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nutellarchives · 1 year ago

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Life update! After almost a year of no update (but hey I'm back)

After almost a year of no update (and inconsistent updates... sorry); I'm finally back with new updates! First of all, I have a post prior to this one so check it out if you love k-dramas and have watched recent released k-dramas.

Here is the link to that k-drama review post!

Now unto the update; A lot has happened in the past and I'll be sharing the most recent things that happened, especially during the first half of 2023. If you are ready for the long update, click the Keep Reading and enjoy!

Adding a new group in my Ult List <3

From my previous posts, I have been vocal on stanning a 4th gen boy group which is Oneus then eventually adding Onewe (though onewe is not a boy group, rather its a boy band). Unfortunately, I moved the two in my stan list and became hiatus with kpop in general but still listens to girl groups.

Now just last month, June of 2023, I was able to discover a boy group's comeback which is Bite Me from their album Dark Blood due to the "issue" that this comeback has created. I've been seeing in the news that fans of this boy group have been sending a truck to the front of their building so that they would drop the female dancers in the official choreography and performance. Now I was curious which group was it and what does it look like (the dance); that curiosity lead me to their performances and after just one video, one video of watching that certain performance, youtube recommended me with their performances through shorts (and basically recommending their videos to me). I actually do know this group already prior to this situation and I've watched their early debut mv's (From Given-Taken to Fever in 2021) and even liked some of their songs (specifically Fever which omg I love).

With the female dancers as their partners, I would say that its not really big of a deal, its just that maybe its the first time that boy group had female dancers as partners and their skinship is no joke because of the nature of the performance; and that's why the fans are fuming about it. Either way I think its fine since they are just performing.

Going back to the topic at hand, I stanned Enhypen just last month! It's a really odd but happy feeling that after a long time I've added another group to my Ult list (Just for context, Stan List is my list of groups that I listen to but not I'm not a big fan, support-wise. Like casually listening to their music and not financial support whereas in Ult List, if I've added a group there, for example Monsta X, I would listen to all of their songs, watch all of their performances and shows, and financially support them through buying merch and watching their concerts) and I have another group that I'll be spending my time, energy, and money on. So far I've been genuinely happy with this group and that I'm seeing myself supporting them in the long run. My bias btw would be Heeseung, which is the oldest and closest to my age. I thought though that my bias would be Jake, because he was the first one that I knew and caught my attention but I ended up with Heeseung because of his charisma (and their Bite Me performance in Be Original and he literally gave me butterflies in my stomach :"> ). Hopefully I get to see them soon, live because I missed their 3-day concert here in my country because I was not their fan before ugh.

Coffee Shop + Books

During my break, I was able to breathe some fresh air and got out to unwind and treat myself. With a friend, I went into a book sale and bought some books. The books were a mixture of Fiction and Non-Fiction, and as for the fiction selection, I bought Lust by Roald Dahl because the cover is so minimalist and pretty. My friend also shared that they have other books of the same author, which are Madness and Fear, but was not a fan (they haven't read both yet), and mentioned books also have pretty covers! If I had extra money during the day of the booksale I would buy all of it (though I may not enjoy all of the selection so I think one might be enough for now). Other books that I've bought are Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles, which I just grabbed and bought impulsively because while we were walking we just passed by it and I'm like ooh I know this one, the story/theme is like Caraval and Night Circus (and I'm a fan of the former) and its affordable so why not (plus its hardcover); And Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo, third book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and I've been wanting to buy the trilogy for a long time but something just stops me from buying it (not sure what is it lol). Now I have the 3rd book and recently bought the 2nd one, leaving me searching for Shadow and Bone (the first book), almost done collecting it finally. For the non-fiction, I just bought a recipe book and a book called The Fast Diet by Michael Mosely and Mimi Spencer, because both are about food (cooking and dieting).

Days after the book sale, I've been into a cafe with the same friend. We arrived in the morning and left in the afternoon, not too many customers and we enjoyed our stay. The place is actually nice, the ambiance is great and we had a relaxing stay. The food was okay though, not too memorable but not bad. I'll probably go back there during my down times just to be in a different environment, though I hope more cafes open in our area so that there are plenty of options to unwind to and there are many places I can spend my money on, especially with cawfee.

Some Game Updates

Pulling my very first limited 5 star in Honkai: Star Rail

Another Hoyo Game that will rob my time and money.. i guess. So I've tried playing Honkai: Star Rail, since I am familiar with Honkai Impact 3rd (which is my very first Hoyo game) and I've spent some time with Genshin Impact, and all I can say is I'm not really invested into this game compared to Genshin Impact, and that GI has given me enough trauma that I can't stand grinding for resources and gacha. Since HSR has a similar formatting with Genshin, Imma not be addicted into this game, although its quite fun and laid back because of the auto / 2x speed, I won't spend my time with another game that has continuous timeline or story because I have other games to play. Either way, I do know their characters and I'm currently level 25 in the game which will stay that way until I don't know when really . My first official 5 star is Gepard but my first limited 5 star is Luocha. I was thinking if I'll pull for Jing Yuan since they said he was a solid DPS but I don't have enough to pull for him and then Luocha is a healer, dps-ish (haven't tried him ever since I pulled for him lol) and I need a solid healer along with Gepard who is a very good support.

I'd say HSR is a solid game but I won't be spending my time and energy into this game and stay with games that I truly enjoy. Will be sticking with Tears of Themis and Genshin Impact though I don't really enjoy Genshin Impact anymore and just a casual player who wants the new characters with the 4.0 update around the corner.

Anyway, I'm happy to get Luocha, another husbando worth pulling for. Though I just pulled him because he and Ayato have the same jap VA.

Tears of Themis 2nd Anniversary Pull Results~

Finally, it's Tears of Themis 2nd anniversary! That means new SSR for me to pull. During the first anniversary, I believe I got Artem at an early pity and then with the free tears from the activities and events, I got a bonus Luke card since I pulled for his card because he looks bulk in that card and I like it! Now it's the second anniversary and of course I need to pull for my best boy, Artem. Fortunately, I got him at around 30 pulls and at that rate I should've stopped right? Well ya girl can't just stop squealing over Vyn's card, because aside from Luke's, I think his card is 🌶️🌶️ so I did pull for it. The results were sad though, because after getting lucky with Artem, after three 10-pulls, I did get another SSR but it was Medieval Suspense (and not the anniversary card of Vyn), so I had to pull up until the 98th to get his anniversary card. It was painful because as a f2p, I used all my s-chips for his card now I'm broke. Well, at least I got that SSR and can move on into saving again for another event.

Going back to the Persona Universe!

Last thing to talk about that is game related is getting back into the Persona universe (not an official title but I would just like to call it like that) and being able to play Persona 5 Royal! 4 years ago I was introduced to Persona 3 Portable and played the game in PPSSPP and it became my favorite game of all time. I was aware that time that there's Persona 5 but it was just released on the PlayStation Console, which I don't have btw and it wasn't ported to the Windows PC until 2022. At the time of release on the PC, I've been wanting to play it but then its so expensive :< Thankfully, I have a friend in our class and she introduced me to the PC Game Pass from XBOX, and the selection of their games, Persona 3, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal are all included. I was able to play Persona 5 Royal for the first time and omg I haven't stopped till now. I was almost 60 hours into the game though my 3-Month subscription ended.

Anyway, my initial thoughts, its so grindy and the story is long compared to Persona 3 (which I wasn't able to finish as well due to academics; though I am planning to finish it of course, after P5R) BUT I am enjoying it and I'm looking forward into finishing the story. I'm sad that boys cannot be dated in P5R, because the lead is a boy but I'm enjoying the female characters, I've chosen Tae Takemi as the girl to date and be romantically involved with because she's cool, though if I have the chance to pick again, it would be Futaba or Makoto that I'm going to choose.

Well I hope that I'll be able to subscribe again to the Game Pass and continue playing this wonderful game (and finish the story).

And now, the playlist for this month:

July 2023 Playlist

Bills - ENHYPEN

Fine - NU'EST

Paradise - (G)I-DLE

Welcome to My World - aespa

SHOUT OUT - ENHYPEN

My update ends here. I hope you enjoy reading this long post hehe~

- ella

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jinterlude · 4 years ago

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Knock

→ Pairing: Kim Myungjun x Reader (female OC) [feat. Kim Seokjin and Park Jinwoo] → Genre(s): Romance, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, and & Slight-Angst → AUs/Tropes: Non-Idolverse, Fashionista!Reader, Fashion Editor!Reader, Accountant!Myungjun, Strangers to Lovers trope → Word Count: 5.6K → Warning(s) & Rating: alcohol, alcohol consumption, heartbreak, swearing, & shameless flirting from MJ | PG-15 → Summary: In what seemed like a normal meetup with a friend ended up changing your life forever... → A/N: The majority of this story is set in the past; hence, the past tense, but near the end, it does switch to present tense as the two leading characters finish reminiscing about their first meeting! I apologize in advance if it’s a bit confusing and/or hard to read! I will use some sort of line break to separate the past from the present to make it, hopefully, a tad easier! ☄ This one-shot is dedicated to an incredibly good friend of mine, Beanie @jinned, who is the sole reason why I even got into Astro and officially place MJ on my list of ULTS. He may or may not even be ult of ults. We will see!

“In the end, you’ll thank me as our marriage would’ve been a mistake...You know it. And I know it…”

That phrase knocked the wind out of you as you remained speechless ‒ practically mute ‒ while the loud and bustling noise of the fine dining restaurant continued in the background. You opened your mouth, desperate to form a coherent sentence. Shit. Even an audible word would suffice, but you honestly couldn’t.

The person you firmly believed, with all your heart, that he was the one for you, sat right across the table and declared that the wedding was off—terminated.

The wedding was scheduled to happen in just two months. Two...fucking...months…

“___,” Your fiancé began, breaking you away from your thoughts, “I honestly can’t express how deeply sorry I am for doing this to you, but it was the only way I can preserve our twenty-something friendship.”

“Friendship?” You scoffed, finally finding your voice. “You broke our year-long engagement so that you can PRESERVE OUR FRIENDSHIP?! Are you kidding me, Kim Seokjin?!” You practically boomed, alarming the patrons around you, but you didn’t care.

Seokjin tried to calm you but ultimately fails. Your emotions ran rampant throughout your body that nothing and no one could relax you. Well, Seokjin used to be able to, but since he’s the source of your fury, it’s pointless.

Forcing an airy chuckle, you reached over to your wine glass, drinking it all in seconds. The cool liquid hits the back of your throat but soon leaves behind this warm sensation. You felt that warmth settles within your cheeks, creating this pinkish hue, as you flag down a passing waiter and swiftly order another glass of your favorite wine. Within minutes, your second glass of wine appeared right in front of you. At first, you’re tempted to down it as you’ve done with the first glass, but then you opted against it. The last thing you needed to be was a drunken, heartbroken woman in a luxurious restaurant. At the same time, your ex-fiancé remained calm and collected. Then, the surrounding people - both the workers and customers ‒ would sympathize with him and utter phrases like, “Damn. He dodged a bullet. Look at the way she’s behaving, especially after he explained that he only wants to preserve their friendship.”

“God damn it…” You whispered, taking a long, deep breath, as you realize that Seokjin is right. Your marriage would be a mistake, especially if you’ve fallen out of love with him.

“___?” Seokjin questioned, noting this trance-like expression written all over your precious face.

