#and for a day my phone didn't want to connect to the wifi (like the last time)

[hunsa-jars]

Hhh

I'm alive, hi

[sluttyminghao]

Seventeen x Phone Sex

95 line - 96 line - 97 line - 98+99 line

♡ word count: 1.1k ♡ genre: smut - 18+ only ♡ a/n: here is the 96 line version! i hope you guys enjoy! shoutout to @bf-wonu and my friends at @svthub again for helping with this!

Junhui: This man would be insanely giggly every single time you suggest phone sex or have any conversation that leads up to it. He’s going to not be anywhere close to dominant, and may, in fact, become a little more submissive just because he doesn't know what way the conversation will end up going. Jun is going to be very whiny and tell you what to do, but he’s going to be edging himself for god knows how long because he’s addicted to your voice. Every single time you moan or whine out when your fingers touch your sensitive body, it sends a lightning bolt of want and need through his body and only makes him speed up his own hand movements. “You sound so pretty like this, wish it was me that was getting those noises out of you instead though.” I think he’s also the type to have like…a pillow he uses to fuck himself into or a fleshlight of some kind because he just needs to have his cock enveloped in something and hear your voice whilst simultaneously fucking into a fleshlight or a pillow? It would immediately send him over the edge. When he’s feeling dominant, however, i think he would definitely take action in telling you what to do, but would never tease you because he’s holding on for dear life with his own orgasm. He knows what you want and when you need it, so would get you to the edge super quickly.

Soonyoung: He’s definitely very impulsive when it comes to phone sex. You could be at home doing some work and all of a sudden he’s texting you like crazy and calling you a hundred times, and when you finally answer he’s heavily breathing and fucking himself up into his hand. Even though you can’t see him, you know exactly what’s happening and ask him what he’s been thinking about, only for him to retort back with some of the filthiest images either of you could think of. “Was thinking about how I tied you up the other day and your body looked so perfect and ready for me…and then also was thinking about that one time i made you cum so much you passed out” He would definitely also be the type to do video calls as well, and as soon as you pick up you know you’re in trouble when you see how he’s angled his phone just perfectly so that you can see every inch of him, and it gets you going immediately. Soonyoung is very “no thoughts just need to cum” and would be spouting orders for you left and right while he jacks himself off like he’s insane. He’d be telling you to strip for him, get your tits out and play with yourself until you’re both cumming, but he makes you wait until he’s about to cum so you can cum together. Immediately afterwards, he would send you photo proof of how much he came just so you know what you’re in for when he gets home.

Wonwoo: If there’s one thing everyone can agree on with Wonwoo, it’s that his deep voice would instantly have you cumming. He is definitely on the more dominant side when it comes to phone sex, he loves being able to guide you through with a stern voice, letting your whimpers and moans hit his ear in just the right way that his cock twitches. When he’s in the mood, you can tell because his voice drops at least an octave and grows raspy, which only lights the lust fire in your belly and drives you crazy. He would spill the filthiest phrases, telling you how bad he wants you and every single position he wants you in, as well as how much he wants to fill you up with his cum. He’s also definitely the type to play mind games with you, tell you that you can cum and then say things like “oh did I say you could cum? I didn't mean to, oops, now i guess you’ll have to make it up to me” or “if you didn’t cover your fingers then you didn’t fuck yourself hard enough”, and also loves using those toys you can connect to over wifi where he can control the vibrations and movements of said toy. He would make you cum so much with the toys that you grow so sensitive and he only draws it out even further for you, making you so sensitive to the slightest touches and vibrations have you moaning and clenching. His raspy voice wouldn't help either, especially so when he tells you he wishes your hand or mouth was wrapped around his cock rather than his own hand and he’d cum a lot, it’s splayed all over his thighs and abdomen and then also is wishing that you would be the one to clean it up for him. You’re just his good little whore, after all.

Jihoon: With Jihoon, it’s very common to have sex over the phone given his constant desire to want to be in the studio. He would probably have a schedule where he calls you like once or twice a week later at night, probably when he’s at his most frustrated when he’s producing or writing, and just lets his frustrations flow in the form of mutual masturbation. He wouldn’t be overly dominant or submissive, but rather just goes with how he’s feeling and how frustrated he is. If he’s been struggling for a while, he would probably go a little more dominant, and if he’s doing alright, he’d be pretty neutral. With how often you guys have sex over the phone, he would pretty much know exactly what to do and when, really has it down to a pinpoint on how well he knows you, down to your breathing patterns when you’re getting close to your orgasm. He would also be pretty easy to come undone as well, given that you can push his buttons hard enough. If he’s frustrated, you want to get him off in as little time as possible so that he can focus again. If he’s chill, then you can drag it out and edge him for a while until he finally snaps and switches to dominance. I think he’s not one to talk dirty often, and would only use it on the odd occasion where he’s feeling more dominant than normal. He’d be very careful with his wording but manages to speak fluently in dirty talk when he’s in the mood, calling you his good little slut and whore and getting you over the edge and getting you moaning which in turn, gets him to cum all over his thighs.

[osovereign]

out. hello this is kind of embarrassing to say, but this past week has been the worst of my fucking life. i've gotten robbed fired and in a car accident all within less than two weeks and i'm literally suffering so bad. i was already running on thin ice at my current place of employment, but everything kind of took a turn when i pulled a no call, no-show on friday because i was in a car accident and my phone had died and i was at the hospital and i had head pain, and they wanted to make sure that i did not have a concussion. i gave my job the documentation of these events, and then today i had a lady come to my job first and get me because she thought i was somebody else. mind you, i was in the hospital and i did not come to work on this past friday, but she was adamant that i was her server and that i charged her card $200 when, again, i was in the hospital. i was not at work. my manager on duty wasn't trying to fucking help me, so i yelled at her in front of everybody to get the fuck out and learn who the fuck she was talking to amongst other things because that was unacceptable my boss told me he would be doing an investigation, which i didn't understand because i physically was not at work. there's nothing to investigate. there is no way i could've charged this lady's card if i'm not at work. so we got into it about multiple things while i was still at work, and after i left, a couple hours later over the phone so she pretty much terminated me, which it's fine, but that was my primary source of income so i'm kind of screwed.

then i got robbed at gunpoint last week, and while i am physically OK, i had like all of my cash tips from the past week in my wallet, so i lost almost $400 of bill money that i can't get back because even though i filed a police report, like, the cops told me there's no way to get my money back as there's no way to track cash. my only priority at this point is just keeping my phone on because my phone is how i connect to a wifi hotspot to do stuff for university / tumblr. i know i haven't been the most active because i have a very demanding work and school schedule, but one less job means i'll have more time to write hopefully with you all. literally anything helps, even just reblogging this. i feel very bad putting all of this out there, but i'm literally at my wits end of bad event after bad event after bad event. i also apologize to the grammar for this. i'm doing voice-to-text because it's just easier for me right now. i'm thankful that i live at home and my landlord is my mother so i don't have rent to worry about, but pretty much all my other expenses and my day-to-day life do follow me besides rent. i know for that, i am a lot more privileged than other people and while i do have some savings, it's going to pretty much be used to getting me from the doctor and physical therapy appointments because i've already started legal action against the person that hit me and a hit and run, mind you.

edit: blurring license plate

[aangelinakii]

INNOCENT MEN DON'T ACT LIKE THIS.

— is it as bad as it seems?

summary : you're dating bruce wayne and it's amazing. you're used to him disappearing every other week, but explaining it's to do with work, billionaire things. this time, he's gone a bit too long, and you're prepared for the worst to come out.

note : SO SORRY THIS REQUEST TOOK SO LONG !!!! HOPE YOU ENJOY IT NONETHELESS !!!!

when you first began dating bruce wayne — you, a normal civilian — you were highly aware of the consequences, and all the things you'd have to get used to: weekends without him, for he's gone to visit the prime minister of england; some weeks without a call, because he's neck-deep in paperwork.

although not ideal, after having got to know the man, you were okay with the distance sometimes, if it meant you could still keep your connection.

it was never more than a month that you didn't see him, didn't text, didn't talk, but recently it's been coming close.

dating a billionaire, a man as famous as him, you didn't want to be too much, but as soon as it had hit two weeks and no call? every morning, good morning bruce, have a good day 🩷. each night, good night bruce, sweet dreams 🩷.

still, no response.

is he seeing someone else? has he run away and eloped someone else? is he even alive?

you didn't want to even think.

chest heavy with worry, as it had been for the past two weeks, you stood before your stove, snapping a load of rigid spaghetti in half so it would fit in a pot of boiling water on the hob. spagbol for a week. you couldn't eat anything else, didn't have the energy for anything else; you were too busy worrying, worrying for the worst.

friends you'd confided in told you it was fine, he's a billionaire, he's probably in shanghai dining with the richest! sure, he could be. but shanghai has wifi, right? bruce would have told you — something, anything.

on the dining table behind you, your phone vibrated, springing to life, the ringtone surprising you as it sung through the kitchen, and you stepped away from the stove.

bruce :) is calling...

after — what, a month? — he finally decides to call? this better be good.

urging every bone in your body to be mad, but the veins deepest beneath your flesh just relieved, you picked up the cell and tapped the green circle, putting the call through.

at first you didn't speak, lips pressed together, jaw tight. he was the one who hadn't called, hadn't texted back. normally, you were understanding, but this was too much.

from the other end of the line, you couldn't hear anything. a month, and he'd butt-dialed you? typical.

