#and no words from our sponsor 8D

[sentanixiv]

The Donkey & The Ass (Rated T; alcohol)

Written to the advent calendar prompts of: - New horse, but it's a donkey - Lost and Found & "Care to explain how you ended up here in nothing but a union suit?"

- Sean encounters a very drunk Arthur Morgan riding into camp with a new friend, of sorts. Thank or curse @emmithar-blog and @danger-r-98-5 for the beautiful prompts they put into my advent. I adore them. 💕

Well if it weren't the most hootin' hollerin' hilarious thing that'd been seen in ages.

Right proper thing would've been offering a hand, a hat, or something of dignity, but Sean took pride in being anything but proper, so it was his hootin' and hollerin' that roused up camp the early hours of the morning.

And what inspired his being found all but rolling on the ground, holding his stomach because he were at real risk of laughing his breakfast up and out? The sight of Arthur bloody Morgan riding into camp, drunker than any skunk, half-fallen off a god-blessed donkey of all things, and wearing nothin' but his union suit. A step down from his birthday suit, but with it bein' a threadbare, worn-out thing, weren't much left to no imagination, if anyone were to catch his meanin' on that. And the man's humming some off-key song to top it all off, a serenade that no one needs to be hearin' at this early hour.

"What in th' fuck're y'doing, English?!" his wheezing demand, far and away from the cautious callout what'd challenge most on the approach to camp.

"M'riding in, dumbass," Arthur slurs as the donkey shuffles steadily forward. "What's it look like?"

The man's more than three sheets to the wind by his reckoning and Sean can hardly haul himself up from his arse where it landed in the dirt during the first guffaw. He manages with a mighty effort and grabs the donkey's bridle to halt the ride and the ass atop it from going no further.

"Sure y'are, King Arthur," Sean says agreeably, even as he moves to turn the donkey about to leave. "It's real cute, you thinkin' I'd let you tromp into camp when you ain't got a lick of sense left to ya."

Arthur's swipe at him nearly unhorses the man - though, reckon it'd be an un-donkeying with his steed being about as much a horse as Sean is . "What's real 'cute' is you thinkin' you got some sorta sway in it," he mutters with a chuckle at some slippery thought in his liquor-fogged head.

"Tell y'what, English," Sean says, taunts him even by the grin he bears. "Ye get this here donkey turned back around and into camp? I'll let ye be! But I'd put money on ye hittin' the ground 'fore anythin' more."

"He ain't Donkey!" The correction sees Arthur straighten up to his intimidatin' full height, no matter the lessened effect of it when it's done in his union suit, soaked in booze, and riding an ass. He blinks blearily and angles a glare at Sean what takes him two attempts to be within the same cardinal direction as him. "This here's Franklin. S'my good pal," he says, patting the donkey twice on the neck. "Been havin' some hard times, him. Mules're tryin' to take his work, so's… I bought him a drink." Arthur pauses, eyes unfocused as some recollection strikes him. "Well, I tried to buy 'im a drink, only them high society wannabes at the saloon said somethin' 'bout no donkeys allowed." He snorts, cries out indignantly. "No donkeys? What kinda hole-in-the-wall place says donkeys ain't allowed?"

The donkey - Franklin - brays and it's either in agreement, or annoyance that Sean clapped a hand down on his hindquarters to make him lurch forward and away from camp.

"S'right, Franklin!" Arthur leans over the donkey, arms laying lax on either side of his neck, and buries his face into his coat. "Yer a fine donkey, they don't deserve none of yer class, boy."

Sean watches as the pair amble onwards, the challenge of coming to camp forgotten. When they disappear into the predawn darkness, he hitches up his pants and nods, right pleased with himself. Turns back to his watch, only to near stumble into the face and person of John Marston - man what'd gone and manifested there while he was busy seein' to business. "Jay-sus, Marston, y'tryin' to stop me heart?!"

John's grin is grim, his wit dry as he replies. "You think I wouldn't've tried scaring you to death long ago if I'd thought it'd work?"

"Now don't be getting all sour, boy!" Sean admonishes, smoothing down his waistcoat, getting his scraps of dignity back. "It's unseemly and y'don't want to become ol' English, sourer than spoiled milk."

Reference to Arthur gets John's scrutiny off him and onto the indistinct shapes of the shadows beyond. "What was all that about?" he asks, nodding to where the donkey disappeared.

