saeedshaikh107

[amethystwrytes]

Playlist Shuffle Poll Tag Game

Put your music library on shuffle, then list the first five songs that come up in a poll to let people vote for which one they like the most!

I was tagged by @kiestrokes (😘)

Tagging: @katieraven @lilsunflower95 @lovemepie67 @moni-logues @simp47koreancrackheads @quarter-life-crisis2 (if you all haven’t done it/if you feel like it/you know the drill)

[fairys-dream]

"Logan and Creed escape, and talk about their happily-ever-after…"

its done. im moving on to other things. wow....1st fanfic complete.....after what? 3 months? goddamn i need to practice this shit. i have soooo many more i wanna write v_v;

read it under the cut too if u want⤵️⤵️⤵️

Leaving no room for risk, they rushed out to where Creed’s truck was parked. 

Creed and Silverfox were the only members allowed vehicles. Silverfox being less cared for by the program, and Creed obviously not having a reason to leave as long as they kept paying him and ignored his…violent ‘mishaps’. 

Creed opted for hiding out in one of his more casual homes, about a 3 hour drive out, which just so happened to be an old hunting lodge in the woods. 

3 hours of listening to various homemade cassette playlists in Creed's stereo, 3 hours of Logan having an iron grip on Creed's hand as he fought off his inner paranoia that they were already being trailed, and 3 hours of Creed hoping he was making the right move.

The combined stress in the air faded as they drove up a discrete rocky driveway, Logan smiling at the sight of the lodge coming into view, illuminated by the truck's headlights.

“This actually yer’s or are we trespassin’ on some poor guy's shack?”

“It’s mine, didn’t kill nobody fer it either. Didn’t wanna give away the location of any of my good places so soon.” 

They got out of the truck, Logan following Creed as he went to unlock the front door. 

“An’ I prefer to keep my work an’ home separate. They’ll be on our tail soon, but since their best tracker ain’t around to help, I reckon that’ll give us some time.”

Logan smirked.

“Ya sure ‘ya didn’t pick this place cuz of me?”

Creed paused. 

“...Was just the closest.”

…

Sniff sniff-

“ Partly cuz of you. I ain’t lyin’ though, it is the closest.”  

----------------------------

Inside, it was clear the lodge was meant for one person. 

The living room and kitchen were conjoined, the other 2 rooms being the bedroom and bathroom. Furniture was the bare minimum; couch, coffee table, television, a couple shelves. The walls had a couple posters, and several sets of antlers (presumably hunted by Creed's own hand).

Logan sat down on the couch as Creed started looking through the cupboards in the kitchen.

“Fuck, haven’t stocked up here in awhile…you good with beef soup?” 

“Mm, sure. I’ll eat whatever.”

“‘Kay, comin’ up.” 

Creed lit the stove and emptied the cans into two pots, leaving them to heat up as he went to join Logan on the couch. 

A large arm wrapped around the smaller feral’s waist, pulling him flush against Creed’s side, Creed’s head laying atop his. 

The blonde nuzzled his face against Logan’s mess of dark hair, breathing in deep.

“Yer hair always smells so good …nice an’ soft too…”

Logan chuckled. 

“Were ‘ya always this affectionate an’ cuddly?”

Creed continued rubbing his face against the top of the other's head, beginning to purr. 

“Ya make me like this. Make me soft . Yer a dangerous guy t’ be around.”

“Yeah, I bet I’m a real threat to yer tough psychopath reputation, bub.” 

Logan reached a hand up to scratch Creed's cheek, Creed leaning into the touch. 

“What’ll they think when they find out the scariest soldier in the force likes t’ purr like a big ol’ kittycat? ”

“Ain’t doin’ nothin’. This cat’ll kill ‘em ‘fore the thought leaves their mouth.” 

“Hm, cute. ”

Creed gave a sharp nip to Logan’s fingers, snickering as the other flinched and pulled his hand away. 

As Logan traced over the bite mark with his non-bitten fingers, he felt his mind slightly sober up from being lost in this whole…Creed thing. 

He felt something , he just didn’t know why. Only a couple of days ago he was dead set on Silverfox, where’d all this suddenly emerge from?

And why did he already know it?

“...hmm…”

“Hm? What?”

“Just…so…we were…we were a thing before.”

“Yeah. You rememberin’ any o’ it?”

“No, nothin’ yet, just…familiar.”

“Well, that’s at least somethin’, I guess.” 

Fer the best. Lots o’ shit I pulled that he’s probably better off not rememberin’…

----------------------------

They ate their midnight dinners directly outta the pot. 

"We're gonna have to go back fer Fox an’ North at some point"

Shit. 

Creed was hoping he wouldn't make that realization. Not so soon anyway.

"Naw, they love it there."

"They don’t . They hated it as much as we did."

"I loved it."

"Alright, as much as me, then. ‘Ya didn't get the same ‘special treatment’, so ‘ya don’t get a say in this."

"Cuz I didn't need it. I kick ass and don’t need t' be brainwashed into doin’ it."

" Hrmm ..."

"C’mon, let yerself relax fer a bit, yer a free man!"

"Creed-"

"Yeah, I know shorty, I know."

Creed gave his shoulder a reassuring pat, giving him a sincere look. 

"We'll get ‘em out later, promise."

Sniff Sniff....

"...truthin'."

" Barely. But, if it'll help ya sleep at night,”

Logan snorted.

Hah, it’d take it a damn miracle fer somethin’ to help me sleep at night…

“-I'll see what I can do. Don't put yer money on me bein’ able t' pull this shit off twice, though.”

Creed nervously poked at the bits of beef and vegetables in his pot with his fork. 

“Don’t even know if we’re really pullin’ it off once yet..."

Logan could sense the stress the other was feeling. Creed was always the plan guy, and he was damn good at improvising on the spot if they needed it, so he trusted in his ability to figure something out. 

Still, they were under a lot more pressure than usual. This wasn’t just the usual live or die situation, this was the rest of their lives. 

Logan put his now empty pot on the coffee table in front of them. 

“Let’s not worry about all that tonight then. I’m sure they’ll manage without us fer at least, what, couple ‘o days?”

“Couple ‘o days now, huh?”

“Could use a real vacation.”

Creed’s pot joined Logan’s, Creed wiping his mouth with his hand, then wiping his hand onto his trousers.

“Maybe you could think up a way t’ spend it this time.” 

“Hm. I might have some stuff in mind.” 

Logan leans forward and presses his lips against the other's, kissing him slow and deep.

Creed hums contently, Logan's tongue helping to calm his nerves.

After they pull apart, Logan smiles up at him. 

Creed affectionately bumps his shoulder against Logan's, returning the smile. 

And it's the most comforting sight in the world.

[strange-destinations]

You mentioned transcripts of your Doctor Who RPG games. Any chance you might be willing to share them? (only if you want)

Of course! Here's The Big Masterpost of all our transcripts and audio files, updated as often as we play. Feel free to read and/or listen to as many as you want - I like to think I keep it pretty organized. Some things to note:

We pass around the GM crown from person to person, so we can all have a swing at running the game and also all get to play. So that's why our characters sometimes keep getting knocked out at the start of the arc and dragged offscreen, and why the GMing isn't consistent.

The sound editing can be a little hit-and-miss since I'm often speedrunning the editing/transcribing thing, so I apologize in advance if it ever gets funky or unlistenable. That's what the transcripts are for, I guess.

As of posting this, we've just wrapped up our fourth 'serial' and are probably going to kick off a new one next week! So now's a pretty good time to catch up with the story if you're curious.

Other links and content under the cut:

@trailmixtime's Thieves and TARDISes tag has most of our memery, art, and writing-related bonus content saved. (I have a tag for it too, but sometimes I'm a bit hit-and-miss when it comes to saving it all, so!)

I compose music for the campaign and edit it into the audio (along with sound effects and such) when the fancy strikes me. A playlist of all that original music can be found here!

The song used for the 'previously on' recap (and also the Doctor's theme) is this one. It's a banger, lads.

If you ever hear us reference a companion or some events that you are 100% sure are not canonical or even semi-canonical in the DWEU (for example, Millie or Roman) - that may be because we accidentally sort of ended up setting our game post-the Game of Rassilon, that one RPG podcast that I never stop talking about. It's very good, but you really don't need to listen to it to understand what's going on. We're just massive nerds who couldn't help ourselves.

Also, I'm extremely aware that we don't introduce our characters in very much detail in that first adventure, so I have prepared a handy little guide to the party down below (with bonus pictures!):

The Doctor (played by me!) - well, it's the Doctor. She's at a amorphous point in the future, far past anywhere we've seen in the TV series, and is very newly regenerated. In my head played by a Puerto Rican actress (a lot of planets have a Puerto Rico!). Fond of cats cradle, colors, plants. Not fond of eating.

Leela (played by @trailmixtime) - yes, that Leela. Plucked from the start of Gallifrey season one, Leela still has no idea what's happened to her husband. Working for President Romanadvoratrelundar (of course), rarely without a knife or janis thorn or two. K9's with her, also. (Good boy, K9!) Big ol' sweet tooth.

Unit-17, otherwise known as Dissent (played by @liria10) - a hospitality robot from the future gone rogue, Dissent is on a quest to reach the top of the most-wanted list. That's right, it's crime time. Eternally cheerful, just here for fun and chaos and thievery.

Caryophyllene, although we just call them Caryo for short (played by @bird-of-paradox), is a member of a a race of arachnoid psychic warrior spiders who use a scent-based language (the TARDIS is working overtime to translate, but we're managing). They're a semi-professional thief and very good at being sneaky and disruptive. We all love Caryo.

Verity Brown (played by @raindropsonwhiskers) hails from 1840s New York, where the Doctor and the rest of Team TARDIS picked her up. She was a weaver at the Ballston Mill Company until she got swept up in a bit of an adventure, and now she is having a very weird day. Down to fight, especially if said fighting involves asshole Time Lords.

Also, she might be a bit traumatized at this point. But that's all right! We're all traumatized here on the TARDIS! Ha ha haaa. We need therapy.

[highladyluck]

Wheel of Time Playlist

Mat Cauthon/Tuon Paendrag: The Soundtrack

Direct link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1LWolFwiwWQtcnQV7zceMj

30 songs, 1 hr 43 min. This is my take on the canonical arc of Mat Cauthon and Tuon Paendrag's relationship, told largely through swing music and 80s power ballads, with a few surprises here and there.

I put a lot of time and thought into this so I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! There are spoilers in the playlist and track listing for Winter's Heart through A Memory of Light, since this is meant to mirror the narrative. It's organized mostly chronologically, though a few songs cover multiple books, or reference scenes placed slightly out of order, to better alternate points of view.

The order will be preserved if you have a paid Spotify account. (I know that's not ideal; I tried for several hours to get this into 8tracks through a series of increasingly convoluted methods but wasn't able to, as I don't directly own the music used.) If you can't listen to it in order, I've got the track listing under the cut so you can at least see what I was trying to do.

Track List:

1)      Royals (feat. Cory Gray) – Jake Coco, Corey Gray

“I’m no lord. I’ve more respect for myself than that.”

And we'll never be royals (royals)/

It don't run in our blood

2)      Almost There – Anika Noni Rose

Behind her veil, she was merely the High Lady Tuon, of no higher rank than many others of the Blood, but in her heart, always, she was Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag, Daughter of the Nine Moons, and she had come to reclaim what had been stolen from her ancestor.

Ain't got time for messin' around/

And it's not my style

 3)      Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man – Sammy Hagar

“I’m a gambler, not a soldier. A lover.”

I ain't good looking, but you know I ain't shy/ Ain't afraid to look a girl in the eye

 4)      Primadonna – MARINA

 “She is my wife! Your bloody Daughter of the Nine Moons is my wife!”

Would you get down on your knees for me?/

Pop that pretty question, right now baby

 5)      Been Caught Stealing – Richard Cheese

And Mat and the others galloped out into the storm, carrying with them three Aes Sedai, two of them escaped damane, and the kidnapped heir to the Seanchan Crystal Throne, while behind them a far worse storm broke over Ebou Dar.

Walk right through the door/ Hey all right!/ If I get by, it's mine/ Mine all mine!

 6)      Luck Be A Lady – Frank Sinatra

“As soon as I can figure out how to send you home safe and sound, I will. I promise.”

[...]

“So long as you keep your promises, I will neither escape nor betray you in any way, nor will I cause dissension among your followers.”

Let’s keep this party polite/

Never get out of my sight/

Stick with me baby, I'm the guy that you came in with/

Luck be a lady tonight

 7)      Holding Out For A Hero – Bonnie Tyler

“Do you remember Hawkwing’s face, Toy?”

I'm holdin' out for a hero 'til the morning light/ He's gotta be sure/ And it's gotta be soon/ And he's gotta be larger than life

 8)      Play The Game – Queen

“I’ve changed my mind, Toy,” she murmured, placing the white stone carefully on the intersection of two lines near the center of the board. “You play very well.”

All you have to do is fall in love/

Play the game, everybody play the game/

Of love

 9)      Poker Face – Lady Gaga

Despite himself, Mat began to laugh. He threw his hat down on the floor and laughed. With everything, all his efforts, he did not know this woman at all! Not a bit! He laughed until his ribs hurt.

Can't read my, can't read my/ No, he can't read my poker face

 10)   Young Dumb And In Love – Mat Kearney

Her big eyes were dark pools a man could spend a lifetime swimming in. Her rare smiles could be mysterious or mischievous, and he prized them.

I'm talking much, and you don't make a sound/

The prettiest face and those rock-a-bye baby browns/

All I've waited for's come true/

To be young and dumb and in love

11)   Zebra – The Magnetic Fields

She was still beaming. Her big eyes shone. “She’s a very fine animal, Toy. A wonderful gift. Either you have a good eye, or you were very lucky.”

“I have a good eye, Precious,” he said warily. She seemed more delighted than even the razor called for.

so there's one thing I crave/ when my days become ho-hum and blah/ I want a zebra

 12)   Steppin’ Out With My Baby – Fred Astaire

He grinned at Tuon, who gave him a slight nod. He had missed this, dice in a common room or tavern, coin on the table, wondering how long his luck would hold. And a pretty woman at his side while he gambled. He wanted to laugh with pleasure.

Steppin' out with my honey/

Can't be bad to feel so good/

Never felt quite so sunny/

And I keep on knockin' wood

 13)   Mack the Knife – Louis Armstrong

Tuon nodded approvingly. The bloody woman was dying to see him get into a knife fight!

[...]

To him, the world consisted of his two knives and the men crowding each other to get at him, and his knives sought the places where men bleed most heavily. Some of those ancient memories came from men who had not been very nice at all.

You know when that shark bites

With his teeth, babe

Scarlet billows

Start to spread

Fancy gloves, though

Wears ol' Macheath, babe

So there's never, never a trace of red

 14)   Rescue Me – Fontella Bass

“If one army is out to kill you, then they probably all are, and there are too many soldiers between here and Ebou Dar. But don’t worry; I’ll find some way to get you back safely.”

[...]

His boot slid in a patch of blood, and as he staggered, he knew he was about to die.

Abruptly Tuon was there, left hand seizing the young woman’s wrist—not the wrist of the knife hand, worse luck—twisting so the arm went stiff and the girl was forced to double over.

Come on, baby, and rescue me/ 'Cause I need you by my side

 15)   Too Close For Comfort – Eydie Gormé

He bent his head to hers. She was far from the first woman he had kissed. He knew what he was about. Surprisingly—or then again, perhaps not so surprisingly—she did not know. She was a quick pupil though. Very quick.

Be wise, be smart, behave my heart,/ Don't upset your cart/ When he’s so close.

 16)   Fever – Michael Bublé

She laid fingers against his cheek. “I thought so,” she said in that slow honey drawl. “You’re feverish. Some of your wounds must be infected.”

[...]

Mat blinked. He gave her a kiss that had to have curled her toes, and all she said was that his face was hot?

When you put your arms around me/ I get a fever that's so hard to bear/ You give me fever when you kiss me/ Fever when you hold me tight

 17)   Burning Down The House – Tom Jones, The Cardigans

Karede felt as if Hartha had kicked him again. No, not Hartha. Aldazar. What madness was this? Cauthon looked like a man watching an arrow fly towards his face, knowing he had no chance to dodge.

“Bloody Matrim Cauthon is my husband. That is the wording you used, is it not?”

This had to be a fever-dream.

Watch out you might get what you're after/

Cool babies strange but not a stranger/

I'm an ordinary guy/

Burning down the house

 18)   Love Is A Battlefield – Pat Benatar

“The next time I see Seanchan, I expect it will be on the field somewhere, Tuon.” Burn him, it would be. His life seemed to run that way no matter what he did. “You’re not my enemy, but your Empire is.”