“Why do you have to be right? Even up until the end of our relationship, you just have to be right…” You trailed on as a small, almost nostalgic-like smile slowly dances across your face.

Seokjin chuckled softly, “Well, someone has to be.”

“Yeah…” You nodded, maintaining that tiny grin as your eyes trail down to your ring finger. Slowly, you slid off the engagement ring, freeing yourself of this heavy burden that you’ve never known you had until tonight. Then, with your right hand, you placed it gently in front of Seokjin, saying one last farewell to him. You thanked him for being your first of every romantic milestone you’ve experienced.

As you stood up, placing a few twenty-dollar bills on the table, you said softly,

“I hope you find someone that will make you unconditionally happy.”

“I hope the same for you, ___. I truly do hope you find your soulmate.”

You uttered a quick thanks before walking from the table and towards a new chapter in your life.

An intriguing yet uncertain chapter where you explored the idea of being single again after so many years.

It should be a fun adventure, right?

Well, it was in the beginning. Yet like with everything else in life, it was only natural you’d experience some ‒ let’s just say ‒ writer’s block.

The first few pages contained incredible details of the first year since your breakup from Seokjin. You found yourself going back to school and majoring in fashion while finding the time to minor in journalism. During that good old university life, you met a person who you now considered a dear, close friend of yours.

Eun Byeol. Now that was a true definition of a “ride or die” friend. To this day, you still remember how you essentially handcuffed your roommate-turned-best friend to the closet door handle, preventing her from driving over to your ex-fiancé’s place and destroying his most prized possession. Yep. You guessed it—his 1960s candy red Jaguar E-Type car. Stereotypical of a fella valuing his vintage ride above anything else, but shit. Even you found yourself admiring that beautiful car once in a while.

But that was ancient history. Old news—just like your editorial on the most fashion show in Milan would be if you didn’t stop reminiscing about your first love and haul your ass.

Lightly shaking your head, forcing yourself back into reality, you cleared your throat a few times, sniffing the Tropical fruit scents that lingered around your office.

“I could really go for a mango shaved ice…” You muttered, blankly staring at your document as little to no inspiration enters your mind. You drummed your fingers against the keys, desperately hoping that something - anything - would jump right out of your brilliant mind and land directly on the page; thus, resulting in a finished article to hand over to the boss lady.

Yet here you sat for another couple of hours staring at the same paragraph. You were pretty sure that you edited that paragraph to the point that it wasn’t even a paragraph. You somehow managed to dwindle it down to a three-sentence summary of Emma Aruda, a rising top model, and how stunning she looked walking the runway. Great. Now your column was too short, thanks to your sudden need to edit before it was even completed.

“Come on, inspiration…” You groaned, slouching in your office chair as you swiveled back and forth, looking at the blanket of white that you called a ceiling.

“You know...the longer you keep your head positioned like that, the higher the chance of your brain cells leaving will be…” quipped a familiar voice, causing you to swivel towards your door.

Soon, a small grin formed on your face as you lightly scoffed at that person’s words.

“Well, hello to you too, Eun Byeol.” You greeted, sitting up straight but still resting your elbows on the arms of your chair.

Eun Byeol flashed a warm smile ‒ so warm and inviting that it could even get the coldest, most standoffish person to greet her back ‒ as she strode towards your desk and leaned against the edge.

“Dumb question, but what’s with frustration radiating off of you?”

“Oh, my brain stupidly remembered my relationship with Seokjin while I was in the middle of writing this article, and now I’m stuck…”

You heard Eun Byeol winced, grimacing as you went into details of the memories that resurfaced in your mind. As each word escaped your sweet lips, the more this unbearable stab pressed against the chest. To be more precise, this cruciating pain that invaded your heart.

“Damn, ___. It’s been like, what? Five years since he called off the engagement? I thought you were officially over that arrogant ass.” asked Eun Byeol, clearly fed up with your ex, as evidence in her tone of voice. You couldn’t help but shrink in your chair as each of your drear friend’s words grazed your soft skin.

Taking a long, deep breath before exhaling slowly, you tilted your head towards your friend, revealing a small and remorseful smile. You felt guilty mentioning him towards, fully aware of how she had rather colorful opinions of him.

“I am over him, but can you blame me for remembering the good old days I experienced with him?”

Now, it was your friend’s turn to feel a tad guilty for allowing and directing her fury towards you. Eun Byeol knew you were over him, but you fell victim to the old saying, “One never truly forgets their first love,” and that was Seokjin. He was your first love, and he might be even your last—unless her boyfriend’s longtime friend was still single.

Then, a lightbulb lit up in her devious mind as this scheming smirk danced across her face, instantly alerting you. That smirk usually led to some rather “exciting” shenanigans, and most often than not, you went home questioning your life choices and wondering how on Earth did your friendship with Eun Byeol last this long.

As you opened your mouth, ready to warn your friend, she beat you the punch.

“What are you doing tonight?”

“Uh, besides pulling an all-nighter to finish this article? Nothing. Why?” You asked with a wary expression. Your eyes slightly narrowed while your brows became knitted together.

“Wrong! You’re coming out with me for drinks at this bar Jinwoo and I usually frequent whenever our schedules allow it.” Eun Byeol announced, overly excited, further adding to your suspicions.

You swiftly glanced at your editorial piece before flickering your gaze back to your friend. You sucked in some air through your clenched teeth. Your mind desperately tried to find any, if at all, hidden motives behind Eun Byeol’s random invitation. Unfortunately, you came up with nothing. No secret plans that laid underneath the seemingly harmless invite that your brain could zero in on.

“It’s just the two of us, right?” You asked, feeling apprehensive towards Eun Byeol’s invite.

Eun Byeol simply nodded, smiling brightly as she promised you that it would be just the two of you, and that was all.

After mulling it over for a good minute or two, you whined loudly before agreeing to go out with her.

“But I’m stopping after two Whiskey Sours! I still have a deadline to meet, unlike someone who’s currently in my office and clearly being a bad influence.”

Eun Byeol snorted in response, “Please. If I was such a bad influence, would I suggest that we steal Seokjin’s car and take it on a joy ride?”

“Actually, you did. Like, several times.”

“Shut up and write your damn column.” Teased Eun Byeol before exiting your office. As she created enough distance between her and your office, she fished out her phone from the pocket of her black slacks and sent a quick text message to her boyfriend. A message that read,

“Hey, can you convince MJ to come to our favorite bar? I’d think he’d be perfect for ___!”

Not even a minute after pressing send, Eun Byeol received a response that said,

“I’ll do my best, but he’s been moping lately since his last date ghosted him without any warning. Plus, you can’t forget how soul-sucking our line of work is, babe.”

Eun Byeol giggled softly as she typed out,

“Even more reason to add a certain fashionista to his dull life. She’ll liven it up with her colorful and bright personality,”

She then scrolled through her list of emojis, picking the perfect one before sending it. After waiting for what seemed like ten minutes, her boyfriend didn’t reply, meaning that he was on board and hopefully planting the seed at that moment.

“Oh, please let them hit it off…” thought Eun Byeol as she journeyed back to her office, dying to know if her boyfriend executed his mission perfectly.

Yet like with any task, there were bound to be tiny hiccups as Jinwoo exhausted all his go-to methods to convince his close friend, Kim Myungjun. While Eun Byeol and ___ worked at one of the top fashion empires, he and Myungjun worked a regular office job, crunching numbers for their CEO.

Again, a soul-crushing type of profession, and it didn’t help that their office space was oddly white. Everywhere Jinwoo turned, it was just pure white. Apparently, someone thought it’d be a brilliant idea to add fluorescent lighting into the mi; the entire building gave off this abnormally cleanliness vibe.

Every day that Jinwoo walked into the office, he seriously felt that he entered that agency from the hit movie Men in Black, especially in his black and white two-piece suit that his company required the workers to wear. What was next? He’d get a cool gadget that wiped civilians’ memories?

“Oh, man. That’d be amazing…” He mumbled, unaware of someone standing behind him.

“What’d be amazing, JinJin?” asked an all too familiar voice belonging to a person that Jinwoo actually had to see.

The eager man turned his chair around, now face-to-face with his close friend and coworker—Myungjun.

Quickly clearing his throat, Jinwoo plastered on the warmest smile his face could handle and happily greeted his friend.

Myungjun, at first, felt weirded out by his friend’s sudden surge in energy but soon brushed it off. He then matched Jinwoo’s energy, capturing the attention of a few bystanders.

“So back to my question, what would be amazing?” questioned Myungjun, ignoring the strange glances he and Jinwoo earned from their coworkers.

“Um…” Jinwoo began, nervously chuckling, “It would be amazing if you and I go out for drinks tonight, especially after how shitty this week has been.”

“I don’t know, man, like you said, it’s been a shitty week, and I don’t think I’m up for going out and having a fun time with you and the rest of our buddies.”

“Come on, MJ, you’re still not moping about what’s her face? She’s not worth your time, especially when you weren’t worth hers.” Jinwoo retorted, hoping that his tough-love approach would entice him to come out and meet his girlfriend’s friend. Sadly, it didn’t. If anything, his words made Myungjun even more upset as this solemn expression washed over his once joyous face. Now, his friend looked as if someone took his heart right out of his chest and crushed it with their bare hands.

“Alright...new approach…” Jinwoo switched tactics, going for the more “brotherly advice” approach, “Look, I was out of line, and for that, I’m sorry MJ. But I honestly hate seeing you upset over her, so please come out with me tonight. Tomorrow, you can sit at home alone and mope on the couch. Deal?”

Myungjun made a face, weighing his options but ultimately leaning towards going out. After all, Jinwoo was right. His loneliness and favorite couch would be there tomorrow, so where was the harm in downing a few shots of Vodka to numb the hurt?

“Fine, deal. What’s this place called?”

“Ahora.”

A quizzical expression slowly washed over Myungjun’s face as he couldn’t help but question the intriguing choice of that bar name.

While the uncertainty still filled his entire body, something deep within told him that something ‒ or maybe someone ‒ would change his life after tonight.

Mustering his signature thousand-watt smile; his eyes practically disappeared as he did, Myungjun gave his friend a thumb’s up and said,

“Alright. See you tonight! Maybe you and I can finally see who can drink the most without acting goofy after the third drink!”

Jinwoo playfully shook his head, letting out a few light chuckles.

“I don’t know, my dude. I think I got you beat the last time we had our little drinking competition.” He teased, masking his hidden motive behind inviting his buddy out. Secretly, he hoped that Myungjun would ask like his goofy self since, according to Eun Byeol, you had a thing for comedic guys.

Now, the real question was, how would Myungjun successfully capture your heart?

“So, what should I wear?” Jinwoo heard Myungjun ask, forcibly removing him from his frenzy thoughts.

“Um…” Jinwoo paused, silently panicking since his girlfriend never told him what you were going to wear tonight or even your preferred style on men. “Do you still have that purple and black striped sweater? You know with that creamy-tan color as well? I think it might be cold.” He suggested though he was unsure of his own recommendation. Honestly, he began questioning his life choices when he said, “purple and black striped sweater.”

A faint hum emitted from Myungjun’s lips while he mulled over his buddy’s fashion suggestion. Then, he simply shrugged, going along with Jinwoo’s choice.

“Yeah, I think I have that sweater still. Wait.” The biggest grin danced across his handsome face, “I knew you loved that sweater on me!” He cheered, flinging his arms around Jinwoo’s neck and giving him the warmest hug known to man.

