#and she put me in for 5.5 hour days + 1 hour on sun for a total of 28 hours

[lunar-fey]

oh yeah so uh we went to the city today bc i got some clothing vouchers for work clothes from the dept of rehabilitation services and. one of the stores i needed to go to (she couldnt find any stores on the list that sold all the items i need so it had to be broken up) was closed (we were originally gonna go on saturday but dad was sick) and the other store like. got really confused the lady at the desk called over her manager and then he called his manager and she was like "ive never seen this before but it doesnt have the code we need so we cant take it" except idk but i think she didnt understand how it works bc she was saying they need like a government credit card number essentially to charge the clothes onto but my case worker told me (i thought) that the store had to fill out the paper and send it to the office to then recieve payment rather than them getting the payment immediately? anyway im confused and pissed bc i wanted to go on saturday so i could have sunday to recover from the pain of spending several hours in the car but since dad was sick we didnt. and i didnt even get to get the clothes anyway. mom and dad ended up buying me like that one pair of jeans and two shirts from a resell store or whatever its called and the pants barely fit but they didnt have any in my size. what even ever tomorrow is not going to be good but at least once its over with i will know if like . im gonna be ABLE to even do this job. i think i should have enough ability to sit while doing tasks or even maybe take breaks for it to not flare up my pain too much but i literally cannot know until i do it. which is severely fucked up. and the fact that im already going to be in pain from what ended up being a virtually useless car trip and really didnt need to put myself through that, AND on top of that im gonna have to go BACK out to the city this weekend. meaning i will have no full days of leisure for two weeks which means unceasing pain :(

[oreoambitions]

Parts 1-3 // Part 4 // Part 5 // Part 5.5 // Part 6 // Part 7 // Part 8 // Part 9 // Part 10 // Ao3 Kara has been away for too long. This is what she thinks to herself as she hovers over the edge of National City's furthest flung suburb, her eyes on the horizon, her hands doing a rather unsuperherolike fidget of their own accord. She was only supposed to be gone for a couple of hours. A couple of days maybe. Long enough to cool down, to get her anger under control, to make sure that Lena would never have to see her like... that. Only a couple of days has become a couple of weeks and now Kara doesn't know how to come home. "Rao," she whispers. Immediately she feels foolish - as if Rao has answered her these past weeks - but in her solitude she's grown used to speaking in prayer, and so she finishes the thought anyway. "Where am I supposed to be right now? What am I supposed to be doing?" Probably her life is in shambles. Probably she's been fired from CatCo and there are a stack of unpaid bills cluttering up the mailbox of an apartment that probably doesn't belong to her anymore. That's going to be a mess to sort out and there's no getting around it. And then there are the personal relationships she's abruptly abandoned for a month and a half without explanation. Alex will be worried sick, and angry, and rightfully so. What will J'onn say? Nia? Clark? And then there's Lena. Kara's hand moves to the thin red thread would tightly around her wrist. Ever so gently, careful not to wear it thinner still, she brushes her fingers over it. She'll have to talk to Lena. Soon. Today. The thought makes her stomach twist and seize and roil with feelings she has hardly begun to name, let alone master, but Rao, if she stays away until she's mastered them all she's starting to think she might stay away for a lifetime. But at least the anger is under control. That's the most important thing, because the truth is there is no returning to National City, no returning to Lena, without facing Sam. It's doubly true now that Sam has taken up the cape to protect the city that Kara has come to think of as her own. She has to admit, however begrudgingly, that Sam has done a good job. The city below is peaceful in that loud, chaotic way that cities have about them in the late afternoon: a dog shouts out on 4th street; someone's car won't start on Tulare; highschool students pour out of a bus downtown full of the laughter and the posturing of youth. All is well. Certainly things are better than Kara has any right to expect them to be, and that's on Sam. Sam, who made headlines when she stepped in to make it clear that Supergirl's absence would not be taken advantage of. Sam, who said she'd never wear the cape because she was afraid of what it would mean for Ruby. Sam, who should have rightly been on Argo right now claiming her birthright and her heritage. Sam, who had an obligation to protect Lena and chose to bind her irrevocably to Kara in a marriage of obligation instead. Perhaps the anger is not so under control after all, but up here there's no one to see Kara's eyes flash or her fist clench, no one to hear her heartrate pick up or the sharp breath she forces out between her teeth. Up here it's okay. It's only down there she has to worry about control. But first before control, before the appearance of reconciliation, before Kara figures out how to get Sam on board with the plan she's hatched for finding Lena a way out of this mess, first before anything, Kara is going to have to talk to Alex. Hell hath no fury like an older sister abruptly abandoned and left to fret and worry for nothing, and the longer Kara puts this off the worse it's going to be. She takes a deep breath and wishes, not for the first time, that life came with a rewind.

There isn't really any such thing as taking the long way when you're a Kryptonian under Earth's yellow sun, but Kara makes an effort. She loops around the city twice, trying not to think about how uncomfortable it will be if she runs into Sam out here doing a similar patrol. She hovers over the L-Corp building long enough to determine that Lena is, in fact, not at work on a Saturday — probably Jess's doing, for which she’s grateful. Then she drifts gently to Alex's neighborhood, to her street, to the fire escape, to the back window always unlatched when Kara is on patrol just in case Supergirl should need to stop by unseen. Kara, of course, is not so much on patrol as officially missing, so she hesitates there on the fire escape before reaching out to tug gently gently gently on the window. It's almost a surprise when it slides open. Alex is home but the shower is running and Kara, feeling an odd sort of nervousness wash over her, slips through the window quietly. Maybe it would have been better to come through the front door, or to call ahead, or maybe it would be better to announce herself now, but now she's here trembling in Alex's kitchen and she's let herself in this way a hundred times and it's always been okay. Only this time it's different, and all Kara can think about is how angry Alex is going to be when she sees her and- The bathroom door flies open and Alex comes barreling out into the kitchen in a towel, dripping wet, the shower still running behind her. They stand there for a moment, Kara rubbing the edge of her cape between her fingers, Alex stock still as though she's seen a ghost. "Kara," she breaths. And then, "Shit, I'm sorry. Let me-" She reaches for the cupboard, then the fridge, then steps back. "Are you okay?" "Yeah," Kara says. She draws in a deep breath to spit out the explanation she's rehearsed a hundred times: I'm sorry but I was losing control and you have to understand that Sam and Lena were together the whole time and I was jealous, so jealous, but I was mostly so angry that Lena trusted her and then she put her into this awful position with the vows, and it put me in an awful position too, and I just couldn't stay and I- But Alex is nodding. "Let me just put a shirt on, okay? Don't- Just don't go anywhere. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. Two seconds." She starts down the hall and then turns back, her fingers up for emphasis. "Two seconds." It's more like forty seconds and the shower is still running and Kara is too uncomfortable to fetch anything from the fridge. All her rehearsed words have died in her throat and she's left standing there teasing a thread out of the edge of the cape and feeling like somehow this is all wrong. Kara’s imagined this encounter a thousand times but never like this, and to compound it all, something in this place has shifted. Maybe it's just the time Kara's been away but something here feels... different. Forty seconds isn't long enough to put a finger on it and Alex is back in the kitchen in a t-shirt and boxers and demanding a hug before Kara can quite track what's changed. There's an almost physical relief when Alex collides with her and for a few seconds all else is forgotten. "Are you mad at me?" she whispers into Alex's hair. "Yeah," Alex whispers back. "But it can wait." And then, as she pulls away, "Cocoa?" Alex doesn't wait for an answer. She's busy at the stove in an instant, milk out on the counter, hot chocolate mix out of a glass bottle measured by the heaping quarter cup, and Kara's offers of assistance are shooed away with a gesture so reminiscent of Eliza that she might have giggled if she hadn't been feeling slightly sick. She settles into a chair at the kitchen table instead. The cape has found its way between her fingers again; that loose thread is becoming more prominent by the minute. Then the shower shuts off and Kara glances up at Alex. "Is someone else here? I'm so sorry, am I interrupting? I can go if-" Alex silences her with a hand. "It's fine. You're not interrupting. It's just... it's my girlfriend." "Girlfriend?" The guilt sickens Kara a little further. She's been gone too long. She's missed too much. "Actually," Alex says, stirring the hot chocolate mix into the milk on the stove, "I was meaning to talk to you about it before everything happened with the wedding. It wasn't official but we'd been intimate - sorry, TMI, I know - and I thought it might be going some place. But then with everything happening it never felt like the right time, and now..." "Well who is she?" This explains, at least, what feels different about the apartment. And it seems obvious now that Kara knows what she's looking for: an extra pair of shoes by the front door, a jacket over the back of the couch that doesn't belong to Alex. But it's familiar. A jacket Kara's seen before, now that she's thinking about it. "Do I know her?" "Yeah. Actually, we should probably talk about-" Sam steps into the kitchen slowly, so softly that human ears might not have picked up her approach. She's wearing one of Alex's long sleeved tees pulled down too far over her hands, an anxious gesture Kara has seen mirrored in Lena a thousand times, and it sends an instant flash of something awful through her chest. "Hi Kara," Sam says softly. The rage hits Kara before her mind can catch up. Alex and Sam were intimate before the wedding. Alex and Sam were intimate before the wedding. Alex and Sam were- Which means- The kitchen table cracks under Kara's fingers but the words don't come. What is she supposed to say? Hi Alex, I really missed you, by the way your girlfriend is possibly cheating on you with my wife who, funny story, is only actually married to me because your girlfriend manipulated her into a binding religious marriage, potentially in order to free herself up so that she could be official with you. Any chance she's mentioned any of that? No? What comes out of her mouth is: "How dare you." Sam crosses her arms, those sleeves still pulled down around her fingers, takes another step into the kitchen. "I think I know what this looks like," she says. "And it's not. It's not what you think." Kara doesn't know what she thinks. Something about Sam's anxiety and the confusion on Alex's face is sounding an alarm, and it’s an alarm that sounds an awful lot like doubt, but the anger is louder. Anger, in Kara's recent experience, is always louder. And now it's building behind her eyes, and she knows it shows because Sam starts to move between her and Alex and somehow that makes it all worse because now it's the shame that's louder and Kara can hardly hear her own thoughts over all that noise. "I have to go," she chokes out. "I'm sorry. Alex, I-" I'll call, she wants to say. "I'm sorry," she says instead. She can smell the milk burning on the stove as she leaves, can hear Alex calling after her, demanding Sam go after her, demanding she come back. "Let her go," Sam murmurs. Kara passes out of earshot. Well, not really. But she's got enough distance that she can put it out of her head. Enough distance that she can, if she chooses, listen to nothing but the wind, and her shame, and the hammering of her own heart.

