#9 hours in the car wasn’t too bad with music and podcasts and a call w olive and a w franklin

[writhe]

passed thru canada today which was my first time ever in canada. in western mass now

[emmy-writes-sometimes]

Happiest Place on Earth

You’ve had a rough go of it recently. Your boyfriend, Chris, schemes with your boss to give you the vacation you deserve.

-

           You couldn’t lie. Your day got a million times better when you saw Chris’s contact picture light up your phone. It was a picture you’d taken of him at the beach, smiling as he held Dodger in one arm and your old dog in the other, and it made your heart melt like anything in the Los Angeles summer sun. You picked up the phone right away, walking away from where everyone was editing.

           “Hey,” Chris’s voice said brightly. “How’s my favorite girl doin’?”

           “Not great,” you responded honestly. “A bunch of files got corrupted, so then we had to get different cuts, and that means re-shoots, which means more work, and…” You sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be complaining.”

           “It’s okay to get frustrated. I was going to ask when you think you’ll be done this afternoon?”

           “I don’t know, maybe seven? I know that ruins dinner, but…”

           “I’ll take care of it, don’t worry about it. Just get home when you can, bubba, alright?” You melted again at his sweet nickname for you and sat down at your desk, flicking your Nomad Steve bobble-head that you’d gotten as a joke when you’d started dating Chris.

           “Okay. I’m sorry.”

           “Don’t say that, you’re just doing your job. I’ll see you around seven-thirty, okay?”

           “Okay.”

           “I love you.”

           “I love you too.” He hung up a second later and you rolled your chair back over to the large computer where everyone was reviewing footage. You were lucky enough to get a job in Boston right after you finished working with Marvel, so while you had an amazing job editing, it took the life out of you. Computers were finicky, and you’d just lost half of what you’d done so far because someone had dropped the hard drive and corrupted everything. You were about to cry and it was barely 10 AM. But you loved it, so you stayed, despite all of the bad. You just wanted to see this video get edited, even if it took until the middle of the night.

           Chris sighed as he hung up the phone on you. He could hear in your voice that you were frustrated beyond belief. An idea popped into his head and he scrolled through his phone until he found the phone number he was looking for. Your boss, Jenna, had gone to school with Chris, and he just so happened to have her number. She answered right away, and Chris explained everything. That you were completely burned out, your fifteen year-old dog had died last month, and that even though you desperately needed a vacation you weren’t going to do it yourself. So he took ten out of the twenty-five PTO days you’d saved up over the past year, since they rolled over and you hadn’t taken a vacation the last year or the six months before that when you first started. Your boss said she’d send you home at seven even if you weren’t done and she’d send an intern to take your spot for a few days, and Chris grinned to himself as he hung up.

           He went directly to his computer and the website auto-filled before he even typed the entire thing in. He picked out the resort that your family used to stay at when you were kids, hoping he remembered it correctly, and he calculated how much time it would take to drive there and back because he knew you would be even angrier at him if he spent money on last-minute plane tickets. Then he got tickets, one for each park, and a whole extra day for the Star Wars park because he knew you were excited to go, and typed in his credit card. Would you be pissed? Probably. But would it be worth it when he drove through the gates and saw you smile? Definitely.

           You were a little alarmed when your boss sent you home, especially with that grin on her face that meant something was going on, and you tried not to be suspicious. You got to the house to see that the SUV had moved – you’d taken Chris’s car that morning, since he wasn’t planning to go anywhere, but he must have because it was backed in close to the back gate. You stuck your hands in your coat, locking the car in your pocket, and went in the front door. Dodger greeted you like he always did, jumping up on one of your legs until he could see that you weren’t hiding a treat in your hand. You greeted him with ear scratches before deciding to look for Chris.

           “Chris?” You asked. You saw him coming up the basement stairs and walked over to him. He was holding your laundry, which he usually complained about doing. “Why are you doing my laundry? Did you break something? Are you trying to butter me up?”

           “Not everything is about you, sweetheart,” he said as he put the white bin down. He greeted you with a kiss that he just smiled into.

           “Why are you so smiley?”

           “Can’t a guy smile at his girl?”

           “Nope, not you. Spill, Chris, what did you do?” He giggled, actually giggled, and took your hand. “Are you going to give me a hint?”

           “Nope. I’m going to lead you to your suitcase…” He took you up the stairs and then let you go in your bedroom, where he’d already gotten your suitcase out. “… and you’re going to pack for approximately eleven days. Bring triple the underwear, because you know why, at least three swimsuits, and your Chacos, and two cute outfits, but mostly functional. We’re going to be walking a lot.”

           “What?” You glared at him. He was just smiling, a shit-eating grin on his face, like he was waiting for you to figure it out. “Are you why Jenna sent me home early?”

           “Maybe. Maybe not. You’ll never know. But we need to leave within the hour, and we’ll be in the car for quite a while, so download some podcasts and music for us to listen to because you’re the DJ.”

           “Have I ever told you how much I hate you?”

           “Yep. Every day, gorgeous.” He cupped your cheeks in his hands, kissed you, and then called Dodger’s name. “Dropping the dog off at Carly’s, I’ll be back in about, eh, half an hour? What snacks do you want?”

           “Uh, the usual road trip snacks?”

           “So combos, sour patch kids, and Chick-Fil-A on the way out of town?”

           “Well, if you’re offering.” He rolled his eyes and left the room. You weren’t going to say no to whatever he had planned, because he wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t think you would need it. So you packed everything he told you to pack, throwing in exactly what he told you to, but you went and grabbed some of his shirts to sleep in just to spite him.

           You finished packing your makeup, because he hadn’t really said anything about that but you just assumed, and shoved the bag in your suitcase. You packed up your personal computer, knowing he would kill you for taking your work computer, and gathered all of your chargers. He was back in a few minutes and you loaded everything into the SUV, grabbing a pillow and your favorite fuzzy blanket like he told you to, and you changed into road trip clothes, also known as shorts and one of Chris’s sweatshirts.

           “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” You asked as he pulled out of the house. He moved the GPS mount to the other vent, by him, so you couldn’t see.

           “Nope. You’re either figuring it out on the road or when we get there. So turn your location off.”

           “Whatever,” you said, showing him that you were turning your maps off. “How long are we driving? It’s almost 9.”

           “We’re driving until sunrise. And then I’m checking into a hotel, we’re sleeping, and then going on.”

           “Why couldn’t we fly?”

           “You would’ve been even more pissed off.”

           “Yeah, you’re not wrong.” You turned on your road trip playlist for about an hour before turning on the true crime podcast you and Chris liked to listen to whenever you got the chance to, which lately wasn’t very often. You fell asleep after a couple of hours and Chris turned on cruise control, since there wasn’t really anyone on the road, pressing the button to adjust it every so often. But for the most part, he was looking over at you and smiling, trying to figure out how the hell he managed to get you there.

           He herded you into a hotel as the sun was coming up, and you were so tired that you didn’t even care where you were. You just passed out on the bed and Chris tucked you in, heading to shower before joining you. When you woke up you checked in on Dodger, FaceTiming him, and then he got the two of you breakfast. You decided that he had to be driving down the coast because you kept seeing signs for beach highways, and that meant you were probably going to the Outer Banks or something like that. You were curious, but you trusted Chris. He wouldn’t take you anywhere he didn’t think was worthy of ten vacation days. You ignored most of the signs, but you determined after looking at freeway signs that you were going south.

           “Can I drive?” You asked, noticing that Chris was getting a little tired. He had moved his left leg a little bit and even though he’d been holding your hand for a few hours, he was getting antsy.

           “Nope. But I am stopping here.” He pulled over at a rest stop for the two of you to go to the bathroom and stretch your legs a little bit, but you were back in the car first. He looked happy as he walked back. He was wearing his gray sweat pants and a t-shirt and his Red Sox hat over the mop of hair that he hadn’t brushed that day. He threw away your food trash and then walked back, noticing you were looking at him.

           “What?” He asked. “If you’re going to keep looking at me like that, let me know and I’ll find another hotel.” You rolled your eyes, elbowing him. He scratched at his beard a little before moving his hand in between your thighs underneath the blanket, gripping your leg with his gigantic hand. He squeezed it three times – I love you – and then let you go so he could drive again.

           You spent most of the night blasting music, mostly bad pop-punk music from your childhoods, and probably listened to most of Blink-182’s discography along with the Top Gun soundtrack and even some Disney soundtracks, before moving back to podcasts. You saw a sign that said welcome to Florida and looked over at him.

           “No fucking way,” you said, suddenly catching on. He was heading toward the middle of Florida, not the coastal highway anymore, which meant you were either going to Orlando or the Keys, and the amount of hours added up to…

           “You okay?” He asked, grinning. “You understand now?”

           “Did you seriously steal my vacation days so we could go to Disney World?” He turned down Creep with his right hand and reached over to anchor his hand at the back of your head before leaning over to kiss your hairline.

           “I did. If you’re okay with that?”

           “Definitely. I love you.”

           “Yeah, I love you too.” It would be the second time you’d gone together, the first time being Disneyland at a Marvel event where he’d asked you to be his date. You usually just drove up to Maine or something for a couple days to relax at the beach, or there was one time when he took you to New York for the weekend to see your favorite show on Broadway.

           You were eager and sitting up as you listened to the last couple of podcast episodes you’d downloaded. Chris drove into the sunrise for another few hours before you finally saw the gates of Disney and you took your phone out, taking a video for your Instagram story. Chris just smiled at the camera, making it known that this was all his doing, and he slowed down. He made you cover your ears for what resort you were staying at, but when he pulled into the Port Orleans resort you realized it was because that was where your family stayed when you were a kid and you always talked about how you loved the French Quarter section. When he led you up to the room you found out that he’d gotten a view of the lake.

           “Have I ever told you how much I love you?” You said as you put your suitcase down.

           “Nah, you don’t need to.” He handed you your magic band from the last time you’d gone together – you hadn’t really gotten a choice since Marvel had sent them to Chris, but when he realized that it Peter Pan on it, who was your favorite Disney character, he’d given it to you while he took the Mickey one.

           “Yeah, I do. I love you.” You hugged him tightly and he just smiled down at you. His beard got caught in your hair and he had to un-tangle it before you could part ways.

           “I love you too. We should probably take a couple showers. Since it’s the smallest I figured we’d hit Magic Kingdom today, eat dinner there, and stay for the fireworks? If you’re not too tired we can stay after hours.”

           “Sounds good.” The two of you hopped in the shower together, mostly just to save time because you were both eager to get to the parks. You grabbed coffee from the shop downstairs and waited for the bus to take you there.

           You spent almost the entire day there, until it was a couple of hours until dinner. You’d both chosen to get on a water ride even though you weren’t dressed for it, so you had to go back and take another shower before then. You decided to dress up a little bit, since he’d told you what restaurant you were going to, and saw him smile as he emerged from the bathroom. You went back out to eat dinner and then he dragged you over to where the fireworks would be, even though they weren’t for half an hour, trying to get the two of you a good spot. He was like a little kid. You were both sitting on one of the fountain edges, sipping at beers, and then the fireworks were starting. You finished your beers and stood up, throwing them away before making your way back to Chris. He stood behind you, guarding you, and put his arms around you from the back, squeezing you into a hug as the music started.