“Let go! People are staring at us weirdly!!”

“Let them stare! I want the entire world to know how amazing of a friend you are to me!”

“Damn, you just had to make it even creepier. Didn’t you?”

“You know me so well.”

Later that evening, while Myungjun knew what he’d wear on his night out with the fellas, you were the polar opposite. You rummaged through your walk-in closet, flinging every single clothing hanger you could get your hands on. You tossed aside the latest peacoats, dresses, wool sweaters, everything onto the floor because nothing matched the vision you had in your fashionista brain. While, yes, it was just going out for a few drinks with Eun Byeol, you still wanted to look reasonably decent just in case Mr. Right made an appearance.

Silently scolding yourself while you tap the pads of your fingers against one another as you desperately try to capture the perfect attire you envisioned yourself. Minutes had gone by, and you still drew a blank. You even pressed your cold lips against your fingers, slightly enjoying the warmth that radiated from your hands. Then, it finally dawned on you as millions of light bulbs lit up in your pretty mind like a beautiful and well-organized lamp display at a furniture store.

“I’m a dumbass.” You teased, softly chuckling as you pulled out this dark gray pin-striped black peacoat and gently draping it over your desk chair. Then, you flipped through your rack, your fingers grazing the fabric of your blouses, button-ups, and plain old t-shirts. Your eyes scanned each article of clothing until you found the perfect blouse that would compliment the jacket perfectly. You pulled out this satin white long-sleeved blouse with ruffles on the ends of both sleeves and the collar.

With a pleased smile, you gently laid the blouse over the jacket before grabbing a nice pair of navy blue slacks. The very same pair of slacks that Eun Byeol has dubbed “the highlighter” because apparently it perfectly accentuated the best parts of your body—whatever that meant.

Grabbing both the coat and blouse with your pants draped over your forearm, you made your way towards the restroom. Just as you’re about to disappear into the well-lit room, you commanded your Alexa to play your go-to “getting ready” song, “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat).” The second the opening beat dropped, you bobbed your head to the tune, even swaying your hips as you jammed out.

One by one, your lounge clothes dropped to the floor and soon replaced with your jaw-dropping outfit. You smoothed out any wrinkles that your eye instantly locked on before switching focus to your makeup.

Now, this might not be an easy task compared to picking out your current outfit. Any look would pair well with your fashion statement. You could go for a “girl next door” look, but did you really want to portray an innocent person tonight, especially with drinks involved? Probably not.

Suddenly, a short gasp exited your lips as you grabbed all the necessary components for your femme fatale look. Your outfit almost reminded you of the main heroine in a 1940s movie.

“Okay, let’s see how red I can get my lips this time.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Myungjun wasn’t exactly having the time of his life. He remained still as a statue, staring blankly at his closet. Did he genuinely want to go out tonight? Part of him firmly believed that he only agreed to drink his sorrows away and forget about this girl that ghosted him a few weeks back. That was always his problem—he had the tendency to develop an infatuation before the girl does. It was honestly quite pathetic.

Just as he was a step away from backing out from the hangout, a high-tone pitch echoed throughout Myungjun’s condo.

With a curious expression, Myungjun shuffled his feet towards his phone, taking it off the charger. His brows perked up as he saw that he received a text message from Jinwoo.

“Huh. Maybe Jinwoo wants to back out.” He wishfully thought, unlocking his phone to read the message. It said,

“Hey man, I’m going to be a few minutes late, so you can get a head start on our little drinking competition!”

Nodding his head, Myungjun hit the message box. Just as he was about to type out his reply, a photo appeared. The image contained a person, who looked to be female, and to his dismay, her head was cropped out.

“Okay?” He thought, typing out his reply and asking his friend why he received a picture of a woman with excellent taste in clothing. Then, for laughs, Myungjun added, “Is that what you’re wearing, JinJin? I didn’t peg you as the type to wear a frilly blouse.”

Not even a minute later, the playful fellow received a response,

“Fuck you, MJ! And to answer your serious question, if you see this girl, can you politely let her know that Eun Byeol is also running late. Apparently, that lady is a college friend of Byeolie, and they coincidentally also wanted to meet at the bar we’re going to. Cool? Thanks!”

Slightly shaking his head, Myungjun replied with a thumb’s up emoji before locking his phone.

“Well, I guess you can’t back out now,” He muttered, opening his closet doors and revealing a wide array of clothing, coming in every color known to man. “What did that old man suggest earlier? Oh! Purple, cream-tan, and black pull-over!” Then, a sudden pause filled the air, “That was oddly specific of him to suggest…” He realized, thinking back to their conversation at work. Yet he merely shrugged it off, thinking nothing of it except his friend perhaps wanted him to look good just in case he’d were to meet his Miss Right.

“Alright, MJ. Pick up the pace. We don’t want the pretty lady waiting too long, do we?”

Sadly, that happened, and to put it frankly, you were pissed off at Eun Byeol for making you awkwardly wait for what seemed like forever. Granted, it was only an hour that you waited for her, but that was beside the point.

Nope. The long wait time was not the sole reason behind your agitation. Nuh-uh. It was the fact that your oh-so-dear-friend failed to mention that every couple known to man appeared at the bar tonight. Thus, resulted in you nervously sitting alone at the bar, running the tip of your finger against the rim of your whiskey sour. You then gulped down the last remaining sips before almost slamming it on the counter. With a sour expression, you held up one finger and politely asked for another glass. Just as you mumbled a quick thanks, you felt someone tap your shoulder.

Instead of giving the “drunken” stranger, more than likely looking for a one-night stand, you wave the person away, citing that you were already waiting for someone.

“I mean, from the looks of it, I don’t think your friend is coming.” pointed out the stranger, with an unusual high-pitch voice. Though, to give the person the benefit of the doubt, you were used to deep, manly voices. This unknown bystander’s voice was honestly a breath of fresh air.

Reaching for your second glass of the evening, you swiveled in your seat, coming face-to-face with the stranger. But the moment your eyes landed on him, you felt your jaw drop slightly, forming a tiny “o.” Holy crap, this guy is incredibly gorgeous.

Quickly snapping out of your gaze, you cleared your throat.

“I’m sorry? I. Um. What do you mean my friend is not coming?”

“Just that. I mean, originally, I was supposed to be here 45 minutes ago and give you a heads up that Eun Byeol was running late. Still, I lost track of time getting ready to meet my friend here. However…” he trailed on, looking around. He, too, noticed all the couples chatting it up everywhere and anywhere in the bar that evening. “I’m starting to think that we were set up on a blind date.”

You softly giggled, “Yeah, I’m getting that hunch as well...I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” You replied, unknowingly disregarding the fact that Myungjun mentioned your best friend’s name.

“Oh! I’m Kim Myungjun, but my friends call me MJ,” Then he playfully winked at you, flashing a bright smile, “I can’t forget pretty girls, like yourself, as well.”

You snorted, shaking your head in disbelief, “Well, I’ll think about it, but thank you for that disclaimer. Also, you can call me ____.”

“What? No playful yet flirtatious tactic like me?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. The night is still young, MJ.”

Hearing his nickname slip past your innocent lips, Myungjun couldn’t help but raise a brow with an interested gleam in his eyes. One corner of his mouth curved upwards as he observed your body language. He silently hoped for your non-verbal cues would give him the “okay” to continue his flirting. When he didn’t see any signs of uncomfortableness radiating off you, he took that as the first and ‒ hopefully ‒ of many positive reactions he’d gained from you throughout the evening.

Clearing his throat, the suddenly nervous young man glanced around the busy establishment, looking for a vacant booth for the two of you to occupy. Lucky must be on his side as his focused gaze immediately locked on an empty stall in the far right corner. With pursed lips, he swiftly analyzed the location and the atmosphere that surrounded it. Myungjun noted how dimly lit that corner was. With the added candles, that location had this romantic aura swarming it and those who sat in that spot.

It was perfect for this sudden blind date.

“So, would you like to sit over there?” asked Myungjun, pointing towards the only empty booth.

You followed his finger and landed on the isolated corner that screamed passion. Instantly, your eyes widened as your heart rapidly drummed against your chest. Oh, you weren’t prepared for this, but at the same time, you couldn’t help but feel this unexplainable excitement and giddiness. A few emotions that you hadn’t felt in a long time—not since your relationship with Seokjin. Yet to be quite honest, you didn’t feel scared. In fact, you were ready to take that plunge into the deep romantic ocean. You weren’t worried about drowning or hitting a bunch of jagged rocks. You just wanted to take that leap of faith and, perhaps, maybe Myungjun would catch you.

With a long, drawn-out breath, you steadied your racing heart before answering him,

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

In return, Myungjun greeted with his signature thousand-watt smile, resulting in this warm sensation creeping on your pale cheeks.

“Positive reaction number 2.” He silently cheered as he abruptly held out his hand, hoping you’d take it. “After you, m’lady,” said Myungjun with a hint of playfulness.

You couldn’t help but chuckle, slightly shaking your head in the process.

“Why, thank you, my kind sir.” You played along, gently grasping his hand and curling your fingers around his. The second you did that, this unspeakable spark shot through both of your arms, surging through your entire body. What made that reaction spectacular was that he interlaced your fingers together as he softly smiled with a genuine warm expression written all over his handsome face. With that smile alone, all recent thoughts about Seokjin and any doubts caused by your former relationship evaporated into thin air. Now, it was just you and Myungjun.

You took a mental note to thank Eun Byeol for setting up this blind date as you guided your bodies towards the booth. Naturally, you picked up the pace as you didn’t want anyone else to steal that perfect spot meant for the both of you.

Little by little, you pushed through the sea of people, swiftly closing the gap between your bodies and the table.

“Which side do you want?” You politely asked as you couldn’t help but notice a defeated couple look for somewhere else to sit. Huh. Perfect timing on your part.

Myungjun softly tapped his chin with his free hand as this faint hum emitted from his lips. Then, a bold idea appeared in his mind. Depending on how you’d answer, he could either make incredible progress or back to square one with you. Well, it was time to find out.

“I have a better idea. Why don’t I sit right next to you? You know so that you can hear me better, especially with how noisy it is right now.”

A tiny squeal escaped your lips as your eyes went round. Your face flushed from Myungjun’s boldness.

“Okay, ____. You need to form a string of coherent words.” You chastised yourself, feeling a tad foolish that you’re this nervous to the point that you can’t even form a simple sentence. “You can do it. All you need to say is, “Sure. You can sit next to me.” Is that so damn hard?” You mumbled to yourself—or so you thought.

“Um. I don’t know, sweetheart. Is it tough to say that you want to sit next to me?”

“Uh...no?”

“Really? You don’t sound so sure of yourself.”

“I mean, yes, we should sit right next to each other.”

You nervously chuckled as you entered the booth, placing your drink on the edge of the table just before shuffling towards the middle of the table with Myungjun following after. You then kindly ask him if he could slide your almost finished Whiskey Sour to you, which he did but not without some playful quips towards you. He teased you for acting like a nervous wreck, blaming the fact that you probably had one too many drinks already. You argued back, stating that you only had two drinks and that it was all his fault for making you this worked up.

Myungjun chuckled in response but soon, that boyish grin vanished from his face and was replaced with a scheming yet charming smirk. What was he planning? And as soon as you parted your sweet lips, Myungjun’s face was inches away from yours. One wrong you move and the two of you would lock lips right then and there. That’s how close you were to each other.