[chaucoatibrai1979-blog]

An abstract is a mini version of your article, your article in brief or a distilled version of it. It is a short piece of writing, often only 300 500 words in length, that provides all the main points of your full article but in a brief summary form. Some people will cite your article in their work on the basis of having read your abstract, so it's very worth while making the abstract the very best that you can. Possibly try finding out the PH content of your wash and toner. Your skins natural PH is 양양출장안마 about 5.5 and that's what you want to find in your wash and 양양출장안마 toner. Reason for doing this is so you don't strip your skin with a high PH product or burn your skin with an extremely low PH.. After the Queen's shocking appearance, but not so unexpected statements the priests stepped forward to perform the installation ceremonies. Three priests stepped forward one at a time, to chant meles of Kamehameha, his ancestors and their greatness. After the high priest said a prayer to the Gods Kne, Ku and Lono, Liholiho was escorted to the temple of Kamakahonu where in a sacred religious ritual, his loins were girded in red signifying sovereign power and he was named Kamehameha II.2. I don care of its the middle of a sunny day and were just lounging right inside on the couch watching a movie together, I still make sure everything is locked up. I just don like the idea of someone being able to just open the front door and walk in. I known so many people who leave their doors unlocked when they home and it drives me nuts. It was out first child. Today while the wife was in surgery to remove the miscarriage (Natrual and medical attempts had not worked) I was in the ward that was full of couples going through the same and it just heartbreaking. To think of someone taking this and trying to monitise it fills me with a mix of anger, disbelief and sadness. That suntan you crave is really your skin throwing up a barrier to protect itself. The best thing you can do for your skin is to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun. When you are outside, cover up as much as possible and apply sunscreen with both UVA and UVB protection regularly.. 1 point submitted 23 hours agoIm just here to say that she did not do the attitude check schtick when I saw her live. She was super nice after in the parking lot and gives off a radiant energy for sure. But her performance was lack luster af and she spent the majority of her time for both performances focused on a table of british dudes. This is a common problem in the industry and not some tinfoil hat joke. Look at the xbox one launch where Microsoft backtracked on the mandatory microphone. Look at how the new macbook physically disconnects the microphone when the lid is shut. He continued to piss, and then dropped to a squat for a 2. Got up. Packed up the paint brush and paint. "Of course, I don't expect you to like it, Alec, but I don't consider you a judge of what is proper and becoming for a young lady. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of providing a pretty street suit for Rose. She need not wear it if you object, for I know we promised to let you do what you liked with the poor dear for a year.". For your Hammerheads, you can fit garrison shotguns on there. I recommend using armored power plants MKII, and MKII rails. Put minimal armor on the front as they not the primary target, and just stuff it with rails and maybe a shield generator if you have power to spare. For me, it was a mindset change. When I accepted that nothing is going to go perfectly. That there will be bumps along the way, and it inevitable that sometimes I cave to indulgences.

[cupidkihyun]

Bad Decisions pt 2 [Jaehyun]

Genre: Angst        

Scenario: Your long term friend Jaehyun is in love with your best friend. You want nothing but the best for them but silently dealing with your break up from BTS singer Jeon Jungkook has been weighing on you. One drunken night and one bad decision leads to risks taken and mistakes made.

Characters: Jaehyun; Reader (You); Your Friend (Y/F/N); Mark; small mention of other members

Word Count: 2007

Notes: Thank you so much for your feedback with part 1, reading your nice comments really made my day! Here’s part 2 I hope you guys enjoy it as well.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5.5

        “Alright.”

           He gave you a slow nod, his eyes telling you ‘its what’s for the best Y/N’, and he released his grip on your knee. You couldn’t necessarily poke any holes in his logic. It’s true that he and Y/F/N weren’t dating but they might as well have been. She was so in love with him and up until now you would have said he felt the exact same way about her.

As you sat with your thoughts he collected his discarded shirt off the floor and rolled it up into a ball in his fist. You watched him tug the wrinkled black material onto his body. He popped his head through the hole and shook his dark hair. You walked over to your bag, checking your phone one more time before slinging the strap across your shoulder.

“It’s almost 4am, you should just spend the night.” Jaehyun called after you.

 “No I’m just gonna go.”

“Looking like that?” He gestured to your body. The deep marks his mouth left on your skin starting to turn a dull purple, “Just stay over Y/N. You can sleep in my room. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

 “It’s different now. We can’t do that kind of thing anymore.”

“I didn’t want things to be different.”

“Well they are!”

Mark’s awkward cough caught your attention and you both turned to look at him, “You can sleep in my bed, Y/N. I can sleep on the floor.”

“Mark how long were you standing there.”

 “I just came back; you guys are being hella loud. I’m surprised Haechan hasn’t scrambled out here at the first sign of drama.”

*

The next day you woke up to a sleeping Mark softly snoring on the floor beside you. You were lax for a moment seemingly in a limbo, until you remembered what you had done last night. Y/F/N had told you she liked Jaehyun many times over, always telling you about the little conversations they had and the compliments he would send her way. Guilty was not a strong enough word of how you felt.

You got up out of bed twisting your stiff limbs until you heard them crack and roll back into place. You quietly shuffled out of the room, entering the small kitchen and living area to find Haechan already awake munching on a muffin.

“Noona, are you alright? You have marks on your neck,” he said worried trying to get a better look at your neck.

“Uh yeah Haechan I’m fine”, you said hurriedly covering your neck with your hand and moving past him to get out the door and down to your car, waving half-heartedly at him as you left.

You had texted Y/F/N last night saying you had got carried away with the Uno game and didn’t realize the time had flown by. You hoped that didn’t sound too fake over text, usually you were more careful about sleeping over, being an idol you couldn’t ruin your image with something as little as staying over at a boy’s dorm.

She had texted you back not one second later telling you it was okay and that you had dance practice tomorrow and to be back early to get a shower, change, and eat before you both left.

You couldn’t help but let a few tears slip as you sat in your car looking at your messages. She was always so kind to you, especially after your break up with Jungkook. She won’t even yell at you for staying over, which she should, instead she’ll have breakfast ready and nothing  but a smile on her face.

