#and also the gig is on saturday so I dont have to ask for a day off from work!🙌🏻

[ss4nni]

I wasnt at the ice hall gig last year and got a pretty big fomo because of that, so I'll definitely try to get ticets to the nokia arena😌🔥

[babybluebex]

*claps hands together* okay SO. listen. even though i know some people dont like it, i am kind of a sucker for “tomboy character gets femmed up and male protagonist falls for them hard” cliche, and imagining that with a fem!reader (or just a kinda fem enby like myself) who’s one of eddies childhood friends SENDS me 😭 ofc no pressure!! your writing is wonderful as always and take all the time you need 🥰

𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 | 𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: you’re not exactly a girly-girl, but, after corroded coffin is booked to play prom, you decide to surprise your best friend with a dress and a confession. 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: eddie munson (stranger things) x fem!reader 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬: tomboy!reader, a LOT of fluff, brief blood mention 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: eek thanks for sending in this request! i had such a good time writing it!

You didn’t usually give much thought to dances or school functions, or really school at all. All of the events, be it homecoming or the Snowflake Ball or that weird assembly about saying no to drugs, were a complete snooze fest. Even prom irked you. Who would actually want to hang around the gymnasium and drink flat punch for hours and listen to whatever crappy band was hired out for the night? The concept of it never struck any flame inside you, so you never cared about it. 

Until this prom. Until Corroded Coffin. 

“How the fuck,” you started, tossing a crumb at Eddie as he strutted proudly around the lunch table. “Did you manage to get Higgins to hire your sorry-ass band to play prom?” 

“I can be persuasive!” Eddie returned quickly, dodging your crumb with a smile. “Anyway, I also told him that it would motivate me in my schoolwork.”

“How would that…” you began with a roll of your eyes. “Never mind, I don’t wanna know how you smooth-talked that away. So, you’ve got your Saturday booked up. What happened to renting Halloween, like we talked about?” 

“We can still do that,” Eddie told you quickly. “Prom officially ends at 11, then I’ve got the rest of the night for my favorite girl.” 

Your heart swept up into your throat as he passed behind you, his hand lightly trailing your shoulder. You and Eddie had been through thick and thin since meeting, way back in preschool, and he loved you like you were his sister. You, however, had something festering in your heart. 

It had happened back years ago, despite the awful buzzed hairstyle that he had rocked all through junior high. Somewhere between seventh and eighth grade, you had developed a huge crush on your best friend, one that had consumed every second of every day. And now, your last year of high school (and Eddie’s third senior year), your crush had managed to dull down to less all-consuming and more… Loving. 

You didn’t have a crush on your best friend, you loved him. And soon you would leave him for college. You worried if your friendship would survive the distance, but, the one time you had talked to Eddie about it, he had assured you that he would write and visit every chance he got. But, as the time drew nearer and nearer, it felt less likely to happen. He would get a job, you would move, and you’d never have time for each other, and, eventually, he would only be that guy you used to know.

Spending time with Eddie mattered to you, and you were only slightly hurt that Eddie would drop your plans to perform at the stupid fucking prom. He had never gone to prom, nor had you ever heard him express any interest in going, and you groaned at him. “Since when do you even wanna go to prom?” you asked. 

“Since I decided that this is my last chance to,” Eddie said, and he finally settled down in his chair at the head of the lunch table. “I’m fuckin’ done with Hawkins High, and I’m gonna graduate and leave this place in my dust. I don’t have anything to lose. Anyway, it’s a gig. I’ll get paid. We can rent Halloween and buy some snacks. Sounds like a good deal to me.” 

You crossed your arms over your chest. “I’m going,” you told him. 

“Going where?” Eddie asked, and you coughed out a laugh. 

“To prom, dork,” you returned. “I wanna see you guys perform.” 

“Really?” Eddie asked with a furrow of his eyebrows. “Prom isn’t my scene, but it’s really not your scene. Don’t torture yourself just ‘cause you wanna spend time with little ole me.” 

“What do you mean it’s ‘not my scene’?” you asked, and you stole a carrot off of Dustin’s lunch tray. The freshman gasped at you, and you jokingly mocked his gasp before giving him an exaggerated pout. “Prom can be my scene.” 

“You just don’t…” Eddie started. “Getting all dressed up and everything, I know you hate that.” 

“You’re right,” you sighed, slumping back in your chair. “But you never know, I might surprise you and show up. It’s just a Corroded Coffin gig, right?” 

“We’re gonna be playing dumb covers,” Eddie grumbled. “We were given a very specific list of dos and don’ts. No heavy metal, nothing vulgar—”

“So, you’re a cover band for the night,” you giggled, and Eddie scrunched up his face in fake-annoyance before he tossed a pretzel in your direction. It hit your cheek and fell down into your lap, and you grinned as you plucked it up and ate it. “I know how you feel about musical integrity, Eds.”

“Yeah, well, integrity goes out the window when you get paid,” Dustin chuckled, and Eddie flashed him a dirty look. “Well, doesn’t it?”

“Whatever,” Eddie said. “Fuck you guys. If you wanna show up to prom, do it. See if I care.” 

“I will,” you told him, and you stuck your tongue out at Eddie at the same time that he stuck his out at you. “And I’ll watch you care so much.”

Prom, unluckily for you, was only 3 days out. You hated the idea of dressing up for it, just as Eddie had predicted you would. You hated the whole glitz and glamour thing, and the thought of intentionally getting all dolled up with hair and makeup and some big dress and heels made you feel sick. But, you considered, it was for Eddie. You would do a lot for him, this included. 

The problem came with the dress. Dresses were scarce in your closet, let alone something really nice, and you knew that no stores would have anything like what you wanted that was even remotely in your price range on such a short notice. 

On the night, just hours short of prom, you chewed your lip as you held the phone to your chest, debating if you truly wanted to do this, and you rolled your eyes as you got over yourself. It was Eddie— you could show up in a potato sack and he’d still call you pretty. 

You quickly dialed Mike Wheeler’s number, rotating the dial as you tried to remember it. You had only ever called him once before, getting on his ass for being late to Hellfire last semester, but it wasn’t the younger Wheeler that you wanted to talk to. 

His mom answered the phone. “Hi, Mrs. Karen,” you said, hoping to sound sweet and charming. “Is Nancy around? I have a question for her.” 

“Why’re you calling me?” Nancy asked as the phone was passed to her, and you sighed. 

“You’re the only girl I remotely know,” you started. “And I need a dress.” 

“A dress?” Nancy repeated. “Why? Are you going to prom tonight? Don’t you have a prom dress?” 

“Well, no,” you started, curling the phone cord anxiously around your finger. “I, umm, wasn’t really planning on going to prom. But now I am, and, like I said, you’re, like, the only girl I even sorta halfway know. We were in Kaminsky’s class together sophomore year, and Mike’s in Hellfire, and I just… I need a dress. Anything! It could be a church dress, sundress, it could be anything. I just need help.” 

“Right,” Nancy said slowly. “Umm… Come over, I guess. I’ll see what I can do for you.” 

You had never even been over to Wheeler’s house before, and going to see specifically Nancy Wheeler felt odd. You especially felt weird walking into her pink-topia bedroom, wearing your ripped jeans and dirty Converse and flannel shirt that used to be Eddie’s but you had stolen off of him. To top it all off, of course, her only dress options were pink and/or glittery. But you weren’t going to be a choosing beggar, and you decided on one that was the least egregious. A strapless burst of light pink tulle that fell down to your calves hugged your frame, and you examined yourself from every angle in Nancy’s little white wicker mirror. 

“How is that?” Nancy asked, stepping behind you into the reflection. 

“I feel like a princess,” you mumbled, turning again to look at your back. 

“Is that good or bad?” Nancy asked, and you shrugged. 

“It’s…” you started. The dress showed off your dirty shoes and scrunched socks, but you sorta liked the way it looked. You felt pretty. “I think it's good.” 

“And if you let your hair down…” Nancy started softly, reaching out and shaking your hair out of the perpetual ponytail that it was in. Your hair was dented from the ponytail holder as it fell down, and you took a deep breath. “Maybe curled it… A little makeup… Is Eddie your date?” 

“No,” you scoffed, but you looked away from the mirror all the same. “No, his band is performing, and I was gonna surprise him.” 

Nancy suddenly got a smile on her face, like she knew something or understood you, and she said, “You’re trying to look nice for Eddie.”

“No, I’m not!” you said. “I… I don’t know. I just wanna… Look like I’m going to prom, I guess. It’ll shake him up, seeing me in a dress, it’s gonna be funny.” 

“Honey,” Nancy said gently. “It’s okay to wanna look nice for the guy you like. I mean, any girl would want that.”

“I don’t like Eddie—” you tried to say, but Nancy shook her head, her permed curls bouncing around her face. 

“Then why do you wanna look so nice?” Nancy asked. “You could’ve showed up in your jeans.” 

You frowned, examining the dress once more, and you sighed. “Okay, fine,” you mumbled. “I just… I like Eddie, I really like him, and I just… Maybe I do wanna look nice for him, whatever. Don’t judge me.” 

Nancy looked at your reflection for a few more quiet moments, and she finally said, “You can keep that dress. I never wear it.” 

The band was already performing by the time you showed up. Given, you had shown up a little late, but you were sure that Eddie wouldn’t mind. You were sure that, even if you hadn’t showed up at all, he wouldn’t have minded. 

That way, you would’ve missed seeing him in that dumb fucking suit. 

Suit was not exactly what it was. It was a tuxedo, black, with a white shirt that had some frilly bullshit on the chest. You could tell that Eddie was despising the black bowtie around his neck and the cumberbund around his middle, and you also knew for a fact that he was hating every second of having his hair pulled back into a ponytail. You almost wanted to laugh at him. Your hand came up to cover your mouth to hide your laughter, as if he could see you from across the gym. 

Eddie was standing very still as he played his guitar, some gentle-paced love song that couples all around the gym were slow dancing to. You had seen him play guitar before, and you knew that he usually played with all of the energy in his body, headbanging and jumping around. You had wiped blood off of his face before after he had rammed his head into the headstock of his guitar, even. He looked miserable, and you frowned. Poor Eddie. 

You weaved through the dancing couples to make it up to the small stage, and Eddie’s dark eyes found you in an instant. You waved at him carefully, not wanting to draw his attention away from the song for too long, but that failed in an instant. He had already missed a cord and, as his hands floundered to get back on track, he struck a sour note. 

You saw him mutter something that looked like “Fuck it”, and he pulled his guitar up and over his head before he said something in Jeff’s ear. Then, he jumped down from the stage and, smugly adjusting his bowtie, swaggered up to you. 

“Alright, cut that shit out,” you laughed as he approached you. “I can tell you’re not having a good time.” 

“Jesus Christ, am I that easy to figure out?” Eddie asked, dropping his hand from his tie. “I hate this fucking monkey suit.” 

“You look like the kid from Back To The Future,” you giggled. “That tux is hideous, Eds.” 

“Kinda felt like him too,” Eddie mumbled. “My hands stopped playing when I saw you. Holy shit, by the way! You look—”

“Hideous?” you repeated with a shrug. “I know.” 

“Beautiful,” Eddie said breathlessly. His eyes were canvassing your whole body, from your curled hair to your pink-painted lips to your dress, and even down to your scuffed Converse and scrunched-up socks. “I didn’t know you had this in you.”

“Shut up,” you laughed, reaching out and punching Eddie’s shoulder. “If I look beautiful, then you’re downright handsome.”

“I’ll take it,” Eddie chuckled lightly, and the smile dropped off of his face. “You wanna… You wanna dance?” 

“Seriously?” you asked. “Do you really wanna dance?”

“Kinda,” Eddie shrugged, and your heart jumped in your chest. “But not if you don’t want to.” 

“Oh,” you said softly. “Well… Yeah. Sure.” 

You watched Eddie swallow thickly as he took a step towards you, and your skin rippled as he put his hands on your waist. “Have you ever slow danced before?” you asked, and Eddie shook his head. 

“No,” he said. He seemed nervous, and you were taken aback. Eddie, your high-strung best friend, never afraid and always loud, was nervous. Was he nervous to dance with you? Or was he really that insecure about the way he was dressed?

“You do look really nice,” you mumbled. “Really… Seriously handsome.”

“Thanks,” Eddie said as you circled your arms around his neck. “Umm, are my hands okay here?” 

“Yeah,” you told him. After a moment of consideration, you added, “They can go lower, on my hips, if you want.” 

“No,” Eddie said. “I like holding you here.” 

You nodded, trying not to think about his words too hard. Sure, you had hugged Eddie before, loads of times, and he always threw his gangly arms around you and squeezed hard, and he never seemed anxious about it. Your heart was racing inside your chest as you moved even closer to Eddie and rested your chin on his shoulder, letting your cheek brush his neck. Your body fit against his like the most perfect puzzle piece, and you sighed lightly. 

It was now or never. “Eds?” you whispered. His grip tightened on your waist at the gentle nickname, and you started to add, “I—”

Eddie cut you off, though, in the best way he could have. He turned his head and swiftly pressed his lips to yours, lingering for just a moment before pulling away, all too soon for your liking. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “I, umm… I’ve had the biggest crush on you for a long time. A-And you’re about to leave for college, and you look so fucking beautiful— not that you don’t look beautiful every day, I actually sorta prefer your jeans and everything— and I just, I can’t hold it back any more. I love you.”

“Eddie,” you sighed heavily, your voice trembling. “I mean… I don’t know what to say to you.”

“Tell me you love me,” Eddie whispered, and he pushed a lock of your hair behind your ear. “Tell me I didn’t just fuck everything up.” 