"(name)?" bruce finally spoke, voice slightly crackled from your horrendous apartment internet connection. every house has its flaws.

through stiff teeth, you responded, an arm crossing over your chest. "that's my name."

a sigh came from bruce's end. relief? "i can't make it up to you, can i? i just... i'm so sorry, i—"

"where were you?" when you spoke this time, your voice wasn't cold and frigid. instead, it had thawed with care, your eyebrows upturning worriedly. "bruce i have been worried sick. you weren't... with someone, were you?"

something that sounded like a breathy laugh came from the other line, but it could have just been another sigh. you're not sure. "god, no, (name)." he sighed again, and you could picture him screwing his eyes shut and bringing a pair of fingers to pinch at the bridge of his nose tiredly. "no, i've just been..."

bruce's end went silent, and your heart began to pump heavy in your chest, immediately worried that you'd lost him again just as soon as you'd got him back.

"can i come see you? i need to explain this."

"please."

and that's how you found yourself sat at your dining table opposite bruce wayne half an hour later.

when you'd answered the door to him, you didn't envelope him in a hug as you usually did, and, judging by the way bruce didn't lean into you like clockwork, he was expecting it to be like that. you'd stepped out the way, allowing him inside, gaze stoney as you glared at him. he was like a puppy stuck with the cone; ashamed, nervous.

you didn't offer him any dinner, either, not when he was the reason you'd been eating spaghetti bolognese each night. not that he needed to know.

jaw tense, the prongs of your fork scraped against the bottom of your plate as you twirled it in the middle of your dish, red noodles entwining.

after too many beats of silence having passed, bruce finally cleared his throat and looked across the table at you uneasily. it was different seeing bruce like this, not entirely comfortable in your presence. for this, he'd had to have done something bad.

innocent men don't act like this.

"so, i haven't been completely honest," he began, and you were quick to give your input.

"no, you haven't." and you shovelled the spaghetti into your mouth, chewing angrily, allowing your jaw to shake off its tension.

bruce's eyes lingered on you for a moment, in a way you couldn't decipher. it's not like you were making it easy for him to apologise; in fact, it felt like you were making him work for your forgiveness.

from your position, that felt completely fair.

"well, i suppose i should let you know i have been away in metropolis."

metropolis, and he couldn't call? sounds like bullshit. but still, you decided to hear him out.

"i could tell you i was doing business there, but i was not. not exactly." his eye contact with you strained, and you found him looking down at the table, where his hands had been clasped. looking at them properly now, you could see his knuckles were nursing the end stages of a bruise, and a few cuts. what was he, a street fighter?

with an unintended clatter, you tossed your fork back against the bowl, causing the man opposite you to flinch as he looked back up in surprise.

"thanks for the backstory, bruce, but can you just get to it?"

you were more forceful than you were meaning to be, and you could tell that bruce was taken aback, by the way his lips parted and dark eyebrows rose slightly, grasp on his own fingers slackening.

after a nod of consideration, bruce's eyes broke from yours and he gave an uncomfortable cough. "yes, well... i understand your reaction. it's just difficult to say."

if he hadn't cheated on you, what else could be so difficult to say?

business. he mentioned business.

eyebrows furrowed, you continued, voice lighter. "are you in the mob, or something?" despite trying to sound understanding, you couldn't help the tone of disapprovement marking your words.

part of you was relieved to see the corners of bruce's angular lips curl up into a soft, boyish smile, and he chuckled and shook his head.

"no," he hummed, and you found his smile impossible to stay mad at. still, you maintained the façade. "any of these things would be easier to admit to than this."

despite his smile and the easiness of his words, the uncertainty was difficult to miss.

face finally softening, you reached out to place a hand on his, and bruce didn't hesitate in taking your fingers in his, melting into your touch already. it seemed like he really had missed you.

voice quiet, now actually understanding, you spoke again. "bruce, i'm sorry for snapping. you can tell me anything. you know i wouldn't judge you."

when his eyes met yours, his lids creased into crescents, content just by your words. "except if i was in the mob."

an involuntary laugh came from your lips, and you nodded affectionately. "yes, except for that."

bruce relished in your warmth, your smile, your laugh, for just a few moments more, before clearing his throat once again and shifting in his seat.

"when i tell you these words, they cannot leave this room. do you understand?" his sudden seriousness had you curious; you knew this was imperative, and so you nodded.

his eyelids softly flipped closed, and he let out a deep breath.

"the reason i was in metropolis is because there was a lead that lex luthor was working with a corporation called cadmus. it's over now, i don't want to relive it, but just know that the two of those do not mix well together."

you wanted to understand, wanted to nod, wanted to pull him in, wanted to hold him tight, wanted to never let go again. but you didn't, you didn't understand.

from the way you shook your head slightly, and rose your shoulders in a soft shrug, bruce knew he had to reveal more. he was purposely being short, trying to bide his own time.

his eyes fell to your hand in his. "i had to work with the justice league to stop him."

the corners of your lips curled. "what, so you met batman and stuff? that's cool. have you met them before?"

"that's the thing."

and your head tilted, trying to see his story from a new perspective, eyes narrowed. you leaned forward again, just a little bit closer if you could.

"i didn't meet batman, because i already know him." his pale eyes lifted to meet yours, stomach twisting at the way your eyebrows creased. "i am him."

letting out a breath you didn't realise you were holding, your grasp on his hands slackened, and you leaned back in your chair, lips remaining apart.

"you... what?"

but bruce didn't repeat it, just stared on, hoping you would understand, hoping you wouldn't see him differently.

for a few beats, you just watched him, and he watched you watch him, trying to gulp down his anxiety, adam's apple bobbing nervously in his throat.

all anxiety dissipated as he watched you stand from your chair, and step around to his end of the table, wrapping your arms around his frame.

a shaky breath flowed through his nostrils, and one of his hands came up to clutch the forearm over his chest, thumb stroking it softly.

he was lucky. perhaps not completely innocent, but lucky to have someone so understanding.

[pedroschka]

not my type

Joseph Quinn x reader

words: 1.9k fluff

Summary: one sided feelings can destroy friendships, so you and Joe make it very clear that you both are not each other's type, pinky promise clear

A/n: @ghostinthebackofyourhead grab your favorite bread and (hopefully) enjoy because I'm your secret Santa!! thanks to @quinnyfairy for organising this <3

Mid laugh, brown eyes crinkling and his head thrown back, that's the blurry image of your best friend in front of you for the last two minutes.

"Joe as much I love to see your little potato head but your screen is frozen."

" ugh, shit! The bloody wifi connection at my parents' is the worst. Wait a second!" his voice on the other end is a bit muffled as he seems to be moving around, trying to fix it.

It was one day after Christmas and you and Joe are trying to have your own little celebration via video call while you both are at your family's and didn't want to wait till you eventually see each other in person again, unpredictable with Joe's busy schedule nowadays anyway. So you both had sent each other's presents via post and now wanted to unpack them together.

So now you sit on your bed in your old bedroom, presents scattered around you and your tablet in front of you with the frozen image of your laughing friend.

" OK, what about now?" Joe's face finally in time again and him waving at the camera

" yes, now get started I already tried peaking but you really are serious about your sticky tape"

" and see how it came in handy" his cocky little smile makes you roll your eyes while grabbing the first present on your left which already has a bit of wrapping paper ripped out, but sticky tape all around it preventing you from making out what it could be.

At the end, you both sit in a colorful mass out of wrapping paper, presents sorted in a little pile beside you, and now updating each other on the newest family tea.

" no! I swear my aunt was full-on gushing about how Eddie looked like her ex-boyfriend's when she was a teen and started showing pictures of you as Eddie all around the dining table, it was soo uncomfortable!" you comically shuddered and Joe's snickering like a little kid at your theatrics.

As comfortable and at ease you were now around him was the complete opposite when you first met each other a year ago.