You drove back to your dorm, it was about 20 minutes away, giving you time to compose yourself before you met your members.

You walked into the dorm to find it empty, there was no music on, no one starting a food fight in the kitchen. You placed your bag down on the couch, going into the room you shared with Y/F/N and walked straight into her.

“Oh, hey there you are. I didn’t hear you come in”, she said as you backed up a little, your head hitting the back of the door.

“Are you okay? You look tired….”, she said as she peered at your face. It must still be puffy from you crying this morning.

“Uh, yeah. Fine, fine. Um why is no one else awake?”, you said diverting the question.

“They have the day off, because we’re practicing with Mark and Jae today for our sub-group. Are you sure you’re okay? You didn’t drink anything did you?”

“Yeah, yeah I am. I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, sorry. I’m gonna go take a shower before we have to leave”

“Alright, I’ll make breakfast. Bacon and eggs sound good?”, she said as she made her way out of the bedroom.

“Uh yeah that’s fine”, you said as you grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt from your closet and rushed to the bathroom. Keeping this from her was harder than you expected.

Once you were done with your shower you did minimal make-up, being an idol you never got a day off to be “normal”. You stared at yourself in the mirror. The hickeys Jaehyun gave you still shone on your skin a deep plum color, making your thoughts drift back to last night. His lips on your skin felt so… right. But you couldn’t deny the amount of guilt you felt over it, it was slowly suffocating you like a flower wilting in the sun.

You covered up the marks he left on you as best you could, and made your way to the kitchen. The savory smell of bacon hit your nose as you rounded the corner, seeing Y/F/N bent over the stove cooking.

“Hey, I’m almost done, give me a minute”, she said smiling softly at you.

You took a seat at the breakfast bar, waiting patiently as she finished. Your phone vibrated on the counter, startling you. It was Jaehyun.

Jaehyun: “Remember what we agreed to last night. We can’t tell her”

Y/N: “The guilt is eating me alive Jae, I don’t know if I can be this fake to her and her not notice something is off with me. It’s only a matter of time”

Jaehyun: “Y/N you know we can’t tell. We’re just gonna have to forget about it”

Y/N: “Easier said than done”

“Here, I hope you like it!”, Y/F/N said as she placed a heaping plate of food in front of you.

“I always like it, you’re the best”

“Haha thanks. I’m looking forward to today, I think it’s going to be really fun and our song is really good! I hope the fans like it, there’s been a lot of hype around it. And I think Jaehyun likes me Y/N, like likes me likes me. He’s really cute, right? Do you think he’ll ask me out? I hope he does”

You swallowed thickly, “I mean he’s alright…and yeah I’m 100 percent sure he likes you”, You said trying to keep up with the conversation as best you could without sounding too “off”.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re acting… strange this morning”

“Y/F/N I SAID I WAS FINE” you snapped as you eyed the girl beside you.

She looked taken aback, her hair falling in perfect waves down her face, framing it in a soft halo. Her eyes told you she knew something was up, but you were unwilling to tell.

“Y/N, I was just trying to help. Something is obviously eating away at you”, she said as she stood up, her chair scraping along the floor as she did. She washed her plate, and put it in the dishwasher then turned back to you.

“We leave in 10 minutes, I’ll drive”, she said as she left the kitchen with a solemn expression.

Now you really fucked up. She knew something was up, why you thought you could hide it was beyond you.

You both sat in the car, not talking. “Singing in the Rain” by JinSoul was softly playing in the background, as rain drops started to lightly hit the roof of the car. You guys were usually singing and dancing to whatever song was playing and you had been vlogging your trips in the car, but Y/F/N turned off the camera as soon as you got in the car telling fans you would be back later and shut off the V-live. The camera turned itself on automatically when the car started, giving fans an inside look at what happened when you guys drove.

“Great,” you heard Y/F/N mutter as she put on the wipers as the rain started to pick up, thunder booming in the distance.

She pulled into the underground garage at your company and into the space closest to the elevator and shut off the engine.

“Hey I’m sorry about this morning, you don’t need to tell me everything and I’m sorry for prying into your business” she said as she broke the silence.

“It’s okay. I was being a bitch about it,” you muttered as you glanced at her.

“I mean kind of….” she said a smile on her face, “Okay we good? Let’s go!”, she said as she hopped out of the car.

You couldn’t help but admire how she handled situations, you guessed it came with being the leader of a popular K-pop group and the constant pressure.

You followed her to the elevator, pushing the button for the 6th floor. You almost forgot about what transpired the other night until the doors opened to reveal Mark and Jaehyun waiting outside the practice room.

“Oh guys I’m sorry, I forgot it was locked,” Y/F/N said as she came in front of them to unlock the doors. “No one is usually here this early”.

As Y/F/N was occupied with the doors and Mark’s comments about how “Noona’s shouldn’t forget such meaningful things” Jaehyun gave you a pointed look that clearly said “Don’t say anything” and slipped inside the practice room.

After about 4 hours of getting the dance moves wrong and “Noona that’s too sexy for my eyes” you guys had finally taken a break. You made your way over to where your bag was and fished out your water bottle you knew Y/F/N had packed for you.

“Hey”, you heard a deep voice say right behind you.

“Fuck Jaehyun, you scared me. And I don’t want to talk to you right now,” you said as you tried to get back to Y/F/N and Mark, who were currently playing “rock, paper, scissors” for who had to buy the food for lunch.

“You haven’t said anything to her right?”

“No, I haven’t,” you scowled at him.

“Okay, well I just asked her if I could take her out after practice and she agreed”

“Great, now move”, you said.

Suddenly you hear Mark’s voice boom through the practice room. “Yo I wouldn’t leave those two together for too long after what happened last night” he hollered and you immediately knew you were going to kill Mark.

“What happened last night?” Y/F/N asked as she counted out money for lunch absentmindedly on the floor.

“Nothing” you and Jaehyun said at the same time.

“You guys didn’t tell her?”

“Mark shut the fuck up”, you snarled.

“Oh just that they were all on each other last night.” Mark laughed/

Y/F/N turned to look at the both of you, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. “Jaehyun what is he talking about?”

“Y/F/N it wasn’t like that.” Jaehyun blurted out quickly.

Mark rolled his eyes, “Oh please, I could hear you guys with my door shut. And the way you guys were clinging to each other, oh my god, it was like you two were ‘bout to merge souls or something. I’m actually gonna have night terrors for the rest of my life.”

You couldn’t be more horrified. The look on her face was of utter disbelief, which turned to anger, then sadness all in a mere second.

-admin unnie & punpun

[priparaplayer]

i☆Ris, King Of Prism, and some really good Ramen

Sup. This is my report on this weekend. It was pretty cool.

Huh? You want more than that? Okay

This was my birthday weekend. Coincidentally, Pride the Hero was coming out. And there was an  i☆Ris concert an hour away. And those were on my actual birthday. The initial plan was to see Pride the Hero in the morning before the  i☆Ris concert (and obviously go to both sections. It was my birthday, after all). However, when I saw the 5.5 hours (!!!!!!!!!!!) Pride the Hero midnight showing I knew I had to go.

So, Friday I had the most incredible King Of Prism/Pretty Rhythm experience. Saturday I saw i☆Ris again. Sunday I planned to go to Akiba to play some DFC and go to a cheering section that night. 

In this post, I’m gonna start by talking about fighting games because it’s short. Then I’ll talk about  i☆Ris. I’ll finish with KoP. That way the KoP spoilers will be below everything else.

EDIT: This came out way longer than I thought it would. My b. If any of you actually read this whole thing, ty <3 I really appreciate that you care enough to do that <3

After going out two days in a row I decided to skip going to Akiba and just stay home until the cheering section. I ended up playing Xrd netplay with my American friends. I’m not a huge fan of Xrd (See me in +R though), and the connection with America on my trash LeoPalace wifi was pretty bad, but it was still fun to play my friends and talk to them on voice chat. I’m playing on my keyboard, which kinda sucks. It feels okay though because it’s buckling spring. I was planning to build a stick after my next paycheck, but I also want to buy a ton of PriPara and KoP and i☆Ris merch, so that might have to wait lol. Priorities.

i☆Ris  was amazing, as usual. Before coming to Japan I’d seen all their concerts on blu-ray. Seeing them live on April 9th (right when I got to Japan) was the most magical experience. This time was pretty different, because I’d already seen them once, and I’d been practising the calls with the blu-rays. This meant I was focused on them a lot rather than on actually watching and enjoying the performance. Fortunately I fixed this in the second performance.