“Oh? So, it’s my fault, then how are you feeling now?” He whispered. His warm breath fanned your cheeks as his gaze darted between your doe-like stare and your apple-red lips. “Am I making you extremely worked up—”

“Hold up! That’s not how our first date went, MJ.” You say, interrupting your boyfriend’s somewhat exaggerated story. You’re almost sure that he’s currently telling a rendition of what he wishes occurred on your first date.

Myungjun scoffs, putting on the theatrics, clearly finding your words offensive.

“It is so! I distinctly remember you had two drinks that evening; hence, you becoming a blushing mess around me. Ooh! You can’t forget the fact that you wanted to kiss me as well.” He argues, acting like a child debating who’s the better superhero, Superman or Batman, with a school friend. You don’t know how you’ve managed to last an entire year with this dramatic fool.

“JinJin! Tell her how wrong she is!” Myungjun whines to his close friend and boyfriend of Eun Byeol.

You shoot Jinwoo a look, questioning why he’s even there on your anniversary date.

Jinwoo pauses, silently sipping his Coca-Cola as he still needs to drive home after he’s done hiding from his girlfriend, who he accidentally angered. A look of hesitation washes over his face as the poor fella absolutely does not want to get in the middle of your guys’ argument. After all, Myungjun is the reason why he’s able to safely hide from his furious significant other. But also, that stupid pretty boy is the cause of his and Eun Byeol’s argument in the first place.

So…

“Well, first of all, you’re both misremembering your first date because it actually wasn’t a blind date. You two had met previously at mine and Eun Byeol’s housewarming party. Then, you two decided to start out as friends because,” Jinwoo points to you, “You're in a relationship with Seokjin. Myungjun was seeing some random chick that I’ve forgotten the name for her.” He stated, debunking the first part of your love story. Before continuing with his explanation, Jinwoo chugs the rest of his soda and holds up a finger, flagging down a waiter to order another glass of Coke.

“Alright, now where was I?” He releases a tiny burp as he continues his journey of stating the facts of your relationship, making Myungjun protest and whine.

Then, your dork of a boyfriend leans towards you, his lips hovering over your ear.

“Why did I let him tag along with us again?”

“Because you two are tighter than a clam’s ass. That’s how close you two are to one another. It’s quite freaky at times.”

Myungjun, being his dramatic self, gawked, stumbling over his words,

“W-what? Name one-time that JinJin was with us.”

“Last night.”

Suddenly, Myungjun’s face becomes blank. Checkmate.

“And another thing! I wasn’t even the one who convinced you to go out that evening! It was Eunwoo!”

#kwritersworldnet #kdiarynet #/mystories #astro #astro fanfic #astro x reader #astro mj #astro myungjun #astro au #kim myungjun #myungjun #myungjun fanfic #myungjun x reader #mj #mj x reader #mj x you #mj fanfiction #mj scenarios #mj au

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bananban-feature · 4 years ago

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Pentagon

‘(This is a new blog. I know I still have to post my features on the groups I stanned earlier, but this right now is the most in the moment thing to do.)

Today (28th November 2020). I have just discovered a new Kpop group. I’ve already started stanning Seventeen (and sometimes GOT7) after BTS, now I’m onto another group.

I accidentally clicked on a Youtube video saying “Kpop stars” on an interview, thinking the kpop groups I already know would be there. Little did I know, it actually said Pentagon at the end of the title. BUT! It was a happy accident.

Pentagon is so underrated.

They have a nice visuals. Not gonna lie, the first thing I noticed about this group is that they have a few visuals there. In particular, Yuto caught my attention! He looked so cool, and sounded so handsome with his deep voice. (Also, he reminded me of one of my ult crushes that I personally know. Ugh! I definitely got the butterflies while watching him.) I like Hongseok’s visuals too.

They have great songs and great talent. Well, I’ve only listened to four songs, but all of those are so fun!! Much like an anthem, really.

The first song I heard was Daisy, they were singing it while doing a fun challenge (singing a translated version). Even when they weren’t trying and were just having fun, the song sounded nice cause the melody was great, so I decided to check it out on Spotify. I was pleasantly surprised as the original not only had a good melody, but also great vocals and an excellent arrangement! But that’s not the peak, this is:

youtube

Hui strikes a certain part of my heartstrings in here.*cries* He has such strong vocals. Shoutout to Wooseok’s rap too, so good. (Agh I’m so impressed by his first verse, it really is one of my favorite parts of the song. I’m in awe!)

I just can’t with this song!! You can really hear the vocals well in this version, and they sang it really well. I was feeling a lot of things, and I was cheering like crazy, all by myself. It kind of gave me the same feeling of amazement when I heard the OST of The Greatest Showman. Just.. Wow.

They are crackheads. Look, all the groups I followed so far (and maybe all kpop groups tbh) have crackhead energy. But theirs, I felt, was on another level. The prankster vibe is pretty similar to GOT7 in a way. They keep making fun of each other. They’re crazy, but also cute!

They write their songs. I don’t think they completely write all of their songs on their own, but I heard Hui writes and produces a lot of them, along with a co-producer? And I heard they each also had a chance to write their own lyrics too. That’s a big plus, as I’m a big fan of self-producing groups. (Edit Dec2020: Apparently, CUBE entertainment is known for having self-producing groups. I love it!)

I’m a fan of good vocals, and I have to say, out of all the groups that I’ve listened to so far, they have one of the best ones (as a whole group). It’s like, none of them isn’t talented (in singing and in rapping.).

I barely know anything about them yet, but Yuto is my bias.

*Edit 09Dec2020:

HUI and WOOSEOK are officially added to my bias list. Can’t tell who’s my ult Pentagon bias. Idk maybe Hui. But they’re talent is crazy! Each time I listen to a Pentagon I’m captivated by Wooseok’s rap, he sounds so good! Each time, Wooseok’s rap shocks me and makes me smile. And Hui’s voice- I don’t normally like chesty voices like his- but Hui’s voice has a magic in it that really works with their music. It brings so much power into the songs. Both their voices bring great flavors to their music. And don’t even get me started on their writing/composing! These two wrote the freakin hit song Daisy! <3

Shine is such a hit to me. And my goodness. E’Dawn? Wow! He’s not with the group anymore but wow he’s so talented! Ok, he’s part of my bias list. Damn they’re all so talented. Even Kino, amazing vocals! Ahh Jinho, Jinho, golden voice. Turns out I love them all.

#Pentagon #Daisy #kpop #music

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jewel-s-blog · 5 years ago

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about me + bias list

hi there, I’m jewel :)

she/her/hers ・ 20 ・ kpop (writing) blog

Yes, Jewel is my real name although my parents admit I was supposed to be named elizabeth but changed their minds last minute after I was born how cute and I’m currently in university. I study political science and japanese for those wondering (because yes, I am japanese and it’s helpful when you live in hawaii to have that degree yk?). If any of this stuff is even mildly interesting and you have any curiosities, pls feel free to ask me!

I try to write some things when I can, so feel free to take a look at my masterlist. I also read A LOT of fics on this site, so also peep my recs if you feel like it. Warning: its mostly fluff and angst and almost always includes smut but there’s some really good stuff worth reading still!

Feel free to talk to me :) i don’t have any kpop friends irl :( all my friends are locals smh

I try my hardest to be active as much as possible but it’s taken me over a year to finally get used to tumblr lol marklee and i both struggle with complex technology i guess Of course, there are times when I get busy with college and will probably seem to drop off the face of the planet exam season kills but now that I’ve been in quarantine for a month, I figured now is the best time to start building an active tumblr routine.

That’s all for now! Keep reading below for my bias list :)

xoxo, jewel <3

Bias List

Before I begin, I will warn that this is basically a giant NCT shxtpost. With LOTS of hyperlinks for educational purposes and absolute crackhead-ery. I’ll eventually make a separate list for other groups I stan, but this blog is mainly NCT and this is already so long so I’ll leave it as this. Enjoy!

Biases are bolded in the beginning of each unit, so you can skip everything after if you don’t wanna see my ramblings following it.

A/N: After biasing nearly every member in NCT/WayV I’ve settled for now on my biases for each unit. This will most likely rotate fairly regularly as I literally fall in love with a different member every day cited here. solo stan? I don’t know her.

ULT

Jaehyun *ahem excuse me i mean*

Johnny Suh, it’s official. Don’t know how to explain, but I love everything about him. In the end, it’s always him. damn i sound like y/n thoughts but istg it’s true From SM Rookies to NCT Life to MV behinds, he’s the one. But I’ve also come to realize that I find myself most relatable to him as a person and I think that’s why no one else can trump him wow narcissist much jewel It’s kind of just my gut feeling. It also helps that hes the fluffiest tall, muscular tight booty hottie on the planet. See this black on black dance practice for further scientific explanation even in this jaehyun trying to wreck me so badddddd

Not gonna lie, I HAD IT BAD FOR MARK LEE still do and yet Johnny overcame that. If mark lee were my first love, johnny is my soulmate.

UPDATE!

Lee Jeno has officially been added to the ult list. *See the entirety of my april activity on my sns accounts if you would like to see how this happened haha :)

NCT U

im in love with him bc he literally reminds me of my boyfriend -- i like chill guys ok

Taeil is my little teddy bear who looks great in red hair and has a voice form heaven. Evidence? Here you go. He didn’t stand out to me much in the beginning because I was either deaf or blind but after Chain, the game was OVER. +moon taeil in shorts?? serve them thighs honey. Love you bebe tomato <3

BUT Doyoung is the #1 bias wrecker here because have you seen his cover of beautiful on masked singer?? have you?? if not, let me educate you. Also his collab with Sejeong?? Literally the cutest MV ever, perfect for Christmas, listened to it every year since it’s release.

Listen to Coming Home - NCT U for further scientific evidence that NCT has top vocals in the kpop industry.

NCT 127

THE Jung Jaehyun. For reasons that need no explanation. but ill give it anyway smh

After watching the performance of herin and jaehyun singing a whole new world I knew that was it for me. (I still watch it once a month for my jaehyun-related health and to honor SM’s biggest loss, seo herin and ji hansol but thats for another conversation) back to jaehyun His vocals are unique in NCT and bring a nice color to their songs, the man looks good in literally anything, and I’ll probably say this about every member, but I love his dance style--body rolls for days sis. Definitely my ideal type, which my boyfriend is 100% aware of; no secrets in my relationship ofc which explains the wreckage. Pretty sure 81% of the fandom gets wrecked by him daily, so I think I’ll stop here.

NCT Dream

Renjun. why? i just think he’s neat but no really, it was this performance (ok actually this got me ALL SORTS OF WRECKED) and this fancam that had me falling in love with him but were gonna ignore the fact that I get bias wrecked DAILY by all the other members GOd-tier vocals, personality for daysssssss, variety KING HUANG RENJUN. Safe to claim that I go into renjun feels about 3x a week. Check my twitter for proof. +dnyl renjun was a blessing and I sometimes cant believe that it actually happened. How do I explain?? He’s literally the best boy, but when he gets all worked up....let’s stop there before I have to go to confession again.