You looked at him, entranced by his wide, dark eyes, and you leaned back in, pressing your lips to his again. His hands fluttered on your waist for a moment before he dragged you right up against him, his palms pressing flat to your back, and his lips moved gently against yours as he kissed you. Eddie was kissing you; it was your dream come true. 

As you broke the kiss, you could feel Eddie’s heartbeat flush against your chest, and you giggled softly, looking down at your swaying feet. “I love you, you dork,” you told him. 

“You still down for Halloween later?” Eddie asked hopefully, his eyebrows raising. “Watching a scary movie with your boyfriend?” 

“Yes,” you told him with a smile. “Yes, I am so down for that. As long as you let me hide during the scary parts.” 

“I’ll kiss it better,” Eddie said. “How does that sound?”

“Perfect.”

[cherryonigiri]

the retrospective: alice’s 1k special || lover masterlist

matchup requests: CLOSED

@bbytetsu​ asked: 💘id love a matchup. mbti: infp/isfp. in kind, creative, strong-willed, independent, romantic. my hobbies: cooking, doing my nails, gym-ing, watching movies, writing, astrology. my style is minimal, a lil romantic, and a lil punk (i 💖daisy daisy tv, vivienne westwood). fav outfit: white oversized button up + corset skirt (like orseund iris’s gamine skirt) + black kitten heels. fav drink: cold barley tea/passion fruit green tea w boba! i dont have a fav team but it wouldnt b karasuno yikes + omg i didnt know my house or patronus lmfaoo but i took a quiz n it said ravenclaw n orca 😳 hope that helps  — ang

A/N: aHHHHHH ANG!!!!!! HIIIIII I HOPE U R DOING WELL ALSO OMG TYSM FOR GOING OUT OF UR WAY TO TAKE UR PATRONUS + HP HOUSE TEST HEHEEH OOO THAT IS SUCH AN INTERESTING COMBO WITH ORCA + RAVENCLAW. LOTS OF LOVE -alice PS - lmaoooooooo I was gonna match u with suga but ig that’s not happening 

Your matchup is: Semi Eita

How you met: You’re working part time as a bartender at a place where Semi regularly performs with his band. He probably does 2-3 shows per month, and you come in early before the night starts to set up the bar, so the two of you end up talking because it’s only the two of you in the bar until opening. You’re working on finishing up your college degree and Semi just graduated and started his job as a civil servant. The two of you strike up easy conversation whenever he’s setting up for the night, and by now you know his regular drink and have it ready for him after he and the band finish their set. Eventually, you find out that the two of you actually attended the same university, only that you were in different departments/colleges. 

Your first date: I feel like Semi is the kind of guy who will play things by ear for a while - and figure out if you’re interested or not. He probably just approaches you after his set and sits down at the bar until closing, sipping his favorite drink. He offers to help you clean up and the two of you enjoy companionable silence. Probably acts all chill/suave and is like “hey do you want to go out with me?” once you finish locking up the bar. For your first date, probably a nice dinner befor hand followed by a movie. I feel like Semi is a sucker for classic date ideas. Ooo but he’d probably take you to a drive in movie theatre - probably in a pickup truck. He packs several blankets, pillows + snacks so the two of you can lie in the bed of the truck watching the movie in peace. Lots and lots of cuddling during said movie.

Your first kiss: Ahhh it’s so romantic bc it also happens on your first date. The credits are rolling and people are slowly starting to pack up their stuff but you and Semi just sit there, kind of leaning on each other and enjoying each other’s presence. Slowly the lights + the projector turn off and it’s just the two of you and the stars. Mayhaps there is (coincidentally) a shooting star or meteor shower as you cup his cheek to bring his face closer to yours. I just imagine after the first time your lips touch Semi can’t get enough and pulls you closer, dragging you into his lab where the two of you continue to make out for quite a bit before packing things up and driving back to the city. When he drops you off at your place late at night he pulls you into another long and fierce kiss before you get out of the car. 

Anniversary: I feel like Semi would get you two matching/paired leather jackets - custom made/comissioned with some elaborate embroidery. They wouldn’t be identical, but the designs would be similar or centered around a similar theme - maybe the same flower/object embroidered but with slightly different designs that represent your individual quirks and personalities - your jacket might have symbols related to astrology, have some laces/ties whereas semi’s might have some references to his band + volleyball. I feel like you might get creative and maybe getting some custom jewelry for the two of you - some rings, studs, earrings, etc. For the day of the anniversary itself - the two of you have a lazy day at home - maybe a jam session or karaoke session where Semi plays the guitar + binge watching marvel movies or something. 

How they propose: Probably after you graduate from university. Semi still plays gigs at the bar you used to work at, except now that you have a full time job in a field you’re passionate about, you’re usually part of the audience, nursing some fruity version of a Long Island iced tea. As the band has grown, Semi has also grown as a songwriter (let’s be real he’s secretly a poet) so they’ve been performing more and more songs with Semi’s original lyrics/melodies. Towards the end of the night, when the bar isn’t as crowded, Semi steps up to the mic and dedicates the next song (I think he might call it “glowing eyes in the evening”) and it’s basically a song about your first date + other memories in your relationship. At the end he walks into the audience and kneels down in front of you, and says “Hey, can we get married?” 

What your wedding looks like: Definitely on the smaller side - Semi is a private person and invites a small group of people that he genuinely cares about + really values to the wedding. I feel like both of you have kind of a punk + modern aesthetic, so I feel like your wedding might also reflect that - I’m thinking you’ll probably find a gothic style chapel (architecture wise) to get married in bc it matches your aesthetic, but also the decorations would be super sleek + modern. As part of your reception Semi sings you a song + your first dance is to the recording of the song he sang when he proposed. I think Ushijima and Tendou tag team the best men toast and Semi probably yells at Tendou to stop calling him “semi semi” but also Tendou comes in clutch by providing desserts/chocolate for your wedding. 

Newlywed/domestic hc: You and Semi buy a house together, mainly because you convert one of the larger bedrooms into a creative studio/haven of sorts. It’s soundproof so Semi can jam inside and also has a bunch of production equipment but it’s also sort of cozy - with fairy lights, bean bags and a lot of throw pillows + blankets. Also there’s a lot of cupboards of stuff that you use for your artistic/creative projects. Also I feel like you and Semi would enjoy couple workouts - maybe every weekend on Saturday morning you’ll clear out your living room and lay out some yoga mats + weights and follow a workout video together.

[clumsyclifford]

you are the taste of something sweet (and i’m tangled in the sheets)

hi i couldnt sleep so i wrote sleepy morning jalex and now i still cant sleep so im posting it. at 6am yes yes move on

this takes place in the same ‘verse as all hung up like i was on you (tumblr link), the fic based on t-shirt by thomas rhett. it might be better to read that first but if u dont feel like it then all u need to know is alex is a middle school teacher, jack has an office job, they are boyfriends yeah that’s all

this is fluffy fluff and i don’t think there are even any tws on it so!! fun for the whole family. (i mean there’s swearing but. at this point it’s a given)

title from holly (would you turn me on?) absolutely chuffed as they say to be finally using that as a title. just totally stoked i cant lie

read it here on ao3

Later, when Alex is more eloquent, he'll say that Jack is golden.

Or, no. More like Jack takes golden light and weaves it into something new, some gleaming…well, something. The point is that later on Alex will have the words, but right now he doesn't.

Right now, he just has the picture, but what a beautiful picture it is.

Jack is still asleep. Alex doesn't fault him, since it's Saturday and he's only just woken up himself, even though the clock has informed him it's half past noon and the sun is already high in the sky. Alex could move. He could get up, pull on some sweats, and shuffle into the kitchen to make some mid-afternoon coffee and brunch (breakfast eaten at lunchtime). Sure. He could.

But God, Jack is so gorgeous.

It's been a little while since Alex has had the opportunity just to watch Jack sleep. He watches Jack whenever he can, watches him shouting at the Orioles on TV (because honestly they could not possibly have chosen a less competent team to back), watches him pore over documents Alex still doesn't quite understand the nature of, watches him when he drives Alex home, windows down, breeze ruffling through his clothes and hair, singing terribly along with whatever early 2000s pop punk song happens to come on shuffle. It's so easy to watch him because there's always something to see; Jack is motion manifested, always on, always shifting like ripples in water, never quite the same on a second glance. 

But now, though. Now is special. Moments like these are special, because for once Jack is still, and what a stunning still photograph he makes. Long eyelashes over sharp cheekbones, dark hair contrasted against the white pillowcase, the blanket falling just low enough that his left shoulder is exposed, ink from the tattoo sprawling over tan skin. Alex could drink it in for the rest of his life, and he doubts he'd ever grow tired.

It must be a few minutes, but Alex is happy not to keep track. Eventually Jack stirs, and his eyelids twitch before he opens his eyes, slowly. When his gaze meets Alex's, he smiles, lazily.

"G'morning," he says huskily. The sleep hasn't cleared from his voice. Alex hopes it never does. 

"Morning," he answers.

"Time?"

"Don't ask." 

Jack breathes a tired laugh at that. "How long you been up?"

Alex feels a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "Ten minutes, maybe."

"And you've been just sitting here watching me sleep?" Jack's eyes flutter shut as he smiles. "Creep."

Alex can't help it; he reaches out, fingertips landing on Jack's face, thumb tracing underneath his eye. "You're so beautiful," he murmurs. Jack exhales quietly, happily. "I love waking up with you." Wish I could do it every day, he means.

They haven't discussed it, but maybe it's time they do.

"You're not so bad yourself," Jack says warmly in return, but he doesn't open his eyes. 

Alex drags the pad of his thumb down Jack's jaw, then brushes over his cheek with the plane of his index finger, taking his time to trace the outline of the most beautiful face he's had the good fortune of falling in love with. Jack doesn't move, and his halfway smile doesn't waver as Alex smoothes his thumb over Jack's lips. "My Jack," he says softly. In the sanctuary of this morning, from the golden boy at the end of Alex's fingertips to the promise of sunshine and coffee when they finally get up, it's easy to add, "I love you."

At this Jack's smile does grow, and he finally opens his eyes. Alex can't even imagine what he sees. A man too far gone for his own good, probably. 

"Wait, say it again," he says. "I didn't get to look at you before."

It's so profoundly Jack that Alex has to swallow back a laugh. "I love you," he repeats, and the words taste like glitter and sunlight and Jack's smile is gold, pure gold.

"I love you too," he says, the most beautiful four-four measure Alex has ever heard, like Jack has somehow figured out a way to twist stardust into language; the shortest love song ever written, just for Alex's ears.

Alex smiles, and he knows he's not half as radiant as Jack when he does, but it's not like he could stop himself. To be in love with Jack is a privilege all by itself; for Jack to be in love with him, Alex thinks he must have been some kind of Odyssean hero in a past life.

"We should get up," Jack finally says, and Alex realizes he's lapsed into silence again, drinking in the sight of Jack once more. "At some point."

"Nah," Alex says. He threads his fingers through Jack's hair and shifts closer, until Jack rolls onto his back and Alex can lean over him, arms braced against the pillow. "I disagree."

"Oh, well, in that case," Jack says dryly, but he hasn't stopped smiling since his eyes opened to meet Alex's.

"We should stay here forever," Alex suggests. He ducks down and presses a kiss to Jack's cheek, and Jack giggles. "We should stay here," and he drops another kiss on Jack's other cheek, "and never go anywhere," his temple, "or see anyone," his nose, "or do anything else forever," and he starts trailing kisses down the line of Jack's jaw.

"We'll both be fired," Jack says pragmatically.

Alex shakes his head. "Don't care. We'll become hermits. I'm pretty sure hermits get a monthly check from, like, Hermits United."

"I think you watch too much Doctor Who."

Somehow this startles a laugh out of Alex, and he pulls away for a moment to look Jack in the face. "But you got the reference, so who's the real geek?"

When Jack laughs this time, Alex feels it vibrate against his lips where he's leaving soft kisses down the line of Jack's throat. "Oh, God. This is my worst nightmare. You've made me a Doctor Who fan." Then, "If anyone was going to corrupt me, of course it would be you."

Alex pulls back again, smiling in the gleaming light of Jack's fond look. "I hardly think Doctor Who is how I'm going to corrupt you. Didn't I just suggest we both get sacked and hole up in your apartment?"

"That's true." Jack skims a hand up Alex's chest and curls his fingers around Alex's neck. "I kinda liked that idea, though. Tell me more."

Alex hums. "Well, I can promise you it will involve a lot of this," and he dips down to kiss Jack on the lips, slowly, intently, savoring every second, committing the taste to memory in case anyone ever asks him what sunlight tastes like. 

Jack smiles against Alex's mouth, so Alex moves back just a breath. "I'm convinced," Jack mumbles. His fingernails scratch lightly at the back of Alex's neck, at the ends of his hair. "I'm in. Let's do it."

Alex chuckles and lowers himself down, kissing Jack again with absolutely no intention of stopping, and Jack lets him, and after a moment Alex thinks of something to say that requires breaking the kiss, so he does.

"Move in with me?" he asks.

Jack hums. "You should move in with me," he says. "All your shit is here anyway, and I live closer to your school."

"Sounds like you've thought about it."

"I have," says Jack. "A lot. I've been thinking about it for a long time."

Something about that makes Alex's heart skip a beat. "I'd love to move in with you," he says, a little breathless. "God, I fucking love you."

Jack gazes at Alex, deep, earnest brown eyes as sincere as they'd been the first day they'd met. "Alright, gig's up," he says. "I already said you can move in. You can stop the bribe now."

Alex laughs and hides his face in Jack's neck, barely moving his lips to brush a kiss over his collarbone. "No way, babe. I have weeks of not saying it to make up for."

"Weeks, huh?"

"Yeah, weeks."

