#TYPING up the alt text i realized i had put it as I WILL instead of I'LL and i had to go redo it which was annoying bc i accidentally close

[tinyremains]

Whenever you come back, I will be here. Just the same.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results -- Gligglae

Sorry this is later than usual; traveling for the holidays makes it difficult to keep up with this sort of thing. The smart move would have been to write it up a couple days ahead of time, then on Monday just update it with anything new that had been posted since, but see, what happened was that I did not do that. Instead, I tried to type this up Monday evening in between various family obligations, realized I didn't have time to do it properly, and just shoved it in my drafts. Then all of Tuesday was taken up with the long drive back home from where my family lives, and now you're getting it on Wednesday.

(Also, don't worry, I followed all CDC guidelines appropriate for someone who had recently had covid, and wouldn't have traveled for the holidays at all if I hadn't been without a fever for 48 hours prior to departing. Plus I drove instead of flying, didn't visit anyone but immediate family, and had a mask the whole time, so even if I am still contagious somehow, exposure was pretty minimal.)

Anyway, the entry that our artists are working from is here:

And, of course, all previous material on this matter can be found at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

I think a larger number of people than usual identified the animal in question right off the proverbial bat, because this one has some pretty blatant tells, but as always I appreciate everyone trying to put it out of their minds.

So, anyway, in rough chronological order:

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) (thank you for providing your own alt text, I really appreciate it) brings us her usual impeccably medieval-stylized rendition -- the swirls and curves in this one give it a really interesting vibe, I think. We can see the Gligglae in full-body profile on the left there, and a group of them doing their cluster behavior on the right. The, like, griffin/cockatrice/vampire look is pretty great, also. I enjoy the overall design, which you can find some discussion of in the linked post. Gold foil also a nice touch.

Coolest-capybara also notes that the entry is very interested in the ways in which the creature is "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a bird," and I can explain why that is. It is because this entry is in the Bird section of the bestiary, so officially this is a bird -- I mean, it flies, what else can it be -- but it's sufficiently un-bird-like that it really sticks out to the authors, so they need to explain the ways in which it's Doing Bird Wrong. Everything else in this section does X, so we need to point out that this one does Y, kind of thing.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has drawn an absolutely adorable little Gligglae. (Adorable if you have my sense of aesthetics, that is -- I suspect if you're among the portion of the population that finds aye-ayes more creepy-looking than cute, that might apply here as well.) There's an explanation of design decisions in the linked post, including a number of references to real animals that provided inspiration. I like the decision to play up the "lowly" and "mean" part of the description by making it small and kind of scruffy. And the general concept of blending "gliding rodent" with "nocturnal primate" to make an arboreal mammal with elements of both really worked out well here, in my opinion.

@aethereaii (link to post here) has done this beautiful piece in a style that kind of gives "19th-century naturalist" vibes. (Actually, it makes me think of James Gurney, but I suspect that association says more about my childhood reading habits than anything else.) This is a great design in my opinion, and you can find some brief discussion on design decisions as well as an earlier version of the Gligglae in the linked post. The earlier design is also very good, but I agree with Aethereaii that this one is a step up, particularly with the Anomalocaris-inspired faux-wings. I also really like the inclusion of the juvenile Gligglae (Gligglings?) clinging to their parent's back in the corner there.

@karthara (link to post here) decided to go in a reptilian direction with this one, which (a) works well and (b) caused me to spend a chunk of time reading about flying snakes on Wikipedia just now. So in this version, the "rowing motion with its skin" is a description of the Gligglae flaring its ribs and undulating through the air -- which I genuinely think really makes sense. The entry seems to legitimately disagree with itself about whether this critter has wings (or, taking it entirely literally, it has wings but flies through a completely separate method that specifically does not involve said wings, which I think we're justified in deciding is Wrong), so I think going with such a non-wing-like flight method works here. Also like the concept of making these very cuddly (and apparently loving, according to our bestiary author) creatures into a type of animal that usually isn't seen that way. The linked post also contains some brief notes on design decisions.

@strixcattus (link to post here) has, as per usual, provided a really excellent modern-naturalistic description of the creature they've designed in the linked post, and you should definitely go check it out right now. I'll wait.

... back? Okay good. I particularly like their interpretation of the "grape-cluster" behavior as a social group that's specifically not a kin group; and also the fact that said group is officially referred to as a "cuddle". The choice to make it a whole genus and show us several different wild and domesticated species, also very good, love it. As with several of these drawings, Strixcattus's Gligglae (Gligglaes?) are extremely cute -- which, really, does also fit the description provided in the entry. They're like tadpoles crossed with sugar gliders.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) credits Ken Sugimori's Pokemon illustrations as a stylistic inspiration, which I suppose explains why the Gligglae cluster seems to be hanging from a Sudowoodo. The linked post also draws certain parallels between medieval bestiaries and the Pokedex, which I think is actually pretty insightful. There's also a breakdown of their design decisions there, go read it. I think this is a pretty good rendering of something that is like a flying squirrel but distinctly not a flying squirrel, and I like the shaggy look of the fur.

Also, thank you for providing your own alt text.

@pomrania (link to post here) is, I think, the only person to take the bestiary author at their word that this animal has wings but flies through some other, non-wing-related method. You can see the tiny useless wings at the shoulder there. I really think that's fascinating as a concept: what evolutionary pressures would produce an animal that (a) has wings and (b) flies but (c) those two things are unrelated? Although this many appendages on a fur-bearing creature puts us firmly in the "alien biology" territory, so maybe it's silly to expect it to make sense by the standards of terrestrial biology. Regardless, I like it, and I think the decision to run with the "rowing" description by giving it those oar-shaped appendages is a good & creative one. The post linked above contains a fair bit of information on design decisions and the drawing process here -- there are sketches and everything.

@vindikat (link to post here) has interpreted this in a way I find really charming. The art is of course excellent, very well drawn, and I appreciate the effort that went into doing these different poses. However, I really like it from a worldbuilding perspective: this gives me the impression of a small species of griffin that's adapted to urban living, more pigeon/cat than eagle/lion. (Come to think, both pigeons and cats are examples of feral populations finding a successful niche, rather than wild ones that adapt to a city, so maybe we can speculate that these guys are also descended from domestic ancestors.) Also the Gligglae under the eaves there remind me of pictures of chimney swifts that have made the rounds on Tumblr.

The design is also generally very appealing; I think the extra wings and the long tail really work here. The linked post includes an explanation of the design decisions that I think is worth taking a look at.

@moustawott (link to post here) has given us another very cuddly version of the Gligglae. I particularly like the wing design here, how it's kind of a mammalian version of a pterosaur -- Moustawott indicates that they were specifically trying not to draw the animal that they're sure this is, and I think the pterosaur-squirrel design here is a great way to make something that could fill kind of the same niche while being an unmistakably distinct creature. The little round head and eye markings remind me of a chipmunk, also, which is cute.

@rautavaara (link to post here) continues to do interesting stylistic stuff with their contributions. I like how the limited color palette here makes this look kind of like a single-block woodcut or similar relief printing. Like, you could plausibly see this as a design someone's carved into a wood block, then printed on mustard-yellow paper with purple ink. (I'm actually not 100% sure that's not what it is; I would just be surprised if someone actually went the extra mile of breaking out the engraving tools for my little bestiaryposting thing.) Very dynamic scene, also, and a charming creature design; love the huge mouths with pointy little fangs.

All right, these are all the ones that come up on the search; if I missed yours, let me know please.

(I have to apologize here for another delay that's absolutely my fault -- I would have had this out a few hours ago, but I got derailed by impulsively deciding to check out that Hbomberguy plagiarism video everyone's talking out, and... yeah.)

Anyway, as a number of this week's artists indicated, this one was really easy to guess, so the reveal seems a little pointless, but we have a format, so:

Obviously, this was the sheep.

What? Look, you can't make assumptions with these things. Some of these medieval bestiary entries are really counterintuitive. Medieval Europeans believed there was a species of small, highly-social, flying nocturnal sheep native to Ethiopia.

Really, it's in Pliny the Elder.

...

Yes, fine, I'm just lying to you for fun. It's the animal you all think it is, there are no flying sheep to my knowledge. Here's the Aberdeen Bestiary illustration.

Yep, it's the bat. Oddly human face on that one, and generally I don't think this was drawn from life, but it's definitely a bat.

I do kind of find the way it's described in this entry kind of interesting, though. The confusion about whether bats count as having wings (even after having been placed in the "bird" category) is kind of odd, and the "rowing" description is not one I would have ever thought of. I very much like the declaration that the way bats huddle together is "an act of love of a sort which is difficult to find among men"; it's a sweet way to talk about a creature with a generally negative reputation, which contrasts interestingly with the fact that the author also thinks of them as "lowly" and "mean". You kind of get the idea of a creature that's a bit wretched but in a sympathetic way. "Scrungly", one might say.

[humanbug]

Inky Hearts pt.2

Modern!Ellie is a tattoo artist and you just became her lovely little muse.

a/n: whoaaa part 2!!! this one gets exciting!! i am not sure if ill make a part 3. i was gonna put abby in this but it just didn't feel like the right storyline. this is proofread but also written at like 4am soooo there might be mistakes. comments, and reblogs are appreciated!! my asks are open for requests or just to chat!! i hope you enjoy!!

| NSFW 18+ MDNI |

Songs mentioned: Down the Line by Beach Fossils, Spooky by Dusty Springfield, Left Hand Free by alt-J

warning(s): smoking/weed, y/n is used (only once), SMUT!!!, oral (r!receiving), sex while high (both parties consenting)

“God! C’mon don’t be such a baby and just ask her!” 

“Would you let it go! I’m not gonna do anything. We’re just friends.”, you say for what feels like the millionth time. “For now!”, she retorts. You lean back in your seat laughing as Bailey’s face twists at your stubbornness. Knowing she’s right but being way too stubborn to give her that satisfaction. 

You and her had decided to grab coffee, realizing it had been too long since you had spent time together. She had seen your most recent instagram post and texted you a string of texts including the words, ‘bitch’ ‘cutie’ ‘skank’ and ‘hottie’, which was pretty typical given that you had been friends since high school. 

It had been about three weeks since you got your tattoo and you and Ellie had been texting almost every single day. You had made up the ‘smooth’ excuse of "My ig dm notifs don’t come through :( can we text instead?”, hoping that the small fib worked. Luck was on your side because just like that you had her number and before you knew it you two were choosing to facetime instead of text. Neither of you had realized it, but you were both building up the courage to ask the other out. Although neither of you were successful, typing out the message and deleting them right after. 

You had told Bailey about the hottest tattoo artist you had ever had. How you had definitely been flirting during your appointment and how much Ellie undercharged you, still angry about that part. She immediately began trying to convince you to ask her out but you had said over and over again that you are just friends…for now. 

Putting her elbows on the table, “So anyway stubborn bitch! Did you hear who Sophia started dating!?”. You and her gossip and talk absolute filth about all the people you know, laughing and cringing at your bullying. 

–

“Oh my god! She is so lying! You have to call her out-”, Bailey starts, face quickly morphing into confusion as your cheeks flush and you mumble ‘oh my god!’. Looking down at your drink, trying to become invisible you whisper, “Bailey that’s her!”. 

Being the ever so subtle person she is, she whips her head over her left shoulder, looking back at you with her mouth in a big ‘O’ shape. “She’s SO hot! Oh my god! You absolutely have to ask her out. I’m definitely not taking no for an answer after seeing her in person.”, she exclaims, peering over her shoulder a few more times.

Given that it’s a rather loud coffee shop and you and Bailey are tucked into the corner, you try not to be disappointed that she hadn't seen you as she grabs a tray of four drinks and walks out. 

Twiddling with your rings you chew on your bottom lip, “You know what? Fuck it. I’m gonna ask her to hang out.”, you state, the authority in your voice is not the most convincing but fuckin’ fake it till’ you make it, right? 

–

Your thumbs hover over your keyboard. Taking a deep breath you hit send. Tossing your phone to the foot of your bed as if it’s a bomb and falling back against your pillows, arms covering your face. Closing your eyes, your mind wanders back to your tattoo appointment. The way her hands felt over your plush thighs, the way you had to pull your panties higher so she could access your skin and how, unknowingly to you, she had eyed the way it created a perfect outline of your cunt causing her mouth to water, the way her brows furrowed when she was in deep focus. Starting to imagine the way her strong hands would feel lowering down and-  

Shooting up at the feeling of your phone vibrating your hands dig through the sheets to find it. Sliding it open you pull the notification screen down, not wanting to open the text just yet. 

✯Ellie✯ : hey! ya i would like that, this week is super packed for…

‘Damn it! Okay, I have to open it.’

✯Ellie✯ : hey! ya i would like that, this week is super packed for me. i am booked up almost everyday butttt maybe you could come by the shop? if you don’t want too that’s totally cool

Biting back a smile at her rambling, excitement bubbles inside you as you respond. Typing out a message and deleting it several times, anxiety making your palms sweaty and heart race.

✿Y/N✿ : Yes! That would be perfect! Just let me know when you have a break! :) 

–

Bopping your head to Down the Line as you drive through the intersection just before the tattoo shop. Parking your car in the lot across the street you pull the mirror down checking over yourself. Grabbing your two bags and water bottle you head across the street to the shop. 

Opening the door and stepping inside you walk over the front desk. The girl with dark hair is there talking with another girl with black hair in a short choppy haircut and bangs. The girl you have never seen before sports several piercings. Walking up hesitantly, not wanting to interrupt their conversation, the girl with longer dark hair turns to you with a warm smile.

“Hi! How can we help you?”, she asks in a kind voice.

“I’m here for Ellie! I don’t uh- have an appointment but she should be expecting me!”, you say quietly not wanting to sound like a walk-in demanding to see Ellie. Feeling the girl with black eyeing you intensely, your cheeks flush. 

“For sure! She should be at her station, her client just left. You can just head back.”, giving her an appreciative smile, you walk through the curtained work stations, hearing the buzz of guns and low chatter.  

Peaking your head into her station you see her sitting on the rolling chair, sketching something on her iPad. She hasn’t noticed you just yet so you observe her in her element. Her hair is tied half up half down, the short choppy strands falling around her face. You wonder how someone can make black jeans and a loose t-shirt look so good. Clearing your throat and smiling as your eyes meet.

“Hey! Perfect timing! I’ve got like an hour and a half before my next client.”, swiveling around as she speaks. 

Holding up one of the two bags in your arms you take a step forward, “Um- I brought you lunch. I- I figured pasta was a safe option so I brought pesto pasta with sun-dried tomatoes!”

Ellie can feel the appreciation practically running through her veins, not remembering the last time someone made lunch for her. Her lips curve as she runs a hand over the back of her neck. 

“That- You are too sweet. I really wasn’t expecting you to bring me lunch. There’s a table out back, let’s eat out there?”, she says as she gets up, closing her iPad and pocketing her phone. 

Giving her a bright smile you nod your head. Following her out of the shop you admire her physique from behind.

‘Does this girl look good from every angle? Yes. Yes, she does.’

–

“Holy fuck! Did you make this!?”, she exclaims, savoring the pasta. 

“Well- uh- not exactly! It’s from Trader Joe's! But it’s my favorite pasta kind of ever. I’m really glad you like it!”, you giggle as you explain the pasta is unfortunately not homemade.

“Well Joe knows how to make some good fucking pasta.”, she says with a mouthful of noodles. Laughing at the green-eyed goofy girl in front of you as you take a bite of your pasta. 

‘Just ask! Don’t be a baby!’, your belly flips as you work up the courage.

Fiddling with your rings and glancing up, just to see her already looking at you, “So…what are you doing Saturday? My friend Bailey is having a small party at her place and I was uh- I was wondering if you wanted to come? With me, of course- or not of course. Just with me.”, you ramble out.

Giving a cocky smile at your nervousness, she tries her damndest to conceal her own racing heart and sweaty palms, “That sounds perfect. I’d love to go. With you, of course.”, her response taking a teasing tone. 

Giggling at your own embarrassing rambling you bite back a smile, “I will pick you up at five. It’s nothing fancy, just a casual thing. I am planning on bringing weed.”

