#I did Jeffery so I had to do elizabeth!!

[transk0vsky]

Some more trans horror character icon

(I hc Bridgette as a trans guy or otherwise transmasc so I used a transmasc flag for the second one because it’s the first one I found)

Dni if you don’t allow minors to interact with your blog,18 plus blogs and pr0sh1ppers

[bones4thecats]

Can I please ask for more Creepypasta characters with a kianna komori Reader

also you can decide what you want it to be about

A/N: This is the last Creepypasta/Horror thing I will be writing on this account, so after this is posted, the Taglists and Character Lists are being deleted for good. I'm sorry to all of my Horror lovers out there, including you, @nunezs-stuff, but I am getting so many requests for Record of Ragnarok and Twisted Wonderland in comparison to Creepypasta and Slashers. But, anyways, I hope you enjoy this!

Taking Them In ~ Oliver Henderson x Reader & Elizabeth Vasquez x Reader

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Humming rang through the forest as a young woman and two masked men crawled through the broken tree limbs that lay dead and mutilated on the floor.

"How much longer is this gonna take?" One man asked, looking at his two partners.

The other man sighed as the woman groaned in annoyance, he had asked that several times in the past 10 minutes.

"Look Jeff, we'll get there s-s-s-shit! Soon. It's not our fault that you decided to jump out at scare the fuck out of the k-k-k-k-cocksucker! Kids out camping." The other male replied, obvious annoyance and tiredness laced in his tone.

Jeff rolled his eyes as the woman motioned for them to stop moving.

"Did you hear that?" She asked, Jeff and their partner jumped to a halt and stood stiff.

"Maybe it was the goddamn burritos that old Tics-a-lot here decided to demolish back in the cabin!" Jeff said, causing the other male to bring out an axe and nearly cut off his hand as he chuckled.

"Shut the hell up you two. I think I hear a child." "Ooh, new torture victim kid?" "No dumbass, an actual child."

"Toby, you go around the back and check if it's a trap, and Jeff, you stay here and quit fucking talking." The woman said. Jeff gasped in fake surprise. "Me? Quit talking? You should know it's my talent, besides smiling and killing, of course."

The others looked at each other, rolled their eyes, and began getting into position.

The closer the female and Toby got to the sound's main area, the louder and more stiff the sounds became. It was almost as if the person knew that were coming, and was happy about it. But what child would be happy about two complete strangers approaching them in the dark forest?

" Oh what in the name of Satan?! "

Toby and the woman looked at each other and realized that the sound they were chasing had completely vanished, and now Jeff was yelling?! What were they dealing with, a demon?!

When the two arrived back to where Jeff was, they did not expect to see what it was...

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🎩 A child? What was a child doing out here, and was his hat holding Jeff up by the throat?!

🎩 He looked back at Toby and you, realizing there were more there trying to find him, so his trap was working quite well

" Who are you? "

🎩 You looked at his face and realized that from the hair covering his eyes and forehead, there was blood cascading down like rain on a car's window

" I'm Y/N, this is Toby, and that's Jeff. Now, can you please let Jeff down? "

🎩 He stared back at Jeff, shrugged and said he couldn't, you'd have to ask his hat, which he called Tom to let him down

" Tom, can you please put Jeffery down? "

🎩 The hat seemingly lightened it's grip on Jeff's neck before throwing him onto the ground with a loud thud

" Since I know your hat's name, what's yours? " " Oliver. "

🎩 You smiled and raised your hand for him to shake as Toby and Jeff stood there in disbelief, how did you calm the kid down that quickly?! He was about to kill Jeff!

🎩 It took quite a few questions before you coaxed Oliver into traveling with you guys, but when he started following you, he couldn't stop

🎩 He had never met someone who could tame his hat that fast, other than himself of course

🎩 You were special, and he didn't want to lose you, and you knew, you didn't want to lose him

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🛏️ You and Toby froze when you saw Jeff holding onto a low tree branch screaming

" The kid's got no legs, I repeat, the kid's got no fuckin' legs! "

🛏️ You noticed that the girl was holding onto a fairly bloody pillow, and it made you remember the nights where you would find slight blood of Yui's pillows from where those god-forsaken vampires hurt her

🛏️ Sighing, you walked up towards her and made sure you were moving fairly slowly, as she seemed to get spooked by Jeff's yelling

" Hello there, what's your name? " " Elizabeth, Elizabeth Vasquez. "

🛏️ Toby's eyes widened along with Jeff's before they began yelling the same question;

" The girl who died from their legs being chopped off?! "

🛏️ She nodded as more tears began falling. You turned around and glared at the two as Toby tried getting Jeff down, as he had climbed up higher while screaming in fear

🛏️ You looked back at the girl with a recognizable saddness and a bit of sympathy laced in said look

🛏️ She looked up at you as you reached out and hugged her, making her start to cry heavily

🛏️ This was the most affection she had gotten since, that happened...

" Elizabeth, may I call you Liz? "

🛏️ She nodded as you smiled gently at her, patting her head before standing up and carrying her in your arms

" Would you like to stay with us? I'm guessing you're lonely out here. "

🛏️ Once she saw how sparkly your eyes were, she remembered her mother, who would smile at her with the same look in her eyes

🛏️ She nodded happily as you chuckled and motioned for the boys to finish the mission as you both went back to the cabin

[mixing-bowl-of-stories]

How did Alice and Owen start working together?

Ah the tale of how they met

Here’s what I mean when I say that Owen used to be a really horrible person:

Owen started working with Alice because he was hired by her.

Owen is a pretty big guy, and he’s pretty strong too. So she hired him around the time when Alice was planning to carry out the massacre of the De La Dáinn family.

At that point, she didn’t have enough people on her side to get the job done, and Owen, in desperate need of some money and would do anything to get out of his debt with the Morganian mafia and keep his life, was perfect for the job.

Owen was in his late 20’s when Alice hired him. They were around the same age, Alice was pretty, not to mention the fact that she was putting in the effort to try and win him over. So he agreed.

Once he agreed, he couldn’t back out.

He didn’t know what exactly he was getting himself into until Alice explained the plan. And Owen knew that if he left, it wouldn’t be pretty.

So he carried out the murders, being the main attacker in it all with Sergeant Boris Abir, Dion Falls, Lady Matilda Delta, Lorraine Russel, and Jeffery Gilson.

Owen never truly got over what he did to the De La Dáinn’s, in fact the only reason Diana and Elizabeth even survived is because his conscience took over and he told the two to get out of there and get as far away as possible. He lied his ass off to the others about how they managed to escape and how it wasn’t his fault.

So Owen, now thoroughly too deep in this whole mess to get out, gets a good chunk of the De La Dáinn’s fortune, and ends up meeting the Lockwoods, aka, Alice’s employers at the time.

He made plenty of weapons and machinery for the Lockwoods, did a lot of their bidding, and gave them the machines necessary to become absolutely terrifying tyrants.

After the Lockwoods are killed by Diana and Elizabeth’s adventuring party, Owen flees with the rest of the associates and Alice.

Owen and Alice start their plans to make Noah around this time.

Noah was never supposed to have a conscience, he was just supposed to be another murder machine that Owen made.

But Owen found himself caring a lot about this project and getting a lot closer to it than he had before, partially because he realized this could be the cure to his curse. But not only that, he felt it could make up for his sins.

Instead of taking a life, he was going to make it instead. He was going to create an android that purposefully would always go out of his way to help people, even if they didn’t necessarily deserve it.

So he built the kindness into Noah. He built a conscience into him, Which is exactly why Noah started retaining memories and opinions.

Eventually Alice and Owen have a falling out, and they break off their relationship. Alice threatening Owen with his life if he didn’t leave the project with her.

So Owen is back on his own, a fortune he never touches because it’s blood money and the weight it has on his mind, a lost project he expects never to see again, and at a loss for what to do with the rest of his short life.

So, in order to make some money that isn’t from a heinous act, he starts working at a tavern as a barkeep.

Years pass, and eventually a group of rowdy young adults walks in and starts causing some trouble.

One is a young man with a strange line down his face and yellow eyes, there are three triplet siblings, one of which doesn’t seem too inclined to join in causing trouble, there are two halfling siblings, three tieflings, two of which look suspiciously similar to the Lockwoods, three people from the restless borderlands, and lastly, a girl with white hair.

And he recognized who Pandora was the instant he saw her, because she bears a striking resemblance to Diana.

So imagine his surprise when he’s trying to avoid attention, that Pandora walks up to him and begins apologizing profusely for the group’s behavior.

Owen carefully explains his past to her once she strikes up the conversation, leaving out details, and Pandora offers him to join their group and that “they’re not as bad as they act in a tavern…” (they are as bad as they act in a tavern but they get better)

Owen thinks about it and realizes that maybe this is the gods giving him a chance to make up for what he’s done.

And so, he cautiously accepts.

[tentacledtherapist]

adam,

i finally watched ‘Frankenhooker’!

it was a wild ride from start to finish and i had no clue where we were going for a second, but i had so much fun? there was so much… questionable acting, in the good way? shoutout to the actor for zorro playing off the fact that a lady had someone else’s arm like it was nothing. A+ acting! it was just so campy and fun. i liked the lighting, i liked the silly situations, i liked the bad practical effects! oh my godddd i liked the bad practical effects

absolutely buck wild of a movie to go “i’ve made super crack” and then have said super crack literally explode a bunch of people. no explanation for why the super crack would make someone explode with electricity. absolutely insane, i loved it

i think the movie sort of stumbled into a message about how the objectification of women is a dangerous pathway to go down. the last scene of elizabeth getting her justice in reanimating jeffery in a body he hates definitely made that point sort of prominent, but i think the rampant sexualization and commodification of women’s bodies through the rest of the film made the point kinda moot. did i ever agree with the shit jeffery was doing? nah. but i think the movie failed to show everything he was doing truly gross, so it’s payoff in the last scene felt a lil out of left field?

i don’t think the movie necessarily set out to have a Big Broad Thesis Statement, or whatever, but it’s something i was thinking about

regardless of all that, i had so much fun watching it. holy shit, creech. thank you for the recommendation, that movie was awesome. why didn’t our revivals give us purple hair? that would have been so cool

- Lisa

[americxn]

Devil’s Night

♢ As a resident of the hotel, you are forced by James to attend Devil’s Night every year. But this year, you make it your mission to ruin his night ♢

WARNINGS: violence, alcohol, swearing, mentions of serial killers, unwanted sexual advances

word count: 3400

You composed yourself before pushing open the door of room 64, steeling your nerve as you took a step over the threshold. The room beyond fell utterly quiet as you appeared, all the seats at the luxuriously laid table accounted for but one, to James March’s right.  “Ah.” James exclaimed as you huffed, forcing yourself to move towards the table and its occupants, your heels clicking as you strode for the table. James appeared before you, blocking your path. You paused, flicking your gaze to his in irritation. His dark eyes flashed in warning, his message clear: “don’t fuck this up for me.” A feral grin spread across your lips as you accepted the arm he offered, allowing him to lead you around the table. “Why else would I be here?” You silently responded as you stopped before the empty chair, letting your impishness shine clear in your own eyes. Devils night was, to you, unarguably the absolute worst night of the year and the only reason you continued to show was the food.  That, and the fact that James was pretty to look at. His threats of punishing you if you didn’t show had become redundant to you a few years ago, regardless of the fact that he would absolutely follow through with his threats if given the opportunity; as a resident of the hotel, there was no getting away from him, the countess’ rooms providing you with some recluse from the man, where you spent many of your unending days. You almost hadn’t come tonight, tempted to see how far James would go to ensure that you attended next year, just for some excitement.  And yet here you were, settling yourself primly in the chair that James pulled out for you, immediately reaching for the tall glass of red wine set before you.  Scanning the table as James sat beside you, you drank deeply, taking in your distasteful company over the rim of the glass.