You sat on your friend's couch, phone in hand, and playing some stupid game, that only seems to come to use in social situations out of ultimate boredom, but trying to look very busy for the people around you. Questioning why your friend even thought it was a good idea to invite you to one of her parties, celebrating whatever with a bunch of her actor friends, when you were the epitome of socially awkward and just overall really bad at meeting new people.

You tried, you really tried to be a part of some conversations, standing in a group full of, on first sight, cliché book extroverts, all of them with interesting lives and using big words talking about different plays, with you just standing there and fake laughing at their jokes you didn't understand and attempting to stop comparing yourself with them. Which didn't work so after a few exhausting hours in which you've been ignored or got an awkward "was nice meeting you" after you ranted too much about a topic you finally could understand you gave up. Your social battery drained and you loathing in self-pity.

Loud cheers and greetings make you look up from your phone, great even more people. The new guest is a very ordinary-looking guy, plain light washed baggy jeans hanging low on his hips, a plain white shirt, sneakers. Not bad on the eye with tousled brown curls as well as brown eyes but not really your type.

Still he held an aura around him that forced you to keep your attention on him, apparently the people around him felt the same effect as they were hanging on every word that was coming out of his mouth. Or is he... Famous around here?! And you are just the only one who has absolutely no idea who he is?

But you're already admiring him for a different reason, Looking so awkward but at the same time so charmingly charismatic and being able to find the right words and topic for each person. You couldn't help to be slightly jealous.

Forced to look down again as he looked across the room and dangerously close in your direction you continued your game, only looking up again as you felt the couch dip as someone sat themselves beside you, and you hastily tried to turn your phone away to not get caught.

"well, that looks fun" shit.

Unknown ordinary looking /maybe famous guy is smiling at you and nodding at your phone

"uggh, kinda" and your brain is letting you down again.

But he doesn't seem bothered by your brain-dead state and tried again to engage you in a conversation, ending up with him having your phone and you, hanging half over his shoulder, explaining to him how to play the game.

"oh, I'm Joe by the way!"

You met Joe a few times after that again and eventually exchanged numbers which resulted in a weird and chaotic friendship. With his ability to make you feel so comfortable around him and just being yourself, he has to endure your ranting over the most ridiculous topics or oversharing the most private things, but it doesn't seem to bother him, on the contrary, he seems to even encourage your weirdness and just adapt to it.

Because of this connection between you both, you lost count of how many times people thought you both were dating or how many times your friends and family tried to play matchmaker, so a pinky promise between you and joe was made that you both are on the same page, that you are not each other's type, both of you already familiar with how one-sided feelings can destroy a friendship, so better making sure at the beginning right?

It was now new years eve and like you planned with Joe in your last call you both were gonna drive over to a friend's house who's throwing a party to celebrate it together, in person this time.

Joe's gonna be at your place to pick you up in nearly 20 minutes and you're still sitting in front of your wardrobe in only your bathrobe and still wet hair, nibbling nervously on your fingernails and looking over all your clothes, eyes wide with panic debating what you should wear to look presentable for him.

Which is absolutely ridiculous because Joe has already seen you in your absolute worst states, coming over to you with pimple cream all over your face, greasy hair, and sloppy oversized shirts with holes and stains you couldn't even explain.

But you haven't seen each other for nearly a month now, well except for the few video calls but that's just different, and now you are a nervous mess, suddenly worried about your appearance and you hate it.

The buzzing of your doorbell makes you jump slightly, spraying the last bit of hairspray on your head and turning the music off, which you needed to hype yourself up, and speedwalking to the door, taking a deep breath before opening it.

Joe's standing in front of you in black slacks and a slightly striped white shirt, the last button undone and a necklace peeking out of it, and you feel your heartbeat throbbing in your ears.

With a happy call of your name, he went straight into a hug and you suddenly felt distracted by the smell of his perfume, still the same one you smelt a thousand times but different regardless, Like his arms around you, squeezing you firmly into him, it's like your sensory perception is on high alert and suddenly everything feels more intense.

The car ride to the party is awkward to say at least, your nerves preventing you from coming up with anything other than occasionally humming or nodding as an answer, and after a few more tries from Joe he gave up, thinking maybe you're just nervous again because of all the people that are gonna be there and needed a few more minutes for yourself, so the car becomes silent and you hate it because that was your least concern right now, you felt like a bad friend, not seeing each other for a month and you can't even talk to him because this bloody nervous feeling just won't go away. So you both just stare at the road in front of you.

It's loud and full and lights flickering everywhere and you're so overwhelmed and tense that the weird feeling is forgotten for a moment and you're clinging to Joe, following him around like a lost puppy. Him ordering drinks for you both and chatting with people, trying to include you, taking you with him for smoke breaks, the only time when you both are separated is when one of you has to go to the toilet.

A few minutes before midnight a group of people had gathered on the balcony, with them you and Joe, shouting the countdown to the new year and watching fireworks exploding and illuminating the night sky.

" happy new year!" you screamed in each other's faces and laughed as you tackle each other in a big hug. People around you doing the same or walking around and giving the traditional New Year kiss.

Observing this you both looked at each other and shrugged while giggling, both slightly tipsy, and pecked each other on the lips. Physical contact wasn't unfamiliar to you, both being touchy when around people you feel comfortable enough, small kisses when saying goodbye, or cuddling together on your small sofa when watching some movies weren't new either. What was new was the feeling you felt as your lips met his.

As you separated you looked into each other's eyes, you always thought that his eyes were beautiful, even told him so, but you never felt such strong emotions when looking into them, unable to hold eye contact your gaze trailed to his lips, so full and soft looking and you never felt such a strong urge either to be near them. Subconscious you both lean in again and your lips met again but this time for a real kiss.

Warm flooded your body and you can't think of anything else other than the feeling of his lips against yours. His hands found the back of your neck to bring you even closer and you copied him, trailing your fingers through his curls, both of you starving for each other's presence and hungry for more, captivated and lost in your own little world.

Until a person stumbles into you and you remember again where you are.

Both of you catching your breath as you separated again, waking up from the trance-like state, emotional chaos whirling up in you again because you just made out with your best friend, with which you made a silly pinky promise and made very clear to not be each other's type to save this friendship but now you experienced the best kiss you ever had and when you look at his face now he is so beautiful and you can't help to want to kiss those lips again but you were also so overwhelmed because what the fuck does this all mean now.

Luckily Joe answers your questions as he leans in again for a third kiss, shorter but still as breathtaking.

" I know we promised to be not each other's type but do you wanna go on a date with me?" he asked against your lips and you both giggled as you nodded 'yes' before going into another kiss.

(reblogs and comments are very appreciated additional to your likes)

[evenshadow]

Vultures \\ a tropical gothic horror

Content Warnings: Death, Bugs, Blood

Excerpt below the cut.

Desperate to be anywhere but home, recently disgraced doctor Emily Fayne arrives at the wifi-free tropical wellness resort of Monte Descanso, a renovated Spanish fortress on its own private island. Amenities include sandy beaches, guided spelunking tours, special health juices, and swarms of vulture bees prowling the jungle in search of rotting flesh.

From the first night Emily can tell that something isn’t right. She’s seeing things that can’t be there, some of the other guests are acting strange, and their signature wellness drink, the elixir, that makes her feel too good to believe. Still, it’s easy to put it all down to jet lag and stress when staying means getting to go late-night skinny dipping with the resort’s hot yoga instructor, Jessa.

When Jessa goes missing a few days later, Emily must team up with eccentric treasure-hunting divorcee Phillipa to discover what happened. They begin to suspect that Jessa’s disappearance is connected to the disappearance of sailors on the island in the 1700’s, and that the cheerful resort owner, Harmony, knows more than she’s letting on.

Excerpt

Someone was knocking at the door and she should answer it. 

She got up at the third knock, hoping it would be Philippa with some of her smuggled contraband. She'd have to ask her to get her source to bring in bread and chocolate next time- the booze just wasn't cutting it. Emily threw a fuzzy robe overtop of her old oversized t-shirt, and looked through the peephole. 

Jessa was standing there, wearing the purple sportsbra and leggings she had been this morning at yoga and a wide, unflinching smile. 

Emily's hand went to the deadbolt immediately to let her in, but something stopped her. Before they'd gone into the cave, maybe she could have written it off, but she was tired of telling herself that her eyes and her ears and her whole body was lying to her. Something was wrong. 

She hesitated at the chain. 

The knock came again. 

"Hey, it's me! Jessa! Come on out, there's something I want to show you."

Her voice sounded hollow, like it was coming from far away. She pulled back from the door and looked through the peephole again, only to jerk backwards. Jessa’s eye was pressed right up against the peephole, making it look wide and distorted like a whale's. 

