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sea-dragon-pride · 5 years ago

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☕☕☕☕☕ (KIDDING, 🌟🌼🌗❓!)

☕☕☕☕☕ WELL IF YOU MUST KNOW,,, my deepest darkest secret… my BIGGEST shame… is that I can’t get Calico’s cats to like me. I KNOW! I’m a fake druid, but I try talkin to them and I chase them around and they’re not havin’ ANY of it. The cats on this boat are anti-Tiller ghskgh;skgsgds

(ALSO THIS GOT LOOOONNNGGGGG, so I’m putting it under the cut, I’m So Sorry For Getting Carried Away)

🌟When your OC loses all hope, who do they turn to first? What helps make them feel better? What calms them down and reassures them? Why?

I think when all hope is lost, I would always turn to Roy! I know I should probably say something like my real dads but I haven’t seen them in so long and I never want to worry them with things they don’t need to know about…. Roy always knew how to keep up a brave face, and somehow had a plan for everything, even when failure seemed inevitable. All the Sea Dragons for that matter, made me feel that way! I could never stay in a sour mood after an evening meal with Bingo or Codec, or hell, even Skiff! They’re practically my family and I know they accepted all parts of me into their ranks, so I can’t help but feel better if we’re all together. Though nowadays, that’s not an option, so… to calm down I usually like to hang out in the crow’s nest and chart stars. You can see the sky and the ocean for MILES, when everything is so grand and beautiful, things can’t seem so bad. Something about being up there reminds me that life is always moving, like the ocean! So if things are bad now… then they can’t stay that way forever, because that time will have to move somewhere else, somewhere in the past. On a simpler level, I really appreciate hugs and snacks. I’m the perfect form for cuddling! It’s not bragging, it’s a fact!!! So if I’m ever sad, just squeeze the life out of me and I’ll feel better.

🌼 Write a short drabble from your OCs POV meeting their LI

I see the red sails being raised at the end of the dock. Black skulls with a sun burst pattern decorates a number of them. The whole ship is made from stained black wood with red trim. The wood even smells burned.

Jeez, these guys are the ostentatious types, huh?

Everyone looks like they’re bustling about, doing the prep work for an extended time out at sea. They’ll be expecting me anytime now, but when have pirates been punctual?

Okay, okay, new boat, new story, don’t sweat the small stuff. No one can ask you too many questions if you just keep up your overly-friendly small talk. These guys are supposed to be more dangerous than the last crews, which means a bigger haul. Roy’s counting on you.

I look around the main deck and spot an older woman with an intricate braid and a wide-brimmed hat. That’s gotta be her. I run up and say:

“OH! Ahoy there!!! I’ve never been on a ship this big before wOOWW! Love the color scheming, it really brings out the whole ‘murder-y’ vibes you guys seem to be going for haha! You must be Captain Rhea!”

The older woman looks perplexed (like they usually do), and responds: “That would be me, aye. Though I don’t remember ordering for an interior decorator aboard my vessel.”

“Hehehe no! But you DID send for a navigator and that’s me! Tiller Jakobie, at your service! I’ll tell ya where ya are, where ya goin, where ya wanna be, and how to get there! I also brought my own maps!” I lift them out of my bag proudly. These babies took ages to chart, but no one appreciates map craftsmanship nowadays.

Rhea sighs: “Ah, I did put Beremy in charge of recruiting didn’t I? Remind me not to do that again…. But yes, unfortunately, our last navigator has seemed to desert us for his own misadventures. If you’re the best we can do for such a short time, then so be it. Boys, get her set up in a room, I have business to attend too.”

Yeah… the misadventures of their old navigator mostly involve spending the next few weeks in the brig of The Quick Silver. If Franz is on guard duty, the poor guy will have to listen to him while he practices new songs. Hehehe that’ll make him WISH we threw him overboard!

I turn to my new alleged crew members: “SO! Miss Captain said something about accommodations? Do you guys have room service?? OH! What about those complimentary little soaps??!! Where am I stayin!! You’ve got a five star suite for me, right?”

Most of the reactions are as expected; a couple a furrowed brows, eye rolls, a few smirks and chuckles. I’ll have em head over heels for me soon enough, I mean, come ON! I’m adorable!!! They look around at each other, and one pipes up:

“Well I know someone who don’t have a bunk mate right now…”

The group kind of snickers and mumbles to each other. I hear some whispers - “That’s a lil mean for her first day, ain’t it?” “With HER, are you serious?” “Well, I ain’t gonna be the next one with a fresh scar for waking her up by accident!” They talk back and forth some more and come to an agreement of some kind? “Alright, we got a room for you, follow us!”

I trail behind them, trying to note down the layout of this ship. It IS bigger than The Quick Silver, more in width than in length. The mizzenmast is fortified and I can see spots for snipers to sit up by the topsails. That’ll be a problem to deal with later… We continue below deck and I’m practically pushed towards a room at the end of the hall. My welcome party already starts backing up toward the hold and they shout:

“Alright, get cozy in there!” More repressed laughing. “Dinner’s served around dusk, see you then!”

Okayyyyy… whatever these guys think they got against me, I’m sure it can’t be that bad. What’s a little hazing between new crew members, right? I’ve faced worse.

“Uh hello?” I knock and open the door.

Oh Fuck. It is that bad.

In the room, there’s a girl, sitting on the lower bunk, sharpening a pair of swords. She doesn’t even flinch when I enter. Her hair is covering a lot of her face, since she’s looking down. It’s so long… Golden hoops dance under her ears. She has bandages around her hands and scars up her arms. Who IS she???

“Are you lost?”

I jolt back. SHIT, I’ve been staring!!! “Wh- huh?”

The girl looks up at me and her hair falls back. Oh NO, she’s PRETTY,,,,!!!!! My face feels hot, WAIT, is this room hot? DON’T tell me you’re blushing right now, Jakobie,,,

She asks again: “Are you lost? This is my room. What are you doing in here?”

Your mission. Remember your mission, dumbass.

