#King of pop pepsi jacket

[my-leatherjackets-fan-blog]

Michael Jackson Pepsi Commercial Ad Black and White Vintage Men's Leather Jacket worn by Michael Jackson. with free delivery all over the worlds.

[something-tofightfor]

Modified ask game - here we go!

I hit a follower milestone a little while ago - number isn’t important, but THANK YOU ALL FOR FOLLOWING ME. There are a lot of you, and I’msure that the follows are all for very different reasons, but I VERY MUCH appreciate every one of you, even if we’ve never interacted. As a way for my new followers to get to know me (if they want) I’ve compiled a list of ask games / random questions and will be posting below the cut.  Send me as many as you want, or if there’s anything not listed that you’re interested in knowing, go ahead and ask. I’ll be answering these throughout the week.  Also in the interest of being friendly and proving that I’m a real live person, I’m publicly stating that in certain cases, I’m very open to becoming non-tumblr friends. This means using other social media to communicate - whatsapp, discord (I have an account but have never used it), instagram, that godawful bird app (which is almost exclusively filled with snarky tweets and baseball opinions) ... there are even a few people on here that have my phone number. 

Why do I say this? Because some of the people I’ve met on here have become very good, very close friends. Tumblr sucks a lot. The notifications are wonky, messages don’t send ... whatever it is, it’s unreliable. I know that people on here tend to be very wary about telling people *real* things about themselves, so I respect your privacy, but wanted to put that out there. I’m not just going to pass out my info to someone that messages me on anon and asks, or says hello for the first time, but if we’ve spoken before, and it’s something you’re interested in, let me know. I swear  that on my other social media you’ll see how boring I am; I just pretend to be cool and interesting on tumblr with my hot takes and gardening and pictures of Neptune.

apricot: opinion on 3 in 1 body wash/hair wash?

crop top: what is your least favorite word?

glow sticks: are you into witchcraft?

stereo: do you have a favorite drink?

holographic: indoor or outdoor malls?

silly string: do you play an instrument? is their anything you’d like to play?

blackberries: what’s your favorite album from the 2000s?

picnic baskets: what’s your favorite picture book?

bold: favorite font?

platform shoes: what would your dream roller coaster be?

paper crowns: if you were a color, what color would you be?

vinyl: what’s your favorite scent?

glitter: what’s a good memory from primary school?

silly bands: what’s your favorite plant?

neon: friendship bracelets?

loud: shells or sea glass?

sunflower: what makes you nostalgic?

boots: what was your favorite show as a kid?

springs: what’s your favorite material?

whiteboards: old book smell or new book smell?

pop tarts: what’s your favorite weird drink or food combo?

sequins: how do you name playlists?

lamps: what type of clothes do you like to wear?

old cars: what’s the most fun word you know?

hats: what do you like to do in cities?

Cats or dogs? Why?

Snakes or spiders? Why?

Baths or showers? Why?

Drink you order from the bar?

How do you like your meat cooked?

What is your go to karaoke song?

The beach or the snow?

House or apartment?

Do you get angry playing board games? Monopoly? Scrabble? Clue?

Would you play Russian Roulette?

Truth or dare?

Do you prefer pants or a dress? Either to wear or to see others wearing.

Coke or Pepsi?

Cigarettes or cigars?

How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike?

What is your earliest memory?

What was your first kiss like?

How do you feel about your mother?

How do you feel about your father?

When you picture home, what do you see?

What is your favorite fairytale?

Why is that your favorite fairytale?

What is your favorite song?

Why is that your favorite song?

What is your favorite sound?

Why is that your favorite sound?

Pens or pencils?

How do you feel about cheese?

What type of cheese if your favorite?

What would you wear to a funeral?

Do you wear pajamas to bed?

Coffee or tea? How do you take either? Two sugars? A bit of milk?

iPhone or Android?

What do you do when no one is looking?

Favorite flower?

Why is that your favorite flower?

Do you have any siblings?

Which sibling is your favorite?

Do you have any children?

Which child is your favorite?

What’s your favorite classic novel? 1984? Oliver Twist? Little Women?

Have you ever been in love?

Where do you go when you want to be alone?

What would be your super power?

What would be your ideal date?

What part of yourself do you wish you could change?

red: describe your favorite shirt

orange: if you could, would you change your eye color? why? to what color, if so?

yellow: name of an artist you think is underappreciated

green: do you have a favourite flower?

blue: preferred type of weather?

purple: a poem you think describes your closest friend

magenta: do you keep your fingernails long or short?

turquoise: favorite sea animal?

fuchsia: favorite land animal?

cyan: are you religious? spiritual?

sea green: can you fold a fitted sheet?

violet: are you a part of the lgbt+ community?

amber: what's saved as your phone's lockscreen?

aqua: do you thrift?

pink: what's your natural hair color?

beige: have any pets? what're their names?

black: would you ever try going vegetarian or vegan?

coral: an animal you wish hadn't gone extinct?

grey: how many languages do you speak? do you want to learn any more

maroon: do you care for clothing brands?

rose: favourite scent on a person?

charcoal: have you ever been camping?

claret: do you play an instrument? do you want to learn to play any?

copper: gold or silver jewelry?

cream: any piercings or tattoos? do you want any?

emerald: if you had the option, would you choose to move and live in another country? which one?

lavender: relationship status?

erin: what was/is your best school subject?

mauve: any unpopular opinions?

coconut: a subject you enjoy learning about?

frost: a -core you enjoy?

porcelain: an tv show you used to love?

gold: do you wear your socks mismatched?

honey: your thoughts on magic- does it exist?

rust: form of art you enjoy doing?

ginger: any sideblogs?

cherry: YouTubers you enjoy watching?

wine: do you have a 'type'?

mahogany: your sun, moon, and rising signs?

blood: twin beds, queen, or king?

hot pink: did you/do you had/have strong feelings against the color pink?

plum: a food you've never tried?

lilac: dogs, cats, or fish?

amethyst: do you collect anything?

mulberry: earbuds or headphones?

azure: jean jackets?

denim: kill the spider or take it outside?

sapphire: do you think you can sing well?

mint: favourite flavour of gum?

pecan: shuffle your playlist, what's the first song that comes up?

penny: ice cream or cake?

ash: can you do your own makeup?

jade: ever written fanfiction?

grape: how many blogs do you follow?

chestnut: type of phone you have?

prussian blue: what's your first choice at the vending machine?

aquamarine: beach or pool?

brass: least favorite food condiment?

mustard: how much sugar in your tea/coffee?

silver: ever broken a bone?

burgundy: ever ridden a motorcycle?

scarlet: favorite holiday?

[theroguequeenaniki]

I have a LOT more pictures and videos, but for this post, here are ten. (A lot of the pictures that I haven’t posted are blurry, but still great for memories, lol.)

Here is my fan-account/post about this weekend when I saw Tiffany Young in Dallas!

Friday November 15th 2019 - Sunday November 17th 2019

Whoo! A lot has happened this weekend! It was a very fun weekend, lol.

I went to Dallas with my sister, and one of my best friends, Raven ( @snek-and-angle), for a concert.

Friday November 15th 2019

Day before the concert.

On Friday I didn’t do a lot, mostly spent the day in great anticipation, and I packed, and did my nails, and all that. My brother and his girlfriend informed us they weren’t able to come to Dallas with us, so that’s the main reason I’m writing it here. B/c I’m using it as an introduction. Initially, this trip was going to be me, my friend Raven, my sister, my brother, and his girlfriend. But, last minute it ended up just being me, Raven, and my sister. But we still took my brother’s car. (He and my sister traded for the weekend, lol) So, yeah. I went to bed late b/c I was up packing. Lol.

Saturday November 16th 2019

Day of the concert.

My sister and I got up early, I got up at like 8a, she’d been up for a little while, lol. Raven had messaged me she was up at like 7a. So, we got dressed, made sure we had everything we needed, I grabbed a beverage (my usual cherry coke lol), we said bye to our parents (who were still in bed lol), and the cats, and hit the road. First stop was picking up Raven. We picked her up and then we officially were on our way to Dallas! 

We made one stop along the way, and that was at Buc-ees, b/c, well, we needed gas, plus, it’s Buc-ees. Lol. So, we got our gas, and also grabbed a snack. I got a chicken caesar salad and a pepsi icee. Then we drove the rest of the way to Dallas. We made really good time, and got there like 1 ½ hours before Check-in for our Hotel. So, we went to see if we could check in early, we couldn’t, b/c they didn’t have any King Suites available yet, but they allowed us to check our bags, and told us they’d call or text if our rooms were ready before 3p. So, we went to do a little exploring. There was a small park by our hotel, that had some Christmas decorations. We also popped into a Starbucks, but my sister & I didn’t get anything, only Raven did. We were going to chill there for a while, but..they closed. Lol. So, we went back to the park, and sat on a bench, and just did people and dog watching, chatting, and playing on our phones. Lol. Some kids came up selling bags of M&M’s for a $1, my sister and I declined, but Raven bought some (she loves M&M’s lol).

Our rooms weren’t ready before 3p, so at 3p we went back to the hotel, but only my sister’s room was ready. So, we got our bags, and went up to her room. We hung out in there, and I actually started to get ready for the concert, b/c our room was taking too long, lol. My outfit was a black lacy top, black leggings, and a maroon skirt, along w/ black boots. (Though at this point I was still wearing my tennis shoes lol)

My sister and I finally went down to see if our room was ready, and it was. So I got the room keys, and went back up, and Raven and I went to our room to finish getting ready.

Our hotel was Hotel Indigo, it was a pretty fancy hotel, located in Downtown Dallas, it stands where the Historic Dallas Opera house used to be. It was really nice and I loved it, but I think we felt a little out of place, lol. Anyway, we had two King Suites. One for my sister (which she was going to share w/ my brother & his girlfriend, but they didn’t come) and one for me and Raven. They were nice, they had a living room and a bedroom, a flat screen in both rooms, a really nice bathroom, a keurig, and a mini fridge. Mine and Raven’s suite was actually a little bigger lol.

So, once we were finally in our room, we finished getting ready. I did my hair(pig tails, w/ black and white bows, w/ metal buttons from Hot Topic, lol), makeup (literally just bb cream & lip gloss lol), put on jewelry(bangles, a cat ring on both ring fingers, my Buffy ring on my left ring finger and my ring from Sarah Rees Brennan on my right ring finger (yes, I wore two rings on each finger lol), I prepared my bag(tickets, id, money, lightstick, camera, portable phone chargers, etc), I put on my black boots, and then my sister met us at our room, and we went to dinner.

