#and when i wrote that part i was like ohhhh yeah. we are cooking right now.

[vaperarmand]

I’ve def never been an rpf person (although w this cast. does that even matter. did any of us really stand a chance) but the image of Assad Zaman gnawing on Eric Bogosian’s foot post-sex like a particularly difficult cat trying to show affection has changed me fundamentally I think. Never getting over that. Also the whole fic is really hot and well-written. But mostly I’m thinking about Assad Zaman chewing on Eric with a cartoon ‘chomp’ sound effect — @dykesynthezoid

😭😭😭😭😭😭 i truly feel so. seen. thank you. i truly do believe that eric's thing for biting and assad's *waves hand* whole thing just combines to create the perfect storm of sexual behavior that is equivalent to a dog and the squeaky toy he's just really really attached to. he is also imagining himself and eric having looney tunes sex like crazy. sound effects included

[axwalker]

The trade V

Synopsis:  Liam is running for Cordonia’s presidency. To assure his victory, Constantine makes an arraignment behind his back for him to marry the rich ambassador’s daughter: Alexis O’Brien. Due to her father’s threats she has no other option that seduce Liam and make him fall in love with her. But what does she really feel? (AU)

Pairings: LiamxMC DrakexMC

Warnings: I love drama and chaos so this will probably get a bit dark. In this chapter there is talk about child neglect

Please note that this is my first series and English is not my first language. I really love ALL kinds of feedback.  Don’t hesitate to comment!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Pixelberry except for Alexis O’Brien and her evil father George O’Brien JR.

To catch up: Masterlist

One thousand thanks to @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld for being my beta reader and to  @burnsoslow for helping with Liam’s character in this episode. I love you and admire you both so much!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

I'm tagging those who asked, if you want to be added to the list just ask, I'll very be happy to do it :)  @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld​ @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld​ @pug-bitch​ @msjr0119​ @pedudley​ @mskaneko​ @yukinagato2012​ @beardedoafdonutwagon​ @texaskitten30​ @kingliam2019​

 18 years ago

Drake had woken up crying, haunted by the same nightmare he had had every night since his father had been murdered. At his funeral, Drake had accidentally heard the story of how Jackson had given his life for Constantine’s, and his imagination made it one thousand times worse.  

Since they had received the news, his mother hadn’t left her bed. To help, he had to wake up earlier every day to make sure he and Savanah could at least eat some cereal and milk before school and have a cheese sandwich at lunch. He tried to help his baby sister with homework and cheer his mom up so she could be their parent again, but he didn’t dare to hope. He had heard aunt Leona after the service: “Bianca will never get over this. She’s weak and she loved that Walker man more than her own children. She’s as dead as him now”.

After that, Drake’s life was the complete opposite of what it had been one week ago.  Only seven days before, he had had a dad he idolized and a mother he loved and respected. The only thing that had worried him then,  were the results of Cordonian’s football team and his crush on Lisa Tennant. His only responsibility was to finish his homework on time. He didn’t have to worry about chores, responsibilities, or little sisters. Although he was only twelve, he felt like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. But the worst had yet to come. One day after coming back from school, he saw that the kitchen was as clean as before and a dish of lasagna was cooling on the table. He ran to see his mother, happy to have her back. But, when he opened the master bedroom door, she wasn’t there. Drake ran back to the kitchen and he saw the letter. Before leaving her kids forever, Bianca Walker had had one last kind gesture for her children. She cooked their favorite dish and wrote them a goodbye letter asking them to call Bastien. Drake didn’t cry anymore. He swore he would be strong for him and his baby sister. He forgot about Cordonian’s football team, and never invited Lisa Tennant to prompt. He called Bastien to come looking for them and never ate lasagna again.

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Alexis woke up feeling uneasy, souvenirs of the previous night still fresh in her mind. She hated herself for hurting Drake, even if she wasn’t sure of how much she had actually hurt him. That sarcastic smile on his lips seemed to prove that he didn’t care. But that almost kiss and the way he had held her and looked at her were a sign that there was something more between them.

Either way, it didn’t matter. He could never be hers; she’d have to make her peace with it.

Lost on her thoughts, she didn’t hear the knock at her door until it became more insistent.

“Come in,” she answered still lost in her thoughts, looking through the window.

“Good morning, Alexis.” She flinched at the sound of her father’s voice.

“Good morning, father.”

“How it went with Rhys, Alexis?”

“Oh, it went just great.” She looked at him, a sarcastic smile in her lips. “You can be very proud of yourself, you’re a very productive pimp.” He grabbed her arm strongly.

“Listen, to me Alexis. I’m your father, and you are going to respect me and do exactly as I say. I paid for your expensive education so you wouldn’t embarrass me like your mother did”

“Do not talk about my mother!” She hissed furiously. “Let her out of this.”

He smirked at her reaction. “I always do as I please Alexis. Make sure to spend some time with Rhys today, the more the press sees you together, the fastest the public will warm up to you two. Now do your part and look pretty. As your mother, that’s the only thing you’re good at.”

She didn’t bother to answer, her gaze went back to the streets of Cordonia.

Her father exited her room, letting her get back to her thoughts. She hated to lie to Liam. He seemed a good, warm man, and the idea of hurting him was unbearable. On the other hand, she really didn’t have a choice. She would have to try to know him better and give him a chance, and, as the little voice in her head reminded her: forget about his best friend.

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After the masquerade party Drake just couldn’t sleep, he rolled in his bed over and over again; her memory just wouldn’t leave him alone. In the darkness of his room, he could see her smile and smell her perfume.  It was inexplicable for him but her words had hurt him deeply. After all, they only had shared some kisses one night, he didn’t understand why he was obsessing like that. At that moment, he decided that the obsession would end right that second; he’ll be damned if he’d let a wealthy, presumptuous girl take over his mind. Alexis was only another person who disappointed him, who left. He was more than used to it, and he’d move on like he did best. He woke up, got dressed, and drove to the nearest bar.

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“Hello, Greta!” Maxwell said at the Rhys’ housekeeper, who was serving breakfast to him, Liam and Drake at the Rhys residence where they all met every Saturday morning. “Pass me the scones please!” Max grinned. “Your scones are the best of all Cordonia”

Liam and Drake rolled their eyes in unison.

“Oh, Maxwell, honey, I’m sure you tell that to everyone who serves you food.” She smiled warmly. “Here is some coffee boys. If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen.”

“That was a great party you hosted last night Maxwell, my father was very pleased. We raised a lot of money for the campaign.”

“Aww thanks, Liam,” he answered with a mouth filled with cream and scone. “I do think that I surpassed myself this time; there was a great turnout. In fact, there was a certain girl that I’m sure Drake was very pleased to see …” Liam turned to Drake who was avoiding his eyes, suddenly very focused on buttering his bread.

“Oh, do tell Max, who is this mystery woman?” Max was about to answer when Drake interrupted him.

“No one important, I spoke with a woman in a bar two days ago and now Maxwell thinks we’re going to get married and name him the godfather of our children,” he said rolling his eyes, something he did a lot when Max was around.

“What do you mean you only ‘talked’ to her?” Maxwell looked puzzled. “You took he-“

Drake growled. “Enough Beaumont, I told you it was nothing.”

Liam smiled at Max. “Let it be Max, you know how he is. It was probably just a one-night thing, right Drake?”

Drake felt a very unjustified rush of anger at his best friend and answered almost scolding at him. “Fuck Liam, I told you it was nothing. Let’s just change the subject.”

“Right,” Liam said surprised at his best friend’s reaction. “I did meet someone important last night. She’s the American ambassador’s daughter, Alexis.” Liam seemed enamored. “She was the girl in white dancing with you Max”

“Uh?” Maxwell looked puzzled for a moment his eyes going from Liam to Drake, realization suddenly hitting him “Ohhhh… So you met Alexis and you liked her…”

Liam grinned. “Yeah, I mean you saw how beautiful she was, but is more than that,” he got lost in his thoughts. “I can’t describe it but there’s something about her that has me fascinated”

Drake got even angrier, “Please, Liam, you talked to her like ten minutes, you have no idea who she really is.” Drake was about to confess Liam about his first encounter with her and how she had lied when Liam's phone rang.

“Sorry guys, I’ll take this in the other room, be back in five”

“Well, that was surprising, Liam seems smitten with Lexie too” Max looked inquisitively at his friend.

“What do you mean ‘too’?”

“Please Drake, I saw you that night, I didn’t’ know you were capable of grinning that much, I almost didn’t recognize you” He joked.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but it doesn’t matter.” Drake seemed pensive for a moment. “I have to warn Liam about her”

“Wow! Take a moment there Drake. What do you mean warn him?”

“Do you have amnesia Maxwell?” Drake scowled at him. “You don’t remember she told us a different name when we met her?”

“Pffff, I do it all the time. Have you heard my story when I tried to enter Leo’s…?

“Only a million times, Max. And that’s not the point. She lied; we don’t know what she’s after”

“Please Drake, she’s the ambassador’s daughter. Constantine knows her father”

“Are you really saying we should trust her because her father is friends with Constantine” Drake cocked an eyebrow. “That only makes her more suspicious”

“No, I’m saying we should trust her because she seems like a nice girl, and I talked to her last night, she’s obviously going through something big.” Max sighed. “Telling Liam would only embarrass her, and him” He looked at Drake “On the other hand, If you have feelings for her…”

“Pfff, feelings? Please Beaumont, I had a whiskey with her, I couldn’t care less” Drake looked pointedly at Max. “I won’t tell Liam right now, but if she does something fishy, I will.”

At that moment Liam reentered the room beaming.

“Wow, Li! That call really made you smile, who was it?” Max asked, a third scone in his hand.

“Oh, the first call was my father’s assistant, but then I called Alexis to ask her out.” He grinned even more. “And she said yes”

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Liam was feeling completely nervous at the thought of seeing Alexis again. The previous night he had been enchanted by her and now he wondered how this date was going to go. A tingling feeling of expectation was spreading through his entire body as he rang the bell at the opulent O’Brien’s mansion and asked for Alexis. When she finally came out, he was surprised, he couldn’t believe that she was even more beautiful than he remembered. She had her hair loose and was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, but that natural look suited her perfectly. He opened the door of his car for her.

“Hey Liam, thank you but you don’t need to do that.” He went to his side of the car and turned it on.

 “What do you have in mind for tonight?” Alexis asked.

“Well, my assistant made some reservations at L’étoile this great French restaurant. Apparently, they serve amazing gourmet food” He looked at her questioning “Do you like French food?”

“Actually, yes I do.” She looked out the window.

Liam couldn’t help but notice the hint of disappointment in her voice. “But?”

She smiled apologetically “Buuut…I was thinking that we could do something more relaxed tonight. Aren’t you tired of these fancy diner parties where you have to sit straight for hours and use ten different forks?” She coked her eyebrows and he couldn’t help but smile at her.

“Yes, a bit. And you seem to have an idea in mind”

She looked mischievously “I do. Have you had eaten real Mexican food?”

Liam shook his head no and smiled “But there’s always a first time for everything. We’ll just need to lose our security detail.” He looked through the rear mirror and accelerated.

After ditching Liam’s bodyguards, they arrived at the Mexican restaurant. It was actually a colorful but small food truck with two or three tables surrounding it and people eating their food standing all around the place.

Liam was surprised to see that Alexis seemed to know the cook, they greeted each other warmly and spoke in Spanish for a while. Due to his strict education, Liam spoke several languages fluently, so, with a little effort he could figure out that she was asking the woman for her family, and he could see the genuine interest in Alexis’ eyes.  He was mesmerized by her. She was so completely different from all the other women he knew, so comfortable wherever she went. And it was incredible how she really seemed to care about people. Liam still couldn’t believe that she preferred that simple joint to the elegant diner he had prepared. He continued to admire her while she spoke with the other woman another few minutes and then she ordered for both of them. He took one of the tables and they sat together waiting for the food.

“I hope you don’t mind I ordered, but I know what is good here. Do you like spicy food?”

He smirked “How spicy?”

She laughed “Don’t worry Mr. future president. It’s nothing you can’t handle” She saw their order was out and was about to go get it when Liam stopped her.

“Please allow me, Alexis. I‘m nothing if not a gentleman” He winked at her making her laugh. He knew at that moment that he’d do anything just to hear that sound again.