“Nor are you my enemy, husband,” she said coolly, “but I live to serve the Empire.”

Both of us knowing/ Love is a battlefield

 19)   Empire – Alpines

Tuon straightened her back. She had not thought to become Empress for many years yet. But she would do her duty.

[...]

Fortuona was empress.

 I'm building an empire/

I'm building with my body and soul/

I'm building an empire/

So little time and so much to do

 20)   Distant Stations – Andrew Bird

Stay well, you curious man, she thought, glancing back at the balcony, northward. Do not dig yourself into trouble deeper than you can climb to freedom. You are Prince of the Ravens now. Remember to act appropriately.

Wherever it is you are.

[...]

Thom finished by making a wavy line through the center, as one did at the start of any game of Snakes and Foxes.

[...]

Mat crouched beside a fern, unseen by the dozen or so Deathwatch Guards who stood in a ring around Tuon as she went through a series of fighting stances.

 It was a triangle/ With soft, round edges/ And a split down the middle of one corner

I waited for you/ But I never told you where I was/

I waited on the steps for you/ And I hid in the bushes whenever a car pulled into the parking lot

 21)   Black Coffee – Sarah Vaughan

I should very much like to have him back. She froze; she hadn’t meant to admit so much. She found her own emotions curious, however. She had felt safe with him, ridiculous though it seemed. And she wished he were with her now.

Black coffee/ Feelin' low as the ground/ It's drivin' me crazy/ This waitin' for my baby/ To maybe come around

 22)   Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps – Cake

“Love?” Tuon sounded surprised. “Perhaps we will come to love each other, Matrim, but I have always known I would marry to serve the Empire.”

[...]

“And do you love me?” he asked, forcing the words out.

 You won't admit you love me/

And so how am I ever to know?/

You only tell me/

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

 23)   Best of You (with Elle King) – Andy Grammar, Elle King

“When you saw me,” Mat explained, “with a dagger in hand—as if to throw at you—you didn’t call for your guards. You didn’t fear I was here to kill you. You looked over your shoulder to see what I was aiming at. That’s the most loving gesture I think a man could receive from a woman. Unless you’d like to sit on my knee for a little while…”

 'Cause the best of me loves the best of you/

And all the rest, I can see right through/

You trust in me and I'll trust you too/

'Cause the best of me, loves the best of you

 24)   Dance Me to the End of Love – Leonard Cohen

“I’m not going to sit on your knee,” Tuon said, pulling one arm out of her robe, exposing her breasts, “though I may allow you to sit on mine.”

 Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on/ Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long/ We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above/ Dance me to the end of love

 25)   Roll the Dice – Annie Vincent

Order in one hand—something known, something she could measure—chaos in the other. Chaos in the form of a one-eyed man who knew Artur Hawkwing’s face.

Had she not just told Selucia she would bet upon him?

Roll the dice (C'mon)/ Take a chance with life, just roll the dice/ This will be your time, so roll the dice/ And nothing's gonna stop you now - no, no, woah

 26)   Short Skirt/Long Jacket – Cake

She was something incredible, though. He felt a thrill each time she gave orders; she did it so naturally.

 I want a girl with a mind like a diamond/ I want a girl who knows what's best

 27)   They All Fall Down – XY Unlimited

“A last stand,” Mat said softly. “All of us, together, at a one place where the terrain favors us.”

 One by one the soldiers stumble/

See them as they stand and tumble/

You're here with me

 28)   Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off – Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong

“I’ve had it with you,” Knotai said, waving a hand at her. “You and your bloody Seanchan rules just keep getting in the way.”

“Then I have had it with you as well,” she said, raising her head.

[...]

“I suppose you give me the opportunity… perhaps the mandate… to follow what my heart would choose, whether or not it is wise.” She stood. “General Galgan, gather your troops. We return to the Field of Merrilor.”

 For we know we need each other/ So we better call the calling off off/ Let's call the whole thing off!

 29)   Never Knew I Needed – Kathryn

“Well, I guess I’m off the hook, now. You have an heir.”

“I have an heir,” Tuon said, “but I am the one off that hook. Now I can kill you, if I want.”

Mat felt his grin widen. “Well, we’ll have to see what we can work out. Tell me, do you ever play dice?”

 You are the best thing I never knew I needed/ So now it's so clear, I need you here always

 30)   Twin Human Highway Flares – The Mountain Goats

All he had to do was convince Tuon to forsake her throne and run off with him.

  You turned to me and asked me if I'd always be your boy/

As we drove across the river into western Illinois/

And on the railroad bridge, half a mile of solid steel/

Wheels were spitting out sparks, scraping at the rails

[pinesconessecrets]

Secret Santa for Trustintoast

((Happy Holidays @trustintoast ! I’m your secret santa! You wanted “Awkward Nerd Love”, mixed with “Casual Everyday”, and “Pinescone vs. Disney World”, So I tried to combine them a little. I’m sorry that it’s Disneyland, instead of World–I’ve only been to DisneyWorld once, but I’ve been to DL multiple times, so I thought it would be easier to explain. I’m also sorry that I cut it much shorter. I wanted to make sure you got your gift, but I initially had more planned with them at the park. I hope you still like it. And if not, I could come back and fix it up for you. Thank you for the wait. I hope you had a happy holidays. Enjoy your gift!))

—

“Sunscreen?”

  “Check!”

“Change of Clothes?”

  “Double Check!”

  “Money for Souvenirs?”

  “Triple Check!”

  “Backpacks for everyone to carry their supplies?”

  “Check Check Check! We’re good babe.”

  “Well, I would expect nothing less from my favorite organizer.”

  The man in the passenger seat blushed at the compliment, hiding behind his phone. 

  From the backseat came, “I want to get some Mickey Mouse Ears!” followed by a thump thump thump!

  The driver scowled in the rearview mirror at his brother, “Greg, we’ll get you your Mickey Mouse ears, but please stop kicking the back of my seat. It’s not going to make me drive any faster.”

  Another voice from the backseat exclaimed, “I WANT BABY YODA!!!” followed by an even louder THUMP THUMP THUMP!

  “Ahhh! Mabel, what are you, five? Don’t kick the back of my seat!”

  “Why do you get shot gun, Dip n Dots!” The female voice, now identified as Mabel Pines, pouted.

  “Because I’m the one with the map!” The passenger, her twin brother Dipper Pines, explained.

  “Your map is literally your phone, open to google maps! Anyone of us could have done it.”

  “But no one would look as cute as Dipper,” The driver, Wirt, said with a light dusting of pink on his cheeks.

  “Ewwwww, gag me with a spoon!” Mabel groaned, sinking into her seat.

  “No being gross and mushy on this trip,” The last rider, Greg, huffed. He gave his brother’s seat another thorough kick.

  “Hey! Greg! Knock it off! I can still turn this car around!” Wirt warned.

  Greg rolled his eyes, leaning over to whisper in Mabel’s ear, “Yeah right. We’re stuck in traffic. We’re not going anywhere.” Mabel snickered.

  “I heard that!”

  The two backseat passengers snapped to attention, biting their bottom lip to keep from further chortling.

  “Also, we’re going to Disneyland, the “happiest place on earth!” I think a little mushiness is to be expected,” Dipper said, turning to look back at his sister.

  “Yeah, but we’re in a car for the next 2 hours, and if I have to listen to you two flirt, I think I’d rather walk the rest of the way.”

  “You’re just bitter cause you have no one to flirt with.” Mabel gasped, a hand to her chest, “You wound me dear brother! How dare you say such slanderous and true words!”

  Dipper rolled his eyes, turning back in his seat.

  “Hey! Why aren’t we playing Disney music? This is a road trip to Disneyland! Shouldn’t we be jamming out to some classic hits?” Mabel leaned forward, trying to grab the aux cord.

  Dipper smacked her hands away, “Ugh, no Mabel! How tacky can you get!”

  “You’re tacky!” Mabel snapped back.

  “YEAH, I AGREE, THIS CAR IS TOO QUIET! WE NEED SOME DISNEY MUSIC!” Greg shouted, siding with Mabel.

  “We’re going to be there for hours! We’ll get plenty of Disney cheer at the park,” Wirt tried to protest. He just knew that if they played that music, he’d wind up with a headache.

  But both his and Dipper’s words were quickly drowned out by the two excitable chantings of “Disney Music! Disney Music! Disney Music!”

  “They’re not going to stop…” Dipper muttered.

  Wirt groaned, wanting to slam his head on the steering wheel, “I know…”

  Dipper whipped back around, glaring, “Fine, you heathens! You win!”

  “YAY!!!!”

“YAY!!!!” The two simultaneously cheered.

  Mabel leaned back over, triumphantly taking the aux cord as her prize, and plugged it in to her bedazzled phone. She turned the volume up to the max.

  “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” from Lilo and Stitch filled the car.

  Dipper slammed his head back into the headrest, “Hooray~” He droned.

  Mabel sneered evilly, “Oh don’t pretend like you hate it Dipstick! In fact, If I remember, I believe it was you who wanted to play the Frozen 2 soundtrack in the car, on the way back from the theatre.”

  Dipper lit up like a Christmas Tree. He began stuttering weakly in Wirt’s direction, as if trying to save face, “T-that’s only because the soundtrack was really good this time, and had an air of folk that the first movie severely lacked. It made Frozen 2 feel more genuine to the original story. I was just really impressed this time–” 

  “Right…Right…Oh but wait…which song was your favorite again?” Mabel asked, putting a finger to her cheek, pretending to think. Then that wicked smile returned, full force, “Oh yeah! It was “Lost in the Woods”!”

  “Mabel, NO! STOP! Have mercy!”

  But there was no mercy for those who cursed Disney music.

  “Wait…which one was Lost in the Woods again?” Wirt asked. He thought back to the movie, trying to remember which of those songs would be Dipper’s favorite. Was it the lullaby song? Or the one Elsa sang?

  Mabel and Greg’s eyes sparkled with ill intent; Dipper ducked low into his seat, but there was no escaping, no hiding.

  Not when Mabel had control of the radio. And with that innocent question, the song that followed was an 80’s-esque rock ballad.

  “Oh…Oh. Y-yeah…this makes sense,” Even Wirt couldn’t hide the slight curl of his lips. He cast his boyfriend a sidelong glance.

  Dipper looked out his window, longingly. He wondered if it wasn’t too late to throw himself out of the passenger side door, into oncoming vehicles.

  …But they were stuck in the deadlock of traffic, so that plan was quickly, and regretfully, forgotten.

  —

  “Hi, can I get 8 breakfast Jack meals–”

“Wirt, I want pancakes!” Greg whined.

  “Greg, they don’t serve pancakes–” “Actually they do. You can do the mini pancakes, or the Jumbo Breakfast platter,” Mabel pointed out.

  Wirt looked at the menu, eyebrows rising, “Wow, when did they add that?” It had been a very long time since he’d eaten here. This fast food chain was more recognizable in the west coast then the east.

  “I want the Jumbo Breakfast!” Greg shook the driver’s seat.

  “Greg, are you going to finish that? I don’t want to buy something unless you’re sure you’ll eat it.”

  “Silly ol brother o’ mine, I’m a growing boy! I can totally eat all that,” Greg patted his stomach like it was a djembe drum. His stomach growled back, as if to second it’s owner’s proclamation. 

  Wirt muttered dejectedly to himself, “And the syrup in the car…that’s just an accident waiting to happen…” 

  “Sir…you’re holding up the line…” the timid voice on the speaker mumbled.

  “Yes, I���m sorry. I’m very sorry! Just give me one more minute,” Wirt apologized; he didn’t expect breakfast to be this stressful. He was almost certain that when he was little, ordering breakfast on a road trip was a simple endeavor.

  Then again, Wirt easily accepted what his parent’s ordered for him.

  “Can I order a milkshake?”

  “Mabel, It’s 7:30 in the morning,” Wirt looked at her in abject horror.

  “…And?” Mabel so eloquently put it.

  “Guys, come on, can’t we just make it simple?…Dipper you’re fine with what I ordered, right?”

  Dipper flashed his lover a guilty smile, “Well, um, actually, I was going to ask if I could order from the lunch menu instead…I prefer their lunch over their breakfast…”

  Wirt was utterly betrayed, “E tu?”

  Dipper put his hands together, mumbling a soft, but pleading, “Sorry, and thank you!”

  Wirt sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Everyone hurry up and tell me what you want–exactly what you want! Because I really don’t want to waste this poor lady’s time any further, and the cars behind me are starting to angrily honk their horns.”

  And suddenly the car was filled with a cacophony of different requests.

  “One at a time! One at a time!” Wirt cried, trying to figure out whose request was who’s. 

  Was this what it was going to be like from now one, being the driver of a road trip? Endless chatter, constant bickering, and indecision when ordering food–topped off by off key singing to the same playlist for the next couple hours. Oh this was not looking good for his sanity.

“…Sir…” the voice on the headset whimpered, sounding even smaller.

  “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Just one more second. I promise!”

  The car behind him rammed their horn. When Wirt peeked in the rearview window, he could see an elderly woman flipping him the bird.

  —

  When he pulled up to the window, the lady who handed him the food was shaking, her eyes big and fearful. She shrunk back when Wirt took the bags from her hands, as if she was expecting him to yell at her.

  Wirt understood that anxiety so well, he once more apologized for the commotion, and slipped a 20 dollar tip into her hand.

  When he pulled away, the lady seemed a little less on edge.

  —

  An hour later, and Wirt’s resistance was starting to crumple.

  After 20 songs, food sitting comfortably in his belly, and more than a couple loving looks from his boyfriend, Wirt was beginning to enjoy the ride. 

He even did the unthinkable, and turned up the dial on the radio when “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” started up. The look of shock– quickly followed by glee– from his family’s faces was priceless.

  And when he joined in singing “When Will my Life Begin” with the rest of them, he knew he was doomed.

  Goodbye Sanity. T’was nice knowing you. Come back soon.

  —

  As soon as they arrived, Wirt had to keep a tight hold on the back of Greg’s shirt, because the teen was desperately trying to run off.

  “Greg, I don’t care if you’re 13 now, you stay by my side until we get inside the park. I don’t want to lose you on the bus, or have some weirdo try to kidnap you.”

  “Ugh, Wirt, stop treating me like a child–” Greg huffed.

  “Well, you have a habit of getting us into trouble,” Wirt said, though he quickly realized the person usually getting them into trouble was himself.

  “No you!” Greg snapped, though his smirk was playful.

  “No You!” Wirt snapped back, also smiling.

  They stuck their tongues out at one another.

  Meanwhile, Mabel was dragging her brother violently towards the buses, her excitement having reached critical, “Come on Dipper, quit dragging your feet! We’re here!!! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

  “Mabel, stop pulling, I need to tie my shoe. I’m gonna trip. M-Mabel! Wirt, help me! She’s gone mad!”

  “Mabel Madness! I’M COMING FOR YOU BABY YODA, YOU WILL BE MINE!” Mabel cackled, sounding like a disney villain.

  “Wirt!!!!”

  —

  “Okay, so we should start at heading for Adventure Island and work our way around,” Wirt traced the map with his finger, showing their destined path.

  “I think we should go counterclockwise, cause the more popular rides will get populated in the evening, as more guests arrive,” Dipper argued, tracing the map opposite Wirt. 

  “BABY YODA! We gotta start with Galaxy’s Edge, because that’s going to be the most crowded of all! We want to get in a few rides early,” Mabel chimed in, vigorously pointing at the newest area.

  The three bickered about what to do, until they realized there was one more person with them, and turned to Greg to be the tie breaker.

  Greg looked at the three expectant faces, trying to decide who would be the right choice.

  He should side with his brother…but then again, Dipper was well organized…on the other hand, Mabel was his best friend…but Wirt usually knew best…but Dipper and Mabel had been to Disney before…but– “Um…Um…Maybe, we could…flip a coin?” Greg finally suggested.

  The three young adults groaned.

  “Greg, there’s three of us, and there’s no such thing as a three sided coin,” Wirt reprimanded.

  Greg squinted at his brother, then turned to address the twins, “Well then we’ll flip for Mabel and Dipper’s plan, since Wirt has been eliminated from making a choice.”

  “Hey! Wait! What? Greg!”

  —

  Galaxy’s Edge was packed when the four walked through the gates. Like a can of sardines, the group shuffled slowly through the crowds, trying not to get separated. Wirt kept one hand tightly on his brother’s, while the other hand clung to the back of Dipper’s jacket. The waving bodies made him feel nauseous and claustrophobic, but he swallowed it back, determined not to get sick so early in the day. 

  Everything would be fine as long as they stuck together.