“Just a casual thing, perfect.”, she hums with a smile.

–

Tying the laces of your docs you rush out of your apartment. Checking your phone and cursing at the time, it was four fifty and Ellie’s place was about fifteen minutes away. Rushing through the halls, your purse clutched in one hand, phone under your chin, and yanking your jacket on. 

–

Pulling up the address that Ellie had sent you, you send a voice memo that you are parked out front. You have Spooky playing low as you drum your fingers on the steering wheel. Glancing around you see Ellie rushing down the steps on the porch. Shamelessly running your hungry eyes over her. She wears a pair of light-wash black jeans, sitting perfectly on her legs, not too loose and not too baggy, a black hoodie, and black converse. 

You can’t help but grin as you realize you match. You had chosen an all black outfit too. Finding your favorite black skirt to show off all of the art on your legs, black tights to compensate for the chilly night air, a snug black cropped shirt that showed off a perfect amount of cleavage and your leather jacket. 

“Well don’t you clean up well!”, you tease as she slides into the car, sharing a smile as she chuckles. As she buckles up you hand her your phone, “Put whatever you want on! Bailey’s is like twenty minutes away.”

Ellie finally takes the chance to glance at you. Feeling desire pool in her belly as she sees what you’re wearing. How your hands maneuver the steering wheel, rings and manicured nails tapping along to Left Hand Free. How your skirt has ridden up your plush thighs sitting dangerously high. How the skirt hugs your soft belly and your top shows enough skin to see the glimpse of a tattoo and how it hugs your tits perfectly. Fucking hell, she know’s she ogeling but can’t find it in her to give a shit. She is torn from her trance when she realizes you're leaning dangerously close. Her freckled cheeks flush and she clears her throat when you reach in the back seat and lean back with your purse in hand. Oh. You arrived at the party, Ellie hadn’t even realized you parked. 

You step out of the car and shimmy your skirt back down and smooth your hair out. Ellie steps out and looks over at you, admiring you even more. Thank god it’s getting dark and you can’t see her beet red face. 

“You ready? We’re a tiny bit late so Bailey is probably gonna chew me out but she’s a sweetheart I promise.”, you assure her as you both walk up to the house. Stepping through the door the house is warm with bodies, liquor, and weed. It is not painfully packed but nonetheless you grasp Ellie’s hand in yours and make your way to the kitchen, saying ‘hi’ to most of the people you pass. 

“You’re late bitch! And because you’re late you owe me a shot!”Bailey's voice fills the kitchen, she clearly started partying a long time ago. Stepping over to her you give her a hug, her bright pink outfit a stark contrast against your black one. 

“Anything you want babe! But first, Bailey, this is Ellie. Ellie, this is Bailey, my best friend!”, you exclaim loud enough to be heard through the voices filling the space. 

–

“You’ve been quiet.”, you say as you and Ellie finally escape the kitchen. Finding your way to the room you knew would be a lot more chilled out. 

“Have I?”, she hums, walking behind you practically being your shadow. 

Finding exactly what you were looking for, you plop down onto the couch, toeing your heavy boots off, shifting to face where Ellie sits and draping your legs over hers. 

‘Oh boy, that shot worked quick!’

“Yeah, you have! Is everything okay?”, you ask, tilting your head. 

“Yeah, I’m good! I think I just get a little anxious at parties.”, she says quietly, almost seeming embarrassed. Your bottom lip pokes out and you grab her hand that was resting on your legs, thumb circling her knuckles.

“It’s okay! I get it. If you wanna head out just let me know! No shame, I swear. Or we can get some fresh air! Or just chill here!”, you get lost in your ramble a little, wanting to make sure she knows there’s no pressure for anything. 

Looking at you she chuckles, “You’re cute when you ramble, you know that?”, grinning when you blush and look down to fiddle with her fingers. 

You have the sudden realization you brought weed! 

“You wanna smoke?”, you ask, looking up at her with wide-eyes. 

“Now we’re talking. Yes. Yes, I do.”, she grins.

–

“And- and so- and then- she-”, you are laughing too hard to finish your own story, stomach cramping from how hard you’re laughing. 

Ellie’s head is thrown back in laughter finding your lack of composure funnier than the story you were telling. 

It seemed after every puff of the joint you two shared you would somehow end up closer. Now as the roach has been tossed onto the coffee table in front of you two, you are practically tangled together. 

Finally gaining some composure, you look at her, hands tangled together as you lean against her. 

“Okay! Okay! I’ve got a good one, what was your first time getting high like?”, you ask, face inching closer as the questions go by. 

She lets out a breathy laugh, remembering the painfully embarrassing memory.

“Fuck…okay so me and my friend Dina decided to get high together for the first time-”

“Is that the girl who works the front desk at the shop!”, you interrupt cluelessly high.

She chuckles and gently grasps your chin, tilting your head to look at her with red rimmed eyes, “Yes it is but are you gonna let me finish my story, hm?”, she teases you in a gentle tone but nonetheless it makes you rub your thighs together. Ellie’s eyes flicker down at the motion, quickly darting back up.

Nodding your head with a quiet hum you zip your lips and give her your full attention. She chuckles and releases your chin, her hand going back into your tangle of fingers. 

“So we decided to get high together for the first time and we were idiots who thought’ Let's do an edible for our first time getting high!’, but we ate…the whole fucking thing”, she chuckles at the ‘uh oh’ face you make at her.

“Yeah, so it went about as bad as you can imagine. We had no clue just how fucking strong edibles are especially when you eat the whole god damn brownie! Dina ended up sitting in the tub the whole time because she insisted it was the only place she was safe. On the other hand I thought I was fucking dying but was too nervous to tell my Dad what we had done…so we just waited it out and to this day it felt like I was high for seventy-two hours straight.”, she finishes laughing and shaking her head at how stupid they were.

A laugh spills out of you and you fall into Ellie’s chest in laughter, “That is terrible! You poor poor stupid kids!”. As your laughter fades you find yourself melting into her chest and laying your head against her.

Loving the feeling of your body pressed flush against hers she brings her left arm up and around your body keeping you close to her. Feeling a calm confidence from the weed floating through your body you tilt your head up, faces so close you can feel her breath. Leaning forward you place your lips on hers, sighing when her hand that was around you wraps in your hair and pulls in. Your tongues meet each other is a match for desperation, her hands wandering and resting at the edge of your skirt. Your hips unconsciously shift toward her hand and your lips begin to travel to her jaw and her neck, switching between kisses and love bites that make Ellie shudder and grip your body.

Kissing up to her ear you gently nip at it, whisper, “Take me to the bathroom.”. Smirking when your whispering causes her to shiver.

–

As soon as the door is shut you are back on each other. Kissing in a frenzy. You nip at her bottom lip with a smile. Her lips meet your neck with kisses and bites, pulling moans and whines from you. She grabs your waist and you jump onto the counter behind you. You shiver as her kisses and bites move toward your chest as she leaves even more marks on you. 

“You’re so fucking beautiful.”, she mumbles against your skin, singing praises into your body. Lust floods your lower belly and you can feel the embarrassing puddle forming in your panties. A gasp escapes you at the feeling of her ripping your tights, fingers finding your weeping cunt. 

“Fuck baby. All this for me? Fuck you’re makin’ such a mess already.”, she speaks against your skin. The feeling of her lips on your skin, her words making you shiver, and her fingers teasing you over your panties is too much but not enough. 

“Ellie please.”, you whine out, feeling desperate. She chuckles at your state, feeling proud at how fucked out you look and she hadn’t even taken off your panties. 

“What baby? Tell me what you want.”, she mumbles against your lips, holding eye contact.

“Please touch me!”, you whimper, feeling shameless at the admission. 

“Such a good fucking girl.”, she praises as she pulls your panties aside and teases your sensitive clit with her thumb. Pulling at your tights she mumbles, “Take these off.”

You wiggle your tights off kicking them away and lift your butt as Ellie pulls your panties off, tossing them with your tights. A loud whine comes from you as Ellie drops to her knees and lets her tongue find your swollen clit. Hands needing to hold something you let one find her hair and the other palms your tits through your shirt.

“Fuck you taste so fucking good baby.”, she says in a raspy voice. 

Her hands wrap around your thighs, fingers pressing into the soft flesh, as she pulls you to the very edge of the counter giving her even more space to devour you. The band in your lower belly stretches more and more. 

Your eyes are hooded and cloudy as you look down and the band stretches even more when you see Ellie already looking at you. Tears blur your vision as the eye contact seems to spur her even more. Low moans of satisfaction escaping her throat.

“F-fuck! Oh my god-”, you moan and realize how loud you’re getting so you cover your mouth with your hand, only letting quiet whimpers and whines escape you. 

Ellie flattening her tongue and holding the same perfect motion against your clit causes the band to finally snap. Your cunt clenches around nothing and your vision blurs as you throw your head back, thighs shaking and cramping. 

Ellie is relentless with her tongue causing your whole body to tremble from overstimulation. Your hands roughly thread through her hair trying to pull her back as pathetic whines escape you.

“S’too much! Ellie- ple- please! Too sensitive!”, you whine and whimper, practically in tears. 

She pulls back, chuckling at your fucked out state. Breathing heavily you look down as she stands, her lips and chin shiny from your slick. She looks like a fucking god the way she is smirking at you while covered in you. Reaching out you run your thumb over her chin and bring it to your mouth, holding eye contact. 

“Fuckin’ hell baby.”, she mumbles.

Grabbing handfuls of her hoodie you yank her into a deep kiss, tasting yourself on her tongue. Your hands fumble down to her jeans, undoing the button when a hand grabs your wrists earning a whine from you.

“Please Els. Wanna touch you.”, you whimper, giving your best puppy eyes. She chuckles, leaning down and kissing your neck, wrists still bound in her hands.

“Lemme take care of you tonight baby. I promise there’ll be time for me later.”, she mumbles, lips ghosting your ear. You pout but give a reluctant nod.

Gently pulling you off the counter and laughing at your dizzy head and wobbly legs. She tosses your torn tights in the trash and pockets your panties with a smirk. You give her wide eyes and stretch your hand out.

“Give those back! This skirt is too short for no panties!”, you say shimmying it down the best you can.

“Good thing we’re heading out then, huh? No one out there gets to see your pretty cunt but me baby don’t worry.”, she says and guides you out hand in hand.

taglist:

@ucannotcompare

[antisociallilbrat]

Bite Alt Ending

This is for the people who wanted the alternative sad ending to my fic Bite

Read on Ao3

Warnings: Internalized homophobia and F-slur

The rumors were swirling, he knew they would be.

All through the week he heard it, people whispering about Jacob Thrombey was a faggot, how he got his ass beat at the party. Stan thought his head was going to explode. From the rumors he could gather that Jacob’s dad was sending him away, to some type of private military school. He was apparently heading out this weekend.

Now Stanley didn’t get off scot free from the rumors, he had his fair share of bullshit. Kids yelling slurs at him, being shoved into lockers, it was just going to be his new normal now. A few kids did make almost congratulatory comments about his fight. He’d rather them just bully him instead, he doesn’t want praise for beating up the guy he loves.

Syd and Dina tried their best to cheer him up, to keep him going, but it’s only been a week. A week of absolute hell.

Meg reached out to him Friday night, feeling sorry. From her he learned that Jacob begged his dad not to listen to the rumors, that he wasn’t a fag. That that guy from the party lied. To no avail. Jacob was being sent to school that was going to ‘beat the queer out of him’.

As a final blow, Jacob had been forbidden all contact with Miles. He lost his connection to his best friend all because his dad feared that Miles was  contaminating him. That’s probably why Miles had sent Stan a pretty nasty text, he lost his best friend too.

And it was all Stan’s fault.

He should’ve kept his mouth shut. He’ll never forgive himself for outing Jacob. He needs to apologize, tell Jacob he’s sorry . He never meant for any of this to happen, he was just hurt. In his tired mind and delirium, he drove to Jacob’s house after the phone call.

That’s how he finds himself now, waiting in his car near midnight in the treeline where he can’t be seen. Jacob’s bedroom light is the only one on. Meg’s bedroom light would be on too if she hadn’t moved out not too long ago.

When he texts Jacob, letting him know where he is, he’s surprised the text actually goes through. He would’ve assumed Jacob would’ve blocked his number by now. Either by choice or by his father.

He doesn’t know what he’s expecting, probably not a reply, but he really doesn’t expect it when Jacob is exiting his house, coming towards him. Dressed in nothing but pajama bottoms and a hoodie for his school. He barely gets the door unlocked to the passenger side before Jacob is crawling in, slamming the door shut behind him.

The awkward silence is immediate. But one thing is clear, Jacob is mad .

He’s stammering when he tries to speak, “I-I-I--”

“Why the fuck are you here?” There’s venom in his voice, venom that Jacob has never directed towards him before.

This was a mistake.

He takes a shuddering breath as he tries to justify his stupid reason for being here, “I wanted to say sorry.”

For the first time that night, Jacob looks him in the eye. The bruises that Stan put there are finally fading, and the cut on his lip looks better. Jacob’s hair is also significantly shorter, boarding a buzz cut. Jacob who has never shown much emotion is showing it all now. Anger mostly but he can see the pain bleeding through.

“You’re sorry? Stanley you told a disgusting lie! A lie that cost me everything, do you realize that?!” Jacob is getting worked up, but something he said strikes a chord with him.

Stan actually scoffs at him, “A lie? Really Jacob? Let’s be honest with each other. When you fucked me, were you lying then?”

“I lost everything because of you! Do you not understand?! My parent’s can’t even look at me without looking disgusted!” Tears had started streaming down Jacob’s face, but he seemed upset to notice. Stan regrets snapping back at him. “God Stan! They’re sending me away! I don’t want to go! I’m losing my home, my best friend, and the love of my parents!” He’s just crying now, “It hurt enough when I lost you!”

Stan doesn’t know when he started crying too. Jacob just looks so broken , he doesn’t deserve any of this. How dare his parents not love him just for who he is. He wants to hold Jacob, to kiss it better, but he can’t. So instead he tells Jacob the truth.

“You never lost me Jacob.”

He’s looking at him confused, spurring him to continue, “Even after you punched me, you still had me. I was just angry, I’m sorry.” He’s crying just as hard Jacob is now, “I just, I just love you Jacob and it pained me to see you with someone else.”

Jacob goes completely silent for a moment.

“You loved me?”

Seeing as he has nothing to lose, “Yes, I love you.”

He wants Jacob to tell him the same, that they’ll get through this together. That Jacob loves him too, and even if Jacob is going away, they can still be together. He doesn’t want to lose him, and he didn’t realize how badly he didn’t want that until right now, sitting in the car with him.

But this is the night his heart completely shatters.

“You can’t love me,” that was not the response he was exactly expecting, “Stan you can’t love me because I can’t love you.” Ah, there it is.

Like a petulant child he cries out, “Why not? Why can’t you love me? Don’t try to tell me I was nothing, that what we had didn’t mean anything! I know you felt something! I know it, Jacob!”

“Because Stan! It’s fucking wrong! Being a faggot is wrong! It’s a sin!” The way he states it, he knows that Jacob has had that beat into him. “I can’t be gay Stanley! And I can’t-don’t love you!”

Coming here was a complete mistake.

“Get out.”

Jacob actually sounds surprised by his sudden change, “What?”

He’s gripping the steering wheel tightly, trying desperately to ground himself. “I said get out!” Jacob is trying to say something else, but he doesn’t want to hear it, “Get out! Get out! Get out!”

He chances a look at Jacob, Jacob just looks at him defeatedly before going to open the passenger door, “I’m sorry.” It’s small and broken. Just like who they both feel.

Stan composes himself again, “I hope- Just have a nice life Jacob. I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” And with that, Jacob exits his car.

He starts to drive away the moment the door is closed, peaking into his rear view mirror to watch Jacob walk back to the house.

His heart is in a million pieces and he doesn’t know how long it’ll be till he’s ‘okay’ again, but he knows this is the last time he’ll ever see Jacob Thrombey.

A/N:  Let's just stick with the happy ending, yes?