“Wow, it smells great.” He sat again. “Did you order beers with the food?”

“Yes; I hope you like it, but I can’t enjoy Mexican food without a good Negra Modelo to go with it,” She said taking a sip directly from the bottle.

He raised his beer “Cheers!” It felt cold and fresh, perfect for the spicy food he was about to eat. “I love it.” He looked at his plate hungrily. “So Alexis? Care to explain what we’re eating here?” He questioned.

“Tacos, of course, I ordered pulled pork, beef, and barbacoa, my favorite. You have to put some salsa on them, the green one is perfect because is savory and it’s not too spicy and then you add some drops of lemon, a bit of salt, and you can dig in.”

Liam followed Alexis’ instructions and was about to cut the taco with a fork and a knife when he felt her big, brown, smiling eyes on him

“What is it? Am I doing it wrong?” He asked sheepishly

“Oh no! Not bad… but these are tacos, Li” He wondered if the use of his nickname was a friendly sign or if she was flirting with him. “They’re supposed to be eaten with your hands, like this”

She showed him by taking one of her own tacos in her hand. He watched her eat and savor it and he smiled for himself. He had never seen anyone enjoy food so much. Liam didn’t know her for long, but he was sure that she lived every moment of her life, even a small one like this one, to the fullest. She stopped eating and looked at him take his first bite.

“Sooo? Isn’t it much better with your hands? What do you think?”

“It’s amazing,” he mumbled through a mouth full of a beef taco. “These might be my favorite.” He took another bite and asked, “How did you know about this place? I didn’t know you had been to Cordonia before”.

“I arrived a week ago, but I didn’t tell my father. I wanted to wander through the streets, know more about the local culture,” She didn’t add that she was doing it because she knew Cordonia would be her country for now on. “And one day, after walking around all day I saw this food truck. I tasted the food and loved it, it’s similar to the one that my abuelita, my grandma used to make for us back home.”

Liam looked puzzled “I thought the ambassador was American, I mean O’Brien sounds more Irish than Mexican”

She nodded “My father’s family is Irish, but my mother was born in Mexico. She married him when she was 23 years old.” She stopped eating, thinking about her mother had cut her appetite.

“So that’s why you speak Spanish.” Liam looked at her wanting to know everything he could about her.

“Yes, that’s it. And I love the culture. My dream is to rent a camping car, travel around the continent, and write about it.” She stayed silent for a moment knowing that it was nothing but a dream, that she would be forced to marry Liam and live in Cordonia for the rest of her life.

“It’s an amazing dream.” He was both inspired by her and a little sad at the thought that she might leave one day.

“What’s yours?” Alexis raised her hand to stop his answer “and ‘being president’ is not available” She smiled at him taking a long pull on her beer.

“Well,” He looked directly at her brown eyes, then down his gaze to her full mouth, to that smile that drove him crazy. He couldn’t wait anymore, so he got close to her and took her chin between his fingers, kissing her longingly.

After a few seconds, he pulled apart and finally answered, “this is.”

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Alexis didn’t know what to think about the kiss with Liam. It had been sweet and tender, almost romantic.  She had not disliked it but it had nothing to do with the fierce electricity she had shared with Drake. She knew that the brooding man had the power of driving her crazy. And, no one had made her feel that way before. She let herself think about that night at the cove one more time when her phone rang. It was her father.

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Liam and Drake had a meeting first thing Monday morning to discuss the latest polls. They weren’t catastrophic but there was definitely room for improvement. Godfrey didn’t hesitate to make a spectacle of his ‘family life’, or even to throw some low punches when he had to.  Within their circles, it was well known that Adelaide had cheated on Godfrey more times than he could count and that their daughter resented deeply both of them, but the general population ignored all of that and bought his ‘Traditional-Family-Values candidate’ charade.

Liam and Drake began strategizing, trying to decide if maybe Liam needed a new publicist or speechwriter. They had been working for hours so Drake finally took his jacket off, unbuttoned his cuffs, and rolled his sleeves so he could be more comfortable. Suddenly Liam’s office slammed open, Constantine had the newspapers of the day showing the polls, and he threw them on the desk almost barking at Liam.

“I told you, Liam. I told you repeatedly that you needed a wife or a fiancé and that you needed her fast. I told you that even with your head start, this would come back and bite you in the ass”

Drake already hated Constantine Rhys but the way he was blaming everything on Liam was too much to let it pass. “Constantine, Liam is only trying to win with a good, honest campaign.” He looked at the older man coldly “You shou-“

Constantine rose his eyebrows interrupting him. “Am I hearing correctly? Are you trying to teach me how to win a presidential race Walker, you?”

“Stop father, you better than everyone knows how capable Drake is, you would’ve fired him a long time ago if that wasn’t the case.” Liam sighed. “Let’s focus on the campaign”

Drake stood next to his best friend. “As I was saying before, I think we need a new speechwriter, Charlie was great but he’s a little rusty, we need someone younger, vibrant who will appeal to the young population.”

“Well, Walker, we finally agree on something.” The ex-president smirked contemptuously at Drake who felt a new rush of anger. “And it so happens I have the perfect candidate. She majored in Creative writing at NYU and has a master’s degree in communication. Foremost, we can trust her completely because she’s the ambassador’s daughter.” Constantine stepped outside and called for the woman who was waiting behind the door.

“Alexis, please come in.”

Drake scorned at the sight of the woman who had kept him up all night.

“Is there a problem, Walker?” Constantine asked.

Drake threw his hands back and said sarcastically “Not at all Constantine, big fan of nepotism here,” He rose from his seat, not wanting to be near her another second, her fruity scent already in his nostrils “If that’s all…”

“Actually Walker, I want you two to brief Alexis about the campaign” Constantine stood up.

“I can’t father, we have an appointment with Hakim in less than an hour” Liam stood up as well, smiling warmly at Alexis, their kiss in his mind.

Then, he left the office before closing the door behind him, leaving her and Drake, alone inside.

[porkchop-ao3]

Nearly Caught

I am a huge sucker for smut scenes where they’re almost caught... So I wrote something for Ice Cream Rick and reader! It’s not too long, 1.4k words, but I hope you like it! It feels like a while since I wrote for I.C, I’ve been neglecting him in favour of Tailor lately haha

Anyway, enjoy!

-

We were hanging out at my house. Well, my parents’ house. They weren't home, however, having dinner with the next-door neighbours; I'd been invited too, but I'd faked a migraine (karma would get me for that one at some point, probably in the shape of a real one) so I could stay in and invite Rick over. We took any shred of opportunity we could to see each other and have some privacy. It was getting bad, we couldn't afford to keep shelling out for hotel rooms, and his ice cream truck had seen more action than a brothel at this point. But it was easy to forget all of that when we were together, alone. It was easy to forget pretty much anything then.

We were in the kitchen, we were going to cook something together and have a little meal of our own, but we'd got as far as peeling two potatoes before we abandoned that idea in favour of sucking each other’s faces. He'd told me about a dream he'd had the previous night, one where we were living together in his childhood home, but all the furniture was mixed up in different rooms. It was innocent enough, he was only telling me ‘cause he thought it was a strange dream, but I was hung up on him mentioning us living together, so I'd put down my potato peeler and silenced him with a kiss.

He didn't put up a fight, immediately wrapping his arms around my waist, hugging me tightly into his chest. His little beard always tickled my chin and my fingers found their usual place in his wavy hair. I could tell it was freshly washed, it felt soft and I caught a whiff of his shampoo when I came close to him. He hummed softly against my lips, easing me off of him for a moment so he could speak.

“Aren't you hungry?”

“Not for tortilla de, uhh…” I tried, forgetting what he'd called it.

“Tortilla de patatas,” he finished with perfect pronunciation.

“Spanish omelettes,” I shrugged, smirking at him. “I want you.”

“But the potatoes,” his eyes drifted to the side, where they sat waiting on the counter.

“They can wait,” I shrugged.

He immediately kissed me again, seeming to snap up the opportunity. I arched into him, pressing my breasts against his chest firmly and hearing him moan. One of his hands moved down, cupping and fondling my ass; his touch sent my hips forward, and I unconsciously rubbed up against him. He parted away for air, cursing quietly under his breath. When he kissed me again, he pinned me against the counter with his hips, grinding into me. I could feel the beginnings of his arousal, practically wearing a hole in our clothes with his movements. I was flooded with warmth, my pussy tingling and engorging, making me moan.

Rick broke the kiss again and instead pressed our foreheads together so he could hold my  gaze. He grabbed around to find the hem of my skirt, hiking it up and slipping his hand underneath, his fingers finding the seat of my panties where he rubbed me.

“Ohhhh, Rick,” I sighed, my eyes drifting closed. “In the kitchen?” I asked, almost in disbelief.

“Ca-can I fuck you here?” He asked in a breathy, aroused tone, his voice cracking just a little at the end. His fingers reached my clit, rubbing it briskly through my panties. A high pitched whine left me and I was sighing my agreement almost pleadingly.

My hands were shaky as I reached for his fly, unfastening it quickly and sliding my hand inside, bypassing his boxers and wrapping my hand around his cock. I stroked him at a moderate pace, feeling him harden completely in my hand, him moaning, all whiny, in my ear the whole time.

We pleasured each other for a little while, just until Rick put his hand inside my panties, ran his fingers through my folds and felt how wet I was.

“Fuck,” he hissed, withdrawing his hand, leaning back from me and looking me in the eye as he licked his fingers. “I need this,” he said, and I nodded eagerly.

I let go of his cock as he turned me around, flipping my skirt up at the back to expose my backside to him. He hooked his fingers in my panties, tugging them down just enough, they stayed taut around my lower thighs, keeping my legs pretty close together. He had just enough room to slide his cock between them, rubbing the head against my slit. His breath was shaky and loud behind me, but he seemed to hold it as he entered me. I gasped as he filled me, hands gripping the edge of the counter. My eyes went out of focus as I stared out of the window to the backyard. The breath Rick'd been holding came out as a groan, his hands forming a crushing grip around my hips.

He guided me back and forth, bouncing me on his cock like he was in a frenzy. He fucked me fast, right from the get go, and the sheer intensity of the pleasure I felt had me crying out, knees threatening to buckle. My grip on the counter, and Rick's hands, were the only things keeping me upright. His cock felt so incredible inside me, in this position he hit my sweet spot perfectly and I could feel that I was far wetter than I usually was. Maybe being in my parents’ kitchen had something to do with it, who knows? I allowed myself to moan freely, not holding anything back, sighing his name and singing his praises, telling him how good he felt, how I loved him, how I wanted to cum with his cock in me like this, right here in the kitchen.

He liked that.

“Right here, huh?” He panted, leaning close to my ear. I could just about catch his reflection in the window and I watched him. “You're a- a dirty girl, aren't you?”

“For you,” I told him, clenching my pussy around his cock and making him growl in response.

“We're cooking dinner right there, you just love that I'm fucking you here, don't you?” I glanced down at the half peeled potatoes right in front of me and almost laughed.

“I do!”

“So bad. Su-such a dirty girl, you gonna cum for me? Squeeze my cock real tight, huh?” His voice was wavering now, he was close.

“Oh yeah, I'm gonna cum!” I cried, my voice going high pitched and loud.

Rick stopped suddenly, and I whined in disappointment.

“Why did you st-” I started, only to hear the front door slam, confirming what Rick must've thought he heard. He cursed and pulled out of me, the sensation of the thick head of his cock slipping out of me making me whimper.

I could hear my parents’ voices down the hall and the gravity of what was happening hit me, I fumbled for my knickers but Rick beat me to it, pulling them up for me and rearranging my skirt so I was all covered up again. He sidestepped to come next to me as he zipped away his throbbing cock, God knows where he was going to put it.

“Well, that was a total waste of time,” my mother was saying as she wandered into the kitchen. “Sandra's caught a stomach bug, apparently doesn't know which end it's going to come out of. They could've called and told us earlier. Oh, hello Rick.”

Without turning his body, Rick looked over his shoulder to greet my mother. I gave my hands a wash in the sink nearby before carrying on with peeling the potatoes like nothing ever happened. My hands felt like jelly so I had to be very careful not to cut myself.

“H-hi, I'm sorry to hear about your plans,” he said to her, his tone sympathetic but I could hear the edge to it.

“Oh, it's quite alright. We've decided we'll go out to eat, so the evening isn't a total waste. How's your migraine, dear?” She asked me.