"Oh, well. That's alright then." Jack's arms are tight around Alex's neck. "I love you. I'd love you more if you made coffee."

"This love can't be conditional," Alex protests. 

"It's not conditional! I'm just saying if you made coffee I'd love you even more."

"Choosing to believe you already love me the maximum amount," Alex says airily, "but I will make you coffee anyway, because I'm that nice."

Jack sighs contentedly. "You know, I always think I love you the maximum amount," he says reflectively, "but then every day I fall more in love with you. So I'm starting to think there might not be a limit."

Alex's heart skips another beat. That might become a problem if it continues. "Holy fuck, that's romantic," he says, because it is, and then, fervently, "Me too, by the way."

He feels Jack giggle. "Well, I woke up and the first thing you did was call me beautiful. I'm just trying to keep up at this point."

Alex wonders how he ever existed without Jack, and he sends up a silent prayer to whoever's listening that he never has to again. He shifts, rolling onto his side and pulling Jack with him, because his arms are getting kind of tired, and affords Jack a grin. "I meant it," he promises. "You are. So gorgeous. I wish I could just look at you forever."

"But then how would you watch Doctor Who?"

Alex laughs. "Good point. I take it back. I wish I could look at you forever except for forty-five minutes twice a week."

"That's more like it." Jack moves to cup Alex's face in his hand, and his smile is so soft, so quiet, something only for Alex to see. "I don't think I mentioned, but you're also beautiful, Alex. You're just." He sweeps his thumb over Alex's cheek. "I wish I knew more words, or more languages, or something, so I could figure out how to say what I'm trying to say."

And Alex thinks maybe he understands, because if it's anything like what Alex has been trying to say then he knows already there are no words for it in any language. It's not something that gets said; it's a feeling, or maybe a moment, and it's in the room right now, settling like a blanket over them both. "I know," he whispers, letting his eyes close, letting Jack lean in and kiss him gently, leisurely, like they have all the time in the world, and maybe they do.

(Sometime later, Alex will find his best approximations for what they're both grasping at right now. It'll start with I remember when I woke up the morning you first told me you loved me, my first thought was, "Wow, this man is golden," and it'll end with I do.)

[fireflythecinnamonjollyrancher]

it’s time for ~a year in review~

JANUARY

ya bitch went to paris and became like good, like REALLY good friends with my current roommates!!! we got to see some really beautiful sights, do some STRANGE things like watch a french indie movie and get fucked up at a french gay party club in the basement of our hostel. i apparently shaved my head again (per the use lets be real)

FEBRUARY

accidentally started my Com capstone like a total moron but took it like a mf champ. got to party at a friends place and watch all of “dont hug me im scared”. made a friend try a grap for the first time (he was a sophomore in college). studied a lot with kelli -- and by studying i mean we mostly bullied each other. WENT TO SEE WATSKY with a super dope friend (sad we fell out of touch but she’s living her best life and im happy for her). also like got to meet george watsky uhm WHAT wild. bullied my college in the snow and also manically shoveled the walk. was a bootlicker for the college and dressed in a taco suit

MARCH

WOOF i got pretty fucked up for capstones cast party and this is where the beginning of the end was for some of my friendships. however, other friendships were being built so im grateful for that. ran lights for a really awesome slam poet. FOUND THE KEY THAT WAS MISSING FROM THE THEATRE (turns out it was Sab whoops). spent a lot of time with someone who is no longer a friend -- her choice, certainly not mine. went home for spring break and took so many pictures of my cat. got selected as stage manager for comedy of errors which was a nightmare of a production but certainly not the worst.

APRIL

became a vegetarian!!!! joined/started the flat earth cult because of comedy. helped randi film her weird videos, which was so much fun! the bat came back to the theatre and Basil and I both saw them. comedy of errors opened and it was intense and i really hated every second. ranted about being in a scene for directing, which means i’d been in it for a second. that shit sucked bros oh my god????? he was never on time, he was so disorganized and didn’t understand his own character. organized a dinner for the cast because they had missed a campus dinner for the show. celebrated my best friends birthday!!!! “I can read!” was on the news with two others for comedy. also presented my capstone research for academic showcase day (i still can’t believe people listened to me rant about birth order)

MAY

more videos! this one was zak bagel bites with again my best friends. was elected president for APO and i couldn’t be more grateful. did a research proposal with a friend and i cannot BELIEVE we’re still friends after it because we really could have killed each other. physically fought the MONSTER that is jess (didn’t actually, really should have). helped two friends fall in love on accident/purpose. was elected as KPY president (damn) and forcibly elected as parliamentarian for LPH. ended my junior year. started work immediately after going home for my dad. mostly answered phones, worked 7:30-5 every day for the whole summer yikes. managed to pass junior year with a 4.0!!!

JUNE

 learned a lil how to quote and did NOT enjoy it. went to PRIDE with my wife and bought my first ace flag. it was actually petrifying to buy and wear, but i have one now which is awesome. holy shit got my first tattoo!!! it has faded a bit now but still looked awesome. it was the beginning of an addiction. picked up an internship at my old theatre company and... deeply regretted it as it pushed my 12 hour days to almost 18 hours. literally fell in love with the music director. 

JULY

a random woman complimented me??? so that was fun. watched after my old band directors kids (they were a nightmare i literally never want kids). got to hike and do all that fun stuff. went to the local county fair

AUGUST

my mom admitted to loving brooke more than me on her birthday (fair). got a card from my office team to celebrate my 21st a lil early. went back for SENIOR YEAR BOYS. got drunk at an old friends place. did marching band. moved in with two of my BEST FRIENDS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. took improv with friends which was lit. we even did a whole performance. met a new friend! my other roommate brought in a new kitten (which became a whole thing holy shit). used school sanctioned ipads to dick around. shaved my head againnnn. was sober at a party (woof why). got the drunkest i have ever been and puked everywhere and passed out on the stairs. have not ever reached that level again. also cracked my phone. fully assumed position as president of two clubs. started rhetoric (yucky) and theatre and diversity (also ick but for different reasons)

SEPTEMBER

became NOT sober literally the next day nice. started the MASH group i think??? which is like the only thing im proud of. it was around here. had to pick up a friend whos car broke down. went to pride in a local town with friends!!! that was fun. turned 21!! couldn’t celebrate bc school and stage management, but my two roommates still made sure i had a good time. marching band boys! we did a LONG ASS parade with my cute lil section. did mixers for KPY and APO! had our first football game. held a band rehearsal in the dark because the lights didn’t work which was funny and SO weird. walked to the trains with some really awesome friends. broke into the cemetery and stole a traffic cone and put it on a statue on campus bc mania. went to a friends musical career takeoff and ran her merch table bc the person who was supposed to run it showed up almost an hour late. someone showed up at the lib while i was closing with a friend asking for a place to stay. i hope hes good now. tried omegle again for whatever reason. tried to go to a local diner and was DENIED bc they went from 24 hours to closing at 10pm so i had a mental breakdown in my car at 2am in a McDonalds parking lot. FINALLY got to celebrate my birthday and go to the bars!!! well bar singular. but had a really good time even if those people aren’t really my friends any more

OCTOBER

homecoming boysssss!!!! also ace pride. worked the WORST thing I have ever had to operate in the chapel but the people were nice about it so i was kinda okay. also got to be a part of the dopest percussion show and ran lights and sound for it. rhetoric ended thank christ and i never want to talk about anti-war messages in MASH ever again. finally learned that my best friend has a partner and was ECSTATIC. worked a haunted house which literally sucked so hard but we made bank on it so im okay with it. were robbed (i still have suspicions who did it but ill keep my mouth shut). dressed up as a newsie for halloween, and my roommates and i all took pictures which was awesome. started my internship and movement and stage

NOVEMBER

LAST FOOTBALL GAME got drunk too often probably lol. got an impulse tattoo with my roommates. went to a soccer game. went to the trains drunk and also olive garden. did trauma training so i got to act hysterical (act?). did some KPY bonding. had a hella long saturday with a concert and everything. shot my shot and MISSED. did greek thanksgiving. played DD for someones birthday bc expired license. got my NEW license. had a horrible time driving to and from thanksgiving break. got to hang with my WIFE

DECEMBER

made it home somehow?? did box office for the children’s show as well as publicity which was a lot of work tbh. went on a double date with my roommates and their partner. did the filming for the college christmas card. had an awesome party at our place and i regret nothing. celebrated the moving out of our 4th roommate. worked my last gig at the museum. managed to scrape by again with a 4.0. threw a great party at my place for like 5 days straight (jesus christ). did a horrible puzzle. tried an edible (suffered for it). hiked in the mountains a lil. caught up with high school friends by drinking which was AWESOME. saw Frozen 2. went out with my fam bam. had a great christmas. also threw a new years party (what??? that just got over) and felt like a pretty good hostess (i just provided alcohol lol but it worked) and got to catch up with some great great awesome friends and keep people safe and off the roads for new years. 

all in all a damn good year. its crazy how quickly things change, but im grateful for the place that i am in. can’t wait to graduate this year and see what happens next!!!

[dorky-spider]

Written Version of Dom’s Podcast #3

For people who don’t understand a thing going on or for those who struggle to hear it, I’ve typed out what is said in the podcast “Podcast 3 - father and sons chewing the fat...”

it is long so it is under a read more. Enjoy!

S-Sam 

T-Tom

H-Harry

D-Dom

D: Are we filming Harry?

 H: Yeah we’re filming

T: We are in atlanta GA

 S: Surprise 

D: We aren't supposed to be here are we

 S: We’ve come out to surprise tom 

S: 10 hour flight for a game of gulf 

D: Harry was definitely coming that was always the plan 

T: I knew Harry was coming and you did it very well actually. I’m glad you didn’t do it in a restaurant. It was a bit emosh

 H: that was the original plan

 D: It was pretty emotional. It would have been awful if Tom was just like “HI” 

T: yeah ah hi guys how you doing 

*pause* 

T: it took me a minute to figure out what was going on though. I was tired from working and I’m so homesick 

D: that’s why we came btw

 T: you didn’t just decide to come on holiday 

D: I cancelled gigs at pubs(?) to get here 

T: what pub? 

D: the turks head in Switzerland 

S: I thought it was the badcat 

D: Yeah S: ah thats a good gig

T: but yeah it took me a minute to figure out what was going on 

S: Your reaction was unreal

T: Because I saw your face first (Sam) and then I saw dad’s face and I really thought I was hallucinating

 S: its the sign of disappointment 

T: I was like I am so tired or I’ve had too many beers. Because I surprised dad in Edinburgh

 S: that was massive 

 T: and we have a video of that that we’ve never shown

 D: It got into my show didn’t it. The Glory year. Remember the Glory year? Other three: Yeah

 D: You had to leave, you had to leave before the end.

 T: oh did the video. Did the video play at the end of the show? 

S: no it didn’t play but dad spoke about it. 

T: ohhh okay 

H: dad’s not. Dad’s not able to do that

 D: I told the story about how excited i was and how I was wearing pjs, your (toms) pjs, coming off a first class flight. 

T: which I still want back btw 

D: what about the other surprise in um Thailand.

  T: oh yeah. That was a good one. You’re good at surprises

 D: your birthday and your end of filming, mom called me up in london and said dad, you old dog, come out to Thailand. So I wen, I flew out on Thursday and flew back on sunday.

T: oh yeah, I went scuba diving that day

 D:  that right you came out 

T: I came out and you came out from a pillar

D: and you were telling everyone what you saw

S:yeah bc you were on a ripstick(?) werent you. You were going around a fountain 

T: right right right 

S:and then dad just walked out

 T: my reaction was not as good as harry’s

. *pause* 

T: the surprise in Edinburgh, we surprised mom for her birthday. 

H: coming from Canada 

D: we’ve got a lot of surprises going on don’t we 

T: sam ruined that one S: yeah lets talk about the shit

 D: we kept this one quite 

T: I actually had no idea

 S: thing is though it was so on a whim 

D: well it was on a thursday that we came. Mom flew me in

 S: I think it was wednesday that we kind of thought about it 

D: nah

 S: I remember I was like are we doing this then and you said ah its all good 

D: yeah cool and here we are in Atlanta. Played golf today

T: ugh I played so bad 

D: Harry and I played Sam and … Tom. 

Everyone laughs

 D: I’m jet lagged and what was the score boys 

T: it was all square. We were one down going up the 18th and then dad cracked under the pressure 

S: I was one down

 D: and who won the hole then

 T: Sam did because I was exhausted 

S: I’m jet lagged

 D: Sam you played really well

 S: I did. I was very pleased. It was that driver you kno

w D: you diver was well. You know it was all very square.

 S: I was glad it ended like that 

H: We should have won 

T: no you shouldn’t have 

D: yeah we definitely should have 

T: no you finished like one hole on the front line 

H: your point is.? 

D: Harry lost his, how many balls did you lose man?

 H: too many man 

T: I lost a lot of balls. I think I lost an entire 

S: you threw one in the lake 

T: well that was a stupid ball. I missed the par

 S: yeah that was the problem, the ball

 T: it was all the balls fault.it was an oblong

 H: in golf you have expensive golf balls and they’re like 8 pound each

 T: no they’re 5 pounds

S: they’re expensive 

H:okay so 5 pounds. And I took paddy to play golf a week ago and out of his bag. He’d obviously going to your drawer and taken 6 pro-b1s. And i was like paddy you can’t be hitting pro-b1s. You can’t soi took all of them out his bag and out them in mine and replaced them with my crummy ones. I lost all 6 in 6 holes. 

D: its expensive being a dad with 4 kids but talking about expenses. We’re very excited because the brother’s trust has just launched this new event. It’s gone brilliantly. 