“Well, now that we’re all here,” James began as he settled himself beside you.  Miss Evers appeared behind his chair, a large tray of shallow glasses full of a pale green liquid in her hands.  “Absinthe.” James chirped as the maid placed the tray in the centre of the table, everyone reaching for a glass without hesitation. You joined them, your lip curling in repugnance as the smell of the foul alcohol stuffed itself up your nostrils.  “Our customary libation.” The killers around the table raised their glasses in the air, cheering heartily before draining their share of the abhorrent liquid. You did the same, not joining them in the actual toast before taking the drink in one gulp, the liquid burning a toxic track down your throat. For fucks sake.  You fought to keep your face straight, shuddering as the liquid fire settled in your stomach. The drink got harder and harder to keep down each year, and yet you knew that the worst of the night was yet to come. James’ large hand drifted to your knee beneath the table and you turned to him with a snarl, shoving his hand off of you.  Several sets of eyebrows rose around the table, James’ joining them. “Not in the mood to play tonight?” He drawled at you, lifting his glass of bourbon to his lips, his ringed pinky finger lifted delicately in the air.  “Not with you.” You crooned. “With him though, perhaps.” You jerked your head to your left, to John Lowe who hadn’t taken his eyes off you since you had entered the room. His head cocked to the side as you finally deigned to acknowledge him, though you kept your attention on James, pleased to see that your words had the desired affect as his gaze hardened and a muscle in his strong jaw feathered.  Your shoulders shrugged slightly as you turned your head from the man, your chin raising slightly as both James and John continued to stare at your side profile from either side. “So, Aileen,” you began, your rings clinking on the side of your wine glass as you lifted it to your lips. “Any tips on how to degrade a man?” She snorted, his eyes wild as she leaned forwards to address you fully from across the table. “From one woman to another,” she began, her voice dropping to a faux whisper, “I think you already know how to do that quite well.”  Her eyes flickered to both men on either side of you, your lips curling into a small smile, mirroring her own.  “Well maybe we could work together. I’ll leave you to do the messy parts of course.” Her eyes glowed with feral delight.  “Next year.” She whispered, although both of you were aware that everyone was listening. You dipped your chin in a little nod, your smile growing of its own accord as James stiffened beside you.  Your gaze shifted to James, his lips set in a thin line as he stared at you.  “What?” The energy in the room shifted with the tension that began to flow as you met his hard stare, unflinching.  “I want to speak with you in private later. I have something to ask you.” You considered his words carefully before responding. “Whatever you have to ask, the answer is no.” Everyone around the table shifted slightly, suddenly finding the surface of the polished table very interesting. James clicked his tongue, taking a deep drink as he looked into your eyes.  You forced yourself not to shrink under his scrutiny and tried not to exhale too hard as he finally looked away, dismissing you.  “Miss Evers.” He called, his voice once again warm, a stark contrast with the cold energy that you had created in the room.  “I think it’s time that we ate.” Miss Evers hurried into the room, serving everyone large plates of steaming food before disappearing once more. Whilst everyone else ignored her, you turned to wave at her as she left the room, thanking her quietly. Her furrowed brow softened as you did so and as you turned back to the table, James was glancing at you out of the corner of his eye. The table gradually filled with amicable conversation as the good food and alcohol began to take hold, but you lounged silently in your chair, merely picking at your food before abandoning your fork and instead opting for another glass of wine. James barked a laugh, his voice booming over the others as he conversed with his guests whilst you ignored them all, even if John’s hand occasionally snaked its way onto your waist, unrelenting even as you constantly shoved him away, considering whether a fork to the eye would be enough to get him to fuck off. “You’re not eating?” James nudged you half way through the meal, surveying your lazily crossed legs and the uncaring manner with which you sat in your chair, sitting slightly forwards on your seat with your shoulder blades pressing into the backrest. You shook your head, picking through your options of responses and trying to figure out which would piss him off the most. “No,” you sighed. “The countess has something waiting for me to eat in her room.” He bristled beside you, his jaw clenching as he forced himself to turn away from you and take another bite of his food.  You had to suppress your amusement at his desired reaction. James would believe anything. The truth was that you and the countess had never engaged in sexual activities with one another and never would. The farthest you had gone was with sharing her partners or bringing a fourth party of your own to her bed.  But never would you do anything with Elizabeth on her own.  You were very close friends and that was it.  But nobody knew what went on behind the closed doors of the rooms of the Countess, and you found it entertaining to feed into the rumours that constantly circled the hotel as to whether the two of you were lovers or not.  You settled further into your chair as James angrily skewered a piece of lamb with his fork, chewing angrily at your words as you continued to innocently drink your wine.  Eventually, everyone was so gorged on food and alcohol that the room fell into a relaxed atmosphere and as you kicked John under the table for the eleventh time in the past hour as his hand once again snaked onto your thigh, James rose from his seat. “Now then,” he began, glancing around the table at his guests, his eyes lingering on you before he pulled them away.  “Jeffery.” The sulking man stiffened in his chair next to the Zodiac Killer and you almost felt sorry for the painfully timid man as all attention turned to him. But then you remembered what a repulsive bastard he was and stared at him just as intently, wanting to set him on edge. “I know how difficult it is to show yourself at this sort of event, so,” you glanced at James warily, unsure as to where this was headed.  “I got you a little gift.” James finished, the doors to the room opening, revealing Miss Evers in the company of a tall, lanky man who staggered into the room at her side. He looked as if he was in his early thirties and you cringed as his scent hit you. He was very much alive, completely at odds with the rest of the rooms occupants. And drugged, from the way he leant on the little maid, his eyes unfocused as they struggled to determine who awaited him at the table.  Miss Evers struggled under the weight of the man as she staggered with him to the table, Jeffrey’s face lighting up as he reached out, gathering the disorientated man onto his lap, ignoring Miss Evers as she hurried out of the room. “Oh, dear god.” You breathed as a hungry demeanour settled over Jeffrey as he surveyed the man, shushing him gently when he tried to shift himself off the killer. “Lucky bastard.” Aileen huffed from across the table, watching intently as Jeffrey pressed him nose into the man’s thin neck, breathing in deeply as his eyes fluttered shut. “You enjoy these gatherings a bit too much, Aileen. Is that not enough for you?” James said warmly as the woman let out a crazed laugh, nodding her head in agreement.  Your face distorted into a grimace as Jeffrey’s hands continued to roam over the poor man, completely defenceless against the onslaught of Jeffrey’s touch on his skin. You turned up your nose, draining the rest of your wine in one. It was refilled by James mere seconds later and you didn’t so much as pause before reaching for the glass again and drinking deeply.  “Please, Jeffery,” you crooned, your stomach turning beneath what you hoped was a convincing cool demeanour. “I’m eating.” Jeffrey ignored you but James snorted from beside you, eyeing up your untouched food that had long since gone cold and the shining cutlery that lay neatly atop the unused napkins before you.  You watched with you lip curled as Jeffrey lifted a glass of Absinthe towards the barely conscious man’s lips, whispering softly in his ear as he rested the rim of the glass of the mans lower lip and titled the drink. Most of the green liquid dribbled down the mans chin, dripping onto his white vest as Jeffrey grinned. He sputtered slightly at the drops of the drink that had made it into his mouth, his throat working to swallow it. You half hoped that the man would choke on it. At least then his death would be swift. Clean.  Suppressing a shiver, you turned to James. “Well if this little death party is over, I’m going to be leaving.” You put your hands on the table to push yourself up, only making it to an awkward crouch above the chair when James slammed a hand onto your shoulder and pushed you firmly back down. You turned to him, mouth open in disbelief.  “No, stay. We’ll have more drinks.”  You shook your head, going to push yourself up once more but James’ hand moved to your wrist and he pulled it sharply, leaving you twisted towards him on your feet. You bared your teeth at him, pulling at your wrist and trying to wrangle yourself free. “I’ve had enough James, I’m leaving.” You hissed at him, watching as he leaned forwards, bringing your faces closer together. The alcohol on James’ breath was strong as he breathed at you: “I don’t want you to leave. Sit.” The other guests stopped their gawking at Jeffrey and his new plaything to turn to you and James, watching in amusement as you tried in vain to pull his hand from your wrist. “No. I want to go.” You insisted, firm tone faltering in slight panic as James turned away from you, looking to door and calling casually for Miss Evers. “Miss Evers.” He hollered, smiling warmly at the woman who appeared by his side.  “Remove Miss y/l/n’s chair, please.”  You watched in confusion as Miss Evers did as was instructed, offering you a sympathetic smile before hurrying away, your chair balanced awkwardly in her arms.  “James.” You pleaded, tugging at your arm. “Sit.” He repeated, meeting your gaze coolly.  You paused, your short black dress suddenly feeling too tight as everyone’s attention came to rest on you, especially John’s, who had been blatantly staring at your ass for the duration of this encounter.  “What-I... where?” You gaped incredulously. The hilarity of this situation would’ve usually made you laugh but now you looked between James and the empty spot where your chair should be in confusion. James shrugged. “Just sit. You’ve got two options. The floor,” a wave a laughter flowed around the table and your cheeks heated slightly in embarrassment, the situation suddenly clear: James wanted to humiliate you. To make you truly uncomfortable and force you to sit through the rest of this godforsaken night for the attitude that you had showed him not just this evening, but for the entirety of the six years that you had been trapped in this hotel. “Or,” James continued, pulling you in even further so that your noses were close to touching, “my lap.”  John’s repulsive gaze on your ass burned like a brand as you processed his words, hate like you had never known it unfurling within you.  James already knew what you would choose, his legs uncrossing to allow you room to comfortably sit on him. “Fuck you.” You spat, finally wrenching you wrist free and turning in one swift movement to perch yourself on James’ lap, his strong arms coming to wrap around your waist. Scowling down at the table, you forced yourself to take a deep breath as your eyes stung ever so slightly at the humiliation James was making you endure.  His scent settled around you as you went still in his hold. Cigarette smoke and bourbon with a slight hint of shaving cream. It wasn’t unpleasant, his hard chest warm behind you. “There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” James crooned in your ear, his deep voice rumbling through you. You didn’t deign to answer him, not as you lifted your gaze to see everyone’s attention, aside from James and John’s, had shifted back to the poor man in Jeffrey’s arms; you realised in a disheartening moment of understanding that now you were no better off than the narcotised man across from you: trapped, nothing more than a source of entertainment. The only difference was that you would eventually leave this room alive. But as James’ thumb began to rub small circles on your hip, you weren’t sure what was better: death or having to endure this for the next few hours. Your teeth gritted and your foot found James’ shin, slamming your stiletto heel into his leg. His grunt of pain in your ear was beyond satisfying and he took your message, letting his hands fall slightly so that they were only rested on you in means of supporting you on his lap. James reached to the side to slide your glass to you, filling it with the last of the bottle of wine before putting it in your hands.  You had half the mind to dump the glass on his head but he would likely only make you stay for longer so you refrained, bringing the glass to your lips and drinking.  You kept silent as the conversation began to flow around the table again, James relaxing beneath you as he got accustomed to you settled there.  Across the table, Jeffrey’s confidence began to mount, his hands roaming over the man more intently, his lips parting in ecstasy as he pressed his nose into the man’s cheek. Your stomach churned and you turned your head away, moving on James to shift so that you were sat sideways with your legs rested on the chair leg, your shoulder to his chest in an effort to block out what was surely about to happen across the table from you. He looked down at you with a frown and leaned in to your ear. “Why are you so uncomfortable? I have never seen you like this before.” You wrapped your arms around yourself as James’ hand came to rest on the small of your back to support you in the position you sat in between his legs. “This is revolting.” You hissed.  “What is?” James asked, sounded genuinely concerned and you titled your chin up to look at him.  “Between that freak,” you jerked your head at Jeffrey, “and that pig,” you looked straight ahead, meeting John’s dark gaze that had been fixed on your face for the past few minutes. He smirked as you addressed him. “It’s making me feel physically sick.” You admitted in a whisper, your fingers clutching tightly at your wine that you held at your hip, the glass resting on James’ knee. James hummed in your ear, looking around the table momentarily before whispering back to you: “If that’s the case, I would recommend that you close your eyes for the next few minutes.” Your stomach twisted as you braved a glance across the table, chest tightening as you beheld Jeffrey tracing the tip of a blade across the man’s exposed throat, the silver glinting in the candle light.  Glancing between James and the door, your jaw clenched as you pushed yourself off James, slapping his hands away when he reached out for you.  “Fuck this.” You muttered, grabbing the empty bottle of wine and bringing it down on the edge of the hard wood table, watching in satisfaction as it shattered cleanly. Then you turned away from James, bringing the broken shard of bottle high in the air before slamming it down on John’s hand that was spread out of the table.  Skin split and bone crunched as you cleaved through John’s hand with the sharp, ragged glass with considerable force, twisting in emphasis as you leaned in, savouring his shrieks of pain as you forced the glass into his hand deeper until it scraped against the wood of the table beneath. “Touch me again, and I go for your dick next time.” He panted through gritted teeth as you pulled the end of the bottle out slightly, shards of glass catching in his flesh, before slamming it back down again, watching as John’s face twisted in pain, his hot blood making your hand slick as you let go of the bottle and turned away from the repulsive man.  James had risen to his feet but stepped away from you as you twisted towards him, his eyes flashing in the candle light. You paused slightly as what you could have sworn to be pride shone on his features, his mouth turned up slightly at the corners.  “Thank you for this lovely evening.” You spat at him before turning and making your way around the table, the alcohol you had consumed blurring the edges of your vision ever so slightly, your steps unsteady in your heels. John’s blood dripped down your fingers, covering your hand like a red lace glove as you paused with a thought, halfway between the door and the table. Your neck prickled from the attention of multiple sets of eyes trained on your back and you didn’t let yourself reconsider as you pivoted, stalking for the chair occupied by Jeffrey and his ‘gift’. Jeffrey twisted to look at you, his free hand coming to wrap protectively around the man, his other hand clenched around his knife. You stopped behind his chair and took his wrist, prying the knife from his grip and palming it in your own hand. He stared at you, fear leeching into his eyes as you opened your mouth to speak.  “Even in death you are a retched soul.” You hissed, angling the blade before slipping it between his ribs in one smooth motion. Blood immediately began to pool on the pristine carpet beneath Jeffrey’s chair and he gasped, falling sideways slightly in his seat and sending the drugged man sprawling onto the floor.  Your heart ached as the man grunted softly, his hands trying to find purchase on the carpet to pull himself away from his assailant. But there was no way in hell that you could drag him out of the room and so you backed away from him, wishing him swift, painless death. Jeffrey cried out, his hand reaching for the man on the floor as you flicked your eyes to James, an odd look of amusement etched onto his pale face as you forced yourself to turn from the damage that you had instilled in the room, tearing your eyes from the man on the floor. Walking to the door, the room behind you fell silent as they watched you go. The shutting of the door echoed slightly through the empty hallway as you emerged into the corridor beyond the room, stooping to roughly pull off your heels. The carpet was soft beneath your bare feet as you stormed away from room 64, the silence of the rest of the hotel settling over you and you welcomed it, trying to calm your thundering heart as you hurried down the hall to the elevator, worried that James would follow you and repay the favour now owed for ruining his night. But an odd sense of victory settled over you as you glanced down at your hand, John’s blood crusted beneath your fingernails and between your fingers. Like fuck would you be attending next year. 

[a-butterfly-on-his-tummy]

Our Stars

“Now I need you to teach me.” Harry says with a smirk. “how to make one of those ‘more’ things. Ya know, chocolate, biscuit, marshmallow.” His hands show the different layers as he explains what goes into the sweet treat.

“You mean a s’more?” Giggling I look over at my boyfriend who has a smile upon his face that could light up a pitch black arena. “And it’s not a biscuit. It’s a graham cracker. Did you buy the right ones? Please tell me you did.” Knowing it’s not life or death if he bought a different kind of cracker, I still cross my fingers in my mind as I look into the bag. “Oh thank goodness.”  I say, thankful he did in fact buy the Keebler Honey Graham crackers.

“I’m offended you thought I would pick otherwise. These are the only ones you like. I do know you, darling. Better than you probably think.” His wink makes me blush softly, and I’m ready to teach this Brit how to make a tasty American treat. I prepare two sets of graham crackers, placing chocolate on both before reaching for a marshmallow.

“Alright Curly, grab a ‘mallow, and a stick please.” I say, pushing my white marshmallow onto the metal roaster, poking the end of the spear through the small ball. I watch intently as Harry places the stick between his legs; using his long fingers, he pushes the marshmallow on the skewer, preparing it for the heat.

“Done!” Harry smiles, dimple growing deep in his cheek.

“Okay, now the trick is to not start it on fire. Only crazy people like them that way.” I instruct. “Twirl your stick slowly and the marshmallow will toast lightly.” I twirl my stick watching the fire flicker. “Just like that. Look at you. Master Roaster, here we come.” Harry cackles at my joke and continues to spin his mallow in the heat. “Thank you for doing this. It’s lovely.”

“I thought we needed to celebrate. Do something fun.” Harry says. The backyard of our LA home has been transformed into camping heaven. Harry had worked all day, setting things up and getting them ready for our night under the stars. Back in the corner of the yard, a beautiful fort was built for us to stay the night. The twinkle lights hang from the trees, and the atmosphere screams nothing but romantic. The June air is perfect for a night out with my boyfriend, and I’m loving the privacy of this date.    

“Is it done?” Harry flings the marshmallow towards my face, making me jump in fear of the hot sticky treat.

“Careful.” I chuckle before examining his sweet a little more closely. “I think you win an award! I burnt mine a little.” Pushing out my bottom lip I show my boyfriend the marshmallow on the end of my toaster that is brown with a hint of black.

“Now we build?” Harry hesitates before moving towards his graham cracker and chocolate after I nod my head yes. Placing our marshmallows on the chocolate, we smash the grahams together, creating a sticky sweet treat.

“Cheers!” I say, hitting my creation against his.

“I want to taste yours.” Harry’s mouth is full of food, and it’s the cutest thing I have ever seen.

“Harry, they are the exact same.” I giggle, taking another bite and feeling the graham cracker break under my fingers.

“I need to judge. Make sure I am the best.” Harry shrugs and it makes me give in. Holding out the s’more to my boyfriend, I allow him to take the final bite, finishing my treat off. I place my finger in my mouth, sucking off an extra spot of marshmallow. “Yup, mine is better.” Swatting his chest, I shake my head and move to explore the rest of our campground.

I walk down to the back corner of the yard, taking in the beautiful view of our sleeping arrangements. My boyfriend is so thoughtful, and I love that little details always matter to him. I’ve been missing him as he has been working a lot, and having this moment together really brings me back home.

“I hope it’s okay.” Harry’s arms wrap around my stomach as he whispers softly in my ear.

“It’s perfect.” I whisper back, grabbing his hands in mine. “Thank you. For this.”

“I have something to show you.” Harry pulls me towards the bed. Removing my shoes, I climb onto the bed, pulling the soft blanket over our bodies. Harry reaches to the side and pulls out a remote, bringing to life a projector that displays an image on a sheet hanging between the trees. Harry presses play and brings me close by wrapping his arms around my body.

The music starts playing, and Harry sings along as a slideshow begins. His deep voice gives me goosebumps as he sings a song we both know and love.

Wise men say only fools rush in But I can't help falling in love with you Shall I stay? Would it be a sin If I can't help falling in love with you?

A picture of his birthday party where we met comes on the screen. I am with Abigail as we are talking with Harry and Jeffery. Another of us at the beach. One at the bubble waffle shop in London. The pictures continue and my heart feels warm. So many pictures of our firsts. A picture of the mess we made while baking on our first date, or a picture Jeff must have snapped at the first concert I went to. I love that he included a kiss we thought was sneaky, but Helene was sneakier and snapped one of my favorite pics to date. I enjoy the shots with his family and mine, or on Christmas morning. The day I moved in. So many memories.

“Right there, that’s when I knew.” Harry says, pointing towards the photo of me in his dressing room at his concert in Nashville, Tennessee. Our smiles are cheesy but it’s one of my favorite pictures. It had been about a month since we saw each other in the flesh, and I had convinced Jeff to help me surprise Harry while he was in Tennessee. The look on his face was pure happiness and the reunion sex was blissful. I can feel every emotion I felt that day and it makes my heart feel like it’s about to burst.

“What did you know?” I twist my body to look at his green eyes. His lips capture mine, and the kiss is sweet and tender. The taste of s’mores mingle with his special flavor and my body longs to feel his touch forever.