Sean scoffs. "Nothin' that the Irish Terrier couldn't handle!" he proudly proclaims. "Just Arthur bloody Morgan riding in on a donkey, drunker than a skunk and wearin' nothin' but his union suit, if you'd believe it!"

'Troubled' is how he describes the expression taking hold of Marston's face, followed quick by concern that's even faster drowned under irritation. "And that don't seem odd to you?" he asks, and it's a challenge by the sharpness of his tone.

"Morgan likes his alcohol and who'm I to be keepin' a man from the only passion he's got?" Sean keeps up the cheer, though he bristles some under the implications that he missed key details here. "Why's that got you up in a dander?"

John whistles sharp over his shoulder, Old Boy looking up and hauling himself about to trod towards them. "Arthur left here sober, on a damn horse, with his normal kit," he snaps out, grabbing at the reins to loop them over. He hauls himself up into the saddle. "Don't it seem odd to you that he'd come back with none of it?"

See, now that's a bit of sense that has Sean pausing, has him left standing in the proverbial dust as John rides hard past him to catch up to the wayward donkey. "I'm not sayin' you have a point, Marston!" he calls after him. "Just so's you know!"

Ehhhh, maybe he has a point. But it's a wee one and that's all Sean'll allow. Right? Right.

[omghealthdrink]

A Casual Fan Watches Star Wars

PART 1

I just came back from watching The Last Jedi.

Oh boy.

Oh boy.

First, obligatory condolences.

*sniffles* We will all miss you, Carrie. Our beloved rebel princess(tm). 

T_T

Well. On to the dissection of The Last Jedi!

---

[MOVIE STARTS]

Me: Hooray! After two LONG years, it’s finally here! 8D

[TITLE SCREEN HAPPENS]

Me: [INTERNALLY] na na NA NA na na na NA na NA NA na na NA NA NA-!

[READS THE ONLY GENERAL LEIA ORGANA PART]

Audience: [BAWWS]

Me: *sniffs* I can’t wait to see what Luke will tell his potential daughter and-

[SEES LUKE TOSS HIS LIGHTSABER AWAY LIKE IT WAS NOTHING]

[AFTER TWO WHOLE YEARS OF COUNTLESS SPECULATION]

...

Me: This is going to be one of THOSE movies, isn’t it.

Ben Solo: Yeeeeeeeeep.

Evil Gingerbread Man: Blah blah rebels blah blah I’m evil blah KILL

Me: Weren’t you summoned by Lord Smegol- sorry, Lord ‘Snoke’ in the last movie? What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here.

Evil Gingerbread Man: Nevermind that. I will now pass orders like I’m ordering chicken souffles in a fancy hotel. Also I shall now obliterate the entire rebel scum! I will mark my name in history-!! Unlike that Vader cosplayer. Pah.

Me: Hah, good luck with that. No way the ENTIRE REBEL FLEETS are-

Poe: He’s killing us! He’s killing us all! WE ARE THE LAST ONES-!

Me: ...

Me: Wake me up when Rei shows up. [SNOOZES]

Mulan in Space: Hey! Wake up! You’ll miss my important sacrifice!

Me: Is it Poe’s fault?

Mulan: Of course it is. Look at this jewellery too. It’s important(tm).

Me: That’s all I need to know. [SNORES IN CINEMA] 

---

Rei: Master Skywalker!

Me: [WAKES UP WITH A THOUSAND JOLTS OF EXTROVERTED ENERGY]

SW Fans: Oh fuck me HOW IS THAT NOT MY USERNAME-?!!

Luke: I am not training you.

Rei: Why? Because you are testing my patience? My strengths?

Luke: No.

[SCENE MAKES YOU BELIEVE LUKE IS TESTING REI, BUT HE ISN’T]

[HE GOES TO EXTRACT ONE OF THE ALIENS FOR BLUE SPACE MILK]

[THIS HAPPENS - FOR A FULL FIVE MINUTES]

[AT LEAST IT FELT LIKE IT]

Luke: I’m hungry. Go away.

Rei: [Channels audience perfectly] But... Master. But why would you leave a complete map in R2-D2 with your location if you don’t want to be found or meet someone like I DON’T KNOW your sister or your potential daughter successor?

Luke: Hell if I know. Now GET OFF MY LAWN before I summon my hyenas.