S: it was launched friday 

T: its raised over 90(?) thousand dollars 

D: what is it. It’s now sunday so we launched it Friday in london during the screening time  

T: what screening

D,S,H: we watched the avengers 

T: oh right 

D: your mom and I phoned it.

 S: oh is that why she left? 

D: yeah to make sure it was up. She was on wifi, she launched it. So while we were watching the film we were also looking at the counter at how many views 

H: how do you do that? 

D: mom’s got it on her phone T: 90 thousand is amazing already 

H: we can use that extra 2 thousand to replenish the golf balls we lost

D: actually that is a good disclaimer. None of the money is used for luxury holland  days out. All of the money goes to

 T: entirely non- profit

 D: yeah no one gets paid at the brother trust 

T: should we talk about the charities? We could each talk about one of the charities 

S: should we establish what it is?

 T: Why don’t you (harry) tell us about your trip to Kibera(?) 

D:wait before we do that, why don’t we tell people what they can win in the do’s 

S: why don’t you (tom) do that cause you’re the man 

H: you can see me 

T: harry will be there. So hang out with him. 

D: its the premier in LA 

T: its the LA premier for Spiderman far from home 

D: which we just watched the trailer of 

T: we just watched the trailer of. Which we dont know when it comes out and we can’t disclose any information for

 S: when is the premier? 

T: I think the premier is June 

H: ask for the trailer and then

 D: June 15th I believe … mid june

T: mid june but if you go online or on my instagram and the link in my bio, you can see all the details about when the event is and when it will be taking place. But whats really exciting is the ability to go to the far from home premier, we’ll give you $1000 spending money, we’ll put you up in a snazzy hotel. The winner will basically get the opportunity to fly with a friend from anywhere in the world to LA to attend the FFH premier with me. Harry will be there, Sam and dad will probably be there. On the carpet, we’ll take pictures, there’s an amazing after party that we’ll go to. Obviously we’ll get to see the film which is the most exciting part of the process. I haven’t even seen the film yet so you’ll be watching the fim for the first time with me watching for the first time which will be pretty awesome. And uh yeah, it’ll be pretty awesome 

D: it’ll be a great night. And that’s what people are entering the raffle for. The money that we raise guys we are really 

T (off camera): ow!

*pause*

 H: I really hope I get credit as your hand double in spiderman 

D: oh right yeah 

T: harry’s hand was in the first trailer 

S: yeah because when you unzip the suitcase wasn’t that you 

H: that was the first time I did it. It was terrifying 

S: were you nervous?

 H: oh my god

S: you’re just unzipping a suitcase 

H: no no no it was the first day of filming… 

*pauses for spoilers*

 T: start again.we were on set for ffh

 *Pauses again for spoilers* 

D: good I’m glad that resolved. So the brother’s trust when we founded it we have the idea that we would shine light on the charities that don’t get the publicity that big charities can generate. And we wanted to use charities that are very sort of cost effective. That sort of have most of the money going to the recipients not offices in london or new york. The big things what we didn’t want the money being spent on. And one of the charities is Lunchbowl and you just been to kibera so you 

S: you (Harry) go on all the trips, you do 

T: I know, you do all the cool trips H: I know, I’m the cameraman D: it was a great trip wasn’t it 

H: I went to Kibera, Which is the second largest town(?) in the sub saharan in africa and its the place of a charity we support, lunchbowl. What lunchbowl does is they have a nursery and now a primary/ secondary school and they basically take kids out of the slum and provide them with school and then on saturdays I believe it is they have a feeding program within the slum where they have 300 kids from within kibera come and they feed 300 children and they give them food and a stash of milk and then on sunday they have rugby. 

T: they play rugby?

 D: yeah they go to a posh school

 H: they go to a regular posh school in Kenya. The posh schools have it then they have these coaches that come 

S: we bought one of the busses, didn’t we?

 H: yeah. So one of things the brother’s trust did was we bought a bus which when I first heard that I was like why do they need a bus. But really the rugby ground is 5 kilometers 

D: a long walk

 H: so what happens is the bus is completely full to the point of them sitting on top of one another like this. And then what happens is when I was there, I saw like 20 kids at the gate. They’re just outside waiting at the gate and I went over with the head coach and he was explaining to me that these kids walked there 2 hours. Some of them are barefoot. To play rugby and then they get a meal afterwards. Another thing the bus does is take the kids from kibera to the new secondary school. I think the reason its so great is because the chance of a child making it to 5 years old is 50%. So you’re talking like the flip of a coin. So taking a child out kibera for the day. For 8 hours, 10 hours a day drastically improves the chance of survival 

S: mom was telling me during holidays they get really upset because they miss school so much.

 H: they say teachers can tell a massive change in behaviors after a holiday

 T,S: Really? 

H: because for these kids going to school is like, its like heaven

 D: and what they’re trying to do in kibera is what we take for granted. We have school from 4 - 18 mandatory, free for us in Britain/England. And what they’re trying to do is give these kids a chance to become educated.

 H: They want, so they used to have this school that went from I think 2-6 which is great but its not great because when a kid finishes at 6 years old where are they going to go? They go right back into the slum. So now that it goes up to 15, they only started that last year, that’s so massive for them. Because they can take a child from 2 years old to 15 and they can really shape the person they are with the teachers. 

D: its worth saying in light of what I was saying earlier, every pound that we give to lunchbowl, 97p is given to the children, 3p is postage. 

S: last campaign did 406? 

D: yeah yeah and we had a guy come over from america 

T: was his name Erik? 

D: yeah

T: he was really nice that guy 

H: we gave him a tour of set 

T: he came to set, we had a good time. He was lucky because they were about to tear down that venice set weren't they 

H: I feel like .. marvel police

 T: well that was in the trailer. There’s gonna be a red laser on your forehead 

H: right over there by the building with his marvel cap on 

D: and he stayed at the Sevoy(???) 

T: the venice set was so amazingS: I couldn’t .. they like dyed the water and everything 

*another pause* 

D: i don’t remember ever reading a marvel comic 

*tom plays a sound effect* 

D: what is that applause? 

S: are these like loads of sound effects? 

T: yeah its got loads of sound effects. I bought it for your … 

*Tom plays booing*

 D: Oh I’ve heard that! I’ve got that at work 

Tom (off camera): take us out sam. Send us home.

 S: okay that enough golf talk. But the main thing is the brothers trust campaign we’ve launch. You can go on Brother’s trust instagram and find the link, donate, and enter into the raffle. We can’t wait to see you at the LA premier. 

D: 2 people

 T: 2 people and 1 has to be over the age of 13 and its going to be amazing. Peace out. 

D: no more surprises.

[ladysophiebeckett]

why did you call osha on a theatre once? (if u dont mind telling the story)

@boredzoi

okay so i dont do theater anymore (tho nostalgia says i miss it). this, ‘company’ was looking for a stage manager last minute and an instructor (who is also a chair of this ‘company’ recommended me and got me in touch the director, we’ll call her ‘wendy’. 

wendy said she had an sm ready to go but bc of personal reasons the sm had to drop the job. this particular show was supposed to open in 3 weeks. so i would be coming mid rehearsals. i was told i would be getting paid $300, under the table. rehearsals were 3 days a week and then tech week(end) and i was told that the show was one weekend only. 3 days. fri, sat, sun. 

i really wanted to do theater again and this was considered community theater but the ‘company’ was also like an afterschool  theater educational thing. they offered voice lessons and whatnot. the cast consisted of a lot of either senior’s in high school or first year college students. and community theater actors that were basically doing gigs and this was particular show as a gig to them. (fancy way of saying a couple of these actor were Older). 

my version of community theater was basically educational theater where i was taught, what i believe is, the right way of doing things. i worked with organized people. 

when i got to this theater—if you work in community theater, anything can be theater so long as u got some chairs and like, a z-rack and one maybe one flat–this was place i get to is a death trap. it’s an old warehouse by the train tracks and the place next door teaches boxing so you’d hear a lot of bags being hit. the bathroom was up a flight of stairs to an unfinished second floor. when i say unfinished i mean like–it’s just wood and then debris. the bathroom faces the freeway and it was a toilet (clean tho) and sink was barely a sink. the floor–completely unfinished\gutted. it looked like when you’re renovating an old house and you have to gut it to its bare bones. 

there’s cables everywhere. a hazard. anybody could have tripped at any time. no dressing rooms. one little office for the girls to share. the guys changed anywhere. backstage was also where the props where. so anywhere and everywhere. no designated sitting area. before u hit the flight of stairs to the bathroom, its another unfinished section—fabric everywhere, z-racks with costumes with no actual logical order. everything is a fire hazard. no bathroom for handicapped ppl, unless they could climb that flight of stairs. 

did i mention the only way to get to the bathroom was by going through the ‘backstage’?? so youd have audience members using the restroom during the show or at intermission there’d be a line by the stairs as actors are also at intermission or changing or getting ready for their scene. 

and this is just the one theater–i was not told that if the show did well they were gonna transfer it for one night only to another city at an actual real  theater and that i was going to have to help load the show. i was not told this was going to be some mature bus and truck show. so i had to help load the platforms on to a uhaul on some saturday morning. and my sister drive me the 20 min to another time even tho to get the town A was already 40 min. and unload again once we got to the actual not hazardous theater. 

i was not told i would have to do any of this. i was told 3 weeks and one weekend of shows. and im not even getting into how disorganized the actual rehearsal process was and how wendy is would give me an order and not like how i did it, so i was constantly being undermined despite the fact that i had good stage managing experience and had never had a problem with directors when working under educational theater.

but i did as i was told bc i had already committed to this gig and i couldnt make my prior instructor who recommended me for this, look bad. BUT bc i didnt know about all loading and unloading, ect. once the show was over at this actual theater, we had to load again. which i did. but i did go back with the ‘crew’ to unload bc my sister was my ride and she had other things to do, so i helped load up and then excused myself bc of personal reasons. 

wendy didn’t like that but also didn’t stop me from leaving. wendy went on fb (there was a fb group. thats another story) and took pics of the unloading and said something like ‘thanks to those who stayed’ insinuating that i should have stayed. 

later that week i wrote to wendy and said ‘hey when am i gonna get paid?’ and then she said she would not be paying the promised amount bc i was not ‘seasoned’ enough–that i did not participate in the last unloading, that i was a beginner and that other ppl–my asm who was an idiot and had no prior theater experience and most unhelpful–had to do things to and that the money should be split. she was offering to pay me 215 or whatever. Bc i put myself in this very uncomfortable position of working with someone that was also friends with my instructor, i felt defenseless. My sister tired to write in for me and calculated a different number to negotiate, she sent that in for me and Wendy didn’t like that ect. Listed other ways that I sucked and I didn’t respond, bc of said uncomfortable situation. she messaged days later asking if i received a check,  i did not. she never ever sent me anything. 

bc i was upset and feeling defenseless about the situation and letting down said instructor and wendy probably most likely talking shit to my ex instructor about me, my sister and i called OSHA about the train track warehouse and all its safety violations. I then had my sister personally message the company that held the rights to the musical bc i firmly believe that Wendy did not buy the rights do that particular show based on she promoted it and bc i looked online and wendy’s ‘company’ was not listed under the companies that were producing this show at that particular time. 

edit: i dont know if they faced any consequences. unfortunately.  

yes, this experience is what ended my relationship with community theater and why i stopped looking for gigs. 

[thotyssey]

RePoint: Viva Vidalia

When Thotyssey last interviewed Viva Vidalia (one of our earliest), she’d just won the Mr. Rockbear sash at her home base of Rockbar, and had also just started doing drag. Much as changed! Now among many other things, Viva is the key element to Thotyssey’s latest nightlife venture. Let’s review with Viva!

Thotyssey: Viva, hello again! So I understand you’re off tonight... how are you spending your “down time?”

Viva Vidalia: Hey Jim! YES I finally have a Friday off, and all I want to do is be as far away from a bar as possible! I'm using today to catch up on sewing commissions and hair things. The drag never stops!

When did you start making stuff for other queens? 

I have been sewing costumes for other performers for a long time now. I started openly taking commissions about two months ago, and I'm very fortunate to say that it's been keeping me quite busy.

And do you have a piece you did for another queen that you’re most proud of?

I recently worked on Honey Davenport's Poison Ivy costume for her BloodBath performance, and I am still super proud of how the entire look came together.

So the last time Thotyssey spoke to you was in 2016. you’d just won Mr. Rockbear, and had been doing drag for like 5 minutes! Obviously a lot has changed since then. 

Yeah, that was a while ago!

What has surprised you the most about how you have evolved as a queen since you started?

I think what's surprises me the most is how much I absolutely did not have anything together back then, even though I really I thought I did. The last time we spoke I was still trying to balance a bear life and a drag life. It was tiring, and not very fruitful. I think when I married both parts of my life, I was able to evolve into the performer I am right now.

I recently saw a drag king performance you did with Jason Mustachio’s revue at Rockbar... that was kind of a tribute to Bear Viva in a way, but still very drag!

Absolutely! That night actually is, to date the most nervous I've ever been about any performance. But I'm glad I was able to bring out Vincent; I perform as Viva so much that I sometimes forget about the man underneath the lashes and stretch fabric.

So today, what’s the best thing about drag for you, and what’s the worst?

The best part of drag is the performing. I absolutely love being on a stage and entertaining. For me there is no feeling on this earth like it. The worst part would definitely have to be getting out of drag! There is nothing I hate more than getting home at 3am and having to take everything off and shower before bed. All I ever want to do is sleep! 

I can imagine! So we’ve seen a few cycles of Drag Race come and go... Dusty Ray Bottoms is your gurl, isn’t it exciting to see what she’s been up to since her season?

Dusty has been one of my favorite performers in NYC since I first saw her perform. She has always been a star in my eyes, and I'm glad to see that the show has put her in a place to get the recognition she deserves.

