6/7 - 9/10/17

I finally did something worth writing about! Buckle your seatbelts, this one’s going to be a long one – sorry not sorry for cramming two weeks into one post (I was too busy off having fun last Monday).

The week before last not only a few things happened. Aside from the usual lectures and assignments (who knew study abroad would actually involve studying???) we didn’t get up to too much. The most enjoyable part of the week was probably heading over to the sweetie shop in Times Square (no, I’m not suddenly in New York) and buying enough sweets to rot an entire football team’s teeth. These may or may not have only lasted one night, though in my defence they were shared between Claire, Mhairi, Nate, Marius, Rutger and myself while watching Inside Out, so I’m not the only greedy little piggy out here… Plus, how else am I going to prevent myself from sobbing the whole way through the world’s saddest film ever.

That week also contained two moments that really made me feel like I was actually in China. The first of these was my first ever experience of full on monsoon-style rain and the second what I can only describe as some sort of communist propaganda rally??? Words will never really do justice to either of these experiences, so feel free to enjoy my ranting in video form, along with a snippet from the propaganda-esque performance and some cute dancing old ladies I stumbled upon while lost in Jingcheng.

Now for the exciting bits!

On Saturday we finally got brave and left Suzhou. After a lovely hour long tube ride from 松涛街 (our local station) we arrived at 苏州站 (Suzhou Railway Station) only a little over an hour and a half before our bullet train. Perfect timing as far as I’m concerned, better to be early and have time to figure out the chaos of how to pick up tickets and actually get into the station than be later and have to do it all while panicking about the time. After standing in a queue for 20 minutes that then closed on us we finally got our tickets just by handing over our booking reference and passports. Simple. Then we headed off to actually get into the station, another task altogether. Before even stepping foot in the station we first had to have our tickets and passports checked. Yes that’s the very same tickets we literally just collected using our passports now needing to be checked again, super. Then after queueing and getting into the station (sort of) we had to go through what is basically airport security. Bags in scanners, through the big metal scanners, step up on a box for a body scanner, scanner, scanner, scanner, scanner.

Then after just over an hours wait (time killed of course with a Maccies), we finally got to get ready to get on the platform to board the High Speed Train and how exciting! Even a standard class ticket makes a First Class Virgin carriage look small, cramped and scruffy. The seats on these trains are HUGE. With genuinely more leg room than I had on my flight here. Incredible when you think that the price for all three journeys (Suzhou-Hangzhou-Shanghai-Suzhou) was only about £25.

Everything was going so smoothly until we actually got into Hangzhou and attempted to find our hostel. According to google maps we were right there. However, we were actually in the middle of nowhere. Literally, nothing near us but a public toilet, a lake and a stray dog. I’m good at this getting lost malarkey, stay tuned for more. After a roughly mile long hike up a big hill/small mountain we finally found our first fab hostel. We went fancy with this one and had our own private room, with bathroom included (oooooh la-di-da). I honestly don’t have a bad word to say about the hostel we stayed in, it was in a nice, quiet area, clean and breakfast was included (well, 2/3rds of it was). The people there were lovely too, we spent both of our two evenings in Hangzhou playing card games with the owners and other guests, struggling on with the little Chinese we know through Uno and another mysterious game involving a bell…

Hangzhou is one of the most beautiful places I think I’ve ever been to, the West Lake is huge and the Temples and Pagodas plonked at random points all over the mountains are just something else. During our full on day at the Lake I allowed Mhairi and Claire to drag me (albeit kicking and screaming) onto a boat ride. The little tiny boat was terrifying and I had genuinely accepted death while trapped in there. Especially at the point when our driver tried to squeeze through a gap under a bridge at the same time as another boat, crashed into the other boat, crashed into the stone side of the bridge, hit the boat again and got trapped in some shrubs. Truly I didn’t think I was getting out of there alive. As strong a swimmer as I may be, had we gone in that Lake the cow-sized Koi would have had me before I even knew what was happening.

While exploring West Lake we also discovered the best chicken shop China has to offer, and I miss Dicos with my whole heart already. The food area of West Lake was so different to any Western tourist attractions offerings, with so many different options and all of them reasonably priced. This did however lead me to my first properly weird food thing (not including the duck blood I’ve taken to eating on the reg). I ate a bug. I don’t even know what type of bug it was. Just a bug. It wasn’t big, it wasn’t clever, and yet somehow I’m still proud of myself. Seriously though, if you’ve ever imagined what a bug would taste like, that’s exactly what bugs taste like. 3/10 would not recommend.