We went to a place called Zenna, which served Thai and Japanese food. And it just so happened to be Happy Hour, so I had a California roll and it was very good. We also had some edamame, and some spring rolls (which were some of the best spring rolls I’ve ever had). For my entree I had Teriyaki Chicken w/ fried rice, it was really good. I also had a coke for my drink. It was a really cool restaurant. Our waiter was also pretty cool, lol. We couldn’t finish our food, b/c there was so much, so we took the leftovers back to the hotel. (Leftovers I am currently eating while writing this post, lol) Raven and I then grabbed the things we’d forgotten, and then went back downstairs to get an uber and head to the venue. (My sister went back up to her room b/c she wasn’t going to the concert lol)

We took our uber to the venue, the guy literally got out of the car and opened the door for us, like a chauffer lol. (Raven followed along the route on her phone for as long as her phone would let her, and I followed it on google maps, I also texted my sister when we got in the uber, and when we got to the venue, for safety, always be cautious, you guys). And then stood in line for about an hour until doors opened at 7pm. We only had general admission tickets, so we didn’t get to meet Tiffany (this time, I’m hoping to get VIP the next time she tours, b/c I’m sure she’ll tour again, lol). The line wrapped around the side of the venue. It was cold, I brought my jacket, as I was wearing a lacy top, Raven had decided not to bring hers, b/c she was wearing a sweater, and we weren’t going to be outside very long. We ended up sharing my jacket back and forth, lol. A girl came around the line passing out glow sticks, we took them, but then after a while realized we didn’t want them, so we gave them to the people behind us, who were very happy to get them, b/c we’d gotten the last two. Some guys walked by offering “free hugs” and “free hugs from an Englishman” or something, Raven and I ignored them, lol. Once doors were open, the line moved pretty quickly, and we were inside by 7:04p. lol.

Once inside, we headed straight for the merch booth. I bought a tour t-shirt, the pen, and the photocard & stand set. Raven bought a lightstick. (I had my Girls’ Generation molar bong lol) Raven then bought a beer, and we went to find a place to stand, we were near the back. We took a pictures of our lightsticks together, and I was starting to accept that I would probably have a hard time seeing the stage, when the staff opened up the stairs to the balcony. Luckily, we were right by the stairs, so we booked it up there, and got a spot right on the railing, and I had a perfect view of the stage. (With a column blocking only a very small portion of the stage) I was right by the trash can, but it didn’t bother me (there wasn’t anything smelly in it) and it meant that there was no one but Raven beside me. Some girls asked Raven about her light stick, b/c it was the Tiffany Young one. Raven went down to buy another drink, and she bought me a coke. (B/c there was a $10 minimum & she needed to close out her tab lol) I took a few sips.

Then.

The show was starting. I had my lightstick in one hand, my camera in the other, and my coke at my feet (it was a bottled one lol). Everyone was chanting “TIFFANY! TIFFANY! TIFFANY!” the pink ocean below me was beautiful (I was part of a smaller pink ocean up top, but, of course, we were really all one pink ocean lol) Tiffany came out on stage dressed in sparkly blue shorts and a white top, white boots, blue lacy gloves, and a cowboy hat a fan had given her at the VIP Meet & Greet. I was floored. I was in awe. I was crying. I was screaming. I was singing. There in front of my eyes, in person, was the real life Tiffany Young of Girls’ Generation. I wasn’t looking at a screen, I was looking at the real Tiffany. She was singing Run For Your Life and I was so excited. I was filming, then I was taking pictures. She performed Over My Skin next. I’m not going to list the full set-list, b/c I can’t remember the order, and I can’t remember the names of some of the cover songs, lol. I didn’t film most of Run For Your Life and Over My Skin b/c I was taking pictures. Talk as well. I mastered, somewhat, the art of watching her on stage, and not looking at my camera, but keeping my camera on her. A few times it panned down to the audience, but, I mean, I was dancing and waving my lightstick and living in the moment! Because Tiffany Young was in front of me on stage putting on an amazing show and I was so so happy! Every song was more exciting, I didn’t touch my phone for 2 hours! I barely noticed how much my feet hurt (Raven and I both wore heeled boots, b/c they make our outfits look cool, and they make us taller, lol) I was living in the moment, I was seeing one of my idols, live and in person, for the very first time, after TEN YEARS of being a Sone. I was moved. It was..it was magnificent. I loved every second of it. I filmed most of the concert, though. Every song she performed, I just about died. Run Devil Run. Heartbreak Hotel. Teach You. All of them. I loved them all. She talked about how amazing we all are, and how much she loves us. She talked about mental health, and how important it is to take care of yourself, and to take care of those around you. She told us to let those we love and appreciate know we love and appreciate them. She interacted w/ us, and answered questions. She pointed out a fan w/ a rainbow flag. It was wonderful. It was magnificent. When the show ended, it felt like no time had passed, and I wanted it to go on forever! She came back out for the encore, and performed Magnetic Moon and Run For Your Life (again, I got it in full this time). And right as Run For Your Life ended, my camera died! Lol. I managed to get it back on to snap a few more picture, and then I put it away.

After the concert.

Once she had left the stage, and it was clear the show as over, Raven and I took some selfies, trying to get the stage behind us. And then staff told us they were closing off this section. So, I grabbed my coke from the floor, and we went back downstairs. We took a few more selfies, then tested Raven’s phone to see if we could order an uber, we could not b/c her phone wouldn’t come back on. So, we decided to use mine and order a lyft (b/c for some reason I had the lyft app already downloaded, even though I’d never used it before lol) We went outside, and it was freezing. We stood w/ the crowd by her tour bus for 20 minutes, while I tried to figure out the lyft app, and also hoping she would come out sooner rather than later..she didn’t come out before we left. But Raven was freezing, and our feet were killing us. So, we left to find one of the streets Lyft was telling us to go to. We found it, I ordered the lyft, and then we were on our way back to our hotel. (I texted my sister when we got in the lyft, and followed the route on both the lyft app, and google maps, for safety precautions) Once back at the hotel, I asked the front desk for some cutlery, so we could go up and eat our leftovers from dinner. Raven ate hers, but I only ate a few bites of mine, b/c it was cold and we didn’t have a microwave, lol. We went back down to the lobby in our pjs and bought powerades, lol. I made sure most of my stuff was packed, so the next morning wouldn’t be difficult, finished my powerade, brushed my teeth (and washed off my bb cream & lip gloss lol), had a bit of an issue when a very small cut started bleeding..but I dealt with it, it was fine. Lol. Then, we then watched some Holiday Baking competitions on the food network in bed, and then went to sleep. At least, she went to sleep, I was awake for longer than I wanted to be, b/c some of our neighbors were having a real good time, if you get what I mean. I also had a bit of a headache, which I assume was from the concert, b/c of the super loud music, and probably the crash from the adrenaline rush of the concert. I did eventually get some sleep though.

We did make one fatal mistake that night, part of the reason are feet were killing us at the concert is because..we wore the boots to dinner. We knew we were going to go back to the hotel after dinner, b/c we weren’t going to let my sister walk back alone, and we had things to get from the room, but we wore our boots anyway. So, our feet were already dead before we even left for the show.

Sunday November 17th 2019

Day after the concert.

I had set an alarm for 9:30a, so we woke up then. I actually set the alarm sound as Run For Your Life, b/c obviously. Lol. We got up, my feet were so sore, but so were my legs. I have a blister on one of my toes, lol. My sister texted saying to tell her when we were awake and ready to go. I told her we were awake, and we’d be ready soon. We got dressed and finished packing, I started drinking my coke from the night before (cause caffeine, also it surprisingly wasn’t flat! Lol). I took the shampoo & conditioner, and the lotion, b/c they were Rosemary Mint scented. Lol. I wore my Magnetic Moon Tour t-shirt, b/c of obvious reasons. I did not wear the boots, I probably won’t wear those boots for quite a while. Lol. We made sure we had everything all packed, and then we left the hotel at 10:30a.

We went back to the parking garage, and I was confused b/c I was looking for my sisters car, even though we came in my brothers. Lol.

Then, we went to a Japanese dollar store called Daiso, b/c we don’t have them here in Austin. It was so cool, and most things were $2. I ended up getting a cat fan, a purple erasable pen, a notebook, a pair of pink heart shaped glasses (like the ones from Taylor Swift’s You Need To Calm Down video, lol).  I also bought some soda flavored hi-chews that are fizzy (Raven says they’re really good), some cookies & cream pejoys. A Meiji Black Chocolate bar. A Dars white chocolate bar, that Raven said was a brand she loved in Japan. White chocolate coated cookies that Raven also said she loved in Japan. And a Hokkaido cream pastry, b/c, again, Raven said she loved them in Japan, lol. She actually got a green tea one, and I tried it and it was good, lol.

After Daiso, we headed to McAlister’s Deli to have lunch with my aunt and her boyfriend. (B/c they live in Ft. Worth.) I had the Four Cheese grilled cheese (though I took off the swiss, so it was a 3 cheese, lol, I also axed the tomato lol) a bag of chips, and a coke. We hung out and talked for a little while. And then we had to head out, so we could get back to Austin before it was dark.

So, we left Dallas/Fort Worth, and headed home. We stopped for gas. We stopped at a rest stop. And our only other stop was at Starbucks, where I got a Toasted White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino. We got back to Austin as the sun was setting. We dropped off Raven, right before the sun fully set. Then my sister and I drove home. When we got home, our mom was on the front porch (to smoke..b/c both of my parents still smoke), and so she opened the door for us, cause our hands were full, lol. Sister and I greeted all the cats, aside from Luna, who was still hiding. And gave them treats, but they didn’t eat them, lol. Then when my mom came inside, we showed her what we got at Daiso, and I showed her my merch. Luna eventually came out of hiding, and came straight over to me to say hello. I gave the cats treats again, and this time they wanted them. Lol. Then I ate half of my left-overs from Zenna (b/c I brought them all the way home lol). My sister & mom both seperatly ordered Panda Express through Uber Eats. Lol. My dad got home (he spends every Sunday over at his brother’s house for football lol). And, things were pretty normal for a Sunday night, lol. I was at my computer watching videos for a few hours, and scrolling Twitter. Occasionally going to talk to my mom. The cats have been doing their thing. And then I typed all this up, while eating the other half of my left-overs. Lol.