“AHAHA OH RIGHT! N-NO WAY! In fact, it’s my job to be Not Lost! I’m Tiller, the new navigator aboard the ship, it’s SUPER nice to me you!!!”

She puts away her whetstone but doesn’t say anything.

I close the door, as I default to rambling over silence. “Well... ANYWAY, your friends said you needed a roomie so here I am! They seem like a fun bunch huh? They mentioned something about you stabbing someone, not that that’s important to me haha! D-Don’t answer that! Those are cool swords you have there!! Where’d you get them? Can you fight with them at the same time!!?? That’s CRAZY! But in a good way! Not that you’re crazy!! Also, I didn’t seem to get your name??” I take a seat on the chest across from her.

She starts to polish her swords. “I didn’t give it.”

Ohhhh one of THOSE types.

She glances up briefly and squints at me. “Why are you wearing a sleeve on only one arm?”

To hide my tattoo.

“OH haha! THIS??? It’s uhhh… to cover a… birthmark! It’s- It’s really gross and ugly and I, uh- hate it so I don’t like looking at it.”

She furrows her brow and kind of scoots further away on her bed after hearing that.

Smooth.

I start putting my stuff away. “Sooooo, I heard someone on the boat is named Beremy?? What’s up with that? That doesn’t sound like a real name.”

“Tiller doesn’t sound like a real name.” She mumbles.

“OHHHH SO SHE HAS JOKES!!! Miss Mystery over here has jests and japes for the the new girl, okay, I’ll take that one. I’m glad comedy is allowed in this room.”

She seems to eye me more closely now as I empty my backpack. She responds: “Just don’t touch my things and you won’t be sleeping in the galley with your namesake.”

“The other crew members seem to be kind of scared of you. Should I be worried, or are you all bark and no bite?”

I feel a whoosh of cool air whip past my ear. One of her swords is suddenly embedded in the wall behind me, inches from the side of my head.

Whoa…. she’s Perfect.

She sounds a little irritated when she says, “I like for people to make their own judgements about me and not listen to rumors from people they’ve just met.”

My heart is racing. (Probably from the sword, right??) I yank it out of the wall. “That… was SO COOL!!! I didn’t even see you throw it. You’ve gotta teach me that!!!””

She looks a little taken aback.

I continue, “Also have you ever thought about pulling your hair out of your face with something??? Then maybe you can aim better!! Plus… I think your eyes are really pretty...”

“I-”

Suddenly, there’s a bell ringing down the hall.

The girl looks away to the side. Was her face always that pink? She stands up and makes for the door. “That’s the dinner bell. You can… come with me if you want. It’d be weird to just stay in here.”

I hop up. “Alright Miss Mystery, if you INSIST!”

“It’s Mayday.”

“What?”

“Mayday. That’s my name. If I am stuck with you, then you at least ought to know what to call me.”

Mayday.

Aw man… how am I gonna figure out this one…?

🌗 Early mornings or late nights? What do they spend their time doing during these hours?

Early mornings all the way! As much as I LOVE sleepovers and gossiping over pillow talk, there’s something AMAZING about seeing the sunrise and getting to run around before the rest of the crew has woken up! Usually, I like to sneak food from Mr. Biscuit while he’s still making breakfast and I try to hide stickers in Selim’s armory. I chat with all the animals around the boat too! You know, catch up with the seagulls and dolphins following along side. I usually find a rat or two, and they always have the best jokes!!! Miss Shih says I should get rid of any rats I find, but what she doesn’t know, won’t hurt my loyal subjects. And then my favorite, I GET TO WAKE EVERYONE UP!!! Miss Shih’s always awake, so she’s the exception! You really bond and get to know a person once you’ve seen them at their most annoyed and delirious state, A HA I LOVE IT!!!

❓ A random fact or short drabble! Or make up your own question to ask the OC!

My question of choice: If you had a personalized Captain Hat, what power would it grant you?

THAT’S A REALLY HARD ONE!!! Part of me almost wants to inherit Roy’s hat because his power is really cool and he’s never let me USE IT!!!! >:///

But part of me also feels like it would be fun to just enhance the druid powers I already have! Like basically just become a water-bender and control the weather when you’re out at sea!! OH! Or maybe it could be a shape-shifting animal hat!!! (But how would that work in animal form?? Would they all get little hats?? That’s not intimidating!!!) Maybe it could be navigator related, and I would always know where I am and never be lost! OR MAYBE! It could track the thing you desire most!!! That seems kind of heavy for me though haha! Regardless, I can’t make up my mind! I want them all! The solution is that all captain’s should give me their hats and that’ll be the end of it!!! It’s only fair, and I deserve it of course!!!

#anon #anonymous #GOSH THANK YOU IF YOU READ ALL THE WAY THROUGH....#I KNOW I WENT A LIL BUCK WILD ON THE MAYDAY QUESTION BUT HGKDJSHG:SDKGG WOWEEEE #i apologize for my jank writing but it was FUNNNN!!!!#it's late now tho so I'm going to bed lmao!!#tiller talks!!!#Anonymous

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faces-in-unexpected-places · 4 years ago

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Leopold Looney Interview

As a way to get to know my characters better and find a way to better write their voices, I found many articles saying I should interview them and just write what comes naturally. Sooooo here we go! (This may or may not lead to spoilers for Do You Have the Time? so, you know, read at your own risk, I suppose!)

-----------------

“Hi there, Leopold, come in and have a seat.”

Leo: Ah, uh, well, don’t mind if I do, thank you, heh.

Leo: What-- uh, am I doing here, exactly? I didn’t expect to be... here today.

“I’m here to learn more about you. Just ask some basic questions to get to know you better. To get an idea on how you talk, how you think, who you are as a person. Down to the core. Is it okay if I ask you some questions?”

Leo: Wh--I-- I suppose I don’t see why not. Sure. Yes!

“Great, that’s what I like to hear!”

Leo: Oh, but, uh, um... what--what will you do with this information.

“Umm... that’s a bit of a... complicated question.”

