#anyway camp was awesome and awesome and epic and i loved it and i miss my cabin mates so much already

[dynamic-k]

:D

U back :) So how was camp? :>

IT WAS AMAZING AND AMAZING AND AMAZING AND-

I'm an ambivert, but the instant I set foot on campgrounds I was in full extrovert jittery ramble mode for some reason-

I quickly bonded with my cabin mates, had fun with this thing called axe throwing [where i get ta yeet little axe hatchet things at a target and surprisingly I was good at it], sipped on brewed coffee since there wasn't espresso, played dodgeball and broke my glasses when a ball smacked me right in the face, but i had my superglue and a spare pair of glasses, so i repaired the fracture, left it to set, and walked back into the gym building to play more dodgeball-

I went down the potato-sack slide [a hard plastic big long slide that you sit on a potato sack and slide down, it's so fun~], did this awesome zipline at least 50 times over the week, discovered I love high speed activities, got 11,000 steps Sunday, 19,000 steps Monday, 21,000 steps Wednesday, 18,000 steps on Thursday when my legs felt a teeny bit sore, and I forgot the general amounts for Friday and Saturday, but they were about the same amount with minor fluctuation.

I played a cool game on the beach in a flat sandy area on day one, Sunday, and it's called Dragon Ball. IT'S SO COOL, IT'S A LITTLE LIKE DODGEBALL, BUT WITH EXTRA STUFF-

So- Two teams are in the middle of a giant circle to be the last team standing, and every other team stands on the outskirts of the big circle with access to balls. :D Teehee, yey for game violence-

[except the balls don't really hurt- I got hit on the cheek once and was fine-]

The two teams are individual 'dragons'. The head of the dragon wears a colored headband, and every other member of that team makes a train of people by setting both hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them.

But the people on the outside of the circle cannot just target the head of the dragon and get that person out to immediately kill the entire team, you have to hit the backmost person first and work your way up to the head dragon person with many shots.

IT. WAS. EPIC.

apparently, I am good at aiming balls where I want and I got QUITE a lot of people out, my competitive personality completely taking over-

I ended up as the head dragon, wearing this lime green neon green headband [soft, fuzzy, stretchy little thing~] Our team was originally contemplating doing like- A rock, paper, scissors tournament to decide who would wear the headband and be the head dragon, meaning that the moment all your team is out and you are the last one, you are quickly targeted. And the balls tend to come from all directions, as you're in a circle. Now, I am really good at ducking and dodging by looking at ball trajectory [I love high speed reflexive games~], but being in a circle and surrounded on every side does ush the limits of my ability to see what is coming for me.

Before the game began and we understood the rules, our dean, Gabe, called the names of who was on what team, one team at a time, and one of the two counselors on each team grabbed a random headband from the bag [as it doesn't matter if two or more dragon teams get the same color, we still know who wins and who doesn't].

Anyway, I looked at the bag of headbands, intrigued and wanting to pick one out too, but only one headband per team is taken, and my counselor had already selected a neon green one and left, leaving me to follow in mild disappointment I cannot wear a headband.

Then I discover that I could actually wear the headband, if my team let me be the head of the dragon~

So, I jokingly, actually I was quite serious, told my team I just really wanted a headband. Nathan, my other counselor aside Clare, was super nice, he offered it to me to my surprise, and since I knew I was proficient in dodging and had spoken this to my team, I was shockingly just handed the headband-

I love that thing an unusual amount- It's a cheap, fuzzy neon green piece of stretchy fabric in a circle band, to be worn on the head. I have an attachment to it.

We had great fun, and when I inevitably was in the "Ring of Fire", as Clare dubbed the circle everyone with balls stood in, I was eventually the last remaining member on my team.

I stuck close to the other team's dragon, which had around 4 or 5 people left to get out, and i was by myself. I did this thing where i stepped backward and then forward and rotated and tried to move fast so I could be unpredictable, and it did keep me in for a good 2 minutes before I didn't see one ball heading my way and got hit in de cheek. [was fine, i promise- they don't hurt that much at all-]

I had fun even though our team was eliminated~ I LOVE MURDERING DRAGONS WITH DODGEBALLS OKAY- /insanity-toned

Afterward, I removed the headband, unsure where we were supposed to return it, but then I wondered if I could keep it. I didn't feel right walking off with it, since I wasn't sure how valuable they were or if the camp needed them for something else later, so I found Clare and asked him.

Clarence, Clare, my family group leader and the father of the dean who runs everything, he let me keep my headband.

He originally stood there and stared at the headband, unsure for a moment, I stood there and widened my eyes and basically pleading expression with my hands behind my back in a joking way.

BUT HE SAID I COULD KEEP IT, SO I SCURRIED OFFFFFFFFFF

I wore it every day, entire rest of the week, and made it part of my personality~ XD

HEADBAND- :D

there are more stories, but I have been quite busy since returning from camp, and hardly have time unless I really make time-

Like, using the bathroom while on a device and monitoring any and all online work or notifications, or using my lunch break exercise time to sit on the couch and be inactive so I can try to work through more of the emails I've gotten~ MULTITASKING HAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA

:3 I've been brainrotting stuff-

I've been brainrotting so much Spark AU, and also some Second's Tale because I'm trying to figure out the ending that I never planned-

Second's Tale is so stuck right now, but I wanna update it so badddlyyyyy

also the poor poor Guessing Game- I'M SORRY LEENA-

..plus a few other fics..

And here I am with a new AU idea too- *sheepish* Can't say nothing, can't say it-

I wanna try and finish the entire AU before I publish, that way I don't end up hooking people and getting everyone riled up and impatient for this new thing of mine- I can bring it to completion first! (That may.. take a while. BUT NEW AU-)

The only downside might be the fact I kinda got tired for a few days afterward? Like- I used up so much extrovert-ish energy at camp, and then kinda went strangely peaceful and quiet for some time afterward, like my introvertism tendencies are trying to balance out all the energy I used.

I wouldn't even call that too much a downside, except for the fact I felt bad for not responding to online stuff right away, and my brain felt slower to function and process. I tend to beat myself up when I have difficulty doing stuff, lol-

[vintage-retro-queen]

Chapter Four-Watch Us Work (Not Quite Famous)

It was just another ordinary day in Camp Wawanawkwa.

Where Lucy and Marinette are just doing the usual thing they usually do. Marinette was working on some new fashion designs while Lucy was reading another one of her Stephanie Queen books. While they were working and reading, Marinette had her cell phone playing some music for them. When one song finished, the host of the R+B (Romance and Bloom, love song themed) radio station EPIC-FM, DJ Smooth, started talking. "Alright! That was Start Again by Alayah. This next one was from 1995. A love song for the late lucky girl and New Rustvale's beloved sweetheart, Luci Grassette. This is Our Perfect Love by Perfection Division in 198.5 EPIC!" As the song starts, Lucy and Marinette start to listen to it, feeling intrigued.

This one's for you, Miss Grassette!

Our love for you is like the most perfect,

Your face reminds us of your gorgeous self,

Together, we are like Vicki and J.D.

Oh darling Luci,

Our beautiful,

Our glamorous,

Our perfect companion to our longing-yearning souls.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

We love our perfect times,

But not as much as we love being with you!

Oh darling Luci,

Your eyes are like our favorite candy that will never fail, You're like the most beautiful princess to ever walk New Rustvale

Your loving pretty face,

Your breathtaking soul,

Your gorgeous eyes,

Your glamorous princess being...

How can we look at another when our perfect love is so strong?

We love you Miss Grassette!

"Alright! That was Perfection Division! Can you feel the love? Because I certainly can."

"Yeah, that was a great song," Marinette commented. "Yeah. That Luci girl must've been so lucky to be featured in a song like that." "You know, it's hard to believe that it's been twenty-something years since we lost all the five members of Perfection Division in a horrific hit and run." "How terrible," "May Luci and the Perfection Division rest in peace," Lucy said, crossing her heart for the late girl and late boy band.

Just then, after a moment of silence for the late girl and boy band, they hear Chris talking on the loudspeaker. "All right, campers, enough beauty sleep. Time to show us what you're made of." "Welp, time to get going, Nettie," Lucy said, getting up and closing her book with a 50s diner-themed bookmark in the pages she was in. Marinette nods and gets up from her spot as well.

After a bit, Lucy, Marinette, and the rest of the campers head over to the location they were told to go to for their next challenge. When they got there, they looked to see Trent and Gwen waving to them. "Marinette, saved you a seat." "Oh, thank you, Trent," Marinette said happily. Lucy sat down next to Gwen, and they started having a conversation about their favorite horror films. The four of them were not even aware of Cody trying to impress the girls but ended up falling on his seat, yet still trying to look cool.

Chris then got everyone's attention and talked to them: "Welcome to our brand-new, deluxe, state-of-the-art outdoor amphitheater. Okay, this week's challenge is a summer camp favorite: a talent contest." "Yes! Awesome," said Owen. Lucy's eyes widened in surprise.

CONFESSIONAL: MARY-LOURKRITIA CORLEONE

"Well, that was unexpected. I haven't performed in a while since the last tour incident when the MetaBetas and I were performing in a small town. We were finished with our performance and when my friends and I were ready to head into the bus, some people were talking while we were walking. They were talking about, well, honestly, I don't know what, but frankly, I don't even want to know. Anyway, asides from that, it sure has been a while."

"Each team has eight hours to pick their three most talented campers. These three will represent them in the show tonight. Sing, dance, juggle. Anything goes as long as it's legal." Chris explain, signing a 'Got my eyes on you' to Duncan, causing him to snap his fingers with a frown. Chris continued, "You will be judged by our resident talent scout, former D.J., V.J., and rap legend, grand...Master Chef who will show his approval via the Chef-o-Meter. The team that loses will send one camper home tonight. Good luck." with that, Chris headed off the stage.

After a little while, with the Screaming Gophers, Heather blows her whistle. "Okay, I'm the team captain, so here's how it's going to work," she said until Gwen cut her off. "Wait, who said you were team captain?" "She did. Just now," said Lindsay. "Lindsay, Beth, and I took a vote, and I won." "Threatening them to vote for you isn't exactly democratic." "I'm with the bambina on that," Lucy said, agreeing with Gwen. Trent then walks over to Marinette. "Hey, snagged you an extra muffin." "Oh, thank you," Marinette said. Just then, Beth headed over to them. "Hey, Lucy, Marinette. Chris was hoping to talk to you about something. He's saying that there's an urgent call from someone." "Oh, jeez. It better not be about Slick and Brutus trying to get all the action figures in stores to find another legendary collectible again. I swear those two just won't knock it off." Lucy said, unamused, as she and Marinette headed over to the location Beth gave them.

As Lucy and Marinette head over to the location, they head into a cabin, which seems to be empty, and they see that there are no cameras in sight. "Huh, odd that there's no cameras here," Lucy said, closing the door behind them. "Yeah, there wasn't even one following us while we were on our way here. What do you think Chris is up to? And what do you think he wanted to meet us here for?" Marinette asked. "Heck, I don't know. But still, if it's about those two trying to find a legendary collectible, I swear to all the gods above, I'm gonna volunteer out of this show and give those two a piece of my mind."

Just then, another light in the room turned on. There, the two see Chris sitting on a table as a comic book character would be. "You two are sooo busted," he said, making the two sweatdrop in fear and panic. "I'm sorry, what's that now?" Lucy sputtered out in both fear and confusion. "Y-yeah, what are you talking about?"

"Marinette, it's okay. He and Chef know." a ladybug-like creature appears right beside him. "Whoa! What in the" Lucy gasped. "What is that? A pixie fairy or something?" Lucy looked confused. "We're not." Lucy turned to see more animal and bug-like creatures floating around the three of them. "What are you then?" Lucy quietly asked, trying not to make a wrong move. "We, my queen, are called kwamis." "Uhh...Nettie, you got a lot of explaining to do, sorella." Lucy said, looking more confused than ever before. Even though Marinette was shocked about how Chris knew about this. However, since the kwamis seem to trust him and feel worried about a confused and panicky Lucy, she explains everything to Lucy about it, having her finally understand, yet looks shocked about it. Even Chris was a bit shocked himself. "Okay, I can understand that now, but how did you know about them?" Lucy asked Chris. "That isss because Chrisss here is one of the original Miraculous holdersss," Sass explained. "He was?" Marinette asked, looking at Chris surprised. Chris nodded. 

"Before Master Fu got the turtle miraculous back, he lent it to me as a temporary holder. I was known as TurtleTurbo." "Holy freak! The TurtleTurbo?!" Lucy gasped, her eyes lit up in shock and amazement. "Ah, you've heard of me?" "Are you kidding? You helped find and catch that former country idol! That's amazing!" Lucy turned to Marinette and said, "He helped the detectives find and arrest the former country idol after he and a female idol from another genre were missing in the past couple of days. Weeks even. I even have the newspaper article my nona saved to prove it too, look." Lucy explained, taking a newspaper article out of her hoodie pocket and showing it to Marinette. Marinette looked surprised as she looked at the picture on the paper and quickly read through the article. "Wow. I never knew that," she said. Chris shrugs. "Eh, that's just how it is. Some people may forget, but some and more will never forget what they remember and sometimes hear," he said, crossing his arms and smiling. "But wait, you know about me, but what do you know about Lucy?" Marinette asked. "Oh, I believe this will answer your question." Chris then placed down a brooch-shaped amulet and a talisman. Both have a dragon symbol in the middle. Lucy looked at the two things, confused. "What are those things?" Marinette asked, looking at the two, surprised yet confused. "These, my dear Marinette, are the Kombatant Amulet and a talisman. This talisman, by the way, was like a flip phone and was used back in the early years." Chris explained, showing Marinette flipping the talisman open as a flip phone. Marinette looked surprised as the talisman opened up holograms of multiple apps. "I didn't know we have those," she said. "We don't," said Chris. He then places down an old photograph of a teen girl and says, "But the former holder does." 

Marinette, Lucy, and the kwamis all look to see the photograph turns out to be a school yearbook photo teenage girl who looks a lot like Lucy, yet in a very different outfit. "Whoa! She looks just like you!" the ox kwami says, looking at the photograph and then at Lucy. Lucy looked surprised to see that the ox kwami was right. "That look-a-like is known as Anarchy." Lucy looked confused about the girl's name. "That's her name?" she asked. "Eh, no one can't really blame her. The place she used to be at had some names that weren't very common. Some maybe, but not all and she doesn't want to be left out." "Oh, I see." Lucy said, as she, Marinette, and the kwamis now understood. "Listen, as much as I would like to continue on with the explanations about Anarchy and how this version of the kombatant talisman, all of that is gonna have to wait, because..." Chris shows them the news in Paris, France. Marinette sees that it is Copycat. She wasn't surprised that it was Theo, once again for the seventy-ninth time in a row.

"That's typical Theo, for being so girl-crazy after he discovered girls after going through the first stage of puberty, facial hair and voice change." she says, looking unamused. Chris then hands Lucy the amulet. "Anarchy would've wanted you to become the new Anarchy," he said. "Uhm, okay." "Oh, and quick heads up, there's gonna be a lot of visions from out of the random, so I'd be prepared for one in case it happens today if I were you." Chris quickly explained to Lucy. She nods as she now understands about the random visions. "Knock 'em dead, girls. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna slip out." with that, Chris left.

As he did, Marinette put on a pair of earrings and put a ring on her ring finger, then saying the words, "Tikki, Plagg, Unify!" the ladybug kwami, Tikki, and the black cat kwami, Plagg, both get sucked into the earrings and ring, transforming Marinette into Bug Noir. Lucy looks at her, amazed. "It's your turn, Lucy!" the tiger kwami said. The rest of the kwamis cheer for Lucy. She then gives in and puts on the amulet. The amulet then shines a bright light with the dragon symbol moving and then roars. The dragon then flies out of the amulet, growing a big size and transforming Lucy into her heroine form. The dragon flies in circles around Lucy, transforming her casual clothes into her heroine clothes: a black crop tank top with the word 'REVENGE' and a pink teddy bear with white X's for eyes, a red plaid skirt with black lace, a thick jean-like belt-buckle, and a jean blue colour XOXO on it, maroon torn leggings-socks, black platform boots with red-visible-laced shoelaces, spikes on both left and right sides of the boots, and an anarchy symbol on the right boot. The dragon then flies back into her amulet, which then turns into a black belt choker-spike choker-silver chained-necklace combination. The necklace turns into an anarchy symbol. Earrings and other piercings then magically appear in her ears. On her right ear is her right stud earring, which is shaped like a black blotch with white X-shaped eyes and a smile on its face. On her left ear is her left dangle cross-designed earring, along with four three-stud piercings on her left ear lobe. Her wrists then glowed, summoning silver wrist guards on both of her wrists. After that, she noticed a note in her pocket, read, 'Close your eyes, and say these words.' when she closed her eyes, she said the words from the note, "Blood-Creation Breathing, Sixth Form, Hide and Conceal." dark crimson liquid started to come out from behind her ears and flow to her face, creating a face mask. After creating her face mask, it began to change its pattern to black and words in a white spray paint font that says 'REVENGE' on it. When her mask and transformation were complete, Lucy finished her transformation, striking one of her fighting poses along with a dragon's fiercest roar in the end.

Marinette and the rest of the kwamis looked amazed after Lucy transformed into her heroine self. "What do you think?" Lucy asked, surprising them with a deep Brit accent. "You look amazing!" Marinette said happily. "And that accent is amazing, Anarchy." "You know what. I say my name will be... Anarchia." Marinette nods. "Let us head over, shall we?" Lucy then summons up a portal. Marinette looked surprised but smiled. "Well, I say, I believe I am starting to get the hang of this." Anarchia says happily. After that, they head to the portal, off to find and stop Copycat.

When they went through the portal, it took them to their exact location. Paris, France. "Oy! Are you talking about us?" Lucy, or Anarchia, asked out loud, getting Copycat and everyone's attention. "And who are you?" "Your worst bloody nightmare." Anarchia then throws her chained kunai at the akumatized person. The chained kunai wraps around the Copycat's waist and holds them tightly. "GET OVER HERE!" Anarchia yelled, pulling Copycat over to her. When she did, and before Copycat could summon his Cataclysm and attack her, Anarchia's hands and wrist guards started to glow a light bluish colour, and when she aimed her hands at Copycat, it froze him into ice. All but the akumatized item, which turned out to be a piece of paper. When Anarchia grabs it, she turns to Ladybug. Ladybug nods, and Anarchia freezes the akumatized item, which causes it to break and tear the paper into small pieces, and the akuma flies off of it. After Ladybug catches it, de-evilizes it, she yells out her usual catchphrase, and the ladybugs turn everything back to normal, including a full-on thawing out Theo as he returns to normal. "Punch it in!" Ladybug and Anarchia both said as they fist-pound. They then noticed a lot of newscasters heading over to them, holding and flashing their cameras at them, holding their microphones out, and asking the two a lot of questions. And she and Anarchia answered them quickly.

"Ladybug! Who is this with you?" "All you mates, can call me Anarchia."

"How did you meet Anarchia?" "She was there for me when I was on patrol." "An armed picket-pocketer was spotted, and I quickly caught 'im 'round the same time she showed up." "She was very useful for a lot of other things asides from akuma attacks."

"Is it true that you stopped endorsing the Ladyblog?" "Sadly, yes. Only because of various reasons. One of them is one person claiming that she is my 'best friend', which is not true because I never have any time hanging out with civilians." "Some cottonheads never understand what the real world works and never fact-check like they are supposed to do. Not to mention some bloody cottonheads always lose their minds over what wanker tells them what they want to hear. That, and they never got to wake up and smell the real scent of tea to face reality. However, speaking of facing reality, I do recommend this brilliant site and app I have endorsed back in London. It is called Face Reality. Because I have heard they are having some of their best reporters start here in about the next week." Anarchia said, along with remembering what one of her friends from back home had said to her.