  At least, until Mabel saw her baby yoda plush hanging from one of the open stall shops–at which point, she made a mad dash for the store, barreling a way through. Many people ducked out of her way as she ravenously charged for her prize. 

  Within seconds, the path she had carved was swallowed up by the park goers.

  “Mabel, get back here!” Dipper yelled, but she was already gone. “Wirt, can you–?”

  He didn’t need to be asked twice. Wirt craned his head to keep his eyes on her. It wasn’t hard when she was wearing a glittery red sweater, and matching sparkly headband.

  However, just as he spotted her long brown hair fluttering, he felt his brother’s hand slip out of his hold. 

  He whipped his head back around, catching a glimpse of green as his brother slipped under people’s legs, heading towards the giant Millennium Falcon building

  “Greg! W-wait! Get back here!” His voice croaked– but just like his brother, and Dipper’s sister–it was swallowed up by the crowd. 

  Panic began to bubble up in his stomach. Wild thoughts flitted through his head–one after the other, each one worse than the last. Getting lost in a big place like this– this was not good! And Dipper was dragging him in one direction, while his brother was running in the other. He stuttered over his tongue, trying to find the words to stop them, but bit his tongue in the process. The bodies swayed to and fro, pushing him and pulling him; his hands were clammy, and he could feel his own grip loosening. The feeling of anxiety mounted, as his vision grew spotty.

Not good, not good, not good, not– Dipper intertwined their fingers, squeezing, and all the previous anxieties melted away. They were stopped in the middle of the walkway, with a few annoyed people passing them by, but Dipper was looking at him with a composed smile. Dipper wasn’t often composed–they were both nervous, stuttering messes in the worst of situations. But right now, seeing Dipper’s relaxed composition, and having the man’s hands tightly holding his, he could see those few glimpses of bravery, of excitement and calculated analytics–one of the many reasons he fell for the man in front of him.

  “Don’t worry, everyone’s got cell phones. Nothing’s going to happen. We’ll grab Mabel, and then find Greg. He’s right, you know? He’s not a baby anymore–you don’t have to worry so much about him. It’s going to be okay Wirt, just breathe. I’m here. We’re going to have fun today, I promise. So relax, and just breathe.”

  Those simple words were a great start, though Wirt knew it was still going to take some convincing.

  He took a deep inhale through his nose, releasing a shaky exhale from his mouth.

  “Right…fun. We’re here to have fun.” He inhaled once more; his second exhale was steadier, “…Okay. Let’s go save the poor sales clerk from your sister.”

  Dipper’s smile turned to something more bubbly; it was clear he was just as excited to be here as the other two. After all, this was Dipper’s whole childhood, of course he would be geeking out–especially when his favorite franchise finally had its own area. But he was still trying to stay cool for his lover, and Wirt truly appreciated that level headedness right now. Dipper squeezed Wirt’s hand one more time for boosted confidence.

  The bodies swayed, but Dipper and Wirt swayed with them, keeping afloat in the massive ocean of Star Wars fans.

  — 

  From there, the group went from each area to the next, riding the different attractions, and exploring the many stores offered. Lines were long, sometimes 40 minutes long, but the group kept distracted with playful banner, and dumb word games. 

  Mabel lugged her new Yoda doll in her arms, cradling it like a newborn baby. Dipper swore he could even hear her cooing to it from time to time.

  Greg ate a churro that was sprinkled with blue candy powder–the “light side” churro saber. 

  Wirt was spooning the last of his frozen lemonade into his mouth, reluctantly wearing a pair of Sorcerer’s apprentice, Mickey Mouse ears that Greg had put on him.

  Dipper stared at his family, feeling a calming bliss that he often didn’t get to experience by himself. As he watched his family, trying to decide where to go next, what to do next, Dipper blessed his lucky stars–When you wish upon a star playing in the back of his mind–that he had such a perfectly crazy, but loving family.

  Wirt looked over, noticing Dipper’s stare, and he smiled bashfully, cheeks pink. “What are you looking at?”

  “Nothing, just…I’m having a good time,” Dipper replied.

  “Even with this heat, and this crowd?” Wirth inquired.

  Dipper leaned his head briefly on Wirt’s shoulder, and for a second–just a second– he braced his hands around Wirt’s arm, holding him like they were a lovesick, brand new couple, “Yeah…Is it preemptive to say that I don’t want this day to end?”

  Wirt laughed, the blush rising to the tips of his ears, “Well, it’s barely noon, there’s still plenty of time left in the day–so, yes. But I think I know what you mean.” Wirt ducked down, kissing Dipper’s sweat soaked, bang covered, forehead, “For my first time here…I thought it was going to be a lot worse. But I got to say, with you and Mabel here–it’s still pretty hectic…but much more enjoyable.”

  Dipper’s eyes widened, “This is your first time here at Disney?” “Dipper, I lived in Massachusetts for most of my childhood! Of course it is!”

  Dipper eyes started to sparkle, “Well then, I got a lot of lasting memories to leave you with.” He liked the challenge already.

  Seeing the adorable, childlike expression on the 19 year old, made Wirt laugh even harder, “Well I look forward to seeing what you pull off!”

  Dipper started babbling excitedly, “Oh man, we have to go on the Matterhorn next! It’s pretty fast, and a little wild, but really fun. And it’s two to a seat…so maybe you and I could share a—AH! Ohhh, I just remembered. The matterhorn macaroons are the best–you have to try them, although that’s located at the Jolly Holiday Bakery! But we’ll make sure to get some. I’ve got the perfect plan for hitting all the rides and best locations in the most amount of time, even with the long lines. Hmm, I guess I have to show you “It’s a Small World”–it’s not super fun–kinda annoying, but it’s a Disneyland staple. But if we’re going by Disney staples, then we gotta do Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain. Ohhh I gotta figure out what to do for lunch. There’s so many good choices–but also really crappy ones, so be careful. Don’t worry, me and Mabel know the best…Mabel–Hey, hey, Mabel! Where should we go to lunch!? It’s Greg and Wirt’s first time at Disney! We gotta make it special! Mabel, did you hear me?”

  Hearing that it was their first time, Mabel squealed excitedly, and began babbling alongside her brother, the two practically speaking codes. Greg and Wirt watched the two in amazement, both intrigued, and horrified–well, mostly Wirt is horrified– at the shift in fanatics.

  “I wanna go on Indiana Jones! And Oh, Pirates of the Carribean, we have to ride that too! I wanna see Jack Sparrow! Hey, hey Wirt, should we get autographs since we never got them before?” Greg chimed in, the enthusiasm contagious. This gets Dipper and Mabel squawking even more eagerly.

  “Is it true that they have giant Turkey legs here? And something called “Hidden Mickeys?” Wirt asked, trying to keep up with the rest of his family. He didn’t want to feel so out of the loop, but maybe playing along was a little much, considering the effect it was having.

  The twins looked like they’re going to explode at this point, ready to burst with all their Disney trivia and knowledge.

  Wirt sighed, mumbling softly to himself, “I’m just thankful I didn’t plan a trip to Disneyworld. I’m scared to see you guys planning out your day there.”

  The conversation stopped dead. Dipper and Mabel turned, eyes wide, pupils dilating. Wirt realized too late, that they had heard him.

  And suddenly, the conversation turned to plans for next year, and tickets to Florida, and overnight stays at cheap hotels. Epicot, and Animal Kingdom, and the water parks in summer–all the special foods and treats that Magic Kingdom had over Disneyland. His mumblings had gotten Greg excited, thinking they were really planning to go there next summer.

  The idea was ludicrous, but watching Dipper’s face, red with nervous joy, the gleam in his eyes, and his dimples deepening as he laughed, the idea didn’t seem so irrational.

  Although, Wirt would prefer a trip with just the two of them, if they were to do something that huge. Much as he loved his brother and Mabel, a place that big would be too much stress, and Wirt would really just like to focus on one thing at a time: that one thing being Dipper, in this instance.

  In order to stop the delusions from continuing and hope from blossoming, Wirt clapped his hands, and declared, “Before we start making plans for next year, let’s worry about today. We’re only burning daylight if we stand here talking about what ifs. Dipper, you promised you’d make today memorable, so let’s make some memories. I…I want to know more about this…Matterhorn macaroon.”

  It sounded strangely mature, but also incredibly dorky. He flushed as the words left his mouth.

  But Mabel had run and taken Greg’s hand, dragging him off, and Dipper had wrapped his arm around Wirt’s, pulling him along, which must have meant that his little speech had worked.

  He didn’t know what was going to happen next, or if today would be anymore hectic–of course it is, Wirt, you’re at a theme park, and you don’t even like rides–but, if nothing else, today would be an adventure.

  And Wirt quickly learned through dating Dipper Pines, that any adventure, big or small, was always going to be worthwhile, so long as they were tackling it together. And unlike Gravity Falls, there was likely to be less crazy, paranormal anomalies happening around them; they were less likely to get hurt, or fall into danger here at Disneyland–hopefully.

  They would cross that castle bridge when they got to it.

[winterwriter8845]

In Love With My YouTube Hero

Masterlist

Chapter 1

I walked into my English class where my teacher, Mr. Newman was writing our final project on the Promethean board. I sat down in my usual seat in the second row towards the window. I didn't like to be in front of the class, but I didn't want to be called on if I sat in the back. I don't have a problem with the teacher; he was a good teacher. I just have anxiety with being wrong, if he picks on me to answer a question, and I will most likely be chosen to answer if I sit in the back or the very front. I pulled out my laptop and started to prepare for the class.

I saw a notification from YouTube on my notification box. It was a notification from my favorite YouTuber, XavGame, and the thumbnail was just him sitting in front of the camera, not his usual colorful thumbnails of his face on whichever character he was playing as in a game. I pulled the video up on YouTube and watched it, as I had nothing to do for the next ten minutes before class started. Xavier, or XavGame, was a couple of years older than me, and he was my YouTube hero. His videos had always cheered me up when I was depressed or needed to distract myself. He was a very inspirational person as he would do multiple charity streams a year, most of them for donating to children hospitals or to fight world hunger. But once a year, he would use the money he got from donations to go to a poverty-stricken country and build things that were needed, like houses, hospitals, wells. He would even bring basic medicine to those who couldn't get to it.

The video went on, and Xavier went on to say that he was going on a short break. He had realized that he needed a break from making videos and traveling to just enjoy some alone time to clear his head and relax. I didn't blame him. Even being a small part-time YouTuber is hard and stressful; I can't imagine what it's like to be a full-time YouTuber that uploads videos twice a day, along with planning and organizing mission trips.

I finished up the video and clicked off the video and pulled up my Tumblr account. Someone had found out a proxy that gets past the firewalls, so everyone uses it to get on social media and watch YouTube videos. I looked through my feed and reblogged some aesthetic pictures and then looked through my message to work on writing commission. I saw that I had some new messages. I started to talk to my patrons and got the commissions straightened out.

I closed my laptop as class started. Mr. Newman started the class by greeting us. He then proceeded to tell us about our final project. Our final project was to choose a unit from our studies and write a piece of writing that goes along with that unit, and he was giving us the entire block to work on it. I looked through the units that we had been through and decided to write a Medieval narrative. I decided to write the medieval narrative in the perspective of my original character who is a pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy. I began writing, and I didn't even stop writing when the bell rang as I had my earbuds in my ears, my music blaring through them.

There was a tap on the edge of my computer screen, and I looked up to see my best friend, Teegan, standing there with her arms crossed. "Hey, T-Bean," I chuckled. My other friend, Val, and I had always called her "T-Bean" because her name is Teegan Bean.

She sat down on the desk next to me, pulling out a hair bow. She started to fix her long, wavy dark brown hair, putting it in a ponytail. "We better hurry up to Photojournalism. We've been late every day this week so far." She smiled, her forest green eyes scanning over my face and desk.

I started to put away my laptop after saving my document with my Medieval narrative in it. I closed my laptop and slid it into my messenger bag. I got up and left the English class with my bag and Teegan. We walked down the hall, taking a stop at our lockers to change our binders before arriving at the Photojournalism classroom. There were already people are the Mac computers, working on Yearbook spreads. We only have eight Macs and about twenty people, because the school won't give us funding to order more Macs, or at least more computers in general, or order more Nikon DSLRs because they literally put all the funding into the football team. Every other organization in the school must do their own fundraising to be able to compete or make whatever they're making, whereas the football team doesn't have to do fundraising and can afford to travel all over the state and don't even have to pay for jerseys. I even offered some of my own money that I make at the small shop down in town to get the cameras and Macs, but Ms. Dyer refuses every time I do.

But that's my ranting for now. I walked to my usual seat towards the corner of my room with my laptop as Teegan takes her seat at the middle Mac and begins to work on fixing some photos in Photoshop. I sat down and pulled out my laptop. I started to work on the blog that I ran on the school website. The yearbook staff had agreed to do a feature in the yearbook where we put pictures of students or teachers and the give a story about a time in high school that they will always remember for as long as they are alive. Since we get so many good stories, we decided to make a blog on the school sight to feature the ones that we couldn't put in the yearbook. We called it "the Humans of James River."

I began to transcribe stories and select photos. Once I had a few done, I started to type them onto the blog. I finished up when the bell rang. I grabbed my laptop and slid my laptop into my bag. I walked out of the classroom and down the hall to my locker. I open my bookbag and started to put my binders and notebooks in my bookbag. I closed my bookbag and shut my locker.

I walked out of the school to Ruby, my red mini cooper. I unlocked the car and put my bag in the passenger seat. I plugged my phone into my car and scrolled through my Spotify playlist. I found my playlist and put it on shuffle, and Without Me by Halsey started to play. I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

I live in a small town in Virginia where everyone knows each other; the population of my town was about 600, and that included the town itself and the rural area surrounding the town. The body count of the student body at my high school is about 400 kids, the senior class, my grade, having about 150 kids. But the high school covered about four different communities, not just the town of little ole' Buchanan.

I honestly hated it here. There isn't anything to do, and there are old people galore. But aside from the old people and nothing to do, the reason I hate it is because of my parents. I have to live with them despite me being 18 because if I leave them, they will go nuts and call the cops on me and make it a whole big deal. They're the type of parents that don't care about their kid's wellbeing, just if they have someone to baby them. They drink themselves away each night and fight with each other, or worse: take their anger out on me, despite me staying in my room and not speaking nor interacting with them at all so I won't provoke them to cause harm to me. I'm used to them hitting and kicking me, mentally abusing me, and causing me to go to the hospital for their harm inflicted on me. I, as well as others, have tried to get my parents turned, but the cops didn't have any evidence to hold against them. Then after that, my parents threatened to harm me or anyone else who tried to turn them in, so no one has tried to help me.

I eventually arrived at my house and got out. My mother was home, but my dad wasn't. That was a relief, as my dad was always the reason that my mother went to drinking. She is nice when she isn't drunk, but my father is just mean in general. I wish mother would leave him, but she wouldn't be able to support herself and me.

I grabbed my book bag and walked into the house. "I'm home, mother," I called out.

"I'm in here, Darcy." I heard her from the hallway, so she was probably in her bedroom. I walked in her room to find her walking out of the bathroom that was connected to their room. In her hand was a couple of pregnancy tests.

I looked up at her eyes. "You're pregnant."

She nodded. "Yes." She looked down.

"Who's is it?" I asked, knowing she's had a past of having affairs behind my father's back.

"Darc-"

"Who's?" I cut her off.

"His name is Mark... He's your AFDA teacher from last year...." She sighed.

"Mr. Wilson?" I felt shocked. I knew he was a good man, but I was just scared of what father would do to her if he found out it wasn't his.

She nodded. "Yes. He's taken care of me when your father wouldn't. He's a better lover than my husband is." She sat down on her bed. "You know that..." I only nodded. She looked at me. "Please don't tell your father."

"I won't. You know I won't. I just don't want him to find out on his own and hurt you..." I sat down beside her and put my arm around her shoulders. "You need to give up the alcohol. It'll hurt the baby."

She nodded. "I know. I'm trying to stop."

I leaned against her. "Go live with Teegan and her parents and I. Or go live with Mark."

"I don't know... I'll talk to Mark."

"You need to live with him. He can take care of you." I looked over at her. "Please. If not for me, then do it for the baby. I don't want dad to be the reason you lose the baby."

She nodded. "I know." She stood up. "Enough of that for now. I'm going to go pick up something from North Star. Do you want anything?" North Star was a restaurant near my town that had the best food. It was very small, but it was very popular, so the seats filled up fast.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "North Star? You rarely eat anything from North Star."

"It's the baby." She chuckled. "Do you want anything?" She repeated.

"Hmm, I'm feeling a bacon cheeseburger. I have a charity stream tonight, so I'm not going to eat a lot, and I didn't eat at school so I'm very hungry.