Leo: Well that’s... not a very comforting answer. Perhaps I should go...

“Wait! Okay, hold on.”

Leo: ...Yes?

“Okay, I’ll tell you as much as I can without compromising the, uh, study.”

Leo: Oh, this is part of a study?

“...Sure.”

Leo: Okay...

“I can tell you that anything you tell me today will be completely confidential in that none of your peers or acquaintances will have access to the information.”

Leo: Okay, that’s a start.

“The information you do share with me will be used as a tool for learning and analysis. Like they use in some therapy sessions to teach.”

Leo: Oh, interesting! I believe I understand now. What will you be teaching with these recordings. Is this... recorded?

“I thought I was the one who was asking the questions.”

Leo: Err-- right. Perhaps you could humor me, though? Just a curious old man? I’m a scientist myself, so, I can’t seem to help asking questions about these sorts of things.

“Yeah, I know.”

Leo: *Extremely fast and repeated eyebrow raising*

“I’m using this information for... character development. Inspiration for science-fiction.”

Leo: Oh, so you’re writing a story? And you wanted to pick my brain to get it off the ground?

“...Yes.”

Leo: That sounds great, why didn’t you just say so!

(Under breath) “Because you weren’t supposed to know this much.”

Leo: What’s that?

“Nothing! Nothing at all. Uh, yes, that’s what I’m doing. Though, I’d like to keep the specifics under wraps, if that’s okay with you.”

Leo: Oh, heh, yes, of course! You’re secretive with your projects until they’re presentable. I understand. *Whispering* I’m the same way. *Wink*

“Why don’t you tell me about one of your projects, since we’re on the subject of sharing.”

Leo: Why, I can’t tell you much! Did I not just say that I was secretive and protective of mine as well?

“A project you’ve already finished, then.”

Leo: Mmm... I suppose that will do. Okay! I’d been working on this for over a year.

“Okay. Do share.”

Leo: I was set on baking the perfect Boston cream pie.

“Oh. I didn’t know you baked. I love Boston cream pie.”

Leo: Oh, so do I. Ever since I was a boy!

“And did you do it?”

Leo: Better!

“You baked a Boston cream pie that was better than perfect?”

Leo: I did. Because I discovered the perfect yellow cake to custard to chocolate frosting ratio.

“You even talk about baking like it’s a science.”

Leo: But it is a science, kiddo! That’s what’s so fascinating about it.

“So what’s the ratio?”

Leo: Ah! A good baker never reveals his secrets.

“Wow, I think I get it now. I always got low-key magician vibes from you, even though you’ve never done any magic tricks.”

Leo: But I can tell you that I improved it even further!

“How’s that?”

Leo: I used a hazelnut frosting instead of chocolate.

“Oh, cool.”

Leo: Sprinkled some sliced almonds on top.

“Mmm, nice touch.”

Leo: And I also made it... a TRIPLE-DECKER Boston cream pie!

“Good God man, that actually sounds delicious. I REALLY want some now.”

Leo: Well perhaps next time I make one, I’ll give you a call. ;)

“Thanks so much for sharing. Can I ask what exactly drew you to baking?”

Leo: Oh, hmm, well... lots of things, I think.

“Really. Like what?”

Leo: Well... I wasn’t good at any sports as a kid.

“Eh, same. They’re overrated.”

Leo: Not that I disliked them, I just... wasn’t as gifted as other kids, heh. And, my father wasn’t around to teach me anything like that. He left when I was very young.

“Oh. Uh, wow, I didn’t know that. I’m sorry to hear that, Leopold.”

Leo: Eh, well... it was a long time ago. A long time ago, heh. But my mom and I got on just fine.

“Did she like to bake too?”

Leo: Umm... well... no. Not that I can remember actually. She cooked, but it was really just because she had to. You know, to feed us, hehe.

“That’s fair.”

Leo: But one day, I came home from school and I was upset because the other kids all made fun of me. ‘Cause I couldn’t catch anything in any game we played. Football, baseball, frisbee, hah. And I wasn’t that fast, either. I didn’t want to play any of those games ever again, when I barged through the door.

Leo: And my mom asks me, she says “Honey, what’s wrong?”

Leo: And I say “I hate all the sports! All the catching and point scoring! They all made fun of me because I’m bad at it!”

Leo: And she asks me “Well, don’t mind them, they’re just being stupid boys. What do you wanna do instead?”

Leo: And I say “I wanna make cakes.”

Leo: And, I guess once I said that, my mom really just took that and ran with it. We went out and bought all kinds of baking supplies and recipe books and hunkered into the kitchen for hours. Baking cake-after-cake, day-by-day, until we made our first one together that wasn’t lumpy or lopsided or dry as a brick, hehehe.

“Your mom sounds like she really cared about you.”

Leo: I was lucky to have her. We weren’t that great at baking at first, heh.

“Well, no, but that’s what practice is all about.”

Leo: It is. And we got better! Or rather, I got better. My mom was never that keen on baking anyway, I think she just did it to spend time with me, hehe.

“Heh, oh, that’s all?”

Leo: It was nice to be able to make something so nice, too. I always thought to myself “who could be upset at a cake?” Cakes and desserts just seemed like the most objectively good thing someone could make. Have you ever been upset that you were given a cake?

“Not that I can recall.”

Leo: Ha! Exactly! One day, when I retire, I always liked the idea of opening my own bakery.

Leo: It’s just that, there’s just so much... bad in the world. So much hurt. So many reasons to be upset. I wish I could fix all those things, but I know I can’t. And so I bake. If even to make just one person a little happier.

“Why do you wish you could fix all of the reasons to be upset?”

Leo: Well... wouldn’t anybody? Wouldn’t you be happier if none of those things existed?

“Some might say one wouldn’t know happiness if not for all the things that cause sadness and anger, too.”

Leo: Ehhh, I see the point, but... Surely we could be doing better.

“Do you think that using a time machine to change events leading to outcomes you know to be bad will help you fix these problems you see?”