Everyone started to get very interested and continued questioning the two. Since the two still had time to spare. Bug Noir and Anarchia answered a lot of questions until sunset, and Bug Noir's ring and earrings started beeping. "Well, I say it is time for us to leave. Good day." Anarchia said, going to her pockets and grabbing a pair of keys, after pressing one button, it summons a motorcycle, automatically driving to her and stopping and staying by her side. Even though she and Bug Noir are surprised that Anarchy can have a motorcycle, they know that this will now be Anarchia's way to get anywhere. As Anarchia gets on, she drives off along with Bug Noir, uses her yo-yo, says a quick 'Bug out,' and leaves with Anarchia.

When they got to a quick empty spot, Anarchia summons a portal and they quickly go through there and are back to the same safe place in Muskoka. "Boy, I'm really getting the hang of this Anarchy-heroine thing," Lucy said happily.

After they de-transformed back to their normal attire, Lucy gets a sudden ringing in her head, causing her to feel a headache-migraine combination. "Ugh!" she groaned as her eyes started glowing white with small lightning bolts coming out. Marinette looked shocked and surprised to see that, while the kwamis looked at the scene surprised. Lucy then looks to see that it was a vision that Chris was talking about. The vision shows Heather holding a box with a little book in it. Lucy then realized that the book was not just a book. It was Marinette's diary. However, before Heather can get a hold of it, the box closes itself shut, trapping both the diary and Heather's hand. Causing her to scream. The next vision comes up, showing her Howard playing music, along with her, her friends, and Marinette singing one of the MetaBeta songs she and her two friends always sing, Watch Me Work.

After seeing the two visions, Lucy's eyes closed, and she got on her knees, panting. "Lucy, are you okay?" Marinette said, worriedly helping Lucy up, looking at her with worried eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got two visions that Chris told me about." Lucy explained, rubbing her right temple. "What was it?" Tikki asked. "Oh, while we were in Paris, Heather was about to read your diary, but thanks to the box you made for it, it closed, trapping her hand along with it. So I guess you could say that your secrets are safe." Marinette sighs in relief hearing that. "Okay, that's good to know." "Tell me about it."

CONFESSIONAL: MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG

"Probably should've warned the girls that I have a box for my diary. But in this case, not warning Heather was actually a blessing in disguise. I'm glad I brought the box with me."

CONFESSIONAL: MARY-LOUKRITIA CORLEONE

"See, that's exactly why I don't bring a diary around me anymore. What Heather did, that's the reason."

"Oh, and the vision I got is saying that we're going to perform in the talent challenge," Lucy added. "Wait, us?" "Yeah, you, me, Harold, and two of the MBs." Marinette looked surprised to hear that. "You go meet up with the Killer Bass. I'm gonna call my friends, get Harold, and I'll meet you in a minute." Marinette nods and heads out to meet the rest of the Killer Bass. Even though she wasn't sure what the elder gods were thinking or what they had in mind about her performing at the talent challenge. "Well, if the vision say so, I guess it couldn't hurt to try," she mumbles to herself.

When she got there, she finally met up with the Killer Bass. "Hey, guys." "Marinette! Thank goodness you're here. You and Lucy got to help us!" Bridgette said. "Katie and Sadie are covered in barf." "That only leaves Tyler, Duncan, or Harold. And we already know Tyler stinks. What can Duncan do again?" "Carve a picture of his own skull into a tree? What are we going to do?" Courtney asked, panicking. Geoff then noticed. "Wait, where's Marinette?" Bridgette and Courtney now noticed that he was right that Marinette wasn't there anymore. "Where did she go?" Just then, they hear music playing. They looked to see Harold started playing some music with his keyboard. The spotlights then shine on four girls, which turn out to be Marinette, Lucy, and the two girls of the MetaBetas, Angie and Malviña. Who are also known as Miss Maleficent and Queen Red Hood. They started dancing and singing.

Lucy: Never gets old no matter how much I'm told I'm amazing

Angie: You're amazing

Lucy: It's hard to get tired when I'm always on fire I'm blazing

Angie: Ooh, you're blazing

Malviña: All my greatness. It doesn't come for free. All my talent. It doesn't grow on trees. Take a breather. They'll take it all away.

Marinette: If the top is where you wanna stay

All Four: You gotta work hard. To make it look easy. You gotta live fast. To keep making that money. If you want to be as famous as me. You gotta work, gotta work, gotta work. Watch me work.

They all looked surprised seeing Marinette and the MetaBetas perform onstage for the Killer Bass side. Their singing and dancing were all in sync. They were even surprised with their outfits. They were wearing hoodies in their colors. Angie in purple, Malviña in black, Lucy in navy blue, and Marinette in pink. On the back of their hoodies have their logos in silver, and their stage names in rhinestones. While Chris on the other hand, was actually enjoying the show, munching on some popcorn.

Angie: Haters want to be me or be with me yeah, they're fr-fr-fr-freaking

Lucy: Yeah, they're freaking

Angie: I just keep on working, lurking, smirking when they think that I'm peaking

Lucy: Never peaking, yeah

Malviña: All my greatness. It doesn't come for free. All my talent. It doesn't grow on trees. Take a breather. They'll take it all away.

Marinette: If the top is where you wanna stay

All four: You gotta work hard. To make it look easy. You gotta live fast. To keep making that money. If you want to be as famous as me. You gotta work, gotta work, gotta work. Watch me work.

After they ended their performance with a pose of their choice, there was a quick pause in the audience in front of them. Until they all started to cheer for their performance. Chris then walks up to them, clapping. "Wicked music playing, dude. And MetaBetas, a very outstanding performance." "Hey, it's what we do." Malviña said "And a perfect way to help endorse Total Drama." Angie added. "Especially with our newest member of the MetaBetas. Our very own Knitting Fairy." Lucy happily announced, wrapping an arm around Marinette. Marinette giggles as she waves to the others, causing them to cheer more about Marinette now being a new member of the idol group. "And we would like to thank Harold for taking part in aiding our performance." Harold smiled and nodded to the girls as thanks and a way of saying 'happy to help.' "Congratulations, Marinette, for now being in their group. And check it out. Grandmaster Chef has declared his winner. Even though they held the lead, the Screaming Gophers have been trampled by the Killer Bass."

"Harold, Lucy, Marinette, that was amazing." "You guys did it." As Courtney and Bridgette hugged the five who saved their lives, Chris continued, "And as for the Screaming Gophers, pick your favorite loser, and I'll see you at the bonfire."

CONFESSIONAL: HEATHER

Heather held her hurt wrist, glad that Marinette got her hand free out of the diary box. However, she was still shaken by Lucy's 'warning' after that. She sighs, "I'm just glad my hand is out of that lame-o box. And people thought that I was mean about what I was going to do to Marinette with her diary. Whatever. All I needed was four votes against Justin. Lindsay and Beth were easy. Izzy's just crazy. And Owen, piece of cake."

CONFESSIONAL: OWEN

Owen laughs while literally holding a piece of cake. "Piece of cake."

At the elimination ceremony, Chris started talking, "Kudos to you all for an incredible night of entertainment, music, drama, trapping, barfing. There's only one marshmallow left on this plate. Justin, you reminded us all that looks matter a lot. And, Heather, you're full of surprises. But almost about to read another girl's diary out loud to the whole world until a box trapped your hand as an actual trap would do to a bear? Man, that is whack. No kidding. That's really messed up what you were about to do, dude." he said. "Oh, please, just give me my marshmallow already." Heather scoffed. "Justin, I personally think this is very wrong, but tonight hotness just wasn't enough. The last marshmallow goes to Heather. Time to catch the Boat of Losers, Brah." "Later, Brah."

CONFESSIONAL: GWEN

"If that evil little cow thinks she's getting away with this scot free, she has another thing coming."

At night, while most of the campers were getting ready for bed, Gwen knocked on the guys' side of the Killer Bass door. Harold answers, and Gwen asks him, "Did you say you brought a red ant farm with you?" "Yes."

Later, while everyone was asleep, Heather ran out of the Screaming Gophers cabin, covered in red ants, screaming and trying to get them off of her. "Sweet dreams, everyone." Gwen said, laughing.

Meanwhile, Lucy's eyes squinted, trying to sleep while Heather was still screaming. "Man, I thought I was done with this when I was at that sleepover with Kit, Mills, Jade-Jade, and Sonya." she whisper-mumbled while putting her pillow over her head in order to drown the noise.

Desc Prologue Get to Know My OC Chpt 1 Reactions Pt 1 Chpt 2 Reactions Pt 2 Chpt 3 Reactions Pt 3 Reactions Pt 4 Chpt 5 Reactions Pt 5

[macawritesupdates]

Ahh loved the new Yuuji files chapter so so much it was the best one yet! Opening up with summer camp and gojo immediately falling prey to his own hubris was great I was super concerned about that mascot for a moment I was worried it would end up being the death god. Poor Yuuji he's got so much experience he's in his element but no one wants to listen to his advice. I'm not very outdoorsy myself but a good half of my family is and I know from them how easy it is to get hurt if you fuck around. There are multiple eagle scouts in my family who'd have some things to say to all the kids about how foolish they were on the river. Thank goodness Yuuji was a good person and willing to literally jump in to help cuz that could've been a disaster I'm not convinced the Kyoto kids would have survived on their own. Especially since if they had gone without Yuuji they might have ended up in the death gods territory without any way out just like all those other people. Damn Sukuna should realize Yuuji is entirely incapable of sitting by while others meet their doom by now. The death god was so creepy and cool I feel bad for him but also scared coz he wants to do good things and is currently a victim but he's also crazy powerful and beings like can so easily destroy little fragile humans or even just ruin our lives without thinking. Going together into the afterlife to fight God together is incredible good for them. The true forms were excellent Yuuji getting to appreciate his boyfriends true form was lovely and everyone seemed so cool. I'm so glad Yuuji got to kill a god that was awesome. I wonder how Susumu will feel about that. Little sun god Yuuji I love it. I had a headcannon that Yuuji was descended from Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto the goddess who lured Amaterasu from a cave by dancing. In my head cannon the two goddess had a kid who could have been a god himself but he fell for a mortal woman and became human to be with her. The families pink hair comes from the dawn goddess and their gold eyes from Amaterasu. This was just me making fun little theories based on the hints you'd sprinkled in. Anyways love Yuuji being a little sun demigod good for him. Anyways I love Yuuji just casually being himself immediately forgiving rude behavior and making friends with a god as though it were no big deal. The death God's regret that he didn't take more time to get to know Yuuji was cute actually I don't think he's got much to worry about on that end though because he's going to be so busy that one human lifetime will pass in a flash and then he'll have plenty of time to hang with his new friend. Mai and Muta staying behind oh it hurts but it's also so so good! Mai will probably have a great time once she gets used to things she'll be honored as a hero in a God's court and she's so powerful now it's the complete opposite of her life with her old clan. I hope she becomes his right hand woman and achieves great things living a legendary life. Yuuji saying he's not trying to redeem Sukuna but he wants to be in the same purgatory one day damn. I could wax poetic about that forever actually. It's the love and acceptance ok. It's saying I can't save you from the consequences of your own actions but I still won't leave you alone. I will sit with you in hell. Sukuna's well hidden fear of hell too that was great. Ugh it was just a perfect chapter and you brought Toji back I can't wait to see where that goes. I still have more to say lol there's so much good stuff in this one but this comment is already getting long so I'll probably be back in your inbox later with another one haha. Until then thank you so much for writing and sharing with us!!

Thank you ; w ; I was nervous about this one as it has a lot of weird worldbuilding, much like the last fic, and always hit or miss if people enjoy that or not...I just like writing more epic action stories sometimes with more of the world/action ; w ; The death god has been planned for a LONG time, since dropping hints as the ending of this series of fic, the second to last curse, is so contingent on Yuuji having done something BIG that is shaking things up.

Mai and Muta had such sad deaths in the manga, like just always felt they had so much awfulness happen and never got anything to show for it. I like my angst, but I feel if there isn't hope, if there isn't any good payoff, then that death wasn't just, as Yuuji would say. Here, they choose to stay, but it is for reasons of seeking out a better path, not "dead" as much as "Living it up in the god court" ...so they can come back for plot reasons later *coughs* *coughs*

Sukuna making himself into twenty finger cursed objects to maybe be reincarnating instead of dying speaks to me that he does NOT want to die and may have a fear of what comes next, but that's just my headcanon I'm putting in here hehe.... as for the cave incident with a certain sun goddess...mmm....there is a connection there hehe!

I feel it is important for Sukita that Yuuji does NOT just handwave Sukuna being awful, but has an acceptance of it but full send, knows karma has to make this bastard boy pay for it all c: He might become better, do better, but it doesn't erase the past. There is a price to pay, one way or another.

Also Toji coming back was literally the whole reason this chapter exists. I wanted to bring him back. I stared to build the idea they somehow get him back from the afterlife. This chapter was always about bringing Toji back as the funny surprised twist from the day I started writing this fic XD Goes to show you how an idea can really morph over the course of a story!

Thank you as always for the wonderful comment!

[layce2015]

Life is Strange 2 (Sean Diaz x Reader)

Chapter 2: Sean And Daniel

Chapter 1

Mount Rainier, Washington 

3 Days Later

I was walking down the quiet, deserted road, just minding my own business when I come up to an old sign:

Trout Spring Trail - Nisqually River viewpoint.

Oh, good. A place to sleep. I thought as I come up to an abandoned car. I walk over to it to look inside and see nothing really, except for a Choc-O-Crisp on the dashboard. Sweet! I mean, I still have a few bars left of this candy. But....you can never have too many! I thought as I dig in my pocket and pulled out and un-bent paperclip. I stick the paperclip into the keyhole of the car door and jiggle it for a few moments before it pops open. 

Score! I thought as I open the door and grab the candy. "Hell, yeah." I mutter when I heard some voices coming. "Are we there yet?" A young boy's voice asks. "Dude. Stop! You know what, you're not allowed to say that...Ever again!" An older male voice exclaims, annoyed. "Yesssss...Sir." The young voice replied, defeated. "You'll be the first one to know when we get there, okay? I'm tired and hungry too!" The older voice said.

I turn around as the footsteps get closer. "Listen...This looks like a perfect place to camp out...I bet we're not the first people to stay the night." The older voice said as it grew closer and closer. "It's creepy! There's nobody out here...We didn't even see any cars!" The young voice said. "We're gonna camp here. I'll look out for you." The older voice said just as two figures walk up and I could see that it was two boys, one looked really young (probably about eight or nine) and the other looked about the same age as me. Both of them looked like they were Hispanic descent.

"Oh! Uh....hi." the older boy greets, awkwardly, to me as I look between him and the little boy. "Uh..hi. Sorry...you guys just scared the crap outta me." I said, alittle nervously. "I just...wasn't expecting anyone out here."

"Yeah...neither were we." The older boy said to me, still a little awkward. I run my right hand over the back of my neck as I asked. "Soooo....what are you two doing out here?"

"We're on a camping trip!" The little boy exclaims, excitedly. "Oh, really?" I said with intrigued. "By yourselves?" I asked him. "Yeah, but we're supposed to meet our dad later." The boy said and I happened to look over at the older boy and I could tell that he was hiding something. "Really? Well that's cool." I said as I look back over at the young boy.

"What about you? You seemed to be alone." The older boy pointed out and I chuckle. "Yeah....I am. It's just rarely do I see other kids out here alone. Usually they're with an adult." I said. "What about your parents? Aren't they worried?" The little boy asked me. "I..uh...don't have any parents. They gave me up for adoption. I've basically been on my own for awhile." I replied as I cross my arms. "Oh...I'm sorry." The older boy said and I wave my hand, vaguely, at him. "It's okay. People have tried to put me in foster care, but I always leave....I don't belong to those families. I'd rather go at it alone." I said.

"So...you're like a runaway, then." The older boy said and I smiled. "Yeah....I guess you could call me that." I said with a laugh. "How long have you guys been on your trip?" I asked them. "About two days." The older boy said. "Oh...so, you're just pups when it comes to this sort've thing." I chuckled as the older boy replies. "We're learning."

"Well, like he said, munchkin, this place is a good place to camp out. It's quiet, calm and beautiful and as long as you don't bother the wilderness, you should be good." I said to the younger boy as I gesture towards the older boy. "Uh...thanks for the advice..uh..." the older boy stuttered and I smirk. "(Y/n). My name is (y/n)." I introduced. "I'm Sean. And this is my little brother, Daniel." Sean introduced. "Well, nice to meet you, Sean and Daniel." I said as I do a little bow at them, but I began to wander why those names sounded familiar. I feel like I should know but I can't remember.

I hear Daniel giggle a bit as I stand up straight then got an idea. "Hey, you seem a little hungry. I might have something in here...." I said as I pull my backpack off then dig inside it. "Ah, here they are." I said as I pull out a bar of Choc-O-Crisp. "A Choc-O-Crisp! No way! I haven't had one in like...a million years!" Daniel exclaims, excitedly, and I chuckle. "More like two days ago!" Sean said to him. "Well that's too long for you to go without one. Here, it's all yours, munchkin." I said as I hand the candy to him. "Wow! Really?! Thank you!" He exclaims with happiness and I smile at him. "No problem." I said as I put my backpack on.

"You better watch out, you just became his favorite person now." Sean said to me and I laugh. "Hey, I don't mind. He looked alittle hungry anyway." I said as Daniel opens up the wrapper and begins to eat it, like a starving man. "Wow, and I thought I was the addict when it comes to Choc-O-Crisp!" I said as he munched down on that candy. "Are you kidding?! He could wipe out an entire bag of those things!" Sean said and I look over at Daniel, impressed. "Wow, kiddo. That's impressive." I said as Daniel looks up at me and smiles.

"Well, I guess I better leave you two to your trip." I said to them. "Aww, you're leaving?" Daniel asked. "Yeah, I don't want to impose on a camping trip between two brothers. I'll just...be on my way." I said as I start to walk away. "Wait! Sean, she could come with us." Daniel said as I turn to face the brothers. "Hey, wait! You could...uh..stick around. We could use an expert's help." Sean said and I look over at him. "You sure?" I asked. "Yeah, plus it would be cool to have someone new to talk to." Sean said and I smiled. Normally, people don't want me around but these two do. "Okay...cool. Well then, I guess I'm joining your party then." I said, smiling, as Daniel shouts for joy.

I chuckled at this as we began to walk over to a tree with some marks on it. "What is that? Graffiti?" Daniel asked Sean and I as he points at the tree. "Not exactly...It's called a Trail Blaze and people used to put them up to give directions..." Sean replied to him and Daniel looks over at him. "Like GPS?" He asked. "Yeah...Just slightly more ancient." I replied. "Awesome! Let's follow it!" Daniel exclaimed and we start to walk into the forest.

"Come on, boys...The sun is going down..." I said as we started to come up to an old port house. "Okay, dude. Do you have to use the bathroom?" Sean asked as he points at the old shed. "No! It smells real bad..." Daniel said as he looks at the building at disgust. "No shit. Seriously? You better go now." Sean tells him. "I don't have to go! Jeez! Can't I just pee on a tree?" Daniel asked his brother. "As long as you don't mind the poison ivy on your balls!" Sean said to him.

"Uhhhh....Well...Maybe I'll go...But don't let me get stuck in there!" Daniel said to us. "Don't worry, we'll call the forest plumbers if you fall in." Sean said as Daniel gets inside the port-o-potty and started to use the toilet. "Yuck...This is disgusting! So gross! These are worse than the ones at school!" He exclaims, few minutes later, as he starts to walk out it. "Especially after you use it..." Sean teased and I chuckled at this. "You two are a mess." I muttered with a smile.

"Sean...(y/n)....Look how big these trees are..." Daniel pointed out as we walk deeper into the woods. "That's only because they need the sun. Besides, they'll protect us from the rain." I said to him. "What if they don't? What if they...a...attack us?" Daniel asked me, nervously.

"Aren't you Mr. Minecraft? I thought you loved the forest? I watched you build giant cities out of logs!" Sean said to him. "I did! I built the biggest cities ever! Ooo...I can use my axe to chop up some wood! Then we can build a secret base!" Daniel exclaims in excitement. "Well...Sounds like you're ready for the woods! Lead the way!" I laughed as Daniel runs ahead.