Overall it was an amazing weekend and I’m so happy I got to experience it with one of my best friends and my sister. I’m so happy I got to see Tiffany Young live. I think I’m still in shocked disbelief. Like, it feels like a dream. If not for my feet still being sore, and my merch, pictures, and videos, I probably would think it was a dream. Lol. It was the best weekend! 

[mnranger5]

Summer Vacation 2019, Omaha, Denver & Beaver Creek/Vail, 7/7/19 – 7/14/19

By: Daddy, Ashlynn, Brianna, Scarlett & Felicity

As we sat in the hottub on our final night in the gorgeous mountain resort, we asked the kids, what’s your favorite vacation we’ve taken as a family?  Runner up answers included Yellowstone, Disney and Chicago.  But overwhelmingly, the consensus #1 family vacation the Blaniels have taken is the vacation we were currently on!  Yep, Dyan and I struck vacation gold again!  Here’s how we got to that consensus!

 7/7/19

We were on the road by 6AM.  We weren’t traveling in an airplane, train, RV, transit van, or even Dyan’s SUV.  Nope, we rented a minivan for this excursion.  We picked up the van a day earlier so that Dyan and I could get everything loaded up the day before.  That made our morning departure so much easier – and less stressful!

Day one was a nice little drive down through Des Moines and over to Omaha.  We arrived at lunch time and quickly made our way into Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.  We did a summer vacation here four years ago, and it was absolutely, hands down the coolest zoo we’ve ever been to.

So, when we told the kids this was our first stop on the summer roadtrip, they were super excited. 

We explored the east side of the zoo, making sure we hit the Lied Jungle, Wild Kingdom Pavilion and Scott Aquarium.

Afterward, we made our way over the Hubbard Gorilla Valley, Orangutan Forest and the tiger and leopard habitat.

But the exhibit all the kids wanted to see was the African Safari area where you can view it from the air on the “Skyfari” Chairlift.

The rhinos, giraffes, zebras and lions were all in sight as we sailed across the park on the skyfari.  The kids favorite animals were:

Ashlynn: Deerbra - half deer, half zebra

Brianna: Sharks

Scarlett: Fennec Fox

Felicity: Aligators

Aidan: Gorilla

All Kids: Baby Orangatan

Prior to leaving, take one guess what we ended up doing?  GIFT SHOP!  The kids wandered the gift shop picking up every stuffed animal in the store.  Everybody wanted a stuffed animal, but nobody wanted to spend their own money.  So, Dyan and I did what we always do which is let the kids save their money, and we bought everybody new furry friends!!

By late afternoon, the temps were sweltering.  The kids needed some aquatic relief, so we headed back to the hotel and swam in the pool while deciding on dinner.  Dyan and I were trying to find a fun pizza joint when the kids unanimously voted (while in the pool) on Pot Belly and Cold Stone Creamery.  Both locations were less than a mile from our hotel.  Kids for the win.

Later that evening, we all went swimming again, complete with a very intense game of Marco Polo.

 7/8/19

The second consecutive morning, we were on the road by 6AM.  Denver-BOUND!  Outside of Omaha, Nebraska doesn’t have much to offer in terms of sightseeing, entertainment or roadside stops.  So, the kids did blew through their iPad batteries in record time as Dyan did her best to keep the kids screens charged with the two chargers we brought.  It was a carousel of iPhones and iPads rotating throughout the van.

We rolled into Denver shortly after 1PM.  Made a quick lunch stop at Chipotle before taking the kids out to Red Rocks.  There was scattered thundershowers in the area, but we timed it just right to miss most of the rain. 

The kids played around in the amphitheater area and posed for pictures in the rock formations just outside of the concert venue. 

The kids were adamant that they wanted to return here if Taylor Swift ever played a show at Red Rocks!

We then made the quick trip over to Golden, CO, to get checked into our hotel.  The kids swam in the pool for about 20 minutes before a big storm blew up on us and forced us back to the room.  No big deal!  We needed to get ready for dinner anyway.  After the rain had passed, we walked around the town of Golden checking out the gift shops and grabbing dinner at Woody’s.  Woody’s is a great little restaurant Dyan and I discovered on our trip here in 2014.  Delightful pizzas, and ice cold beer.  

Dyan and Jake for the win!  Of course, we followed up dinner with ice cream from Golden Sweets.

 7/9/19

This was the big day.  The day we’d finally reach our main destination for the summer vacation – VAIL, CO!  After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we were back on the highway, heading into the mountains.  The drive from Denver into the mountains never gets old.  Full of mountainous scenery and old mining towns, the interstate whisks you up, up and away into the snow capped Rocky Mountains.  About 45 minutes into the trip, we hit the Eisenhower Tunnel at Loveland Pass.  Once through the tunnel, we began the long steep downgrade into the Summit County Valley.  About 1/3rd of the way down the pass, the van started to vibrate a bit as I applied the brakes on the steep slope.  Not thinking anything of it, I continued to brake to keep my speed in check.  About half way down the pass , the van started shaking when I applied the brakes.  Something wasn’t right – but I wasn’t sure what was going on.  We continued.  We passed a sign that said something like, be cautious, you aren’t to the bottom yet.  At that exact moment, an overwhelming burning smell filled the cabin of the van.  I looked at Dyan.  We were both confused.  I braked hard and the van shook almost violently as I pulled her over on the shoulder.  The brakes were burning up.  Apparently, I had been applying them a bit too much, a bit too often.  Oops.  We sat on the shoulder, Dyan and I questioning, “What do we do?”.  Although neither of us said it, I know we were both imaging the worst case scenario where the van’s brakes went out leaving us with escalating speeds as we broke loose down the mountain desperately looking for one of those “Runaway Truck” ramps.  Thank God it didn’t come to that…

After about 5 minutes, the smell began to subside and we got back on the road.  The remainder of the drive through the mountains we much more uneventful now that I was aware of the touchy brakes in the minivan.  We entered into the Vail Valley around 9AM.  Vail Mountain is enormous as it towers over I-70.  It certainly looked like it would be one heck of an adventure during the ski season.  About 10 minutes past Vail is the town of Avon, which is at the base of Beaver Creek Ski Area – also a quaint resort tucked back in the mountains.  Sticking out high above the trees was our massive European-chalet-style resort, the Westin Riverfront at Beaver Creek.  The resort facility on it’s own would be spectacular, however, when you add in the setting of the snow capped mountains in all directions around it, the property is remarkably breathtaking.  How are we so lucky to be able to stay in a place fit for a king?

We couldn’t check into the property yet, so we headed into the gated mountain village of Beaver Creek, a short 2 mile drive up into the mountains.  

We browsed the gift shops and got a delicious fresh berry crepe at Rimini for us all to share – it didn’t last long.  But at $14/crepe, this was not going to be our lunch spot!

Back at the resort, the valet attendant recommended the Avon Bakery & Deli for lunch.  It was only a couple blocks away, so we could walk.  When we stepped inside the restaurant we could immediately tell this was no regular Subway or Potbelly.  Nope, it was ALL ORGANIC with bread straight out of the wheat field.  It was the kind of place that frowns on Pepsi and Coca Cola products – instead they produce their own small batch craft colas (complete with paper straws).  It’s definitely where the hippy, green, liberal, vegan, organic crowds congregate to “organize” and drink specialty coffee that is procured through community co-ops.  And it was pretty chaotic. There was a long counter, like at a fast food joint.  Behind the counter, there must have been a dozen people “working,” but really only 2 were actually doing anything.  The rest appeared to be sluggishly coming down from their pot high from the night before – afterall, the weed is legal in Colorado!  In front of the counter was a very small lobby, that was packed with loiterers who appeared to have skipped 1st grade when they learned the social skill called “line formation”.  There were people standing everywhere in the small lobby, some waiting on food, others wondering whether it was their turn to order, a few waiting for tables and many snaking their way through the crowd to the pop refill station.   Well, we entered like a tornado.  Picture five hungry kids on the brink of hunger meltdowns amongst pretentious tree-huggers that probably don’t care for kids to begin with.  Priceless. 

And speaking of priceless, the menu was priceless too.  We ordered 3 sandwich meals and 4 kids meals (flat meat hoagie w/ chips and a pop).  The bill was $130.  WHAT!?!  Kid meals turned out to be $14 and adults were $20.  For lunch meat!  Should have stayed at the Crepe stand!

After lunch, we rendezvoused back at the Westin and spent a couple hours enjoying the pool and hot tub.

Our big event of the day was whitewater rafting on the Lower Eagle River.  Late in the afternoon, we arrived at our river outfitter, Lakota Guides, where they quickly sized us for splash jackets, neoprene boots and helmets. 

We had about a 20 minute bus ride down river to the Wolcott BLM Campground.  Our group of about 40 people were divided up into 5 rafts. The Blaniels got their own raft!

The sunshine was sweltering, but the water temps were paralyzing.  When we booked this excursion in February, Lakota Guides indicated this river began taming in early July, and by mid-late July would have so little water that rafting closes.  The average water flow on the river is about 250cfs (cubic feet/second).     In a typical spring/summer, we’d be hitting the tail end of the snow meltoff, which should run closer to 1,000cfs.  But…..this winter/spring was a rarity in terms of how much snow Colorado Rockies got.  With data going back to 1882, Colorado had 60% more snow this winter than an average season.  In the middle of July, the peaks of the surrounding mountains were all snowcapped.  And due to the extreme heat over the past couple of weeks, the snow melt had intensified.  The waters were roaring down the mountains and flooding the normally trickling creeks and rivers.  The current was running about 3,500cfs.  The river was so ferocious, Lakota Guides called us a week earlier to inform us the minimum age requirement for our float was being increased from 6 years old to 9 years old.  Whew, Brianna would barely squeak by with 3 months to spare!

We boarded the raft with our guide, Byron.  Byron guided for many years on the Colorado River but has been retired from guiding for a couple years.  However, when the Lower Eagle River flooded in the past few weeks, and the rapids gained national attention due to the extreme runoff, he jumped out of retirement for the chance to guide on this intense stretch of river. 

The first 10 minutes of the float were relatively benign – a good stretch to get acclimated to the raft and paddle.  The water was ice cold as it was the product of melted mountian snowpack a mere 12 hours earlier.  Byron encouraged some playful splashing.  Brrr. 

As we proceeded down river, the rapids got more intense.  Not sure it was the vertical drop in the stream as much as how long the rapids were strewn out.  We were ripping from one rapid to the next with no real break in between.  It was awesome.  Unfortunately for me, I seemed to endure the brunt of the rapids.  Sitting opposite of the guide, the front right corner of the raft seemed to meet every rapid head on, soaking me in the icy water.