           “Thank you,” you said to him, smiling as you turned to kiss him.

           “It’s the happiest place on Earth, babe.” You laughed and started watching the fireworks. They were over way to soon and you both decided just to turn in. You were exhausted, and you nearly fell asleep on him on the bus ride back to the resort. You took your clothes off, deciding to just deal with your leftover makeup tomorrow, and watched Chris as he got ready for bed.

           “What?” He asked you, looking you up and down. He finished what he was doing and walked over to you, a smile on his face, and pulled you close to him. You could smell his cologne even though he’d taken his clothes off, too. His skin still had a sweaty sheen on it from how hot it was outside, but you didn’t care.

           “I’m going to say something so cheesy you’ll want to punch me in the face.” He chuckled and wrapped his arm around your waist, kissing your neck and your shoulder until they were red.

           “What would that be?”

           “I’m glad you’re here. You’re my happy place. Even if Disney kind of is too.” You had both known you were in it for the long haul awhile ago, but you’d never admitted that to him; that you were never as happy as you were when you were with him. No matter where you were, or what situation you were in.

           “You just had to steal my spotlight, didn’t you?” He said against your skin.

           “Sorry.” He squeezed your body closer, tangling your legs together.

           “No. I don’t know if you noticed, but I’d do anything to make you happy. I love you so much, bubba. And I’m sorry I stole your vacation days.”

           “I love you too. We’ll discuss your punishment for that when I wake up.”

           “Ooh, punishment, I like the sound of that.”

           “We are in Disney World, Chris, get your mind out of the gutter!” The both of you laughed against one another for another few minutes before your conversation shifted to the next day’s plans, and with a final I love you, you were both asleep.

A/N: This is literally my dream so thanks to whoever requested! I loved writing this one so much! 

Taglist (if you’d like to be added, send me a message!): @an-adventureland, @firstangeldragonranch, @ssebstann, @winterreader-nowwriter

[demonbutch]

u have to do 1-100 now u know that right >:3c (or 4, 14, 20, 25, 34, 58, 84 & 94 if u dont have time)

sfdjkshf this took literal hours

1- Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora?

i don’t actually use any of these, but ig i would be more likely to make a spotify account than the others!!

2- is your room messy or clean?

very messy rip

3- what color are your eyes?

blue!!

4- do you like your name? why?

i mean it’s better than my birth name, but i also want to try different names i guess?? one day i’ll find the right one

5- what is your relationship status?

single lmao

6- describe your personality in 3 words or less

anxious gay mess

7- what color hair do you have?

pink/red!!

8- what kind of car do you drive? color?

i don’t drive!! D’:

9- where do you shop?

i do most of the shopping at lidl, and occasionally food deliveries from tesco or sainsbury’s

10- how would you describe your style?

dad clothes but better

11- favorite social media account

i’m honestly not too sure?? i tend to just consume social media as one whole thing rather than noticing specific blogs or accounts etc.

12- what size bed do you have?

double bed!!

13- any siblings?

nope!! i’m an only child!

14- if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?

i always wanted to live somewhere quiet and remote but lately i’ve been really wanting to spend more time in cities?? i wanna make more friends and see more places, york is probably my favourite city

15- favorite snapchat filter?

the demon filter!! also the one w the cute glasses and leaves!!

16- favorite makeup brand(s)

rimmel on the basis that it’s the only one i can use without allergic reactions lmao

17- how many times a week do you shower?

at least once a day, sometimes more bc it’s the only warm place in the house lmao

18- favorite tv show?

pokemon, especially sun and moon!!

19- shoe size?

6-7 depending on the make!!

20- how tall are you?

5ft7″

21- sandals or sneakers?

sneakers!!

22- do you go to the gym?

nope, but i would like to one day!! either that or get a treadmill or something so i can run without fear of people or cars

23- describe your dream date

probably somewhere like botanical gardens/nature reserves/museums and just looking at all the plants and stuff or honestly just staying home and napping

nap dates good

24- how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?

like £12 or so i’m too lazy to count the change

25- what color socks are you wearing?

navy and purple!!

26- how many pillows do you sleep with?

pillow!! fort!! pillow!! fort!! at least four, more if i can find them

27- do you have a job? what do you do?

i volunteer at a small florist in town, but i’m hoping to find an actual paid job that i could do soon bc i am,, broke and feel bad about not working

28- how many friends do you have?

i always worry that i’m gonna miss someone when i answer questions like this sjfjsfkd, there’s seven people that i speak to regularly

29- whats the worst thing you have ever done?

if we’re talking about the things we regret most, probably dating my ex, it was a really unhealthy relationship and is still having a pretty bad effect on my mental health years later rip

30- whats your favorite candle scent?

unscented candles lmao, i find all of the sceneted ones too strong and i get headaches really quickly rip

31- 3 favorite boy names

ryan, kai, liam

32- 3 favorite girl names

i’m honestly not too sure about this one rip

33- favorite actor?

do the mcelroys count as actors?? all four mcelroys

34- favorite actress?

elise bauman

35- who is your celebrity crush?

i don’t really have one tbh but it used to be katie mcgrath

36- favorite movie?

the carmilla movie

37- do you read a lot? whats your favorite book?

i used to read a lot but my concentration and focus has become shit since i finished school, some of my favourite books were “the sight” by david clement davies, “when women were warriors” by catherine m wilson and “the long way to a small angry plant” by becky chambers

38- money or brains?

what is this in relation to?? i do not know

39- do you have a nickname? what is it?

not really, my name’s pretty hard to shorten lmao

40- how many times have you been to the hospital?

numerous times for migraines and allergies, but nothing significant to actually keep count of

41- top 10 favorite songs

forests - tom rosenthal

movement - hozier

hugging you - tom rosenthal

nina cried power - hozier

shrike - hozier

nfwmb - hozier

common tongue - hozier

take me to church - hozier

pyramid - jason webley

big houses - squalloscope

i love,, hozier,,

42- do you take any medications daily?

nope

43- what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc)

dry i guess

44- what is your biggest fear?

anything medical, especially needles

45- how many kids do you want?

none, i don’t think i’d make a very good parent

46- whats your go to hair style?

scruffy and windswept lmao

47- what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc)

i guess it’d be considered like a medium house?? idk

48- who is your role model?

when i was younger it’d have been some of my teachers but now i really don’t know

49- what was the last compliment you received?

mum complimented my eyebrows earlier

50- what was the last text you sent?

some boring work stuff

51- how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?

six or seven??

52- what is your dream car?

something cheap that won’t explode when i turn the engine on lmao

53- opinion on smoking?

you do you, just be mindful of others near you

54- do you go to college?

i finished college earlier this year!!

55- what is your dream job?

anything not related to retail and customer service, ideal if it also involves plants

56- would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs?

i’d have always answered this w rural before, but honestly probably suburbs now

57- do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels?

no

58- do you have freckles?

a few, but they’re very faint!! they were a lot more noticable when i was younger

59- do you smile for pictures?

no i’m an edgy bastard, i hate my smile sgdjskkf

60- how many pictures do you have on your phone?

over 3000, i should delete some but i’m attached to these blurry photos of my dogs

61- have you ever peed in the woods?

i mean,, who hasn’t??

62- do you still watch cartoons?

yeah!!!

63- do you prefer chicken nuggets from wendy’s or mcdonalds?

we don’t have wendy’s here so mcdonalds it is

64- favorite dipping sauce?

ketchup and bbq sauce are the only acceptable dips

65- what do you wear to bed?

usually a shirt and boxers

66- have you ever won a spelling bee?

never entered one!

67- what are your hobbies?

drawing, playing video games, listening to podcasts, bingewatching entire series on netflix

68- can you draw?

sometimes, sometimes

69- do you play an instrument?

only the recorder which i’ve not really done since i was 8, i’d love to learn guitar though

70- what was the last concert you saw?

i saw welcome to night vale live in 2015, and jason webley also played music there!

71- tea or coffee?

they both suck, but tea is more tolerable

72- starbucks or dunkin donuts?

starbucks, never had dunkin donuts

73- do you want to get married?

WIFE,, yes

74- what is your crush’s first and last initial?

75- are you going to change your last name when you get married?

i would like to, yes!!

76- what color looks best on you?

i’d say probably reds and browns idk

77- do you miss anyone right now?

yeah D:

78- do you sleep with your door open or closed?

closed, i really hate doors being open they make me anxious

79- do you believe in ghosts?

yeah

80- what is your biggest pet peeve?

hypocrisy and people being unnecessarily rude or harsh rip

81- last person you called?

my mum, she’s the only person i’ll ever call lol

82- favorite ice cream flavor?

honeycomb or butterscotch

83- regular oreos or golden oreos?

regular oreos are better

84- chocolate or rainbow sprinkles?

rainbow sprinkles, do i legally have any other choice,,

85- what shirt are you wearing?

a binder

86- what is your phone background?

some art of one of my characters!

87- are you outgoing or shy?

very shy

88- do you like it when people play with your hair?

sometimes, but i’ve really gotta be in the right mood for it and i can only stand it for a short period of time rip

89- do you like your neighbors?

i’ve never spoken to them, but i mostly just hear them arguing with each other so i’ve not got the best impression lmao

90- do you wash your face? at night? in the morning?

both

91- have you ever been high?

92- have you ever been drunk?

i’ve never been drunk or high, i won’t drink for various reasons

93- last thing you ate?

one of those little frosted fancy cake things

94- favorite lyrics right now

I want trees instead of gravestones, nothing to confessI got a soft spot for your ancient books full of horror storiesI got a music in my head from long, long, ago and far, far awayAnd I still hum its tune, but how could I believe every word it says to me?

95- summer or winter?

winter!

96- day or night?

night!

97- dark, milk, or white chocolate?

milk chocolate

98- favorite month?

october bc of autumn and halloween

99- what is your zodiac sign

pisces!

100- who was the last person you cried in front of?

the nurse at one of my appointments the other day rip

[grimelords]

​My March playlist is finished and posted on time for once! Please enjoy three and a half hours of my new and old favourite music. A lot of post-hardcore, country of a few different flavours and a thirteen second long song that goes beep beep boop. Enjoy.

Old Money - Omar Rodriguez-Lopez: Who among you will join me on my podcast ‘Omar Podriguez-Locast’ where we discuss one of Omar Rodriguez’s 60+ insane solo albums every week and grow gradually infuriated with the very existence of each other until listeners are just tuning in each week for the episode where one of us finally snaps and attacks the other with a microphone?

America’s Most Blunted - Madvillain: It’s weird that this song about the wild and wacky world of jazz cigarettes opens up with a Steve Reich sample before moving into some real Reefer Madness type lameness at the end. Songs from so long before any type of legalisation are so lame like 'recent research shows that it’s not so darn harmful!’. This song is still very good though. I only found out that Lord Quas was just Madlib recently but I really respect the idea of having a rap alter-ego that’s just you with a pitch pedal.

