#I didn’t realize that this problem set was due Friday and I am going insane over it because | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sohmariku · 5 years ago

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RIKU’S RANDOM LIFE: THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF... AUTISM?

Yesterday What do I need to do today? Finish decorating the Christmas tree? Reminds me, I still need to by a Christmas stall. But the kitchen really needs to be cleaned too. It’s also about time I finish the Winter set-up of my nendoroids. Crap, I absolutely need to vacuum the house today! Laundry can wait another day,...can it?

*Proceeds to watch another episode of Avatar: the Last Airbender*

Thankfully I’ve managed to cross out most of the tasks I had to do by today, but the Christmas tree still lacks decorations and my nendoroids are still disorderly shoved on the shelves. Maybe tomorrow...?

(I came to come to the conclusion I still have dry laundry hanging on the clothesline... I estimate it’s been up there for about a week now.)

While my mind is usually in a state of “semi-organised chaos”, the last couple weeks it’s mostly been “pure chaos”. Due to an overload of responsibilities, birthday parties and other holiday-celebrating occasions, I can’t seem to keep up with even the most basic tasks.

In short, I’m mentally exhausted and need a break.

Last time I blamed my kitten for the lack of progress on any subtitles, but... I’ve come to the realization it’s been not just that. The seemingly never-ending string of social responsibilities has drained away all my energy... to the point I could barely be bothered to eat breakfast some days. Of course my dumb-ass mind was too tired to realize what was going on and... Hello Meltdown Yesterday.

In hindsight, I really should have skipped that birthday dinner party, but my boyfriend was already guilt tripping me into going, before I even could mention I didn’t want to go. His father would be so happy if I’d be there, he said. Mind you, I had completely forgotten about that party until my boyfriend called around 4PM telling me he was on the way home, so we’d surely get to the restaurant in time. That day was supposed to be MY DAY OFF! Because I could feel I had reached my limit. Nope, that evening is gone! Though I was literally on the verge of crying, I decided to push through, because his parents feel they don’t see me around enough already and gotta keep them happy, sorta.

The effect showed immediately, because it took me two days to even realize I had forgotten my scarf at the restaurant! And I only noticed, because I couldn’t find it when I forced myself to do the grocery shopping I absolutely didn’t feel like doing, because I was still recovering from said dinner party. Of course, as the responsible adult I am, I didn’t call the restaurant, but instead texted my boyfriend “I think I might have forgotten my scarf at the restaurant!” and prayed he’d solve the problem without me literally needing to ask him to make the call for me. Because if there’s anything I hate more than making phone calls, I hate making phone calls to admit I’m an absolute airhead who forgot her scarf! Thankfully he fixed it without me needing to spell it out word for word. Got my scarf back.

But really, this whole debacle really shows how on-edge I was that evening. I clearly remember thinking to myself “don’t forget your scarf” and then came the waiter who handed me a little rubber duck. (because apparently every female customer gets one) And boom, I became a happy little penguin with my rubber duck. It was all I could focus on ad when people started to leave, I quickly waddled outside (after saying some painfully awkward goodbyes to people I don’t actually know, but who do know me) and totally forgot about the scarf. Until days later! But yes, I got it back.

(To add to that, I lost that same scarf again today but in the Garden center, because I was too focused on a text conversation on my phone. Took me a lot of courage and agonizing to ask the staff if anyone had found it. They did, I got it back. Also, when doing some grocery shopping last week, I forgot my empty shopping bag at the cashier. I didn’t go back to ask if anyone found it. I could get a new one for only 58 eurocents after all. Anyway, notice a trend?)

If that wasn’t enough. The worst part is probably, I know I’m not out of the woods yet. Choir practice on Friday (20), Christmas Market Choir performance on Sunday (22), Christmas Evening Church Mass with choir on Tuesday (24),Christmas with family (parents/siblings) on Wednesday (25), Christmas with extended family (grandparents/uncles/aunts/cousins) on Thursday (26)...

Somewhere in between all that I need to find time to properly clean my whole house (which hasn’t happened in forever), because I’ll be the one hosting the Christmas gathering on the 26th (It’s way too late to back out now...) and my aunts are already judging me enough as it is.I don’t need them to think I’m living like a pig. (It’s the first time they’ll see my house, so they’ll be sticking their noses everywhere most likely...) My house isn’t dirty per se, but it could definitely be cleaner.

And when you think the “suffering” finally ends... my boyfriend has a compulsory day off from work (27). So, I won’t get a fully quiet day until Monday (30). My plans for New Year’s Eve (31) are still unclear. But then my boyfriend has another compulsory day off on New Year’s (1) and he also decided to take Thursday (2) and Friday (3) off too. Now my grandmother’s birthday is on the 7th, but she might very well be celebrating it on the 4th or 5th. Or the weekend after that (11-12). Plus in either of those weekends my boyfriend’s parents very much want to go out for dinner with us too...

In short, that means I’m not expecting any “true” down-time until well into January... And just that thought alone is enough to drain away the last bit of energy I had left and dread the rest of the month.

Always love the holiday season... //hear the sarcasm//

If it was up to me I’d go into hibernation and wake up somewhere in January.

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Note: Though I have no official diagnosis (and not sure if I’ll ever pursue one), in hindsight, I’m pretty clearly on the Autistic Spectrum. It’s only been a year ago since I really came to this realization, I’m apparently pretty good at masking, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. My autism affects a great deal of my life. For one, any social interaction requires a lot of energy. It’s worse if I’m meeting with a large group of people. And even if I’m not in the same room, having another person in the house will somehow keep me on edge to a certain extent. I’m well aware that full schedules are exhausting to everyone, but to me they are “extra” exhausting. For example, it can take 2 full weeks to fully recover from a gathering with extended family. And when I’m in recovery, it’s very hard to do anything productive on a day. As I’m writing this, it sounds insane. And it doesn’t always happen, but it does happen and that’s extremely inconvenient.

This post became a lot longer than I expected, but I guess it’s good to finally talk about this? Though part of me is feeling really anxious about it. How dare I claim to be autistic without an official diagnosis? It’s silly. My life is all about silly worries. This is just one of them. The anxiety is real. >< Guess I’d better just post this already... and then regret it all night... have trouble to fall asleep... while I dread the reactions people might have. Yes, that’s how my mind works. By morning I’ll realize I had nothing to fear, I hope... O.O;;

By the way, congrats if you made it all the way to the end of my rambling!

#Riku's random life

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wvldcvrd · 5 years ago

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[SHAWN MENDES, CIS MALE, HE/HIM] have you seen MARCO SPIEGELMAN around sedona? MARCO is a BEEKEEPER, but they’re also THE WILD CARD in the sedona sleuths, so you’ve probably seen them around the firehouse shed. they’re known for being WARMHEARTED and OPTIMISTIC, but they’re also known to be OVERWROUGHT and NAIVE. when they’re not at the shed, i can usually find them at THE SEDONA FOREST. i can always recognize them by (a worn guitar neck with old strings, coming home three minutes before curfew, a crackling woodfire, and freshly blown out birthday candles).

hi friends ! my name is reed, i use they/she pronouns, and am so stoked to be here ! keep reading to find out everything you’ve ever wanted to know about my boy, marco.

tw: cancer, death, car crash, addiction

marco joshua spiegelman was born on an overcast august day in the city of boston, massachusetts. he was the fourth child and the youngest by seven years, meaning that in some way, he was his parents’ last hope.

the spiegelman family practiced orthodox judaism – his dad was raised orthodox and his mom converted from reform judaism in order to marry his dad– so marco’s childhood was very much focused on religion. the spiegelman family went to services every friday night, celebrated every holiday, forced marco to wake up early on sundays to go to hebrew school, and treated him they same as they had treated his older siblings. however, as his siblings grew up and moved out, they all stopped devoutly practicing judaism and moved into a more modern and laid back interpretation of their religion. marco craved this from a young age, but because he was stuck at home with his parents, he was forced to follow their rules and beliefs.

marco went to jewish private school for elementary and middle school, had his bar mitzvah in the seventh grade, and tried to blend in as best as he could. he liked history and english, eager to learn more about the past and help shape the future. at this point in his life, he had his goal of becoming a politician pretty much set. he would help the end the fighting in israel, solve world hunger, and just be an all around awesome guy.

however, his plans shifted on valentine’s day his eighth grade year. after coming home from school, his parents sat him down and told him that his dad had stage four exocrine pancreatic cancer. he knew that his dad had been losing weight and not eating as much recently, as well as complained all the time that his back hurt, but marco didn’t realize that it was something so terrible and life threatening.

with a survival rate of about one percent, the spiegelman family knew that his dad’s chances of survival were not good. the next few months were difficult, his dad went through lots of chemotherapy and experimental trials, but nothing seemed to be working, and he passed away before june. this crushed marco and his mom; his dad was a kind, gentle, and loving person, and the three of them had grown extremely close with each other due to marco being the youngest and the only child still living in the house.

it was hard for the two of them to live by themselves in a town that his mom didn’t really have any connection to, so a few months after his dad’s passing, marco and his mom moved to sedona, the place where she had grown up, to try and start fresh. their new beginning came coupled with the loss of their connection to their religion, and marco and his mom no longer practiced judaism

freshman year in a brand new town was intimidating for marco, and this resulted in him being extremely quiet and shy for the majority of the year. however, his history teacher saw how invested in history and current events he was and convinced marco to join the debate team. this is where he found his voice once again.

marco did a type of debate called public policy debate, a style of debate where you talk extremely fast and have to do an insane amount of research to ensure that you know what you’re talking about. in order to participate in that style of debate, his teacher assigned him a partner and he grew extremely close to her very quickly. the two of them went on to win the national title their sophomore and junior years

after joining debate, marco grew more confident in himself and began to talk more both in and out of class. being good at something gave him the boost he needed to no longer be shy, and he was well liked by most people at school. marco’s sophomore and junior years were quite possibly the best years of his life.

however, right before the trophy ceremony his junior year, he got a call from his mom, telling him that his sister had gotten in to a car crash and that she was in a coma in a hospital in san francisco. marco flew to san fran immediately after receiving the call, leaving his partner to collect the trophy on his behalf.

for the following two weeks, marco rarely left the hospital for fear that his sister would pass away without him there. although the two of them were not that close, losing another family member was something that marco could not imagine. on the fifteenth day of her being in the hospital, the doctors said that there was nothing they could do to save his sister. so they harvested her organs as donations, and the spiegelmans were forced to put another member of their family into the ground.

senior year came around and marco was a changed person. he was not as passionate or confident as he used to be, he quit debate, and he focused on judaism again to try and give his life some meaning. however, he explored the type of judaism his sister was into, reform judaism, based more on learning and exploring the ideas of religion than sitting in a sanctuary and praying.

although he skipped school often and had mediocre grades, he managed to graduate, his dreams seeming unimportant and his life in shambles. throughout this, he still managed to keep a positive attitude, now convinced that god had a plan for him and that everything would work out fine. he does have really bad anxiety tho, so it’s this classic combination of trying to have faith in the way things work out but never really being sure that they will

without his debate professor, he wouldn’t have even gotten into college, but with the help of someone making sure he followed through, he got into college t to study sustainable food & farming. this seemed like a out of the blue choice, but it combined marco’s love of research & science, and allowed him to feel like he could have a greater impact on the world than he could as a politician.

college went by without incident, but here are some highlights (joined hillel and loved being w/ other jews, was a nerd, did nerd things **including a lot of acid, lived his best life)

he recently graduated, and has found a love for beekeeping ! he has two hives and thousands of bees and he loves them all.

headcannons !

marco worked as a waiter at an italian restaurant in high school so that he could have spending money. money was never a problem in his household as his mom is a cardiologist, but he always felt bad asking for money for things, so he made his own money instead

if marco was a crayola crayon, he’d be pine green. the color is a bit darker than most of the other greens in the crayola family, just like marco in his family, but also has a hint of blue in it, hinting at the sadness that lies beneath marco’s outer layer.

marco really loves old school video games. his old nintendo 64 is collecting dust in his closet, and although he rarely has time to play it anymore, he refuses to throw it out. while growing up, video games were his way of connecting to his two older brothers, his older sister always watching on with a disapproving gleam in her eye. whenever the siblings get together, however, they always manage to turn on an old, favorite game of theirs, and the competition is always heated

in high school, marco smoked a lot of weed. he would always be seen outside at any high school party, smoking by himself or with a group of other people. however, after graduating, marco switched to cigarettes. he smokes frequently, but will furiously deny being addicted if approached about it

marco plays as waluigi when he plays mario kart/party

marco is a night person. he utterly hates getting up early in the morning, but staying up late comes easy and natural to him.

marco recycles religiously. if something is recyclable and you don’t put it into the recycling bin, he’ll lose a bit of respect for you as a person

marco absolutely loves space and the universe and stargazing (part of his appreciation for nighttime), but he also wholeheartedly believes that aliens are real, no doubt about it.