For the second straight year/vacation, the kids did as little as possible to actually help get the raft in position to take on the waves.  Instead of paddling, they were screeching with enjoyment as they splashed each other and rode bull on the front of the raft.  We had struck vacation gold.

As if the day couldn’t get any better, later in the evening we drove back up to Beaver Creek where they were showing a movie under the stars at the base of the ski hill.  We spread out blankets and brought snacks.  

By the end of the movie, we had all retreated to the fire pit viewing area as the chilly mountain temperatures set in. 

 7/10/19

This was our most adventurous day of the trip as we were spending the entire day using out Mountain Adventure passes at the summit of Vail Mountain.  The adventure passes were pretty sweet, and certainly a vacation highlight for all of us.

The excursion started with a 10 minute gondola ride to the to Eagle’s Nest.  The summit was covered with outdoor family activities.  

First up, the Forest Flyer Mountain Coaster.  Its like bobsledding on rails.  The ride lasts about a minute, but sends you flying down the mountain at speeds over 40mph.  The vertical drop of the coaster is 3,400 feet.  That is a bigger drop than nine Welch Village ski runs (360 ft.) stacked on top of each other!  This would proves to be such a family favorite, we came back to ride a second time later in the afternoon.

Next up was the Bungee Trampoline, which also was a favorite, and experienced twice during our stay.  Who knew doing flips on these was so difficult!

The third activity of the day was the ropes course.  Aidan and Ashlynn braved the Gore Range Adventure Course scaling and crossing obstacles suspended by cable more than 30 feet in the air. 

By this point, the kids started to split up, as not everybody wanted to do the same activities.  

Brianna and Felicity did the Game Creek Zip Lining Tour before joining Scarlett at the Paramount Peak Climbing Wall.

Then they all did Eagle’s Nest Tubing and the Marmot Mini Kids Tubing.  

Even though the kids tubing was for a younger crowed, our kids loved getting sprayed with water on the hot summer afternoon.  For how hot it was, we were surprised to see see piles of (dirty) snow on the ski hill.

Before doing some second and third passes on the adventure course, we had a great sit down lunch at Eagle’s Nest Restaurant.  And by 4PM, we were exhausted.  The sun and altitude were getting to everybody.  We needed to cool down and get back down the mountain.

Once in Vail Village, we found Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream, and a fountain in the middle of the village.

Later that evening, Dyan got the girls all dolled up and we went out for pizza.  

Since it was such a beautiful evening, we got some great pics of the kids around the resort.

7/11/19

Pool Day!  We were at the pool by 10AM, staking claim to front row at the pool – a very highly coveted location.  While the kids frolicked in the pool, Dyan and I picked up Starbucks and a grab bag of candy for them.  They literally played in the pool, ALL.  DAY.  LONG.

That night, we went to the Beaver Creek Rodeo, which was a lot of fun for the kids.  

There was candy, face painting, pony rides and even a calf chase (for prizes) where the kids got to go out into the rodeo.

But the unexpected highlight of the night was an evening dip in the pool.  As dusk settled in, storm were springing all around us, but our resort seemed to dodge most of them.  We all sat in the hot tub and reminisced about our favorite and least favorite vacations.  When we asked the kids what their least favorite family vacation had been, Ashlynn put it best when she said, “I wouldn’t call any of our vacations bad, it’s just that some, (Disney) are better than others.”  All the kids agreed, this vacation IS the BEST.  Dyan and I tended to agree.  Being at a 5-star resort with the kids is a dream come true, and best of all, the kids are finally at an age where they can begin to appreciate the significance of this kind of vacation.

Out of nowhere, the clouds opened up and began downpouring on us.  What would have been the end of the night for most families turned into just the beginning for us.  The kids shrieked as the cold raindrops poured down on them.  But we had no plans to let this “rain on our parade.”  We played right though the thunderstorm.  We swam in the pool for 3 hours that evening, until it closed at 11PM.  There was a flag banner than stretched across the pool.  We spent well over an hour taking running jumps into the pool, trying to touch the flags.  It was an absolute riot.  It was my favorite night of the vacation.  Sadly, it was also, our last night at Beaver Creek…

 7/12/19

…But our vacation was not over.  Nope, not in the least, we had a few more things to do and see.  Our morning started off with a huge, delicious, breakfast at Northside Kitchen.

Next stop, Keystone, CO.  This is the ski area Aaron and I skied at in March.  We arrived a couple hours early, so we spent some time shopping around the ski village and feeding the gigantic rainbow trout in Keystone Lake.

Our big adventure of the day was horseback riding through the Arapaho National Forest.  After arriving at Keystone Stables, we all got assigned horses:

Ashlynn: Angus

Brianna: Peanut

Scarlett: Scout

Felicity: Rio

Aidan: Teddy

Dyan: Rocky

Me: Hack

We bought a 90 minute trail ride through the national forest.  I’ve been on a few trail rides in my days and they’ve run the gamut of good to bad.  Some are just walks along a dirt path which can get pretty monotonous.  Keystone Stables had a different kind of ride in mind for us. One that would test our abilities of riding horse while climbing the side of a mountain in one of the most picturesque national forests in the country.  To say it was anything less than phenomenal would be straight up inaccurate.

The ride started with a gentle stroll through the pasture toward the base of the mountain.  This would be the only chance we’d have to get acclimated to the horse.  We quickly ventured into thick forest and steep, uphill terrain.  At times, the trails were so narrow, our horses had us brushing up on trees and rock ledges.  We climbed over 2,000 feet up the side of the mountain as we moseyed along switchbacks and across avalanche slide areas.  And for some reason, Dyan and I got the problem ponies.  It seemed as though Rocky hadn’t gotten enough lunch.  He kept stopping to eat the grass, which was a “No-No” in the national forest.  No amount of pulling the reins was going to stop his afternoon snack.  And Hack also had an issue.  He’d act like a pokey puppy creating 20-30 yards between us and Dyan/Rocky before going into a full blown trot, almost gallop in an effort to catch up. Our guide noticed this one occasion and asked me to keep our speed in check.   Oopsie.

The ride down the mountain was probably more fun than the ride up had been, because we had to do a lot of leaning back to help keep the horses speed and balance in check as they ventured down the steep terrain. The kids absolutely loved the trail ride and grew quite fond of their equestrian companions.  After we got home from the trip, we asked the kids what their favorite excursion was on the trip.  Trail ride.  Unanimous. Vacation Gold!

We made the hour drive back to Denver, with a picturesque stop at Loveland Pass.

But before the night was complete, we had another special treat for the kids. Dinner.  But not just any dinner.

Our reservations were right at 6PM.  Our venue was the iconic, Buckhorn Exchange! The kids went crazy over all the stuffed animals in the place.  We played a cutthroat game of “I Spy” pointing out the most obscure and unique animals in the restaurant.  

When it was time to order, the kids went with some unique plates too.  For starters, we all shared the cheesy rattlesnake dip, which was an absolute hit. EVERYBODY tried it!  

For dinners, Aidan got a Buffalo ribeye and Scarlett they Buffalo cheeseburger.  Ashlynn and Brianna ordered ribs while Felicity wanted chicken fingers.  Dyan and I split the filet and quail dinner. Everybody enjoyed their meals, however, the quail was nothing to write home about.

After dinner, we spent the evening at the downtown Sheraton hotel, rooftop pool.

 7/13/19

The morning started off with a 1st breakfast at the Sheraton Club Lounge.  We met the manager in the lounge, and he was quite impressed with the kids behavior among the group of business travelers enjoying a quite breakfast.  He called down to the main hotel kitchen and had them prepare some giant, fresh, warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookies!  They were absolutely delightful.  After checking out of the hotel, the kids had their 2nd breakfast at Krispy Kreme, right next door.  The sugar would be running high today.

The drive to Omaha should have been super long, and boring, but we came up with a new game.  As the kids played on iPads, Dyan and I started a competition.  The good ‘ol A-Z game.  Simple rules, find a license plate or word that begins with A before progressing to B, then C, and so forth.  The game got feisty as Dyan pulled way out ahead when I could not complete the letter “Q.”  Eventually I did, and came back to beat here at the very end when she was stuck on “X.” But it didn’t stop there.  We then decided to make it a team effort to do the same with numbers.  A daunting task.  The challenge would be going from 1-100, and then completing A-Z.  We’d have today’s and tomorrow’s drives to complete the challenge. It started out easy.  One through nine was a piece of cake.  But things got way more difficult once we reached double digits.  The game was full of frustrations.  We must have passed a dozen signs for Highway ”25” in North Platte, but we unfortunately were stuck on number 24.  We scoured the sides of semi’s, road signs, speed limit signs and gas prices.  Midway through the day, Aidan decided to join the game, AGAINST us.  He caught up in a hurry when we stopped at Sonic for lunch and he counted 1-28 on the drive-up stalls.  Lucky. By the time we reached Omaha, we were both in the 60’s, setting us up for a challenging ride home tomorrow.

That evening, we went to Oklahoma Joe’s for BBQ dinner before retiring to the hotel to let the kids unwind with the Lion King movie.

7/14/19

We reached the final day of the vacation. We spent the morning back at the Omaha Zoo checking out some of the attractions we had missed earlier in the trip. We went to the Desert Dome & Kingdoms of the Night.  The Desert Dome is such a cool attraction, but we had never been to the Kingdoms attraction.  It’s housed underneath the Desert Dome and the dark stairwell to get there is quite unassuming.  But wow, did it ever pop a punch!  It’s basically a nocturnal animal exhibit, so it’s very dark.  But wow, the exhibits are so amazing.  The snakes, alligators, bats and other creatures make this a must see.

We did a couple other exhibits before packing up and getting back on the road for home.  We continued playing the numbers and alphabet game.  The kids had lost a little interest, but Dyan and I were going strong.  I swear, some of the number took over 30 minutes to locate, and when we did, we had some loud celebrations and high fives.  The kids, and passer-byers, must have thought we were crazy.  By Des Moines, we had reached the 80’s.  Just outside of Des Moines, we hit a lucky stretch of numbers and we wrapped up with 1-100 around Ames.  Back to the alphabet.  We needed A-Z before we got home.  While we thought this part of the game would be easier, it ended up be more difficult than we thought.  Interstate 35 is not the heavily traveled semi-truck route that I-80 is.  Less semi’s means less signage.  But, we did have billboards on our side.  Signs like Dairy Queen, Wanamingo, Xpress Scripts helped us seal the deal.  Just outside of Fairbault was the “Zumbrota Mazepa” sign.  That was the “Z” we needed! We found the 126 total signs were looking for!

