#anyway twas fun times i recommend

[askshivanulegacy]

Ok so we can all agree Dragon Age Absolution is critically flawed because it doesn't have Fenris, but it DOES still have a stabby stabby elf with an angsty backstory AND it's leagues better than Critical Role, so I'll give it a pass. 8)

[lumiereandcogsworth]

hey lumi! I just thought of another question I wanted to ask you, other than batb, which live action remake do you think is the best? I haven't seen any and I want an expert opinion 😄

oh my gosh!!!!! i’m so honored. and i’m also SO autistic so i did so much more here than you asked. but anyway i wanted to wait to answer this until today because the little mermaid (2023) just dropped on disney+ and i JUST watched it for the first time. so i can include it in my list!!

of course prefacing with these are all my personal opinions, im not a film expert (and i pray to God i never am) i just like what i like! so without further ado: my thoughts! also this is just in chronological order, not ranked.

alice in wonderland (2010) - dude!! this was SUCH a hyperfixation for me when i was a kid. somehow, batb 2017 is NOT the first live action disney movie i’ve been utterly obsessed with. this movie is so good. i love the lightly gothic, mysterious fantasy aesthetic that is has. i love the wardrobe, i want to wear every outfit alice wears. i love how dark it is, like there’s such an edge to it while still being pleasant and fun enough to respectably be a disney movie. johnny depp does a fantastic job of course, (purely discussing his acting abilities here) he truly brings the madness into the mad hatter. all the acting is fantastic though. i highly recommend this film. you don’t really need to have seen the 1951 cartoon, i hadn’t, but it doesn’t hurt to! (i don’t recommend the sequel, alice through the looking glass, though. they really should’ve quit while they were ahead on this one)

maleficent (2014) & maleficent: mistress of evil (2019) - i enjoyed both of these!! i actually liked the second one more, but either way, it’s such a fun take on sleeping beauty. and this is coming from someone who LOVES sleeping beauty 1959!! it’s different obviously but it really is a good time, absolutely worth watching.

cinderella (2015) - beautiful! lovely!! not the most exciting film honestly but i do love the aesthetics and wardrobe. it’s a really pretty, pleasant movie. i’d love to rewatch it sometime! if only disney+ had it! which it doesn’t! for some inexplicable reason!!

beauty and the beast (2017) - i know you said besides my wife but obviously i have to still list it because. that’s my wife. anyway perfect film no notes!

the nutcracker and the four realms (2018) - i wanted to like this one so much more than i did. but it was just, so weird. it derails from canon in a way that isn’t enjoyable. ah. twas a let down, for me.

christopher robin (2018) - i don’t remember much honestly but it’s cute!! certainly worth a watch, but i don’t recall anything too special about it. it did make me cry though (that’s not hard for me to do at movies, to be fair)

mary poppins returns (2018) - CANNOT RECOMMEND ENOUGH!! THIS MOVIE IS LIKE IF JOY WAS TURNED INTO A FILM!!!! AAAHHH!!! :) SO LOVELY SO WONDERFUL!!!

the lion king (2019) - :/ genuinely not worth your time. it was TOO similar to the cartoon in terms of storyline, so it felt incredibly pointless to me. plus, it’s kind of boring that they look like real lions. i felt like i was watching animal planet but then pulled out of reality whenever they spoke or sang afjskfj

aladdin (2019) - ever since i saw this, i’ve only ever had three takeaways, and i’ll say them like a compliment sandwich. 1. visually STUNNING. the colors and the choreography, the people! all very beautiful. 2. the romance was… very flat? i honestly kept forgetting there was a love story going on. when they kiss at the end i was like “OOOHHH RIGHT!!” lmao. there’s just so much other stuff going on, jasmine & aladdin’s love story really fell to the wayside for me. 3. i LOVED that they gave jasmine her own song. she’s like the only disney princess that didn’t have her own song, somehow, so i was happy they gave her one and it was SO good. i remember it giving me chills on the first listen. — so, all in all, it was fine. not the worst but also not a personal favorite. worth a watch.

mulan (2020) - BLEGH sorry i almost threw up a little. maybe the worst live action remake of all time? let’s think: what are the best parts of mulan 1998? the music? mushu? shang’s bisexuality? shang, in general?? WELL LOOK NO FURTHER BECAUSE THIS HAS NONE OF THAT!!! :) it’s genuinely just… so bad. they took the basic concept and turned it into a freaky ass action movie. they make it so mulan was like, gifted from a young age with superhuman abilities (calling it chi, which, i don’t know the full story but i believe there was some major cultural appropriation that occured) instead of just being a normal badass human!!! and it wasn’t the villain from the cartoon it was a random witch. nothing made sense and it was stripped of everything that makes mulan one of the greatest disney films of all time. *godfather voice* look how they massacred my boy.

the little mermaid (2023) - so honestly i never really liked the original cartoon. it just never clicked with me. but i had every bit of hope that this one would maybe bring it to life for me!! and… well, it wasn’t bad! it was visually lovely and the music was fun. i just don’t think i’m a “love at first sight” kind of person. but eric was an incredibly likable nerd boy, sebastian the crab was funny, and ursula was SCARY. especially at the end oh my gosh???? anyway. worth a watch, but not my personal cup of tea. ariel and eric get points for dancing a bit AND they hugged at the end which was really sweet. couples Do Not hug enough in media.

lastly, i can’t comment on: peter pan & wendy (2023), the jungle book (2016), dumbo (2019), lady and the tramp (2019), and cruella (2021), because i have not seen them. i will absolutely note though that i despise cruella 2021 in solidarity with my friend @freakwiththeknifecollection because it blatantly disregards the canon of 101 dalmatians 1961 and they couldn’t even like?? train the dogs?? for ONE scene?? huge huge mess. i’m just scratching the surface. if you want a live action cruella, look no further than 101 dalmatians 1996. top tier live action that i loved as a kid!!

[arthooooor]

Gardening Log 1

I've never done one of these before, but I'm really proud of this project and I wanted to share my progress.

BACKSTORY TIME:

My dream of several years has been to start a garden. It never really got off the ground (haha, ground... gardening puns are fun) until this past year. I started breaking the ground up and turning it into a dirt patch sometime this past winter, before The Big Cold, or afterwards on a really warm day-- I really don't remember because my sense of time is completely off. Anyways, now that it's warm and I'm currently unemployed, I have a lot of time to really focus in on that dirt patch. Really make something out of it. For a while it looked like this:

not pictured, but there was cardboard keeping the grass from growing in on those spots for a while. Twas a gardening tip I gathered from youtube. It's also a great way of killing your lawn! I read an article about that while writing this while I was trying to fact check what I did:

https://www.treepeople.org/2014/07/16/sheet-mulch/#:~:text=After%202%20months%2C%20dig%20through,remove%20it%20and%20the%20grass.

Today I set out to make the dirt patch dirt-ier. I don't have a fancy tiller like some folks, just a shovel, a rake, and some kind of hand-tiller I got ages ago. I don't have a good relationship with the hand tiller, it's a little annoying to use and I am not very strong. That said, I got a lot done using all three tools together. Perhaps, with time, we will learn to work together a little more harmoniously.

Anyways, here's the finished product:

I threw some seeds down in the dirt kind of haphazardly as an experiment a few days ago. They might not germinate, or they might. We'll see! I was feeling like an eager beaver. Trying not to be attached to the outcome of that particular pet project.

The other half of this project has been seed germination. I was really unsure of how this would turn out. The only plant I've ever kept alive before was a ficus and unfortunately I had a little bit of an oopsie (psychosis) and I neglected him until he died. RIP Killer Joe, you are missed.

But! I'm in a new chapter of my life and I think my emotional wellbeing is now somewhat tied to whether or not I can keep plants alive.

In all seriousness, if you're in a place where you can and you think gardening will help you, I recommend it. It gives me good feelings inside, which are not always easy to come by.

This is my seed germination set-up. Despite how discouraged I was feeling about this side of the project, I am happy to say my first seeds have sprouted! I would like to include a photo, but tumblr keeps changing that photo to another one. Not sure why... The sprouts are really hard to see anyways.

I am proud of my seeds. I'm not sure if anyone else has ever experienced this, but I find myself whispering when I'm talking to them. Like it I talk too loud, it might scare them (Silly as that may be).

Germinating seeds seemed really intimidating when I first started. I ended up using cardboard and an old cat litter tray filled with potting soil. Obviously, I had many anxieties about how this would go (and will go) given my history with plants, but today's sprouts filled me with joy I was not expecting. The best thing to do seems to be keeping the soil moist throughout the day. I forgot to for a day when I firs started and that sent me into panic mode, but my fears were unfounded.

I am also germinating a single seed using the wet paper towel in a plastic bag method. We will see how that one progresses. It actually sprouted in the tray, but I accidentally pulled it up and I felt bad about just discarding it.

Outside of The Big Project, I am also trying to keep a Lavender plant alive. I don't think she's going to hold on for much longer, but one can always hope.

My current plan is to grow a combination of flowers and vegetables. The first seed tray is all vegetables. The second one is going to be herbs. After the last frost date passes and as long as I can stay patient, I'll worry about flowers.

That about wraps it up! I hope you've enjoyed my first gardening log. I'll update more as I go along and talk more about my plans, which plants I'm growing, and anything else gardening related.

- Art-Marigold

[a-coda]

Mentioned in Dispatches

It is my official last day at Linguamatics (part of IQVIA). It has been fifteen years: "Man and boy", as my ex-colleague Chris would have said. It was a rollercoaster ride working on ground-breaking software with amazing people. But it is time to move on and do something new.

I am stepping away from development management and going back to programming. It feels like I have served my time in the management trenches and I have earned the right to do some of the fun hands-on stuff again.

I am also changing industry from Healthtech to Fintech, and I am going to be programming in C# for the first time, so I have got a lot to learn. That is all part of the attraction.

Fortunately, I was granted some extended leave at the end of my tenure and this gave me time to start looking ahead to C# and .NET. To this end, I have been using C# 10 in a Nutshell by Joseph Albahari, and the Exercism online exercise site. The latter was recommended by QA Hiccupps.