1/2 wholesome sunshiney boy, 1/2 sad and lonely and lost kid

#intro.

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pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles · 6 years ago

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Colour Me In Part 4

Eliza woke up to her bed shaking and a red light flashing in her face. This past week had been a nightmare with the James family taking up entirely too much of her time. Zach's ex, Daisy Moss, had been blocked on all his social media, but was using mutual friends to get to him. All the while posting racy pics with cryptic captions “miss your hands,” “it's never as good as it was with you,” etc. It was working and he was bouncing off the walls an emergency call at 2 am wasn't as unexpected as it was unwelcome.

Sure enough, text messages were flooding in from Evie, Jeanette, and even his mom, Helen. Daisy had finally gotten him to agree to meet for dinner to discuss where their relationship had gone wrong. That dinner dissolved into a public screaming match and when Daisy started trashing the restaurant Zach took off leaving her there. He'd hidden out at his friend Sam's house and they'd gotten piss drunk for a few hours. Zach got the spins and stepped outside for some air. It took Sam almost half an hour to realize he'd wandered off and raise the alarm. Before anyone could reach Sam's house, Zachary was arrested while banging on the front door of a Methodist Church crying and screaming at the top of his lungs. Evie had been notified as soon as he reached the police station. Her boss was enraged that Jeanette had let it go so far without contacting them, Jeanette was fed up with everybody and threatened to quit, and Eliza was on her way to clean up the mess.

Maggie heard her get up to leave and insisted on coming with her. Eliza hesitated thinking it unprofessional, but she was tired and an interpreter would really help move this along. While Maggie drove Eliza scrolled through her messages to see if she's heard from Calum.

She had barely seen him since that night he'd first kissed her. They'd met for a quick breakfast at Marian's, or as he called it “their spot.” He'd also surprised her at work and taken her to lunch. Each time he was sweet and a well behaved gentleman, much to Eliza's growing frustration. He'd wanted to take her to dinner again, but she'd been so busy and then he'd gone out of town with his friends for the weekend. Calum had texted her regularly, but it wasn't the same.

Waiting in the West Hollywood police station to get Zach processed Eliza pulled out her camera and nudged Maggie who shook her head.

“What the fuck are you doing? I look like hell, I want to go home.” Maggie always signed slowly when she was tired and Eliza called it whining.

“Please Mags I wanna fuck with Calum a bit,” Eliza pled with her sister.

Maggie pouted but nodded and Eliza told her to look pissed off. She took a few before deciding on one where Maggie looked angry and Eliza looked scared.

I didn't know who to call. I can't reach Kevin and I can't call my mom.

Calum responded quicker than she thought

OMG babe what happened? Are you okay? Do I need to come get you?

Maggie read over her shoulder poking her in the ribs before sitting back and looking smug.

Eliza glanced back and Maggie signed “I told you, I knew he liked you like that,” her hands back to their usual quick precise movements.

Eliza rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she was smiling.

We've been arrested. Evie will help with a lawyer but not with bail or bond.

What the hell? What did you get arrested for? Maggie too?

It's a long story but we're being charged with attempted murder

Maggie smacked her arm, “dummy now he'll know you're lying.”

….. Okay you're fucking with me, you had me going for a second. If you're serious, well this should be interesting.

Calum why would I lie about something like this

Calum sent back a screenshot of TMZ showing the arrest of Zachary James and how neither his manager or publicist had any comment.

My guess is you're waiting for this little shit. I see his ex Daisy Mess is back again.

I heard a rumour Ashton had a thing with her sister, Poppy.

That was Luke actually. All three sisters are batshit crazy. I haven't met the oldest, Iris Rose but I've heard enough.

Oh shit I gotta go…. The family just showed up

Helen's mother, Zach's grandma Lila, showed up minutes after his mother and sister. Due to Helen's hearing loss the entire family knew ASL and Eliza and Maggie got to watch the two women silently arguing while sitting quite some distance apart. It was clear Lila blamed them for bringing chaos and disruption around her troubled grandson. Lila was introduced to the sisters after Zach was finally back with them. An argument ensued and not wanting to been seen by the rest of the family, Lila discreetly slipped Eliza a note asking her opinion.

Eliza wrote back “Take him with you to San Diego, he needs a break. He needs a new manager and get his computers and cameras out of that house and away from his sister.”

Lila nodded and asked Eliza if she'd come to San Diego to help out until they replaced Jeanette.

Maggie shook her head behind Lila but Eliza felt she couldn't say no.

It had been a week and Eliza was out of her mind with boredom. Eliza feigned a cat allergy to politely decline Lila's invitation to stay in her gaudy McMansion in a gated community, and Lila paid for a decent hotel. She missed her friends and family. Maggie was on FaceTime every free minute they had. Kevin bombarded her on Snapchat because he lives for the filters. Calum had stuck to texting along with a few Snapchat videos of him with Duke, or at rehearsal with the guys.

Calum found himself missing her terribly. His pulse picked up when he got her notifications. They were at this weird stage where they were dating but not quite an official couple. Calum wanted to be available, but not clingy, flirty but not creepy. The fact that they mostly had a text based relationship gave a whole other set of problems as words on a screen, lacking nuance of tone or body language, could easily be misinterpreted. It was stressing him out, and he didn't get stressed out. ‘

He was Calum Hood, and he didn't stress out over girls. At least until now, and his friends wouldn't stop giving him shit. He had to just smile and take it because they weren't wrong. He hadn't hooked up since Natasha, when he'd literally kicked her out of bed to go meet Eliza. These past few days he'd been low key tempted, as it seemed every girl he'd hooked up with over the past year was hitting up his phone. Jay had even offered to “just come through and suck him off if he wanted,” and it was hard to say no to that

“Come on Calum, you hardly ever come out anymore. Your girl is out of town, and there's nothing that says you HAVE to pull. Just come out have fun with the guys and then go home and jerk off to anime porn, or is that me?” Michael was relentless about Calum coming out to Lucky's. Finally he agreed and after a couple drinks he relaxed and was having a good time. He even chatted with Natasha, well aware she was very good friends with Kevin, who was also there somewhere.

Everything was fine until Ashley, Michael's ex came stumbling over and randomly threw herself at Calum, trying to shove her tongue down his throat and her hand down his pants. He froze, hesitating to physically shove her off of him. Fortunately Crystal didn't and Ashley was soon on the floor. There was a bit of a scuffle when her friends tried to jump in but Kevin and security threw them out. Calum didn't feel like staying much after that, and Luke left with him grabbing In and Out before going back to Cal's.

“So have you told Eliza how much you like her? How long till you guys become an official couple?” Luke was only half teasing, he and the rest of the guys had noticed a change in Calum. He was happy and more relaxed, but at the same time bristling with a nervous energy.

“It's barely been a month since I met her, and you know I suck at relationships,” Calum shook his head looking dejected.

“You're doing pretty well so far with Eliza. You're always texting her, and you took her on actual dates. Something I've never seen you do. I've also never seen you go this long without a hookup, your balls must be killing you,” Luke snickered finishing off his burger.

“Piss off, what's your point anyways?” he pulled out his phone to text Eliza.

“You should go see her,” Luke told him.

“That's insane, I'd look like a fucking stalker,” Calum looked at him like he was crazy.

“Come on, she's stuck in San Diego on babysitting duty. She told you herself she's bored out of her mind, and hates going to crowded places alone. Surprise her and take her out, get your own hotel room if you have to. You're just going to drink and pout all weekend if you don't,” Luke checked his phone. “Ashton is still at Lucky's I'm gonna have him ask Kevin.”

“Luke I'll kill you,” Calum glared at him. “Don't you dare.”

“Too late, now let's see what Kevin says,” Luke shrugged.

Evie was thrilled at the way Eliza took charge of the Zachary James situation and had given her free reign to turn it around. Unfortunately it was taking longer than expected to find a manager leaving her stuck in babysitting duty as well as being in charge of the hiring committee. The week had been tedious meetings or emotionally draining sessions with Zach. Tomorrow was Friday, she had two interviews and a phone conference with Evie. She couldn't go home until Tuesday at the earliest, but at least her schedule was free this weekend. Eliza wanted to go do something fun, but she hated dealing with large crowds on her own.

Luke laughed when Ashton texted him back, “apparently Kevin wants your number so y'all can surprise your girl, and he just found out there's something called the 'Calum Challenge’ to see if they can break you.”

Before Calum could ask what was going on Kevin was blowing up his phone

Eliza stared at her phone in disbelief. Kevin just wouldn't stay out of her business.

He came out last night and everything was cool, until this random thot tried to hop on his dick right there in VIP. Your mans panicked and almost threw that bitch across the room, but he can't lay hands on a female cuz his mama raised him right, so he's trying to pry her off of him without hurting her. Lucky for him I saw the whole thing and told Mikey's girl Crys to handle it.

That's not what I asked you Kevin. Why are you talking to Calum? What are you up to?

I'm trying to tell you, if you'll listen. So these broads have come up with the Calum challenge. They have a bet to see which one can get him to break first.

That can't be a real thing? Why is it that big of a deal?

Because they are all jealous little bitches who never thought Calum would settle down.

Settled down? This is ridiculous

So Calum was worried I'd tell you he was kissing another girl. That's how we ended up texting after he left with Luke. He wanted to surprise you so tomorrow keep your eyes open. Cal also helped me sweet talk Nat into covering my shift Saturday night. So get ready bitch because I'm picking you up at 10am. I've got a big surprise for you so look cute.

Is Calum coming with you???

I wish that was the surprise, but his friend has that big birthday party Saturday night, and all the boys are going.

I know, just wishing, I know he can't miss something important like that.

Eliza finally got done with her meetings. She was thrilled to find Calum had sent her flowers, which were waiting at the front desk. Since Kevin insisted to dress up to his standards, Eliza went shopping. She found a bold bright blue peacock print tunic on sale that she could wear over her favorite black leggings and some cute blue suede flat heeled boots that were spendy but super comfortable.

Kevin texted her moments after her alarm went off.

I'm about two hours away. Your ass better be dressed, hair and makeup done and ready to walk out the door when I get there.

Eliza grumbled but she got up, Kevin hated mornings more than she did, so if he was making this much effort she had to as well.

She pulled her hair into two curly puffs on either side, it was too early and damp to do anything thing other than try and keep her hair under control. Seeing she had about 40 minutes to kill she made another cup of chai and continued reading a book of love poems from Persia in Farsi she'd borrowed from Maggie. She got lost reading until her phone was vibrating off the table and the strobe light by her bed was flashing.

WTF Eliza I come all this way, and you're not gonna answer open your door you gorgeous bitch

Eliza jumped up and ran to the door knowing Kevin would be in a mood because he had to wait. Phone still in one hand, she flung open the door an apology on her fingertips, when she saw him she stopped dead in her tracks.

It wasn't Kevin, but Calum on the other side of the door, holding a lovely bouquet and smiling at her. She felt her phone vibrate again and looked at it trying to figure out what was going on.

Surprise!!!!! There's no way in hell I was driving to San Diego this early. Enough with this charade, tell Romeo I’m going back to sleep. Have fun with dog boy.. love you.

@wildhearthood @kiiiimberlyriiiicker1995 @cal-puddies @biba3434 @babygirlcashton @angelbabylu @itstheholls @5sos-ficssmut @cal-pal-cuddles @calumh-excess @1dthewantedlove @you-of-ghost

#calum hood #calum hood fanfiction #calum 5sos #eliza #colour me in #deaf #asl #sign language #calum 5 seconds of summer #calum hood imagine #calum hood blurb

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tifu-today-i-fucked-up · 6 years ago

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Today, I f*cked up by getting Google to ban our entire company while on the toilet.

Long story, TL:DR at the end.

Preface, this happened on Friday and is still on-going. I've tried to keep things as detailed as possible but vague enough so I won't be outed since I guarantee someone will read this eventually. I still do not know if I am the culprit, but I am 90% sure that I am. I feel like this is a fireable offence and I will step up and take it if it comes to that. I'm also posting on a throwaway account for obvious reasons.

I work at a pretty sizeable software company, with roughly 100-150 employees. We migrated to Gmail and other Google services about 2 years ago and have been relying on them and the e-mail system to do our job. It's safe to say that everyone is using Gmail or Google in one way or another. Now, our Gmail accounts are set up to our company, so everyone is connected. Keep this in mind, as it will be relevant later.

I have a friend who creates Android apps on the side. I do something similar to this, but instead my apps revolve around cloning .apk files and restoring them, similar to a service called Titanium Backup.

As a joke, every time my friend releases an app (usually paid), I buy the app and clone it with my software, and then refund it. After that, I send him an e-mail with the cloned version through Gmail with something along the lines of: "Look at this cool app I found on the store, it was completely free! Try it out!", or stupid shit like that. It was a bit of a stupid inside joke that kind of stuck for a while and was only between us.