Around 5PM, we pulled up to the house.  After 2,146 miles, it was home sweet home!  Another remarkable trip in the books.

[brittanyspeirce]

Rules: answer all questions, add one question of your own and tag as many people as there are questions. Tagged by @acciolunalovegood & @slytherin--king (I did a mix of both of your questions at the end, they’re different from each others!) Thanks for Tagging me!! <3

1. coke or pepsi: Neither, I have coke more tho 2. disney or dreamworks: Disney 3. coffee or tea: Tea 4. books or movies: Books 5. windows or mac: Windows 6. dc or marvel: DC 7. x-box or playstation: x-box 8. dragon age or mass effect: I don’t know what this is?? 9. night owl or early riser: Both tbh. Depends what day. 10. cards or chess: Both, I love chess bc it gets me thinking and cards is just fun. 11. chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate 12. vans or converse: Keds Neither 13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar: Who? 14. fluff or angst: Fluff 100% 15. beach or forest: Forests 16. dogs or cats: Dogs  17. clear skies or rain: Clear skies in the early morning/night rain during the day. 18. cooking or eating out: Cooking 19. spicy food or mild food: Mild, I can’t hanDLE THE H  E  A  T 20. halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas: Christmas by far.  21. would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot: A little too cold.. 22. if you could have a superpower, what would it be: For my wishes to come true? is that a power lmao?? 23. animation or live action: Idek 24. paragon or renegade: wot. 25. baths or showers: Showers 26. team cap or team ironman: Cap for sure. 27. fantasy or sci-fi: both, leans to fantasy tho 28. do you have three or four favourite quotes, if so what are they: “Books are easily destroyed. But words will live as long as people can remember them.” ― Tahereh Mafi, Unravel Me “You are not the opinion of someone who doesn’t know you.” ― Taylor Swift “If not me, who? If not now, when?” ― Emma Watson 29. youtube or netflix: Both  30. harry potter or percy jackson: Harry Potter  31. when you feel accomplished: When I actually do something right that I thought I'd do wrong. 32. star wars or star trek: uhm. haven’t seen either. 33. paperback books or hardback books: Hardback books. 34. horror or rom-com: rom-com. I cannot watch horror 35. tv shows or movies: Both 36. favorite animal: Again; pigs bc they taste nice. Or goldfish, they’re underrated. 37. favorite genre of music:   Modern Rock, Country(-Pop) idk what genres I listen to, I just listen. 38. least favorite book: hmm. Idk I always find good things about the books I read, sooo.. 39. favourite season: Winter or Autumn. 40. song that’s currently stuck in your head: Atlantis  ― Bridget Mendler 41. what kind of pyjama’s do you wear: Sweatpants and random shirts with an old jacket of a sort. 42. if you could be any fictional character’s best friend, who’d you be? Hermione? Betty Cooper? Annabeth? Primrose, man the list goes on.. 43. If you can only choose one song to be played at your funeral, what would it be: One day by Kodaline? Honestly idk. 44. Smiling or smirking? Smiling, how do u even smirk lmao  45. Harry Potter movies or books: books  Mine: 46. Something you’re proud of:  I Tag: @retiredvoldemort @frost-guardian @simplywolfstar @curlyhairedhufflepuff @keepingmymuggleshittogether @newtonartemiis@i-heart-hogwarts @pizza-is-daddy-af (-coz you wanted to lmao) And anyone else who wants to do it!!

[musicalhog]

I was tagged by @upslapmeal​ (thank you!!)

Rules: Answer all the questions, then add one of your own, and tag as many people as there are questions (PSHHH)

1) Coke or Pepsi? i like both! i probably can’t tell the difference

2) Disney or Dreamworks? aw yoooo i don’t like to contribute to this stupid dichotomy. i love animation. 

3) Coffee or tea? not a huge fan of either, but i’ll go with tea. hot chocolate tho

4) Books or movies? probably movies, but it totally depends. 

5) Windows or Mac? windows but i don’t have much experience of mac so who knows

6) D.C. or Marvel? neither no neither

7) Xbox or PlayStation? plAYSTATION. OMG. ICO SOTC LAST GUARDIAN PERSONA SPYRO CRASH HARVEST MOON BACK TO NATURE JAK AND DAXTER

8) Dragon age or mass effect? i haven’t played either but i would definitely like to give dragon age a shot! mass effect doesn’t interest me.

9) Night owl or early riser? i’m kind of a mix?? i can function fine at any time of day really. i can stay up till 3am and then get up at 7am and i’m pretty much okay. 

10) Cards or chess? hmmMMm i’m gonna say chess even though i’m awful at it. but i bought myself a tiny tiny cute pocket chess set on holiday last year and it’s so lovely.

11) Chocolate or vanilla? nooo but i like both! it depends.

12) Vans or converse? i guess converse? but i don’t wear either.

13) Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash or Adaar? WHAT

14) Fluff or angst? fluff

15) Beach or forest? forest (although rocky beaches~~)

16) Dogs or cats? cats! dogs are great though.

17) Clear skies or rain? rain 

18) Cooking or eating out? cooking! when i’m not feeling lazy. 

19) Spicy or mild food? *whispers* mild. i’m sorry

20) Halloween/Samhain or solstice/yule/Christmas? christmas. so much. 

21) Would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot? a little too cold for sure. 

22) If you could have a superpower what would it be? stopping time i think. did anyone ever watch Bernard’s Watch? i envied that kid.

23) Animation or live action? ANIMATION

24) Paragon or renegade? WHAT

25) Bath or shower? shower

26) Team Cap or team Ironman? team the incredibles (leaving this the same ;))

27) Fantasy or sci-fi? mmmm fantasy i guess

28) Do you have 3 or 4 favourite quotes if so what are they? i’m not a huge quotes person tbh

29) YouTube or Netflix? i guess youtube?? 

30) Harry Potter or Percy Jackson? harry potter!

31) When do you feel accomplished? rarely.

32) Star Wars or Star Trek? star wars 

33) Paperback books or hardcover books? i love hardcover books. i love how they usually look even nicer without their little jacket on. 

34) Fantastic beasts or Cursed child? i’ve only seen fantastic beasts. can i just say...original harry potter. 

35) Rock or pop music? i guess pop but idk

36) What is the most important thing in your life? video games and movies and cartoons omg i’m barely even kidding

37) Mountains or sea/ocean? mmmm mountains i think I KEEP WANTING TO SAY BOTH THIS IS SO HARD

38) How do you express yourself? i don’t really know actually?? like i draw and i play music but i dunno if i’m expressing myself that much through it. i’m very much in my head most of the time. 

39) What’s the first book/film that really counted to you? i think the lion king has always meant a lot to me. and the land before time. idk though because they became more meaningful as i grew up, so i can’t say when they really started *counting* to me. AW BUT. i have this memory of being at my grandparents’ house and i was upstairs in the ~library~ and i managed to read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss the whole way through on my own and i rushed downstairs and told my mum and dad like !!! omg i just read a book all by myself for the first time!! and then i read it to them. i was maybe 5 idk. SO MAYBE THAT COUNTS. I DON’T KNOW. 

40) What’s your element (air, water, etc.)? okay i took a quiz and i got water

41) If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? japan *_*

42) If you had any job in the world, what would it be? i don’t knowww. this is very much the kind of crisis i’m having in life at the moment. like...do i want an artistic job in animation or game development?? or do i want to continue with the conservation type path with animals and science. I don’t knooOWW

43) If you were granted three wishes, what would they be? this is too much responsibility. :( i honestly think i would never use the wishes like i never use up cute stickers. 

44) If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?yeah it’s gotta be pasta. 

45) What’s currently the most pressing issue on your mind, and what’s stopping you from fixing it? it’s unfortunately something really depressing :( and there’s no way i can fix it :( so that’s fun

46) What is your dream companion animal? ahhhh i’ve always wanted to live in the His Dark Materials universe (or one of them...you know what i mean) to find out what my daemon would be. i’d kind of like it to be a bird of some sort?? a crow would be cool.

47) Raptors or songbirds? songbirds

48) Do you think there is life on other planets in universe? there was an article recently on how it’s actually KIND OF LIKELY that there is life on other planets?? which is so exciting?? because of this evidence they’ve found of life on earth like 4.2 billion years ago. i think...i think i do believe that there’s life on other planets, but by life i mean. tiny little bacteria type life. 

49) What’s your strangest childhood memory? i have this really early memory of sitting on the stairs talking to my dad and the Teletubbies was about to come on, so Dad was telling me ‘Quickly! Teletubbies is about to start!!’ and I replied saying just ‘Teletubbies’ or something. And then Dad tried to correct how i was saying teletubbies as if i’d mispronounced it. so i was like... ‘teletubbies’. and he corrected me again. and it’s just this weird memory of me clearly not saying something right, but AT THE TIME i was like wtf?? i’m saying teletubbies what is your problem?? idk it’s not that strange. it’s just interesting how language develops. i was SO SURE i was saying it right but i was probably just spewing garbage teletubbies tho. maybe teletubbies in general is my strangest childhood memory.

my question! 50) what is your perfect breakfast?

i’m just gonna tag a few people but you obviously don’t have to do it! @frxstguardian @gingermalarkey @samanthastral @simoa @briannathestrange

[scarletxwitchcraft]

THE BASICS:

Name?: Wanda Maximoff Nicknames?: Maximoff, Little Witch, Scarlet Witch What’s the meaning of their name?: Wanda possible means the Germanic name ‘a Wend’, referring to the Slavic people who inhabited east Germany. Can also be traced back to the daughter of King Krak, the legendary founder of Krakow.  Age?: 17 Height?: 5′6″ Weight?: 121 lbs Eye color?: Blue Hair Color?: Brunette Distinguishing features?: Red irsis’ when focusing powers, wavy hair, cobalt eyes. Distinguishing marks?: N/A Birthplace?:  Sokovia

THE  DETAILS:

Describe their wardrobe: Wanda’s wardrobe is quintessential grunge. She often has unique pieces in her wardrobe and often pairs typical female clothing with items that are quite masculine such as biker boots, combat boots or Dr. Martens. She also has a thing for leather jackets. Her staple colours are shades of black, grey and red with some other colours here and there. She also has a lot of necklaces, bracelets and rings she wears, often wearing a combination of all of them. Her make-up can vary from being just a touch of mascara to a heavy smokey eye and dark lip. She often wears her hair natural, messy waves. Describe their taste in music: Wanda listens to music such as Radiohead, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, The Runaways, Suzie Quatro, Joan Jett and Iggy Pop and The Stooges. Describe their childhood: Wanda’s childhood was relatively normal until her powers awakened like her brother’s. Still, her childhood was peaceful and rather quaint all things considering. Nothing too out the ordinary. Describe their family and their relationship with them: Wanda isn’t too close to anyone though she is on good terms with her mother, she often considered Pietro being the sibling who was closer to her. However, she is extremely close to Pietro, even more so now her powers have awakened. Describe their fears: Losing Pietro. Losing control of her unpredictable powers and hurting everyone around her. Describe their wants: Wanda wants to be normal and have no powers. If she is going to be stuck with the powers that she has, she wants to learn what they are and to just keep them in check rather than train them for combat purposes. Describe their strengths and weaknesses: Wanda is a caring and nurturing figure and despite her shy nature. She is protective of those she cares about and her brother but is often painfully loyal to him, sometimes at the misfortune of others. She is often hesitant to use her powers or to speak up but perhaps that confidence is deep down within her. Describe how they got here to Xavier’s: Wanda came alongside with her brother at him convincing her. Describe their relationships 

Pietro - Twin Brother; She is extremely close to her twin brother, Pietro, and they stick together through anything. She is painfully loyal and dependent on him to the point it could be detrimental to others. However, despite her shyness and apparent lack of independence, being in her outgoing brother’s shadow, he depends on her also as she provides him a motherly figure who takes care of him. The simple rule if anyone hurt either twin, you know for sure the other would be there to settle the score.