The book is 1000+ pages and I had to set a daily target to get through it. Overall, I thought it was thorough and readable. I only found two or three typos. Some parts of the language and the libraries seemed more deeply treated than others. I guess the author was more interested in those or more concerned about readers getting them right.

The training site was also good. It was easy to develop and submit exercises entirely within the browser-based envionment. Debugging is limited to writing to the console. This is mostly fine for these kinds of exercises and testsuites. However, the approach was insufficient for algorithms getting lost in large search spaces. A good tactic there was to introduce iteration or recursion limits as a backstop. Of course, that is the kind of thing reliable software needs anyway.

At the time of writing I have done all but 2 of the 164 C# exercises. The remaining ones require you to download the exercise infrastructure locally, which I have not done yet. There was only one other exercise accidentally requiring some local debugging. This used a property-based testing framework which ate all console output.

Disproportionately, the worse execise was one to calculate ten-pin bowling scores. Determining the end of the game and rejecting illegal throws seemed to be nightmare.

C# is mostly a sister language to Java so what is special about it? The differences actually have their own special page on wikipedia so I will not duplicate all of that here. Instead, the C# flourishes that stood out for me doing the exercises and reading the book were:

a more unified type system - I could make lists of unboxed ints

LINQ - C#'s most famous feature, but mostly like Java Streams the way I was using it

iterators - you can make them using "yield" like in Python - they work really well with LINQ

extension methods - it is sometimes neater to appear to add methods to existing types but there are limitations because it is faked

multi argument dispatch - there to support dynamic languages, and you have to opt in, but makes the Visitor Pattern much easier - you can even meddle with CallSite objects which manage the dynamic dispatch

expression trees - looks like it might be fun to hack some code generation

no checked exceptions - woo hoo!

I slightly missed Java's richer enums but C#'s are aimed at interoperability.

And, of course, C# 11 came out while I was learning C# 10 but twas ever thus ...

"Just because people tell you it can't be done, that doesn't necessarily mean that it can't be done. It just means that they can't do it." -- Anders Hejlsberg

[fuck-customers]

love calling into work because i'm sick as a dog and can barely stay awake for an hour at a time on my birthday (the day before a long weekend i HAD req'd off) (turns out it was miss rhona) and then my next day in getting hit with "you didn't request that day off :/"

YES. I DID. OVER AN HOUR BEFORE MY SHIFT. BECAUSE I KNEW I'D BE FADING IN AND OUT OF CONSCIOUSNESS FOR DAYS AT A TIME. I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO GO DO THE FUN STUFF I HAD PLANNED FOR THAT WEEKEND! DON'T MAKE ME GO INTO GRIEF MODE OVER IT FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME IN THE PAST 7 DAYS!

this better not be a strike against me bc i'm still not recovered enough to take it graciously or some shit

anyway i took a covid test at my sup's recommendation (since Just On My Own Volition wouldn't fly with my covidiot family) and Twas The Plague, so. calling off the rest of the week to quarantine. considering consecutive no-call-no-shows is regarded as quitting, they'd better fucking get the message this time

[msookyspooky]

Hi Spooky !! So I’ve been getting through some of the recs you gave me for my Halloween marathon :33 AND i saw Child’s Play — which i liked way more than I thought i would, like it’s genuinely pretty funny And i cant wait to watch the sequels, leTS FUCKING GOOO — Yesterday was Idle Hands which sksksks wanna a silly little movie, ‘twas truly delightful, all the characters are fun/cool except for Anton most of the movie so it took a while for me to feel bad for him, BUT i did eventually, i really enjoyed it so it’s definitely up there for the rewatchbility of it !! — I CANT REMEMBER IF YOU RECOMMENDED POLTERGEIST OR NOT ??? I think you did but anyways I really liked it !!! The supernatural stuff is pretty mild + the 80s special effects make it not that scary to me, also i felt really bad for that fucking family ? What the hell ?!?! The dad was the fucking mvp he did The Most and he looked great doing it (10/10 - could watch again)

NOW for movies that ik you didn’t recommend but have been mentioned here at some point: Black Telephone and Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker. I saw someone recommended BT for you a whole ago and if you haven’t had the time yet to watch it please know it’s super worth it !!!! The main characters are really good and interesting and the acting is just phenomenal, specIALLY THE KIDS WTH, AND theres a bit of a supernatural thing to it but it was just fun/good for the plot and not so much trying to get you to shit ur pants, ya know?

AND for BBNM, i was very excited for this movie, to me it was a classic like 80s slasher, the tENSION, the creative like weapon choices, the like twist/break the killer goes through (like after its clear to us/other characters they did it) and THE ACTORS ARE JUST PHENOMENAL — like the aunt is/has been basically grooming her nephew since he was 3 and god does it show, some scenes are so creepy, and moments were someone would you know question her/ her actions, he doesn’t even Think to doubt her, it was terrible (but in a good way, story wise) OH AND BILL PAXTON, he doesn’t show up a lot (i think with dialogue for 2 or 3 scenes maybe) and he plays classic homophobic with daddy issues so 😐 but he did look good tho so theres that

STAR THIS IS LIKE WEEKS UPON WEEKS LATE FORGIVE ME 🥲

Idle hands is such a dark humor dumbass slap stick but I love it 🤣 Listen, I just thought he had the worst asthma of his life I didn't even know what weed was till I was like 11 but as a kid seeing that hand terrified me and child me remembered it being so scary and adult me rewatched it and I was like....What? This is the movie that terrified me??? afjsafkjs

POLTERGEIST! That completely slipped my mind, I didn't watch it often but I do remember parts of it and it's really good. And I did see the black phone!!! It was so good I mean the protagonist was so smart and using the ghost of the children was a haunting aspect I didn't expect but so glad they did it. Gwen was my favorite character she reminded me of how I was as a kid and I also have prophetic dreams like her. So does my one grandmother. We both dream of family deaths and major events going to happen and it almost always comes true so it was so different to see them utilize that in the movie. I went in expecting a kidnapping survival and got so much more!!

And bro I have GOT to watch it!! I couldn't find it under Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker so I saw someone recommend searching Night Warning and there it is (Idk why they picked these titles bc it makes it so much harder to find bro ong) and yeeaahhh I kind of expect the homophobia and sexism in 80s movies I just try to take it with a grain of salt I think that's why I like Lost Boys and Near Dark sm bc...Wow...An 80s movie with an 80s aesthetic...and no homophobia or sexism or racism? OMFG FINALLY!!

Another one with Bill I watched but was HORRIBLE was Boxing Helena. I'm usually not a snob with movies but it was like bad cheesy softcore porn for someone with weird fetishes. The guy/doctor is basically an incest mommy issues guy bc of his vapid mother who just 'died' out of nowhere and he inherited her home and he's engaged to a wonderful woman that is also a doctor and too good for him but the kicker is he is OBSESSED with a woman that he had a one night stand with years ago and wants nothing to do with him but he's a toxic fucking weirdo that does everything he can (Including cutting her limbs off....You heard me.) in order to make her dependent on him bc...Shocker; she reminds him of his shitty Mom. You are filthy rich go to therapy you freak. I felt zero remorse for him and the movie tries to make you sympathize with him and it's like...Why?

THE ONLY part, I do mean, THE ONLY FUCKING PART worth watching is the explict Bill Paxton sex scene the first 15 minutes he has the woman's entire boob in his mouth while he's grinding her hips on his uh...And MOANING while he does it...I'd scream w/o the s on the spot if I was her istg 💦 Like I was so flustered bc I DID NOT expect it to be that explict 😳😳😳

He plays an asshole rockstar lover to the woman but compared to the guy we're supposed to sympathize with at least he's not wackadoo nuts tbh. I will take cheating asshole over whatever the fuck is wrong with the doctor if I had to pick....And I mean...Lolk at him-

Like I can't show any scenes from his part in the movie but if you want to watch like the first 15 minutes then skip to the end where Bill's character pistol whips the guy holding her hostage and mutilating her. I mean, Bill's character beats the shit out of him (Again, so hot of Bill's character to do that🥵😤) understandable bc I regret wasting almost 2hrs of my life watching it

WHY IS THE HOTTEST BILL PAXTON SCENE I'VE EVER SEEN IN THE SHITTIEST MOVIE??? WHY 😭😭😭

If ppl like it good for them but I deadass couldn't hardly focus on it at all it was just a hot mess and the ending had me fuming lmfao

I also watched The Watcher and Nope and those were so so good!!!! Especially Nope!

[friiday-thirteenth]

right right right c a m p

ok. ok so it was very long and I'm unbelievably tired but also my head says write it down so uh

day one- five hour bus ride. it was fun, bc the person I was sitting beside slept the whole time and I got to joke around with the guys, who were surprisingly chill. they only brought up p*rn once, which is like.... good for them all things considered lmao

then we had the tramp in. the campsite where we were staying at the first night was the farthest from base, and one group biked in while the other tramped.

my groups tramp took s i x h o u r s. no other groups went over five. we had to keep stopping bc a) one kid was feeling sick, b) one kid rolled her ankle and c) we weren't allowed to sprint off into the Bush and potentially die without an instructor with us.

so there were like, four of us who were constantly at the front, and they were: me, my crush, my crushes best friend, bitch-who-bullied-me.

twas interesting.

we got the campsite in the dark, after a river crossing in which my socks got soaked, as did my shoes, and the tents and food were already sorted for us so that was great. food was shit, though. mince that was half brown water and cold pasta.kept us going, though, and as became my motto throughout camp, food is food.

that night was the only time I cried. kinda sad, tbh, but it was bc on the 'girls' side (as we all know that if the boys and girls tents were together, absolutely everyone would just be going at it, of course (jfc they have a low opinion of year tens (we sorta deserve it though, stuff happened with last years year tens...))) everyone else was paired up and even the people in three person tents didnt want me in there 🥰🥰🥰🥰 really felt the love there, guys.... jokes on them I slept by myself each night and was ready within five minutes each morning. actually really glad they showed how much they didnt care abt me bc it was really nice being alone in the wilderness, and that's not sarcasm.

anyway. day two.

woke up, was ready within ten minutes bc I woke with the leaders, who wake ten minutes before we're meant to and get themselves and breakfast ready before we're up. (I'm really fast at waking up, but take ages to go to sleep. like, everyone has to stfu before my body's able to start shutting down, and as soon as there's people moving around I'm up like a shot.)

anyway. I had eaten breakfast and was washing up before anyone else came out. next kid out was my crush, and we bitched about people taking forever for a while, which was fun.

then we waited for ages for everyone else to get sorted out, blah blah blah, and we had the bike ride back. 11.5 kilometers, I think,mostly downhill for us.

it was fun! I'm not a brilliant biker, but I kept near the middle-front of the group, and i just. let go of the brakes going downhill. and these hills were bloody steep and gravelly, plus the dips and river crossings.