Recently he uploaded a new app and I did the same thing as usual. I was actually on the toilet at work at about 10am or so and was doing my business in the stall on my phone. I was on my work account and bought the app and refunded and all that jazz. I e-mailed it to him and then finished up in the bathroom and went back to work.

About an hour later before lunch, everyone was talking to each other about problems accessing their Google accounts. At the time, it didn't click with me what had happened.

One of my colleagues requested help and I went to check it out. It turns out that their account was blocked by Google due to ToS violations. Their Google Payments account was blocked as well. I thought this was insane and wondered if it happened to me and everyone else in the building, and surely enough it did. We got banned by Google, all of us.

The afternoon was pandemonium. We were all freaking out, our IT guys were trying to get a hold of Google but couldn't get in touch with anyone. We could sign into our accounts but not do anything with them. All our work was shared with Google services.

Eventually someone realized that their non-work accounts were banned as well. It wasn't until yesterday that someone made the connection. Anyone who had their accounts as a recovery option were also caught in the ban wave. One of the girls at work was fucking bawling her eyes out since she couldn't access her e-mail either.

Anyways, we were all told to go home on Friday. I went home and looked this up myself, and I found out that this ban (sometimes on the entire account but always on the Google Payments account) happens when someone abuses their refund policy. It bans all the accounts associated with it, and remember how I said all our work accounts were connected?

Yeah...

So it's been two days now and we've been chatting over Skype, no one knows what happened and the IT guys are fucking livid along with our supervisor and boss who are pissed that Google isn't helping us out. Their policy is to not share any information about what caused this and they will not reverse these actions. The posts I've found online relating to this have had similar problems (not to this extent of course), but no one has been able to solve this type of policy breach since Google does not help them, even if it was by accident or due to some other cause...

So yeah, that's that. I'm 99% sure that I am the culprit who caused this. I do not know why Google has a scorched-earth policy when it comes to this kind of stuff, but I fucked up and our boss is looking to migrate away from Google even though we just recently signed on not too long ago. I might make an update next week once this is, if at all, resolved.

TLDR; Company uses Google accounts that are all connected. I fucked up and abused a policy that turns out results in a complete ban/block on the Google account, and ALL associated accounts. Everyone in my company is now blocked by Google and some of their personal e-mails are also blocked as well. Google isn't helping us out since their policy is final and will not share any information regarding the problem, but we hope to get in contact with someone who can fix this for us.

(source) (story by by ikindafuckedupsorry)

#tifu #by by ikindafuckedupsorry #tifu stories #today i fucked up #fucked up stories #fails #fail stories #lol #wtf

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ofmarcos · 5 years ago

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( shawn mendes, cismale, he/him ) i just saw MARCO SPIEGELMAN walking down the street’s of provincetown the other day playing 100 BAD DAYS BY AJR out loud. rumor has it that the TWENTY TWO year old is WARMHEARTED, but can also be UNNECESSARILY OVERWROUGHT — overall they’re a POLYMATH. they remind me of A WORN GUITAR NECK WITH OLD STRINGS, COMING HOME THREE MINUTES BEFORE CURFEW, A CRACKLING WOODFIRE, AND FRESHLY BLOWN OUT BIRTHDAY CANDLES. ( ophelia, 19, est, they/she )

hello guys, gals, and non-binary pals, my name is ophelia and it’s lovely to meet u all!! i am nineteen, living in florida, work at an escape game, and my t key on my laptop gets stuck so um if u ever see me leave a t out of a word that’s why. also, fun fact!! i’m originally from a small town in ma about a two hour drive from provincetown :O but enough about me !! this is marco, he’s an actual meme, and you can read all about him under the cut. like this and i’ll come slide into ur dms for plots. <3

(also this got way longer than anticipated, i’m sorry, pls love me)

PINTEREST.

tw: cancer, death, car crash, addiction

it was hard for the two of them to live by themselves in a town that his mom didn’t really have any connection to, so a few months after his dad’s passing, marco and his mom moved to provincetown, the place where she had grown up, to try and start fresh. their new beginning came coupled with the loss of their connection to their religion, and marco and his mom no longer practiced judaism

after joining debate, marco grew more confident in himself and began to talk more both in and out of class. being good at something gave him the boost he needed to no longer be shy, and he was well liked by most people at school. this was also when he found the snackpack, and he has always been grateful for their presence in his life. marco’s sophomore and junior years were quite possibly the best years of his life.

without his debate professor, he wouldn’t have even gotten into college, but with the help of someone making sure he followed through, he got into u mass amherst to study sustainable food & farming. this seemed like a out of the blue choice, but it combined marco’s love of research & science, and allowed him to feel like he could have a greater impact on the world than he could as a politician.

college went by without incident, but here are some highlights (joined hillel and loved being w/ other jews, was a nerd, did nerd things **including a lot of acid, lived his best life)

he just graduated and is home for the summer, he has a job working for the local farmers’ market, and is just chillin’, trying not to think about the other shoe that is bound to drop

he’s doing okay, and that’s all he’ll ever answer the question “how are you?” with

headcanons:

marco plays as waluigi when he plays mario kart/party

marco has a slight boston accent

marco is a night person. he utterly hates getting up early in the morning, but staying up late comes easy and natural to him.

marco recycles religiously. if something is recyclable and you don’t put it into the recycling bin, he’ll lose a bit of respect for you as a person

marco absolutely loves space and the universe and stargazing (part of his appreciation for nighttime), but he also wholeheartedly believes that aliens are real, no doubt about it.

wanted connections

his debate partner from high school

romantic connections (male or female or nb!!)

exes w/ lingering feelings

exes who ended on good terms

the person who took his virginity l m a o

that person that he’s been pining after since freshman year in high school who he just wants to get w/ but has convinced himself he cannot

neighbors when they were growing up

current roommate

that friend that u always compete with and like ur friends w/ them still, u are, but also u always want to brag about how great ur doing

someone who confides in him who he rarely confides back to

u KNOW they probably made a band in high school

people he went to college with

anything ur heart desires!!

#snackpackintro #im sorry that i wrote a novel i really am

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lavenderprose · 7 years ago

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Hey kids I wrote a longer version of The Night Yuuri Katsuki Lost His Mind, AKA the College AU

Yuuri jerks awake just after midnight, realizes that he is surrounded by what to the uninitiated observer would look like the detritus of the insane, and quickly gleans from the angle of the ceiling that he is on the floor.

He flings out a hand, looking for his phone. The light of the screen, even set to its lowest level, pulls a violated wail from his throat.

"Oh my GOD," Phichit says from the sofa. He sits up, flops himself over the edge. The hamsters start squealing at the sound of their father's voice. "I submitted myself to only getting an hour of sleep but I am getting an HOUR of sleep, Yuuri Katsuki, do you hear me?"

"When does Starbucks open?" Yuuri demands blearily, trying to work up the energy to disconnect his cheek from the carpet. It smells like Timothy hay and despair.

"This is a college town you absolute disaster," Phichit growls from the depths of the couch cushion he has his face shoved into. "Starbucks never closes."

Yuuri would accuse Phichit of being ugly due to sleep deprivation, if he didn't know that absolute disaster was the kindest thing that Phichit has ever called him during a finals week.

"Oh God, I overslept," Yuuri moans into the carpet. "I meant to take a twenty-minute powernap. Oh God. But I was having such a good dream."

"Was Viktor Nikiforov there?" Phichit asks, because he's the worst person Yuuri knows and also because every single person in the state of Michigan knows about Yuuri's massive crush on the World's Most Beautiful Grad Student, Viktor Nikiforov.

"No," Yuuri whispers, hands now folded over his chest like a dead Catholic. "But God was."

"You're Shinto. You don't believe in the monotheistic God."

"That doesn't stop me from dreaming about him."

Phichit glances over his shoulder. "What does God look like?"

Yuuri considers for a moment. "David Duchovny."

Phichit snorts into his shoulder and rolls back over. Yuuri rises shakily to his feet and stumbles into his bedroom, where he opens his computer and scrolls unseeingly down the seventeen-page research paper he abandoned three hours ago in favor of what was intended to be a powernap. There is a cold cup of coffee on his desk which he unfeelingly chugs in the mannerism of those who drink to forget. He neither remembers when the coffee or the milk in it was poured, but it's an occupational hazard.

"Go to college, they said," he hisses under his breath. "It'll be fun, they said."

"Yuuri, I am legitimately going to murder you," Phichit says from the living room. "I have ten minutes left of sleep and I will get them if I have to gag you."

Five minutes later, Phichit rolls off the sofa and crawls into Yuuri's room.

"What final is that for?" he asks.

"It's for my IAH on the Russian Revolution," Yuuri says, whose eyes have not yet been able to focus on a full sentence. "It's my last final but it's due on Thursday and I still need to proofread."

"Well, uh, that's bad news for you," Phichit mutters, "because it's Friday, my dude."

Yuuri experiences a moment of the kind of calm, collected and composed terror that he imagines overcomes soldiers in their last moments before dying in the line of duty.

"WHAT," is what emerges from his mouth. It doesn't even sound like his own voice. It sounds like a bird has momentarily possessed his body and used his mouth to shriek an arcane and evil message to the heavens.

"It's Friday," Phichit repeats. "It has been for about fifteen minutes."

"Oh my God," Yuuri whispers, frantically pulling up the D2L dropbox. "Ohhh my God. Oh my God."

"David Duchovny leadeth me in paths of righteousness," Phichit says, and leans his head against Yuuri's thigh as, above him, the Chernobyl of undergrad crises implodes.

"The drop box is closed," Yuuri whispers as he watches his entire academic career flash before his eyes. "I'm toast. The drop box is closed. This paper is thirty percent of my grade."

"You can email the professor," Phichit says to Yuuri's knee. "Say you had a wifi problem."

"Professor Feltsman said that technological malfunction isn't a good reason for late work," Yuuri says, quoting the syllabus verbatim and feeling his soul leak slowly out of his ears. "I can't email him. He scares me. I think if I tried to get him to reopen the drop box, he'd bury me in the same hole where the Mafia buried Jimmy Hoffa."

"Okay, first of all, Jimmy Hoffa wasn't buried anywhere," says Phichit, wobbling to his feet. He turns on Yuuri's overhead light and blinks into the now-illuminated room like a newborn. "They cut him into little pieces and threw him into Lake Michigan. Secondly, isn't Beautiful Viktor Feltsman's grad student?"

"Yes," says Yuuri, for whom thinking of The World's Most Beautiful Grad Student is a slight reassurance. "He is."

"So send it to him. He has the hots for you, I'm sure he'd be cool."

"HE DOES NOT," Yuuri shrieks, to the agony of every dog in a six-block radius.

Phichit slams a hand against the back of Yuuri's desk chair and spins him around, jams a finger into his face. "Yuuri, I swear to God, if you even consider making a noise like that ever again, I will gut you like a fish."

"Please gut me like a fish," Yuuri whispers. "I would prefer it to being academically crucified by Yakov Feltsman."

"I told you, send Beautiful Viktor the paper. He'll drop it in for you."

"Phichit," Yuuri says, "we've been over this. Either use the full title, or just call him Viktor. Beautiful Viktor sounds like a rejected Muppets character."

Phichit sighs the sigh of a saint whose patience is being severely tested. "Send the World's Most Beautiful Grad Student your paper."

"I can't—"

"Your tongue has literally been down his throat, and probably other places that I don't like to think about, so tell me why he wouldn't A: have the hots for you and B: submit your paper to the dropbox so that Professor Feltsman doesn't rain the fury of the entire Russian Studies department down on your pretty little head?"

"Because he's a Grad student," Yuuri hisses, "and I could get him in serious trouble. Both by convincing him to give me special treatment, and by putting my tongue down his throat. Among other things."

Phichit literally throws his hands up at that point—they go flying into the air and knock Yuuri's framed poster of Daisuke Takahashi off the wall. It falls to the ground, betrayed, and lands face-down. Phichit, unheeding, carries his one-man demonstration into the kitchen, where he fills up the kettle and shouts, "Aren't there papers to sign? That say you guys can date? It's not like he's a professor! These things happen all the time!"

"The papers don't apply to undergrads taking a course taught by the graduate student they're dating," Yuuri says, arms limp at his sides and face on the desk. "It's unethical. He would lose his fellowship."

"You're only his student for the next…twenty-three hours and thirty-nine minutes." Phichit pulls tea out of the cabinet and leans around the door. "It's Beautiful Viktor's ethics, or your GPA. And you're on an athletics scholarship, so your GPA is kind of—"

"Important, I know." Yuuri sits up from his slump and stares at his computer screen, teeth grinding. "Ahh. AHHHH. AHHH. Okay, God, okay." In a flurry of movement, he slams his computer closed, yanks the flashdrive holding the paper out, and scrambles for his shoes

"What the hell are you doing?" Phichit demands, as Yuuri stumbles past him, pulling his bag over his shoulder. "I told you to email it to Beautiful Viktor, not special deliver it straight to his office at midnight."