[mxsmwndr]

Merry Christmas, Darling

Pairing: Modern!Newt x Reader

Summary: Being single is tough sometimes. Friends tease you, family members don't leave you alone, and people flirt with you constantly. It's especially tough when you have a crush on your best friend. Especially when you need him to pretend to be your date to a party.

Terms: (Y/n) is Your Name

Warnings: Nothing too bad. There is a small panic attack towards the end.

A/N: Happy holidays!! This one's dedicated to the wonderful @technolilly! Thank you for all of your requests!! There may or may not be a crush x reader fake date coming soon Bold is texting back and forth, and if you don't have your ears pierced, pretend they're something else! Here's the 'Soft Rock' playlist from this story! I actually have one!! (Cannon that Newt only listens to rock. Alt for if he's feeling pumped/angsty, and classic for the relaxing times/late nights)

Disclaimer: I don't own your or Newt or this idea

"Actually, you're wrong." You said before you could stop yourself.

"Oh, really?" Minho challenge. "How so?"

Shuck. "Well, you see... um, I'm already dating him. It's just... it's a secret, so you can't tell anyone." You said.

Minho raised an eyebrow, but seemed satisfied with your answer. "Okay. Then prove it." He said.

Oh shuck. You thought, but still decided to see how far you could push yourself. "How?"

That would give you time to come up with a lie.

Minho shrugged, and you cursed yourself.

"Fine." You said. "I'll bring him to the Christmas party Saturday." No, no! You shucking liar! Shut up! The voice inside your head screamed at you. You ignored it, though, enjoying the idea of destroying Minho's delicate ego.

In a friendly way, of course.

Minho looked shocked for a moment, which soon melted into a sly smirk. "Good. I'll see you there, then." He said, and cockily leaned against the staircase railing besides him.

You were about to release the breath you didn't realize you held until Minho spoke up again. Quickly, and to stop yourself from saying anything else you'd regret, you decided to distract yourself by tying your shoes.

"Oh." He said, clicking his fingers as if he just remembered something. "Thomas said to dress fairly nice." He said with a wink, and turned around to open the door.

"I always 'dress fairly nice'." You mumbled to yourself, and stopped Minho from leaving you at the door. "Minho!" You yelled. He turned, "Never wink at me again!" Minho smiled at you, signaling that he got your message. You got your other shoe on, yelled a quick goodbye, and shut the door behind you, making your way to your car. "How am I gonna get out of this one?" You asked yourself while you drove home.

--

Remember when you specifically asked Minho not to tell anyone about you and Newt? Yeah, that didn't really work.

Lesson learned, Minho's not great at keeping secrets.

He's not even close to being good, actually.

The next day, which just had to be Monday, was the day you discovered that. Really, it was when you found out that Minho told Thomas, who told Teresa and Brenda, who told Aris, who called Sonya, who decided not to tell Newt but instead to tell Harriet, who told Alby. Luckily, Alby can keep a secret. And as it turns out, he can make other people keep secrets.

So when Newt got to school on Wednesday, he didn't know anything about your little lie.

And that's how you liked it.

"Hey, Newt!" You called to your best friend, and ran over to him while waving a hand.

He turned to you, and his beautiful golden eyes locked with yours. "Hey!" He said excitedly as he limped towards you.

You gave Newt a hug, which he eagerly returned. Then, you pulled him away, hardly noticing the way he clutched onto you for a little longer. You kept your hands rested on Newt's shoulders, and looked him deeply in the eyes.

"I need to tell you about something." You said slowly while you checked your sorroundings for eavesdroppers (Minho and Thomas). When you were finish, you added "But not here."

Newt gave you a confused look, but Minho jumped onto his shoulders, so the expression quickly melted into a boyish grin. They did a little handshake, and you decided to be on your way to your first hour the second Minho winked at you--even though you told him not to.

--

U busy rn? You texted Newt. His Bitmoji popped up, and put a hand on it's chin like it was thinking.

No Came the response after a few seconds.

Kay You said. You thought for a moment, and quickly typed a response. Wanna fake date? You asked. Shaking your head, you quickly deleted the response and came up with another one.

R u going to the christmas party?

Newt's Bitmoji thought again, dissapeared directly after his response popped up.

Planning on it

Again, you replied with: Kay

Can u help me with something? You added, just before anxiety of Newt's reaction told you not to. Theres a guy at school who won't leave me alone... so can you pretend to by my boyfriend? Just for a little bit

With what Newt texted.

You thought for a moment, and replied with a quick lie; This is going to sound rly weird but there's a shank at school who keeps flirting with me so I may or may not have told him that I had a boyfriend so he'd back off? You slammed 'send' before your anxiety even thought of telling you no. Again.

Newt's Bitmoji jumped up, and started thinking. This felt like an eternity for you, when it was mere seconds.

Or maybe it wasn't.

Maybe it really was and eternity, and you thought it was only a few seconds. Maybe he really was about to screenshot it to send to all of his friends and ruin your life.

But that wasn't like him. Not at all.

So maybe he was trying to think of an answer so he couldn't mess this up instead--or he was asking his sister for help. Maybe he loved what you guys had, and didn't want to ruin it over a silly crush. Maybe he wanted to date you for real instead.

Whatever the reason, you both hated being put in this position. Maybe some (you) more than others.

Oh my god. Why'd I do that?! I screwed us up. Oh no, oh no. You thought. You were about to write a reply saying nevermind, when Newt's response popped up.

So u want me to pretend to be the boyfriend

You winced at yourself, at how cringy it sounded--asking your best friend to fake date you so you could prove something else to your other best friend while having secret feelings for the first one--but reluctantly confirmed Newt's theory.

Newt took a while to respond, but still less than he did before. Who is the slinthead anyway

What? You asked yourself. What does that have to do with anything?

You didn't want to point fingers, so you went with a safe bet in saying: You don't kno him.

Does Minho

No

Tommy

No

Anybody

Not that I know of. Why does this matter so much? U gonna beat him up?

Newt typed a response, but apparently deleted it and typed something else. You meant the text as a joke.

I can go so I'll drive u to Tommy's at 6:30. He said to dress nice so send me a pic of your dress so I'll match my tie

Wait. What?

Did you read that right? You went back and reread Newt's reply.

Yep. Newt just agreed to fake date you.

Oh, shuck! You thought. Newt just agreed to fake date me!

Thx! IOU 1!! You keyed in, and shut your phone off. You sighed, thanking the gods under your breath. A goofy grin soon spread across your face, and you walked over to your closet to pick an outfit.

--

"How about this?" You asked, turning to face your friends for about the 50th time that night. The dress was elegant and red. The knee-length velvety hugged your skin warmly. You had black tights underneath, but no shoes picked out yet.

Brenda eyed you up and down like a judgemental mother would to her daughter. "Well..."

"YES!" Sonya screamed, leaping up from her seat. Teresa jumped, suddenly awake, causing you to giggle slightly.

"Oh my god, Newt will love it!" Sonya said, running over to admire the dress up close.

You smiled, "You really think so? It's not too much?"

"Too much? Are you kiddin' me!? He loves you no matter what you do!" She said, spinning you around in the dress.

You froze. What? Oh... You suddenly realized the deal with Min, and your muscles relaxed.

Sonya froze as well. With that, you heart rate quickened. It felt like it was going to burst. At least, until Sonya shouted "We need jewelry!" And dragged you towards your dresser.

She dug through the drawers like they were her own, and turned to you when she found nothing. "(Y/n)! Where's your jewelry?!"

You gave her an odd look. "Uh... I don't have any?"

"What!?" Brenda screeched from your bed. She loved jewelry; anything from toe rings to finger rings to nose rings. She ran over to you and your friend.

You sent her a sheepish smile. "Yeah--"

"I'll be back!" Brenda said, holding up her index finger to show a number one, like saying 'give me a sec' or something.

You met Sonya's eyes, and she laughed. You did too.

Sonya laughs like her brother. Cheerfully and free of cares of who could be watching. It was contagious.

Soon, you were laughing as well.

Until Teresa asked if you and Newt have kissed yet.

"Uh... no. Why?" You responded.

Teresa smirked at you. "No reason," she said in a sly voice. Like a snake.

Sonya sent her a glare, but it was interrupted when Brenda waltzed back into your room with a makeup bag.

Or... rather a jewelry box.

Brenda dug through her box, in search of the perfect accessories. Sonya was about to join her, when Brenda jumped up, startling Teresa.

Again.

"These!!" Brenda said, holding up a sparkling pair of dangly earrings.

You eyed them, "Okay...?" You said, and hesitated before taking them out of her hands.

While you put them on, Brenda began her search for rings, necklaces and/or bracelets. She finished by the time you did, but Sonya handed the silver bracelets to you.

When they were secured, you turned back to your friends. "Cute!" Sonya and Brenda squealed.

"Aw, my baby girl is all grown up!" Sonya said, even though you were older. Her hands were next to her cheek while she smiled at you, giving you the look you give your friend when they're about to get married.

"And she's dating your brother!" Brenda needlessly added. This caused you to blush.

"So cute!" They squealed once more. You looked to Teresa for help, but she just smiled and took a picture.

Sonya's phone rang in her pocket. She opened it, and looked to you apologetically. "I have to help Newt." She said, starting to leave.

"Byeeee!" Brenda and Teresa called after her.

"Bye!" Sonya returned.

"Thanks for making me not look stupid!" You called after her.

Sonya gave you a two fingered salute while she walked away. She turned around, "Don't mess that dress up, (Y/n). I'll bring heels before the party."

"Heels?" You groaned.

"Yes, heels." Brenda responded, bringing you to the mirror. She pushed your hair out of your face, and lead you over to your mirror. "Now we need to figure out makeup." She said.

--

You were exhausted, but you were finally party ready. You checked your reflection in the mirror, qquadruple-checking to make sure there wasn't any wrinkles you missed. Your makeup shimmered in the light of your room. It was natural, but fancy. Nothing too much.

The honk of a car horn interrupted your thoughts. You peered through your window to find Newt, gave him a quick wave, and grabbed your heels before walking out the door of your house.

Newt reached across the passenger seat, and opened the door for you.

"Thank you so much for agreeing to this." You said to Newt, shutting the car door behind you.

"No problem." He was dressed nicely, too. A black shirt tucked into black pants with a red tie that matched your dress.

You put your feet up on the dashboard and started to put your shoes on. Newt eyed you, then your shoes.

"Are those Sonya's?"

You sent him a sheepish smile, "Yeah."

He laughed, and returned his attention to the road infront of him.

"I don't wear heels!" You said defensively.

Newt just laughed more. "You seem to be now!"

You groaned in frustration, and brought your feet down. You slouched low into the chair in a pout.

"It was a joke, babe!"

Your heart stopped. Babe? "'Babe'?" You repeated your thoughts.

"Er... yeah. I, uh... since we're...."

You giggled, "Relax, shuck-face. It's fine."

"Babe." You added.

Newt pulled into Thomas's driveway, and gave you a funny look. You were about to get out when Newt stopped you.

"Let me get the door for you." He said, leaping out of his seat and limping over to your side.

He opened the door, and you gave him a grateful look. He shut the door while still watching you, but your stares were interrupted by a wolf whistle.

You and Newt turned, and found Minho in the front of Thomas's house.

He wore his usual stupid smirk.

That bastard. You grabbed Newt's hand and pushed past Minho. You smirked to yourself in triumph after.

"Ship it!" Minho yelled from behind you.

Newt gave you a confused glance, but you brushed it off with an apologetic smile.

Until you lost your balance. Stupid heels! You felt yourself falling to the ground until a pair of strong arms caught you.

You looked up and found your savior to be Newt. You smiled, and thanked him before walking into the kitchen.

It didn't take Minho long to find you after. You'd say it probably was around 7:10 when he walked up to you with his stupid smirk that never seemed to wipe off.

He said nothing, just grabbed your arm and pushed you towards the living room. You followed, watching the groups of semi-drunk teenagers smile and dance. Suddenly you felt a harsh push from behind you. You stumbled forward a bit, in attempt to stop yourself from bumping into the dude in front of you. But of course, you being you in heels, you tried to use the dude for support, but failed miserably.

"Woah!" He said, his familiar accent hitting your ears while he caught you.

Once again, you thanked Newt for saving your pride.

And your dress.

"A little klutzy today, huh?" He asked with a laugh.

You looked down and blushed, "Yeah, I just--"

"Everyone look!" You heard Minho's voice yell. "Mistletoe!"

Your eyes widened in horror, and you looked to Minho for help.

Stupid idea, really. He wouldn't help you to save his life. He had to win this.

You looked back to Newt, who studied your face.

Until someone shouted, "Get on with it!" Your guess was Brenda.

Newt watched you still, and you wondered about what he could possibly be thinking.

Was there something on your face? Would he back out if you tried to kiss him? Would he even kiss back? Was he suddenly regretting his decision? Did he want to leave for home?

Questions fueled from doubt and anxiety flooded through your mind while you awaited Newt's rejection.

It never came, though. Instead, a cold hand wrapped around your neck and pulled you closer, and warm lips soon met your own.

As cheeseballs as it seems, you melted into it. Your hands went to Newt's neck, and he seemed to pull you closer.

Of course, your moment had to be interrupted by Minho, who cleared his throat obnoxiously. "Okay," he said. "You can stop now. I get it." You and Newt pulled apart, suddenly realizing that almost everyone at the party was staring at the two of you.

Your blush turned from fair to hard core.

"You're so cute!" Sonya squealed, holding up her phone.

Shuck. You thought to yourself. She taped it.

Newt smiled, and pulled you closer to him. His hand rested on your waist while his blush died down.

Where is all this confidence coming from?

You decided to shrug it off, and wrap your arms around your 'boyfriend' tightly.

You never wanted the night to end. But unfortunately all good things must.

The jitters from Thomas's party never stopped. Even when Newt drove you home.

"We should do that more often, yeah?" Newt asked you, while Aerosmith's Fly Away From Here faded into KISS's Beth. You recognized the playlist playing. It was the one you made for him.

Actually, you made it for yourself, first. It was called 'Soft Retro', and by far one of your favorites. You originally made it for the many nights where you couldn't sleep. Apparently, Newt loved it, so you passed it down to him. Love songs made you sick, anyway.

Not Newt, though. He seemed to enjoy them more than life herself sometimes. You're surprised you haven't caught him trying to waltz with a mop yet.

"What do you mean?" You asked Newt, trying to play his question with a silly laugh. He looked at you for a second, but returned his eyes to the road ahead. He shrugged,

"Party?"

"Did you just answer a question with another question?" You asked with your eyebrows raised.

"You did it first." Newt shot back.

"Touché," You mumbled. It was quiet for a moment, before Newt spoke up again.

"Was he there?" He asked you.

You looked at him, "Who?"

"The stupid shank."

"Oh, yeah." You said, suddenly feeling your heart sink deep into your chest. "Thanks for that." Newt was silent, so you panicked and added: "Especially for kissing me."

Newt laughed, "It was really no problem, luv." He said. He looked like he wanted to say more, but decided to bite his tongue.

"I know, but..."

You suddenly felt bad. Bad for dragging Newt into this, bad for lying to him so you could prove a point to Min. Bad for the entire night, really. You sighed, filled with regret so suddenly that it caused you to panic a little.

A lot, actually. Your breaths quickened, becoming shallower while tears flooded your eyes. Your chest felt heavy, too.

Everything felt heavy.

Until Newt's voice cleared some clouds in your head. "Hey, hey, luv. What's wrong? Hey..." He cooed slightly. He looked behind him, and turned on his turn signal, pulling over.

"I just..." Your voice broke, and you cautiously took a shaking breath. "I'm so, so sorry."

"About what?" Newt asked innocently.

You swallowed the lump in your throat. Stop being such a shuck-face. You told yourself. You closed your eyes loosely, "Do you know the real reason I asked you to pretend date me?"

Newt slowly shook his head. Great.