Rei: It’s like this was written by someone who didn’t watch any of the last film.

Rian Johnson: This is MY movie. MY MOVIE-!! MIIIIIIINE ALONE--!!

Rei: And there it is.

---

Meanwhile, during a doomed dogfight between the rebels and the Empire...

General Leia: You mean the Resistance and the First Order, young one.

Me: [EL GASPS]

Audience: [EL GASPS]

Weirdo: [LAUGHS]

General Leia: [SHOWS UP AND BREATHES ON SCREEN]

Audience: [STARTS BAWWS]

General Leia: [BITCHSLAPS POE] You have been demoted.

Audience: [BAWWS HARDER]

Poe: Wha??

Finn: [SEMI-NAKED] What did I miss...?

Weirdo: [LAUGHS NEXT TO ME WHENEVER LEIA SHOWS UP]

---

Rei: Oh boy! A sunken travel ship! I hope it will be important soon-!

Luke: No.

Rei: ... Are you always like this?

Luke: With family? Yes.

---

Speaking of Luke’s highly entertaining family...

Kylo Ren: [APPEARS]

Lord Smegol: Preciooooous, come closer.

Evil Gingerbread Man: I’m basically doing all the work here.

Kylo Ren: [OBEYS]

Evil Gingerbread Man: I’d better enjoy that while it lasts, correct?

Lord Smegol: Indeed. I’m going to point out all of Ben’s flaws at once to make him potentially sympathetic towards the audience to try hide the fact that the director doesn’t have a massive boner for his characterisation. And to try remind the younger generation of Star Wars fans that he killed Han Solo-

13 year olds: Who?

Lord Smegol: -but that’s besides the point. You are dismissed.

[GLARES AT BEN SOLO]

Lord Smegol: Your helmet is... silly. Dismissed.

Kylo Ren: [HAS A HISSY FIT] 

Whynlo Ren: I won’t pay for that. Prepare the ships.

[PLEASE REMEMBER THAT KYLO REN DOES NOT HAVE THE EXCUSE OF HAVING BEEN ORPHANED FROM A YOUNG AGE OR WAS BRAINWASHED TO JOIN THE DARK SIDE. THIS ASSHOLE WENT EVIL BECAUSE HIS PARENTS DIDN’T LOVE HIM ENOUGH FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW]

Lord Smegol: Yes. He is Anakin’s grandson alright. 

Lord Smegol: Let the whine FLOW.

---

Why are we back with Rei NOW this is an awkward transition...

Luke: You think I’m gonna bring out a sword and face the entire First Order?

Luke: [DOES EXACTLY THAT IN THE THIRD ACT]

Luke: I won’t help you.

Rei: I don’t remember you being this difficult in the original saga.

Luke: Well I don’t remember having a beard there either.

Rei: What does that have to do with-?

---

Back to the dogfight...

Kylo Ren: [DOES NOT PUSH DEATH BUTTON TO KILL MOTHER]

[LEIA’S PART OF THE SHIP GETS DESTROYED ANYWAY]

Me: Whoa, imagine the backlash if he DID that... [GRUMBLES]

Me: They’d probably forgive him too, that seems to be in fashion lately.

General Leia: [FORCE POPPINS BACK TO THE SHIP]

[THIS HAPPENS]

[STOP LAUGHING, IT DOES]

[IT IS EXACTLY LIKE YOU IMAGINE IT]

Me: [SWOONS] I don’t care how ridiculous that is. Because it’s LEIA.

Audience: [AGREES]

---

General Leia: [GOES IN A TEMPORARY COMA FOR PLOT REASONS]

Lady from Hunger Games: I am the leader of the cruiser now.

Poe: [FORGETS HIS DEMOTION]

General Leia: [BREATHES]

Lady from Hunger Games: I see General. He has been demoted?

Poe: [INTERNALLY SCREAMS HIS ASS OFF]

---

Finn: [CASUALLY ABANDONS SHIP]

Me: Well. That killed off FinnxPoe before it even launched.

[BECAUSE SERIOUSLY, IF FINN DOES LIKE POE, HE KEPT THE JACKET TOO HOW WOULD HE CASUALLY LEAVE HIM BEHIND WITHOUT TELLING HIM A WORD? FINN KNOWS THE REBEL’S FLEETS ARE POTENTIALLY DOOMED, THAT’S WHY HE LEAVES IN THE FIRST PLACE. EVEN IF FOR REI’S SAKE, THAT’S STILL A DICK MOVE. BAD FINN, BAD-]

Me: MEI?! I had no idea you were in this movie! 8D

Mei: Neither did I!