"Where are we going?" Daniel asked as we approached a direction sign that showed one way was towards the picnic are where the other leads to the river. "Hmm...The river must be a bit further..." I said as I look over the sign. "Yeah...Let's take a look around." Sean said and we reach an area where the path branches out, trees were scattered about and to the left was a picnic area.

"Wow...That place is huge!" Daniel said in awe. "Yeah, it's kinda cool." Sean said. "Yeah, this place is pretty epic." I said while Daniel walks up to some berries. "Hey guys! I found berries! Can I taste one, please?" He asked as he gets in front of the bush. "Hold on, munchkin. Let's check those out first." I said as Sean and I walked over to the bush. I check the berries, by tasting them, then nodded. "They're okay. Go ahead." I said and the boys begin to eat some. Daniel even tries to throw the last one into his mouth but he misses.

The path we take branches off to a small picnic area with some benches and a noticeboard. I run up to the board and read the wild animals poster. "Picnic and Hiking Site..." I read then look around just as Daniel walks up to me but Sean goes over to a bench and sits down as he looks out towards the river. "Well, I bet nobody comes out here to picnic anymore...and that's good for us..." I told Daniel as he looks up at the poster.

"No camping? Uh oh..." he said with worry. "Don't worry. Nobody is going to find us out here." I assured him while he continued to read the poster. "Do not feed...or disturb the animals? What...What kind of animals? Like bears...or coyotes...or..." Daniel said as he looks around, nervously. "More like...squirrels...rabbits...critters... like I said earlier...don't bug them and they won't bug us...They're way more scared of us than we are of them." I said as I place a hand on his shoulder, assuredly. "Unless they're angry...or hungry..." he said with worry. "Don't freak yourself out, munchkin. Everything will be fine. If anything, your brother and I will protect you." I said as I patted his shoulder and he smiles at me before he goes over to his brother.

"Whoaaaaaa..." Daniel said as he comes up behind his brother and sits next to him. I walk up next to the bench and look out at the river. "Look at that..." Daniel said. "Yeah..." Sean mutters. "So cool!" Daniel exclaims in excitment. "Never seen you get so jacked up over a nice view before..." Sean said to Daniel. "So? I've never seen anything like this! Never ever!" Daniel replied as he shakes his head. 

"Never ever?!" I asked him. "No." Daniel replied and I smile. "Don't worry, Daniel. You'll be seeing more views like this when you're out on the road, trust me." I said as I sit down on the edge of the bench and Sean chuckles. "Yeah...I remember when... Dad..." he stops as he looks down at the ground and I frown at this.

"I wish Dad was here with us..." Daniel said, sadly. "Well... Thanks! Not cool enough anymore?" Sean asked him. "Yes, you're super cool...But...I just wish the family was together... at home...It'd be cool to watch a movie and get a pizza and eat ice cream." Daniel replied to him. "Oh, you're making me hungry." I groaned as I rubbed my stomach. "Yeah, dude...stop. Besides, I told you we have to keep going...We'll see Dad later...Right now it's just...you, me and (y/n)...Okay?" Sean said to him.

"Yeah! It's our park! We can do whatever we want!" Daniel exclaimed, excitedly. "That's right...So...we better go build a secret base...so we can hide out for the night...Are you ready?" I asked Daniel and he nods. "Yes! I can build anything! We just have to find some cool blocks around here...and be careful of Creepers..." he said and I laugh as Sean starts to get up and Daniel cups his mouth and shouts. "HELLOOOOOOOOOO DOWN THERE!"

I get up and walk over to Sean and look at him with concern. "Hey, you okay, Sean?" I asked him. "Huh? Oh uh....yeah. I'm fine." He replied. "You sure? You just seem...kinda...out of it." I said. "I'm fine. I promise." He replied. "Look, I know we just met and all but....if there's anything that's on your mind, I'm a good listener." I said as we walked out onto a big open section.

"Ooooo, Sean! (Y/n)! Let's play hide and seek!" Daniel exclaims as he runs over to us. "Betcha can't find me!" He said and I laugh then I look over at Sean. "Looks like your little brother challenged us." I said and he smiles as he rolls his eyes. "Yeah. Okay. We'll give you ten seconds to find a hiding spot and then you're toast!" Sean said to Daniel as he winks at him. "Turn around so I can hide. And don't look!" He said and Sean and I start to count on the spot, without covering our eyes. 

"One..."

"Come on! You guys are cheating..." Daniel exclaims and I roll my eyes as Sean and I turn around and cover our eyes. "No peeking!" Daniel said, warningly, and we began to count again. "One...Two...Three...Four...Five...Six. Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten!" We said and we turn around to see no Daniel in sight. "Hmmm....you go this way and I'll go this way." Sean said to me and I nod at him and he goes to the right side of the forest and I go left.

It was a few minutes and we still haven't found Daniel, and I could tell Sean was alittle bothered by it. "Daniel!" He calls out as we look around. "Daniel!" Both of us exclaim then I got an idea. "Well...looks like I'm gonna be enjoying these Choc-O-Crisp all by myself." I called out and I swore I heard a noise in front of us. 

Sean and I look towards the noise then I nod at him and he comes up to this large tree. I follow him and we see Daniel hiding behind a tree, his hands covering his face. We slowly come up behind him then we shout. "There you are!" And he jumps back in fright. "Aww, no fair! You guys were peeking!" He said. "Not when we could see your foot a mile away, dude! We win!" Sean said as I chuckle. "Whatever..." Daniel grumbles and we continue down the trail.

Eventually, we come across a raccoon sitting on a rock just off the trail. "Daniel! Come check this out!" Sean said as he points out the raccoon. "What? What?" Daniel asked, gleefully. "Be quiet...He'll take off." I said to him as he comes over to us. "Ooo...Raccoon! He's sooo cute!" Daniel said. "Hah. That raccoon will tear us apart. Let's go, bro." Sean said while Daniel has a face of disbelief and walks forward, but the raccoon scurries away.

"Here, kitty kitty! Aww, that raccoon must be starving..." Daniel said as he starts to walk along the edge of the path, looking for the raccoon. "Raccoons are way smarter than us...He'll find more food!" I said to him and we began to walk some more.

"Hey! There's another one here!" Daniel exclaims as he points at the trail blaze then I follow the trail. "Hey! I think this path leads to the river." I said to them. "Coming!" They said and we keep walking until we reach a fallen tree, even on the ground, it goes almost up to Daniel's shoulders. "Wow. That's one big tree!" Daniel said as Sean and I climb over it. "Come on. I'll help you climb up." Sean said as he places his hands under Daniel's arms. "You better not let me go!" Daniel said to him. "Would I do that to my little brother?" Sean asked as he picks him and helps Daniel over the tree trunk and sets him down next to me.

"Let's go!" Sean said as Daniel runs off and said. "We have to watch out for skeletons, and zombies!" I look over at Sean and said. "It's really cute how you help out your brother." Sean looks over at me in slight shock and I notice his face turned red. I wink at him then I continue forward until I hear a bird chirping and I see a bird's nest up in the tree.

"Hey! Daniel! You hear that?" I asked him as he runs over to me. "Is that a bird's nest?" He asked me. "Oh yeah. They're everywhere out here." I replied to him. "At least they have a home..." Daniel said in a sad tone. I frown at him as Sean said. "Come on...We're too big for a nest."

Sean, Daniel and I reach a ledge as tall as Sean and I, but he and I jump down. "Mmm, this is pretty high up..." Daniel said with worry. But Sean holds Daniel up and helps him to the ground. "Come on! I got you!" He said to Daniel as he sets him down on the ground. "Whew...Thanks!" Daniel said then they high-five each other. I smile at this as we continue onwards.

"Uuuuhh...You guys see that?" Daniel asked as he points out some weird mushrooms on a tree. "Looks like a Clicker...Creepy..." Daniel said then Sean makes a weird clicking noise from this video game I remember watching a playthrough of on the internet a few years ago. "Stop it!" Daniel laughed as he starts to run ahead. Sean and I continue down the path but as we turn around the corner, Daniel was nowhere to be found.

"Uh...Sean? Where's Daniel?" I asked and he starts to look around. "Daniel?" Sean calls out but nothing. "Daniel?!" I call out, again nothing. "C'mom, dude! This isn't funny!" Sean said as we start to come upon a tree. "Muhhhwaaahh! I got you!" Daniel exclaims after he pops out behind the tree, scaring Sean and I as we jumped back but I accidentally stumble into Sean's arms. He and I look at each other for a moment as Daniel laughs. "You got me, munchkin." I said, laughing, as I stand up. "Dude...You struck out. That did not scare me..." Sean said to his brother.

"Liar! Liar! I saw your face!" Daniel said, in a laughing tone. "That was...uh...surprise. Maybe you scared me for like...one second..." Sean said as he starts to walk ahead. "Ha! I got you, I eat you! Don't mess with the zombie!" Daniel said, smiling. "Well, I'd rather be bitten by a cute zombie than an ugly one." I said as I ruffle Daniel's hair, who looks up at me and smiles. "Oh God, he got to you too!" Sean grumbles but I could see he had a slight smile and I laugh at this. "Hey, didn't you know? Cute kids are great chick magnets!" I teased and Sean rolls his eyes as he continues on, Daniel and I follow him.

Finally, we reach the riverside where there's a large beach area and a rock formation, which was jutting out, offering shelter. "Ooo...Looks like a cave...Kind...Kind of spooky..." Daniel said, nervously, as we come upon the formation. "No. Actually...it's kind of perfect." I said as I look it over. "For what?" Daniel asked me. "For us, man." Sean replied.

"We're gonna stay in there?" Daniel asked as I looks at it, questionable. "I dunno..." he mutters. "Come on, Daniel." Sean said, exasperated, then he turns to me for help. "Look, this can be...our secret base!" I said to him as I place a hand on his shoulder. "Hmmmmmm. We...could fight off any Skeletons or Creepers with some good traps!" He said and Sean and I smile down at him

"Cool!" I said. "In that case, we definitely need to get a fire going first. Right?" Sean said and Daniel nodded. "Right! Yes! Uh...So what do we need?" Daniel asked. "Um...You know...Shit to make a fire." Sean said. "Twigs, branches, paper, if there's any around..." I added. "Are...you sure we can do this?" Daniel asked us. "Who can stop us?" Sean asked him and Daniel smiles. "Nobody!" Daniel said and he takes a step and looks back, Sean nods at him and then Daniel runs off towards the beach.

"Okay...Let's unpack." I said to Sean as we set our backpack down. "Finally." Sean mutters as both of us take out our blankets from our bags. Sean lays his blanket on the ground under the cave and I lay mine on the other side of the small firepit, across from Sean's blanket.

Next, Sean takes out a newspaper clipping and looks at in disbelief. "What's that?" I asked him, after I walk up behind him, and he looks up at me in shock. "Uh...uh..well...." he stammers but I could clearly read the headline on the paper and my eyes widen. Now I know why their names sounded familiar.

Shooting in South Seattle

"Sooo....you're the Diaz brothers." I said and Sean looks at me in fear. "Yeah, I know about it. I passed by that area about a couple of days ago, sometime in the evening, and people were talking about it. I even saw it on the news the next morning when I went and ate breakfast. " I informed him and he looks down. "You're not going to say anything to him, are you?" Sean asked me and I give him a quizzical look then I realized what he was referring to.

"Does Daniel not know?!" I asked him. Before Sean could say anything, Daniel shouts. "Guys, check it out! I already got one branch for the fire!" We jumped and look out to see him picking up the branches. Sean crumples the newspaper clipping up and puts it in the fire-pit as kindling.

"Coming!" Sean shouts then he turns to me and grabs my arm. "Please don't tell him." He pleads. "Sean, I promise I won't tell him. I understand where you're coming from but....you need to tell him." I whispered. "I know, I know. It's just...I'm trying to find the right time." Sean said to me and I nod at him. "Yeah, I understand. That kind've stuff is hard. But I do want to say, I am sorry about your dad, Sean. I...I couldn't imagine going through that and..." I stop then sigh at this before I continued. "I know I'm basically a stranger to you and your brother but if you feel like talking just come to me." I said and Sean nods as he let's go of my arm. "Thanks, (y/n)." He said then he covers the pit with logs and dirt. "No problem." I said.

"Hey, guys. Let's have a race! Whoever finds three logs is the winner, cool?" Daniel asked us as we walked over to him. "Okay. You're brave to challenge me...So let's do it!" Sean said and I smile at them. "No way you boys are gonna beat me." I said, jokingly. "Nu-uh!" Daniel exclaims and he begins to run around the beach and Sean and I laugh as we spread out to find some logs.

By the time I find three logs and started to head towards the cave, I hear Daniel shout. "I win! It's over, guys!" Sean and I reach the campsite and check the pile. "All right, how much you got?" Sean asked him. "It's all there!" Daniel exclaims. "Yeah, okay...That should be enough for the night." I said as we set down our wood pile and we look it over. "Ha ha! See? Told you! I won." Daniel exclaims.

"All right. We have a little time to explore before we light up the fire." Sean said to him, smiling. "Cool! I'll go check the river!" Daniel said and he runs off. "Man, this place is like our own giant camp! We should catch some fish for dinner!" Daniel exclaims and I smile. 

As Sean makes the fire-pit, I walk over to the river and see Daniel trying to stab at fish with a long stick. "Gotcha! No I don't..." he mutters. "What are you doing, mountain boy?" I asked him as I walk next to him. "I'm gonna catch a fish to cook!" He replied to me. "Nice! But we should wait until we get some gear or something..." I said to him. "I can do it! Just watch..." Daniel said to me. "I know....we'll come back later." I said. "You promise?" He asked me and I smiled. "Promise." I said as I nod and he smiles at me.

He walks away from that section of the water and walked down stream. I smiled as I turn around and see Sean sitting on a log. He had a notebook and pen out and I couldn't tell if he was writing or drawing. I walk over to him and asked. "Whatcha' doin'?" He jumps in shock then looks up at me. "Whoa! Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." I said as I hold my hands up then I was able to see that he was indeed drawing.

"Whatcha' drawing there?" I asked him. "Oh...uh...nothing r-really..." he replied and I raise an eyebrow at him. "Really? It looks like something." I said. "It's just...sometimes I just like to sit and draw things." Sean replied to me. "Can I see it?" I asked as he looks at me. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to...." I said. "No, no...it's okay. I'm just alittle conscious about it." Sean said and he hands me his notebook and I take it in my hands and look at the drawing of the river and trees but I also noticed that he drew Daniel and I near the river.

"Wow, Sean, this is good. Like really good." I said as I go and sit down next to him. "Really? You think so?" He asked me, sounding shocked that I complimented him. "Way better than me. I can only draw stick figures." I said and he and I laugh at this. "You've got talent." I said as I hand him the notebook. "Thanks." He said as he takes the notebook and puts it away. I look over and see Daniel throwing a rock into the river, which lands with a thump.

"He shoots, he...Oh...Sorry, Mr. Fish!" Daniel said and Sean gets up and walks over to him. "Watch me!" Daniel said and he throws another rock, but it falls straight into the river. I chuckle as I walk over to them as Sean says. "Dude, come on...That's a boulder, not a rock! Here, you need a flat rock..." Sean said as he picks up a flat rock. "Hold it like this...Look at my hand..." he tells Daniel as he holds his hand then he flicks it and the rock skips across the surface of the water. "Boom!" He said. "Okay, I get it! My turn!" Daniel said as he picks up a flat rock.

"Hold it with your thumb and finger...and...spin your wrist when you throw..." Sean said as he demonstrates to Daniel. Daniel copies him then has another go, but he is no better. "Almost... What'd I do wrong?" Daniel asked. "Not bad! Give it another try." Sean encouraged him. Daniel throws again, but there's no improvement. "Aw... So close..." Daniel said, defeated. "Try again, Daniel. You've almost got it..." I said to him. "She's right, enano. You're getting into the zone. Don't give up now!" Sean said and Daniel throws again....and it skips over the water several times.

"I did it! I did it! Did you guys see?" Daniel exclaims, excitedly. "Oh yeah...That was awesome!" Sean said as they high-five and fist bump. "I think you're ready for the Olympic Stone Skipping Team!" I said as Daniel and I high-five each other.

A few minutes later we head back to the cave and Sean crouches down then gets his lighter ready when Daniel calls out to us. "Check this out, guys! Whoa! Nice view...You can see so far..." he said as we look up and see Daniel sitting on the rock ledge. "Wait, we're coming!" Sean said and we walk up and Sean sits on Daniel's left side and I sit on Daniel's right side.

"It's...beautiful!" Daniel whispers. "Pretty amazing, huh?" I said and Daniel smiles. "See? It's not so bad here in the forest..." Sean said to him then the three of us lay on our backs, staring at the clouds. "Hey. Look at those clouds. What do they look like to you?" Sean asked us. "I don't know...Cotton candy?" Daniel said, questionable. "That's it? Cotton candy?" Sean said, shocked. "I dunno...What do you see?" Daniel asked him.

"A dragon!" Sean replied. "What? Where??" Daniel asked. "Okay. There's the tail...and the horns...and the fangs! And the smoke coming out of its mouth!" Sean said as he points towards the sky. "Oh, I see it! It's awesome!" Daniel said. "And I see a castle. Looks like the dragon is going to attack it." I said and Daniel smiles. "Wouldn't it be cool if we had a pet dragon?" He asked. "Yeah, it would be faster to travel than on foot." I said. "I hear that." Sean said and I smile.

Then I started to feel something. Something I've never felt before as I lay here, watching the clouds with these two brothers. As I watch them look up at the clouds, I began to wonder....is this what I was looking for? Are these two the answer to my question of where do I belong? Have I already found what I'm looking for? I mean, I just met these two but...I've never connected with people so quickly like I have with these two. Maybe I could hang around them alittle longer and see where this goes. I thought.

"Ooo...I see something else! There's a giant douchebag!" Daniel said. "Oh yeah? Where?" Sean and I asked. Daniel points up at the sky, then lowers his arm to point at Sean. "Right here." He replied and I began to laugh. "Right here, huh?" Sean said as he playfully nudges Daniel's arm away. We laid there for a few minutes and watch the clouds go by until Sean sits up. "C'mon. Let's go eat something." He said. "You read my mind." I said as I sit up and we walk down the formation and enter inside the cave.

"All right, enano. We're cave people now. Time...to make fire." Sean said to Daniel. "Okay...Can I help?" Daniel asked him. "You have a big mouth like me, so come on! Blow!" Sean said and Daniel smiles. "Yes!" He exclaims then he gives a large puff that blows smolder everywhere. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I said as Sean exclaimed. "Dude, don't blow it out!"

"Sorry, sorry...I wanted to do it like a movie..." Daniel said, apologetically, then he gives a softer puff. "Nice. It's warming up..." I said and we began to pull out the food from our backpacks and began to eat.

Chapter 3

[idk--words]

TYRANT’S TOMB SPOILER ALERT

ok I tried my best to warn anyone that does not want any spoiler on the book so read at your own risk..... I just finished the book and I literally NEED to share my thoughts so here goes:

first of all, what the fuck.  I tend not to shit too much on author’s work in general unless it’s ultimate bs, because I know how much efforts it takes to create. Don’t get me wrong though, I liked the book. I wouldn’t say I loved it, but it’s not terrible you know.

I kind of get why Reyna felt the need to be free and remove the weight of being praetor off her shoulders. I do think that yes Camp Jupiter is lowkey doomed without her leadership, they won’t be as great like no offense to Frank and Hazel. They’re otp but they don’t command as much authority as Reyna would. She’s been through so much and she’s been praetor for so long. She is powerful AND knowledgeable. Frank and Hazel were legit newbies until HOO and they have a lot to learn. Even Percy, it took him 5 years to learn to be more mature and experienced. 

I just don’t get the whole “no mortal or demigod shall ever heal your heart” thing like WHAT EVEN IS THE CURSE. I’m hella confused. WHY is this happening to her in the first place? Anyways, hope Reyna finds who she wants to be and some relief in life. 