You forced a smile, it wasn't his fault, and redirected your attention to your lap, where your hands lay. "I was talking to Min... and he brought you up. I--" You cut yourself off. No. You told yourself. It's too late to turn back now. "He was teasing me about how you'll be at the party, because he thinks I like you, and I got sick of it, so I just... lied. I didn't think anything of it, but then h-he believed me, and I-I had to do something because he always wins every argument, so I texted you but when you asked me why I knew I couldn't say it so I told you that there was some shank but now--" You cut yourself off again. This time, by crying.

Newt watched you break into tears, speechless, as you gather yourself with a breath. He listened as you continued.

"I understand if you don't want to see me anymore," You said in a low voice. "I... I'll just find a ride home." You said, reaching to open the car door. Newt locked it instead.

You turned to face him hesitantly. Your head hung low, like a guilty puppy.

"(Y/n)," He began, but you stopped him.

You couldn't take the rejection. Not yet.

"No, it's fine. I can get an Uber or something. I'll see you Monday--"

"(Y/n)." Newt said more urgently. "Do you know what song is playing?"

You looked to Newt. It was an easy question. Like, a suspiciously easy question.

"All The Way." You mumbled.

"M-hm. And did you know it's my favorite song?"

You internally rolled your eyes at his questions. What was this? National ask a stupid question day? "Yeah."

"Do you know why it's my favorite?"

You shook your head.

Newt reached over to you, never breaking eye contact as he took your hands in his own. "Because it reminds me of you. That kiss... I knew I'd take you all the way if you wanted me to." He licked his lips. "Because I love you...

"And I know you love me too."

You were shocked. Was this some kind of sick joke? Did he know you listened to All The Way whenever you missed him because it reminded you of him? Did Minho put him up to this?

Newt placed one of your hands on his cheek, but kept his on top. "Don't you?"

Too late now. You gave him a slight nod, and Newt broke into a boyish grin. He happily leaned over to where you sat in the passenger seat, and gave you a light peck on the lips.

"I knew it." He whispered under his breath. You smiled, and returned Newt's kiss, stopping him from saying more. He smiled, glancing down to your lips before leaning in slowly. Again.

You met him halfway, and the two of you shared one of the best kisses in history.

It was only a bonus to see Minho's surprised expression Monday morning.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S4 Ep21: Duke Puts on Duel Disk, Immediately Takes Disk Off

So last time we ended, Yugi and Tea were stranded in the middle of an ancient warfield that was hundreds of feet off the side of this cliff topped with a seldom used railroad track.

And yes, this is all somewhere in what should be one of the most populated parts of the Bay Area.

Amazed that this school uniform can go through such rugged terrain. But then again, last season it got hit squarely with a fireball, so...this school uniform is essentially a Batman suit.

But I just want to point out that Yugi didn’t take the duel disk off before vaulting up this cliff. Tea has a bag youknow...but gotta sweat up the duel disk that our entire world relies on.

It would be very funny if this season ended abruptly because Yami either dropped this thing on the ground and finally broke it, or just plain forgot he needed to charge it’s batteries.

And so now we just walk...kind of in the direction where they hope Joey and Tristan are?

I do appreciate that although Pharaoh is completely lost in a foreign country, he will not admit it.

(read more under the cut)

On the other side of the tracks, Joey is dragging his Sisyphean stone.

Please admire that this entire scene takes place somewhere in the Grand Canyon. Like it’s episode 20 and I just still can’t get past how they went to California and didn’t include a single beach.

Mai has decided she’s done screaming off the back of a motorcyle, and has decided to come over to Dartz’ lair to scream where the traffic isn’t quite so bad.

And she just rage quits.

Is this the first rage quit we’ve ever had in this show about games? Incredible.

Also, I didn’t realize you could just quit the end of the world cult in the final hours of ending the world, but I guess it doesn’t really matter much to Dartz. Whether Mai ends up killing Joey or doesn’t end up killing Joey, it’s still a soul in the Leviathan bucket so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, in the actual dialogue of the show, Dartz tells Valon that Mai’s basically going to get what she deserves and no one here needs to even do anything to change or stop it. But, it was still somewhat surprising that this 10,000 year old serial murderer world destroyer was so down to shell out some relationship advice. Almost like maybe he has somewhat of a fatherly concern for his stupid ass murder boys. Kind of. Sort of.

Enough to try and tell Valon to leave this one alone because she’s gone maniacal pixie dream girl and there’s no coming back from that.

In order to have motorcycle gangs, you have to have bearable enough traffic for said gangs. That’s why we just don’t have a motorcycle gang problem in real deal California like a lot of 70′s-80′s movies would have you think. They’d only be able to drive in like...one lane, and they’d get constantly cut off and driven off the road by Google buses.

TBH the Google bus is our true modern motorcycle gang, there are just so many of these damn buses. And also, I deleted a lot of text right now when I went off about the ongoing bus war, which is absolutely a thing here. The motorcyclists are just doing me a solid by not being a car on the road and staying out of my lane.

In a more realistic version of this show, Mai would have never made it to the desert, she’d be too busy watching only one single car able to turn right onto Octavia every light cycle because of all the damn private buses and uber cars flooding our itty bitty one way streets.

And to try and tame Mai, Valon decides to do this...motorcycle stand off?

It’s like he’s trying to catch a feral cat.

At some point one of them stops, and like I was focused too much on how good their brakes are to pay attention to who stopped first.

Probably Valon, because Mai is completely insane.

And so then he just...

Y’all I know they had to give Valon motivation to be in love with Mai, but this kids show jumped through so many hoops to make this very unhealthy relationship appear like Valons love was pure and true while still showing that this is a very unhealthy relationship. Kind of a hard balance.

It’s actually interesting how much work they put into Valon’s very tragic and problematic relationship after they’ve dodged every other problematic relationship this show has brought forth.

Like the villain with a heart of gold is a trope, but it’s a trope that works. There is no hope in the world that this relationship could pan out. They’re not a misunderstood pair like he thinks they are. They’re freakin terrible and they don’t deserve each other. But he’s gonna try and do it anyway.

We get to watch Valon bargain (mostly with himself) about how this relationship (which exists mostly in his head) is going to absolutely work out, because to him, if he feels so intensely, eventually she’s gotta feel the same. Most people haven’t murdered people, but it’s still a very relatable type of situation that the show displays without getting too preachy about how it’s clearly bad news. They just introduce it for the audience to come to their own conclusions, and I was really surprised by that level of maturity.

I’ve been sitting here saying “There’s no way this show could balance Tea with Yugi and the Ghost in his head. There’s no way they can really touch on Kaiba and that paper card. There’s no way that this show knows how to do a relationship because they don’t want to get involved with that weird gray area.” and you know what? Maybe they can.

Like they’re doing it right now. Did they just need 4 seasons of people complaining to go “Fine! I’ll write out the problematic relationship! I’ll do it!” because--this works for them. They finally did it.

Now, I’m not saying it’s Oscar worthy or developed beyond a trope, I’m just saying I’m genuinely surprised to see it on this show, and they should have done it more often. It’s a super weird pairing, but way more interesting than like...all that time we spent with Serenity because I actually have something to look forward to. (which will be when Valon inevitably dies in a ball of tragic glory)

So many romance stories give me nothing to look forward to, y’all. You have to give me something. Like, I’ve been reading a lot of not great romance in my life, and you have to have some sort of time limit in place for me to care about your couple. To have only have so much time before the other person gets married, moves, ends the world--I don't care--but man that time limit is crucial and so much romance just...forgets.

Like Bonnie and Clyde, Romeo and Juliet, and other ill fated couples, Valon and Mai end up being interesting because we just love seeing people fall into pieces. Hell, I just finished watching Tiger King and damn, what makes that show so good is that you are just waiting on that time limit to see how bad it gets. (and it’s crazy, super recommend Tiger King, although it’s very clear that they pushed the drama a little beyond realism but man. Good TV.)

Of course there’s always the chance that maybe Valon just got bored. But, youknow.

Anyway, it IS a romance on Yugioh, so we do have to very quickly drive a truck through it.

Man.

What are they DOING here?

It took me kind of a while to remember that Mai would be going where Joey would be living, which is most likely where Raphael dropped off Arthur Hawkins. But, if you don’t remember that fact, this is the most random thing ever.

Like you got this huge ass desert in the Califorizonado mesas, and then BOOM enter Rebecca Hawkins, just omnisciently lording over all of the West and just so ready to fight you.

Every girl interested in Yugi Muto has this thing where they’re normally pretty chill and then they just snap and get angry as hell.

PS she’s in a different outfit now, but I don’t feel like changing her font color. I’ve had some Photoshop.......incidents.......and I don’t think I have this plaid pattern anymore and I don't feel like making a new one yet.

I mean Valon’s got the green outline on his text, so I figure we’re good.

Also, Rebecca wears a tie clip?

This 12 year old girl wears a tie clip.

And like don't get me wrong, this was 2003-4, alt rock was big, and yes, we did have tiny Avril Lavigne ties at American Eagle. I will admit that I very much considered getting an Avril Lavigne tie at one point in my life, but didn’t want the commitment of needing to pair it with a skirt.

But either way, old man tie clips aren’t alt rock. The only thing that makes Rebecca’s outfit not exactly that alt-grunge Avril Lavigne look is that tie clip. They were SO close to making her look cool. Just so close.

Also the bifocals. But anyway...

So Valon was going to straight up ignore Rebecca, because he has a warped sense of morality and will not kill a 12 year old (but will kill a 17 year old). But, Mai did ask nicely.

Thankfully, because of Valons weird sense of morality, he did not pull out the Oricalchos. Instead he pulled out...a new mechanic!

OK.

Fine, whatever. I don’t go over cards in this show so I don’t have to even worry about this.

And Rebecca and Duke freakin lost, because Duke is never allowed to win. Rebecca may have won if Duke didn’t join this battle with his ass luck, just throwing that out there.

And Mai is like “wow, Valon is doing a really good job. He’s right, he IS amazing”

and she bolts.

And back on the tracks, we see another group of our protagonists sprawled on the desert floor.

REALLY lucky that this train track only has one operating train that is currently out of commission because you should not lie down on a track like this. Probably goes without saying that this is a great way to die. But youknow...the world is also ending so sure, why not? Getting killed by a train is probably more pleasant than the Leviathan.

And then, because we MUST talk about commuting, lets see Kaiba’s commute on this huge ass very normal plane.

I know.

That’s just a normal ass plane.

Even Kaiba needs to take a break youknow? And maybe since he hallucinated last time he drove a plane he decided to just...not drive one for a while. Probably a good move.

On the way, we get to see Seto’s form of parental advice. It was weird.

Like in the actual dialogue of the show Seto is just SO CLOSE to giving good advice and then just slips in these chestnuts where it’s like...well that’s gonna be like 12 years of therapy for Mokuba in the future Seto, thanks for that.

Also lets welcome back Seto’s dueling jacket. Been a while, big sleeves.

Also, the Aurora Borealis has also hit the plane, which is very Twilight Zone of them.

...

Correct me if I’m wrong but Alister was in Dartz’ room during that convo with Mai.

like...just a few hours ago?

Was that a hologram of Alister in Dartz’ boardroom or did the animation team forget?

Oh Alister.

Also, I just want to point out that the same day Seto sent Roland out to fix his problems, was the same day that Kaiba got hella abducted, just a few hours later. Man, Roland. Turn around for like 2 minutes and Seto’s back into cards, they’re both abducted by cultists, and they’re both half-way across the world to California. It must be hard to be Roland.

Anyway, if you just got here this is a link to read the rest in chrono order. All four seasons.

Hope y’all are staying safe in this Pandemic time, goes without saying. Been a weird couple of weeks, but thankfully the internet is still here to help us all keep sanity.

[thundersstruck]

Mob ties- Auston Matthews AU

A/N: well hello! This is an alt. universe fic based on the weirdest fucking dream I’ve ever had... next to one where all of my friends and I were fish hooks characters. Anyways it’s gonna be epic and possibly a series and in third person POV like a normal book I gusss. It’s also loosely based on the song mob ties by drake I’m also changing it to where they all live in Toronto and they’re all in high school

Masterlist of normal writings not based off of my weird ass dreams

Requested: uhh by my brain ig

Warnings: swearing, blood, killing, fluff (?) angst, the usual bullshit also mature themes...

Word count: 1769

Gif credit: @anzekopistar

Enjoy!!

(Y/N)'s life was perfect. Perfect grades, perfect house, perfect family, perfect everything, that is until Auston walked into her life and changed it all. Between Auston's I'm only here for the good times attitude and mob ties he hid, her life would never be the same perfect life she had when she fell for him.

(Y/N) sat in the busy cafeteria, listening to music and looking to see where her next class was when a voice spoke up from in front of her. "What's a pretty girl like you doing alone in a place like this?" The voice asked as (Y/N) brought her eyes up to a talk, built boy with beautiful brown hair and eyes. "Trying to get an education I suppose" she responds taking her earbuds out, giving the boy her full attention. "You must be new here, I'm Auston." He says sticking his hand out to have her shake it, (Y/N) extends her hand towards his and shakes his hand, it's oddly soft yet strong, but it was almost as if he was afraid he was going to break her hand. "I am, in fact new here, I just moved from Quebec. I'm (Y/N) by the way." She smiles. He smiles back and helps her up "come sit with me and my friends, were cool I promise." He says with a wink and butterflies erupted in (Y/N)'s stomach. "Sure thanks that sounds nice." She says as he guides her to the table full of boys. They come to a stop at a table full of boys built just like Auston. "Let me introduce you to everyone. Everyone this is (Y/N) she's new and now she's part of our crew." Auston says and the group nods. "So this is Mitch, my ride or die, Freddie, Naz, and the three blonde brothers aka Willy, Kappy and Willy's actual brother Alex, oh and you've got Morgan but we call him Mo and uhh yeah that's kinda it." He says looking over at (Y/N) with a small smile "Hi guys" (Y/N) says quietly. "Hey Aus how'd you snag this girl she's a beauty, definitely too smart for you." Mitch chirps at Auston, a wave of anger and shock washes over Auston, "listen Mitchell, first off we have chem together and second, it's called being nice, that comment right there is the exact reason you're still chasing Steph. Five years later." Auston says crossing his arms as everyone laughs and Mitch starts pouting. (Y/N) hides a laugh as she sits down in one of the open seats next to Morgan and Auston sits on the other side of her. The group makes small talk but (Y/N) just listens to the conversation glancing at Auston until he hands her his phone. "Give me your number, so we can ya know talk" He says and she accepts the phone and types in her number. He sends her a text and her phone bings. “It’s Aus the boss” the text read and then another came through “are you busy tonight?” It says and (Y/N) is quick to respond “I literally just moved here and have no friends so yes yes I am free” she smiles as he responds back “wanna hangout?” The text reads “like a date?” She responds as a light blush dusts her cheeks. “Yes like a date, so I’ll meet you out in the parking lot after school?” He sends back “sounds great :)” he says looking up from her phone towards Auston. “Are you two in your own world or something jeez participate in the conversation.” Willy says “Say (Y/N) whats your favorite pizza topping?” Willy asks her “um pepperoni” she answers puzzled. “Thoughts on pineapple on pizza?” Mo asks “ew no who does that?” She responds making a face of disgust. “Atta girl, she can stay.” Alex says. The bell rings and the group gets up. “Hey I have class down the hall from you so let me just walk you to class.” Auston says striding next to (Y/N) to keep up with her. “That would be nice thank you.” (Y/N) smiles at him. The pair walk up the stairs and a group of boys give (Y/N) looks, looks that we’re almost like they were undressing her with their eyes, and Auston sees it too. He quickly grabs her hand and the boys stop staring. “Thank you.” Shes says quietly as they reach (Y/N)’s class “you’re welcome, no girl should be looked at like that, especially since you roll with me now.” He says with a smile, he quickly bends down and kisses her cheek and whispers “I’ll see ya later ok?” Before running down the hall to his class before the bell rings.