Erik - Father; Unrevealed and as of yet, do not share much of a relationship though he encourages her to tap into her unlimited potential.

Describe their daily routine: Wanda usually starts her day showering and grabbing a light breakfast after getting ready. She is prompt to class if not early and often keeps to herself unless she is with Pietro where the twins then isolate the others away from them so they can enjoy their own company with one another. After that, Wanda often seems to go into seclusion and would often be found in the library or in her room. Sometimes she will be outside, especially somewhere quiet. When it comes to combat, Wanda often refuses to take part after her powers went out of control during one session which makes her too scared to go back and try. She often goes with her brother to the mall with her brother where they go to the arcades so he can play or she picks up bits and pieces. Describe their hobbies: Wanda loves to read about things, especially when it comes to magic, liking that fairy tales always have a happy ending. She also enjoys music a lot which sometimes helps her relax if she feels overstimulated by her powers. She also enjoys collecting pieces of jewellry no matter the value, especially vintage pieces.

THE FAVORITES:

Color: Red, Black Music: Rock Ice cream: Strawberry Food: Paprikash Subject: English Literature Drink: Tea Movie: The Shining Song: Suzi Quatro - Wild One. In 1986 it will be the Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd - Sea, Swallow Me. Book: Witches of Eastwick by John Updike Teacher: Erik Lehnsherr Person: Pietro Place to Eat: Dining room at home. Actor/Actress:  Michael Douglas & Jodie Foster Board game: Scrabble Sport: Track Holiday: Halloween Artist: Lee Brown Coye & Edward Gorey

THIS OR THAT

Coke-a-Cola or Pepsi Cola? Pepsi Cola Dog or Cat? Cat Rich friend or Loyal friend? Loyal friend Football or Baseball? Baseball Bath or Shower? Bath Which is Worse: Laundry or Dishes? Dishes Passenger or Driver? Passenger Visiting Disney or the Park? Park Coffee or Tea? Tea Winter or Summer? Winter Card Games or Board Games? Board games Tv or Movies? Movies Alone or With a Team? Team Comic Book or Comic Strips? Comic book

[jindoshriddle]

I was tagged by @die-schwarze-witwe {Sorry it took me so long to actually do!!}

1. Ever traveled outside your own continent? Yes! Mostly because my dad was a member of the US Army, we lived in Panama for 6 months shortly after I was born, then in Shape, Belgium when I was about 2-3. I obviously don’t remember a lot of that, but I also got to visit my parents in Germany this past Christmas season!

2. Dream hairstyle? I would just love for my hair to be a little bit longer. I will keep my undercut for quite a while, I just wanna be able to do shit with the rest of my hair.

3. First film you’ve ever seen in cinema? I’mma have to get back to you on that, lol. It was probably the Lion King or something.

4. What’s a really good film you’ve recently watched? I haven’t had a whole lot of time to sit down and watch any films recently. Um... lol. The last one I sat and watched was Rogue One because my roommate hadn’t seen it yet!

5. Would you like to get married/Are you married? I would like to be married some day, but that requires I actually find someone who wants to put up with my ass for that long, haha.

6. Where would you love to live and in what? House, apartment? I’m... Really not picky. I kind of fell in love with Germany while I was there but to be honest, as long as I have a roof over my head I’m pretty damn happy. I just want room for a couple of dogs and my random bullshit collection.

7. Favourite beverage? I have a signature drink at the coffee shop I frequent! It’s a blended mix of one of their house made syrups (Green Apple/Kiwi), Blue Raspberry syrup, matcha powder, and Rockstar. They call it the Super K! 

8. What’s something you’re talented at? My friends tell me I’m pretty okay with photography. lol. I like playing with my camera, so there’s that. 

9. Favourite item of clothing? I have this ridiculously plain Adidas track jacket that my roommates gave me. Thing is like 2 sizes too big but I wear it every day because it’s cozy.

10. Where did you travel last? Germany!

11. A question you would ask your country’s president? “Are you really, actually this fucking stupid?” or “Can you make everyone’s lives easier and just step down already?”

Eleven more - here we go!

1. If you could travel anywhere, where would it be? South Korea, India, Poland, and/or back to Germany.

2. What’s your middle name? Dawn.

3. iPhone or Android? Android.

4. Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi.

5. Favourite genre of music? I used to be more metal/rock, but I listen to a lot of pop these days...

6. Would you consider yourself a cat or dog person? Overall, definitely a dog person. I do also have and love my cat though.

7. Do you have a good relationship with your mother? Absolutely. My mom is my best friend in the entire world. I love her to pieces.

8. Do you have any siblings? I have two older half brothers. I can’t be bothered to remember how old they are, nor can they really be bothered with me.

9. What colour are your eyes? Gray/Blue

10. Do you have/want children? I would love children at some point, honestly. It will probably be through adoption unless I have a partner that is able to carry children. Until that day, I have my beautiful little niece to love on as she grows up thanks to my roomie. <3

11. Favourite animal? Whales and Sharks... I... Just... Have a lot of feelings about whales and sharks. /coughs. 

I tag... Anyone who is interested!! {I am so sorry, I am running behind for something and don’t have time to pick people out!}

[deepasfunk-blog]

Top 5 Super Bowl Halftime Shows Ever

The Super Bowl Halftime Show is one of the biggest musical spectacles of the year, but it wasn’t always that way. Prior to 1993, the performances were all relatively dry, consisting of local marching bands and other smaller acts. Then, everything changed. Now, it has become an honor for an artist to be nominated as the halftime performer. The acts continue to push the boundaries of entertainment with gigantic props, daring obstacles, and riveting social statements. This year, Justin Timberlake has been dubbed the 2018 Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime performer, despite his highly-criticized incident during the 2004 performance. In honor of the NFL’s recent announcement, here are the top five Super Bowl Halftime Shows of all-time.

Honorable Mention: Janet Jackson & Justin Timberlake (2004)

It’s nearly impossible to write anything about Super Bowl performances without at least mentioning what happened on February 1, 2004. Janet Jackson shared the stage with then 23-year-old Justin Timberlake, as the duo performed his hit song, “Rock Your Body.” JT proceeded to accidentally rip off a portion of Jackson’s wardrobe that exposed one of her breasts. The rest, as they say, is history. Oddly enough, this incident is largely responsible for the creation of YouTube, so it wasn’t all bad.

No. 5: Lady Gaga (2017)

Lady Gaga’s performance at the Super Bowl LI Halftime Show is certainly going to be remembered as one of the greats. The act embodied the meaning of entertainment, combining music with fireworks, drones, light shows, and acrobatics. Her lineup of hit songs could rival that of any other halftime show in history. The NFL has claimed that based on statistics gathered from television, digital, and social media viewership, her halftime show in Houston was the most-watched musical event of all-time.

No. 4: Katy Perry (2015)

In 2015, Katy Perry broke the internet when she came out on a GIANT, gold mechanical tiger during her opening song, “Roar.” The show didn’t stop there, as Missy Elliott rose from the dead to make an appearance that had the stadium rockin in Phoenix, Arizona. Neither of the popular artists were the biggest star of the show though. That title belonged to none other than Left Shark.

No. 3: U2 (2002)

Bono is one of the biggest celebrities worldwide and is renowned for his philanthropic efforts, so U2 was the perfect choice for the first Super Bowl after 9/11. The band performed an excellent tribute to the victims by scrolling their names while playing “Where the Streets Have No Name.” At the end of the song, Bono pulled his suit jacket open to reveal the patriotic inseam of stars and stripes. Ironically, the New England Patriots pulled one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history.  

No. 2: Prince (2007)

Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, and three years later, he graced the stage in Miami for one of the most epic halftime shows ever. The singer of the monster hit “Purple Rain” performed in the middle of a downpour… what are the chances?! He played some Foo Fighters, some Queen, and of course, to top it all off, he rocked a filthy guitar solo on his iconic purple axe. Unreal.

No. 1: Michael Jackson (1993)

To be honest, Michael Jackson was an easy pick here. He was the first artist to turn the Super Bowl Halftime Show into an event all its own. The King of Pop played hit songs like “Jam” and “Billie Jean” before closing with “Heal the World,” as the entire crowd of nearly 100,000 fans sang along with him. He created it, and he mastered it… and for that, he sits atop this list.

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

13 super last minute Halloween costumes inspired by 2017 pop culture

Look, we all want to be something great for Halloween, but life gets in the way and makes it difficult to put together an elaborate costume. 

If you want to join in on the fun, but haven't started planning months in advance, this list is made for you. Especially if you keep a close eye on pop culture.

SEE ALSO: 19 iconic fictional friendship costumes that you and your bestie can recreate this Halloween

From Queen B to Get Out, we have all iconic 2017 pop culture moments that are easy to recreate last minute.

DJ Khaled

Image: paras griffin/Getty Images for BET

What to wear: Your key items are lots of bling, sneakers, and a baby/baby doll with a cooler wardrobe than you. 