"If I emailed it to him, he wouldn't see it until tomorrow morning," Yuuri says, hopping frantically on one foot as he pulls his shoes on. "That would be way too late. Feltsman would know it hadn't been dropped in by then. I can take the flashdrive to Viktor's house and—"

"You know where he lives?"

"I mean…" Yuuri pulls the carafe out of the coffee maker and takes several large sips out of it. It's very, very cold. "Yeah?"

Phichit, who's staring at him like he's finally realized that Yuuri is not necessarily a human being, says, "Godspeed, you complete maniac."

Yuuri is halfway down the stairs before Phichit thrusts his head into the hallway and says, "Are you going to put a coat on? It's like twenty degrees outside!"

"I'll be fine!" replies Yuuri, who is wearing a pair of pajama pants in a cartoon mochi pattern, a shirt that says World's Okayest Brother, and Uggs.

The Uggs are probably Phichit's.

Their apartment is located such that Yuuri has to walk past several of the most popular bars in town as he stumbles his way to the World's Most Beautiful Grad Student's Townhouse. He receives not a small amount of scrutiny from students who are reveling in the end of the semester—those who are lucky enough to have their finals week cut short by convenient scheduling or willpower against procrastination. Yuuri glances at them furtively, enviously, as he shuffles through ankle-high snow towards Collingwood Drive.

Viktor Nikiforov, The World's Most Beautiful Grad Student, lives in a townhouse three blocks away from campus with the two other grad students in the Russian Studies Department under Yakov Feltsman. Mila and Georgi are nice enough, although Yuuri doesn't think he has ever seen the front side of Georgi's head—only the back, as he sweeps out the door towards a date with the mysterious Anya. Mila is an incredibly charismatic redhead whom Yuuri has personally seen throw an undergrad into the Red Cedar River, so he's only a little afraid of her.

The townhouse is designed so that each person has their own 'front' door. Yuuri knows at this point to climb the external stairs to a deck around the side of the house, and knock there, because if he knocks on the real front door, he'll wake the entire house.

Viktor opens the door as he approaches the deck. Makkachin rushes out to shove his face into Yuuri's hip, begging to be pet. Yuuri has absolutely no self-control when it comes to pets, specifically dogs, specifically poodles, specifically poodles that belong to The World's Most Beautiful Grad Student, and so he leans down and rubs Makkachin's ears with both hands, despite his core body temperature rapidly dropping to something deeply unpleasant.

"Hi," says Viktor, the World's Most Beautiful Grad Student. "You should have told me you were coming over. I would have ordered extra food."

Behind Viktor, on the desk in his room, is a full container of Lo Mein.

"Oh," says Yuuri, whose stomach protests its emptiness almost immediately in the form of a noise that sounds almost uncannily similar to the groans of souls on their way to Hell. "That's…okay. I'm…good."

"Are you drunk?" Viktor asks, bluntly, obviously examining Yuuri's lack of coat and the glint of mania in his eyes.

"Of course not," Yuuri snorts, "who needs alcohol when you have sleep deprivation?"

"Good point," Viktor concedes, and holds the door open for him. "Come in, then." Yuuri and Makkachin fall into the door, Yuuri kicking off his (Phichit's?) boots at the door and then falling onto the bed. It's unmade and soft and smells very, very much like Viktor.

"I have a problem," says Yuuri, as Viktor settles back into his rolling desk chair.

Viktor rolls over to him, his knees framing Yuuri's, and says, "Alright, how can I help?"

"The dropbox closed on me," says Yuuri, in the wheedling tone of those dealing with dictators. It's not a flattering or appropriate way to speak to the World's Most Beautiful Grad Student, but it's how Yuuri's feeling today. "I couldn't turn in my paper. I know I should have turned it in before the deadline but I fell asleep and I didn't mean to and I was going to read over what I wrote and then I forgot and I—"

"Whoa, okay." Viktor holds up his hands. He's wearing wire frame glasses that make him look So Smart. Yuuri wants to forget about his paper and be pinned to the mattress behind him by Viktor's strong arms. "It's fine, you're fine. I'll just reopen the dropbox for you. Did you seriously come halfway across town in your pajamas to ask me that? You could have just called."

"I, um…thought you would be asleep," Yuuri whispers towards his feet, shuffling his shoulders. "It's…um…late."

"Midnight isn't late in a college town," Viktor tells him, which is true. Yuuri has personally witnessed people heading out for parties at two in the morning. Midnight is the new nine PM. "And I have finals too, you know. Nobody sleeps during finals week."

"You're right," Yuuri says. "I should have called. Um, I'm sorry, I'll—"

"No! No, it's fine." Viktor's hands go to his thighs, and Yuuri's heart goes swooping through his chest. "I don't mind that you came. I'm always happy to see you. I'm actually really glad you came, because I wasn't sure if I was going to see you again before break, and I wanted to give you something."

"Give me something?" Yuuri mumbles. "Viktor, neither of us is Christian. We don't celebrate Christmas."

Viktor laughs. "It's not a gift, really. Here, let's get your assignment turned in, and then I'll show you."

He scoots his way back to his desk, somehow managing to make it look graceful despite it involving tossing his own legs in front of himself and then dragging his body along for the ride. It's entirely possible that it's not really graceful—it's just that he's The World's Most Beautiful Grad Student, and everything he does has a glamour of beauty applied.

What's definitely, irrefutably graceful, however, is the way his fingers move across his keyboard, and the way he rests his chin in his hand as he waits for the dropbox to load, the light of the computer screen glinting off his glasses. Yuuri is so ridiculously attracted to him.

"Okay, it's open." Viktor holds his hand out behind him. "Do you have your flashdrive?"

Yuuri sets the drive carefully in Viktor's long-fingered hand, and watches as he competently uploads the file.

"Is this unethical?" Yuuri asks, clutching Viktor's pillow to his chest.

"No, Yakov is grading the papers," Viktor says. Yuuri's phone pings with the dropbox confirmation as Viktor closes his computer and turns around, scoots across the room to the file cabinet at the end of his bed, and slides it open. He pulls out a nondescript manila folder, which he tosses onto the bed next to Yuuri's lap. He finally extricates himself from his desk chair to throw himself across the bed, settling behind Yuuri with his head braced on his hand. He taps the folder on the other side of Yuuri's hip. "That's what I have for you."

Yuuri opens the envelope. It's some sort of form titled Disclosure of Relationship Form.

"Oh, just what I always wanted," Yuuri mumbles as he sifts through it, trying to figure out what it is.

"It's the papers we have to sign to keep the relationship above board," Viktor laughs. "We each have to fill out a little bit of information about ourselves, you have to sign a paper that says you won't take a class that's taught by me and I have to sign a paper that says I won't use my graduate status to give you special treatment."

"Oh, um…so…these are going to be filed with the university?"

"No, they're just for my own personal records." Yuuri glances at Viktor, eye twitching, and Viktor laughs again. He has a beautiful laugh. "Of course they're going to be filed with the university. It's unethical if I don't inform them that I'm in a relationship with an undergrad."

"A relationship, huh," Yuuri squeaks.

Viktor's hand slides away from his hip, back towards regions unseen and far away. "Oh. Um…yes? But only if you want it to be? We can, um…we can do this another time? But I thought…now that you're not taking a class with me, I would—I should file the papers, and—"

He stops, then, because Yuuri kisses him.

Yuuri throws himself down onto The World's Most Beautiful Grad Student, and then kisses him until he has to pull away to take a breath—and Yuuri, who's equipped with both incredible stamina and the knowledge of how to breathe through his nose, doesn't have to pull away for a long time.

"Wait, okay, so," says Yuuri, who pulls away more because his mind won't stop buzzing at him than any actual need to stop. "It was unethical. For you to be, um, seeing me. These past few months."

"Well, I mean, I wasn't going to scream about it to the Dean," Viktor says, and his hand is warm up under Yuuri's shirt, and Yuuri is in something that's probably a lot like love with him, "but…it wasn't…technically…against the rules? There are, um, y'know, unofficial…courtship…loopholes. Basically, if you report the relationship within the first few months, the dean's office usually doesn't have a problem."

"How do you know so much about this?" Yuuri asks.

"Georgi dated half the grad students at his undergrad."

Yuuri, who is profoundly unsurprised, throws himself back into what's shaping up to be a very successful tonguing session with The World's Most Beautiful Grad Student.

In the morning, after blackmailing Viktor into sharing his Lo Mein and helping Viktor find wording for his presentation on his work for the semester that doesn't sound a lot like he's saying Fuck the Russian Studies Department, even though it's hard, Yuuri wakes up to an email from Yakov Feltsman.

You turned in the wrong essay, it reads. Please fix the problem. I have reopened the dropbox.

And then, ten minutes later,

Tell Viktor to at least ask me before he accepts late work on a zero late work syllabus.

Yuuri, cringing spectacularly, shuffles to Viktor's computer and uploads the appropriate document. Curious, he opens the one that Viktor submitted the night before, which is titled Rasputin Paper IAH 325 instead of Rasputin Paper for Feltsman.

LET'S HEAR IT FOR EVERYONE'S FAVORITE EVIL MYSTIC, MOTHERFUCKING RASPUTIN, reads the first line, and Yuuri shrieks.

"Professor Feltsman is going to kill me," Yuuri informs Viktor. "I have to go back to Japan. I have to hide."

"He's not going to kill you," Viktor grumbles into his pillow.

"Yes he is! You turned in my notes instead of my paper. He read my notes! Viktor, I called Nicholas Romanov Sad Saint Nick."

Viktor cackles into his pillow.

"I'm serious! I just committed academic suicide." Yuuri throws himself onto the bed and curls up as far under Viktor's arm as possible, hoping to just disappear into his armpit. "Protect me."

"Okay," Viktor murmurs. "I'll protect you from my father."

"Thank you," Yuuri whispers, and there are exactly six seconds of blessed silence before Yuuri processes what Viktor has just said to him.

"Your what?" Yuuri hisses.

Viktor stiffens, and not in the fun way. "Um…I'm…adopted?"

Yuuri shrieks so loudly that, halfway across campus, Phichit Chulanont experiences a spontaneous and violent craving for salmon.

#Victuuri #YOI #Yuuri Katsuki #Viktor Nikiforov #Phichit Chulanont #Maggie's Fic #This is absolute crack #But I had fun writing it so maybe you'll have fun reading it

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imdifferentshadesofpurple · 7 years ago

Text

Jaebum x Reader [featuring GOT7 x BTS] → angel!au / demon!au Warning: violence, language, & mentions/descriptions of death

→ Masterlist (including teasers) → A/N: chapters are updated every Friday

“It’s her.”

“Then keep her safe, my child. The Veil will start to shatter and we will need her desperately.”

“Yes Father.”

Dymphna Psychiatric Hospital.

You remembered it well, even though it’s been 13 years since you last stepped foot in this place.

It was hard to forget the imposing structure, darkened by the lateness of the evening. Its height had scared you as a child, the spires twisting up and up until it seemed they disappeared into the clouds. It bared some similarities to St. Dymphna Church in Belgium, in honor for the saint that was killed there, stained glass windows depicting her short life along its walls.

Rose used to love the windows.

Clenching your jaw, you flash your badge at the officer, sirens from the police cars bouncing off the stern angles of his face. He waves you through and you follow Maria’s instructions, heading straight for the back of the building where the cemetery was. You spot her instantly, hair blowing in the wind with her hands stuck in her pockets. A look you know well is plastered on her face, eyes set in determination as she stares at the body at her feet.

It’s these moments you see her as your captain more than your best friend.

Taking in a deep breath, you call out to her and she immediately turns, sort of shocked that you even showed up.

“You’re here.”

You nod to Shan, your precinct’s resident coroner, as she continues to examine what you know to be the remnants of your twin sister. You’re not ready to look, not just yet, so you address Maria instead.

“Of course I am. You called. When your boss calls you show up.”

Usually that would get a laugh out of her, eyes sparkling at your sarcasm, but there’s just sadness in them now.

Pity.

You try and ignore it, feeling a little more light headed than when you first arrived. “What…what happened? And don’t spare the details Maria. Not this time.”

Lips in a firm line, you know she’s debating your request. She knows that even though you hadn’t spoken to Rose in so many years, your sister was dead. Right at your feet, her blood staining the very floor you were standing on. But she also knew, just by staring at you, that you were trying to keep it professional.

Sister or not, you were a detective.

Sighing, she looks back down as Shan continues to work, “The hospital’s employees swear she was in bed when they last checked on her. They said she had been doing well lately, taking her medication and going to therapy. But security footage shows her getting out of bed and heading straight for the roof. She was muttering something but I couldn’t make it out. The footage is sketchy at best but I got a copy anyway.”

