#I think Brent’s coat types are good

[postmodernbeliever]

fox mulder nsfw alphabet (for female/feminine readers)

an a-z of what's it's like to be loved by fox mulder in allllll the ways you wish you could be.

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i’ve never made one of these before so i followed another post’s example! a lot of this is chubby-girl friendly but also works for any body type. also, i got carried away so enjoy how long this is LOL. <3

my ao3 | word count: 3,537

content tags: smut smut smut SO MUCH SMUT, dom fox mulder, soft fox mulder, nsfw alphabet challenge, lots of kinks but i don't wanna spoil you gotta read it :), mentions of period/period blood, cross-posted on ao3

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a: aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

he is sweet. like, really sweet. he loves to be gentle, to tell you how pretty you are and how good you did for him, praising you up and down and giving you lots of slow, adoring kisses. he also tends to get a bit bashful, because even if he just fucked you senseless you still give him butterflies; so often he hides his face in the crook of your neck or lays on your stomach, and talks quietly, like he’s shy. all his guards are down, and he is wholly dependent and doting on you.

actionwise, he cleans you up and helps you into some clean pajamas, but he usually leaves you bottom-less because you tend to be sensitive and the feeling of fabric between your legs can be an overload on your senses. but he covers you however he can, and he combs through your hair, gets you water, helps you get comfortable in bed. he’s so gentle it’s straight-up dreamy. 

b: body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

on himself, fox likes his hands. he knows they’re pretty big, considering he’s a bit tall, and he thinks they look strong, but he takes more pride in them also being soft. he has some callouses, but the pads of his fingers are smooth. and when he met you, you told him how nice they looked and felt, and that won him over.

on you, he can’t pick between your love handles/waist and thighs. he loves to squeeze where you have the most skin, and both of those places are where your body curves. he loves your softer edges, and because his hands are big, he can grab a lot more of you. he also loves how you react to him touching you in these places- you’re sensitive there, and you shiver when he drags his fingers across you or grips you hard. your reaction plays a big part in favoriting those spots. (bonus: he loves your hands too, because they’re smaller than his and caress his face softly… and scratch up his back. we'll get to that later.)

c: cum (anything to do with cum)  

you actually tease him about this a lot, because he gets really eager sometimes and can’t hold it in. he’s developed a routine where he takes his time with you and draws your pleasure out as long as he can because he knows the second he starts actually fucking you, he won’t last long; and he is so much more interested in letting you be the one who receives, he gets off on stringing you out. also, it takes you a while to cum, so his pleasure-driven role is that much more important to him, because he will not stop until you do. and he loves when you finally cum way more than when he does. he likes to taste you, and make you taste yourself when he kisses you with coated lips. 

d: dirty secret

the night of the first day he met you, he had an insanely vivid wet dream about you. even having been with you intimately plenty of times now, he gets nervous to bring it up, because when you’re not around, he still draws on that dream to get off to. it's kind of his guilty pleasure. in it, you drag him into his office at work and let him eat you out on his desk, all over his files and papers. you were in a pleated schoolgirl skirt, and you kept it on for him to tug at. one day he’ll tell you (probably) and buy you a skirt, just so he can have the real thing. 

e: experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

the majority of his experience comes from all the porn he’s watched. despite his drive, he was always the one to take it slow with past girlfriends, and either they didn’t stick around long enough to wait for him, or when he did sleep with them, he didn’t have enough practice to make it how they wanted it. but he paid attention to how girls like to be touched and fantasized about being good at those parts. when he met you, you were even more inexperienced than him, so everything he did was like heaven to you, and he only gets better each time. he feels lucky to have you to learn with because you’re patient and you love everything he does, so he doesn’t feel pressure. 

f: favorite position

fox is somewhat old-fashioned. he loves missionary because it’s simple, and he can kiss you more that way, and it’s easy to be gentle or rough depending on what you both want. he also likes standing missionary for the same reason, particularly for times when you want him to be rougher. but the freaky part of him likes these because he wants to watch you surrender, to see all of you beneath him, powerless, as he brings you to climax. he wants to see your eyes haze over, how you struggle to speak while he pins you down. that way, you’re all his.

fox also really loves cowgirl, because he can still see all of you that way, but when you’re feeling particularly eager he likes letting you do the work. you’re still submissive even on top, because he needs to guide your hips and tell you to keep moving. he likes cowgirl even more when you ride him while he’s upright, like against the headboard or in a chair, because you bury your face in his neck as you work, and he loves being so close to you. plus, it took you little to no time to figure out exactly how to ride him right. and because he cums so fast most of the time, you usually ride him through his overstimulation, which puts him out of commission for the night. he can get obsessive about how good that one feels. 

g: goofy (are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc.)

he can be, because he’s naturally got a goofy streak. but unless you’re feeling giggly or playful, he just falls into that mode of being soft and dominant, talking dirty, and trying to fluster you. 

h: hair (how well-groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

he keeps it trim just for hygiene, but you expressed a lack of concern for that, especially since you don’t always keep yourself trim either. it can be tedious to always be clean-shaven (and he doesn’t mind if you’re a little hairy, just like you don’t care if he is.) but, he does not touch his chest hair, because you are vehement that he keeps it. 

i: intimacy (how are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

god, he is so intimate that it can leave you blushing for days after the fact. he does nothing but kiss and nip and lick, mouth and hands always on you; always whispering pretty things in your ears, dirty and gentle about how good you feel and smell and sound, about how pretty you look when he’s inside you. and innocent things, too. he tells you how pretty your tummy is, and your collarbones, every little part of your body gets admired. he tells you about how he loves your laugh and your smile, and how he's so lucky to have you all to himself. he takes every chance to make you feel cherished and important. he tells you how in love he is over and over like a mantra so that by the time he’s got you in the clouds, all you can think is he loves me, he loves me, he loves me… 

j: jack off (masturbation headcanon)

he jacks off fairly often, but only because he’s usually thinking of you. if you’re not around or he’s away on a case, he gets needy and takes matters into his own hands, because he can’t help his dirty mind. he’s done it everywhere- his office, the work bathroom, in just about every room in his house. and, though he’d probably never admit it to you, he likes to hold your clothes sometimes when he does, because the smell of your perfume drives him crazy. he always takes something of yours when he goes away, just in case.

k: kink (one or more of their kinks)

okay, he’s got a few, but mainly because they’re kinks based on how you act or what he wants for you. so we’ll start with the kinks surrounding your pleasure: 

obvious by now, praise. he loooves to praise. he’s crazy about you and how you make him feel, both emotionally and physically; he’s protective and loving, and he prizes you. he would make you cum just with words if he could. he adores pet names and anything he can call you, he will- princess, sweetheart, darling, honey, love, all of it. especially good girl, his personal favorite. he wants you to feel like the most special girl in the world because, to him, you are.

fox loves begging. he likes it for him, he likes to beg you for more, but he prefers when you beg. there’s something about watching you need him, and how your voice gets high-pitched and disgustingly lewd as you tell him what you want him to do. he loves being in control. 

daddy!subspace. there are times when fox gets a little too into it, and you fall into a subspace. he loves this, especially yours, because you mix his name up with daddy, and every freudian instinct in his brain fires like crazy. he loves when you call him daddy, because that opens the praise door nice and wide, and he loves helping you come down after, because you get so flushed and nervous and you’re simply adorable when you need help speaking and asking for what you want. 

now, fox’s personal kinks still have to do with you, but they're out of his own selfishness: 

belly bulges. it’s no surprise because he’s so possessive, but something inside him snaps than when he takes your hand and presses it against the pudge of your tummy, where you can feel his cock poking against your walls. he loves being just big enough to fill you, and he loves how you go cross-eyed every time he does this, too- it’s just as hot for you as it is for him. 

hands. he loves your hands and he wants them on him always, scratching him, marking his body with little red lines. they’re just small enough to make him feel big, and he loves your painted nails, too. he loves it when you pull on his shirt or his belt loops. he loves when you press them all over his face and chest because you don’t know what to do with them. he also loves to use his hands on you, to wrap softly around your neck and wrists, to pin your hips down, to push inside you; he has a penchant for sticking his thumbs in your mouth while he fucks you, too, because you always suck them like it’s your job. but there’s nothing like your hands on him. 

here’s the big one: your period. fox likes making you a pillow princess, but he’s a monster when it comes to your period. you were worried when he said he didn’t mind the blood, but that first time he ate you during your time of the month was otherworldly. he loves the extra sensitivity you have, because it takes little to nothing to get you screaming, and some dark part of him loves to smear your blood all across his mouth and his chin. he loves to kiss you with those lips, leaving bloody prints up your stomach and chest, all over your neck and mouth. he craves the mess, the taboo nature of it all, and he loves how it’s a way of gently defiling you; mixing your blood with his spit, with his cum, it makes you his and him yours. maybe there’s a screw loose on his part, but if cannibalism didn’t mean you’d die, he’d fucking eat you whole. he even likes the taste. like i said, obsessive- but it’s kind of hot, isn't it?

l: location (favorite places to do the do)

honestly, anywhere. just the fact that you want him is good enough. he’s gotten you off in restaurant bathrooms, and at family homes during holidays when you just needed him and couldn’t wait. but he is partial to his couch or his bed because he likes having you all to himself in his own space.

m: motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

acting stupid. he loves when you ask him to explain things to you, even if you understand on your own, because he likes teaching you; he also gets all hot and bothered when you pout or frown, or bat your eyelashes innocently, saying “can you start at the beginning?” or “can you go a little slower for me?”. because he knows you’re smart and the slight frustration of you acting like you’re not mixed with the need to pamper you gets him going like crazy.

saying his name. if you call him fox, or sometimes foxie, he’s just about ready to fall to his knees. nobody calls him fox, so to hear you say it isn’t just intimate and special, but it’s also so sexy. you say it so many ways, but when you want him, he’s never liked the sound of it more. 

his biggest motivation is your neediness. it seems that when you get going, you never want to stop. you want him to keep kissing, keep touching, keep licking, whatever it is you want more, and when you finish you want to start all over again because you get drunk on him- and that could keep fox going until he dies. he wants to give you everything you want, even if you never return the favor. he likes being yours to use. 

n: no (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

fox does not like to degrade you, which might be odd for a guy who’s so controlling and protective, but it’s not in his nature. he loves you. he cherishes you. he couldn’t tell you you’re dirty, or you’re a slut, or any of the terms that might get other people off, because he doesn’t believe them. he thinks you’re perfect, an angel, so good, and he only wants to remind you of those. he wants you to feel loved. 

he also won’t hurt you. certain things he’ll do, like he’ll choke you or pin your wrists down, but he won’t be overly rough and he won’t leave bruises or make it hurt. you don’t fight back, so he doesn’t need to be anything other than assertive.

o: oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

he prefers giving 100%. he likes it when you give him head because he likes seeing your pretty eyes look up at him, but he cums too fast to enjoy you doing it- plus, he can’t hear your noises when your mouth is full. he’d much rather just fuck you if he’s going to receive any pleasure. and god, is he good at it. 

p: pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

he’s slow until he gets inside you. typically he likes to take his time on you, but when he starts fucking you, it starts to feel so good and you sound so pretty that he loses a little control and starts being rough. that part usually takes the shortest amount of time but it feels fantastic because he goes fast. 

q: quickie (their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

if you two are going to have a quickie, it’s going to be because you’re extremely horny in a place where he can’t take his time, and he simply can’t resist relieving you. but he really likes to be alone with you and go slow, draw it out as long as he can, and take good care of you. he wants sex to be special, he doesn’t want you to ever feel like it’s just a means to an end. sex is about love for him, not just a way to get his fix.

r: risk (are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

fox is willing to try anything, but you both are a bit vanilla, in that sense. you only need him to feel good, and he doesn’t want to restrain you from being able to move and moan and touch him. most of the experimenting is verbal- he likes to push how far he can tease, and how much he can say to get you there. the trend seems to be that the dirtier he talks, the more pleasure you feel, and he wants to max you out. 

s: stamina (how many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

he’s gotten better at lasting, but he can’t draw it out too long. he has a hard time stopping himself. but he can go a few rounds without getting tired or spending it all because of how eager he is to keep touching you, which is nice. that’s why he spends his time on you, because you can last longer, and he doesn’t need much. 

t: toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

fox doesn’t have any toys. he is more than okay with you having them because if he’s not around, he can’t expect you to wait for him if you really need a release, and sometimes your hands aren’t enough. if he’s away on a case, sometimes he’ll call at night and talk you through it over the phone, so he at least has a little part in it. but he likes to be the one and only thing you can get it from when he’s with you, and so do you. 

u: unfair (how much they like to tease)

oh, he loves to tease. he loves to talk and talk and talk, so much that sometimes you have to ask him to shut up and go faster. he wants to see you completely flustered from just his words, and honestly, he can get you halfway there on conversation alone. he knows just what to say, and how to say it, and it can be torturous, but you love it. and physically he teases, too, because he favors stringing you out. it can feel unfair at times, but you like it too much to care.

v: volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make)

he has two sides. most of the time, he’s quiet, low, gruff; he grunts, he moans, sometimes growls if he’s really feeling possessive. but when he’s close, it turns into the most adorable whining. right in your ear, too. he pants and stammers, and easily gets overwhelmed. it’s not too high-pitched, but it’s needy and uncontrollable, and it sounds so, so pretty. 

w: wild card (random headcanon) 

fox never kisses and tells. he doesn’t have many friends, but if anybody tries to inquire into his sex life, he won’t say a word. he wants to keep it all to himself, and he refuses to let anyone know a thing about you or how you act when you’re intimate with him. he respects your privacy and he doesn’t want anyone else thinking about you in that way. he also knows he has something special with you- sex with you is really emotional and involved for him, and he doesn’t want to just air out his love to other people. 

x: x-ray (let’s see what’s going on in those pants)  

(oh myyy, am i blushing.) a bit thick, and give or take maybe six, six and a half inches hard- no, give. he’s big. it’s veiny, especially when he’s overstimulated. and it’s curved up a bit at the tip- which is a pretty shade of pink, by the way. cute, just like him.

y: yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

anytime, any place. he always wants you. he can keep it under control of course- he gets through every day just fine. but he’s always thinking about you, and even when it’s innocent, he yearns to be with you and make you feel good. his dick loves you almost as much as his heart does. 

z: zzz (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

for a guy who can’t sleep, fox gets pretty tired after, but he can stay up way longer than you can. usually, you need some aftercare, and you fall asleep shortly after, and he likes to stay awake to watch you sleep because your blush lasts and your skin is still hot. he loves to admire you for a while when you’re not watching. he also gets hungry after, so he usually stays up to eat something, and then he’ll crawl back into bed and pull your sleepy body in close. 

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this actually put me through hell to write because i want him so bad it’s driving me insane. hope you enjoyed, you little freaks. gonna go think about that period kink now. 

[thesinglesjukebox]

TEDDY SWIMS - "LOSE CONTROL"

Harkening back to a time when music made you shake, rattle, and roll...