But for fun, lets list why I have biased every dream member at some point shall we? (in no particular order) Dream might just be my ult group, songs always bop, members at star quality

mark- yes i am including mark bc he was the reason i even started stanning dream dreamies leader since mmc days, mentor, A1 rap skills, ad libs go crazy, unparalleled dancing style, hardest worker, cutest watermelon advocate ever, all around amazing person can you tell he used to be my ult? + he’s a good christian boy and my catholic *ss has to confess my sins for being a simp for him 24/7

chenle- vocal GOD, most steady live vocals in kpop, laugh to die for

jeno- i cannot resist his eye smile i wanna cuddle and onstage charisma-2:54 “let’s goooooo” and i alskfdfjlkdldkfa.

jaemin- “other than my members, i don’t have any friends” and yet he’s literally the most caring and wonderful little puff in existence fight me pls dont im a pacifist

heachan- idk why but donghyukie feels like he could be my best friend and also cant stop staring at him in their dance practices his body proportions are unreal and his vocal ad libs?? don’t even get me STARTED on heachans vocals

jisung- he is my son, but also my son’s vocals?? MWAH that voice got me second guessing if he’s really my son

WayV

Ten Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul another member where it kinda just....happened? In the end I was like “damn, when did you sneaky bugger get in my heart?” He’s got a similar vibe as Johnny AND DO NOT COME FOR MY THROAT FOR SAYING THAT THATS MY OPINION Like Johnny, I see myself in Ten. There are so many reasons why I love Ten, so I’ll make it simple and provide them to you.

Reason 1 - Performance/dance he just hit different, he’s THAT good. Reason 2 - vocals the amount his vocals has improved?? UNMATCHED. Reason 3 - INTELLECTUAL (still trying to find the clip of him talking about different kinds of love) Reason 4 - multi-lingual KING ok so this vid is him struggling in mandarin, but imagine, you speak thai and english and learn korean to debut and all of a sudden your agency says “ok learn chinese now.” MANDARIN IS ONE OF THE HARDEST LANGUAGES TO LEARN. Reason 5 - bad b*tch he just radiates bad bitxh energy in everything he does, and I appreciate a bad bitxh

BUT I love wayv’s chaotic energy and chemistry so much that I literally love them all dreamies watch out

+special shoutout to xiaojuns vocals in Love Talk

+kun being a dimpled zaddy (jaehyun&kun type CONFIRMED)

+lucas holding binoculars like THAT @ 1:10

+yangx2 doing THIS (prepare to be blown away)

+hendery being a the best teacher

+winwin BEING WINWIN THE DANCE GOD

+winwin AGAIN and with Ten here i don’t even think i have to say that i tweeted about this everyday for a month and im still not over it. This specific dance really allowed winwin to shine even though ten is my bias. It really allowed others to see the fruit of his classical training even in modern dance which he never trained in. Not gonna be repetitive and SCREAM say that he’s underrated, because we all know that already. Just show winwin some love, ok? thank you.

And so finally, we’ve reached the end. Phew, this took me almost 5 hours to put together because I definitely got carried away. For those who made it all the way to the end, thank you, I love you. It’s so messy and I don’t have the mental capacity to do anymore editing but I hope you got something from this massive post <3 Feel free to let me know what you think! xoxo, jewel

#jewel-s-blog about me #jewel-s-blog bias list #jewel-s-blog

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fluffi · 3 years ago

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i think it was because god's menu was released around the same bp and svt made their comebacks. same thoughts tho on gm > bd and i was also glad that bd got the wins gm didn't. and same with the streaming mvs while studying : ] ahh, the easily distracted people we are. (reading cut and litol font bc poor ppl who see this on the dash TT)

i've heard chinese ballads (usually osts of films and from a chinese friend) and their songs really tend to tug on my heartstrings. i hope sm gives shotaro more stuff to do soon :[ with some of the units being active and sungchan being an mc on a weekly show, it makes me wonder what he's doing. do you think nct will form a new subunit?

no, i'm not lactose intolerant so it really took me by surprise. it was a one-time thing. hopefully it doesn't happen again. i can't really say i'm a big fan of ice cream but it's good occasionally yk as a treat to yourself. and ahhh, i miss drinking smoothies. my favorite stall has been closed for nearly two years now, idk if they ever re-opened since our city mall burned down :[

i think it's an nct thing? it's why i never get tired of them bc they're always active in a way. you should've seen how things went down last year! march 127 album, april dream mini-album, may 127 repackage, june wayv album and the whole nct 2020 thing. it was a wild year. about the track, i listened to it once and forgot about it. might give it a few more listens but it might not grow on me at all. yes! wasn't a big fan of hot sauce at first too bc i thought the intro was weird (not jaemin's part, like the first thing that plays). and yes, that hook loops in my head 24/7. i even made it my instagram bio.

stray kids world domination indeed! and i agree that their performances were really impressive (specially the deadpool one, best one yet) but sometimes i would fancy ateez' more. i didn't watch kingdom too bc it stressed me out as a multi. always caught between being happy for one group and being sad for the others. and atz and tbz! you're still getting into nct and you're thinking of adding 19 more boys! judging from what i know your taste in music is, i think you'll like tbz's music better since there are a lot more soft songs there than in atz. but do give both discographies a listen in the future!

oh izone! i've only heard of them at music shows and dance choreo compilations bc of them being in sync. they're really satisfying to watch! i thought their title tracks were catchy as well! quite unfortunate that i never got into them really. but again, i dont think i can handle stanning temporary groups.

i'm starting to see a pattern in your biases :D i wouldn't be too surprised if you'll be drawn to jeno at some point in your dream venture. dream is soooo easy to love so if you really end up ulting them, i would understand why. and also, YES PLEASE WRITE FOR DREAM AND TAG ME IF YOU WILL. THANK YOU ><

thank you! :c don't get your hopes up tho, the masterlist must've been interesting to browse but are the fics truly worth it? XD i think not. since you already know koe, i'm reccing users @/rouiyan, @/nsheetee and @/loonacitys. i don't have that much fluff in my ficrecs blog. i think, i've heard of lvdsc before (maybe even read a fic or two) but i can't find their blog now. be careful in privating your works, you might end up losing them forever if you don't keep track of their links...(?) that's what happened to the works that i privated :/ take me with you if you move blogs ;n;

seungmin frequently left updates abt what he was doing, left good nights and good mornings, the occasional i miss you. he called fans 'baby' once. not sure if it was a mistranslation, or really just a one-time endearment. other than that, nothing beyond the usual. seung vlives always make me cry ;n; he always look so adorable and precious. also the gif, the fic was more on fake head-butting really but yes you could say it was also a fake nose boop bc it sounds cuter. i'll make sure to tag you on future seung content on the dash. (time to officially claim him as your ult, yes. dont make him secret anymore :3)

sorry it took me a while. tumblr went batshit. the ' werkl;' stopped working midway and i got busy with school yesterday. also haechan birth today and i'm so emo abt it. it's literally just a boy turning 21.

little font and cut saga lets go!!

(just kidding, i cant do little font typing for long periods of time, makes my eyes go beserk haha.)

true true, im afraid for txt on music shows now because theyre going against some big names (literally bts like whatj jsdf what was hybe thinking). yeah, streaming mvs while studying aka watching mvs on loop lmao. i still want to stream skzs final kingdom performance on instinct but i remember that theyve already won!! hehe

ah chinese ballads always make me emo, i like to scream out lyrics to the songs at the top of my lungs and sit there on the verge of tears. its a cultural thing maybe *sobs*. ooh, what show is sungchan mc-ing in? ill check it out. i thought sm would make nct japan for sungtaro (i heard sungchan speaks japanese) so it was a shocker when they made...nct hollywood lmao. given the current circumstances we're probably not going to get a new subunit anytime soon :( hopefully taro will have stuff to showcase during that period of time.

burned down?? oh my, what happened to your mall? that sounds terrifying. i remember when the front of my school caught on fire and we were all ushered out but we thought it was a drill and didnt find out till years later lmao.

oh true, since theyre such a big pack too. constant comebacks and promotions haha, nctzens never catch a break with 23 members. i listened to the new track again (ive forgotten the name already) but i cant- i cant do it. its just not my style hhh. i rewatched the mv for the godly visuals though. i dont know if youre talking about that 'bibididibibidiododo' part by that female morphed voice at the beginning of the song, because i wasnt a fan of that too. it grew on me though.

same, actually! im not an atiny and dont stan any other group in the show besides skz but i watched each groups performance and ranked them haha. at times ateez would rank over skz, it was wild. also yeah, my other multi friend was freaking out about kingdom and ended up abandoning the show because she was so scared of the fanwars and having to deal with her 'conflicting feelings'. about the stanning thing, in my defense, i have a list of groups i want to stan and ive recently added tbz and atz. the list is long, i have a long way to go! also yeah, i dont prefer ateez's songs and i have a bunch of tbz title tracks in my playlist but if i approach their discography like i did with nct then i think i would like at least five songs.

izone are my queens. theres a reason why theyre the only girl group who made it to my ult list haha! super talented and filled with variety and visuals, a perfectly concocted group (literally, sobs in pd48 scandal). ah, temporary groups. yeah i cried about their disbandment for like 3 days straight, it was bad.

a pATTERN?? INTERESTING. DO ELABORATE. jeno, oh my gosh hes like bang chan. an intimidating-looking bear whos actually filled with love and softness on the inside. im currently having a jaemin run though, his make a wish fancam is doing some wacky things. also yeah, dream is really easy to love. i fell for them so hard, theyre all talented and cute and adorable and the team ambiance is so nice. really rising up my stan list now. i mightt write for dream! ill have to see, hehe.

personally i think the fics are going to be worth it. i can feel it in my boOOnes. ooh, recommendations! fun :D ill check them (and yours) out after i finish this 30k jisung fic. ive been trying to finish it since yesterday but i keep getting sidetracked. also, i made a mistake. its luvdsc with a 'u', maybe thats why you couldnt find it? ahh. thank you for the privating tip though! will keep in mind. and of course ill take you with me if/when i move blogs. we're friends now! <3

SEUNGMIN CALLED STAYS 'BABY'???!!@)(@#*()! I SHOULDVE BEEN THERE ASKDFJDF. im exciting for the fake nose boop drabble!! i love soft couple moments hehe. also yeah maybe its time to make him my ult...hes going to have to compete against jake my beloved ope.

dont worry about being 'late' or anything! we all have our own stuff to do. also yeah tumblr is weird asf sometimes. if you havent realized i typically answer longer asks around the same time everyday, when i get to sit in front of my computer and pull out my clickity-clackity keyboard. super relaxing.

AND YES HYUCKIE DAY!!! HES SO ADORABLE HONESTLY. im in love with all seven members of dream, my fic rec blog is currently filled with fics for them haha.