[CASUALLY SHOWS OFF STUNNING TOOL]

Mei: You weren’t trying to... escape, were you? 

Finn: [FAILS AT SMOULDERING] Es-ca-pe? Is that Spanish?

Mei: [WAS NOT BORN YESTERDAY] MY SISTER IS DEAD-!!

Finn: [WAS TRAINED TO KILL SINCE BIRTH]

Finn: [GETS STUNNED EASILY]

Me: Movie wtf.

---

Tune in next time for Part II: Electric Boogaloo!

More awkward transitions! More Kylo Ren! Less Captain Phasma!

Sponsored by - Blue Milk Scene. It’s not padding if we don’t say so.

[cloudlcx-blog]

IAT235 FINAL RESEARCH#2

Extra info design web:

https://podio.com/site/creative-routines

https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/athenahealth/

Inspirational design web:

http://futureofcarsharing.com/

http://www.visioncritical.com/evolution-of-insight/

Video demo: 

https://youtu.be/Ib7alKNIgl4

https://youtu.be/j2wClGeed9A

Inspiration and Experimenting:

Looking through multiple different infographics online, we came across a few we like and believe it a good concept for our topic. Our team wanted the theme of the website to emulate the motion of a bike moving through our design.

Problem#1

Our initial plan was to create an animation that would move the bike around to the different subheadings. After looking into the coding and possible worked needed to animate a bike, it did not seem possible with our level of coding and the time restraint.

Potential Solutions#1

- After the smartwatch exercise, we thought we can use an image carousel to fake the moving bike. We would keep the bike stationed in one area while the background moves. The downside of this it would a fixed image and if it were viewed in smaller screens it may not look the same

- If we create each element of the background separately, we may be able to resize them in different window sizes.

- Another possibility is to station the bike and Beijing’s skyline silhouette background and when selecting the different topics, the information will pop up. The downside would be unable to change the background silhouette as the topic changes.

Problem#2

How do we make the website responsive? Our main idea is to have the website fit a standard desktop window view but not anything small like a tablet or smartphone. We imagined information to pop up onto the background.

Potential Solutions#2

- We can maintain the drawing we want to show to the audience up at the top white information can be found underneath through scrolling down.

- The website must be used in the horizontal form on devices smaller than the desktop.

- We can remove the silhouette background, change the timeline from the horizontal to a vertical orientation. This way our website will change to a vertical scrolling timeline whereas the desktop version moves horizontally.

Timeline

2014 The company was founded in 2014 by five members of the Peking University cycling club as a project that initially focused on bicycle tourism before deciding on bicycle sharing. It was named "Ofo" due to the word's resemblance to a cyclist on a bicycle.

2015 June Beijing Mobike Technology Co., Ltd. was established in Beijing.

2015 June  Ofo was launched in June 2015 in Beijing, gaining 20,000 users and 2,000 bicycles by October with investment funding from a Peking University alumnus.

2016 November, a number of shared bicycles have been born and have received a large amount of venture capital.

2016  the number of cars used in the peak period of shared bicycles in Beijing was 2.35 million, and 15 companies settled in the shared bicycle market in Beijing.

In 2017, Ofo is exposed to that easy to store money but hard to refund. Ofo is suited by many suppliers and transportation companies because of the overdue obligations.

On September 7th, 2017. Beijing government announced a policy to control the total amount of sharing bikes, stop putting new bikes into the market. The total amount is controlled at 1,910,000, which decreased 2% compared to the previous year which was 2,350,000.

In November 2018, a lot of users found that it was difficult to get the refund. On top of that, there was no answer in the customer service representative. Up to Dec. 18th, millions of people were waiting for the refund.

On April 5th, 2018, Beijing started to clean abandoned and broken bikes. The government totally found and rearranged 365,000 bikes from the city river, canal and remote areas.

2018.04 a rumor in early April finally became a reality. Mobike was captured by the Meituan group, and the Mobike’s management team immediately adjusted their way because the original operation method is difficult to sustain bike-sharing markets.