“Still hurts, but I'm managing. Rick's teaching me how to make Spanish omelettes. He says having a good meal should help my head.”

“Well, I'll leave you two to it. Your father's just changing his shirt to something a little smarter, then we'll be off.”

I heard her retreat, her footsteps disappearing out of the room. I sighed heavily and dropped the potato peeler again, glancing up at Rick. He didn't say anything, he just held my gaze with an intensity I couldn't look away from. I searched my brain for something to say, but I didn't really need to. I think we both had the exact same thought.

We couldn't keep sneaking around like teenagers for much longer.

[wtfrace]

my favorite moments in newsies (live)

this is pretty much entirely for my own reference but i hope ur entertained by it anyway! and also love some of these moments! also I wrote these really quickly while watching it so it’s all just a big mess

- jack’s striped shirt that u barely get to see for the rest of the show

- all the nudging & swatting & flicking that takes place at the beginning of carrying the banner

- the beginning of kathrine’s never ending sass towards jack

- i’m crushed!

- jack in the background tying crutchies shoes shshsh

- spec’s looking at his cup, shrugging, and then downing it

- just everything specs does, what a cutie. like when he grins after all of his solo flips shshs

- and elmer!! is so adorable he’s like a little lost puppy

- how bout a crooked politician! (it took me a month to figure out they were saying, hey nitwit, it always just sounded garbled to me)

- smalls just?? on henry’s back for some reason

- when albert fuckin sprints across the stage with crutchie in his arms, while he pumps his fist victoriously

- the fact that weisel’s lines in the broadway show & 1992 movie are very similar, he just gets a lot angrier in the broadway show

- don’t worry kid, it rubs right off!

- sure, buy a ticket, they let anyone in! OHHHH

- crutchie just being jack’s hype man

- specs incredulous & impresses expression after les says “50/50”

- mike & ike saluting after they flip eachother

- when les bashes the delancey brother’s heads together & davey immediately lifts him up proudly.

- the synchronized cartwheel in the seize the day dance break !! and then the kick !!

- jack seamlessly pulling les out of a barrel and then fuckin chucking it across the stage

- kathrine’s expressions throughout the entirety of the king of new york, like amusement & fondness & being very impressed by the newsies tap dancing

- i just really love when albert intensely takes the newspaper from race as he intensely sings “nobbin with all the muckity mucks”

- albert looking mildly annoyed & unimpressed throughout most of the show.

- when davey & one of the twins hold out the “pulitzer’s poodles” pose for longer than everyone else, and then laugh at each other

- when kathrine whips the paper up during “cause look at that pape with my face beamin” and it makes a little gust of wind shshsh

- she is just so fond & adorable in king of new york i love it (it’s by far my favorite sequence)

- i have no clue who says it but the really loud “c’mon kathrine!”

- elmer in general!! my eyes always go to him (and tommy boy) in any group shot because he is so freakin adorable & his expressions & reactions are so cute

- oh yeah jack, this is crutchie by the way!

- ha-ha

- so you tell all the fellas for me, to protect one another! i just really love crutchie ok

- davey’s adorable expression when he goes “is that a real place? that santa fe?” SHHS and his grin when he goes “above. the fold.” what an adorable little loser.

- davey having to kneel and stand up like 4 times to keep up with jack

- even horace greely moved back to new york. yes he did, and then he died.

- lighten up no one died! *afronted expression* oh! is that what you’re aiming for?

- davey throughout the entirety of watch what happens reprise,, y’all already know i love this boy & i have too many favorite parts from that song to name (the poor guys head is spinning)

- the manhattan newsies standing behind the brooklyn newsies acting almost more dramatically then them.

- spot conlon being a dramatic little shorty and doing an odd amount of sticking his tongue out during brooklyn’s here (i love u tommy bracco)

- the little eyebrow raise & grin after spot shushes the newsies

- davey’s increasingly upset / confused expression during jack’s monologue in medda’s theatre :(( (davey.)

- if i was a boy you’d be looking at me through one swollen eye! (ngl i wish kathrine would have just fuckin decked him) (but the kiss was good too)

- this would be a good time to shut up!

- jack’s little nudge during “just someone sweet passin by” what a loser, i love him

- mini seize the day reprise? hell yeah!!!

- we could hold a hoedown in here and no one would be the wiser. hoedown. take a minute to think about this line & wonder how no one questions davey’s sudden use of the freakin word hoedown.

- once and for all is my FUCKIN JAM!! davey and kathrine joining in at the beginning? race’s dramatic here they come? they gonna damn well pay? joe you can stop counting sheep, we gonna sing you to sleep? spot looking intensely angry? the freaking key change? yes to all!!!

- these kids put out a pretty good paper! they’re very convincing!

- that old printing press in the cellar? ohh.

- spot just? starring at everyone intensely for the entire scene? i laugh every time why didn’t he get any lines HSHS

- i get GOOSEBUMPS when the newsies start singing seize the day from above & jack&company/pulitzer&company look over the edge of the stage

- and then spot ACTUALLY talking what a legend!

- the WAVES (i don’t see anyone talk about this part and it’s seriously one of my favorites)

- teddy roosevelt u legend! but in your case i simply mean— bully.

- jack’s ohmygodheshookmyhand to davey

- he doesn’t do HAPPINESS does he?

- tommy boys facial expressions in every single scene

- slightly off topic but? the fact that for the entirety of the scenes with the dark blue lighting ben cook’s eyes looking freakin radioactive & i love it

- albert suddenly not wearing his hat? and sky’s lucius hair?

- hiya fella’s! ya miss me?

- what me work for your fadda? you.. already work for my father. oh. yeah.

- race and albert’s incredulously expressions after jack pulls away from the kiss

[looselucy]

March

March 3rd marked a few things. A month since I had gone to Harry’s home for reading week. 18 days since I had last kissed Harry. The day I would finally see Liam again. Then, last but not least, mine and Harry’s birthday.