I left early enough to play a couple of games of PriPara at the station and then get to the concert an hour early to pick up some merchandise. Didn’t get anything cool when playing PriPara. Still need Yume rare accessory and shoes... And the onepiece for the June bride coord... So I can do pair play with me and Laala wearing it...

Unfortunately, there were a ton of delays on the Yokohama line (apparently due to signal inspection?) and rather than arriving an hour early, I arrived two minutes late and came in just after the start of the first song. Fortunately my seat was in the back row of the first floor so I didn’t have to make anyone move to get in it. Just jumped over the back. Unfortunately I couldn’t pick up any merchandise before the first showing, but I already had most of what I wanted from the April 9th show. I never took photos of it back then, so here you go

After the noon showing I picked up the other stuff I wanted. Got the pamphlet (I was curious what it was about)

It wasn’t really that interesting though. It had various photos of them, and talked more about the photo shoots. It also had short interviews. The fan club magazine was a lot more interesting and also had some photos from the photo shoot for the pamphlet. Overall not worth getting the pamphlet. Fan club magazine is pictured below because I wanted to take a picture of it.

The main thing was about a foreign fan named Julian meeting them (idk if he was actually a fan, but it said he was). All that really did was make me super duper jealous of him. Does he have any idea how much many I’ve spent on Skyping with Himi? And he just gets to hang out with them? Granted, I “justified” it by saying it was my way to practice Japanese with a Japanese speaker. But we all know that isn’t why I was doing it.

I also picked up a Himi B2 Tapestry (they didn’t have these at the performance in April)

None of you are probably aware of this, because I don’t really talk about it much, but I think Himi has the most beautiful singing voice I’ve ever heard. Ever. And I’ll probably never stop believing that. (She’s also incredibly beautiful, which is nice too). I mean her actual voice btw, not her Laala voice (although I do also enjoy her Laala voice).

In between shoes I wanted to play PriPara, but couldn’t find any machines in walking distance. I used this time to read the pamphlet and then play Golden Sun (yay Japanese practice). Overheard some guys talking about how they haven’t seen someone using a Gameboy Advance in ages lol. Glad I’m positively influencing the Japanese. Eavesdropping is also really good practice... as long as you’re not eavesdropping on Menardi and Saturos...

Both performances started and ended the same way. Got their usual songs, and got a few different ones than in April. I hurt my leg in one of the jumps during Make It. Oops. But it was all super incredible. I can’t believe how amazing iRis is.

The lunch section had small ensemble performances. They did a lot of covers I really enjoy (e.g. 1000% sparking), and also performed some of their regular songs in the ensembles. It was all super great.

The evening section had solo peformances. Some of these were the same as April (Himi doing her polka dots song and Yuu doing Voice for You), but the rest were different. Saki wore the same dress as in April, and it still looked incredible on her.

After the performances was the encore. It was the same both times. They did the standard hachamecha strike. Also had the new song Saki, Yuuki, and Azuki are doing together (title TBD). Saki put on her Sion voice and made a joke about them being Dressing Pafe. The song was pretty entertaining though.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. I’m glad I went to see them again, and glad I went to both showings. Definitely glad they were so close by. Although let’s be real here, I’d probably travel pretty far to see them on my birthday if I needed to.

KING OF PRISM

PRIDE THE HERO

LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW

PROBABLY

I HAVEN’T WRITTEN THEM YET SO CAN’T CONFIRM 100%

BUT PROBABLY

I took some photos of the theatre on the day, but took some better ones when I went back tonight. Here you go.

Some of you might remember I came across a stupidly good 90% off sale on King of Prism goods in Akiba in May. Although there wasn’t any Alec stuff, so I just picked up a Kazuki bowtie. Obviously I wore it to both showings I went to. Here it is, pictured on my shirt.

There’s an arcade right next to the theatre,so I had time to play PriPara and Dream Festival before the Friday showing and after the Sunday showing. I think I’ve mentioned this a few times, but wow, I really love the Dream Festival music. Wow.

Anyway, a bit about me. To provide some context. I love PriPara. So so so much. Although you probably know that already. I got into PriPara because I liked idols and loved purple, and saw it was an idol anime where the main character had purple hair. Also my friends from the anime fgc told me they were enjoying it a lot. I downloaded it and started watching on the bus to AGDQ. I watched episode 1, and was completely hooked after episode 2. I had planned to sleep on the overnight bus ride, but that didn’t happen. And I haven’t looked back since. Also my friend Puncay won the Super Mario 64 race that year (I think it was that year anyway) and we played DFC together. Good times.

After getting hooked on PriPara, I wanted to learn more about Pretty Rhythm so watched King of Prism. I’ve always been a fan of male idols. Part of this is because I love male singing voices, and part of this is because I had two dreams growing up. One was to be a video game programmer in Japan, and one was to be a male idol. I suppose it’s obvious right now which one of these I ended up pursuing, and which one I ultimately gave up on. But when I was younger I really thought it would be the other way around. I joined the dance club in primary and middle school (I was the only guy). At my high school music was required for the academically accelerated classes, so I ended up doing band instead of dance. I learned to play the Euphonium (which I think I got pretty good at), French Horn, Flute, and obviously learned some singing (can’t be an idol without singing after all). Anyway, a part of seeing King of Prism definitely lets me fulfill this childhood dream. After watching and loving it (especially the EZ DO DANCE battle), I watched Rainbow Live, which was also really good. To this date I’ve only seen a few eps of Aurora Dream and haven’t seen Dear My Future, so there’s probably context stuff I’m missing out on because of that. Really need to fix that some day. Some day soon.

So back to KOP. I’m so glad I watched Rainbow Live after watching the first KoP movie. Because wow, this was a real sequel. Full out. And it nailed it in almost every way.

Getting to see rainbow live again was fun. But wow, it felt weird to go through it that fast lol. 3 hours and suddenly we’re at the last episode. It was great to see Prizmmy again. Although have you seen them these days? Mia looks so beautiful now that she’s grown up. I made an Instagram account just to follow her. I’ll probably never follow anyone else (unless Himi makes an Instagram).

I don’t really need to spend a lot of time on Rainbow Live. It’s Rainbow Live. It’s great. Watch it. I didn’t know I needed to see it in a theatre on blu-ray, but now that I’ve seen that I know there was a part of me that always needed to.

I felt more invested in the Pretty Rhythm characters during KOP than I did when I went to see it on June 6th. I guess that’s because it was so fresh. Not much to say. It’s KOP. It’s also great. Watch it. EZ DO DANCE!

Back to KOP. Thoughts aren’t really gonna be in order they appeared during the movie and more in the order I think of them.

During the cheering section I was careful to not show my bias at all. And by that I mean my second cyalume was only set to purple and I pulled it out of my bag every time Alec showed up. What bias? I don’t see any.

I bought my seat online and picked row H. I ended up being with no one in front of me in the cheering section lol. This sucked, because I wasn’t confident what colours to use for the new characters. Everyone else in the audience had clearly been to a few of the cheering shows already, and they were far more organised than I expected. There were a couple other guys, so i wasn’t alone in that regard. Although obviously no foreigners. A lot more guys at the midnight showing. Anyway, i need to remember that A is the back row. Instead of the front row. I don’t know how that makes sense.

The movie started with pride. It was incredible.

Actually it started with a short drama with Kakeru and Shin. It was entertaining enough, but I don’t really remember what it was about lol. Guess it wasn’t that memorable. Apparently other locations got other dramas.

We saw the new Scwartz Rose boys. Honestly they’re pretty forgettable and only one of them does anything. Oh well.

There’s a lot more stuff, straight from the start, with Rainbow Live characters like Rei. Also Ito shows up and gets a line later on. And she has the most amazing ponytail. It’s so pretty. I wish I could have a ponytail like that.

Kouji is apparently making songs for Scwartz Rose. Hiro heads off to talk to Kouji. Definitely didn’t expect them to reunite so soon into the movie. There’s some super duper amazing English here. I was able to hold myself back the first time. But I chuckled a lot during the second viewing. I’m honestly amazed I managed to keep it to a chuckle, and next time is probably gonna be full out laughter. I just don’t think I can hold myself back a third time.