Love My Way - The Psychedelic Furs: An underrated part of Call Me By Your Name is when Armie Hammer hears this song playing from a car and sprints over to dance with a woman who looks like she’s doing the monster mash.

Seven Stop Hold Restart - Bear Vs. Shark: Despite their bad name Bear Vs. Shark are a very good band and the best lyric in this song is when he says 'I am nine years old with short legs and arms.’ What I like about this song, and this band, is that the screaming is not the sort of affected scream-singing of a lot of their contemporaries it’s just a stocky guy absolutely yelling his guts out, which I appreciate.

Turncoat Revolution - Hot Cross: I think that’s close to what I like so much about Hot Cross too, I’ve never listened to Saetia either (the other band this guy sings for) but maybe I should because I just love this guy’s voice. The central hammery riff is so appealing to me but my favourite part of this song is the ending where the three chords just shrink away as the whole thing mellows down, it feels like realising you’ve been mad at something that happened in a dream this whole time.

Mag11 P82 - Venetian Snares and Daniel Lanois: Venetian Snares is apparently doing an album with Daniel Lanois who produced a bunch of U2 albums so my dream of a Bono/Venetian Snares team up is one step closer to reality. I like collaborations like this where you can very clearly tell who did what part. It’s hard to mistake when and how Venetian Snares is involved in a song a lot of the time. I really like this team up because freeing Snares from any kind of melodic responsibility allows Lanois to give the song a huge amount of space, unprecedented in a Snares song where the melody is often just as frantic as the rest of it.

Cornflake Girl - Tori Amos: Do you remember when Tori Amos had that album called American Doll Posse where she was doing a bunch of characters or something and it’s got one of the worst covers of all time in my opinion and I think about it a lot. Had a song called Big Wheel on it that I get stuck in my head a lot. But this isn’t that song so never mind! I was thinking about the production on this song, and how crazy it is to have whistling as a big part of your song while avoiding having everyone think of it as 'that whistling song’. All the instrumentation on this is great, the mandolin and acoustic next to each other making a huge bed for the piano to move under, then the harpsichord sounding keyboard and the guest vocal near the end, there’s just so much happening I love it.

The Field That Touches My House And Yours - Sarah Louise: This is probably the upcoming album I’m most excited about right now. Sarah Louise (who’s one half of House And Land who I’ve posted about before) is pulling a real James Blake by releasing a lot of amazing instrumental music and then suddenly revealing she’s an absolutely incredible singer and songwriter as well.

Jezebel - The Drones: The Drones have a lot of good songs about how it’s the end of the world and we’re all fucked and we’re all gonna die but this is one of my favourites. The sort of wide ranging scientific nihilism of an opening line like 'strontium 90, removed from milk’ really sets the tone for the rest of this song as it lays out every war like an ongoing nightmare that you have no option but to participate in as your body and the earth turn to muck in their wake.

How Sweet It Is - Karen Dalton: Everyone always talks about Karen Dalton as this mercurial folk phenomenon but I really love her second album where she just does standards with a full band. Hearing her bring her insane, complete chaos sense of rhythm to these regular-ass songs is such a delight to me. The way she just swoops in on the first line with absolutely no regard for whatever else is going on really cracks me up. That the song has backing vocalists for the chorus just makes it better, I imagine them singing while glancing at each other with panicked eyes as she just wildly darts around the microphone and sings absolutely whenever.

Bang Bang - Vanilla Fudge: Pitchfork had some video about the origins of heavy metal and I lasted about ten seconds becuase they mentioned a 60s psychedelic metal forerunner named Vanilla Fudge and my brain went 'funy’ so I looked them up instead. This song is a nightmare I absolutely love it, there’s simply not enough organs around anymore. The organ sounds absolutely immense and balanced against their cursed harmonies it sounds even bigger, what a jam.

Ride For Me (feat. Young Thug & 24 Hrs) - A-Trak and Falcons: Young Thug has finally brought back his insane Harambe voice and I for one couldn’t be happier. I have no idea who 24hrs is but he for real sounds like when Justin Beiber first came out so that’s a thrill.

Space Song - Beach House: This might be the platonic ideal of a Beach House song, it’s just beautiful and I don’t think I really have anything more to say about it. Beach House put out two albums in 2015, they put out the on that this song is on and then like three weeks later they surprise released another one and I was so shocked by the deluge of content that I have never listened to the second one. A powerful lesson for Beach House.

Anna - Will Butler: This song is so good I have no recollection of what the rest of the album sounds like, I just listen to this song over and over and over. Every part is good. The brass, the 'ba ba ba’s, they way he says 'you Got to get Mo-nay’, the piano breaks that sound like he’s just slamming it with flat hands. What a gift.

Hawkmoon 269 - U2: Here’s the straight up truth that nobody wants to hear: Rattle And Hum is U2’s best album. It’s literally just The Joshua Tree except better. It’s every bad instinct of U2 turned up to 11, which is what makes it good. He mentions preachers like twenty times on this album and there’s a gospel choir on two songs, it’s all happening all the time.

Silver And Gold - U2: Here also, is the straight truth: this is U2’s best song. A proper straight up political song about a specific idea, incredible instrumentation and Bono realising halfway through his speech that the crowd unfortunately does not care about Desmond Tutu’s request for economic sanctions against South Africa.

Hunting For Witches - Bloc Party: Post 9/11 war on terror indie is such a good genre. Kele’s always been a bit of a lame-o and he’s really on display here but when the instrumentation bangs like this it’s forgivable. Bloc Party have always seemed like a band where absolutely everyone is pulling their weight and doing the most in every single song and this is a good example. The drums! Matt Tong deserves a trophy!

All Of The Lights - Kanye West: I literally remember where I was the first time I heard the drums in this song, that’s how good it was. I can’t believe I only just found out that every single famous person features on this song. I thought it was just Rhianna but it turns out it’s La Roux in the 'fast cars shooting stars’ bit, Cudi in the 'getting mine’ bit, and fucking Fergie in the 'unemployment line’ part PLUS Elton John and Alicia Keys in the outro? This song is ridiculous. It’s almost a shame that such an incredible song in every aspect features some of Kanye’s most boneheaded verses but I suppose that’s what I love about him.

Let’s Hear It For The Boy - Deniece Williams: I’d like to invite you all now to stand and give a round of applause for my dipshit miser boyfriend that dresses like shit and can’t sing, I love him. I love this song a lot because I feel like she’s talking about me. This is a great song that’s right at the top of my long list of potential wrestling entrance themes.

Hey! - The Go! Team: I was premature when I said that new Go Team album wasn’t that great because it is in actuality very very good. This song would make a good wrestling theme too now that I think of it.

Monument - Royksopp & Robyn: I put the T.I.E. version of this song on my list last month and that prompted me to give the original another listen because it’s honestly just as good in a totally opposite direction. A long bit of space-jazz instead of a monolith threatening to crush you.

Merrymaking At My Place - Calvin Harris: My friend sent me this song and said it reminded him of Mother! which is very funny in my opinion. Loads of people come to my house, they take stuff inside of my house, and smoke stuff outside of my house, lots of people at my front door, lots of people in my front door, trying to get into my house. At my place [leaning into the mic] Baby. [panicked] Baby at my place.

Precious Lord (Take My Hand) (Parts 1 & 2) - Aretha Franklin: I was searching spotify for a good version of The Day Is Past And Gone and ended up finding this Aretha Franklin album that is absolutely incredible. It turns out it’s her first ever recording from when she was 14, which is mind boggling. It sounds like it was recorded from the back row of the church so it has this incredible amount of space to it and she just completely fills it with immense power. Even her piano playing is amazing. The whole thing is just an astonishing piece of music.

Big Iron - Marty Robbins: I was camping this month and thinking about country music, and so this and the next few songs are the result of that. I think Taylor Swift should not only pivot back to county for her next album but pivot back to this kind of cowboy story-song country. She should, in fact, just cover this song. This is The cowboy album and I feel like Marty Robbins may have been the most American man that ever lived, he used the money he made from cowboy songs to finance a NASCAR career.

Country Dumb - Josh T. Pearson: I spent a long time on the fence about Josh T. Pearson because music like this always raises the question of authenticity. He sort of feels like the country version of Nick Cave to me, straining for a very very authentic thing but in actuality a Berlin art boy. The main difference between Pearson and Cave though is that Pearson is actually very good. So I reconcile it by telling myself he’s a sort of Lana Del Rey character singer or something like that. This song is so great and I especially like his guitar style of letting the words lead and the guitar follow, where the lyrics are at the forefront and every part of the music is purely in support of them. 

Angel From Montgomery - John Prine: I’m so glad that John Prine is enjoying a bit of a late life resurgence in popularity among the Youth right now because he really deserves it. He feels like the songwriter that every songwriter loves but nobody else has ever heard of. I love this song, it feels like it was custom built to be some 70 year old country woman’s 'Hurt’.

Bogota Affair - Kid Creole And The Coconuts: A good and tropical song about getting cucked on an island and absolutely loving it.

Mientras La Veo Sonar - Rx Bandits: I figured out the reason I like this song and it’s honestly just that it sounds like watered down Mars Volta and I’ll take all of that you’ve got.

Joan, I’m Disappearing - City Calm Down: The way the first line of this song is an unexpected anacrusis makes me laugh cause it feels like the guy from The National just suddenly stepping into your room and collapsing into a seat to complain. I absolutely love this song, I’ve been listening to it on repeat. It’s melodically brilliant in the chorus, it just keeps giving, and structurally it never gets boring by just getting bigger and expanding the entire time to this huge emotional outpouring. I love the lyrics to this song because they’re so pathetic, which sounds like a strange and cruel thing to say but it’s true. It’s such a specific misguided melodramatic plea for a childish love that went on for too long and it’s just so heartbreaking and pathetic, and when it’s turned up to the emotional peak it’s believable and you sympathise. I wish this song went for five minutes more.

Footsteps - Dardanelles: This album was the critical darling of Australian music in 2006 and then this band just totally disappeared and I couldn’t find it for a long time before someone added it to spotify last year and now all their songs have <1000 plays. Very mysterious. I go through stages of being totally obsessed with this song, every part of it is just my favourite kind of pretentious art rock shit. 'This trail of breadcrumbs below your feet whispers like muscle cars on heat’? That’s good lyrics!

Queen Majesty - Techniques: I heard this song late at night when I was listening to ABC RN to fall asleep and some old guy was explaining how rocksteady was better than reggae and now I agree with him.

Opal (Four Tet Remix) - Bicep: The way this song builds around the central strong chords is just incredible, it’s a really simple motif and the way it comes back and sits foundationally through the whole piece. I love in the later half how the extra off-time melodies that seem to have no relation at all to the just come swooping through and almost destabilise the whole thing before those strong strong chords come through again. Also I have a strong suspicion that the snare sound in this is just Four Tet slapping his desk which I respect.

Jesus Came To My Birthday Party - The Middle East: I can’t overstate how much this song is directly wired to my brain stem. It is just perfect. This song is so simple but it feels like it came from another dimension to impart wisdom to me. It honestly makes me feel crazy. This whole album feels like the long lost brother of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea thematically and it really deserves a similar spot in the canon in my opinion. Please listen to it.