I didnt fall off the bike, but one kid did lmao. there was this sharp turn before a metal gate, and He saw the gate and started pulling kn the brakes, but he hit the front brakes and just. flipped. the bike crashed into me and he went to the ground.

it was funny in the afterwards, but the kid got rather grazed lmao. he's not dead though, so that's good.

we were at the campsite that was, in my opinion, the coldest that night. also I slept in a three person instead of a two person, and by myself that meant more body heat was going into the tent. brrr. but we also did the nightline activity(hold onto a rope and follow it through the dark forest while blindfolded and with a helmet on. highly recommend it. go do it with friends u trust lmao)

I was behind this slow kid and he tripped at one point so I just. went ahead of him. then I spent around half an hour walking through the dark by myself (I walked into five trees. each time I took a step back, glared at it through the blindfold fifty five seconds and then continued around it with a muttered bitch. I'm nothing if not dramatic.) before I crashed into my crush hehe. it was near the end and we just got to the end at the same time, where two others already were. it was chill, we talked for a while. bullied people who were going through it by whacking trees they were near with sticks and shaking the line as they tried to use it. (we were allowed to, dw)

the next day, we went canyoning and holy frick frack fuckedy fuck fuck, that was c o l d. freezing. I jumped into the water and nearly died (exaggerated) but my crush jumped through a fricken waterfall and couldnt feel his hands or feet for ten minutes. another kid was walking funny bc he'd waited in the water for five minutes, and this shit was cold enough that we were wearing wet suits and thermals.

once we were dry and dressed (we got to have showers. h e a v e n (I only took 10 seconds bc like, why tf would you need a longer one? people took fifteen minutes, like wtf)) we went rock climbing! which was brilliant, honestly. I liked the belaying more (I've got this thing where I prefer people trust me than me trusting them, hmmm I wonder why) but also climbed the hardest one! it was really fun, and I only fell like fourteen time at one point (lmao,the rope caught me each time but I looked like a fuvking idiot hehe)

then we slept at a campsite which had a fire kn the beach!! if was so much fun. we also did a solo, which involved us sitting in the wild for twenty minutes and reflecting upon camp. I lay on the ground and stared at the moon. it was lovely and peaceful, until two kids started talking.

side note, guys voices are lovely and deep and rumbly and very nice (in general) but girls are generally higher pitched and ugh, it can be v e r y bloody annoying when ur trying to contemplate life.

possums visited camp that night. woke up in the middle of it to a possum crashing into the side if my tent, and I just. stopped breathing for a minute while I listened to it. a possum growling sounds terrifying. look it up!

also heard cows that night. cows are good.

day four, we abseiled. holy s h i t, it was fun. just... sitting there and watching the river and and rock and dangling in midair.... god, I loved it.

then we went to the high ropes course. this was b r i l l i a n t. we'd done low ropes st some point, but high ropes involved more belaying, which involved, and then at one point, we did a thing called the leap of faith, which was around eight meters high and you climbed to the top of this cylinder of wood before jumping for a trapeze. I knew I wouldn't get it, so I jumped on two when they counted down for me, and I missed lmao. but it was bloody brilliant.

then we had to do a whole shitton of cleanup,which they don't normally get groups to do, but we were s p e c i a l (as in our school gets to clean things we dont even use, sigh) before camping one last night. I had go share with someone, it was gell, packed up at least four tents in the morning bc I was very good at that for some reason,before we hot back to camp and went to the bus and oh, that was brilliant.

I finished my book, chatted with the guys, chatted with my crush for .5 of a second, had that thkng happen where people see you talking to a guy and are like ooOOooohhHHHHHhhh they're dAtiNG bc we're all stupid year tens and it was fucking hilarious (I've never dated anyone, so peopke bloody obsess over pairing me up with someone and I'm just like??? fuckers I'ma child how abt no (sidenote there was a couple on camp and they were cute but uh. year ten relationships dont really last, according to my year 13 camp leader (she was chill af, and basically showed me a whole new perspective on being friends with guys and so in conclusion she's bloody brilliant))) anyway they came up with a ship name for me and the guy and I nearly pissed myself laughing bc its best to laugh along with it and it was really funny tbh

anyway. we also for some reason talked abt sex and porn a lot and it was weird but also kinda chill bc most of the boys are relatively respectful of the girls,in the sense that we all make dirty jokes to each other but don't cross the line, so it was pretty funny and chill. also guys apparently never stop making dick jokes and that type of shit and it was kinda funny tbh

then we got home, grabbed our shit, and legged it away from there.

now I'm gonna rant abt my crush hehe

he was like, oh who's this? when we were walking to dinner in the dark one night (I was in front of him and his friend and he couldn't see my face) and then fucking knew who I was from the way that I walked like mate, why tf do you know how i walk and how to describe it, hmm?

I flipped him off after he said that though it was fucking funny

also!! he just. stared at my eyes and was like, are your eyes different colors? and I was like yeah. and he just nodded slowly and we maintained eye contact for a while. twas weird.

we have staring contests a lot too?? like, he'll look at me or I'll look at him and then at one point he was like, you just stare at people and then tilt ur head, dont you! and I was like wtf dude,but also I kept eye contact bc its a Thing.

also on the bus ride home he just mimicked my facial expressions and it was really bloody funny and j broke out laughed and he smiled

yeah basically I'm hopelessly crushing on him bc he's smart and sarcastic but it never gonna happen so I just wanna be friends type thing. sigh.

ANYWAY. camp was kinda great, at some points it left me feeling like I was so bloody alone and also I felt really shitty mentally but I kept going and i really enjoyed it! yeah! also i nearly cried when i said goodbye to my instructors bc they were brilliant and I'm gonna miss them so bloody much, I'm sad I'll never see them again.

yeah.

[earthseaborealis]

New Traditions and Worlds

My @homestuckss gift for @dykeiatrist ! I used “Davekat,” “Jane,” and “Hurt/Comfort” (with a bit of DirkJake) to create a cute little holiday fic! Hope you enjoy it :D Have a wonderful holiday season!!

Also on ao3 (@detective_in_space if the link doesn’t work!)

“Twas the week before Christmas,” Dave started before pausing, “Yo Rox, what’s somethin’ that rhymes with Christmas?”

“Ass? Wait, no, no that doesn’t work… Christmas…” Roxy muttered, “Okay so, like, the only thing I’ve got is Christmas, but you absolutely cannot rhyme ‘Christmas’ with ‘Christmas,’ right?”

“You’re definitely right,” Dave sighed as he scratched out the words in his notebook, “Dude, like absolutely nothin’ rhymes with Christmas words.”

Roxy moved over and rested their hand on his shoulder, “Karkat will appreciate the thought at least. Hey, there are other things than Christmas raps, like festive interpretive dances! Or Festive slam poetry?”

“Well, duh, it’s Karkat we’re talkin’ bout,” Dave laughed, but in his defense, it was true. Karkat would yell and insist that he hated Dave’s most ‘ironic’ gifts, but there was a certain fondness in his tone. Like it was just a whole elaborate game. The edges of Karkat’s eyes would wrinkle as his lips curled into a small grin. A small chuckle would escape, which Dave would obviously point out, and in response, Karkat would punch him (before wrapping him in a hug). Oh god, that was the best… 

“Hey sleeping beauty,” Roxy interrupted, as they lightly hit the side of Dave’s head, “Did ya invite me over here just to fall asleep?”

“Nah dawg, I was just thinkin’ about the usual,” Dave brushed their hand aside. 

“So,” Roxy drawled, “Karkat?” Roxy wiggled their eyebrows at Dave. 

“No,” Dave exclaimed, “Fuck, I mean, no. Hey, do ya know any, like, traditions that people do for Christmas and all that jazz.” Now that was a smooth change of topics. 

“Smooth like a baby’s bottom,” Roxy laughed, “But, nah. I didn’t even know Christmas was like a real thing… thought it was an urban myth or something.” Oh, right. Roxy lived in some highly-futuristic society that was enslaved by a fish bitch, but there was none of that oppressive dictatorship on Earth C. Trolls, Carpacians, Humans, and well, any other species were free to chill by the fire and enjoy whatever holiday they wanted. Now that, was what sweet, sweet democracy was about (preach Obama). 

“Lit, lovin’ that we’re both oblivious of any cultural traditions… hey, you think one of the Crocker-Harley-English… berts... would know more about this? I’m feelin’ like they’d be all up in that shit,” Dave said, “Oh fuck, I’m so smart. That’s like totally their thing.”

After quickly picking up all his stuff and saying goodbye to Roxy, Dave picked up his phone and dialed Jane Crocker, the holiday expert, on his way home. Wait, oh fuck, what if she was busy? It’s not like he usually talked to her, so was it out of the question? Oh no, maybe he should’ve just texted John...

The phone picked up, “Hello, Jane Crocker speaking?”

“Oh… oh! Hey Jane, it’s Dave… ya know… Dirk’s cooler bro,” Dave started. He shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket and kicked a stray pebble on the sidewalk. Yes, he could be floating around, but exercise was important. 