"Okay. I'll order our food."

I smiled. "Here, take some of my money." I pulled out my wallet and handed her some money for both of our meals.

She smiled at me. "Thanks, sweetie."

I smiled as I walked into my room. I walked in and sat my book bag down on my bed. I made sure everything was neat before I walked over to my computer desk.

[eledritch]

So reading all of you amazing works as well as following the content of other lovely Sheith shippers has inspired to finally write some fan fiction and contribute too! It’s been literal years since I’ve written anything though, and of course the story that got me really excited is going to have to be a multi chapter monster. As the master of long and complex fanfics, any advice for beginners?

Good!! I believe in you.

Sure, why the heck not :’) been awhile since I made a big writing tips post and I feel like I have some new things to offer since the last one. I don’t know if your fic is gonna be an AU or canon-compliant, but since my specialty is long and complex multichapter AUs, this is mainly gonna be about that.

First, you can check out my ‘writing tips’ tag for my own tips and tips from others on tumblr: http://saltyshiro.tumblr.com/tagged/writing-tips

The most important advice I can give to you as a writer is to READ. I don’t read nearly as much as I used to, but I still try to when I can. Reading was what gave me the inspiration and knowledge I needed for worldbuilding, which is a vital part of not just AUs, but any long and complex fic. You need to be confident about writing the world you’ve stuck your characters in. You have to know that world better than anyone.

More often than not, books aimed at children actually have better worldbuilding than books for adults. There are exceptions to this (a lot of sci-fi, like Dune & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, for example, as well as dystopian fiction like The Handmaid’s Tale), but some of my favorite worlds remain those from children’s books. They include:

The Ever After in the May Bird & the Ever After series

The absurdist and time-period defiant world where anything goes (as long as it’s unfortunate) of A Series of Unfortunate Events

The Other World in Coraline & London Below Gaiman’s adult fantasy novel Neverwhere

The world populated by various small animals like mice, rats, and squirrels in Redwall by Brian Jacques

The medieval kingdoms of Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

The eerie surrealist circus world of The Palace of Laughter by Jon Berkeley

I’m also currently working my way through the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, which is some INCREDIBLE worldbuilding in a high fantasy setting.

So what do all of these have in common? Well, contrary to popular belief, I don’t think you have to go Full Tolkien and write a brand new language as well as six thousand maps for your world. Nope. None of that is required. All that is required is that you LOVE the world you created. Love the heck out of it. Even if it’s a shitty world. Doesn’t matter. It’s YOUR shitty world. 

The more you love this world of yours, the more you’re gonna want to write about it, and the more reluctant you will be to let yourself drop the project. The pitfall many fanfic writers (and writers in general) fall into when writing long works is that they get burnt out and tired of their own story. You can’t get tired of your story if you keep adding to the world and finding new things to love and explore within it.

Worldbuilding reflects onto your characters, too - people are in many ways a product of their surroundings, after all. If your world is shitty, then your characters might end up a little shitty, too. But - and here’s the clever thing about this - because you love your world so much, and because your characters are an integral part of that world (they should be, if they’re your protagonist/villain/etc), you end up loving your characters, too. It feels like a betrayal if you stop writing their stories, and the world you’ve created should at this point feel almost like a real place, albeit within your head and your imagination. And when that happens, writing about your world and characters doesn’t feel like a chore or an obligation anymore. It feels like an adventure.

That being said, human brains have limits and it shouldn’t ALL exist in your head. You gotta take notes, do some doodles and simple maps if you’re into that, and also use resources made specifically to organize worldbuilding. I tend to just use good ol’ fashioned pencil and paper, but I’ve heard this tool is pretty good for digital organization:

https://www.notebook.ai/

Additionally, don’t be afraid to uh....“borrow” from other worlds that have been made before. The sooner you understand that everyone kinda steals (respectfully) from everyone (i.e. the lion king is hamlet; romeo and juliet is heavily inspired by the greek myth of pyramus and thisbe), the better off you’re gonna be in worldbuilding. You can, and unavoidably will, use worlds you’ve read about and/or experienced in the past in your own worldbuilding. It becomes a patchwork of your own, and once you have a base for your world, it becomes increasingly easy to add onto it and expand with more original ideas.

It can also be helpful to do a ton of research. Say you want your world to somewhat resemble Victorian England. How are you gonna know what that was like? Watch movies set in Victorian England to understand the aesthetic and speech. Watch documentaries to get a more factual basis. Read books set in Victorian England for the language and the societal ideas. Go on a Wikipedia or Google deep dive - almost always, you will end up in a much more interesting place than you expected. Listening to music can also be super helpful to get into a particular tone you want to see in your world, or can help you find the tone if you’re not sure what you want yet. I have playlists for most of my stories.

And, finally, understand that there’s always room for growth. I know my worldbuilding can be better than it is, so with every new story, I strive to make a more vibrant, vivid, lovable world than before. And guess what? Usually, not only does it work, but I also enjoy myself while writing more.

The key to long and complex fics is genuinely enjoying what you’re writing. You may be able to bullshit and slog your way through a shorter fic, but not a 200k monster. Another important key - know where your story is going to end up. 

You need a goal to work towards. Maybe it’s a scene you’ve been wanting to write since you came up with the story. It doesn’t have to be the ending, but it helps if it is. You should know the ending by at least the middle of the story. I’m pretty sure I’ve written stories where that wasn’t the case and I was just flying by the seat of my pants, seeing where my world and characters took me next...which is a valid way to approach writing, but riskier, and ultimately rather frustrating when writing fics since you can’t exactly go back and insert foreshadowing for the ending you didn’t know was coming, lol.

I find late-night brainstorms best for figuring out how I want to end stories. I’ll open up a word doc, think for a good while, and then just start typing. Type it out stream of consciousness style. It doesn’t need to be a good explanation of the events, it just has to be an explanation. (This is also helpful in long stories for writing down reoccuring elements you don’t want to forget, such as slang, societal titles, a promise a character made to another than they really need to bring up again sometime...)

For example, here is my stream of consciousness brain-spew for my fic Seal It With A Kiss (this did not all end up happening quite like this, but here it is, warning for nsfw mentions lmao):

Witch Classes: Apprentice, novice, journeyman, master/magus, archmagus

The Wastes – western desert wasteland, Keith is from Blackwater, three days’ ride from the Citadel. It’s bordered by the River Acheron to the west, on the other side of which are the lands where Keith’s father lived with his first wife. The ocean is to the north, with the island of Cobao directly south of the Citadel.

The Citadel – centrally located, perched among Asphodel Peaks, near the lowland Oscuran Woods. Capital, Altea City, is three days’ ride to the east. Shiro’s grandparents live to the south on the shores of Lake Lucanus, a major fishing outpost bordered by the Dalterion Swamplands to the south.

THE VOID: mysterious dimension (or entity?) accidentally opened by witches eons ago (oops), which created Hell and unleashed demons/monsters/old gods (Voidborn). It is made up of what witches call infernal magic – a powerful and supposedly corrupted/corrupting form of quintessence. The Void is largely unknown and inaccessible to humans. Few return, and those who do are always changed by it.

HELL: Thought to be a reflection of the Void on a more physical/less abstract plane. Hell is made up of many pocket realms, including Daibazaal (one of the largest, ruled by the Galra), and Stratonikeia (ruled by Hecate). It is populated by Voidborn, who carve out sections of it for themselves in warlord-esque fashion.

Neither Hell nor the Void are inherently “evil,” though most witches consider them so, and they are dangerous. While the most well-established Voidborn rule with law and order, many other parts are lawless chaos centered around power struggles, and all Voidborn are morally gray to an extent.

VOIDBORN: Despite their vast differences, all Voidborn derive power from human souls & quintessence. Often generalized as demons, Voidborn are secular beings with no “holy” counterpart (i.e. angels), however, they come in many forms:

SPECTERS: generally the weakest Voidborn, they lack corporeal form and often “haunt” areas with histories of death, grief, and bloodshed, frightening humans and feeding off of their fear.

MONSTERS: a large and varied group of Voidborn, not as intelligent nor powerful as demons. They are the mostly likely to directly attack/kill/eat humans and are often hunted, with trophies of their heads displayed outside remote villages to ward off other monsters.

OLD GODS: a more rare group which often overlaps with greater demons; old gods can be benevolent if appeased (i.e. through ritual sacrifice, favors, offerings, worship, etc). They define territories for themselves and over time can become deified by local peoples, since old gods have been known to protect their lands and the people within them in exchange for worship.

LESSER DEMONS: more intelligent than monsters but less powerful than greater demons and old gods, they often rely on contracts and trickery to get their way. They are known to be petty, cruel, and ugly.

GREATER DEMONS: highly intelligent and powerful, they are dangerous beings who chiefly use contracts, torture, manipulation, and possession to take power from souls, which they crave more than any other Voidborn.

*Haggar has been cloaking Keith from Krolia so she cannot find her son since Keith went to the Citadel*

Shiro was captured by Haggar, who experimented on him (gave him the arm, which is powered by infernal energy/Void quintessence and began to corrupt his soul/erode it) and used him as a gladiator, until she managed to capture and slay Kurobasanir, whose quintessence she combined with the remnants of Shiro’s soul. His soulless, empty body was left to fight in the arena as a kind of robotic killing machine, while Shiro’s self became entangled with Kurobasanir. Because Kurobasanir was dead but Shiro was alive and so determined to stay alive, Shiro’s soul (primed with the Void energy which allowed him to stand up against Kuro) took control, though he gained Kurobasanir’s memories, abilities, and personality, while losing/forgetting his own. However as time passes with Keith, Shiro’s subconscious (ironically the only part of him which is still conscious/knows who he is) begins to break through, making him more ‘human’ as he starts to remember who he is/have doubts that he is really Kurobasanir.

He is unable to shift into any other human but Shiro, falls in love with Keith (demons are supposedly incapable of love), experiences sudden surges of emotion/nostalgia and feels protective towards Shiro’s family/horse/possessions/etc, is mostly unaffected by spells that should exorcise or defeat demons, and acts differently than the original Kurobasanir according to the late incubus’s friends. Because Kurobasanir was a sadist, but Shiro is not, so when he fucks Keith in front of the other demons, they know something’s up because he’s not hurting Keith at all.

What he doesn’t remember/know, though, is that this whole thing is a trap set by Haggar in order to lure Keith, who is a cambion (half demon, half human) to her so she can experiment on him in her quest to gain immortality so she can stay with Zarkon forever without surrendering her soul/turn her own soul into a demon’s essence. Because cambion, once mature, are effectively immortal and have a soul, while still retaining dormant Void magic within them which allows for their immortality and more demonic qualities. They are also extremely rare, and Haggar only knows of Keith because Hekate (Krolia) was her mentor and mentioned him.

So when Keith and Shiro go to find Shiro at the Samhain Tourney, Keith sees Shiro’s soulless body fighting and goes to break him out of his cell in the intermission; Shiro, not recognizing him/caring about him/trained to kill on sight tries to kill him, Keith is horrified and unable to bring himself to hurt Shiro, so he is saved by Kurobasanir, who realizes the situation fully once he comes face to face with the body that was once his, realizing his (Shiro’s) soul has been transferred into the incubus’s.

Before he can tell Keith this, though, Keith is captured by Haggar (who he recognizes as Honerva) and the two are separated. Keith cries alone in his cell, thinking Shiro is gone for good and also thinking Kurobasanir betrayed him and/or will be killed or tortured, leaving him utterly alone again. Lots of time passes and Keith realizes Haggar is trying to break the bond between him and Kurobasanir, because they’re both trapped and the contract must be sealed via sex. So Keith is in agony (and very very horny) because he can’t touch Shiro, and the contract is on the verge of breaking (and causing a great deal of pain and harm to both of them, since it was broken against their will) when Hekate/Krolia shows up, kicks BUTT, and bc she’s Mom of the Year, rescues Keith and brings him to Shiro while explaining on the way what happened. She also mentions that Keith’s father left because he was fulfilling the contract Hekate had with him, which was that because he was infertile she would bear him a “human” son (Keith), who would be blessed by her and live a happy/prosperous life, but in exchange Keith’s dad would only get sixteen years with his son, and then Hecate would take his soul.

As it turns out, though, Hekate/Krolia grew pretty darn fond of Keith’s dad (he’s a human teddy bear hedge mage unfazed by demons, what’s not to love), so he’s just chilling in Hell with her and had planned to come back and tell Keith the whole story, but when he returned Keith had gone off to the Citadel & Haggar was hiding Keith from Hecate.

So Keith and Shiro reunite and they’re so desperate for each other that they basically end up fucking while escaping (Keith is VERY EMBARRASSED but Krolia is like boi I am the mistress of dark magic, I don’t care, get that demon dick, proud of u son. Plus Shiro does his best to hide Things), cue a very wild scene in which both Keith and Shiro are kicking ass while fucking, since Shiro has regained his powers and Keith is Restored By The Power of Shiro’s Dick. Amen. Hallelujah.

Thankfully they finish up by the time they find the Holts, who were being forced to do alchemy stuff in Haggar’s lab. Haggar’s druids attack them, but Keith, who has read up on Honerva’s magic/theories, and Krolia, who mentored Honerva and is now pissed at her bc she tried to use Krolia’s son for her experiments, defeat the druids and are about to destroy Haggar’s research. Then Haggar bursts in, and in a desperate attempt to save her life’s work tells Keith that she can separate Shiro’s soul from Kurobasanir if he spares her/her work. Shiro is actually the one who hesitates, since he thinks Keith deserves much better than him and should have him fully human, as he appeared in their future together. But Keith has made up his mind – he loves Shiro in any and every form, and he’s done with Haggar’s shit. Furious at the thought of what she did to Shiro and planned to do to him, Keith’s magic creates a massive explosion which destroys the lab as Krolia uses one of Haggar’s traveling crystals to take them all away from Daibazaal.

Krolia takes them to her realm of Stratonikeia, a much more chill part of Hell. Because it’s Samhain and everyone is partying, Hecate’s palace is hectic and full of drunk demons and debauchery bc demons just wanna have fun, okay? Krolia makes sure the Holts are given safe accomodations so they can rest up and receive treatment before returning home. Meanwhile, Keith and Shiro are very shaken and Keith is weak from using so much magic to destroy Haggar and her lab. He and Shiro manage to escape the party and get to a balcony or something, where Shiro tearfully apologizes for everything, saying he understands if Keith wants to break ties after their contract is over, and that he wishes it didn’t have to end like this. Keith is quiet, then tells him that nothing is ending, pointing out that apparently he’s also immortal, and that technically Shiro gets his immortal soul in return for completing the contract. Shiro misunderstands, panicking and assuring Keith he will not take his soul and will leave him alone, but Keith cups his face and says he wants Shiro to have him forever, because he loves him, and never stopped loving him. Disbelieving but hopeful, Shiro embraces him gently, and when they kiss Keith begins to show his demonic characteristics (little horns, glowing eyes, tail, reddish scales).

Epilogue – Keith and Shiro get married. In Hell. It’s beautiful. They also have the most romantic, tender, kinky demon/cambion sex ever. They’re in love and together forever :’))

*

I hope that helps, dear!! Best of luck in your writing endeavors. 

[doctorwestcott]

I’m having a hard time becoming better at organisation and such. I just want to get my life back on track. Any good ways to do so?

Hi Anon! Here are three ways I get back to feeling a little bit more together. To note, these ways don’t work for everyone and everyone has their own way of getting their shit together, but these tips always work the best for me.

-I’m a big list maker. Every time I’m feeling a bit chaotic, I sit down and make a list of all the things I need to do. Each time I accomplish something, I cross the list off and I feel a lot more productive.

-Having a clean room is always a good start. My mom is very very organized. Our house seriously looks like a museum because it is so clean and everything has a place. I always feel better when my room is really clean with open windows and a candle flickering somewhere in my room. I always like burning a lavender candle because lavender is scientifically known to have a calming effect, but really it is whatever scent makes YOU feel better!

-Make a plan of action. Like lists, this is my favorite activity. A plan of action could be in a planner or on Google Calendar that sets up notifications that can go directly to your phone or even just a plain ole alarm and a piece of paper. I like to make a google spreadsheet for studying purposes to keep myself more on track. Here is a link to a subject planner, a weekly planner, and a link to some good music to get you motivated:

Subject Planner

General Weekly Planner

Studyblr Playlist– Spotify 

Check that out if you’re interested! 

Don’t feel bad if you’re feeling disorganized. The first step to getting back on track is the intention and everything else will follow. Just plan, pull up your big person pants, and execute that plan.