What I really didn’t like was that Rick didn’t give that much of a role to Reyna in all of this? As the daughter of Bellona, we never really got to see her in true action. Like is it me or did we never see her truly in action or in a single combat. Like yes she did fight off a few ravens and stuff, but where was that one-on-one epic combat that all heroes get? She’s literally the daughter of the war goddess and all we saw in her powers was sharing strength like ouuuhh big deal. seen that already. She was part of the prophecy to “open the door to the soundless god” and it made it sound epic but all she did was amplify Apollo’s power. 

I honestly think we should have seen her grieve more for Jason. They literally grew up together in a way and she should have been the one to avenge him instead of Zhang. Like yeah, Frank and Jason were friends, quest comrades but even in HOO, they weren’t as close as the other crewmates were to each other respectively. They were certainly not as close as Reyna and Jason were to each other.

Thalia’s mourning was also pretty tragic that it was barely mentioned. Like I get that demigods/heroes die all the time in quests but hey that doesn’t stop any of their comrades to be fucking human and cry. 

Lavinia is literally the most hilarious chick I ever seen. She’s random and impulsive and it’s hilarious that she’s a centurion bc she is so NOT made for that but anyways.

Dakota being dead is also random af like that came out of nowhere. 

The sisterly love from Artemis/Diana was also random? Like I don’t doubt siblings love each other and all, but coming from gods whom the characterization made by Rick made it seem like they clearly don’t give a shit. so how does a thousand years old twin sibling suddenly miss her annoyingly egotistical brother. 

I love the character development in Apollo. Like we can clearly see that he’s trying to be better and that he really understands suffering. I don’t doubt that he changed, but what I’m worried about is will he change back when he becomes a god? When you’re in power, it’s so easy to get lost. Like he said, he had been turned human once and when he became a god, he didn’t change. I don’t know if this time will be different. If he becomes a god, then he is immortal once again. He will never age and those adventures will seem like eons ago while the demigods will remember it as long as they live. It’s so easy to forget you know. I’m curious to see how it will play out in the last book. 

Also random, but who the fuck is taking care of the sun god’s duties if there is no sun god at the moment lol

Theory for the last book:

I don’t know, it’s been a long ride you know for the PJO/HOO/TOA series. I’m not sure if Rick has any plans in continuing another series so if it happens that Tower of Nero is the last book ever, being back in Manhattan, I’m pretty sure it will involved Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson for one last awesome adventure.

[smilesthroughfandoms]

Every Single Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode in one sentence or less

I’ll probably post a more in depth-review later this week, as I have opinions literally no one wants to hear but I will proclaim anyway, and then I’ll probably also due a revision of my ‘Past Queens Connection to Star’ post from way back in season 2. Cause that needs an update.

Anyway, enjoy!

Star Comes to Earth: Princess Cinnamon Roll that Could Kill you comes to earth and meets Misunderstood Safe Kid.

Party With a Pony: Spoopy Wardens hunt for the glitter pony while Star gets ice for Marco’s sweaty back.

Matchmaker: In which we learn it was probably a bad idea to give Star the wand in the first place.

School Spirit: Star misunderstands football and Marco tries to get Ferguson to blow his whistle not in that way.

Monster Arm: “Not my bowels! I love my bowels!”

The Other Exchange Student: Star is jealous of the meatball man from Bakersfieldville.

Cheer Up Star: “It’s supposed to be ironic!”

Quest Buy: Very accurate depiction of what it is like to work in retail.

Diaz Family Vacation: Both Marco and Star see new sides of their dads but that’s not necessarily a good thing

Brittney’s Party: Star and Marco party on a bus that Ludo hijacks

Mewberty: Star gets horny and snares boys in her web but not in that way

Pixtopia: Marco messed up and Alfonso marries Ferguson’s rebound

Lobster Claws: “… You can’t eat children.” “Really? Not even the annoying ones?”

Sleep Spell: “Camera Phooone!”

Blood Moon Ball: We’re suppose to ship them now, right?

Fortune Cookies: Love is never the answer kids

Freeze Day: Father Time offers Star and Marco some mud before riding away on his wheel-mobile pulled by giant time-hamsters I am not making this up.

Royal Pain: King Santa Claus destroy mini-golf

St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses: Princess Prison sure is a nightma–OH MY GOD ARE THOSE CLUBS?!

Mewnipendence Day: No wonder monsters hate Mewmans so much.

The Banagic Wand: Star still doesn’t get Earth and like all of us, Marco is always hungry.

Interdemensional Field Trip: Miss Skullnick fears the “Big Change” while Marco sends Jackie cat memes

Marco Grows a Beard: Ludo is out, Toffee is in, and Marco will probbaly be terrified of beards forever

Storm the Castle: “SURPRISE!”

My New Wand!: DIP DOOOWN

Ludo in the Wild: Wait, since when did Ludo become badass?

Mr. Candle Cares: “Star and I have recently become smooch buddies… On the lips.”

Red Belt: Marco searches for a meaning in life and Star searches for hammer.

Star on Wheels: *epic remix of Marco saying Star is in trouble*

Fetch: Marco can’t open juice and Star runs away from her problems and sending thank you cards

Star vs. Echo Creek: Star gets high and destroys a police car

Wand to Wand: Both Ludo and Star are terrible at magic also major ship tease

Starstruck: Star and her idol Sailor Super Saiyan destroy a park and Marco is 100002% done with this shit

Camping Trip: King Butterfly has a mid-life crisis and tries to control an eagle

Starsitting: They’re gonna be great parents some day.

On the Job: Buff Dad is best dad and buff babies are adorable

Goblin Dogs: “You might think this line is long, but listen to my goblin song!~”

By the Book: Ludo and Star still suck at magic and Glossaryck is a bigger troll than Alex Hirsch

Game of Flags: And I thought my family was dysfunctional...

Girls’ Day Out: Janna is back and is still awesome btw

Sleepover: “TRUTH! STAR HAS A CRUSH ON MA–” *cue fandom freakout*

Gift of the Card: R.I.P.  Rasticore Chaosus Disastorvayne… He couldn’ get his fucking chainsaw to work

Friendenemies: Star becomes one with Christmas tree while Tom and Marco go on a date and sing a romantic pop ballad.

Is Mystery: Meatfork is apparently a family name and Ludo is really starting to freak me out tbh

Hungry Larry: “He’s still hungry…”

Spider with a Top Hat: He tries and he is awesome and that’s all that matters

Into the Wand: SPAAAAADESS!!!

Pizza Thing: Marco is OCD about mushroom and Pony Head buys skinny jeans

Page Turner: Moon, how did you miss Toffee in the orb he was right there!

Naysaya: Marco is a mood in this episode

Bon Bon the Birthday Clown: Honestly my favorite episode overall

Raid the Cave: Glossaryck is the true neutral asshole.

Trickstar: Weird Al is a treasure and I’ll mes up anyone who makes Marco cry!

Baby: Aw, look at the little deadly baby, I love her!

Running With Scissors: Marco gets a new edition to his shipping harem and she is so cute!

Mathmagic: Why did the chicken cross the road?

The Bounce Lounge: Marco is definitely the mom friend.

Crystal Clear: The Chancellor guy is amazing and Rhombulus just needs a hug and wAS THAT ECLIPSA IN THE BACKGROUND?

The Hard Way: “SURPRISE!” 2.0

Heinous: Oh, so that’s how Marco got all that money.

All Belts Are Off: This is the negative side of “Pro-tag teen hangs out with older adult figure” trope done splendidly

Collateral Damage: Marco how do you not know what a possum is?

Just Friends: I’m fine! *blows up sign to prove just how fine I am*

Face the Music: This song is actually a banger

Star Crushed: Looking back, I’m starting to think the writing peaked at this episode....

BATTLE FOR MEWNI EDITION!!!!!

Return to Mewni: This is… just an exposition filler. Not much else to say….

Moon the Undaunted: B4! B4! B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4!

Book Be Gone: Seriously, did Glossy take trolling lessons from Alex Hirsch this is hilarious!

Marco and the King: This is the  “Pro-tag teen hangs out with older adult figure” done slightly better

Puddle Defender: Aw, look at the little buff babies, they’re getting so big!

King Ludo: The mime stole the show.

Toffee: Yeah, I think the writing peaked somewhere around here...

Scent of Hoodie: Huh, so Ponyhead can be written as likeable, who would’ve thought?

Rest in Pudding: The colors are not doing the censors any favor here, huh?

Club Snubbed: I literally yelled “Phrasing!” whenever they dropped the title

Stranger Danger: Is she the new antagonist of the series? I can’t tell

Demoncism: Tom is a wonderful baby boy and Ponyhead is written as likeable, part 2!

Sophmore Slump: *sobbing* Jackie deserved better, dang it!

Lint Catcher: I’m starting to wonder if there is any competant authority figure in Mewni

Trial by Squire: I think the writers were all like” You think these guys will ship anyone with Marco?” and decided to test that theory.

Princess Turdina: I got more lore out of this episode than I thought I would.

Starfari: Welp, she makes me uncomfortable.

Sweet Dreams: *Sailor Moon-ing intensifies*

Lava Lake Beack: Proof that this fandom will ship anyone with Marco at the slightest inclanation

Death Peck: Rich Pigeon is my new favorite birb and Ponyhead is written as likeable for the third time

Ponymonium: Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Night Life: The writers made so many new ships they had to get rid of an old one!

Deep Dive: “Chicken butt”

Monster Bash: Well, that explains the cheekmarks.

Stump Day: I think they just made an episode based around a picture from that bookcover.

Holiday Special: *insert every cheesy Christmas/Holiday episode trope here*

The Bog Beast of Boggabah: The title is fun to say and the episode is average at best.

Total Eclipsa the Moon: Seriously, I’m supposed to think she’s an ultimate villain.

Butterfly Trap: In which we are all Sean, don’t lie we were all him at the end

Ludo, Where Art Thou?: Dennis is best brother, hands down.

Is Another Mystery: *sniff* I got more emotional over this episode than anyone else did and I’m not sure how I feel about that

Marco Jr.: I… I just… Why? What’s the point?

Skooled!: Epic advertisment fakeout combined with wonderful character development and lore with a shock ending makes a 8/10 episode.

Booth Buddies: Old Man McGucket ships Starco, proceed to react accordingly

Bam Ui Pati!: Ponyhead is kinda likeable in this episod–nevermind she’s back.

Tough Love: Oh man, it’s happening! It’s happening guys here we go!

Divide: We are going to war everybody–And they’re all dead. That was quick.

Conquer: They should have paid Alex HIrsch to voice Glossaryck at this point, it’d be more in character for him.

Butterfly Follies: Proof that someone will always complain about politics no matter what.

Escape from the Pie Folk: Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that he kinda resembles Eclipsa more than Festivia?

Moon Remembers: I was expecting a freakout but was pleasantly surprised

Swim Suit: I’m starting to get a bad feeling about Rhombulus

Ransomgram: Why is everyone in this dimesnion hot?!

Lake House Fever: She’s a good mom

Yada Yada Berries: They missed an opportunity to have a Seinfeld actor guest-star, just saying

Down by the River: I’m glad that she can relax

The Ponyhead Show!: And Ponyhead is offically no longer likeable, can someone toss her into an abyss please?

Surviving the Spiderbites: SpiderSlime is canon proceed to react accordingly

Out of Buisness: How did this place go out of buisness???

Kelly's World: Man, they’re really setting these non-Starco ships up to fail, huh?

Curse of the Blood Moon: Pfft, yeah, sure, Starco won’t be canon at all!

Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell: I think Ludo has the most consistent character arc out of the entire show’s history.

Ghost of Butterfly Castle: Moon, Star is your daughter and Star supports Eclipsa, why would you not tell her?

Cornball: This episode has a heartwarming lesson that I hope more people come to realize

Meteora's Lesson: I’ll take any Toffee scenes I can get

The Knight Shift: I honestly don’t remember what happened n this episode

Queen-Napped: Seriously, can someone please dropkick Ponyhead into an abyss?

Junkin' Janna: The JanTom interaction I’ve been waiting for

A Spell with No Name: These types of episodes stopped being charming awhile ago

A Boy and His DC-700XE: I think Tomco has more ground to stand-on then Starco at this point

The Monster and The Queen: Don Panchito voices Globgor! There’s hope for this show yet!

Cornonation: They’re the best couple/parents/anything around!

Doop-Doop: I honestly think Rick just put Morty through some flux-capacitor or something

Britta's Tacos: Hey, remember these people that we suddenly brought back? No? Me neither!

Beach Day: This feels like a Season 1 episode and it’s nice

Gone Baby Gone: I want a TV show aout them now! Disney, please!

Sad Teen Hotline: Mr. Diaz is way to invested in Star’s love life.

Jannanigans: Hello last minute Janna character development!

Mama Star: So that’s how Mewni came to be--and I don’t care anymore

Ready, Aim, Fire!: Let’s get that finale ball rolling people!

The Right Way: Ok, that spell is actually pretty badass.

Here to Help: There, Starco’s finally canon will you guys just shut up now!

Pizza Party: Moon you idiot you ruined everything!

The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse: Toffee was right all along... I think we all knew that in some way

Cleaved: I expect nothing substanial and that’s what I got

[rainydawgradioblog]

Interview: Guerilla Toss - 09/26 @ the Vera Project

Guerilla Toss is a NYC-based experimental rock / synthpop / psychedelic / post-funk / prog-whatever / everything in between band signed to DFA records who is currently touring all throughout the continental US. This past Saturday, before their show with Calvin Johnson and Behavior at the Vera Project, my friend Anna and I were graciously invited into their tour van decked out with psychedelic decorations to chat with vocalist Kassie Carlson and hang out with her internet-famous Chow-Chow Watley. Enjoy the interview and catch them in these cities in the coming weeks!

Elliott: Hey! Thanks for taking the time to talk to me! How are you doing?

Kassie: Good, good! Just got done with soundcheck.

Elliott: Cool! How far into your tour are you guys at this point?

Kassie: Not that far actually, we’ve only done four dates or something, but we drove out here.

Elliott: That’s a long drive.

Anna: You guys just did Salt Lake, right?

Kassie: Yup, Diabolical Records. We were just in Portland, then Vancouver, then here.

Elliott: Cool, enough talking like a normal person, I’m gonna ask you a bunch of convoluted questions now. First of all, this bill is kind of wild, Calvin Johnson is another one of my favorite artists. How did this show come together? Are you guys big K Records fans?

Calvin Johnson and band opening the show.

Kassie: Calvin actually played at our light and projections person’s record store in Macon, GA. So that’s how we made the connection, and Calvin was really interested in coming here!

Watley gets up and walks around.

Elliott: Hi Watley!

Kassie: Sit! Watley…

Elliott: Have you had any other particularly cool openers this tour so far, or in recent memory?

Kassie: Well, the other opener tonight is Behavior, a couple members of Wand, the drummer and guitarist, so I’m really excited about that!

Elliott: Nice, I just saw Wand open for Stereolab!

Kassie: Cool, yeah, it’s an epic bill.

Elliott: I’m excited! I also noticed last time I saw you guys, you busted out a violin which was a bit unexpected but really cool! Are there any other instruments members play that you would maybe want to use on Guerilla Toss stuff?

Kassie: I also recently got an OP-1, which has been cool to experiment with. There’s lots of sounds, and this guy Cuckoo on Patreon puts a lot of samples for the OP-1 online for super cheap, like you can buy stuff for a dollar. He always puts up new stuff, so I’ve been getting down that rabbit hole, but yeah! I’ll be playing it tonight, it should be fun!

Anna: That’s a difficult purchase to make these days! Those things are not easy to come by.

Kassie: Yeah, me and the drummer split it. And we got it on eBay or something, it was used.

Anna: Those things are great.

Elliott: I’ve also heard you guys like to do band hikes. I also interviewed your friends Palberta on Rainy Dawg a while ago…

Watley steps on voice recorder, and tries to get out of the van door.

Kassie: Watley!

Elliott: Haha! Anyway… Palberta told me they bring a rice cooker and camp every night on tour. Are there any other activities people typically forgo on tour that you like to make time for?

Kassie: Yeah, we just went to Moab on this tour, to the arches. It’s good to get out of the van and stretch your legs a bit. That was fun. It’s cool to drive around, sometimes there’s not time to do the hiking thing, but we took some days off this time around so we’re not in the car for 8 hours. It’s good for morale.

Anna: Moab especially, it’s so nice.

Kassie: Yeah I’d never been, so it was cool to make it out there.

Elliott: So, it feels lately like vocals being more forefront in recent material, that the music is driven more by lyrics and melody. I got into you guys via Gay Disco, but my favorite of yours is GT Ultra. It feels like my experience as a listen has changed a lot, you cover a lot of ground in that there’s different ways to enjoy Guerilla Toss as a listener. Do you feel like your writing process has significantly changed?

Kassie: Well we’ve mostly just been shifting things around and trying different things to keep it fresh. It’s lots of fun, yeah!

Elliott: And about writing stuff, I know you’re very into jamming, you improv a lot live. Does writing material ever come out of that?

Kassie: We mostly just improv between songs. They’re all through-composed, and all have parts that are pretty specific. Sometimes we’ll write songs by jamming for a few hours, but a lot of the time, say Peter (drummer) will come in with a part of a song, or a skeleton of a song, or even a full song, which is how it’s mostly been lately, and then I’ll put some vocals on it, and we’ll try different things, different instrumentation.

Anna: Are there any members that bring more in terms of song structure?

Kassie: Definitely Peter brings the most, but I do all the vocals, everyone does their respective parts.

Elliott: Cool! Do you have a particular favorite piece of gear? Anything that might have inspired a song or a moment in a song?

Kassie: Yeah, I have a red Boss V-20 vocal pedal, that I use a lot and I really like. I use it for harmonies, there’s chorus on there, there’s delay and reverb, harmonies and doubling. I feel like it just helps my voice feel a lot thicker and more present, you know. It gives me more control over my sound. A lot of the time in venues, especially DIY venues, it can get buried. And also I want to be more true to the recording, like in “Betty Dreams of Green Men,” there’s those harmonies that come in off and on, so I use the pedal to create that harmony.

Anna: And what you said about DIY shows, getting sounds that are accurate. Do you play a lot of stuff like that now?

Kassie: No, not as much lately. But even in bars and stuff, it can be tough. We don’t travel with a sound person, we’re not playing stadiums.

Anna: Is that a shift that you miss at all?

Kassie: Not really. I like being able to hear myself when I sing, so it doesn’t hurt my voice as much. Of course I love the vibe of DIY venues but there’s good things in the middle, where your friends from DIY shows will come, but it won’t get shut down, and we have money for gas and stuff like that.

Elliott: Gas money is definitely important.

Trucks passing by.

Kassie: Watley’s scared of the trucks…

Elliott: So I have a question that’s part fun fact, part question. Your Wikipedia page, where it says you encourage tapers at your show, it used to say you encouraged tapirs, like the weird little animal. It was a typo but it actually linked to the tapir page!

Kassie: Oh weird! I didn’t notice but that is sick.

Elliott: Yeah, someone actually linked it to the page!

Kassie: That’s awesome!

Elliott: So that got me thinking, there probably haven’t been many tapirs at Guerilla Toss shows, but I think it would be sick! What sort of animals would you want to see at a Guerilla Toss shows? Also, these hypothetical animals have all the hypothetical ear protection they need.

Kassie: A lot more chows! We also really like otters. We were talking a lot during our soundcheck about snails. So snails would be cool. Snails all over the place. But really animal would be interesting!

Anna: Species-inclusive venue!

Kassie: Yeah! Oh, and bison, Watley loves bison. A few cows. He loves cows, he’s always looking at me like “Mom, did you see that? Woah, look there’s cows!” Yeah, good boy!

Elliott: Does Watley have a favorite Guerilla Toss song? Is he gonna get a feature anytime soon?

Kassie: He might actually, yeah!

Anna: A bark sample, that must be fun to work with on the OP-1! 