It was a Wednesday, which was fine for everyone else, since not one other person from my flat was in a lecture on a Wednesday, except me. My alarm sounded at half past 8. I had woken up alone, which I had done since that final night with Harry. But it was good. We’d finally come to our senses and stopped our cuddles. It wasn’t even something we discussed, it just happened. We hadn’t shared a bed since that last night, but our relationship had never been better. I’m not even sure why, really, but everything was just brilliant. We had been getting closer and closer, and it was just completely platonic. I think after getting that house together, myself, Harry and Zayn had all gotten closer. We were so excited about living with each other. For just over a fortnight, it felt like all I had done was laugh, and realise that the people I lived with were some of the greatest people of all time. We had gotten so lucky. But waking up at that time, on my birthday... Meh... I wasn’t feeling too great. I grabbed my phone and turned the alarm off, staring at the time, and trying to think whether or not I really needed to go to my lecture. Out of nowhere my bedroom door began opening itself. I moved so I could stare as Zayn quietly started to sneak into my room, on his tippy-toes, dropping the act as soon as he saw I was awake. “Well what the fuck are you doing?” He huffed, disappointed. “What?” I chuckled, lying on my stomach, facing the door. It was pushed open the rest of the way, Mike, Tally, and even Ringo stood on the outside, a giant cake in Mikes hands. “We were gunna wake you up and surprise you!” Zayn complained. “Well, I have a lecture, don’t I?” I told them. “Yeah, I always forget. Because you never go to your Wednesday lecture.” “Yeah, I suppose.” “I think, as well, because-” Zayn tried. “ALRIGHT, YOU TWO, YOU’RE WASTING TIME!” Mike yelled. “Up you get, Pippa-Potamus, we’re going to Harry’s room.” “Pippa-Potamus? For fuck sake. Always with the horrible nicknames.” I sulked. “GET UP!” “I’M NAKED, YOU IDIOTS!” “YOU HAVE TWO MINUTES!” Mike cried. They all scuttled out of my room back into the corridor as I got out from under the sheets and picked up a pair of tiny sweat-shorts and my sports-bra, then putting on a bright red hoodie, snug and ready to go. When I stepped out, they were all stood eagerly outside Harry’s door, facing the right way to go inwards, idiotic grins on their faces, Mike still proudly holding the cake like he had cooked the damn thing himself. I was willing to bet money he hadn’t. “Harry’s gunna be impossible to wake up.” I sighed as my door closed behind myself. “Not with the racket we’re going to make.” Zayn cocked his brows. “How the hell do you know Harry’s sleeping habits anyway?” Mike tutted. “And also, you were longer than two minutes!” “I was not!” I protested. “You definitely were.” “Why does everything involving all of us together take so much effort?” Tally stomped. “I’m sorry about this, Ringo.” “It’s funny.” The tiny girl giggled. “I wasn’t more than two minutes.” I scoffed to Mike. “OH MY GOD! Why are we all just stood staring at Harry’s door?” Zayn groaned. “Alright. Knock on the count of three.” Mike prompted. “Why do we need to count?” Zayn sighed, exhausted already. “I thought we weren’t knocking, I thought we were going straight in?” Tally puzzled. “Oh shit. Yeah. Alright, on the count of three, we go in.” Mike nodded. “NO! LET ME ASK AGAIN, MIKE, WHY ARE WE COUNTING?” Before the argument could continue further, the door in front of us was flung open, Harry stood there with a face like thunder, just in his underwear. That in itself, was enough to shut me up. I grinned at the tattoo, mesmerized. “Seriously, guys.” Harry huffed as we stood in silence. “It takes a hell of a lot to wake me up, and you’ve all just succeeded without any problem. You weren’t even in my bloody room, and you’ve woke me up.” “That’s weird, Pippa-Potamus said you’d be hard to wake up.” Mike chirped. “Why are you here?” Harry said, clearly half asleep. “Oh shit, yeah. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Zayn tried to regain some sanity. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” The rest of them tried their best to say that in time with another, but it was absolutely all over the place. There was a groaning sound once they were done, an absolute lack of enthusiasm and lack of pride when it came to their efforts. “Well, where’s my happy birthday?” I whimpered. “OH for fuck sake.” Zayn dragged me from the side and practically chucked me into Harry’s room. I balanced myself and stood next to Harry, eagerly awaiting my happy birthday from them, grinning like an idiot, whereas Harry was still stood there like he couldn’t quite fathom the bunch of imbeciles he had to live with. “HAP-” “No, Mike.” Zayn cut in. “This time, we need to count to three.” “Oh. Yes, no, you’re right. Good idea, Zayn. Okay, on the count of three-” “Well do we go on one, or do we go on zero?” Tally asked. “We go on zero.” Zayn was losing his mind. “I thought we went on four.” Mike broke in. “What?” “So like, one, two, three, and then go on four.” “NO!” Zayn must have been close to tears. “It’s three, two, one, and then you say it.” “Ohhhh. No of course, yeah, got ya. Okay, who’s counting?” “I would like to count.” Tally raised her hand. “Okay. Please count before I kill myself.” Zayn wept. “Good. Three, two-” “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Mike raised the cake in the air. Zayn started banging his head against the door-frame, Mike looking happy at first, but then glancing round to everyone else when he noticed he was the only one who had said happy birthday. “I cannot cope.” Zayn spoke, more to himself. “What happened, guys?” “You ruined it!” Tally told Mike. “I didn’t!” “You said it too soon.” Ringo squeaked. “Did I?” “Okay, one last time!” Tally groaned. “Three, two, one.” “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” They had finally done it, and I felt so proud of them for eventually getting there. I glanced up to Harry with the biggest smile on my face, and I could tell he was just about holding in his own smile, a mix of not wanting to be awake, really, and finding the whole situation just as amusing as I was. Mike extended his arm, easily able to balance the large cake in his giant palm, as Harry glumly took it from his hand. He lowered it so we could see what was on top. It was blatantly a cake they had purchased, but also, they had bought some form of decoration stuff so one of them could scruffily write ‘Hap Birth Pip + Haz’ on the top of it. “Did you realise there wasn’t enough room for the whole sentence?” Harry asked them. “I wouldn’t necessarily say we realised.” Mike sighed. “This is actually the second cake we bought. On the previous cake we wrote ‘Happy Birthday Har’ and then ran out of room. So we ate that one and got another.” “I still feel sick from the last cake, so I definitely don’t want another.” Zayn hurled. “Can I go back to bed?” Ringo groaned. “Yes. I need to get ready for my lecture.” I added. “Thanks for the cake though, guys. It’s beautiful.” “You can’t go to your lecture! It’s your birthday!” Mike argued. “I don’t feel like you care about my education, Mike.” “I think you’re right. I don’t.” “Well, I do. So, I’m going.” I shrugged. I gave each one of them a kiss on the cheek as I pushed past them, Mike turning his head at the last moment and catching my lips, which made everyone laugh. I punched him gently in the chest and then went back into my room, knowing that that was probably the best start to a birthday I would ever have. + + + “I’ll be round later for drinks, okay?” Ed smiled. “Yeah yeah. S’all good. Make sure you’re looking dapper.” I grinned as we began to part down our correct paths. “I can’t believe you would say that to me, Pippa. I always look dapper.” He joked offense. “Of course you do. What was I thinking?” “I don’t know!” Ed skipped off happily, rips in his jeans, a beanie on his head, scuffed shoes, and I could barely even imagine Ed being dapper. He suited that scuffed look, he was so sweet and endearing and all round wonderful. I wrapped the scarf he had bought for me a little tighter round my neck, excited at the prospect of slightly warmer weather heading our way as I walked the short distance from where myself and Ed parted every day, and got back into our flat, more than excited for the birthday celebrations to begin. I got up to the top floor, and the first thing I saw when I walked in was Zayn laying down on the kitchen floor, staring up to the ceiling. “What happened to you?” I giggled. “Harry hit me in the dick.” Harry poked his head around the corner so I could see him, smiling triumphantly, an egg in his hand, for some reason. “He’s right, I did!” He chirped. I threw my bag outside my door again, and started to head towards them, Zayn still staring up to the light on the ceiling like he was thinking about the meaning of life, a sombre look on his face. Once I was inside, I noticed that Harry also had two more eggs in his other hand, and as he stood in the middle of the kitchen, he began juggling the three of them, his tongue poking out between his lips as he concentrated. I was having a strange day. “How’s your birthday going?” I chimed in. “Really good.” He kept his eyes on the eggs. “How’s your birthday going?” “Apart from the lack of egg juggling, I’m doing pretty good.” “Yeah yeah. Well, we’re pretty busy right now so...” Harry trailed. I looked to the ground to see Zayn nodding away, one hand clutching at his goods. I whipped my head back round to Harry. “Are you trying to get rid of me?” I cried. “Yeah. Go to your room or something. This is man’s time.” “For men.” Zayn added. I simply shook my head, a little confused by what the hell I had just walked in on and why they were so eager to get rid of me, but swung on my heel regardless, bobbing down the corridor and wandering into my room, exhausted. I burst out screaming and crying as soon as I saw Liam sat smiling on my bed. “OH MY GOOOOOOD!” I whelped. He grinned and jumped up to his feet, running up and taking me into the biggest hug I had ever experienced in my life. I couldn’t quite believe the body my arms were around. Not only that it was my brother who I hadn’t seen since I was 13 years old, but even the size of him. When Liam had left, he had a head full of curls, a weedy little frame, an innocent glisten in his eyes. Now I could feel the scrape of his facial hair on my forehead, the sheer mass of him, his tense arms and large frame. I couldn’t quite believe it. My brother was a 24 year old man. Of course, he was bound to have changed, but it was a lot to take in. I just kept blubbering away, gripping onto him like my life depended on it, probably ruining the white t-shirt he had on as I cried, covering the thing in mascara and tears. “Shh. S’okay, Pippa.” He tried to comfort me. “I can’t believe you’re here. I can’t believe you’re actually here.” I could have been better. I could have been dealing with the whole thing a lot better than I was. It was a mix of emotions. I knew happy tears would happen, that was a given, especially since it was me. But I couldn’t help but notice I was overwhelmingly sad, and I knew that was because Liam felt like the only part of my family that still worked, the only part that still made sense, that still made me happy. Even after years apart, Liam knew me better than anyone, and he could sense that from me. I wasn’t just crying because I was happy to see him, I was crying about a whole mix of things. He held me so tightly it felt like I was going to explode. I’m not sure how long that lasted, but it was a long time. By the time Liam pulled out of the hug, I had run out of tears, wiping my damp cheeks on either shoulder, trying to take in the image of the man in front of me rather than the boy I had known.I had seen pictures, but none could have prepared me for the real thing. “Well, you’ve changed!” He sighed and smiled. “I should hope so. It would be slightly concerning if I still looked thirteen.” I wiped my cheeks again. “You look like an adult.” “Good! I am, I guess.” Liam sat himself down on the bed, so I sat next to him. Then the strangest thing happened. All I could think about was how I wished we had cups of tea for the catch-up we were about to have, but I didn’t want to leave Liam for even a second, whether it was to make tea or not. Then there was a little knock on my door, before Harry used his elbow to push down the handle, a cup of tea in each hand, an innocent little look on his face as he walked in, bringing the tea to us. “You’re amazing.” I gulped as I stared at him. “I went for a middle ground and made you a tea-one.” Harry said to Liam. “I feel like everyone can be happy with a tea-one.” “Tea-one is exactly how I take my tea.” Liam smiled to him. We both took a mug from his hand, and I swear to god I had never been so fond of him and everything about him. Just because of two bloody cups of tea. “Thank you.” I said quietly. “Don’t mention it.” He winked at me. Before he left, I noticed a stain on his jeans that couldn’t be anything other than egg. I giggled quietly to myself. As soon as Harry was out the door, Liam rolled his eyes. “What?” I hit his arm. “You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend!” “What? He’s not my boyfriend!” “He’s not?” Liam gawped. “Nooooo. Definitely not my boyfriend.” “Oh. That’s weird.” I hate admitting it even now, but I blushed and cooed at the thought that Liam had come to the conclusion myself and Harry were together. I tried to brush past the moment, but my cheeks were practically aching in zero seconds flat. “So, how’s things?” I asked hesitantly. “Okay.” He shrugged. “Me and mum just moved into this tiny house. S’weird though, cause like... she’s obviously built up things for years. So many things, which obviously fit in a big family home but... there just isn’t enough room anymore. It’s sad, seeing her try to fit everything into that place. Strange.” Guilt swallowed me whenever we spoke about that kind of thing. The thought that I hadn’t even been to see either of my parents, made me feel like such an awful person. I only had myself to blame. “Seen much of dad?” I asked. “Other than work, no.” “How is it? Working with him?” “Hm.” He looked down to the floor. “I don’t think he really wants me there. Y’know how me being gone as brought us closer together? I think for dad... I dunno. I think he feels like he doesn’t know me anymore. We’re like... strangers.” I would have started crying again, but I had no more tears left in my system. I guess maybe it was also kind of numbing, hearing their relationship was like that, knowing my father and me would never be as close as we once were. “I never thought our family would end up like this.” I breathed. “Me neither. But, I don’t think we should dwell on it. I’m going back home tomorrow, so we don’t have time to be sad.” Liam perked. “What we do have time for, is lots of merriment's and drinks and birthday celebrations. So as soon as these cups of tea are done with, we are going to move onto the vodka that I bought you. No mucking about tonight, Pippa. We’re going all out.” He jumped up to his feet and offered me his hand, a giant grin on his face, a sparkling of sadness in his eyes, but one we were both willing to push past. It wouldn’t be hard either, because I had my brother back. + + + My towel was wrapped tight around my body, as I exited my room and began strolling down the corridor. The first stages of getting ready for my night out were about to begin. And I was already three vodkas down. But before I could get anywhere, Harry’s bedroom door opened, and he poked his head out to see me, his eyes squinted and his lips curved. “I sensed it was you.” He whispered with an idiotic accent. “And I sensed, you were a twat the very second I met you.” I retorted. “You want your present?” He lifted one brow. “We said we weren’t getting each other presents!” “But as you know, Pip-Squeak, I am full of shit.” That was all well and good, but what I wasn’t happy about was the fact that I genuinely hadn’t bought him a present. I wasn’t sure how to say that to him, especially given he wanted to give me mine then. “Harry-” “I don’t care if you didn’t get me one, okay? I know we had a deal, but Harry Styles doesn’t play by the rules.” “Please don’t speak about yourself in third-person.” I tutted. He widened his door as an open invite, and so I had to go inside. Maybe I was a little bit angry that Harry had gotten me a present and I hadn’t gotten him one. One, because it wasn’t fair. Two, because it was like Harry had beaten me, which was probably his plan because we were both insanely competitive, and it was only worse when it came to each other. The little bastard had done it on purpose. He shut the door behind me and then scurried up to his wardrobe like an excited child, leaning in and grabbing a terribly wrapped gift for me. “Nice wrapping.” “Shut up.” He scoffed. It was quite obvious what it was, due to the feel of it, and the bizarre shape. So I quickly unwrapped it, smiling like an idiot at the thought of a new teddy. I wasn’t really expecting to unwrap a penguin though. My face dropped. “You got me a penguin.” I shuddered. “I thought about your other penguin teddy, Lulu, and how it means so much to you because it was a certain time in your life. So, I thought maybe this one could symbolize a different time of your life, and hopefully mean just as much to you... In time.” I stroked at the fluff, a little struck for what to say. It was different to Lulu. Slightly bigger, definitely cleaner due to how new it was. Lulu had seen some rough times through the years. This one also had on some cute, little, blue shoes. “I never thought you’d be the type to buy thoughtful gifts.” I swallowed. “It seems you still have a lot to learn about me.” He smirked. All I wanted to do was learn. All I wanted to bloody do was find out every single detail about him, to fucking study him and know the reasons behind every single aspect of his character. Learning about his family had answered so many questions I had about Harry, but I had this desire to know everything. I bit my lip and held the teddy a little tighter. “I’m gunna call him Luke.” I smiled. “WHAT?” I jumped thanks to his loud voice. “I thought you were going to call it Harry?” “Never in a million years.” I giggled. He genuinely looked offended. He folded his arms across his chest and shook his head at me, bitterly disappointed by my choice of name. But Luke and Lulu was definitely cuter than Harry and Lulu. On top of that, naming a teddy after Harry was a little bit creepy. “You’re a bad person.” He huffed. “I’m going for a shower.” I shook my head at him. “Thank you, though. I love it. I really do.” “You’re going for a shower?” He questioned, like it was weird. “Yes. That would be the reason I’m wearing a towel...” I trailed. “Thought you were just teasing me.” He grunted. I forgot to mention, that even though myself and Harry hadn’t kissed or anything since Valentine’s Day, we had definitely flirted. We kept it to a minimal, as much as we could, but it seemed our natural instinct now was to just flirt with one another, to say things like that, to let our eyes travel one another like we were ready to pounce. It never went too far, but it was noticeable. “It wasn’t my plan. But I don’t mind teasing you.” I smiled. “I didn’t think you would.” I bit my lip again, but I knew I had to leave otherwise I would have just jumped on him and ruined this whole friendship thing we were doing pretty well at. I didn’t say anything else, I just left his room, kind of having to take steady breaths in and out, my little legs carrying me down the hall and through the kitchen as quickly as they could. I placed Luke down in the corner of the room before hanging the towel on the hook and getting into the shower I always used, still smiling about yet another flirtatious encounter with Harry. As I stood under the beating hot water, I thought about how I would react if I was to see Harry with a girl again. If he kissed someone, or slept with someone, or anything. I loved to think I would be fine with it, but I wasn’t sure I would be. Thankfully, Harry had barely even looked at another girl for the past few weeks. I washed myself slowly, trying my best to stop thinking about him. I heard the door open after I had been in there a couple of minutes. “MIKE, I SWEAR TO GOD YOU’RE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE!” I yelled. There was no reply. I continued showering naturally, playing through my hair, but turning to look through the misted shower-curtain, a little wary. With good reason. I watched as Harry came and stood right in front of my shower cubicle, just staring through to where I was. I barely flinched. I stared back, still rinsing through my hair, my body tingling at the sight of him watching me, feeling a new fire burst within my stomach. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, how still he was, how I was almost sure I could hear his heavy breathing, despite the downpour. I was so disgustingly turned on as I thought about him seeing me like that, the blurs and lines of my naked body. We were totally silent. He watched me and I watched him, noticing his hand trail down to his crotch as he stroked through his jeans, and I played with my hair, trying to stand and hold myself in a way I knew he would find appealing, at the same time as being as natural as I possibly could be. I wanted him to see more, maybe just as much as Harry wanted to see more. But if Harry was to draw back that curtain, or if I was to do it, in a strange way, it would have been taking it too far, it would have been too much for us to handle. Harry looking at the blurred image of my naked, wet body, was mysterious and secretive. That’s how we worked. That shower-curtain was the only thing stopping me and Harry from taking things a step too far. Even though, if there was a line, we had definitely already crossed it. It stayed that way for a while. My eyes could just about make out that Harry’s hand was buried deep into the front of his jeans, and the first noise he made whilst he was in there was so sexual and raw, it took every single ounce of strength I had not to moan out loud. I grabbed at my breast, tipping my head backwards, and I knew that would tip him over the edge. “Fuck.” He grunted. “I can’t... Fuck.” He practically ran out of there, and I was once again in the shower-room alone, left feeling so satisfied about what had just happened between us. I breathed out heavily, pressing my back against the tiles and staring up to the ceiling, only now realising I was panting, finally touching myself softly, fuelled by the knowledge that Harry was in his room doing exactly the same thing, because of me. + + + Harry and Liam were stood talking about something or other in the corner of the kitchen. I have no idea what they were talking about, but they were both using their hands a lot and it looked like they were deep into a discussion. It was quite foreign. Liam had been gone for so long, I had never realised how much his approval of people meant to me. He hadn’t had much of a chance to bond with Zayn, at that point, but he had spent a lot of his evening with Ed, and even more of it with Louis. I had told him what happened between me and Louis, but I also told him that we were fine, and Liam wasn’t the type of person to hate someone unless they had done something specifically to him. So it was weird, realising that even Liam getting on with Louis meant something to me. “So then Jenny was like, Mike, you’re not even a good actor. And I said, Jenny, yes I am a good actor, you’re just a dumb bitch. Then she went all crazy on me and shouted loads of stuff and, yeah... I think I’m in love with her. A little bit.” “Mike, how often do you fall in love?” Ed grinned, taking a sip. “Hm. Quite a lot, Edward. Quite a lot.” “If you carry on calling me Edward, I’m going to start calling you Michael.” Mikes face dropped at the mere idea of that as I laughed down to the floor, glad to be in a kitchen full of people. There were a couple there from my course, some from Harry’s, all of our friends were there, it was crowded and loud and exactly what I wanted. It was about to get even better. “PIPPA!” I heard Zayn yell from the doorway, catching my attention. “I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU!” I heard Mike curse at the sight of her before I even realised that Grace had just re-entered her old home. I barged past people, probably knocking a few drinks out of people’s hands in the process as I finally wrapped my arms back around the girl who I loved so much my heart could barely cope with seeing her again. “Holy shit, you came!” I gasped into her hair. “IT WAS MY IDEA!” Zayn chirped from the side of us. “I said you should invite her just so she could say no and then you would be EVEN MORE surprised when she did turn up. YES, I’m a genius!” She pulled out of the hug and grabbed at my cheeks. I wasn’t sure if she genuinely looked different or if I was convincing myself she looked different. “Look at your little face.” She growled. “Oh Pip, it’s so good to see you!” “I am so bloody glad you’re here, woman.” I quickly went into a whisper. “Oh my god, is Mike freaking out behind me?” She quickly glanced over my shoulder, then back to me, eye to eye. “He seems to be, just a little bit. Why?” “We think he’s in love with you.” I whispered. “What? Holy god, don’t, I would marry Mike tomorrow!” “Don’t let him hear you say that, because he’ll be down on one knee in seconds.” The look of joy that crossed her face was one that let me know automatically, that Grace felt the same way towards Mike as we were sure he felt towards her. It only made me curse her even more for leaving uni in the first place. “Hi!” I heard from my other side as Harry pushed in. “I’m Harry Styles. I moved into your old room. Pippa tells me she’d rather have you here, and that’s saying something, because I am an absolute treat.” “You’re a dick.” I scalded. “I’m not.” He shoved his hand in my face, still addressing Grace. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Grace.” I liked that he had finally learnt her name, and who she was. But I hated how charming he was. His eyes sparkled, and whenever Harry was meeting someone, it was like how attractive he was just boosted. I could see the love hearts forming in Graces eyes, despite what we had just been discussing about Mike. Harry was too charming for his own good. He was barely trying. “Please ignore him.” I moved his hand off my face. “He’s the biggest wanker you will ever meet. I’ve told you about him before. You’ve never heard anything good about Harry Styles fall from my mouth.” Grace seemed a little bit baffled by the two of us, but this was us flirting, mixed with the beginning dimensions of our relationship, where we couldn’t stand one another. “You two are weird.” She shrugged. “Nice to meet you, Harry.” “Pleasure.” He said, taking her hand. Grace then went to rekindle with everyone else from the flat, whom she had missed in the months since she had left, as I dragged Harry off to one side, unable to hide my jealousy any longer. I was enough drinks down at that stage. “You stay away from her.” I whispered harshly, pointing a finger. “I know she’s beautiful, but you’re not allowed.” “And why’s that?” He moved dangerously close to me. We found it harder, after a few drinks, to keep our distance, and I wondered if everyone there was just a little docile, or if people were catching on that maybe we had something between us. “Because Mike is in love with her.” I scalded. He moved so his lips were by my ear, one hand tucked onto my waist, moving so close to me I had to press my back against the kitchen counter. I breathed him in. “Is that the only reason?” He whispered seductively. I swallowed hard as he moved back from my ear, holding his face close to me, studying all my features as he waited for a reply. I couldn’t lie, in that moment. There wasn’t even any point in lying. Harry could see right through me, not just because I was completely transparent when it came to my emotions, but because Harry and myself were so stupidly similar, it would never be hard for him to read my thoughts. He knew every twitch and every emotion, because it was more than likely he would be feeling the same thing. “No.” I choked, defeated. “That’s not the only reason.” I refused to give him any more than that. I didn’t feel any need to say what the exact reason was, because he knew. He probably wanted me to voice it just to weaken me a bit, just so he had the upper-hand, the power. “Well,” He shrugged, nonchalant. “I’ve only got eyes for one girl in this room, and it’s not Grace.” The smirk I knew all too well kissed at the left-hand side of his lips, and the worse our flirting got, the harder I was finding it to keep away from him. He pushed away from me triumphantly, strolling over and striking up a conversation with Louis like none of it had ever happened. I downed the rest of my drink.