I’ve also found additional resources that echo the things I do, but also have other tips:

How to Organize Your Life

How I Totally Changed My Life to Finally Get Organized

Get Back on Track

Good luck Anon and all who read this. Hopefully, this helps! You’ve got this!!

[the-poutine-routine]

Have you talked much about Valse Triste? Could be fun to go back to their first senior fd!

Ok… let’s do this *cracks knuckles* *plays vm spotify playlist*

Hi anon! I mean I’ve mentioned Valse Triste I think...? But never have I ranted about it in great detail, so... um yeah... I guess I’ll do that now.

Overall thoughts:

I think as a whole Valse Triste was super fitting to who Tessa and Scott were as skaters at the time. The music had both a sense of levity and of maturity that matched the situation of being a couple of kids thrown into a competition with a whole bunch of seasoned ice dancers. I guess the main thing that stood out to me as they performed was- to steal one of the commentators’ phrasing- how automatic they look. Even after skating together for only ten years (I know, it’s such a short amount of time), they fall into hold together so easily, they always know where the other is on the ice. Moreover, they look so prepared, they go through all the elements so smoothly and precisely as if they never have to even think about what’s coming next. 

They look like they have something to prove.

So I love Valse Triste, it’s probably one of my favorite programs of theirs (that’s a lie, they’re all my favorites). I guess I see it as almost a pre-cursor to Mahler. It has the same sort of mood that I can’t quite find the words for right now... a brightness and joyfulness but with the faintest undertones of melancholy (damn, I sound like a pretentious asshole). 

It’s almost like with Mahler they’re just a couple of kids dancing, showing the world what they’ve got; while with Valse Triste they’re just a couple of kids dancing, showing the world that they have something to give.

Initial notes on the limitations of my analysis: 

Normally I like to give my overall thoughts (see above) at the end of these nonsensical rants, but this got insanely long and in depth (and illustrated) so I’m adding a break.

ALSO, normally when I’m doing analyses it’s from a specific competition and I’m comparing vm’s scores to another team, however, with this one, I’m not really out here arguing that Tessa and Scott were lowballed, so more than anything, I’m comparing them to themselves at present. I’m not saying that they were better or worse at any given time (although obviously Valse Triste was more than ten years ago, so they did make a lot of improvements from them until 2018...)

And, as always, I am no ice dance expert so everything that I say may or may not be complete and utter bullshit.

Oh, one last thing! I get super in depth about the program and all its elements yadda yadda, but then I have a blurb about why IJS isn’t that great of a judging system at the end so that might be worth while to read even if you don’t care about the rest of my rambling soooo yeah...

Ok hi! Hope you’re doing well!

Anywho, here’s the video that I watched. I used Worlds because, in theory, that should be their best skate / the best representation of the program as a whole. 

Ok, so here’s the protocol:

The judging, base values, component scoring, etc. have all obviously changed quite a bit since 2007, however I’m too lazy to re-learn IJS based on the 2007 system, so we’re just going to have to make do with my knowledge of the 2018 system. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Technical Element Scores (aka me blabbering incoherently because I wrote this part after doing PCS and my brain no longer wants to be organized):

The first thing I noticed about the TES when looking at the protocol was that while vm got everything called (because they’re freaking legends. Oh my god.), they didn’t have super great GOEs. I guess this kind of makes sense, particularly in the lifts you can kind of see them setting up for them rather than letting them flow with the program.

I think to give this entire shit show of a post a bit more organization, I’m going to break each element down by type and give some quick, spur-of-the-moment, rapid-fire thoughts. Kapeesh? 

Lifts:

I think it’s interesting how accurate of a representations Tessa and Scott’s lifts can be to the timeline of their career. The lifts in Valse Triste are all very low to the ground. Tessa has her head almost touching the ice in the straight-line lift, for example.

While the strength and balance needed to execute the lift are very obvious from looking at it, it’s not big or reaching outward like good ol’ cunniliftus or the curved lift from Prince and Moulin Rouge do. However, this isn’t a bad thing, it’s actually more fitting with the program and with who they were as skaters at the time. While they were spectacular ice dancers even back then, they also were just a couple of kids. Having huge lifts in this particular program probably would not only not fit musically, but also almost make it seem as if vm were trying too hard... if that makes sense? (Sorry, it sounds like I’m throwing shade, I promise I’m not, I really do like the lifts and think they’re perfect given the program).

Step Sequences:

Although this isn’t necessarily a technical attribute, I guess what stood out to me most about the step sequences were their confidence. They execute each turn so exactly, there’s no long drawn out edge going into them, every thing about the step sequences ooze self-assuredness, sort of like they’re saying “We’ve practiced this ten trillion times. We know what we’re doing. We’ve got this.”

Spin:

Honestly, I don’t have all that much to comment on this. A spin is a spin is a spin. What I notice more than the spin itself is the transition into and out of it, how quickly they execute it, and the speed with which they move out of it. 

Twizzles:

Again, not much to say here... they’re twizzles... Scott does get a bit off on the second one but somehow manages to save it and come out at the same time as Tessa which is pretty amazing hehehe. 

Program Component Scores:

Obviously, little baby 2007 Tessa and Scott had a bit of work to do before they became the Ultimate Ice Dancers Supreme™ that they are now, so there component scores were all in the 6-7 range (which is still pretty darn respectable), rather than maxing out in the 9-10 range like they did (crying that I have to use past-tense) in their later career.

Skating Skills:

Honestly, they’re fine? I mean yes they’re very good, but they still do have some work to do. I don’t know… they have very good edges and extensions as per usual, but they do seem to lack a bit of the up-and-down smooth knee bend movement that is super representative of Canadian skating and that they have boatloads of later on in their career. On a bit of a tangent, however, areas in which they do need to improve their skating skills almost lend themselves well to the program (the power of negative space, eh?). They add to the sense of innocence and youth of the program? As in as much as I love the Valse Triste, I think a lot of its meaning and pizzazz would not at all be fitting to a present day vm. 

Linking Footwork / Movement:

So I’m going to equate this to the part of the score that’s now called “Transitions” because… yeah… I just am, I’m assuming it’s more or less the same thing. The transitions were actually one of the main things I noticed upon my re-watching of this program. I don’t want to say that their transitions were simpler than they are now, per se, as that makes it seem like they were bad back in the Valse Triste days, but they kind of were… simpler. Rather than using turns and footwork to link together elements, Valse Triste more used crossovers, mini lift-like moves (Tessa looping a leg over Scott, etc.)

 and body movements to move from one element to the next. Now, in some ways, this is nice- especially as someone who is not an expert on every. single. ice. dance. element. (particularly those from 2007)- as it really accentuated … oop, writing pause, Come What May just came on and I need to take a sec to look forlornly into the distance … OK SO it really accentuated where each element ended and another began. However, if we’re thinking about flow, which is something that every program really should have, more full? (that’s a weird word, I know) transitions help the more modern vm programs to seem a lot more cohesive than much of their earlier work.

Choreography:

I know that technically on the protocol sheet, “Performance” comes before “Choreography” ties in to what I just blabbered about regarding transitions so… Ok so yeah, not going to lie to y’all, I’m not really a huge fan of Marina-esque choreography. She uses a lot of hops (brief side note: apparently vm got criticism for using hops to pick up speed, but this was literally part of the choreo. What gives?) and pauses as transitions which not only breaks up the elements and takes away from the cohesiveness of the program as a whole, but also doesn’t always make sense given programs with particularly um… ethereal… music, such as Valse Triste, or Mahler, or Seasons. 

That being said, something that the choreography does do very well, is being matched appropriately with the music. Although some of this obviously plays into the “Musical Interpretation / Timing” score, the fact that specific body movements or elements were chosen to go at certain points in the program as the mood and temp of the music evolves is very telling of a well-choreographed program. A prime example of this is how the circle step sequence (starting here) is set to a much more lively piece of the music, which makes sense choreographically as they are required to complete multiple turns in quick succession. 

Performance & Interpretation / Timing:

So, I’m just going to lump these two together because I’m lazy, because I can, and for reasons that I’ll explain in a hot sec. As always, I think Tessa and Scott did a stellar job of performing this program. Something that they excel at more than probably any other team ever…? is portraying characters and I think this program is a prime example of that. They make use of every body movement and ensure that everything is timed perfectly with even the smallest accent in the music. 

Ok so sort of a choppy transition here, but in skating, I am kind of a huge fan of facial expressions (which doesn’t necessarily make sense, as I’m totally one of those people who will beat someone up if they say that figure skating isn’t a sport, but that’s besides the point). The video is not the best quality because like… 2007… but even without being able to see specific minute details of either of their faces, you can tell that they are emoting. For example…

…here you can sort of see their faces and what they’re doing with them which is great, obvs, but more than that you can almost tell the emotion that they are feeling / portraying from their extensions and from their overall body language / movement. They really emote through their entire beings which is a skill that many ice dance teams don’t even come close to doing.

The limitations of IJS:

That hot sec that I mentioned in why I lumped Interpretation and Performance together? That one? Yeah, that hot sec is right now. 

Ok, so, one of the things I struggled with in trying to separate out each specific program component to look at is that any skating program is meant to be viewed as an entire entity. Yes, there are individual elements and individual components that all make up the program, but any skater and choreographer worth their salt (is that a saying? I don’t know) will try to add some sense of musicality and flow to a program, whether it be through having a storyline for the program or simply having certain movements that tie everything in the program up in a neat package from beginning to end. 

This being the case, it’s really hard to look at a program and parse out which movements are part of choreography, what pieces are thought up by the skater themself as part of the performance, etc. So… yeah it was hard. 

Another thing to note is that judging bias is a real thing. In this case I don’t think any biases necessarily came from judges being paid off or playing favorites or anything, but simply due to expectations. It’s not even anything to do with vm themselves, but with every newer senior team. First of all, when a team is placed higher in world rankings, they will skate in a later group at Worlds. This means that in the later groups there is a much higher expectation for the teams to do better and thus when a newer / lower ranked team is particularly good, the judges might be blindsided a bit and not give them that high a score simply because they did not expect that team to be good and consequentially do not see them as good (psychology, anyone?).

Another result of being in an earlier group is that the judges and tech panel aren’t going to want start right off the bat by giving all +3 GOEs and 10.00 component scores. There needs to be somewhere for the scores to go throughout the competition. So pretty much the earlier teams might be scored particularly harshly as they are pretty much setting the bar and being a baseline off of which all the other teams are going to be judged for the rest of the competition. (I mean technically, teams aren’t supposed to be compared to one another but like………)

Wow wow wow ok you made it! Yup, that was very long and probably made no sense and had like twenty different moods because I skipped around while writing it, but maybe you thought it was worth the twelve hours it took you to get through it? Probably not...

Anyway, thank you so much anon for inspiring my ranting :) 

[cloudsaysthings-archive]

| FALLOUT OC INFO SHEET |

Info sheet done by @madddraws. (thanks for making this, i really needed to actually organize his character info for once…)

Info is under the cut; be wary, as there may be triggering information below.

Name: Jackson Seth Schmidt

Nickname: Jack, Blue, Bullseye

Age: 30/240

Height: Exactly six feet tall. (1.82m)

Weight: 205 lbs. (93kg)

SPECIAL: S:9 P:8 E:8 C:9 I:8 A:7 L:4

Eyes: Hazy Blue

Hair: Brown

Body type: Muscular, medium

Status Pre-War: Former soldier, artist (although his art career never truly took off :/)

Status Currently: General of the Commonwealth Minutemen, part-time gun for hire

Relationship Status: Widowed, currently in a relationship

Spouse(s): Nora (deceased), Piper Wright

Sexuality: Demi-biromantic demisexual

Gender: Cis male

Ethnicity: White (German, Greek)

Family: Edward (father, presumably dead), Elizabeth (mother, presumably dead), Sadie (sister, presumably dead), and Jason, (brother, missing and presumed dead)

Languages: English (first language), German, (second language), French

Disabilities/Illnesses/Injuries: Suffers from multiple mental disorders: Cyclothymia, PTSD, Anxiety, Insomnia, and Depression. Right shoulder has been subject of multiple injuries, including laser burns, bullet wounds, and dislocation, still occasionally sore. Lazy left eye. Has had multiple spells of carpel tunnel in right hand and wrist, still occasionally sore. Chronic migraines, although have become much more rare. Suffers from vertigo and dizziness as well.

Allergies: Pollen.

Scars: Freckles on upper back and near neck from sunburn, Long scar on left eye from knife fight with a Chinese soldier, scar on lip from the same knife fight, scar on chin from a fight with the Diamond City Security, small right eyebrow scar from the same fight with DC Security, small cut on the bridge of his nose from the same fight. Scar on his left palm, as well as multiple scars on his left wrist. Light claw scratches on chest and stomach from a feral ghoul attack.

Physical traits: Pocked neck and rough face, big nose, light and barely noticeable beard, thick eyebrows, full lips, straight teeth (wore braces as a kid), bags under eyes, bright eyes.

Voice: The usual male protagonist voice with a light Bostonian accent that is only apparent every now and then. (Trust me, it used to be worse.)

Clothing: Riot Gear Coat, Mercenary hood, Blue scarf, wastelander coat, Kellogg’s arm armor, Minutemen General coat, Grandpa Savoldi’s hat, white tank top, navy blue suit, literally any plaid for flannel shirt he can find, combat boots.

Fashion Style/Lifestyle: Anything comfortable/anything that can protect him.

Weapon of Choice: M1 Garand rifle with Piper’s name carved into the barrel and blue tape covering the grip.

Skills: Marksman (he has a great aim with guns), knife combat, hand-to-hand combat, can play multiple musical instruments, artist (drawing), great poem writing, great aerobatic skills

Weaknesses: His mental illnesses, hotheaded and short temper, can be cowardly at times, past light addiction to mentats, can also be a bit of an asshole at times as well

Poor skills: Writing legit stories, painting, being strategic, stealth

Affiliations: Commonwealth Minutemen, allied with Railroad

Former Affiliations: Brotherhood of Steel

Enemies: The Institute, Nuka-World Raiders, eventually the BoS, anyone who gets in his way

Neutral Affiliations: Far Harbor, Acadia, Children of Atom

Religion: Formerly Christian, none

Likes: A good whiskey, cigarettes, comics, being helpful, ANIMALS, sarcasm, tinkering with things, drawing, playing music, singing, time with Piper and friends, reading, practicing his aim, the perfectly preserved pies after he gets them out of that stupid Port-A-Diner

Dislikes: Chem usage, racism, betrayal, lying (even though he does lie a lot), raiders, painting, rudeness, stealing

Hates: Murder/killing, any type of abuse, those stupid Port-A-Diners, cannibalism, socializing

Friends: Pretty much most of the companions, Sturges, Albany Fisher (my Lone Wanderer), Garvus Manchester (my courier)

Acquaintances: Strong, Hancock, Porter Gage, and Old Longfellow

Former friends: Mags, the leader of the Operators

Enemies: Elder Maxson, Kellogg (deceased), Angry Warren (my raider OC), and Bishop Montgomery (an oc to be released that is in the making)

Pets: Dogmeat

Fallout OC friends/family: Gene (@vkm11), Patti Helter (@werewuffgoth), Elenora Clarke (@laurenallyse), Nate Blackwell (@failout4) (others may join this list in the future)

Personality: An ambivert, Jack is a quiet person when you first meet him. As he becomes your friend, he will begin to open up to you more. He is a person who has high respect for everyone, including his enemies (like the ones listed above) for their strong desire to defeat him. He is a very charismatic man, one of many words. He is sarcastic and at times silly, but can be serious as well. He can be your best friend but can also be your worst enemy.

Favorite color: Navy blue

Favorite foods: Deathclaw steak, deathclaw omelettes, Takahashi’s good ole Power Noodles, cram, potato crisps, salisbury steak, perfectly preserved pie, fresh melon, grilled radroach, grilled radstag, InstaMash, Sugar Bombs, bubblegum, YumYum deviled eggs, Dandy Boy apples

Favorite drinks: Whiskey, all types of Nuka-Cola, purified water, beer, Scotch, Sunset Sarsaparilla (when he goes to the Mojave)

Favorite sweets: Listed above in favorite foods

 OTHER INFO: 

Once again, beware of triggering content. 

His story/introduction, copied from his roleplay blog:

Jack was born on December 21st of 2047 in the state of Rhode Island, where he lived for the first five years of his life. He later moved to New York for the rest of his childhood and teenage years before moving to Boston, Massachusetts. There, he went to college at Suffolk University along side his future wife Nora.

Later, he was drafted into the Resource Wars where he fought in Anchorage for his first two years of service, and fought in China for the rest of his time in the army. Jack retired after a horrible army experience, and married his fiance, Nora, when he returned. The two lived in Sanctuary Hills in the House of Tomorrow, had Shaun, and were put into the vault in 2077. The rest of his story is history.