On August 2, 2018, Beijing held a symposium on shared bicycle management. At the meeting, the relevant person in charge of the Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission said that since September last year, the total number of shared bicycles in Beijing has dropped from 2.35 million to 1.91 million. At the end of this year, Beijing's shared bicycle running vehicle real-time monitoring platform will be put into use. At that time, problems such as unscheduled delivery, docking, and difficult vehicle scheduling will be alleviated.

On September 28, 2018, the public broke the news to the media that there was a large number of shared bicycles in the Tonghui River near Sihui Bridge to Shuangqiao in Chaoyang District, Beijing. This river has become a "cemetery" for sharing bicycles. The salvaged Mobai staff said there may be thousands of shared bicycles in the river.

2018.12.19 The ofo company and its founder Dai Wei, received a number of restrictions on consumer orders issued by the court, which also means that Dai Wei has been included in the blacklist of untrustworthy enforcers.

2019.1.1 ofo’s Bank account has been frozen.

References

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/03/bike-share-oversupply-in-china-huge-piles-of-abandoned-and-broken-bicycles/556268/

http://time.com/5218323/china-bicycles-sharing-economy/

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/you-won-t-last-3-days-they-told-ofo-co-founder-now-a-9070884

https://alltechasia.com/5-bike-sharing-startups-went-bankrupt-2017/

Because we are talking about bike sharing in Beijing so we also did some research, from Chinese websites. We will use the data from these websites and make them into charts.

http://report.idx365.com/%E8%89%BE%E7%91%9E/2017%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%85%B1%E4%BA%AB%E5%8D%95%E8%BD%A6%E8%A1%8C%E4%B8%9A%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6%E6%8A%A5%E5%91%8A.pdf

https://www.udparty.com/php/upload/20171229/1514550531f77182f1ed9acaf9.pdf

[cocoachoux]

Even as a teenager, Mikasa still finds a way to be a little shit get Eren and Levi together.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY @imasmi​!!! 8D She has been asking for a COMH sequel for a while now, and while the main fic is done, I thought that this fluffy side short would suffice. o3o I know that I could've added this to COMH: BTS, but I believe this could be read as a standalone fic as well since there's such a big time gap between chapters.

This could also be renamed as 'Chapter 57.5' since this takes place before the last chapter. ^^

It started as something minor.

At first, she didn’t say anything about it, thinking it was a one-off thing that wasn’t worth a second thought – it was a relatively common sight in this day and age, after all, so she shrugged it off.

But then it happened again but from the other person.

She still didn’t say anything about it, still thinking that it wasn’t much an issue – deeming it must be important if the other person did it as well.

But then it happened more and more often that it became a regular occurrence. A habit.

Mikasa’s lips twisted to a frown when she saw that both her dad and her anne were looking at their phones, typing away, not eating the dinner she had (painstakingly) prepared for them.

She tapped restlessly on her plate with her fork (something that she knew her dad hated with a passion), but no word of acknowledgment or even a head turn. They were so engrossed with their devices that Mikasa sighed loudly (again, nothing) and stood up.

“I’m done.”

For whatever reason, that seemed to gain her dad’s attention. Finally. “What’s wrong, Mikasa? You barely touched your plate.”

“You barely touched yours either,” she countered, gesturing the full plate of food with her chin.

Levi shook his head just as Eren put their phone away. “I had to respond to an email from one of the sponsors for the upcoming trip.”

“And I just got the photos from the last modeling shoot that I did,” Eren explained, “I had to upload a few teaser pictures on Twitter before I forget.” They gave Mikasa a smile. “But we’re good now. Come sit down, let’s eat.”

Mikasa spared them a wary look before sitting back down again and waited for her parents to start eating before she did, the frown still present on her face. They didn’t even apologize for their actions.

She discreetly watched the way they behaved next to each other. Their conversations have come to a strange lull, in which they don’t have much to say other than how much progress they were making on their respective projects or upcoming video ideas they wanted to share. Besides that, meals together tended to be a quiet affair – with her breaking the silence by telling them about her day and what homework she had and complaining about her school workload whenever she couldn’t stand the silence any longer. It soon became all too common for her to take lead during dinner conversations. Somewhere in the past few months, their conversations turned into a meeting, rather than enjoying each other’s company.

The sound of a phone buzzing snapped her out of her thoughts, eyes narrowing when her dad immediately grabbed hold of his phone and swiped the screen.