“Well, howdy there Dave. It’s been a while since we’ve talked, hasn’t it,” she chuckled, “Anyways, did you need anything?”

“So, like, Rox and I were talkin’ about Christmas and stuff… and well, we’re both dumb and have no idea what people actually do for it, so I thought you might be the expert on the subject? Because it totally seems like it’d be up your ally,” Dave rambled on. 

“Well golly, I’m flattered. It’s been a while since I’ve actually celebrated the holiday, but of course, I’ll help you! Before the game, my father and I had so much fun celebrating… let’s see… Well, I’m sure you already know this, but we’d go out to a farm together and pick out a tree. I’d always search for the fattest tree, and my father would help me cut it down. And then we’d go get Hot Cocoa and pick out ornaments together, and well, oh sorry, I’ve gotten a bit off-topic, haven’t I,” Jane apologized.

“No, no! You’re literally the best… lemme just get a piece of paper to write this on,” Dave fumbled around his captchalogue, and pulled out an old notebook (of course, with Obama on the cover). “Okay cool, I got one, hit me with all that sweet, sweet info.”

“Alright… let’s see, what else… oh, well after we decorated the tree, we’d make and frost sugar cookies and cakes together. Oh! Karkat and you are welcome to come over together sometime and make cookies with me if you’d like,” Jane offered. Hell yeah, she was a literal legend. Roxy and Dirk had the best friends. 

“Yeah, dog, we’d love to! I’ll hit you up with a date once Karkat checks the calendar. You know him and… schedulin’,” Dave said as he continued to write down Jane’s suggestions. 

Jane chuckled, “Sounds good… and one more thing… My father and I would always put cheesy Christmas music on. That was the best… we’d make absolute fools out of ourselves, but it was so much fun. Literally, we’d just dance around and belt the lyrics… those we’re the days,” Jane’s voice started to crack… fuck… had Dave made her cry? “Sorry…” she continued, “I don’t mean to be so emotional. Oh lord, I’m sorry. I… I hope I helped you a bit, and just, feel free to come over whenever for cookies…” 

“Fuck, no,” Dave searched his brain… what would Karkat say… “Sorry for bringin’ up those memories. I know it sucks and all. I’ll give you some time and just hit you up later.” 

“Yes, that’d be great… see you later then,” Jane said as she hung up. 

Well, shit, Dave had already made one person cry and it was only 11 a.m. Maybe Christmas was just an emotional time and stuff. Jane was cool, though, so he hoped that she was okay. Plus, she gave him some kickass advice, and he was so ready to get his holiday spirit on. 

The rest of the walk to his place was boring. Dave tried to come up with some more sick raps for his Christmas album, featuring the new and improved version of “Jingle Bells.” The air was crisp and way too cold for Dave’s Texan roots (he blamed John for the freezing wind), so he was thankful when he finally reached the door. 

“Yo, Karkat, I’m home, and I come with words of wisdom from the one and only Jane Crocker herself,” Dave announced as he closed the door behind him. He attempted to throw his coat and hang it up, but it fell clumsily to the floor. He shrugged it off and continued through the cozy lil’ condo, finding his way into the kitchen, where he found Karkat doing a load of laundry. Yes, the washing machine and dryer were in the kitchen… it was only the most ironic, British mom location for them. Dave, being the coolest man to ever exist, ran up to Karkat and hugged him from behind. 

“Jesus fucking shit Dave! Are you trying to give me a blood pusher attack?” Karkat screeched as he jumped like fifty feet in the air (okay maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it basically happened). 

“Nah dude, you wouldn’t dare be all anime protagonist on me and faint. Like, imagine me runnin’ to cradle you in my arms while you murmur ‘I’m goin’ to have to kawaii the shit out of your desu.’ Literally, imagine that” Dave rambled. 

Karkat groaned at this, “Stop spending time with Dirk. You’re turning into a shitty weeb Karkat said as he pushed Dave away. 

“I can’t help it… it’s who I am,” Dave clutched yo his chest and fell to the ground, pulling the other boy down with him. Karkat’s words. The worst weapon of all. 

“I’m going to go live with Kanaya and Rose,” Karkat grumbled, falling to the ground as dramatically as possible (making sure to land on Dave with as much force as possible). 

“Like you’d do that,” Dave scoffed, “She’s worse than me. Plus, is you did, we couldn’t be all romantic and celebrate human holidays together. C’mon dude, we gotta act like a high school couple. Get all up in each other’s space and kiss under the mistletoe. Oh, speakin’ of that! I talked to Jane, who is literally the best, and she was like ‘oh Dave! Check out this super lit tradition I did back on the o.g. Earth. Like, you get to cut down a tree and decorate with the most ironic ornaments.’” 

“Sound detrimental to the environment and a waste of time. What’s the point of celebrating a fucking tree,” Karkat asked.

“Dude, it’s a pine tree, which is superior to all other trees. Besides,  it’s about family and friends. I mean, I never celebrated Christmas with Bro, but you can’t just diss Karen like that,” Dave said, using his best white mom voice. 

“Fine whatever. I’ll celebrate your dumb human holiday, but I call picking out the decorations,” Karkat bargained as he stood up and dusted off his pants (getting rid of Dave’s germs).

“Hell yeah, deal! Get your coat on, we’re gonna get a tree and bring it in our house,” Dave exclaimed, quickly getting off the ground. 

The boys quickly got ready and we’re out the door, hopping into their car. Dave has gotten it because well, basically of all Karkat and his friends could fly. He has listened to Karkat’s complaining enough and invested in an older, used minivan. And man, did he love the thing. Hey, maybe he’d become a car person after the holidays were over. 

Dave was about to drive to the nearest park with a saw, but Karkat demanded that he call and ask Jane first. Jane recommended a small farm in the middle of nowhere, and with the use of a GPS, they eventually found their way there (after a few hours of trial and error).

“Jane said that fat trees were better, but honestly, I’m lovin’ this tall ass one right here. I mean look at it. It’s taller than the Empire State Buildin’… wait, is that still a thing? Like an Earth C Empire State Buildin’?” In Dave’s defense, it was a totally valid question. Like, did Earth C have the same seven wonders of the world? Who knew. 

“Shut the fuck up. We’re here for a tree, not imperialism,” Karkat groaned, “And besides, our house isn’t big enough for that.”

“But Karkat, the economy,” Dave whined, “But like, what about this tiny one… it reminds me of you, short stacks.”

Karkat shoved him, “And the other reminds me of your flat ass.” 

“I’ll take that as a compliment… since you're lookin’ at my ass and all,” Dave pulled down his Stiller shades and winked.

“Shut up, you fucking twink. Let’s just celebrate your weird human holidays and get the tree,” Karkat grumbled as he attempted to pick up the tree. 

Dave doubled over laughing as he watched the 5’3 troll struggle, but once Karkat shot him an angry glare, he rushed over to aid him (with his huge muscles, of course). “Nice, I can feel it pokin’ me through my mittens. Ten out of ten would recommend.”

After endless trial and error, the pair managed to carry the tree to the register and on top of their car, a red minivan that Dave had picked out.

“So,” Karkat started, “We just put a tree in our block and decorate it? And then some creepy old man flies around the world and gives presents to children by putting them under the tree?” His eyebrows furrowed as he attempted to understand human traditions.

“Dude, I can’t even explain it. Humans can come up with some weird shit when they put their minds to it,” Dave laughed. The rest of the car ride consisted of Karkat rambling about trollian traditions. Their hands managed to find one another and rest comfortably on the center console (Dave, of course, kept one hand on the steering wheel at all times… hey, safety is important). 

Their next stop was the local hardware store. It was owned by a sweet, older Carpacian. In all honesty, she reminded Dave of the Mayor… a kindred spirit whose goal in life was to just lead and help make others happy. She made the place seem like the opposite of a place to buy tools. The place was decorated with festive garlands and cheery music rang through the air. Dave waved at her as the pair walked towards the Christmas section.

“So,” Dave drawled, “What kind of ornaments are we lookin’ for? Personally, I wanna find a dick shaped one… for the memories of cockscotch. Bless that game.”

“This is a family store, dick-muncher! And we’re getting triple-f ornaments! Family fucking friendly!” Karkat screeched, marching ahead (but not before grabbing Dave’s hand and pulling him along). 

“Fine, fine, I get it… gotta make our house grub friendly, for when John comes over,” Dave snickered as they walked the ornaments aisle. Who knew there were so many different variations in fucking decorations? You had some for your Karens, poor college students, newlyweds, too many to count. Karkat busied himself with the… glass ball? Well, whatever that kind of ornament was called. 

“These are nice,” Karkat noted, showing Dave a set of jade glass baubles (haha, like Kanaya).

“But like, dude, they’re so borin’,” Dave whined, “We gotta spruce this tree up… get it? Spruce is a kind of tree.” Dave chuckled at his own dad joke. Shit, he was hilarious. 

“Hey, I’m just trying to make this actually look nice. We’ll get other colors too, and “spruce” it up, as you say,” Karkat said as he went back to check out the boring ornaments. Dave, on the other hand, went to look at the children’s ornaments on the other side of the aisle. Most of them were new pop culture things that Dave didn’t recognize (God was he growing old). However, there were a few that grabbed his attention, and obviously, he was gonna have to show these to Karkat. 

“Yo, dawg. Check out these cool little fuckers. They’ll make our tree look mads cool,” Dave opened his hands to reveal a bunch of little crab ornaments. They were cute and not boring glass balls. Plus, crabs were like Karkat’s thing… he’d definitely appreciate them.

“Crustaceans? Don’t you just know the way to my blood pusher,” Karkat rolled his eyes, “Just put them in the basket before I change my mind.”

Dave threw his fist in the air and gave Karkat a side hug, “Hell yeah, you won’t regret this. We gonna get so festive up in this joint. All the moms will be beggin’ to check out the coolest tree in the neighborhood, which if ya didn’t catch on, will be ours.”