Leo: Hmm. I don’t know if I have answer for you on that one, yet.

“Do you feel that you’ve made choices leading to bad outcomes that you wish to change?”

Leo: Again, doesn’t everybody?

“I asked if you did.”

Leo: ...

“...”

Leo: ...Like everyone... and as I’m sure, like you as well, some choices I’ve made, I wish I did differently. And I would give anything to take them back. To have a do-over.

Leo: ...I’ve hurt people. Sometimes by accident, sometimes... on purpose. And some of the wounds could be healed, and others... are permanent.

Leo: I wish I could take it all back.

“...”

Leo: But, well, things happen for a reason. And the sun rises in the east all over again, and... we just try to keep moving on. That’s all anyone can do. It’s not easy, but...

“But you get through it.”

Leo: Yeah. You do.

“And you’re still here. Still alive. And the bad from your past doesn’t cancel out the good you do in the present.”

Leo: ...Hmm.

Leo: I really hope you’re right about that.

“...Me too.”

Leo: Heh, we talked all this time, and we barely even got to talking about something to help with your science fiction project.

“Don’t worry about that.”

“Some other time. Yeah?”

Leo: Okay, sure.

“Thanks for being so honest, Leopold, this was very helpful.”

Leo: ...I’m happy to hear that. :)

“You can go. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of other things to attend to.”

Leo: Thank you. I really should be going. There’s only so much time in a day to finish our research goals... for now, that is, hehehehe.

“Alright, you take care now!”

#do you have the time? interview #leopold #damn this was exhausting to write #idek why #it wasn't even anything super groundbreaking #just kinda got his voice down a little bit more #i think?#anyway #here ya go!#do you have the time?

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eggrolyn · 5 years ago

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Sun Moon Lake

Just now posting this entry, must have been from 2013 or somewhere around there:

After hearing about Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) ever since I was a kid, I finally got to go! I found a Groupon that included a one night stay at a bed&breakfast, and convinced my friend Jenny to come with me! Everyone in my family made fun of me for wanting to go because apparently it is only a foreigner/tourist destination, but I love lakes, and this one was in the middle of a mountain!

I stayed at Jenny’s house the night before we left, then went to work with her for half a day on Saturday. It took us 2ish hours of winding through mountain roads, but when we finally got there, it was all worth it - definitely much prettier than everyone had said! And, I got to play with Jenny's DSLR camera :D

It was 4pm when we arrived, so we had to hurry to make the last boat around the lake. We wanted to rent a kayak or something more fun, but they said that the tourists from China liked sitting on the motorboats so they got rid of all the other man-powered ones :/ After getting back to our side of the lake, we walked around for the rest of the night eating 小吃 (traditional Taiwanese food) and people watching. One of the food cart owners stopped us and asked which province Jenny was from, because apparently she looked Chinese, and then she looked at me and asked me what tribe of Aborigines I was from...haha, what a big difference skin color makes. She ended up talking to us for a long time, and guilt-tripped us into buying a bottle of rice wine. We went to sleep early because the whole town had closed shop and turned off all their lights by 9pm, which surprised me because streets in Taiwan are usually full of people until 12 or 1.

My favorite Taiwanese food - pork blood rice cake with peanut powder!

I'm really not trying to turn this into a food blog, but this grilled wild boar meat was sooooo gooood I had to include it.

I don't know which Aborigine tribe this is, but their dance was so cool!

The next day we got up early to go walking on one of the lakeside trails, and caught lots of old people exercising. It was nice though - no tourists, just peace and quiet. After that, we made it to the gondola and took a ride to the very top of the mountain, where we met two Taiwanese Americans from San Francisco and later two creepy men from mainland China.

Freaking out before our gondola car even took off

The lake!

Our goal for this trip was to go to this fancy schmancy hotel called The Lalu (涵碧樓) that has a swimming pool right next to the lake, but when we called, they said that only hotel guests were allowed to go in. We decided to go anyways. Aside from the parking attendant, nobody asked us who we were, and the attendant let us park for free after we up a story. We walked around admiring the hotel and then finally found the entrance to the pool. There were employees getting ready to clean it, but they told us to go ahead and even brought us some drinks! It was a very fun adventure that cost us nothing!

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justrchao · 5 years ago

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July 28th, 2019

Holy crap, time is flying so fast! Didn't realize it's been a month since I posted! It's been a super super crazy hectic month! Lots of going out and enjoying life! I went to 2 KPOP concerts, one just 1.5 hour drive away (Got7) and another; across the freakin country (Twice) in New Jersey! IKR! I would have never thought I would be the type of person to do that since I'm so lazy but I challenged myself to go out more at whatever oppurtunity it was! I'm so glad I went, it was one of the best nights of my life, just pure fun and socialized with random people who sat next to me. I ended up going to times square and explored for a good 5 hours before the concert and man it was insanely humid there. NY was nice besides the smell and humidity of the east coast in the summer. I had loots of fun still and also met one of my long time internet friend! She hung out with us in NY which was pretty cool to meet her in person, she's the same as on the internet haha I always thought it was weird to meet people on the internet but I guess it's super normal now. I wasn't going to write about the concert but I did so this is going to be a long post.

Got7 was pretty cool and chill. It was pretty expensive since I paid for 2 of my coworkers as well. Was it worth every penny? To be honest, probably not. Compared to the benefits they gave out, it wasn't worth the value as I got for Twice. I did get pretty good seats for both concerts, VIP packages but it was amazing nonetheless. I love their tour and comeback message. Even if you have bad days and bad times, you just gotta keep your head up and keep spinning. I love JYP groups, mainly because they're so friendly and loving. Their concepts are all down to earth projects and they send positive messages, I'll always stan JYPnation. They look so good in person, it's unreal how all of them have crazy good looking jawlines! Bambam looked into my soul omgg. Their fanservice was crazy!