Levi’s eyes went back and forth as he read the new message. “Hey, Eren? Can you forward me the confirmation email for the flight? The organizer needs to know when we’ll arrive to have someone pick us up.”

“Hold on for a second.”

To Mikasa’s dismay, Eren had their phone in hand in an instance and was scrolling through to find what their husband was asking for. “It says that we’ll be there by 1:35, but we have a layover that’s only half an hour long. How much are you willing to bet that we’ll miss our connecting flight?”

Levi snorted. “It’s definitely going to happen. Just give me the flight number and I’ll send it to them. They can figure it out.”

At this point, Mikasa excused herself from dinner and walked out. She didn’t hear any protests from them, just their continued conversation about work.

She flopped on her bed in frustration. She knew she was being irrationally upset, but she couldn’t help but feel hopeless as she thought about her parents and how they were now compared to how they were at the beginning all those years ago. Their relationship turned… stagnant, if she was being honest with her observations. They weren’t necessarily on bad terms but they weren’t as close as they were either.

Sighing for the umpteenth time, she took out her own phone and messaged the two people she could always confide with.

Mikasa I need help.

Annie Don’t we all

Armin Annie, please. What’s wrong, Mikasa?

Mikasa Do you guys mind if we go on group chat?

Armin I’ll be on in a second.

Annie Same

Switching over to her tablet, she logged in and waited for her friends to be online. She made sure she locked the door beforehand and settled on the foot of her bed just as her tablet started ringing.

Accepting the call, she was immediately greeted with Armin’s worried voice.

“Are you okay, Mikasa?”

“Sort of… I was hoping you guys can help give me advice with something.”

“What’s up?” Annie chimed in.

Mikasa eyed her door before responding in a low voice, “You see, it’s about Dad and Anne.”

“What about your parents?”

“I’ve been noticing how distant they are lately.”

“To you?” Armin asked.

“A bit, but it’s more to each other. I don’t know, for the past couple of months, I’d noticed that they don’t talk to each other as much as they used to. They’re not fighting or anything, but they’re just… there. Like being with each other but also not really.”

“What makes you say that?” Even Annie, who was usually the stoic of the three, sounded concerned.

“For one, they’re always on their phones whenever we eat together. And I mean always. We made a rule of not using devices on the table a long, long time ago, but now, they both have their phones practically attached to their hands. And everything they talk about with each other is always related to work. I don’t even remember the last time they joked around and had fun together.”

There was a brief moment of silence before Annie mumbled, “That is kinda bad.”

Mikasa’s face settled into a frown. “So you don’t think I’m overreacting?”

“No,” Armin interjected, “If it’s something like this has been going for a while, I would be worried too.”

“When was the last time your parents went on a date? Just the two of them?” Annie asked.

She scrunched her brows together. “I honestly can’t remember… maybe around Valentine’s Day?”

“That was months ago.”

“I know, right?” Mikasa sighed in frustration. “I don’t know why or how it turned out like this.”

“I can kind of understand why it’s been such a long time,” Armin said, “Uncle Levi and Eren’s occupations are unusual compared to most parents. They’re public figures who need to make lots of content for their increasing fan base. I’m guessing their increasing workload means that they’re undertaking many projects at once which makes them constantly busy. Busy to the point that they’re not spending time together, even if they’re living and working under the same roof.”

Mikasa nodded slowly. Leave it to Armin to analyze the situation and understand it perfectly. “Exactly. And I can see that they’ve been stressing out from their work as well but not saying anything about it.”

“What they need is a vacation,” Annie suggested.

“That sounds good in theory, but they’re both workaholics. Taking a long break would probably stress them out even more considering that they create and edit their own content and feel pressured to still upload videos, even when they shouldn’t.”

“They’re going to another city for a convention as guest speakers, but it’s all going to be just work,” Mikasa agreed, “Eren told me that they also planned on meeting with their publisher for their upcoming book while they’re there while Dad is going to be testing some AR machine prototypes.”

“Man, Uncle Levi is so lucky…”

“Armin, focus.”

“Oh, right. Hm… I do think Annie’s right, though. Your parents need a break of some sort, but how about making it for a day at a time so they don’t miss as much?”

“And take away their phones so they won’t have it as a distraction,” Annie added.