Shin gets a letter. And they’re like “woah, it could be a love letter. from a boy. watch out for those”. Anyway, Shin goes to meet up with Louis and they do Crazy Gonna Crazy. By now I’m sure you all know that they kiss in this scene. So yeah, I think it’s fairly safe to assume that letter was a love letter.

Crazy Gonna Crazy was like the montage scene of this movie. It had a dance battle going on and some other stuff. So I assume the next King of Prism movie will have Butterfly Effect for the montage performance?

Jin comes to take June and for some reason she goes with him? I don’t think they explained why. Hijiri seems heartbroken. Me too. JUNE </3 </3 </3 During the cheering section I tried to reach out for her like him. I’ll practice it more for next time so I can do it justice.

Kazuki went to King of Prism Fight Club. And bodied everyone. Then trained under a waterfall. What a hero. FREEDOM.

Did I mention Shin and Louis kissed?

There’s a lot of rough stuff that happens and Hiro gets super depressed. His mother talks to him about his father a bit but says she can’t say more... huh? future plot point confirmed? She manages to pull him out of his depression (and he gets some help from a honey apple curry... with a nice shot of Kouji’s butt)

Eventually everyone gets their training done, and we also see Rei Wakana and Ann looking on and cheering for Kazuki under the waterfall. Did he know they were there? I wonder if he could even hear them over the waterfall. lol. Waterfall hype.

Then we get to the cup. The new Schwarz Rose dude does a song, but it barely focuses on it. rip him.

Then ALEC SHOWS UP. AND I WAVE MY PURPLE CYALUMES. the second time. The first time I’m like “I really want this to be EZ DO DANCE... but I also want it to be a new Alec solo... but I really want EZ DO DANCE....” Anyway, it was EZ DO DANCE!!!! YES!!!!! NOW KARAOKE MACHINES HAVE ANOTHER VERSION OF THIS SONG!!!!!!!!

Anyway, Alec was terrifying. In the most incredible way. Like wow. He scared everyone in the audience in the movie, and did a good job making me scared too. Then he starts using his incredible six pack to bomb the stadium (what a six pack). He’s destroying the whole thing. Kazuki looks like he’s about to give us the dance battle we’ve all been waiting for, but Taiga jumps in! I was really hoping this would be close but with Alec’s victory, leading to him and Kazuki battling to a new song. Instead it ended in a draw. I felt bad for Alec. But you know what? Alec, you were blowing up the whole stadium. And scaring everyone. Those are pretty bad things to do. You don’t deserve to win acting that way.

Anyway, they’re going to have to end the cup there (because no stage or anything lol). But Kazuki steps in to save the day, and his performance repairs the entire stadium. FREEEEEEEEEEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!! He gets disqualified. I didn’t catch why. They used some Japanese word I didn’t know. Next time I’ll write it down so I can look it up. Alec shouts out “What!” really loudly after hearing about the disqualification. Note to self: There’s time to shout this right after him. Do it next time.

The stage is fixed. Shin does a performance.It’s really good. Before this everyone in Edel Rose puts there hands together. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. There’s room to shout 8 right after this, so we all did it. Cheering sections really are the best.

Louis wears the most incredible dress. Wow. I wish I could wear that dress. It looks so beautiful. There’s apparently some crazy back story between Shin and Louis. Shin had super cool long hair, and Louis is pretty much confirmed to be a Prism Messenger (I don’t think they specify it’s Louis in this flashback, but I’d bet on it being him).

Then everyone cheers Glorious Schwarz. Including us. GLORIOUS SCHWARZ!!!

Hiro comes out and reveals his magical power to change all cyalumes by snapping his fingers. Then halfway through the song he turns everything into gold, including the cyalumes (don’t forget to change yours at this point!). Oh, yeah, he performed Pride. And made Kazuki and Kouji holograms appear. He didn’t need projectors or anything. Get outplayed Non. But I guess this means Kami Idol Non could do a Triangle performance with no projectors. That would be hype. Anyway, Hiro’s performance is super good, and he becomes King. The issue with him not being able to use Pride gets settled during the performance. It’s implied Kakeru took care of this when he was doing money stuff earlier. Maybe some sort of deal that was part of using his watches?

June leaves Jin and goes back to Hijiri! JUNE <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

And Hiro gets crowned King. He hugs it out with Kouji and Kazuki (I really thought they were going to perform here). Then he shouts “I am the King of Prism” and we go to credits.

The credits song was great... but I’m sitting here like “Wow.. they teased us like that... Over the Rainbow shows up and they didn’t even perform... If this was a cheering section I’d be shouting encore right now...”

Anyway, credits song ends and suddenly we go back to a stage with the audience shouting “Encore”. And Over the Rainbow shows up and gives us what we’ve all been waiting for. During their Prism Jump they kiss girls who look very similar to characters from Rainbow Live. Kouji even calls his girl Cross... huh... must be coincidence. Like the first movie, there are lines you can shout out. After the first showing, I really thought my favourite scene was either the EZ DO DANCE battle (ALEC!!!!) or the Crazy Gonna Grazy performance. But once I shouted out the lines, I suddenly could vividly imagine myself kissing Kazuki and it felt almost like the real thing. So yeah. No scene is going to top my imagination giving me that experience. Sorry other scenes.

After the movie we got film strips. Here’s mine.

We also got to buy pamphlets

There’s a ton of KOP merchandise at the theatre now. Definitely gonna pick some of it up next time I go back. Which will hopefully be when I don’t have a cold. Although I have a job where I work with a billion different little kids every day. I pretty much always have a cold. Given that I want this (and I need to get that May Laala pillow from Prism Stone), I think I’ll have to pass on building a fight stick next month lol. Then there’s the Kazuki daki, which I’d seen at Prism Stone plenty of times but hadn’t bought because it wasn’t Alec. That kiss with him changed my mind though. I need it. Too much money from that paycheck already committed to being an idol fan. Oh, and if I get tickets to the iRis fifth anniversary live I’ll want to buy stuff there. Wish me luck in the second lottery.

Anyway, the movie blew me away. It was so good. Movie of the century for sure. Yes I know we still have like 80 years to go. I’m calling it now. The next 80 years are downhill. Unless the next King of Prism movie tops this. Oh yeah, there was a thing at the end that said “End of youth forever”. So I assume that means we’re done with over the rainbow? Or maybe just their youth? Next movie might be more about Shin/Louis, or it might be a more grown up thing about Over the Rainbow and the Rainbow Live cast? No matter what I’m super excited.

Well, there’s all that Shin backstory. So they’re definitely gonna go into more detail about that.

Can they please do something about the pacing though? Like, this movie was so fast. It probably could have been 2-3 hours long. And no one’s gonna complain about the movie being that long lol.

I know this is kinda insignificant, but it feels really cool that I can understand almost all of this movie. Years of Japanese study paying off. I’m pretty proud of myself atm.

There’s a super delicious ramen place 2 minutes away from my apartment that’s open until 3am. My apartment is about 30 minutes from the theatre, and I was super hungry after the movie, so I stopped by there around around 2am.  Last time I went around 9 and had to wait in line 50 minutes, but it seems like there’s no line at 2am. Treated myself to their super fancy miso char siu ramen. And got a noodle refill. But wow it was so good. Great birthday meal.

Also, it was super cool that after the Rainbow Live marathon and first KoP movie I turned 24. Right in time for Pride the Hero. Best Birthday Ever.

PRIDE THE HERO

[101percentindia]

We Have Made A Mess. Now It’s Time To Clean Up The Mess

The sheer amount of plastic on the beach has made me rethink my use of it in daily life.

I’ve been thinking of doing my bit for the environment by joining the gang who’ve been cleaning Versova beach every single weekend for the past 87 weeks. Roughly 20 months. But weekends for me usually flash by in a daze of hangovers and domestic chores. This time though, I was determined to be a part of the change that we all so sincerely profess through our social media posts.

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Before clean up

Meet Afroz Shah, the cool crusader for clean oceans and beaches, who’s also a lawyer by profession. I have known Afroz since my days as a reporter covering the Bombay high court. And although I was aware of such an initiative through social media, it wasn’t until later that I realised he was behind it.

Human beings are filthy. Really. The only place we try to keep clean and organised is our homes, and may be our office spaces. Maybe. Nature be damned! I’m equally guilty of being a preacher more than a practitioner. I have enough sense to not mess with Mother Nature, though I’ve done precious little to conserve it.