“You got me. I’m only doing this to make Carol jealous. She fucking deserves it,” Karkat chuckled. Yes, Dave knew he was doing swell when he made Karkat laugh. If only he could give himself a, well earned, golden star. 

“Dude yes, I fuckin’ hate Carol. C’mon, let’s get more lights. We gotta make this flashy and blow a fuse, speakin’ of which… do you know how to fix a broken fuse? Because I do not wanna call Dirk over to fix it for us. He’ll be like ‘Dave, I’m just tryin’ to celebrate the holidays with my darlin’ boyfriend… have I mentioned Jake’s ass? Damn, lemme just rant about that and never actually fix your broken utilities.’ Can you imagine the pain, Karkat,” Dave lamented? He loved his brother, don’t get him wrong, but he did not want to mess with Dirk this close to the holiday season. 

“I can, actually. Remember what happened the week before Jake’s birthday? Dirk is batshit crazy, but he gets it from you,” Karkat smirked as Dave feigned an offended expression, “Now, can we stop talking about his love life and actually pick out some decorations?”

The pair still had one more destination before they could go home and relax, maybe even decorate the tree… but knowing themselves, they’d probably wait until Christmas Eve to put the new lights and ornaments up. 

“Oh my goodness, I’m so glad you two could make it,” Jane said as she opened the door, “I’ve already got everything out, so all we have to do is bake and decorate cookies… and perhaps eat a bit of dough.” She ushered the two inside. 

“Hell yeah, you’re the best Janey,” Dave said as the pair put away their coats and walked to the kitchen with Jane. Everything was so clean, especially when compared to their house. Karkat would always fuss about his habits, but Dave felt a sort of comfort in the messiness. So what if there were shirts thrown on the floor and an unorganized stack of papers on the kitchen table. It built… character. 

“I’ve never had what you humans call ‘cookies,’ but thank you for having us,” Karkat added. 

“Oh please, it’s no problem. I love baking, and I especially love helping people get into the holiday spirit,” Jane said. The trio fell into a simple routine once Jane showed them the recipe, helping the two boys when need be. Dave filled the silence by rambling under his breath about whatever he deemed important, while Karkat concentrated on making his cookies perfect. 

“Hey look,” Dave exclaimed while holding up one of his doughy creations, “It’s a Karkat angel! A Kar-Angel… a Karkat Van-Angel!” His cookies were shaped into gingerbread men with nubby horns and an uncharacteristic smile. 

“And I made a Dave-Cookie… oh wait, it’s just a blob of dough, my fucking bad,” Karkat retorted, going back to rolling out his dough. 

It was a long process, but after a few hours, the boys had successfully made their first batch of Christmas sugar cookies. A few of the cookies weren’t burnt on the edges, but they were delicious nonetheless. Jane demanded that the pair take home their creations, as she didn’t have enough room in her cabinets for more holiday desserts. 

“Goodness, thank you so much for coming over and making sugar cookies! I haven’t had this much fun since… well, it’s been a while. Feel free to come by and help me whenever you all would like,” Jane chirped. 

“Of course, Janey,” Dave replied, “You best bet we’ll be back for some more goodies! Gotta get my housewife on. I can’t be accidentally poisoning Karkat with some undercooked cake.” 

“You’ve poisoned me with every meal of your’s, except the Kraft Mac and Cheese, but only because Roxy helped you,” Karkat spat. 

“Oh well, we certainly can’t have that. I’ll be seeing you both again soon then. Have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!”

It was dark by the time they were home. Karkat and Dave both felt the sleepiness enter the body, as they kept yawning. It was too late to decorate the tree, so it was leaned against a corner. The pair immediately plopped down onto the couch and put on a holiday classic, Tim Allen’s “The Santa Clause,” which Dave argued was the best Christmas movie known to mankind, trollkind, and carpaciankind alike. 

“Y’know, I never imagined that I would celebrate Christmas. Like, dude, that shit was mads uncool,” Dave said out of the blue, interrupting the beautiful sound of Tim Allen interacting with CGI reindeers and kidnapped children.

Karkat groaned, “Well, me either, yet here I am, celebrating a dumb holiday for dumb human grubs.” He was just trying to enjoy this wonderful holiday film, but with Dave, silence didn’t last long. In a way, it provided comfort to the pair. He knew that Dave absolutely hated the silence, as it reminded him of his Bro. For Karkat, Dave’s endless rambling allowed him to take his mind off of his worries. It was an odd relationship, one that had taken years to achieve, but here they were… they had made it, yet Karkat knew there were still shaky moments for the two of them. Like now, for example. The pair both would jump around certain barriers, trying desperately to aid one another, while still attempting to not dig too deep. 

Dave rested his head upon Karkat’s thighs and snuggled into the pile of blankets, reminding him of their time on the meteor, “Y’know, I wouldn’t have this whole thing any other way. ‘M glad my first Christmas is with you, instead of Bro.” His words are slurred together and slightly muffled, and Karkat can’t help the stupid ass blush that creeps onto his face at the sound of them. 

“Fuck that guy,” Karkat spits. After a moment, he starts again, this time with a gentler tone, “And it’s nice to have you here too, no matter how fucking dumb your endless rants may be.”

Dave could almost hear Dirk whispering “Tsundere” in his ear as he chuckled, “Awe, love you too, KitKat.” He sits back up, nearly smacking the top of his head into Karkat’s jaw. He looks away for a second, briefly hesitating, then leans in, closing the distance between the pair. It’s just a brief peck, but it leaves the two of them speechless. Dave looks at Karkat through his shades. A light brush coated his cheeks and his lips curled into a small grin. 

Karkat pulls Dave into his side and looks towards the corner of the living room, where their small, fat tree is leaning against the wall. It was empty and in desperate need of attention (aka Crustacean ornaments). Filled with a sudden burst of energy, he paused the movie and stood up, pulling Dave with him, “Get off your lazy ass and get fucking festive. We have a tree to decorate.”

[offbeat-the-clownlord]

I made a list ranking how I felt about every Universal ride I went on

Revenge of The Mummy: roller coaster plunges you into darkness without warning, made me cry, 0/10 not recommended for the faint of heart

E.T. Adventure: wtf wtf wtf, 1/10 idk what the hell is going on and i am scarred

The Cat in The Hat; The Ride: animatronics are creepy/possibly outdated, 2.5/10 good getaway out of the heat for a sec anyway

Minion Mayhem: someone tried to stand or sit on another person’s lap or something twice during the ride so they had to stop for a sec to call them out, 3/10 generic 4D ride with a sort of fun premise

Shrek 4-D: i like the story, old as fuk tho, 3/10 good but probably won’t ride again

Kang & Kodos’ Twirl & Hurl: generic flying ride but if you “hit” the signs they make funny noises, 3/10 no comment

Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster: short kiddy coaster why did i ride it twice, 3/10 no comment

Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey: didn’t know what to expect so i held on too tight and hurt my arms, 4/10 should probably ride again

The Hogwarts Express: magical, it’s cool that it’s different depending on if your going to hogsmeade from the station or hogsmeade back to the station, 5/10 cool concept and quick way to get between harry potter sections of the two parks

MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack: fun ride, shoot aliens, win, 4.5/10 twas fun

Popeye’s & Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges: WET. VERY WET. 5.5/10 good on a hot day (it twas not a hot day when we rode it, it was very cold water), wear something you wouldn’t mind getting absolutely soaked

Kong Skull Island & The Simpsons Ride: these two are tied because i honestly like them both the same, skull island has an awesome animatronic i marvel at every time, and the simpsons ride is just fun okay, 6/10 for both of ‘em

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man: really cool cue line, also really fun ride, one of the screens glitched out the first time we rode it lmao, 5.5/10 no comment just is good ride

Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon: DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT BUT I REALLY ENJOY THIS RIDE, IT’S SO CHEESY AND IT WORKS, 6.5/10 for being just genuine fun

Transformers; The Ride 3D: really fun, better than the spider-man 3D ride but i think the spider-man one is older so makes sense, 7/10 rode it like 3 or 4 times super fun

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure: newest ride at universal, super fun wish i could’ve rode it a second time but the wait was off the walls tbh, a little anxiety inducing at some points but it was my first outdoor rollercoaster really so i think i did well for my first time ufdhufdufd, 8.5/10 just really effin’ fun

Harry Potter and The Escape from Gringotts: BEST RIDE IN MY OPINION, HOLY FUBK, THAT FIRST DROP WITH BELLATRIX? AND THEN JUST?? IT’S GOOD OKAY, TRUST ME, 10/10

[thebigreylotheory]

Star Wars Celebration 2019 Chicago Thoughts & Review

Annnd, we’re back. More or less. I think we left our good health in Chicago. I have a fever, so I apologize if none of this makes sense (but arguably it should make just as much sense as I normally do.)

So, Celebration 2019. It was the best of times, it was the coldest of Hoth times.

Twas’ a far cry from SW Celebration Orlando 2017, where I remember the humidity being awfully thick as we lined up for the Episode 8 panel at 3am. 

I obsessively check my weather app regardless. Therefore I happened to see the snowflake symbol predicted for Friday, April 12th. Thankfully, it didn’t snow Friday for the Episode 9 panel, but believing it was going to snow prepared me for the real snow on Sunday. I packed coats, snow boots, hats, and gloves. 

I know the snow was mostly a fluke thing. That Chicagoans had previously packed away their coats for 60-degree weather. Just saying, next time Celebration is in a northern city, I really hope the date is moved to May or June, where there’s no chance of snow AT ALL. I was prepared, but I witnessed several small children, no jacket, absolutely shaking from the cold. It upset me. Babies shouldn’t have to suffer for their love of Star Wars.

Right, so with the weather being the major con, here are my Celebration 2019 pros: 

The Thursday Celebration Store and Exhibit Hall (no pun intended) warm-up day. This year it really felt like a perk of having a 5-day badge. I was glad, instead of the event fully launching into panels, we had a day to explore the venue and become familiar with the area.  I’m a planner, so I like knowing exactly where I’m at and where I need to be ahead of time.