“That I couldn’t live without you.” He begins, and I know what is coming. My eyes begin to water as he looks at me with so much love. “We had been dating about four months, and I knew in that moment I needed to have you as mine forever. I knew in that moment, I needed you to be the mother of my babies. I knew in that moment that I wanted to share everything with you. Not just the good days. But the bad days too.  I knew right then and there, I wanted you to be my wife.” His eyes don’t hold back, allowing the tears the fall down his cheeks as he rests his forehead against mine. Cupping my cheeks in his hands. “I love you, Elizabeth, more than music, more than being on stage, more than crazy suits, more than kale.” We both chuckle softly through our tears because we both know kale is high on his list. “I love you so much, and I want to be yours forever. I want to be with you through it all, no matter what. I want to share this life with you.” Breaking our bond at our foreheads, Harry reaches to the side of the bed once more, bringing up a small box. Sitting up, I face Harry as I prepare for what’s about to happen. Opening the box, the diamond twinkles slightly from the lights above.

“Elizabeth. My darling. My love. Will you marry me?” Harry is sincere, and I want to kiss away his tears.

Take my hand, take my whole life too For I can't help falling in love with you For I can't help falling in love with you

“Yes.” I say, crying softly as he cups my face in his hands and presses his lips against mine. In a kiss that will bind us forever. “Hey, I love you.” I breathe before he take my lips in his once more.  

“I love you too darling.” Harry kisses me once more, a kiss that is sweet and tender. “Can I put this on?” Harry asks as he rests his nose against mine. I nod my head, excited and nervous at the same time.

Pulling the ring from the box, Harry places it on my finger. My heart is beating like a butterfly’s wings, and I can’t comprehend how gorgeous this ring is.

”Come cuddle.” Harry holds his arms out as he lays back against the pillows. I snuggle in close, wiggling the finger that is wearing my new ring. “I picked this ring because it reminds me of the stars in the sky.” Harry explains, and it melts my heart that he put so much thought into the symbol of our love. “We may spend time apart, because of my job. But I want you to remember, the stars are the same. I will see the same stars as you. Even when I’m across the world.” His statement hits me as I see the star on my hand. “And I will always be there. Just like the stars.”

“I love you.” I say, turning to my fiancé, kissing him deeply, allowing my tongue to run across his bottom lip. “Can we camp like this every year? As a reminder of tonight?” I breathe in his scent and it makes me feel calm.

“I think that’s a good idea. Camping in the backyard! Every June!” Harry says with a little more excitement than expected.

“We might have to buy a real tent though.” I giggle, looking around at the beautiful, but not practical, fort around us.

“I think we can arrange that.” Harry smiles and I kiss his nose before cuddling down in his arms.

“Can we watch the slideshow again? I was a bit distracted by BECOMING YOUR FIANCÉ!!” I feel the need to scream it to the world.

“Yes, let’s watch our love grow and bloom before our eyes.” Harry says, causing us both to chuckle at his cheesy comment. Snuggling in close to each other, we watch the video of the last year and a half, soaking up the memories, ands I know I couldn’t help falling in love with H

A/N: I appreciate @whoopsharrystyles more than she will ever know! I hope she can feel my love and know that she means the world to me.

Read NOW on Wattpad!!

[kbrown78]

Yearly Wrap Up: 2018

Sorry this post is so late, it took awhile to get all the information I needed and I kept going back and forth on the format I wanted to do for this post, but I finally have an end result I am happy with. In this post I will be going over all the books I read in 2018, all the stats, completion of 2018 reading goals as well as 2019 reading goals. Also fair warning, this is going to be a long post. So to begin with I'll talk about my 2018 reading goals and of I was able to accomplish them. This year was the first year that I did the Goodreads Challenge, I thought it would be good to see how many books I could read in a year. My initial goal was 50 books and I ended up reading 80 books, so I was definitely able to tackle my Goodreads goal. Unfortunately that was the only reading challenge I was able to finish. One of my reading resolutions for 2018 was to finish a reading challenge and I did that with the Goodreads one, but I also did the PopSugar 2018 Reading Challenge. That one provided a large number of reading prompts that I hoped would help expand the genre of the books I was reading (which was another reading resolution of mine) and of the 50 prompts I was only able to complete 34, which is not bad, it's more than half, but I still wanted to complete all of them. As I mentioned I wanted to expand the genre of books that I read, since I mostly read YA fantasy, and I do think I achieved that goal by trying to read more adult fantasy, science fiction, different fantasy sub genre's, and a few books in other genres, but I will go more into that when I do a break down of all the books I read this year. I also wanted to go to more book events and that did not really happen. I only went to 1 this year and the rest I was unable to go to for various reasons, so I need to get better with planning in order to go to more events this year. I did want to be more active in the book community and I definitely think I achieved that, with providing regular posts and book reviews. I was originally going to do a channel on YouTube but I suck with editing software and I honestly prefer writing. Finally my #1 resolution for 2018 was to tackle all the books in my physical TBR, with books from 2017 and 2018, I was able to narrow down my overflowing basket to just 5 books. Since I now have a rule where I have to read 10 books before I buy a new one (holiday's are an exception) I'll probably have the rest of those books read by the end of 2019, so that all new books in my TBR pile will all be from 2019. Now that I've summarized my status on all my reading goals for 2018, I'm now going to start going into the actual books. I'll begin by listing all the books I've read and putting them in different groups based on their star ratings. Then I'm going to go into the statistics of all the books, like genre, authors, status, and other things.

Ratings:

5 Star Books: These are without a doubt my favorite books of the year, the cream of the crop, and some of them are possibly my new favorite books or series of all time. 

A Natural History of Dragons (Memoirs of Lady Trent #1) by Marie Brennan, The Tropic of Serpents (Memoirs of Lady Trent) by Marie Brennan, The Tethered Mage (Swords and Fire #1) by Melisa Caruso, The Defiant Heir (Swords and Fire #2) by Melisa Caruso, East by Edith Pattou, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu, Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) by Seanan McGuire, Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3) by Seanan McGuire, The Star Touched Queen (Star Touched Queen #1) by Roshani Chokshi, Crown of Wishes (Star Touched Queen #2) by Roshani Chokshi, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers     

4.5 Star Books: These are the books that I did really love and couldn't find much fault with but I couldn't fully connect to the story (would still recommend all).

A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers #2) by Becky Chambers, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire #1) by C.J. Redwine, The Voyage of the Basilisk (Memoirs of Lady Trent #3) by Marie Brennan, Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1) by Seanan McGuire, The Call by Peadar O'Guilin, Robots vs Fairies

4 Star Books: This one is a bit split because some are books that are solidly 4 stars and lean more toward the 4.5 star rating, and other were saved by a fantastic ending from a 3.5 star rating. There are things that could have been improved on within the story but overall I enjoyed reading all of them.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2) by Seanan McGuire, Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi, Vivian Apple at the End of the World (Vivian Apple #1) by Katie Coyle, A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle #1), Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2) by Sara Raasch, Frost Like Night (Snow Like Ashes #3) by Sara Raasch, Uppity Women Speak Their Minds by Vicki Leon, Invisible Planets translated by Ken Liu, In the Labyrinth of Drakes (Memoirs of Lady Trent #4) by Marie Brennan, Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (Harry Potter #1) by J.K Rowling, Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs, Code Name Verity (Code Name Verity #1) by Elizabeth Wein, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan

3.5 Star Books: This is a bit of an unusual rating because it usually means that I was expecting to be disappoint by these books, and while there were still issues that I couldn't ignore, I surprisingly enjoyed.

The Registry (The Registry #1) by Shannon Stoker, Caliban's War (The Expanse #2) by James S.A. Corey, Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes #1) by Sara Raasch, You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero, The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

3 Star Books: These were books that I thought were decent, but they had flaws in them that I was unable to over look.

A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas, Walk on Earth a Stranger (Gold Seer #1) by Rae Carson, Like a River Glorious (Gold Seer #2) by Rae Carson, Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha) by Tomi Adeyemi, An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard, After: 19 Stories of Dystopian and Apocalypse, Illuminae (The Illuminae Files) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renee Ahdieh, Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Red Sister  (Book of the Ancestor #1) by Mark Lawerence, Sabriel (The Abhorsen #1) by Garth Nix, Monstress Volume 3: The Blood by Marjorie Liu, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski

2.5 Star Books: These are books that I had a lot of issues with but were redeemable enough that I would still give them a try.

The Collection (The Registry #2) by Shannon Stoker, Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake, Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #3) by Laini Taylor, The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch #1) by Rin Chupeco

2 Star Books: These are books that I had lot of issues with but it didn't upset me enough to make me want to quit it. These books and downward I personally wouldn't recommend reading, but that's just my opinion.

Princesses Behaving Badly by Linda Rodrigez McRobbie, Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) by Laini Taylor, Vivian Apple Needs a Miracle (Vivian Apple #2) by Katie Coyle, The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Trilogy #1) by Patrick Ness, Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey, Bitterblue (Graceling #3) by Kristin Cashore, Sandry's Book (Circle of Magic #1) by Tamora Pierce, Lirael (Abhorsen #2) by Garth Nix, Torn (The Unraveled Kingdom #1) by Rowena Miller, Into the Bright Unknown (Gold Seer #3) by Rae Carson, Front Lines by Michael Grant, American God's by Neil Gaiman, The Falconer (The Falconer #1) by Elizabeth May  

1 Star Books: These, sadly, are the bottom of the barrel. I had a hard time finding good qualities with these books and some of them I got so frustrated by I ended up quiting them.

The Wicked and the Divine Volume 1: The Faust Act, Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by Victoria Schwab, Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1) by Susan Dennard, Rebel Angels (Gemma Doyle #2) (DNF) by Libba Bray, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides, Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Veroncia Rossi, The Library at Mount Char (DNF) by Scott Hawkins, Daughters of the Storm (Blood and Gold #1) (DNF) by Kim Wilkins, The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan, Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1)(DNF) by Ann Leckie (I didn't hate this book, it was just too weird and confusing to carry on)

Statistics:

This is the part where I'll break down authors (gender and ethnicity), status (finished or not finished, companion, stanalone, special cases), and genre of the books.

AUTHORS: (Not counting anthologies with multiple authors, also series counts as one)  

Male: 16

Female: 42

White: 48

POC: 10

STATUS:  

Finished (If the book was part of a series that ended than had a companion series follow it, I'm still counting that as a finished series, also I'm counting anything 2 or more books as a series): 8 (A Court of Thorns and Roses, Gold Seer, Monsters of Verity, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Vivian Apple, Snow Like Ashes, Ignite Me)

Unfinished and Completed (Unfinished means that I haven't finished reading the series, uncompleted means that all the books in the series haven't been released yet): 12 (Gemma Doyle (won't be completing), The Knife of Never Letting Go (won't be completing), The Wrath and the Dawn (won't be completing), The Facloner (won't be completing), Under the Never Sky (won't be completing), Abhorsen, Memoirs of Lady Trent, Imperial Radch (won't be completing), Harry Potter, Front Lines (won't be completing), The Registry, Circle of Magic (won't be completing))

Unfinished and Uncompleted: 10 (Legacy of Orisha, The Witchlands (won't be completing), The Bone Witch (won't be completing), The Expanse, Swords and Fire, Book of the Ancestor (won't be completing), The Unraveled Kingdoms, Three Dark Crowns (won't be completing), October Daye, Blood and Gold (won't be completing))

Companion series: 8 (Wayfarers, Wayward Children, Star Touched Queen, The Illuminae Files, Code Name Verity, Graceling, Nightfall, Ravenspire)

Stand Alone (includes non fiction): 13 (Princesses Behaving Badly, Beauty Queens, An Unkindness of Magicians, Uprooted, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Uppity Women Speak Their Minds, The Virgin Suicides, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, You Are A Badass, The Library at Mount Char, American Gods, The Red Tent, The Legend of Holly Claus)

Anthologies/ Short Story Collections: 6 (After: 19 Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Robots Vs Fairies, Invisible Planets, Tales of the Peculiar, The Language of Thorns)

Comics/ Graphic Novels: 2 (Monstress Vol 3: The Blood and the Wicked and the Divine Vol 1: The Faust Act)

Special cases (Special cases are for books that I'm leaving as a self contained standalone even though they have a sequel): 2 (East by Edith Pattou, The Call by Peadar O'Guilin)

GENRE: I'm going based off of where these books are shelved in stores, even if I don't agree with some of them.

YA: 44

Adult: 33

Fantasy: 42 (A Court of Wings and Ruin (Epic fantasy/ Romance)(YA), Every Heart a Doorway (Portal fantasy/ Contemporary fantasy/ Mystery)(A), Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Gothic fantasy/ Mythic fantasy)(A), Beneath the Sugar Sky (Portal fantasy)(A), Walk on Earth a Stranger (Historical fantasy)(YA), Like a River Glorious (Historical fantasy/ Romance)(YA), Into the Bright Unknown (Historical fantasy/ Romance)(YA), A Crown of Wishes (Epic fantasy)(YA), Day's of Blood and Starlight (Epic fantasy/ Portal fantasy)(YA), Dreams of God's and Monsters (Portal fantasy/ Epic fantasy)(YA), Children of Blood and Bone (Epic fantasy)(YA), Truthwitch (Epic fantasy/ Romance), A Great and Terrible Beauty (Historical fantasy/ Portal fantasy)(YA), Rebel Angels (Historical fantasy/ Portal fantasy/ Romance)(YA), The Bone Witch (Epic fantasy/ Romance) (YA), The Wrath and the Dawn (Retelling/ Romance/ Historical fantasy)(YA), East (Retelling/ Historical fantasy/ Romance)(YA), The Falconer (Historical fantasy, Steampunk, Romance)(YA), Uprooted (Epic fantasy/ Retelling)(A), Tales of the Peculiar (Fairy tales/ Short stories)(YA), The Tethered Mage (Epic fantasy/ Mystery)(A), The Defiant Heir (Epic fantasy)(A), The Library at Mount Char (Urban fantasy), Circle of Magic: Sandry's Book (Children's fantasy)(YA), Sabriel (Epic fantasy/ Gothic fantasy)(YA), Lirael (Epic fantasy/ Gothic fantasy)(YA), The Star Touched Queen (Retelling/ Romance/ Epic fantasy)(YA), Nightfall (Thriller/ Low fantasy)(YA), Monstress (Epic fantasy/ Horror/ Comic)(A), The Wicked and the Divine (Urban fantasy/ Mythology/ Comic)(YA), Torn (Romance/ Epic fantasy)(A), Three Dark Crowns (Epic fantasy/ Gothic fantasy/ Romance)(YA), Rosemary and Rue (Urban fantasy/ Mystery)(A), A Natural History of Dragons (Fantasy of Manners)(A), The Tropic of Serpents (Fantasy of Manners)(A), The Voyage of the Basilisk (Fantasy of Manners)(A), In the Labyrinth of Drakes (Romance/ Fantasy of Manners)(A), American Gods (Urban fantasy)(A), Daughters of the Storm (Epic fantasy)(A), The Shadow Queen (Retelling)(YA), The Legend of Holly Claus (Juevnile fantasy)(YA), The Language of Thorns (Retelling/ Short Stories)(YA)  

Science Fiction: 10 (The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Soft SF)(A), A Closed and Common Orbit (Soft SF/ Biopunk)(A), Record of a Spaceborn Few (Soft SF/ Generation Ships)(A), Leviathan Wakes (Space Opera/ Crime Noir/ Alien Invasion)(A), Caliban's War (Space Opera/ Alien Invasion)(A), Invisible Planets (Anthologies/ Translated/ Soft SF/ Hard SF)(A), Ancillary Justice (Hard SF/ Space Opera)(A), Under the Never Sky (Survival/ Romance)(YA), The Knife of Never Letting Go (Survival/ Alien)(YA), Illuminae (Survival/ Soft SF/ Cyberpunk)(YA)  

Science Fantasy: 3 (contains magic and technology): 3 (The Paper Menagerie (Short stories)(A), Robots vs Fairies (Anthologies)(A), Red Sister (Grim dark fantasy/ Epic fantasy)(A))  

Dystopian/ Post Apocalypse: 8 (survival's the name of the game): Our Dark Duet (urban fantasy/ post apocalyptic)(YA), Vivian Apple at the End of the World (Contemporary/ apocalyptic)(YA), Vivian Apple Needs a Miracle (Contemporary/ apocalyptic)(YA), After (Anthology/ dystopian/ apocalyptic), The Registry (Dystopia/ Action)(YA), The Collection (Dystopia)(YA), Ignite Me (Dystopian/ Science fiction/ Romance)(YA), The Call (Contemporary fantasy/ Portal fantasy/ Horror/ Apocalyptic)(YA))