[309nyeon]

The Boyz ‘Heart to Heart’ 6pm Event : Q&A Translation

Source: Audio file download link (cr: Haknyeon’s gallery)

t/n: Only translated the q&a segment (starts ~40min in). A very rough translation.

Question: What does it feel like living with a handsome face? 

Sunwoo: I haven’t really thought about it that deeply, but I’m thankful to my mom and dad for giving birth to a healthy and pretty son and I’m also thankful to my grandparents for giving birth to my parents.  Hyuksoo: So you haven’t thought about it but you acknowledge it. 

Eric: I’m not sure about that. Hyuksoo: What? Eric: If I’m good-looking.  Fans: Nooo Eric: I’m not sure but just like Sunwoo, mom and dad, thank you!

Hwall: For me, it always feels new (and exciting).  Fans: cheers

Sangyeon: I feel like I want to fly.  Fans: cheers Sangyeon: I’m sorry. 

Jacob: I want to experience it. 

New: I haven’t ever been like that so I don’t know.

Hyunjae: To be honest, I’ve never lived like that before. Fans: Ehhhhh? Hyunjae: I’ve never thought I was handsome even once. I want to live like that once.  Hyuksoo: Do you lie often? 

Juyeon: It’s not bad- Fans: Whoo!  Juyeon: That was just a joke, but to be honest, I also don’t know what it feels like.  Fans: Ehhh?? Juyeon: What does it feel like?  Hyuksoo: How *you* feel right now! 

Kevin: Can I answer this seriously? I think beauty is subjective. 

Hyuksoo: Younghoon? Younghoon: I don’t have the prince disease.  Hyuksoo: I haven’t said anything yet. I’ve never said you had the prince disease.  Younghoon: Some people might have misunderstood. Fans: You’re handsome! Younghoon: Thank you. Hyuksoo: You do have the prince disease!

Q: When I look at pictures, there are times when I get surprised but- Hyuksoo: Why are you surprised? Q: I think, is this really me? There are times I feel like that but I don’t think I’m always good-looking.  Fans: You’re always good-looking!

Haknyeon: I’m not really sure. Fans: Ehhhh?? Haknyeon: Because there are too many good-looking people these days.  Fans: Ehhhh? Hyuksoo: Yeah, there are lots of good-looking people these days. You’re one of them.

Question: In The Boyz, I’m the best at this! 

Hyunjae: For me, I think it’s sports.  Hyuksoo: I feel like you’re lying a lot.  Hyunjae: This is true. Hyuksoo: Does the group acknowledge this? The Boyz: No (x3) Hyuksoo: You’re lying again! Hyunjae: It’ll someday be revealed!

Juyeon: My arms are really long.  Hyuksoo: Your arms are long? How long are they? Juyeon: My arms are really long. Fans: screams Hyuksoo: Even if you tell me to come, I won’t.

Kevin: I think I know the most Beyonce songs out of all of the members. Hyuksoo: Then can you list five Beyonce songs? 1,2- Kevin: Party, ___, Crazy in Love, Drunk in Love Hyuksoo: I can’t tell if he’s right or wrong.

New: I’m the best at abacus out of all the members. Hyuksoo: Oh, abacus... yeah he’s kinda scary because he’s so good at calculating numbers.

Q: It’s neck length! Hyuksoo: Then let’s see if Juyeon’s arms are long or Q’s neck is long. Hyuksoo: Please show us your neck.  Fans&The Boyz: Wow

Haknyeon: Uh.... I think it’s making refreshing expressions. Hyuksoo: Then can we see it? 1, 2, 3- Haknyeon: video The Boyz: You’re refreshing! Hyuksoo: You all just saw a walking chunhyehyang.  (t/n: Chunhyehyangs are an orange-tangerine hybrid.)

Hwall: For me, it’s talent/charm! Hyuksoo: There’s something I want to see. (He makes Hwall do his shooting gesture). Hyuksoo: Do it for the second floor too. Hyuksoo: You have lots of charm!

Question: It was the question you were most curious about. What were your first impressions of each other?

Sangyeon: When I first met Haknyeon, he came up to me, saying “hyung!” and asked me lots of questions. He didn’t just ask me one question but- Haknyeon: He was my senior at Hanlim so I kept asking him questions about Hanlim. Sangyeon: Yeah, so I thought Haknyeon’s really curious about a lot of stuff. Hyuksoo: The way you’re saying that seems like you were tired of it! Sangyeon: No no, that’s not true. He was cute.

Sangyeon: Also, I remember Jacob singing while playing the guitar. And his vocal color wasn’t domestic. It was more very foreign-influenced. Hyuksoo: Yeah his voice is different. Jacob: Thank you (small voice) Fans: Awww

Jacob: When I saw Sunwoo rapping the first time, I thought he was cool and was really good at rapping. When I saw Sangyeon the first time, I remember him talking to me warmly. Hyuksoo: You sang for him! Of course he would be warm to you after you sang for him. Jacob: So I was happy there was a good hyung like him. Jacob: Q was really quiet at first so it was hard to approach him but now- Q: We’re really close. Hyuksoo: You have a guitar! Why didn’t you play the guitar for him?

Younghoon/Sunwoo (?): I also remember Jacob’s first impression. He had the guitar- Hyuksoo: He was singing while playing the guitar. You must do that regularly when you meet people for the first time. Sunwoo/Younghoon: His voice is so good that it leaves an impression. 

(t/n: Fans always shout ‘cute’ when Q starts talking lol) Q: I met Hyunjae hyung when he was still in high school. Back then, he used to be sooo skinny and his eyes were sooo pretty.  Hyuksoo: He doesn’t look like that to you anymore? He’s still really skinny and his eyes are still really pretty.  Q: No! He’s manly now. But he used to be more like a baby in high school. I thought he was a foreigner at first. 

Haknyeon: I saw Eric when he first came to Korea and he was so good-looking. Fans: Ohhhh Haknyeon: I thought, he’s really handsome.