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Picking up your mess

PICKING UP THE MESS I reached Versova at 1:30 pm on Sunday, the day before World Environment Day. The sun was in roast mode. There was a flurry of activity happening. Volunteers, school kids, corporates and bank employees doing their CSR deeds, politicians and CEOs, foreigners and a handful of celebrities like Pooja Bhatt, who have put their weight and support behind the initiative. It was a real leveller. There were kids from local slums as well as from posh high-rises doing their bit.

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Basket in which waste is collected

It was time to move into the beach and get down and dirty. I didn’t know what to expect, imagining the beach to be relatively clean since the campaign has been going on for almost two years. Well, I was wrong. The stretch designated for the day was filthy AF. But a conversation with a fellow volunteer made me realise that the cleaning campaign had started from one end of this long stretch of beach and was making it’s way down over the weeks and months.

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A collaborative effort of machines and humans

There were BMC workers, garbage trucks and JCBs to really claw out the plastic and other filth buried under the sand. The waste you see is just, well, the tip of the iceberg. Heaps of plastic and other material are waiting to be discovered. I donned my gloves and joined the volunteers to pick up the trash, a major part of it consisting of plastic, followed by discarded clothes, bags, broken bottles, religious offerings and such.

But mainly plastic. Shit loads of plastic. There were first-timers like Malad resident Ketan. There was Benjamin, a German from Munich on an internship in India who was there for the fourth time. “I wanted to experience India and what better way to do it than this,” he says.

There was another volunteer, a sailor, who had been part of the initiative right from the start. “Before BMC and the corporates joined in, it was just Afroz and a handful of people,” he says. He also recalled an incident where an old woman standing at the beach was flinging some offerings to God into the water, even though she saw that there was a bunch of people right there trying to clean it up.

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Benjamin and Ketan

The two-hour clean-up was pretty effective. From the time the drive started, they had managed to remove 5.5 million kg of waste. Yesterday’s drive carried out by 2000 volunteers got rid of 160 tons of waste that would be segregated by the BMC. The campaign has also planted 500 coconut tree saplings on the beach.

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The cool lawyer

As for Afroz, this is going to be a life long mission that he hopes to expand to other beaches until they are all plastic free. “There was so much plastic on the beach that I couldn’t take it. People suggested complaining to the BMC or filing a public interest litigation but I decided to utilise my two hands and make a change myself,” he says.

The sheer amount of plastic I picked up from the beach as well as from under the sand has definitely impacted my mind on how much we use in our daily lives. We may not be able to eliminate plastic altogether, but we can definitely reduce its usage. It’s just a matter of conscious conviction keeping in mind the importance of conserving the environment.

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Towards the end of the two hour clean-up

Armchair activism is good and even necessary to mobilise and converse with like-minded people, but at some point I realised I have to get the fuck out and physically do something about it for any kind of change to happen. If I cannot lead, I can at least try and follow.

Happy World Environment Day folks!

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are independent views solely of the author(s) expressed in their private capacity and do not in any way represent or reflect the views of 101india.com

By Mohan KK Photographs by: Mohan KK

[exploringthekiwiland]

45. Te Paki coastal walk - day 2

As already mentioned I got up pretty early the following morning. It took almost an hour to dry and pack the tent, eat a big breakfast and pack my bag. The sun was up and soon I was ready to go. According to the lonely planet guide today I was meant to walk 13km to Tapotupotu Bay campground +/- a potential 4km detour which I hadn’t made my mind about yet.

I started off at the beach and after about half an hour’s walking reached my first hill of the day. The hill, however, was a lot more difficult today. My legs were okay but my hips were aching from the heavy bag and my shoulders were stiff and painful. I was also climbing slower compared to yesterday - evidently I got tired! Within an hour or so, however, I was able to look back and wave goodbye to the Twilight Bay where I spent the night.

After another hour or so I reached an intersection at Cape Maria van Dieman. This is where the detour for the lighthouse at the end of this Cape started. I could see that I’ve already walked 5.5 km and was feeling quite energetic so I decided to take the detour which is another 4km.

The detour took me down to a sandy beach and up to the Cape again. Within about 15mins of walking I realized I made a mistake. I did not regret walking the detour however I should have left my pack back at the intersection! I did put it down in a bush nearby once I thought of that however by that time I had already walked down to the sandy beach and knew I would have to go back up! You live and learn….

The lighthouse at Cape Maria van Dieman was rather unexciting. However, it was on top of a rather steep hill and it made me wonder how do they get it up there?It looked like a single massive metal structure so they did not bring it in parts and put it together there. Did they use a helicopter? I need to look this up!

I turned around and picked up my pack at the bottom of the sandy beach. Walking back up from the sandy beach was pretty painful - especially since I knew I could have left my pack there! On a walk like this a lot of effort goes into planning and using resources wisely!

Back at the intersection I checked the sign again which said I had another 7km walk to Cape Reinga. I thought that could not be right since my campsite was another 4-5km further from Cape Reinga and I was only meant to walk 13km today. Anyway, I got back on track and quickly forgot about it.

Another 1 hour later I thought it was lunchtime and, as I was looking for a place to stop, this is what I saw! I could not believe it at first.

Turns out there is a loop day track that takes you via Cape Maria van Dieman that Evelina thought of walking which was a great surprise! Walking alone can be quite lonely at times so we stopped and traded lunches - I had her leftovers from last night and she had my sandwich. We both had a fair distance to walk so we said goodbye yet again and got back on track.

After a couple more hours of intensive climbing I’ve eventually reached Cape Reinga. A couple of weeks age we were in the very South of New Zealand looking out towards Antarctica. Today here I was in the Northernmost point of New Zealand looking out towards the equator. Made me wonder how huge this country is and how little I am.

After checking out the signs at Cape Reinga it became clear that Lonely Planet had made a mistake in their guidebook. It was in fact 13km +4km detour that I have already walked - yet there were another 5km left to reach Tapotupotu Bay!

I was tired and dusk was approaching faster than I would have liked it so I had to pick up my pace. Easier said than done as walking from Cape Reinga takes you down to a tiny beach and immediately up again on a very steep slope.

After nearly another 2 hours of walking Tapotupotu Bay campsite was finally in sight! Moreover, it was actually a beautiful secluded beach. I quickly got down and went for a swim. At this point the sea water was less salty than my skin so it was actually cleansing! And the beach at this bay was the nicest one I’ve been to in New Zealand so far!

Tired and in pain I pitched my tent as the sun was setting in the distance. I also had to make dinner and boil some water which was not suitable from drinking from the tap. It never felt this good to lie down to rest!

At the end of the day I was a little mad at lonely planet as an ‘easy’ 13km day managed to turn into a 22km one. However, I reached the campsite before dark so all was good! After defending my tent from mice again I finally managed to get some sleep which felt very rewarding!

Thanks for reading and check back tomorrow for my third day of trekking.

Lots of love,

Simonas

[diz-n-nate-4-life]

Someone grab the rotisserie.

Hey y’all. For once y’all got a Dizzy roast on your screen. Nate’s right. It has been a while. We’re lookin at approximately 2.5/3 years since either one of us last roasted someone. Last y’all heard from either one of us, Nate was roasting his stepdad, and I was with some kid for a lil over a year that Nate and I both roasted named Brad. With that being said, Brad and I are coming up on our 4-year Mark in a week. Believe it or not, he has come a long way, but that’s not why I’m here.

Today, on this bright beautiful white and brown Tuesday morning, I am gonna blow up about none other than my boyfriends parents, a Miss Kelly Lynn Apgar-Yerance and a Mr. John Vincent Yerance Jr.

Now y’all may be asking “Dizzy why roast them? Everyone has problems with their partner’s parents”. Yes, my friends, that is true, but this is a whole new level of problems. Ya see, in the 6 1/2 years that Brad and I have known each other, they have done nothing but give me hell. They didn’t want him around me. They didn’t want him with me. They didn’t want him to talk to me. They didn’t want him to have anything to do with me. Flash forward 5.5 years, they finally agree to all this. And I have been keeping my mouth shut for at least that long. Now I am finally done biting my tongue.