Your vision blurs slightly but you ask her to continue.

“She looked…sick Y/N. Which I know sounds insane but I was able to get a hold of the doctor she sees here. He said she was looking healthy. Better than he had ever seen her in the 13 years he had worked with her. But in the video she’s pale. Her hair is in tangles like she hadn’t brushed it in days. She left for the roof without shoes and without a coat, in this weather no less. She goes straight for the ledge and after a few more minutes, the cameras catch her dropping.”

Fists clenching in your coat pockets, you meet Shan’s eyes, “Shan? Tell me things.”

Getting up, she removes her gloves, arms crossing over her chest, “Cap is right. I was able to quickly go through some of her files and she seemed to be doing well. Her outward appearance doesn’t match the good things the doctor and nurses are saying about her. Hair is a mess, there’s dirt under her fingernails, feet have scabs on them. There’s tears in her hospital gown, like someone was ripping at them. But there are no antemortem injuries. No defensive wounds. No one forced her up there and no one pushed her according to the security footage. I’ll perform my autopsy back at the lab and maybe I’ll be able to give you more information. But…”

Maria’s brows rise, “But?”

“But there’s a bruise forming. A few bruises.”

She kneels down and you know she’s silently asking you to look. Maria grabs at your arm but you smile, albeit a little forced, and she lets go. Crouching down next to her, you nod and Shan lifts up the tarp to reveal Rose.

You had seen a lot of dead bodies during your time as a cop. Bodies from murders that were too gruesome for the media to handle, bodies from accidents that could’ve been prevented.

Bodies of those you were responsible for.

But Rose. Your sister. Her body was the worse.

She had fallen with her arms spread wide, like she was trying to fly, chest and face connecting with the pavement first. The blood splatter was minimal at best, most if it pooling from the cracks in her skull. Her skin was still complete, but you could see the shattered bones, no structure to her as little pieces jutted out from different areas. Her legs looked like jelly, pale skin standing out against the baby blue of her hospital gown. You couldn’t being yourself to meet her empty eyes, face contorted from the fall.

Because her eyes were your eyes.

And you couldn’t help but wonder if this would’ve been you instead if you had agreed with Rose that night.

You realize Shan had given you a moment, quiet next you. Brushing away a stray tear, she takes it as her cue to pull the tarp back further, exposing more of her concaved back.

“Here. There are a few from what I can see, but bruises usually take a few days to fully appear. There’s one on her wrist as well. Now, these had to have occurred prior to her taking the fall. Any darker areas on the skin after death are caused by hemorrhagic fluids that accumulate due to livor mortis. Blood needs to be pumping in order for a bruise to form. However, since they’re not that purplish color we’re used to, these are fresh. A day at the most.”

You shoot her a look of confusion, “I thought you said there were no defensive wounds?”

“There aren’t,” she says, hands scanning over the body.

“She’s right,” Maria says as she hovers over them, “none of the nurses told me about any altercations with Rose recently. If these bruises are fresh, she didn’t get them in the hospital. I’d have to go over more footage but she was behaving. No one seemed to have problems with her. She started out rough, defying all sorts of authority when she was first admitted, but she hasn’t started anything.”

You get up, “When’s the last time she got into a fight with one of the orderlies?”

Maria thinks for a moment, “The last time? I don’t know the exact date but I do remember noticing it was after your last visit to her. Since then, nothing.”

Your last visit. Your 20th birthday.

Defying the request of your parents, you had come to see her, to give her presents and to wish her a happy birthday.

Even though she had been admitted, your parents got her things, wrapped them in wrapping paper and tucked them away in their closet.

A symbol of hope that she’d return and be the Rose from before.

You had taken them, knowing very well she didn’t want to see you. But the gifts were taking up too much room and you weren’t even sure if your parents would keep them any longer.

So you had gone, once they had fallen asleep from all the wine they had consumed. You had signed in with no issues, no longer needing parental permission to see your sister. For your protection, there were guards with you, stationed on each side as if they were escorting you to a murderer.

Back then she hadn’t looked healthy, skin paler than ever as she sat with her back against the wall. Her room was empty, save a desk and a chair. You didn’t want to be afraid but seeing her there, after so many years, terrified you. She had met your eyes, complete mirrors of each other, and smiled.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

Her words hadn’t hurt but you flinched anyway, telling her you were here because it was her birthday and because you had gifts. She had scoffed and told you to leave. But you had insisted because you missed her and secretly hoped you could reach out to her, fix her somehow.

But she had retaliated, slicing you with a knife she had hidden under her pillow from dinner when you tried to get away from her hands around your throat.

The long, jagged scar below your right shoulder was the only thing left from that night.

Maria’s voice pulls you out of the memory and you focus on her. “Since that visit, she hasn’t caused anymore trouble. It’s like she became a perfect patient. I don’t know what happened but that’s the extent of the info we’ve got. So Shan, why don’t you wrap this up and take what you need back to the lab. Get the results on my desk asap. And I want you to go home Y/N. Captain’s orders. Get some rest and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You rub at your eyes as Shan packs up, “You’re not coming home?”

She shakes her head and you both bid your goodbyes to the esteemed coroner. “No. Not until later. Rose’s death was a suicide but there’s still alot of paperwork that needs to be finished before we can move forward. So go home and I’ll see you later.”

You promise to get some rest and she pulls you into a tight hug, cheek pressed into your hair, “It’s okay to cry. Whether you do it when you get back or wait until I get home. She was your sister, no matter what. So you don’t have to be strong this time.”

She doesn’t let you reply, leading you straight to your car.

Your apartment was a decent size, both your paycheck and Maria’s enough to have you living comfortably. It had only made sense to move in together, a promise to do so one late night back in college. Lights on and bag abandoned on your bed, you undress quickly and slip into sweats and a black tshirt, heading for the fridge.

It feels better when you’re finally on the couch, picking at the leftovers you heated up just moments ago.

Maria’s words float back into your head and you can’t seem to understand why you haven’t cried yet. Though you hadn’t seen Rose in almost a decade, she was your sister. Your twin. Before the demons, before the craziness ensued, you had been each other’s lifelines. Best friends until the end of time.

And you couldn’t believe one moment changed all that.

You could still see her clearly in your mind, the last night you came to visit. It was like she was a different person, the girl you once knew eaten up by the terrors that plagued her mind.

No longer hungry, you decide it’s best to get some sleep. You did, after all, have a job to get to in the morning.

It’s not until you’re about to drift off into unconsciousness that you hear what resembles wings, the flutter of them, from your living room. Thinking somehow it could be your friend finally coming home, you throw the covers away from you and exit your room.

“Maria? It’s almost three in the morning I’m glad you’re…”

You freeze.

It’s not Maria.

“So you’re the pretty thing that’s got the entirety of Heaven and Hell fluttering around like excited chickens. I must say, the resemblance to the other Bone Witch is astonishing. I guess that’s why you’re the Twins then, isn’t it?”

If you weren’t on high alert, you’d be moved by his voice alone. His red hair was like fire against the muted tones of your decor, smile as alluring as his mischievous eyes.

“Who the hell are you?”

He doesn’t say anything, the lollipop in his mouth taking up the action to do so. You notice the tattoos running the length of his skin and your eyes finally settle on the large black wings taking up most of the space in your living room. He notices where your gaze is, and like he can read your mind, laughs.

“Oh baby, I’m no angel. After this is all over, you’re definitely going to have wished I was.”

You stand your ground, jaw clenched again like when you had first arrived at the hospital, “If you don’t leave my home, you’re going to wish you stumbled into a nicer girl’s apartment.”

Smirk widening, like he was enjoying your conversation, he takes a step closer, “I don’t do nice.”

“Well it’s a good thing I do.”

You gasp as you’re swung behind a body, more wings blocking your vision.

“Well, well. Park Jinyoung. What a nice surprise. Daddy sent you down to take care of things?”

Jinyoung’s all pearly whites as his grins too, “Kim Taehyung. I’m going to count to three and you’re going to disappear. Because I’m stronger and I’m faster and you won’t like the burn of Heaven.”

Wings tensing, Taehyung’s gaze turns fierce, “You cannot protect her forever. It took no time for us to find this witch. And it won’t be long until we dispose of her like Yoongi disposed of Rose. So watch yourself. If it’s not me, it will be another. And once she’s gone, The Veil is ours. Tell your Father his precious world will be Lucifer’s soon enough.”

“I’ll pass along your message. Now. One…two…”

There’s a large gust of wind and what feels like the heat from flames and when you finally come out from behind Jinyoung, the boy that he had called Taehyung was gone.

“You’re safe now so don’t—”

You don’t let him finish, flipping him onto his back the second he steps away. Gun pointed straight at his chest you ask, “What the hell is going on and who the hell are you?”

Chuckling in amusement, to your surprise, Jinyoung simply gets up and presses his finger to the barrel of your gun.

“Shooting an angel is bad luck.”

You scoff, “An angel?”

Pouting, he looks back at his wings, pure white unlike Taehyung’s, “I thought the wings would give it away. No matter, He’ll be able to explain.”

Gun still pointed, “He?”

“Yes. He. Now put that gun away Y/N and get dressed. They’re waiting and despite what everyone says, God isn’t always patient.”

A/N: I hope everyone is enjoying the fic. And yes, Maria is in this as is Shan lol. I throw pals in fics sometimes. Until next week. xoxo

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survivor-guyana · 6 years ago

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Episode 10 - "If the votes aren't Unan1mous, I'm going to die." - Maynor

what the fuck kind of alliance votes out two of my closest allies two rounds in a row, and doesn't even tell me their concerned or trusts me with their opinion.

alyssa and jess. jsyk.

Well, being completely blindsided doesn't feel good. I just want to make sure that I'm safe moving forward, and I'm feeling very upset about how this just went over. I'm so pissed at Jess and Alyssa for not saying anything. And even Aidan. Fucking Aidan said nothing. I need to look at this situation positively, but I honestly don't know what to do right now.

I guess I need to find a way to strike against Jess/Alyssa/Devon because they are the power trio right now... I just hate doing it because I love all three of them, but if I want any chance of winning at all, I kind of need to do that.

I probably need to start by making sure I have Aidan and Dani with me. Chelsea being on the wrong side and talking with me helps, and then I need to solidify my relationship with Jones and Maynor.

Maybe with all of those combined, I have a chance.

So tonight I fucked up harder than I EVER HAVE FUCKED UP IN A GAME BEFORE (and that's saying something). I've been going through a rough patch the last week and have probably gotten a total of 15 hours of sleep since Friday???? When I was on call with Devon/Alyssa I read something out loud Jones sent me and it mentioned the whole alliance with Alyssa/Jones. I'm hoping I fucking mumbled but Alyssa understood me so DEVON KNOWS. I attempted to play it off but I DON'T know. I just don't fucking know. I'm dumb. I feel dumb.

I'm just trying to build trust with people at this point. I feel like my game fell apart fucking HARD this round. I cracked at final 10. FINAL FUCKING 10. I'm not trying to get DOWN on myself but low-key this is probably why I don't win games lmfao.

I told Alyssa about the idol so I'm hoping this is a sign of trust. I don't know how I 1000% feel about telling her but here goes nothing I guess?

I was in a pretty decent position going into this round and then....until I literally set fire to the rain and fucked shit up.

My relationship with TJ took a hit. That's not going to be good in the future. My relationship with Maynor took a hit. That's not going to be good in the future. My relationship with Chelsea is fucked (but did we ever have any type of working relationship, not really). My relationship with Devon probably took a hit because of my own stupidity. My relationship with Alyssa took a hit when I was sipping on dumb bitch juice. My relationship with Jones is still a major question mark? My relationship with JD is as stable as I am currently and that's saying SOMETHING?

THAT'S LITERALLY ALMOST EVERYONE IN THE FUCKING GAME WHO HAS SOME SORT OF ISSUE WITH ME?

Literally the only two people I didn't piss off or give reason to hate me is Dani/Aidan... and that's.... just fucking sad.

I destroyed my game and that's on me.

Time to pick up these pieces somehow and make them FIT.