Kudos for actually being able to get into the Celebration store this year! I don’t know what the problem was in 2017, but that line, seemingly, never moved. This year, we were in line for a little over an hour and got everything we wanted.

Additionally, the employees of McCormick Place were well-prepared and very helpful compared to some of the people we interacted with in Orlando. In 2017, some employees kinda had the unfortunate attitude of you-bunch-of-Star-Wars-dorks…we didn’t experience any of that at McCormick Place. In our experience, everyone at McCormick place was very kind and eager to assist.I would definitely go back given the right weather. I would go so far to say that they were happy to be hosting Star Wars Celebration. 

I know some people will disagree, but I’m a fan of the lotteries. In Orlando, it was frustrating, if not a little risky/unhealthy, to wait in line in the dark, not get in, and then walk around sleep deprived all day. With the lottery, I liked knowing and being able to have a relaxing Celebration and maximize the other panels we attended.

Day-by-Day breakdown:

Thursday:

Got some goodies. Caps has had his eye on this ROTJ poster for a while.

Found Indiana Jones for my brother Revan/Devan.

Went to the Chicago Art Museum, it was entirely awesome.

How ‘bout those helmets and crossguards, boi?

Friday:

I was so stoked that I naturally woke up at 5am. Just kept thinking to myself, wow, I’ve been a fan of the sequel trilogy since 2015 and this is the last few hours where I don’t know the title or have a feel for what could happen. *commits to memory*

We were thrilled to be chosen for the Galaxy Stage live stream. For TLJ, we ended up watching the trailer on the phone, cause we didn’t know that The Star Wars show also streamed it in the Exhibit Hall.

Too many words for my reaction, I’ll have to make a separate post.

Afterwards, we went to 20 years of Lego, Star Wars Hasbro, The Music of Star Wars, Predicting the Future with Star Wars, and ILM Making Solo.

Also tried out pinball which was super fun.

Saturday:

Bringing Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge to Life panel! Aka Josh Gad trying to break in.

We’ve been planning to take a family trip to Disney World this fall, so this pumped us up even more.

Then we tried to get into the Del Rey Books and Marvel Comics panels, but they were already full. At the time, the reservations on the app were not working for me. I had to update the app twice.

Ultimately, we went to the Sisters of the Force panel. Stories about kids fighting cancer and bullying really touched my heart. I was trying not to cry.

We missed out on the Funko panel in 2017, but thankfully this year we got in. They tortured us with designs that were never released.

Also, Reylo art always sells out...always...

Sunday:

The Mandalorian panel was fired up. I don’t typically watch a lot of tv, I’m a movie person, but I will be getting Disney+. The Mandalorian trailer was phenomenal. Looks like they put a lot of thought and care into creating a live-action series that feels Star Wars-y.

Then my introvert self was overcome by having our photo taken with Ian McDiarmid, especially after his laughter and surprise appearance in the Episode 9 panel. I was scared to death of him (hello! HE’S THE EMPEROR, people!) (and I’m afraid of everyone anyways, I’m high anxiety) but he was so nice and such a gentleman and if you have the opportunity I recommend a photo-op with him. This will be on our Christmas card this year.

After that, we when to the ILM Model Shop panel. AND, even though we left 30mins early, we didn’t get into the Romance Those Ships Also Belong in Star Wars panel. Which I thought was wonderful from a certain point of view. I had actually told Caps, 3-4 days before, that the best thing that could happen was: the panel would be so packed, and the line would be out the door, that we wouldn’t even get in and then EVERYONE would see how many people like BOTH Star Wars and Romance. And my wish came true! Probably the first time I ever grinned ear to ear for not getting into something. Caps was more upset about not getting in than I was. He kept apologizing that we didn’t get to be with “my people.” But thankfully the panel is up on Youtube now and, perhaps, there will be more panels like it in the future due to popularity.

So, our last panel of Celebration ended up being Anthony Daniels Droidography. Which was great, because we had missed out on seeing Anthony in 2017, too. Anthony has such a positive energy. He and Warwick were hilarious together.

I can’t believe it’s been a week ago now. What a whirlwind. It was a long drive between Georgia and Chicago, so I need a few more days to recover.

[thisislizheather]

Navigating November 2019

I love being in the middle of the holiday season. So many get togethers, fat-ass blankets are on the bed, the snow is on its way, presents are coming, I love it all. It’s finally time for reflection and to celebrate the entire year that has come and gone. It’s the best time of the damn year. So excited for December to start. Here’s what happened last month:

Chrissy Teigen started her own website and though I haven’t tried any of her recipes on it yet, I intend to soon. I’ll likely start with this Lemon & Walnut Pasta since it’s been pretty popular. One thing I do like so far about the site? The newsletter that she emails out. She gives restaurant recommendations in them, which I happen to love.

I rewatched The Game and it’s still as great as I remembered. Michael Douglas can do no wrong.

Quick question: does anyone ever change up their makeup routine? I want to and don’t know how. I’m thinking maybe I’ll go the YouTube-tutorials route, but they can be so boring. Any suggestions welcome. I do not want to watch James Charles. His face bothers me.

I tried the Hard Kombucha from Trader Joe’s and it’s absolutely nothing special at all. The regular non-alcoholic stuff is way tastier.

I rewatched Rosemary’s Baby (I first saw it as a teenager and did. not. enjoy. it.) and surprise surprise: adult-me didn’t enjoy it either. It’s just really frustrating to watch. Mia Farrow makes all these terrible decisions and her husband has sex with her when she’s unconscious (???) and it’s just a lot. Must remember to never watch again.

We bought a new couch! It’s been a very big deal.

The TWA Hotel just keeps getting cooler: they’re going to have an ice skating rink this winter.

Love this cartoon:

Above Photo: Elilis Rosen, The New Yorker

I tried the Staten Island-style pizza at Joe & Pat’s in the East Village and it was good, but nothing to write home about. Skinny pizza is skinny pizza.

We haven’t watched any old Twilight Zone episodes in forever, probably because we forgot about it but also maybe because I think we’ve already seen all the good ones. But we recently watched The Long Morrow episode (mainly because it’s mentioned in a Gilmore Girls episode where it’s noted how romantic this episode is supposed to be) and WOOF. It fucking blew! I was pissed. I should’ve known it would suck though because it was “Logan’s favourite episode.” Serves me right.

I tried these cauliflower crackers from ALDI and whoa. Greatest cracker. This was also the first time I’ve ever been to an ALDI and I was expecting a bit more, to be honest. It’s just a dumpy grocery store? Why all the caps?

I’ve been following this woman Arielle for a few years now and I like her a lot. She used to work for Buzzfeed and that’s where I’d first heard of her (don’t judge me) and now I just sort of like to keep up with her life and what she’s doing. Very sweet, likable person to follow. This sounds vague as hell, but I’m really just mentioning it here because I feel like it’s hard to come across good people to follow who don’t make you feel bad about your own life and are sort of inspiring.

You know how you’ll buy something that’s supposed to change your life and you use it for a week and then never again? Yeah, that’s me with every single thing on my dresser. ANYWAY, I’ve actually started to use the Origins GinZing Eye Cream every night for the past little while and it really works, I think. (God, this just reminded me that I need to start remembering to put on neck cream. I can’t remember where I heard someone say that no one cares about their neck when they’re young and then WHAM one day your neck looks like that of an elderly turkey.)

I really thought I wanted to buy this new Frozen Colourpop palette but then I realized that I actually only want that colour in the middle, soooo I might just get this Huda palette in Topaz instead. (Yeah, I just bought it.) I’m very in the mood to do holiday makeup this year.

I think I’ve decided that there are way better eyeliners out there than Fenty’s Flyliner. It sticks to your eyelashes so that a coat of mascara can’t go on smoothly! It sucks. There! I’ve said it! Still love the sponge, though.

I rewatched The Day After Tomorrow and I’ve gotta say… I love movies like these. Dante’s Peak. Twister. This one. Love watching the world get all fucked up. But really, did climate change WRITE this movie? It’s great.

I have been watching so much Living Single and maaaaaaaan, this show’s perfect. It’s funny, it’s got heart, it’s not a typical kind of sitcom, there are minimal white people, it’s got it all! Love it so much. Wish reruns were easier to find on TV.

Hulu is having a sale right now where it’s $2/per month for a year. Yeah, that can’t be right. Check it out, might be worth it. Sale ends Monday December 2nd.

I am in love with these socks I got from Express. Love a smooth, soft sock in the wintertime.

I posted about my trip to New Orleans last month.

I made this Melt In Your Mouth Chicken and it was actually pretty good. Never would’ve even thought about coating chicken in yogurt.

I rewatched Big and of course I love this movie, it’s got a wish-granting robot machine in it. I should’ve wrote this damn movie!

Words can’t fully describe how much I love the Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas themed episodes of Bob’s Burgers. They’re always the best.

I watched Rumble in the Bronx and wow. Just a fun movie. Best part is by far the moment he launches a toddler out of harm’s way.

I went to Mister Paradise in the East Village and I’m sorry, it’s too expensive to drink in public these days. It’s nuts. One drink should never cost more than $15, have we all gone insane to silently agree to these parameters? And if you’re advertising “fancy sauce” for your fries, it better not be fucking ketchup mixed with mayo. That is some bullshit.

I finished Lindy West’s new book The Witches Are Coming and wrote a post about my favourite parts from it.

I watched True Lies and holy shit, a lot happens in this movie. In a good way. Fun watch.

I tried a sample of this Belief cream and it is luxurious as hell. Feels like it might be the perfect neck cream, too. You know, if you’re looking for that kind of thing (YOU SHOULD BE).

So I watched the Mr. Rogers movie with Tom Hanks and it’s just an unnecessary movie. I’m not hating on Tom Hanks, he’s fine in it (although he looks nothing like the man, it isn’t a good impersonation, the story doesn’t need to be told, ETC.) but it really just didn’t need to be made. A great Mr. Rogers movie already exists. They already did it! That being said, I teared up whenever any of the Mr. Rogers songs were sung. I can’t NOT cry at those songs, I’ve got a beating heart, don’t I?