Sunwoo: When I first saw Hwall, I saw him doing contemporary dance. Hyuksoo: You saw him doing contemporary dance when you first saw him? Someone’s always doing something when you guys meet for the first time. Normally you’d greet each other first.  Sunwoo: I was watching him dance but he looked beautiful. Even guys would fall for it. I felt it then and I was like, what is this feeling. I even bragged about Hwall to my parents. I bragged about it to everyone.

Hyuksoo got Hwall to dance a bit → video

Hyuksoo: It’s very charming. When I first saw Hwall’s (dazed profile) video, I thought it was charming.

Question: How did you pick your roommates? 

Hyunjae: We picked it randomly.  Hyuksoo: Then let’s move on to the next question. Fans: laughs Hyuksoo: So it’s random. Who are you rooming with right now? Hyunjae: I’m rooming with Haknyeon. We have the smallest room. 

Someone: Sunwoo lives in the living room. 

Someone: Sunwoo has a mat to sleep on. Sunwoo: Yeah, if anyone steps on it, they’re dead. They definitely can’t step on it. Hyuksoo: If Hwall steps on it while doing contemporary dance, please be understanding.  Hyunjae: I think that actually happened once. 

Question: Some members have certain roles. The mom is Jacob, the dad is Sangyeon, the person who cooks is New, the person who cleans and nags is Eric. 

Hyuksoo: Why are you these roles? First, let’s start with Sangyeon. Sangyeon: I think it’s because I’m the oldest, I check the grocery list in the dorm and stuff like that so that’s why I’m the dad. Someone: It’s a big role. Hyuksoo: That’s right. It is. 

Hyuksoo: Then what about the mom role? Jacob: I’ve been thinking about it a lot but I don’t know why I’m the mom so I also wanted to ask the members.  Q: Jacob hyung always takes care of us well and he embraces us in a very comforting manner. It also gets hot after we practice so he buys us ice cream. Hyuksoo: My mom doesn’t do that for me. Q: Me too. Hyuksoo: So he’s the mom because of his warm heart.

Hyuksoo: Then New? New: Whenever we come back to the dorm from practice, I can’t hold in hunger well so I cook-- Hyuksoo: I also can’t hold in hunger well.  New: I think the members really liked it whenever I cooked. Hyunjae: He says he cooks but he only cooks ramen. Someone: And the members steal it.  New: Especially Hyunjae hyung Hyunjae: It’s really tasty.

Hyuksoo: This is unexpected, but the one who cleans and nags is the maknae, Eric.  Eric: To be honest, I’m like the president of the dorm. I like being clean and I have a clean personality. When 12 guys live together, it can get pretty dirty. As the dorm president, I tell the hyungs, ‘Hyung, let’s clean together,’ and we all clean together and eat and play games after we’re done. I think that’s how I became the one that nags. But the dorm is pretty clean because of me.  Hyuksoo: I acknowledge it. It can get dirty when men live together but their dorm is clean. Come over to my house. There’s a lot to clean at my house.

Question: What part of the song, “I’m Your Boy,” did you write?

Sunwoo: I wrote Hwall’s part. *raps Hwall’s part* Hyuksoo: What’s great is that I didn’t even tell him to rap but he still did it.  Hyuksoo: What about Jacob? Jacob: I wrote Sunwoo’s rap. The part I liked the most is *raps Sunwoo’s rap* Hyuksoo: Thank you for doing that on your own. What about Hwall? Hwall: I did our Haknyeon hyung’s part. “I like you. I like your smiling face.” I wrote this part.  Hyuksoo: Then Eric?  Eric: I wrote Hyunjae and Kevin’s parts. “This time being with 12 people / I think about you even more.” Eric: I wrote it from the heart.  Hyunsoo: Hyunjae? Hyunjae: I also wrote from the heart and I thought it was good, but my lyrics didn’t make it.  Fans: Awww Hyunjae: “Beautiful. Everything about you is beautiful.” Hyuksoo: It was kind of like a line from a drama.  Someone: Goblin 2 Hyuksoo: What about Juyeon? Juyeon: I also wrote lyrics but they didn’t make it in the song. There are members who got their lyrics in the song and members who only got a very small part of their lyrics in their songs. I’ll work harder so my lyrics make it next time. 

[strivesy]

5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools

Meg Ormiston on episode 270 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

In today’s show, Meg Ormiston gives us an idea for each of the 5 C’s: creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and computational thinking.

Advancement Courses has more than 200 graduate level online professional development courses for K-12 teachers. You can take these courses for continuing education, salary advancement, or recertification. They are practical courses that have teachers developing tangible resources to use in their classrooms immediately. Go to advancementcourses.com/coolcat and use the code COOL20 at checkout to get 20% off any course. With this coupon, a 3 grad credit course is only $359.

  Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools

Link to show: http://ift.tt/2DcdCzO Date: Friday, March 9, 2018

Vicki: I’m so excited. We have Meg Ormiston @megormi with us today.

She’s been in education or 33 years, but for 21 years she’s been helping so many of us with our professional development, keynoting our conferences, speaking, and encouraging us to really use technology in the classroom.

And she does have a series of books that we’ll mention here in a moment.

But today we’re going to talk about five ideas to change teaching with digital tools.

So, Meg, what is our first idea today?

Meg: Awesome! Vicki, I am so happy to be here. This is so fun.

OK. We’re going to talk about the five C’s today:

Creativity

Collaboration

Communication

Critical Thinking, and

Computational Thinking

Creativity

I just went to a presentation of one of my co-authors last week, and she presented about how she does her green screen. And it was so creative, I couldn’t believe it. She’s in a K-2 building? She sprayed the inside of pizza boxes with green screen paint, and she used the little Starbucks stirrers. The kids made characters, and they do retellings of stories as they move the characters around. (laughs)

Vicki: (laughs)

Wow, So then they can cut out the background and then put them anywhere, huh?

Meg: It is SO CUTE.

And people are like, “How did you do this?”

We had to stop the whole workshop! (laughs) It was so fun!

But what I really love about Melissa is that she ties every single lesson she does — like that green screen lesson — to an ISTE standard and she ties it to an ELA standard. And that’s posted right in the room so everyone knows it’s not just fluff, it’s embedded into the curriculum.

So that’s my #1 for today. Love that one.

Vicki: Ohhhh, that is awesome. How cute!

OK, what’s our second?

Collaboration

Meg: OK. Collaboration. And I’ll have to tell you… this is so funny. I just wrote a series of five books with 26 practicing educators.

Vicki: Wow.

Meg: Crazy. Yeah. Not easy. It was like herding cats. It was nuts. But it was so funny.

They’d come to my house, and they would write, and I would cook them dinner.

Each day, they’d kind of spread out around the house.

And one night the high school teachers were at the island, and the K-2 teachers were at the kitchen table.

And I was doing something, and all of a sudden, I was doing something, and one of the high school teachers goes, “They can do THAT? In kindergarten?”

Vicki: (laughs)

Meg: What are we doing? They just couldn’t believe that the young kids could do this. And so what’s so cool on this collaboration piece of that one, is that that kindergarten teacher is now partnering with the high school.

They’re actually different districts, but they’re across the street. The high school students walked down the street, and they did an afternoon STEM collaboration.

Vicki: Oh, I love it! Multiage collaboration is just so incredible, and the hallmark of what I do in my own classroom. I love that!

What’s next?

Communication

Meg: Communication. I love to tell the story of Bill Ferriter’s http://sugarkills.us/

Do you know that project?

Vicki: No! Tell us!

Meg: Oh my gosh. It’s great!

I think it’s been going on for about four years. His kids… I think it might have slowed down a bit. But they have a http://sugarkills.us/ blog.

About 4-5 years ago, Bill brought in a news article about the ban of soda. The big soda in New York City.

Vicki: (agrees)

Meg: And he was just thinking it was a quick activity. And the kids started really getting into it, and figuring out how much sugar is really in the food that they’re eating. And they started to blog about it. It went on for years! I do believe that it’s on its fifth year.

Vicki: Wow.

Meg: But the cool part was that they were communicating all over the globe. If you look at their cluster map, it’s AMAZING how many people they are reaching.

And this was so funny… one day, I was in Houston, Texas, speaking.

I got a text from Bill, and he said, “My class wants to know if you are in Houston, Texas.”

Vicki: (laughs)

Meg: Because when I speak, and I talk about their awesome story, they watch me on their cluster map, and they guess where I am. I feel like I’m being tracked!

Vicki: (laughs) I love that! Kids are so engaged and understand how modern communication works with a virtual audience. Wow, that’s awesome!

What’s our fourth?

Critical Thinking

Meg: OK, critical thinking. I believe, and I love this quote, and I’m giving all the credit to Chris Lehmann, principal of the Science Leadership Academy.

This is his quote that he let me use, “If you assign a project and get back thirty of the exact same thing, that’s not a project. That’s a recipe.”

Vicki: Mmmmmm.

Meg: And I love that. You know, when you walk down the hall of a school, and you just have thirty of the exact same things in a row, and then you go to the next room?

I’m working with a school, and I’m calling it the “Over Rubricked High School.” That’s not even a real word, I think. But these students are super high performing, but all they���re doing is checking boxes on rubrics, and they’re not critically thinking.

And it’s so important to get some creativity into our classrooms, into our projects.

I presented this at a workshop on Friday, and I start by saying, “I’m going to upset some of you. We have to change the projects we’re asking kids to do.”

(Gasps.)

You should have seen the body language!

Vicki: Hmmmm.

Meg: I had fifty people in this room. Ooooooooh! That is not the ____ to make samples. How many poster boards must die from these elementary years?

Ugh. So I am calling it the “Over Rubricked School.”

I think we are “over-rubricking,” and we’re forgetting about the creativity and the critical thinking.

Vicki: Yeah. And you know, I’ve seen some projects that I just call the “Wikipedia Copy Project.”

Meg: Ohhh!

Vicki: Because they’re supposed to do this research, and they’re like, “If I can Google it?”

I mean authentic research? They can’t use… Do something like, “What if Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela had a conversation about modern politics? What would they say?”

They can’t Google that! They have to actually think!

Meg: Exactly! That’s the point.

The school brought me in because they found their kids were graduating like at 98%. But they weren’t finishing college. They didn’t know how to think, because we…

(laughs)

I’m doing a session at ISTE with my son. I’m really excited about that.

“There’s No Rubric For Your First Job”

How about that?

Vicki: Ohhhhh. Love it.

OK, what’s our fifth?

Computational Thinking

Meg: The fifth one is computational thinking.

There, we wrote about coding, all the way through…

So the books go — they’re great books. There’s a K-2, a 3-5, a 6-8, a 9-12, and a leadership book. And we wrote about coding all the way through — starting in kindergarten.

Again, that was something the high school teachers could not believe — truly, could not believe — that the kindergarteners could code.

And it was funny because they were so hung up on, “Where do we put coding in our curriculum?”

Instead of, you know, embracing that we’ve got to (prepare) these kids for the real world. Get them ready with real thinking about future jobs.

So my fifth one is computational thinking.

Vicki: That is so important. And you know, sometimes, it would be nice if we kind of communicated across the board and people could understand that sometimes kindergarteners and first and second and third graders may transfer schools, and they feel like they’re stepping backwards. We’re selling kids short. Just because it’s new to the teacher, doesn’t mean that it’s new to the kids. You know?

Meg: Exactly! And, we’re not going to be able to find enough computer science teachers in our classrooms. We’ve got to figure out how to be able to use our technology to teach this computational thinking. That’s my opinion.

Vicki: We do.

OK, so we have five ideas to change things teaching with digital tools.

Now, Meg, tell us quickly, where we can find some more information about the books?

Meg: OK. Go to Amazon. And please give us a great review. (No, I’m kidding.) (laughs)

But just do “now classroom” Search “now classroom”

And you will see — our website’s http://ift.tt/2p5J7qr

We’re trying to blog. We’re trying to stay on top of things, but I would LOVE to hear what you have to say. Thank you!

Vicki: Awesome! Thank you, Meg!

And keep inspiring educators all around the world. I just find you so exciting and engaging. I appreciate all that you do, because you know all that traveling is not for everybody.

I travel a little bit, but it’s really dedication to travel.

  Meg: (laughs)

Vicki: A lot of people want to do it until they start, right?

Meg: Ohhhh… Yeah. I’m going to Singapore next week. It’s 27 hours each way. Ugh!

Vicki: Oh my goodness, no. It’s not for me and my knees.