MENTAL HEALTH HISTORY

Jack was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder when he was twelve, and cyclothymia at fourteen. His mother’s side of the family had a long running history of depression and bipolar disorder, so it was no surprise that he had cyclothymia (another form of bipolar disorder) and depression. 

Following his return from war, he quickly developed PTSD and insomnia. His PTSD became so bad that it hindered his relationship with Nora, so much that she dropped him off at the Parsons Insane Asylum until one day, his wife realized that dropping him off at Parsons was a mistake, and took him to see his sister (who was a psychiatrist/therapist). 

He has little recollection of his time in Parsons. Occasionally, he gets random flashbacks of his time there, experiencing memories that he didn’t remember. Over time though, after he stopped seeing his sister for PTSD, he slowly got better with the help and support of his wife. After waking up in the wasteland, it became progressively worse (luckily, not as bad as it was after he retired from war). 

Jack suffers with self-harm after leaving the vault, yet quickly recovers from it, to only have his suicidal depression return later.

FANFICTIONS

His main fanfiction is Fallout 4: Purple, which is currently being rewritten from chapters one to twenty one. Purple starts after meeting Father in the Institute, as he picks up Piper from Diamond City and begins to fall for her.

I will be eventually writing a prequel story to Purple, based on his time from the moment he left the vault until he meets Father.

I have also written an AU fic for him, called Wastelands featuring Elenora Clarke (belonging to @laurenallyse). The Scharke AU states that neither Nate nor Nora were murdered in Vault 111. In this AU, Jack and Elenora are together.

The Scharke AU is also present on Jack’s roleplay blog, @implicit-hero, as well as Elenora’s roleplay blog, @ecotonebeing.

PLAYLISTS

I have four playlists made for him.

[LEAVE ME WITH A RAZOR]

This playlist is his general playlist.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/screwyouimcloud/playlist/72HJM83G0Zo1kyItgUaNwS

[WORDS. WHAT ARE WORDS?]

This is Jack and Piper’s playlist.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/screwyouimcloud/playlist/03Zaz6Zx09iMi77uZbz2ND

[I NEED A DAMN BREAK]

Jack and Piper’s angsty playlist.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/screwyouimcloud/playlist/29JweWZuVULsjMUiPHUZbm

[AS YOU WISH, MY DEAR]

The Scharke playlist for Jack and Elenora.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/screwyouimcloud/playlist/6NwCxLOwesspbwhUKzXWs9

Anyways, that’s all, folks!

[eponymous-rose]

Weird request, but you summarize stuff. I've only caught a few episodes of Critical Role but am curious about Kima and Allura. What's the story there? Don't worry about spoilers, I'm never gonna get caught up on this show anyway, but I am curious!

Oh gosh! Okay. This actually dovetails nicely with some logistical stuff I need to figure out for reasons, so hey, here’s my really long-winded summary (and other folks, please chime in if I get something wrong, there’s a lot of ground to cover here ranging from pre-series to right up where we are now):

So, basically, Allura (human wizard) and Kima (halfling paladin of Bahamut) were part of the same adventuring party, and their exploits culminated in a big ol’ boss battle fifteen years before the start of Critical Role against an ancient red dragon named Thordak. Their party managed to seal Thordak in the Elemental Plane of Fire, but in the process three members of their party were killed (Sirus, Dohla, and Ghenn), leaving only Kima, Allura, and their elementalist friend Drake Thunderbrand standing at the end of it.

In the wake of the battle, the three of them went their separate ways, despite the romantic relationship that had developed between Kima and Allura. Allura accepted an offer to become a member of the Council of Tal’Dorei in the capital city of Emon, but Kima wasn’t exactly keen on a political position and traveled north to the holy city of Vasselheim instead, where she worked with Highbearer Vord, the leader of the Order of Bahamut. Kima mentions in early episodes of the show that she and Allura would still try to meet up every few months for drinks, but their lives were pulling them in different directions. 

Matt’s made it pretty clear that Allura still spent a lot of time thinking about Kima during those years---in his playlist he posted way back in 2015, he says of Allura: “So long as protecting the realm means protecting this one person, then all the toil and challenge is worth it.” Kima also wound up struggling a lot with her faith in the wake of all the evils she’d seen, and frequently butted heads with Highbearer Vord and the more straitlaced folks she worked with.

Fast-forward fifteen years, when Kima starts to get visions of a terrible evil brewing under the dwarven city of Kraghammer and rushes in half-cocked. Allura starts to get worried after several weeks pass with no word and hires a group of adventurers that she’s worked with in the past to go find Kima---the adventurers, of course, are Vox Machina, and this push was the impetus for the first on-stream plot arc of the show.

Vox Machina manage to get Kima out of a bad situation in the Underdark, and then they all wind up embroiled in a conflict against a particularly corrupted beholder named K’Varn, who’s managed to get his hands (eye-tentacles?) on a Horn of Orcus and is sort of chilling with his mind flayer pals as a lowkey champion of the god of undeath, which is not fantastic. VM kill K’Varn, and together with Kima (who’d been turned to stone by a basilisk, thus beginning her longstanding pattern of bad luck on missions involving VM) just barely manage to escape via teleportation circle back to Emon.

After a Weekend-at-Bernie’s-esque pub crawl with Kima still in stone form, the party finally manages to restore her, and they all head over to explain the events to Allura. Allura is delighted to see Kima again, and they have a tearful reunion. Kima does travel with VM back to Vasselheim to seal the Horn of Orcus in the Platinum Sanctuary (a temple of Bahamut), leaving Allura in Emon. VM eventually moves on to the next plot, leaving Kima in Vasselheim.

Once VM finishes dealing with the next major arc of the show, the end result is a tiny floating, spinning ball in a forgotten ziggurat under the human city of Whitestone that also happens to nullify all magic for a wide radius in its vicinity. You know, your standard everyday stuff. Completely out of their depths, they ask Allura to travel to Whitestone and check it out while they return home to Emon, a decision that possibly winds up saving her life.

Allura heads to Whitestone and brings Drake Thunderbrand on board to evaluate the situation with the orb. When some of her arcane connections with cities across Tal’Dorei start to go dark, she heads back to Emon to report in to VM at their Keep just outside the city and figure out what the heck’s going on.

She and Drake arrive to find the party in the middle of a very serious argument, on the verge of an all-out brawl, over a magical skull housing some sort of entity that claims to be able to grant any wish. Why is a wish particularly tempting right now? Oh hey, turns out four ancient chromatic dragons, the Chroma Conclave (excellent 80s band name), just attacked Emon, killed most of the Tal’Dorei Council, made a beeline for and destroyed Allura’s home, and are spreading out to destroy most bastions of civilization across the continents of Tal’Dorei and Wildmount. When VM reveals that the leader of the group was Thordak, the same dragon that Allura and Drake barely survived sealing in the Plane of Fire, Allura is in shock.

Allura and Drake head out to the ruins of the Cobalt Reserve in Westruun to try and find some information that could help them defeat the Conclave. VM eventually make their way to Vasselheim in search of allies, and are startled to discover that the city is unaware of the devastation happening across the ocean. When Kima finds out about the destruction of Emon, she’s frantic and her first thought is to find a way to get to Allura. VM manage to assure her that Allura is as safe as anyone can be right now, and Kima joins them on their disastrous journey to the sunken tomb, where they face another beholder and Kima is nearly killed by a long fall in the battle. In the aftermath, she makes her way with the party back to Whitestone, and finds out for the first time that the leader of the Conclave is indeed Thordak---the news puts her into an uncharacteristic state of panic.

While VM travels around in search of ancient weapons to help defeat the Conclave, Allura eventually turns up in Whitestone, which has become the unofficial seat of a new war council. By the time VM shows up again, having killed one member of the Conclave, Kima and Allura are both there to greet them. At this point, the two of them have moved into a house in Whitestone together (there’s a cute moment where Vex knocks on Allura’s door early in the morning and Kima answers it in a too-big nightshirt) and are helping to coordinate studies of the orb under Whitestone as well as the defense of the city itself, once it becomes clear that forces are amassing there. Kima takes out a would-be assassin who comes after them in their home (part of an elaborate rakshasa revenge plot; Gilmore pulps his assassin, it’s a whole thing).

Kima winds up accompanying VM on their mission to Draconia to kill Vorugal, a member of the Conclave, and discovers before leaving that another member of the Conclave, Raishan, has been (in disguise) in Whitestone for some time, that she knows all of their secrets and could wipe out the last form of resistance in an instant, and that the party has worked out a very shaky secret deal with her, since it turns out they all want to kill Thordak. Despite Scanlan’s attempts to modify her memory to make her forget this revelation, Kima knows about the infiltration, and agrees to move forward with the plan regardless. The party manages to kill Vorugal and return back to Whitestone, at which point Raishan’s identity is revealed, for better or worse, to the entire war council.

Kima and Allura go to Fort Daxio to help coordinate troops for a final push against Thordak, who has settled down over the city of Emon and is slowly shaping the land into some sort of super-evil volcano. As you do. At Fort Daxio, Gatekeeper Xanthas, a former ally from Emon, reveals himself to have switched allegiances to work with Thordak, and manages to cast a Feeblemind spell on Allura. VM shows up in time to take Xanthas out and reverse the effects of the spell, at which point an extremely shaken Kima and Allura have their first “on-screen” kiss.

After Thordak is defeated, and Raishan escapes an attack from VM in the immediate aftermath of the battle, Kima and Allura accompany VM to Raishan’s hideout on the Island of Viscan, which once served as the home base of long-dead necromancer Opash. After some shenanigans with gravity-reversal and a whole lot of undead bodies, the party battles Raishan, with both Allura and Kima coming very close to death in the fight. In the aftermath, the party tries to escape the island with their dead and wounded... and discovers when their first spell fails that this island has some defenses in place against transportation magic.

Allura eventually manages to put down a teleportation circle and step through, but Kima hangs back a second, telling VM that something looks off about the circle. Before anyone can decide what to do, Kima resolutely steps through after Allura, and they both vanish. Keyleth manages to scry on them and discovers that they’ve landed in open ocean somewhere, which is bad news if you happen to be in full plate armor, like Kima. Through a complete fluke of a dice-roll (natural 20 on a perception check), Keyleth manages to spot them from the beach---swimming in the wrong direction and already exhausted---and Vex shoots out after them on her broom. 

She grabs Allura, Allura grabs Kima, and bookish-wizard Allura, zero-strength-modifier Allura manages to roll a natural 20 on her strength check to hang on to Kima until they get to safety.

In the aftermath, Allura and Kima are helping to put things back in order in Emon, ensuring together that more shadowy organizations like the Clasp don’t make too much of a bid for power in the chaos. When VM heads out on their next adventure, Kima makes sure to tell them that if they see Highbearer Vord, they should just pretend they haven’t seen her; she’s staying with Allura.

[poeplepound]

!!! i !!!! love these guys so much!! theyre so spectacular omfg !

also i tried to do this once already ! and i was very far into a very long info dump about these guys and i was ALmost done ,,, and my browser crashed, but im doing it again anyway because i need it (i might make typos and sound like a bum jus btw)

sean bonnette and benjamin gallaty started releasing musci together in 2005 after having worked together in a coffeeshop in pheonix arizona - sean was 18, and the buds released their debut album “candy cigarettes and cap guns” and have since released four other full albums, a handful of singles, two eps, and a compilation

sean has a bachelors degree in social work, and has always been working in homeless shelters, volunteering with youth programs, and trying to give a voice to one of the largest groups of stigmatized humans on our planet

candy cigarettes and cap guns was released when sean (30 y/o) was only 18 - and he has since recieved lots of negative feedback on offensive content in ajj’s older songs - to this, sean apologizes but says , quite frankly , that he was a yung edgy boi at that time in his life, and even if his music was offensive then , it represents a time in his life and hes not going to let its content discount that relevance

this is similar to how ajj changed their name from “Andrew jackson jihad”, sean and ben publicly decided to stop using the old band name because they aren’t muslim and have to right to use the term jihad as a part of an aesthetic - neither of the guys expected ajj to get so big, and andrew jackson jihad was adequate for a yung edgy boi garage band

ajjs vast discography centers around themes of social anxiety, privilege, depression, mania, loving how horrible life is, making the most of nothing, being nothing, and how wonderful our shitty planet is

ajj is considered folk-punk, and to a certain degree i agree with that, but to me music genres are irrelevant, and often times musicians fail to fit a category

the idea of organizing music by genres is restricting to a musician and songs and music grow as people do.  in an interview with verbicide, sean said that he acknowledges ajj’s influence on “folk punk” but how the identification of what folk-punk actually is is very vague and unclear, what really Is folk-punk?

ajj has albums that are way more based in folk music, and some that are way more based in punk - some songs are very poppy, some kind of choral in nature - but somehow, ajj has a very cohesive, recognizable sound that never fails to impress and comfort me

this is in part to sean’s wonderful lyrics, they are so very very raw and uncut - he is incredibly relatable while staying poetic, and i admire that So Much.  his use of metaphor in his lyrics has alwasy been apparent, but even more so in his more recent albums, and his political commentary songs are more prevalent in older songs - but they stay SO RE l AT a b LE !! every time i listen to ajj, i feel so whole and accepted and like im listening to my deepest internal thoughts and feelings in the form of beautiful lyrics and entrancing music

when asked if sean’s lyrics are a reflection of a darkness inside of him, he usualyl replies by saying that hes no darker than anyone else is - he just has a way to express and expel that darkness.  after the release of knife man, sean was asked if his emotional songs were about his past and what he’s been through as a person, and hes replied by saying that a lot of what he sings about is stuff that hes seen through his job, and learned about through people he’s met and interacted with.

shortly before christmas island was recorded, sean’s grandfather passed away.  his grandpa had lived with him from the time he was 13 tot he time he was 18, and he was a very major male role model in his life.  christmas island has lots of imagery around death, and a lot of the songs on the album personify grief and death.  sean has said that christmas island is an album about “pre-grief” meaning the way that people feel bad about death and grieve loses before theyve even happen, just beause they know theyre coming.  sean’s grandfather’s death was not unexpected or sudden, and he died very happily - surrounded by all of his grandchildren, and the feeling of knowing someone you love will die shortly is what fueled a lot of the tone of christmas island.

sean is a big big fan of 90′s hip hop, and a lot of his lyrics and writing style is heavily influenced by his favorites - aesop rock, brother lynch hung, biggie, and ol dirty bastard (seriously sean is SO Iconic)

i’ve been listening to ajj since their release of “knife man” in 2011, i could never pick a favorite album of theirs  - i love each of them and theyre each incredibly important to me

their 2007 album “people who can eat people are the luckiest people in the world” gave me a completely new worldview , and showed me that the world is incredibly imperfect, and humans are incredibly imperfect, but life is so worth living, and there is still so much good amazing stuff in the world

in 2008 they released the ep “plant your roots” and in 2009 “cant maintain” - both of theses eps were the first time i had found relatable emotional music that felt so accurate to myself - it was raw, it was unapologetic, it was beautiful, and it was sad.  these eps have an incredible tone, and theyre both so different (cant maintain being more light and - dare i say - playful) but still so connected and deeply rooted (pun intended ;) ) in my head as near perfect expressions of my feelings

“knife man” was released in 2011 and it came into my life at a time where i was trying to learn about myself and discover who i was, and this album guided me in such a strong positive direction - it introduced me to white privilege, taught me about forgiveness, how to be unapologetically me, but still let me stay in touch with my dark, cynical, pessimistic side of myself - knife man is somehow so negative but still so positive and i think thats how a lot of real life is, and ajj captures that incredibly well 

knife man was the first ajj show i ever saw, and i will never forget how captivating sean is when he preforms, his body language and his expressions reflect so much of what he’s singing, theyre so true

in 2014 they released “christmas island” and im not gonna lie when i first heard it i really didnt like it - i thought it was too poppy, and not raw enough like how ajj usually is - it felt wrong to me.  but alas, i kept listening, and i soon fell in love with this album.  it is indeed poppier than their other stuff, and when it came out in may of that year, i didnt really want to like it that much - and so i avoided it, and once Taylor Swift’s super poppy 1989 came out that october, i avoided it Even Harder because i felt like 2014 would be the year of great musicians selling out to labels to gain hits.  eventually, i let myself sink into christmas island - i allowed myself to like it, and boy o boy did i fall in love. i saw the show and i cried. the album seamlessly ties together themes from older albums - optimism, death, unrest, self-loathing - but it introduces a new style to seans words - theyre less direct, less blunt, less in-your-face , he starts using metaphors that dont make sense the first time you listen, his lyrics take on a new type of poetry on this album - and its beautiful

christmas island is softer, its more about introspection and knowing why youre the way you are - its about emotional intelligence - this album taught me how to know whats happening, and how to accept it and learn form it and let myself dream and live, despite how shitty stuff is, and i love it.