Seeing Twice up close and talking to them for a few seconds and getting a super nice picture with them was great! I cried during the concert literally 15 minutes after it started. I just got emotional (in a positive way) just to see them so happy, energetic, and passionate on stage just makes me want to do better for me. One of the main reasons why I'm able to keep a positive outlook on life is because I get so inspired by Jihyo's story it just made me feel ashamed of myself for not trying to be the best I can be. She worked and works so hard to be on the stage, she trained for 10+ years and to finally debut makes me happy. Seeing her on stage so lively, bright, and killing it with the stage presence; I couldn't help but shed tears of happiness. I also cried during the stage for Mina, another member that couldn't attend the tour because of anxiety and being insecure to perform on stage. It was such a beautiful moment between the fans and the members to show support for Mina. As someone who struggles with mental health, I absolutely love JYPE for pulling her out of the tour because she's struggling with mental health. It creates nore awareness for these companies and especially the Asian society that this is a thing! I hope more companies and even people will learn from this! Of course I was sad she couldn't be there but her health comes first and I will always support them!

Anyways, the dieting! I've completed my 4 weeks of Keto, I was planning on doing it for about 6 weeks until my Twice concert but I ended it short because one of my friends came back to town. I wanted to try weed for the first time, just to see what getting high felt like and boy... I do not like it at all LOL, it was a never ending nightmare and felt like I was going to die. I ate sooooo much, it was crazy. I ended up going to the beach twice within 4 to 5 days and I literally ate at least 4k to 5k calories each day! I was at 163 but jumped to 172 after the week! LOOOL omfg I ate a whole bag of chips each day. I had the mindset of moderate eating but I just ended up binging everything. I knew that the weight wasn't going to stay permenantly so I ended up losing the 5-6 lbs pretty quick, within a few days of just going back to Keto.

It took me 5 days to get back into Ketosis but I fucked up and ate chocolate and more chips the night I got back into ketosis lol. I've been debating to get off Keto or not, I like it, but I want to get back to a regular clean carb/high protein diet. I'm most likely going to be doing Keto for 2.5 more weeks until KCONLA!! Yup Kcon is already freakin here. So crazy how time is flying. But yeah, I'm down to 160 now which is my goal! Now the hard part comes which is body recomposition! My plan is to just fluctuate between 158 and 163 while trying to get really strong and lean. I haven't gotten a consistent workout plan or schedule yet too since I've been so busy but I'll try my best to just stick to one. I'm excited how this whole fitness journey will turn up! Time for Kcon now!

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weareyourfoxes · 8 years ago

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isak and even: a or b

2 weeks before

they’re doing an unplanned movie marathon over at kollektivet with eskild, linn and noora and during some foreign film no one but even really seems into eskild suddenly turns towards even asking “when is your birthday exactly?” “the 12th of February” “ok, cool” and with that it’s over and they continue half dozing off

except isak is suddenly in full on panic mode bc the 12th is 2 wEEKS from then and how could he forget and oh god what will he get even that is enough?!!??

1 week before

isak still isn’t clear on what they’re going to do or what he’s going to get even bc he wants to make it so so special but so far the only things he has come up with are:

a self made birthday cake but honestly does he reaaaaallly know how to do that and he’s not yet desperate enough to go ask noora for help but getting close

a dinner at some fancy restaurant but that means having to get his dad to give him money for a date and would he even do that??? (or finding a job in a week that also pays out within like a day which seems v unrealistic too)

a party at kollektivet with their friends, but honestly everyone has gotten into a habit of coming over a lot lately anyway (including evens friends) so really how would it be much more different??

himself. naked. with a bow. but he gives himself to even with everything he’s got already so….

whatever he thinks of it just doesn’t. seem. like. enough. not enough to tell even how thankful he is for everything he has done for him (and for existing in general) and how loved even makes him feel and how safe and how truly like himself and it’s messing with his head

6 days before

“what do you want for your birthday? what are you even doing? its this weekend right?” magnus is the one who asks even first and even just shrugs and nudges isak “i don’t care as long as its together with this one” and everyone is taking isaks panic as him being embarrassed

4 days before

everyone keeps asking isak what’s going to happen on even’s birthday and he feels like the worst person ever because he just doesn’t know and then finally finally he goes to the girl squad for advice bc they will know what to do (right?????) and he just has to tell someone and then thanks to them for their advice he FiNAlly knows

1 day before

they’ve been chilling in bed all day having a lazy saturday and isak just can’t get enough of even but he has shit to do to prepare for the next day so after even finally falls asleep isak sneaks into the living room to do the prep

B-DAY

it starts with breakfast in bed which noora helped him with (bc really isak you want to give him a cheesy toast with cardamom??? how basic??? lets bake him a cake) and isak got eskild to keep watch so even wouldn’t get out of bed yet

the kollektivit squad brings in the cake while singing happy birthday and even just looks so happy and after everyone has a slice isak quickly kicks them out before they mess up his time table (which by that point is already behind bc obviously he messed up the frosting and noora had to step in)

and even asks him “did you really bake this?” while he looks at the slice skeptically and then with a huge grin takes a bite and isak looks at him hopefully like i hope i didn’t mess up?? but even loves it (thanks noora)

next up is the envelopes and isak has to look for them bc when he got back from prep even was awake and he had to do something to distract him about isak being gone for a couple of hours so now his clothes are all over the floor and even is just looking at him amused bc “what are you even doing???” and finally he finds them: two yellow envelopes (color coded as an idea by Vilde bc what if you accidentally mess them up? you don’t want that!!) one with a and one with b and he gives them to even

“you can open them both but you can only pick one” both letters start the same:

A & B: dear even, you’ve changed my life in ways I never expected and i never thought you’d like me or love me as much as i love you. thank you for existing. today is all about you and because today is all about you were going to play a game called isak and even: a or b. This is how it goes: you get to decide whats going to happen all day today by choosing a or b from the envelopes.