Whatever Jessa wanted to show her, Emily didn't want to see it. 

She took a couple of steps back from the door, trying to process while her mind was in a screaming panic, hide-under-the-covers mode. 

Jessa knocked again. "Come on, I know you're in there. You can't be tired yet. You have to come see this!"

There was no way she could actually see inside the peephole, right? Jessa couldn't see her inching backwards, going towards the phone. For all Jessa knew, she was downstairs having a midnight snack or holed up in some corner with Phillipa trading tall tales. 

Emily didn't know what she would say if she picked up the phone and got through to reception. ‘Help, my friend isn't my friend and she wants me to come outside?’ That seemed useless. Unless...

The Jessa at the door knocked louder. "Emily! Emily? Emily!"

Emily picked up the phone, and dialed 0 for reception. 

Sylvie's cheery voice was on the other end of the line. "Good evening, Emily. What can I do for you?"

She knocked again. Once, twice. It grew into a constant sound, her knuckles on the door without pause. 

Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap.

"You guys have land lines, in your rooms, right?" Emily whispered into the receiver. They must have phones somehow. This wasn't a prison or a reality show where people had to be expected to stand in line and wait to talk to their mothers. "Can you connect me to Jessa? It's important. I know you're probably not supposed to do that but..."

The tapping was still going. She- it- whatever - was still there, just outside. 

"I mean, we’re not supposed to…”

“Please. You can take away my phone privileges if I abuse it. It’s urgent.”

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. “Fine, but just for you. It’s against policy. Is there something wrong?"

Yes. Yes yes yes. 

"No." Emily knew she should have elaborated, but she couldn’t think up a good enough excuse while her mind was seizing in panic.

"Okay. Hold for a moment."

Some calming flute music with ocean sound effects started playing and Emily had never hated the flute so much in her life.It felt like an age, but was only thirty seconds or so, before she heard another voice on the end of the line.

"Hello?"

It was Jessa's voice, as far as she could remember. Some part of her brain was fracturing trying to reconcile the idea that she was hearing Jessa's voice from two places at once. 

Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap.

"Are you somehow outside my door right now?"

"No."

[sagescented]

Honestly, though, that scam kind of has similar vibes to the one where someone tried calling me pretending to be my local County Jail, and claiming to have an unspecified family member of mine in custody ... When none of my family members were ever given my new phone number because I've been definitively No Contact with them since 2021 (after flip-flopping between NC / LC since 2016) 🤣

And even if that weren't true, I famously laughed in a Car Dealership's face when my Sister put me down as a reference for a new car, and they called asking if I thought she could be trusted; my response was a barking laugh and an "absolutely the fuck not, ma'am. Good luck and godspeed with that one" before hanging up ... Like ... That's how much I wouldn't care even if you did have one of my family members and we were still speaking. Because my family is trash; there's a reason we're not speaking anymore.

But also, I just ... Didn't even have a phone between 2016 and 2023? I mean, I had a phone. But I didn't have any kind of a phone plan for it. I exclusively used WiFi and a VOIP caller the whole time, because I was so sick that I never left the house. And when you never leave the house, and you always have WiFi connectivity ... Why spend $35 to $45 a month for a phone plan? There's no point, so I didn't bother with it for years. And to this day I still kind of forget I have a phone with a phone plan now because of it (in case you want to know why I'm so bad at returning your calls or texts) 🤣🙏

I'm always just going to be a bad mark for Scams like these. I'm too boring and socially unhinged for them; I don't follow the script in any way they expect. And honestly, that's not a bad thing, ha!

[piglinmyfeet]

Personally, I'd like to admit that I was not having a good time on Friday at the time of Joel's hermitcraft announcement

See, Friday is my second longest college day of the week (9:15-16:00) but like almost 4 hours of that is empty space so whatever

However, I generally cannot use Tumblr or anything while I'm there because my phone is shit and kills itself whenever I try to connect to that places WiFi, and also that place is on a hill so the signal is really shit (but literally everything's on a hill in this shitscape of a city) so it's pretty hard to use mobile data

So basically I was going back and forth between reading my book and testing my mobile data to get on Tumblr

And then it does work, and I look on Joel's tag and I see people talking about him being on hermitcraft but the images won't load because the signal is so bad and I have to wait another like 3 hours before I can get somewhere with a good signal and see what's going on

(for the record, I could've just walked down the hill where the signal was better, but I took my coat that day and it was too sunny to wear but it's also heavy and annoying to carry and also I'd already been to town and come back and I was sweaty and I didn't want to)

(also this is UK college which is 16-18yo, not America, I am an A-level student)

[myriadium]

Hi hello I am obsessed with your Bakugan AU omg. Love the new spins you’ve taken on the characters, grounding them more in reality! :D (and the wide diversity in gender identities and orientation is wonderful.) It’s also super interesting to see them aged up so they have jobs/higher education to be worrying about and such, it adds an interesting element imo.

Could we hear more about Alice? What’s her life like outside of Bakugan - did she work with Mikhail or have a job/education of her own? Does her whole deal with Masquerade differ at all to canon? (I always hated the way they just kind of write him off soon after the reveal instead of exploring how Alice deals with it more. One episode is not enough to fix the trauma, lmao, c’mon guys.)

YOOO THANK YOU SO MUCH I'm so happy you like it!!!!! These characters basically grew up with me so I love projecting aspects of my life onto them!

I'm also so glad you asked about Alice cus the show did her dirty in both the first and subsequent seasons. To be revealed as such a menacing threat and one of the big bads, only to be demoted to a side character and then a picture on a screen is simply insulting for the best character ever in Bakugan.

So basically my Alice grew up with her grandfather, who's field of physics requires him to study in remote and distant areas with no phones, no wifi, no outside signals (I think some places that communicate with satellites out in space are built in the middle of bumfuck nowhere because you really can't have electronic interference). As such, Alice grew up extremely sheltered, passing her days by playing with imaginary friends and reading books (favorite was alice in wonderland, wouldn't you know it).

In Russia, she didn't get a job nor did she go to university; she was a quick study and with the books (and harassing Mikhail) she kind of became a physics prodigy. She was a homebody with anxiety and agoraphobia, only comfortable with the familiar and the safety of her bed. That is, until Mikhail disappears. Somehow she finds the courage to leave her home and go to a whole new country to find where he ended up. She sees and meets more people than she ever thought possible, and grows to like it.

She gets a job at Runo's family's cafe, where she meets all sorts of people, and gets introduced to the Brawlers. I'd like to think that she takes a couple uni classes before Vestroia destroys the fabric of reality. Between S1 and S2 she actually goes to school and speedruns getting a PhD. When we see her after a timeskip she has short hair and is going into a program for dimensional physics (not yet a real program). She works in tandem with Marucho and Mikhail to monitor and maintain the dimensional rifts required to sustain Bakugan's existence in their universe.

As for her connection with Masq I like the idea that Masq was the manifestation of her negative emotions (Silent Core n allat). In this case, her being so drawn to the battlefield clashes with her belief that the game is dangerous; it's the cause of her grandfathers disappearance after all. Her general shyness and fear of the unknown prevents her from reaching her true potential. The Silent Core separates her desires from the ones she embraces and the ones she wants to reject. Enter Masqerade, the embodiment of her desire to battle! Stripped of everything except bloodlust, this form answers to the Silent Core and fucking wrecks the leaderboards because guess what, Alice is actually a very good brawler!

While Masq is fucking shit up, Alice is left in the dark. Her different aspects remember different things, have different abilities, but are fundamentally the same person. As the leaderboards settle and people start losing their Bakugan, Alice's fear of battling increases until Masq is nigh unstoppable. It's until a little scuffle with Exedra where his image flickers...just a little bit...to reveal a very scared woman...

Anyway basically Alice has to embrace her desire to kick ass and becomes one with Masq. Sounds corny and probably is but you can have her accept this part of herself slowly, like picking up battling, which weakens the Silent Core's hold on her, until the final fight where Masq collapses afterwards to reveal that it was her all along! Hydronoid recognizes her as his true master and a new player - Alice Gehabich replaces Masquerade as the number one player! She's still pretty shy (I don't like how people treat introversion as something they need a character arc to get over, some people are just like that smh) so her media appearances are few and far between. However, you can reliably catch her on the battlefield maintaining her number one spot.

Also in New Vestroia Alice replaces Marucho because I cannot fathom for the life of me why he was taken on the trip of a lifetime while my girl, who used to be the NUMBER ONE PLAYER IN THE WORLD, MIGHT I ADD, stays inside the house and babysits some alien.