Kassie: Yeah, that’s one of the many things that are on my to-do list for sure.

Elliott: Hell yeah, I’m stoked for that whenever it happens. You guys seem to have a lot of collabs, one-off releases, live albums, splits and stuff. Do you usually come into those thinking “we’re gonna write an album” or just a song, or working with somebody, or is your writing process usually the same for those?

Kassie: We usually just create a whole album, we only did that one split with the Sediment Club. The live album was a cool project, that was completely live, we recorded it in Nashville.

Elliott: You also have that remix album with Jay Glass Dubs?

Kassie: Oh yeah, that was just a DFA thing, he totally did that himself.

Elliott: Cool! So visuals are clearly an important part of Guerilla Toss, I was wondering if you look at these different forms of visuals in the same way, like do you tie in live projections, music videos, album art or do you view them separately?

Kassie: They’re kinda separate. Lots of different people do our album art. Keith Rankin did a few, the most recent one was by someone named Yu Maeda, and before that was Jacob van Loon, he did Twisted Crystal. And then GT Ultra is actually acid strips from the 70s.

Anna: That one was a particularly cool design. Do you mostly reach out to the artists to do the art?

Kassie: Thank you! And yeah, it’s usually something they already have done that we use, but a couple of the ones from Keith Rankin were commissions.

Elliott: Cool! So, I feel like your albums tend to have a coherent sonic palette, but they cover a lot of ground as far as the songs go. Do you come into recording an album with a bunch of songs you’ve written or do you write specifically for an album?

Kassie: I think Peter is pretty much always writing music, and we already have new music we’re working on for after What Would The Odd Do, so it’s just kind of a constant stream of stuff, lots of never-ending recording and never-ending writing.

Elliott: Cool, well I didn’t write anything else down.

Kassie: Alright! Any other random questions?

Elliott: Not that I can think of. I’m excited to see you guys play!

Kassie: Hell yeah!

Anna: Actually, I usually ask touring bands this. What kind of stuff have you been listening to on the way over?

Kassie: Oh all kinds of things! Listened to a little Battles.

Elliott: Oh nice! The new one, Juice B Crypts?

Kassie: All of the albums! I think it was a consensus that we liked the earlier albums better, but hey, that’s something people always say. I like it all! It’s pretty cool.

Elliott: Cool, well thank you for letting us in the van and talking with us!

Kassie: Of course! Can you unhook that leash?

Elliott: Sure!

Kassie: (to Watley) Let’s go pee!

- Elliott Hansen

[fugandhi]

My Favorite Drum Corps Show

If you have not heard of what Drum & Bugle Corps is - Do yourself a favor and start looking it up now.

It’s NOT the same as the live experience (WAY too much POWER in a drum corps for any device to capture - Take my word for it).

So, I marched drum corps years ago (due to my love for music, then band, then marching band, and then the rest is history) and it was one of the most difficult and yet most gratifying experiences of my life (aside from adulthood LOL!!!) and I encourage anyone who is reading this and is thinking of either becoming a musician or having their child or a friend or anyone they know who is really into music - Tell them about Drum Corps (pronounced “Core” not “Corpse”).

Drum & Bugle Corps basically took what my high school marching band program had already established and it took it a LEAP forward. I mean, we toured the U.S., PAID a ton of money to do it (Thank you, Mom & Dad), and we had to work ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL THE TIME!

Weird tan-lines galore, there’s a WHOLE subculture out there - almost a friggin’ CULT (I swear man) of really, really AWESOME and CRAZY kids out there (and even more insane instructors and tech’s who are all trying to get their careers as Educators or what-have-you all started up to share the gift of music & the marching arts - YES it’s an art-form, ABSOLUTELY - 100%).

If I were to belong to any cult - It would be Drum Corps (LMFAO!).

Origins of a ton of these corps dates back decades, and I’m talking some of them started from the Military Bugle Corps from wars - and others starts from Churches, Scout Troops (Boys Troops and Girls Troops to maintain the Scout Standard), Police Departments, etc.

I first came across drum corps because I happened to be flippin’ through channels, and I was like a freshman and I had JUST finished my first year in marching band (proudly/we did a rendition of Crossmen’s 1992 show, “Songs For Planet Earth” - AMAZING show and I had the honor to be in that show - still makes me cry every time I hear the closer because that show required SO MUCH HEART) - and there it was - Santa Clara Vanguard’s 1999 show.

I ran to grab a video tape, and I came back just in time to record Blue Devils’ show “Rhythms... At The Edge of Time” which I watched over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again - I’m talkin’ like I could not believe there were people who were literally doing what I thought was IMPOSSIBLE.

With the most insane irony (or maybe it was fate) - I ended up being taught by Gino Cipriani, Wayne Downey, and like Jeff Sacktig, and like it was a variety staff like a real motley crew ya know? It was a DREAM TEAM staff - and my dreams came true - and I will never forget how much it meant to me to be able to march with friends from my high school (some who had already graduated before I could march with them at high school) and have my band director there the whole time and like - it was just such a dream come true. We ended up breaking the mold of the class divisions (Magic of Orlando Drum and Bugle Corps - Division II World Champions with record breaking score of 99.05 - which the Cavies happened to break 99 AFTER us LOL like we had A DAY where we made history and had the highest score in Drum Corps International HISTORY!) and the funny thing is - I remember at the beginning of the season we literally were trying to get everybody and their brother (and sister lol) to JOIN because we had like NOBODY lol!

Well, we had a good size corps, but there were patches missing in some sections ya know? I mean, there was literally a camp when we had 9 Trumpets and Gino was like “Yeah... We’re gonna have to do something about this” because this guy came from like The Cadets who had been DCI Div 1 champs like a ton, and prior to that he friggin’ was the brass caption for BD - I’m like - Dude, yeah, the staff and Kim & Rod were the necessary Leadership required to make Magic happen in 2002 (after not being on-field for like 2 whole consecutive years).

Either way, when I marched, I was not able to afford any more seasons, so Magic 2002 was and still is one of the biggest blessings in my life (aside from my family of course) and like if it was not for my really crazy summer that year - I wouldn’t have the mindset that the impossible CAN be Possible. Good things can happen to people if they put their hearts and minds to it...

...So...We were truly the “Cinderella Corps” of that year, and yeah I know we dropped from 10th to 11th for Finals but honestly - that accident with the Tenor Drummer who had his drums fall on his face when he fell on his back during finals - that literally NEVER happened all year. We were undefeated all season, no one expected us to make finals - even on our brass bus like we were talking about how some of the staff was even makin’ a pool of whether or not we made finals - whether that was true or not, it was a necessary motivator to push us and you know what? We did it. And the rest, as they say, is history. I left drum corps and the marching activity years ago - I tried a DCA corps and ended up getting burned badly from them - so bad that I just turned my back and walked away from drum corps and decided to never look back.

...Until I saw Carolina Crown’s 2013 show. I was inspired again. I had never heard a BRASSLINE that was SO AMAZING. Literally, BECAUSE OF THIS SHOW - my faith in drum corps had been restored. I only wish I could have seen this corps live - it must have been an absolute DREAM to be in this corps and in this show.

Carolina Crown was always a corp I paid attention to, although I always admired other corps more (BD 96-99 OH and PHANTOM & MADISON 1996!, need I say more?) - anyway, I actually used to live in South Carolina (a piece of my heart is still in South Carolina to this day - very, very fond memories of my childhood there/one of the places I was stationed). So, needless to say, I was always keeping my eye on Crown, and I have friends who marched Crown - but, I knew there was a very powerful change when I saw them in 2008 in Atlanta - the first time I ever saw a corps that pleased me as a drum corps nut more than BD - of course Phantom was AMAZING (”I AM SPARTACUS!”) - but I remember a bud of mine David was marching Tuba in Crown and I always gave props like DUDE Crown’s brassline - HOLY SHIT (LOL!)

I could go ON and ON about that BRASSLINE. They are SO beyond amazing - especially this year, 2013! THEIR BRASS LINE LITERALLY GOT A PERFECT SCORE AND THEY REMAIN THE BEST BRASS SECTION IN DCI HISTORY - uh yeah - THAT’s saying something considering how much detail-oriented work goes into these shows just on an individual level, let alone a massive level of epic proportions with the size of the corps these days.  .....Every Time I hear this brass section, I just start to melt - I’m like.. “I want to go to there” lol!...I am TELLING you.. This show inspires me every time I watch it - I literally have PHYSICAL REACTIONS to this SHOW! ...Like - I swear...that brass line performance.... I’ve had orgasms (LMFAO!!!) ...ANYYYY WAYYYYY  hhahaha I highly recommend watching the entire FINALS show on Youtube (ya got like 10 minutes? lol “LET ‘ER RIP!”) and seriously - even though I’m not too huge on the narration in drum corps these days and the over-saturation of certain effects - I gotta say - this is one of those drum corps...it’s just like... poetry.

...You know how certain things just like, transcend their normality? Does that make sense? Like...  In my humble and personal opinion - Drum Corps exists so that this show could have been made. This is one of many, many, many fine shows, but for me personally - this show is ELECTRIC (and like really profound). Even if you’re a die-hard drum corps dude like me (WHADDUP PEEPS?!), go ahead and like check out the friggin’ announcements and the crowd reaction from when Crown WON Finals Night! It is absolutely breath-taking because for any drum corps kids, we all dream of being Champions. We all strive for Perfection, and we always catch Excellence in the process.

It always makes me get like super emotional when I think about Crown winning, and it’s just so nice to know that the underdog can win, too. And, just knowing that those kids put their whole heart and faith into their work and their teamwork (a truly remarkable group) and they walked away Champions is absolutely wonderful. And the icing on the cake was how the corps was represented in receiving the Trophy, by their Drum Major, Linda Harvey - she was just so classy, and down-to-earth, and had such poise, and exemplified how honorable a Champion can be when it’s their turn to be number 1.

God bless Carolina Crown, God Bless everybody who has ever volunteered, watched a drum corps show, supported by investing in the youth programs for kids like me who believe in music and the power of inspiration and giving an audience something worth enjoying. Without drum corps, I would not have been able to believe in myself as a Musician today.

- ATOMIK 1

P.S. It has always been a dream of mine to one day own my own Drum Corps. I was always like, how would I do it if I ever had the opportunity to have my own corps - and I decided - I would totally have it be like Star of Indiana - you know, I’ll be like an older dude who’s got the bread and then I’ll just make sure it’s a well-oiled machine - and then have the quality of Star, but be designed like Velvet Knights (LOL!!!! YES!!!!) ESPECIALLY because they were the most FUN drum corps on the field and literally went the zany and quirky route instead of the super serious and militant way (and dorks like me rejoiced hahaha). ...chuck taylors and all LOL.

[themoulinblue]

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: CULT

The story:

I have many issues with the story this year but in general terms it was ok. For some reason, American Horror Story hasn’t topped its better season "Asylum", with 7 seasons already; there’s something missing.

American Horror Story: Cult, starts with election night focused in the two lead characters Kai Anderson and Ally Mayfair-Richards, one is Republican and the other is Democratic. We already knew this and we also knew that the main plot wouldn’t be the elections, the main plot is kinda the chaos that came after that.

Anyways, this season has good things and bad things IMO. It has good moments, good episodes, but overall is predictable, this supposed to be a realistic season with non supernatural elements but at some point it’s not realistic at all.

The first episode wasn’t memorable, there’s Kai trying to raise his position now that Trump is the winner and Ally fighting being terrorized by her phobias, isn’t really clear at the beginning if this is in her head or it’s really happening. The thing is that Sarah’s character being chased and scared is not something new, her character last season did the same thing and probably that’s why people were complaining about it. Obviously, things change after a few episodes and we get to meet a new Ally (Thank God)

Anyways, I have to say that I love the episodes “Neighbors from Hell” “Holes” “Mid-Western assassin” and “Drink the Kool-Aid” those for me were the better ones, it had some plot twist… there’s others I liked but not as much a the ones I mentioned.

I think one of the problems with this season is the consistency, we have great episodes and then we have the Valerie Solanas episode that IMO was unnecessary, why? It was too long, was her story really important for the main plot? I don’t think so, the other cults were short flashbacks but for some reason they dedicated a whole episode to Valerie Solanas, I didn’t get that. They let us know Bebe, yeah ok, so? Apparently she was the Queen Bee but died when we found out she was the Queen Bee. For me it was so unrealistic that in the first session with Kai she managed to convince him to create a crazy cult and Kai immediately accepted and did what she wanted and I was like what? Why don’t explore that and show us how she slowly got into Kai’s head? It’s unbelievable that in one session you can make someone to open to you in that deep level, like come on.

The motivations: to be honest, the characters had weak motivations, (I want to talk about every character but this is like a general point of view) when a character do something, you always ask to yourself why is this person doing this? And of course, you are waiting for a reasonable explanation. I wasn’t convinced at all of their motivations to create chaos, Ivy hating on Ally, Winter being Kai’s minion… I only believed Ally, because like it or not, she had real reasons to become the cold ass bitch she was at the end. I see Kai and I have nothing but hate for him, there must be a realistic reason for this young man that used to be a good person in general that actually helped people to scape from this crazy Christian fanatic to become a crazy ass psychopath that decided that killing innocent people in order to be city council man was a good idea, and don’t tell me that a Trump supporter will listen to a woman and make all this for women to lead because that’s bull shit. Even when he changed his mind at the end and decided that he was a misogynist asshole and he was the one with the right to become the leader, sorry but still… not very good motivations. Also Ivy’s motivations, really? I mean? Girl, getting divorced and having shared custody was way more easy than terrorize your wife and exposing your son to all that cruel shit.

I also saw that many people said “this doesn’t look like American Horror Story” well, that’s true and you wanna know why this doesn’t look like AHS anymore? The cinematography, we had Michael Goi as cinematographer for 5 seasons and yeah I can agree that the cinematography in Roanoke was beautiful Nelson Cragg did an amazing job. The thing is, Michael Goi knows better the AHS universe, I don’t even know why Ryan decided to let him go, the cinematography this season was BORING, I don’t know who made it, (someone please let me know) for me, it looked like a lifetime movie, sorry but this is the true.

Michael knows the narrative style, the aesthetic, Accomplishing a visual differentiation between time periods was one of the many aesthetic elements of previews seasons, this season was almost the same, you could see a little difference with the cult flashbacks but the aesthetic wasn’t good so it didn’t look great. Michael used to make different lighting for the same space trying not to duplicate the same representation of that space, but keeping the consistency so the audience could recognize the space. He also tried to emphasizes the dramatic moments so the audience could see the story’s arcs (I’m kinda quoting Michael here, I read this somewhere and I found it very fascinating) I didn’t see any of this in Cult, I mean AHS is well known for its consistency between the cinematography, set design and wardrobe.

Another thing was that we couldn’t enjoy the sets, the camera was almost always over the characters, I didn’t get to see the Butchery on Main for example, or Ally’s house, I wanted to know the space, I wanted to see the set decoration, there were master shots of the set in AHS and in Cult we didn’t get any. The frames in previews seasons were so beautiful and here it was I don’t know so normal, so… boring and if there were some master shots I’m sorry but I don’t remember, it means it weren’t epics at all. I just remember the way they showed us the Murder House, The Asylum, The Academy, The camp in Freak Show, The Hotel and even the Mansion in Roanoke. I miss that.

The Characters:

There’s a rule in American Horror Story, everyone pays for what they do. Yeah kai died, almost everyone died, so let’s say most of them paid but not Ally, yeah she was terrorized in the first episodes but she was a murderer and what happened to her doesn’t compare with what happened to Lana for example, Do you really think that Lana is actually happy? She’s not, she killed her son and she will have to live with that and we can see that in the final episode, even when she has a good life she’s still haunted for her past and her choices, that’s a good way to pay, Ally didn’t have any kind of remorse. Ivy deserved to die, yeah and I really enjoyed the way she died and for me it was more than fair that Ally was the one to kill her but she was the mother of her son, she was her wife and she lied about her death. So, Ally getting away with that wasn’t ok for me, everyone in this season deserved to pay, it would be awesome if Kai could expose her before his death, Ally in jail and finally everything will be fine for those innocent people out there at least for a while.

Kai Anderson: like I said before, his motivations were weak, I compare Kai with Frank Underwood in HOC (let’s forget about KS for a while and let’s focus in the character) this character is so well written, in this case I wanted to be on Kai’s side like I am with the Underwoods. This is how you write an antihero and even more if this antihero is the leader of a cult, let us love him for a while and then let us open our eyes and see how awful this character is, he was the clear villain and that’s predictable, we hated him since the beginning so when he dies it’s not shocking at all because yeah he was the villain. I never found Kai relatable or charismatic, some random guy with blue unwashed hair that lives in his parents basement would never convince me to follow him as a leader and even less to kill for him, I would run away as fast as I can, so his little monologues to convince people were so cheesy and so “seriously, are you gonna believe that shit?” he convinced in literally 10 minutes someone he barely knew to kill like… that’s not how it works, you have to be so dumb to fall for that. Also, I think that picking just one Cult leader to be your idol would be enough instead of passing for all those cult leaders (this is just me, like I said, personal opinion, if you disagree, that’s ok, people like different things)

Ally: probably the best development, even when I hated the fact that she got away with her crimes, I have to accept that her transformation was really good, I understand that you can’t get over your phobias over night but come on, we have only 11 episodes… there’s no time to be realistic here, so yeah, it was great to see Ally leaving her old self behind and becoming a totally new person, we really needed this, and that was very well done. Now I understand why she joined the cult and everything because they explained it, and I’m so grateful for that. I have to say that her motivations were very real, she wanted her son, this people tortured her and she needed to tear that cult apart. But, I don’t think she’s a feminist, she was selfish and to be honest you could see that she was thinking in herself and not her son, she uses her fame for her own gain, sorry not a feminist. Also if she was with the FBI why did she kill speedwagon? She could use him to help her? Another innocent died and she had not remorse. And please don’t say that Lana did the same with her fame because Lana deserved all that, she was rape, she was in the asylum only for being gay, she got electroshock, she got her rapist baby, she was tortured in a basement I mean come on… do not compare Ally with Lana. That’s way I say Ally deserved to pay for her crimes too, otherwise her winning is predictable.

Ivy: I really wish Ryan could give us for the first time a healthy couple, it’s not that hard… I was rooting for Ivy, I refused to believe that Ryan would be this predictable by making her the bad one, after that I hated her a lot (I love Alison Pill, tho, great job) I mean, her motivations, JESUS H. CHRIST (let’s quote Constance Langdon) girl, getting a divorce it’s easier than killing people and torturing your wife and son, you hated her because she was the biological mother and because she voted for someone you didn’t like? And also you spend 10 years hating her without saying a word and pretending everything was fine when it wasn’t? you made yourself miserable and that’s not Ally’s fault, in a relationship people talk, people say how they feel, why don’t do that? So yeah, you deserved to die because you were a two faced bitch. Also, the cliché part… you cheated on Ally with the nanny… wow… original. I hope she’s in the next season, tho.

Winter: when I saw Winter’s poster I said, this character will be epic, sorry it wasn’t, she was just a minion and never took a side, she only got 2 scenes to shine and that was unfair, I also was doubting about Billie’s acting skills because she had always the same expression for every situation, the same monotone voice, Winter was boring and that’s a fact, when she died I was ok with it because for me she wasn’t relevant (Not Billie’s fault) she was really good in 2 episodes tho, so I hope to see her next season with a most interesting character.

The Wiltons: how to have a good couple and ruin it in two episodes, my fave was Meadow, she was funny and Leslie was awesome, Billy had his moments too… I love the second episode just because of them, and I enjoyed seeing their background, too sad that Meadow died too soon because I really loved the episode with her and Ally, I don’t have anything wrong to say. Good characters.

Dr. Vincent: I was shocked when I found out he was Kai’s brother and I’m glad he didn’t know anything about the cult, because once you get to know that he was related to Kai and Winter you immediately think that he was part of everything since the beginning, I was happy I was wrong, but I did find cruel that Ally let Kai to kill him, he was innocent and didn’t deserved it but I guess we are used to see Ryan sacrificing characters to advance in the story line… so it’s fine.