[3.79]

Will Adams: Must be love on the brain. Or maybe just water in my ear. [4]

Ian Mathers: When will The Black Keys be held accountable for what they have unleashed upon the world? [3]

Jacob Satter: "He began playing instruments including piano and ukulele, and watched YouTube videos of singers to help develop his vocal technique. [4][5]" -- Wikipedia [4]

Thomas Inskeep: Oh, yay: another big-bearded, face-tatted white boy who thinks he's somehow "soulful" because he heard a Stax record once. And much like Post Malone and Jelly Roll before him, throw him on the burn pile. [1]

Scott Mildenhall: A great audition: four chair turns and a message from Rag'n'Bone Man. All theatrics are plausibly deniable, but the vocal capabilities are conspicuous, with there never being enough of a song to intrude on them. A strong message to the detractors of treading water in the natatorial world. [5]

Nortey Dowuona: The history of soulful white boys is long and strained. The Righteous Brothers are one example, but they never got more than one big immortal hit (only one did: Bill Medley). There's Michael McDonald, Bobby Caldwell, Tom Jones, and, of course, Fucking Drake. Each time a soulful white boy appears, he does appear acceptable, but only up to a point. Once that point has been breached, his existence becomes an anchor -- not a boon -- receiving enmity and bitterness for both his success and his inability to possess the skill demanded from truly soulful singers. As time has gone on, the five-alarm church runs that once ran R&B have gone out of style with the youngsters, unless coated in patiently brush-stroked Autotune. Even though live performances are a crapshoot with many of them, their excellent songwriting kept them aloft. Sometimes, their voices were so pretty that their lack of range didn't bother us. Now, another soulful white boy who possesses the runs (with scalpel-level Melodyne on them) has risen to the top. The worst part is that his song is well-produced: done by Ammo and Julian Bunetta, a trained jazz drummer whose heavy-handed soul drums anchor the thin mix. The plaintive keys shuffle against the tambourines gently, as Bunetta's bass lopes below and follows the key of the keys. But the songwriting from Mikky Ekko drags down this fantastic effort, leaving a held-back guitar solo by Bunetta bashing its neck against the withholding mix of Serban Ghenea. If only Brent Faiyaz was writing this... [6]

Tara Hillegeist: Oh, this is a very passably lovelorn piece of uptempo romantic angst, the kind that sounds like it could just as easily have dropped off the back of Cee-Lo Green's tour bus, circa "Fuck You." But it's not so passable that I can't help but have my main response to it all be "Wow, your man's such a tatted-up white lad, looks like he belongs on the set of a Guy Ritchie film, innit?" And now I've had that thought, I have to ask myself: when's the last time I heard something like this from someone who didn't, whose name wasn't T-Pain? And now I've asked myself that question, I have to wonder: should that question still matter? [6]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: This is a good time to admit that I always thought Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” was a terrible, plodding song. This sounds like a mellower, simplfied version of that. I find the almost-rapped verse kind of sweet, reminiscent of Ed Sheeran if he had a bit more soul, but then the guitar solo arrives and makes me feel disgust. It is not lost on me that this isn’t so far from Portishead’s “Glory Box.” The difference is that it all feels so rote, the elements already pre-packaged with an understanding of their meaning and import, and they don’t ever come together to bring the track to a greater whole. [4]

Hannah Jocelyn: Does nothing new in this type of song (except for the weird keyboard warble, which I'm not convinced is a good innovation because it sounds like "Dance Monkey (slowed + reverb)"), but the production from Julian Bunetta is phenomenal -- incredibly warm, but with enough muscle that what's probably just a drum loop from Splice sounds massive. Teddy Swims is very much in the Rag'n'Bone Man/Jelly Roll vein of gruff belters, but there's a warmth in his voice that prevents him from coming across like Mr. Roll or, worse, Oliver Anthony. [6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I get no enjoyment at all from listening to this. Every pained vocalization, every flanged guitar stab and demonstrative snare hit feels empty to me; whatever feelings Swims has do not survive transit. And yet, I feel a certain perverse respect for "Lose Control" despite all this. Perhaps it reminds me too much of the soul revival tracks that my high school pop ensemble teacher favored, the Fitz & The Tantrums-alikes that I dutifully jammed out to for four years. It's not a style that moves me at all anymore, but as I listen to "Lose Control," I can almost conjure bass tabs and keyboard charts to memorize and devote myself to (and can imagine the students of a semester from now who will be playing along to teenage takes on Teddy Swims' adult melodrama). [4]

Alfred Soto: The echo, horn blasts, and Soulful White Man vocal evoke a pop climate at least a decade past obsolescence, a reminder that a certain overstatement will always serve as a crutch. [4]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: This song makes perfect sense if you just picture the woman he’s singing about standing next to him the entire time.  [3]

Leah Isobel: This man said "problematic" like he's on the Tumblr dash in 2011. [1]

Katherine St. Asaph: Thoughts and prayers for anyone persuaded to fuck to this song. [2]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[darkwood-sleddog]

Do you think distance mushing Alaskans being bred for more speed has made them less cold resistant?

Obviously distance mushing is a very different set of work conditions than the lifestyle work most dogs did/do with indigenous people, but when I see the lean hound-mix dogs that are popular in distance mushing, and I see some teams wearing their little coats… well, I wonder if Alaskans might be better off with more fluff and a different surface-area-to-volume ratio. Especially with regards to Rule 37 having been broken this past Iditarod– maybe it wouldn’t have been/felt necessary if different characteristics were selected for in breeding?

I am a newer mushing fan, so I could be off base in any number of ways here.

Yes I would say that, but I disagree that it’s due to their hound heritage. Hound mix dogs or dogs that have heavy hound or pointer ancestry are much more likely to be used in sprint distance mushing vs long distance mushing like Iditarod. With sprint dogs you don’t want them to have the coat, they’ll overheat way way too fast. Most distance bred Alaskan Huskies have a double coat, it’s just not often as thick as it would be to be a survival coat and I’ve spoken on this subject quite a few times on this blog in general.

There are however many mushers breeding dogs with decent coats (see Brent Sass’s dogs versus Dallas Seavey’s, not that Dallas’ are bad by any means but they have less of a survival coat type imo. This comes from the musher’s preferences and backgrounds: Brent’s foundational dog were more freight like while Dallas is a third generation Iditarod musher).

The coats being necessary is entirely dependent on the situation and musher. There is something to be said for “if we can help the dogs better battle the weather why wouldn’t we do it?” And I whole heartedly agree with that. If a choice benefits the dog we should do it. We’ve been protecting dogs with booties since the beginning of mushing, I don’t see how coats are much different.

However the differences between race bred dogs and indigenous dogs becomes quite clear when they compete against each other. In the 2019 Yukon Quest we had Hendrick Stachnau run a team of Greenland Dogs and Alaskan Malamutes. He came last as expected but there were instances of very brutal weather where his dogs were not given coats, because he didn’t want to risk over heating them. Greenland dogs, Qimmiq, and Malamutes tend to need less calories per pound than other dogs of their size. So they also need less food. In a survival situation Hendrick’s dogs would have been better off, but races are a lot different than expedition or survival situations and many mushers prefer races to training because they have everything taken care of (food, vet care, supplies etc.) and don’t have to think or worry about those things.

When it comes to sheltering the dogs like what happened this past year I think most people would want to shelter their dogs. With indigenous dogs it would ultimately come down to: are all the dogs together in this shelter making the dogs overheat? What is better for them? Obviously the mushers that made that choice felt it was to their dog’s benefit (and overall a kindness) but I’m not sure thicker coats would have made a huge difference here, the weather was brutal. We must also remember that if you have dogs that can easily withstand -60 F like Greenland dogs etc. you as the musher have to be VERY careful running them in “warmer” weather (relative) and you have to be very conscious of your dogs overheating. This doesn’t happen that often for race bred dogs but with the world warming it happens more and more. Yes dogs should be bred for the weather they’re in, but what exactly IS that weather?

If you can run dogs slow and in expedition situations than breeding to a survival type of dog is preferable, but long distance competitive mushing can be and IS quite different. I would love to see dogs with more coat, just not at the expense that they’re very likely to overheat.

[beckface]

Animal au things because I couldn’t sleep last night and wanna just talk about it ahhhhhhh

-Claire is a elk, she’s not a fox because I want her to be a large animal in comparison to Tobey and I decided Tobey’s dad is a fox anyways. (I hqd her as a horse before but I want amazo guy to be a horse so switching that) Tobey hates that when he looks in the mirror he looks like his dad (who left) and tries to insist that he’s anything else that he can reasonably pass as as a fox. Sometimes it’s a cat so he can be more like wordgirl, sometimes he’ll say he’s a wolf to seem like a “cooler” larger predator.

-Victoria’s family is very against her being with anyone except another (male) lion. Hunter Throbheart is also a lion and her parents approve of their relationship. The Bests also tend to look down on any other types of cats, much to Becky’s annoyance. One time Victor called Johnson (cheetah) a “cheap spotty copy” of him, and Tj got really angry and stood up for Johnson

-If Tb gets turned back into Steven in this version he keeps the white coat and scruffy neck fur. His nose, ears, tail and other prominent mouse features get changed back though

-Villains that are naturally more pack/pride/herd-oriented like Twobrains and Victoria try to collaborate with others more then the more lone-type species. LRW is a zebra so she is naturally inclined to having a herd, but she’s also the most antisocial person ever so it cancels out

-Leslie regularly stands on Mr. Big’s head

-I regret not making any of the main villains a hyena. Like I want a hyena what was I THINKING. I could have made Rhyme and Reason a hyena and an African Wild dog, or maybe a Badger for Reason. They’re such big threats in the show I should have made them predators. I might change it.

-Twobrains refers to his henchmen, the villains association, and wordgirl as his pack, just because he still uses wolf talk even though he’s part mouse. She did not know that she was included in this until one day when he just casually said it in the middle of an evil monologue and started tearing up, making it awkward for everyone.

-The henchmen do bear things together

-Boxlietner definitely knew his lab assistant Squeaky was evil but never took it seriously

-Miss Power flies with her wings, not supernaturally like Becky does. She’s jealous of Becky’s ability and teases her for it, making Becky wish for the first time that she wasn’t a cat

-The kids all get picked up by their neck scruffs idc. Yes even violet (fawn)

-One of the side characters is an aardvark I’ll figure out who later

-Learnerer can just like float around. He’s not flying because he can’t go up or down. No one gets it

-Miss Question is the fastest flyer of the birds

-When Miss Power got defeated Granny May (with jetpack) said “Good riddance to that old jerk. I’m the one and only flying lizard around these parts.”

-Tiny big is a falcon

-If any of the large predator villains got in a fight and it turned physical the protocol is for the kids and smaller animals to be taken far back as possible. WG is ofc allowed to help in splitting them up (no one really “allows” her do anything to be fair) but usually it’s best to just let them figure things out with teeth and claws

-kinda wanna change Steven McClean to a wolf just to be a territorial rival to DTB. But also rams are fun

-Butcher is the scariest villain to a newcomer to the city even though he’s a huge softie

-Chuck and Brent are two seperate species of tortoise

-Hal is a raccoon

-Contraria is a land of boars and pigs mostly

-The warden is a goat

-Timmy tim bo is a sloth

-Beastars au plagues my mind, day and night

[aizawaskittenwhore]

headcanon: they have a s/o that listens to a specific female artist

featuring izuku, bakugo, todoroki, kirishima, and our pros before hoes hawks and aizawa lol

words: 1k??

warnings: some slick lil nasty comments (cause when aizawa’s involved i can’t write fully sfw) and language that’s it lol

𝕚𝕫𝕦𝕜𝕦 𝕞𝕚𝕕𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕪𝕒 𝕨/ 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕦𝕞𝕚:

the first time he’d ever heard of her was when the two of you went on a drive one night

he’d already liked the vibe of a few of the songs you’d played

and then lullaby came on

man when i say this boy didn’t think he could fall for you any harder until that moment

he was so wrong

hearing your voice softly harmonize with the melody had his heart skipping beats

the street was deserted cause it was so late

and all he remembers is copper streetlamps illuminating your face

left hand out the window, right hand on the wheel while the wind blows your scarf in all different directions

and when happy again plays???

and you blissfully kiss him while you’re stopped at a red light???

while your hand is already holding his?????

izuku is sold

he goes home and downloads all her music

and she becomes “your” artist

“babe wake up umi just dropped music”

he even took you to see her in concert for your birthday lol

𝕜𝕒𝕥𝕤𝕦𝕜𝕚 𝕓𝕒𝕜𝕦𝕘𝕠 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕠 𝕟𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕪

now why would you put him on to rico bruh

but in your defense it’s not your fault

he was helping you with dinner one night

and you hated working in silence so you’d asked him to play something from your playlist

he chose “smack a bitch” cause he liked the title💀

and from that point forward he was obsessed

he was already attracted to your no-nonsense, take no shit type attitude

so knowing that you listened to the same kinda music made you ten times hotter

you knowing all the lyrics had his dick on HARD LMFAOOOO

anger management is his favorite album

you fell tf out when he said that cause...have you met katsuki that mf is the poster child for anger issues

secretly likes sugar trap too but refuses to admit it

on bad days y’all will blast all of rico’s aggressive songs and rage

your downstairs neighbors hate you.

𝕥𝕠𝕕𝕠𝕣𝕠𝕜𝕚 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕖𝕪𝕒𝕟𝕒 𝕥𝕒𝕪𝕝𝕠𝕣

okay so todoroki is painfully introverted

which isn’t his fault cause endeavor isn’t father of the year by any means

so i hc him with someone who’s extroverted and outgoing

teyana makes music for bad bitches who work hard and play harder

but have a soft side too and just wanna love/be loved bro

he loves that you can put on such a brave face for the world every day no matter what

he’ll never forget when he knew he loved you

he was getting in pretty late from a patrol that had run overtime

and he’d found you, crying on your shared bed after an awful day n this man’s heart just splinters cause he don’t know how to comfort people🧍🏾‍♀️

but you don’t ask him for much, just for him to hold you and he does

the next day he wakes up to you just bopping to “never would have made it” and you just glow as you pull him outta bed to come dance with you like you weren’t just crying last night which has him confused asf

“you can be strong and still be vulnerable baby.”

that shit hit home for him

lowkey wants to recreate the shower scene from the “fade” video with you now

𝕙𝕚𝕥𝕠𝕤𝕙𝕚 𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕛𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕖

y’all can’t tell me this mf don’t be zooted 25/8 and most def has a smoke playlist with jhene on it

so when he finds out that you like her too???

oh baby the vibes here are immaculate

you can’t tell me he wouldn’t have chilombo goin in the background while y’all smoke

and if you don’t personally smoke then he’ll just cuddle with you while he practices tricks<3

will ask you if you wanna get licked too if you stare at him as he’s rollin

the energy here is so balanced it’s crazy

shinsou hates drama and all that other bullshit

so when he’s with you he’s the most relaxed he can be

also he loves that you’re not opposed to deep conversations about your purpose on this earth and how you can feed off other people’s energies

y’all definitely burn sage together on sundays

but don’t get it twisted

cause he knows better than anyone that while you may be chill your hands are still rated E for everybody

been on the receiving end of your anger once or twice and he said never again lol

𝕖𝕚𝕛𝕚𝕣𝕠 𝕜𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕞𝕒 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕜𝕒𝕝𝕚 𝕦𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕤

there is nothing more attractive to kiri than someone who’s not afraid to take a leap of faith

you’d known each other since second year, and honestly you were itching to change up your energy

you were tired of being the same old, boring, timid y/n

so you started small: you experimented with your hair more, tried out new makeup, and clothes that accentuated your...ahem..assets

sweaters became tube tops, lip balm turned into brown liner with a thick coat of gloss, skirts became bell bottom jeans with the occasional pair of heels

don’t be fooled, you still loved your old clothes, you just needed to branch out

and as your new style grew so did your taste in music

honestly when you started listening to kali you really hit peak Bad Bitch Energy™️

kiri was, in short, enamored with you

the way you woke up one day and decided to be a whole new person was so manly to him

and he loved the way you knew you didn’t need shit from him but still let him spoil you

which only made him wanna spoil you more

and the way you shifted from a goddess who could step on him with a perfectly manicured foot to kiri’s baby who demanded cuddles before 11am????

the duality has wedding bells going off in his head lol

pros before hoes lol

𝕙𝕒𝕨𝕜𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕞𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕟

“fell too fast for me, now the nigga hurt”

that lyric is your dynamic with keigo in a nutshell.

he’d met you while he was in fukuoka on a “business trip” .....which was code for a booty call🙄

and figured he’d try to get another pyt on his team

...only problem was, you were a whole hot girl coach (with ya own draft picks no less)

you had heard about playboy (and no.2 hero) Hawks from here to the States

so, you’d decided to play dumb, hoping he’d slip up and you’d get another pro on your list

all it took was a few sleepovers and calling him keigo over breakfast in the morning...dude was stuck

this man was trying to run game and now you had him throwin you some money to get your hair and nails done “just because” n buy you birkins....embarrassing 💀

however despite him being a sweetheart you didn’t forget what this was, and he wasn’t the only egg in your basket since you knew you weren’t his

this man saw edgeshot’s name come through with a “you up?” text while you were in the shower and cried to brent for a week straight LMFAOOO

but what did he expect from the same person who knew every lyric to meg’s wap verse...come on baby do better

long story short if you can’t handle a stallion don’t try to tame one.

𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕒 𝕒𝕚𝕫𝕒𝕨𝕒 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕤/𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕫𝕒

whewwww okay the amount of scorpio energy flowing through here is borderline suffocating

honestly if you listen to sza you’re either a scorpio, heartbroken, manifesting, have low self esteem with sudden confidence bursts or all the above don’t lie

in all seriousness shota didn’t see himself getting into a serious relationship due to his pro hero status

that, and he didn’t feel like there was anyone out there that was just...on his level mentally???

but then he meets you and you throw him for a loop though he’ll never admit it

you didn’t just throw yourself at him at the beginning

and while sure you made it known that the attraction was mutual you treaded lightly

he could tell you’d been hurt before and would kill before you let someone get you in a position to hurt you again

pretended not to notice you crying to supermodel when he was supposed to be sleeping

which he understood, for him trust issues came with the territory so there was a mutual understanding between you two

you don’t mind his schedule since you prioritize your alone time and he loves that

you definitely get him into meditation and crystal/chakra alignment

at first he thinks it’s a bunch of bullshit

until it helps him sleep better...mf is a secret hippie now

he loves that you’re trying to heal/become a better version of yourself and he gets to be a part of that growth :,) it makes him a little more optimistic for his personal goals

the sex is elite lol had to say it the vibes are too good here

𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕤 𝕤𝕠 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝕝𝕖𝕥 𝕞𝕖 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕘𝕦𝕪𝕤 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕤𝕖!

[draco9236]

I was tagged by @joi-in-the-tardis - Thank you!!!

Relationships: nothing romantic, but, I have a great group of friends both close by and online!

Break Ups: Nope... no relationship ever - yes, I’m that pathetic

Kids: Don’t feel the urge

Brothers and sisters: 1 bother, 3 years older than me

Pets: just got a cute Maine Coon kitten three weeks ago. Her name is Raffi

Surgeries: just once to straighten up my inner nose wall (no, that is no plastic surgery, this made me no more attractive, just able to breathe)

Tattoos: 2 Dragons. One on my inner forearm one on my inner lower leg. I designed both myself, because I could never find one online that was just right (means I could’t decide, which is SO me)

Countries you’ve been to: Germany (well, duh... I live here), France, Spain, the UK, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Finnland, Czech Republik, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Bosnia, Hungary and the USA. Don’t know, if I forgot some...

Been in an airplane: Yes, I LOVE flying!

Been in an ambulance:  Yes, when I was about 4, I was brought to hospital in suspicion of Meningits

Sing karaoke: I’ve been to a karaoke bar once. I love to sing, though I don’t know, if I am any good at it. I’d still be game any time.

Ice skating: It’s been a while, but I like it!

Been on a cruise: 4 times. I like to wake up in a new place each morning and getting a short impression of the place. Too many days on sea only are boring though, because I like to do and see stuff in my holidays. I am not the sitting around at the pool type.

Driven a motorcycle: No, seeing all these potential organ donors, doesn’t tempt me at all

Ridden a horse: Yes. I took lessons when I was in my teens. I never rode alone though, always on a leash (or whatever it’s called)

Stayed in hospital: Yes, I stayed a while for the possible Meningitis, a few for the nose surgery and one night for another small surgery thingy I rather not talk about.

Favourite fruit or berries: I love all kind of berries, apples, honey melons (no water melons though), oranges, cherries and grapes.

Favourite colours: dark red, dark blue and black (I know, that is not considered a color - sue me)

Last text: discussing the pro’s and con’s of ps4 against xbox with a friend who contemplaits getting one for a bluray player and one to my mom discussing different cat food for my picky baby. I spare you some quotes, lol.

Coffee or tea: tea! I like the smell, but not the taste of coffee

Favourite pie: bownies!!! (or anythig with pudding and streusel, but chocolate is my favourite)

Favourite pizza: Hawaii (ooh, the coming outrage!) but I also like classic pepperoni (salami?) 

Cat or dog: I like both, though I always considered myself a dog person. But I don’t have time for a dog and so I am a new kitten mom... I would’t trade her for the world.

Favourite time of the year: Autumn, when the world turns full of color.

Met a star: Yes!  In the past few years I’ve met: from Doctor Who: David Tennant and Billie Piper, From Lucifer: Tom Ellis, Kevin Alejandro, Racheal Harris, Lesley-Ann Brandt and D.B. Woodside, From Star Trek: TOS: William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, George Takei. TNG: Sir Patrick Stewart, LeVar Burton, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner. DS9: Alexander Siddig, Nana Visitor, Terry Farrell, Nicole DeBoer, Rene Auberjonois, John German Hertzler. Enterprise: Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer. Discovery: Jason Isaacs, Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, Mary Wiseman, Shazad Latif, Marie Chieffo, Kenneth Mitchell, Anson Mount and Ethan Peck. Picard: Michelle Hurd, Isa Briones, Jeri Ryan and Jonathan Del Arco. TVD: Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Candice King, Michael Trevino and Daniel Gillies. SoA: Ron Perlman, Mark Boone Junior, Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Theo Rossi and Ryan Hurst. TWD: Melissa McBride, David Morrissey, Ross Marquand, Steven Yeun, Emily Kinney. Various genres: Mitch Pileggi, Nicholas Lea, Mark Dacascos, Richard Dean Anderson, Finn Jones, Wai Ching Ho GoT: Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Jerome Flynn and Iwan Rheon. Musical: Alexander Klaws and Willemijn Verkaik

Wow, that list got quite out of hand!

Flown a helicopter: No, but I want to!

Been on TV: Don’t think so...

Broken my leg: No, only a toe... I always wanted a cast though! *pouts*

Seen a ghost: Nah.  A friend of mine believes to have a house ghost though and her stories are creepy

Been sick in a taxi: Nope, never...

Seen someone die: No.  I’ve had loved ones decline and die, but I was not there at the end.

——-

Tags: I don’t know... I would tag everyone, but I always feel annoying. Just do this, if you want to and please feel free to tag me, so I see it!

[williemeikle]

Writing Tips - 10 Stock Characters to avoid

Through television and film some people have become stock characters. That means that everybody knows them and will recognize them.

Unfortunately that also makes them almost unusable in written fiction unless you're being post-modern and ironic. Here, with tongue occasionally in cheek, are some to avoid.

- The square-jawed man of action with stone-chips for eyes Think Doc Savage, Superman or Tarzan. This one was very popular in times gone by, but modern readers look for a bit of depth and vulnerability in their heroes. If you're going to introduce a strong, silent type, try to give him a weakness, like fainting at the sight of blood, or a hobby that emphasizes his feminine side, like needlework.

- The bespectacled, unkempt scientist in the white coat This fellow is more common in the movies, the best recent example being Brent Spinner in Independence Day. But they sometimes show up in fiction, either as a madman bent on world domination, or a nerd spouting gibberish. The main reason people create stereotypical scientists is because they know next to nothing about science. or what scientists do. Take some time to learn about science. Meet some scientists. Then you can write about a bespectacled, unkempt person in a white coat and know that you're writing about a real person.

- The tart-with-a-heart A role once monopolized by Shirley McLaine, and very popular in pulp detective stories. They still turn up in Hollywood, but less so in print. These days if you write in a prostitute, it generally means there's some heavy sex on the way, or some extreme violence. If you can't deliver anything beyond the stereotype, the editor won't be interested. Take some time to learn about prostitution. Meet some... on second thoughts, it might not be wise to take your research too far in this case.

- The struggling writer Long beloved of writers themselves, the "portrait of the struggling artist" is a perennial favorite. Writers are good in that they don't go to work like normal folks, so you can get them out of the house and into action quickly. But if you have them agonizing over their work and developing drink/drugs/mental problems, then all you're showing is your own angst. Don't bore an editor with your psychological hang-ups.

- The University lecturer who sleeps with his students Not surprisingly, very popular with university lecturers and students. This character has a long pedigree, but most of the plots involving him have been played out. Once upon a time he appeared in books that won literary prizes. Now he's more likely to be a murder suspect in a lazy crime novel based on a beer-drinking Chief Inspector in Oxford.

- The bored housewife who runs off with the handsome stranger Or Shirley Valentine as she is better known. She turns up in romantic fiction all the time. Good escapism for other bored housewives, but unless you can bring a unique twist to the plot, you'll never sell the story, even to a woman's magazine. And why are there no bored husbands running off with beautiful strangers? The answer is probably that it happens too often in real life for it to work in fiction.

- The man of God who's lost his faith He's a staple of both soap operas and horror movies. Either he finds his faith again just in time to avoid committing adultery, commits adultery, or gets chomped by the monster. A similar character is the man of God blinded by his faith, a fine example of which gets zapped by the invading aliens in George Pal's 1955 Sci-Fi classic the War of the Worlds.

- The intelligent kid who gets bullied. Or, if you're being post-modern and ironic, the geeky Stephen King kid. They are most often used in revenge plots, or in boy-gets-girl-in-the-end teenage fantasies. Either way they tend to say more about the writer's own childhood desires than anything else, and an editor will see hundreds of them in a year.

- The overworked doctor This one turns up all over the place - in medical dramas where he makes a fatal mistake in a dosage, in war stories struggling against mounting casualties and in murder cases telling policeman that they can't speak to the sedated figure on the bed. With the popularity of hospital dramas, and ER in particular, he'll be around for a long time yet. But do try to give him something more to say than "The next few hours will be crucial."

- The world-weary crime-fighter Why is it that all cops are cynical, smoke or drink too much, and have continual relationship problems? Recently the search has been on for different police departments to use, resulting in a slew of pathologists, crime scene investigators and psychiatrists. The obvious outcome of all this was Denzel Washington's paraplegic crime scene investigator in "The Bone Collector". And yes, he was cynical, overbearing, and had continual relationship problems.

So there you have it. Ten people who turn up time after time in fiction, just with different names. Use them at your peril.

And finally, I'll let you into a secret. Seven of them have appeared at some time in my fiction, so I don't always practice what I preach.

[icequeen1371]

Pt3

We were there for...I don’t even know how long. Long enough for a friend to get worried that he was about to ‘corrupt me’ lol I didn’t care. Not at all. She may have looked proud earlier but she seemed to have the impression that I was being led into this situation & not by my own choice. Whatever. I said I was fine and she gave me a stern ‘mom’ type of look which I blew off with a look of ‘what?’ on my face. It wasn’t too much after that she decided we were going home. I was starting at her house that night so I had no choice but to leave. I would have stayed there all night just waiting for the coat check. Which I never got to lol We saw each other on the bus after that. Every day as always. Till we sold the house in the spring & mom and I moved into an apt closer to school till the flight overseas where Dad had already started his new job. I don’t remember saying goodbye. I remember him holding my hand when I got off the bus that last day. Like we weren’t allowed to be together the whole time cuz of what ppl would think. I hated that. 3 years later, I moved back home for a few years. I was crossing the street to a pub with a new roommate & I heard my name being yelled out. A tall guy, short hair, in a blue suit came running towards me, darting through moving traffic to where I was on the sidewalk. Eddie! He grabbed me & gave me the biggest hug. I was so stunned I could barely hold the conversation. Worked at a car dealership now. All presentable & un-Eddie like. I liked it but I also liked ‘my Eddie’. I said he hoped to see me now that I was back & gave me his card to call him. I was too scared to. I had no job, no money, no car, no college. I felt like he would have been dating someone that wasn’t good enough for him. I wasn’t the upper middle class girl he knew so I never called. I chickened out of so many situations like that when I moved back. I speak my mind & follow my gut now cuz you don’t want to be like me & think you’ve wasted all your chances to be me. Go for your Eddie. Or meet up with David. Or go over to Calvin’s. Turn around and tell Brent you changed your mind. Just do it. Don’t let those nerves or butterflies or doubts about yourself leave you never knowing what could have happened. Just go.

- fin -

[darkwood-sleddog]

Iditarod Update | Day 8 | QRILL PAWS

[dippedanddripped]

With few exceptions, selling reports on 2019 tailored clothing business have not been great. While the sky’s not falling, both department and independent specialty stores are struggling to maintain volume. At department stores, clothing business has been increasingly promotional (if that’s even possible) while many independent stores trying to sell suits at ticket price are finding themselves with excess inventory. In most upscale stores, luxury brands have fared better than most.

Says Steve Pruitt, retail analyst at Blacks Consulting, who advises top luxury stores across the country, “Clothing is soft across the markets, but not as bad as we sometimes hear. Overall clothing is running down (January-September) three percent. While sportscoats are up two percent, suits are down ­five percent and special order (now 30 percent of clothing volume in upscale stores) is down four percent.”

Pruitt maintains that the bigger issue for both retailers and manufacturers is the lack of newness in suits and sportscoats. “Weddings seem to be the biggest driver for demand in suits, so it’s become purely an event-driven business. Of course, there are isolated markets that still require suits for business but this is declining as the customer ages.”

Dan Farrington from Mitchells stores acknowledges that sportswear and footwear are driving menswear sales but tries to give it a positive spin. “The fact that we’re not in a tailored cycle presents us with an opportunity to gain market share. Clothing is such an important part of our business, we can’t resign ourselves to doing less. We’d like to think that as a suit becomes more an occasion purchase, customers will spend more for higher quality.”