[daydreamgoddess14]

Life After Richmond pt. 5

MASTERLIST

A Jason Sudeikis multi-chapter RPF w/a reader insert OFC. No use of y/n l/n.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5 - Final Chapter

Mexico was hot. Laura had found a gorgeous hotel right on the beach with views and tequila to die for. She’d diligently kept her Instagram followers up to date, which also included Beth and Brett. She’d posted a handful of pictures of their first couple of days - a selfie of the two of them with margaritas in hand, Callie on a sun lounger with her head in a book, the view from their room… On their last full day they'd spent the morning on the beach, Callie in the water and Laura in the sun. As Callie walked back up the beach to their spot, Laura snapped a photo, and wolf whistled.

"Wooo, look at you. Holy crap babe you look great - look at that?!" She held the photo up to Callie to approve. "Raquel Welch eat your fucking heart out." She posted it straight away with exactly that caption, alongside a few more she'd taken in the latter half of the week. Without her phone, Callie had no idea what Laura had actually posted throughout the week, but she trusted her regardless. Saying goodbye with one final cocktail, they made their way to the airport in a cab. Callie retrieved her phone from the depths of her bag and brought it to life. She'd loved her disconnected week, but she wanted to find out how the final days had gone on Ted and how Beth had been. While they got coffee, Callie let the airport WiFi bring her phone into the present day. There were only really her favourite 3 people to catch up with. A string of messages from Beth, usually off the back of seeing Laura's photos, a couple off Brett, and just the one from Jason. She replied in the order she'd seen them, Beth first, and then Brett. She opened the message from Jason, short and to the point, 

'Fucking hell babe, are you trying to kill me?'

She frowned, and replied first before opening her social media. 

'What's up? Just catching up. I have no idea what's going on?'

As Instagram opened up, the algorithm brought her most popular followed accounts to the top with the content she'd missed. Greeting her at the very top of the timeline was her own bikini picture. She scrolled through the others Laura had posted, liked them, and commented on them. She showed Laura Jason's message while they waited to board.

"You idiot, he's seen your hot bikini pic - isn't it obvious?" Callie hadn't considered that. She didn't think he had Instagram, but then again she also thought he didn't have Twitter so her track record was not great. 

"Oh wow, you think?" Laura nodded emphatically. 

"For sure. Message him again." Callie brought up their message chain and looked expectantly at Laura. 

"And say what maestro?"

"You're the writer." Laura snorted. Callie thought for a while. 

'Ah. All caught up now. My back burned that day, should have put more sunscreen on.'

'You're funny. You should probably bump Laura from the next trip if she's not going to help you with sunscreen.'

'I think I will. Let me know if you can think of a suitable replacement.' 

She took a quick selfie of the two of them, still wearing sun hats and glasses, and sent it off with her reply.

'Boarding for home now, will call later or tomorrow. No idea when I'm supposed to land. Hope you haven't missed me too much.'

'Laura's Instagram has been a lifeline.'

She shook her head and switched her phone back off. 

New York was significantly cooler than Mexico. After nearly 3 weeks away, Callie spent the morning doing laundry, catching up on missed emails and refilling her fridge. She joined the scheduled call with Brett and Jason, they'd all missed calls from each other over the previous two days and hadn't been able to properly catch up. 

"Look at those freckles!" Brett laughed as soon as Callie’s video connected. 

"It's the sun! I haven't seen it for so long." She grinned. "How was it finishing Ted?'

"Awful, I think I'm still dehydrated from all the tears. And not seeing him every day is worse than I expected." Brett pointed as Jason's video joined the call. 

"You're not still crying are you? I'll see you tomorrow, you can have another hug." Jason offered, "Hey Callie, good trip?"

"Really good. I think I've missed my calling as a tequila aficionado."

"It's good to have you back. Not that we did much work while you were gone."

They spent a good couple of hours catching up before Brett had to leave for another meeting while Callie and Jason stayed in the call. 

"How's LA?"

"Not bad, I prefer Brooklyn but the kids are here so that makes it better. You catching up with your New York guy now you're back?"

"Nope." Callie popped the 'p'. "I broke it off before I left for Mexico. He wasn't surprised, it's not like we were anything serious, he'd still been seeing other people so… there's that. I just didn't want to disappear completely without saying so."

"I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"Are you?" Callie asked outright. 

"No.” He admitted truthfully, “I'm sorry you didn't find what you were looking for."

"Hmm. I don't think I knew what I was looking for." They fell into silence for a minute. "I need to head off actually."

"Another date lined up already?"

"Only with Laura. I'm giving her my abstract for the next book. Not the one I'm writing now, the next one after that."

"Wow, that's planning ahead."

"It's just an idea for now, we'll see how it goes." 

"I can't wait to hear about it. I have to go too, I'm getting the kids from school."

"Speak to you soon?"

"Of course. Nice to have you back."

Callie fell quickly back into her usual work rhythm, dividing her time between her part written book, the plans for the next one, and the work on the show. She and Jason had resumed their back and forth calls and messages, with time difference having a much lesser impact. With only a week or so before he and Brett were due back from LA, Callie was working flat out. She picked up her phone as it rang and propped it against her tea mug so she could continue typing. 

"Hey, you busy?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Apple Dan wanted to confirm our next meeting. Is two weeks today OK for you?"

"I don't know if two minutes from now is good for me to be honest." Callie snapped. "Fuck, I'm sorry. I'm just stressing with this deadline on the first draft chapters for the book. I've got no fucking hot water in the apartment, the landlord has no idea when it'll be fixed so I'm having to go the the gym every day, which is taking time I don't fucking have right now and it’s absolutely disgusting, I swear people are fucking animals-"

"Hey, hey woah, stop. It's OK. Go to my place - my neighbour with the green door has a spare key. I'll call her now and let her know you're coming. Stay there as long as you need to. Just pick a room, my housekeeper was there earlier in the week to check it over so make yourself at home." Callie fumbled to pick up the phone. 

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. I'm not back for another…four days? Five days, I think. If your place isn't sorted by then, you can just stay at mine for longer and I'll stay out of your way while you're on Laura's time."

"Oh god, thank you so much. You're a fucking hero."

"It's really nothing."

"No, it's everything, it's perfect. I owe you big time."

"Get some stuff packed, I'll call my neighbour now."

"Thanks babe, love ya."  Callie hung up the phone and immediately dropped it. Fuck. She grabbed it back up and called Laura without a second thought. 

"Hiii! You ok?"

"Noooo. I just told Jason I loved him."

"Sorry, what?"

"He told me to go to his apartment and stay there cos I was so stressed over the hot water thing and then I went to hang up and it just fell out of my mouth like I was saying bye to you, or Beth. It was just completely…"

"Natural. Because you do love him, he's literally your best friend who did something really nice for you, and of course it was your automatic and natural response. Don't overthink it, he probably didn't even notice." Callie wasn't so sure about that, but she hummed and conceded with Laura before putting some things in a bag. She took an Uber with her stuff the few blocks to Jason's and knocked at the house next door. She vaguely explored the house without being too intrusive, trying to find the guest bedroom. She closed the doors on the kids' rooms so she didn't disturb anything in them, and found the guest room right across the hall from Jason's. She hovered in the hallway between the two doors for a second, eyeing up the bigger bed, but common sense won out and she dropped her bag in the spare room. It was like pressing a big magic button. 

Removing the underlying stress of her apartment issues suddenly unlocked Callie’s productivity. She sat at the kitchen island that she had last shared with Brett and Jason and she drafted outlines for the next book, edited and re-edited her first draft chapters of the new book, and worked hard on tying up the loose plot points that she’d been working on for the show. For three full days she sat from 8am til 6pm and worked, she took an hour each in the morning and afternoon to go for a walk around Jason’s neighbourhood, took some bakery cupcakes to his neighbour to thank them for arranging to let her in, and filled his fridge. Each evening, she sat with a glass of wine and picked a movie from his outrageous collection. By the fourth day, she started pulling on a story thread for the show which had come from nowhere. She missed her morning break, ate lunch while standing in front of her laptop and made voice notes when she went for a walk in the afternoon. She didn’t stop to watch a movie, instead she put You Got Mail on in the background. By 11pm she was asleep on the sofa with her laptop still resting on her stomach. 

Jason saw the lights on from the street, he wasn’t sure whether she’d still be there, the last he’d heard she was trying to find out whether the water was back on at her apartment. Since then, he’d been on an earlier flight back to New York so hadn’t seen an update. The house was quiet when he entered so he stayed silent. He peered around the sitting room door to see Callie laid out on the sofa wearing his hoodie and a pair of pajama shorts. The end credits of You Got Mail were rolling and her laptop looked as though it was about to slide off her stomach to the floor. He reached her just in time to catch it and put it down safely. She stretched out, causing the hoodie to rise up but she didn’t stir at all. He ran his fingers through her hair gently.