A: choose a and… we’re doing a baz luhrmann marathon in bed for the next 4 hours

B: choose b and… we’re having a snowball fight

A & B: happy birthday baby, yours always, isak

isak waits sort of impatiently for even to finish bc what if he doesn’t like it?? (and there are people waiting for only another 15 minutes so...) but before he can worry more about it even kisses him and then again and again and then finally whispers “b” against his lips and they basically run up and get in like 20 layers before running outside where both the girl squad and the boy squad and the kollektivit squad are waiting

everyone is divided in teams and takes position and then its onnnnn. some innocent bystanders get hit as well and for a bit it seems like isak and even are going to win but then everyone steps up their game and suddenly they’re both like walking snowmen. they hide behind one of the snow walls the other have created and kiss to keep warm until they get caught and everyone suddenly targets them

no one knows how but somehow eva and vilde won the snowball fight (jonas blames magnus for using himself as a shield) but isak doesn’t care because he has never seen even look this happy and alive (or covered in snow) before

next up are the blue envelopes a: have hot cocoa at their fave place or b: visit evens parents for an hour (because isak knows how much evens family means to him.). even goes with option b so they take the tram and have hot cocoa at evens parents + siblings and they give him a new high quality drawing pad and pencils and even just keeps smiling and smiling

“so what’s next?” even asks as the door closes behind them. isak digs around in his pockets and hands him the green envelopes: a: attend a drawing class (which is on a coupon that he can turn in another day if he doesn’t pick this) or b: get serenaded by isak with 5 fine frøkner at home (the last part very very very clearly underlined)

and obviously even picks 5 because hellloooooo

so the whole ride back to kollektivit he looks at isak with a twinkle in his eyes and “i can’t believe you’re really going to do this” “this is the best” and then he starts mouthing the song in the middle of the tram and isak quickly starts kissing him bc he can deal with pda but gabrielle in public?? no way!!

when they get at kollektivit isak drags even into his room before he can invite the others to watch and then puts him on the bed and starts the song while doing some dancing and its so horrible but also so amazing and even literally can’t get enough and when isak is done he hands him two new envelopes but even just puts them to the side and pulls isak in so they can kiss

an hour later they finallllyyyy get to the new envelopes (pink this time) and its a: listen to the mixtape isak created for him or b: game with the rest of kollektivit and even chooses both which is technically against the rules but whatever

half the people who were at the snowball fight that morning are still there (isak is sooooo glad he got that lock on his door after jonas walked into them for the third time) and while the playlist plays in the background even and isak both kick everyone’s asses (“honestly isak you only win when you team up with even lets be real”)

the next envelopes are grey. a: get pizza or b: get kebab which both seem simple but isak needs to get even out of the house for at least 90 minutes. even choses kebab and isak takes him to one of the ones the furthest away from home just to get more time

they take a booth in the back for some privacy and while eating isak digs around in his backpack for evens gift and gives it to him by almost shoving it up his nose. “you mean that this whole day wasn’t your gift already?” even asks before taking off the wrapping and its a dvd of romeo + juliet with bas luhrmann’s autograph and even just stares at it and then back at isak and back again with his mouth popped open “how? what? when?” and he’s just so happy and isak is glad the like 20 hours it took him to find a signed copy weren’t for nothing

the next envelopes are orange a: have a party bc you’re so awesome b: have a party because you’re the greatest “b but not as great as you” and they go back home and while they were away the kollektivet squad made the whole house party ready with food, 20 balloons in every color imaginable, a bunch of evens favourite music and so many presents that even kind of feels overwhelmed by it all bc how did he deserve this??? and then to top it all off his friends from bakka come around and everyone dances and has fun and for once there’s no smoking weed at a party but everyone is ok with it

they sneak into the bathroom for a make out session and even whispers “my face hurts from smiling so much” and “thank you this was the best day ever” and “you’re amazing you know that”

they dance some more and even takes the time to talk and thank everyone and its like he’s walking on a cloud and he never imagined anyone would put this much effort into anything for him ever

it all ends with even and isak both laying in bed tired but so so happy and both whispering “i love you” at the same time

#skam #skam headcanon #even bech næsheim #isak x even #isak valtersen #skam isak #skam even #evak #omgggg it was so much fun writing this I hope you all like it #eksild #mine

167 notes · View notes

blogobot5000 · 5 years ago

Text

EVE: (To girls) I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt there, since he knows I don’t really eat much meat or seafood… but the way he kept saying everything …

MAN: All the women were incredible.

EVE: Was not too charming.

MAN: There was this one woman… a flight attendant… we had a private plane for the wedding party, but we were hoping for our own separate party, if you know what I mean…

BONNIE: Wait- he did NOT say that.

EVE: Well … maybe not exactly but he was for sure laying down vibes that he wanted to get with this woman from this epic Italian wedding.

GWEN: Gross.

EVE: I do remember something word for word though…

MAN: Anyway, take a look. (Taking out his phone) I do not know if you saw all my photos, or remember from my profile -- did you see my dogs? I love dogs. Are you a dog person or a cat person?

EVE: Well, I like both.

MAN: No, no - If you had to choose. Say you could not pick both and you could only pick one.

EVE: Hm…

MAN: Everyone always has a preference.

EVE: Well, if someone held a gun to my head and told me I must choose between cats or dogs I would say cats. I used to be afraid of dogs when I was a kid.

MAN: (Almost offended or disgusted) I knew it. I knew you’d say cats. (Condescending) When I saw you in your red coat I knew immediately that you were a cat person.

EVE: (Confused) What does one say to that?

BONNIE: Was he trying to joke?

EVE: It did not seem like a joke. He legit seemed offended.

GWEN: Wow.

EVE: The dinner ended with him paying… (to him) are you sure? We can split it, if you want.

MAN: (With a condescending tone) I got it. It’s the least I can do for someone like you.

EVE: (Trying to make light) What does that mean?

MAN: I don’t imagine you have much money. (Exit)

BONNIE: Yikes.

EVE: At least he had the decency to text me after and say he didn’t feel a connection.

CLEO: What a low bar we strive for.

EVE: Honestly. And so, that is how ‘french guy’ was born. And the nickname trend. Speaking of… Wasn’t there a magician?