Will Viva be a RuGurl someday?

I'd sure like to be. NYC is full of incredible queens, and the show in clearly looking at this city as a prime pickup spot. I think the chances of me getting on that show are as good as any other queen! So...  fingers crossed.

Let’s talk about gigs! You used to host Miss Runner Up at Rockbar on Fridays with another drag seamstress, Miss Florence D’Lee! Today you are with Lilith LeFae and sometimes Catrina Lovelace too.

Yeah! Miss Runner Up has had many queens come and through. Working with all the previous hosts has always been great because they are all my dear friends. Every Friday on stage was essentially just hanging out with my friends

These days it will just be me and Lilith Lefae keeping it going. We will actually be postponing the show to do a viewing party for Drag Race: All Stars when is starts.

That fuckin’ Friday night Drag Race time slot! How bullshitty is that!?

Haha! Truly any chance I get to get up in drag, sit down, watch and make money... I'm cool with it.

Congrats on recently becoming Boxers HK’s Wednesday night karaoke queen! How is that treating you so far?

Thank you! This week was my first time hosting. It's such a fun venue, and the neighborhood is super cute. The new GM is an absolute angel, and the entire staff are equally as great. It’s slowly becoming my favorite gig to host.

If you could pay, like, $10 to remove a song from the karaoke book forever, what would it be?

As much as I fully love and acknowledge this song as a classic, if one more person drunkenly stumbles through "Don't Stop Believing” one more time I might pelt them with my wig!

And I hear your stepping in for Shuga Cain at Hardware this Thursday.

Shuga is not only one of my favorite queens, but truly one of my favorite people on this planet. I have been guesting with her pretty regularly at the show, and stepped in to cover some she is away. It's always such a good time.

Love her! Now let’s talk about Viva Variety, the variety show at Bedlam we just premiered this past Tuesday night. It’s a Thotyssey production featuring guest performing queens, musicians, burlesquers, etc. (this week: Honey Davenport, Gloria Swansong & Senerio) each night, and you are the host! How fuckin’ fun was that premiere!?

I'm truly humbled and honored to be a part of it! We are celebrating not just drag, but all the different kinds of talent that exist within our community. Singers, dancers, comedians, burlesquers... anything and everything is welcome... and most importantly, appreciated. Bedlam Bar is the new queer bar / safe space in town, and such an incredible venue!

And I understand you have a Thanksgiving party coming up on Friday the 23rd at Cmon Everybody with the guys of Faith Lyft!

YES! I got a message asking if I'd like to be a part of the party and off course I said yes. I'm actually a closet disco freak, so I know oit’s ts gonna be a good time. The party is going to be benefiting the Bowery Mission as well. DRAG for a cause is always a good thing!

Anywhere else?

I am at The Phoenix on Sunday 11/25, at 10.

Werk! Okay last question... Mariah Carey’s Glitter soundtrack is suddenly and inexplicably back in the Top 10 downloads... yay or nay?

ALL. THE. WAY. YAY.

LOL! Thanks, Viva!

Viva Vidalia hosts “Viva Variety” at Bedlam on Tuesdays (9pm) and karaoke at Boxers HK on Wednesdays (9pm), and co-hosts “Miss Runner Up” with Lilith LeFae on Fridays at Rockbar (7pm). CHeck Thotyssey’s calendar for all of her scheduled appearances, and follow Viva on Facebook and Instagram.

Previously: Viva Vidalia (4.19.2016)

On Point Archives

[thesportssoundoff]

“A great night of fights with two potentially so-so headliners” UFC Fight Night From Brazil Preview

Joey

October 25th

After a very solid afternoon tilt, the UFC is back on the road and back in international waters with a show from Brazil! The wonderful 2nd home of the UFC has seen quite a fall from grace in recent memory as there is ONE current Brazilian champion after running the sport from 2012 to 2014 and for once, there doesn't seem to be a wealth of options out on the bench ready to step up and hit a home run. Now having said that, this card is VERY good with a collection of established names you're familiar with, newbies with high promise, some under 30 or so fighters who have been honing their crafts on undercards and best of all some absolutely perfect matchmaking to back it all up. It's gonna be worth your time so let's see what a Brazilian Fight Night brings to the table on a very busy Saturday slate of action.

Fights: 12

Debuts: 1 (Marcelo Golm)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 4 (Carlos Felipe OUT, Marcelo Golm IN vs Christian Colombo/Augsto Mendes OUT, Raoni Barcelos IN vs Boston Salmon/Boston Salmon vs Raoni Barcelos CANCELLED/Luan Chagas OUT, Vicente Luque IN vs Niko Price)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 5 (Lyoto Machida, Derek Brunson, John Lineker, Demian Maia, Jim Miller)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 3 (Jim Miller, Lyoto Machida, Hacran Dias)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC:  9 (Colby Covington, Marlon Vera, Rob Font, Pedro Munoz, Jack Hermansson, Thiago Marreta Santos, Niko Price, Antonio Carlos Junior, Elizeu Zaleski)

Stat Monitor for 2017:

Debuting Fighters (Current number: 32-29)- Marcelo Golm

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 17-31-1)- Marclo Golm, Vicente Luque

Second Fight (Current number: 23-33)-  Jarrod Brooks, Devieson Figuerido

Cage Corrosion (16-9-1)- Lyoto Machida, Hacran Dias

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- So what does Lyoto Machida even have left at this point? Machida's run at 185 lbs has been interesting to say the least. His resume at 205 lbs is tremendous with wins over Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson, Tito Ortiz, Rich Franklin (forgive me if that was at 185 lbs), Ryan Bader, Randy Couture and Shogun Rua all when those meant a whole hell of a lot. His losses are to Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson and Jon Jones. He made the decision to dwell at 185 lbs in 2014 and thus far the results haven't been as sparkling. Obviously nobody should shun wins over guys like Gegard Mousasi and CB Dollaway but his losses at the weight class have been pretty burtal to bear witness to. He made a valiant effort with a late rally vs Chris Weidman but against Yoel Romero, he was absolutely run over and against Luke Rockhold he was outpowered and overwhelmed. He's approaching 40, coming off a hell of a layoff and his last two fights do little to inspire confidence in him. He is, for all intents and purposes, a guy who seems washed up.

Machida will be the first real case study in how a style like his ages. You always hear that the chin and the reflexes are the first things to go and the power is the last thing. Machida is reliant, almost to an absurd degree on his timing and reflexes. Against Rockhold I can't think of a single thing he could've done differently but he always looked slow vs Yoel Romero. He seemed pensive and once a guy at his age has a tough time pulling the trigger, that's it. That's NOT something that comes back. If you lose the ability to fire, you're done. In his prime, Brunson would've been a style that Machida would crunch up on. A big power so-so cardio wrestler who isn't going to give you a lot to worry about. Machida used to LIVE for those "tough in the first round" types because he'd just pick them off from the outside, wait until they slow down and then blitz and finish them. If Brunson gets him then I have no idea what to say anymore.

2- Who will have the cardio edge in the championship rounds? Machida's never been cardio deficient but he IS going to be 40. Brunson is good early, rougher late and has a style that's not conducive to long fights. A lot of quick hitter explosion on the feet and grinding wrestling late. Might not be a great matchup.

3- The Tough Dad's Division is up in the air but I think I've figured out the key to succeeding as a Tough Dad: Be Available.

From Derek Brunson's fight vs Uriah Hall in September of 2016 to now, this will be his 4th fight. So if you include the Uriah Hall fight, he's fought five times in 13 months. Let's comp that with "the elites" of the division:

September 16 to October 2017 you have Yoel Romero fighting twice,  Robert Whittaker fighting a remarkable three times, Jacare twice, Luke Rochold gracing us with his presence ONCE, Michael Bisping also has just ONE appearance and Chris Weidman has fought three times. Your ability as a middleweight and light heavyweight is your availability I suppose. It's why Tim Boetsch survives in MMA, it's why Sam Alvey will forever have a gig and why Uriah Hall never slumps TOO much. Guys who fight often can eliminate wins and losses a lot quicker. There's a skill and strength to being active so kudos to Brunson for figuring this thing out.

4- Is Demian Maia vs Colby Covington the UFC's way of just taking two problems and hoping they cancel each other out? Like I can't see this fight being exciting in any way really.

5- It's somewhat hidden on a very good card BUT gimme that fight with Jim Miller and Francisco Trinaldo. Massaranduba built up a really great 155 lb streak and it came to a screeching halt when Kevin Lee outlasted him after a hectic first and subbed him in the second round. Jim Miller is sort of in the midst of a career renaissance or at the very least, he's taken great strides in re-establishing himself as a total all action psychopath in the cage. Even when he's athletically outmatched, he seems to always make those fights his own.

6- Pedro Munhoz vs Rob Font is SUCH an impressive fight on paper primarily because it returns Font to the scene of his greatest disappointment. Against John Lineker, Font looked SO overwhelmed from the size of the crowd to the volume to the actual opponent. He didn't fight up to the situation and even if you don't beat a guy like John Lineker, there are ways to impress in a loss. He didn't impress and while Lineker and Munhoz are not even on the same universe in terms of styles and reputation, Munoz is a fantastic 135 lber. This is a very cool fight with a shot at redemption for Rob Font.

7- They have different ways of going about it but both Marlon "Chito" Vera and John Lineker share a common trait for success; they are never ever out of a fight. Lineker's power and his march ahead brawler style make him a threat to anybody. Chito Vera's grappling, length and power in his own right makes him a scary fighter for any opponent. He's long, freakishly athletic and fights like he doesn't know any better. This is another great fight at 135 lbs.

8- If you have FS2 then you're in for a Jim Dandy because the FS2 prelim slate is really, really good. From a battle of good MWs with two clashing styles in Antonio Carlos Jr and all action Jack Marshmann to Elizeu Zaleski vs Max Griffin in what should be a "let 'em fly" slugfest to the return of Niko Price vs competent WW Vicente Luque, you got plenty to dig in and digest.

9- Speaking of Zaleski, I feel like his upside is muted by fans sometimes. Why can't this guy fight in the top 10 of the division? His wins are over Keita Nakamura, Omari Akhmedov and Lyman Good. If you follow beyond the main cards, that's really solid competition and his one loss was to Nicholas Dalby in a fight I was SURE he won. He's all action, he has tremendous cardio, fights at an unrelenting pace and MELTS people with his power and his cardio. If his wrestling improves a smidge, he can beat guys in the top 10.

11- Thiago Santos is all action all of the time....but I have questions about his ability to deal with aggressive wrestlers. There are some things that Jack Marshmann does very well and one of those is pressure and rely on his ground and pound. I don't know if that's a good style for Marreta BUT we shall see if he cracks him first.

12- The UFC's problem in the United State is that fight fans want to see their old guys and dont care about new names. In Brazil, the problem is that the old guys keep losing but they have zero young guys to replace them. The youngest Brazilians on this card? 27 year old John Lineker, 27 year old Antonio Carlos Junior and 25 year old Vicente Luque. Good fighters but almost all have ceilings which will limit their growth going forward. Not overly exciting.

Must wins

1- Derek Brunson

Lyoto Machida is in a very specific group of people who will leave the UFC under their own terms. He's got a job quite possibly for life as a former champion who fights at two weight classes of need PLUS he's Brazilian. He'll be here until he decides he doesn't wanna be here. For Derek Brunson, he's approaching 35 and every big fight he's taken he's lost. Now granted, he made a great showing vs Yoel Romero, probably beat Anderson Silva and had Robert Whittaker hurting. Ifs and buts as they say. He's facing a near 40 Lyoto Machida coming off a long layoff. He HAS to win this or else his availability will only guarantee an existence outside the top 10.

2- Colby Covington

I mean....duh? Covington is trying to be the guy who uses social media to build his profile and get people excited about him. That's AWESOME except his social media ramblings are quite weird. He's an acquired taste and the same can go for his more boring meat and potatoes style which is a throwback to the Matt Hughes era of wrestling and ground and pound above all else. He vs Maia is a case of two negatives being asked to produce a positive and if he does that AND if he wins then the sky may be the limit for him.

3- Antonio Carlos Jr

Antonio Carlos Jr is high upside and an amusing fun style of grappling combined with youth and desperation. The UFC needs a new Brazilian face and Shoeface, ironically enough, could just be that guy. He's a name to keep an eye on even if his hype is just desperation. The HW turned LHW turned MW draws a winnable fight in Jack Marshmann; a sophisicated brawler type who feasts on pressure but is hittable and beatable in any facet of the game. He's a sum of his parts kind of guy. Shoeface needs to win this one because it's a stylistic giftwrapped type opponent at home no less.

[futuristicglam]

multiples of 5 for the concert ask?

its gonna be list one!! thank you so much

5. Last concert you went to?

Beth Ditto on saturday! shes incredible.

10. Worst opening act you’ve seen?  

i just answered that, but it was Yak lol.

15. Worst concert you’ve been to?

god honestly that is difficult as i always enjoy the gigs i go to. im easily satisfied, i just want a night out to distract myself. but i’ve seen BAD festivals performances, artists/bands i had to see because i was waiting for one of my favs at the barrier. that includes some dutch artists i dont give two shits about. 

also some international stuff at festivals, Eminem was bad. Band of Horses bored me to death. i think i can name more, or at least stuff that was average or not that great. (which is a lot i would say)

20. Have you met any internet friends at a concert?

yes i have met many many internet friends at gigs!

25. Which do you prefer: indoor or outdoor concerts?

indoor honestly. outdoor you never know what the weather will be like and gigs can get cancelled due to weather. i honestly dont like when its raining or whatever so no thanks indoor all the way.

30. General admission or seated concerts?

general admission!!!!