Eden - Talk Talk: The dynamics in the guitar playing is what really gets me in this song. The huge crescendo where it feels like the sound is being pulled apart from the inside dissipating to steam as soon as the groove kicks in. I don’t know, there’s not much to be said about Spirit Of Eden that hasn’t already been said, it’s transcendental music. It’s cliched but this is great driving music, music to space out and think about the universe to.

Outlaw Blues - Queens Of The Stone Age: What a treat to suddenly discover that one of my favourite bands has covered my favourite Bob Dylan song and done a great job of it too!

No Condition Is Permanent - Marijata: Ok this is embarrassing but the way I found out about this song was some goober on the overwatch subreddit had made playlists for every hero (Torbjorn’s was all electo-swing and pirate metal so who knows what the fuck was going on) and this and the next song were both on the Doomfist playlist, which was a lot of 70s afro-funk and highlife music which personally isn’t really telling the full story of Doomfist but that’s a whole other post. Anyway this song is great, and I’m glad I listened to this whole dumb-ass playlist to find it. I have a real affinity for songs like that that feel like the recording only ended cause they ran out of tape or the singer collapsed from exhaustion. This song could go for another 20 minutes and I’d only love it more.

Love And Death - Ebo Taylor: The groove of the drums in this song and the melodies of the horns are just hypnotising, and combined with the lyrics this feels like some very dark magic that I completely love. The guitar is really amazing in this as well actually, especially the solo where he switches back and forth between jazz soloing and just frantically strumming open chords.

Automatic (12" Version) - The Pointer Sisters: Huge fan of the extremely powerful megaman synth that comes in about halfway through this song and just charges the whole place up. I love how rich and deep her voice is, how it’s built on by the harmonies in the prechorus and then unleashed in the chorus. I also love how simple the chorus is, it doesn’t overshadow the rest of the song and the verses are just as good which is exactly what you want from a long mix like this. Huge fan of the deep guy’s voice just saying 'au-to-ma-tic’ during the fade out too, give that guy some more to do.

White Girl - Soul Coughing: Lyrically most Soul Coughing songs sound like somewhere between echolalia and reading out every street sign that you see, which is very appealing to me because that’s essentially how I communicate, but this one feels like a dire warning about an approaching conqueror. Also the ending of this song make me laugh because it’s the same as at the end of New Noise by Refused where he just screams 'THE NEW BEAT’ over and over and over after the instruments have all finished and in my eyes that’s a very very funny thing to do with the phrase 'white girl’.

Tone Tone Tone & Tone Tone Two - Shuta Hasunuma and U-zhaan: This album feels like some real Tiny Mix Tapes-core; a collaboration between two Japanese composers - a found object orchestra composer and a tabla player but against all odds it’s actually good. Unfortunately my favourite part of it is this 13 second piece of music that sounds like the brand ID for a very high-end podcast network.

I Won’t Be Found - The Tallest Man On Earth: I listened to this song eight times in a row and sang along the whole time on my drive home from work the other day. His voice is so uniquely good, a cowboy yodel with a slight swedish accent. I’m hooked right from when he sings 'morning’ as 'morning-AH’.

Now U Got Me Hooked - A.A.L: I can’t get over how good this new Nicolas Jaar side project album is. It’s just wall to wall bangers, a perfect party album. I love the really raw sound of a lot of the drums in this song; the huge clap that’s on the edge of being over-distorted mixed with a huge rumbling kick blowing out the low frequency that eventually cleans up and brings the sample back in and almost eliminates the bass entirely before it drops again and the sequence starts over. I love how long a lot of the songs on this album are, every idea is given so much room to completely stretch out.

Ride - Lana Del Rey: I saw Lana live last night and as soon as the first notes of this song played the girl in front of me absolutely screamed 'BITCH!!’ and I felt a real kinship with her. I really think this might be my favourite song of hers. It makes me so emotional every time and I can’t even pinpoint why. The way she sings 'fucking crazy’ the huge, sweeping chorus. It’s just amazing, I love her so much! Bitch!!

listen here

[horrificramblings]

Please, please let this be a dream...

Have you ever had a head injury? A serious injury, one that was difficult to recover from? I have. The story of the injury itself is not a great one, I was hiking early one morning with my boyfriend when a dog came barreling up the trail between us from behind - I was knocked sideways, slipped on the dew moistened two-by-four at the top of a small retaining wall on the trail edge and fell about seven feet down the side, hitting my head pretty decently on the protruding edge of a huge rock in the ground before coming to a stop. My boyfriend, Lyle, went a bit green later when recalling the sound my skull had made as it hit the jagged edge of that boulder. I was out for a couple of minutes until he and the owners of the dog clambered down and were able to gently rouse me, their faces open in horror at the sight of my blood soaked hair. Head wounds like to bleed, a lot, and this was a big one. I earned eighteen stitches behind my right ear and a few nights in the hospital for observation, along with a temporary neck brace and all the tests and scans that come along with a serious knock to the head. Once it had been determined that there was no injury to my spine and I was alert and coherent I was released with a prescription for T3’s for the headaches that came in waves and lasted for what felt like hours, with instructions to use them sparingly and only for the worst pain. The rest would have to be controlled with Aspirin.

The worst part was that this wasn’t my first concussion. I suffered two mild ones during my teenage years - mild but both serious enough injuries to have momentarily knocked me out. If this hiking doozy had been my first head injury my post concussional symptoms might not have been quite so bad, however as it was my third they are nothing short of terrible. The headaches are definitely the worst part. I don’t want to constantly be taking pain medication and try my best to be sparing with the Aspirin and extra sparing with the T3’s unless they’re really bad - which they often are. Besides the headaches though I am prone to irritation, I have a hard time focusing and my short term memory has become non-existent. I’ve also found myself doing things like staring out the front door, or into an open cupboard with no recollection of how I came to be there or what I was looking for. It’s so frustrating and I feel so useless sometimes. I work as a receptionist in a busy hair salon and, since my multitasking abilities have suddenly gone down the toilet, it became nearly impossible for me to do my job. After my fourth horribly botched cash-out left me in frustrated tears I decided to spare my boss from having to let me go and told her I needed a break from work. She, who had been watching me mis-book appointments, blank out on calls with clients and forget to pass tips on to the correct stylists, agreed without hesitation but not without regret. We’re close and I’m generally very good at my job. She helped me to fill out all of the necessary paperwork to submit to apply for Employment Insurance and so here I am, managing on a percentage of my salary and dealing with my symptoms as best I can.

It’s been almost two months since my injury. The headaches are still regular, my memory hasn’t improved in the slightest and concentration is difficult. My days are frustrating. Lyle leaves for work at seven. I usually sleep until around 9, trying to get as much rest as possible. My day is spent puttering around the house doing the few small chores that two tidy people create, and walking as much as possible. This is because I simply don’t have the focus to read a book, read the news, watch a movie or even an entire episode of a television show. It’s horrible. I’m usually a big reader, it’s my go-to way of passing the time, and Lyle and I are huge movie buffs. It’s so frustrating having had two of my biggest hobbies ruined for me. So I go for walks. I stick my earbuds in, listen to music or try to pay attention to an audiobook or podcast, and get out of the house for as long as possible, headache permitting.

Two weeks ago I returned from a walk to the grocery store, and when I took the laundry detergent I’d bought downstairs to the basement laundry room I was surprised to see that the back door, which leads to our unfenced yard, was unlocked. It doesn’t sound terribly out of the ordinary, except that we don’t ever really use that door in the fall. It’s too cold to use the yard much, and even if I were to open it for some reason I would never leave it unlocked for fear of intruders. Our yard backs out onto a deep green belt and my imagination can go wild conjuring the kind of weirdos that might hang out in there. Honestly, I’ve always been more than a little creeped out by that stretch of woods, it seems sort of unnaturally dense and dark. Like I said though, my memory is garbage and I very well could have heard our cat, Nancy, scratching while I was doing laundry, let her in and forgot to lock it. Stranger things have happened. I locked the door and told myself to try to remember to ask Lyle about it. I didn’t, but I had strange and frightening dreams that night, of dark and wind, that I only half remembered afterwards.

A couple of days later I was doing a load of Lyle’s work coveralls when I happened to glance at the basement door and saw that the deadbolt was unlocked again. He was home this time so I called him downstairs.

“Did you leave this door unlocked?” I asked him, pointing to the door that, for some reason, I suddenly didn’t want to get too close to.

“No, I haven’t even used this door in ages. Did you maybe let Nancy in down here?”

“I don’t think so…” I replied, and the look on Lyle’s face told me he thought that was exactly what had happened, which annoyed me. “I really don’t think I did” I said with a bit more conviction.

“OK, well, it’s no big deal” he said, flipping the deadbolt home. He kissed my forehead and went back upstairs while I stood staring at the door, trying to remember the last time I had opened it and feeling dismayed as well as irritated when I came up blank.

Within a few days of that door episode I developed a new symptom in the form of minor visual hallucinations. They started as occasional small spots or cloudy shapes in my periphery and over the course of a couple of days increased to larger, shadowy, human sized shapes that still just hovered at the edge of my vision. I knew that these weren’t real figures that I was seeing but they came unexpectedly and made me jumpy and uneasy - two new states of being that I really didn’t need added to my already taxing daily life. I told Lyle about them and made an appointment with my Dr, who I saw yesterday. She assured me that this was nothing of concern but told me to come back if they progressed into more detailed hallucinations. When I came home from that appointment and shrugged my coat off I noticed that it was much cooler than usual inside the house and I could smell the crisp, earthy fall air. I went around the main floor, checking for windows that I might have left cracked open, and when I realized that they were all closed my heart jumped into my throat. I could see cloudy shapes forming at the edges of my vision, probably brought on by stress, and I crept over and peeked down the basement stairs to see the back door standing open a couple of inches, one of my imagined shapes huddled off to the side of it. Rushing back to our entranceway I grabbed my jacket and cell phone, slipped outside and hurried down the block a few houses before dialing Lyle at work. He answered on the third ring.

“Hey babe, I’m just about to meet with the homeowners can I -”

“The door is open” I blurted out, interrupting him.

“What? What door?”

“The basement door, Lyle. I just got home from the doctor and it was cold inside and I looked downstairs and it was open!” Lyle was quiet for a moment.

“Well, did you close it?”

“What?!”

“Did you close the door, Lane.”

“No I didn’t close it, I don’t want to go down there! It was even worse because I could see one of my stupid new shadow things down by the door.” Lyle sighed audibly.

“Ok, babe, where are you right now?” My eyes began to brim with tears as I sensed the exasperation that he was trying to hide from his voice. I could also feel the onset of what would likely be a vicious headache.

“I’m just down the street a bit, a few houses away.” I drew a shuddery breath and tried to calm myself.

“Ok. I’m not going to be home for another two hours or so and you sound pretty shaky. What’s your plan? Are you just going to wait for me outside?”