#「 asks 」#moots — [♡] ;#toffee — [♡] ;#neo-shitty

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INSIDE CAFE MILANO’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY — TRUMP ABROAD: POTUS tells reporters he believes Putin when he says Russia did not meddle in the election — MOORE doesn’t rule out dating teenagers in his 30s

Good Saturday morning. INSIDE CAFE MILANO’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY — Washington hotspot Cafe Milano celebrated its 25th anniversary last night with a massive fete that closed down an entire block in Georgetown. SPOTTED: Maureen Dowd chatting with NBA superstar Michael Jordan (pic: http://bit.ly/2ho31Jr), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Louise Linton, Maureen Scalia, Wolf and Lynn Blitzer, Sally Quinn, Mark and Sally Ein, Bob Johnson, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Susan Rice, Betsy Fischer Martin and Jonathan Martin, Buffy Cafritz, Vernon Jordan, Kathleen Biden …

… Ret. Gen. Jim Jones, Raul Fernandez, Hilary Rosen, Kelley McCormick, Tammy Haddad, Jack Evans, Coach Kathy Kemper, Carl Hulse, Anne Brady Perron, Rick Powell, Robyn Bash, Bret and Amy Baier, Steve Clemons, Patrick Steel, Fred Ryan, Kevin Cirilli, Ryan Williams, Howard Fineman, Teresa Davis, Greta Van Susteren and John Coale, Amb. Yousef Al Otaiba, Lyndon Boozer, Dr. Tony Fauci, Tim and Anita McBride, Connie Milstein, Melissa Sowerwine, and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Story Continued Below

– The 13-min. tribute video to Franco Nuschese with a Wolf Blitzer intro — cameos by Hillary Clinton, Greta Van Susteren, Bob Woodward, Ellen Tauscher, Tucker Carlson, Bret Baier, Newt, Sally Quinn, Charlie Rose, Terry McAuliffe, Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush, Norah O’Donnell, Dave Chappelle, Bo Derek, and more: http://bit.ly/2i4Gxhx

CATCHING YOU UP ON TRUMP ABROAD …

— TRUMP SPEAKS ON AF1: HIGHLIGHTS: “[Japanese] Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe came to me just at the end and he said that since you left, South Korea and Japan, those two countries are now getting along much, much better, that there has been a real bonding between South Korea and Japan, so that was great. They say in the history of people coming to China there has been nothing like that, and I believe it.”

… ON HIS MEETING WITH PUTIN: “We issued a joint statement … It’s going to save tremendous numbers of lives and we did it very quickly, we agreed very quickly. As you I know we saw each other last night just for a picture, that was the first time. And then today we had a round table with numerous countries. And we spoke during that round table. We seem to have a very good feeling for each other, a good relationship considering we don’t know each other well. I think it’s a very good relationship. …

“If we had a relationship with Russia, that would be a good thing. In fact, it would be a great thing, not a bad thing, because he could really help us on North Korea. We have a big problem with North Korea and China is helping us. And because of the lack of the relationship that we have with Russia, because of this artificial thing that’s happening with this Democratic-inspired thing. We could really be helped a lot, tremendously, with Russia having to do with North Korea. You know you are talking about millions and millions of lives. This isn’t baby stuff, this is the real deal. And if Russia helped us in addition to China, that problem would go away a lot faster.”

… ON RUSSIAN MEDDLING IN THE U.S. ELECTIONS: “Every time he sees me he says I didn’t do that and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it. But he says I didn’t do that. I think he is very insulted by it, if you want to know the truth. … All he said was he never did that, he didn’t do that. I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country. … [H]aving a relationship with Russia would be a great thing—not a good thing, it would be a great thing—especially as it relates to North Korea.

“And I’ll say this: Hillary had her stupid reset button that she spelled the word wrong, but she does not have what it takes to have that kind of relationship where you could call or you could do something and they would pull back from North Korea, or they would pull back from Syria, or maybe pull back from Ukraine. I mean, if we could solve the Ukraine problem. But this is really an artificial barrier that’s put in front of us for solving problems with Russia. He says that very strongly, he really seems to be insulted by it and he says he didn’t do it.”

… ON ROY MOORE: “I will see it. I mean, I basically put out a statement, which is obvious. So I’ll stick with my statement for now, but I’ll have further comment as we go down the road. I have to get back into the country to see what’s happening.”

TROUBLE BREWING OVER PRESS ACCESS — “New York Times photographer tweets ‘photo’ of black box to protest White House coverage blackout,” by WaPo’s David Nakamura in Danang, Vietnam: “News photographers traveling with President Trump are protesting a lack of access provided by the White House to his events here at a regional economic conference. On Saturday, New York Times photographer Doug Mills, a member of the White House Correspondents’ Association board, tweeted a ‘photo’ of a black box, framed with a decorative border, to illustrate the group’s frustration. In the tweet, Mills said the 13-member travel ‘pool’ of reporters, photographers and camera operators that provides reports for the rest of the news media would have no access at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

“The pool … joined Trump in several vans in his motorcade, as is customary when a U.S. president travels domestically or internationally. But the group was kept waiting in the vans — and then, later, a fitness room away from the summit — as Trump joined the APEC Summit for meetings and an official group portrait. At an APEC welcome dinner Friday night that Trump participated in, the travel pool also had been mostly shut out.” http://wapo.st/2iNNIKC

FROM ANDREW RESTUCCIA who is traveling with the president: “White House press secretary Sarah Sanders addressed the issue with reporters aboard Air Force One later Saturday, saying that one reason Trump gaggled with reporters was because he was made aware of press concerns about access, adding she wasn’t aware of the APEC situation until after it happened. Sanders pledged to push for more access ahead of the president’s arrival in Manila, Philippines, pledging more communication with pool reporters and photographers on logistics and access.

“Margaret Talev, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, told POLITICO: ‘The WHCA has been in discussions for months with the White House about maximizing open press coverage wherever possible throughout the Asia trip and trying to accommodate the full travel pool in pooled events. While there has been a history of some host countries pushing back against the size of the US footprint and while APEC historically has limited some pool sizes, we are concerned that access on this trip has eroded more significantly and that notice about changes or new coverage restrictions has often come with too short of notice to be able to react effectively.’” http://politi.co/2AuPSWC

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: Integrating artificial intelligence into facial recognition technology could transform brand experiences, and cause disruption in both the security and marketing worlds. We’re helping Kairos, a startup in the Morgan Stanley Innovation Lab, navigate the investment world as they seek to make their dream a reality. Read more. ******

MORE FROM TRUMP’S TRIP — “Asia-Pacific forum sticks to free-trade gospel despite Trump,” by AP’s Tran Van Minh and Elaine Kurtenbach in Danang: “An annual Pacific Rim summit is sticking with its tradition of promoting free trade and closer regional ties, shrugging off President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ approach. The leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum said Saturday that they had recommitted to fighting protectionism and ‘all unfair trade practices.’ They also expressed support for multi-country institutions and regional as well as country-to-country trade agreements.” http://bit.ly/2hrkK6q

— “Trans-Pacific trade deal advances without United States,” by Reuters’ Kiyoshi Takenaka and Mai Nguyen in Danang: “The agreement, which still needs to be finalised, would now be called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) … Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said he hoped that moving ahead with the deal would be a step towards bringing back the United States.” http://reut.rs/2zOKt0j

— @SenJohnMcCain: “.@POTUS in #Danang & no mention of human rights – Sad”.

PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER — NANCY COOK: “How Flynn — and the Russia scandal — landed in the West Wing: “Michael Flynn wasn’t even on the shortlist of potential national security advisers. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the early transition chief for a newly elected Donald Trump, and his team had deep reservations about Flynn, fearing the retired three-star Army general who had been ousted from the Obama administration suffered from poor judgment and espoused far-out ideas on foreign policy. Instead, their list for the NSA slot included marquee military leaders such as now-Secretary of Defense James Mattis; General Peter Pace, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Bush; and Admiral William McRaven, who oversaw the Osama bin Laden raid, according to two people familiar with the transition.

“But when Christie was fired from his transition perch on Nov. 11– replaced by soon-to-be Vice President Mike Pence — Flynn and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon celebrated by tossing binders full of potential personnel picks, carefully culled by Christie’s team, into trash bins with a sense of ceremonial glee. They did this before an audience of other transition officials, according to the two people close to the transition and a campaign official — though another former transition official disputed the idea that the binders and picks were not considered by the Pence-led transition team.

“Ultimately it was Trump himself who made the decision to ditch Christie’s recommendation against hiring Flynn for national security adviser, according to two former transition officials, rewarding one of his most loyal campaign surrogates. ‘Flynn’s appointment was the president-elect’s decision, and he did it on his own timing after a lot of time spent together during the campaign,’ explained one former White House official.” http://politi.co/2i4DOo6

MCCONNELL SPEAKS — “Senate Plan Could Increase Taxes on Some Middle-Class Workers,” by NYT’s Jim Tankersley and Ben Casselman: “Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, acknowledged on Friday that the Republican tax plan might result in a tax hike for some working Americans, saying he ‘misspoke’ days earlier when he said that ‘nobody in the middle class is going to get a tax increase’ under the Senate bill. ‘I misspoke on that,’ Mr. McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in an interview on Friday with The New York Times. ‘You can’t guarantee that absolutely no one sees a tax increase’ …

“The Senate bill unveiled on Thursday would raise taxes on millions of middle-class families, according to a preliminary New York Times analysis. The plan would also disproportionately benefit high earners and corporations. Still, middle-class earners would fare better under the Senate proposal than its counterpart in the House.” http://nyti.ms/2zx0TKm

MOORE WATCH — “Moore defiant as Senate Republicans sever ties,” by Alex Isenstadt and Gabe Debenedetti: The NRSC “on Friday severed its fundraising agreement with Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, the most concrete step the party has taken to separate itself from the besieged nominee. But Moore and his backers remained defiant, portraying accusations that he initiated sexual contact with teenagers decades ago as a conspiracy by his opponents to drag down his candidacy. … Two Republican senators rescinded their endorsements of Moore on Friday evening, with Steve Daines of Montana and Mike Lee of Utah pulling their support.” http://politi.co/2zNORN1

— “Senate candidate Roy Moore does not rule out that he may have dated teen girls when he was in his 30s,” by WaPo’s Michael Scherer and Dave Weigel: “Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore declined Friday to rule out that he may have dated girls in their late teens when he was in his 30s, though he said he did not remember any such encounters and described such behavior as inappropriate. ‘If I did, I’m not going to dispute these things, but I don’t remember anything like that,’ Moore said on Sean Hannity’s radio program, when asked whether he had dated 17- or 18-year-old girls at the time. In the same interview, Moore denied outright the claim of Leigh Corfman that he had initiated sexual encounters with her when she was 14. ‘I don’t know Ms. Corfman from anybody,’ he said. ‘The allegations of sexual misconduct with her are completely false.’” http://wapo.st/2zAtJqR

— JOSH GREEN in Bloomberg, “Bannon Says Moore Story Seeks to ‘Destroy a Man’s Life’”: “‘This is nothing less than the politics of personal destruction,’ said Bannon.” https://bloom.bg/2Ay6PAh

— “Poll Shows Alabama Race Tied After Allegations Against Roy Moore,” by BuzzFeed’s Henry Gomez: “Moore and Democrat Doug Jones are tied at 46% in the survey, which was conducted Thursday by Opinion Savvy and commissioned by Decision Desk HQ in the aftermath of a bombshell Washington Post report in which the accuser, now 53, went on record with her story.” http://bzfd.it/2i5JcYt

— “For Alabama Women, Disgust, Fatigue and a Sense Moore Could Win Anyway,” by NYT’s Richard Fausset: http://nyti.ms/2mgg4Sv

— Steve Peoples (@sppeoples): “Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore tells Hannity that his campaign is doing its own investigation into accusers: ‘We have some evidence of collusion here.’”