Here is a Haiku about my game:

My game is a mess. I messed it up real bad. Jumping of a bridge.

okay so,,, I talked to Alyssa and Jess,,,,,,, and I understand,,,,,, like 80% where they're coming from? Jess told me she and Alyssa flipped because they didn't realize TJ and I came to them and said JD said Jess' name?? Jess went to JD and she said that Tim was the one who threw Jess' name out,,,,, and like,, they couldn't take my word for it when I said I trusted Tim, WHICH I UNDERSTAND that they didn't trust tim, but the fact that I told them how i felt and they just didn't listen to me bothers me.

like,, imagine this scenario,, would you take the testimony of someone who's in your alliance (albeit with some ulterior motives, but still in the alliance) and told their alliance (95% of) the truth,,, or someone who is never online and had been stirring up chaos and drama and was spewing shit this entire day just too keep their self safe? just answer that in the comments below thank you xoxo

so now that Alyssa and Jess know what happened on my end, and I know what happened on their end, we're both in agreement that JD has to FUCKING GO!!!! Tim was fucking robbed, i'm so espresso depresso you have no idea i'm so sad that Tim's gone. what a king,,, the creator of Jones' angels,,,,, robbedt,,,,,

we're rebranded as Tim's Angels btw jsyk <3

but ummm this fucking Unan1mous thing???? more like fucking BOOnan1mus amirite ladies hahahahahah ha h hah ah um,,, hmm that joke sucked i'm so sorry. SO okay yeah,, Alyssa/Jess/TJ/Maynor agreed they'd vote for JD, and that they'd try to get the rest of the numbers to work for JD, BUT the problem is that if ANY ONE PERSON DOESN'T VOTE UNAN1MOUSLY,,,, they're safe. so we gotta get /everyone/ on board with this. hopefully Chelsea won't want to have like,,, revenge against Alyssa/Jess/Devon or anything sksksks

but ummmm let's hope for the best? I gotta get to school at 6:00 am and it's 2:00 am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO it's snoozeville for me. catch you on the flipside :p

I hashed things out with Devon last night because I was so pissed off about the vote, but I still have a lot of trust to rebuild. When i mentioned my name going around, Devon, Alyssa, and Jess knew that my name wasn't out there and still didn't let me in on the Tim vote. I was completely alone and had to make an alliance with the others out of desperation and tbh, i think I look like an idiot. But anyway, i think Devon and i are on good terms and I hope we can rekindle our old team that i was loyal and comfotable with since the beginning.

This might be a long one Johnny. I am so sad that Tim went home. I was shocked. I thought i was able to trust Jess, Alyssa, Devon but they all lied and now to me personally are dead to me. Like im still going to work with them until i have an opporunity to strike against them. Like Alyssa she’s great but now has to leaving sooner than later. Devon final 2 is dead, i would gladly vote you out but have to time it really well. Dani m Aidan dead even more but seems like they are worried about Alyssa Jess and Devon so might use them to take out Alyssa. But yeah last night was rough. I had this ‘thing’ happened to be that was triggered by this game and my class lab. It wasnt good. There was a dark low moment were i got a negative thought that I should just tell them to vote me out for unanimous week. My friend texted me and told me to think it thru and Im glad i didnt day anything. I still want to play and try to make it to the end. Only person i trust 100% with out a doubt is Jonesy. ❤️ Everyone else can leave. Except i also like TJ amd Jess.

I'm not sure where my vote will land tonight. If I vote JD, I lose a shield in this game. At the same time, if JD goes tonight in a 9-1, we start to build trust among those we previously blindsided.

If I make it an 8-2 or 8-1-1, then I'm worried that people will use the process of elimination to find out I flipped....

Another random note about tonight. If JD stays due to me, the next target becomes Chelsea.

Essentially, I am deciding between playing with Chelsea or JD....

Everyone is saying JD’s name like lets do this. But now everyone is afaid of an idol and i swear if the votes aren’t unanimous, im going to die.

If I get idol'd out in this format I AM FUCKING SUING.

I CAN'T GO OUT ON MY FIRST TUMBLR ORG IN A ROUND BASED ON A ZWOOPER GAME.

HOW FUCKING IRONIC WOULD THAT BE?

YOU WILL BE HEARING FROM MY LAWYER!

In all honesty I'm struggling hard this round. Idol's are so dangerous this fucking round. SO FUCKING DANGEROUS.

The mental gymnastics happening this round is insane.

I'm honestly having PTSD about this god damn format. The ONLY time I've ever cried because of a game was IN THIS FORMAT (thanks JOHNNY).

Today all I've done is try and repair relationships. I've worked harder than a hooker on a Tuesday today. I am exhausted. If I go this has been fun-ish.

I feel fuckig awful i worked too hard in this game to potentially get idoled out and that breaks my heart that that could happen tonight. apparently JD is writing down my name because she thinks i'm "Stubborn" and she wants to save me???? like if you wanna save me then like maybe don't vote for me?????? like i get the intent behind it with like,,,, the idea to save me but this is fuckin wit hme to my c ore . .Jess thinks JD's ly ing ad that she's voting for Jess, I just,,, fuck i really wanna die right noww yk i think i might be getting out there's like a 60% chance JD doensn't have an idol, and if she's comfortable enough then she wont play it. but there's a good chance I'll be going home. fukfalkdsfajsdads don't be surprised if i cry i'm just so upsetti/uncomfortable with the idea of going hope i tried too hard but um yeah

Wellp I’m really close with Aidan and so far I feel like we are doing really good. I feel bad because I lied straight to JDs face about voting jonesy. Instead I voted for her.

I'M DEFINITELY NOT CRYING OR ANYTHIGN FUCK

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bonesingerofyme-loc · 5 years ago

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in which what the fuck happened

so i’ve finally gotten around to watching season 4 of the expanse, everyone’s favorite science fiction tv show. i shall not call it a space opera because i actually know what a space opera is.

i’ve just finished episode 8 and what precisely the fuck happened though

this season is a mess

in no particular order, we have

* the Ilus plot, in which it appears the Bezos Bux weren’t enough to afford a larger cast, so there’s three belters with speaking roles and a really, really bad rebellious teenager plot that makes me feel like i’m watching a fucking scalzi novel (which is not praise). The Ilus plot in which murtry swings between being a Bad Man with Justifiable Reasons to being a mustache twirling villain, where Holden doesn’t just hold the idiot stone, he fucking swallows it along with Elvi and also the TV show does that TV show thing where they make really, really stupid design choices that leave you scratching your head. more on this all later

* the earth plot, in which Chrisjen Avasarala is never wrong once but everyone around her acts like she’s executing her political opponents in the streets and trying to sacrifice babies to satan

* the mars plot, in which bobbie has a nervous breakdown over the course of about three days and resets all her character development to her first introduction

* the belter plot in which Dummer continues to be a national treasure and Not-Ashford is still very enjoyable and they prove they are the only competant fucks in the entire fucking Belt but the writers do their level best to sabotage every second of it

Right, so, specifically

Let’s start with Ilus

I think my overall issues here can be summed up with this statement

“The set design, knowing that the heroes would be riding out a world spanning tsunami and flood, decided the optimal way to adapt the descriptions of the shell buildings from the novel to be THIRTY FEET UNDER THE SURFACE OF THE FUCKING PLANET THAT IS GOING TO BE FLOODED.”

My brother and I looked at each other and burst out laughing at the end of the episode in which Holden gets yote across the room by the deluge of water. The deluge of water from the planetwide tsunami. The deluge of water from the planetwide flood that placed the water a good forty feet ABOVE the interior rooms.

The planetwide flood that did not begin to recede for days. In a building riddled with holes and also one big giant one they made.

This encapsulates to many of the problems in this season in a single example. Writing choices and design choices that appear to be conceived of in the moment without any thought to the rest of the plot. Drama for the sake of drama. Convenient reveals after the fact to patch holes set up by the previous lack of foresight.

We later see the entry area is flooded, appearing to imply that the room they descend into initially is just a lower area that totally flooded and that they are at ground level in the rest of the complex. As if to acknowledge that, oops, yes, maybe having this complex be situated forty feet under the water level with holes all the fuck over means everyone would drown, so here’s a solution - except, except

When everyone got in right before the flood, they were all standing packed like sardines down in that low entry room. Which started flooding due to the fucking firehose deluge that came in because hello a piece of reinforced sheet metal isn’t going to be watertight in the slightest. So you’ve got water pouring into a small contained space packed with about forty people and supplies - that’s going to be ruining supplies and equipment because it’s saltwater and people are going to be panicking. How do they climb out the other side? There’s no ropes or lines there, it would seem, since everyone was still shuffling around in the entry area when the flooding started. How do they managed to get ropes or lines up to the higher areas in the building before people are trampled or drowned or all their supplies ruined? Why the fuck didn’t the goddamn building just have openings on the ground level leading into a bunch of interior rooms like it fucking did in the fucking novel because the fucking authors despite their other fucking flaws at least fucking planned ahead and had fucking editors that fucking made sure that things were fucking intelligently designed?

Oh, right. So that we could have a fucking scene where Holden has to escape from a closing door or be smushed. Because Holden definitely was in danger of dying and everyone believed it. Fuck. PLAN MORE THAN ONE EPISODE AHEAD.

Related to that - I’m loving the insistence that TV and movies have to make everything related to the main character, and not even tangentially. Directly, directly related. Remember how Ilus fucking asploding was a major oops that wasn’t anyone’s fault? Now it has to specifically be Holden’s fault since he can’t stop sticking is dick in things, so all the deaths are directly on his shoulders. Great job. Really, really great.

A nitpick here that doesn’t matter - remember when the moons were described as low-albedo and the nights were super dark? Pepperidge Farms remembers.

The Felcia plotline is awful too. Some random teenager stows away to orbit and then becomes instrumental in saving the Barbapiccola despite no experience and completely overriding the actual crew on board. Come on. Come on.

Also - thanks Holden and Elvi, you utter mouthbreathing nonces for not once thinking ‘Gee, maybe I should ask/tell about the MEDICATIONS THAT I AM CURRENTLY ON.’ It doesn’t make it an epiphany moment or a revelation when they realize his oncocidals are the cure, it makes them looking like absolute idiots. Holden, you shoot up daily. DAILY. You told Elvi about being a genetic hybrid. You didn’t think to tell her about the eighty gorillion rads you ate like soup on Eros and the fact that you’re swimming in anti-cancer meds?

Come the fuck on. Come. The. Fuck. On.

Stop making characters idiots to make the plot work.

Leaving Ilus, there’s Earth.

Fucking Earth.

So Arjun is now Avasarala’s campaign manager and a completely different person. The lack of chemistry between the two actors is so profound that scientists are considering writing a thesis on it as quantum mechanics actually should forbid such an extreme effect. He’s also not Arjun, since he’s alternating between unctuous and judgmental about as often as Naomi switches between an English accent and a butchered attempt at Belter. So that’s swell, we have to deal with a new actor and a brand new character who is awful and should never have been because Arjun was a chill lad and didn’t deserve this.

On the poitical side is Avasarala, who literally cannot stop being right all the time. Seriously, why is everyone up her ass about THE MEANS AND THE ENDS AND YOU LIE AND ITS ALL ABOUT YOU.

I mean sure it is all about her but she hasn’t been wrong yet. And a person can be both selfish and helpful. I couldn’t believe with Arjun got asspained about Avasarala leaking confidential footage of ancient inimitable alien machines that melt moons and blow up hemispheres of planets when the 0 and 1s are switched as a completely reasonable attempt to instill a very healthy and very justified caution in the general populace over the gigantic alien relic that was made out of a hundred thousand people ground up into blue gatorade and marinated on Venus after it broke the fucking laws of physics several times to link up to a pocket dimension that casually rewrites it’s own rules.

Like what the fuck Arjun, where do you get off judging Avasarala for releasing information about the extremely unpredictable and dangerous two billion year old alien doom machines that are scattered around the galaxy. Is it totally to her own benefit? Absolutely. Is it also totally the right thing to do? Also absolutely because you’ve got Gao hot under the collar about wanting to yeet every willing body through the ring gates into a hotbed of who-the-fuck-knows and acting like it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

Fuck.

Then we’ve got the marine raid. Avasarala is approached by her military advisors and generals who present to her a plan of action to go after a known terrorist who just attempted a direct attack on Earth’s defenses, defenses that I might add are not like ‘to keep people out’ but are actively existential defenses. So they bring a plan to her, lay it out, and she approves it, then when it goes tits up, the fucking General who planned it, brought it to her and executed it has the gall to blame HER for it failing (what) then resign because he can’t serve someone who plays loose with his soldier’s lives (WHAT) and then everyone gets assmad at her for costing like twelve marine’s lives in an attempt to capture a terrorist responsible for several hundred deaths already (WHAT) and then, and THEN siding with the OPA for Avasarala ‘breaking the peace’ when the UN went after a terrorist the OPA is known to have let go???

What the FUCK was going on in the writing room.

Meanwhile on Mars, Bobbie is going batshit insane. After btfoing a bunch of druggies to save her nephew she gets roped into some illegal stuff and then has a moral conundrum about it for maybe five seconds and then it like yeah nvm let’s steal this shit Y E E T. The very same Bobbie that was willing to go AWOL from her command, run to her own nation’s enemy during a cold war and refuse to ever budge on her testimony because the truth and honor meant that much to her.

Yeah.

Okay.

Then she meets a dude on sunday, goes on a date with him monday and tuesday, they bang on wednesday, then on friday he gets a job on Europa and is gonna leave and they have a fight as if they’d been seeing each other for months.