35 Have you ever gotten sick, bruised, or broken a bone after a concert?

yes i have got sick, bruised, never broke anything yet... thank god. i puked once, yeaaaars ago. i got bruised at gigs sometimes, i dont bruise easily. but i saw foo fighters in september and it was REALLY REALLY bad at the barrier(seen foos so many times never had this ever happen to me). it was awful. so i had bruises everywhere. 

40 Have you seen your favorite artist in concert?

i’ve seen most of my favs live thankfully!

45 What’s the biggest venue you’ve been to a concert at?

i think Hyde Park must be the biggest venue? i ever been to. i know its not really a venue its a Park but in terms of capacity its the biggest i’ve been.

50. Has a concert or tour you were planning on going to got cancelled?

LMAO yes unfortunately it did. i can name a lot of examples. but 1 that is sad. chris cornell cancelling his solo gig here in the netherlands, i never saw him solo. i was excited, he postponed other dates, he didnt do it with the dutch date. and i havent seen him live since.. (only saw him with Soundgarden). 

55 What’s the craziest thing a fan has done at a concert you’ve been to?

oh dear lord ehh two things that come to mind; a dude at SWMRS gig hanging on the edge of the balcony upside down and did a back flip /jumped into the crowd. i dont know how i can explain it any better but it was wild and dangerous LMAO. 

and this one time that this random ass lady got on stage without permission at placebo gig. she was bit drunk and there were stairs right next to the stage. brian molko was terrified lmao. only in my country this happens and security didnt really give 2 shits.

60 Have you ever been kicked out of a concert?

nahh mate, thank god

65 Have you seen any artists in concerts that you don’t like anymore?

omg yeah! things like Coldplay, i used to stan them but idgaf anymore. i saw them twice live. mumford and sons, saw them twice. dont care about them anymore. can name few others but these 2 came to mind.

[richigneven]

Buenos Aires Calling!

The signs could not have been much better: My first ‘vacation’ lasting more than a week since the awesome festival so called “gneven im grünen”, three concert tickets for my more or less favorite band ‘die toten hosen’- a band I have followed along down the road, which not only makes good music but also supports smaller bands, ethical correct NGO´s and sometimes even play in your living room if you are lucky AND the promising city of Buenos Aires, which goes as the Berlin of South America, or not even Latino American anymore. So my expectations were quite high as well, still they s were exceeded...

My hostel was great, although I arrived way too early they welcomed me with breakfast and showers. As I did not take the first internet recommendation I ended up in a 100% spanish-speaking community, from which a few studied and others sadly escaping war in Venezuela and some others doing whatever. Crazy those two things, first I could never do my exchange semester out of a dormitory, as I already troubled falling a sleep when not completely wasted- how do people snore louder than a airplane taking off? Second why have we reached the point that people need to escape their homes again and shouldnt we welcome them a little more than given them a bed in return of work? You find Venezuelans everywhere in South America right now...

Anyway, I wanted to get to know this European city, which at first glance showed off with nice facades, broken sidewalks and a walkable traffic situation (remember Im used to Lima at the moment, I actually got quite a cultural shock when people actually followed traffic rules and not everyone looked quite similar). I did a walking tour, and right away I saw it at its best, stunning buildings and cemeteries everywhere(at least in the right suburb..) Btw the popularity of their steaks is based on the flatness of the countryside of Argentina, cows actually do have some space to walk around and not need to be cooped up in some stall. Afterwards, I stumbled around myself, and by this is into a huge demonstration. All kinds of human protested in favor of rights for everybody, especially Woman and the LGBT scene. Every of the last ten years more than 200 women has be mudered by their husband or partners, I have heard about it before, but seeing the demonstration showed me how serious the issue is and how many must have suffered domestic violence. I followed along and was quite impressed by the creativity and number of participants. It seems like still the authorities dont really care, as this has been run for over a year now...

it really was endless...

I bet a better photografer would have made a good pic out of that!

Rushed from the energy of the protests I had a buncher Spätibeer (cerveza de ciosco) and decided to go see my friend from my old exchange semester in good old fresno..So we met 9 years ago and havent seen since. Ines were just working in a restaurant and I already had a few beers too many. So after she invited me for two more I tried too call it a night, which is always hard when you in a foreign city for the first time 10km away from your bed and trying to go by public transport. AllI know, I woke up in my hostel the next day and some blurry memories sitting in some other bar with some Germans, but I dont know why. Alright lets face it, probably the craving for more beer.

In the morning, I realized today would be the day I have never really imagined to become true. Seeing “Los Hosen” in Buenos Aires is said to be special. I always wanted to know what´s about it, because special is also sitting one hour in the” Berlin Ringbahn” and drink beer or the Chinese Wall, but neither gets a lot of my attention. After another day of enjoying various parts of the city I went in front of the venue, Museum, a buncher years ago crashed the stage in the second song and the concert was over. The first guys I approached were already a win in the lottery and I could not have asked for more. Spätibeer here and there and talks about everything what my Spanish has to offer. The show was crazy, a venue like SO36, long and narrow. A small terrace all around from which Campino (singer) jumped into the crowd and somehow mad his way back, totally red, as people did not want to let him go...A few punch were needed so he reached the stage again. 

The crowd of 800-1000, of which maybe 100 were German, freaked out at pretty much every single song. Decent singing along but even harder dancing along. Everybody full of energy, led by a Band which noticeably enjoyed to be part of it once again. After the concert I went further to a few more Bars or you could call it Club even, energy for those after concerts partys I usually do not have after concerts in Germany. This night, I got a ride home, across the entire city, letting somebody out at the bus station apparently is no option when you their “guest”.

Party people

The same reason, the next day, I was invited to a match of one of the biggest football teams over there.. Boca Juniors, it was really interesting to see such a steep stadium which shacks because everybody jumps and how fascinated all the players and fans are. But I certainly have friends which can analyze those events way more. Side note: Argentina has stopped to allow fans of the visiting teams for all league games, in order to prevent violence. A working approach, but defiantly not in the sense of the sport.

A couple more or less boring hard working days for my uni were interrupted by a Cover concert and even more interesting of a Concert of the Magic Mystery tour show in a house in Buenos Aires. You can apply ahead and if you lucky the Hosen come to give a show and the fans possibly destroy all you have. I talked to many people who at least once tried it, but these gigs are quite precious. Getting inside this house was not possible, but through same delays in my taxi I arrived for the last few songs of the concert, which was totally sufficient for me. Except the drummer, everybody got outside of the house once and of course Campino climbed every fence there exist on the premises. Afterwards, a little party in front of the fence took place and once again a intercultural understanding with hands and legs. Knowing a few words of Spanish certainly made the situation even more fun and allowed me buying beer in the cioscos around, which was hard as for some reasons they only wanted to sell cold beer, but to understand this I almost failed.

Campino not only gave its best during the show, the aftershowparty he won against everybody!

In front of the fence, it was still cleanable afterwards, nobody know about inside

Wow Wednesday already, but still two more official shows to go! The German Hosen fans, organized a bus tour to the town of the next venue, La Plata, which is 1-2 hours down south from BA. Ive almost missed the bus, due to lets face it: Hangoverness but also Credit Card issues, during which I kind of realized how screwed you could be in a foreign country. But all worked out and with 1 hour delay and a busdriver who ask after 1 hour ride where he actually supposed to head we were almost at our first stop: The barbeque party in some Argentina´s house. The owner just decided to through a party for everybody who wanted to come and as it was somebody´s birthday the owner bought beer and steaks for the most of them. (unluckily no grilled cheese, but this time people were at least to buy warm beer in the Späti next door) So i tackled my hangover from last night with a few beers and it become a really nice get-together with people from all parts of society, ages and regions of Germany and Argentina. The good bye was a kiss for the woman living there for everybody and the last existing steaks as “Schnittchen” for later. When was the last time you invited 70 unknown people to your backyard and when it comes to cleaning up they all get in a bus and you give them food and beer for the road?  Arriving in front of the venue the people once again couldnt even wait to party on and sang along the sound check inside which was with the song “Reisefieber”, so an old and popular one, this was promising. I dedicated myself to socialize and to the Späti´s around so once inside It starts to be more of a blur...I remember a few songs, some crowdsurfing, an amazing venue as very wide, once again energized Hosen, more beer(in cans btw) and a few special acts. Is there anything more to ask for? Claro, afterparty, but this is even more of a blur...With many more beer and whatsoever for everybody who was tired or just wanted to be sure to make it a good night we drove through la plata and some other parties over there...At some point i recall 7 people, from which I knew 1 slightly before but good times. At some point at 6 or 7 we returned to BA, I was already sleeping in the car for a while. But the others were still going strong not being tired at the moment. Such a day, no shower, one more sip of beer and straight to bed. I reckon I will never get closer to Punk rock than this before.

Days with the most drinks, usually the ones with the fewest pictures for me ;)

Next day started slowly, ended slowly but again a Coverband concert, Peru tied Argentina, so know it´s very interesting who is going to qualify and another day I made a nice tour through the party area of Palermo with two new friends. The show on Saturday was in a huge venue of 5000-7000 people. The living room of the Ramones, they said. Many other guest, setlist switched again and At least the first third of the concert everybody went crazy once more. With forgoing time, people got more relaxed and only half of the stadium jumped along..I mobilized my last strength and had an amazing time. Meeting people in the crowed I have met during the last week and giving them a possible last high five or smile.

Los hosen more or less announced the location of the aftershow party: the club we went the week before but I called it a night in some bar close to my hostel. A friend gave me his sweater to show once more how welcome I am here. Lots of promises of reuniting in whatever part of the world were mad and at some point I went home to my Hostel. I´m not sure if or when I will see this city and especially all those nice people again. But the times, friendlyness and in all kinds of situation and circumstances they gave me here will always be reminded in my brain and my heart. I now understand when los Hosen say they do not come for the music, they come to meet the people, I seldom received such a warm welcome of different people in various situations in several forms. As always I hope to be able to return the favor in a place where I can show people around and gave them a good time, but for now I can just say thank you!

rocknroll

last beer, this time for sure!

more impressions:

there he is!

street art

subway art

maybe next time Ill tell you about my first Spanish interview! ;)

[littlemissfortunes666]

My happy place (Long post/Recount)

I saw some live music on saturday night. I hadnt had a night out for a while just to see live music. And i sit back and remeber what occured. Imma tell yall the event of that night. I feel like i havent been as happy as that night. So. If you dont wanna read dont worry, but this js me documenting what happend.

Mum and i got there around 7-7:30 ish.

Already it was starting to get packed so we went and sat at the front of the stage, mum and i arent fans of the band Dokken, but the first band was a tribute band to them, we watched from where the bar was, we had a good time just watching the musicians and the fans have fun.

Then. All heaven and hell broke loose.

The band that mum and i were there too see started up, mum and i were at the front of the stage, the singer instantly noticed me from the other time we were there and gave me a kiss on the cheek from the stage. The bassist also held my hand for a second or two. Mum and i sang our fucking hearts out. The band was a tribute to Poison (which i adore) and i was just on cloud 9. I was on top of the world. We were just gathered in a room full of people smiling and laughing and singing. I felt happy, like genuinly happy for once this whole year. When they finished up, i had too pee and of course there was a line for the ladies. I met this one girl who was early 40's who said she had hair like mine once and her hair was a wig, she had beaten cancer three times and now was living while she could. We laughed, i thought it was crazy that me, a 17 year old girl, can make a 45 year old woman laugh and feel hopeful after battling cancer three times. She told me to live for myself. Live for happiness and strive to be myself and that she was already proud of me. I met this woman 10 minutes ago and she has already made a huge impact.

When i got back to our spot. Mum held up a pass she had that the bassist had given her. He asked where i was and said he wanted to meet the cute girl at the front. I almost teared up with joy as she gave me the poison VIP pass.

So the bon jovi tribute came on and again, cloud 9 motherfucker.

He sung runaway (highly reccomend the song go check it out) and he sung the second verse to me and joked around with me. I felt very special to say the least 😂.

We danced, we sang, i felt so fucking happy.

Then it was all over. Mum and i went to the toilet again and when we came out we saw the singer of the Poison band. He saw me, smiled and then pulled me in for a hug that i didnt want to end honestly. I thanked him for the night and making me feel happy. And he smiled and kissed me on the cheek again and told me that me smiling and singing back to him was very special becuase i was so young and that it was the highlight of his night. And we then ran into the bassist a little while after, and he hugged me and told me about more gigs that were gunna be, and he expected me to be there. He hugged me again and said it was sweet that he saw my face. And then told me how beautiful it was to see the younger gen get into music and just be happy living like that. He told us his real name and how much he loves music amd just general chat. We cahtted for a solid half an hour. He was so sweet and was rapped that i was only 17 and i was at an 80's tribute band show. He gave my mum a hug and told her that she raised me right. He hugged me once again to say goodbye and we left the venue. I didnt want to leave. But all good things must come to and end no matter how much it breaks you.

Mum and i got maccas on the way home. And i'm stuck doing holiday homework for the rest of the week and i wanna cry.

I just keep reliving that one night. Becuase it was the happiest i had been for a while.

I know that was long, i just wanted to recount what happend.

So. Yeah. 💚🖤

It was nuthin but a good time, how can i resist. 😉😂🖤

(The gif is of the poison singer who was singing to me throughout the gig💚😁)

[georgie-bow]

Skills assessment

From the last skills assessment I would say that my performance skills have definitely improved a lot and my ability to do harmonies from remembering them and knowing when they’re wrong has improved not as much as my performance improvement but they have still improved nonetheless. I would say that my performance improved partly because we rehearsed different performance ideas and partly because this project gave me a lot more confidence then I had in the past two gigs. Also in this gig I watched a lot more live videos from the artists we were covering so I could get a better idea of how they would perform their songs. From this I would say that Wannabe was more like how the spice girls would perform the song then how TLC would perform No Scrubs as TLC had more set routines.