“Lyle, I didn’t open that door, I swear I didn’t. I wasn’t even in the basement this morning.” I could hear him talking to someone with his hand over the mouthpiece of his phone, he wasn’t really listening to me.

“Lane, I really have to go. Look I know you don’t remember opening the door, but this wouldn’t be the first time you’ve done something without realizing or remembering. There is no other explanation, is there? I think you should go home, lock the door and lie down. I’ll be home soon, OK? I’ll see if I can take off right after this meeting.” Tears tumbled down my cheeks.

“OK” I whispered.

“Love you, see you soon” he said and ended the call. I stood, glancing around me for a minute, the houses on either side of the street all looking vacant this weekday afternoon. Most of the driveways were car free, and I felt very alone. Lyle was probably right, though - it probably had been me. I’d become a bit fixated on the door, it wasn’t too out there to imagine myself opening it and peering outside during one of my weird “spells”. I turned around and headed back to the house.

When Lyle got home late yesterday afternoon I was napping in our bed, Nancy curled on my chest. The headache that had indeed come on full force by the time I’d locked both doors had abated a bit, but still lingered on the right side where my injury had been. Lyle sat on the bed beside me and smoothed my hair from my eyes.

“Hungry?” he asked, “I brought thai home. I got a bottle of wine too, if you want a glass.”

“Sounds good” I replied, easing an unimpressed Nancy off of my chest and slowly swinging my legs out of bed. “I’ll be out in a second.” Lyle stopped in the doorway and turned back to face me.

“You were still too nervous, huh?” I shook my head at him, perplexed. “The door, babe. I know you were a bit freaked, but you should have run down and closed it. It’s not safe to sleep with an open door.” He turned and walked into the kitchen.

The evening found us wandering the aisles of Home Depot after a lengthy argument in which I swore I had closed and locked the basement door before lying down, while Lyle shook his head and muttered his concerns about my memory problems. After conceding that it wasn’t my fault, that all of this was much more frustrating and life affecting for me than it was for him, we decided to at least stop the basement door from being a problem going forward. We bought an automatic closing hinge for the door, as well as an expensive bluetooth activated deadbolt that could only be opened with either the traditional key or key fob that it came with, both of which we agreed Lyle would keep, or with an app on our phones which we set so that it would automatically lock again once the door closed, as well as sending an alert to both of our phones any time the lock was triggered open. I felt much more relaxed late last night when Lyle had finally finished installing and setting up our new back door security. We sat in bed drinking red wine and watching funny videos on YouTube for a while before turning in and I felt much better than I had in days.

“So what did the doc say about your vision? We didn’t even talk about your appointment.” I put my empty glass on my bedside table and leaned my head on Lyle’s shoulder as a man on the laptop screen punched a moving bush that suddenly charged towards him.

“She said it’s not that unusual, it’s likely caused by stress and I shouldn’t worry unless they start to look less splotchy or cloudy and appear more real.” Lyle nodded.

“Makes sense that they would be caused by stress, especially if you saw one downstairs by the open door. Poor babe, that’s actually really creepy.” He giggled a little and shivered.

“Uh yeah, it is. It’s really creepy and I don’t really want to think about it now that the door thing is sorted, OK?”

“Right” he said, closing the laptop and leaving the bed to go to our ensuite bathroom to wash up. “There is definitely no creepy door opening ghoul in this house, no ma’am.”

“Definitely not” I agreed and followed him into the bathroom.

Despite feeling much more reassured and at ease last night before bed, I had a terrible nightmare. In my dream I awoke to frigid cold, a breeze was stirring my hair and I sat up to find myself alone in the bed. “Lyle?” I called out, looking towards the dark ensuite. There was no reply and I tried again, “Lyle? Where are you?” My voice seemed to echo in the cold room. A noise startled me, an insectile chirruping sound and I looked over at my flashing phone to see notification after notification of the basement door being opened. “Lyle!” I called again, louder this time. Again there was no reply and I got out of bed, the icy breeze wrapping around my bare ankles as I crept from the bedroom. There was another sound, a beeping noise, not from my phone but from downstairs. I peered around the dark living room, startling at the shadowy shapes that disappeared from my vision as soon as I looked at them full on. They seemed to be everywhere. I hurried to the basement stairs and stood at the top looking down, the stairway lined on either side by shuddering, blurred, vaguely human shapes. Lyle stood at the basement door, fob in hand, unlocking the deadbolt with a beep and opening and closing the door over and over with his back to me. “Lyle, stop!” I shouted. He froze for a moment at the sound of my voice, then opened the door as wide as he could and stepped into the dark opening before turning to look back at me, eyes bulging, a huge, silent scream twisting and contorting his features. I stared at him in mute horror, then screamed as he was suddenly and violently pulled away into the night and the door slammed noisily shut.

The phone woke me this morning.

“Hey” I answered, groggily.

“Hey, how are you feeling? You sure were tossing and turning last night” Lyle said, clearly from around a cup of coffee.

“I had a really bad dream” I told him, closing my eyes against an incoming migraine and trying not to recall the way his face had looked at the end of my nightmare.

“Yeah I could tell, I could hardly even shake you out of it. What are your plans for today? You should try to get out of the house, do something fun.” I laughed without humour.

“Honestly it’s looking like a T3 morning for me, I’m going to try to eat something quickly so the pill doesn’t kill my stomach.” A shadow figure flickered in the doorway at the corner of my vision. “Shadow guys are showing up early today” I said quietly, wincing as I sat up in bed. “Probably not a good sign.”

“Shit. I’m sorry babe. Ok, well, I mean at least you don’t have to worry about that stupid door, right? That’s something. Tell me if you want me to bring anything home, ok?”

“K, thanks. I’ll see you later.” I disconnected before another of his sweet words could drill into my already hammering brain.

After forcing myself to meticulously chew and swallow a piece of buttered toast I chased my little white pill with a sip of ginger tea and took my mug out onto the front steps for a bit of fresh air. The cool breeze helped a bit to lessen my encroaching nausea and I closed my eyes, inhaling through my nose and exhaling through my mouth for a few minutes and trying to will the pain away. The pill was kicking in and I could feel the migraine beginning to loosen its grip and decided to go lay down on the couch for a bit.

Well, according to the clock that was more than twelve hours ago. I somehow slept through the entire day and don’t even remember dreaming at all. I hope that, maybe, that means that I’m dreaming right now. Because Lyle should have been home hours ago, but the house is dark, and cold, and my phone is showing that the basement door has been unlocked thirty-two times tonight. The shadows have formed a flickering corridor, two rows of vague figures leading from where I am on the couch to the top of the basement stairs, they appear to be swaying in the wind that blows up into the living room. I can hear the door down there, beeping unlocked, opening, closing. Maybe, hopefully, if I just lay here with my eyes closed I’ll eventually wake up, because I know what I’ll see if I look down those stairs, and I don’t think I could stand it again...

[sheminecrafts]

Why women are indefinitely sharing their locations

Rae Witte Contributor

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Rae Witte is a New York-based freelance journalist covering music, style, sneakers, art and dating, and how they intersect with tech. You can find her writing on i-D, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire and Forbes, among others.

New York-based DJ and creative consultant Amrit and I are sitting at a women’s empowerment dinner waiting for her manager, Ramya Velury. Another friend of ours asks where Ramya is. “She said she was getting an Uber 15 minutes ago,” Amrit says as she unlocks her phone to check Ramya’s location.

“She’s still at home!” Ramya and Amrit share their locations with each other indefinitely through Apple’s Find My Friends app, which allows you to see a contact’s location at all times. Most of us have our locations shared with a friend.

One can easily wonder why anyone would want to allow someone complete 24-hour access to their location, especially the type who text “On my way!” before they’ve even stepped foot into the shower. However, women are foregoing privacy among their most trusted friends to offer full access to their location (more specifically, the location of their phone) at all times.

Conveniences by way of technological advances are normalizing a culture of being alone with strangers. Uber launched 10 years ago and multiple ridesharing apps followed. Tinder changed the world of online dating (and dating as a whole) with its millennial-friendly, instantly gratifying match-making. You can connect with someone nearby and be on the way to meet them as soon as you can get out the door.

We talk to strangers online, pay them to get into their cars and meet up with them alone. These developments go against every rule about strangers that our parents imbedded in our childhood brains.

Danueal Drayton, known as the “dating app murderer,” confessed to killing seven women, all of whom he met on dating apps. His criminal trial has been put on hold pending further psychiatric treatment and evaluation after a Los Angeles County judge deemed him incompetent for trial. And 24-year-old Sydney Loofe was murdered after a 2018 Tinder date.

“We utilize a network of industry-leading automated and manual moderation and review tools, systems and processes — and spend millions of dollars annually — to prevent, monitor and remove bad actors who have violated our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use from our app,” a Tinder spokesperson tells me, regarding the measures it takes to keep users safe. “These tools include automatic scans of profiles for red-flag language and images, manual reviews of suspicious profiles, activity and user-generated reports, as well as blocking email addresses, phone numbers and other identifiers.”

While these aren’t necessarily common occurrences, they are real-life horror stories nonetheless.

Sexual assault and sexual misconduct has gotten bad enough within Ubers that the company can no longer ignore it. In 2018, the company released a list of 21 types (categories, not 21 incidents) of sexual misconduct reported by drivers and riders, ranging from explicit gestures to rape.

Uber offers an option where you can share with a friend the status of your ride. The company did not respond to a request for comment about what they’re doing to combat the sexual misconduct within Ubers.

But, that’s just for cars that are actually employed by rideshare apps. Los Angeles resident and self-proclaimed introvert Erika Ramirez pointed to a crime of opportunity when a young woman got into a car that wasn’t her Uber.

“Recently, a 21-year-old woman [Samantha Josephson] was kidnapped and murdered by a man who pretended to be her Uber driver. Unfortunately, it feels like not a day goes by that you don’t hear of a case where a man kills a woman.” (That prompted Uber and Lyft to implement safety features in their apps.)

Conveniences by way of technological advances are normalizing a culture of being alone with strangers.

Ramirez is a freelance journalist and runs her indie publication ILY Magazine mainly from her one-bedroom apartment. “My schedule isn’t too set in stone. I wander to run errands, do laundry, grab food, meet with friends and go on dates at random times of the day or at night,” she says. “To be safe, I share my location with a close girlfriend, in case anything ever goes wrong during any of those instances. I let her know when I’m going on a late snack run or when I’m going on a date with someone.”

Naturally, there are concerns about sharing locations. In 2018, The New York Times reported there were 75 companies that track your location and use, sell or store it. They even illustrated how they were able to get the data and align the anonymous traveling dot to the human it belonged to based on a distinct daily routine.

“When my siblings first asked to share my location with them, I thought they were weird. It’s not like I was doing anything sketchy, but why do you need to know where I am all the time?,” Dr. Brittanny Keeler laments. She was living in Buffalo, N.Y., where she completed her residency and lived for six years. “If someone didn’t see me for 24 hours, the police would be notified. I have a bigger social circle there.”