The end of the day couldn’t come soon enough. (Y/N) struts into the cold Toronto air clad in here blue Maple Leafs sweatshirt, skinny jeans and converse. She quickly spots Auston leaning against the hood of a black Camero. “There you are!” He exclaims looking up from his phone and opening up his arms, throwing them around her. His embrace is warm and smells like sandalwood and vanilla. “This is gonna sound crazy weird but um you smell like vanilla and it’s nice” He says into the hug, swaying a bit before letting go. “Coco Chanel, my dad bought it for my birthday.” She says with a smile, “well I like it so you should keep wearing it.” He says with a wink while unlocking the car. The pair get into the car and pull out of the parking lot, the hum of the car fills the silence until Auston starts talking. “So my family is out of town this weekend so you really never have to go home if you want.” He says putting his hand on (Y/N)’s leg, giving a light squeeze and then a small smile before looking back at the road. “Let me text my mom hold on” (Y/N) says while composing a text to her mom. Shortly after sending it she gets a response, “that’s fine with me honey just make sure to check in with us. Have fun!” The text says. “My mom said it’s cool, since I said I’m staying at a friends house.” (Y/N) smirks and looks at Auston as he pulls into the driveway of a huge home, with a gate that closes the driveway in. “Wow ok, you literally live in a mansion.” She says in awe. “I wouldn’t say that but okay I guess.” Auston says parking the car and getting out to open (Y/N)’s door. “Wow chivalry isn’t dead.” (Y/N) giggles.

They spend the evening watching movies and eating pizza while laughing about childhood stories. They’re pulled close to each other at the end of the night and share a sweet kiss that causes butterflies in both of them. “I think I could get used to this.” Auston says “me too.” (Y/N) smiles at him.

Days turn into weeks and the weeks quickly become a month and a half and a half. What (Y/N) doesn’t realize is this is where shit gets deep.

“Guess who?” Auston says wrapping his arms around (Y/N)’s waist while she puts books in her locker. “Mm is it my loving and wonderful boyfriend?” She asks spinning around to face him. “Why yes yes it is.” She says as he pulls out a bag from his backpack. “What’s this?” She asks taking the bag from him. “Just something special, for being the best person ever.” Auston says his hands still on her waist as she opens the box that was inside the bag. Inside the box was a beautiful necklace with a lion charm and a crown on it. “Aus, it’s beautiful.” (Y/N) says taking it out of the box and handing it to Auston to put it on her. “I’m gonna wear it forever.” She says kissing him. “I’m glad you like it.” He says kissing her again before pulling away, “so wanna hang out tonight?” He asks with his signature smile. “Obviously.” She says with a giggle.

*time jump because I wanna get to the good shit*

Auston and (Y/N) were parked outside of Willy’s house but instead of going in they currently had other plans. (Y/N) was straddled across Auston’s lap passionately making out with him and grinding down on his lap. “Jesus (Y/N)” Auston groans “sorry. I’m impatient.” She says in between kisses. “I get that but like I don’t wanna go into will’s house post cumming in my pants that’s so awkward” Auston says grabbing her waist and pulling him closer to him. “Later then?” She says with a devilish grin, he places a kiss on her lips that’s rough and passionate. “Most definitely.” He says while getting a text from Freddie. “I have to go in, I’ll be right back, stay here.” He says while getting out of the car and strutting towards Will’s front door and the disappearing. After a few minutes (Y/N) got bored and decided to go into the house and get Auston. She creeps into the house and sees the boys and hears them whispering. Soon there’s yelling and footsteps towards where she is, so she makes a break for it, slipping in a puddle of what she hopes is water on the way. Making it outside out of breath, in the light of the streetlight (Y/N) realizes she didn’t slip in water, she slipped in blood and now it’s all over her hands, jeans and sweatshirt and the soles of her shoes. Fear takes over her body and she’s instantly crying and shaking. Auston comes out and sees her standing by the car and fear, panic and worry washes over him. “What happened?” He asks coming over to her, “I told you to stay in the car, why didn’t you listen, I don’t want you mixed up in this shit.” He whisper yells “who’s blood am I covered in?” Shes asks quietly. “(Y/N)... did you go in the house?” He asks her as her eyes fill with fear “hey I’m not gonna yell at you just tell me ok.” He reassures and she nods. “Oh god, just get in the car ok, everything is gonna be fine okay, we’re gonna go back to my house.” He says opening the door and helping her in, buckling (Y/N) up before running over to his side and starting the car, speeding off.

[fleurdeneuf]

How to X-Kit

I made a general How to Tumblr post a while ago, and while I did mention the importance of x-kit there, I did not go into much detail.  I drafted this x-kit tutorial for a new to tumblr friend more recently, and it’s just been sitting in my documents ever since.  I’ve decided to dust it off and clean it up for posting, in case it can help anyone else out there.  

So, here are the x-kit extensions that I find most useful, grouped by “essential” or “nice to have.”  Of course, everyone uses tumblr differently, so these are my personal preferences, and ymmv. 

Essential:

One-click reply: Lets you reply to people who have replied to your posts (you can also reply if someone has reblogged or liked a post).  A little arrow shows up when you hover over a note in your dash or on your activity page.  Click on the arrow, and it’ll draft a reply post for you.  You can select multiple notes by holding down Alt when clicking on arrows.  The default reply posts look like this, which will tag you, but not @ you, so they are easy to miss.  If you add the options to add the person’s avatar and @ them for good measure, they look like this.

Tweaks: 1) Wrap tags for easier reading (In the past, you had to scroll all the way across to see people’s tags, which was terrible.  Tumblr has added those  “see all” links now, which wraps tags, but only to a certain point, and then you have to click to see the rest.  I hope that xkit will one day fix that so the wrapped tags are all in one block again, which is why I still have this extension and will never get rid of it.)  2) Add a separator line for Tag section on editor. (In an update a while back, tumblr made it impossible to see between the tags box and the text box of a post, and this redefines the boundaries.)  3) I am fond of the “move to top” button on the queue page.  4) & 5) Hide the explore button on trending posts and Hide the explore link at the top of the page and in the side bar (because we don’t need that garbage).  6) & 7) I like Always show the scroll to top arrow, and Make small text in reblogs the same size as small text in my own posts.  8) & 9) Hide the tumblr radar and Hide recommended blogs, because we don’t need that garbage either.  10) Show Mass post editor and blog settings buttons (another old thing that I don’t remember exactly what it does, because I no longer remember what tumblr looks like without it).

Blacklist: You probably know how this one works, but I do recommend a few of the options, like: Don’t block my own posts, Use improved checking, and definitely definitely Show tags on blocked posts (so you can see people’s tag rambles even if you don’t see the post itself). (Note: tumblr did just roll out that new blacklist of its own, but you can’t see people’s tags that way, which is why I still use x-kit’s blacklist.)

Go-to-dash: View a post on someone’s blog in dash mode so you can view without someone’s theme and access more options than are usually on someone’s blog.  Click the eye symbol at the top of a post on someone’s blog (you have to be following the person for this to work).

Mute!: Lets you not see someone’s posts for as long as you like, without having to unfollow them.  You can choose which type of post to not see: OPs, reblogs, text posts, photo posts, etc.

No Recommended: Get rid of recommended likes and blogs.

Open in tabs: Opens links and blogs in new tabs, rather than in the sidebar thing.  Note: this does not always work, depending on the blog settings of the person you’re trying to visit, but it does work on most.

Outbox: Saves sent messages to an outbox!  Only works on the computer you have this x-kit installed on, though.  (At work, you’ll only see messages you sent at work; at home at home)

PostBlock: Block posts you don’t like.  (I do this when pron or anti- stuff shows up in tags I track.)

Read more now: Lets you click on a read more and the post will expand in your dash, rather than making you go to the person’s blog to see it.

Reblog as text: Honestly, I don’t know if this is still a problem, but tumblr used to reblog long posts as if they were links (so all that you would see on your dash was a link, not the actual post), and it was hella annoying.  If tumblr is still doing this stupid thing, then get this extension.

Reblog yourself: Lets you reblog a post from yourself.

Reply viewer: A little speech bubble button appears at the bottom of posts and if you click on it, you can view all of the replies to that post - good for looking at post history.

Retags: Shows you people’s tags in your notes so don’t need to check each person who reblogged from you to see what their tags were.

Tag replacer: Lets you replace or remove tags on your posts.  For example, when I realized that tags with dashes in them do not work, I changed all of my tags that had dashes in them to tags with spaces between words instead.  Also handy if your friends change their URLs or if you realize you have five different tags that say something like “I love CE” but you only want one.

Tag tracking+: At the very least, you should track your URL (with no dash, if your URL has a dash in it, because dashes don’t track) to see when people tag you in things.  Any fandom things you’re into are also worth tracking, once you find their “official”/most popular tags.  Boxes to check: Show a [new] indicator, Redirect the followed tags to tagged instead of search, and Show tags on sidebar (which adds a sidebar menu so you can see all of the tags you’re tracking).

Tag viewer: Similar to reply viewer, but shows you all of the tags of people who have reblogged a post.  If it’s an old or popular post, lots of great things to be found!

Old sidebar: Gives you back a sidebar menu so you can find things easier.

Nice to have extensions below the cut:

Xinbox: Has some nice options in it, like “tag published asks with their usernames”, which is very helpful (so people will see your reply in their tag).

Activity+: Group notes by post, filter notes by type, show timestamps on notes (TIMESTAMPS ARE THE BEST).

Anti-Capitalism: Remove sponsored posts, Terminate...sidebar ads, Remove framed ads, Hide the asktime banner, Hide sidebar ads.

Blog tracker: Lists someone of your choice’s blog in your sidebar as if they were a tag you were tracking, so you never miss their posts.  Helpful if you don’t scroll through your entire dash, but you want to make sure you never miss something that a friend posts, for example.

Drafts+: Another old thing that I don’t remember exactly what it does, because I no longer remember what tumblr looks like without it.

Enhanced Queue: Lets you shuffle queue posts to mix them up, and a few other things.

Header options: Makes the header look like what it used to before tumblr “improved” it.

Mass deleter: Unlike likes/delete drafts en masse.

Mass+:  Another old thing that I don’t remember exactly what it does, because I no longer remember what tumblr looks like without it.

NotificationBlock: If a post of yours goes out of control and you don’t want to see the notes anymore, it’ll block them.

Notification+: Highlights notes from people you follow.  (It also used to show number of notes when you hover over a notification, but the newest tumblr update broke that.)

Post crushes: I LOVE this.  It lets me make these posts. 

Scroll to bottom: Lets you get to the bottom of your likes or drafts, though crashes tumblr if you try to use it and you have too many posts (like me).

Search likes: This would be amazing if I ever remembered to use it!

Separator: Puts a horizontal line through your dash where you left off before, though it does not always work.

Timestamps: I LOVE TIMESTAMPS.

User Menus+: another old thing that I don’t remember exactly what it does, because I no longer remember what tumblr looks like without it.

View on dash: View blogs in dash mode rather than going to the blogs and dealing with their theme.

[italicwatches]

Laid-Back Camp - Episode 12

Alright, the last hurrah. One last camping trip with these girls. Let’s see how it goes. It’s Laid-Back Camp, episode 12! Here we GO!

-We begin…In a possible future. Rin’s camping ways have continued, and she’s taken more after her grandfather, with a cool motorcycle and sweet boots. She arrives to a campsite to find the others already waiting for her. Chiaki’s become the new Toba-sensei, treating all camping trips as an excuse to get her booze on…Well, I said the others, but Nadeshiko is a ways out still. In this fantasy, Nadeshiko didn’t just keep camping…She now owns a camping gear company, bringing American styled equipment to Japan. Also, Aoi still hasn’t lost her fang…

-And Nadeshiko arrives…On…

-Good.

-Fucking.

-God.

-She’s in the flying tent from the opening.

-So obviously this is our title-card shot. As much as I love all the other shots of the girls all grown up…I mean, come on.

-And this is all Nadeshiko’s idea of what it’ll be like when they’re all grown up. Which explains a lot. And Rin’s gotten back with stuff! Yayyyyy.

-Opening! So here’s the magic question for you: In Nadeshiko’s possible-future, did she imagine herself and Rin being married?

-Episode 12: Mount Fuji and the Laid-Back Camp Girls

-So doggo has to go. He’s picked up by Ena’s family to go back home to warm bed, while the others scrub their dishes and ask the question of who’s gonna take advantage of the actual baths first. Well, Toba-sensei is out.

-In the end, Aoi, Ena and Chiaki end up in the bath, in an actual proper hot bath no less. Which leaves Rin and Nadeshiko to stay warm around the fire, and they end up asking Toba-sensei if she doesn’t mind being out here all alone instead of with her lover…

-…That was her sister she was with, you dorks. Anyways, all of this gender and romance confusion has Nadeshiko so off-tilt that she ends up outright asking Chiaki if she’s a girl or not when the others get back. Do you want to die?

-So round two of the baths, chatting with Toba-sensei. Who has a camping history not entirely dissimilar to Rin’s, though hers is more group-oriented. Her dad was a huge outdoorsy type when she was a kid, so the whole family would practically be out every weekend in the summers. Her sister picked up the bug full-force, and she tags along.

-Also speaking of camping, Rin still doesn’t know what that thing she saw in the darkness was. It was your teacher. Aaanyways, by the time they get back from the bath, everyone’s done their hair up in a Shimarin Bun. Nadeshiko is surrounded by Shimarins and it’s wonderful! Rin is quietly a bit mad at that name.

-So Nadeshiko has enough hair that she gets the true Shimarin treatment: Having Ena do something ridiculous to her head. Which she doesn’t see until they take a selfie together. Alas, Nadeshiko. But now they’ve kind of used up their tasks, but it’s too early to sleep…

-So Chiaki has a treat. You know outdoor film festivals, and vintage American drive-ins, and all that? (GOD I wish I could justify using that shot of Anime To the Future) Well Chiaki just signed up for a data plan and streaming services for her tablet! It’s not quite a grand projector, but they can just dive deep until they forget what time is!

-Eventually they’re all tapped out…Until everyone else is asleep, and it’s just Nadeshiko and Rin with their heads poking out of Rin’s tent way off on their own, looking up at the stars. They end up talking about all the shows and stuff they watched, and possible journeys, and New Year’s plans, and just…just talking. I’m not sure if Rin will do these big group trips very often, but I think it’s clear she’ll be doing a lot of these little trips with Nadeshiko.

-And they doze right off, as quiet comes over the campsites…And all is peaceful…

-Until the first alarm goes off. It’s 5 AM Christmas day, and Rin wakes up next to Nadeshiko, just the two of them. I’m not saying they’re a few months at most away from one of them suddenly realizing “FUCK we’re a couple when did that happen crap crap crap what’s the anniversary is it the day we met WHAT DO I GET HER”, but it was aliens.

-Also Nadeshiko you promised to make breakfast so get out of that mummy bag and make with the grub.

-Of course, Rin ends up helping…And by the time the others gather, it’s a truly traditional meal. Some grilled salmon, a miso soup, rice, even natto. Exactly what a certain hungover teacher needs to clear her head. And as they all get their grub on…The sun tips over the horizon, and it is just magic. That first light, when your eyes have adjusted to the pre-dawn, is so overwhelming, and just…Amazing.

-Of course, then comes the end of the trip. The loading of gear, the packing up of campsites. Daily coming to pick various folks up, and of course, one last photo of them all together before they scatter.

-Cut to a new day at the bookstore. Rin’s just hanging out behind the counter…And she’s thinking she wants to go somewhere for New Year’s…Which is when Ena shows up, buying a magazine on winter camping.

-Over at school, Chiaki leads the crew on a full cleanup of their club room! …That took like two minutes. Until they get Rin or Ena to actually sign on, it’s the cramped storage room for another semester. And tragically, they’re both working through the New Year’s holiday, so they can’t even go camping together…Well, except for Nadeshiko, who can’t find work.

-Cue Rin texting with a PLAN. Ena got a temp job printing and delivering new year’s cards and they need more warm bodies. It’s only a week or two of work, but Nadeshiko’s super excited at getting some cash to turn into camping gear.

-And at last, the credits song plays, as we montage over a quiet calm for all involved with the sun low in the sky. Rin’s scooter dutifully parked by her humble home. Ena’s doggo wrapped up snug in his doggo bed. Nadeshiko’s sister after another road trip to a picturesque sight. Rin’s grampa watching the sun set from his latest campsite. Nadeshiko’s folks coming home with groceries. Toba-sensei’s sister setting up camp, and she herself wrapping up a day of teaching.