“Callie? Callie baby, time to wake up.” she batted his hand away and frowned in her sleep. He took her hand and kissed her palm. “Cal?”

“Jason?” She mumbled in her sleep, rolling to her side to face him.

“It’s me, time to wake up and get into a real bed?” Her eyes fluttered open and she looked blankly at him. She took a couple of blinks to wake up and reached out a hand to brush across his stubble, the Ted mustache had been taken over. She looked completely confused.

“Are you really here?” she whispered.

“I am. You ok?” she snatched her hand back and sat up quickly, shaking off the sleep.

“How come you’re here? I thought you were back tomorrow. Have I missed a day?”

“I got an early flight. Why are you working so late?” He helped her up off the sofa and she stretched out the aching muscles.

“I got carried away with a storyline.” She handed him a beer from the fridge, “I can go back to my apartment tomorrow.”

“That’s good. So I umm… I came back because I was worried about you. I finished my last meeting today and didn’t want to wait for the flight tomorrow.”

“It’s been a much better few days. I submitted my chapters so I’m clear of deadlines now for a few weeks. Plus the water is fixed.” There was an odd silence and a strange nervousness radiating from Jason which was also beginning to engulf Callie. “So, I’m gonna go to bed. Then I can get out of your hair tomorrow so you can settle back in.” She finished her beer and put the bottle in the recycling box.

“I’ve missed you.” He said quietly as she reached the doorway. “Not hearing from you while you were away was so weird and then Laura was posting those photographs and you looked…” his eyes moved from her to the ceiling, “god Callie, you look so perfect. Then. Now. Every single day. I quit. This push and pull? This game? I’m cracking first, I quit.” Callie’s eyes grew wider. She cleared her throat a little. 

“I’m so much braver when there’s an ocean or a fucking phone between us. I can almost forget that… you take every breath from my body. When you’re there, in front of me, it’s like I can't speak or think. You trip me up every time. I fumble the bag.” She hesitated. “Believe me, you won a long time ago. Brett, Laura, Beth, they’ve been calling me out on my bullshit for months. I just keep getting in my own way.” She fell away to a whisper. She looked at the floor unsure of herself. The silence was deafening. She closed her eyes to blink back tears and as they refocused on the floor, Jason’s sneakers came into view. She looked up, shocked to see the boundless love in his eyes. Callie finally, finally, met him in a searing kiss.

She buried her face deeper into the pillow, hiding from the sunlight. She could feel Jason pressed against her back, breathing softly into her hair and unbothered by the opened blinds. Even in sleep, his hands were everywhere. Callie sighed contentedly. Somewhere across the room, a phone rang. She was all set to ignore it and go back to sleep, but Jason groaned with a low rumble and she suddenly felt anything but sleepy. He left her side briefly to get the phone and answered with a deep, sleepy voice.

“Yeah?”

“Oh… It’s Laura. Is Callie there?” Jason moved the phone from his ear to look at it. Definitely not his.

“Your phone babe, not mine.” He went to hand it over but she pushed it back towards him, rolling over to face him.

“Tell her I’ll call her later, I’m sleeping.” He smirked.

“Uhh, she’s busy, Laur. She’ll call you later.” He hung up and pulled Callie close,

“I said sleeping, not busy.” She pointed out.