Literary Fiction (lacks magic or new technology): 6 (Beauty Queens (Contemporary/ Satire)(YA), Code Name Verity (Historical fiction)(YA), Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Philosophical fiction)(A), The Virgin Suicides (Contemporary)(A), Front Lines (Alternate history/ historical)(YA), The Red Tent (Historical/ Biblical fiction)(A), The Giving Tree (Poetry)(YA))  

Non Fiction: 4 (Princesses Behaving Badly, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, Uppity Women Speak Their Minds, You Are a Badass)

2019 Goals:

I did a T5W outlining my 2019 reading goals, and I promised I would talk about them more in this post. So I'm going to conclude my Yearly Wrap Up post by discussing what I hope to accomplish in my 2019 reading year. For starters I have a goal that I'm carrying over from 2018 and that is to read a wider genre of books. I wanted to accomplish this last year, but going into 2019 I have a better idea of what specific genre's I would like to try more of. This year I really started to transition from YA fantasy to Adult fantasy, but I haven't given up on YA yet. I want to try some YA contemporary and magical realism, but as of right now I only have specific picks in mind for this. I want to read more historical fiction and historical fantasy, like the Golem and the Jinni. I enjoy reading about settings from different time periods, especially if they have magical elements, I just need to be careful about finding books that don't get heavy handed with a crappy romance. I want to read more science fiction, specifically Adult Science fiction, since I haven't come across a YA science fiction that intrigues me. I'm sill trying to learn what exactly I like in science fiction, but I know I like character driven stories, like Becky Chamber's series. I knew I would like to attempt the New Weird and Hard science fiction genre's but at the same time I'm a little intimidated by them. I also want to get back into literary fiction, including adult dystopian's and classics. I used to have no problem reading classics and would read 1 or 2 a month, then I just got burned out by it, but I want to pick up that genre again. In terms of fantasy, I still expect that to be the genre that I read the most of put there are still some things I would like out of 2019. I've already said that I'm leaning more toward Adult fantasy and wanting to read more historical fantasy, but I would also like to read more fantasy standalone's. That's something I wanted to do in 2018 but sadly did not find any new ones that I really loved. I also want to read more anthologies or short story collections, in any genre really, because that was something that I discovered that I really liked in 2018 and want more of. The next reading goal I want to accomplish in 2019 is to complete is to finish at least 5 series. For this I'm counting anything that is 3 books or more as a series. I finished 7 series in 2018 but 2 of those were duologies, and I feel like those are super easy to finish. There are several series that I started I won't be completing or the series isn't completed yet. Fortunately most of the series that aren't completed yet I already know I'm not going to continue, and the rest are either being completed this year or have a large number of books that I need to get through for me to catch up with the series. With that being said there are at least 3 series that I will definitely be finishing this year: the Memoirs of Lady Trent, The Registry, and the Swords and Fire series, and I have also already completed one series, so this is goal I can definitely tackle by the end of the year, maybe even half way through the year.  Something else I want to accomplish this year was to go to at least two book events, but that's going to be difficult to do. Most of the bigger book events or conventions, are over 8 hours away. I could also attend book signing events but all of the others that I want signatures from are either not doing events or are doing ones not within a close driving distance for me. That might change as the year progresses, but for now I'm not expecting to be able to accomplish this goal and will instead invest my time in completing a reading challenge, which I was not able to accomplish this year. Another goal for 2019 is to read more diverse books. I want to read more books with POC people as POV characters, or disabled characters, or on the LGBTQ spectrum. I think I've been progressively getting better about that over the years but where I really want to focus on is more diverse authors. As you can see from the statistics section my reading from last year was heavily skewed toward white authors. I want to change that and work toward at least having more POC authors, and almost all the brand new books on my TBR pile are from POC authors and I'm excited to get to most of them (although all authors I've read this year so far are Caucasian). I would also like to read more books by authors that are diverse in other ways beside their ethnicity but it's more difficult to identify those things. Like last year there's only a few couple authors that I'm pretty sure qualify in that way, but I'm not absolutely sure. My final reading major reading goal of 2019 is to get through half of my reread TBR pile. About half way through last year, I decided to go through all my books that I hadn't tabbed and reread them. I wanted to do this for a few reasons. I have a small bookshelf and large container and that's about all the room I have for books, including my non fiction ones. As I read more new books and find new series that I enjoy, that means that there will need to be more room. So rereading books will hopefully help me be able to tell which books I should keep and which ones I should give away. I also want to reread all these books in order to better review them and have a fresh opinion of them. At the beginning of this year I have about 50 books, and I know I'm not going to get through them all this year, so I set a more realistic goal with tackling half of my TBR which would be about 25 books. The last thing I want to talk about is the reading challenge's I'm currently participating in. On Goodreads I have set the yearly amount of books I read to 50. That was my goal last year, and I ended up reading 80 books, so I think setting it at 50 again is something I can manage. I'm also doing the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge, which I tried to do last year but failed to complete. How I want to accomplish that this year is by always reading a book that is can be applied to one of the prompts, that way I'm knocking out these prompts as quickly as possible. The last reading challenge I'm doing is a group on Goodreads called The Reading Frenzy, which I joined toward the end of last year. They have several monthly reading challenges, but this year it has been announced that every month there will be a pick my TBR Reading Challenge, which means every month you will be randomly matched with a person, and will pick one book for the other to read that month. I look forward to doing this, just because I like that random element to it, and this will help my slim down my Goodreads TBR (as long as I can get a physical copy of the book). So that sums up my 2018 reading year as well as what all I hope to accomplish in 2019. I look froward to it, and hopefully it's going to be a good year for everyone.  

Thank You Everyone

Keep Calm and Keep Reading

[skye-penderwick]

So there I was, scrolling through tumblr and I see a random prompt list and instead of, you know, working on my other WIPs, I latched onto the prompt of “my guitarist quit the night before the gig and supposedly you’re really good” but of course I changed that up. A lot. And here we are.

(Ngl also slightly inspired by Spider-Man 3 cause that’s literally all I could visualize during this)

“What do you mean we have a new singer?”

Jeffery looked over at the guy who would be playing the string bass that night.

“What happened to Sidney?”

“She got sick and had to cancel. But she called in to a friend apparently and found a replacement.”

Jeffery sighed. “I guess that’ll have to do. She’s not one of the dramatic types that changes the set every few seconds is she? Cause then we’re going to have issues.”

“I don’t think so.” Keenan shrugged. “I’m not really sure. Sidney just said that she was really talented and was up to try singing here.”

“Wait. Are you telling me she hasn’t sung at a jazz club before?”

“No. I haven’t.”

Jeffery turned to look at the small girl who had just entered the club. She looked up at him, daring him to dismiss her.

He cleared his throat. “Um excuse me, but how old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

He blinked. He hadn’t expected her to be that young, although Sidney was only twenty. “Alright then. What’s your name and how do you know Sidney?”

“I’m Elizabeth and Sidney and I took music lessons together a few years ago. We kept in touch once she graduated high school.”

He nodded. “Alright then. Well this is Keenan, Henry, and Michelle who goes by Mick. I’m Jeffery. Would you like to join us for soundcheck?”

Elizabeth nodded, her dark hair swinging around her as she walked over to the side of the stage.

“Sidney sent me the set list after I told her I would cover for her. I looked it over but is there anything else you want me to do?”

Keenan, and the brass duo of Mick and Henry, looked at Jeffery.

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Sid usually stores her music in the cubby that’s in the second column, third from the bottom.”

Elizabeth nodded and scanned the cubby area grabbing the music when she found it.

“There’s also stands over there if you want to set it down. Singers don’t usually have stands but seeing as you’re covering last minute and never sang in a jazz club before, you’re more than welcome to use one tonight.”

Elizabeth grabbed a stand and placed it slightly to the right of the mic, close enough to reference it if need be but far away enough that it could be ignore if she wished, a subtle way of letting Jeffery know that she didn’t need it but was humoring him anyway.

While she adjusted her mic, Jeffery looked at the rest of the small ensemble trying to gauge their opinions.

Mick and Henry stood next to each other, holding their horns and looking at their music, but still whispering. Knowing them, Jeffery figured they were sizing Elizabeth up and betting if she was as good as she thought she was.

Keenan caught Jeffery’s eye and the two shared a silent conversation, both wondering how Elizabeth was going to do in Sidney’s role and if she was the drama queen they both feared.

He looked back to the center of the stage to see Elizabeth looking at him.

Jeffery swallowed. “Let’s begin.”

He made eye contact with the others and counted off with a nod of his head.

The four instrumentalists began the first piece, their usual opener since few were in the club when they would begin playing.

Jeffery looked over at Elizabeth as her cue was coming. She gripped the microphone and looked to the empty seating area as if it was already full of people. And then she began to sing.

If Jeffery didn’t already have this song nearly memorized, he was sure he would’ve royally screwed up. As it was, he heard Keenan play a wrong note and Henry cut out for a beat or two.

Her voice was beautiful: rich and full. Jeffery could tell that she was more of a Broadway singer than jazz but the untrained ear would never know. Her voice captured all the emotion behind the piece yet fit perfectly into the mix of instruments behind her, not washing them out but taking her place as just another member.

They finished and the group looked at her. Elizabeth saw all the eyes on her when they didn’t go right into the next song. She blushed and stared at her feet.

“Are you sure you’ve never played in a jazz club before?” asked Jeffery.

“I wasn’t allowed to until after I graduated high school,” she murmured.

“Well I can say for all of us, that that was really impressive.” The other members nodded. “Let’s finish our warmup shall we?”

They continued through, spot checking their set list and making sure Elizabeth knew what to expect.

“Alright guys.” Jeffery checked his watch. “We have twenty minutes until the club opens up and we start playing for an audience. Do whatever you need to before then. Eat. Use the bathroom. Grab a bottle of water. I’ll see you guys back up here in fifteen.”

The group dispersed into the little club, doing whatever each one needed to do.

Jeffery remained on his piano bench and pulled out his phone.

Hey Dad. Are we in need of any more singers?

A minute or two later he got a response.

Not in any desperate need but it might be nice so Sid and Layla don’t need to play as much. Why?

Sid called in sick today and had a friend of hers come in instead. She’s pretty talented and depending on how tonight goes I was thinking of offering her a full-time spot.

Send me a video of her performing and I’ll think about it.

Jeffery closed his phone and looked around the little club. His dad owned it and Jeffery had played here since he was a teenager. They brought in outside musical acts every once in a while, but also had musicians employed by the club to play most nights. The groups shifted around and there was usually a new combination of people playing each night. Adding in Elizabeth would help ease the stress on the singers, if she did well in front of an audience and wanted to sing here regularly that is.

The rest of the band returned and messed around with their instruments. Jeffery checked his watch. One minute till six.

He made eye contact with each person on the stage and nodded as they all got into position to play.

He counted off and they began, playing for an empty room that slowly began to fill.

They played their first set and took their first ten minute break. They would play a set for roughly a half hour, break, and then repeat the process until eleven when the club would close. They would put on a background track of music until the live performers would start again.

It was during this first break when Jeffery walked over to Keenan.

“I need a favor.”

Keenan gave him a side look while he drank his water.

“I need you to get a small clip of Elizabeth singing tonight.”

Keenan looked at him. “Why?”

Jeffery sighed. “Because I suggested hiring her to my dad and he needs clip of her singing. I don’t ever stop playing so my best option is having you do it.”

He smiled. “Okay.” Jeffery handed over his phone and went back to sit on the bench.

They began their second set which went much like the first, except now they had a nearly full audience and a steady stream coming in and out.

During their second break, Jeffery walked over to Keenan who smiled and handed his phone back.

“I hope this is good and I hope your dad makes the right choice. Personally, I’m in favor of Elizabeth joining.”

Jeffery agreed. She had gotten more comfortable during the second set and began to do her own spin on the songs that they played, fitting in well with the rest of the group.

He returned once more to his seat and sent the video to his dad. He turned off his notifications and set his phone on top of the piano and looked out over the crowd.

His eye caught a woman just walking in. She wore a white blouse and black skirt, bright against the dim scenery. Her blonde hair was slightly messy but it didn’t seem she cared.

She was gorgeous and Jeffery watched her as she made her way through the club and took a seat in the middle of the second row. She smiled at something ahead of her and Jeffery wished he knew at what.

This was the one problem with playing: he saw so many people come in and out and he never got to speak to them, unless they were regulars or made a point to talk to him. This woman, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, would just be another nameless face he would never know the story behind.

A throat cleared and startled Jeffery and he glanced around to see Elizabeth and the rest of the band looking at him, waiting for him to count them off.

He shook his head and began the next set, but his eyes kept drifting to the blonde woman as he played. She sat there and intently watched Elizabeth as she sang, a faint smile appearing when Elizabeth took the chance to highlight how good of a singer she was.

Most patrons at the jazz club stayed for about a set and a half, possibly two, so when the woman didn’t leave after their fifth set, he was surprised.

Keenan slid onto the bench next to him. “So what has you so distracted tonight?”

“What?”

“Dude. You’ve been out of it the last couple sets. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve been present this whole time.”

“Sure you have. It’s not like you’ve been staring at that blonde girl the moment she walked in.”

Jeffery gaped at the man sitting next to him. “No, I haven’t.”

Keenan stood up and patted his back. “Yes, you have. And if she is still here by the time we finish playing, you’d better talk to her.”

Jeffery watched as Keenan returned to his place on the stage and picked up his bass.

He looked back at the woman who sat in the audience as she put down her phone and waited for the new set to start.

Even though Keenan said to go talk to her, Jeffery knew that chances of her staying that late were slim, so he put that brief conversation out of his mind and focused on playing once more.

The time drifted by and it neared the eleventh hour. The band wrapped up their last song, and Elizabeth thanked the remainder of the audience. Some people left and others stayed waiting for their checks to arrive.

Keenan, Mick, and Henry all went about putting their instruments away as Jeffery checked his phone for the first time in a few hours.

He had received a reply from his father.

She’s incredible. Feel free to offer her a spot.

He smiled and looked up from his phone only to see that Elizabeth had disappeared.

He made eye contact with Keenan who mouthed “blonde” at him.

What?

Oh right. The blonde woman had stayed the rest of the night and Jeffery was supposed to go talk to her. His thoughts of needing to find Elizabeth had caused the other woman to vanish from his mind completely.

He looked around to see her still sitting at her table.

Keenan clapped his hand on Jeffery’s shoulder.

“Go talk to her man. I expect to hear about it tomorrow. Have a good night.”

And with that Keenan was off and Jeffery left with the daunting task of walking up to a person and talking to them.

He glanced around and still couldn’t see Elizabeth anywhere. He sighed and made his way off the stage towards where the blonde woman sat.

He was a few tables away when she stood.

Jeffery then caught sight of Elizabeth meeting the woman and the two of them smiling at one another.

“Um, excuse me Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth turned to look and him as well as the blonde woman. He was close enough to see that her eyes were bright blue and seemed as if they stared into his soul.

He cleared his throat. “You sang phenomenally tonight, Elizabeth. My father is the owner of this jazz club and on his behalf I would like to offer you a job as one of our singers.”

Elizabeth gaped at him as if she didn’t understand what he was saying.

The silence between them became long when the blonde woman spoke up. “Batty, this man just offered you a job. What are you going to say?”

“Batty?” Jeffery glanced between the two of them.

His voice seemed to snap Elizabeth out of her trance. She glared at the blonde woman. “My name is Elizabeth.” She turned back to Jeffery smiling. “I’d love to work here. Thank you for the opportunity.”

“You deserve it. You’re incredibly talented. Come back here tomorrow around four and we can figure out the terms of your employment.”

Elizabeth was now beaming. “Thank you! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

She turned back to the blonde and then immediately focused back to Jeffery.

“I’m so stupid. Jeffery, this is my sister Skye. Skye, this is Jeffery the guy who played the piano.”

Skye stuck out her hand. “Pleased to meet you and excuse my little sister’s poor manners.”

“Hey!”

Jeffery laughed and shook her hand. “They’re excused. Are you a jazz fan yourself?”

“Me? No. I don’t have a musical bone in my body. I came here tonight because Batty needs a ride home and I wanted to make sure no creeps followed her out.”

“I sincerely hope I’m not on the creep list them seeing as though I did kind of follow her.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. On second thought, you now are on the list,” her eyes narrowing although she smiled a little. “I’ll interrogate you later after I hear Batty’s report.”