in 2016 “the bible 2″ was released, and i waited to listen to any of it until i went to see the show - i binged the album twice through right before i went to see them, and i had really really mixed feelings about it - some of the songs i didnt understand, i didnt like the sound of some of them, and i felt like they got very preachy.  once i saw them play the song “small red boy” though, i was 110% hooked - it suddenly made sense to me as an album.  the sound is so personal to me, and i connect with the radio static and the messy raw noise, and the lyrics take on such a poetic, innocent tone, and all the songs are equal parts inspiring, funny, and dark.  i really really really truly love this album.

this is kind of just a silly extra, but in 2015 they released a single called “keep on chooglin” and i honeslty dont understand what most of the song means, but its really a bop and its poppy and upbeat and positive, and i can gather that basically to “choogle” is to be yourself unapologetically and just do your own thing and basically fucc the haters, and its a nice song to listen to if youre feeling down because the lyrics are funny and the message is bright

ajj’s discography has gotten me through some of the hardest years of my life, and have seriously, literally, kept me from killing myself on so many occasions and i am forever grateful - if i had not stayed alive until now, i would miss so much and i would throw away my life, just because i didnt feel like making it, and now i can say in full confidence that this band has ridded me of all my suicidal ideation , and if anyone is down here reading this, im gonna make an ajj “dont die” playlist that i Will post here

in 2012, ben gallaty recorded a couple songs under the name wiccan babysitter, adn then a few years later (2016) he recorded a few more under the name benjamin galaxy - he compiled these songs in 2016 onto an lp, one side being the wiccan babysitter ep and the other being the ben galaxy ep.  i didnt know this was a thing until recently? which is weird? but i have listened through the lp many times - i still dont have a strong grip on what the songs mean, but i can say that the wiccan babysitter/benjamin galaxy lp is super comforting to me as well.  the sound is unique and different from ajj, but it is still warm and whole feeling, and the lyrics are still relatable to me, and i want to read more about what ben wrote about and why, but im having trouble finding info on this project

im mostly done for now, it’s very late at night, and i have work tomorrow morning, but i’ll leave u with this - youre an irreplaceable human soul with your own understanding of what it means to suffer, and thats a huge bummer

[lumos-star684]

All of them. Just to be a pain

Can’t believe I’m about to answer these but its either this or a marketing assignment so here goes…

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk?

more cereal

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?

Yes! 

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books?

blank revision cards and raffle tickets

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?

white with sugar

5: are you self-conscious of your smile?

yes

6: do you keep plants?

non but i would like to (in fact, I’m going to buy one next week)

7: do you name your plants?

nope

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?

none im not very creative :(

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself?

yep

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?

side or stomach usually

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends?

hmmm can’t think of this (wait you should know this any idea?)

12: what’s your favorite planet?

Pluto

13: what’s something that made you smile today?

my little niece started talking to me about flying pigs

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

like the friends apartment with loads of little quirky shit

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!

Venus is the only planet that spins backwards relative to the other planets.

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish?

good ole simple pasta with tomato sauce and cheese

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair?

dark purple 

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

i have no stories omg 

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it?

non

20: what’s your favorite eye color?

don’t have one in particular, depends on the person really 

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces.

there was my little karrimor rucksack that i had all throughout (most of ) secondary school and it broke on the day before the last day of Year 11 but still holds a special place in my heart

22: are you a morning person?

nooooooooo (unless its morning where you’ve been up all night)

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?

make tea and watch tv

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

nope (i don’t have a lot of secrets though??)

25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into?

a hotel kitchen (by accident i should add)

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit?

at the moment, my black boots

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor?

mint?? idek

28: sunrise or sunset?

sunset

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?

there’s this one little shit that always sends me asks on tumblr

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

yes

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about sock

socks, my friend, are a fucking brilliant invention. i have a bit of love-hate relationship with socks because i feel like they confine your feet (i mean why would you want to lock your feet into little pockets of cloth?) but on the other hand THEY’RE SO CUTE. little socks with funky patterns and little animals and the super soft house socks as well. having said that, all my socks are black with either pink purple or blue on the foot and heel parts. SO, my favourite thing to do is always wear mismatched socks - but nobody can tell because the main part of the sock is black. It’s like a little secret I can wear all day knowing that my socks are not the same even though it looks like they are.

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends.

we’d just left a club in prague and headed over to burger king. we sat down and then out of nowhere in the middle of prague this group of gujarati kids came and sat down next to us. I had a conversation with them and forgot that the other girls hadn’t the foggiest idea what the fuck we were talking about. we were leaving and then one of them asked me to marry him……

33: what’s your fave pastry?

er…something with chocolate? or apples

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

there was this little black dog that used to be my sister’s, i can’t remember what i used to call him but I’ve still got him somewhere

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often?

I absolutely love them but can never bring myself to use them (I eventually did and my Latin notes are so fucking pretty)

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now?

Bahamas

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean?

messy but organised messy

38: tell us about your pet peeves!

when people walk slowly in the middle of the street and when people think they’re better than you

39: what color do you wear the most?

black

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you?

i have a little harry potter necklace i got for my 16th which i wear almost every day

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving?

me before you

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it!

don’t like coffee shops much

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?

nobody

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?

last sunday

45: do you trust your instincts a lot?

no lol they’re shit

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of.

all puns are good puns

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

ermm dunnoo

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today?

can’t remember exactly what my biggest fear was, but it’s not the same as today (although probably quite similar)

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought?

nope don’t own any

50: what’s an odd thing you collect?

empty glue sticks

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them?

you - la vie en rose

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far?

LOOL some of the trump and theresa may ones have been pretty good

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them?

no but they’re all on my list to watch

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face?

probably a stranger on the train

55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point?

moved out 

56: what are some things you find endearing in people?

people tagging in posts and memes

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics?

currently ill in bed so i didn’t even move -_-

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why?

keef is the wine mom and i reckon you will be the vodka aunt :)

59: what’s your favorite myth?

there was this one where zeus was cheating on hera and when he got caught he turned the woman into a cow

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves?

yes! usually just snippets i read on the internet though

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received?

given is what we gave keef and received…i don’t think ive ever received a stupid gift?

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind?

sometimes yes, either the innocent strawberry and banana smoothie or the orange and passionfruit tropicana

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be?

music yes, it all has to be in particular playlists and books no, they’re just stacked randomly

64: what color is the sky where you are right now?

bright blueee

65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with?

you :( and a couple of people from school actually

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like?

tiny little black red and purple flowers

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel?

a bit eh actually, but also nice if i’m inside and in bed

68: what’s winter like where you live?

not great, just a bit grim and rainy and no snow

69: what are your favorite board games?

monopolyyyy

70: have you ever used a ouija board?

nope

71: what’s your favorite kind of tea?

breakfast tea

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it?

1000000% yes

73: what are some of your worst habits?

picking at the skin around my fingers and overthinking (the standard tbh)

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns.

newcastle born and bred sarcastic little shit who can be a bit annoying but also has a heart of gold

75: tell us about your pets!

MY LITTLE BABYYYYY Goghi is my cat - black with little white paws, a white stripe down her front and a white moustache. Softest fucking fur EVER. She has one funny eye, hates people and sleeps all day. I also have about twenty fish in the pond and two little ones in a tank inside. Varying sizes and no names

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t?

a marketing assignment, the laundry and cleaning my room 

77: pink or yellow lemonade?

noooo idea..

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub?

fanclub. they’re one in a minion those things

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?

little things like when people come and see me i cant think of a particular example

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?

beige and nope we just painted the whole house that colour

81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of.

*can’t remember what anyone’s eyes look like*

82: are/were you good in school?

yeah i was a pretty good student

83: what’s some of your favorite album art?

the airborne toxic event and green day’s american idiot

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?

yesss but not sure yet!

85: do you read comics? what are your faves?

nope

86: do you like concept albums? which ones?

i have never heard of concept albums (upon googling it appears i do like some of them, yes)

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives?

3 idiots, dead poets society and kuch kuch hota hai amongst others

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy?

non

89: are you close to your parents?

eh

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities.

Londonnn - its just….everything (but also expensive)

91: where do you plan on traveling this year?

croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina  and hopefully a couple of other city breaks

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch?

drowns

93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most?

hair down if its straight or pony tail if its curly

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday?

my little cousin’s birthday was yesterday

95: what are your plans for this weekend?

stay in be all weekend drink tea and eat soup

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot?

procrastinate, all the time

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?

INTJ/INTP, gemini and ravenclaw

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it?

ncs? loved it but also hated it because i don’t like climbing

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them.

Current favourites: Sometime Around Midnight, Vampire Smile and Wasn’t Expecting That

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why?

Future - five years ago i was there and twas a bit shite

oh my god you don’t know how long those took me YOU BETTER READ THEM ALL @findinganiqa XXX

[vvienersoldier]

King

A/N: Steve is so cute and dramatic I love him. Also for the sake of this, let’s imagine that King by Zayde Wolf is somewhere in your workout playlist ;) 

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader (platonic) 

Warnings:  Swearing, Steve being a big ol’ goober

Word Count: 1,021

A very big thanks to @jaegers-and-kaijus​ for helping me edit <3

ps i rly love me a bouncin’ capsicle booty (insert 10 eyeball emojis)

King

Summary: You and Steve go on a mission together and you commandeer the radio on the way there to help ease the tension of a long jet ride, and a few days later you catch Steve suspiciously hiding his workout playlist from you.  

The last few months had been relatively sparse in terms of real missions at the Avengers HQ, so when there was an announcement made by Steve that he needed another one of Avengers to go on a mission with him in a far-flung part of the globe, you jumped at the chance. 

You were relatively new to the team, and you’d been itching to prove yourself on a mission when there wasn’t half the team to jump in to save your ass when you were in a pinch. 

Sure, you’d been a little green to the whole “hero” thing, having come recently from an underground organization that was busted up by the Avengers, who’d offered you the options of prison or using your skill set to redeem yourself. You’d been working your ass off to get Tony and Steve to trust you enough to let you go out on small missions and solo missions, and it seemed that you were finally getting your chance, since Steve had only given you a smile and told you to gear up. 

As you got up and made to scurry off to suit up, Sam halted you with a smirk, that signature mischievous grin on his face. 

“A word of advice, get control of the music before you’re stuck listening to his old music mashed in with the music Nat and I have been trying to introduce him to,” he spoke lightly, but the small grimace told you that he’d experienced Steve’ eclectic playlist more than once. 

“Yes, sir,” you laughed and mock saluted him with a laugh as you continued on your way to your room. 

“I’m serious, (Y/N)!” He called after you, a laugh coloring his own voice. 

That had been almost an hour and a half ago, and you made sure to heed his advice, at least on the way there.

“Hey, Steve, d’ya mind if I put on my workout playlist for the way there? It calms me down.” You asked as soon as the pair of you were airborne and cruising along to your mission. 

“Be my guest, (Y/N), I know what Sam told you,” he chuckled, making you glance over at him with a mortified expression.

“O-Oh, no, I just-”

“It’s fine,” he laughed, smiling at you and shaking his head, “I know I’ve got a weird music taste. I just haven’t been exposed to that much. Who knows, I may find some music that I like from you,” he grinned with a shrug, taking control of the quinjet as you set about connecting your phone wirelessly to the air craft. 

Your music started playing through the air, and you felt infinitely more centered and grounded as you heard the words of one your favorites blasted from all around the jet.

“Or maybe not,” you heard Steve mumble, half-jokingly. 

“Aw, lighten up, Cappie,” you laughed and started singing along, letting Steve take over as pilot for the first shift of the fourteen hour flight.

For the next week after you had both come back from your successful mission, Steve had been acting strange, always seeming to hide his music from you and the rest of the team, especially in training sessions. 

You had shrugged it off as nothing, until he got a little hot with Bucky over him using Steve phone in training instead of his own on accident. 

You had been in the training room at the time and walked over to them, stepping in between them to get Bucky away from Steve’s uncalled for outburst. 

“Steve, what the hell? It was an accident, are you really going to argue with Bucky when he’s already apologized?” You tried to reason with him, planting your hands on your hips and looking up at the taller man with a frown. “What’s on your phone that’s so private that you can’t even let Bucky off the hook for it?” 

“Nothing, it’s nothing,” he muttered, before turning and making his way from the room slightly more dramatically than was needed. 

The next morning, you were up unusually early because you and Natasha had decided to have an extra long training session in the morning. So here you were, at five in the morning, with the only presence to keep your company being the grumbling coffeemaker dribbling your favorite Colombian mix into the pot. 

You’d never hear the end of it from Nat about drinking coffee instead of water before your session, but you were tired, and were prone to actual murder before the caffeine hit your system .

Shuffling your way to the training floor in your bare feet (Natasha had specified no shoes for this morning, but you were too tired to wonder what she had up her sleeve), you entered as quiet as possible as you spotted Steve going to town on a punching bag. 

As you started to actually wake up, you sputtered out a laugh through a sip of coffee as you heard King by Zayde Wolf playing loudly from his phone’s speakers, making him whip around with a chagrined look on his face. 

“Is this why you’ve been so touchy with your phone? Because you liked a song I played?” You giggled softly, making your way over to him with a grin. His cheeks stained dark pink as another song from the playlist you’d played that day started out, making you chuckle and shake your head. 

“Steve, I know you said you didn’t like it then, but I’m not going to judge you or anything for changing your mind,” you said, biting your bottom lip to stop an entertained grin from taking over your entire face, “I think Bucky deserves an apology, though,” you hummed before downing the rest of your coffee and beginning your stretches. 

“(Y/N), what did I tell you about coffee before workouts?” Natasha started before you’d even gotten through your third set, making you laugh.

The next morning, Steve had noticed that someone had mysteriously added your workout playlist to his Spotify, making him grin as he let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head as he began his morning workout. 

Masterlist

[open-coeur]

“Girls are learning at an early age that they need a significant other to be happy and that continues on as they get older. Yes, relationships are nice, but another person should not decide whether or not we’re happy or successful or whole.”

I first met Amanda mostly through conversations with my friend Lucille and social media. Lucille and I worked together my sophomore year of college, and she often mentioned one of her wonderful best friends, Amanda, from her hall freshman year. So, it was a pleasant surprise when I found out that for my second year in my job, I would be working with Amanda on our staff. All of the things that I had heard about Amanda from Lucille came vibrantly to life through being Amanda’s co-worker and a part of the organization MizzouThon together. Amanda was no longer just the cool girl that Lucille was close with; she was the cool girl that I was now friends with.

I think the best word to describe Amanda is effervescent. She has this energy that you can feel immediately in the way that smiles, but even more so in the way that she interacts with people. It’s sometimes really hard to parse through what is genuine and what is false with people, but every interaction with Amanda feels just as real and genuine each time you interact with her.

Amanda is a wom with such a warm smile and an amazing taste in music that you just can’t help want to be near her, and I hope that comes across in her interview and the photos below. Amanda chose the location and her outfit for the shoot, and all of the Woms featured in this series will choose the location and their outfit because I want the visuals to match who these woms are as much as possible. This series is meant to highlight the power and ability of young woms, especially those that are millennials, and what’s driving them and their lives.

So, without further ado, here’s the first ever Wom Crush, Amanda!

(Note: Some of this interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

KM: So, tell me a little about yourself!

 AM: My name is Amanda Moy and I am a 21 year-old that spends way too much time trying to perfect Spotify playlists. Some things I enjoy include film, music, theatre, Chicago Cubs baseball, vegetarian food, travel/road trips, dancing (especially when it’s ForTheKids), Boston Terriers and people airdropping random pictures to my iPhone.

KM: Where are you from and where did you grow up?

 AM: I am from Carol Stream, Illinois, and that’s where I’ve grown up pretty much my entire life! All you really need to know is that it’s 45 minutes northwest of Chicago.

KM: What’s one thing from childhood that stuck with you and guides you through your life?

AM: Something from childhood that has really stuck with me through my life thus far would have to be the ever so famous Golden Rule. I heard of its importance in every facet of my life growing up (school, church, my family, etc.). As cheesy as it sounds, I’m always thinking about how I would feel if I were to be the person receiving the actions I’m about to perform or the words I’m about to speak. I think living my life guided by this “rule” has helped me become a much more empathetic and genuine person.