CLEO: Oh, there was…

BONNIE: What was his name again? Wasn’t it something like Abra Kadabra Adam?

GWEN: Presto Chango Pete?

CLEO: (Deadpans) Alakazam Andy. He was actually really nice. If he didn’t continuously refer to himself in the third person, we might have had a future. Saying things like, “Alakazam Andy would like to kiss you now” really made the mood disappear.

BONNIE: Hah! You so punny.

GWEN: And then sometimes, what they say online is just … so…

EVE: Questionable?

BONNIE: Mind-blowing?

CLEO: Revolting?

GWEN: Like this, I got this the other day. (Pulling out phone, they all do) Hey sexy. You (aside) spelled with the letter, not Y-O-U. Just the letter. Around, spelt “R-n-d” tonight- the number 2, N-I-T-E.”

EVE: Wait for it (Pulls out phone) “Let’s skip this small talk. Will you come over tonight?”

CLEO: “You want to fuck?”

BONNIE: I got something once like… “Hello beautiful, how are you? I know I might be kind of old but I just wanna let you know out of all my years you’re one of the most drop dead beautiful women I’ve ever seen since I can last remember and I thought I’d go out on a limb and let you know I’d love to take you out for a good old fashioned classy date with a classy man sometime.”

EVE: That one is actually kind of sweet-

BONNIE: He was sixty-two.

EVE: (Trying to make a positive) Well—

BONNIE: I was BARELY twenty.

EVE: Eek.

CLEO: Gross.

BONNIE: I mean, to each their own- but, yeah… that’s a bit of a gap. For me. Which I mentioned. On my profile. In which he claims he read.

CLEO: That’s not a gap. That’s a crater.

EVE: Well, if it makes you feel better one time I matched with a burrito on tinder.

CLEO: WHAT?

EVE: Yeah. I thought it was funny. But then it started to ask me what I wanted to be stuffed with.

BONNIE: Gross.

EVE: Yup. Oh and I also once matched 96% with a potato. But it never messaged me.

CLEO: Now that is a true match.

EVE: I thought so.

GWEN: (Looking at phone) Then, there are always the times when you answer back… because you have this little bit of hope of, like, “Oh! They don’t seem that bad. Maybe we can give this a shot.”

BONNIE: Which does not ever go well –

GWEN: Oh, absolutely never.

CLEO: I like this game. Examples please! (Motions to phones) And shots. We need shots.

EVE: Bartender! Four Washington Apple shots!

MAN: You got it, ladies!

GWEN: Pronto!

CLEO: (Standing up) Ladies, gentlemen, and distinguished guests of this fabulous venue. We present online dating at it’s finest. What you all have seen so far and what you are about to hear are stories that have actually happened to actual people that you may ACTUALLY know. Bear with us. As we unveil the hidden secrets and unlock the vault of conversations of ONLINE DATING

EVE: (MAN brings over shots) A FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT. (They take the shots) ANOTHER!

CLEO: AND ACTION!

GWEN: (Reading off of phone. Our characters pair off and reenact these conversations they once had with each other. They are goofy, becoming more drunk throughout, and having a good time as they go through it all, listening to each other’s stories.) Example! Part ONE from the profile of Eve!

EVE: THAT’S ME!

GWEN: IT YOU! (Clearing throat) Here we go. “Have you ever had the chance to visit the Museum of Fine Arts?”

EVE: I have – have you?

GWEN: “Damn. I was going to say I’d love to bring you. But, even if we went I wouldn’t have been able to hold your hand.”

EVE: Why’s that?

GWEN: “Well, I don’t know about the last time you were at a museum, but when I go they don’t let me touch the masterpieces.”

ALL: (Hands over mouth, loudly) OOH!!!!! (They all take shots)

GWEN: Here we got some one liners that are truly just… gems. Every single one. Gems.

CLEO: (Mimicking a man) “I’m from Israel. What’s your name?”

BONNIE: “So… looking at your profile… what are the chances you wanna add me to your list of six things you could never live without?”

CLEO: (Mimicking same man) I’m Dan.

EVE: “Would you like some company in bed tonight?”

CLEO: (Mimicking Dan) You there?

GWEN: Are you a Dementor, cause you take my breath away.

CLEO: (Mimicking Dan) Dear pretty lady, either stop being so darn beautiful or chat with me. Your choice.

BONNIE: (Breaking, laughing) What did you chose though?

CLEO: I mean option one is impossible sooooo…

GWEN: HELL YEAH IT IS!

BONNIE: So you chatted with him?

CLEO: Absolutely not.

EVE: “Anyway, I really like your smile and I find you very sexy, so I hope we can meet and have some fun.” Scroll… scroll… Eggplant emoji. Scroll… Fireworks gif.

CLEO: Christ.

GWEN: “Hey, I read your profile and you seem really cool. If I was a giraffe, I would slap my neck against 1,000 other giraffes to establish dominance over the herd and make you my giraffe queen.”

BONNIE: “How many shrimps have you ate in your life so you think? Over 500?”

CLEO: (Breaking, to audience) THESE ACTUALLY HAPPENED, PEOPLE

EVE: Yeah! We’re not that creative! (Interacting with CLEO) “Wow! It sounds like you’ve been having an amazing night”

CLEO: “Thank you! I’m two drinks in and the food is amazing!”

EVE: “wow! Gin again?”

CLEO: “Beer and gin!”

EVE: “Fancy, fancy”

CLEO: “I’m pretty sure that I’m the classiest dude ever”

EVE: (Flirty and fun) “Ya? Do you have a top hat?”

CLEO: “One for my head. One for my dick.”

BONNIE: (Laughing, disclaiming) Oh wait- this one is GOLD. (Composing self) For starters, this is from a white man:

MAN: Any luck finding black guys on here?

GWEN: Why did he ask specifically about black men?

BONNIE: That is EXACTLY what I asked. To which he said:

MAN: “I can just tell you like black guys. Haha. I also get turned on by that. I know it is weird but it is what I like. Probably due to my ex girlfriend cheating on me with black guys and me watching.