“Hey. I’m right here!”

He looked at the two sisters.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “At home my nickname is Batty and that’s what my family calls me. Professionally, I go by my full name, Elizabeth. Someone routinely forgets that,” she said with a pointed look at Skye.

Her sister shrugged. “Sorry. Force of habit. Besides if you did get kidnapped, Batty is much more unique.”

Jeffery couldn’t help but smile. “I have to say, I am with Skye on this one. Batty is better.”

Skye now grinned and looked at her sister. “See? I’m right. Like always.”

Elizabeth/Batty rolled her eyes. “Yeah right. He’s just agreeing with you because he thinks you’re pretty.”

Jeffery and Skye both stared open-mouthed at her.

“I-I don’t –“

“He doesn’t – “

They both looked at each other and looked away as they made eye contact.

“Skye just give him your number and Jeffery ask her out. You know that’s what you both want to do.” She looked between the two of them and shrugged. “Oh well. I’ll just give you Skye’s number when I see you tomorrow. Goodnight!”

And with that Elizabeth/Batty pulled a dumbfounded Skye towards the door.

Jeffery watched them go and then blinked a few to times to realize what was going on.

He hurried out the door to find them a few yards down the street.

“Wait!”

The two of them stopped as Jeffery caught to them.

“You don’t seem like the kind of girl who wants to get asked out so here’s my number and text me when you feel like it.” He handed Skye a piece of paper and watched as she put it in her pocket.

She swallowed and looked up at him. “Thanks.”

With that she turned around and began walking away. Elizabeth/Batty winked at him before following and Jeffery made his way back to the club to lock up.

He heard a gleeful cry of “He nailed your personality!” and harsh shush behind him and looked back to see Skye staring at him as they turned the corner.

Maybe he would have something to tell Keenan tomorrow.

[desertshake9-blog]

The Linc - Nick Foles to the Jaguars for Leonard Fournette?

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

2019 NFL Mock Draft: Jaguars trade Leonard Fournette for Nick Foles, Bengals replace Andy Dalton - CBS Sports One problem here: I don’t think the Jags are going to give up No. 7 overall in exchange for Nick Foles. You could work out a deal where the Jags send No. 7 and No. 69 to the Eagles for Foles, No. 26 and No. 54 (the trade value basically makes Foles worth the 28th overall pick, which is probably a reasonably fair swap), but Jacksonville is going to likely lose high-end, expensive talent to free agency as a result of salary-cap issues. Jacksonville would like to use the seventh pick to either replace the talent or to secure another young quarterback for the long haul. How about we make both front offices happy instead? The Jaguars can send Leonard Fournette -- their former top pick and a very talented player who has struggled with injuries and hasn’t meshed well with the front office -- to the Eagles for Foles and a throw-in pick down the road. There are some contractual issues here that might hold things up on both ends. Foles is either going to have his option picked up or will be given the franchise tag and traded. So he won’t be cheap. Fournette isn’t cheap either -- he has a top-10 salary over the next two years at the running back position. Philly might not be willing to spend at the position, but Fournette is a better pass catcher than he gets credit for, and he could excel in Doug Pederson’s scheme. The Eagles were at their best with LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi running downhill.

2019 NFL Mock Draft Roundup: Eagles add interior pass rush - BGN Six out of nine picks are linemen. We all know the Eagles are not shy to invest premium resources in the trenches.

Offseason Talk - Iggles Blitz There is a feeling in the Tampa media that the Bucs could cut DE Vinny Curry and/or DT Beau Allen. Hmm. The Bucs are expected to play more of a 3-4 under Todd Bowles. That could make both guys expendable. If so, the Eagles could talk to one or both about coming back to add depth to the DL. While both players loved their time in Philly, price would be an issue. While neither player had a good season, they aren’t likely to come crawling back to the Eagles for peanuts. They’d want reasonable money. Keep an eye on this.

Projecting which Eagles player is next to make the Pro Bowl - NBCSP Alshon Jeffery: His last Pro Bowl appearance was in 2013 when he was still with the Bears, but Jeffery clearly has the talent of a Pro Bowler, although his numbers in his first two seasons with the Eagles have been modest. In the two years, he’s averaged 61 catches, 816 yards and 7.5 touchdowns per season. Another year like that and he won’t be a Pro Bowler. But he played through a torn rotator cuff in 2017 and then missed three games to start 2018 because of it. If he can stay healthy and play a full season with a healthy Carson Wentz, there’s a good chance he could take a spot in the annual All-Star showcase.

1-On-1: Joe Douglas - PE.com Vice President of Player Personnel Joe Douglas joins Fran Duffy at the Senior Bowl to discuss what he’s seen from some of the nation’s top college prospects and what he’s looking for from this year’s stellar crop of underclassmen.

10 Biggest Winners Of Senior Bowl Week - The Draft Network 1. Penny Hart, WR, Georgia State. Nobody went from as unknown to as intriguing as Penny Hart, who eviscerated defensive backs for three straight days during practices. I called him my biggest winner of the week on the Draft Dudes podcast, and nothing has changed even though he had a quieter Senior Bowl game — his roster was filled with slot receivers.

Best of Senior Bowl week: QB rankings, NFL draft risers, biggest takeaways, more - ESPN In$ider Which prospects’ draft stock rose the most this week? Montez Sweat, DE, Mississippi State. At 6-6 and 252 pounds, Sweat is an explosive speed rusher who is strong enough to go through offensive tackles and athletic enough to work the weave when they take away the edge. He is on the leaner and lighter side for a defensive end, yet he’s stout setting the edge against the run. He gets off the ball, he shoots his hands inside and he has the length (35⅝-inch arms) to keep blockers off his frame.

Bang for their Bucs: Wide Receiver, DeSean Jackson - Bucs Nation One could argue Jackson gave up on his team. There were times where it certainly appeared that way on the field, and on Instagram. However, looking at some of the usage numbers compared to the way other teams use receivers of similar talents, and maybe you can start to understand why he was so frustrated. Without stepping into the locker room, it’s hard to know exactly why his numbers became skewed in the way they did. No matter how you slice it, Jackson had more targets 20-yards or more downfield than he did 10-yards and less. For a receiver facing off coverage as much as Jackson does, those numbers shouldn’t be like that. Was it Winston? Was it Koetter? Was it Monken? We don’t know. I’d love to have Jackson on the Locked on Bucs podcast to discuss it - honestly and openly - but I don’t know that he feels there’s anything worth talking about. For now, we have the numbers and our perceptions.

Valentine’s Views: The Kansas City Plan sounds like a winner - Big Blue View I have suspected for a while that the New York Giants would like to emulate that plan, and a report Saturday evening by Paul Schwartz of the New York Post confirms that “More and more, this appears to be the scenario about to unfold for the Giants.” There is a lot to unpack from Schwartz’s report. The upshot, though, is that if Schwartz is correct — and as well-connected as the veteran Post writer is there is no reason to doubt his reporting at all — Manning will be back in 2019. A highly-drafted heir apparent could well be alongside him. If the Giants can find that guy.

Cowboys’ in-house OC search only shines brighter light on one of the biggest indictments of Jason Garrett’s tenure - SportsDay The addition of Jon Kitna means there have been 19 coaches to work under Garrett on the offensive side of the ball in his eight full seasons as head coach. Name the assistants who have left his staff to oversee the offense of another NFL team. None. Former wide receivers coach Derek Dooley is currently the coordinator at Missouri. Garrett’s brother, John, was the coordinator at Oregon State and Richmond before landing a job as the Lafayette head coach. But not one assistant has left the Cowboys offensive staff for a better job in the NFL since Garrett has been the head coach.

NFL owner’s superyacht catches the attention of a Presidential candidate - PFT When it comes to keeping up with the Joneses, Daniel Snyder continues to fall short. And the competition regarding which man has the biggest five-letter thing (yacht, or otherwise) has caught the attention of one of the umpteen candidates for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency in 2020. Elizabeth Warren has taken to Twitter to call out the Washington owner for his purchase of a very big boat. “This billionaire NFL owner just paid $100M for a ‘superyacht’ with its own iMax theater,” Warren said. “I’m pretty sure he can pay my new #UltraMillionaireTax to help the millions of yacht-less Americans struggling with student loan debt.”

8 ways Saints fans are overreacting hilariously to NFC Championship loss to Rams - The Falcoholic And hoo boy, are they ever mad. Harry Connick Jr. is boycotting the Super Bowl and shared the mad online letter he wrote to Roger Goodell on Instagram. And a church in New Orleans is offering the opportunity for disgruntled Saints fans to work through their frustration by throwing a penalty flag during services on Sunday. But these fine folks aren’t satisfied with tossing flags around and being mad online. They’re also doing a bunch of absurd things in real life in their quest for justice, and today seems like a great time to revel in it and laugh at all of this ridiculousness.

The Saints really didn’t need Sen. Bill Cassidy to argue on their behalf in Congress - SB Nation It was a Friday in Congress with no significant votes on the docket, just a discussion about sending money and weapons to the Middle East. The U.S. Government was in the midst of a shutdown — the announcement of our government’s temporary re-opening had yet to come. That made it the perfect possible time for one senator to ... pander to the home crowd with a little discussion about football. Yup. The growing wave of complaints of Saints fans cheated out of a Super Bowl 53 appearance crested to a logical escalation Friday. In the span of five days, New Orleans has leveled up from punched televisions to billboards to change.org petitions to class action lawsuits, and now, a debate on the floor of the United States Senate.

...

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Source: https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2019/1/27/18199324/eagles-news-nick-foles-trade-jaguars-leonard-fournette-philadelphia-quarterback-jacksonville-draft

[consoledacup]

You really are a cheerleader! I admire it very much and wish I had your positive outlook. Serious question: have you ever been disappointed/upset/frustrated by the show?

GIRL.

YES.

I’m gonna give you a rundown of when that happened, so you don’t think I’m just an overly positive android (too soon?)! 

Let’s start with the “Pilot”. Yes. The Pilot. So like. I was so intrigued with this show because I had seen the Iron Man movies and The Avengers and really liked Coulson, so when I found out he was getting his own show, I was so pumped.

And then when I selected it to watch on Hulu, I immediately pressed “pause” maybe ten minutes through.

I was already over it. The show seemed too cheesy. I wasn’t gripped by any of the characters. Coulson was too Coulson-y (gasp. I shutter to think that these things actually went through my brain. But hey. It’s the truth.) 

So I stopped it. Watched something else. And didn’t think about the show for awhile.

Do you know why? 

Do you fucking know why? 

Because I hadn’t met FitzSimmons yet.

I’m telling you. They didn’t even come on the screen. So I was like… this show’s dumb. And didn’t give it a chance. (I should’ve.) 

So a year goes by. 

A year. 

One day, I decide to watch it past the ten minute mark. 

And that’s when I met FitzSimmons and actually watched the rest of the episode, and I was sold.

At least… to the FitzSimmons part of it.

And then the whole story grew on me. I was hooked after “FZZT” (weren’t we all?), and then even more so after “Turn Turn Turn” (weren’t we all?). 

Not gonna lie. Season 2 was super frustrating to watch when it aired (and that was after binging the first six). I was very underwhelmed by the FitzSimmons relationship and development. And then Jemma’s whole conversation with Bobbi and then her following conversation with Fitz? I was like… ummmm… where are they going with this? 

I wasn’t even blown away with the mid-season 2 finale like I should’ve been because I was like, “but FitzSimmons, though?”. 

I fell asleep through “The Things They Bury”. Several times. That happened. And “Melinda”. That happened too.

But my biggest disappointment/frustration is incredibly ironic. Because I pretty much *gave up* on the show when the season 2 finale aired and they finally made their date, and Jemma finally confessed her feelings, and then she was swallowed up by. a. rock..

When that happened, I was literally like, “Fuck this show.” 

And didn’t even plan to continue watching it. And then – by happenstance – decided to catch the season 3 premiere.

Um. 

OKAY.

Then I fell asleep through “Purpose in the Machine” (not during the Fitz parts). That happened too. 

But once Fitz got Jemma back? I was hooked, lined, and sinkered. 

And then “4,722 Hours”. And seeing the Will/Jemma relationship (even though it was clear to me where it was going before) left me absolutely gutted.

A literal gut punch.

I know I’m the biggest Will fan now, but back then after the first watch? I was so pissed. 

The thing that first got me changing my tune was listening to Elizabeth’s podcast in This Week in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in regards to that episode (I highly recommend you listen to these podcasts. It will give you a newfound appreciation for the show. The people involved in this work love it so dearly, and you can really tell.). She almost issued an apology to the FitzSimmons shippers where you could hear actual concern in her voice, and I was like… why is this actress apologizing for her character? It just made me stop in my tracks and really consider what I was expecting from the show. And why she felt the need to apologize. Or at least explain Jemma’s motivations. 

So that was stewing in my brain for a bit, and then I got a bit frustrated that the Lincold/Daisy romance escalated so quickly when all FitzSimmons got was a fist bump. And then things started looking up from there, so I was happy as a clam with the result. But I was still very underwhelmed with the final four after 3x18. (Where’s FitzSimmons????)

And then a number of things happened. 

I started writing Glimpses where I had to go back and re-watch and really pick apart the characters’ psyches. I started chatting with other fans who would be like, “remember this scene?”, and I’d be like, “No.” (Because it wasn’t FitzSimmons.) Like. Before. I literally couldn’t tell you what happened in “T.R.A.C.K.S.”. I thought they were going back in time because I barely paid attention to the narrative. Goodness. Yes, this was me.

And then things got so stressful in my personal life, I could barely stand it. I cried everyday. And I just sort of subconscious bitchslapped myself, “Okay, dude. You can go into season 4, only paying attention to the FitzSimmons romance and expecting to be rewarded. Or you can go into season 4 and watch the show for what it is. And find joy. The only bit of joy in your life right now (I’m not dramatic. You’re dramatic.)” 

So I did. And the moment I was like, “That was an awesome episode!” – whether I believed it at the moment or not – it did something to me. Not right away. I faked it ‘til I made it. I didn’t let myself become overly critical of the episodes anymore because I was like, “What do you have to gain if you keep looking for disappointment?” So I didn’t.

And the magical thing is…

It fucking worked.

The more I was like, “I really liked that episode,” the more I actually did. I know. This sounds like Director Mace motivational garbage. But for me, it really, truly worked. 

And then. 

I re-watched the entire show. NOT. JUST. THE FITZSIMMONS. SCENES.

And I realized I missed out on a lot. Like. A lot when I solely focussed on those two before. 

I found myself crying in episodes I fell asleep in before. I did not fall asleep through any of them this time. The re-watch only increased my love and passion and zeal for the show tenfold. 

And I began to really, truly appreciate the show for what it was: an ensemble show in a superhero genre, focussing on character development and human conflict. 

Then I listened to every single podcast from the site I mentioned earlier. Only increased my zeal. 

Then I found two separate reaction video dudes who watch the show with a fervor that I’ve only matched recently. Because they’re not exclusively FitzSimmons shippers (they both ship FitzSimmons, but that’s besides the point). Their reactions and love for the show are so pure and good, and it was so refreshing to see the show through their eyes.

So. Yes. I admittedly started out as a sole FitzSimmons watcher. I loved their relationship so much, but I didn’t love the show as much. 

Now, I still love their relationship, but the show has captivated me as well. 

Focussing on the positives really gave me a genuine appreciation for the show. I have a newfound love for all the characters, not just FitzSimmons. I used to be indifferent about Bobbi, and now I think she’s a rockstar (heh). Daisy’s my third favorite character when I was in the “This isn’t the Daisy show” camp beforehand. May’s backstory is heartbreaking, and Jeffery Mace is the man. I could go on and on about everyone. 

So… to bring it back… yes. There have been times when I was underwhelmed and frustrated. 

But I can now tell you exactly what happened in “T.R.A.C.K.S.” and can enjoy each and every episode every time I re-watch it. I love all of them because this is my favorite show. 

I promise you I did not start out as a cheerleader. But being a cheerleader has increased my joy a hundred times over. 

I highly recommend it. 

You’ll see the show in a whole new light. 

And. it’s. awesome. 