His mother is a drug addict, has a love for anything that comes in a capsule or tablet. This bitch has several charges against her in the last 6.5 years, and currently has an active case against her. For possession of controlled substances, DUIs sand shit like that. She cares more about her damn pills than she does about her son’s happiness. He wants an hour with his girlfriend, but can’t because his mother is on a pill run. Mind you, when she’s not home, he’s stuck taking care of his 16yo and 13yo sisters. And has to pick them both up everyday from school when they only live 4 blocks from the damn school. When she’s on a pill run, he can’t leave nor can he have anyone over, which means he can’t spend time with me. Or do anything else he wants to do cuz pills are more important to her. Let the record show I also haven’t seen him since fucking November, and he was only allowed to be with me cuz it was my birthday. Go figure. Since then, this dumb fucking bitch has actually asked why he hasn’t gone to see me. He has a job, I have a job, and YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE FUCKING CAR SO HE HAS TO PLAY NANNY TO YOUR FUCKING KIDS!!!! NO WONDER THEY ALL HATE YOU!!! I have had it up to the jolly green giant’s head with this slunt. She’s ruining my relationship with her son. We already have little time together cu of our work schedule, and she’s really straining it by not making the time we do get with each other possible cuz she wants to go hunt down drugs.

Now let’s move onto his father. This guy is one royal douche. Yells at him for just about anything and everything under the damn sun. Don’t ask me to list it in either alphabetical or chronological order cuz we’ll be here another 19 years. He yells at Brad for having a girlfriend, having a job, being with his girlfriend when he’s supposed to be watching his sisters after his mother said she would, but took off to parts unknown in that time, the list goes on and on. He is also putting a strain on our relationship. Why you ask? Because he wants his son to work 25/8 like he does and MOVE THE FUCK OUT. Umm, kinda hard when you jack all his money to fix your wife’s mistakes, dude. He already works his ass off. He’s trying, and obviously that’s not good enough. Nothing is ever good enough for John. To top it off, he yells at me too. I’m not even his kid! He’s damn lucky I don’t blow up on him. If I did, I’d probably end up with another domestic disturbance charge.

Y’all are both 40-something years old. Grow the fuck up. If y’all are gonna be like this, you shouldn’t have stuck around, and you should’ve kept your legs closed.

Well, that’s enough ranting and roasting for me for today. I gotta get to school, but you’ll probably hear from one or both of us later this week. Knowing Nate, that probably means later tonight, possibly tomorrow. Dizzy signing off. Have a great day.

[robertkstone]

Celebrity Drive: Captain Wild Bill Wichrowski of Discovery’s ‘Deadliest Catch’

Quick Stats: “Wild” Bill Wichrowski, “Deadliest Catch” Daily Driver: 2017 Mercedes-Benz G550 4×4 Squared (Bill’s rating: 9 on a scale of 1 to 10) Other cars: see below Favorite road trip: Blue Ridge Parkway Car he learned to drive in: 1965 Oldsmobile F-85 First car bought: 1966 Lincoln Continental

When he’s not king crab fishing in the Bering Sea on Discovery’s hit Deadliest Catch, Capt. “Wild” Bill Wichrowski enjoys some rather expensive four-wheeled rides including a 2017 Mercedes-Benz 4×4 G550 4×4 Squared.

“It’s a Mercedes G550 on steroids,” he says. “I don’t have a home in [the U.S.]; my home is in Mexico, so my tax guy says, ‘Go crazy on a car.’ So … for the last three years I’ve gotten a new one when these things are released and it’s a maniac,” he tells Motor Trend, proudly.

He rates the Mercedes a 9 on a scale of 10 and says he knows he’s never going to use the vehicle for what it’s designed to do. “It can go in a meter and a half of water, it’s made for going through the Alps,” he says. “The capabilities of it are so great, it’s so damn expensive I would never push it through those extreme conditions that it’s designed to travel in. I had an AMG S63. It’s the ultimate touring car but the value drops like a rock,” he says, adding that G550 4×4 Squared SUVs hold “their value, which not many cars do. It’s an amazing off-road rig.”

Wichrowski is hoping to drive it on an off-road trail at Nemacolin in western Pennsylvania.

2016 Ford F-150 Raptor

Rating: 9

Wichrowski calls this an event truck. “All the affiliates that I use threw some money together, it’s the real deal for off-road,” he says. “It’s the eye-catcher rig that I run in some of the events I do. I go to the Bassmaster Classic here in South Carolina, and I’m driving it up to that.”

He says it’s tough to push both the Raptor and Mercedes G550 down the highway at 75. “They’re geared so low. But other than that, they’re pretty amazing vehicles,” he says.

2005 Chevrolet Silverado Heavy Duty Duramax

Rating: 8

Wichrowski is based about 300 miles south of Nogales, Mexico, where he keeps his 2005 Chevrolet Silverado Heavy Duty truck powered by a Duramax diesel engine.

“I’m always hauling parts and pieces back and forth between the Mexican border and my house, up to the States and back and forth,” Wichrowski says. “The thing just goes and goes and goes. I’ll change tires on it, it’s been real solid for me over the years. As far as the run of the mill vehicle, it does have an 8-inch lift and 37s all the way around, so it’s a beast. It’s never let me down, it’s never gotten me stuck.”

1972 K5 Chevrolet Blazer

Rating: 5.5

This rare Blazer belonged to just one family before Wichrowski bought it. “I took the interior out, and I took it to Mexico and did a crazy seven coats of white, five coats of clear on it; it’s got a great paint job.”

It definitely needs a little bit of work, however. “It’s one of those garage projects that eventually I’ll get back to. It’s a daily driver, but it wanders across the road like a drunken mule. The front end’s a little loose on it, but it’s one of those dream cars. I’ve always liked the early ’70s K5.”

This Blazer is a work in progress for Wichrowski. “It is what it is. It’s a ’72, and the technology was in ’72. There’s a lot of stuff that could be improved on it,” he says.

1981 Jeep CJ-7

Rating: 5.5

Wichrowski likes the fact that his CJ-7 is “a beater,” he says. “It has one of 1500 race motors, it’s a 282 instead of a 258. There’s no doors, there’s no top, it’s got 33s all the way around. It’ll climb a tree,” Wichrowski says. “You have a cooler and you head out into the desert and … just go till you get tired and your teeth rattle, and you get home and rinse it off and put it back in the garage.”

For Wichrowski, his CJ-7 sounds like an old tractor. He rates it an 8 for the fun factor alone, but his overall rating is a 5.5. “You have an inline-six, it’s real throaty,” he says. “It makes people turn their heads when it goes by.”

Car he learned to drive in

Wichrowski grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He learned to drive in his mom’s 1965 Oldsmobile F-85, but he would later log more drive time elsewhere.

“My buddies worked as valets. The day after I had my driver’s license, I was parking cars, so I learned to drive in OP—other people’s cars,” he says, laughing.

Although Wichrowski’s dad taught him to drive, he also took driver’s ed. “Four days after I had my license, I ended up rear ending my driver’s ed instructor’s daughter in her Fiat on the way to school,” he says. “She called her dad, I called mine, and I saw my driver’s ed instructor pull up and I had this big lump in my throat.”

Wichrowski recalls how easy it was to drive before one turned 16 in those days. “I��m old, I’m 60, back then it wasn’t such a big deal, you’d go out in the country. You’d go hunting and fishing on country roads, your dad would let you get behind the wheel,” he says. “It was a different world back then.”

Photo courtesy of the Discovery Channel, Jason Elias

Wichrowski learned to drive a stick with some help from his restaurant valet friends. Whenever a manual Volkswagen would pull up, he’d get a chance to practice.

“My buddy got in the passenger seat and I got in the driver’s seat, and we figured out how to drive a clutch. They would drag their feet until the people went into the restaurant and then after they were inside, they would step aside and let me learn on that, then I’d run it around the parking lot a little bit, and get used to it. I picked it up pretty quick,” he says.

First car bought

When he was in San Diego, Wichrowski bought a 1966 Lincoln Continental with suicide doors, baby blue paint, a black leather interior, and a black vinyl top. It had been in Arizona and was a one-owner car.

“I’d crashed by dad’s Buick 225 into a cemetery and blew up about 13 tombstones and hit an oak tree. I was supposed to go to Slippery Rock State University for college, but I skipped school and joined the Navy,” he recalls.

He went out to San Diego for training and these well-preserved west coast cars surprised him.