-And in that little storage hall, a few more photos added to Nadeshiko’s wall…Including the one magical shot that started the series, of them all together…

-Aftercredits! And not a skit, either. It’s post-New Years, the back end of winter turning into spring, and Nadeshiko’s pedaling her humble little bike, with its rack and her bag both full of kit, to a certain campground…It’s a hard ride, but she finally makes it, checks in, and finds herself nearly alone at a pristine lake. The very place where she met Rin, damn near the exact same spot, as she dutifully puts together her setup. Her tent, her little table…And her own little treat, the gas lantern she saw in the shop that day. It’s a perfect, gorgeous setup…

-When Rin texts asking if she’s working. She’s actually out on the road, and just got to her campsite! And thus they get talking, both of them out camping solo, as Nadeshiko hides where she’s gone, until she sends the photo…And Rin’s comes in…And she’s not even a hundred feet back. They both had the same idea and came to the same place. These adorable precious girls.

And that’s a wrap.

I…Damn, this one somehow feels way heavier than it should. The show’s just so warm and comfy that I don’t want to leave it. But there’s no more left(unless they do a second season COME ON YOU COWARDS), and thus there’s no choice.

I mean, except for the fact that I obviously have already made bookmarks for the manga to chew on.

It is no mistake that this show caused a lot of people to want to go camping. This was…Damn, this was real close to perfect for me, and quite frankly the only things that would’ve made it better would be trading some archetypes around to pander to my specific tastes, rather than actually doing anything objectively higher quality.

And that fucking ending. That last shot. That was just…Pretend your favorite meme image of a chef’s kiss is here, because that was perfect.

So what’s coming up now that we did that? A hard pivot to the exact opposite of this warm comfy slice-of-life stuff, and also me trying blatantly to build my presence Tumblr-side with a big-pop. You’ll see. Wait for it!

[kevansevans]

Regarding my departure from the GS discord server

I think I need to pour my thoughts out to those who weren't there to see why I had to leave. This has been gnawing at me and I feel writing this out will lift these negative feelings off of my shoulders. This is a bit difficult for me to type out so please bear with me, and I am trying to avoid identifying a person, even though people will know who I’m talking about anyways. I also apologize for being wordy.

Trust is something I take very seriously. Not to the point where I would threaten anyone over betrayal, but trust can be broken in more ways than one, and I feel as though mine had been neglectfully broken with a sledgehammer. When you put someone to power, trust is a very important thing to maintain with your staff. I was the third member to join this server, which was opened up by two very good friends of mine, people who I've been around for about three years now. They elected me to an admin position since we had been running servers long before. It's been us three leading the charge. I shouldn't have to say that we trusted each other.

It suddenly becomes difficult to maintain a relationship of trust when it's not returned. It causes poor communications and unnecessary tension. Tension which will come to a head and burst if not resolved. Frequently issues would arise between me and one of my former friends of this trio I mentioned. I at first would try to resolve any problems through private chat, which all I was met with in return was being ignored. Or more to say, a very childish reaction along the lines of "I can't hear you!". This person in question does not know how to handle conflict very well to any degree. Tries to maintain a hands off approach and believes that if you simply hide away a problem, it's not a problem anymore.

This does not sit well with me. No one likes having their problems being ignored. And those who know me best that when I have a problem, it's real enough to me to warrant discussing it, bringing it up, bitches, gripes, moans, what have you. If a problem can't be fixed, I better get a damn good answer as to why, instead of having it swept under the metaphorical rug. This would happen pretty often and I'm afraid my escalating actions might have tarnished my image towards the other staff members present. Other issues included being hypocritical over rules that were wanted to be enforced, undermining staff decisions, refusing to discuss important issues, and making actions the majority of the staff wouldn't have wanted had they been given the time to voice their opinions.

Eventually, as I said before, my aggression escalated. I wasn't being given the respect that was being demanded out of me, so I started to lose the will power to supply it. I would stop being polite in my approach, as having to be aggressive seemed to be the only way to illicit any acknowledgement that I was upset with whatever. I had to fight tooth and nail for respect to not just be sent my way, but to the rest of her staff. The admin in question insisted that the server was not a dictatorship, but would constantly throw arguments of “My way or the highway”. This aggression had got to a point where in an attempt to push me away to avoid dealing with me, I was demoted to a lower staff roll. I then decided I had to quit being staff. It was obvious to me at this point I wasn’t elected out of trust, I wasn’t elected because I was good at the job. I was put on the stand to be a yes man. I refuse to be a yes man.

I didn’t leave the server since I didn’t want to leave on ill feelings. I enjoyed the place, I had many friends, interesting discussions, and many things to share. And I felt relieved. Our friendship at this point had ended. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t hurt. However conflict would not end there. I am not someone who stands for any mistreatment of anyone. Even people who I dislike or I know dislike me. My closest friends know I’d drop everything in a heartbeat to stand by them if they are being harassed, and those who dislike me would be lying if they said I wouldn’t for them. Several times over I had to defend myself and friends over the poor actions the Admin would take. I’d be lying if I said this didn’t cause drama, but  there was no peaceful resolve anymore. I wasn’t given that type of respect, so why should anyone expect it back?

During these conflicts, Admin would take out frustration on those who didn’t deserve it and misuse powers. This included kicking people out of the server for anything that was interpreted as server hate, muting people from pointing out Admin’s bad decisions, and deleting messages over and over. Regardless of the number of times it was explained that the way things were being handled was poor, it kept being treated the same way. Out of sight, out of mind. More I had to kick and scream for fair treatment. I was done being nice.

Today, another conflict arose. I had discovered that Admin had been using alt accounts to spy on other servers to dig up dirt on other members hanging out on different servers. Admin would use this dirt as an excuse to ban people from the server. I decide for one last time to confront this issue privately. I did not want to start a scene on the main chat, it was getting out of hand already. What it ended up coming down was Admin had zero respect for me, or to word it more closely to how the DM went, Admin didn’t “have to respect me”. Actually I’ll let the screencap do the talking.

I had sincerely given up at this point. Not out of frustration. I was heart broken. I gave up because it’s not worth fighting anymore. My mind was set at this point. I needed to leave. I go to the main chat and explain my position. I don’t mention anything more than “something bad happened” and I was upset. I wanted to ask people if they wanted to stay on contact with me, they should add to their friends list. A friend on the server agreed I had been treated poorly over the past month. Admin then kicks this person out of the chat.

I became absolutely enraged. If there was anyone capable of convincing me to stay, it wouldn’t have worked now. I felt myself tremble in anger witnessing this happen. I could not fathom words to explain how angry I was with Admin. I swore, I cussed, and I demanded that action was undone. Which it was, but it’s not over yet. Admin then explains to me that now was the time to explain why I was angry. Admin was “all ears”. And I sat there thinking how to handle this. If I was to do anything meaningful at this point, now was it. Realizing I have had enough, I decided not to humor Admin with a wall of text. I simply left two words.

Fuck you.

And left the server.

I don’t know if I will ever want to come back to the server. I have a lot of friends there and have had many good times in it. But it gets difficult enjoying a place when you know the people with power over you have mistreated you and are looking for an excuse to do something about it. I don’t know if our friendship can be healed at this point either.

[impracticaldemon]

Answering some tumblr Qs

@cherryb0mb79 who asked a number of questions that I asked a few months back (and others have asked me similar things).  

NOTE:  if you have better answers, PLEASE add to this! (I don’t use mobile.)

I just have the regular Tumblr app, if that’s what you mean. You mentioned Tumblr Savior a while back and I’ve been meaning to check it out. I’m not sure if I understand exactly what you mean, but is it like … I’m guessing, does Tumblr have metrics designed to affect that based on hearts and reblogs and such?

Chibi!Oni (I love this nickname btw): Tumblr Savior is an app you download from your app store (in my case, for Chrome, since that’s my browser).  It lets you select words and phrases to block from your feed.  If you didn’t want to see my Fairy Tail posts, you’d install the app and add “fairy tail” to your blacklist (you can also whitelist things).  It’s a simple app to use, but I don’t know how it works on your phone.  (And the tumblr feed is completely in order of posting by time/date.)

On the message in my inbox where you tagged me for ten things that make me happy, should I just copy that and paste it into a new post? Or do I reply to the message … I think you’ve explained something similar before, but it wasn’t this exact thing.

Chibi!Oni:  A trick I just learned from somebody: on a keyboard hit the ALT key; this will give you the option to “Save as Draft”.  From there it’s easy to do what you want with it. In general, though, just hit Reply and type! For questions like these, use “Post Privately”.  Then only I will see it.  For ask box memes, most people post publicly.  So hit reply, put in your 5 things and post.  If you can, add a tag that says “tag meme” or “asks” or something (you may have to “edit” after posting to do this since tags aren’t available in ask box responses).

NOTE:  To find a post that you’ve marked as “private”, find your little person icon (“account”) and click on “posts”.  This will show you all your posts including your private posts.  A private post can be made public later.

[I’ve added a “Keep reading” line here, but it doesn’t always work on mobile.]

I also had a notification that you mentioned me in a post about Saito and Kazama, I think? It was a letter. But when I tapped on the notification, it said no posts were found. I haven’t actually gone over to your blog to scroll through and look yet and see if I could find it, but was something deleted? Just wanted to check.

Chibi!Oni: Nope, wasn’t deleted.  Just go to my blog and search “text meme” (without quotes).  And… who knows.  I’ve seen this happen before from time to time.  One possibility is that I was editing the post when you clicked – it doesn’t like that!  J

I need to learn formatting on Tumblr. Because when I did the post for the last ten songs thing you tagged me in, I typed it like a list with 1. Song, then hit Return … so that it appeared as a numbered list, lined up, you know? But the actual post ended up with it all squished together…

Chibi!Oni: I don’t know why it would do that.  L  Did you do it as a reblog or as a new post?  For tag memes (as opposed to “ask memes” in your ask box), you would normally make your own new post. One thing to mention here, since you also ask about pictures: on a computer you can reblog and add pictures; on a mobile you can’t, it’s really, really annoying. If you make a new post then you have CHOICES!  You can either put all your photos in at the top (make it a photo post) or you can make it a “text post” (the basic one) in which case you can put photos wherever you want, but only one on a particular line (the photo post lets you put up to three on a line, but only in the “top” part of the post).

… It also seems like I should be able to post a picture/gif then have some text, then another picture/gif(s) and more text, etc., instead of a bunch of pics all at the top and text just at the bottom of the post.  [

Chibi!Oni:  [ANSWERED ABOVE]  Also, you can begin with a photo post and then treat the rest like a text post (so add text / photos one at a time below the group of photos above).

Also, pics getting cropped down unless you actually tap on them to bring up the full image. I guess there is some HTML stuff I have to do in order to format? Line breaks, italics, bold, etc. Do you have a source that’s like a cheat sheet for that? I’ve done a couple of searches both on Tumblr and just Google in general, but there is a lot of outdated and conflicting (and confusing) information. …

Chibi!Oni:  You have my sympathy.  I find it really annoying.  To be honest, I’ve given up on that (html is useful for your blog “theme” itself if you want to use it, but I don’t bother with posts).  The only easy way for your pictures not to get messed up when you use the “photo post” option and put photos on the same line is for them to be the same or almost the same size.  I have this problem with my transparent renders all the time (you’ll see that some look “bigger” than others—it’s usually because some chibi pictures are narrower than others).

NOTE:  If I’m just posting images, I try to use something basic like paint to get the same size.  That messes up transparents, though, and I haven’t mastered making transparent backgrounds to a certain size (as opposed to being just around the image itself).

I’m also realizing that this message is gonna disappear once I reply. Oh, well.

Chibi!Oni: But now you know where to find it! Just search for your own posts and it will be there.  (If it’s on private, then you have to go through the “account” icon of the little person and click “posts”).

However:  Once you send an Ask to an Ask Box it disappears completely which is really annoying.  There is no “sent” folder!

I hope some of this is helpful!!

~ImpracticalOni (aka Little Demon, aka Chibi!Oni)

[frenchraisins]