Retail analyst Danny Paul is also somewhat optimistic. Although in the stores that he counsels, suits have been down for 10 consecutive months and 17 out of the past 18 months, he’s encouraged by some growth in sportcoats. “Sportcoat sales in October were the strongest we’ve seen so far this year; they appear to be the one bright spot in tailored clothing. Made-to-measure posted its fourth consecutive monthly increase, although some of those months were small gains. Dress trousers sales have been down for eight of the last 10 months, no doubt affected by the strength in casual pants and five pockets. It’s apparent that something new and exciting needs to be added to all tailored classi­fications, especially suits, to pique customer interest and give clothing the lift it needs for 2020.”

Pruitt agrees. “Moving forward, retailers need to have upfront conversations about the kinds of events that can drive clothing business. Most importantly, the modeling needs to change. We’ve seen fashion presentations with a new focus on pleats, something that could drive a new coat silhouette. But most retailers are slow to adapt, reluctant to introduce this change to their clients.”

Farrington admits some reluctance. “We’re seeing a few looser pant models and some single pleats, but in general, we have no indication that our customers are ready for this since guys seem comfortable with today’s slim (but not tight) fi­t.” Like most upscale retailers, Farrington says his clothing business is best at the very high end: Kiton, Brunello Cucinelli, Brioni. Made-to-measure (averaging 20 percent to clothing sales but ranging dramatically by store) is also holding its own. “I love made-to-measure: no inventory, no markdowns, no returns… We need to further nurture this business.”

Johnell Garmany at Garmany in Red Bank, New Jersey also reports strong business at the luxury level. “We sell Kiton jackets that are $7,500-$9,000; I just sold one for $12,000. Other key brands are Canali, Ravazzolo, and Isaia. Made-to-measure is also growing, especially our own label: from $700 to Italian-made suits for $4,000-$5,000.”

At 25-30 percent of Garmany’s menswear, tailored clothing remains healthy. “Even guys who no longer wear suits every day are noticing that the ones they own are looking dated. So, they’re shopping, especially at special events that we do monthly. What’s driving sales is suits that can be worn as separates. The suit jacket worn with jeans. The trousers on their own. Or they buy a 3-piece suit and wear the vest with jeans. We’re selling more patch pockets and softer shoulders so that the suit coat can also be worn casually.”

At Andrisen Morton in Denver, Craig Andrisen remains optimistic about tailored clothing, which generates 55 percent of his menswear sales (40 percent fashion, 30 percent in-stock, 30 percent made-to-measure). “If you look up and down the street, you’ll see that most men have no idea how to put together a business casual look, so the potential for growth is there.”

At the more moderate level, Macy’s VP Mark Stocker (who is contemplating adding made-to-measure to his mix but does not currently offer it) admits his reluctance to jump on the loose oversized fi­ts shown on designer runways. “Our customer is not there yet. Single pleat models and cu­ffs could reemerge; we’re touching on those now. But as for the exaggerated runway styles, not yet. Our customer is finally getting comfortable with color and pattern; new fashion has to be digested gradually.”

SELF-FULFILLING PROPHESY?

Peerless president John Tighe has a reasonable explanation for declining suit business at retail: too many retailers have stopped believing in it. “Business has been tough, mostly because stores that have given up on tailored clothing are not presenting it as they believe in it so their sales are down. Those merchants who are investing in their business are doing well: specialty stores like Miltons and The Garage, and I have to say Macy’s, where tailored clothing is called out on virtually every earnings call. They believe in it: they’ve invested in floor space, inventory, fixturing, sales associates. I give tremendous credit to Jeff­ and his team.”

According to Tighe, whose company is the largest producer of tailored clothing for the U.S. and Canada with labels ranging from Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger to Hart Schaffner Marx, Tallia, and Shaq, customers are looking for newness and innovation. “There’s so much excitement out there,” he maintains, “especially fabric innovation: new blends, stretch, recyclable, sustainable. Five years ago, our suit business was pure wools; today, the majority of what we sell features stretch.”

Clearly, stretch and tech fabrics are driving sales for many clothing brands. At Lanier, Matt Silverman sings the praises of their new performance fabrics in Cole Haan, Kenneth Cole, and Strong Suit. He points to a jacket with mesh inserts and a cool-max lining and demonstrates how the wrinkles roll out of a new bi-stretch fabric using 290s high-twist yarns. He matches a knit jacket with a drawstring, jogger-type pants. Brent Kestin at Q by Flynt (a division of Trybus) touts the “empty” tailoring they’re putting into their sportscoats (all patch pockets and made with Italian piece goods), confiding that last year’s fit was a bit too trim so they’ve sized up slightly for American bodies. At Paisley & Gray, whose major accounts include Macy’s and Men’s Wearhouse, the focus is clothing combined with sportswear: softly tailored jackets and pants anchoring a mix of knits, wovens, and outerwear. Says Vince Marrone, “Our fall 2020 clothing features an array of fabrics from bold vibrant patterns to rich velvets to classic vintage-inspired tweeds.”

DOING THEIR OWN THING

To Tighe’s point, tailored clothing is selling well in stores that support it. At Penners in San Antonio, Mitchell Penner (4th generation) explains that tailored clothing had been declining, now it’s back on an upswing. “We believe in it so we carry an extensive inventory of sizes: 36-74 in regulars, shorts, longs, even portly. Most of our sales range from $495-$895 (HSM averages $1,800); our custom averages $2,900. Key brands include Peerless, Jack Victor, HSM, Hugo Boss, H. Cohen, and Eisenberg. We use Baroni for margin: they make beautiful lightweight super 150s suits that cost us $200 and we sell them for $595. We have seven on-site tailors and we don’t take markdowns. We realize that suit business nationwide has been tough but we continue to do our own thing.”

Another independent merchant who’s taken an aggressive stance is David Elkus at Michigan-based Baron’s and Todd’s. Unwilling to sit back and watch his suit sales erode, he launched a major month-long promotion this past September (calling it Suitember), promoting suits for the entire month and donating a portion of proceeds to local charities. Says Elkus, “Our Suitember results were beyond our expectations! Baron’s suit sales were up over 60 percent, Todd’s suit sales were up nearly 50 percent. All other departments benefitted from the increase in traffic. Our charitable partners were happy, our customers were happy, and we were thrilled! A win-win-win! I’m excited for next year!” (Editor’s note, Elkus’ goal for 2020 is to make Suitember a national promotion in independent stores across the country; for more info: 248-865-9960.)

THE NEW SUIT

While there’s no way to instantly transform an entire culture that’s shifted to casual dressing, there are ways to construct suits that are softer, lighter and more comfortable. But it’s not easy!

At Sant’ Andrea, a much-admired Italian luxury brand that’s recently entered the U.S. market, Luciano Moresco explains, “Sant’Andrea customers look to us for the finest hand-craftsmanship and for luxury materials like cashmere and cashmere/silk blends. For fall 2020, a significant portion of our collection has been lighted up, eliminating the padding but keeping a light canvas in the shoulders to give a touch of support to the clean and fl­uid lines of the garments.”

Says Samuelsohn’s creative director Arnold Silverstone, “We just came out with our lightest full-canvas garment ever. The challenge is how to make a super-soft unconstructed garment look rich and expensive, not like a rag. How we do it: I work very closely with our master patternmaker, back and forth, over and over, until every detail is perfect. We use the lightest canvas, no shoulder pads, no chest piece, but expensive interlinings and a tremendous amount of hand-basting. It’s a lot of work.”

Silverstone maintains that suits are not going away and that business is cyclical. “I think there’s still room for suits but there has to be a new suit. Not a structured garment: soft, unconstructed, with some ­flow. Still close to the body but using softer materials, richer tailoring, less trim. The customer shouldn’t feel confined by the shoulder pad or chest piece—it should feel more like sweats. And, of course, this new suit needs a lifestyle approach to presentation.”

Confides Dan Farrington, ever the pragmatist: “I’m eagerly awaiting that big sweeping change in tailored clothing. In the meantime, we need to tighten our inventory.”

Larry Rosen from Harry Rosen stores (Canada’s largest luxury menswear retailer with 20 magnificent stores across the country) puts a slightly different spin on the precarious state of tailored clothing. “There’s no doubt men are wearing fewer suits, but I believe it’s our responsibility as retailers to show them other ways of dressing for work. Just because an executive isn’t wearing a suit doesn’t mean he shouldn’t dress with a strong point of view. Instead of convincing men to go back to dressing the old way, we need to educate them on new ways. Most importantly, luxury menswear merchants need to focus on things that will ensure our future, like getting in younger customers. We might have to excite them digitally, which we’re now helping our associates learn how to do. But whatever it takes, our future depends on engaging the next generation.”

[livelikebrent]

Stop 5: Syracuse, NY

“She just has such a natural beauty. She’s one of the prettiest girls I know.” Brent adored Amanda and said this about her on multiple occasions. Brent adored Drew too. They were some of his best friends from back home in Wilkes-Barre. I adore them too.

Originally, Stop 5 was supposed to be Acadia National Park in Maine...but I simply did not carve out enough time for the trip (oops!). So, with that trip being postponed until the spring the obvious second choice was Syracuse to visit 8 month pregnant parents to be, Amanda and Drew! The last time Brent and I stopped through to visit Syracuse (rather briefly) was after we had gone camping in the Adirondacks in July of 2015. I remember we parked the Jeep at Forked Lake Campground and hiked maybe about a half mile to our spot which was right next to the lake and was picture perfect (until it rained later that evening). The site came with a picnic table and benches and whoever had the site before us, placed several tree stumps around the “fire pit”. So we set up the tent, hammock and walked around the area a bit.

I started dinner while Brent went to get more firewood from the car. Then hopped in his hammock with a Bells Two Hearted Ale. Brent came back with firewood and flowers he picked along the way for me. After we ate we enjoyed the fire and beers before it started to downpour. We didn’t mind though as we planned on waking up with the sun the next morning to go on quite the hike.

Pictured above is us a smidge tired and sweaty after an upwards hike for 3 hours and 4,626 ft. at the top of Giant Mountain in New York. I like hiking but I like to work towards something. That something could be a killer view, waterfalls or anything to keep me motivated. This was quite the view and I remember that the camera couldn’t truly capture the depths of the mountains and how beautiful the view actually was. I also remember Brent struggling a bit during the hike...at one point (I think we were about a third of the way to the top) I looked at him and told him we didn’t have to complete the hike and could just turn around. I could barely even finish that sentence before he looked at me and said, “I didn’t just beat cancer.” When he said the word “just” he drew out the “uhhh” in an annoyed voice. He said that if he could beat cancer and he could get to the top of the mountain. Did any of you just chuckle while hearing him say this in your head? I did. He was a determined and smarty-pants at times. That’s what I liked about him. Not only did he have motivation but determination.

Brendan and I pulled up to a cute little house with a Blazer in the driveway marked with a “LiveLikeBrent” sticker on the back windshield. Amanda, belly and all, came out from the garage led by Bear, their puppy. Bear is a gorgeous mix of German Sheppard and who knows what else and has the softest coat I’ve ever felt. Drew and Amanda gave us the tour of their home and property. During said tour, Drew said he was sold on the house just by the backyard. Their home sits on a decent sized lot with a backyard that backs up to the woods. There’s a slight up slope towards the back of their property where they have Adirondack chairs in front of a fire pit. I originally thought it was a pizza oven due to the fact Drew isn’t a stranger in the kitchen. Turns out that’s what he eventually wants to do with it. So obviously I’ll be back but only when that’s completed.

After we got settled we hopped in the car and went to Emipre Brewing Co. for a late lunch and some beers. As we pulled up I didn’t realize how massive of a facility Empire was...I suppose the name is fitting. On the other hand, Drew couldn’t get over how packed it was. I mean, it was a Saturday afternoon. In October. In Syracuse. With perfect weather.

“Empire Farm Brewery, est.2016, is the largest Farm Brewery on the East Coast. Over 22 acres were developed for educational and beer production purposes. Boasting a new 60 bbl automated brewhouse, the Empire Farm Brewery is producing kegs and bottles for regional, national and international distribution. Bottled lineup includes 3 time consecutive Great American Beer Fest gold medal winner; Skinny Atlas Light, White Aphro, Slo Mo’ IPA, East Coast Amber Ale, and World Beer Cup gold medal winner; Black Magic Stout.  Located in Cazenovia, NY, the property also grows hops, lavender, vegetables, herbs, and fruits for use in the brewing process and to support the needs of Empire’s downtown brewpub.

The agricultural component was designed in conjunction with Professor Matthew Potteiger and the graduate student body from the Department of Landscape Architecture, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The Empire Farm Brewery was the class project for ESF’s spring 2012 semester.”

Reading that makes the place sound somewhat dreamy, right? It kinda was. The inside was nice, still smelled somewhat new. The place was jammin’ and as we were ordering our beers and a lemonade for the mama to be, a table opened up. What was neat about the place was that they had long communal picnic tables and “round” tables made out of tree trunks which is where we sat. There is a patio out back with tables, a bar and several corn hole sets. I kept looking around not being able to get over the size of the place. We ordered some food and caught up with one another. Drew knew Brent from back in the day in grade school and had been friends ever since. Amanda met Brent through mutual friends later in life in high school. Brent mentioned to me the first time Amanda told him she liked Drew. It was at a concert of sorts (most likely moe. or something along those lines) where she said it and Brent’s reply was something similar to “Yeah, me too.” ... but she corrected him on what she actually meant. They’re a super sweet couple. The first time I met them was New Year’s Eve 2014. They were staying the weekend at Brent’s apartment in East Falls. I remember Drew cooking dinner for all of us at Danny and Dana’s place. He made quite the meal with nice steaks. The following day I remember learning that apparently eating pork on New Year’s Day is a Polish tradition. I think we even had some venison if my memory serves me correctly. At that point in time, I just knew Drew as the friend that could cook and Amanda as “the most naturally beautiful girls” Brent knew...and his best friends of course.

We ate, drank and tossed around baby name ideas. After Empire we decided to do “fall things” (with the rest of the state of New York) since the weather was so beautiful. We drove to a place called Tim’s Pumpkin Patch. Why did we drive close to a half hour and pass maybe half a dozen orchards and pumpkin stands just to go to Tim’s? Well, first of all it has a 4.4 star rating on Google...so there’s that. But in addition to pumpkin picking they have a brewery, bakery, animals and well, Amanda insisted. When we arrived, I bought everyone some farm feed along with beers and ciders before going to visit the animals. After we cooed over the baby goats, pigs and cows we stopped for some fresh apple fritters before heading into the corn maze. The maze was so difficult we ended up coming out where we began and probably didn’t even touch half of the maze. If the sun wasn’t setting we probably would’ve given it another shot. But at that point we wanted to pick our pumpkins, snag a quick photo of the parents to be and hit the road.

When we got back to Drew and Amanda’s home we were greeted by Bear who quite honestly Brendan and I could not get enough of the entire visit. By the way, he is SUCH a good boy.

We hung out for a while. Amanda and Drew then ended up taking us to a place called Seneca Street Brew Pub where I had a Cider Creek Smoked Up Cider. I thought it ruled and was very much alone on this. Give me anything and everything smoked and I’ll consume it...meat, cheese, beer and ciders. This brew pub was in the basement of a renovated church with a bottle shop on top. It truly didn’t feel like a church by any means but was still a cool spot. The bottle shop had dozens and dozens of locally brewed beers, ciders and some wines. I did fail to take a photo of this place. (I actually forgot to take a lot of photos over the weekend!) After we had a drink we walked down the street in downtown Manlius to IronWood Pizza for some dinner. It had a cool vibe inside and an extensive craft beer list. It had an alternative atmosphere with some cool graffiti on the wall in the main dining room and had somewhat industrial touches around the place.