Now she is an OBGYN in Norwalk, Conn., and newborns don’t adhere to a 9-to-5 work week. “If I deliver babies in the middle of the night, I’m getting out of work at all hours. Here, no one would know I was missing unless I didn’t show up for work.”

It wasn’t an incident or a friend or family member that caused her to reconsider sharing her location. It was one of those horror stories. “I listened to this podcast called Up And Vanished. I think it’s from 2016. It’s about a 30-year-old-woman that left a party and was supposedly going home and was never seen again. I thought to myself, I leave places alone all of the time and hopefully get home. That actual podcast is what prompted me to start sharing my location,” Keeler recalls.

Not at all as a result of Ubers, Tinders and other beneficial disruptive tech, socially, there’s a significant shift in traditional gender norms coinciding with and ultimately utilizing all of these advancements. The percentage of unpartnered adults living alone has risen from 56% in 2007 to 61% in 2017, and women are more likely to live alone than men. Sons are also more likely to live with their parents later in life than daughters, and in 2018, the median age for Americans’ first marriages was the oldest it has ever been, at 30 for men and 28 for women.

Dr. Keeler, Ramirez and Ramya are all unmarried and live alone. Amrit’s boyfriend just moved in after she lived on her own for the majority of her seven years in New York. She’s from Perth, Australia, and her family still lives there.

“Because my family is so far, Ramya is probably the closest to my family and would act responsibly in case of an emergency,” Amrit says. While Ramya is Amrit’s manager, she’s also one of her best friends, and Amrit regularly checks on her location, too. “She always stays out later. If it’s the morning, I’ll check where she is and that she’s made it home.”

It’s not just the number of women living alone that has increased, but more are also traveling alone. As recording artist Tommy Genesis’ tour DJ, it’s not unnatural for Amrit to be traveling as many days as she spends at home in New York. “I’m usually home for two to three weeks and gone for about the same,” she says. Ramirez is nearly bi-coastal, traveling to her former home of New York City once a month and sometimes spending weeks at a time there.

The New York Times just released a discouraging story connecting the dots of dangers the increased number of solo women travelers experience. In it, they highlighted a 2018 study conducted by online hostel booking site Hostelworld that showed a 45 percent increase in solo women travelers from 2015 to 2017. The bottom line of their findings: “Most countries do not comprehensively track violence against female travelers.”

This isn’t to say that women believe sharing their locations with each other will prevent violence against them. However, regardless of their awareness that Apple is not utilizing or sharing their data from Find My Friends, women are in favor of someone they trust to be able to track their every move in case something happens.

It actually may have saved Jaila Gladden’s life. After Jaila’s attacker kidnapped her from outside Atlanta and raped her in her own car, he tasked her with finding a gas station for him to rob, as he planned to take her to Michigan. She convinced him to let her use her phone to do so. She sent her location and alerted her boyfriend what was happening while “looking” for a gas station. Ultimately, police were able to find her, the car and her attacker.

While plenty of users are definitely hot and cold on location services, there is undeniable value and security in knowing someone can find you in case of emergency.

Since 2018, Apple iOS 12 securely and automatically shares location with first responders when U.S. users call 911. Now, iPhone 8s and later have the Emergency SOS feature that requires some setup but ultimately allows for an emergency call to trigger a text to a preselected group of contacts and a location alert to emergency services.

Google also has the iPhone and Android-friendly Google Trusted Contacts App, which allows users to trust and request locations from trusted contacts.

“Not only did I think it was weird that my family wanted to know where I am all the time, but our phones tracking everything in general is creepy to me,” says Dr. Keeler. “I don’t know what data collection I’m contributing to, but I do think it’s necessary for someone to have my location now.”

And it’s because of what Ramirez knows to be true: “Women have been killed by ex-boyfriends, men who’ve forced themselves on them on dates, men whose catcalling were ignored or rejected. Women have to be keenly aware of their surroundings, and sadly have a backup plan in case we are placed in harm’s way.”

from iraidajzsmmwtv http://bit.ly/2J7QoRR via IFTTT

[celtfather]

11 St Patrick’s Day Facts #179

Fact. St Patrick's Day is the best holiday ever.

Fact. Everyone is Irish on St Patrick's Day.

Fact. You're gonna LOVE this week's episode of ACTUAL St Patrick’s Day facts!

Welcome to the Pub Songs Podcast, the Virtual Public House for Celtic culture through music. My name is Marc Gunn. I am a Celtic Geek musician and your guide to honoring our past and adapting for our future.

Today’s show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. These generous people pledge $5 per month or more so that I can keep creating music, podcasts, and live streaming video shows like Coffee with The Celtfather. Thank you!

If you have comments or want to chat in the pub, email me. Use #PubSongs when talking about this show.

Cead mile failte! 

How would you like two free albums of my music?

No need to sign up to mailing list. No strings attached at all. I just want you to hear my music.

Follow the links to St Patrick's Day and Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers on Bandcamp.

"Buy the Digital Albums".

Name your price to ZERO.

Then download and enjoy your free albums.

Then Subscribe to the Pub Songs Podcast at PubSong.net to enjoy this podcast. This offer is good until March 18, 2019.

The Pub Songs Podcast celebrates our shared love of Celtic culture. But it also recognizes that our world is changing. So you will mostly hear fun Celtic music on the show. But it'll be mixed in with songs inspired by Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who and Firefly.

WHO'S PLAYING IN THE PUB TODAY?

0:18 "The Hunter Set" by Runa from Current Affairs

Everyone is Irish on St Patrick's Day. But I prefer to see this as a holiday for everyone of Celtic ancestry. I don’t know how many kilts I’ve seen worn on the holiday, but it’s a lot.

8:25 FACT #1

Ireland is one of seven Celtic nations. These are the places that the Celts settled after invading their way from central Europe before finally being conquered by the Romans and driven to the fringes of continent.

The nations include: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall in Southwest England, Brittany in France, and Galicia in Northwest Spain.

While the Celts settled in those locations, they were eventually pushed out of those homelands to places around the world.

9:32 “Almost Irish” by Ceann from from Almost Irish and Best of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast

14:45 FACT #2

Boston, New York, New Orleans was one of the top 3 immigration points for the Irish during the potato blight of the 1800s. “Men of New Basin Canal” that honors the 30K Irishmen who died digging that canal.

15:22 “Men of New Basin Canal” by Marc Gunn & Jamie Haeuser from How America Saved Irish Music

18:29 FACT #3

March 17th is the holy day of St. Patrick in the Catholic church. Because of this, it was not celebrated like you find it today. In fact, March 17 was a dry holiday in Ireland until the 70s. All the pubs were closed. In 1995 they began celebrating it like in America.

It's quite a ironic that as a sainted holiday, St Patrick's Day is celebrated with drinking.

19:00 "St Patrick Never Drank" by Marc Gunn from Kilted For Her Pleasure

21:27 FACT #4

St Patrick was not Irish. He was born in Scotland or Wales in the 4th century. Originally, he was enslaved and taken to Ireland. He escaped, became a Christian and went back to convert the Celts. He died in Ireland on March 17, 461.

I was born on St Patrick's Day. I have a song for all those born on March 17th or of Irish heritage.

21:55 "Happy Birthday from Ireland” by Marc Gunn from Soul of a Harper

25:08 PUB CHAT

I want your feedback. What are you doing today while listening to the Pub Songs Podcast? How has this show inspired you?

Send a written comment along with any pictures to marc@marcgunn.com. Use the hashtag #pubsongs in the subject of your email.

River Godbee replied to my Marc's Musing email: "Typically I am cleaning up around the house, which never ends when you have a 5 year old! But I also listen while driving to work/school or going on walks. I used to use a variety of podcast apps, but now I stick to Spotify so that I can have my music and shows in one place. (It also makes it easier to find the albums you mention in the show.)

And for St Patrick's Day? Since I live in Savannah, I will be avoiding downtown and spending the day with my wife and daughter."

Carol Baril replied to Marc's Musings: "Hey Marc! Love the last Coffee with the Celtfather!  I was sick last week with a stomach bug and bad head cold so I listened on my phone while sitting at home with my kitties!  Usually I'm working at my desk and your Podcasts are a great way to relax thru the stress of computer work! I loved that Beer, Beer, Beer song with the Harry Potter twist!  Keep working on that one and you can put it on a new Sci-fi drinking song CD!!! Take care and give your girls hugs from me and my kitties!"

27:06 FACT #5

Green is most-often associated with St Patrick’s Day. But St Patrick’s color was actually blue.

And as a wild twist, I was told that the Scots wore orange. It wasn’t until much later I realized that green was the color of Catholics and orange was the color of Protestants. And of course the Republic of Ireland is largely Catholic.

27:35 “The Orange and the Green” by Brobdingnagian Bards from Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales

29:56 FACT #6

St Paddy’s Day is the shortened version of St Patrick’s Day. However, that shortened name is often misspelled. It should be spelled Paddy. Not Patty.

Patty is a girls name. Paddy is short for the Irish name Padraig.

30:52 “P Stands for Paddy” by Emish from Sinners Make the Best Saints

36:30 FACT #7

The most famous Irish song is Danny Boy. But it’s not actually Irish. Okay the melody is an Irish tune called “Derry Aire”. But the lyrics were written by an English lawyer and songwriter named Frederic Weatherly.

I get the song requested so much that I play two versions of “Danny Boy”, the original and a parody about cats.

36:57 "Danny Boy for Cat Lovers" by Marc Gunn & The Dubliners' Tabby Cats from Whiskers in the Jar

40:00 FACT #8

The first St Patrick’s day parade was celebrated in New York in 1762. The Irish were trying to hold on to their heritage.

Parades sprang up around the world since then, most notably in Chicago where the river is dyed green. Dublin too now has a big St. Patrick’s Day parade.

40:37 "Patrick's Day Parade" by Mick Moloney from McNally's Row of Flats (Irish American Songs of Old New York)

44:05 FACT #9

The leprechaun is a fascinating and mischievous creature from Irish lore.

The modern representation was actually a racist link between the Irish and monkeys. It was meant to belittle the Irish immigrants in the early 1900s. It seems Irish Americans embraced and rebirthed the myth.

Oh and apparently, there are no female leprechauns in the lore.

I wrote a song that celebrates America’s contribution to the leprechaun myth and to Irish music.

44:36 "The Leprechaun" by Marc Gunn from Soul of a Harper

48:35 FACT #10

Slainte Mhaith is an Irish toast. It means “here’s to your good health”. In lovely Gaelic fashion, it’s spelled nothing like it sounds in English. So if you’re out drinking, be it Guinness or tea, raise a glass and repeat the Phrase.

48:53 "Slainte Mhaith" by Kilted Kings from Name On My Soul

50:53 FACT #11

More than 13 million pints of Guinness are consumed on St Patrick’s Day. I hope you will raise a glass also to Charlie Mopps, the fictitious inventor of beer.

51:11 "Beer, Beer, Beer" by Marc Gunn from Kilted For Her Pleasure

The Pub Songs Podcast is listener-supported. Your generous pledge of as little as $5 or more per month allows me to create music, podcasts, and live videos for your enjoyment. Special thanks to my new patrons: Mario, Tina, Kimberly, UT Scot, Laura and John, Jacqueline, Schellie Neill. Also thanks those who raised their pledges this month, including: River, Paige, Garrett, Jennifer, Myriam, Carol, Alexis.