So when I did Nathan’s podcast earlier this month, we talked briefly about going vegan for a week (we watched The Game Changers documentary) and we did it and now our lives are changed. Hahah, no no no, but that’d be wild. It was a hard week to do (mostly to cut out the dairy) but it did feel really good, so we’re going to try to limit meat and dairy much more strictly and see where that takes us. I promise not to talk about this for the rest of time.

I tried Trader Joe’s Vegan Mozzarella and holy hell, it was bad. Tasted like cooked plastic. Returned it immediately.

In contrast, their vegan butter was really, really good and a great substitution for regular butter.

I will forever love and miss In Living Color.

In true November fashion, I had my Thanksgiving croissant from Momofuku Milk Bar and I got it at their new flagship store in the city that is huge. They also had (vegan) apple pie soft serve that was insanely good and the seasonal pumpkin dulce de leche truffles they have right now are amazing. And the flagship location accepts cash! This better be the start of all the damn locations accepting cash. Don’t GET ME STARTED on places not accepting human cash.

Some thoughts on how to have a cheaper Christmas.

Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: I’m going to attempt to make (rather than buy) some of the Christmas gifts I’ve giving this year but we’ll see if this actually pans out, I’m awaiting Jenny Slate’s new book from the library, I definitely have to find time to watch Krampus, putting up the (real) Christmas tree since this is the first year we’re getting a normal, adult sized one, the first day of snow is apparently tomorrow (in NYC) and I’m in looooove with the fact that it’ll also be December 1st when this happens, taking the family Christmas card, I have an obligation to make these Nutella cookies, and I will definitely watch a few of these. Santa, get your ass over here!

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in October over here!

[ctrl-shift-esc]

“The greatest gift you could ever give me is , consistency.” - Veronica 

Spoil Her with Consistent Quality Time 

Good morning from my living room, 

which is now, not as empty as it used to be. This place is filling up quicker than I thought!

It feels good to be getting the furniture we need, and decorating it to feel like home. I’m all about nesting…

I’m currently recuperating from 3 weeks of full time work on set. As a reward I’ve allowed myself to take the following 4 days off. Can’t say it’s been easy to refuse work, and commit to my time off. Who knew! (anyway, that’s a future post to come). For now, I am finally going to write about the little getaway to Victoria BC, Eric and I decided to take a few weeks back!

[ ferry ride to Victoria Bc. ]

With Eric’s job, we don’t get to see each other everyday, we don’t even get the weekends together. We go a straight 20, or now , 14 days without seeing each other, consistently… Not to mention that when he does come home, he’s more often than not, tired from working 14 to 20 days straight 12 hours a day, understandably.

On my end, I take as many days of work as I can while he’s gone. So that when he’s home I press on the breaks a little bit to be able to soak up as much time as I can with him. A luxury I get from making my own schedule. That being said, sometimes life happens. Things come up; weddings, friends or family visiting, or plain old responsibilities. Yes, being with each other should technically be enough. But sometimes it’s not. We all like to think that living our day to day lives together is enough to upkeep a romantic connection. But I’m afraid to say, that it might not be. Eventually the relationship can feel strenuous. Sure enough, it did. 

Life happened and we were (or I was ) feeling more and more tired. Feeling exhausted, and becoming short with one another. We were spending his time off dealing with responsibilities and attending to other people (which isn’t, by any means, lack of fun!) but we, in consequence, put quality time for ourselves on the back burner. It can be easier to forgive, for a relationship with a regular schedule. However, only having one week a month together, doesn’t allow for that kind of leeway. Rest assured though, it’s nothing a little Quality Time can’t fix! 

So we did just that, recently, many of my friends had been talking about Victoria, and Eric and I had been saying , we should go “One day”. Well “One Day” doesn’t make shit happen. I’ve learned that you need to set a definitive “By When” for things to start moving. Even if it’s in a year from now, at least the plan is made, you’re now working towards something. A week prior, we decided we we’re going to Victoria BC. for 1 night. Quality time doesn’t have to be the four seasons, Fairmont or Sandals resort to make you feel like you’re living a fairytale. It can be simple, quaint, and on the DL. 

Sure the pressure is on, to have an over the top romantic getaway, like you see in Rom Coms. Especially when you’re parched, and dehydrated from the lack of romance the past few months. Take it from someone like me; who has slight control issues & often needs / wants everything to be perfect. It’s easy for me to get ahead of myself. I’m not going to lie, I was originally looking at hotels like the Fairmont, and the Hilton. But then I opted for a quaint hotel right on Douglas st.; The Strathcona. 

[ picture credit: strathconahotel.com - Google, images ]

We got lucky, the Strathcona is actually surrounded by a few party places. Which we only found out about, when we got there. Since we had decided to go on a Sunday, we missed the noise and drunk people by one day. Phew! I’m not mad about it. It was indeed a quaint and cute place to spend the night. It reminded me of the Audrey Hepburn days (as if I know what those were like…). Fine, it reminded me of Old Movies. Made me want to dress shabby chic and walk the streets! 

We hurried upstairs to drop our bags, then, hurried right back down to go for a nice car ride along the water. I think, this was the highlight of the trip. To drive around, on a fall day with my love, by the ocean. Looking at beautiful houses that make you daydream about your best (future) life. Pit stopping to get coffees and hot chocolates along the way. It really allowed us to reconnect. To forget about the “Have To’s” and the “Must’s”. And to simply be present in the “Now”. 

That night was date night. I’d been recommended a lovely restaurant by a customer at work - Il Terrazzo. A hidden Italian restaurant & this lady swore by it! So obviously, we had to visit! It was everything I was craving. If you know me, you know; I’m all about those “hole in the wall”, quaint, cozy, rustic, ambient, places. And this was just that. It’s not a secret place, it’s actually quite known, but it’s also, quite literally, a hole in the wall. 

[ picture credit: waymarking.com - Google, images ]

You turn into an alley and the front entrance is off into a corner. The food was majestic, and the service was great. The ambiance, was perfect. I can’t wait to go back. Brick walls, large windows, wooden chairs and accent wooden  beams, were the main decor. They had multiple art displays, candle lit lighting. It was definitely romantic to say the least. 

In just a short 8 hours away with Eric, I already felt refreshed. I felt like I could breathe again. This, is what Quality Time does. It is so very important in a relationship. 

The next day was about spending our time exploring. Walking around, trying new restaurants. I had heard of Fan Tan Alley, by one of my friends who used to be a local. Although Fan Tan alley isn’t just visited by Victoria residents, it’s known to be quite the tourist attraction. And now, ‘twas on my radar to track down. 

[ Fan Tan Alley, Victoria BC ]

It’s an alley way, between two very close buildings. Which somehow holds space for several little artisan shops. I Am So In My Element! Not only have we found that Victoria is by nature the cutest - coziest little town, I was with my best friend, my boyfriend, exploring everything new. I’m happy. 

You might recognize the famous entrance way to Fan Tan Alley below -  Instagram seems to have taken the utmost liking to it…

We spent our day laughing, eating and shopping. 

And … Bickering. Yes. that’s a reality. When you’ve reached a point in your relationship where you’re both thirsty for quality time, there’s possibly a resentment build up. As I like to say, you’re no longer calibrated. Also, in our case, we only have so many days where we can talk things through properly. It unfortunately happens to be when we’re physically together… 

If there’s one thing I need to remind myself, it’s that; it takes the bickering, the fighting, the talking at each other, the eye rolling, and the time-outs, to get to an understanding. Unless you’ve mastered your communication, then you’ll inevitably have misunderstandings and long talks about your feelings. Especially if you’re trying to change or better anything in your relationship. 

Even though there were the small cringing moments, the memory I have of that weekend, is the way I felt spending undivided time with Eric. It was worth every minute. The good and the Not so good. 

[ me being creepy, in Fan Tan Alley ]

between all the laughing and bickering we tried this lovely seafood place called Finn’s. 

Another, cozy/ rustic place, by the water. 

I opted for the lobster lunch, which was surprisingly not as expensive as I thought it deserved. Its prices were equivalent to Bridges on Granville Island, in Vancouver, yet served bigger portions . The food was once again v tasty. See for yourself. 

[ now I’m hungry again… great ]

I recommend to any couple to go spend a day getaway in Victoria BC, or anywhere for that matter – any day!

It was nothing short of a breath of fresh air! Quality time, seems to replenish a withered connection with ease. Spending so much time apart can make you forget the little things that brought you together in the first place. It takes those times to rekindle and be reminded who you are as a couple. And I promise you it’ll feel good. Why do you think we always hear stories about how people fell in love on vacation? Because there’s something about being away, & forgetting about your To Do list, that is magical. 

The best present you could offer anyone in a relationship - I believe, (among other things ( like communication, loyalty, respect))- is consistent quality time. The effort, and the willingness to keep at it. 

So there it is.

A little quality time goes a long way - spoil her with consistency.

Until next time - enjoy the next few pics of our trip! 

[ The ferry ride was a windy ride ]

[ I look at you when you don’t know I am. ]

[ One of Eric’s favorite things to do, is to take Very awkward pictures of me… ]

[ Victoria BC. ]

On that note

Ctrl+Shift+ couples who travel together stay together - where are you guys going next?