After exploring in Hangzhou we headed off to Shanghai, again a good 1.5 hours early to the train station. Hangzhou station is not as pretty as the rest of the city. The toilets were gross and the place was freezing cold. The time didn’t take too long though and before we knew it we’d just stepped off the train in Shanghai.

We raced onto the metro to our hostel in record time, dumped our things and headed straight out for food – Greedy Little Piggies, remember? We thought that getting to the Financial Centre would have been the easiest thing to do but good Lord we have never been so wrong. Firstly, the bus google maps told us to get had a different name to the one on the sign, then the bus that turned up had another different name. Imagine the confusion when the bus names are all just in characters. Why not numbers???? Why are numbers too hard to use???? Please explain yourself to me, Shanghai??????? After a short while waiting for buses we decided our best bet was to just hail a taxi (Claire’s expertise). Even that was a disaster. Taxi Driver Number 1. claimed to not know where we wanted to go, even after showing him on a map and asking in Chinese (Yeah, I’ve got skills). So after a little bit of fannying about and trying to explain ourselves we eventually just gave up and got out. Taxi Driver Number 2. Succeeded in getting us to the general area we wanted to be in and then the hunt for Pizza Express was on. We walked around in circles for a good 10 minutes, in and out of a fancy shopping mall before finally realising the restaurant was half underground (30 minutes before it closed). Our Taxi back to the hostel also dropped us off somewhere completely random (getting lost part 3), but thanks to Apple maps we found our way through the dark back to our shining beacon - the UFO hotel.

The next morning we were up bright and early as Ollie and Nate were heading over from Suzhou to meet us for the day. Up we got, ready to have a shower when we realised that we still hadn’t been given any towels despite asking for them the night before. Okay, no big deal, we can just go ask again. Or so we thought. Apparently it isn’t that simple though, we just got told to come back in 2 hours so we concluded that they clearly the internet lied and they mustn’t provide towels. Long story short, we all had great showers and used a combination of our PJs, the hairdryers and a classic air drying technique to dry off. Wonderful.

Our full day exploring in Shanghai was insane. The place was the busiest I have ever seen anywhere ever. The entire population of China seemed to be visiting, there were police literally everywhere and the pavements had been turned into some sort of giant human one-way motorway system. Despite the business we still managed to do a lot of exploring and got to view The Bund (that’s the fancy skyline that everyone knows about) in all its glory both in the daylight and at night. We even managed to get a few pictures without other people in them, an incredible achievement, I’ll have you know.

Following recommendations from our friends we managed to get a table at the most incredible destination for tea (dinner for you posh folk) that evening. The rooftop restaurant/bar looked out across the river at The Bund, a view not reflected in the relatively cheap (compared to Western prices) menu. That evening under the light of just the stars and The Bund with friends is an experience that I really will never forget. Something as simple as just eating and having a drink in such an incredible place is the kind of eye opening experience that you’d never expect to influence you at all and yet it’s a memory I’ll cherish long after my time in China is up. Even if we did forget to take a nice group picture while up there… Sorry, Mum.

The rest of our time spent in Shanghai was great too, even if it seems less exciting from an outside perspective. We found a Taco Bell for lunch one day which was pretty darn exciting and got to eat some actual proper bread with breakfast at the hostel too. We also went on a huge expedition to find McFlurries which led to us trekking the whole length of Nanjing Road and maybe a bit more. The McFlurries here are all brown and kind of taste like coffee? But eventually we found normal vanilla ones, it only took us a walk from The Bund to People’s Square… All that and I can’t even eat those anymore, I am such a good friend.

Since getting back from my travels I really haven’t been up to much at all. I’ve watched the sunset a few times and done a little bit of actual uni work (ew) but otherwise that’s all. Hopefully I’ll spread out the fun a little bit more throughout the rest of my time here, rather than doing nothing for weeks and then cramming everything into one week…

Thanks to those of you that stuck around reading for this long, I promise they won’t be so long in future!

心想事成

Bry x

Strange Experience Tallies

Live Animals Awaiting Death in a Restaurant: 4

Squat Toilets Experienced: 30 (I’m genuinely beginning to enjoy squat wees)

Bad Squat Toilet Experiences: 2

Photos Taken by Random Locals: 100 (At least)

Ranting My Life Away…

The Cutest Little Neighbourhood Dance Sesh

Communist Party Propaganda?

Obviously We Went Out Out…..

West Lake

Pagoda Views

My Worst Experience in China Bar None.

You Shall Have a Fishie on a Little Dishy…

The Entire Population of China

The Cutest

Oh Look, It’s Me and The Bund

Would You Look At That, Me and The Bund…

Classic Dushu Sunset