“Sleep is for the weak. I’ve waited too long for you to let you sleep.”

~~~~~~~~

FIN

[ajeckaea]

I hate when authors "update" older stories, or the stories are "updated" for them. I am specifically going to use Lois Duncan as an example, and more specifically, Down a Dark Hall.

This book was written in 1974, and "revised" by Duncan in 2011 to add cell phones, internet, and make other edits that were, as far as I can tell, supposed to make it more appealing to modern youth and reduce the likelihood of questions like "well why didn't they just use a cell phone".

The example I recall best, although it's been a couple years so I'm fuzzy on the precise details, is that one of the characters makes a comment about there being no ethernet hookup (possibly it was wifi service? but I'm pretty sure it was ethernet) in her room for her laptop.

I looked at that line and instantly said to myself "That was a landline telephone in the original version. I just bet it was a normal telephone." Because it just didn't fit quite right.

But I was reading this in January 2022. And teenagers in 2022 did not use ethernet cables with laptops when they wanted to connect to the internet for fun. They used wifi, but more than that, they used smartassphones. I also have a vague sense that there were references added to chat rooms or chatting applications in the book. Perhaps even MySpace.

The problem with "updating" technology and terminology, you see, is that in another few years it will be dated again--except now you've sacrificed the authenticity of the book. It's no longer a book from the 70s, but it can never be a book from the 10s. You've mishmashed it into an awkward chimera, and it's not better. It can never be its old authentic historical snapshot self anymore--it will always give off "hello fellow kids" trying-too-hard energy. You know that thing about putting new wine into old wineskins? Yeah.

And this is a me thing, I know, but here's the thing--if a book doesn't mention cell phones or computers, I don't miss them. In the absence of any hard historical references, the story just naturally settles into my perception as being set in Comfortably Ambiguous Time. In fact, unless the author clearly sets the story in the Modern Tech Age and brings up technology from the start, the first time a cell phone is mentioned it will jolt me entirely out of the story.

There were people who thought it was stupid and unrealistic that in 2005, highschool student Bella Swan didn't have a cell phone. I never once questioned it--highschool student Aje didn't have a cell phone until 2009.

This entire post was inspired by the fact that I'm rereading a book right now that was written in 1961, and I would never have guessed it was that old, because of Comfortably Ambigous Time. If you'd told me it was set in 1980, I'd have believed you. 1950? Sure. 2010? Absolutely. The lack of technology is not a stumbling block for me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that books should be left as they were written. It's okay that tech and slang were different. It's okay if the plot wouldn't work in a world where people keep 911 in their pockets. It's okay for books to be historical snapshots. That's what they are, and they should be left authentic. An authentic 70s book that reads like an authentic 70s book is always, always going to be better than a 70s book mutilated in an attempt to fit some later standard. Also, any reader who actually picks up a book and judges it negatively because its plot wouldn't work if set in the present day needs to be sent back to grade school until s/he learns how history works.

Some people being idiots is not a valid reason to mutilate books.

[echologname]

Phone addiction and ADHD

Phones give a mind numbing constant stream of a dopamine high like doom scrolling. If you're sucked into this habit for hours on end every day, it can mess up your brain's dopamine regulation and then everything that's not your phone seems dull, not as stimulating and boring, so all you want to do is go back to that rush, and pick up your phone again.

With someone with ADHD, the brain already struggles with dopamine regulation for focus and motivation and so, I think we're especially susceptible to phone addiction and the repercussions are perhaps more pronounced than a neurotypical person.

I've definitely noticed a concerning change with my attention span. I didn't get a smart phone until I was 19 and as a kid, reading books was my favorite thing to do, now it's like when I sit down to read, it's like I have to uncomfortably force myself to read a page or two and I start wanting to pick up my phone again because it's so much more stimulating. I don't have to have any patience, any song, show, book, movie or thing I want to learn about is all instantaneous. I've never had issues with impulsivity, poor decision making and poor time and money management (at least minimally), but when my brain has become so used to being relaxed and used to "imaginary" money just disappearing and objects appearing at the door a day later, is an unprecedented dopamine addiction.

My phone is great when I use it MINDFULLY not MINDLESSLY. I find I actually find more enjoyment from my phone when I'm intentionally doing something specific like drawing, reading or listening to music. Getting sucked into a doom scroll or WAY off track, just makes me feel dull, and sad that I let it happen for the umpteenth time.

For the past few years, I've experimented with finding activities to replace phone time. I got a Sony ereader Pocket Edition ERS-300. Why get an old device made in 2009 when I could have gotten the latest Kindle? I didn't want something with wifi or ads, so, I prioritized simplicity and I miss devices with tactile buttons for sensory purposes. I got a handheld radio to use before bed and when I wake up instead of being on my phone. I also got into retro gaming because it's better than being online and on social media. I decided to take up origami again like when I was a kid as well as baking, playing with my dogs, drawing, crafting...etc. At first it was difficult to remember what I did for fun as a kid, what did I do before my smart phone? I'm glad I'm figuring it out though.

The best thing I can do right now is make my smartphone "dumber," like turning on greyscale, uninstalling distracting apps and only leaving the necessary "tools" and turning on Do Not Disturb. Basically make it boring. I did order a Light Phone II (I couldn't get my childhood flip phone to connect to modern cell networks), so when it arrives, I'll see if that helps since keeping my phone in "boring" mode seems to be a struggle to stick to. It's like I'm so used to it being stimulating, I feel like it SHOULD be that way, I expect it to and being boring feels wrong but I guess that's just another symptom of the hold it has on me.

I realized I had a genuine problem when I spent like 8 hr on my phone then sat down in bed and I felt like I didn't know how to exist without me staring at it. Like a substance addict's brain being buzzed and never satisfied without the thing that makes it feel that way.

This has been a genuine issue for me and my ADHD sister as well, so, I'm just making this about my experience and I hope to support anyone who might be dealing with the same issue.

[pbandjesse]

We are driving back home. The memorial service was thankfully more about supporting each other. I did not cry. If I think about it to hard I might. But I made it through a day that could have been a disaster but worked out because I made it happen. Im only a little proud of that.

I did not sleep great. I fell asleep easier then expected. But woke up with James's alarm and I couldn't fall back asleep. I was anxious about the day. I would get up at 7 when my brother texted me and I had to ask James to handle that while I got ready.

I would feel alright. A little absent of myself. Like I look in the mirror and I'm not connecting to my own eyes. That happens sometimes. But I tried to look good and was happy with my face and hair. The trim I gave myself last night I think helped.

James changed our sheets while I finished getting myself together. Then we hugged and I was off.

I forgot to bring any breakfast and I didn't want to stop anywhere. I also forgot the keys to the art building. But I was not interested in going inside. So I just didn't. I would make it work when I got to camp.

It was a nice drive. And I got there right before 8. And I got to be helpful right away because there was a guy at the bottom of the hill who was lost.

He was there to reseed the field but it was literally his third day and he was a little confused and wasn't given enough info. So I'm glad I was able to help. Once I got parked at the art building I walked down to the office and got Heather on the phone and she told me to send him to the feild. And I was able to help him figure out how to get his truck over there. We walked the feild together and I opened the fence.

While I waited for him to drive around I went to see if we had cake left in the freezer. Which we did so I was excited for breakfast cake. And then I called the doctor's.

They were really nice about it and changed my appointment to 1. So I could stay at camp until 1230. They were really chill about it. Which would be surprising later when I found out that everyone who normally comes on Monday came today because of the holiday (including me) and so they had twice as many patients as normal. And we're training two new injection people. So it was quite a day and I appreciate how kind they were getting my appointment changed.

I would help lawn guy move all the astroturf and collected any sports equipment I could find. And let him know I would be on the porch if he needed anything.

I went down to the office and set myself up at the table. I used my phone's hotspot since I couldn't get on the wifi with the door locked. But that's fine. I ate my, still mostly frozen, cake and worked on my laptop.

I finished tightening up a few things in my lesson plans and making sure the supply list was good to go. I would start making a list of where the tribes were speaking about are on the continent so I could circle that on the different maps. So each program will have a visual for where they are speaking about. Which I think will help them figure out what different natural resources would be available.

Heather would show up around then. She said we need to get me an office key. I'm not to worried about it. I will probably be more worried when it's cold out. Though I was really sweaty and was happy to get some AC.

Heather would help me get on the wifi and showed me how to scan things to my laptop. And then would spend the next hour working on my maps.

Lou, Alexi's dad, would come to talk to Heather about horses. Continues to forget who I am but remembered James. Handsome Jimmy as he call them. We talked about his granddaughter who is maybe going to Temple. For field hockey. So I got to talk about the nice things about philly. That was fun.

I would take a walk to the art building with the extra key. I put away the stuff I brought. And then took a walk to the nature center but it was locked. Heather likes my idea about the snail tank but we need to find the key to the building. Joe probably had it but he wasn't around. Maybe tomorrow I'll figure that out.

Heather would have me start collecting some emails. Which was not as straight forward as I was expecting. But I got some at least. And once I was at a good stopping point me and Heather went on a walk to woodlands.

We would write a list of things that I could work on down there. Painting. Creating. Cleaning. Moving furniture. It was nice to talk through the projects and the spaces. I'm pretty happy about it. But I was also starting to get slightly a little stressed about needing to leave for my appointment.

We would finish up exactly on time though. We got back to the office. Where Elizabeth and Alexi were and I said hello and then goodbye!

I stopped to fill my water and then I drove the 40 minutes to the rhumatologist. I got there 1 minute before my appointment.

Not that it mattered. They had my paperwork at the bottom of the pile, because I'm the last one usually. And they would get me back quick. But I could hear everything. And that's when I heard that they were crazy busy and backed up. So I would have a wait. About 49 minutes. Ah well.

The nice lady came and did my injections though and they hurt a bit today. But it's fine. I was glad it was done. I made my appointment for next month. And was out the door before 2.

I stopped over at the Dunkin and got munchkins to share with James. And then home.

When I got back to the house I was excited that there were packages. The screen protector came for my tablet. And a new dress I ordered. And a book. I found James trying to iron their shirt but the iron wasn't actually on so that was funny.

I got overheated trying to put the screen protector on. But I did my best and it's mostly correct. I'm just glad it's safer now. I was super sweaty though.

So I took a shower. And got dressed again. James made me a bagel. And I had an hour to just sit and calm down before we had to be on the road again.

We left at 345. And it wasn't a bad drive at all. We didn't have to deal with any traffic. We weren't driving directly into the sun. I was anxious but only a little. I brought my knitting and completed one square. We passed Jess's exit and we waved. We arrived in the town at 530.

We went to Wawa for gas. James felt weird that someone pumped our gas. But that's just jersey. And then we went inside and got sandwiches to eat in the car.

I was mostly just focusing on being with my husband. And that I was looking forward to hugging my family. I couldn't handle the other emotions. Those are very deep and I can't focus on them or I'll fall apart.

When we got to the funeral home I was convinced we were in the wrong place. There were a lot of people and I didn't recognize anyone so I was sure I messed up. And then my mom and my brother weren't answering me so I was sure I messed up.

But thankfully Steve would pull up and my parents and Felicia were with him. Everything was alright again.

And it was a lot of people. Sabrina's friends. Audrey's friends. AA people. Bikers. People in memorial sweatshirts. Which the turnaround in having that made was impressive.