[makeover-blog1]

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek TOS, “The City on the Edge of Forever,” 1967

Star Trek (The Original Series) Season 1, Episode 28, "The City on the Edge of Forever" Original U.S. broadcast date: April 6, 1967

Synopsis, via Wikipedia: In the episode, after Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) travels back in time and changes history, Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) follow him to correct the timeline. In doing so, Kirk falls in love with Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), but realizes that in order to save his future, he must allow her to die.

Guest stars in this episode included British actress Joan Collins.

Some bio info about Collins, via Wikipedia: Dame Joan Henrietta Collins, DBE (b. 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Born in Paddington, west London, and brought up in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. After making her stage debut in "A Doll’s House" at the age of nine, she trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. She then signed an exclusive contract with the Rank Organisation and appeared in various British films.   At the age of 22, Collins headed to Hollywood and landed sultry roles in several popular films, including "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" (1955) and "Rally Round the Flag, Boys!" (1958). While she continued to make films in the US and the UK throughout the 1960s, she also guest starred in an episode of Star Trek in 1967 named "The City on the Edge of Forever", as Edith Keeler. Her career languished in the 1970s, when she appeared in a number of horror flicks. Near the end of the decade, she starred in two softcore pornographic films based on best-selling novels by her younger sister Jackie Collins: "The Stud" (1978) and its sequel "The Bitch" (1979).   She began appearing on stage, playing the title role in the 1980 British revival of "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney," and later had a lead role in the 1990 revival of Noël Coward’s "Private Lives." In 1981, she landed the role of Alexis Carrington Colby, the vengeful ex-wife of John Forsythe’s character, in the 1980s television soap opera "Dynasty," winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 1982; she is credited for the success around "Dynasty," which was the most-watched television show in the US during the 1984-85 broadcast season. Collins also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983 for career achievement. In 2015, Collins was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to charity.

Trivia from this episode, via IMDb: Harlan Ellison’s original script was extensively rewritten by D.C. Fontana at Gene Roddenberry’s behest. Ellison was very unhappy about this, even though the episode won numerous awards (including Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation) and is regarded as one of the classics. Gene L. Coon is mainly responsible for the small comical elements of the story, including the famous "rice picker" scene, which Harlan Ellison reportedly hated.   Widely considered by both fans and critics to be the best episode of the series and is listed as one of the "Ten Essential Episodes" of Star Trek (1966) in the 2008 reference book "Star Trek 101," by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann.   This was the most expensive episode produced during the first season, with a budget of $245,316, and also the most expensive episode of the entire series, except the two pilots. The average cost of a first season episode was around $190,000. Also, production went one and half days over schedule, resulting in eight shooting days instead of the usual six.   Desilu Stage 11, usually not a Star Trek (1966) stage, was used for filming the mission interiors. The stage was occupied by My Three Sons (1960) previously, but as that series was moved to another location, it became available for the crew to film. Director Joseph Pevney couldn’t complete all scenes scheduled to be filmed at 40 Acres on schedule. However, the backlot was already booked for filming by The Andy Griffith Show (1960), so the arrival of McCoy to the past and Rodent’s death had to be filmed on a studio alleyway behind Desilu Stage 10.   One of only two times in the original series a "curse word" is heard, when Kirk says, "Let’s get the hell out of here" at the very end. The second is in Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine (1967), when Kirk sees the Enterprise being drawn into combat, he says; "[What] the hell’s going on?".   When William Shatner and Joan Collins are walking together on the street, they pass in front of a shop with the name Floyd’s Barber Shop clearly painted on the window. This is the same Floyd’s Barber Shop which is often seen on The Andy Griffith Show (1960), adjacent to the sheriff’s office, in the town of Mayberry.   The footage seen through the time portal is, for the most part, lifted from old Paramount films.   The alley in which Kirk steals the clothing from the fire-escape is the same alley seen in Star Trek: Miri (1966), in which Spock and the guards have debris dumped on them by the children.   Spock refers to the technology of the time as "stone knives and bearskin". The same phrase would be later used by Captain Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager: Future’s End (1996).   In one scene in this episode, a poster can be seen advertising a boxing event at Madison Square Garden featuring "Kid McCook" vs. "Mike Mason". For Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Past Tense: Part II (1995), scenic artists Doug Drexler and Michael Okuda created a near replica of this boxing poster for a scene set in 1930 San Francisco; the DS9 poster features the same boxers, and says that it is "their first rematch since Madison Square Garden".   With regards to this episode, Joan Collins has stated, "To this day, people still want to talk about that episode – some remember me for that more than anything else I’ve done. I am amazed at the enduring popularity of Star Trek and particularly of that episode." Collins adds, "At the time, none of us would have predicted the longevity of the show. I couldn’t be more pleased – or more honoured – to be part of Star Trek history." Ms. Collins’ memory of her Trek experience seems hazy, however. In her 1985 autobiography, "Past Imperfect" (p. 248), she makes a few errors regarding the episode: for example, in addition to the common mistake of referring to Mr. Spock as Dr. Spock, she identifies her character as Edith Cleaver instead of Edith Keeler, and she also claims that Spock, not Kirk, allowed her character to be killed – a plot point that was not in the version of the script that was actually shot. Most significantly, she claims Edith tried to "prove to the world that Hitler was a nice guy."   Double-exposures allowed Kirk and Spock to leap out of brick walls in this episode.   The Guardian of Forever was designed by Art Director Rolland M. Brooks. Normally, set design was the purview of his colleague Matthew Jeffreys, but due to illness, Brooks took over his chores for the Guardian. When Jefferies returned to his duties and saw the donut-shaped set piece for the first time, he reportedly exclaimed, "What the hell is this?!", according to D.C. Fontana. Special effects artist Jim Rugg was responsible for the light effects for the Guardian.   When asked in February 26, 1992 interview whether the makers of this episode consciously intended it to have the contemporaneous anti-Vietnam-war movement as subtext, associate producer Robert H. Justman replied, "Of course we did."   This is the first mention of Nazi Germany in Star Trek. A race which adopted a Nazi-style regime also appears in Star Trek: Patterns of Force (1968). The theme is reprised in later shows: on Star Trek: Voyager: The Killing Game (1998) and Star Trek: Voyager: The Killing Game: Part II (1998), where Hirogen take over USS Voyager and use the holodeck to recreate Nazi Germany, and then in Star Trek: Enterprise: Zero Hour (2004), and Star Trek: Enterprise: Storm Front (2004) and Star Trek: Enterprise: Storm Front (2004), when agents from the Temporal Cold War send Captain Archer and the Enterprise NX-01 back to the Second World War.

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Posted by classic_film on 2018-03-05 19:10:03

Tagged: , William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Star Trek , television , actor , 1960s , sixties , 1967 , science fiction , sci-fi , TV , nostalgic , nostalgia , acteur , akteur , man , vintage , retro , classic , color , entertainment , America , United States , Hollywood , American , USA , añejo , época , aktor , celebrity , ephemeral , old , clásico , ropa , kleidung , clothing , clothes , fashion , technology , jahrgang , alt , oll

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[a-butterfly-on-his-tummy]

Rules of Attraction

“And this is where yeh find the food.” Harry points to the craft service table as he works his way through the tour of the movie set he is currently working on.

“Someone is spoiled.” I chuckle as I look at the tables filled with every type of food possible. I run my hand down my bump that has really grown in the last six months. Harry is filming a movie, Rules of Attraction, and thankfully it is being filmed in London. I was worried he would be sent away for months and I would be alone while I’m pregnant. They have been working on it for a couple weeks and Harry really wanted me to visit on set and see what he does. I had an open day and thought it would be fun to watch my husband in a new element.

“Lily!” Harry calls across the room as he spots his co-star, Lily Collins. She looks up at Harry and begins to make her way over to us. Harry places his hand on the small of my back as she approaches. “Lily, this is my wife, Elizabeth.”

“Oh I’ve heard so much about you.” Lily leans in for a hug, wrapping her arms around me tightly. My body goes a little tense as she places her hands on my belly. “And the baby of course. Someone is really excited.” She throws a glance at Harry and that makes me think he is constantly giving the cast and crew daily updates on the growing bean in my stomach.

“I’m sure he never shuts up about it.” I chuckle, because I know that is the case for when he is home. He will be such a good daddy. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard lots about you as well.”

“Hopefully all good things.” Lily giggles.

“Oh yes. All very good things.” I run my hand across my bump again as I feel the little one give me a small kick.

“Harry.” Jeff approaches the group with his business face on. “There is a change in the schedule. The director wants to run scene 24 today. Both of you should probably look over lines before we start in 15.”

“Thanks, Jeffery.” Harry says, giving Jeff a nod.

“Well, I better run lines. I’ll see you in 15?” Lily smiles at my husband. “It was so nice meeting you, Elizabeth. Hope so see you again soon.” She gives me a final hug, kissing my check before she leaves to run her lines.

“Good luck,” I say while hugging her back. Harry opens the script that Jeff had handed to him, flipping to the scene that they are shooting today. His eyes grow wide as he realizes what exactly they are shooting. Closing his script, Harry looks up at me.

“Are yeh sure yeh want to stay? I wouldn’t be mad if yeh went back to the trailer to rest.” Harry seems slightly nervous as his eyes search my face.

“I’m okay. The baby is active, but I think I’ll be good.” I say, placing my hand to where our baby girl is currently having a dance party.

“I’m just worried about yeh standing,” Harry tries.

“I’m sure we could find a chair around here somewhere if I need it.” I look around the room, noticing multiple chairs that I could use if I need it.

“Do yeh want some food? A donut? We have donuts!” Harry asks, pulling me towards the craft service area again.

“Harry I’m fine. Are you okay? A donut? Really?” I chuckle slightly because he is acting extremely weird and I have no idea what has gotten into him.

“Harry, let’s go.” The director yells in our direction, ready to start the scene.

“Go get ‘em, tiger.” I say, giving his bum a quick swat. “Show me how it’s done.” I try to loosen him up a little before he goes on camera.

“Are yeh sure yeh don’t want to go back? I can get Jeff…” He starts again. My lips interrupt, quieting him as I kiss him softly.

“We will be just fine.” I tap my tummy with my hand. “Now go get to work.” Harry grabs my face, bringing our lips together once more in a kiss that is strong and soft at the same time. His soft lips move across mine, melting me like a popsicle on a hot day.

“Hey, I love yeh.” Harry’s thumb rubs against my cheek as he looks deeply in my eyes. “Yeh are my one and only. Always remember that.” He kisses me softly before making his way to the set.

I watch as he shakes his arms and takes a few deep breaths before the director starts instructing the cast on the feeling of the scene. I move close to Jeff who has brought a chair over for me. Jeff and I are silent as the scene begins.

Harry and Lily say their lines; the scene is intense as they flirt back and forth. My heart begins to speed up as Harry approaches Lily, taking her jaw in his hands and placing his lips on hers. This should not be a blindside; Harry and I discussed this before he signed the contract, but watching MY husband kiss another woman makes my body fill with something I don’t feel often.

It’s selfish, I know. But the shape that I’m in while he is touching his lips against hers makes me want to cry. She is right where I should be. His kisses are mine, and mine only.

The director calls cut, and Harry and Lily separate for a moment. The director asks that they run it again, and Harry makes eye contact with me.  I try my best to let him see that I’m okay. I can’t let how I’m feeling affect his work. The scene starts again and when their lips lock once more, I feel my insides shake and the tears fill my eyes.

“Jeff.” I whisper. “I’m feeling a bit sick. Can I go lie down in Harry’s trailer?”

“Yea. I’ll show you were it is.” Jeff stands from his chair. “You okay?”

“Just a bit nauseated. Probably the baby.” I say, following Jeff off the set and to the trailer. As we approach the door, Jeff unlocks the trailer and allows me to walk in. He opens the fridge and hands me a bottle of water. “Can you let Harry know I just needed to lie down?”

“Of course.” Jeff says. “Text me if you need something. There should be some food in the fridge.” He leaves me in the trailer alone with my water and my thoughts.

I spend the next three hours sitting on the couch with my feet up, thinking about what I just saw and how it makes me feel. Logically I know that Harry loves me, and this is just a job. No big deal. But what if she is a better kisser? What if he likes that she isn’t the size of a whale? What if her beautiful brown eyes and long brown hair make his heart beat? I mean she is super nice, what if he finds her kinder than me?

I let the tears run down my cheeks without holding back. I hurt, and the worst part about it is that I don’t think I have a right to feel this way. There is a knock on the door of the trailer, and I hurry to wipe the tears from my cheeks.

“Come in.” I say loudly enough for the person on the other side of the door to hear. Harry opens the trailer door and makes his way into the small private space. Moving to the end of the couch, Harry lifts up my feet so he can sit.  I bend my knees, bringing them closer to my body.

“Yeh alright?” Harry asks; the concern on his face makes my heart hurt more than it was a moment ago. “Jeff mentioned yeh weren’t feelin well?”

“I’m okay. Just nauseated.” I take a drink of my water, not really wanting to explain the reason for my nausea.

“Are yeh sure that’s all?” Harry starts to push; he knows the reason why I needed to leave, but I think he wants me to actually say it instead of making assumptions.

“Yep!” I let my lips pop on the p and I hear Harry sigh.

“I swear I had no idea we were filming that scene today.” Harry runs his hands over his face, clearly not excited to go over this either.

“And if you did? You wouldn’t have asked me to come. Is that what you are saying?” My voice is filled with more anger than I would have liked, but my jealousy is starting to take over every emotion in my body.

“No that’s not what I mea… We could have talked abou…. I’m sorry yeh had to see it.” Harry tries to backtrack and explain what he means, but it is not making the situation any better.

“How does she kiss?” My voice is short as I make sure my eyes are glued to his face, watching every little expression that appears.

“Why does that matter, Elizabeth?” Harry is frustrated, and I can feel his frustration wafting off his body. “It’s not like I have feelin’s for her. She is a co-star. For a movie…..” He lets out a small growl at the end, and it makes me feel irritated.

“Why not? She is beautiful, kind, thin, among so many other things.” I sit up more on the couch, running my hands across my bump, calming the baby down as she has become super active at the moment.

“Oh bloody hell. Are yeh really going to go there?” Harry lets out a big deep breath, obviously trying to calm down so he can ease his wife’s anxiety. “Can yeh listen to me for a moment?” I look at Harry without commenting and he takes that as his cue to continue talking. “You, my love, are my wife. And my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world. There is not a single woman in this world that could replace her. I love her more than I could ever explain and as frustrating as this is, I find it pretty cute she is jealous of me kissing another bird.”

“I’m not jealous.” I say, throwing a pout on my face.

“Mmhmm… and I’m not Harry Styles.” He says with a small chuckle. “I’m not gonna leave yeh, love. I love yeh more than anything, and if it really bugs yeh enough, I will tell them I can’t do the movie.”

My heart stops as he says the last line. He would stop filming for me? Break a contract for me? Just because I’m ups…. Okay jealous. How amazing is my husband?

“No, I don’t want you to quit. I just need you to kiss me better than you kissed Thistle.” I look at my husband and see a smile grow on his lips.

“Come here… wait! Who is thistle?” He is confused, and I chuckle slightly.

“Lily is a beautiful flower…. Opposite of beautiful flower, an ugly thorny plant. Thistle.” I shrug my shoulders.

“Hey, I love yeh.” Harry moves in close to my face, hovering his lips over mine.

“I love you too. Now kiss me, ya bum.” Our lips attach in a kiss that feels like fire against my lips. His tongue explores my mouth and his lips move in a way that is full of love and devotion. I love this man, and I he loves me, even if i’m slightly jealous and needing his attention.

A/N: I am so thankful for the one and only @whoopsharrystyles! I will always be grateful for the never ending support and love. The amount of love I have for this sweet creature is hard to explain. I just love her. 

Read NOW on Wattpad!!!!!