[cchsctv]

‘Twas the first night of seattle

OK so it’s my first blog post and to be completely honest I’m I’m sleepy and don’t feel like doing this considering it is 12 AM Florida time and only 9:10 PM Seattle time. Pro tip: go to sleep the night before STN unfortunately I cannot say that I did this this year. Maybe it’s just because it’s on the West Coast and We had to get up at 2 AM but sleep was just not a thing last night. Pro tip: don’t pack at 1 AM when you have to get up at 2 AM. Anyways this first day was a lot of flying and a lot of eating and the hotel is really beautiful except it doesn’t have a pool but we are figuring that out #WinningMusicVideoStayTuned. Anyways pro tip: bring hand sanitizer because you will get sick. Yeah so anyways this is the first time in my personal experience that STN had to do layovers and zero out of 10 would not recommend to any friend or even enemy because I hate takeoff and landing but that’s beside the point and now I’m just sort of rambling because I’m tired and I can’t because I’m not typing any of this because I am talking to my phone. Overall Seattle is pretty amazing and really pretty. Pro tip: hang out with Chardo he’ll get you into the good places Even if you have zero idea where you are you will always somehow find an amazing place to be. Anyways I’m really excited for this trip it is my last STN which is sort of hard to believe and so far it’s been one of the greatest. I have never felt so close with a group of people before entering STN and I think it’s really great how much fun we’re having on the first day because usually the first day is really awkward. Anyways I’m still talking on my phone and I just want to say I can’t wait for this next week and everyone says that really corny line of us tear and it’s gonna be the best week of your life and to be honest it usually isnt and it’s sort of just a saying that’s been passed on from year to year but I think STN can be the best week of your life if you make the most of it and I can’t wait to win all the awards both crazy eights and individual because whatever we win we win because we work together and we are so much closer than all the other broadcast programs and I love you :) -gabby :)

[royvelasco]

The Great Palawan Experience: The Beautiful Islands of El Nido #Day4

It’s my fourth day and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Honestly, El Nido was where I was very much excited about that’s why this place had the most number of days I stayed in. I had four days to explore and enjoy the marvels of this paradise and I definitely spent each one with pure fun.

I woke up early on my 2nd day in El Nido for my island hopping tour. I inquired the tour through a friend I met on an online travel group. Shout out to Ruffa for making my stay in El Nido fun and worthwhile! I was able to get a tour discount from her and she also accompanied me in my hike to Taraw Cliff. Feel free to message me HERE for her contact details. Let Ruffa know that I recommended her to you. ;)

Since I was on a budget, I actually planned to just have a very simple breakfast from the groceries I had last night but went with a Tapsilog meal outside instead. It was my very first morning in El Nido, anyway. That day deserved a big meal. :P

Call time for the island hopping tour was 8:00AM. I met with Ruffa at her workplace and she led me to the group I’ll be joining in. She actually intended to accompany me for the day but unfortunately was unable to due to work. But that’s okay, and besides, she’ll go with me on my last day for Taraw Cliff.

Our group was a mixture of Filipinos and foreigners. Surprisingly, the group of Filipinos was actually from my hometown in Pasig City. What a small world! There were also siblings who were locals and the rest were from different parts of the world. ‘Twas a cool bunch.

We had a Combination Tour of A & C and as far as I know, El Nido no longer allows combo tours but some travel agencies still offer it anyway. Combination tours are perfect for those who are limited in time but still want to make the most out of their travel. It’s cheaper as well but the only downside would be the allotted time for each destination. We were left with around 30 mins to 1 hour of time to explore each place which was very fine for me.

We had a short stop at the EL Nido Tourism Office by the shore to pay the ETDF or the Environmental Fee. It was Php200 but it’s already included in the package. Then off we started for our full day activity!

First island was one of my favorites, the Seven Commandos Beach. The white sand was comparable to Boracay’s and Panglao’s but I would say this place is better. It’s not overcrowded and no establishments can be found except for one small sari-sari store in the middle where you can buy fresh coconut juice. If you’re up to beach bumming, this is the place to be.

It might look fun (which actually really was) but it’s actually challenging and scary. XD

Our tour guide explained why the beach was called such name. It was said that during World War II, seven soldiers were stranded on the island and lived there. Our guide also pointed out on the boulders nearby wherein the soldiers’ names were printed. Too bad we’re already in the boat and can no longer see it closely.

We spent there longer as expected since our boat malfunctioned and still needed to wait for the new one to arrive. No one’s complaining though as we had more time to enjoy this wonderful beach.

Our second destination was the Small Lagoon. One needs to rent a kayak or must swim to get there. The kayak was worth Php300 for an hour good for two people. Some of the foreigners went with kayaking while the thrifty Filipinos just enjoyed the view from the boat. LOL!  As much as I would want to see the small lagoon personally, I don’t have someone to share the kayak with and I found it pricey if I’ll do it alone. I’d be my first time doing it as well so I might look stupid. LOL! I’m not a good swimmer too so that one was not an option.

Right after Small Lagoon was Big Lagoon. It’s probably the most picturesque destination here in El Nido as this is usually the place being used for postcards and advertisements. I’m actually uncertain if this one or 7 Commandos Beach is my favorite. Well, this dilemma is quite common if you’re here in El Nido as every island indeed is a gem.

I really enjoyed this place as I was in pure wonder the whole time. We’re surrounded with mighty limestone cliffs as we slowly passing by through this unbelievably clear turquoise water. Our tour guide even pointed out to some rock formations that looked like different figures such as an elephant and the Virgin Mary.

Next stop was Secret Lagoon. Perfect to its name, one needs to enter a small opening to get to the lagoon. It’s no longer a secret though since a flock of tourists are already visiting this every day. It was a fun experience going through that opening as it felt like you’re a real explorer and about to discover a new amazing place.

It was already midday so the group decided to have lunch. Usually, the tour will stop by on an island for lunch but since we’re on a combo tour and only had limited time, we dock somewhere nearby and ate our lunch on the boat. We had a feast of grilled fish, shrimp, and chicken and also had some veggies and watermelons, and of course rice! Our lunch was very satisfying.

Once we had filled up our stomachs, we immediately headed to our next destination which was the Secret Beach. Just like the Secret Lagoon, you need to enter a small opening to get to the beach. This one was more challenging though as we need to swim to get in. The water was so deep that you can do snorkeling here as well.

I was not sure if this was the place to be after lunch but I was really having a hard time getting in. LOL! The waves were very playful. When I was about to enter the hole, I was kept on being pushed back because of the strong current. There were also other people in the entry point that time so I was accidentally hitting them. :(

Finally, I was able to get in and it was another hidden gem indeed. I liked this more than the Secret Lagoon because this one had clearer water and of course a beach to relax to. The challenge of reaching this place was definitely worth it.

We passed by Matinloc Shrine but no longer stopped there as it required an entrance fee. It turned out that the island is a private place and our tour guides suggested not to pay a visit anymore as it’s not worth it. We stopped by on a nearby coral garden instead. Since I was not able to experience the Coral Garden in Coron (find out why HERE), I took this opportunity to snorkel around the area.

It’s almost the end of the day and we still have two destinations in line. Second to the last was one of my favorites as well, the Hidden Beach. It’s hidden indeed that lies behind the towering rock walls. Don’t be intimidated with these giant rock formations ahead of you as a small wonderful cove of white sand is just right behind it waiting for you.

This was the place I got stung by something unknown. Click HERE to see what happened on my right arm. :(

Our last destination was the Helicopter Island. I was sure that we’re already somewhere nearby the town proper as I saw this island when we just jumpstarted the day. You will not able to miss this island and if you’ve already heard of the name, you know that this island is the one. It was really shaped like a helicopter from afar.

Since it’s almost end of the day and a couple from our group needed to catch a 5:00PM meeting, we spent only around 15 minutes to this beautiful island. I would say it’s perfect to have this as the last stop as the sunset view is spectacular here. And I think we’re the only group that was there that time.

The islands of El Nido are absolutely art made from above. It’s literally a heaven on earth. I feel so grateful being here to experience firsthand what our creator has perfectly made. This place is definitely a paradise and a perfect example for wanderlust. One should definitely include this in their bucket list. Good thing, I still have two more days to make the most out of this utopia.

Previous Post:  The Great Palawan Experience: Coron to El Nido (V/V), A Hell Ride in Paradise? #Day3

Next Post: The Great Palawan Experience: Beach Hopping in El Nido #Day5

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NOTE: I own all the images used in this blog post unless otherwise stated. Please don’t use these for any purposes, unless you acknowledge the owner. Thank you.

[thecityandseagypsy]

A lil bit of Pumpkin Spice~

Hello Fall in NYC....welcome...twas about time?! 

The temperatures are FINALLY starting to cool down here in the city. It been a really warm fall season. Its still warmish, but its definitely sweater weather :) It feels fresh and crisp. I’ve been going for a lot of late afternoon walks around town and just soaking in the fresh (ish?!) fall air. NYC is getting ready for halloween and the decorations are so damn cute! I loooooove it. It feels festive, and it will be festive from here on out. Its the start of the holiday seasons!! Yay! Such a fun time of the year here in NYC. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, so much to keep looking forward to! Last night I went out to dinner with my girlfriends, and then we went to a halloween party in BK. It was so much fun we just danced and laughed all night. I love being around happy people who like to have a good time. Its so pure. I dressed up as an 80′s gym girl. It was a last minute decision, because I originally thought I was gonna be a mermaid...but my tail never arrived:( Anyways, it was no big deal and I got creative and made my own costume. 80′s gym babe barbie haha. I feel like I always end up looking kinda like a barbie whenever I put on hot pink lipstick lol. This morning I slept in and then went straight to the farmers market to get my fresh produce and eggs for the week. I feel like if you go in the morning the produce is the most fresh and plentiful, compared to later in the afternoon. It hasn’t been picked through yet! So I collected my produce and then came back home, got cozy, ate breakfast, and did homework. I’m feeling organized :) Lately I’ve been making my homemade almond milk lattes and I’ve been adding cinnamon and a lil bit of pumpkin spice. Yum! Its so good, and it taste super festive. A lil bit of pumpkin spice makes everything nice! I used to love halloween growing up, so I’m really happy I got to celebrate last night and dress up with friends. I’m also soaking in all the hilarious and spooky decorations around the village. I cannot believe that this coming week it will be November. What! I feel like I was just telling someone that I couldn’t believe it was already October. These fall months are flying by! I think they are flying by because I’m really enjoying every second of them, and making every moment count. I haven’t let my anxiety get in the way and slow me down. It feels really good :) If you guys have any recommendations of blog post you’d like, send me a comment! I’m always happy to hear from you!

XO 

“fall in love with moments”