We went in the line to see all the pictures of Sabrina. I forgot how dark her hair was when she was younger. Seeing all the pictures of her with friends. She looked so grown up.

Hugging everyone helped. Audrey and Nadine both kept saying thank you to me and James for coming. For driving so long. But honestly the only thing I could say was I wish I didn't have to be here. I wish this didn't happen. But there wasn't a chance I wasn't going to be here. I moved things to make sure I would be. It was important.

There was no service. I am glad. I would have lost it. Instead it was just everyone talking and supporting each other. It was good to be around all the people who loved Sabrina. And I particularly loved talking to my brother and Felicia. And I missed them both and it was just so nice to talk to them. The little moments feel so important. I am very worried how swollen my brother's hands were. He might have an infection from slamming his hand in a door and also poison ivy?? I hope he sees someone.

I also was glad to be with my parents. To talk to my aunt Nadine and uncle Dave who I love so much.

There was a lot of hugging. A lot of laughing. We were being as ridiculous as we normally are when we are all together. The Lentzs don't know how to now start talking about things that are probably not appropriate. We can't stop laughing when it's probably not appropriate. We supported each other by not talking about it but talking about everything else.

I enjoyed hearing about who was who from mom. And I told Nadine they need to come visit us. They went on a not great bus tour through Baltimore so I hope we can give them a better tour soon!!

But then it was time to go. The memorial was slowing down. People were leaving. We had many hugs. Nadine gave me a rose form the large bouquet. Me and Sabrina shared that middle name. I will dry some of the petals. I'll frame them.

Me and James got in the road. And we are about half way home now. I am going to finish my sandwich. And listen to this podcast. And try to just think about the good stuff. I love Sabrina and I will keep her in my thoughts forever.

I hope you are all taking care of yourselves. I love you all. Goodnight my friends. Until next time.

[sofiadragon]

Why is planning a trip to Disney World with my Mother in Law, who has stage 4 cancer and must take all the grandbabies to Disney before she's too sick, more work and stress than when I was a regional manager opening a new store location.

Disney Genie+ is the worst idea anyone has ever conceived. This mix of first-come fisrt-served and gambling mechanics is absolute insanity. Stare at your phone all day rather than get immersed? We don't need another reason to be looking down instead of interacting with our families on vacation. People who pay for and game this system win short wait times on rides. People who don't get much, much longer waits to accommodate the gamblers. Defunctland made a video about fast passes that says everything I could want to say far better than I can ever say it. Why yes I will just ride the merry-go-round 47 times, that little AI dot has life figured out.

I wish those magic bands ran off a local park-specific infrastructure connection instead of a bluetooth connection to a phone app. Not wifi to the internet but to a LAN. No phone connection needed, they really don't need to be on the internet. Tag into a lightning lane using a kiosk or tap point, it vibrates when it is your turn. Let the phone be optional once you start your day unless you need to change your plans. Don't make the magic band vibrate the whole time the fireworks are going off, like an insistent toddler saying "look at me! Look at me!" when we all want to be looking up. Oh, I hope they "fix" that before we go.

But the mad planning for reservations at the character restaurants and special events/activities 60 days before the vacation is the actual worst. Look, I'll take first come first serve, I'll get up at the crack of dawn for my family that's fine, but let me put in a ranked choice for what I want to do that day and all the other days of my trip before it goes live and give me one of them if possible. Maybe 3 choices per day in a ranked list, (#1 dinner with Snow White on any day, #2 build a lightasber the day we go to Hollywood studios, etc.) and then you get one of those assigned by an AI between midnight and 7am Florida time before things go live. People who put something down as their #1 get first crack at that thing, with some random lottery thrown in. Then it's a free for all race for every other thing you want to reserve based on who has the fastest internet if you want more. Give people with slower connections half a chance at getting to see Snow White (only 1 dinner service per day for my kid's favorite character, with a VERY swanky and pricy prix fix menu) and then if you really didn't want that third string choice or if things changed since you set it up, you cancel and try to get something else in that t-60 days scramble. At least everyone will get something automatically off their planning list, and as people change their plans something might open up you can squeeze into (just like they already do, because some people grab 3 sit down meals a day and cancel the ones they decide not to go to the week or day before.)

It's ten days until my MIL and I wake up at dark o'clock to have a digital black friday stampede through the reservation procedure. I need some fairies on my side to get this done.

[whitesandbrowns]

Day 1

1/100 | 17.07.23

Woke up around 6 today. Worked out. Though almost killed myself doing basic beginniner level day 1 workout. My arms are still paining. And i didn't even finish a whole pushup. Ugh.

Had some toast for the breakfast. I watched ruby's video while having breakfast. She is that one person who always makes me wanna do anything in my life with more passion and love towards it.

Then started working. Had good time at work mostly. Had weekly team meeting today as its monday. I am happy to see some progression over packaging design thing. I think we will be able to close it this week, at least from my side.

A tremendously funny thing happened to me today. I dont even know what to call it. So i was working at home till late noon, so after that i thought let's go to my fav cafe to have some mint tea and just work there. So i packed literally everything, went there and then i realized i didnt have my phone there. I left it at home as it was on charging.

But i was like, its okay, the cafe Still has the wifi. I dont need to worry much. I hardly use my phone anyway. But my dearest luck, had different plans. Even the wifi was not working there that time. The owner knew me so she was kind enough to offer her own hotspot but it also didn't get connected. The amazing bad luck i had. And meanwhile all of this, i already had ordered tea so i could not do anything but just wait for the tea to get its flavour and cool down a little bit so i can drink it. But i tried to stay calm and sketched out the cafe, did not turn out like i wanted to but i still did pretty good. Will share it tomorrow

I got home and studied for a while on tangible interaction design and as part of the example there ws this marble answering machine and i absolutely loved the idea. I havent even started the course yet but i can tell for sure how amazing it is going to be. I think i ak gonna finish these courses only as of july. And from august i will start preparing according bhanu's calender.

In my break time i saw this kid on youtube short and immediately fell in love with the parenting. I know for a fact she i gonna grow up to be an amazing person. Kudos to the parents who understands it is an individual they afe raising and not just some part of their own which they need to protect and pamper. Kudos to the kimonomom

and then i mostly slept and skipped dinner as i was not hungry. Thought went out to have ice cream with my dad before going to meet my grandma. She is not so well right now but i hope she gets well soon and gets stronger than ever.

Came home and had a call with my boyfriend while i did a little work and then focused on him, and had a great time talking to him.

Then i did some face massage with gua sha and jade roller. I didnt take a shower today because didnt feel like it. I hope i wake up early tomorrow. Root for me, will ya?

I think this day was overall not as productive. I felt sleepy for most of the part, i need to come up with better sleep routine but other than that, all good. I am happy. Confident. Hopeful.

See you guys tomorrow.

Love,

K

[duskkit]

Along different lines but roughly the same sentiment:

I was thinking, last night as I tried to get to sleep, about how nice single-purpose devices are. Devices that aren't meant for internet browsing and all the varied uses that come with it, even if some of them do technically have the capability. Things we don't even think of when we say 'device', even.

It's rainy lately, and there's an occasionally leaky section of roofing in the bedroom that should have been fixed after last year's wet season, right along the same ceiling beam that the wires for the overhead light are attached to. I've been keeping the wall switch off because I don't want to risk water finding its way to a powered wire.

I don't have an overhead light, but lanterns are great. My flashlights kept flaking out, last year, but there's a great electric lantern that I've got now. It shines reliably and can be collapsed down into itself-- a little bit to block off some of the light, or a lot to shut it off when I'm done with it. It makes sure I don't trip getting into bed, provides a gentle light if I want to read for a while, and hangs from the doorknob when I leave the room for the day.

What got me on this line of thought: I don't have a way to tell time in my room, currently. I don't have a smartphone, my laptop is not great for carrying room to room (not actually heavy or unwieldy, just chronic pain), and there hasn't been an analogue clock on the wall in nearly a decade. The wall switch turns off the whole room's power, including the alarm clock. And... when was the last time I saw an actual watch?

Not a smart watch that has a screen and internet connection, but an actual watch with a second hand that goes tick-tick-tick? An actual watch that tells the time well if you know how to read it, just the time, using the whole of its face instead of shrinking it to hide between six or twelve other distracting functions?

To be fair, I might not know if half the population of my city wore watches every day. I didn't go out much even before covid times. But honestly, I bet it's not near 1% of people who wear watches ever, these days.

My elementary school, I think in second grade, gave me a cheap watch and lessons on how to tell time. A friend in middle school gifted me a pretty silver and pink one for a birthday, that I unfortunately haven't seen for years. I never noticed anybody wearing a watch to high school-- we all had phones, it would have been redundant. But I think it's a loss, that people don't consider watches much anymore.

And... I had an E-reader for a while. Nook simple touch with glowlight, or something like that. It was smaller and easier to transport than a laptop, but unlike a phone, still large enough hug to my chest like I might a really good book. Its screen did not rely on bright light to display, so that wasn't a constant battery drain when there was outside light to read by, and even when the internal lighting was on, it could be set way dimmer and gentler than any other computer screen I've ever seen. It could connect to the internet, but it didn't need to, my dad would collect stories on his computer and transfer them on by USB cable. The most WIFI access I'd give it would be a minute or so after a daylight savings time change, or a particularly long while without charge, to give the clock a chance correct. For a long time, I could get weeks or even months of use from a single charging. Read before school, during lunch break, after school, by sun or room lighting; and then read in bed by its internal lighting. Hours a day of reading, for years... until the times the Nook would run out of charge got close enough together (after a few replacement batteries, each harder to source and failing faster) that it didn't seem worthwhile to keep using it. I had my own laptop by that point, anyways, and browsing the internet directly was more efficient for finding new stories.

When I get sick, though, there's often this point where headaches or nausea make computer screens impractical. And, especially now that my chronic pain makes reading a paper book challenging, I really miss the much gentler screen of my Nook. It was great for times like that. But last time I tried to charge it, it took about an hour to even get out of complete shutdown mode, let alone to a level usable not still plugged in...

A smartphone or a laptop is a portable light, and clock, and E-reader, and much more. But there's a lot to be said for devices that, instead of trying to be (or trying to pretend to be) one-size-fits-all and every-purpose, simply do one thing, or a few things, very well in exactly the way the particular owner needs. For me: a lantern to light my way, a watch for compact portable time-keeping, an E-reader with gentle light for those times when I'm too sensitive to movement or stimulation for other forms of entertainment. (At least, hopefully I'll have that whole collection at once someday.)

Internet devices are so much more fragile, too, than ones that are mostly self-contained. At least user interface wise. Individual apps and the overarching operating system change all the time, often not positively. Whether the updates mean to protect against security exploits, to make a change the programmers think most people will like, or to include more ads, there's a decent chance at some point something you liked will get lost along the way. Such as, a lack of ads. More ads is never appreciated, but much more common than less ads. But also... some feature that only 20% of people use regularly, replaced by a related but not interchangeable feature somebody thinks the other 80% of people will find more useful? Hope you're not part of the 20% who relied on the way things were before...

smartphone storage plateauing in favor of just storing everything in the cloud is such dogshit. i should be able to have like a fucking terabyte of data on my phone at this point. i hate the fucking cloud