MY TECHNICAL SKILLS

I would say that over all my technical skills are good. Some of my main strengths and weaknesses from this area are my communication in performance with other musicians and the audience, this is a strength for me because in videos of the gig you can see me not only performing to the audience/ camera but I also look at the other girls in my group this made my stage presence good because I wasn’t just in one place I moved around a bit and made the gig not only enjoyable for the audience but for myself because it’s much more fun performing than standing still. However Hannah was good for going up to the musicians and singing to them this is something I did very rarely or not at all, this means that this is something I will work on and make sure I do in our next gig. I would also say that I have a good memory of lyrics as I didn’t forget any lyrics but I did go out of time during Torn on the Thursday and Friday gig making it look like I had forgotten the lyrics but really I had just come in at the wrong time, though on Saturday I didn’t do this so I had learnt from my mistakes of the previous two nights. Another thing I was good at was listening to songs and hearing backing parts within vocals that needed to be added. You can see in some of our No Scrubs rehearsal videos Chloe is doing an extra backing part during some of the song, though we took them out as when we were reheareing by recording the parts these backing bits weren’t heard, though looking back we still should’ve kept these parts in to make the song more althentic something I will keep in mind during the next gig. Another example of this is in Wannabe we had all vocal parts from backing vocals to two people singing and then the rest of us join in like the spice girls did, these can be seen in the chorus of the song and the second verse and then in the ‘slam your body down and wind it all around’ parts of the song. My final example of this is during Torn our acoustic song we add in the ooooo’s that can be heard in the chorus of the songs as well as a lower harmony. All these little things within each of these songs really make the song come together and sound more authentic to the original. Going back to timing during kiss from a rose sometimes the vocals would go out of time in the opening of the song making the opening sound not very good on a positive note this only happened on one of the nights. Though apart from the two times I have mentioned where my timing went slightly off the rest of my timing was good I just slipped up on these two songs so over all it’s a small strength that needs a little bit of work to becoming a big strength. In this gig I did a lot of high and low harmonies which was good as it showed off some of my range I also learnt that the melody line in No Scrubs is slightly too low for me and so it’s a good song to use as well as my parts in kiss from a rose to widen my vocal range. My breath control was good as I was never out of breath when on stage meaning that I didn’t get out of breath on stage and could hold longer notes easier because I took a breath before doing so. I can now include some song writing skills as my group did start to write an original song but however we decided as a group that it would be better for us to focus on No Scrubs which at the time we feared could get cut and we didn’t want that so we had to put what we thought was more important first.

MY MUSIC REHEARSAL SKILLS

Once again I would say that overall my rehearsal skills are good. Here are a few strengths and weaknesses from this area. One of my biggest strengths is making sure I warm up because I don’t want to damage my voice so each morning I make sure I do a vocal warm up at home so I can get the most out of my rehearsal. I would say that rehearsals went well it would just be that sometimes the band didn’t only wanted to rehearse one song of ours so the vocalists would go into a separate room and record the vocals for the other song this shows that we wanted to rehearse but the band didn’t always want to though this did begin to stop when the band would rehearse both songs with us and we would work through them. On giving and receiving feedback i would say that I would give feedback when asked but apart from that I wouldn’t this is something I feel that I need to improve upon so I can help other musicians on how to improve their pieces. However we would get feedback more because people wanted to listen to how the girl group songs were getting along we also got advice from Ant and Dave which I made sure were being listened to though we did slip up on this with Autumns guitar part in Wannabe as it wasn’t ready for when Ant wanted it to be but we got it in soon after. I would say that over all our ability to work through problems was good as we lost a member in the girl group and we just worked to replace her quickly which is good I would also say that because we had good communication with the band if someone felt like something was wrong they could just say and we would work though and improve it an example of this is in the beginning No Scrubs was too slow making sound less authentic but after a few rehearsals it got to then speed it’s meant to be. As for teaching other people parts I wouldn’t say that I did very much of this so that’s something I need to work on to improve. However people did help me with parts mainly harmonies that I would forget or the timing issue I had with torn, i am very greatful for the people who work with me on these. The only point I really helped someone was when I helped Chloe while we were recording our parts for No Scrubs as she would sometimes slip into the melody line so I would help to show her where she was doing so.

MY PERSONAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS

I would say this is one of my best areas. Some strengths and weaknesses in this area are- One big strength for me is attendance as I’m never late and i only had one day off because I physically couldn’t go into college but I spent the day getting better so I could go in the next day. As for independent practice I would say I’m very good at this because I spent time at home learning the lower harmony in torn because I kept not being able to get it properly at college but after a few times at home I got it and felt confident to perform it. This is also evident in that I learnt all my parts to songs very quickly and I would re learn anything that had been changed within a song. For time management I would say that I’m good at this because I would work out with some of the band when we could work on the girl groups stuff and then when they would work on the grunge stuff it’s good to have this communication because it means we’re aware of how the day is going to go which makes you ready to work because you know when you’re going to be working.

MY TUMBLR BOLG/ WIX SKILLS

My wix work is always up to date with rehearsal blogs being done and action plans being done weekly. It’s good to have this organisation because it means you don’t have to catch up and spend ages on your work trying to remember what you did on a certain day. I also did a lot more research this project and applied it to my work and have stated how i used it and how it has helped me. Foe nearly all videos of our rehearsals i was responsible for posting the clips which i always did. I need to work on looking at problems we faced because i think that i dont always look at the problems we had during some rehearsals.

[mercenarypark]

“ hotaliens said: WHEN U CAN talk about medic and his birds, red scout and blu scout mayhaps, ANDdddddddddddddddd what the mercs do on the weekend “ hey guys remember how i said i was gonna talk about hcs well let me finally get around to that hours late here we go

[Medic and Birds]

[these go for RED and BLU medic]

-Medic’s mother had a cockatoo, she absolutely ADORED him even when he was a baby, though ofc his mother made sure to monitor their interactions together; and even as an infant he always treated that bird with surprising gentleness, never pulling or prodding hard. that cockatoo never bit him harder than a warning nip, and she would somehow always know how to calm him down from a tantrum.

the bird died of illness right around the time the war started, and to this day he believes that somehow, those were connected. 

-medic stole his flock of doves[technically homing pigeons] from a wedding in England, not realizing that the catering van he’d stolen had an entire flock of birds and a makeshift aviary inside. the method with which he retrained them is,,,,,,, unconventional and spoiler-y for some things i have written but not published

-he holds full conversations with birds, often- not just his own, but birds in the trees, on the street, in pet stores and houses.

-the flock is mostly his homing pigeons from his stolen wedding flock, and their children; with a couple of fancy pigeons stolen from pigeon shows[because lord knows the poor things need some help, esp the ones who’ve been bred to fit a certain standard at the cost of their health and ability to function], and a few feral street pigeons he’s adopted

-the flock mostly refers to him as “papa”, “Vati” or “Opa”

-he speaks to them in German, Yiddish, and English- they understand all three

-he cries every single time an egg hatches. every time. sadly he cant let EVERY egg that they lay, hatch, because he’d never be able to care for them all, but the flock understands this and lets him remove eggs as he pleases, and in return he gives them all as much love and attention as he can

-medic’s office is his makeshift aviary, though he very rarely keeps them cooped in there- for the majority of the day they have free roam of the base. they all know where home is

-heavy, pyro, and scout all are allowed to play w/ medic’s birds whenever they want, heavy and pyro both have a key to medic’s office so they can get into the aviary without having to ask [scout WOULD have one but she’s notorious for losing keys]

-----

[RED Scout BLU Scout]

-for clarities sake, again, there are a lot of things i[and gabby+em]’ve written but not published that i dont want 2 spoil, and the reason that theres two of every merc is one of them; but i will say that yes, there are two versions of scout who mostly have the same backstory shit, but things differ when theyre hired as mercs

-[also, both scouts use she/her and occasionally they/them]

-both scouts have a long standing hatred for the other, and absolutely target each other on the battlefield

-this is at least a LITTLE BIT because of self loathing, IE “im gonna beat the shit out of the person who looks exactly like me”, though neither of them realize that

-RED scout is the one who comes to terms with the fact that she’s trans first and that just amplifies how much she HAAATES the BLU scout

-but RED scout is also the first of the two to go through character growth and become a genuinely better person, as she slowly comes out to her family and friends, finds support in her teammates, accidentally adopts medic as her unofficial dad, unlearns a lot of internalized bullshit,

-which infuriates BLU scout because suddenly RED scout doesnt seem to really care about fighting her anymore 

-and then BLU scout overhears one of RED mercs refer to RED scout w/ she/her pronouns and has a fucking crisis of confusion [but also validation]

-and after a lot of internal turmoil brought on by the UNBELIEVABLE Mental Fuckery that has got to come with realizing that the alternate version of yourself is openly trans while you’re still confused and closeted,

-BLU scout decides yea u know what. im trans and im not gonna hide it anymore, esp since apparently all the RED versions of my teammates are accepting so like, the BLUs should be too right???

-and they are

-BLU scout and BLU medic aren’t as close as RED scout + RED medic, for multiple reasons, but in both cases the scouts came out to the medics first [because, Hes Doctor] 

-after BLU scout starts going through her own Character Development[tm] and mellows out, both scouts are pretty chilled on the battlefield towards each other, even joking with each other about their teammates, nowhere near as violent and vicious as they were before

-most of the time that they DO fight its more casual and more like rough-housing, with bullets and also spiked baseball bats

-sorry this mostly turned into Gender Stuff hdfjghh but i took that prompt to mean “both scout’s relationships 2 the other” and the answer to that is, well, “fight” ----

[weekend]

[some of these are specific to the RED versions of everyone, sorry, though most are more general]

-demo is usually working one of his other jobs- piano gigs at fancy establishments, art commissions[hes a pretty fantastic painter, he prefers more abstract pieces and he has a very distinct style with a strong sense of movement and fluidity], and some volunteer work at the ol’ kitten orphanage [he’d work at the regular human orphanage next door, but, well. he’s got bad experiences with those. and hes scared of messing up around children]

basically even when hes technically off duty, hes still always working- its the degroot way, whether he likes it or not

but when he can relax, he usually spends as much time as he can with his parrot, keeping her entertained and socialized and happy; he also spends a lot of time in engies workspace watching him build and repair stuff while they drink together, with pyro playing whatever game they’re hyperfocused on at the moment, and, in the old days, he would spend a lot of time sneaking out to be with BLU soldier... Those days are gone in the times of WAR, of course

-engie, of course, is usually still working as well. honestly he doesnt even notice the fact that its the weekend half the time unless someone tells him, he’ll just keep pouring over blueprints and fine tuning designs. 

if you do pry him away from his work table long enough, though, he will crash on the nearest soft surface and sleep for 15 hours. rancho relaxo time motherfucker

-medic becomes a cryptid every goddamn weekend, unless you check one of four places: his bedroom, heavy’s bedroom, his office/aviary, and the morgue. you will not see him literally anywhere else. he is also only seen with at least 5-6 birds on his person at all times, as opposed to his usual 1 or 2.

he spends most of the time on the weekends being v overaffectionate with both his birds and heavy; and the rest of the time cutting open dead bodies in the morgue and injecting them with weird shit

-heavy spends a lot of time reading and writing on the weekends- editing older drafts of books he’s written, translating things to and from English to practice his skills with the language, and just, reading books he’s had recommended to him or old favorites. sometimes he reads out loud to medic while medic is busy with other things [IE he’s distracted by birds or corpses]

-spy? literally just this textpost by gabby.

http://thefrenchiestfrytisi.tumblr.com/post/161502800096/ok-before-i-go-to-sleep-though-this-image-from

 you dont need any more info than that. this is perfect. spy spends like 5 hours in the bath every saturday and 6 every sunday and its always like this

-pyro is the other cryptid at the base, no one can ever find them unless pyro WANTS to be found so they can show off a drawing they did, or a card trick they learned, or just so they can hang out w/ someone for a while

-scout is either playing Video Games[tm] from the moment she wakes up until she passes out, or she is outside jogging for 3 hours straight and then she impulse steals a golf cart, there is no middle ground here -every single saturday, soldier doesnt realize its the weekend, gets completely ready for battle, runs outside, and only sees the other soldier. and they just both fight each other for the next couple hours until someone gets them both to come inside. the rest of the weekend she’s “taming” her raccoons and planning for the next fight

-i dont care about sniper

[haydenjjames]

Dear Diary, its been a moment

Let’s talk about my week shall we....

Hello old friend, I hope you’re doing well. Me? I could be better these last few weeks have been some of the worst my life but also some of the best times iv’e had this week. A lot of things have happened this week, to be completely honest I dot know where to start. 