After we ate we went back and the boys built a fire. There was a meteor shower the night before so we hung out in hopes to catch a meteor or two. Drew said he had been listening to some of Brent’s playlists and suggested that we throw one on. So we did. We played some of Brent’s music from Spotify and enjoyed the night. You can view and play Brent’s public playlists on Spotify right here. Note: I’m not sure if they will disappear once his subscription is not renewed. So please download or screenshot the playlists for future reference if you wish!

Sunday morning was a treat. Amanda and Drew have their Sunday ritual which is checking out the Central New York Regional Market. Brendan had already had his eye on visiting this place. The market has been there for YEARS and has Sunday flea markets, Saturday farmers markets and even serves as a live music venue occasionally. The market has several “sheds” which are extremely long structures with garage doors along the sides where vendor after vendor set up for the day. You can find pretty much anything there. Some people bring their junk, some have brand new items with price tag stickers still on them and then people who have some neat odds and ends. I walked out of there with three silver candle stick holders that just need some polish that I bought for a whopping $2. Amanda and Drew found a metal tub type bucket, kitchen tools and some Simpsons books...yes, as in the TV show. According to Drew the place was “empty” and gets packed in the summers. But I actually thought there were a decent amount of vendors there...but I would have no problem making the trip back up in the summertime. I LOVE flea markets, antique shops, thrift stores, indoor markets, outdoor markets, whatever sort of place that has potential for cool finds.

Speaking of cool finds, we “found” some barbecue too. It was just about lunchtime and before Brendan and I even got to Syracuse that weekend, we decided we would go to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. I actually had no idea this place originated in Syracuse but had been to a location in Brooklyn several years back. We made it right before the Sunday afternoon rush and got a table in a booth. Amanda had mentioned a couple of times that they had solid bloody marys. She ordered a virgin and I told the waitress I’d take Amanda’s vodka. It was a really good bloody mary. It was spicy and whatever dry rub of their’s they rim the glass with was spot on. We started with their fried green tomatoes to share and then ribs, pulled pork, corn bread, mac and cheese were ordered...but I don’t even think that was half of what was order for the table.

This photo above it definitely one of my new favorites. I’m full again just looking at this picture. After I ate my sandwich I could hardly touch the rest of my sides. Or even think about them. Everything tasted so flippin’ good but I felt as though I was busting at the seems. I remember telling everyone I needed to lay down to digest and slumped over in the booth. I have no idea how the boys pack it away.

Just like every trip I take, I find at least one worthy spot for a #LiveLikeBrent sticker. I think that most people would agree that Dinosaur was more than worthy. I spoke to the bartender and gave her the revised version as to why I was there and why I wanted this sticker in their establishment. She gave her condolences but was super touched to hear what I was doing to honor Brent. So if you ever find yourself at the bar of Dinosaur Barbeque in Syracuse a sticker for Brent is there just to the right of the tap system on the back ledge of the bar.

We made our way back to the house to try and digest for a bit.The boys relaxed in the basement (which is massive by the way) and watched some of the Sunday football games. Amanda, Bear and I got in the car and went to Green Lakes State Park for a walk. It was a pretty drive and as you enter the park you also pass through what looked like a nice golf course. We parked the car and started to walk. Turns out the lakes are actually green. The two glacial lakes in the park lie at the base of a gorge. I learned that they are rare meromictic lakes meaning their layers within the water never physically mix. We walked a bit over a mile which made me feel better about the amount of food I had recently inhaled. As we walked we talked about losing Brent, when Amanda lost her father and how the boys have been back in Philadelphia. Ps. Philly Friends - This is the part where I tell you she misses you all and Drew wants me to tell everyone Syracuse isn’t that far...so you all need to visit them.

When we got back, the boys were snoozing in front of the television. Then Brendan showed up in the kitchen and made some coffees. Drew and Amanda’s home is decorated with flea market finds, family heirlooms and pieces they have found along the way. It’s got this farm house vibe but nothing that seems like you can just go and pick-up from the home decor section at Target. (P.S. -  There is NOTHING wrong with Target, by the way. I basically live there myself.) But I started asking about an antique cabbage slicer Amanda had hanging above the kitchen sink. I didn’t know what it actually was until she told me but see them all of the time now when out at antique shops. It turns out it belonged to her grandfather back in the day. They also have a couple of letter trays on the walls that hold little knick knacks. I think at their previous apartment they held stones as well. As I was asking about items around the house, Amanda pulled out a stoneware crock which held kitchen tools...and some actual tools. I didn’t realize it until Brendan started asking about the crocks but there are several around their home. Some for decor and others serving a purpose. They were really cool and completely Amanda’s style. Amanda also collects retro kitchen tools with the green handles. She actually just bought the one dead center in the photo on the counter at the market earlier that day. I think we decided it was a pastry/cookie cutter that you roll along dough. It had the shapes of suits in a deck of cards: heart, diamond, club, and spade. It was kinda neat. Amanda pulled out almost every tool and told us about them. She likes the way they look mainly but said when she’s out at the market a lot of people will try to paint the handles green to make them look like antiques and she tried to avoid the replicas.

We finished up our coffee and played with Bear one more time before packing up. Drew woke up from his slumber but claimed he was awake the entire time. We said our goodbyes, packed up the car and made our way back south.This is the part where I remind everyone that even though Amanda and Drew have a little one due literally any day now...they still welcome visitors. This is also the part where I tell you Brent told me Amanda and Drew are having a boy (even though they don’t know the gender of the baby). Maybe Brent was having a “chemo brain” moment when he told me confidently that it’s a boy or maybe he just knew or maybe it’ll just be a coincidence. Or maybe...they’ll just have a little baby girl. Either way, I’m excited to see the little bundle of joy the next time I go to visit them upstate. Thank you so much for having us for the weekend, Drew and Amanda. We love you, Bear and the little one on the way!

[ryttu3k]

Up to Fortree we go!

The current team:

Chickweed the Blaziken | level 37 | male | Blaze | Serious, takes plenty of siestas | Flame Charge, Blaze Kick, Double Kick, Cut | starter

Snowdrop the Mightyena | level 34 | female | Intimidate | Lonely, loves to eat | Ice Fang, Bite, Odor Sleuth, Rock Smash | found route 101

Sequoia the Gyarados | level 30 | female | Intimidate | Bashful, nods off a lot | Surf, Tackle, Bite, Dragon Rage | found route 106

Edelweiss the Skarmory | level 27 | male | Sturdy | Gentle, very finicky | Assurance, Steel Wing, Sky Drop, Swift | found route 113

Sage the Baltoy | level 27 | no thank you | Levitate | Bold, sturdy body | Rock Tomb, Psybeam, Ancient Power, Dazzling Gleam | found route 111

Oleracea the Electrike | level 15 | female | Static | Brave, capable of taking hits | Thunder Wave, Spark, Howl, Quick Attack | found route 118

Oleracea Snowdrop, Sage are going to be doing the heavy lifting for Fortree Gym, particularly Oleracea. Looks like the strongest Pokemon there is 35 - Chickweed is actually already over that level, although, uh, definitely not letting him anywhere near a Flying gym lmfao.

So. 20 levels to go. No biggie.

First trainer encounter! Bug Catcher Greg has a Beautifly, level 29. A Flame Charge dispenses of it (after he tanks an Air Cutter - I have Oleracea leading.)

Bug Catcher Kent has a Dustox, level 29! Hey, twins. Gonna give Sage a try. Hmm, Psybeam was SE but only did half damage WITH a crit, and they’re vulnerable to Silver Wind. Gotta work on that! Oh well, back to Chickweed, haha. Huh, IT had Psybeam too XD Flame Charge takes care of it.

Next up, Bug Catcher Doug leads with Volbeat, level 26. Chickie takes it. Next is Illumise, level 28. Let’s give Edel a shot! NYOOM. Wow, hits hard but still no OHKO? Aaand it’s down, haha.

NO, SAGE, YOU ARE NOT LEARNING SELF-DESTRUCT :|

Bug Maniac Donald has a Beautifly, level 30. Flame Charge hits hard. Whoops, Whirlwinded out! You know what let’s see if li’l Oleracea can take it out - she caaaan!

Bug Maniac Brent leads with Masquerain, level 28. Maybe Sage? Nope, too slow, got hit twice and got into the yellows in the time it took to land a Rock Tomb. Okay, Chickweed can finish it off. Paralysis you dick - never mind he still hit it XD Next up is Ninjask, level 28. This one DOES outspeed Chickweed, but it doesn’t do too much damage before it’s down!

Finally, Bug Maniac Taylor, then I think we’re out of the long grass XD Dustox, level 30. Gonna give this to Edel! Only into the yellows, that’s okay. Silver Wind does... like nothing. Second Sky Drop does it!

...So much for all those healing items, there’s a house here XD

Hey, a Ranger! Pokemon Ranger Catherine has a Breloom, level 31 <3 This calls for Chickweed! I’m just picturing Chickie being like, “...you fight good.”

Anyway, local trainers taken care of, time to catch! And it is... Kecleon! Okay XD He will be named Hydrangea, because colour change!

Ooh, Brains and Brawn team, Jael and Kael! Kadabra and Machoke, levels 31. Let’s get Snowdrop out here for the Kadabra and Edel for the Machoke! RIP Kadabra, OHKOed XD Whoops, Sky Drop was NOT a OHKO and Snowdrop tanked a Vital Throw, let’s get someone in who isn’t weak to Fighting... Sage should do it! Only gets in a single Psybeam before the next Sky Drop takes it out, haha.

JFC. I have minions now.

Ranger Jackson leads with Seviper, level 29. Oh dear, it has Night Slash. I’m glad I went with Edel and NOT Sage! Next is Vigoroth level 29, that’s Chickweed’s! OHKO!

Bird Keeper Hugh has a Swellow, level 30.  Is Oleracea strong enough to take it? Let’s see... not quite, at level 22 her Thunder Fang does like a third damage XD At least she paralyses it via Static, though! UUUGH DOUBLE TEAM. Snowdrop still finishes it off with Ice Fang!

Bird Keeper Phil has a Doduo, level 30. After a VERY TENSE battle, Oleracea manages it all on her own!! <3

Oooh, I see the Weather Institute up ahead. And Aqua! “Hey don’t go into the Weather Institute!” “Okay. *goes in*”

First grunt leads with Mightyena, level 28. This is Chickweed’s! Ayyy and he hits level 40! Next is Golbat, level 28. Oleracea is still a bit low, so this is Sage’s! They get poisoned and take some damage, but still 2HKO it!

Next grunt! Ew, Grimer. Level 30. This one is aaaall Sage’s! AHHH STOP MINIMISING. FINE. EDEL HAS SWIFT. Ha, it can’t hit him with Mud Bomb OR Sludge Bomb!

SHELLY. HI SENPAI. I love her she passes science classes. Oi Grunt your boss has already stopped! Oh well. He leads with Carvanha, level 28. Oleracea OHKOs it!! Next is Mightnyena, level 28. All Chickweed’s!

Last grunt! Has Golbat, level 30. Okay, Thunder Fang doesn’t do much, let’s get in Sage. Extrasensory takes care of it!

“I wonder why that is... Maybe we’re destined to be together...” SHELLY I’M TWELVE. Oh okay I guess we’re battling. Sharpedo, level 32. Oh crap Swagger - good, Thunder Fang right down to yellows! Slash down to the reds YIKES. Fuck it Chickweed is like eight levels higher. Double Kick finishes it off!

PLOT. Okay, will pop downstairs to box someone and get Castform! Just reserves, I think.

Sunflower the Castform | level 30 | female | Forecast | Lax, mischievous Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Hail, Weather Ball | found Weather Institute

Healed up, and onwards!

Hey, it’s Brendan! TIME FOR BATTLE. He leads with Shroomish, level 31. Chickweed gets poisoned, but Flame Charge takes care of it! Next is Marshtomp, man I really have nothing good against them... well, it’s level 33, Snowdrop is level 37, let’s just go for pure OP, haha. Chomp chomp! Last is Slugma, level 31. Sequoia sends it on a lovely surfing trip :’)

AWW YES FLY HM. I need to beat Winona first, but found the replacement for Edel’s Sky Drop!

Alright, Hidden Power! Let’s see what everyone has! Oleracea has Psychic, Snowdrop has Fighting, Sequoia has Fighting, Edel has Bug, Sage has Dragon, and Chickweed has Poison. Hmm.

Iiiii spy a Steven~! Oh bye Steven. On to route 120, then!

Parasol Lady Clarissa leads with Goldeen, level 31. Oh Aqua Ring you pest. Okay, spamming Thunder Fang it is, then! Ayyy eat that crit! Next is Seaking, level 33. Oleracea took a hit there, so I’m going to bring in Snowdrop. Oooof Waterfall hits hard - oh that was a crit, nvm. Couple of Bites and it’s down!

Oleracea evoooolves! And our first encounter is... Linoone XD Dupes clause!

Bird Keeper Robert has a Swablu, level 34. Baby <3 Oleracea 2HKOs it!

TROPIUS :D The best part is because I’m doing a plant theme I actually can call him Banana.

Oh thank god my second (well, third after Linoone) was Gloom. Much happier with Tropius, haha.

Anyway. Off to say hi to Steven, and to pick a fight with a Kecleon! Well, not much fight, it was a OHKO from Chickweed XD BETTER GIFT: BLAZIKENITE.

I am now going to test it on this completely helpless and innocent Linoone.

God, I’ve missed Mega Evolution. Linoone gets Double Kicked into the STRATOSPHERE.

Back into town, I want to see what that TM is. Oh, Grass Knot! Dang, only one that can learn it is Sage, and I wouldn’t want to put them against a Water type. Oh well.

Still got to train more before the gym, I want to get Oleracea to at least 30, but we’ve made some really good progress!