KM: Were there any women in your life that you felt really guided you? If so, why and how has that become a part of you

AM: There are so many radiant women in my life that have really contributed to the person I am today. But I would have to say that there are six distinct women that have truly guided me: my grandma Becky, my Paw Paw, my aunt Nell, aunt Jeanna, aunt Jojo and of course, my mom. My grandma Becky (my mother’s mom) has instilled in me the importance of family. Whenever I make decisions I’m always keeping my family in mind. My Paw Paw (my father’s mom) taught me from a young age that words aren’t the only thing used to express love, oftentimes it’s just with a sweet smile or a red envelope for luck (a common Chinese tradition). My aunt Nell is practically my twin and has really guided me in becoming my own person. My aunt Jeanna has shown me the importance of positivity and doing what you love. My aunt Jojo (Mojojojo is what I prefer to call her – Powerpuff Girls anyone?) has taught me the importance of resilience and strength. My mother has practically taught me everything else! But in all seriousness, my determination, hard-work, love of people and the small things in life can all be attributed to my mom. So thank you, ladies. I love you all very much. 

KM: Describe yourself in one sentence.

AM: “Though she be but little, she is fierce!” – William Shakespeare

  “Film and music meant a lot to me growing up and being able to connect audiences to something that may be just as meaningful to them would be amazing.”

KM: What brought you to Mizzou?

AM: Honestly? I really wanted out of Illinois. I LOVE the Land of Lincoln don’t get me wrong, but I was in serious need of some new scenery. I also really wanted to meet new people and be exposed to new ways of living. I toured one rainy summer day with my family and we all just fell in love with the campus and the people. Also, I am a big believer that things happen for a reason and that tiny signs in life help clue us in to what’s best for us. The night after our tour my family and I went to eat at Cracker Barrel. As soon as we walked in we saw a bunch of Mizzou items with Mickey Mouse on them (sign #1 because I love Disney). We continued to look around the store part of the restaurant and found a Mizzou candle named “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (sign #2 because that’s the name of one of Shakespeare’s plays and 1. I love Shakespeare and 2. I acted in that play a few months prior). Okay these might not be the strongest examples BUT then we were seated at our table and – lo and behold – our waitress’ name was Moya. Yea, that’s right. My last name and first initial put together (sign #3). So you tell me. Meant to be or what?

KM: What kept you at Mizzou and what do you see yourself doing after your time at Mizzou?

AM: Definitely the people and the endless opportunities this school has provided me. I’ve made some of the best friends during my (almost) 3 years here and I would not trade those friendships for anything in the world. These are the people that continuously inspire me, make me laugh and push me to be my best self. Many of the friendships I’ve gained over these past few years are thanks to the opportunities Mizzou has provided me; my involvement in MizzouThon, ResLife and the MU Career Center has led me to the coolest people! A recent opportunity to intern abroad in London is also thanks to the School of Journalism here at Mizzou! After I graduate, I could see myself doing many different things, but I would love to find my way into either the film or music industry. Film and music meant a lot to me growing up and being able to connect audiences to something that may be just as meaningful to them would be amazing.

KM: This series is really about young women, what drives them, and how they can empower others women. What do you think drives you?

AM: I think what drives me the most is personal growth, making a contribution to the world I live in and also the desire to help my family.

KM: And what’s one misconception about young women you wish to dispel?

AM: A common misconception about young women that I wish to dispel is the belief that we need a man (or to be in a relationship in general) to be happy or to feel complete. I remember there was one time when I was playing good ol’ round of make believe with my 4-year-old cousin and she insisted that I be her prince…and then her boyfriend…and then her husband. I asked her why I couldn’t just be a really good girl best friend or a fairy godmother or even a dog or something. She responded with something along the lines of “but cousin I need a prince/boyfriend/husband.” I then proceeded to give her the abridged version of “why you don’t need no man to be happy” and insisted that I just play as a dog. Bottom line: girls are learning at an early age that they need a significant other to be happy and that continues on as they get older. Yes, relationships are nice, but another person should not decide whether or not we’re happy, successful, or whole.

  “Girls are learning at an early age that they need a significant other to be happy and that continues on as they older. Yes, relationships are nice, but another person should not decide whether or not we’re happy, successful, or whole.”

KM: So, one thing I really admire about you is your sense of self and how you seem to be so confident in who you are as person, how do you maintain that confidence?

AM: Well, thank you. I can honestly say that I have not always been the most confident person – it’s something that I have definitely grown into. As you hinted at in the question, having a strong sense of self truly goes hand-in-hand with maintaining confidence in yourself. I oftentimes reflect on the person I have been, the person I am now and the person I hope to become. While not everything is going to align perfectly (because I’m human and I’m always growing and changing), I do make sure that my values and morals remain consistent. So while my style or taste in music may change over time, I am still the same human at heart. I’m also aware of my personal strengths and weaknesses. Knowing yourself at that level and knowing your worth gives you the confidence to take on whatever is thrown your way. Another way I maintain confidence is the adoption of a positive mindset and the belief that “things happen for a reason.”

KM: And how would you tell another young woman to remain confident in herself?

AM: I would tell her that self-confidence is a journey. We all go through times of uncertainty in ourselves. We all doubt ourselves at some point in our life. It is okay to feel that way; it doesn’t mean that you’re any less of a person for feeling that way. It’s how we deal with that uncertainty and doubt that matters and that builds our confidence. Confidence takes a great understanding of yourself and that is a process in itself. But making a little time for self-reflection and goal setting each day can go a long way. I would then end my spiel with a quote from the book, You Are a Badass: “You’re on a journey with no defined beginning, middle or end. There are no wrong twists and turns. There is just being. And your job is to be as you as you can be. This is why you’re here. To shy away from who you truly are would leave the world you-less. You are the only you there is and ever will be…Do not deny the world its one and only chance to bask in your brilliance.”

KM: Creativity is a really big part of who you are; so, I just want you to tell me a little bit about what you think being creative means and what does creativity really mean to you? 

AM: A common misconception when it comes to creativity is that you have to have some sort of artistic ability in order to be creative. But creativity, to me, is the ability to use our unique perspectives to help make sense of the world. It’s taking risks and breaking barriers. It’s being adventurous and bringing thoughts/ideas/dreams to life. It’s solving problems in a way that has not been done before and having fun along with it!

KM: Do you consider yourself a feminist or at least, what do you wish were different about the conversations we have about women’s issues?

AM: I would say that, in the traditional sense, I am a feminist. Feminism has certainly evolved over the years and gained a negative connotation, however. I wish there would be more conversations about feminism – its past and present meanings and how it has changed over time. I think this would help make sense of why there is so much stigma associated with it today. In terms of the conversations themselves, I wish that (along with any other conversations about race, sexuality, politics, etc.) we would take more time to educate ourselves and form our own opinions before engaging in these conversations. With social media nowadays, we are inundated with information and other peoples’ opinions; it becomes difficult to discern between our own thoughts and the thoughts of others.

“Feminism has certainly evolved over the years and gained a negative connotation, however. I wish there would be more conversations about feminism – its past and present meanings and how it has changed over time.”

  RAPID-FIRE 10 FAVORITE THINGS:

Favorite Movie: Any Disney/Pixar movie or Fight Club (that last scene set to “Where Is My Mind” by the Pixies…CHILLS). 

Favorite TV Show: STRANGER THINGS. The cinematography, storyline and the soundtrack (Africa by Toto is on there. I freakin’ love that song). Enough said.

Favorite Book/Piece of Literature: Give me any Shakespearean play OR my fav book at the moment, #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso.

 Favorite Song: At the moment, and as many of my good friends know, it would have to be anything Mutemath. They’re such a down-to-earth band that produces music for the love of making music and that’s something I admire about them. My two favs by this band are Light Up and Monument. Give ‘em a listen and let me know what you think! Always down to talk music with people. 

Favorite Quote: “To thine own self be true” – William Shakespeare OR “I know I was born and I know that I’ll die. The in between is mine.” – Pearl Jam

 Favorite Clothing Item: Shoes! My go-to at the moment is my pair of Doc Martens.

Favorite Animal: Panda (panda panda panda). I think mostly because one of my family’s nicknames for me is Amanda Panda…but also Panda by Desiigner just gives me another reason to love saying they’re my favorite.

 Favorite Decade: Probably the 80’s because some of my favorite movies come from that time period.  

 Favorite Moment of 2016: Seeing Mutemath from the front row with my best friend in my favorite city.

Favorite Wom Ever: This is also a toughie. I would have to go with Michelle Obama. Do I even need to explain myself with this one?

 Favorite Food (like a food you literally would not mind eating forever): Any form of sweet potatoes (fries, casserole, a single sweet potato warmed in the microwave with some coconut butter and cinnamon **drools**).

Amanda will be studying abroad for the spring semester in London, England, where she is working at an internship at a media agency as a creative team intern. If you want to see more from Amanda or follow her London adventures, follow her Instagram: @mandy_lou29!

Some more of the photos I shot with Amanda are featured in a gallery below!

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I really hope you enjoyed the first Wom Crush post! The next Wom Crush post will be posted two weeks from now, but there will be another post on my blog next week on my regular posting day (Sunday). I can’t wait for you to meet this next Wom!

Love & muffins,

Kayla

Wom Crush! Amanda Moy I first met Amanda mostly through conversations with my friend Lucille and social media. Lucille and I worked together my sophomore year of college, and she often mentioned one of her wonderful best friends, Amanda, from her hall freshman year.

[ultralifehackerguru-blog]

New Post has been published on http://www.lifehacker.guru/were-gianna-toboni-and-isobel-yeung-correspondents-for-vice-on-hbo-and-this-is-how-we-work/

We're Gianna Toboni and Isobel Yeung, Correspondents for VICE on HBO, and This Is How We Work

Some journalists spend their careers behind a desk. That’s a fine way to work, depending on the beat, but it’s not for everyone. It’s not for Gianna Toboni and Isobel Yeung, who travel the world as correspondents for VICE on HBO.

The work is difficult and necessary. Toboni has reported from the frontline in Iraq, interviewed members of ISIS, and has previously worked with Al Jazeera and ABC News to tell important stories. Yeung has traveled to Aleppo, interviewed rape perpetrators in the DRC, embedded with fishermen in Tanzania who fish with dynamite, and previously lived and worked in China.

With the fifth season of VICE premiering earlier this year, Yeung and Toboni are as busy as ever. We managed to catch up with them to learn a little about how their work.

Location: Brooklyn, NY Current Gig: Correspondents and producers, VICE on HBO. One word that best describes how you work: Gianna Toboni: I leaned on my trusty and talented producer buddies, Alyse and Nicole for this one. They said “earnestly” and “fiercely.” Isobel Yeung: Passionately. Current mobile device: GT & IY: iPhone Current computer: GT: MacBook Air IY: MacBook

First of all, tell me a little about your background and how you got to where you are today. How’d you end up in documentary news?

GT: Throughout college and in the few years after, I worked at ABC News as a booker, field producer, and digital correspondent. After quitting, I raised money on Kickstarter to fund a documentary I wanted to do in Haiti, which eventually got me in the door at VICE. I’ve had the opportunity to make a range of documentary films in more than 20 countries around the world with VICE. In between, I worked at Al Jazeera as a correspondent.

IY: Right after I graduated, I moved to China. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, except travel and learn a language. I started freelancing for various publications and broadcasters. It felt like Asia was underrepresented in global media coverage, so I was passionate about covering in-depth pieces that brought attention to that part of the world. China is a goldmine for fascinating and complex stories.

In 2014, I pitched a piece for Vice News on the Hong Kong protests. We created a 30-minute documentary, allowing us to dig into some of the issues that weren’t being covered in the news headlines. That immersive style of long-form docs really won me over. So I moved to New York to do that full-time.

What apps, software, or tools can’t you live without?

GT: Pen and notebook. Phone. Notes app. Podcasts. Zoom mic to do voiceover on the road.

IY: I use Day One quite a bit—it lets you keep a digital journal on your phone and stores the location/images, etc. It’s great because I’m always losing paper journals and this way I can jot down notes as I go, geotag locations, and upload images of places I’ve been, and try to keep track of everything. I also have an unhealthy relationship with most forms of social media.

What’s your workspace setup like? Obviously “workspace” can mean a lot of things, especially when you’re out in the field.

GT: I like having multiple drinks at once—water, juice, coffee, tea, etc. Having a sweatshirt and comfortable shoes are key. This all may seem obnoxious but mobile comfort is important when you spend a lot of time in uncomfortable places. Notebook and pen on one side. Research packet and usually one book on the other side. MacBook Air front and center—it helps that it’s small and easy to whip out. Phone with charger case usually within arms distance.

IY: Hectic! I’m out in the field a lot, so one day we’ll be at a civil rights protest and the next we’ll be in the Congolese countryside. I’m often prepping for shoots squashed into the back of a van or a plane (which is where I’m writing this from now!). I can work anywhere, but my home in Brooklyn is my sanctuary—I have a huge desk, big bay windows, and a jungle full of plants. I love working there.

And regarding workspaces that aren’t always optimal—how do you manage to get work done under difficult or sometimes dangerous circumstances?

GT: By surrounding myself with the best people who have become some of my best friends, and also by staying calm and making smart decisions.

IY: You need to be prepared, and to know as best you can what the situation is you’re walking into. That way you can half-predict what might arise. We’re also super lucky to have an incredible team of colleagues who we can chat things through with and calm our nerves when they need calming.

You obviously work from the road a lot. How you manage that? Bring everything and the kitchen sink, or stick to the essentials?

GT: Definitely stick to the essentials. I usually only bring a backpack regardless of whether the trip is 3 days or 2 weeks. Packing light is always worth it; sinks are for mid-trip laundry. Comfort and preparedness are the key.

IY: I’m a terrible packer. Fifteen minutes before I leave the house I throw everything in a bag. Once I arrived on a two-week shoot with one pair of socks! Generally though, I keep it as light as possible and just take the essentials. Oh, and I always take mini bottles of Tabasco wherever I go.

Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can’t you live without and why?

GT: My mobile voiceover microphone. We often have to deliver pieces when I’m in the field, so the mic allows me to do voiceover wherever I am.

IY: My Kindle/iPad. I need a library of books and articles for a long journey.

What’s your favorite to-do list manager or way to keep things organized?

GT: I rely on my iPhone calendar and notebook. I also send myself text messages and emails.

IY: I sometimes use the Swipes app. It’s quite satisfying when you’ve completed a task to swipe it clean. Mostly though, I just revert to good ol’ pen and paper.

What everyday thing are you better at than everyone else? What’s your secret?

GT: Listening. I’m not sure that I’m better than everyone else, but in conversation or interviews, I’m always focused on listening. If you’re trying to get something specific out of the convo, resist the urge to fill the dead space and you’ll often get it.

IY: I make killer eggs. Not to brag, but people do say they’re the best they’ve ever had.

What do you listen to while you work? Obviously it depends on the work you’re doing, but do you have a favorite playlist? Or do you prefer silence?

GT: Usually silence. But sometimes Blood Orange, Solange, and Lykke Li. I love NPR and podcasts but can’t multitask well while listening—I gotta focus on one or the other.

IY: When I’m working in the office or on a plane or café, I need zero distractions. I wear my headphones, switch noise canceling on, and sometimes blast some white noise if there’s chatter around.

What are you currently reading?

GT: I just finished It’s What I Do by Lynsey Addario, a war photographer who works for The New York Times, among others. I’m just starting Ratfucked by David Daley. And I’m almost done with Originals by Adam Grant.

IY: I was just given Sheila Nevins’ book You Don’t Look Your Age… and Other Fairy Tales. I have huge admiration for her and it’s a hilarious read, which is a welcome distraction.

How do you recharge? Working in the news can be brutal when you actually want to disconnect for a moment. What do you do when you want to forget about work?

GT: Go to a rural Mexican beach town where no one speaks English and leave my phone in the room.

IY: I exercise, run, and cook—it’s my magic formula for switching off.

What’s your sleep routine like? Are you a night owl or early riser?

GT: I’ve always been early to bed, early to rise. I use the regular old phone alarm clock but am usually up anyway.

IY: It’s messy. I recently started using the Sleep Cycle app, which just confirmed how irregular my sleep is! I’m constantly jet-lagged, so quite often I wake up very early in the morning and start my day then because I can’t get back to sleep.

Fill in the blank: I’d love to see _____ answer these same questions.

GT: Shane Smith.

IY: Rowan Atkinson. He’s a genius and he barely ever does interviews.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Doesn’t have to be work or productivity-related.

GT: Especially in times of struggle or angst, remember to enjoy the journey.

IY: Do what you love. I know it’s corny, but it’s true.

Is there anything else you’d like to add that might be interesting to readers and fans?

GT: I would’ve been named Kirby Puckett Toboni if he had won the MVP in the 1987 World Series. To put it mildly, I come from a family of baseball fans.

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