“I guess it’s a worth a shot,” Mikasa said after thinking on it. A day without their phones wouldn’t kill them. “But how do I go on about doing that?”

“Ah, but what kind of friends would we be if we don’t help you trap your parents together like the good ol’ days?” Annie chuckled at Armin’s remark and Mikasa couldn’t help but smile, her mood perking up considerably.

“You definitely take after Uncle Erwin alright.” With a smile still on her face, reached for her pen and pad of paper, poised and ready to start taking notes. “Now, let’s get this plan started.”

Levi wearily eyed his daughter beside him. She was humming a happy tune as she drove the car, not noticing his blatant staring as she entered the intersection before making a left turn.

He glanced at the rear-view mirror and caught Eren’s eyes with his. Eren had a look of confusion on his face and he shared the same sentiment. Mikasa was behaving strangely all morning, demanding that he and Eren get dressed before leaving the house, not answering to any questions on where they were going before she literally pushed them outside and into the car. Any further questions about where she was taken them were met with silence so they eventually gave up and let her continue with her parent-napping.

Levi turned his attention to the window beside him, unsure of what else to do. Absentmindedly, he took out his phone and saw the notifications of unread emails. He internally sighed as he began to answer the emails, not noticing how Mikasa’s happy behavior dimmed down once he did.

After some time, the car came to a complete halt and Mikasa parked the car. “We’re here.”

He looked up and saw that they were at the entrance of a hotel. Finding the name scrawled on the side, he turned to look at her. “Santa Monica Beach? Is there a conference here or something?”

She scoffed and muttered, “Of course you would think of that,” before taking off her seatbelt, not answering his question. “Come on, get out.”

Levi and Eren got out of the car and followed her into the lavish lobby. Mikasa went straight to the front desk while her parents stood off to the side awkwardly as she started talking to the receptionist.

“What do you think she’s doing?” Eren asked.

“I don’t know. She’s been acting weird for the past couple of days.”

“Really?”

It was Levi’s turn to ask him a question, “You haven’t noticed?”

“Not really,” Eren replied back hesitantly, “I’ve been kind of busy lately.”

Levi hummed in agreement and their whispered conversation stopped once Mikasa came back with keycards in her hands. “These are for you,” she declared as she pushed the cards into his hands. “I arranged for an early check-in for your room. You guys will be staying on the second floor in room 216 with an ocean view. I’ll be right back.”

She fled out of the hotel before either Eren or Levi could utter out a sound. Levi looked at the shiny cards in his hands and before he knew it, Mikasa was back with his and Eren’s usual carry-on bags for flights and placed them on the floor. When did she pack those?

“Final thing, give me your phones.” Her arms were outstretched and she took the surrendered phones and pocketed them in her hoodie. “Perfect.”

“Mikasa, can you please tell us what’s going on now?” Eren asked.

The teenager crossed her arms and jutted her hip to the side. “You two are going to have a day off together. No phone, no work. Just a day for you two to catch up.”

“You can’t be serious, we have business to do,” Levi argued.

“Your work can survive without you for a day,” Mikasa said. “I’ll take any calls for you while you guys are having your day together.”

“But-”

“When was the last time you two went on a date? Just one day to enjoy each other’s company and not thinking about work?”

Eren and Levi looked at each other, trying to remember the last time they were alone together, looking ashamed as they did.

The few seconds of silence was all that Mikasa needed to hear. “See?” She had her smug, “I-told-you-so” voice and the two adults frowned on how right she was. “So take the day off. It’s not going to kill you.”

Backing away from them, she continued, “I’ll pick you up here around noon tomorrow for check-out. Oh, and don’t bother to call Uncle Erwin or Uncle Farlan to pick you up because they were the ones who booked the room for you.”

“Ta-ta for now. Have fun and always remember to use protection!” She practically skipped her way out of the lobby and smirked when her parents yelled after her.

They watched as she got back into the car and drove away. Eyeing the cards again, Levi turned to Eren with a sheepish look on his face. “Shall we?”

Eren beamed and Levi’s breath hitched for a moment. When was the last time he saw Eren smile at him like that? Thinking back on it, maybe Mikasa was right about having a day to themselves.

Returning the smile with his own, he reached for Eren’s hand and took hold of their bags with the other, wondering how the rest of the day would turn out like with just the two of them.

[cleaning-services-dubai]

Should I call full-time maid, part-time house boy services or maid services in Dubai to get my house cleaned?