If you enjoy visiting the pub, please join the Gunn Runners Club on Patreon. You’ll get episodes before regular listeners, free albums, podcasts, videos and lots more. Go to marcgunn.net to join the Gunn Runners today.

54:25 BONUS FACT

The music of the Celts is called Celtic music. This is not to be confused the Boston Celtics. Celtic is spoken with a hard-K sound.

55:31 "Sunday After Drunk Singalong" by Mikey Mason from Red Letters

If you like Firefly, Mikey Mason and I have a podcast called In the 'Verse: Song Crafting for the Firefly Universe. It's free. Subscribe today!

St Patrick's Day is 3-Hours long on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. You will find over 400 hours of free Celtic music to listen to on St Patrick’s Day.

59:59 "Hell of a Party (Song for Saint Patrick's Day)" by Old Man Flanagan's Ghost from Far From Shore

1:03:18 "Walking Her Home" by Jim Sharkey from Misty Morning Rain

1:06:33 "Kilts and Corsets" by Tuatha Dea from Kilts and Corsets

1:14:02 "Barley Mow" by Seamus Kennedy from By Popular Demand

1:20:34 NEWS

As Long As I'm Flyin' is officially available as a CD once again.

Brobdingnagian Bards Podcast returns to the public

New: In the 'Verse Podcast with Mikey Mason

St Patrick's Day music and parties

1:21:14 "Fiddler's Green" by Stanley & Grimm from Another Round

1:25:14 "All For Me Grog" by Jesse Ferguson from Folk Favourites

1:28:17 "Humours of Whiskey" by Drunk & Sailor from Doing What We Do

1:31:22 "Johnson's Motor Car (Live)" by The Kindred Kilts from Live at the Summer Crush Winery

1:32:58 "The Devil Made Texas Set" by Ed Miller from The Edinburgh Rambler

1:37:39 UPCOMING SHOWS

Every Weds, 11 AM: Coffee with The Celtfather

Sun, Mar 17: The Hangout in Gulf Shores, Alabama with Kilted Kings for a St Patrick's Day celebration on the beach.

Mar 22-24: Sherwood Forest Faire in Paige, TX (bonus show with Brobdingnagian Bards)

Mar 30-31: Sherwood Forest Faire in Paige, TX (bonus show with Brobdingnagian Bards)

If you enjoy the music in this show, support the artists. Buy their music and merch. Follow them on Spotify. Let them know how much you love what they are doing. And tell a friend.

1:38:25 "The Parting Glass" by Marc Gunn from Soul of a Harper

Pub Songs Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn. To subscribe, go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify or to my website where you can join the Gunn Runners Club on Patreon and support my music and this podcast. I’ll also email regular updates of new videos, podcasts, stories behind the songs, plus 21 songs for free. Welcome to the pub!  www.pubsong.net.

  Check out this episode!

[rememberthattime]

Chapter 37. Tasmania

Tasmania is isolated. It’s an island off of an island, way down at the edge of the world. ...If Australia is down unda, Tassie is down unda the down unda.

All of this isolation has made Tasmania a little different from other Aussie states: from climate to culture to cloud coverage, and everything in between. For a (rare) three-day trip, Chelsay and I set out to experience these unique Tassie charms.

Our road trip itinerary would bring us all around the relatively small state, but Day 1 began near Cradle Mountain, Tassie’s iconic peak.

Before our hike though, the trip began with breakfast at Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm. Not much more needs to be said here... Breakfast. Christmas in the name. Raspberry farm. Waffles. French toast. Fresh jams and mascarpone. Just a great start.

We pigged out, but it was okay because we’d need the energy for our day at Cradle Mountain. The surrounding National Park is a haven for hikers, with a surplus of trails, wildlife, and unique vegetation. In the winter, there’s also an extreme deficit in other hikers, so Chelsay and I would have the trails all to ourselves.

With the help of a park ranger (who had just returned to Tassie after 5 weeks in Seattle... what are the odds), we mapped out a 5 hour hike that would take us 10 miles and up to 12,700 feet in elevation. The terrain reminded me so much of Scotland: crisp air, overcast weather, rugged and rough heather in green, red, brown, and yellow.

Another similarity with Scotland was the heavy fog. When Chelsay and I first arrived, we had a sliver of blue sky to take in our surroundings. Within an hour of our ascent to Marion’s Peak, the visibility quickly changed.

This isn’t rare though: 9 out of 10 days at Cradle Mountain have this kind of cloud cover. That said, it had been a long time since I’d been on a cold, damp, foggy hike. I’d been dying to go in Seattle, but because we only visit in winter, no one will go with me.

For this trip though, Chelsay and I were well prepared: layers was the name of the game, and we had backup ponchos just in case. Besides, we get blue skies everyday in Sydney, and this fog actually added to the rugged mood.

One difference between Cradle Mountain and Scotland or Seattle: the wildlife. Along our 5 hour hike, Chelsay and I came across about a dozen wombats and wallabies. #Tassie

We were physically exhausted that evening, so passed out early (after watching Mission Impossible 3 in preparation for Fallout!). The next morning, I made breakfast before heading out for the day: eggs, toast, and fresh jam from our cottage’s farm.

We’d be making the 3.5 hour cross-state drive from Cradle Mountain to Bruny Island (an island, off an island, OFF AN ISLAND!), but had all the Getting Curious podcasts we’d need to fill the trip. The foggy roads kept our attention too, as we zipped through winding alpine turns.

One other thing that kept my attention: the fuel gage. Tassie is isolated, and Cradle Mountain is the MOST isolated. There is a “major” (two-lane) highway that would’ve likely had more gas stations, but Chelsay and I opted for the scenic, more rural route. There has to be a gas station somewhere though, right?

Well, Chelsay and I made our way through the winding roads and were enjoying the foggy ride. We got about 45 minutes in, still no gas stations. Hmm. Another 45 minutes. Nothing... Anxious. 2 hours in, we finally found a station (whew!) and I raced to fill up the tank. Crisis averted.

We pulled out of the extremely rural gas station in Miena, TAS (population: 87), but only got about 1 minute before the engine started to sputter. Far ouuuut (Aussie for f***). I knew exactly what I’d done... I put diesel in instead of unleaded. I was so anxious about the low fuel light, that I didn’t even check the pump label at the station.

We were in the middle of nowhere, so the rental company had to send a tow truck from Hobart to Miena to grab me, Chelsay, and the car. All in, this cost us about 8 hours (not to mention the cost of the tow truck) on an already short trip. Chelsay says it was the most mad she’d seen me since the Christmas Eve orchestra in Vienna.

In just a few hours, I exhibited all 7 stages of grief:

Shock: “What!? I just filled the tank!”

Denial: “I swear I put in the right fuel.”

Anger: “F”

Bargaining: “Is there a fuel drain? Anyone have a siphon?”

Depression: “No drain... No siphon... And the tow truck has to come all the way from Hobart... There goes the trip.”

Testing: “Well, maybe we can still fit some things in...”

Acceptance: read on

Chelsay held it together, mostly because she was entertained by the friendly locals. The gas station seemed to be the hang out spot in Miena, so all kinds of characters passed through. The most entertaining was an older man wearing all camo.

Barb, the wonderful woman running the register: “Back from a hunt?”Older man: “Saw about 200 kangaroos.”Barb: “How many you get?”Older man, sheepishly: “Oh I don’t want to say.” (Translation: none)Older man: “Look, I lost two of my dogs... You seen em?”Barb: “What are their names?”Older man: “Uh, ones name is Miley. Can’t remember the other.”Barb: “Well gonna be tough to find based on that description.”Older man: “Got 12 so hard to keep track!”Barb: “Gimme your number and I’ll let you know if I see em. What’s your number?”Older man: “Uhh, can’t remember.” *Goes to truck to pull out his massive journal, flips through several full pages of phone numbers, and gives one to Barb*#Tassie

Only Chelsay got to experience the Miena locals, but we both enjoyed our ride back to Hobart with the tow truck driver, Young George (age: 70). Swiss, but somehow a 45 year-Tassie vet, George told us about his many interesting tows across Australia. His strangest: he picked up a wrecked car... from the Gold Coast... a 31 hour non-stop trip (including ferry) up Australia’s east coast! #Tassie

Despite the entraining locals, this was a bad day. Our worst ever while on holiday. We had two options once our tow truck finally arrived in Hobart: fail fast and minimize the damage, or lean in and push on. There was more hesitation than I’d like to admit, but we ultimately leaned in. We rented another car, and were on the ferry to Bruny Island in no time.

I said earlier that Bruny is an island off an island off an island, so needless to say, it’s sparse. There’s zero light pollution though, so Chelsay and I stared up at the clear star-filled sky. The universe has a way of taking care of things, and this was a reminder to put our problems in perspective. The universe even ended its statement with an exclanation mark: a shooting star. That’s not a joke either... I thought it was a firework. Genuinely the longest, closest shooting star I’ve ever seen. Emphatically telling us to “get over it!”

Heeding the universe’s advice, we threw on some tunes and had a pasta night at our quiet AirBnB. Occasionally, we turned down the music to hear penguins chirping on a nearby beach. #Tassie

The next morning, we woke up and quickly realized what an incredible house we were staying in. It was too dark to see anything the night before, but the morning gave us two things: (1) light to take in the house’s charming design, and (2) a reason to use the Nespresso.

Now, the troubles of yesterday were behind us. I’d gone trough the 7 stages of grief and accepted the place we were in. But wait, we were literally in the same place we’d planned to be: Monday morning, Bruny Island. Granted, we’d lost quite a bit of time, but while waiting for hours at the Miena gas station, Chelsay and I actually reconfigured the itinerary. If everything went just right, we could still fit in my original plan...

First up for the day. Bruny Island Cheese Co. Breakfast. Cheese toastie. Spicy (yet subtly sweet) chili paste. Something called an Otto: a cheesy omelette wrapped in prosciutto. Red pepper relish. Condensed strawberry. Ughh.

Next up: Bruny Island Chocolates. 10:30 sweets? Gimme ‘dat orange fudge. ‘Dat chocolate covered coffee bean. Ughhhh.

Third: Tassie World of Whisky. A whisky tasting at 11 AM? Hit me. We’re talkin’ Lark, Launceston, and what’s that? The 2014 best single malt whisky in the world? Sullivan’s Cove. Bitey, but with a smooth and silky length. Ughhhhhhh.

Now, batting cleanup. Chance for a Grand Slam before 1:00 PM: Willie Smith’s Apple Shed. Apple pie, cider, and Alt-J and Hozier playing in background. Ughhhhhhh, na-na na-na!

This trip went from a 2 to a 6 in that morning alone. Three quick hits and towering, monster, goodbye baseball grand slam to save the whole trip. It will from here-on be known as The Great Tassie Turnaround.

Also, it was only 1:00, so we still had time for the final place I wanted to visit: MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art.