Current Team

Chickweed the Blaziken | level 41 | male | Blaze | Serious, takes plenty of siestas | Flame Charge, Blaze Kick, Double Kick, Cut | starter

Snowdrop the Mightyena | level 38 | female | Intimidate | Lonely, loves to eat | Ice Fang, Bite, Odor Sleuth, Rock Smash | found route 101

Sequoia the Gyarados | level 33 | female | Intimidate | Bashful, nods off a lot | Surf, Ice Fang, Bite, Dragon Rage | found route 106

Sage the Baltoy | level 33 | no thank you | Levitate | Bold, sturdy body | Rock Tomb, Extrasensory, Ancient Power, Dazzling Gleam | found route 111

Edelweiss the Skarmory | level 32 | male | Sturdy | Gentle, very finicky | Assurance, Steel Wing, Sky Drop, Swift | found route 113

Oleracea the Manectric | level 27 | female | Static | Brave, capable of taking hits | Thunder Wave, Thunder Fang, Bite, Quick Attack | found route 118

Reserves

Wattle the Taillow | level 9 | female | Guts | Quirky, alert to sounds | Peck, Growl, Focus Energy, Quick Attack | found Petalburg Woods

Bristlecone the Zigzagoon | level 14 | female | Gluttony | Lonely, good endurance | Tackle, Headbutt, Baby-Doll Eyes, Odor Sleuth | found route 103

Onion the Whismur | level 16 | female | Soundproof | Adamant, likes to relax | Pound, Echoed Voice, Astonish, Howl | found Rusturf Tunnel

Poison Ivy the Tentacool | level 5 | male | Liquid Ooze | Sassy, capable of taking hits | Poison Sting, Supersonic | found Dewford Town

Euphorbia the Makuhita | level 12 | male | Thick Fat | Hardy, capable of taking hits | Focus Energy, Sand Attack, Arm Thrust, Fake Out | found Granite Cave

Lithops the Numel | level 14 | female | Simple | Quiet, likes to run | Tackle, Ember, Focus Energy, Magnitude | found route 112

Rauvolfia the Seviper | level 19 | male | Shed Skin | Careful, impetuous and silly | Poison Tail, Screech, Venoshock, Glare | found route 114

Moraea the Spoink | level 23 | female | Own Tempo |  Quirky, quick tempered | Psybeam, Psych Up, Confuse Ray, Magic Coat | found Jagged Pass

Agapanthus the Pelipper | level 33 | male | Keen Eye | Modest, a little quick-tempered | Water Pulse, Wing Attack, Steel Wing, Quick Attack | found route 104

Rosemary the Latias | level 30 | female | Levitate | Sassy, somewhat vain | Heal Pulse, Dragon Breath, Mist Ball, Psycho Shift | found Southern Island

Milkweed the Beautifly | level 26 | female | Swarm | Lax, somewhat stubborn | Air Cutter, Mega Drain, Silver Wind, Morning Sun | found route 102

Hydrangea the Kecleon | level 25 | male | Color Change | Lonely, often lost in thought | Feint Attack, Psybeam, Ancient Power, Slash | found route 119

Sunflower the Castform | level 30 | female | Forecast | Lax, mischievous Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Hail, Weather Ball | found Weather Institute

Banana the Tropius | level 27 | male | Solar Power | Brave, a little quick tempered | Stomp, Magical Leaf, Whirlwind, Leaf Tornado | found route 120

Dead

Catnip the Skitty, found route 116, killed by Lass Janice’s Marill in route 116

Daisy the Pikachu, found Slateport City, killed by Archie’s Sharpedo at Mount Chimney

[egosamsara-blog]

march 16, 2017

today marks the day my cousin, nessie russell, would have been 21.

in another world i’m sure i’d tease her about how i’d just be counting down the days until september 1st so that i would be 2 years older than her again and make a corny ass joke about how we could now drink in a bar together.

i have been dreaming of this day since i turned 21 – 1.5 years ago. not because i like drinking, but because finally nessie and i were going to be “official adults” in the eyes of american society. i didn’t see her much the last couple years of her life so this is the thought i would fall asleep with at night. always some “next” destination to get to. the present was never good enough for either of us it seemed.

but i didn’t wait until i was 21 to start getting fucked up on legal drugs. i found them in a medicine cabinet in my grandfather’s house in upstate new york when i was 16. i didn’t know much about oxycontin other than it was a pill that got you high, and thank god for that because the cannabis i was smoking at boarding school kept getting me pulled out of class and put on work project. it stank too much, but this pill – i could crush it up and put it in water and sip it all day long. no need to go to the liquor store. and i had a lot of them. but then i had none of them. and then i needed them.

and then i needed them for 4 more years. arrests, running away, being put in mental hospitals, self harm…. i have traveled through at least 20 states all the way up to canada and down to mexico. i could have bought a house, a boat, and a comfortable life with the money i blew on roxicodone and dialudid. 

i wasn’t finished; i kept running in circles for 2 more years. crushing up pills didn’t do the trick anymore, i needed a spoon and an endless slideshow of public bathrooms.

i honestly didn’t want to stop. at this point every shot of white china was mixed with the prayer of “i hope this is too much”, a spike of guilt, and a chuckle of remorse. and fuck pills, they were too expensive by now.

i was not alone. when i was 17 my high school in connecticut was spilling over with every single type of pill. every person i talked to had a similar story to mine. we were scribbling furiously away, afraid that if we didn’t live fast enough we wouldn’t be worth remembering. we all graduated from pills to heroin. some forgot what happened in high school but i remember. 

i’ve always remembered everything. that’s why i wanted to escape – i saw how drugs were infecting my generation and it scared me shitless. nessie saw it too. she also saw something else i didn’t see until she passed.

nessie loved herself. she saw a light within herself and held onto it as tightly as she could, even through her addiction. i always admired that in her and i wanted it as well. she was so beautiful, the way she’d move through a room with no idea that everyone was staring at her. she was always glowing.

but i guess people, places, and things stole that away from her. by the end of her addiction she wrote to me, “i never thought it could get this bad for me… i thought i was different.” she died several weeks later. 

she had so much beauty in her life, but opiates are a dark drug. they put one in the womb of bliss – warm and floating free, feeling the dopamine and serotonin reverberating through your brain. then when they leave they put you on a metal dissection tray, pin you down, and rip you open from head to toe. one has no choice of what comes spilling out.

this is an hourly struggle for heroin addicts. sometimes less than that. sometimes i couldn’t refill the syringe fast enough. it depended on the way my brain felt that day. why would we do this to ourselves, you ask? who wouldn’t be addicted to euphoria? how many of you curl up in a warm fuzzy blanket and watch netflix for 10 straight hours with the blinds closed and a plate of microwaveable food next to you? a glass of wine? a xanax? 

now… how many of you turn another cheek at someone who gets their kick from shooting up heroin? is it not the same? aren’t we all trying to escape somehow?

in 2006 Purdue released time-release oxycontin. one could easily take the time release coating off, which became extremely trendy for opiate addicts to do. by 2012 people i knew and loved were starting to die.

Brendan Shay – he made me laugh for 20 straight minutes once when he drove me from my house to a party with a car full of friends.

Christopher Wells – a talented musician who i did theater with… he would play the piano or guitar and sing during play practice. i would sit on the bench or lay down and listen for hours.

George Hammond – one of the brightest smiles in my memory. every time i looked at him he made me smile, no matter my mood. ask anyone they would tell you the same. 

Brad Allen – he used to play the guitar and keyboard for whoever would listen. always cracking a smile; we called him ‘happy brad’ for a reason.

Caitlin Pieretti – she loved so deeply and fully and never missed a chance to make your day better. even if you were bugging out she had a joke to crack to even out the vibe.

Brent Rodney – one of the most giving men i’ve ever met. if he didn’t have a dime he’d give you his time. i loved him so much from the day i met him to the day he died.

Shawn Cagle – he didn’t care how young me and my friends were, he and Brent were always so kind.

Jackson Conroy – i was in the same church as him growing up; vacation bible school, youth group, ski trips. his family makes beautiful music to this day.

Bruno, Vinny, Dre, Harold …

these friends i have listed are few of the many. their ages ranged from 19-26. i got worn out trying to think of all of them. i can only write so many obituaries in one essay. what all these people have in common is that pharmaceuticals didn’t work for them. when an addict goes into a detox, they are put on maintenance meds such as suboxone or methadone so that they don’t get sick from the lack opiates in their system; then they’re loaded up with xanax so they don’t shake; anti-depressant so their brains never feel normal again; sleep meds so they can stop thinking at night when the ideas are most important.

usually getting to a detox facility is another journey within itself. many heroin addicts in america are in the north east, so they have a white powder heroin often cut with pharmaceutical grade fentanyl. fentanyl is more potent that street heroin by 1:50 grains but looks the same. that means 1 grain of fentanyl is as powerful as 50 grains of heroin. this makes getting the dosage right very dangerous, and many addicts aren’t aware of this. many are aware of this and mess with it anyway. the point is, heroin overdoses are common. a drug called narcan is used to bring addicts back to life.

Purdue produces suboxone and narcan. Janssen Pharmaceutica produces fentanyl, a toe to the leg of Johnson and Johnson who’s hip is…. guess who? Purdue.

let’s imagine none of this matters and this was a simple health epidemic. let’s imagine this was all political and no emotion was set in, let’s imagine that thousands on thousands of young lives were not stolen and thrown away. let’s imagine that a whole generation isn’t being looked at like scum of the earth for picking up some medicine that we thought was safe to take. 

did you know in america opiates and amphetamines are considered okay to prescribe to an 11 year old? i was prescribed benzos when i was 15. did you know that the human brain develops way up into your 20s? did you know that the human brain is very sensitive to foreign chemicals? i’m sure you did… now why the fuck didn’t the doctors?

when trump released his health care reform, trumpcare 2017, he gave those struggling with mental health a special shout out. 1.3 million young americans will lose coverage under trumpcare. trump wants to take out a requirement in the ACA that gives coverage to those struggling with mental health issues. you don’t even have to like opioids… if you are depressed you have a “pre-existing condition”.

so even if you hate politics, now is the time to care about them. because if we, the future generations of america, do not stand up and fight now – who will be here to do it later? 

[meraenthusiast]

The Truth About Debt – The Borrower Is Slave To The Lender

The Truth About Debt – The Borrower Is Slave To The Lender

There are many people currently hurting financially during the COVID-19 crisis and most of it can be attributed to debt. The information that my friend, Dr. Brent Lacey shares below is invaluable at times like these during a financial crisis.

I recently had the privilege and honor to sit down and speak with Dr. Brent Lacey who is a gastroenterologist, financial coach, and personal finance blogger over at The Scope of Practice.

Dr. Brent has coached hundreds of families to succeed in eliminating debt, and has spoken to doctor groups all around the country (including the White Coat Investor Conference) on topics related to business and personal finance.

He like me, is debt averse and subscribes to the Dave Ramsey philosophy (from Proverbs 22:7) that The Borrower Is Slave To The Lender.

Here’s the highlights of our conversation:

Dr Brent: So, I got started probably five or six years ago teaching Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University at my church. I initially got asked to just help teach the class and then started teaching it on my own. I eventually expanded and started doing some financial coaching.

That’s what got me to go get certified as a finance coach through the Ramsey team. After coaching several couples and figured that I ought to have someplace where I can write all the stuff down that I can refer people back to and say, “You know what? I wrote an article about this. Why don’t you go read this article? This has got all the information you need.” And that’s kind of how my website, The Scope of Practice was born.

As you’re aware, dentists and physicians come out of school really excellent at our craft but with utterly no idea how to run a successful business.

And part of the mission of The Scope of Practice is to give people the tools and the knowledge that they need in order to do so.

Dr Jeff:  What are some of the things that you teach people moving forward after a crisis now that we know that a financial crisis can hit at any time like the COVID-19 crisis?

Particularly those docs and other high-income earners that have gotten used to a certain level of income and living comfortably.

3 Things To Plan For After a Financial Crisis

Dr Brent:  Most of us that have lived through the other financial crisis in the past knew that something like this would happen again.

We need to plan for the future, for sure. And I would say three things are really important for physician/dentists.

#1 Living BELOW our means

(editor’s note: This was the #2 our of the 7 lessons we learned from The Richest Man in Babylon)

One of the things I find when I’m coaching folks is that it’s very natural when you get out of training to let your new income cause a jump in your lifestyle that you’re not really ready for.

Because as a doctor, you’ve been in college and medical school/dental school for 10-15 years while holding your breath living as a resident.

Then it happens, we graduate and go from broke to a nice six-figure income overnight.

Now that money is rolling in, we start to enroll kids in private school, buy a Tesla, doctor house, boat and jet skis even though we have a half of million in student loan debt to deal with.

Remember that the borrower is slave to the lender. Except, we don’t think about that too much as we didn’t worry much about it when we were broke so why should we worry about it now?

Buying all of those things above is fine if you’ve got a financial plan that you’re working through. And I think that’s one of the traps that doctors fall into.

This idea that we have student loans or other consumer debt, “Oh, we’ll pay them later. It’s part of life. Everyone’s got it. But we just have to deal with it.”

And it only takes one giant financial crisis, like the COVID-19 crisis, to really unveil the fact that they know they’re living on the edge. And as soon as someone pulls the rug from under you, that’s it.

#2 Emergency reserves

The second thing I would say is not having enough of a cash reserve or an emergency fund. The only thing you can guarantee about emergencies is that they’re going to happen. You just don’t know when.

Examples are:

Need a new set of tires

HVAC system goes out

Water leak that causes flooding

Or you have a big financial crisis that takes out the entire global economy. Who saw that coming, right?

And so having cash reserves of three to six months of expenses allows you to weather these foreseeable storms.

#3 Alternate income streams

The last thing I would say is make sure that you have other income streams instead of only one, the active/earned income.

This could range from passive income coming in from real estate investments or alternate side hustles you can do until things get back to normal.

Dave Ramsey Baby Steps

Dr Jeff:  I know, you’re a Dave Ramsey certified coach and subscribe to the phrase that the borrower is slave to the lender. And you also teach the Dave Ramsey 7 Baby Steps.

Could you briefly go over those steps to refresh our memory?

Dr Brent: Sure. So the seven baby steps that they teach with the Dave Ramsey system is this:

1. Save $1000 in an emergency fund

The Total Money Makeover book by Ramsey suggests that before you start paying down debt, save up $1,000 in an emergency fund is a must.

I realize that $1000 isn’t much to cover emergencies long-term, but it gets the ball rolling towards financial freedom.

2. Pay off all consumer debt with the Debt Snowball method

Here’s an overview of the Debt Snowball:

List your debts from smallest to largest

Make the minimum payment on all debts except the smallest one

Throw all extra money toward the smallest debt until it’s paid off

Once that one is done, start with the next on the list

Use the money you were already paying on this debt plus the amount you were throwing at the first one and add the two together

3. Save 3-6 months of expenses in an emergency fund

After you’ve become consumer debt-free, it’s now time to finish funding your account you started in Step 1 earmarked for emergencies.

Dave suggests that you need at least 3 – 6 months of expenses saved but it all depends on your risk tolerance. (Editor’s note: I plan on saving up two years’ worth of expenses now that I feel that a large financial crisis can affect us at any stage of our life.)

4. Invest 15% into retirement accounts

Dave suggests investing 15% of your household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement plans. Some think 15% is not enough but you have to realize who his target audience is, blue collar workers.

As doctors, try aiming for investing at least 20% or more of your income.

5. Save for children’s college

Dave suggests two ways to save for kid’s college:

Education Savings Account (ESA)

529 Plan

6. Pay off your mortgage early

Baby Step 6 is all about making extra payments towards your home mortgage to pay it off as quickly as possible.

Dave feels that the only type of debt that he is “for,” is a home mortgage, but if you can save up and pay cash, that would be better.

As an interesting side note, I found a doctor that had posted a question in the White Coat Investor Forum about paying cash for a house he was getting ready to purchase.

What caught my eye was the title of the Forum topic: The borrower is slave to the lender

Here’s his post:

Dave Ramsey is correct. I am buying a home (3rd time ) and my spouse and i are good savers. I have enough to pay cash for the house, but this money is in vanguard stock index funds and we would pay 20% long-term capital gains tax (LTCG) on any gains and tack a huge tax hit if we pay cash, so we applied for a mortgage.

Both with near perfect credit, zero debt and a large net worth. Mortgage brokers and their team seem to have zero functioning neurons. 🙂

Tons of crap to sign.

Tons of data requested.