Uh.

Unless this show is doing completely different time scales for different plots, which they’ve failed utterly to communicate, we know how much time has passed. Bobbie met the dude like a fucking week ago, why is this full bore romantic drama as if they’d been in a committed relationship for months? They’ve literally banged twice in a hotel room and not even stuck around for cuddles.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I don’t have much to complain about with Drummer and Ashford. I really like them both and both are fun to watch. They’ve also been treated the most reasonably too in terms of not acting like fuckwits or being dealt retarded hands by the plot thus far.

This season is awful. The Expanse was always subtitled ‘The Expounding’ because of how characters could, at the drop of a hat, produce a minute long monologue about anything, but this season it’s taken that and cranked it to eleven. Every other sentence is an ingratiating platitude about ‘hopeful we’re hopeful future happy live we’ll live yay see each other again strong be strong and brave firm strong and hopeful’. Fuck. Naomi exists to look sad and give brave monologues to people, especially the now lobotomized Lucia who apparently did die and came back without agency. Alex sort of just exists, drifting from scene to scene as if saying ‘I’m still here, guys. Guys? Guys...’ every antagonist takes three minutes to lay out their life story and evil beginnings and rationale only to suddenly flip the tables a few episodes later only to play a reverse uno card and be mustache twirlingly diabolical right after.

Oh yeah, and because this is my personal autism button:

NO, ELVI, THAT IS NOT HOW LIFE WORKS. LIFE MIGHT NOT ‘JUST AS EASILY’ BE BASED ON SOMETHING ELSE. THAT IS NOT HOW FUCKING PHYSICS WORKS. OTHER ELEMENTS ARE NEITHER AS PREVALENT NOR AS USEFUL IN FORMING BONDS AS CARBON. YOU COULD SAY ‘LIFE MIGHT RARELY AND EXTREMELY DIFFICULTLY BE MADE OF SILICON’ BUT DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE SAY ‘JUST AS EASILY. ALSO IRON. IRON. ARE YOU REALLY, REALLY GOING TO SAY IRON COULD BE USED AS A CHEMICAL BASIS FOR LIFE, BECAUSE HOLY COSMIC BULLSHIT BATMAN.

IN THE WORDS OF HERMIONE GRANGER: ARE YOU A HARD SCIFI OR NOT??

#the expanse #james holden #amazon the expanse #chrisjen avasarala #drummer #james sa corey #season 4 has been terrible and did they fire the entire previous writing team #if you propose silicon based life could be even as remotely common as carbon based i will find you and i will make you eat a fucking mynock

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coreytravelogue · 5 years ago

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Berlin, Germany - September 9, 2019

I think I hit a wall here in Berlin, and not the Berlin Wall of sorts. I was already feeling fairly fatigued after Luxembourg City but I thought the fun had in Düsseldorf would have re energized me a little bit but it wasn’t till I got to Berlin that I realized that I needed a break from my break.

The train ride to Berlin was smooth, absolutely no problems during the trip. As I was approaching Berlin just like how I felt in Düsseldorf I thought it would be smooth sailing and that I should be able to navigate through it easily but as many times before this vacation I know close to jack shit.

Berlin Hbf looked unchanged which was fine with me, it still looks like an advanced version of a train station compared to every other station I have ever been to where every station I have been to is a historical site as well as train HUB Berlin Hbf is a modern day train station in every sense of the word. Almost looks like the chase scene at the near end of Labyrinth with David Bowie and Jennifer Connollywith so many stairs going up and down everywhere on multiple floors. Not just local transi trains run through it but regional and international ones too. It truly is an impressive train station.

As soon as I arrived I immediately went to the top floor where most of the transit trans run through to get my day passes. 5 years ago I was able to get a 1-3 day pass that that I can use. Apparently that can’t be done anymore, just day passes which I found to be irritating and in that I feel like I immediately hit a wall or started to. Once I figured that shit out I found the tram I needed to take and headed straight to Missy’s place.

Missy was my host in Glasgow, well I should say Saltcoats but I say Glasgow. The train to Glasgow from Saltcoats is about an hour. I wound up staying with her for nearly a week, not on purpose. I originally stayed with her for 3 to 4 days I can’t remember then I was going to spend a weekend in Inverness but due to fuck ups on my end I nearly got stranded in Edinburgh if not for her helping me out. When I found out she moved in Berlin and I was planning my Europe tour it was a given that I would ask if she could let me stay with her and her family once again as we have kept generally in touch with each other over the years. Also I don’t feel like I got all of Berlin that I wanted. I could even say now that I have spent a combined total of little over a week here I still feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of Berlin. Berlin is the kind of place where it’s impossible to be bored in as a tourist or I would even say as a person living there as well.

Once I met up with Missy I dropped my shit off and set off to get started as I knew time was short and I thought that this would be the only good weather day I would have as Maria warned me of rain over the week. I hit up Tiergarten knowing there were statues there. Sadly all the statues were too tall to hat and after two hours of walking around I felt like I wasted my time which again angered me. What also angered me was trying to get around from Alexanderplatz which is sort of the main tourist hub of the city. I couldn’t wrap my head around the the U trains, S trains, M trans and the buses, this isn’t even counting the RE trains either. The transit map I had only shown trains, not trams and the maps I saw around provided little help in showing me where the S trains were but by the end I realized the differences between each kind of train/tram.

S trains are above ground, comparable to the sky trains in Vancouver, the U trains are the underground subway trains. M trams are self explanatory as well as the trains.

After giving up on Tiergarten I decided to get off at a place I thought would have a fountain of statues that I saw once but didn’t Jayne hat for some reason. I wound up being incorrect again but unlike the rest of my incorrect decisions this stop lead me to basically a treated trove of statues. Normally if I can hit five statues in one location then I would be more than happy as most places I have found have 1-3. Like Düsseldorf Berlin has no shortage of statues, just got to know where two look for them since the internet won’t provide you with much help. Suffice to say at near end of my first day Berlin came up for me in helping me make my quota. For the first time since the night Inarrived I also went to sleep sober.

Saturday was a very long day, I went to two museums I had been to before and remember enjoying; the film museum and the national history museum for Germany. The film museum had not changed at all, if it did it only had minor changes. Regardless I spent four hours in the museum making sure I got everything I could out of it. By the time it came time for the national museum I was already museumed out. The German History Museum is quite a big museum and goes into great detail about close to the entire history of agermany. From the beginning till the fall of the Berlin Wall but nothing for the 90s and all which I find very disappointing. That being said Berlin haas so many fucking museums it’s rather insane, so much that there is a area called museum island that is nearly all museums and art galleries. I believe there is one museum that covers Germany in the 90s and museums for other modern stuff but after the national museum I was done for the day and ready to try Berlin beer.

Searching for beer in Europe has proven to be a difficult task. In North American it’s quite easy to locate and track breweries, where to find them and what they have but not so much here. You really got to dig hard and even then you are bound to hit dead ends and I had little time to do digging. I decided on Berliner Republik, I heard that it was a great place for craft beer but I inevitably was show wrong but it wasn’t entirely a lost cause. The bar had a gimmick called the beer stock exchange where after 5 pm the prices for beer fluctuate every few minutes. I didn’t play it much but I found it to be an interesting gimmick. However the place barely had any local beer. They did however provide flights but they would not tell you what it is or provide a list which angered me again. I really feel like Europe/Germany is unable to fully grasp the craft brewery scene yet. They seem like they are trying but they are not quite there yet or they are just taking their sweet time.

Luckily untapped is a excellent tool for beer finding and after checking in a beer it made me aware of a micro brewery a couple blocks away that I could try and so I did. They didn’t provide flights though which seemed again really stupid but I tried three beer and decided my limit was hit for the night or at least for now.

By the time I got back to Missy’s place I met her daughter whom was a little girl when I first saw her now nearly doubled in size and twice as energetic. I showed her the Jayne hats and where they have been while I had a special beer I had waiting till then to have. On my way back Friday night I went into a grocery store for some orange juice when I noticed a beer I hadn’t seen in five years. It was the beer that got me into German Hefeweizens; stortebecker beer. It wasn’t as great as I remembered it but my tastes have refined over the years.i am soon to arrive in Leipzig and my wifi will cut out so I will leave this to be concluded when I get a wifi connection again.

Shazbot nanu nannu

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cynicgm-blog · 6 years ago

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Præy - pt. 1

Immense fear is a strange emotion. It overpowers thought and takes an incredible amount of conditioning to ignore and even then may still break a man. It had been running for so long, many millennia spent trying to escape. It often questioned how far it had to run - how long it could run... Eventually the fear had become too much and regardless of strength it’s mind broke. Insanity had set in and so to preserve itself it had decided to fragment itself. It’s body and mind broke apart, shattering like glass and falling to a nearby planet as invisible particles.

Cain had a strange dream that night. A dream involving shapes - a lot of them, many of which he didn’t have names for. It was the strangest dream he’d ever had, as though he was actually lucid and simply watching the dream progress. The next day he went to school for his first day of fourth grade. Cain was an interesting child and often referred to as “gifted” by his teachers. He had black hair which his mother always kept shaved and his eyes were hazel. Only the teacher had noticed that as the day went on his eyes seemed to change color by very small increments, shifting from hazel to gold.

The doctors could not find any illness or disease and believed Cain to be in perfect health. His eyes simply changed - it was likely some kind of interesting mutation and they would continue to monitor him. Cain spent about an hour every Friday at the doctors office checking in for the next five years of his life. No form of cancer ever emerged and no medical problems arose. Cain had only gotten smarter and had begun to pass classes far easier than any normal student could. The state had even begun to recognize him as he consistently became an outlier in standardized testing.

When Cain had reached the age of 14 is when the world had changed dramatically. Suddenly a lot of people’s eyes began to change color, mostly younger children but occasionally teens or even more rarely adults. The color wasn’t uniform and as data was gathered Cain discovered, at least as far as the doctor knew, even his gold eyes were unique. The most common colors were red, blue, green, and grey. A year later the eye colors suddenly became more important as the first instance of powers was observed when a sixteen year old boy with red eyes stopped a building from burning down. During the interviews he had said he just felt like the fire responded to him, like it was listening. He had told it to extinguish and it followed. A month later he had burned a classmate over an argument and claimed he did it on accident.

Eye colors were rapidly categorized into power types. People with eye colors were documented and put on lists in government agencies. The Department of Magical Influence was created with the purpose of managing any people with these powers. Anti-magic sentiment quickly spread as teens died from accidental power usage. It isn’t strange for teens to get into fights but when one could summon fire or freeze someone it turned lethal.

A new president was elected on a campaign of sentiment and understanding of these new magical citizens. He had claimed that these people were not monsters, but instead confused teenagers just being teenagers but with more power and responsibility than any before them. He reasoned then that they needed somewhere safe to be, to learn. Some would call them schools and others internment camps. Only powers considered dangerous were taken from their homes and put into the schools - if you could shoot lightning or teleport you were taken while those who could make plants grow or create light were allowed to live normal lives.

Cain was a topic of controversy within the DMI. He was distinctively magical with his eyes, clearly one of the first if not the first, and the only with his color. And yet he hadn’t presented any kind of magic in his six years of having it. They had decided to simply classify it as super intelligence due to his test scores and leave it at that. Especially when they still had to deal with the few able to resist capture...

John was a twenty two year old man. A good-for-nothing ex-con hired by the DMI for one reason - he was gifted a power, one he could use to assist in capturing others with power. His eyes weren’t colored any different, but instead glowed. His natural blue eye color lit up his face in the night as he sat in the car awaiting orders. “And uh.. Mr. John Mercer, the file neglected to mention what it is you do.” The man in the front seat asked. “Your superior didn’t want to alarm anyone so my power is redacted in the files.” John replied. “Alright, so we’ll keep the rest of the men in the dark. But I’m leading this operation so I need to understand what all the cards in my hand are, you dig?” The man said. John considered this. “My power was classified as ‘predator.’ I have incredibly sharp senses and can easily track prey, as well as have increased physical ability when hunting. Some of the more powerful predators have the ability to physically morph into animal-like hybrids, however, I am not that strong.” “So if I’m understanding this right, you’re hear for when we fail so you can track down that thing and bring it back?” The man asked. “I intend to assist for the entire duration of our mission. If all your men die or you call a retreat I still intend to finish the mission or die trying.” John replied.

The cars had finished lining up. The blockades were set. Seventy men from the department were out in force - even authorized to bring proper assault rifles (even if they weren’t automatic.) John had brought only his favorite weapon, a Pfeifer-Zeliska. It was an exceedingly rare firearm only made upon request since it was a revolver chambered in .600 nitro express, a round designed to drop big game. He liked to shorten the name to Zeliska. The revolver is over a foot long and weighs nearly fifteen pounds.