I decided to write a mid-year blogging recap and life update because I felt like a lot has happened in the past few months that are worth sharing. That is even if we were confined in our homes most of the time because of the quarantine. View of Metro Manila Mid-Year Blogging Recap + Life Lately IN THIS ARTICLE In particular, I would also to share some of my learnings with regard to blogging, my experience (and travails) as a working professional amid the lockdown, reflections during the lockdown, and life in general. It’s my first time to do this type of update, something really personal, so please bear with my if I sound incoherent at times. Anyway, let’s start.  Blogging  The COVID-19 lockdown has hit the blog hard in terms of traffic. I once shared that I achieved a blogging milestone last year when I hit 10,000 monthly page views starting July. I was able to maintain that until the end of the year. If you are curious to know that’s about 70% to 80% organic traffic and around 30% or 20% social media traffic.  All my effort to learn SEO has finally paid off with the page view achievement. Being a non-techie person, I found it quite hard to understand the technical stuff of SEO but I eventually learned it through a lot of research. I was also fortunate to have met some amazing bloggers who were kind enough to share their knowledge when it came to SEO.  One of those bloggers that I wanted to give credit to is Mr. Jonathan Espina of the popular Jon To The World Travel Blog who was very generous with his SEO know-how and would not hesitate to provide answers when I would consult him, even if I have not met him in person yet. I would probably treat him to a bottle of beer or a cup of coffee when I get the chance to meet him. On the other hand, the social media traffic, though small, involved a lot of effort and ate up a lot of my time because I was participating in a lot of blog engagement groups. I immediately realized that it would be hard to depend on social media traffic so I put more effort to increase my search engine traffic.  However, at the start of the year, the COVID-19 pandemic grew in proportions. It affected mainly travel blogs; since nobody was searching for travel-related articles and destinations, traffic plummeted. My content is mostly food and travel, both industries that were greatly affected by the pandemic. My traffic went down to as low as 3,700++ page views in June, but that’s also because I stopped participating in blog engagement threads because I wanted to really gauge how bad my organic traffic is. I also wanted less time from social media and more time with my kids.  Anyway, when I observed the decline in traffic, I again made adjustments with regard to SEO. Probably one of the best SEO lessons I learned during the last few months was to remove zombie pages from the blog.  That means looking at and assessing content that are not getting any traffic or are essentially dead. From there, you can consolidate and repurpose content or totally delete those that you think are non- salvageable.  The idea is that when Google sees that majority of your content is getting good traffic, the search engine giant would take it to mean that you are providing valuable information to your readers. Therefore, Google will elevate your search engine results rankings.  In my case, I removed my old personal entries like poems and rants from almost a decade ago since they do not have any SEO value.  I consolidated some of the poems into one personal post, like a collection of stories, that was getting good traffic. I also removed old press releases, optimized old posts with new information, and rewrote some articles to make them evergreen. I made a lot of consolidations because my tendency before was to create daily journal entry types instead of coming up with one whole travel guide about the places that we visited.  I also optimized photos which meant reducing file size to make them lighter and adding alternative text (alt text), things that I knew nothing about when I was just casually blogging. It was hard work but it kept me busy during the quarantine.  On top of these, I did my best to come up with new content because I wanted to replace the old content that I was removing so that it would not negatively impact my domain authority (DA). Over the three months that I did it, was able to raise my DA from 29 to 31.  In terms of traffic, I observed some positive results with regard to organic search although it is still a long way to go before I hit the 10,000 page views again.  Speaking of new content, I had the confidence to submit entries in blogging competitions again. The prize money was enticing so I wanted to try my luck again and partly because I want to force myself to create new content for my blog.  I joined the RedDoorz blogging content, which I did not win but I received a consolation prize which is a free overnight stay in one of their properties. I also submitted an entry to ComCo Southeast Asia’s Write to Ignite Blogging Project, which aimed to collect positive stories during the pandemic. Fortunately, I placed 7th among 70 participants in the Write to Ignite Blogging Project, which was not bad at all. It was definitely a welcome change after losing in the previous contests that I joined, despite the fact that I knew I had a good fighting stance.  No matter, what’s important is the experience that I gained from those competitions and the determination to try again despite failing.  In terms of revenue from blogging, it came as a surprise that I had higher income from Google Adsense despite this blog’s low traffic. I also have income from two more ad networks but they have not been meeting the payment threshold during the lockdown as compared to Adsense.  But the main revenue stream of this blog is sponsored posts. As such, I can only be thankful to the clients for their trust.  Working from home  Since April, I had been working from home except two weeks last June when I had to report every day to the office. But all throughout the lockdown, I can only be thankful to our company for continuing to provide us with income despite the work suspension during the early days of the quarantine.  Hoping for the day when we can enjoy the simple pleasures Honestly though, I find working from home a lot stressful because our outputs and tasks are more closely monitored as compared to when we were in the office. And since it’s we from home, expect a lot of distractions from the kids as well as from household tasks that need attention. Again, I’m trying to look at the situation positively in the sense that I am with my children and I can take care of them in the morning and immediately after work.  Furthermore, because of the pressure to businesses brought about by the pandemic, it’s a natural tendency to have shake-ups within the organization.  Sometimes, you would also hear words from your leaders that you may find to be unfavorable. Just think that they are also pressured but they are doing what they can to boost employee morale and keep the business afloat during these trying times.  In the end, the hard truth is that we can all lose our jobs and livelihood anytime during the lockdown because of income loss. I pray that it does not happen though because I do not have big savings to support our family in the months to come.  Reflections during the lockdown  I think my thoughts during the quarantine resonate with most people’s thoughts and that is being appreciative of the things that we have, no matter how small and simple these things are. In a snap, things can change and disappear right before our very eyes. I remember our last date, that was in February. It was our Valentine’s date but we were so busy the days before so we had to postpone it for a week. Even so, we were glad that we pushed through with it because that was our last date in the old normal.  I might sound selfish in this statement but I would say it anyway. I probably needed the quarantine, or at least the time off from office work provided by it. Several months ago, I was wishing for more time with my children. In fact, I was considering to shift to a home-based job. That way, I can at least keep watch on my children.  But with the lockdown, I suddenly had so much time with my kids. We spent most of it playing out in the yard every morning and afternoon. I can only be grateful that I was able to spend so many happy moments with my babies.  In a way, what we get is actually what we prayed for. It may not be in the form that we were expecting (or hoping) it to be but if we look closer, it’s really what we asked for.  Life lately  Aside from working from home, there’s nothing new with our life lately. We had all plans postponed because of the pandemic such as finding a new condo, finding a house that we could possibly buy, and traveling to Boracay and Nueva Ecija. Hoping things turn out for the better soon so that we could go on with life.  One thing that had us concerned was when my son’s therapy had to be postponed. Earlier this year, he was diagnosed with global developmental delay (GDD). With that, the recommendation was to enroll him to play school and undergo occupational therapy sessions so that he could catch up. However, two months into school, all classes had to be suspended because of COVID-19. We were worried that, with the postponement of the therapy, he would not be able to catch up. The school proposed that we do online therapy but we were doubtful of its efficacy.  We were offered a trial online session but, admittedly, we did not try it because we had reservations. Our pediatrician also told us that she was skeptical with the online therapy and said that it might be best to postpone it for now since he is still young anyway. Anyway, we can continue with the activities for our son and involve him in chores and a lot of play, of course. So far, we are seeing improvements when it comes to his concentration and eye contact. Our son also remembered some of the letters that we showed him. It’s not just memorizing the ABCs; he would pick up random letter and read it. Nevertheless, it would be best if we get the help of a professional occupational therapist.  As for our younger son, we are resigned to the fact that we will hold a quarantine first birthday for him. We wanted to give him a memorable first birthday like his Kuya but that might prove to be a challenge given the current scenario. On a positive note, we can always do the party at home with some friends and family.  Epilogue  That’s it for now. I know this entry is too long but I do hope that I was able to help you in some way. Keep in mind that we are all struggling and we are all fighting our own personal battles each day. Do not lose hope, reach out to people who can help you, reach out to people whom you think might need help. Tomorrow is a new day Don’t hesitate to tell us your story if that will make your load lighter; the comment section is open as well as our email and social media inboxes. We will do our best to help you to the best of our abilities. These will all pass.  For now, take care of yourself and your loved ones. Stay safe at all times! mbtTOC();

http://www.ivankhristravels.com/2020/07/blogging-recap-life-lately.html

[repertoire-art-design]

 Do you need a little more Namaste in your life?

The answer is YES you do. You may not know it. But you need a little more Namaste and a little less stress. A little more of all that Yoga offers? YES! YES! YES!

If you answered YES or you already practice yoga and want MORE, I have a suggestion for you —begin a yoga journaling habit. You will just find a little more OM in your day, your week, your month, your year. A little less stress. A little more connection to your yoga community. A little more understanding of yourself, and your practice. You will learn to reflect, observe, explore and express yourself more fully within your yoga practice. 

Here is my story…

   Life happens, so there is yoga

Life happens. The kind of happenings that make us question our choices and decisions, but also make us ask WHY!? me? We all recognize that uncomfortable feeling of dread. Sometimes happenings creep up on us like a cat after it’s prey. Only to pounce on us, as we realize we weren’t ready. But what if instead, we WERE ready for it after all! We were ready because we had learned the tools to cope. Like many of you, my coping skills have been learned through my practice of yoga. 

 My yoga journey

My “yoga journey” happened that way. Creeping up so slowly over nearly twenty five years that I didn’t even notice the progression. So slow, steady and pure in it’s pace that I didn’t realize the habits I had formed or the growth I had made. Yoga began as “exercise.” Seriously. I had no idea it’s power and strength at first. I just went from treadmill or step class to yoga. It was part of my healthy regimen at The Women’s Club. I loved it. But back then, I didn’t realize it’s gifts. That can be enough. That is the beauty of yoga. It is to each of us what we need. No more and no less. A port in a storm or a warm hug. A kick-ass workout AND/OR on any given day, a restorative exhale. All things to all people. The greatest gift I have every given myself. The gift that keeps on giving. 

Eventually, as time went on, I added a home practice to my guided studio practice. Something to “fill in” on days when there were no classes or I was traveling or the weather was too bad to drag myself to the gym. I chose good music; I got on the mat for 30 minutes; I felt better. Mission accomplished. End of story, or so I thought. 

Over time however, I realized there was more. Again, slowly I began to become interested in the philosophy of yoga, the Sanskrit names, the types of yoga; there WAS so much more to know and ponder and discover. I began to read about yoga, mostly to learn about “how to” become a more informed yogi about poses and flows, how to sit, how to breath. Not really studying it, just informing myself. More or less admiring its story, I searched out retreats and new classes. I began making notes in the books, asking questions, wondering about my own practice, but also what it meant to be “open to grace” or “present” or grateful. I grew in new ways on and off the mat, only beginning to understand the impact on my life.

Eventually I became aware of yoga’s healing powers because I needed to lean into that aspect of my practice. The MIND + BODY + SOUL pieces became inseparable over time for me, supporting me in hard times, guiding my decisions without needing to think or answer hard questions. I had learned how to apply what I learned on the mat in my day-to-day life and I didn’t even consciously realize the growth. Yoga was a constant, unwavering part of my life. It served as exercise for my body, therapy for my mind, and support for my soul. 

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Still I didn’t realize the complete picture of yoga’s profound effect on my life until I was over 50. Truthfully it was there all the time. Nurturing me. Supporting me. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, yoga was bonding me to a lifestyle, to a great friendship with myself on and off the mat, to something intangible but substantial. But like the practice of yoga, the most important “moment” for me yet in my “yoga journey” snuck up on me. The next “step” for me in my yoga journey wasn’t something I was searching for, or striving for, it was something I needed, and it found me.

Life Lessons

As humans we don’t always realized we are absorbing –learning something that needs to be honored and shared. I knew from teaching visual art for almost twenty years that this could be the case. Sometimes important information seeps in slowly or unawares, guiding us without our conscious acknowledgment. And then when we need it most, the “thing” we learned and needed is there. There for the taking, using it depends on the needing of its knowledge. A need to sustain us.

But there WAS still another aspect to yoga for me that I hadn’t encouraged or acknowledged- journaling about my experiences. Keeping visual journals had become part of my life. But I hadn’t realized that my yoga practice could be one of the themes. Then one day I did; I tried writing about my yoga experiences. My curiosity about the “study” of yoga, MY study, became a new passion, and it was life-changing. Literally like a clap of thunder, I jumped at the shock of the sound in my head. I experienced that “ah-ha” moment when we realize we have discovered an answer to a question in our life we didn’t know needed answering.

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Writing about the journey

Hope, gratitude, healing…

Yoga Journey 2020

RAD journaling

Journaling day…

Yoga Journey 2020

 Yoga journaling

Journaling became a way for me to process and apply all the positive ways yoga was manifesting in my life. Learning about the asanas, Sanskrit, philosophically challenging myself about the pillars, chakras, mudras, meditation. I was enthralled. Who knew? A lot of people knew. But I hadn’t put the practice and the study together before in my own life. I was mesmerized and distracted by its powerful nature. I decided that others might be interested too. And guess what? They were.

So I shared about yoga journaling in posts on my blog. I shared in a yoga journaling group in my local studio, Montana Om: how to create a journal, what to write, how to study, and how to take what was taught by our teacher and practiced by us, engaging more with it in a journal format. And then I began sharing within a Facebook Group. It drew a small following.

This yoga journaling process came to me slowly over almost twenty five years, yet blindsided me like a cat catching a bird. But I WAS ready, and that cat has become my confidant. I have taken flight instead of being trapped. I am loving the connections, the opportunities to share and learn, and the peace I find in the process.

I hope that some of you will join me. It’s pure perfection in the way yoga is pure perfection. What we need but different every time we step on the mat. We never find nirvana. We don’t have to. It was there all the time in the practice (and the journaling about the experience). Here’s to learning on and off the mat.

Namaste

Cultivating a more inspired life…through yoga Do you need a little more Namaste in your life? The answer is YES you do. You may not know it.

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Ezra Klein and the Neoliberalist Media are out of Arguments

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One of the most useful data sets for the alt right is the persistent, immovable gaps in racial IQ discussed in Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve. It seems the midwits that compose the editorial staffs of Neoliberalist Media try a new strategy to suppress these hatefacts every 5 years or so, usually in the context of debating each other in smug blogposts and magazine editorials. This spring saw this artificial “debate” once again when Sam Harris hosted Ezra Klein on his podcast and Ezra Klein promptly uptalked about statistics being racist for two hours.

A Neoliberalist mirrors the self-defined “Liberalist” coalition of YouTube skeptics and libertarians in that a Neoliberalist believes themselves to be an objective, rational thinker driven only by cold, hard facts and measured analysis.

A Neoliberalist believes that they climbed the summit of all relevant facts and data about policy. They began their ascent at a private liberal arts school where they received a B.A. in Political Science or Journalism, continuing the thankless task of enlightenment by studying titans of academia like Malcolm Gladwell and Tim Wise, absorbing later dozens of ideologically slanted sociological and economic studies to supplement their columns, and finally arriving at the Woke Big Brain Everest of “The Right Opinions.” With all the self-awareness of a bug, the Neoliberalist believes that all of his milquetoast, center-left opinions were arrived at through objective analysis and thus the Neoliberal consensus of the editorial staffs of NYT, WaPo, Slate, Vox etc., is immovable fact unmoored from ideological motivation or historical tides.

The Neoliberalist consensus is so broad across so many complex topics that it would be impossible to define. Generally speaking, this Neoliberalist Class marinates in a feedback loop confirming their own biases. The boundaries of acceptable discourse and acceptable thought are clear, and because of this you will find smart people believing wholeheartedly in dumb ideas that they never have been forced to seriously examine.

At the end of the aughts, Ezra Klein was promptly coronated the new Boy King of the Neoliberalist project by the Washington Post. The coronation began when Steve Pearlstein, a business editor at the Post, found Ezra Klein’s blog, where Klein wrote cogently in consistently clean copy about a breadth of political topics from a center-left perspective. Pearlstein saw this and decided that Ezra Klein was a new type of journalist, a blogger who was obsessed with numbers and The Facts who would cut through the “Media Establishment” to provide a hip, new fresh take on politics and economics. Of course, Klein’s opinions were the definition of “Media Establishment,” and it was for this reason that Jews at WaPo conspired, in the open, to elevate a 22-year-old kid to the ‘arbiter of The Facts’ at the Washington Post.

Since that point in 2007, around when Barack Obama was declared the Magic Negro of 21st Century Neoliberalism, Ezra Klein has been the Magic Jew. Both came onto the scene with little practical experience, both made up for a dearth of interesting or challenging ideas with eloquence and both have maintained their sanctified status despite any tangible evidence of their espoused skill sets.

Since leaving WaPo to start Vox Media in 2014, Klein has done everything he can to evangelize Neoliberalism and position himself as it’s most important preacher. Vox is insidiously presented as a source of what one ought to think. Its headlines are simple proclamation, its articles are usually a thousand words drumming the Right Thoughts home by bolding the text of its most important sentences and then interceding with simple bar graphs illustrating The Facts. There is no more convincing propaganda for the bug people than this publication confirming their boring opinions with reductive center left analysis with bar graphs.

It makes sense, then, that there is no bigger foil to Klein’s entire dog and pony show than the reality of racial IQ gaps. When David Reich, a genetics professor at Harvard, published an Op-Ed in the New York Times urging liberals to re-evaluate their erroneous dogma of biological racial equality, Sam Harris retweeted the article with a snide jab at Klein.

Klein couldn’t help himself, and soon restarted a flamewar with Harris that had started more than a year earlier, when Harris originally hosted Charles Murray on his podcast. Eventually, after Klein published an article and a frustrated Harris published their complete, catty, year-long email exchange on the subject, Klein agreed to join Harris on his “Waking Up” podcast where he promptly made an ass of himself over 120 minutes of uptalking and sneering condescension.

The Reich article and the Harris-Klein debate didn’t happen in a vacuum. The media dialogue surrounding these events was just as interesting and probably more important. After Klein took a beating, Will Saleten, one of Slate’s longest tenured and most respected writers, wrote a piece for Slate that suggested liberals stop talking about race and IQ.

The piece is rightly self-referential. In 2007 Saletan nearly destroyed his career by writing a piece in Slate called “Liberal Creationism” in which he argued for liberals to examine the Black-White IQ gap more closely. The backlash was so fierce that he had to beg for forgiveness to keep his job, and now, in a weird symptom of Stockholm Syndrome, he is arguing that liberals stop talking about race and IQ, and instead talk about genetics and IQ.

Let me repeat that. Don’t talk about race and IQ, but talk about genetics and IQ. He fails throughout his article to make a distinction between the two, but I don’t think he intended to. This article was just signalling that the Neoliberalist Establishment has capitulated to the Alt-Right on this issue, deciding that it must no longer be debated in polite company, lest the “Right Side of History” is forced to expose themselves as squarely on the wrong side of all available data.

This is a big deal and shouldn’t be overlooked.

We won this debate, or more accurately, this “debate” was wholly artificial from the start and they are finally giving up after the best psychologists and geneticists grew tired of lying for them. Yet understating the Alt-Right’s influence on these matters is a fool’s errand. This dialogue would not be happening under Clinton, and people in establishment media have been reading NRx and HBD blogs outside of the office for years at this point.

Another conversation indicating a shift in media discourse happened after the SPLC placed Sam Harris on a “Hatewatch List” for his persistent Wrongthink about Race Realism. In response, Liel Liebovitz, came to his defense in Tablet Magazine.

Echoing a Politico piece from last summer, but emboldened by the author’s Chosenite status, Liel dissected all of the times SPLC overstepped its bounds and concluded it was generally a nuisance and a money pit.

The media dialogue surrounding all of these events indicates that there has been a subtle shift in the way centrist, establishment media intends to conduct itself moving forward. Many people within the Neoliberalist media class have put two and two together and realized that their most insane anti-White rhetoric is a net positive for the dissident right and a net negative for them. You will see more dialogue that’s effectively critical of anti-White narratives for many reasons over the coming years, but it’s clear that this belief in the need for a strategic shift will always be a minority opinion.