Tons of asinine questions

Some are: “where did this deposit into vanguard for 80k come from?” When i answer: that deposit was from my savings account. they say: “we need a paper trail, can you send documents.“

I said: listen, here is my vanguard statement, we have zero debt and enough to pay cash for this house, the only reason we are getting a mortgage is because we want to save in long term capital gain taxes; you guys have zero risk. We have no debts, no smoke and mirrors here. You have a house as collateral, we are putting 50% down payment and we have enough to buy the house.

I fill out the stuff, answer the questions then some time passes and more BS questions.

Then as closing day approaches (we have been waiting for a few months to allow sellers kids to finish school) the mortgage people are in a panic. They had months to request info and now they are running around like chickens freaking out about stuff……….”We need this now if you want to close on time!” “send this newly requested info by this afternoon”

Tempted to tell them to $&@$&” off and just pay cash. I know that is financially dumb, ( I posted my situation here a few months ago and i discussed with a cpa and a cfa and everyone unanimously agrees mortgage is better financially) but goodness gracious I HATE BEING A SLAVE!

Now you can see why The Borrower Is Slave To The Lender.

7. Build massive amounts of wealth and give back

Baby Step 7 is to accumulate wealth and give back.

Proverbs 3:27 – “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.”

Do You Think Dave Ramsey Is Wrong?

Dr Jeff: My wife and I completed the steps in order, but we did something a little bit differently because we felt we had a decent enough income.

For us, while aggressively paying down debt, we didn’t want to miss out on all of those years of not investing and taking advantage of compound interest.

So we did both, paid down debts but continue to invest in our practice retirement account.

Now I know that goes against his thinking, but I think if you’re disciplined enough and you have a high enough income, you should do both.

Is Dave Ramsey wrong?

Dr Brent: I think you hit a really key point with that analysis. It’s if you’re disciplined enough, and that’s really the kicker because the mistake I see a lot of people make is thinking about the problem is a math problem and not a behavior problem.

It all boils down to you knowing yourself better than anyone else. I think it’s very reasonable if you stay disciplined enough and you know yourself well enough, you can make that happen.

Dr Jeff: I’d like for you to comment on a couple of posts from dentists made on DentalTown.com that were in the middle of going through the COVID crisis.

Comment #1:

“Our state shut us down for emergencies only. So pretty much saying, we quit making any money. After we get through this, we need to learn to live simply. Cash for cars, live in a simple house, pay off debt quickly, etc. All we can do at this point is to learn from this.”

Comment #2:

Another dentist commented on the above dentist with, “I’m with you 100%. I told my wife this is a wake up call for me. Once this is done ‘No more payments other than mortgage.’ That’s it. No more financing cars, credit cards, etc. If I can’t pay cash, I’m not doing it.”

I guess they get that The Borrower Is Slave To The Lender.

It seems like people are realizing, after going through a huge financial crisis, what’s REALLY important. My family and I are doing things together much more and getting off of our devices in order to connect with each other.

Dr Brent: Well, it’s true that as we have become more global and more connected that we’re actually less connected to people around us.

Especially, I think in the generation below us. So the millennials are more connected than ever.

What we have seen that I think is distressing is a rapid rise in:

consumerism

depression

suicide

And I think all those things are linked as we become gradually more connected online while becoming more disconnected from reality. Unfortunately this becomes our new norm.

One of the things that I counsel my clients about is that consumerism has gotten dramatically difficult.

The Jones’s have gone digital.

It’s become easier more than ever to try to keep up with them!

Think about all the stuff that we can see on others’ highlight reels on Facebook. The sad part is, like the news, we can’t tell if it’s real or not.

Look at Pinterest. No one’s going to pin what they really look like when they wake up with “bed hair”.

Instead, what are they posting? “Oh, check out my vacation I just went on”, “Look at our trip”, or “Look at this new car.” And then all of a sudden you think, “Man, why not me? Why isn’t it my turn?”

I hear that all the time while coaching. And I think getting them back to a place where they’re connected to the people they really hang out with is incredibly healthy for them.

The Scope Of Practice

If you want to connect with Dr. Brent, check out his site The Scope of Practice or you can email him at: editor@thescopeofpractice.com.

The post The Truth About Debt – The Borrower Is Slave To The Lender appeared first on Debt Free Dr..

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[lexxikitty-blog1]

Kiss the Girl by Melissa Brayden Series: Soho Loft: #1 Read: February 2016 Rating: 4.75 Stars

There are something like a million and one (or 14 to 78) brilliant reviews on GoodReads.  I'm not going to be adding much new to the discussion at this point.

This book is the first book I've read by this author.  I was 'pushed' into reading this book because of a group I am in that is currently running a 'pick it' group challenge.

I had been putting off this book because everyone and their pet donkey just absolutely loves this book.  And I didn't want to go in, after everyone else, pick at it and go . . . you know what?  I don't really like this here.  Yes, I felt self conscious.

The book involves Brooklyn Campbell, Hunter something or other, Samantha, and Mallory who jointly run an advertising agency in New York City.  They meet in college and they are roughly around the age of 28 (though I believe the prologue indicated some were older than Brooklyn).  Brooklyn is the main point of view for this set of friends.  Brooklyn was put up for adoption when she was a baby and went in and out of various foster homes until, at some point, she ended her 'tour' in a group home and aged out of the system at 18.

The second group of people this book involves is Jessica Lennox and . . . um, she's friends with her assistant Brent.  And is friendly her teenage neighbor Ashton.  Lennox is a hard charging head of an advertising agency that she started long ago.  It is also located in New York City.  Lennox is described as being a bitchy, ball busting, 'get my way or I'll cut you' type of person.  Oh, and she might be married to a billionaire who helps her find business.  Most of this is based on rumors and nothing but rumors.  Lennox, though, likes how the rumors help her in business, so does nothing to 'set people right' and 'fix' her image.  I'm using Lennox on purpose, instead of Jessica (or Jess).  Because I'm mostly referring to her business persona. Jessica/Jess, though, is nothing like what others see her as being.  Oh, and Jessica is really really old...er than Brooklyn.  10 years older.  38. Or, in other words, younger than me.

Before I move on - I rather like both Jessica and Brooklyn.

Okay then.  Brooklyn is having a rotten day - pulled over and ticketed for speeding, her car is towed, her heel on her favorite shoes break, and, to top it off, her birth mother has offered contact information through an organization that does stuff like that (Brooklyn had signed up with them when she was 18, i.e., 10 years ago).  Gazing around in despair, she contemplates what to do with herself.  Spots a neat looking place across the street from a print shop (there's a reason why she is there; oh - and the print shop line was super long - to add to her woes).

Brooklyn enters this lovely looking place.  Walks right up to the bar and . . . realizes her purse is in her car (which just got towed away, remember).  She kind of whimpers.

Jessica has had a tough day.  She decides to do two things she rarely ever does - step out earlish from work, and go home.  No the go home isn't the second thing.  The second thing is to step into this neat little bar that is near her home.  As she sits there looking around kind of happy she decided to step in, she spots a rather attractive woman step in.  And overhears her exchange with the bartender (um, I forgot to mention that, Brooklyn's 'realization' about her purse took place out loud).   Jessica offers to pay for Brooklyn's drink.

Brooklyn is reluctant but eventually agrees.  Jessica introduces herself as Jessica . . . Jess.  But without a last name, and makes a game of not saying what her job is (well, one of them do, I forget which one started the game of Brooklyn guessing Jess' job).  Both have a fabulous time.  It ends with Jessica acquiring Brooklyn's number, and giving a brief kiss.  Which expands into a really passionate kiss.  The kind that makes your toes curl and your hair stand up straight (or whatever it is that happens).  They part.

Jessica and Brooklyn meet again, as someone who read the beginning of this review might suspect, when both turn up for an advertising job.  Jessica Lennox is quite well known to Brooklyn's ad agency, but Brooklyn doesn't normally go on calls (and therefore doesn't know what Jessica Lennox, professional ball crusher, looks like).  Plus, Jess never gave her last name.  Jessica leaves a conference room.  Brooklyn spots her. They gaze at each other.  Brooklyn is now flustered and somewhat messes up her first ever attempt to talk to clients in a client meeting.  

Jess texts Brooklyn.  They kind of flirt by text.

The 'Cinderalla kiss' is mentioned by Brooklyn to her coworkers (well, it was mentioned, I forget the sequence now).  The idea of having any kind of relationship, friend/romantic or otherwise, with someone like Jessica Lennox is roundly booed by everyone of Brooklyn's friends.  Brooklyn kind of agrees with them.

Time passes.  The Foster account is fought over by both Brooklyn and Lennox's ad agencies.

Eventually Brooklyn uses that contact number she got for her birth mother.  Eventually her relationship with Jess advances . . . somewhat.  Meanwhile Ashton, the teenage next door neighbor of Jessica's, is having a rotten time with her alcoholic mother - Jessica tries to help.

There's a really intense scene in a stuck elevator between Jessica and Brooklyn (which occurred, I believe, actually before Brooklyn attempts to contact her mother; it's not related, I'm just fixing the chronology I messed up in my review).

At some point, while reading this book, I was seriously contemplating making a brand new shelf.  I would call this shelf something like '6 star books'.  Then put this book on said shelf.  Because this was, in fact, a really really good book.  Until it wasn't.

The 'it wasn't' part occurred when a specific incident occurred.  And I could immediately foretell what would then happen next.  And everything unfolded almost exactly as I thought it would.  About 99.9% exactly like I thought it would.  To be fair, everything that happened?  Did not seem like a contrived little thing to add to the book to add tension/drama/and conflict.  It did, in fact, seem like a natural extension of the book (which is also why I knew immediately what would happen after the fact, and was 99% correct - because everything flowed naturally).  Well damn. I was going to pinpoint the 'incident' at the beginning. Ah well.  It was when Brooklyn visited Jessica.  At her office.  A bag may or may not be involved.  I'm trying to be vague for those who haven't read the book, while giving enough for those who have to know what I'm referring to.  *inserts spoiler tags* <spoiler> (for fuck sake, you have a 'break the tension' group meeting with your friends; it is mentioned that 'business stuff' need to remain secret and . . . . you immediately visit your love interest at their office?  Okay, livable but . . . for no fucking reason I can think of, you give your fucking . . . right *tags inserted*  You leave your bag outside.  With an advertising executive.  For a rival agency.  You are currently in competition with. And you know she isn't the fucking receptionist.  And . . AND . . Jessica's fucking assistant is right there as a potential other person to give the bag too (don't); if you going to do this completely weird ass fucking thing - like bring your fucking back with you into Jessica's place of work (instead of say, leaving it locked tightly and hidden in car), don't fucking leave it outside; why? Why the fuck did she do that? No, I'm serious.  Do people do that? Do they leave their fucking bags with rivals (remember, she fucking knows that's not the receptionist?  Yes?  Well fuck me.  Learn something new every day.  She's visiting a fucking head of a company; what, did she think Jessica worked in a broom closet and therefore there wouldn't be any room for her bag and coat?  No?  Maybe it's some kind of 'oops, I brought my bag with me, I trust this non-receptionist rival advertising person with my bag instead of having it near me while I'm in the room with Jessica' thought process. Why the fuck does she even fucking have her fucking bag up in the receptionist area? SHE FUCKING DRIVES EVERYWHERE.)  Okay, I've moved from 'this is a natural progression' to 'what the fuck did I just read?'</spoiler>

The book was filled with a ton of tension/drama/etc. based on intergroup dynamics involving the Campbell friend group and their reaction to Brooklyn-Jessica link up; the ad agency competition; the drama over the birth family; and, most specifically of importance for a romance - relationship tension (both because of that issue of Brooklyn's friends not liking Jessica; being rivals; Brooklyn having commitment and trust issues; having to take things slow; etc.).  So, tacking on an extra layer, even if a natural development for the book, seemed like a layer too many.

Oh, and, you know (those who have read my reviews before), how I recently made a comment on another book recently read about how it contained that cliche of 'I'm a powerful woman.  I'm giving up control and submitting to another woman.  I think I like it'?  That cliche, once again, turned up in this book.  And yes, it once again pulled me from the story. Though I just kind of laughed and dove back in. See, this was when I still thought of this as a six star book, and that specific scene neither increased nor decreased the overall score given to this book.  (Though, I also admit (did I admit anything previously, dang it, I don't want ot reread my own review), Brayden handled that scene brilliantly).

So, for these and other reasons, I cannot break open a brand new 6 star shelf and shove this book onto it.  Nor, in good conscious can I add this to my super duper and special 5.5 star shelf.  I have currently placed it on no specific star shelf.  Though I've currently rated it 4 stars.  I am contemplating which shelf to add this book to.   3.5? Probably not.  4? Maybe.  4.5? Perhaps.  And, surprising, I know, I still have a strong desire to put this on my five star shelf 

Review Written: February 3 2016

[livelikebrent]

Stop 8: Portland, Oregon

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." - John Wooden

Solid quote, right? After planning a trip to Seattle I wanted to hit Portland while I was out there. I had the time. I didn’t take much time off the year and a half prior. If I did, it was usually last minute to get to the hospital because something had happened with Brent. I’m not complaining by any means. I didn’t take vacations, only weekend trips with Brent to Ocean City Maryland, or back home (both of ours). Time is something you’ll never get back. It’s something that should be spent wisely but not cautiously. When making my plans to be in Seattle with my brother and friends, Josh and Hannah, no one signed up to come on my Portland trip. I was actually pretty keen on the idea of having some time to myself, in a city I knew nothing about and spending 5 days with no where to be and no one to truly answer to. I mean, traveling alone was something I had become pretty used to when Brent became sick. I’d travel for hours by train, subway, car, by foot etc. to see him in New York City, Northern New Jersey, back home in Wilkes-Barre or during the weekdays in between visits. I’ve always been a rather independent person...so it had never intimidated me. 

My brother and I shared an Uber to the airport before the sun even showed up on Tuesday morning. He made his way to departing flights as I went to rent a car. I hopped into a black economy class car. I actually did look into splurging on a Mercedes or something I probably won’t ever own myself. But it turns out even renting one for only a few hours would cost close to the amount of money I’d been spending on Airbnbs for the week. But as I made my way south, I had an outstanding purple and magenta sunrise along with a Seattle throw back hip hop radio station. Aside from the sky everything was green, the sky had begun to drizzle, I stopped at a Starbucks (shocking, I know), ordered a coffee and plugged Cannon Beach into my GPS. I couldn’t tell you how I knew about Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach. I figured everyone knew it existed and that was one of Oregon’s iconic spots. Turns out, not so much. It was an easy drive as I drove along the coast and I passed through a half dozen small coastal towns. One of those towns was Astoria, Oregon, which brought me to my first official stop: Rogue’s Ales Astoria Public House. The establishment wasn’t even open yet but as I drove across a one way wooden boardwalk out to the bar which is the old Bumble Bee Tuna Cannery, I cracked my windows and listened to seals barking.

I walked inside, the bar tender in a Tommy Bahama button down told me to take a seat anywhere and asked if I was alone. I sat myself at the bar and as I stared up at the board of what was on tap, he poured me some beer to try. I ended up with a sour and a cup of clam chowder. It was most definitely a soup type of day. The bartender asked me where I was traveling from. I explained I was on a trip from Philly and had just made my way down from Seattle. We chatted for a bit about road trips, the Pacific Northwest and whatnot. I grabbed a shirt to buy for my Dad and as I was closing out my tab, I asked the bartender about a sticker. I told him I had noticed that it was a relatively clean looking and a sticker would look out of place. He pulled over a wooden Rogue napkin/condiment holder that already had a “Be nice you’re in Oregon.” sticker on it...he said, “You can put it right here.” I told him about Brent and why I was there. He told me about a buddy of his that was in surgery that very moment to have a cancerous mass removed. I shook his hand, told him I wished the best for his buddy and continued my way down to Canon Beach.