Samuels: he was irrelevant… let’s move on

Gary: nothing to say about him, he was another peon, her death was unnecessary, but ok.

Oz: this child was amazing, I loved when he called out Kai, that was awesome, he was super smart and I’m sorry he had those mothers, but again… parents in AHS sucks, just look at Constance, The Harmons, The Lowes, Fiona etc. I would love to see him again, such a talented child.

Berverly Hope: I think she made sense, I’m glad she didn’t die because she was a victim, and I’m so glad she was the one who killed Kai, I think she deserved that in order to move on with her life, she was the only one that actually tried to do something, I enjoyed Bev a lot.

Bebe Rabbit: uhmm, I love Franny and I’m so sorry she had to play this character.

So, in conclusion, this season isn’t bad but isn’t good either, it’s in the middle and it’s almost in the bottom of my list, I don’t think this is the kind of season I would watch again (same with Hotel) it had its moments but it’s not better than Asylum like many people have said, it’s not even close.

PD: I’m pressed because Lily Rabe wasn’t in this season, the holy trinity of AHS is dead… I’m so tired that Ryan doesn’t give the recognition she deserves, I want her as the lead and I want her alive.

[yvvaine]

I was wondering if any [past or present] Jonerys, Pro-Daenerys fans like myself feel this way.....?

Firstly Id say please be nice i just enjoy analyzing the shit out of fandoms I like, (im a history/polysci major ((with an emphasis on Peace Justice and & Conflict Studies)) all i do is analyze and try to be diplomatic lmao) but considering all they petty drama between both ships as well as pro/anti Daenerys stans ON BOTH SIDES I’m going to be “That Person” and at least ask for people to be respectful/civil, I want to hear from everyone and their metas/what they think which is why i tagged like, all the tags, no matter if you love her/the ship or cant stand it, as long as everyone can keep civil So firstly I’ve loved Dany both books and show from the beginning. She’s gorgeous, wants to be the best person she can be, and her hair/fashion style game is always ON POINT.  That being said, somewhere around season 5 i think i’ve found my opinion on her cooling a little bit, ep after ep, till now. Like I still like her bc she was my first character love on the show but I’ve def soured in my opinion on her. Maybe it’s because I love learning about the subject that im more baised (im hoping thats the case) but she just seemed to have no interest in actual governance, just the reputation (esp of being the ‘rebel queen’)/the awe/the power/the thrill of the adoration that went along with it to the point where I feel like though she still wants to be a ‘good queen’ or at least wants to be seen that way, she doesnt want to do much work for the title. Like yeah she freed all the slaves and that was a def progressive and awesome move on her part (major props! slavery is sin and im glad someone recognized that who had the power to do something about it) but she didnt handle that aftermath or ensuing problems well at all nor really mulled heavily on the subject to find the best solution. She just got fustrated with pretty basic/common (albeit complex in themselves) issues of standard governance and kind of went agh! fuck this! (obv not actual quotes but that was the vibe I got). And then ESPECIALLY after season 7 her character has kind of nagged at me in the back of brain which i hate but its inherent like its just a feeling i cant help it?? I just dont know why to be honest that Im feeling so negative towards this character i used to love.  The whole ‘ bEnD thE knEe ‘ thing w/ Jon and yet pinning it on Jon’s pride not equally on his and her own was more than a little hypocritical, when hon they can discuss it later like at that point they have two common enemies the WW and Cersei they both want to do away with, and then again with the Bend the Knee or Die bit w/ the Lannister soldiers. In fact the whole sequence before that point felt kind of villinous I dearsay, I mean  deliberately burning the harvest that most of westeros needs for the winter or even strategically not willing to try, and well, nOOt intentionally burn the food considering its winter, the harvest is over (so likely not much is gonna grow in the time being) when she has a G I A N T ass army of her own to think of feeding???? Like i get it is war shit happens soldiers die but the F O O D ? Was that an impuslive in the moment mistake or did she just not give a fuck? And back to the aftermath scene/Bend the Knee 2.0, her speech was again quite hypocritical...and burning dickon?????? not willing to keep prisoners???? either bend or die??? I actually am glad she did away with Papa Tarly bc he was an awful human, but dickon????? a young idealistic man about to loose his father??? the heir to a major ally/house???? And honestly that bend or die strategy is soooooo dumb bc now she cant trust any of them like theyre only bending the knee out of self preservation homie, no one wants to die. they bend  the knee to survive and now they all of the sudden think youre their queen? Nah fam, prisoners were better, all you got are spies in your camps or people willing to backstab you at the smallest promise of coin. And i dont want that for my girl

IDK the whole “im gonna BREAK THE WHEEL,,,,,,,,yet im stating my claim mainly on my housename (aka the predominant force of said wheel for a literal dynasty) and the fact that i can scare people who otherwise are unconvinced bc lets be real westeros has had a bad run of rulers a lot of which were Targs in the past couple decades, into submission bc ill burn you otherwise???” doesnt sit well with me nor does it feel like the character ive been rooting for the past five-ish seasons. She just doesnt seem to put into effort on understanding Westeros, why things go wrong, being self-critical or sharing the blame,thinking on what a “good” ruler would do.... anyone else feeling this way and if so do you think this is just shitty writing? D&D butchering her character? or a new arc for her? perhaps the way shes always been? She just seems like a tantruming child bratty and entitled idk (a beautiful child but still)  As for jonerys...... im not gonna go into it much but how are other shippers happy????????? I honestly dont understand. I was SO looking forward to this season/this ship. like so much! But it felt so forced? And i know a lot of people claim its cause its rushed but tbh we’ve had a lot of romances in a similar time frame that felt like A C T U A L romances.....even Talisa/Robb who the Northerners will prob compare any of this too were so much better. THIS WAS MY EPIC SHIP DUDE. I feel the dany side of things (took a while but theres def heart eyes) and yet Jon???? He felt hollow. Still does even after sex. Im so disapointed but more than that I cant see the romance or the chemistry. He looks constipated. Hes never smiled like with his teeth around her the way hes done w others he cares deepily about (ygritte, toramund, sansa, even fkin gendry in the first scene they had together). He never reveals anything about himself. And between the “my queen” ep (and remember he was look warm when discussing her to toramund throughout it) and the previous the only thing that changed was that he saw the actual difference dragons made against WW. You could argue she saved them all too but that doesnt make you fall in love w someone out of the blue and also people have saved his ass before and??? Sansa w the vale anyone??? (Not an argument for jonsa js its happened) (though ill admit ive transitioned to loathing jonerys and loving jonsa more as a potential couple in the space of seven eps where if you asked me I wouldve been like PSH u cray. I never thought it would happen in a mill years but D&D ruined my ship and here i am! Shipping aside tho since its best too look at these things as neutral as possible).  Anyways the sigh of his after she left and when he pretended to be asleep.... idk. The only scene that felt genuine and where Jon smiled and it didnt look like a full on grimace and they actually kinda joked around was really nice and at the pit at the finale and if they do a LOT more of basic romance stuff like that I could ship it again but. It was followed by boatsex and boy.  I was hoping boatsex might rekindle my like for the two together. I could see the chemistry the passion. I was hoping the passion would overwhelm me and make up for the rest. But instead......like there was no foreplay, it lasted 2 seconds, and it was overplayed by brans voice and a reminder of future conflict or at the very least major angst b/w the two. i didnt see the parallel between regear and lyanna playing alongside their scene as anything romantic or that it should be taken as such. and the look they shared.... I was hoping jon would bring it bc Dany’s look in her eyes is like soooo smitten and adorable and say what you will I still have a space in my heart for her and still dont want her to suffer, but again Jon looks like oh shit/constipated. And not in a good oh shit way either.  There is a bunch more too but Imma stop there bc Im just tired at this point.  So many things were just....off this season. And it cant all be blamed on the “rushed” time frame. I’ve read the undercover lover theory and hon it makes the most sense (not perfect sense but still, more than what we’ve been poorly spoon fed) but im not willing to believe it just yet. Still, maybe D&D are just butchering a lot of things like making the romance believable and stuff for the sake of time that could be true i guess. But they like to go AHA GOT U so  Idk I dont find a lot of meta in the jonerys tag bc honestly (((((i think its bc the tag and ship are more popular and theirs more people both good and bad)))) it doesnt seem like snowballing theories is something all fans take really well in the tag at all. But whatever. I really want to know, is there any meta or theories im missing to either validate the icky feeling Im haveing about D or her “romance” or on the flipside anything that might make me change my mind about it? Theories, meta people! I just want to reiderate im not trying to hate on anyone or any point of view and I will flag any comment anti one ship or person or another if its plain hateful or rude. I just want to understand it and see what Im missing, esp because of how much I was looking forward to her arc and jonerys’ dynamic and how much the words “falling short” dont seem to cover it. And to see if im not the only one to either have critique on the ship or her character [or even actually change ships] Also i apologize for how much ive said “IDK” i just..... I DONT KNOW 

[rebelmeg]

Writing Ask Meme~

Is there a specific drink you like to have when you’re writing?  Nah, just cold water on hand.

What time of day do you think is the best to write?  Normal waking hours would probably be best, but I do most of mine after midnight because I have terrible sleep hygiene and no self control.

Where do you write best? It doesn’t matter, really, I just need relatively quiet and privacy.

Do you do word sprints?  If so, for how long do you do them, and what’s your average word count?  I don’t even do word jogs, I literally just write when the muse is speaking to me.  I hate what happens when I try to force it.

Do you write when you travel?  If so, where is the farthest away from home that you’ve written?  I have written when I’ve traveled, but not much since I’m usually busy.  Although I did get ten pages of something out this summer while camping, but that’s a different animal.  I’ve written a few states away from where I live.

Do you share your work before it’s finished?  I rarely finish a work.  My sister is my favorite, she often reads what I’m working on and lets me use her as a sounding board when I get stuck.  I always write better when I have a writer buddy.

Which character that you’ve written is most like yourself?  Uhhhh... probably an OC, honestly.  And I have hundreds of those, so... hard to pick.  I think aspects of a writer always leak into characters in some way.

Which character is your favorite to write?  Why?  I’ll usually have 3-8 muses that I cycle through regularly for a few weeks, doing a lot of work on, before they fall back in the pile and something else comes up.  I’m not actively working on a fanfic right now, but I always love writing Tony and the bots, they are my faves.  As far as OC’s, it’s either the sweethearts or the weird ones that I love to write the best.

How long is your current work in progress (words or pages)?  The most recent ones I have worked on are a fanfic featuring the Avengers and what they’re doing when they retire immediately after Avengers 4.  That is tiny still, only 387 words.  It’s not even formatted, just two run-on paragraphs that are waiting to be fleshed out.  The most recent original work is 56,721 words, 104 pages.  (It’s got very damaged spies!  And questionable medical practices!  And guns!)

Do you have a specific philosophy that you go by when you write?  “Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” Cyril Connolly  That’s what I keep in mind when I write.  I write what makes me happy.  I write what I would want to read.  I never want writing to be something I don’t enjoy.

What were your favorite books as a child?  Everything, I read everything.  Roald Dahl, Little House on the Prairie series, Berenstain Bears, Magic Attic series, American Girl series, Dr. Seuss, like... I was a bookworm.  I would read at school during recess because I had no friends.  I read like it was oxygen.

Do you read while writing, or try to split it up?  I get distracted easily, so unless I’m on an epic writing spree, I go back and forth between reading and writing within the same minute, and that goes on for ages.

Which authors or styles do you try to emulate in your writing?  Um... I don’t?  Not on purpose, anyway.  Unless there’s a character or situation that is channeling something specific.

Would you want your books to be made into a TV show or movie?  Why or why not?  Only if I had unilateral control over directing, casting, script, and literally everything else.  Unless it’s perfect, it’s not happening.

How do you plan your writing?  There is no plan.  It is a complete sh*tshow of nonsense and mayhem that I can sometimes wrangle into something beautiful.

Do you write on a computer or on paper?  What program, or what type or paper/pen?  Everything ends up on the computer in Word documents, Times New Roman, single spaced, size 12 font.  When I was a kid and teen, it was paper since I didn’t have a computer (still have those binders), but now everything, whether it was written down, noted in my phone, or jotted down somewhere on the computer, it all ends up in one folder (or the corresponding subfolders) that I protect and backup with my life.

Is there a specific category or genre your writings generally fall into?  Which?  Fiction.  (I know.  Duh.)  Then probably romance, I always have a romantic pairing, and that divides into sub-groups.

Would any characters from one of your works go well with your others?  I actually have a decent number of cameos and little crossovers between my OW’s and OC’s.  I like having those little ties connecting them together.

Do you write multiple works at the same time?  Oh yeah.  It’s not uncommon for me to work on 10 different ones in the same day.  (I don’t get much done, but it still counts.)

What color scheme is your current work in progress?  Color... scheme?  Do people typically color scheme their WIPs?  Have I been missing out on something awesome this whole time?!

Do you create aesthetics for your writing, ie. on pinterest or tumblr?  If so, what’s the board or tag? If I did... I would never stop.  I do keep folders of visual inspiration (the person that inspired the physical appearance of the character, the house they live in, the ring she has, the flowers he gave her), so like... kinda, I guess.  They’re in another one of those “protect with my life” folders on my computer.

Do you listen to music when you write?  Nope, I need quiet when I write.

Do you make playlists for your works in progress, characters, or scenes? Nah, but I do have songs that will remind me of characters or scenes.

Do you prefer first or third person?  Why?  Always third person.  Always.  No idea why though, that’s just my preference.  Probably because what I’m writing is playing out like a movie in my head, so it’s my natural reflex to write it as such.

How do you defeat writers’ block?  Skip on over to another one of my WIPs or bug my long-suffering and delightful sister.

How often do you write?  I like to every day, but I only get really good jags of writing probably a couple times a month.  Everything else is fluff work and piecing things together.

Have you ever done NaNoWriMo?  No, it intimidates me.  I don’t write like that, so the thought of changing up my writing process that much is overwhelming.

What’s your inspiration for writing?  I get it from literally any source.  Pictures, other writing, casual observation, songs, overheard conversations, TV or movies.  Literally anywhere and everywhere.

Which style/era of writing do you most fit in with?  Modern, probably. 

What’s your favorite part about writing?  Those really good “the muse is speaking” times when I crank out a lot of pages at once.  That, or going back over what I’ve written and realizing I am still having an emotional response, which means it must be pretty okay.

[patricksilvrrozartistry]

Current Music Obsessions: November 16 - 30, 2017

Soooo there's A LOT of stuff this time. I PURGED my watch later playlist and there's still over a hundred songs on there. ANYWAYS, here are the honorable mentions.

Then Comes Silence - Warm like Blood Lyria - What Do You Want From Me? Witchcraft - Холодный свет A Skylit Drive - Wires and the Conscept of Breathing Fenrir's Scar - From Porcelain to Ivory Royal Blood - How Did We Get so Dark? Cadence Calling - The Accounts of Evil The Oblivion - Helios In this Moment - Roots Demether - Two Roses Tears of Martyr - Evil Domini Words as Knives - Over the Abyss Kobra and the Lotus - Prevail Aftereffect - Fade Away HDK - Pedestal Diamond Black - Sorrow A Crowd of Rebellion - M1917 Alaska Thunderfuck - Come to Brazil Syndemic - Exileseeker Crimfall - The Last of Stands Elephants in Paradise - Feeding a Lie Kalela - LMK Sinistro - Lotus Mercury Killed Newton - Arusha Mourning Sun - Latitud:56'S Aly & AJ - I Know Satanicpornocultshop - Left Handed Darling Imperious - Scorn Cellar Darling - Six Days Lake of Silent Terror - Eyes of God Pale Waves - New Year's Eve A Sound of Thunder - Lifebringer

And the many obsessions.

1) Wheelfall - Impenitent

If you're looking for a death metal track with a dope ass intro, this is the song for you. The intro is so cool and different. It's your typical death metal track, but there's something about this song that's just so epic. Definitely a great listen.

2) Dim7 - Apophis Enigmata

This is blackened doom metal at its finest. It oddly has a groovy vibe to it in the early parts, but then it gets very doomy towards the end. I'm really digging the new direction that these guys are going it. I really enjoyed their gothic doom metal stuff from their early days, but this new stuff is pretty damn awesome.

3) Skarlett Riot - Warrior

This band fuses really catchy vocal lines with some badass riffs and I love the contrast between them. This band is really starting to grow on me the more and more I listen to them. This is a great jam and the breakdown near the end is a great way to tone things down a bit while still maintaining a lot of energy.

4) Moon Tooth - Little Witch

This song and video are so campy that it's making me love them. I'm still very new to these guys, so I don't know if a lot of their stuff is this cheesy, but even if isn't, I'm loving it. Definitely has a psychedelic rock, classic doom metal vibe to it. Go give these guys a listen.

5) Diablo Swing Orchestra - Knucklehugs (Arm Yourself with Love)

This is the first single off their upcoming album and I am so hyped for it. This song is pure camp fused with being an anthem track. Although I'll definitely miss them having  a soprano, their new frontwoman is bringing some new dimensions to them that's going to make them campier and I'm beyond excited for that.

6) Ruins of Elysium - The Birth of a Goddess

This is their latest single off their latest album and is definitely one of the highlights off it. We really need more bands like Ruins of Elysium that show their love and support for the LGBT community in their music, especially in the symphonic metal scene. Not only that, but be open enough to show to the world that they're fronted by someone in the community. This song speaks to me on so many levels being the bi dude that I am, and I can't help but feel so loved by such an amazing band. I can't wait to be able to meet Drake, because ya bitch needs to do that.

7) Cradle of Filth - Vengeful Spirit feat. Liv Kristine

Cryptoriana is handsdown their best album in the past decade, and this song is proof of that. I never expected Liv to collaborate with them again, especially on a more aggressive track like this. It's an epic adventure from start to finish and I can't get enough of it. If you're going to listen to anything off this gorgeous album, listen to this.

8) Rivers of Nihil - Perpetual Growth Machine

I rekindled my love for this ballbuster recently. I really need to listen to everything else this band has released, because this is the only song I've listened to from them. The riffs are so great and are always in your face. Don't even get me started on how intense the bridge is. Needless to say, it mutilated my balls.

9) Aeonian Sorrow - Forever Misery

I'm so happy to hear that Gogo of Luna Obscura is in an active project again. This song is completely different from the stuff from them. She sings in a much lower register. Oh, and this is depressive doom metal and not gothic metal. Such a hauntingly beautiful track.

10) HDK - Mortal Zombie

Discovered this song after I watched an interview for Sander's project Phantom Elite and they mentioned he was part of After Forever and I couldn't remember who he was so I went onto the metal archives and found this project under him and checked it out. This song is so epic. It's a bit cheesy, but the fact that it's such an intense and in your face track makes up for it.

11) Amberian Dawn - Dragonflies

I am blown away by how insanely epic this new album is proving itself to be already and I haven't even heard it yet. They're definitely going in a more faster direction and playing with some prog vibes. This is such an epic track and Capri looks insane in the video.

12) Evenoire - Forever Gone

This band never seems to fail me. Each song is such an epic piece of work. This song is so beautiful and has such a cool vibe to it and flows so nicely. I really love how proggy it is and how it switches tone a decent amount. Also it's the first song I've heard from them that features growls.

13) Apparition - The Dames of Darkness

This was a random find that I am so glad I came across. Such a beautiful and power gothic metal track. The end of the final chorus is everything. I love finding these hidden gems that snatch your edges out of nowhere.

14) Metalite - Purpose of Life

This band definitely has my attention. I'm very much looking forward to listening to their debut album, because everything I'm hearing so far is amazing. The strong electronic element goes so well with their power metal sound. Not to mention this song is definitely the fastest that I've heard from them so far.

15) Kartikeya - Durga Puja

I discovered this song through the band's record label and I'm so intrigued. It starts out sounding like progressive death metal, then it gets really weird during the bridge. Like, really weird. It sounds like the frontman is just speaking gibberish, but not a beat-boxing gibberish that Korn uses in their songs, this sounds like legit gibberish. I'm definitely am gonna listen to more from these guys and see what other interesting things they got going on.