— “Why politicians got away with sexual misconduct for so long: Everyone knew about Bob Packwood. He won reelection anyway,” by Rachel Gorlin in WaPo: http://wapo.st/2yQMwRH

YIKES — “FBI database for gun buyers missing millions of records,” by WaPo’s Devlin Barrett, Sandhya Somashekhar and Alex Horton: “The FBI’s background-check system is missing millions of records of criminal convictions, mental illness diagnoses and other flags that would keep guns out of potentially dangerous hands, a gap that contributed to the shooting deaths of 26 people in a Texas church this week. Experts who study the data say government agencies responsible for maintaining such records have long failed to forward them into federal databases used for gun background checks — systemic breakdowns that have lingered for decades as officials decided they were too costly and time-consuming to fix. …

“The FBI said it doesn’t know the scope of the problem, but the National Rifle Association says about 7 million records are absent from the system, based on a 2013 report by the nonprofit National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics.” http://wapo.st/2yrPCag

TONY PODESTA INTERVIEW –- “The rise and fall of the Podestas, Washington’s powerful political brother act,” by WaPo’s Roxanne Roberts: “‘I didn’t leave with a sense of tragedy or regret about anything I had done,’ Tony said nonchalantly in an interview last week. ‘I thought it was better for the clients and better for the people in the office for me to get out of there.’ … One might expect Tony Podesta to be angry — and apprehensive — about all this, and maybe he is. But at the moment, he’s smiling and cracking jokes.

“‘There was a period when I was at People for the American Way in which I was the devil, and this is another period in which I am the devil,’ he says. ‘I don’t retreat from my values or my life because Tucker Carlson makes s— up.’ And he’s laughing off the president. ‘If you tweet ‘Podesta’ you get some applause from people who don’t know who we are or what we do,’ he says. ‘He has his phone. And I have my integrity.’” http://wapo.st/2zxyHGM

— “Inside the Podesta Group’s last days,” by Theo Meyer: “Tony Podesta’s lavish art collection is coming down off the walls at the Podesta Group, as the lobbying firm — among the largest and most powerful in Washington — prepares to close up shop. Workers started removing dozens of pieces in Podesta’s collection of photography and other artworks from the walls of the firm on Thursday, the same day Kimberley Fritts, the firm’s longtime chief executive, abruptly resigned, according to a Podesta Group staffer. … [L]ess than two weeks after Podesta stepped down as chairman, the firm he founded 30 years ago may soon shut its doors, with staffers unsure if they’ll be paid after next week.” http://politi.co/2mdW1Ei

— “Russia Scandal Befalls Two Brothers: John and Tony Podesta,” by NYT’s Ken Vogel: “[I]n a twist with Shakespearean undertones, the two influential Washington brothers have found themselves on opposite sides of the scandals over Russian interference in the 2016 election. … It is unclear what will happen to [Tony’s] investment in the Podesta Group … Some firm partners are starting a new firm next month called Cogent Strategies, in which Tony Podesta will have no stake.” http://nyti.ms/2jlI5r6

FOGGY BOTTOM WATCH — “State Department to Offer Buyouts in Effort to Cut Staff,” by NYT’s Gardiner Harris: “The State Department will soon offer a $25,000 buyout to diplomats and staff members who quit or take early retirements by April, officials confirmed on Friday. The decision is part of Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson’s continuing effort to cut the ranks of diplomats and Civil Service officers despite bipartisan resistance in Congress. Mr. Tillerson’s goal is to reduce a department of nearly 25,000 full-time American employees by 8 percent, which amounts to 1,982 people.” http://nyti.ms/2zvaLUU

CLICKER – “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker – 15 keepers http://politi.co/2zwmBM7

THE FIRST PLAYBOOK TIMEOUT … JAKE with D.C. MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER http://bit.ly/2ABjh2b

PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam on Nov. 11. | Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

DAVID SIDERS in Vatican City with Gov. Jerry Brown: “Jerry Brown, President of the Independent Republic of California” http://politi.co/2zDLXb3

FT: “Zuckerberg says he worked out why U.S. is so divided,” by Richard Waters in San Francisco: “Mark Zuckerberg sounded a warning on Friday about the social and political fragmentation caused by America’s opioid crisis, as he ended a nationwide tour to understand the forces that had put Donald Trump in the White House. At one point the Facebook chief executive officer choked up as he talked about the effects of opioid addiction, adding: ‘This stuff is really upsetting to talk about.’ … Referring to the opioid crisis, he said: ‘One of the things that struck me, that I don’t think we all fully internalise, is how this epidemic has affected people’s attitudes more broadly on policy issues.’” http://on.ft.com/2hkR9YH

RUSSIA UPDATE — NYT A1, “A London Meeting of an Unlikely Group: How a Trump Adviser Came to Learn of Clinton ‘Dirt,’” by Sharon LaFraniere, David D. Kirkpatrick, Andrew Higgins and Michael Schwirtz: “At midday on March 24, 2016, an improbable group gathered in a London cafe to discuss setting up a meeting between Donald J. Trump, then a candidate, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. There was George Papadopoulos, a 28-year-old from Chicago with an inflated résumé who just days earlier had been publicly named as a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump’s campaign. There was Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese academic in his mid-50s with a faltering career who boasted of having high-level contacts in the Russian government. And, perhaps most mysteriously, there was Olga Polonskaya, a 30-year-old Russian from St. Petersburg and the former manager of a wine distribution company. …

“The interactions between the three players and a fourth man with contacts inside Russia’s Foreign Ministry have become a central part of the inquiry by the special prosecutor, Robert S. Mueller III, into the Kremlin’s efforts to interfere with the presidential election. Recently released court documents suggest that the F.B.I. suspected that some of the people who showed interest in Mr. Papadopoulos were participants in a Russian intelligence operation. The March 2016 meeting was followed by a breakfast the next month at a London hotel during which Mr. Mifsud revealed to Mr. Papadopoulos that the Russians had ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton in the form of ‘thousands of emails.’” http://nyti.ms/2hjJBFR

— “Investigators probe Trump knowledge of campaign’s Russia dealings: sources,” by Reuters’ Mark Hosenball and John Walcott: “Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has questioned Sam Clovis, co-chairman of President Donald Trump’s election campaign, to determine if Trump or top aides knew of the extent of the campaign team’s contacts with Russia, two sources familiar with the investigation said on Friday. The focus of the questions put to Clovis by Mueller’s team has not been previously reported.” http://reut.rs/2zBxMDm

— “Data Firm’s WikiLeaks Outreach Came as It Joined Trump Campaign,” by WSJ’s Rebecca Ballhaus and Julie Bykowicz: “The chief executive of Cambridge Analytica contacted the founder of WikiLeaks to ask him to share Hillary Clinton-related emails at the same time that people familiar with the matter say the British data-analytics firm had begun working for President Donald Trump’s campaign.” http://on.wsj.com/2iNyLbi

SPICER WATCH — “Spicer’s election-night memories cause anxiety in GOP: Spicer highlighted his presence on the fifth floor of Trump Tower, but party employees were given strict instructions not to go there,” by Annie Karni and Josh Gerstein: “The directive to RNC employees to steer clear of floor five was given out of an abundance of caution, according to an RNC employee, to avoid violating a decades-old court order, known as a consent decree. It barred the RNC from challenging voters’ eligibility at the polls after the party was accused in the 1980s of practices meant to discourage African-Americans from voting. The consent decree is set to expire next month, barring proof of any violations.” http://politi.co/2AvLWoJ

FOR YOUR RADAR — “A house divided: How Saudi Crown Prince purged royal family rivals,” by Reuters’ Samia Nakhoul, Angus McDowall and Stephen Kalin: “Prince Mohammed decided to move on his family, [a] person familiar with events said, when he realized more relatives opposed him becoming king than he had thought. ‘The signal was that anyone wavering in their support should watch out,’ said the person familiar with the events. ‘The whole idea of the anti-corruption campaign was targeted toward the family. The rest is window dressing.’” http://reut.rs/2yrVksM

THE HARASSMENT FILES — “A Senior Guardian Editor Is Under Investigation Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations,” by BuzzFeed’s Mark Di Stefano: “The Guardian’s digital editor Ian Prior has been absent from work after female staff members reported harassment allegations to management.” http://bzfd.it/2zua4Lp

— LOUIS CK’s full statement: “These stories are true.” http://cnn.it/2iOFemn

— “The spy who duped Rose McGowan unmasked! This is the blonde Israeli military veteran who worked undercover for disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein and tricked the actress into sharing her memoirs,” by Alana Goodman in the Daily Mail: “The pretty blonde spy … is a 30-something-year-old Israeli military veteran named Stella Penn … The operative at Israeli intelligence firm Black Cube … is a former member of the Israel Defense Forces and lives in Jaffa, Israel.” With pix http://dailym.ai/2zxgPfb

— “After Weinstein: A List of Men Accused of Sexual Misconduct and the Fallout for Each” – NYT: http://nyti.ms/2hkLNN7

SPORTS BLINK — “Aly Raisman says she was sexually abused by U.S. national team doctor”: “In an interview with 60 Minutes, the Olympic gold medalist says she spoke with FBI investigators after the Rio games.” http://cbsn.ws/2AvnsvL

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: Startup Kairos believes that integrating artificial intelligence into facial recognition technology could cause disruption in both the security and marketing worlds. The Morgan Stanley Innovation Lab is helping founder Brian Brackeen navigate the investment world in search of capital to make his vision a reality. Read more. ******

MEDIAWATCH — HMM — WSJ’s Amol Sharma: “Early this year, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and aide, Jared Kushner, met a top executive at CNN parent Time Warner Inc. and raised concerns about the network’s coverage of the presidential election. Mr. Kushner told the executive, Gary Ginsberg, that CNN should fire 20% of its staff because they were so wrong in their analysis of the election and how it would turn out, people familiar with the matter say. A White House official said Mr. Kushner didn’t intend the comment to be taken seriously, and was simply trying to make a point. Inside Time Warner, it wasn’t taken lightly.” http://on.wsj.com/2jiN1Ni

— “Rupert Murdoch twice discussed CNN with AT&T CEO – sources,” by Reuters’ Jessica Toonkel: “Rupert Murdoch telephoned AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson twice in the last six months and talked about cable network CNN … According to one of the sources, the 86-year-old executive chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox … offered to buy CNN in both conversations. Another source said Murdoch had ‘zero interest’ in owning CNN.” http://reut.rs/2yPZuPp

–“Layoffs Hit GQ as Condé Nast Cuts Continue,” by WWD’s Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke: “Condé Nast layoffs are under way, and GQ is one of the first titles to be targeted for a round of cuts. Around seven editorial staffers were let go on Thursday. Among those laid off were executive digital director Mike Hofman, fashion director Madeline Weeks and digital entertainment editor Ashley Fetters. ‘So: Yesterday GQ laid me off, alongside a slew of extremely talented others. Still not the worst Nov. 9 of my life, somehow?! But a sad one nonetheless,’ Fetters said via her personal Twitter account Friday. More cuts are expected at other titles in the coming weeks.” http://bit.ly/2hlrBuu

CHRIS FRATES interviews potential Wyoming Senate candidate Foster Friess about Roy Moore and how Steve Bannon convinced him to think about challenging Sen. John Barrasso. Frates also talks to former Pelosi chief of staff Nadeam Elshami. ‘Politics Inside Out with Chris Frates’ airs today at 9 a.m. and 10 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m., and Monday at 2 p.m. on SiriusXM channel 124 and on demand on the SiriusXM app.” Clips for Playbookers — Friess on Moore https://goo.gl/MNhVNB … https://goo.gl/hmHXxi … How Trump has done as president https://goo.gl/eZmX4f … Elshami on how he was too nervous to talk during his Pelosi job interview https://goo.gl/xuawP9