I think it’s kind of silly to describe a rock as majestic. But there is really no other way to explain it. First of all, it’s a massive rock on a beach surrounded by other rather large rocks. As I drove through the small town and wound up the road I saw Haystack rock on my right just beyond some homes on the hill. I pulled my rental over grinning from ear to ear and hopped out. I snapped some photos from up above. Then I tried to figure out where I could ditch my car so I could walk on the beach. I found a nearby lot and walked along the water in my vans, jacket and hat to try and stay a bit warm from the breeze and lack of morning sunshine. It was awesome. I wanted to stay on the beach all day to just take in the sights and sounds. I need to plan a trip to travel back for warmer weather and book a little beach bungalow cottage off of the main road so I could soak it all in for a bit longer.

Recognize this beach? The Goonies was filmed here. *Insert truffle shuffle move here* After my long walk on the beach I had a friend suggest a place for a bite and a brew right on the main street by Haystack Rock called Cannon Beach Hardware & Public House. The answer is YES. It is exactly what it sounds like. As I sat in an old airplane seat eating an ahi tuna salad and sipping on a hard cider, a man was buying Gorilla Glue and some screws. It’s a hardware store with a bar on one end. It was one of the most interesting places I have ever been and I would highly recommend it.

I continued to Portland winding through towering Douglas Firs and I couldn’t get over how green everything was. If I wasn’t surrounded by some sort of pine it was a tree absolutely covered in moss. It started misting on my drive and a fog hung out at the top of the trees. It was just all so lush and so refreshing to see. I couldn't tell you why but I simply couldn’t get enough of it. If I didn’t have to return the rental car, I would’ve spent hours just driving around. I wouldn’t be surprise if I swung through Ferngully at one point.

I finally checked into my Airbnb which was ADORABLE and located in the Hawthorne neighborhood of the city. You can view the entire place here! I decided not to stay in the heart of downtown Portland because I figured staying in a different neighborhood would force me to check out different areas. But the place I stayed in was everything I needed and nothing more. It was a one bedroom basement apartment right off of one of Portland’s main drags. It turned out that one of my college buds lived a couple blocks away with his girlfriend. So I could easily meet up with him later in the week after work.

What did I do in Portland? I walked. Then walked. Walked and walked. Why? Because I had a pair of Vans and all the time in the world. I’d rather see a city I’ve never been to before on foot anyway. Day one I walked downtown to hit up Voodoo Donut. The weather ruled...again, I do realize I lucked out with weather on the trip. One of the many things I did not know about Portland is that they have several (a total of 12) bridges. Crazy. As I spotted a bridge to cross I stumbled upon a place called Urbanite. I unexpectedly spent close to an hour in there walking up and down the aisles checking out the eclectic consignment booths filled with home decor, art work, furniture and odds and ends. Had I not only traveled with a carry on for this entire trip, I probably would’ve made several purchases...I even considered shipping stuff back to Philadelphia. Also, can we take note of the extremely creepy coat rack in the photo below that took 1.5 deer to make?

As I walked across the Burnside Bridge, one of Portland’s main arteries, I came across Portland’s infamous White Stag Sign.

Right over the bridge was the doughnut shop. Right outside of the shop were a couple of homeless people who knew EXACTLY what they were doing. They stood outside of the all cash establishment nabbing pretty much tourists all day long. So nobody could go to the easy go to line of, “Sorry, I only have my card on me.” Also, I will say they were pretty aggressive. I didn’t expect to be harassed trying to simply buy a bacon covered doughnut. Along with said doughnut, I purchased a couple of post cards to mail out. Again, I’m not sure why I love postcards so much. Sometimes I just write a quick note to people and others I’m trying to squeeze in as many words as humanly possible in my message. Side note: Feel free to send me some on your trips! I got my doughnut, post cards and found a spot to sit outside as I continued to listen to tourists heckled by Portland’s finest.

After my mid-morning snack I went to a couple of shops including Adler and Co, Stumptown Coffee, Union Way, Powell’s, Made Here PDX and Porch Light. Shout out to Haley for all of the recommendations! I linked the last three because they were amazing. Powell’s is the world’s largest independent bookstore. It’s like you’re in a completely different world in there. While I spent some time browsing, reading and wandering around, I heard multiple parties lost over the loud speaker. They have sections of the book store marked in colors...so they had to ask the lost humans to report to the purple section or orange section of the store. 

Made Here had a TON of products that were made locally in Portland. They had everything from candy, jewelry, leather goods, art to beauty products. I kept seeing salted black licorice everywhere. My mom is one of those people that loves black licorice and yes, black jelly beans...but I think a lot of moms do come to think of it. Needless to say, I bought it for her. Still haven’t heard how they are...I suppose the jury is still out on that one.

Porch Light. GAH. I spent SO much time in there. I didn’t want to leave but I was terrified of buying almost EVERYTHING. Disclaimer: Their website doesn’t have half the stuff they have in store. But I did end up treating myself to a pretty little ring to remember the trip and such a wonderfully dreamy establishment.

After I was done with shopping and browsing there was a  Deschutes location: the Deschutes Public House.  The brew pub’s 26 taps featured Deschutes beer plus a selection of seasonal and experimental beers developed and brewed on site exclusively for the Portland pub. I had a sour, fried cauliflower and made my way back to my apartment. I ended most afternoons on the cozy, green velour couch with Nextflix, a cup of green tea and a nap. But that evening my college bud, Sean, hit me up for a drink. I met him at The Nest which is a local’s bar off the main drag and not terribly far from where I was staying. It was a dive bar with board games, video games and ping pong. We grabbed a seat outside on the patio, caught up and then Sean showed me around the neighborhood. We ended up at Quarter World Arcade. It was basically Philly’s Barcarde but on steroids and it was awesome. We probably spent a decent amount in quarters and I introduced Sean to my favorite arcade game, Tapper. Tapper is game where you are the bartender serving up Budwisers to dozens of thirsty patrons. It makes me so anxious playing but it’s so much fun..

Thursday was a day I spent in the Hawthorne section of Portland. I walked to a place called Pine State Biscuits. If you know me, I’ll have a biscuit with every meal if possible. So I walked a bit to earn my biscuit brunch and ordered The Money Ball which was biscuits and gravy topped with an over easy egg and a tall glass of sweet tea. I sat there and took my time...it was absolutely delish. I thought about asking to put a Live Like Brent sticker up since I had yet to place one up in Portland. But it was a cleaner/sleeker type of establishment in ambiance. So I figured it wasn’t the right spot.

After the concrete settled in my stomach, I continued to walk. I came across a smaller Powell’s location and tons of small businesses. Portland is extremely supportive of entrepreneurs which was really neat. I fell in love with a shop called Tender Loving Empire. Similar to Porch Light, but more within my budget, I did not want to leave and I wanted everything.

Friday was another day of walking. I walked 5 miles across the city to see the International Rose Test Garden  and the Japanese Garden. Mind you, it was mid-March so it wasn’t exactly peek season for the roses. Honestly, they were all chopped down with the exception of a few. But I bet it is stunning in the summer time. Also, I really don’t know if that’s a rose pictured below. But it was pretty and there was an entire wall of them.

I got zen in the Japanese Garden and walked around. It was conveniently located immediately behind the Rose Garden. It was pretty interesting. There were interesting trees, greenery and moss everywhere and Koi fish in some of the ponds. There was a house in the garden with a back patio that has the best view of Mt. Hood in all of Portland. But guess what?! It was a drizzling, grey and overcast day...so there wasn’t too much of a view.

As it started to rain, I took another suggestion out of Haley’s guide to Portland email she had sent to me and went to Great Notion Brewery for a beer and a bite to eat. The brewery was awesome and definitely a place I would hang out regularly if I had lived there. It had a lumber jack theme and vibe going on and is known for fruity and sour beers...I had a Blueberry Muffin beer, a tart ale, which was pretty legit. I tried making conversation with the bartender and asking her for other suggestions in the area. Every interaction was brief. She wasn’t in the mood for conversation. So I guess then I wasn’t in the mood to over tip. Afterwards, I decided to leave the area and I made my way down to Mississippi Ave. to window shop and for another drink before heading back to the apartment. 

I spent most nights at my Airbnb relaxing with a cup of tea watching Netflix. Some of you probably just read that last sentence and said, “Uh, what.” and then you probably thought, “Why would you do that on a trip when you could do it at home?” Well, it’s not something I do at home all that often. On the week days between my weekends traveling to and from New York to Brent, I would come home from work, throw on my pajamas, maybe make dinner and watch episode after episode after episode of The Office, Shameless, The Office again and whatever other sitcom I may have gotten into. My focus Monday through Friday was to work and just get through the week so I could hurry up to the next weekend to see Brent. But after Brent had passed I couldn’t do it. When he was alive (and home) we were always on the go, even when he was home and sick in his recliner, I’d be at the grocery store for him, picking up prescriptions, cooking food for him that he could easily reheat, so on and so on. Even after he had passed, the amount of phone calls, texts and Facebook messages to make plans never stopped. When they did finally slow down I would find myself after a second episode of Chopped twiddling my thumbs. I would stand up and need to do something. Sitting still became almost impossible. I felt useless. I felt like there had to be something better I could be doing with my time. So the fact that I had an entire 5 days to be alone in Portland, reflect and veg out...was exactly what I needed once again.

One night, I decided to find a movie from my mental list “Movies I should’ve seen at one point in my life but never did” and chose “Into The Wild.” For those of you who do not know the premise. It’s a 2007 film directed and produced by Sean Penn starring Emile Hirsh based off of the book about the travels of Christopher McCandless across North America and his experiences in the Alaskan wilderness in the early 1990s. McCandless graduates college, doesn’t want anything from his well to do family, destroys everything he owns and donates every last penny to charity. He wanted to live off of nothing but the Earth itself and disappear into the wild. He did fairly well for himself...during his travels, he meets a group of gypsies, make friends and along the way and works a couple of odd and end jobs to get him to his ultimate destination. He loved being on his own, earning every meal on his own and taking in the beauty of nature. He does make it to Alaska but being an amateur and not properly trained on this type of survival, his supplies begins to run out. As he decided to maybe make a return to civilization. When he packed up his home he had created in an abandoned bus and retraced his steps. He encountered the river he once crossed but didn’t account for the snow to thaw during the winter causing the water to rise a great deal. He retreated back to his bus to figure out how to continue and he goes into the wild to find something to eat. McCandless mistakenly eats a plant that ultimately killed him. When he realized he mistakenly ate a poisonous plant, he wrote one last thing in his journal:  "Happiness only real when shared.”

At this point in the movie I’m ready to burst out in tears as I tell the television in front of me, “HE’S SO RIGHT.” As I sat there on the couch, curled up under a lavender blanket I was tired of taking selfies, I wanted somebody to share dishes with as I could never finish a plate of food by myself, it was nice to not be on anyone else’s schedule but it would be nice to share and experience Portland with somebody alongside of me. I had been blessed to have so many friends join me on my many stops for the Live Like Brent Tour. I was excited to have plenty of downtime by myself to explore and experience a new city. But what I had found is the same thing (in a much less dramatic way) as Chris McCandless. It’s great and wonderful to be happy with yourself, to be independent but what is life if you don’t have somebody to share it’s experiences with?

 I shared my final day in Portland with Sean, and his girlfriend, J’ena. They took me to the Colombia River Gorge which itself was gorge - There was still a morning mist and fog hanging heavy in the sky. We stopped at the Vista House which is a free museum at Crown Point and also serves as a memorial to Oregon pioneers and as a comfort station for travelers on the Historic Columbia River Highway. We climbed to the stop of the house and we were able to get quite the view.

As we made our way along the Colombia River Highway we made a couple of stops along the way to hike and see several stunning waterfalls. During the car ride I learned more about J’ena. She’s kind of a big deal. She kinda was a very sought after NEW character at Disney. She Kinda was in the circus. Her family was kinda like gypsies. Again, she’s kinda big deal and I’m so happy for her and Sean.

After we walked the final trail and saw the final waterfall. We made our way back to Rose City for a bite to eat. This is where I had THE BEST dish of my entire trip. We went to a place called Bye and Bye, a hip southern inspired vegan bar. When my best bud, Ang, went to Portland to visit Haley she wouldn’t stop talking about this place and the bowl she ate. And now I can’t stop thinking about this place and the bowl I ate! I had the Eastern Bowl which included nutritional yeast breaded tofu, broccoli, and brown rice with a spicy ginger peanut sauce, topped with sesame seeds. That spicy ginger peanut sauce was seriously the most flavorful thing ever. I couldn’t finish it but didn’t mind because it was something I was definitely ready to take back with me for a late snack. But we hung out for a bit more. We chatted about work, books we’ve recently read and other things. I expressed concern that I had yet to place a Live Like Brent sticker in Portland. I started to think that perhaps it was an omen. Brent thought about moving to Portland when we first started dating. Now here I was in the same city and couldn’t find the right spot...and I wasn’t being picky by any means. Sean then asked me, “Wait, wasn’t Brent into the Dead and like Phish?” Turns out there was a Grateful Dead bar in the neighborhood I was staying in and Sean told me to go visit it. It was called Fire on the Mountain.

I grabbed an Uber as the rain started to really come down. I got to Fire on the Mountain and it smelled like buffalo sauce. The two owners opened it because they felt that Portland needed a solid wing joint. I walked in and found an empty stool at the bar. I asked a guy sucking down beer and wings if it was open. I sat there, ordered an IPA Sean had suggested and an order of deep fried Oreo’s. Honestly, I wasn’t all that hungry from my delish bowl. But they did sound pretty good. As I sat there, it was the perfect place to put a sticker up for Brent. It was a funky spot with cool stickers all around, I spotted an A-Basin sticker in the kitchen on the door of their cooler. Side note: A-Basin was a mountain I snowboarded for Brent on the Colorado trip and it was one of his favorite spots to shred. Another notable sticker said, “Support Your Local Shake Down Street.” So I snagged a bartender’s ear for a moment and explained why I was in Portland and more importantly why I was at Fire on the Mountain on my last day of the trip. His response was kind and he was sorry for my loss, thanked me for sharing my story and told me that he would be honored to put the sticker behind the bar.

The guy next to me was just about done sucking down his chicken wings and said, “Boy do those Oreo’s smell good.” I IMMEDIATELY offered some as again, there was no way I could eat all of it. His name was Clay and he told me he was sorry to hear about Brent. We sat there and ordered a couple rounds of beers. He was drinking Rainier Beer which is comparable to a PBR I suppose. He grew up in Utah but moved around a bit for work, Portland was where he had landed and loved it. He double checked that I hit all of the spots that any visitor should. The one thing I did not do was eat from a food truck. There were PLENTY of opportunities, but it just simply never happened. After a while I decided to call it a day and ended my last night in Portland on the cozy green couch, under the lavender blanket, a cup of green tea, Netflix and the remainder of my Eastern Bowl.