Well, thank you, educators, for having a listen.

I know that you have some ideas that you can use this weekend as you plan your lessons for Monday!

Contact us about the show: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/contact/

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford kymberlimulford@gmail.com

Bio as submitted

Meg was a classroom teacher, school board president, and now she is an international keynote speaker focused on teaching and learning with digital tools. Meg is also an author of twelve books that include the five book NOW Classrooms series she co-authored with 26 practicing educators.

Twitter: @megormi

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post 5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools published first on https://medium.com/@seminarsacademy

[athena29stone]

5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools

Meg Ormiston on episode 270 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

In today’s show, Meg Ormiston gives us an idea for each of the 5 C’s: creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and computational thinking.

Advancement Courses has more than 200 graduate level online professional development courses for K-12 teachers. You can take these courses for continuing education, salary advancement, or recertification. They are practical courses that have teachers developing tangible resources to use in their classrooms immediately. Go to advancementcourses.com/coolcat and use the code COOL20 at checkout to get 20% off any course. With this coupon, a 3 grad credit course is only $359.

  Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools

Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e270 Date: Friday, March 9, 2018

Vicki: I’m so excited. We have Meg Ormiston @megormi with us today.

She’s been in education or 33 years, but for 21 years she’s been helping so many of us with our professional development, keynoting our conferences, speaking, and encouraging us to really use technology in the classroom.

And she does have a series of books that we’ll mention here in a moment.

But today we’re going to talk about five ideas to change teaching with digital tools.

So, Meg, what is our first idea today?

Meg: Awesome! Vicki, I am so happy to be here. This is so fun.

OK. We’re going to talk about the five C’s today:

Creativity

Collaboration

Communication

Critical Thinking, and

Computational Thinking

Creativity

I just went to a presentation of one of my co-authors last week, and she presented about how she does her green screen. And it was so creative, I couldn’t believe it. She’s in a K-2 building? She sprayed the inside of pizza boxes with green screen paint, and she used the little Starbucks stirrers. The kids made characters, and they do retellings of stories as they move the characters around. (laughs)

Vicki: (laughs)

Wow, So then they can cut out the background and then put them anywhere, huh?

Meg: It is SO CUTE.

And people are like, “How did you do this?”

We had to stop the whole workshop! (laughs) It was so fun!

But what I really love about Melissa is that she ties every single lesson she does — like that green screen lesson — to an ISTE standard and she ties it to an ELA standard. And that’s posted right in the room so everyone knows it’s not just fluff, it’s embedded into the curriculum.

So that’s my #1 for today. Love that one.

Vicki: Ohhhh, that is awesome. How cute!

OK, what’s our second?

Collaboration

Meg: OK. Collaboration. And I’ll have to tell you… this is so funny. I just wrote a series of five books with 26 practicing educators.

Vicki: Wow.

Meg: Crazy. Yeah. Not easy. It was like herding cats. It was nuts. But it was so funny.

They’d come to my house, and they would write, and I would cook them dinner.

Each day, they’d kind of spread out around the house.

And one night the high school teachers were at the island, and the K-2 teachers were at the kitchen table.

And I was doing something, and all of a sudden, I was doing something, and one of the high school teachers goes, “They can do THAT? In kindergarten?”

Vicki: (laughs)

Meg: What are we doing? They just couldn’t believe that the young kids could do this. And so what’s so cool on this collaboration piece of that one, is that that kindergarten teacher is now partnering with the high school.

They’re actually different districts, but they’re across the street. The high school students walked down the street, and they did an afternoon STEM collaboration.

Vicki: Oh, I love it! Multiage collaboration is just so incredible, and the hallmark of what I do in my own classroom. I love that!

What’s next?

Communication

Meg: Communication. I love to tell the story of Bill Ferriter’s http://sugarkills.us/

Do you know that project?

Vicki: No! Tell us!

Meg: Oh my gosh. It’s great!

I think it’s been going on for about four years. His kids… I think it might have slowed down a bit. But they have a http://sugarkills.us/ blog.

About 4-5 years ago, Bill brought in a news article about the ban of soda. The big soda in New York City.

Vicki: (agrees)

Meg: And he was just thinking it was a quick activity. And the kids started really getting into it, and figuring out how much sugar is really in the food that they’re eating. And they started to blog about it. It went on for years! I do believe that it’s on its fifth year.

Vicki: Wow.

Meg: But the cool part was that they were communicating all over the globe. If you look at their cluster map, it’s AMAZING how many people they are reaching.

And this was so funny… one day, I was in Houston, Texas, speaking.

I got a text from Bill, and he said, “My class wants to know if you are in Houston, Texas.”

Vicki: (laughs)

Meg: Because when I speak, and I talk about their awesome story, they watch me on their cluster map, and they guess where I am. I feel like I’m being tracked!

Vicki: (laughs) I love that! Kids are so engaged and understand how modern communication works with a virtual audience. Wow, that’s awesome!

What’s our fourth?

Critical Thinking

Meg: OK, critical thinking. I believe, and I love this quote, and I’m giving all the credit to Chris Lehmann, principal of the Science Leadership Academy.

This is his quote that he let me use, “If you assign a project and get back thirty of the exact same thing, that’s not a project. That’s a recipe.”

Vicki: Mmmmmm.

Meg: And I love that. You know, when you walk down the hall of a school, and you just have thirty of the exact same things in a row, and then you go to the next room?

I’m working with a school, and I’m calling it the “Over Rubricked High School.” That’s not even a real word, I think. But these students are super high performing, but all they’re doing is checking boxes on rubrics, and they’re not critically thinking.

And it’s so important to get some creativity into our classrooms, into our projects.

I presented this at a workshop on Friday, and I start by saying, “I’m going to upset some of you. We have to change the projects we’re asking kids to do.”

(Gasps.)

You should have seen the body language!

Vicki: Hmmmm.

Meg: I had fifty people in this room. Ooooooooh! That is not the ____ to make samples. How many poster boards must die from these elementary years?

Ugh. So I am calling it the “Over Rubricked School.”

I think we are “over-rubricking,” and we’re forgetting about the creativity and the critical thinking.

Vicki: Yeah. And you know, I’ve seen some projects that I just call the “Wikipedia Copy Project.”

Meg: Ohhh!

Vicki: Because they’re supposed to do this research, and they’re like, “If I can Google it?”

I mean authentic research? They can’t use… Do something like, “What if Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela had a conversation about modern politics? What would they say?”

They can’t Google that! They have to actually think!

Meg: Exactly! That’s the point.

The school brought me in because they found their kids were graduating like at 98%. But they weren’t finishing college. They didn’t know how to think, because we…

(laughs)

I’m doing a session at ISTE with my son. I’m really excited about that.

“There’s No Rubric For Your First Job”

How about that?

Vicki: Ohhhhh. Love it.

OK, what’s our fifth?

Computational Thinking

Meg: The fifth one is computational thinking.

There, we wrote about coding, all the way through…

So the books go — they’re great books. There’s a K-2, a 3-5, a 6-8, a 9-12, and a leadership book. And we wrote about coding all the way through — starting in kindergarten.

Again, that was something the high school teachers could not believe — truly, could not believe — that the kindergarteners could code.

And it was funny because they were so hung up on, “Where do we put coding in our curriculum?”

Instead of, you know, embracing that we’ve got to (prepare) these kids for the real world. Get them ready with real thinking about future jobs.

So my fifth one is computational thinking.

Vicki: That is so important. And you know, sometimes, it would be nice if we kind of communicated across the board and people could understand that sometimes kindergarteners and first and second and third graders may transfer schools, and they feel like they’re stepping backwards. We’re selling kids short. Just because it’s new to the teacher, doesn’t mean that it’s new to the kids. You know?

Meg: Exactly! And, we’re not going to be able to find enough computer science teachers in our classrooms. We’ve got to figure out how to be able to use our technology to teach this computational thinking. That’s my opinion.

Vicki: We do.

OK, so we have five ideas to change things teaching with digital tools.

Now, Meg, tell us quickly, where we can find some more information about the books?

Meg: OK. Go to Amazon. And please give us a great review. (No, I’m kidding.) (laughs)

But just do “now classroom” Search “now classroom”

And you will see — our website’s http://nowclassrooms.com/

We’re trying to blog. We’re trying to stay on top of things, but I would LOVE to hear what you have to say. Thank you!

Vicki: Awesome! Thank you, Meg!

And keep inspiring educators all around the world. I just find you so exciting and engaging. I appreciate all that you do, because you know all that traveling is not for everybody.

I travel a little bit, but it’s really dedication to travel.

  Meg: (laughs)

Vicki: A lot of people want to do it until they start, right?

Meg: Ohhhh… Yeah. I’m going to Singapore next week. It’s 27 hours each way. Ugh!

Vicki: Oh my goodness, no. It’s not for me and my knees.

Well, thank you, educators, for having a listen.

I know that you have some ideas that you can use this weekend as you plan your lessons for Monday!

Contact us about the show: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/contact/

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford kymberlimulford@gmail.com

Bio as submitted

Meg was a classroom teacher, school board president, and now she is an international keynote speaker focused on teaching and learning with digital tools. Meg is also an author of twelve books that include the five book NOW Classrooms series she co-authored with 26 practicing educators.

Twitter: @megormi

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post 5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://www.coolcatteacher.com/e270/

[patriciaanderson357-blog]

5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools

Meg Ormiston on episode 270 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

In today’s show, Meg Ormiston gives us an idea for each of the 5 C’s: creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and computational thinking.

Advancement Courses has more than 200 graduate level online professional development courses for K-12 teachers. You can take these courses for continuing education, salary advancement, or recertification. They are practical courses that have teachers developing tangible resources to use in their classrooms immediately. Go to advancementcourses.com/coolcat and use the code COOL20 at checkout to get 20% off any course. With this coupon, a 3 grad credit course is only $359.

  Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools

Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e270 Date: Friday, March 9, 2018

Vicki: I’m so excited. We have Meg Ormiston @megormi with us today.

She’s been in education or 33 years, but for 21 years she’s been helping so many of us with our professional development, keynoting our conferences, speaking, and encouraging us to really use technology in the classroom.

And she does have a series of books that we’ll mention here in a moment.

But today we’re going to talk about five ideas to change teaching with digital tools.

So, Meg, what is our first idea today?

Meg: Awesome! Vicki, I am so happy to be here. This is so fun.

OK. We’re going to talk about the five C’s today:

Creativity

Collaboration

Communication

Critical Thinking, and

Computational Thinking

Creativity

I just went to a presentation of one of my co-authors last week, and she presented about how she does her green screen. And it was so creative, I couldn’t believe it. She’s in a K-2 building? She sprayed the inside of pizza boxes with green screen paint, and she used the little Starbucks stirrers. The kids made characters, and they do retellings of stories as they move the characters around. (laughs)

Vicki: (laughs)

Wow, So then they can cut out the background and then put them anywhere, huh?

Meg: It is SO CUTE.

And people are like, “How did you do this?”

We had to stop the whole workshop! (laughs) It was so fun!

But what I really love about Melissa is that she ties every single lesson she does — like that green screen lesson — to an ISTE standard and she ties it to an ELA standard. And that’s posted right in the room so everyone knows it’s not just fluff, it’s embedded into the curriculum.

So that’s my #1 for today. Love that one.

Vicki: Ohhhh, that is awesome. How cute!

OK, what’s our second?

Collaboration

Meg: OK. Collaboration. And I’ll have to tell you… this is so funny. I just wrote a series of five books with 26 practicing educators.

Vicki: Wow.

Meg: Crazy. Yeah. Not easy. It was like herding cats. It was nuts. But it was so funny.

They’d come to my house, and they would write, and I would cook them dinner.

Each day, they’d kind of spread out around the house.

And one night the high school teachers were at the island, and the K-2 teachers were at the kitchen table.

And I was doing something, and all of a sudden, I was doing something, and one of the high school teachers goes, “They can do THAT? In kindergarten?”

Vicki: (laughs)

Meg: What are we doing? They just couldn’t believe that the young kids could do this. And so what’s so cool on this collaboration piece of that one, is that that kindergarten teacher is now partnering with the high school.

They’re actually different districts, but they’re across the street. The high school students walked down the street, and they did an afternoon STEM collaboration.