[mychristopherstokes66world]

Including CNN's Chris Cuomos Daddy

http://documents.gawker.com/jeffrey-epstein-s-little-black-book-1681447470 http://archive.is/qcJEO Don't forget the CDs in Epstein's safe in his Manhattan townhouse. Those were labeled "Young [name] + [name]." You can bet that those second "[names]" are more than a little worried. Then there is the ranch in New Mexico where the NM attorney general is cooperating with the FBI. There is a lot more to this than just Pedo Island. Dustin Hoffman?!?! OH NO NO NO no no no no!!!!! Hook was a pirate that kidnapped children. Please tell me it wasn't a real story. At least let me believe that Robin Williams was trying to save them. It will be hard but they will make a blind eye to most evidence. Remember, Epstein has everyone by their balls, so like in 2008, either those high profile people start working on getting him an excelent deal, or someone is getting doxed.... Epstein will NEVER have more than 5 years jail, and probably at home or in almost private comfy prison It seems like they've got two types they use in this blackmail operation. The first type is rich, powerful, influential, and easily bought with the second type, young, naive, easily swayed with lies. Both of them are the blackmail targets and both of them get used. The powerful ones get placed into positions where their influence can be leveraged whenever and however it is needed. The young ones get supported and raised into media personalities, anchors, actresses, authors, musicians, whatever they want so long as it serves the desired social ends. If you consider that such an operation could have been ongoing for more than one generation, then the implications get a whole lot weirder than they already were. They basically breed with each other and select each other's most attractive offspring to molest and groom for future generations of the cult. In fact, this would go a long way towards explaining why the cult seems to be too stupid to succeed at controlling the world anymore: too much in-breeding. I have been SAYING ALL ALONG that we will one day find that its not just powerful men who are pedos and rapists, but that all powerful people become warped by easy access to every common hedonistic pleasure. As a result, the truly perverse becomes the final frontier of hedonism and indulgence: pedophilia. Satanism rendered art. Or outright claiming intimate and full ownership over another human. And, look, here we are! Barbara fucking Walters and a host of other up-and-up women right next to their disgusting, guilty male counterparts. Hang them all. Alec Baldwin - Page 6 Sir Anthony Bamford - Page 6 Lord & Lady Baumont - Page 10 Tony Blair - Page 11 David Blaine - Page 11 Mike Bloomberg - Page 11 Richard Branson - Page 12 Jimmy Buffet - Page 13 Prince Pierre d'Arengberg - Page 18 Duchess of York - Page 21 Duke of York - Page 21 Ambassador & Lady Fairweather - Page 23 Princess of Firyal of Jordan - Page 24 Lord & Lady Giliford. - Page 27 Lord & Lady Hanson - Page 28 Elizabeth Hurley (as "Liz Hurley") - Page 32 Michael Jackson - Page 33 Mick Jagger - Page 33 Ted Kennedy Jr - Page 35 Senator Ed Kennedy - Page 35 Christoper Lambert - Page 36 Dr. Henry Kissinger - Page 36 Courtney Love (circled) - Page 38 Cheryl Mills - Page 43 Rupert Murdoch - Page 44 Joan Rivers - Page 51 Jessica Rothchild - Page 52 Hannah Rothchild - Page 52 Duke and Duchess Rutland - Page 53 Edouard de Rothschild - Page 53 Evelyn de Rothschild.- Page 53 Saudi Crown Prince Solman - Page 54 Kevin Spacy - Page 56 Peter Soros - Page 56 Baroness Francesca Theilmann - Page 58 Ivanka Trump - Page 59 Donald Trump - Page 60 Chris Tucker - Page 60 Barbara Walters - Page 61 Lord Weldenfield - Page 62 Serena Williams - Page 63 Prince Michael of Yugoslavia - Page 64 Don't just look up the famous people, some of the non house hold names return very interesting data. Lots and lots of businessmen from London and Israel are in here. It seems London, New York and Israel are the sex trafficking capitals of the world My suggest is not to go through the big names. A lot of the non household names are powerful people and those connections reveal more. Every single person in this document has a Wikipedia page, only a select ultra old rich people don't have much of a trace except foundations and events Nobody cares.  Kids are killed at Disney World/Land due to negligence, people still go. Everyone knows there are pedophiles in hollywood, people still pay to see movies. Everyone knows there is something suspicious about how many Nickelodeon girls turn out to be messed up junkies, people still let their kids watch it. Nobody cares. 1000 British girls were raped by shitskins and there were no lynchings. Why do you think it would happen here? http://documents.gawker.com/jeffrey-epstein-s-little-black-book-1681447470 What is bunk1-5? Also anyone got a txt document that is searchable? someone must have done it by now I'll get a round to it. Bronfman was the ones in on NXIVM. Honorable Charles Pearson >Honorable https://ift.tt/2jM0nSY >Charles Pearson is a Director of The Dickinson Trust Ltd, The Cowdray Estate Trust Ltd and the Cabardunn Development Company Ltd. He is the principal partner in the Dunecht Home Farms Partnership, a farming business operating over 3,000 acres (12 km2) in Aberdeenshire. Enterprises on the farm include cereals, oilseed rape, beef cattle and sheep. Charles Pearson and his immediate family are owners of Dunecht Estates, a diverse rural property based in Aberdeenshire and Kincardenshire. Dunecht Estates extends to 53,000 acres (210 km2) and comprises seven estates - Dunecht Estate, Ramoir and Campfield Estate, Dunnottar Castle, Forest of Birse, Edinglassie Estate, West Durris Estate and Bucharn Estate. Interests on the Estates include farming, forestry, field sports, minerals, let houses, commercial property, tourism and development land. Dunecht House, the Category A listed building that is the centre piece of the Dunecht estate, was sold to the Scottish business entrepreneur Jamie Oag in 2012.[1] BTW, Epstein isn't Trump's only link to pedophile networks. Look into Trump's connection to CIA pedophile ringleader, Roy Cohn.

Anyone have any thoughts on the power outage in NYC being connected to this?

Servers "wiped"?

Accounts "wiped"?

Destruction of documents?

Someone here has to have some better ideas than me.

Jeffery Sachs. Jeffrey David Sachs (/sæks/; born November 5, 1954) is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where he holds the title of University Professor, the highest rank Columbia bestows on its faculty. He is known as one of the world's leading experts on economic development and the fight against poverty.

Sachs is the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and a professor of health policy and management at Columbia's School of Public Health. As of 2017, he serves as special adviser to the United Nations (UN)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Sachs

I’d say NXVIM and Podesta are the two biggest connections these people will have. we know NXVIM is way way way bigger than we’ve discovered so far since it involves the Bronfman daughter. And Podesta/Alefantis have fallen off the map. we also have it confirmed now that Epstein paid women to bring other kids to him which is what the Smallville girl did in NXVIM. HOT SHIT DONTCHA Podesta probably psych-tortures the kids. NXVIM used to recruit recruiters. Shit is all connected.

Peggy Siegal. 

https://ift.tt/2GcFBDL

>The publicist and hostess isn’t just a fixture of New York’s Oscar circuit; she’s the engine that drives the whole thing, organizing lunches and dinners and receptions and screenings that introduce Academy members to the year’s Oscar hopefuls and drive the conversation about every single film in contention. The best way to win an Oscar is to make a great film, but the best way to guarantee it is to get Peggy to shine a light on it.

She is the one you go to, if you want to win an Oscar

Peter Soros, needs no introduction

https://www.pdsoros.org/fellowship/governance/peter-soros

PETER SOROS lives between London and New York and has managed his family’s investment office since 1998. Their investment activities have been concentrated in a relatively small number of venture capital, private equity and hedge funds, and a broader range of direct investments in the energy, technology, telecom, consumer and financial services sectors. Prior to that period he worked as an investment banker and managed a hedge fund

Leonard Stern

https://ift.tt/2jLEIu9

Another (((Philanthropist))) and investment broker.

>Leonard Norman Stern (born March 28, 1938)[2] is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.

He is the chairman and CEO of the privately owned Hartz Group based in New York City. The company's real estate portfolio was owned and operated under its Hartz Mountain Industries subsidiary company, of which he is also chairman and CEO

>Stern was born to a Jewish family,[4][5] the son of Hilda (née Lowenthal) and Max Stern.[5] Max Stern was the German-born vice-chairman of the board of trustees of Yeshiva University for whom its Stern College for Women was named. He had emigrated from Weimar Germany to the U.S. in the 1920s after his textile business proved unprofitable, bringing along 2,100 canaries from Germany to sell on the U.S. market. By selling caged birds, bird cages and other pet bird supplies to U.S. pet owners through Woolworth's stores over the next thirty years, Stern's father built up the family business: Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC), also headquartered in Secaucus, NJ. HMC later grew to become the flagship subsidiary of The Hartz Group. The business was named after the Harz Mountains of Germany. Though Canaries originally come from the Canary Islands the Canaries in trade are the result of selective breeding by farms located at Harz.

I was digging on day one when the emails dropped, from comet to the tunnels to Pegasus to worldcorp to Epstein’s temple to brocks parties...we’ve been blue ballsed with dead ends so many fucking times that it’s hard to get excited but this looks like it could finally be the big one worth digging into and Pandora’s box has only just been cracked open

i published the world corp videos to my bitchute channel CIA CLOWN 

https://www.bitchute.com/video/xSIaA8fJ0oje/

Francesca von Habsburg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_von_Habsburg

Francesca von Habsburg-Lothringen (born 7 June 1958) is an art collector and the estranged wife of Karl von Habsburg, current head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. 

The amount of women in on this shit, blows my fucking mind! Me fucking too...me fucking too baka

I hear that fren.. pizzagate fucked me up for a while, I had to take a break cause I couldn’t get a decent nights sleep or stop thinking about the horrors going on and how all these people are involved and covering it up and then the useful idiots on the left helping them cover it up with their TDS and all the border invasion with no one even mentioning the child trafficking going on which is fucking weird why isn’t that every trump and conservative response to AOC and any other leftie crying over child separation. Just drop the child rape sex slavery trafficking stats relentlessly and they’ll shut up fast. But I guess the general public isn’t ready to hear it and have the reality of what’s going on shoved in their faces yet

Governor Charles Turnbull. Governor of the Virgin Islands where Epstein lives at little st james island

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wesley_Turnbull

https://www.instagram.com/elizabethhurley1/?hl=en

If you saw her instagram, you would think she 

was a 22 yearold instagram 'model'. She posts bikini pictures literally all day everyday like shes 20.

I mean she looks great, but its inexplicable to behave that way at her age. its attention whoring of the lowest order.

>pic sorta related

the type of girls she competes for likes with

>The amount of women in on this shit

“Women are wonderful” effect. no one wants to think women, the nurturing motherly caregivers of our children, are capable of the horrors they can commit when they’re emotionally convinced it’s justifed. ask yourself how it’s possible that with modern medical technology and knowledge SIDS is just a totally unexplainable random thing that looks a whole lot like a baby being suffocated in its crib in its sleep in the middle of the night by a frustrated emotional mother. Never find a kid dead from SIDS in the middle of a grocery store at 2 in the afternoon with witnesses around, funny that.

Daisy’s destruction had a female participant that was just as sadistic as the man. Smallville actress was bringing in children for sex slavery. Female child abusers are some of the most sadistic. But nobody ever holds them accountable everyone assumes the man involved forced them to do the things they do

Robert "Bob" Weinstein. Creator or Miramax and Dimension films. Ran Harvey Weinsteins shit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Weinstein

>2 years ago this looked like insane conspiracy by wackos

It’s hard to remember how innocent things felt before the 2016 election....when AJ was just a funny conspiracy nutjob and stuff like this just wasn’t realistic. Even just the alefantis Podesta stuff was like what the fuck. Like AJ sneaking into the bohemian grove and you’re just like oh okay that’s a thing. That’s a thing that actually happens. Eyes wide shut is a thing and everything conspiracy theory around Kubrick and his death and the actors involved in his movies is now a thing and what the fuck rabbit hole is this

Steve Wynn, he runs NUMEROUS casinos in Vegas

https://www.forbes.com/profile/steve-wynn/#7ebf6643498a

Prince Michael of Yugoslavia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Michael_of_Yugoslavia

The Hillary timeline is a dark one fren. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Everything would be censored and shut down. You would have Dem rule forever as she floods the borders with 3rd world illegals while sending legal citizen males off to die in Russia and letting ISIS run wild to kill off the ones that don’t go to war while they all rape and breed the women and all Hillary’s debts to these elite sickos would get fulfilled as the pedo circles expand and get more blatant about it knowing they can’t be stopped

Police, Sergent Robert Goldberg...

All about Israel and the Island Massage parlor

Well hello David Rockefeller!!

just waiting for the connections to most powerful sub-par pizza joint operator in DC.

selling pizza to politicians is evidently enormous business in Washington

jimmy "hit the kids like a comet till they vomit" alefantis

james "enslave the kids in my pizza parlor" alefantis

ole' jimbo "my pizza sauce is made out of ground kids" alefantis

james "scott tenorman is a true story" alefantis

jimmy "dungeons, chains, leather & shipping container human trafficking " alefantis

jimbob "monroe in the front door, never leave, in to the museum behind my house" alefantis

james "live in DC, my museum is the pedo embassy" alefantis

big jim "drop 'em off at my house, chop 'em up in my museum" alefantis

james "just dont talk about my museum" alefantis

jimbo "what pedophile network?" alefantis

james "we don't even have a basement" alefantis

ayyy it's old jimmy "bloodthirsty rage upon the vulnerable" alefantis!!

jimbo "dont eat the hotdogs" alefantis

jimmy "dont even get me started on the punch" alefantis

james "the water in my museum" alefantis

jimmy "somebody poisoned the waterhole" alefantis

jimbo "most of my friends are homosexual pedos" alefantis

jim "after it was discovered my websites contained hidden downloadable content, a criminal destroyed my computers harddrive" alefantis

jimbob "i can help you burn down your island" alefantis

Ohhhhh hoe hoe tay! 

Ask Caroline Orr...how she like living in VA. Sampson Rd, Dahlgren, VA 22448 amirite???

Ask Tommy Christopher how he likes living on Newton Ave, Oaklyn, NJ 08107 and how 

Ellen T Thomas 69 1947

Kathleen J Thomas 39 1978

Matthew J Thomas 45 1971

Megan E Thomas 34 1983

Robert J Thomas 74 1942

Robert S Thomas 53 1964

Ryan R Thomas 34 1983

Dana M Thomas 52 1965

Ethel Thomas 97 1920

Jack C Thomas Jr 54 1963

Jeffery S Thomas 43 1974

Kelly L Thomas 44 1973

Kimberly A Thomas 49 1967

Margaret R Thomas 76 1941

Clara P Thomas 74 1943

John F Thomas 46 1971

Are all doing...tell them hiya from me...will ya 

Ask Oliver A Willis' fat ass how southern MD is. Sweetwood Pl, Waldorf, MD 20602 right? Wait...I ALREADY KNOW HOW IT IS! But, ask him how 

A Wills 46 1971

Ann Wills 48 1969

Beverly L Wills 40 1977

Cheryl D Willis 49 1968

Cheryl M Wills 57 1960

Christopher N Wills 38 1978

Frank Crosson 46 1971

Jane T Thomas 54 1963

Karen A Wills 64 1953

Oliver A Wills 65 1951

Seth T Sahid 37 1980

Sheila Sanders 61 1956

Ricky B Wills 57 1960

Tina L Wills 46 1971

Are all doing XDDDD tell them, suuuuuuuuuuup XD

Wait wait wait...here's his mammy and daddy

Mom and Dad 

Karen And Oliver Willis(Sr.)

Montezuma Dr, Fort Washington, MD 20744 is a shithole XDD

His sister Tina Sahid, Arbory Way, Laurel, MD 20707 Laurel huh??? My ex is from Laurel...blow them a kiss from me, k? 5/10

And don't forget you little bitch...you wanted this

https://thedevilman666.blogspot.com/https://www.facebook.com/groups/qanonreports https://twitter.com/CIACLOWN1 https://www.bitchute.com/channel/ciaclown16661/

[antscale3-blog]

The Linc - Nick Foles to the Jaguars for Leonard Fournette?

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

2019 NFL Mock Draft: Jaguars trade Leonard Fournette for Nick Foles, Bengals replace Andy Dalton - CBS Sports One problem here: I don’t think the Jags are going to give up No. 7 overall in exchange for Nick Foles. You could work out a deal where the Jags send No. 7 and No. 69 to the Eagles for Foles, No. 26 and No. 54 (the trade value basically makes Foles worth the 28th overall pick, which is probably a reasonably fair swap), but Jacksonville is going to likely lose high-end, expensive talent to free agency as a result of salary-cap issues. Jacksonville would like to use the seventh pick to either replace the talent or to secure another young quarterback for the long haul. How about we make both front offices happy instead? The Jaguars can send Leonard Fournette -- their former top pick and a very talented player who has struggled with injuries and hasn’t meshed well with the front office -- to the Eagles for Foles and a throw-in pick down the road. There are some contractual issues here that might hold things up on both ends. Foles is either going to have his option picked up or will be given the franchise tag and traded. So he won’t be cheap. Fournette isn’t cheap either -- he has a top-10 salary over the next two years at the running back position. Philly might not be willing to spend at the position, but Fournette is a better pass catcher than he gets credit for, and he could excel in Doug Pederson’s scheme. The Eagles were at their best with LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi running downhill.