MONA was founded in 2011 by eccentric billionaire David Walsh, who made his money as a “professional gambler”. Let that sink in. #Tassie

This place was a bold, artistic reflection of its founder. Or was it just weird... Only time will tell. Some of the highlights:

Two live fish, in a bowl of water, with a butcher’s knife, on a chair. That’s it

The fat car

An exhibit where visitors throw glass milk jugs against a wall. One of us was better than the other at this art

A room with nothing but a blue felt pond (?) in the middle

A robot that precisely mirrored the human digestive process (both sight AND scent)

A representation of CERN’s particle accelerator, which was Chelsay and I’s favorite

Not pictured: Event Horizon, which is the seizure-inducing strobe-light colored room that Drake filmed the video for Hotline Bling in.

So that’s it. That was our trip to Tassie... After MONA, and all of the other strange experiences over the past three days, I’m not really sure how to pull this one together.

On one hand, we had our worst travel day ever, but on the other, we hit all the places we wanted to see. It certainly wasn’t the route I planned, but we still somehow managed to get everything we’d hoped for from Tasmania.

I guess the most fitting way to wrap this up would be to say we found a unique way to experience unique landscapes, unique climate, and unique culture... Is there anything more #Tassie than that.

[awindowamirror]

Meet Me There!

11/22/17

Hello again! This post is from a bit ago, but I haven’t had WiFi.

Last week was our very last week of classes in Ghana. Actually, two of my classes even ended the previous week. It’s really weird to me to be done with classes, mostly because I don’t feel like I’ve learned a lot academically this semester. I’ve learned a ton outside the classroom, but it’s a little frustrating (ok, a lot) to look back on your semester and wish you had taken different classes or that professors had cared more about teaching. Exams start at the end of this week on Friday, and it’s hard to imagine what on earth will be on them—what did we learn?? I’m sure it will be fine, but it’s definitely a weird feeling and very different from what I expected, since usually British academic systems are supposed to be very straight-forward.

We have revision week until Friday, which is so nice—I really wish the U did this so that you aren’t trying to finish classes and finals all at once, I think people would really do better and be healthier. So, Charlotte and I decided to take a mini vacation. We looked online to check out cheap and quiet places on the beach, hoping we wouldn’t have to go all the way to Cape Coast on a trotro. We found a cool-looking place called Meet Me There in Ada, which is a beach town in the Volta Region of Ghana (towards Togo). They had beds for as cheap as 40 cedis, but we decided to get our own room for 100 cedis a night (about $25)—not bad at all once you split it between two people. And best of all, we were told it would take only about 3 hours to travel there—much better than the 6 hour ride to Busua we did a couple weekends ago.

We took off early on Saturday morning. Charlotte is living in a homestay, so we met at Spanner, a trotro stop just 10 minutes off campus. At Spanner, we had to walk for a while and ask a couple people where we could get a trotro to Tema Circle, but it’s never too hard to find where you’re going; people always help, especially when they see clearly foreign people with their backpacks and confused faces. Charlotte and I were already drenched with sweat when we got on our second trotro—it was about 8:30 in the morning, and the sun was already impossibly hot.

We rode for about 45 minutes, and then the trotro mate told the driver to stop, and gestured to us to get out. We said, “Oh? Here?” and trusted him—I mean, we had no idea what the Tema Circle stop looked like. We got out and gathered our things and looked around us. It appeared that we were in the middle of nowhere—we couldn’t see anything but a gas station on the other  side of the  roundabout. We cracked up because we must have looked ridiculous—two white girls in the middle of nowhere with nothing but our backpacks and no sense of direction.

We saw a bunch of people walking near the gas station, so we headed there and asked where the trotro station was. It turned out to be just across another street, hidden from view from where we first got off. Trotro stations are a little intimidating because they are essentially a huge parking lot filled with trotros going anywhere and everywhere in Ghana. All the mates and drivers yell, “Where are you going?” when you walk by, which used to really overwhelm me, but now we know to just pick one person to talk to and tell them where you’re going, and they almost always will physically walk you to the trotro you need to get on. Sometimes they’ll even tell you the price you should pay so that you don’t get ripped off, which is extra nice.

So that’s what we did—we asked, and we got put into an empty trotro that apparently was going where we were going. Because we were the first ones on, we got to ride in the very front with the driver, which is usually the most comfortable spot on a trotro. We waited about 30 minutes or so for the whole bus to fill up, getting a little nervous because the driver kept yelling “Keta! Keta!” to passerby, which was not where we were going. Again, we trusted, and eventually were able to confirm that Keta was simply the final destination of that particular trotro, and we would be getting off a few stops before that at Savietula Junction. (Quick note: Remember how I had so much trouble communicating to people that I was going to SDA Junction when I was trying to get to my internship, and I was surprised it was so hard considering there are only three letters to say? Well, I thought we’d have so many problems saying Savietula, because to me that could have so many more nuances in pronunciation, but guess what? It was so easy. The driver immediately understood us. Savietula is easier to say correctly than SDA. I don’t know, words are funny.)

We were on our Keta trotro for about 2.5 hours, which wasn’t so bad. I slept for most of it, I think. It started pouring rain at one point, which was a bummer because we had to roll the windows up, and with about 20 people in a trotro, it gets stuffy and hot real quick (cue Jordin Spark’s “No Air”). Other than that, it was a smooth trip. We got dropped off at Savietula, which again looked like the middle of nowhere, but soon a taxi driver collected us and said, “Meet Me There?” because where else would two foreigners be going, I suppose. It was a shared taxi, which was really nice because it’s so much cheaper—like a trotro, you wait for the car to fill up with people going the same direction as you.

Meet Me There turned out to be sooo nice. It’s a non-profit hostel/hotel, so all of their proceeds go to a community center that is right next to the hotel. Because we were there on a weekend, we didn’t see the center in action, but we were told kids come to play games and do homework and grab a snack, which is so cool, especially because it can be hard for small towns anywhere to have such a great resource available. They have a wonderful restaurant and bar, all outdoors of course, so you can feel the wonderful breeze from the ocean coming in. The ocean is really dangerous to swim in in this area, but there is a lagoon that the hotel sits right on—they even have part of the restaurant eating area sitting on stilts over the lagoon. At night, they lit tiki lights on the tables and across the lagoon so that we were surrounded by light. So peaceful.

The food was insanely good—of course, it’s much more expensive than what I’m used to eating at the market on campus, but it was SO SO SO nice and necessary to have a break from eating just rice and fried chicken. When I get home, I’m not going to eat rice and chicken for at least a month to cleans myself—it’s delicious but OH MY GOODNESS 4 months of it is a lot. And Ghanaian food is SO wonderful, we just don’t have access to a lot of it on campus. At Meet Me There, we got to try morenga stew and palava sauce, which I think are now two of my favorite things I’ve had here. They actually have a morenga tree right on their property, and apparently it’s a superfood—all the rage in the U.S. now, though Ghanaians have been eating it forever. Classic. Palava sauce is made of a leaf kind of like spinach (I can’t for the life of me remember what it’s called right now, but I’m pretty sure it’s the leaf of cassava). You eat them with rice or boiled yam and oh my oh my, yum. I’m going to try to cook some up when I get home.

We arrived at about noon on Saturday and settled in and grabbed lunch, and then met the current managers. They’re from New Zealand, and are running the place for a year. They invited us  to go on a boat ride with the rest of the guests at 2:30pm—how good is that timing? The ride was really cool—they know a lot of people in the community because they’ve been here so long, so they asked a group of drummers to come along with us. It was so cool—we were in little nooks and crannies of the ocean in a big fishing style wooden boat with at least 30 people on board, including the musicians. We were on the boat for about 3 hours and the drummers played and sand the entire time, which is so impressive to me. It was really fun when we passes close to shore, because anyone on shore would stop what they were doing to dance to the drumming, as if they could not possibly resist. It was a good reminder of just how important music is here.

We stopped at an island nicknamed Rum Island because…well…they make rum there. We were told it is as good as real Caribbean rum. Charlotte and I split a shot, and it was pretty good! Some people really liked it so they bought whole bottles. We got back in the boat and stopped at a different island to watch the sunset and grab a drink. It was beautiful, and so peaceful. We headed back, a few more people dancing now after our stop at Rum Island, and had dinner and then passed out. At 9 pm. Yep. And then woke up at 9 am. That’s so many hours of sleep!!! Clearly we needed it.

We spent all day Sunday lounging around in the hammocks, the restaurant, and the lagoon. I caught up on some of my podcasts, which reminded me so much of being at school in Minneapolis—chilling in my hammock and listening to NPR. Some things never change no matter where you are, eh? We even got a little wild and ordered banana daquiris and sipped them over the lagoon. Life is hard. Charlotte actually was doing homework this entire time (those chemistry majors, am I right?), but don’t worry, I relaxed enough for both of us. We ended the day by playing some wholesome card games and listening to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. There was a movie night at the hotel that night, which sounded fun, but once again, we were out by 9 pm.

The next morning, after a solid 12 hour sleep (that means we slept for the equivalent of an entire day that weekend!!!! Woah!!!!), we had breakfast and packed, and then went swimming for one last time. We grabbed lunch right before leaving because it’s so hard to find food on Sundays, especially when you’re travelling, and then made the trek home.

It was a pretty smooth trip back to Accra, but one of our trotros got stopped by the police. I’ve been in taxis that have been stopped several times—a couple times, we were even asked to get out and had our bags searched—but never in a trotro, though I’m sure it happens just as often. They asked to see our passports, which was scary because why on earth would we be carrying our passports travelling within Ghana? The man next to me said, “How about any other ID card?” and so we gave the officer our Non-Citizen ID cards, which of course worked. It was scary for a moment though because I just wasn’t thinking that oh yeah, duh, the card that we’re legally required to carry will probably work. We’ve been told several times that the police in Ghana often try to stop foreigners and catch them for tiny infractions, like not having their ID cards, because then we’d have to pay a sort of unofficial fine to stay out of trouble (a bribe). Like in many places, including the U.S., Ghana’s police force has many issues with corruption, especially with bribes. People literally know that they won’t go to prison as long as they have enough money to pay off the police, which is wild to me, but then again, so is the brutality of our police force in the U.S.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which is an awesome day to remember one of the many times that white people wrote a fictional narrative of peace with Native Americans. It’s also an awesome day to be genuinely thankful for what we have, of course, but isn’t every day? It’s my fourth Thanksgiving away from home, so it doesn’t seem so weird to me, especially because Thanksgiving obviously isn’t a thing here. Our program actually is putting on a dinner for us, a combination of Thanksgiving and a Farewell Dinner, which is really nice. I’ll miss being at home with my family though, and eating bread roll after bread roll and pumpkin pie for dessert (and breakfast and lunch the next day). I hope everyone has a wonderful day with love and peace surrounding you.

Now it’s time to start studying—I have my first final on Friday morning in Twi. Good luck to everyone else who is starting their final stretches of school, I know there’s lots of projects and final papers this time of year, so remember to respect your mental health and take breaks and walks and naps!!! @LindaPeng @BlakeDowning @RoohiKatarya