16) Gravity - Noctifer ~ Le Porteur de Nuit

I discovered these guys not too long ago and this is the second song I've heard so far. They're a progressive death metal band with some strong djent vibes. I really want to hear more from them, because they have such an interesting sound. It sounds atmospheric, but is way to aggressive to be atmospheric.

17) Forbidden Lore - Endless Run

Another random discovery that snatched my edges. This is such a powerful symphonic power metal track and I need more of it. It's rare to find songs like this on the Metal Monks page, so when I saw it, I had to give it a listen, and I'm so glad I did. Their frontwoman has such a strong voice and I need more of it.

18) Eluveitie - Rebirth

This is their first metal single with the new lineup and I'm not mad at it. I was worried I wasn't going to like their new female singer as much as Anna, but she definitely fits very well. And it's also really great to hear a ballbuster that's reminiscent to some of their earlier stuff.

19) The Hardkiss - Part of Me

I was on a huge The Hardkiss kick for a minute and this was the main song I was jamming to. It's so catchy and fun and the bridge gets me every time. I wonder if they'll go back to having the obnoxiously artsy videos like they did back during the Stones and Honey days, because those were always fun to look at.

20) Aura's Seers - In Our Minds

This is their latest song and it's gorgeous. I LOVE the blend of trip hop with atmospheric metal. It has such a weird and beautiful contrast. And the video is breathtakingly beautiful. I can't wait to hear a full length album from them.

21) Lil Peep - The Brightside

It's so sad that he's past away. Especially since I discovered him maybe a month beforehand. This was the second song I heard from him and it really hits hard with what's going on right now. This song embodies the struggles he was going through. But even though things were really rough for him, he always wanted to look on the brightside. Even if he couldn't, he wanted his fans to at least do so with whatever situation they were/are going through.

22) Navarone - Step by Step

I discovered these guys a while back through either Marcela Bovio or Dianne Van Giersbergen and I really dig their sound. They're very different compared to majority of the Dutch bands I listen to. I guess you could say it's prog, but it's definitely not metal by any means. Such a fun song and a great jam. Really am looking forward to hearing more from these guys.

23) Johari - Bloom

Found a new gem on Spaceuntravel. These guys are ambient progressive metal that remind me a lot of Ashe O'hara's era with Tesseract. It has this soft, but in your face vibe to it that I really like. I'm definitely am gonna be listening to their new album sometime soon, because this song is just so great that I need to hear more from them.

24) Maidens of the North - Carry Your Darkness

Randomly came across this song one day and decided to check it out. I’m so glad I did. This song is so great. An all girl symphonic metal band. Do you know how hard it is to find an all girl metal band? Very! I’m definitely looking forward to what they release in the future, because this song alone is amazing.

25) Snovonne - Filth

For some reason this song reminds me of a Manson song, but it's nothing like a Manson. I came across them through a Facebook page and instantly fell in love with the bizarre and creepy atmosphere. It's so different from what I'm used to hearing from gothic metal bands that have a symphonic element to it. Definitely am gonna check out more from them.

That's it! There's probably gonna be a lot next time, so here's your warning!

[wytza]

Néha a rossz út visz a megfelelő helyre - Sometimes the wrong way takes you to the right place

Mint tőlem megszokott, a bejegyzés két nyelven érhető el, minden bekezdést angol fordítás követ, jó szórakozást!

Just as usual, my article is bilingual, so you can find the English translation always right after the Hungarian paragraph. Enjoy!

Ez most egy kicsit rendhagyó bejegyzés lesz, annál is inkább, mert általában hagyom a képeket beszélni magam helyett. De mivel jelenleg túl sok időm van, meg két sérült térdem, ez arra kényszerít, hogy másképp közelítsek meg bizonyos dolgokat. Egyébként sem árt, ha az ember feszegeti néha a határait és kilép a komfortzónájából.

Mai témám a zarándoklás lesz. Biztos hallottatok már a spanyolországi Szent Jakab útról, vagy másképp CAMINO DE SANTIAGO-ról. Ez manapság a legfelkapottabb zarándokút Európában.

A CAMINO

Röviden egy kb 800 km-es út, ami St. Jean Pied de Port-ból indul és Spanyolország északi részén halad végig Santiago de Composteláig, ahol Szent Jakab földi maradványait őrzik.  Az utazók tájékozódását sárga nyilak, felfestések és fésűkagyló szimbólumok jelzik végig, így szinte lehetetlen eltévedni. Az útikönyv nem is ezért kell, inkább a szintkülönbségek és a szálláslehetőségek miatt érdemes beszerezni egyet.

Jómagam, kb 10-11 évvel ezelőtt hallottam a Caminoról. Akkoriban Kecskeméten dolgoztam a színházban és a színész kollegák ültették a bogarat a fülembe. Megfogott az, ahogyan arról a felszabadultságról meséltek, amit az úton tapasztaltak. Ez és némi spirituális kíváncsiság motivált, hogy én is elinduljak egyszer. Teltek az évek, hol pénz, hol idő szűkében tolódott el a dolog, míg végül idén ősszel úgy alakult, hogy épp időben és elég pénzzel a zsebemben hagytam el Fuerteventurát ahhoz, hogy végre én is felkössem a batyut a hátamra. Így 1-2 hét alatt összeszedtem, ami az utazáshoz kellett és egy rövid barcelonai megálló után – amit egyébként imádtam és talán megérne egy külön bejegyzést - Pamplonánál tértem rá a „sárgaköves útra”.

Ennek azért nem kis lelki hatása volt. Egy olyan dologra készültem, aminek a képe ott csüngött a falamon 10 éven keresztül és most elérhető közelségbe került az, ami mindig is csak egy álomnak tűnt.

This is not gonna be an ordinary post from me, mostly because I usually let the pictures talk instead.  But… because I have too much time at the moment and two wrong knees, it makes me approach some things differently. Anyway it is good sometimes to discover our boundaries and step out of our comfort zone.

My topic today is pilgrimage. Many of you surely heard about the way of St. James, or other way CAMINO DE SANTIAGO. It’s the most popular pilgrim way in Europe nowadays.

THE CAMINO

Just shortly; this ’bout 800km way leads through in the north of Spain from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela, where St. James apostle was buried. The way is well signed along with yellow arrows, color marks and shell symbols, which helps the pilgrims, so it’s kind of impossible to miss the direction. Still it’s better to have a good map which contains the high meters and the accomodations.

The first time I’ve heard about the Camino 10-11 yrs ago from my actor collegues, I was working in the Theater of Kecskemét. The way they’ve been talking about that liberation they experienced along the way completely compelled me. This and a dose of spiritual curiosity inspired me to take the road one day. The years passed and either I missed the money or time to plan my trip. Finally this fall I left Fuerteventura just in time and with enough money in my pocket to make it happen. I took one or two weeks to prepare all the necessary things and after a short stop in Barcelona – which was awesome and worth another post – I stepped on the „yellow brick road”.

Psychologically this was a blast. I’ve been doing a thing which I was just dreaming of for 10 years. I had a picture hangin’ on my wall and it all seemed unreachable till now.

Szóval Pamplona, némi kezdeti nehézség és eső. Nem mintha ezzel nem számoltam volna és tulajdonképpen örültem annak is, hogy nem St. Jeanból indultam és így nem kellett ilyen időben átkelnem a Pireneusokon. - Valószínű egyébként úgy még rövidebbre sikerült volna a kirándulásom. – De mindenképpen jelzés értékű volt, hogy ez az út nem lesz egyszerű. És valóban. Összesen 10 napot tudtam ott tölteni, viszont ennek a 10 napnak is meglettek a tanulságai, rövid és hosszú távú kihatásai az életemre.

De kezdjük az elején. Miért is megy az ember zarándokútra? Van, aki vallási indíttatásból, van, aki kalandvágyból, mert kihívásnak tekinti. Én elsősorban kíváncsiságból vágtam neki. Egyrészt persze, hogy képes vagyok-e rá, másrészt amiatt, hogy mit hoz ki belőlem az út, vagy éppen mit tartogat számomra. Fizikálisan felkészültnek gondoltam magam. Az időszakos diszkomfort sosem zavart, a mai napig szeretek például kempingezni is. Az animációban a napi aktív óráim száma 6-16 között mozgott, ami tartalmazott nem kevés fitnesst, táncpróbát, esti táncshowkat, így az erőnlétemmel sem volt gond. Lelkileg nem igazán éreztem szükségét, hogy tréningezzem magam. Inkább igyekeztem nem elvárásokkal nekiindulni. Szerettem volna jelen lenni, megélni az élményt, csak elfogadni azt, amit az út hoz számomra.

So Pamplona. Some difficulties and rain. Not like I wasn’t prepared to that. Moreover I was happy I chose Pamplona as a starting place, not St. Jean Pied de Port, so I didn’t have to climb the Pyrenees in this weather – I have the feeling that would have made my journey even shorter. – But it was a definite sign that this trip is not gonna be easy. Indeed. In the end I spent 10 days on the road in total, but even this short time left a significant mark in my life as a lesson.

Let’s start from the top. Why are people even going for pilgrimage? Some has religious reasons, others take that as an adventure. I was rather curious. Of course about being able to do it as well, but mainly curious about what does the way bring out of me psychically and spiritually, or what does it bring to me. I thought I was physically fit for the task. A short term discomfort never bothered me, I’ve always loved camping and my last 18 months in animation where my active hours been between 6 – 16 a day containing a lot of fitness, dance rehearsals and dance shows let me think I’d be just fine. Honestly I didn’t feel the necessity for psychical training or any spiritual preparation, but I’ve tried not to go with any expectation. I just wanted to be present and take all what came along.

az én hibám

Azt hiszem az elvárásokkal mégis elbuktam. Két dologgal ugyanis nem számoltam. Az egyik a hideg. Az időjárás ugyanis úgy döntött, hogy épp azon a héten döntögeti az elmúlt tíz év legalacsonyabb rekordjait, így napsütésben sem volt 14°C – nál többhöz szerencsém, ami azért kicsit ciki, ha azt nézzük, hogy 30 plusszal szoktak az év ezen szakában számolni. Rövidre fogva fáztam. Nagyon. A másik tényező a tömeg volt. Mint kiderült sikerült kifognom még egy rekordot, mégpedig a legtöbben zarándoklók idejét. A St. Jean-ból indulóktól tudom, valóban ez volt az év legforgalmasabb hete az úton. Ez először csak meghökkentett. Később viszont elkezdett zavarni. Nem csak azért mert így szabályos verseny folyt a férőhelyekért a zarándok szállásokon, hanem mert azon emberek közé tartozom, akik szeretnek néha egyedül lenni. Kifejezetten szeretek egyedül utazni és néha elveszni. És bár másoknak erőt és inspirációt adhat, hogy bármerre néz, előtte – mögötte legalább 30 embert lát, aki éppen ugyanoda tart ahova ő, nekem néha jól esett volna csak a pusztaságot látni. Csalódottsággal töltött el hogy ugyanazt a társas magányt tapasztalom egy zarándokúton, mint ami a nagyvárosok sajátja. Félreértés ne essék, elég nyitott vagyok, és könnyen barátkozom, akadtak is kellemes útitársaim, amiért hálás vagyok, ugyanakkor az, hogy valóban egyedül maradjak, lehetetlennek bizonyult.

epic fail

As it turned out I couldn’t leave all my expectations behind. My bad - I didn’t count on two things. Number one – the cold; the weather decided to break the lowest record of the last 10 years just that week. So it was around 14°C even with sunshine instead of the normal 30+ around this time. Shortly: I was cold…VERY COLD. Number two – the crowd. I caught another record… for that was the week of most registered people on the way. At first it was just surprising, but later it started to bother me. Not only because of the competition for the free places in the albergues.  (That’s how they call the hostel kind of special accommodations for pilgrims.)  I’m that kind of person who likes to be alone. I like to travel alone and get lost sometimes. Eventho I know for others it can be inspiring or helping to see 30 other people ahead and behind going just the exact same way with the same goal, for me it would have been more releasing to see only the way at some point. It made me disappointed to experience the big cities’ typical social solitude in pilgrimage. Don’t misunderstand me please, I’m an opened person and making friends easily and I got very nice company on the way which I am really grateful for. But to stay alone to take a minute only for myself was impossible.

“Az Isten itt állt a hátam mögött s én megkerültem érte a világot”

József Attila sorai nagyon jól érzékeltetik milyen vak tud lenni az ember miközben hajszol valamit, még akkor is ha ezt nem tudatosan teszi. Vagy főleg akkor. Elmaradt az utazás extázisa. Sokat gondolkoztam rajta, ez miért van így. Egy olyan ember számára, aki életét egy megszokott környezetben éli helyhez kötötten - nem sokat, vagy talán egyáltalán nem utazott, ez az út valóban világrengető lehet, és ennek így is kell lennie. Talán én vagyok elromolva, vagy fura mód kiégve. Pár év utazgatás és animáció után, ahol az emberek szórakoztatása, a kapcsolatteremtés volt a munkám, nekem az volt a furcsa, hogy nem volt furcsa ott lennem. Természetes dolog volt, hogy úton vagyok, hogy új embereket ismerek meg nap mint nap, hiszen évek óta ebben éltem, ráadásul összességében majdnem teljes 2 évet töltöttem már Spanyolországban. Higgyétek el, tudom, milyen szerencsés voltam, és hálás is vagyok érte. De hagy nevessem ki magam, azért hogy ilyen messzire kellett eljönnöm ahhoz, hogy egyrészt erre, másrészt arra rájöjjek, hogy már nyomokban sem hasonlítok huszonéves önmagamra. 

“God was standing behind me and I went around the world to find him”

It’s a very good line from a Hungarian writer, Attila József. Express the best how blind we can be when we seek for something even if it’s not conscious.  I’ve been thinking a lot, why I lost the euphoric feeling of discovery this time. For a person living an ordinary life – and take ordinary as a positive thing. Having a safe job with enough salary, a caring family, hobbies, weekly going out with friends, basically happy life – but not travelling too much or at all, well an adventure like this for sure rocks their world. And it should! But maybe I’m broken or burnt out in a different way. After some years of travelling and animation, where my job is to entertain people and talk to them… the strangest thing was: it was not strange at all to be there. It was just natural that I’m in a different country, that I meet new people day by day, because I lived this way already for years – and from that almost 2 in Spain. Trust me, I know how lucky I was and I can’t be thankful enough for that, but let me just laugh at myself how far did I have to come to realize this and also that I’m very far from my 20 years old self already.

csodák, bajok és egyéb állatfajok

Az első napokban a 20-30 kilométeres menetelés teljesen tarthatónak tűnt, még a túlpakolt hátizsákkal és a szintkülönbségekkel is. A kondícióm rendben volt, és egy-két vízhólyagnál nagyobb problémám nem akadt. A monotonitás tulajdonképpen egészen relaxáló, ha az ember ráérez a saját tempójára. Napjában ugyanazokkal az emberekkel kerülgettük egymást, néha egy-egy rövid beszélgetéssel vagy legalább elmormolva egy BUEN CAMINO-t. Voltak útitársaim hosszabb időre is, akiknek ezúton is köszönöm, hogy velem tartottak – Fernando, Ági, Bandi, Brenda, Christin és a kanadai társaság – de főként Bandinak, aki mellettem maradt mikor sikerült összeszednem egy ételmérgezést minden velejáró „kellemes” tünetével együtt.

miracles, problems and other creatures

In the first days the daily 20-30 kilometers march seemed absolutely fine even with overfilled backpack and quite big level differences. I was fit for the walks and didn’t have more problems than one or two blisters on my feet. Monotony can be quite relaxing if you find your own tempo. I met the same people regularly on the road, sometimes had small talks or just mumbling a BUEN CAMINO to each other. I had companions for longer time as well – Fernano, Ági, Bandi, Brenda, Christin and the Canadian group – I’d like to thank you for walk with me. Especially Bandi, who stayed with me when I ‘won’ a food poisoning with all the ‘pleasant’ symptoms. 

Szerencsére ez egy extrém eset volt, az egész útra inkább a pozitív történések voltak a jellemzők. A látvány kárpótolt a hideg idő miatt - csak nézzétek végig a képeket – és valóban, tele volt a 10 nap kisebb – nagyobb csodákkal. Csak hogy párat említsek, Estellában egy kis albergué-ben szálltunk meg a magyar útitársaimmal és ad-hoc főztünk egy paprikáskrumpli vacsorát, ami elég lett ahhoz, hogy az összes zarándok társunkat megvendégeljük vele és egy kellemes családias legalább 6 különböző nemzetből álló asztaltársaságot hozzon össze.  Talán nem megy csoda számba, de én szeretem, amikor egy ilyen végtelenül egyszerű dolog ennyire pozitív légkört teremt, főleg ha spontán történik. Egy másik alkalommal egy parkon haladtunk át, ahol a mókusok annyira hozzászoktak az emberek jelenlétéhez, hogy a kezemből tudtam etetni őket almával és mandulával, amit az úton szedtem.

Luckily that was an extreme case, I rather experienced positive things. The wonderful view along the way made me forget about the cold – just take a look at the pictures - and every day had its own little miracle. Just a few examples, one day we stayed in a small albergue in Estella with my Hungarian companions, just decided to cook a Hungarian meal, but we measured it wrong and made too much food, so we just invited everyone in the house for a dinner. It was the best night of the journey for me with at least 6 different nations at the table.  Maybe it’s not a real miracle but I like simple things which can create such a good atmosphere and bring the people together so spontaneously. Another day we’ve been walking through a park where the squirrels got so much used to the people I could even feed them from my hands with apple and almond I found on the way.

A legnagyobb élményem viszont a Bikafuttatás marad Vianában.  - Nem, nem viadal, futtatás! Nem esett baja egyetlen embernek és bikának sem!  - A helyiek éppen ünnepet tartottak, mikor keresztül haladtunk a falun. Mindenki fehér – pirosba öltözve vonult a forgatagban. Utcafesztivál, báb előadás a gyerekeknek és a végén a fő attrakció volt a bikafuttatás. A főutca úgy volt kialakítva, hogy le lehessen zárni, így a bikákat a falu teljes hosszán oda-vissza tudták terelni, a templomtér melletti kerítés pedig a legjobb rálátást biztosította. A bátrak az utcán várták a vágtázó állatokat, futottak előttük, majd az utolsó pillanatban felugrottak a kerítésre. A legnagyobb elismerés ugye annak járt, aki legutoljára ugrott el a bika elől, vagy akár meg is érintette. Voltak páran a zarándokok között is, akik beszálltak a ringbe… például én is. Miután kibámészkodtam magam, úgy gondoltam egy ilyen alkalom csak egyszer adódik az életben, így átmásztam a kerítésen és futottam pár kört a bikákkal együtt. Az adrenalin löket nagy volt, de az élmény egy életre szól. Fun fact, hogy bika csillagjegyben születtem, amit eddig elég idegennek éreztem. 