“I’m from Pennsylvania where every car in the world rusted away, I get out to San Diego, my dad was always a big car guy, the big Buicks, the big Oldsmobiles, Chrysler wagons, so when I saw this four-door Lincoln, being an unintelligent kid, I put up the $1,300 that I had in the bank to buy this thing and it was quite the land yacht,” Wichrowski says. “It was in perfect shape because it was an Arizona car. It caught my eye, so I had the big ghetto cruiser.”

Wichrowski recalls saving up money from various jobs to buy that Lincoln. “I always had all kinds of crazy jobs—cut grass, do whatever I could to make a buck. I always had aspirations of making some money for myself,” he says. “I think they gave me $800 worth of credit on it because I was enlisted in the service, and they gave me I’m sure some outrageous interest rate for a one-year deal. Back then they paid you $480 a month to be in the service.”

Favorite road trip

Wichrowski describes his favorite drive as “a twisting, turning, well-banked beautiful piece of pavement” near Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

“I’m up and down the east coast a lot now, I’m working my way back to the east from the west. When you get on one of those roads that the trees are on both sides of the road, and they meet in the middle and you’re driving underneath the trees—I always think that’s the ultimate car ride, when the sun’s coming through the trees and the leaves,” he says.

Wichrowski says there are many roads like that in Virginia and North Carolina, but he particularly likes Blue Ridge Parkway because of its switchbacks.

“There’s a lot of people who consider that like the Aspen of the East, there’s a lot of NASCAR drivers who have second homes up there,” he says. “When I had the [AMG S63], I put it in Sport and paddleshifted, and it was pretty exhilarating.”

Wichrowski loves Blue Ridge Parkway and other similar roads on the east coast because it feels like he’s in the middle of nowhere. What made that drive particularly memorable was the way he was always trying to figure out the next turn, whether he had too much throttle, or if he wanted to downshift and paddle-shift down to make the turn.

“I wanted to use the car for what it was designed for,” Wichrowski says. “It’s designed for that kind of thing. The quick acceleration, deceleration, the suspension, that you put it in the Sport mode. You want to drive the car for what it’s made to do.”

He says he pushed it like that for only about half an hour. “It was still exciting because you have a ledge on one side that falls off into a ravine, and then you have these trees hanging over the road and the sunlight, you come around the corner and there’s an old farmhouse,” he says. “It’s what driving is. It’s getting behind the wheel and enjoying the place you like and the vehicle you’re in.”

Deadliest Catch Season 14 on Discovery

Photo courtesy of the Discovery Channel

Discovery’s long-time hit Deadliest Catch is currently in Season 14 and Wichrowski promises this season has many highs and lows. “These guys keep looking for bigger and better content, better cameras to get better shots. We have to raise the bar because we have something that goes on and on, and people don’t want to see the same thing every year,” he says.

This season is dramatic in a way Wichrowski couldn’t have predicted. “We had a thing that was life-threatening to the guy. I fished for 40 years and I’ve never had a man overboard,” he says. “This kid, I’ve known him since he was an infant, and his parents have been my friends for 30-some years. I held my deckhand in my arms when he was an infant fresh out of the hospital, so as he was in the water, I had visions of me having to tell his parents that I lost him.”

Wichrowski says that episode was the most surreal moment in his four decades of fishing. “That was really bizarre, it was indescribable. I was on the stern, and as he was coming along towards the back of the boat, I contemplated if he had passed out, I was going to tie myself off with the life ring and jump in and grab him.”

Deadliest Catch airs on Discovery Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

Photo courtesy of the Discovery Channel

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NASCAR Reporter Jamie Little

The post Celebrity Drive: Captain Wild Bill Wichrowski of Discovery’s ‘Deadliest Catch’ appeared first on Motor Trend.

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[kellyinboston]

WHAT Wednesay

It feels like forever since I have done a WHAT Wednesday post. This is SO exciting (for you not me). The last one was June 7th so we have some catching up to do.

So, let’s get started.

WHAT am I reading?

Where did we leave off? I finished Dark Matter and LaRose (on audio), both were good. Dark Matter was a quick read, LaRose was not a quick listen (audio books are long!!!).

I also read my first Book of the Month club book A Thousand Junes by Emily Henry, the description:

In their hometown of Five Fingers, Michigan, the O'Donnells and the Angerts have mythic legacies. But for all the tall tales they weave, both founding families are tight-lipped about what caused the century-old rift between them, except to say it began with a cherry tree.   Eighteen-year-old Jack “June” O’Donnell doesn't need a better reason than that. She's an O'Donnell to her core, just like her late father was, and O'Donnells stay away from Angerts. Period.   But when Saul Angert, the son of June's father's mortal enemy, returns to town after three mysterious years away, June can't seem to avoid him. Soon the unthinkable happens: She finds she doesn't exactly hate the gruff, sarcastic boy she was born to loathe.    Saul’s arrival sparks a chain reaction, and as the magic, ghosts, and coywolves of Five Fingers conspire to reveal the truth about the dark moment that started the feud, June must question everything she knows about her family and the father she adored. And she must decide whether it's finally time for her—and all of the O'Donnells before her—to let go.

I didn’t like it very much. It wasn’t a horrible read, but to be honest I think I need a break from this whole young adult/dramatic love story genre. I have been reading a lot of those (Sea of Tranquility, The Sun is Also a Star, All the Bright Places, etc) and this book fell into that genre. Sure, there were some “fantastical” elements but in the end it is two teenagers who meet, have an instant connection and cannot stay away from each other because they need each other and love each other after like 3 weeks. Wow…that was a tangent.

I am now currently reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tart which has been on my list for many years. I have always been a bit hesitant to read it because it is long, a Pulitzer prize winner and it is very polarizing (people either love it or hate it). But I took the plunge!

Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art. As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love--and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

I am around 58% of the way through and I am enjoying it so far. I love books that create this world that I insert myself into. I feel like I follow the characters around and cheer them on, or shake my head in disapproval and this book does that for me. I heard that people hated the “vegas” part of the story so I braced myself for it and I liked it just fine. It was hard to read because it was sad and depression they way these people lived, but I thrive on sad and depressing. I am hoping to finish this book by the end of the month but that is unlikely.

I am also listening to The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaimen. The audio version is only 5.5 hours which is short (my previous ones have been 9/10+ hours). I have listened to just under 3 hours and I like it so far. It is read by the author which is fun. It is more “fantastical” (used that word twice this post…) than I expected but that is fine, I don’t mind it when it is done right.

A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse where she once lived, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

I just picked up a library book yesterday so I will start that soon…so suffice to say my reading life is doing AOK.

WHAT are we watching?

Last season of Game of Thrones to prep us for the upcoming season (premiers July 12th). Last season was really good so we are enjoying it, it is a good refresher.

I finished season 1 of The West Wing – I like this show.

I

need to watch The Americans and Better Call Saul. I have watch 3 episodes of the new season of The Americans but I need to re-watch them because it has been a couple months. Neil and I watched the first episodes of Better Call Saul but switched to Game of Thrones.

WHAT is going on with the family?

As you know Neil came to Denmark last week, it was fun to have him there. He is busy as always, but his bosses are out of the office this week so he has gotten home early (early for him) the last couple days. He may be coming home now next month, only for a few days, but still, better than nothing!

Snoop is good. Same old Snoop. It was cute, yesterday we walked to the library and I tied her up outside while I went in and got my book (it is only like a minute and I can see her the whole time, calm down) and when I looked outside while I was checking out two little girls were sitting by her and hugging her and she was giving them lots of kisses. She was loving it. Made me smile.

We are taking down her crate this week, she is officially free from her crate. We ordered her an elevated water and food dish and a mat so Snoop can have her own little corner.

(Snoop with Charlie and her family on a road trip to Cheryl's dad for Father's Day)

Bill (my sister and her fiancé’s dog) is doing better. I think it will be a slow recovery but I am hopeful. He is a such a cute pup, excited to see him in a couple weeks.

WHAT am I excited about?

Holiday weekend! We have no plans, but still. Kind of weird that it falls on a Tuesday, but it is what it is.

To pay off my student loans. Okay…so this is a bit premature, but we just put a big chuck of change towards my loans (knocked off the high interest ones) and I am excited to knock them off one by one…the goal is by end of 2018 (extremely ambitious and not sure if Neil knows about this goal).

To go home in 2 weeks!

F

or peach season (already started I know…got some at Costco and they are so delicious).

Alright, I think that is enough for one day.

Thanks for reading!