Let’s start with today. Today, I went to meet this guy, he’s called Callum, i’ve known him for quite a long time however we never spoke… like ever, the only reason I knew him was through a girl I was friends with. They went out together a long time ago and when I was friends with the girl they were going out so I had only really seen him if I had met her outside of school and they were together. I don't know why that was so hard for me to say, basically I knew him through an old friend because they went out. Okay good we have got that awful explanation out the way. Back to my point it was a few months ago that some how we had connected on facebook and we started talking. We had spoken a lot about his past, which I won’t go into thats his business, but I really got on with him. So today was the first time that we had met together one on one, and I really enjoyed myself. I'm an extremely nervous person when I first meet someone alone for the first time, but when I met up with him and as soon as I saw him I just felt so comfortable and honestly it was a lovely feeling. Me and Callum met in town I had drove to my aunties, I assumed he had got the bus into town and we had met outside the old church, I always joke how it would fall down I entered it started because my auntie would always say it to me and I found it really funny, back to Callum. We met outside the church and he was talking to this gentle man about Leamington (a neighbouring city) I didn’t really listen the conversation, didn’t want to be that person who eavesdrops. So when he is finished he started talking to me about where we were going to eat and how he had worked there and at the shop on the corner and the place just before it. When we got to playwrights (where we were eating and where he used to work) we sat down on the couches and waited for a table and he was talking about everything that was going on in his life and his music gigging bands etc. and how he had made these drums out of an odd thing and how he was really proud of doing it and it was the cutest thing ever! We got our table and sat down, opposite each other it just felt right. When I talk to someone I dont like to look them in the eye because it makes me feel comfortable but the whole time we were talking to someone I was looking at him in the eye and him me and it was just such a strange feeling for me to not feel uncomfortable, but I liked it. As we were talking he just made me feel like he actually cared. We had our food we talked for a good hour or two and then we had to go because he had band rehearsals and that was that! That was the first time meeting Callum one on one, and I really enjoyed myself. He wouldn’t let me pay tho, I said I was paying next time. 

Whilst we are on the topic of boys I’ll just update you since the last time we spoke, I haven’t really spoken to “him” I dont remember if I used his name, but I haven’t really spoke to him as he’s been busy with his jobs flying all over the world lol, he is currently at the time of me writing this on a cruise in the… Caribbean, I think. But yes I hope me and him get to meet up again it would be nice to seen him. 

Right then, let’s start at last Saturday, so I took the weekend off because it was my birthday on the Sunday so the saturday I had completely free apart from a halloween party I was going to in the evening. It was a friend of a friends and I had been invited mdi was going with another friend. So I pick my friend up, I go and get something to eat and drop her at her boyfriends as she had forgotten something. As we are driving to the party we get to a junction where there are two lanes, one to turn left and one to go straight on, I say to my friend how I hate the junction as we pull up in the lane to go straight on. A car pulls up next to me with their indicator on to go left, so naturally I assume they are going left the lights change to green and we go so I go straight on and so does this car so they end up hitting the side of my car and damaging the paint work of the passenger door (and possibly denting it) so at this point I'm like what is going on so I know that I cant stop in the junction so I drive on and there is a car behind and then the car that collided with me behind that so I slow right down to make the car behind go round and the car I collided with his flashing me and I was already indicating to pull over, so anyways she gets out the car and I ask if she’s okay and straight of the gate she says “no you just fucking crashed into my car” as soon as she said this I was pissed but I was like you know what hun I ain’t got time for this, I give her my details she takes photos of her and my car she gets in her car and I wait for ages for her to leave and that just put me in a sour ass mood for the night. 

I tried to forget it had happened for the sake of my enjoyment at the party that I was heading to, I did quite enjoy it but I just didn’t feel like I belonged, just cause I only knew 3 people there, well I knew 4 but i’ll talk about that lil bitch in a minute. But me and my friends had sat in the kitchen cause they were paying a drinking game and I dont drink, I couldn’t drink cause I was driving but I dont drink anyway and my friends weren’t drinking cause they had work the next day so it was pointless joining in with the game. We spent a good 3/4 hours at the party and there was a girl there that me and my friend knew from school and she wasn’t the nicest of people to my friend but me and this girl got on fairly well, the WHOLE time we were there she completely ignored us everyone else said hi asked how we were etc she even looked directly at us and didn’t say a word, I mean how rude. It made me laugh when she looked at us cause me and my friend looked at each other like wtf was that about. 

The next day, on my 21st birthday I spend 3 hours on the phone to the my car insurance people about the car I spoke to 3 different people and two of them said that I would have to pay the full excess and then one said I would only have to pay what it would cost, I got the bill the other day and I didn’t have to pay my full excess, only what it cost. But other than that I had a nice birthday, when my friends had finished work al three of us when out for ice cream at place called sprinkles that I'd never been to and I found my favourite smoothie of all time, I don’t remember the name but the flavours were peach, passion fruit and mango, it was gorgeous!

Lets backtrack, the Friday before the halloween party I had my hair bleached and dyed grey and for the longest time I've wanted to have grey hair I think its just cause its a colour that I've never had before. I did it for the halloween party for the character that I went as. I just love having a different colour hair to my natural colour I just think its so cool how within 2 hours I can go from having dark blond/ light brown hair to bleach blond hair… it is surreal to me, the hairdresser also found out about my instagram and the makeup I do cause I was editing one of the photos for it and she said how cool it was and asked me about it which was nice.

Now we are jumping back to recent events, on Thursday I go out shopping and I had a text from my mother saying that the washing machine was leaking, (the pipe at the back where the waste water goes). So when I gets home and have something to eat I go to sort it out… the last time it was easy we just used the plunger in the sink and managed to push the blockage out, however this time the washing machine wouldn’t drain and the sink would where as last time nothing would drain at all, so it was really odd! So we took basically all the pipes out I had to cut the back of the cupboard to get to the pipes to take them out and the blockage turned out to be after the sink and was the dishwasher so I still don’t understand how the sink was draining but the washing machine wasn’t… either way we sorted it out and its been fine since, thats 3 different times i’ve had to sort a blockage out… I'm basically a plumber.

Rewinding back to last Tuesday. Monday was my aunties birthday and her niece had been texting me all week about taking her out for her birthday for afternoon tea, and it was going to be a surprise and I kept my end of the bargain but in my birthday card that she had sent me she had said that my birthday present was also afternoon tea, which we agreed (she didn’t know what to get me cause I've got everything I want), and when I was leaving my aunties on the Sunday of my birthday I had forgot to take that card the ONE card that I should have made sure had, I forgot. So I get home and I have a txt off my auntie saying about how her niece was taking me out for afternoon tea so I had to come clean and tell her but I made sure that she knew that she had to act like it was a surprise in a way I'm glad that she found out cause it took a lot of pressure off of the day and she was able to get ready the way she would have wanted to go somewhere nice. They come they surprise her its all fun. 

When we get to the place where we were having afternoon tea we get seated in the conservatory and we had a view the garden which have a river running through and a small bridge over the river in the summer it would be absolutely ideal for a wedding it was really quite lovely. When the food come there was an assortment of cakes, we all got a choice of one sandwich (they give you like 4 mini sandwiches of that type) so we all chose different ones so that we could try them all, I had chosen the ham and English mustard, it was delightful! I also tried a beef with horseradish sauce, I had never tried horseradish sauce so I was unsure but I tried it and I really enjoyed it! We had out scones and cakes which were also lovely and then we sat and talked for a little bit and went home and it was a really good time I genuinely enjoyed myself, was starting after though it didn’t fill be up at all. 

hugs Hayden xox

[themoneybuff-blog]

Money story: Small acts of kindness create social capital

This guest post from Christine Hughey is part of the money stories feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks from all stages of financial maturity. I met Christine in January when I attended Camp FI in Florida. Christine is starting a new Nashville food tour company, so when I spent a week there in April, naturally I let her show me around. It was awesome! In this article, she shares how small acts of kindness have proven to be worth more than she ever imagined. Im about to share something that completely changed my life yet its something that I didnt know much about until a few years ago. Its a concept called social capital, and I believe that it can change your life too (and make you wealthier in the process). Now, if youve been reading Get Rich Slowly for a long time, you might have seen J.D. write about social capital in the past. He too is a big believer in its power. But many of you have probably never heard of the idea. What is social capital?

According to Wikipedia: Social capital is a form of economic and cultural capital in which social networks are central; transactions are marked by reciprocity, trust, and cooperation; and market agents produce goods and services not mainly for themselves, but for a common good. [] Social capital has been used to explain the improved performance of diverse groups, the growth of entrepreneurial firms, superior managerial performance, enhanced supply chain relations, the value derived from strategic alliances, and the evolution of communities. Theres a lot of jargon in that definition, but what it really comes down to is this: Social capital is all about networking (in a non-slimy way) and about giving without the expectation of return. Although its not tangible, social capital is very real and very powerful. Its also very valuable. That said, I dont see social capital discussed much on personal finance and financial independence blogs. I imagine thats because its hard to assign an actual dollar value to it. How do you assign a dollar value to helping somebody move? How do you quantify the savings when your neighbor mows your lawn for you all summer? Whats the price tag on growing flower, fruits, or vegetables, then giving them to your friends and family? In the world of personal finance, we tend to look at numbers first. Social capital doesnt work in that way. Social capital is about creating value and creating a positive impact among your social network, whether that value and network are small (like on a neighborhood level) or large (like volunteering time for a larger project). Social Capital in Real Life Social capital might make more sense (and seem less abstract) if we look at a real-life example. My husband was the one that really taught me about social capital. Jack and I came from drastically different backgrounds, and we did very different things for work. While I worked a full-time salary engineering job, he worked as a gig-style man for hire entrepreneur. When we first started dating, I noticed that he was often doing strange favors for people. He owned a truck so he would get calls to help everyone and their friends move. Ill never forget the time that he got a call from his best friend Robert asking if he could help Roberts co-worker move a washer and dryer. Sure enough, early on a Saturday morning Jack was off moving some womans washer and dryer to a temporary home. A week later, he got another call to move the washer and dryer into the womans new permanent home. I consider myself a very nice person, but I couldnt believe how much time, effort, and gas Jack spent moving the same washer and dryer to multiple locations for someone he didnt even know. But as a result, that random woman is now one of our very good friends, and Jack will be DJing her wedding this fall. Other great things have come from Jacks act of kindness. Robert hired Jack to manage the audio for some of the numerous music festivals that he puts on here in town. Amberly, (the random woman) helped support and promote a new DJ gig that Jack started in 2015. Shes one of his biggest supporters to date. What now seems like a super small gesture led to over a thousand dollars worth of income for us when we really needed it. Social Capital from the Garden Heres another example. I grow cut flowers for bouquets. When I was young, my dad didnt believe in purchasing cut flowers because they die quickly. It seemed like a waste of money to him, so we never had them in our house. While we were dating, Jack learned that I love cut flowers. Every couple of weeks, hed buy me a new bouquet so that Id almost always have beautiful cut flowers in my house. It was an incredibly special gesture since flowers were something that I would only purchase for myself on rare occasions. After we were married, our financial world hit the fan. After two job losses, our income fell by 80%. Naturally, there was no room in our budget for cut flowers. When things finally settled down and we bought a fixer-upper home, cut flowers still werent in the budget. I missed them, so I decided to grow my own. Being an engineer, I decided to conduct some tests to see which varieties were worth the cost. My first test for an investment of about $20 consisted of four different flowers, but only the cosmos and zinnias were successful. Although not every variety grew, I enjoyed tending the flowers and watching them grow. And, of course, it was awesome having fresh flowers in my house again. Plus, I had so many flowers that I made bouquets and gave a bunch away to friends.

Last year was the second year of my flower-growing experiment. I planted more seed varieties and added lily and dahlia bulbs to the mix. I had an explosion of flowers for five months out of the year. I was completely in love! I started giving flowers to more and more people: neighbors, friends, colleagues. At the time, I worked as a tour guide for a company here in Nashville. My tours required taking groups of people into very busy restaurants in the downtown area. Getting quick service of our food and drinks was critical to the success of my tours. I was so appreciative of the bartenders and servers that would help me and my tours that Id bring bouquets of my homegrown flowers to them on my Sundays off. I didnt realize it at the time, but we were all building social capital. When the restaurant folks helped me, I was grateful. When I gave them flowers, they were grateful. All of us were building a sort of invisible wealth that comes from a network of reciprocity. The Rewards of Social Capital Earlier this year, I started my own food tour company in Nashville. Its a scary thing launching out on your own! How do you build a business from scratch? Fortunately, the bartenders and servers that I gave flowers to have become my biggest cheerleaders. Theyve taken my tours, left glowing online reviews, and recommended me to the customers in their restaurants. Theyve put my card on the wall of honor reserved for the best companies in town.

This scary time in my life is a little less scary because of social capital. In the past, when I was performing the small act of kindness of delivering flowers, I wasnt expecting anything in return. I was just grateful for the help theyd given me already. I never imagined thered be any kind of financial gain. But in the end, there has been. Just because something cant be documented in our net worth doesnt mean that its without monetary value. Those flowers have been converted into real dollars today. More than that, theyve created traction for increased business in the future. When you own your own business, your reputation is everything. (Your reputation can make or break you in a community-centered city like Nashville.) When you go the extra mile, whether moving a washer and dryer for a stranger, or giving flowers for no special reason, you create a positive impact. You build social capital. While writing this article, Jack and I did the math. We calculate that the social capital weve fostered in Nashville has brought us over $10,000 of direct value to our lives in the past year. Thats huge for a household with an income of $65,000. (Plus, since the value doesnt come to us as dollars, theres no tax on it.) When you take a love of gardening (or writing or social media or whatever) and you spread your gifts to your neighborhood and community, your generosity will come back manyfold in ways that mean more than money. These seemingly small acts of kindness create social capital that can bring value to your life down the road. Someday when youre looking for a job, or trying to start a business, those first few tough months and years will be so much easier when you have your community behind you. Take some time to build social capital while building wealth, and watch how it improves your life. J.D.s note: Heres another way Christine has built social capital. In April, I visited Nashville to attend a blogging retreat. (Yes, really.) Christine invited me and my buddies to join her Nashville food tour. While that didnt pan out my colleagues were up late drinking the night before haha! she did take the time to share some of her favorite food with me while also extolling the virtues of her city (and its hockey team). It was a fun (and delicious) experience, one that I hear theyve shared with other friends. Social capital has been huge in my life. Seriously, I believe its been almost as valuable to me as monetary capital. And its just as valuable to Christine. https://www.getrichslowly.org/kindness-creates-social-capital/