But my greatest experience was the bull run game in Viana. No, not a bullfight, no human or bull got hurt! There was a festival right when we passed through the village. The local people dressed all in red and white, street parade with music, puppet play for the kids, and in the end the main attraction, the bull run. The houses on the main street was equipped with fences, so they could close it and let the animals run up and down all along the village. The best place to watch was the church square also guarded with a long fence and gates. The brave ones were waiting for the bulls on the street. They were running in front of them for a while and then in the last second jumping on the fence. The closer you got to the bull, the bigger appreciation you got. Some of the pilgrims also joined the run… so did I. After taking some photos and videos I realized this might be a one and only opportunity in my life and I surely would regret if I didn’t take it. So I just jumped over the fence and ran some rounds with the bulls too. It was a huge adrenalin shot, but worthy and this memory stays with me for my entire life. Fun fact, my zodiac is Taurus which I never felt really mine. We can say I do now.

kalandból lecke

A gondok az 5. nap környékén kezdődtek. Ekkorra kezdtek el szinte elviselhetetlenül fájni a térdeim. Hiába a fájdalomcsillapító, a tapaszolás, hiába figyeltem arra is, hogy az izmaim le legyenek nyújtva és pihentetve nap végén. Bár sejtettem, hogy a megelőző másfél év hajtása még vissza fog rúgni, arra nem gondoltam, hogy ennyire gyorsan és ilyen mértékben. Az sem segített a helyzeten hogy rettenetesen makacs vagyok, és nem szeretem feladni azt, amit kitűztem célomul. Pihenő helyett tovább hajtottam magam. Az utolsó két napon már előre küldtem a csomagom - igen, már ilyen szolgáltatás is vagy a zarándokúton - hogy legalább a plusz tehertől mentesítsem az izületeimet, de Beloradoba érve így is képtelenné váltam arra, hogy a legkisebb lejtőn fel vagy lesétáljak. Hozzá kell tennem a fájdalomküszöböm elég magas, de amikor megláttam a szálláson az emeletre vezető lépcsőt, szó szerint elsírtam magam. Megsemmisülve éreztem magam. Be kellett látnom, hogy túlvállaltam magam, a térdeimre pedig táncosként még igen nagy szükségem van. A következő etap feléig szerencsémre nem volt számottevő szintkülönbség, így másnap a csomagomat előreküldtem és átsétáltam egy laza 12 kilométert pár fájdalomcsillapító társaságában. Ugyancsak a gondviselést áldom, hogy Villafrancában találkoztam azzal a kanadai társasággal, akik busszal indultak tovább Burgosba, így csatlakoztam hozzájuk. A következő két napot Burgosban töltöttem, leginkább pihenéssel, de még ekkor is azon gondolkodtam hogy tudnám folytatni az utat. 

from adventure to lesson

The problems started around the 5th day when my knees began to hurt unbearably. No painkiller or tape could help anymore and it didn’t matter I took care of stretching and letting my muscles rest in the end of the day. Somehow I knew the overworking of the last 18 months will kick back at some point but I didn’t expect so soon and so hard. My stubbornness didn’t help the situation either. Instead of stopping immediately, I forced myself keep going till I could. I’m not a quitter, but this is what I had to learn. THERE IS A POINT WHERE YOU HAVE TO TAKE A STEP BACK! So you’ll be able to go forward, otherwise you break - and as a dancer I still need my knees pretty much. In the last two days I sent my backpack forward to the next town (yes, there is such a service for that on the Camino) so I could at least take some pressure off of my joints, but I still became unable to go up or downhill while I reached Belorado. For the record, my pain tolerance is quite high, but when I saw the staircase at the albergue, I literally started to cry. I felt completely defeated. I knew I have to do something and still I first thought about taking only one or two days rest. Luckily the next part of the way was flat, so I sent my backpack forward again and walked a loose 12 kilometers consorted by some painkillers. Someone really has to love me above cause in Villafranca I met that Canadian company who wanted to catch the bus to Burgos, so I joined them.

*Ez itt egyébként Steve, a Burgosi Katedrális legsármosabb vízköpője - BTW This is Steve, the most charming gargoyle of the Burgos Cathedral :D

Persze azt a lélegzetelállító katedrálist meg kellett néznem, kívül-belül és az egyik meglehetősen vallásos útitársamnak köszönhetően még egy misére is beültem, amire nem volt példa már vagy 20 éve (és szintén csoda számba megy), de leginkább arra fókuszáltam, hogy a térdeim regenerálódni tudjanak. Itt ért igazából a fordulat. Két nap után ugyan mutatkozott némi javulás, de rájöttem, hogy hosszú távon, a makacsságom nem lenne túl kifizetődő. Először csalódott voltam – bizony, szörnyű érzés, mikor az ember rájön, hogy nem mindenható :) - és jó nagy pofon volt az egómnak, hogy a 60 éves nénikék mosolyogva sétálnak tovább Santiago felé, míg én otthon fekszem az ágyban felpolcolt lábakkal, de ez nem a vég. Néha vissza kell lépnünk egyet, hogy aztán kettőt léphessünk előre. Óriási közhely, de mint általában a közhelyek, ez is igaz.  Szóval 2 nap töltődés után vettem egy buszjegyet Madridba, ahol szintén tartottam egy délutáni városnézést – amihez egyébként először kedvem sem volt, de végül imádtam – majd másnap hazarepültem Budapestre. 

I spent the next two day in Burgos mainly resting. Of course I had to take a look at that breathtaking Cathedral inside and outside – and thanks to a very religious roommate I even visited a mass which I didn’t do for like 20 years (also a small miracle). – But I was mainly focusing on my knees to regenerate. These two days brought the turn. Tho I felt a bit better but I had to admit this bite was too big now. I was disappointed first, of course. It’s horrible when we realize we aren’t almighty, isn’t it? :) It was a huge break for my ego that 60 years old ladies keep walking with a smile on their face while I’m lying in my bed with pillows under my legs, but it’s not the end. So I just tried to enjoy my time in Burgos and two days later I bought a bus ticket to Madrid, were I spent another half day – first I didn’t even want but in the end it was great fun. - And the next day I flew home to Budapest.

Az útvonalam így körülbelül 200 kilométerre rövidült. Pamplona - Puente la Reina – Estella – Los Arcos – Logrono – Nájera – Santo Domingo de la Calzada – Belorado – Villafranca de Montes de Oca – Burgos. Bár sokan csinálják azt, hogy részletekben mennek végig az úton és a lehetőség adott, én nem vagyok biztos benne, hogy visszatérek. Nem a térdeim miatt, és nem azért mert rossz érzéseket keltett volna bennem. Egyszerűen nem érzem szükségét. Talán ennyi volt az én Caminom. Egyáltalán nem bántam meg, hogy elindultam és mindenkinek ajánlom hogy egyszer legalább menjen el zarándokolni, nem a helyszín számít, hanem hogy úton légy! Engem ebben a 10 napban is rengeteg impulzus ért, jó, rossz egyaránt, és héé, egy 10 éves álom vált valóra, még ha nem is úgy, ahogy azt elsőre gondoltam volna.

So I ended up with only a 200km trip. Pamplona - Puente la Reina – Estella – Los Arcos – Logrono – Nájera – Santo Domingo de la Calzada – Belorado – Villafranca de Montes de Oca – Burgos. Many people make the journey in parts, leaving and then returning for another period but even if it is a possibility, I’m not sure if I will ever go back. Not because of my knees or because of any negative feelings. I simply don’t feel it necessary. Maybe that was my Camino. I didn’t regret at all that I started, and I would recommend to everyone, once in a lifetime to go pilgrimage. Doesn’t matter where, just go! Be on the way! Even in this 10 days I got so many impulses good and bad equal, and HEY, a 10 years old dream came true, maybe not the way I planned, but the way it had to.

Az orvos egyébként porclágyulást állapított meg. Az állapot határeset, de nem akart egyből kés alá küldeni, így gyógyszerekkel és gyógytornával kezdtem a rehabilitációt, ami egyébként egészen jól halad. (Már nem sírok, ha lépcsőt látok! :D ) A kényszerpihenő pedig úgy érzem abszolút az előnyömre vált. De ezt majd egy másik bejegyzésben fejtem ki bővebben.  

Písz - Láv

u.i.: Azért vicces belegondolni, hogy 200 kilométer is mennyire képes megváltoztatni az ember életét.

By the way the doctor diagnosed chondromalatia. It was pretty bad but she didn’t want to send me directly to surgery, so we started the treatment with medicines and physiotherapy. I think it’s going well (I’m not crying anymore when I see a staircase :D ) And the forced rest made me do some positive changes but I’ll rather tell you about it in another post.

Peace - love

p.s. It’s funny how much can 200km change us.

[golshxd-blog]

As we’ve alluded to a few times here on the blog and on Instagram, we’ve decided to make some big changes to our travel style for upcoming adventures in 2017. So we wanted to share our thoughts on why we decided to leave our camper behind as we set off to criss-cross the country this year!

On our drive north after wrapping up our Appalachian adventure Ryan and I began discussing what our 2017 travels would look like. We’d previously assumed we’d be taking the camper with us around the country, but after six weeks of having it on the road with us, we weren’t as excited about the prospect as we’d expected to be. Fortunately, we were in agreement that for the next leg of our travels, we needed a better — and smaller — plan.

We began discussing options. Our first idea was to leave the camper behind, sell the Tahoe, and purchase a small (

Next we considered trading in the Tahoe for in fact, Ryan had already built out into an epic road tripping home on wheels in his mind. But, while we’re still positive a van is in our future, we struggled to find one at the perfect intersection of price point and specs we were looking for. (And Ryan wasn’t thrilled at the idea of buying a van that had endured salty New England winters.)

Those options having fallen by the wayside, we were back to square one. And at that point we realized — Franklin, our trusty Chevy Tahoe, was already a pretty sweet road trip machine! Ryan went back to the drawing board and had soon sketched out plans for a new car camping build, including an awesome new kitchen design. He took on some projects to make Franklin look and run better. And before too long, our current vehicle had transformed into a comfortable and reliable mini home on wheels!

All that is the what of our upcoming travels, but I also wanted to share why we found ourselves wanting to downsize in the first place. Minimalism has been a big driving force in our lives over the past couple of years, and I always loving talking about why we love living small and the things that drive us to a lighter, more adventurous life.

1. Towing the Camper Can Be a Drag

There, I’ve said it. After getting off to a rough start towing the camper through the mountains of West Virginia, it took us a while to settle in to pulling 6,000 lbs behind us wherever we went! That’s the cost of carrying all your creature comforts with you, I suppose — but after about a week on the road, we were already tired of setting up, breaking down, not being able to get drive through … the list goes on. And it was also frustrating that Ryan was the only one able to drive; hats off to you ladies who are skilled at towing, but I’m just not! While he’s usually happy to be behind the wheel, there were times when he was tired, or not feeling well, or just didn’t want to drive, and we missed the flexibility of me being able to take the wheel. Overall, while we adapted pretty quickly to the vagaries of life with a camper in tow; it just seemed like a continuous, low-grade hassle, and one we didn’t feel like dealing with for the next nine months.

2. We Want to Cut Costs

You had to know this one was coming! You guys, camper spots, even without sewer hookups, are expensive. Of course, there’s always boondocking, but if we were going without things like air conditioning and an electric hookup to run the fridge, what was the point of having the camper with us, anyway? This trip we’re looking to do a lot more boondocking … maybe even check out a Walmart parking lot or two … and just generally rough it in the interest of adventuring more, and saving money. (The sacrifices seem totally worth it if it frees up more cash for things like rafting the Rio Grande in Big Bend, or taking an air taxi to Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska!)

3. We’re Comfortable with Less

After selling 90% of our stuff, taking two six week car camping trips, and figuring out we don’t miss our stuff, even the camper was just feeling extravagant! And after another summer parked in Harpers Ferry, and a three month stay with my parents (plus a very generous Christmas!), we were both beginning to feel the weight of our stuff again. (Can I just say — going through every nook and cranny to pack for this upcoming trip was highly therapeutic!) We’ve learned that with car camping we have just enough to feel comfortable … but not too comfortable. We’ve been joking that the next step in our downsizing process is a backpack apiece! (Spoiler alert: we already have them

)

We’re Craving More Adventure

One more thing we learned on our last trip — somehow, having the camper ended up putting a damper on our adventurous spirits. I often think of Jess Curren’s excellent post, I Don’t Trust Myself in Suburbia, and somehow, the camper was starting to feel like our own personal version of suburbia. (If you haven’t read her post — and even if you have — go read it. Seriously.)

“We are advocates for an active, outdoor, adventure, family-oriented lifestyle so what does that say about me when I can’t even get us out the door in over a week? It says that life in Suburbia is hard and we are cheaters.” — Jess Curren

Traveling with the camper we found ourselves sleeping in later, spending more time watching TV on the laptop (seriously, we watched three seasons of Chicago P.D. in six weeks), forgoing campfires in favor of nights on the couch, and generally sucking at getting out the door and exploring. I can’t explain what it was, other than that we were just too comfortable. And comfort is not why we upended our lives and moved into a camper.

And That’s Why We’re on the Road with Just Our Tahoe

So, here we are — on the road, headed southwest, with all our stuff packed into our Chevy Tahoe. We’re planning on mixing it up this trip; it’s not going to be nine straight months of camping. In fact, in the two weeks we’re taking to get from New Hampshire to Louisiana, we don’t have a single night of camping planned — our route is formed by waypoints with hospitable and welcoming friends and family. So, while we will be doing lots of car camping this year, we’ll also be stopping with friends, and we are also hoping to dip our toes into the world of professional house sitting. And I’m sure we’ll pepper in some hotel stays and tent camping, too.

That’s all, folks! Thanks for reading along

Tell us in the comments: What’s your favorite method of travel? RV, van, car camping, tent camping, backpacking?

[laylainalaska]

My GotG thoughts

Also posted on DW.

I did not go in expecting to love it. I actually was lukewarm on the first one (which, by the way, I am totally buying so I can rewatch it now, because Netflix does not have it streaming, the jerks). I DID NOT EXPECT TO LOVE THIS MOVIE. AT ALL. I LOVED THIS MOVIE A WHOLE LOT. I also think the trailer for this movie (the first teaser trailer, the Fox on the Run one) might be one of the best trailers I've ever seen, because it a) took me from "meh" to really wanting to see this movie, and b) did not actually spoil ANYTHING! I went into this completely unspoiled -- in fact, far less spoiled than I thought I was after seeing the trailer -- and I'm really glad. If watching things nonspoiled is your thing, I think you will enjoy having that experience. Which means you will not want to click on the readmore, because ALL THE SPOILERS are here.

Okay, so first of all, the thing about this movie is that it managed to hit a TON of my favorite trope buttons in completely unexpected ways. Obviously the "found family" thing is a gimme (though I was surprised by how sold I was on it by the end of the movie given that I wasn't completely sold on it in the previous one).

But there was a bunch of other stuff too! First of all, I absolutely adore the trope of choosing the imperfect, painful world over the perfect fantasy built on top of a chasm of horror, and everything with Peter's dad nailed that so hard: being offered not just a perfect fantasy of a happy family, but genuine godhood, and noping out hard once he realizes what accepting that godhood actually means for the galaxy and for him personally. And I love the way the movie develops the theme of "everything you wanted was there all along" -- a bickering family that was nothing like he imagined (but he loves these stupid assholes anyway), and a flawed father figure who loves him enough to die for him. ... Everything with Peter and Yondu. OH MY GODDDDDD. THE FEEEEEEELZ. I have to remind myself that Yondu is VERY FAR from "parent of the year", and he knows it, which makes it worse in a way ... and yet, in the end, he was there when Peter needed him, and they got to have their moment, and ... just FEEEEEELS, ENDLESS FEELS, help. I also have way more feels than I was expecting about Peter, in general. I was kind of indifferent to Peter in the first movie, which I guess was one of the main things that made it hard for me to get into it. But I keep thinking about a piece of movie meta that someone (I think it was violent-darts) posted afterwards about how Peter's entire persona is basically "peacemaker" and "caretaker" -- he's basically the team mom, and watching this movie just impressed on me really hard about how much of Peter is wrapped up in loving people, and wanting them to love him, and just trying to make the people that he loves be safe and happy. And now I have about a billion Peter feels (though I think Yondu edged him out as my favorite, because I am such a total sucker for someone who has done terrible things and doesn't think they are a good person but manages to hero it up anyway). So there was that! But I also loved how this movie wasn't JUST Peter's daddy issues (though I enjoyed those) or even Peter and the Guardians' found-family thing. Every character had at least one important platonic relationship that got story development and its own little mini-arc: Yondu and Rocket, Gamora and Nebula, Drax and Mantis. I particularly loved that Drax and Mantis were explicitly platonic (in this movie, anyway - I guess it's possible future movies might go a different direction), because it started off hitting some unpleasant buttons -- childlike female character as potential object of sexual interest (Born Sexy Yesterday), but then it didn't go that way at all! And yet, despite the fact that the movie makes it very obvious he is not sexually into her, he still makes friends with her, and is willing to die to save her at the end. Ultimately, in this movie, the one and only romance (Peter/Gamora - well, if you don't count Ego/Meredith) is actually an incredibly minor part of the movie; the fulcrum on which the movie's emotional heart rests is friendship, found family, and adoptive parenthood. The movie's ultimate message is that your birth family may be total irredeemable dicks and there's nothing you can do about it, but you can still build a whole world with people who love you enough to die for you, and I just spent the last half of the movie wallowing in that so hard. (Extra bit of awesome: that Mantis and the Ravager first-mate guy, whose name apparently is Kraglin -- I had to look it up for the fic I wrote -- and even Yondu, posthumously, ended up becoming part of the Guardians, part of their new ship's crew. I love that it's not just the 5 of them; I love that others can be drawn into their family. Same thing I'm loving in S3 of Flash, actually -- that the "family" metaphor is explicitly drawn wide enough to include the "new" members of the family as well as the founding members.) And then there's all the '80s nostalgia stuff, which the movie cranked up to pure camp AND IT WAS AWESOME. The music! The cameos! (Best David Hasselhoff cameo EVER.) The whole aesthetic of Ego's planet, and Ego himself, which was total '70s/'80s stoner sci-fi (Rodney Matthews/Boston album covers/every paperback fantasy novel of the era) at its most psychedelic. THEY DIGITALLY RECREATED 1980s KURT RUSSELL FOR THE EGO FLASHBACKS. I CAN'T EVEN. Not all of the humor worked for me, but I loved that the movie was funny and entertaining and then it made those sudden left turns into massively serious stuff (the charnel house of dead children's bones; "I won't leave him behind - I won't leave you behind"; "He may be your father, but he wasn't your daddy") punch all the harder because it was such a sharp turn away from the humorous tone. Also, because it was willing to be funny instead of dead serious all the time, it came across feeling more human that a lot of epic sci-fi does -- even stuff like the video game warriors on the planet of the gold people (I don't think I ever caught what they were called), who react to winning and losing in life-and-death space battle just like teenagers playing a game, because that is essentially what they ARE. And this movie even ended up doing better than Marvel movies typically do with female characters, admittedly with an extremely low bar to clear, but out of 8 main characters (as I count them?) 3 of them were female, none of the three were "just" there as a love interest, and all of them got cool plot stuff to do and at least one important platonic relationship, including one lady-lady relationship that was a running thread throughout the movie. Low bar? Sure. But if you'd told me that GotG2 would actually be one of the best movies in the entire MCU franchise for female characters, I would not have believed you. And yet it was! Finally, let me leave you with the one original song on the movie's soundtrack, in all its campy glory ...

WHICH IS PERFORMED BY DAVID HASSELHOFF IN CASE YOU MISSED THAT PART.

[driftinglightofthewoods]

okay so I had a weird but interesting dream: the setting was basically high school and I saw it through Nethels perspective. It was like your average highschool plot with bullies annoying her and her crush being friends with the bullies because drama.

Anyway shit hits the fan when the bullies tried to humiliate her in the canteen and she stalks after them to kick their asses- and that’s where things start to get weird. After beating her personal nemesis she goes after bully number two- who is now revealed to be the mastermind behind some scheme to take control over reality. They’re not actually /in/ a highschool, just in some weird illusion of one to keep people docile.

Anyway Kaziel turns out to be some kind of superpowered guardian of the knowledge of mankind planning a secret rebellion against this mastermind dude and Nethel basically spoiled his infiltration into enemy camp, but he saves her from being killed because she finally showed that rebellious nature people have.

Also it was kinda implied that Nethel and Kaziel were both supposed to be these guardians but Nethel was kidnapped by enemy forces and brainwashed into thinking she was but a human, basically considered missing in action-

the bad guys didn’t consider that Kaziel would try to infiltrate into the group and they also didn’t consider that if something like that occurred that she would fall in love with him all over again

@lacrimosa-magnolia it was epic. and spacey. and Kaziel at some point controlled lava which was AWESOME