Just make sure you walk around confidently while holding said baby — who must be wearing a gold chain too large for his body. Every now and then yell out, "Another one," "we the best" or "perhaps" with lots of emphasis on the "S."

Salt Bae

Image: giphy

What to wear: All you need is a white tee, small, round sunglasses, a ponytail, and, of course, salt. 

Make sure to throw the salt with your hands in the most dramatic manner possible and you're set.

Andrew from Get Out

Andrew Logan King (left) and Chris Washington (right) from "Get Out"

Image: Universal pictures

What to wear: This is the perfect costume for a fancier party. You need a tan blazer, a straw fedora, khaki dress pants, an off-white polo shirt, some loafers, and a fake nosebleed.

Kendall Jenner

Image: giphy

What to wear: A plain white t-shirt, blue jeans, a denim jacket, a brown wig, and a Pepsi can is all you need to be a little controversial this Halloween.

The new Taylor Swift 

Image: giphy

What to wear: If you can't come to the phone right now, this costume is perfect for you. Just put on a sparkly dress, lots of jewelry, red lipstick with matching long nails, a blonde wig, and act extra all night long. Oh, and your phone, of course. 

Jughead from Riverdale

Image: giphy

What to wear: If you have own a gray beanie, congratulations, you have the key component to your costume. Just make sure you incorporate lots of black and gray, and make plenty of snarky, condescending comments.

Georgie from IT

Image: warner bros.

What to wear: Literally all you need is a yellow rain coat and a red balloon to complete your costume.

Pregnant Beyonce

A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Feb 1, 2017 at 10:39am PST

What to wear: Whether you're expecting a real baby or just a food baby, this is an easy one. Make sure you wear a burgundy bra or bikini top, baby blue satin bottoms, a green veil, and a curly caramel brown/blonde wig.

Eminem

What to wear: This is ideal if you want to be comfy all night long. The color black is the key here—hoodie, shirt, sweatpants, and a cap. Add in a gold chain with the sneakers of your choice. Don't be afraid to unleash your inner rapper by doing some freestyling of your own.

Rihanna in Wild Thoughts 

Image: giphy

What to wear: For this iconic RiRi music video look, you'll need floral print pants, an off-the-shoulder red crop top, a colorful head scarf, large gold hoop earrings, aviator sunglasses, and red lipstick.

Barack Obama on vacation

Image: Jack Brockway/Getty Images

What to wear: This especially works if you're still in summer vacation mode. You need black sunglasses, a water ski life jacket, and a salt and pepper hair/wig.

Baby from Baby Driver

Image: giphy

What to wear: This is as simple as it gets. You need just three things to pull off this costume — a varsity jacket, sunglasses, and earphones. Bonus: you can just leave music playing in the headphones and you won't have to speak to anyone all night!

Frank Ocean

Image: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

What to wear: You need a T-shirt that sends out a strong, positive message, like the one above which reads, "WHY BE RACIST, SEXIST, HOMOPHOBIC OR TRANSPHOBIC WHEN YOU COULD JUST BE QUIET?" To complete this look, wear black headphones and spray paint your hair blue.

WATCH: Here’s our picks for 5 best horror tropes of all time

[wintershoujo]