2019 NFL Mock Draft Roundup: Eagles add interior pass rush - BGN Six out of nine picks are linemen. We all know the Eagles are not shy to invest premium resources in the trenches.

Offseason Talk - Iggles Blitz There is a feeling in the Tampa media that the Bucs could cut DE Vinny Curry and/or DT Beau Allen. Hmm. The Bucs are expected to play more of a 3-4 under Todd Bowles. That could make both guys expendable. If so, the Eagles could talk to one or both about coming back to add depth to the DL. While both players loved their time in Philly, price would be an issue. While neither player had a good season, they aren’t likely to come crawling back to the Eagles for peanuts. They’d want reasonable money. Keep an eye on this.

Projecting which Eagles player is next to make the Pro Bowl - NBCSP Alshon Jeffery: His last Pro Bowl appearance was in 2013 when he was still with the Bears, but Jeffery clearly has the talent of a Pro Bowler, although his numbers in his first two seasons with the Eagles have been modest. In the two years, he’s averaged 61 catches, 816 yards and 7.5 touchdowns per season. Another year like that and he won’t be a Pro Bowler. But he played through a torn rotator cuff in 2017 and then missed three games to start 2018 because of it. If he can stay healthy and play a full season with a healthy Carson Wentz, there’s a good chance he could take a spot in the annual All-Star showcase.

1-On-1: Joe Douglas - PE.com Vice President of Player Personnel Joe Douglas joins Fran Duffy at the Senior Bowl to discuss what he’s seen from some of the nation’s top college prospects and what he’s looking for from this year’s stellar crop of underclassmen.

10 Biggest Winners Of Senior Bowl Week - The Draft Network 1. Penny Hart, WR, Georgia State. Nobody went from as unknown to as intriguing as Penny Hart, who eviscerated defensive backs for three straight days during practices. I called him my biggest winner of the week on the Draft Dudes podcast, and nothing has changed even though he had a quieter Senior Bowl game — his roster was filled with slot receivers.

Best of Senior Bowl week: QB rankings, NFL draft risers, biggest takeaways, more - ESPN In$ider Which prospects’ draft stock rose the most this week? Montez Sweat, DE, Mississippi State. At 6-6 and 252 pounds, Sweat is an explosive speed rusher who is strong enough to go through offensive tackles and athletic enough to work the weave when they take away the edge. He is on the leaner and lighter side for a defensive end, yet he’s stout setting the edge against the run. He gets off the ball, he shoots his hands inside and he has the length (35⅝-inch arms) to keep blockers off his frame.

Bang for their Bucs: Wide Receiver, DeSean Jackson - Bucs Nation One could argue Jackson gave up on his team. There were times where it certainly appeared that way on the field, and on Instagram. However, looking at some of the usage numbers compared to the way other teams use receivers of similar talents, and maybe you can start to understand why he was so frustrated. Without stepping into the locker room, it’s hard to know exactly why his numbers became skewed in the way they did. No matter how you slice it, Jackson had more targets 20-yards or more downfield than he did 10-yards and less. For a receiver facing off coverage as much as Jackson does, those numbers shouldn’t be like that. Was it Winston? Was it Koetter? Was it Monken? We don’t know. I’d love to have Jackson on the Locked on Bucs podcast to discuss it - honestly and openly - but I don’t know that he feels there’s anything worth talking about. For now, we have the numbers and our perceptions.

Valentine’s Views: The Kansas City Plan sounds like a winner - Big Blue View I have suspected for a while that the New York Giants would like to emulate that plan, and a report Saturday evening by Paul Schwartz of the New York Post confirms that “More and more, this appears to be the scenario about to unfold for the Giants.” There is a lot to unpack from Schwartz’s report. The upshot, though, is that if Schwartz is correct — and as well-connected as the veteran Post writer is there is no reason to doubt his reporting at all — Manning will be back in 2019. A highly-drafted heir apparent could well be alongside him. If the Giants can find that guy.

Cowboys’ in-house OC search only shines brighter light on one of the biggest indictments of Jason Garrett’s tenure - SportsDay The addition of Jon Kitna means there have been 19 coaches to work under Garrett on the offensive side of the ball in his eight full seasons as head coach. Name the assistants who have left his staff to oversee the offense of another NFL team. None. Former wide receivers coach Derek Dooley is currently the coordinator at Missouri. Garrett’s brother, John, was the coordinator at Oregon State and Richmond before landing a job as the Lafayette head coach. But not one assistant has left the Cowboys offensive staff for a better job in the NFL since Garrett has been the head coach.

NFL owner’s superyacht catches the attention of a Presidential candidate - PFT When it comes to keeping up with the Joneses, Daniel Snyder continues to fall short. And the competition regarding which man has the biggest five-letter thing (yacht, or otherwise) has caught the attention of one of the umpteen candidates for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency in 2020. Elizabeth Warren has taken to Twitter to call out the Washington owner for his purchase of a very big boat. “This billionaire NFL owner just paid $100M for a ‘superyacht’ with its own iMax theater,” Warren said. “I’m pretty sure he can pay my new #UltraMillionaireTax to help the millions of yacht-less Americans struggling with student loan debt.”

8 ways Saints fans are overreacting hilariously to NFC Championship loss to Rams - The Falcoholic And hoo boy, are they ever mad. Harry Connick Jr. is boycotting the Super Bowl and shared the mad online letter he wrote to Roger Goodell on Instagram. And a church in New Orleans is offering the opportunity for disgruntled Saints fans to work through their frustration by throwing a penalty flag during services on Sunday. But these fine folks aren’t satisfied with tossing flags around and being mad online. They’re also doing a bunch of absurd things in real life in their quest for justice, and today seems like a great time to revel in it and laugh at all of this ridiculousness.

The Saints really didn’t need Sen. Bill Cassidy to argue on their behalf in Congress - SB Nation It was a Friday in Congress with no significant votes on the docket, just a discussion about sending money and weapons to the Middle East. The U.S. Government was in the midst of a shutdown — the announcement of our government’s temporary re-opening had yet to come. That made it the perfect possible time for one senator to ... pander to the home crowd with a little discussion about football. Yup. The growing wave of complaints of Saints fans cheated out of a Super Bowl 53 appearance crested to a logical escalation Friday. In the span of five days, New Orleans has leveled up from punched televisions to billboards to change.org petitions to class action lawsuits, and now, a debate on the floor of the United States Senate.

...

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Source: https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2019/1/27/18199324/eagles-news-nick-foles-trade-jaguars-leonard-fournette-philadelphia-quarterback-jacksonville-draft

[you-me-and-jermaine]

Fire climax grassland

Man, jet lag is no joke. Woke up around 5am on Friday, tired but unable to fall back asleep. We sat in the tub again and watched sunrise, bummed around, drank smoothies, and then headed to the Cradle of Humankind. The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage site where a ridiculous amount of old ass human remains have been found. We’re talking 1.7 million years old. So cool! There are a bunch of caves in the area where skeletons have been found. In 2013 archeologists stumbled upon a burial cave, where the remains of 15 humans aging 335,000 years old were found. And then they found another cave with 3 more remains! But that cave was so small, they had to put our a world wide search for qualified anthropologists who could also squeeze through an 18 inch hole. They recruited 6 women so excavated the cave and they’re still doing that work today. There’s a documentary about them on Netflix :) Next we headed to the cave they found Little Foot, the million year old skeleton, to go spelunking. Little Foot is one of our ancestors who fell down a hole and got stuck in the cave. Shitty way to die.

That night we met up with Chris, a friend of Monty’s who’s been living in Joburg the last 5 years teaching. We went to an incredible Argentinian restaurant called Che and ate allllllll the meats. And drank all the wines. We had a great night chatting with Chris, getting the low down on the country, and filling him in on all the American drama.

The next morning we set out at 5am to catch out flight to the coast. We landed in Port Elizabeth at 8:30a, got our giant ass rental car, and headed straight for Addo Elephant National Park. This is a 30 mile, drive yourself around, open sanctuary that houses elephants, water buffalo, lions, zebra, warthogs, and many other pretty babies. We spent the day driving around, and freaking the fuck out from all the animals. You’re not allowed to get out of your car in most of the park because the lions might eat you, but damn did these animals get close. Seems they’re used to the cars and the gawking. We saw the illusive flightless African dung beetle! That was a thrill. We also ate venison carpaccio 🤤, and more steak because it is so cheap and delicious here.

We headed to our beautiful Airbnb after, which is situated on the bay, and our charming host Christine met us. We had hit up a grocery store on the way, and Jar grabbed some ostrich steaks. Holy shit they were soooo good! Very similar to beef. We crashed helllllllla early, slept 10 hours and woke up feeling refreshed and ready for our road trip!

We’re currently on the road, making our way towards Plettenberg Bay where we’ll be sleeping tonight. We’ve already checked out Jeffery Bay, the surfing capital of the world, and Francis Bay. The beaches here are gorgeous, the water so blue, and the surrounding mountains are what I imagine New Zealand looks like. It’s the very beginning of autumn here, and the temperatures on the coast are mid-70s with a nice breeze. The drive has been beautiful. Excited to see what’s next!

[jasonheart1]

Parents: Kids' dentist did unnecessary work

Editor's note: Contact7 seeks out audience tips and feedback to help people in need, resolve problems and hold the powerful accountable. If you know of a community need our call center could address, or have a story idea for our investigative team to pursue, please email us at contact7@thedenverchannel.com or call (720) 462-7777. Find more Contact7 stories here.

The TV version of this story airs Monday, Nov. 12 on Denver7 News at 10 p.m.

REUNION, Colo. — Every time she helps her daughter brush her teeth, Ashley Conn feels that most dreaded of feelings: mom guilt.

"You want to think you brush your kids right. You know, you already have that mom guilt over every decision you make," said Conn. "How was I to know I couldn't trust him with her care?"

Conn's 7-year-old daughter Scarlett has a mouth full of metal crowns that Conn now believes were a mistake.

For her, this all started this spring with a trip to Treasured Teeth Pediatric Specialist in Reunion and Dr. Derren Tippets. While Tippets would not talk on camera to Contact7, he has posted videos on YouTube discussing his philosophies.

"So, I end up treating your kids as if they were my kids," said Tippets in one video. "Giving them the very best, the most conservative and very, very best treatment for them."

But Conn said when her daughter had X-rays done, Tippets said she had "eight-plus" cavities and needed eight crowns. During the procedure, Dr. Tippets said Scarlett's two front teeth had to be pulled while she was under anesthesia.

"But that morning, her two front teeth weren't loose at all. At all," said Conn. "I would have noticed if they were loose. If she had loose teeth she would be telling the world about it because that's very exciting for her. He said they were loose. She could choke on them in her sleep. 'We have to do it for safety reasons for her.'"

Instead of trusting her gut, Ashley trusted Dr. Tippets, and the teeth were pulled. But the nagging sense of mom guilt wouldn't go away. So, she sought a second opinion from the X-rays. She showed Contact7 a message from another dentist who told her Scarlett should have had two crowns – not eight.

"She was way over-treated," said Conn, but it was only after she saw a thread on her Facebook group in which she keeps up with other moms that she realized her daughter wasn't alone. "A lot of people with the same exact story. This mom posted, 'They told me my son had nine cavities. I took him for a second opinion and the other dentist said he just needed sealants.'"

Heather Kalodemas also posted her story on the same Facebook group.

"To me, he's a monster," said Kalodemas, who said that when her son was just five years old, Dr. Tippets diagnosed him with eight cavities. 

Kalodemas got a second opinion.

"He did have one tiny little one on his front tooth that was fixed by just shaving it off," she said. "They didn't have to fill it. They didn't have to give him any kind of pain, nothing. They just shaved it right off and that was the cavity."

Her complaint to the Colorado Dental Board led to an investigation and a Letter of Admonition for Dr. Tippets last year, calling his treatment plan "aggressive and unnecessary" – effectively a slap on the wrist. 

Other parents are also coming forward with stories and say they are planning to file complaints.

"I had to fight them over this," said Tehila Hatheway, who said Treasured Teeth billed her for a treatment her son didn't get. "And they said if I don’t pay it, it goes to collection, and I said, 'I’m not paying for something that was not done.' It just makes no sense."

Several other parents emailed Contact7 with similar stories, including Stacie Kent, who wrote that she took her 2-year-old son to Treasured Teeth in 2014 and was told he needed six fillings and would need to be sedated. Another dentist looked at her son's mouth and told her he didn't see any cavities or a need for fillings.

"I showed him the paperwork from Treasured Teeth and he apologized – said it gave dentists a bad name," wrote Kent.  

Brittnie Kreutzer remembered being impressed with the pirate ship waiting room at Treasured Teeth. She emailed that Dr. Tippets told her that her son needed two crowns, but when she got a second opinion her dentist told her there was no need for crowns.

"They wanted to put MY CHILD through unnecessary anesthesia, unnecessary dental trauma, and add unnecessary additions to his mouth all for thousands of dollars," Kreuzter wrote. "My child is NOT a dollar sign. They are taking advantage of worried moms who are just trying to do their best for their children by creating problems that aren't even there to begin with. It is shady and it is criminal. I tell everyone I know not to visit Treasured Teeth."

 In March 2018, Elizabeth Blaskowski took her 3-year-old daughter to a routine cleaning appointment at Treasured Teeth Reunion and was told her daughter had three cavities. She got a second opinion from a relative who is a practicing dentist, who examined the child's mouth and saw no cavities. But Blaskowski said the office would not send her all of her daughter's X-rays to show the other dentist. She decided to trust the dentists at Treasured Teeth and had the cavities filled.

"After hearing of other stories ... I became very concerned that I had been lied to, and my daughter in fact did not have the actual cavities that two different dentists at Treasured Teeth had told me she did," wrote Blaskowski. "The conscious sedation medication was absolutely a horrible experience, and I would never want to put my child through again. She was overly medicated in my opinion, and it took a whole day and a half to return to her normal state after the medicine, when the fillings were just a half-hour procedure." 

Two Yelp reviews of Treasured Teeth also warn parents to get a second opinion.

Conn's daughter was covered by Medicaid at the time of her treatment, which cost $3,657.

She said it took four months for her little girl's front teeth to finally start coming in, and she is still waiting to get the X-rays of her daughter's front teeth that show the permanent teeth supposedly coming in. She says Treasured Teeth sent her the wrong child's X-rays.

Dr. Tippets did not respond to Contact7's request for an on-camera interview, but in a written statement said, "We take these accusations seriously," but due to federal HIPAA privacy laws, "We are obligated not to respond."

"I think there's strength in numbers," said Kalodemas, who said she and other mothers believe their mom guilt was exploited to make them feel like they hadn't taken good care of their children's teeth. "These little kids —they’re so easy to take advantage of and it’s driven by money."

To give some context, the Colorado Dental Board gives letters of admonition to an average of 20 dentists every year.

The Former President of the Colorado Dental Association said there are red flags parents can watch for if they are concerned about a bad dentist.

Look for disciplinary action from the Colorado Dental Board. You can look up your dentist's name here.

Talk to your neighbors and others in the community for recommendations, reviews and complaints. That is how the group of moms speaking out against Treasured Teeth found each other.

If you feel the treatment is too aggressive, don't be afraid to ask questions and get a second opinion. You have a right to access to your X-rays.

"Make sure there is someone else who may have a different point of view," said Dr. Jeffery Hurst, the former president of the Colorado Dental Association."Maybe it's a less aggressive approach. It may be the exact same plan, but you can at least get that peace of mind knowing people are looking at your case if you have any questions or concerns."

Dr. Hurst said it is important to treat baby teeth, and crowns and fillings are not uncommon.

"Too many people think that because they are baby teeth, you can just let them go they are not going to be there that long, but I would mention that they are very important for so many other aspects other than just to smile with," he said. "Eating with them, speaking with them, not to mention the pain you can have from an abscessed baby tooth. You may have a very negative outlook because you're in pain all the time."

from Local News https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/contact7/parents-kids-dentist-did-unnecessary-work