“Alright Daniel come out slowly with your hands raised. This is the DMI, you know why we’re here. We promise if you surrender you won’t be-” The megaphone suddenly emitted a horrifying squealing sound followed by crunching metal as it’s length was compressed, almost looking like a large metal needle before the end facing the speaker was shoved into his mouth and out the back of his neck. Horrible gurgles and muffled screams came from the man as he fell to the ground trying to get the thing out. One officer turned and leaned over to try and help as his gun suddenly fired of it’s own accord, spraying up as the trigger was repeatedly pressed and hitting several other officers on accident. Gunfire erupted as the house was shredded, wood and glass spraying as bullets impacted it. A gun was ripped loose of an officers hands before impacting his chest hard enough to go through it, causing ribs and spine to hang out the hole in his back. The gun lifted him off the ground as he cried in pain and his body was furiously rammed into other officers, injuring them and breaking bones as their comrades still living body was used like a bludgeon.

Suddenly the gunfire stopped. It took a full second before every officer looked down and realized their guns safety had been switched on. Every shard of glass suddenly lifted and whirled around like a horrifying storm of razors. The cloud of glass moved among the ranks of men as they attempted to turn the safety off or run away. A streetlamp ripped free of the concrete and was used as a giant bat, denting cars and crushing bodies as it swung. The chaos ceased. The lamp fell to the ground, crushing a man who was sitting behind cover. The shards of glass stayed impaled where they were or fell to the ground. The whimpers of pain and occasional screams escaped from the many injured.

As the officers lined up to give Daniel a chance John had already silently moved around the back of the house. When he heard the megaphone stop followed by cries of pain he opened the back door as stealthily as he could, moving inside. John rolled to the side as a knife suddenly slammed the wall where his head was. A man was in the door way, looking at John through the corner of his eye. His right hand was moving, outstretched in the direction of the officers. He moved his left hand and several knives came out of his coat before lining up, pointing at John. The knives launched at an incredibly speed but John jumped as high as he could, pressed his feet against the wall near the ceiling and launched himself off it at Daniel.

The knives found their home in the wall and floor John had previously occupied. John found himself suddenly impacted on the side with a table that splintered on impact, sending him off course into the floor. Daniels face was complete concentration as four chairs found themselves relived of their legs - sixteen wooden posts floating in air. One launched at John and he attempted to dodge but was too slow as the post slammed into his left arm, breaking bone as it splintered around it. The hit from the table had most likely broken or at least bruised his ribs as he lay on the floor trying to catch his breath.

“You have no chance. I don’t know what kind of power you have but it clearly isn’t helping.” Daniel said. Wooden posts launched, piercing through Johns legs and arms, pinning him to the wall and floor as he grunted through gritted teeth. Daniel turned and began moving both his arms as he turned his full attention to the situation outside. The gunfire stopped and the screams picked up en masse. “You know.. You aren’t the first person to say that.” John said, almost growling as he did. Daniel turned as he heard wood cracking and breaking, only to see Johns muscles glowing, almost seemingly on fire as he stood despite injury. The knives pulled free of the wall and started to move at John before an incredibly loud gunshot rang out and the knives fell to the floor. Daniel fell to the ground, a fist size hole through his chest where his heart used to be. Blood painted the door frame he had been standing in. John collapsed to the ground.

John next woke up in an interrogation room. “You know I fucking hate these, right?” He asked. He had stopped questioning how they healed him, he assumed they had someone with that power. The new scars burned and ached but it was better than being dead. The man he knew simply as “Mr. Shade” entered and sat across from him. Mr. Shade had made his title very clear the day they had met, identifying himself as the head of the DMI and a very impatient man. “I understand your frustration John, but you must also understand the feelings of the widows that resulted from the way you handled this.” Mr. Shade said calmly and slowly. John knew Shade didn’t care about the widows or lives lost, he only cared about the reputation loss. The things they’d say at the next budget meeting.

“I did what was best. We were against one of the most powerful telekinetics out there. According to the report you gave me he’s been active for four years - long before the information about our kind was public. And yet he’d been able to hide it while training himself. My research into telekinetics told me that splitting his attention was required to stop him.” John said. “It may have been calculated, but could you not have gone in first? Perhaps if you’d have charged in there the officers could have opened fire and killed him quickly.” “But then I may be dead, and my debt isn’t paid yet.” John quickly replied. “I find it hard to believe. Every time we get you back from a mission you should have been long dead and yet aren’t. You’re stronger than you like to admit. Either way I agree that you’re right, but telling the men that isn’t going to help their perception of you. It’ll be harder for you to do your job now.” Mr. Shade replied as he stood. He left the room. John wasn’t cuffed and he knew that he was allowed to leave so he excused himself.

When he finally got back to his apartment he decided to rest. He took off his clothes, sat his Zeliska on the night stand, and sat on the bed. He had begun to wonder... But now it was all but confirmed. He had been sent against more and more powerful fugitives and with each one he killed he felt.. Stronger. It was absolutely noticeable after killing the telekinetic. That guy was able to wield multiple objects while fighting two different battles. His predatory senses were stronger and he felt a dormant power, something he could call upon when hunting. But out of all these things, the fact that his senses still told him to run from Shade was most horrifying. Instinct told him that to Shade, he was prey. It didn’t make sense.. His eyes were just normal after all.

#modern fantasy #fantasy #modern #Magic #telekinetic #Præy

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tuesday2econlive · 7 years ago

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Is this trip really worth it?

The summer of 2016 would be my first experience ever going to a convention; this convention being Anime Expo or AX for short. At the time I was just 17 years old and with my three best friends also the same age, committed to going to the event despite no prior experience. The first problem was that the event is held at the Los Angeles Convention Center and we were cenetered in San Diego. Considering this is the biggest anime convention in the country and it was “only” around an hour and 45 minutes away from us did not deter us from going. If anything, we were tunnel-visioned into going due to this being the closest anime convention to us. Despite being the most memorable experience for me, I most definitely remember all the problems that occurred for me.

First would probably be determining the opportunity cost of going on this trip and the trade-offs that would incur. Is the trip worth my time? Is the amount of money I already invested and going to invest worth it for this limited time? Probably the most redundant topic in microeconomics tends to be one of the most important when it comes to decisions made.

Is this trip worth my time?

At the time, this event would span from July 1 to July 4. This would mean that I would be returning to SD during the Fourth of July. In this case, we would be leaving during the afternoon, so we would not be missing out on the fireworks. From July 1-3, however, I would be missing out on time hanging out with my other friends who would no go on the trip with me. Possibly going somewhere with my family could be an option as well. However, I deemed that the time spent for this trip was worth it since I can always hang out with my other friends and my family during some other day during the summer whereas this event is only from July 1-4. Though I might miss the morning festivities of our Fourth of July festival, we would be arriving around 3 to 4 pm so we would not be missing much. My family does not set up a tent or do a big barbeque fest, so for the most part I would just be with my family at home till the fireworks which means that I would be using my time doing something rather than nothing.

Is the amount of money I already invested and am going to invest worth it for this limited time?

As I do not have a job and sadly do not really have the motivation to pursue a part time, the amount of money I have is limited. Compared to several events, AX tickets are relatively cheap. For instance, the cost of a weekend pass to Coachella in 2016 was $399 or $435 with shuttle. The cost for a four-day Disneyland pass without park hopper is $305. The cost for a four-day pass to AX at full price (which is what I paid since I got my ticket pretty late) $90 ($95.20 with tax). Also since we are staying the full four days, we needed to book a hotel which came up to about $120 per person. One of my friend’s dad brought us from San Diego to our hotel in LA and to the convention center so we did not have to pitch in for gas and parking for that trip. Luckily for us, the hotel we were staying at was near one of the accomodated shuttles to the convention center, so we did not have to pay for extra transportation from our hotel to the venue. Considering I had never gone to an event like this, I had no idea how much money would suffice so I had really only saved about $200 dollars for the entire four days excluding the cost of the ticket and the hotel. I don’t receive an allowance, so any money I had saved up was basically all the money I had saved for the entire year for this event. Since I have already experienced goign to this event for two years, I can say that $200 dollars was nowhere near a safe amount as I hadn’t portioned my money as best as I could. I had an idea of what I wanted to buy at the convention, but didn’t research the costs of those items and ended up not getting as much as I could. I also faced a trade-off of saving money to not buy food in Koreatown so I could potentially buy more stuff the next day. By the end of my first two days, I had incredible foot pain, and was basically living off ramen with just about half of the amount I saved gone. In these circumstances, you could assume that the money I invested was not really worth what I was experiencing only two days into the event. However, I can attest that the experience of being with your friends in a hotel playing board games, laughing while eating ramen, and even getting excruciating foot pain from walking around the venue for hours on end in sandals was amazing. It was such an amazing experience that we were planning on going to AX the next year. At the time, I was already thinking about how much more money I would need to save for the next year since I realize the amount I had brought was not enough. In a sense, the amount of money I had spent on getting a pass, my portion of the hotel, and how much I brought to spend was just an initial investment in whether or not I would attend this event again.

Is this trip really worth it?

For the most part, it definitely was. Despite the initial costs, the aspect of the event itself gave me enough of a reason to willingly pay to attend. Paying for these costs ahead of time before I am even able to attend the event itself despite possible setbacks that could prevent me from going shows that I thought the experience of this trip was well worth the costs. There wasn’t really a huge opportunity cost in going on this trip except for my time and I had felt that the time I would commit to this trip would be better spent on the trip rather than what was available to me at my house. The trade-offs of the trip were moreso towards transactions to my body. To be more specific, outside the convention center were these bacon-wrapped hot dogs that were each $5 dollars. During the first day, we had to wait in line for about five hours to pick up our passes (as we had left during the morning around 6 and go to the convention center around 7:45/50). The line was brutally long despite our early departure (for context AX has historically been known as LineCon due to the insanely long lines to get into the convention center to get your pass since at the time there was no pass shipping). The smell of the hot dogs were so good, but due to the amount of money I had, I restrained myself from getting one throughout the entire trip since I felt it was too expensive for what I was getting. Of course I was extremely hungry throughout that five hour period, but I went through it and explored the exhbition hall and artist gallery with my friends for 2 hours before we decided to go eat out, which I was glad I did as we went to eat some of the best/filling korean food I had ever had for $5. Throughout the trip, I had made the trade-off of holding off on my hunger by never buying food at the convention center due to the price of the food there. Even if I was tired and my stomach was grumbling, I always chose to manage through it till we got to our hotel where we had snacks or if we were going to eat out in Koreatown where I knew I was going to be extremely filled for less.

In the end...

My first experience with AX was filled with it’s challenges and moments. Since the experience was as great as I thought it was, we ended up making this our yearly thing. I went for AX 2017 with my friends and fixed most of the problems that occurred during our first trip. I managed to buy my pass earlier and for cheaper since there was a Black Friday deal for AX passes (getting mine for $59.15 compared to the $95.20 from last year). I ended up bringing around $450 dollars to the trip this time around because I knew my initial $200 was not enough for four days. This time, however, I had to pay parking plus gas, which really took a good chunk out of what I brought, but I still had enough to feel secure in what I was buying. One of the problems I had faced during AX 2016 was that I didn’t have enough money to buy a lot of the things I wanted. Though for AX 2017 I had a lot more money to spare, I passed up on a lot of items during the first day due to an understanding there would be a lot of sales during the last day. However, a lot of the items that I wanted ended up getting bought on the first day, so I was kicking myself throughout the trip for not splurging a lot more earlier. I also didn’t portion my money as I had really planned too. I made a guideline on how much I should spend for certain items, but I ended up being consumed by buyer’s greed and would buy anything I thought looked nice at the artist gallery, where I ended up spending a lot more than I planned on prints versus other items. I still upheld on not buying food at the convention center due to their prices, but I since our hotel this time didn’t have continental breakfast, I would starve throughout the morning due to not having breakfast and going straight to the convention center. Despite fixing a lot of problems the year after, I was still experiencing other problems that would either arise from the circumstances I was in, or from fixing previous problems. As with tradition, my friends and I are planning on attending AX 2018. With passes being shipped this year, we won’t have to really worry about a tiresome 5 hour wait (AX 2017 went by a lot faster, with us only being in line for about an hour or so). We managed to get the hotel we got during AX 2016 that was near a shuttle so the costs for gas were decreasedby a lot and the parking costs were basically mitigated. A plus is that this hotel was cheaper than last time ($107 versus the $119) and it has continental breakfast, so I won’t be starving during the morning. As of now, I plan on bringing less money than the year before, but this time, I made sure I made a list of specific items I want and how much I am willing to spend on a certain set of items. I’m going to try my best to fight buyer’s greed and hopefully spend a lot more responsibly, understanding my willingness to pay on items, my opportunity cost on such items and myself, and the trade-offs in doing such.

Justin Clenista

#56112446

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