long shit i hate typing 👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good shit go౦ԁ sHit👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌shit right👌👌th 👌 ere👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my selｆ 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO0ОଠＯOOＯOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good shit Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands! The Boy Bands Have Won, and All The Copyists and The Tribute Bands and The TV Talent Show Producers Have Won, If We Allow Our Culture To Be Shaped By Mimicry, Whether From Lack Of Ideas Or From Exaggerated Respect. You Should Never Try To Freeze Culture. What You Can Do Is Recycle That Culture. Take Your Older Brother’s Hand-Me-Down Jacket and Re-Style It, Re-Fashion It to the Point Where It Becomes Your Own. But Don’t Just Regurgitate Creative History, Or Hold Art And Music And Literature As Fixed, Untouchable And Kept Under Glass. The People Who Try To ‘Guard’ Any Particular Form Of Music Are, Like The Copyists And Manufactured Bands, Doing It The Worst Disservice, Because The Only Thing That You Can Do To Music That Will Damage It Is Not Change It, Not Make It Your Own. Because Then It Dies, Then It’s Over, Then It’s Done, and The Boy Bands Have Won. that gets a DOUBLE MEME SPIKE!!! 👍🏻👍🏻👌🏻👌🏻👀👌🏻👀👌🏻👀👌🏻 ほぇふっ oh goddamn hot shit💀👽💀👽💀👽💀 👀 👃🏻 👄 Alright, you wanna know the secret to getting a Ferrari or a Lamborghini like this? Drop outta college. Actually I'm just kidding. It's giving me a lot of trouble for me to say that. I do find it interesting that when you look at the most successful people in the world, they dropped out of college, a lot of them. I dropped out of college, I'm not the most successful person in the world, but, I do know that the education system that you and I grew up in... is flawed! There's a lot wrong. I think we all know that. Now, you know I keep these cars in my garage not to show off, or be materialistic, I literally like fast cars, they're fun to drive but what's more important than trying to get cars... uh... is knowledge. You know, like I always say, I'm more proud of these seven bookshelves I had to install to put in... to hold the 2000 new books that I bought. If you've seen my TedX talk, you've heard me talk about how I read a book a day, because like the investor Warren Buffet says "the more you learn, the more you earn"! Now, what I'm about to share with you, uh, on my website, there's a link you should be able to click. I've recorded a simple video here in my garage. Three things that made all the difference in my life. Three things that can change everything because it hasn't always been where I had these kind of cars in my garage, I remember when I was living across the country in Clayton, North Carolina, in a mobile home, sleeping on a couch. I didn't even have a bed. Or a car. Or a college degree, any opportunities, and I only had $47 in my bank account. But, the dream is still possible. You know, you might be a skeptic, you might be surrounded by people saying "Oh, videos like this, they're not real, they're a get-rich quick scheme!" This isn't a get rich quick sssscheme. This is MY true story! And I'm not promising you that tomorrow you'll have a Ferrari or a Lamborghini but what I'm promising you is that if you know the proven steps, it can happen faster than you think because when I was sleeping on that couch, and I felt hopeless. Something fortunate happened to me. My life was at a crossroads. Maybe your life's at a crossroads right now, and you just found this video. And you know there's something better waiting for you. It might not be a Lamborghini or Ferrari, that's nothing, that's materialistic things! You must find the good life, health, wealth, love, and happiness! All those things! For you, maybe for you it's a new career or starting your own company, or a new lifestyle! Traveling, less stress. You have to understand finances, you have to understand the rules that I found fortunately when I was sleeping on that couch and I bumped into one mentor, then another, and I ended up finding five mentors who showed me how they became multimillionaires. Also, I was able to identify certain key books, you can see, I have a soft spot for books, and I wanna share that with you today. Three practical things, just click this video, it'll take you to my website, it's completely free, you can watch the video there, and I record - it's just in my garage like this, it's not super professional so don't expect too much, but it is hard hitting! It does have the ability to change your life! Now do not click this if you're a cynic or a pessimist. There's a lot of those in the world. If you're watching this far, you're probably not, you're probably an optimist, like one of my favorite books, Conrad Hilton, the Billionaire, he said what changed his life when he was living in that depression was reading a book by Helen Keller when he was age 15. She said "optimist", so, I wanna share with you three practical things that you can do today no matter where you live, no matter how bad things might be, where you can begin to revolutionize your life. Find the good life. Health, wealth, love and happiness. So, click this video, and I'll see you over in my website, in just a minute. Alright? (KIK) look at this weak shit. disney pop star and shitty actress turned shitty model and shitty actress. look at that "avant garde" ass outfit, trying to be cool. not to mention her pose game is weak af. man even a person who's only seen one panel of jojo could pose better than this shit. your album title is "confident"? yeah well im pretty fucking confident that ur bitchy fat shaming ass wont get any aotys from anyone with an opinion. Cock is one of my favorite tastes. Not only that, but balls smell amazing. It makes me go a little crazy on it to be honest. Like, I cannot get it far enough down my throat to be satisfied. I’m only satisfied when I feel those intense, powerful, salty, hot pumps of cum down my throat. When I sit back on my heels, look up at you with cum all over my mouth and slobber running down my neck, hair all fucked up and wipe my mouth with the back of my arm and ask you if I did a good job and you cannot even speak because I’ve drained all of your energy out the tip of your dick….. That’s when I’m satisfied. I was in my room, and I was just like, staring at the walls thinking about everything but then again I was thinking about nothing, and then my mom came in, and I didn't even know she was there She called my name and I didn't hear her, then she started screaming, "Mike! Mike!" And I go, "What? What's the matter?" She goes, "What's the matter with you?" I go, "There's nothing wrong mom" She goes, "Don't tell me that, you're on drugs!" I go, "No mom, I'm not on drugs, I'm okay, I'm just thinking, you know? Why don't you get me a pepsi?" She goes, "NO! You're on drugs!" I go, "Mom, I'm okay, I'm just thinking" And she goes, "NO! You're not thinking you're on drugs! Normal people don't act that way!" I go, "Mom, just get me a Pepsi, please? All I want's a Pepsi" And she wouldn't give it to me, all I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and she wouldn't give it to me, just a Pepsi! Japan is an island by the sea filled with volcanoes and it's ♫ beautiful ♫ ! In the year negative a billion, Japan might not've been here. In the year -40,000 it was here, and you could walk to it, and some people walked to it. Then it got warmer, so an iceberg melted, it became an island, and now there lot's of trees! Because it's warmer. So now there's people on the island and they're basically sort of hanging out in between the mountains, eating nuts off trees, and using the latest technology. Like stones, and bowls. Ding dong, it's the outside world. And they have technology from the future. Like really good metal, and crazy rice farms. Now you can make a lot of rice really really quickly. That means if you own the farm, you own a lot of food, which is something everybody needs to survive. So that makes you king. Rice farming and rice kingdoms spread across the land, all the way to here. The most important kingdoms were here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. But this one was the most most important, ruled by a heavenly super person, or emperor for short. Knock knock, get the door, it's religion. The new prince wants everyone to try this hot new religion from Baekje. "Please try this religion," he said. "No," said everybody. "Try it," he said. "No," said everybody again, quieter this time. And so the religion was put into place, and all the rules that came with it. Then, the government was taken over by another clique, and they made some reforms. Like making the government govern more, and making the government more like China's government, which is a government that governs more. "Hi China," they said. "Hi dipshit," said China. "Can you call us something else other than dipsh!t?" said Japan. "Like what?" said China. "How about ♫ sunrise land ♫ ?" said Japan. And they stole China's alphabet and wrote a book, about themselves. And then they made lots of poetry and art and another book about themselves. Then they stopped moving the capital every time the emperor died and kept it in one place for a while. Right here, and they conquered the north, finally. Get that squared away. A rich hipster named Kūkai (空海) is bored with modern Buddhism and learns a better version which is more ♫ spiritual ♫ comes back, reinvents the alphabet and causes art and literature to be ♫ great ♫ for a long time. And the royal palace turned into such a dream world of art that they really didn't give a shit about governing the country. So if you live outside the palace, how are you supposed to protect your shit from criminals? ♫ hire a samurai ♫ Everyone started hiring samurai. Correction: rich, important people hired samurai. Poor people who could not afford to hire samurai did not hire samurai. The samurai became organized and powerful. More than the government, so they made their own military government here. They let the emperor still be "emperor," but the shogun is actually in control. Breaking news: the Mongols have invaded China. "We have invaded China," said the Mongols. "Please respect us, or we might invade you as well." "Okay," said Japan. So the Mongols came over, ready for war, and then died in a tornado. They tried again, and had a nice time fighting with the Japanese, but then died in a tornado. Then the emperor overthrew the shogunate, then the shogunate overthrows him back and moved to Kyoto and makes a new shogunate, and the emperor can still dress like an emperor if he wants, that's fine. ♫ now there's more art ♫ Like paining with less colors, collaborative poetry, plays, monkey fun, tea parties, gardening, architecture, flowers. It's time for Who's Going To Be The Next Shogun? Usually it's the shogun's kid, but the shogun doesn't have a kid, so he tries to et his brother to quit being a monk and be the next shogun. He says okay, but then the shogun has a kid. So now who's it gonna be? Vote now on your phones! And everyone voted so hard, that the palace caught on fire and burned down. The shogun actually didn't care, he was somewhere doing poetry. And the whole country broke into pieces. Everyone is fighting with each other for local power, and it's anybody's game. Knock knock, it's Europe. No, they're not here to take over (yet). They just wanna sell some shit. Like clocks. And guns. And ♫ Jesus ♫ So that's cool, but everyone's still fighting each other for control, now with guns. And wouldn't it be nice to control the capital, which right now is puppets, with no one controlling them. This clan is ready to make a run for it. But first, they have to trample this smaller clan which is in the way. Surprise! Smaller clan wins, and the leader of that clan steals the idea of invading the capital, and invades the capital. It goes very well. He's about halfway through conquering Japan, when someone who works for him kills him. And then someone else who works for him kills him. And that guy finishes conquering Japan. And then he confiscated everybody's swords. And made some rules. "And now I'm going to invade Korea, and then hopefully China," he said, and failed, and also died. But before he died, he told these 5 guys to take care of his 5 year old son until he's old enough to be the next ruler of Japan. And the 5 guys said "Yeah, right. It's not gonna be this kid, it's gonna be one of us. Because we're grownups. And it's probably gonna be this guy who happens to be way more rich and powerful than he others. A lot of people support him, but a lot of people support not supporting him. They have a fight. He wins! And starts a new government right here. ♫ Edo ♫ And he still lets the emperor dress like an emperor, and have very nice things. But don't get confused, this is he new government, and they are very strict. So strict, they closed the country. No one can leave, and no one can come in. Except for the Dutch, they want to buy and sell sh!t, but they have to do it right here. Now that the entire country was not at war with itself, the population increased a lot. Business increased, schools were opened, roads were built, everyone could read, books were published, poetry, plays, sexy times, puppet shows, and Dutch studies. People studied European science from books they bought from the Dutch. We're talking geography, skeletons, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and maybe even electricity. Over time the economic and cultural prosperity began to gradually slow dow- .....Knock knock. It's the United States. With huge boats. With guns. Gunboats. "Open the country. Stop having it be closed." said the United States. There was really nothing they could do, so they signed a contract that lets United States, Britain, and Russia visit Japan when they want. Chōshu and Satsuma hated that. "Hat sucks," they said. "This sucks!" And with very little outside help, they overthrew he shogunate, and made the emperor the emperor again, and moved him to Edo, which they renamed Eastern Capital (東京). They made a new government, which was a lot more western. They made a new constitution, that was pretty western. And a military that was pretty western. And do you know what else is western? That's right, it's conquering stuff. So what can we conquer? Korea! They conquered Korea, taking it from its previous owner, China, and then go a little bit further, and Russia rushes in out of nowhere and says, "Stop, no, you can't take that. We were gonna build a railroad through here to try to get some warm water." And Russia builds their railroad, supervised by a shit ton of soldiers, and when the railroad was done, they downgraded to a fuck ton. Did I say downgrade? I meant upgrade. And Japan says, "Can you maybe chill?" And Russia says, "How about maybe YOU chill?" Japan is kind of scared of Russia. You'll never guess who's also kind of scared of Russia. Great Britain. So Japan and Great Britain make an alliance together so they can be a little less scared of Russia. Feeling confident, Japan goes to war against Russia, just for a moment, and then they both get tired and stop. ♫ It's time for World War One ♫ The world is about to have a war, because it's the 1900s, and weapons are getting crazy, and all these empires are excited to try them out on each other. Meanwhile, Japan has been enjoying conquering stuff and wants more. And the next thing on the list is this part of China and lots of tiny islands. All that stuff belongs to Germany, which just had war declared on it by Britain, because Britain was friends with Belgium, which was being trespassed by Germany in order to get to France to kick France's ass because France is friends with Russia, who was getting ready to kick Austria's ass, because Austria was getting ready to kick Serbia's ass, because someone from Serbia shot the leader of Austria's ass, or actually he shot him in the head. And Britain is currently friends with Japan, so you know what that means. Duh! ♫ Japan should take the islands ♫ Which they wanted to do anyway. So they called Britain on the telegram to sort of let them know. And then they did it. And they also helped Britain a little here and there with some errands and stuff. Now the war is over, and congratulations Japan! You technically fought in the war, which means you get to sit at the negotiating table with the big dudes, where they decided who gets what, and, yes, Japan gets to keep all that shit they stole from Germany. You also get to join the post-war mega alliance ♫ the League of Nations ♫ whose mission statement is to try not to take over the world. The Great Depression is bad. Japan's economy is now crappy. But the military is doing just fine, and it invades Manchuria, and the League of Nations is line "no, don't do that, if you're in the League of Nations you're not supposed to take over the world," and Japan said, "♫ how about I do anyway ♫" and Japan invaded more and more and more and more of China and was planning to invade the whole entire east. You've got mail! It's from Germany. The new leader of Germany. He has a cool mustache and he's trying to take over the world, and he needs friends. This also got forwarded to Italy. They all decided to be friends because they had so much in common. ♫ it's time for World War 2 ♫ Germany is invading their neighbors, then they invaded the neighbor's neighbors. Then the neighbor's neighbor's neighbor's who happens to be Britain said "holy shit" and the United States started helping Britain, because they are ♫ good friends ♫ and started not helping Japan because ♫ their friends and our friends are not friends, plus they're planning on invading the entire ocean ♫ The United States is also working on a large and very huge bomb, bigger than any other bomb, ever. Just in case. But they still haven't joined the war. War looks bad on tv, and the United States is really starting to care about their image. But then Japan spits on them in Hawaii, and challenges hem to war, and they say yes. And then Germany, as a symbol of friendship, declares war on the United States also. So the United States goes to war in Europe, and they helped he gang chase Germany back into Germany. And they also start chasing Japan back into Japan, and they haven't used the bomb yet, and are curious to see if it works. So they drop it on Japan. They actually dropped 2. The United States installed a new government inspired by the United States government. Just the right ingredients for a ♫ post-war economic miracle ♫ and Japan starts making TVs, VCRs, automobiles, and camcorders as fast as they can. And also better than everybody else. They get rich, and the economy goes wild. And then the miracle wears off. But everything's still pretty cool, I guess. ♫ bye ♫ Good Evening Twitter, this is your boy EatDatPussy445, and about like 30-45 minutes ago, I beat the fuck out of my dick so god damn hard that I can't even feel my left leg, my left leg has went totally numb. And, my dick has also went totally numb, to the point where it feels fucking weird when I go and take a piss. Dr. Pepper. The famous 23 flavor soda, has a lot of spinoff products, such as Diet Dr. Pepper. That’s not the topic here today. No we’re not talking about Diet Dr. Pepper barbecue sauce. But what we are talking about, is hot Dr. Pepper. That’s right, hot Dr. Pepper was originally introduced in the 1960’s as a winter beverage. Here’s some advertisements from the 1960’s showing about about Hot Dr. Pepper. However, it was short lived. But you still don’t believe me? You think this is a joke? Just go to the facts and questions article on the Dr. Pepper website. Anyway, I’m going to teach you how to make it. All you need is a Dr. Pepper; a can or bottle will be fine. And just proceed to open it, but DONT blow it up like I did. Cuz’ you know, Bad Dr. Pepper right there. Anyway, you want to heat up a pan, or anything, and just pour a little Dr. Pepper in there, as much as you want. Alright, and as soon as we did that, we’re gonna take a lemon and a knife and make a small slice, and then put it into the glass that you’re gonna puor the hot Dr. pepper in. When the Dr. Pepper starts sizzling or steaming up… That’s it. Just take it off, and pour it in your glass. And if you’re using a glass glass glass made of glass like I am, put it very slowly. Like, wait five seconds between each… Each spill, so it doesn’t melt, cus you know, when glass melts… Glass… yeah. Also if you try this at home, and your lemon makes a popping bubble, comment or like, heh, cuz you know, thumbs up for that. Just some more footage of the popping lemon… Yeah, and basically, this is hot Dr. Pepper. It tastes just like Dr. Pepper, only it’s hot, kind of like tea. Brings out the cherry flavor. Little carbonation, and I’ll see you next time. Later! FINALS WEEK FINALS WEEK JUST DISTRACTING MYSELF FROM FINALS WEEK IM NOT STUDYING BUT ALL MY FRIENDS ARE AND IM FUCKIN' ALONE CAUSE IM LAZY BUT I WONT TAKE YOUR NOTES YEAH I WONT USE QUIZLE-T NO I WONT WATCH CRASH COURSE JOHN GREEN FUCKING SUCKS WHEN YOUR CURRICULUM MAKES ME HATE MYSELF MORE THAN I ALREADY DO~ THERE'S SOMETHING WRO~NG