Vicki: Oh, I love it! Multiage collaboration is just so incredible, and the hallmark of what I do in my own classroom. I love that!

What’s next?

Communication

Meg: Communication. I love to tell the story of Bill Ferriter’s http://sugarkills.us/

Do you know that project?

Vicki: No! Tell us!

Meg: Oh my gosh. It’s great!

I think it’s been going on for about four years. His kids… I think it might have slowed down a bit. But they have a http://sugarkills.us/ blog.

About 4-5 years ago, Bill brought in a news article about the ban of soda. The big soda in New York City.

Vicki: (agrees)

Meg: And he was just thinking it was a quick activity. And the kids started really getting into it, and figuring out how much sugar is really in the food that they’re eating. And they started to blog about it. It went on for years! I do believe that it’s on its fifth year.

Vicki: Wow.

Meg: But the cool part was that they were communicating all over the globe. If you look at their cluster map, it’s AMAZING how many people they are reaching.

And this was so funny… one day, I was in Houston, Texas, speaking.

I got a text from Bill, and he said, “My class wants to know if you are in Houston, Texas.”

Vicki: (laughs)

Meg: Because when I speak, and I talk about their awesome story, they watch me on their cluster map, and they guess where I am. I feel like I’m being tracked!

Vicki: (laughs) I love that! Kids are so engaged and understand how modern communication works with a virtual audience. Wow, that’s awesome!

What’s our fourth?

Critical Thinking

Meg: OK, critical thinking. I believe, and I love this quote, and I’m giving all the credit to Chris Lehmann, principal of the Science Leadership Academy.

This is his quote that he let me use, “If you assign a project and get back thirty of the exact same thing, that’s not a project. That’s a recipe.”

Vicki: Mmmmmm.

Meg: And I love that. You know, when you walk down the hall of a school, and you just have thirty of the exact same things in a row, and then you go to the next room?

I’m working with a school, and I’m calling it the “Over Rubricked High School.” That’s not even a real word, I think. But these students are super high performing, but all they’re doing is checking boxes on rubrics, and they’re not critically thinking.

And it’s so important to get some creativity into our classrooms, into our projects.

I presented this at a workshop on Friday, and I start by saying, “I’m going to upset some of you. We have to change the projects we’re asking kids to do.”

(Gasps.)

You should have seen the body language!

Vicki: Hmmmm.

Meg: I had fifty people in this room. Ooooooooh! That is not the ____ to make samples. How many poster boards must die from these elementary years?

Ugh. So I am calling it the “Over Rubricked School.”

I think we are “over-rubricking,” and we’re forgetting about the creativity and the critical thinking.

Vicki: Yeah. And you know, I’ve seen some projects that I just call the “Wikipedia Copy Project.”

Meg: Ohhh!

Vicki: Because they’re supposed to do this research, and they’re like, “If I can Google it?”

I mean authentic research? They can’t use… Do something like, “What if Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela had a conversation about modern politics? What would they say?”

They can’t Google that! They have to actually think!

Meg: Exactly! That’s the point.

The school brought me in because they found their kids were graduating like at 98%. But they weren’t finishing college. They didn’t know how to think, because we…

(laughs)

I’m doing a session at ISTE with my son. I’m really excited about that.

“There’s No Rubric For Your First Job”

How about that?

Vicki: Ohhhhh. Love it.

OK, what’s our fifth?

Computational Thinking

Meg: The fifth one is computational thinking.

There, we wrote about coding, all the way through…

So the books go — they’re great books. There’s a K-2, a 3-5, a 6-8, a 9-12, and a leadership book. And we wrote about coding all the way through — starting in kindergarten.

Again, that was something the high school teachers could not believe — truly, could not believe — that the kindergarteners could code.

And it was funny because they were so hung up on, “Where do we put coding in our curriculum?”

Instead of, you know, embracing that we’ve got to (prepare) these kids for the real world. Get them ready with real thinking about future jobs.

So my fifth one is computational thinking.

Vicki: That is so important. And you know, sometimes, it would be nice if we kind of communicated across the board and people could understand that sometimes kindergarteners and first and second and third graders may transfer schools, and they feel like they’re stepping backwards. We’re selling kids short. Just because it’s new to the teacher, doesn’t mean that it’s new to the kids. You know?

Meg: Exactly! And, we’re not going to be able to find enough computer science teachers in our classrooms. We’ve got to figure out how to be able to use our technology to teach this computational thinking. That’s my opinion.

Vicki: We do.

OK, so we have five ideas to change things teaching with digital tools.

Now, Meg, tell us quickly, where we can find some more information about the books?

Meg: OK. Go to Amazon. And please give us a great review. (No, I’m kidding.) (laughs)

But just do “now classroom” Search “now classroom”

And you will see — our website’s http://nowclassrooms.com/

We’re trying to blog. We’re trying to stay on top of things, but I would LOVE to hear what you have to say. Thank you!

Vicki: Awesome! Thank you, Meg!

And keep inspiring educators all around the world. I just find you so exciting and engaging. I appreciate all that you do, because you know all that traveling is not for everybody.

I travel a little bit, but it’s really dedication to travel.

  Meg: (laughs)

Vicki: A lot of people want to do it until they start, right?

Meg: Ohhhh… Yeah. I’m going to Singapore next week. It’s 27 hours each way. Ugh!

Vicki: Oh my goodness, no. It’s not for me and my knees.

Well, thank you, educators, for having a listen.

I know that you have some ideas that you can use this weekend as you plan your lessons for Monday!

Contact us about the show: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/contact/

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford kymberlimulford@gmail.com

Bio as submitted

Meg was a classroom teacher, school board president, and now she is an international keynote speaker focused on teaching and learning with digital tools. Meg is also an author of twelve books that include the five book NOW Classrooms series she co-authored with 26 practicing educators.

Twitter: @megormi

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post 5 Ideas to Change Teaching with Digital Tools appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

[crashpaddiaries]

Dear Crashpad Diary #23

Talking about: On drugs the way down / Helicopter at the avalanche risk area / The odds of getting a tour / Having a restaurant not knowing how to cook / Where is the last day?? / back to the madness / Sleeping tractor

Hi beast!!! what´s up?? All sweet and great yeah!! =)

Meantime our fantastic adventure through the Himalayan range kept going and as all the mountaineering acts, after suffering, huge efforts, troubles and tough decisions, you reach your summit and…. time to go down!! hahah

Something like: “Oh… we made it!! Cool!! Well… lets start going down cuz you know… the weather… the descent is the most dangerous part of the climb/hike…. bla bla bla” hahahahahh

To us it worked a bit better… we go there… I took few pics while the guys were inside the tea house warming up… after that we grabbed some food… went to the proper base of the Annapurna…

What a massive and beautiful piece of art…. the mother nature worked incredibly well on that one… sitting there for between many peaks, you perfectly understand why that mountain, among all of those, has something special….

We took as many pics as our frozen-to-be hands could and started our descent alongside with the huge mountain and through the valley… Dunno if you remember but Lara and Fabio had given up cuz she was feeling pain in her knee. By that time I lent her my knee brace and ibuprofen cream, the one I was carrying for the way down… as I have a known problem in mine… well… she gave up and forgot to give me back… As a result, I had to walk down on drugs and dealing with the pain… and the worse is that all the stairs we got going up we were getting now going back… I´d like to thank the one that created the painkillers… love you guys!! hahahahah

Passing by Deurali, Luh got a new adventure with toilets… we stopped to catch a breath and he got inside the toilet… suddenly we started hearing a weird and loud noise… sth that none of us understood well… and… as we were around the avalanche risk area I yelled at him to tell him to get out of there quick! So he did get out not  understanding much hehe

After few secs we got it… it was the helicopter that we saw flying earlier that day… it seems someone needed to be rescued… fair enough… the trek and the environment are indeed pretty aggressive to those that are not prepared both… mentally and physically!

Going down that day we reached to one of the last guest houses… the places in the ABC are quite similar but that one was under the average… weird!! Just for you to have an idea… we got there starve (once again) and the guys ordered an fried noodle… the chowmein that we have been eating pretty much everyday and I have to agree that it was a good call cuz all of them were scrumptious… I didn’t want another one though… so I ordered a simple omelet with chapatti… or as it was written on the menu…. Omlet… haha we have so much fun with the mispellings… not in a bad way tho… they are fun… like Watermillion!! hahahah

Well… getting back to the lunch…. my omelet came fast and right… ok… it´d be harder mess up with a simple food like that!! But when the chowmein came we couldn’t believe… actually that´s what happen when you order noodles with vegetables and eggs and they deliver old-taste spaghetti with tomato sauce…. what?????¿¿?¿? hahahaha

And the best part is that when we complained the guide thought we were wrong… seriously??? hahaha

We asked to change the restaurant for all the other meals and the guide told us how the things work up there… you get the rooms for free if you have all the meals in their restaurant… Ohhhh…. now I got why we have been eating at the same place we were sleeping for the entire trip!! haha in fact the food in all of them was awesome… that was our first “not pleasant” experience! Odds of getting a tour right!!?¿?¿? but considering the trek I still think it´s way better hiring a guide rather than going on your own to somewhere that requires knowledge and maybe becoming stats like many of the trekkers that got lost in the Himalayas…. sad but happens fairly often… =(

Cool… the second most wanted part of the trekking was around the corner… last day of trek… we got finally to the hot springs… hoooooray… resting… chilling and getting warm… what an adventure!! I can´t be grateful enough to the universe!!!

The day after we walked a lil bit and then went back to Pokhara… funny enough… we realised that we were arriving there earlier than the expected… our pace must´ve been good I thought!!

We met Lara and Fabio down there… got some food and discussed few things…. when we were up there, Tulu, the guide, had told us about a tour that he could organise after getting back to Kathmandu… going for one night to a place that we could see the Everest. We got excited… actually we would have gotten excited with anything up there though haha

So.. when we got to pokhara he said that we had a spare day, we could go around the next day and then he would organise the other tour for the upcoming days… as we would be going soon to Thailand we decided for not going then… What made the guy change suddenly his behaviour… he told us then that he could leave us the day after and would go back to KTM… we could do it whenever we wanted…. the way back was already paid…

When we enquired about the day after… that was supposed to be a tour day… with all inclusive and seeing sth else… he told us that when the group is too fast normally the last day is forgotten and in his words “rich people doesn’t´t care about the money they paid for that day”… What??? haha

It´s funny how people assume that just because you are backpacking in their country you have money to burn!! It gets me pissed of… you work as hell to travel and some people´s job is getting your money as easy as possible… fuckers!! haha

I don´t actually know whats worse… trying to get our money whiteout not even provide the service, assume that our parents are paying for our trip or changing the behaviour just because we didn’t do what he wanted…. Shame on you man!!

After long argument he agreed that he would comply with the things that we paid for… but we headed back to KTM anyways the day after… a small con among the ocean of pros and incredible experiences we got in Nepal…

Happily and surely, these people will never affect our fantastic trips!! I just wrote it as a side note, maybe an alert to all the travellers…

In its essence, going up to the Annapurna Base Camp has been and overwhelming trip even more with great friends and my best one… my beloved brother!! What a way to start our trip together!!

That was it… we took the bus the day after… as usual… to get 130 km done we took 10 hours and finally got back to the dusty Kathmandu… time to pack and go to Thailand!!

We all were looking forward to a good night of sleep at the hostel… got the same room… well… the entire time we were there before, it was a quiet stay… we thought it’d be the same… but NO… haha we arrived and there was a thai couple… really cool guy… talkative and all… super kind!! what we did not know is that during the night he plays a tractor!! hahahah I´ve never seen… I mean… heard someone snoring so loud in my life… Even though I had the beats on… I could not sleep… he was sounding like an earthquake inside our room!! hahaha We were so happy when he left the day after… poor guy… its not his choice but we would go mad with that tractor sleeping at the same room one more night hahaha

Sweeeeeeet!! Our last night in KTM was good… no surprises… no one snoring or trying to piss on us… we had all packed and the only worry was how much fun and which adventures Thailand was reserving to us!!

Venga pad thais and climbing… beaches and shakes… so long Nepal… next time I´ll come for the Everest!! Cheers!!

Haha… another long post… sorry…. loads of stories and great memories…. can’t help!! =)

Hope you all are awesome and having a great life!!

All the best vibes and talk to yous soon!!

Namaste!!

Evan