There are several options in the Dubai market to get cleaning helps, Such as Full time maids, part-time house boys services and maid services in Dubai are the most familiar options available that anybody can find  

So in this article we cover the first question of article we posted on 11/Jan/2017 ‘Initial questions to consider, before ordering cleaning services in Dubai, to keep our homes hygiene’

Question 1 - Who Should I call to do cleaning job behalf of me?

Full time maids

Full time maids can be hired through recruitment agencies, these agencies have number of maids CV’s for us to review and they help us to interview our own maid via internet, because most of the cases maids are not in Dubai. But some of the agencies can arrange you the maid to be interview here in Dubai itself because they bring maids by providing visas to them. But sponsoring a maid of our own is high costly arrangement, and also it becomes our responsibility to take care of her needs and protection. We should consider this option if we have a big house and lots of works to get done from the maid on a fulltime basis such as cleaning, laundering, ironing, babysitting, cooking etc..

Part-time Maids

Part-time maids can be hired through many of the part-time maid services in Dubai, this option is very flexible and we should not bother about the maid’s visa expenses or any other needs and almost no responsibility, because the cleaning company in another word maid services company takes care of all these needs by themselves. We just need to contact them and inform the dates and times that we need the maid to come and clean our home. The best advantage we have with this arrangement is if we don’t like the maid, we can inform the cleaning company to send another one to try. To implement these type of request we just need to call the cleaning company, in most cases those changes could get done with a short notices, like 2 hours in advance.   However this option is always better if we don’t have much works to get done from the maid from morning to evening because they charge on hourly basis. Calling and seeking part-time cleaning help and support from maid services in Dubai is always better when we need to get our house clean on regular basis such as ones per week to four times per week and not exceeding maximum of twenty hours of cleaning help and support orders per week

Part time houseboy services  

Not many companies provide houseboy cleaning services in Dubai, due to the less demand for houseboys, But sometimes professional maid services have few number of houseboys well trained and kept ready to provide for clients to do the same job that the maid can do. Most of the cases these trained houseboys does a tremendous job compare to typical maids and their performance makes us to feel very secure, pleasant and neat. Some additional works these houseboys are professional to do compare to regular maids such as window cleaning, ironing balcony and garden works, etc..These house boys can be ordered through cleaning services in Dubai who provides par time cleaning services. All advantages, services and prices are totally similar to hiring a part-time maid. This option we can consider if we are comfortable with the house boy when we hire. The most important thing we can consider that most of these boys are polite and trustworthy

 Individual part-time workers

We can find individual part-time workers who approach us and ask for a part-time job to clean our home, these people are extra polite and friendly when they come and ask for the job obviously no doubt most of these workers are well experienced to help us with our cleaning requirement. We do not need to bother about their visa arrangements or any other needs. They also do charge us the same charges similar to maid services charge. But in case if we don’t like the cleaner there are nobody to inform and request another to do the job, because there is no person to take responsibility for their services if something went wrong we are in great trouble by hiring an individual part-time worker, because hiring these type of workers are completely illegal here in Dubai. Most of the cases these people might work for us friendly and politely for a long time but by the time that they are ready to leave back to their home country they might steal valuable things in our house and leave secretly or if something went wrong they might be disappear, at the time of such situation we will not be able to approach the authorities to complain because, at the first place we have hired an illegal worker to do the cleaning job for us. So we should not hire these types of workers at all when we consider our safety and security.

All these options are always available in the market so first we have to decide whether we are going to hire a part-time maid or houseboy or a full time maid based on the work load that we need to get done from a cleaning worker. Then we can browse the internet or Google to find a full time maid or a one of the best cleaning services in Dubai to fulfill our cleaning needs

Then the next question comes “can I trust them that these options will fulfill my cleaning and assistance needs persistently” so we will look in to this question with an advantage and disadvantage chart on the coming weeks. Based on that we all can take the right decision, that suit to our needs. Instead of ordering the wrong service at an unreasonable cost.

We are P&C cleaning services Dubai making a better world by helping to keep our environment clean and pleasant. Also we enjoy sharing the knowledge and information we gathered in the last 10 years here in Dubai, to help each other to make wise decisions by safeguarding all our efforts.  

P&C Cleaning services Dubai

www.dubaicleaningpandc.com U�8D&