GRETCHEN MORGENSON’s last NYT column, “After 20 Years of Financial Turmoil, a Columnist’s Last Shot”: http://nyti.ms/2mewoU6

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman, filing from Lincoln, Nebraska:

— “Terror is the Wrong Word: A Bike Path Victim and His World,” by John Homans in Vanity Fair: “Grief for Nicholas Cleves, [who was 23] and the strength of millennial New York.” http://bit.ly/2iKKyau (h/t Longform.org)

— “What Happens If China Makes First Contact?” by Ross Andersen in December’s Atlantic: “As America has turned away from searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, China has built the world’s largest radio dish for precisely that purpose.” http://theatln.tc/2zrOqrh

— “Is it too late to save the world? Jonathan Franzen on one year of Trump’s America” – The Guardian: “‘As the ice shelves crumble and the Twitter president threatens to pull out of the Paris accord’, Franzen reflects on the role of the writer in times of crisis.” http://bit.ly/2hiBKYV

— “The Leaks. The Frustrations. Omarosa’s Shoes. Mike Dubke on His 103 Days in the White House,” by Washingtonian’s Elaina Plott: “Trump’s former communications director talks about his brief but eventful stint.” http://bit.ly/2hlcfXe

— “The Untold Stories of Election Day 2016 — What really happened?” — Esquire: “[O]ver 40 brand new interviews and behind-the-scenes stories from deep inside The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, and more—plus first-hand accounts from the campaigns, themselves.” http://bit.ly/2iFbLvk

— “Arms Dealers,” by Peter Andrey Smith in Pacific Standard magazine: “When eight heads arrived at a shipping warehouse in Detroit, the feds uncovered some unsavory details about the little-known trade in human remains.” http://bit.ly/2zxMURU (h/t Longreads.com)

— “The best books on Free Speech,” by Timothy Garton Ash, author of “Free Speech: Ten Principles for A Connected World,” in Five Books: “Free speech … is the oxygen of all other freedoms. The classic example of this is Amartya Sen’s famous study, which shows that there’s never been a major famine in a country which had a free press—because the news gets out and there’s outrage. So there’s this elemental connection even with the right to life, to have enough to eat.” http://bit.ly/2jf9rPv (h/t TheBrowser.com) … $22.48 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2hrbQWJ

— “Can Ford Turn Itself Into a Tech Company?” by Kevin Roose in tomorrow’s N.Y. Times Magazine: “Its very name was synonymous with the 20th-century economy. Now it’s trying to catch up with Silicon Valley on self-driving cars.” http://nyti.ms/2ABR4sm

— “Where the Small-Town American Dream Lives On,” by Larissa MacFarquhar in the New Yorker: “As America’s rural communities stagnate, what can we learn from one that hasn’t?” http://bit.ly/2ynxoH5

— “At Home in the World,” by Vivienne Walt on the cover of Time: “At 39, French President Emmanuel Macron is just getting started.” http://ti.me/2yprLIc … The cover http://bit.ly/2yKnhQG

— “The Hottest Social Media Star in the Middle East Is a Radical Saudi Cleric,” by Haroon Ullah, author of “Digital World War: Islamists, Extremists and the Fight for Cyber Supremacy,” in POLITICO Magazine: “How Mohammed al-Arefe became the favorite preacher of ISIS recruits—and an ally of the Saudi government.” http://politi.co/2mfSMfK … $12.50 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2mcfDbY

— “Are we having fun yet?” by Alexandra Lange in Curbed: “The Museum of Ice Cream is popular, colorful, and sugary, but are visitors playing—or playing themselves?” http://bit.ly/2mc5lZi

— “Ready for Trump TV? Inside Sinclair Broadcasting’s Plot to Take Over Your Local News,” by Andy Kroll in the Nov./Dec. issue of Mother Jones: “Its mix of terrorism alerts, right-wing commentary, and ‘classic propaganda’ could soon reach three-quarters of US households.” http://bit.ly/2yS9TKl

— “The Button-Down Anarchist,” by Nell Gluckman in the Chronicle of Higher Ed: “In the face of radicalism, Mark Bray argues, radical responses must at least be considered. His work poses a challenge: Do you oppose fascism? If so, you have a duty to study it — and, once you’ve done so, to pick a side.” http://bit.ly/2i4UzzJ (h/t ALDaily.com)

— “Andrés Barba on Such Small Hands,” by Josie Mitchell in Granta in a Q&A with Barba on his new book “Such Small Hands, Gothic and Greek Literature”: “Traditionally the adult has wanted the child to become an adult as quickly as possible, because deep down the adult is frightened by the child’s gaze. Adult secrets are revealed by the child’s gaze. The period in history with the most idiotic vision of childhood is our own: We demand that the child be the most innocent being possible to prevent ourselves from recognising the child’s true complexity.” http://bit.ly/2yOmoqq

WEEKEND WEDDING – Justin Barasky, campaign manager for Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)’s reelection campaign and a Priorities USA and DSCC alum, on Friday married Lauren Durham, a DNC and EMILY’s List alum who is now campaign manager for Ohio state Rep. Kathleen Clyde, who is running for Secretary of State in Ohio. Guy Cecil officiated at the Ivory Room in Columbus, Ohio.

Pool report: “Lauren and Justin’s dog Kyrie was part of the ceremony. Guy talked about the couple’s commitment to civic society and their fierce commitment to ‘creating something new.’ The vows mentioned the couple meeting on Sen. Brown’s [2012] race. Justin said one of the reasons he knew he loved Lauren was that when the Cavs won the Championship, he looked over and she was crying harder than he was. When the bride started crying during her vows, their dog Kyrie started barking which made everyone laugh.” Pics — A selfie the couple took http://bit.ly/2zC3Reg … The newlyweds cutting the cake http://bit.ly/2AAjy5L

SPOTTED: Andrew Zucker, Adam Magnus, Zac Petkanas, Patrick McHugh, Paul Tencher, Regan Page, Quentin Fulks, Kim Kauffman, Preston Maddock, Sarah Benzing, Diane Feldman, Rory Steele, Ally Coll Steele, Monica McHugh, Sarah Paulos, Alex Glass, Anne Caprara.

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Gabriela Ayala, research associate at Senate Majority PAC (hat tip: Justine Turner, who was on time)

BIRTHDAYS: Facebook’s Tucker Bounds (h/t Blain Rethmeier) … former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is 77 … Alec MacGillis is 43 … Sean Joyce … Norm Eisen, senior fellow at Brookings, CNN commentator, chair of CREW, and former U.S. Amb. to the Czech Republic … Politico Europe’s Matt Kaminski … Matt Ortega … Lauren Thorbjornsen, director of executive comms and strategic programs at Salesforce … Taylor Holgate, senior manager of federal gov’t affairs at the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and former press secretary for Sen. Burr (h/ts Stew and Becca) … former Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) is 49 … former Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is 86 … former Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) is 71 … Jake Swanton, senior manager for federal policy at Lyft … Joel Foster, founder of Blue Origami Strategies … Politico’s John Hendel (h/t Stephanie Benedict) … Meredith Dyer … NFL Network’s Melissa Stark … David Leiter, president of Plurus Strategies (h/ts Jon Haber and Sarah Litke) …

… Daniel Huey, partner at Something Else Strategies … Rebecca Sharer, marketing coordinator at Bully Pulpit Interactive (h/t Karen Hendrixson) … Ruth Igielnik, a pollster at the Pew Research Center (hubby tip: Ben Wieder) … Mike Frankfurt … Carlos Monje … Sarah Esty … Christian Flynn … Mandi Wimmer … Craig Pittman of the Tampa Bay Times … Jeffrey S. Malashock … Eric Ezzy Rappaport … Jon Hartley … Gretchen Michael … Nathan Imperiale, CEO of NJI Media and partner at FamousDC … Emily Pollock … Politico’s Susanna Cagle and Edgar Estrada … Morley Winograd … Jessica Jennings, director of comms at University of Maryland …. Linda Rozett … Ryan Tronovitch … Grant Lebens … Ben Hall … Frank Wilkinson … Gillian Morris … Eric Oginsky (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

THE SHOWS, by @MattMackoiwak filing from Manchester, United Kingdom:

–NBC’s “Meet the Press”: White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) … Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Panel: Charlie Cook, David Ignatius, Elise Jordan and Kristen Welker

–CNN’s “State of the Union”: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin … Gov. John Kasich … Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Panel: Van Jones and Mary Katharine Ham, Jennifer Granholm and Rick Santorum.

–CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin … Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) … Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Panel: Jeffrey Goldberg, Ed O’Keefe and the Amy Walter … discussion with Trump voters in Manchester, N.H.

–ABC’s “This Week”: Ohio Gov. John Kasich, DNC Chair Tom Perez and Delegate-elect Danica Roem. Panel: Mary Bruce, Alex Castellanos, Matthew Dowd and Mark Updegrove

–“Fox News Sunday”: Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) … Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Panel: Mike Needham, Julie Pace, Gillian Turner and Charles Lane … “Power Player of the Week” with Museum of the Bible president Cary Summers

–Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”: Gary Cohn … Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) … Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) … Mike Huckabee … Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.). Panel: Ed Rollins and Susan Ferrechio

–Fox News’ “MediaBuzz”: Mollie Hemingway … Juan Williams … Erin McPike … Bloomberg News’ Shannon Pettypiece … The Hollywood Reporter’s Matt Belloni … Fox News host Dana Perino

–CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King: Panel: Abby Phillip, Margaret Talev, Molly Ball and Michael Warren

–CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: Panel: Ian Bremmer, Richard Haass and NPR’s Elise Hu … Ali Shihabi … Turkish prime minister Binali Yildrim

–CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: Panel: Bethany Mandel, Jeff Greenfield and David Zurawik … John Avlon … Del.-elect Chris Hurst (D-VA).

–Univision’s “Al Punto”: Mother of 10-year-old daughter (who was detained on her way to a hospital) Felipa de la Cruz … White House director of policy and interagency coordination Carlos Diaz-Rosillo … CHIRLA’s Jorge-Mario Cabrera … Independent Mexican senator and presidential candidate Armando Ríos Piter … Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) … musician René Pérez Joglar (Residente).

–C-SPAN: “The Communicators”: Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) … NetChoice vice president and general counsel Carl Szabo … “Newsmakers”: Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), questioned by CQ Roll Call’s Joe Williams and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tamar Hallerman … “Q&A”: Rabbi David Dalin (“Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court”)

–PBS’ “To the Contrary”: Panel: Hilary Rosen, Carrie Lukas, Jennifer Higgins and Donna Edwards

— Washington Times’ “Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher or listen at http://bit.ly/2r37J6h): Ben Stein.

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: The Morgan Stanley Innovation Lab is a tech-talent accelerator program, in which startups are closely embedded into the firm, its technologists and networks. Startup Kairos believes that integrating artificial intelligence into facial recognition technology could cause disruption in both the security and marketing worlds. But first, founder Brian Brackeen has to navigate the investment world in search of capital to make his vision a reality. “I come from a middle-class African American family in Philly,” says Brackeen. “I’m not that guy from an affluent family who went to an Ivy League school and has a huge college network of friends in banking and hedge funds.” That’s why Kairos, and four other startups run by women or multicultural founders, are moving into Morgan Stanley’s Time Square headquarters in New York for three months. The experience will allow them access to the firm’s expertise and resources. Read more. ******

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