It’s weird that it took so long for any of them to notice, but maybe this shouldn’t be surprising; these people marinate in a feedback loop confirming their biases for a living. Unfortunately for the establishment media, there’s no stopping this train.

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Because my family is a bit – um – all over the place, I ended up having multiple grandmothers when I was growing up. I had a Nana, a Grammy, and a Avó or Vovó. And every single one of these women was eccentric and radically different from each other.

One had the worst funeral ever. Unless you count the funeral where my aunt passed out and everyone thought she died.

I’m not counting that one.

Or the one where I had a complete #metoo moment. That was my dad’s funeral actually.

I’m not counting that one either.

Anyway, about my grandmothers.

One grandmother was the chairwoman of the Republican women’s party in our state. She believed in manners, in propriety and responsibility, and all that stiff-upper lip stuff.  She drank alcohol once every five years or so, on Christmas. She wrote one poem.

One grandmother was an artist and poet who never let the world see her art, who cried over the beauty of a ripe tomato. She believed in prohibition, probably because her husband forced her to believe in prohibition. She also believed in Julia Child.

One grandmother was a collector of all things ceramic, lover of all things Bingo, and could not care about ‘propriety’ at all. She drank.  She never wrote a poem. She lived one. Some of the lines were flawed, but it was real and raw and authentic.

These ladies didn’t interact much. They are all dead now, but the one I’m thinking about is my nana and what writing lessons I can get from the life she lived and the funeral she had.

My nana basically had the worst funeral in all of history. Or… well… she’s in the top three for my family funeral disasters.

Why?

Oh, let me count the ways. Learn from this, writers, okay? 

The setting was bad

They put all of us closer relatives in a family grieving room before the funeral started, but the room was the kindergarten room for church school and so the whole thing was filled with a giant table and church muppets. People sort of had to stand with their backs flat up against the walls like a police line-up. When new people came into the room, everyone would have to do this sideways shuffle scooch along the walls to make room.

The church muppets were all flopped on top of each other and it looked really naughty. My nana would not have approved. I made Jesus muppet hold hands with Minister muppet because they looked lonely.

It wasn’t a place or setting where emotional resonance could happen. It’s hard to comfort other people or even be super introspective when your back is to the wall and you are staring at puppets who look like they might be trying to make muppet babies.

Know Your Main Character

My nana was 100 when she died. She was a really smart woman. You’d go to her house and she’d have a newspaper clipping for you and she’d be like, “Have you seen this censorship issue that the American Library Association is lobbying against?”

Or she’d be like, “Did you know that Medicare is (Insert large word)?”

She went to this same church that her funeral was at for about 8,000 years.

But the minister’s sermon was all, “Think of the things Rena saw change in her 100 years,” which is nice, but it was like a history lesson.

A history lesson! Ugh. And I kind of wanted it to be personal, not a eulogy you can use for anyone over 98. But that’s what it was.

In a book, you have to know your main character inside and out or else their story doesn’t mean anything. That’s what happened here, too.

Instead of hearing about my nana and her life and her interactions with everyone and with the church, it was a sermon about… history? Full of random dates and events but with no actual human content. Her life as told in his sermon didn’t exist.

Our lives and our characters’ lives have purpose. We aren’t just meant to be a backdrop for a history lesson.

Random Characters Thrown In For Effect 

Part of my family looks like they belong in the Jersey Shore. Seriously, my nephew Brooks saw someone and screamed, “OMG! It’s Snooki!”

Funerals are often places where families see branches that they forgot about or have deliberately avoided for years. That’s okay in a funeral, but in a book? Characters need to have a purpose.

Lack of Emotion

Nobody sobbed. There should be sobbing at a funeral, but I guess since it was History Lesson Funeral, people just took notes, worrying about the test later or something.

People loved my nana. They missed my nana. My family is a high-drama, emotional family that sobs at anything. But here? It didn’t happen.

In life and in books, you have to be able to have the space for sorrow, you have to have an emotional aspect to a story, to understand their worries, their drives, to know that their departure would leave a gaping hole.

That doesn’t happen with bad writing or bad preaching.

The only time emotional resonance happens during a history test is when you realize you’re going to fail it, honestly.

Don’t make your life or your book a history text.

Sometimes Following The Rules Isn’t Healthy

I had to sit in the front row so the minister kept looking at me, which meant that I had to pay attention to the history lesson and nod appropriately, which would have made my nana proud I’m sure.

But following the rules and doing the proper expected thing isn’t always healthy for you. Crying can be good even if it isn’t at the ‘socially acceptable’ time.

And I guess that’s why I’m sad. I wanted my nana’s funeral to make her proud of the life she lived and of all of us people she left behind. I wanted to feel some sort of closure, but I didn’t. I just sort of felt like someone had forgotten to pick her up and give her a ride over.

My nana loved for people to give her rides. She also loved to food poison people with dairy products, talk politics, play cards, get angry at you for beating her at cards, talk on the telephone, and hang out with her friends. She was smart and lively and stubborn and an absolutely horrible cook.

When I asked her why she was so involved in politics she said, “Because I remember what it was like to not even be able to vote.”

She was ten when women got the right to vote.

“It meant something. Women are just as good as men,” she said. “If not better. Stronger. They didn’t let us use our minds.”

She was the valedictorian of her little class in Weare, New Hampshire. She wrote a poem in her yearbook. She was proud of it, but (unlike one of my other grandmothers) it was pretty much the only poem she ever wrote. She didn’t have time for that, she’d said.

When I asked her why she was so smart, why she spent so much time learning and understanding things, she’d said, “Women can’t afford not to be intelligent. Not in this world.”

And another time she said, “It’s our responsibility to learn everything we can learn, to make good decisions, informed decisions.”

A farm girl, she’d married a jazz drummer who played in big bands and toured the country. One time he didn’t come back. He remarried. She never did. I don’t think she ever even dated anyone, but she did think Ronald Reagan was a ‘looker.’

She raised her kids as a single mom back in the 1940s and 1950s. Her oldest son went on to desegregate the fraternity system at UNH and though they were desperately poor, he ended up a valedictorian at his high school, at UNH, and then went on to Harvard Law.

She was so proud of him. Why?

“Because he is a gentleman and because he can think,” she said once when we were sitting on her couch and I was trying to avoid eating any of her food because – food poisoning. And then she said it again, “He can think. So can you. Use your brain, Carrie. Use it. Don’t be afraid of it.”

My nana was pretty cool, and worth way more than a history lesson. She was an epic, a woman of resilience and persistence in a time that was hard.

“All times are hard,” she’d say.

And this, also, is true.

But all times also have beauty and good and resonance. Don’t be afraid to embrace that, too.

 This is my nana. She is 100 here. She would hate this picture. 😉

Do Good Wednesday

I have had seizures.

It started when I was in college and I had Mono. The Epstein Barr virus that causes Mono attacked my brain as well. Eventually, the virus left, the seizures lessened, but it made my brain less resistant to future seizures.

There are all kinds of seizures and all types of triggers for people and all sorts of degrees of severity. Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological condition and in the United States, 3.4 million people have epilepsy.

That’s a lot of people and yet there is a ton of stigma about it. So, my Do Good Wednesday call is just this. Go check out this website. Learn a little about epilepsy. Don’t be afraid when someone has a seizure. If you are a parent or a loved one, don’t make it all about you if a loved one has a seizure.

That’s all.

xo

Carrie

Dance

Writing News

Yep, it’s the part of the blog where I talk about my books and projects because I am a writer for a living, which means I need people to review and buy my books or at least spread the word about them.

So, please buy one of my books. 🙂 The links about them are all up there in the header on top of the page.  There are young adult series, middle grade fantasy series, stand-alones for young adults and even picture book biographies.

Time Stoppers

Dear Bully

Flying

Need

Sarah Emma Edmonds

CARRIE’S APPEARANCES

I’m being interviewed live on WERU radio on Thursday, May 10 at 10 a.m. You can call in and ask questions and be on the air with me! The livestream for the station is here. 

I’ll be at Book Expo America in NYC on June 1 at 11:30 – 12 at the Lerner booth signing copies of the Spy Who Played Baseball. A week before that,

I’ll also be in NYC presenting to the Jewish Book Council . Come hang out with me!

PODCAST

The podcast DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE is still chugging along!

Thanks to all of you who keep listening to our weirdness as we talk about random thoughts, writing advice and life tips.

We’re sorry we laugh so much… sort of. Please share it and subscribe if you can.

The podcast of awesome

My Nana’s Funeral Was Awful – Seriously Awful Because my family is a bit - um - all over the place, I ended up having multiple grandmothers when I was growing up.

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Maker Monday: Start the Week with Creativity and Purpose

John Spencer on episode 226 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

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John Spencer, co-author of two different best-selling books, Launch and Empower, talks about the creativity (and test score) boosts his classes experienced when he began Maker Mondays.

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Enhanced Transcript

Maker Monday: Start the Week with Creativity and Purpose

Link to show: http://ift.tt/2CRub8J Date: January 8, 2018

Vicki: Today we have with us John Spencer @spencerideas, coauthor of two different best-selling books, Launch and the other one is Empower, that he co-authored with my friend A.J. Juliani, who is also an awesome person.

Today, we’re going to talk about “Making on Monday,” and getting creative.

So, John, you have an idea of something you used to do when you were in middle school.

What is it?

John Spencer saw test scores and engagement ride when he implemented Maker Mondays.

What is Maker Monday?

John: So, this actually began when I taught self-contained. So I was teaching all subjects. I had kids for a full day. Mondays were the hardest, because teaching is an exhausting thing.

I’d always kind of wait until Friday to do like a Fun Friday Maker Activity.

And I realized, “Wait a second! We could start the week with Making!”

So we would do Maker Mondays, and there were all kinds of different options that we did.

Sometimes they were kind of rapid prototyping and making things with cardboard and duct tape.

Sometimes they were digital products that they made.

Sometimes they were things like Sketch videos.

But we would always start every single Monday morning of with a Maker Monday.

Does it put you behind on content?

Vicki: Now, a lot of people wait until Friday because they kind of feel like, “OK, Monday, I gotta get ahead on my content.”

What’s your thought on that?

John: Well, my first thought is, you know, getting the buy-in from students on Monday is really important. So, setting the tone for the entire week.

And a lot of teachers will do something like, “Talk about your weekend,” and those types of things. And that’s OK, but you know, I had a lot of students who — to be honest — had faced trauma over the weekend, or things weren’t necessarily great for them on the weekend.

So, starting with doing something creative and honoring sort of that student agency and creative impulse in the students really… I felt like it sort of “centered” them a little bit, in the beginning.

And then the other thing that I would say is, you know, all of our Maker Projects were aligned to the standards. So we were trying things back into information literacy, and informational texts, and digital composition, and the different ISTE Standards, like connected to kind of design. And so these were always tied back to the standards.

It wasn’t, you know, a break from the standards. But the idea was that, starting a Monday morning off with that, you kind of set the tone for the whole week that says, you know, “We’re going to think creatively in this class.”

How much structure do you need for Maker Mondays?

Vicki: So… one of your books, Empower, is really about empowering kids. I like this approach because you’re really letting kids start of by creating. So instead of, you know, talking about your weekend, it’s about, “Let’s make something together.”

I mean, did you prescribe what they had to make, or did you just give them lots of options of things to make and let them choose?

John: You know, it really depended upon the week.

One week — and this is part of the fun, and they didn’t know what to expect — they would come in, and there would be a box of items. We would do a sort of a divergent thinking challenge to come up with as many different uses of these items. The after that, they would have to build it.

So it was at that point, pretty prescribed. I mean, it’s pretty tight, and they have to work within that creative constraint.

And then another time, they would kind of do a mini design thinking project, where they worked through the entire cycle, and I would tie it into whatever we were doing for reading. So instead of working for 45 minutes, that might be 90 minutes.

And then there were times when we did Maker Stations, where I’d kind of set up things in the classroom in different areas. They would come in, and they knew that they could work on whatever they wanted to work on. So you might have students who — what they really wanted to do was digital storytelling and blogging and podcasting. And then there were other students who wanted to do, say, circuitry, or like I said, Cardboard Challenges, or working on their Scratch games.

And so, you know, it really depended on the week.

I felt like sometimes, having them all do the same thing built community, and that was really important.

But then it was also really important to have those weeks where they had kind of free reign to choose what they wanted to do, and it was more about honoring their individual student agency.

How do you pitch Maker Mondays to administrators?

Vicki: So let’s pretend that you are pitching this to administration. And I know you ended up in administration, so I’m sure you had teachers pitch ideas to you sometimes.

John: (laughs)

Vicki: But you know, why on earth, John, is this still so new? I mean that’s my first thing. It’s why are people still having to pitch this? (laughs)

John: (laughs)

Vicki: But they are.

John: (laughs)

Vicki: So if you could, you know, coach a teacher on how to pitch this to their administrator, what would be your elevator pitch if you were that teacher?

John: Yeah, so and I would just say real quickly, I was never a formal… like I was never a principal or AP. I did get the chance to be a Tech Coach and work kind of on that level, and now I’m at the university.

But I understand that principals care about certain specific things. They want to know that students engagement is high. They want to know that the classroom culture is good. But they also want to know that students are going to do well on a test. And we felt that kind of pressure.

And so, I kind of came in and pitched it from a few different directions. It really depended upon the principal that I had.

One was, you know, “We need kids to be innovators. We need them to be problem solvers.” I would begin the conversation by saying, “What do we want students to be?

And you know, inevitable, they would say, “Well, they need to be problem solvers, critical thinkers, all of that kind of stuff.”

Well, this is a chance to begin the week with that.

And then other times, it was more about the chance to talk about how it will prepare them for the creative economy. And I would say, “Look, you know, Design Thinking and Rapid Prototyping and Iterative Thinking and Divergent Thinking — these things are all vital for the future and the kind of jobs that kids are going to have when they’re older.”

And then other times, it was a chance to kind of “prove” that this was a hands-on way to make connections to the standards they were learning already.

And so, it was a chance to show, for example, that when they were doing the Tiny House Project. (And that started as a Maker Monday Activity, and we actually kind of did it three different days. But they had to design a Tiny House.

And I was able to demonstrate how that was applied mathematics connected to proportional reasoning, volume, surface area, etc. And once our test scores came in, and they were, you know, near the top if not at the top in the district, then I felt like I had that “permission” to be able to do that.

I do want to point out that it felt risky to the principal. And it felt risky for me, and that’s one of the hard things about being a teacher, is that we do have to take those creative risks. Risk-taking is always going to feel a little bit scary!

Vicki: It sure does! I just think that it’s fascinating that you can think about starting the week with creativity and purpose. It just makes a lot of sense.

Fears that accompany Maker Mondays

John: Yeah, and it’s one of those things… you know, now working with pre-service teachers at the university level, it’s so fun to share this idea with them.

The big thing that they’ll say is, “Ooh, I’m only a student teacher. I don’t know if my teacher will let me.”

The same fears crop up. Will the kids be poorly behaved? And you know, they’re surprised that student engagement is actually really high, and the behavior problems are less of an issue on Monday morning (which tends to be kind of a tough time for classroom management).

So that’s been kind of the fun thing now, is to watch some of these preservice teachers, ranging from second grade teachers up to high school, doing this on their own in their classrooms — and honestly, watching them implement it in a way that’s even better than what I did, has been kind of fun.

Vicki: So, remarkable educators, we have a new thought for us. Maker Monday.

So it’s Monday! Why don’t you get out there and “Make” and try this concept in your school.

Use this podcast as something to share with your administrator to help them catch the vision for what this can do for your school!

  Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

kymberlimulford@gmail.com

Bio as submitted

John Spencer is a former middle school teacher and current college professor on a quest to transform schools into bastions of creativity and wonder. He is the co-author of the Amazon-bestselling books Launch and Empower.

Blog: http://ift.tt/1Reqwwt

Twitter: @spencerideas

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Maker Monday: Start the Week with Creativity and Purpose appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

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