(Giant pause.)

CLEO: Wow.

BONNIE: (after a pause) There’s also that guy who wanted a lock of my hair.

EVE: Here’s a man who says he likes my profile and thinks we have a lot in common.

GWEN: Oh? What’s wrong with that?

EVE: Screename—WannaKnockYouUp4.

BONNIE: BOOM! There it is!

GWEN: And shall we never forget the time a man messaged me asking if I would dominate him in the bedroom? Which like… don’t get me wrong- I’m not vanilla BUT this man asked if I would please dominate him and making him my pet and had this fantasy of being a used pool boy. He gave me a script. A very. Lengthy. Script. Where I was lounging by the pool and he was serving me and all sorts of stuff… happened.

EVE: What sort of stuff?

GWEN: Use your imagination. Not only this… but he offered me $200 and everything I that was on my Amazon wish list if I would do this for him.

CLEO: That is quite the offer.

BONNIE: Did you take it?

GWEN: While, in a certain light it was tempting- I said no. It was a lot. This was all within the first message. There was no initial getting to know each other, no ‘hello, how are you’ just BOOM: dominatrix script!

EVE: That’s quite the first message.

CLEO: Yup. No wonder we end up trolling half the time. (All look at each other and scroll through. They pair up and act out the conversations below.)

MAN: Another round, how about some waters?

BONNIE: Yes and yes!

MAN: I’m on it- you all seem like you’re having a good time.

BONNIE: We’re just getting started. (MAN exits) And ACTION.

CLEO: (Throughout this next bit, CLEO and GWEN interact with each other as do Eve and Bonnie, acting out their online stories) How was your weekend? (Beat) How are you? (Beat) Any fun plans tonight?

GWEN: (Dryly) World domination. (Shift to BONNIE and EVE)

EVE: Hey I was wondering… did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?

BONNIE: Like a bitch. (Shift to CLEO and GWEN)

GWEN: So, this site tells me that we’re a pretty high match. We should just forgo all the dating and get married. What kind of ring do you want?

CLEO: Emerald with small pearls on the side that has the blood of my enemies infused in it.

GWEN: Damn… you sound like my kind of girl. Wanna grab dinner sometime? (Shift to BONNIE and EVE)

BONNIE: On my way to Starbucks, want me to pick you up something?

EVE: Flaxseed.

BONNIE: L-O-L ! Whole Foods isn’t that far! How’s your day going? I’ve been told groceries are very intimate.

EVE: Who told you that?

BONNIE: People. Anyway, you seem harmless we should hang. (Shift to CLEO and GWEN)

CLEO: What kind of stuff do you like to draw?

GWEN: I don’t. (Shifting to another character) Hey – sorry to be so blunt but I’m only looking to sext so if you’re up for that we could have some fun xx

CLEO: No thanks. But I will hext you. (Aside) Curse you via dark magic in the form of online chat or text message.

GWEN: Please don’t, that’s quite scary actually.

CLEO: (Dryly) Okay.

GWEN: (Freaked out) Thanks. (Shift to BONNIE and EVE)

EVE+BONNIE: “You remind me of moon. Moon will be center of attraction and beautiful among all the stars in the sky. And also I think you have a great attracting force than earth.”

CLEO: (Breaking ‘shift’ sequence) Wait – which off you got that one?

EVE+BONNIE: We both did.

GWEN: (Suddenly) Oh my god – left handed guy! I forgot about him!

EVE: Who’s left handed guy?

CLEO: (Knowingly) Oh boy…

GWEN: (With a laugh) Well, it started off pretty normally – hey, how are you, how’s your day, etcetera, etcetera. So, we talk like this for a bit, you know- pretty normal, average conversation. He was cute, his profile was pretty standard … and then he asks me if I am left handed. Which… I am. I was a little thrown off at the time because… that’s not really one of the first online dating questions you come across. So, I told him I was, and he was all like “I knew it!” I asked him how he thought he knew. He said ‘well you’re more artsy and artsy people are more likely to be left-handed’ and then he told me how great it was that I was left handed. So, I asked him if he was and he was like:

MAN: No! I wish!

GWEN: I started to be like, well, this is a little… different- maybe let’s put this conversation on the back burner for a bit. Then, the moment I go quiet:

MAN: LEFTYYYYYYYY! What ya doing tonight? Coming to the city?

GWEN: (Dryly) Sup, righty?

MAN: hahahah I’m getting ready. (Pause) I’m both. I’m a converted lefty.

GWEN: I don’t think it works that way, man.

MAN: Hahahahahaha. Sure, it does! I’ll show you a scientific study later. Stop wasting your time chatting with these boring boys on here that will never keep your creative imagination and mind fulfilled long enough. I got what you need, boo. Friend, boyfriend, acquaintance, wing man- I guarantee we would click perfect.

GWEN: Nah.

MAN: I haven’t met a lefty yet that I didn’t click with everrrrrrrr.

GWEN: There’s a first time for everything.

MAN: Come on lefty!

GWEN: (To others) I stopped replying after that –

MAN: Lefty what up?

GWEN: But he didn’t-

MAN: Lefty, save me from these boring right-handed women!

GWEN: Stop –

MAN: Here’s my Facebook and Instagram

GWEN: Messaging me!

MAN: Facebook stalk me. Click away. Hit me up!

GWEN: (With a burst of frustration. To no one in particular) NO!

MAN: Is your boyfriend left-handed? Or girlfriends? Or any ex’s?

GWEN: What the hell?

MAN: The thing about lefties is you have to stimulate their minds in a certain way to keep them engaged. They like a certain kind of personality. And if you piss a lefty off then that’s it. They are tough to get back on their good side, if ever.

GWEN: And the cherry on top of it all:

MAN: P.S. make your fouth pic your profile and delete your fifth pic for better results! And if you get real brave I recommend a full body head to toe normal pic. Or just text me one and don’t show anyone else.

EVE: Wow.

GWEN: Yup.

CLEO: (Mocking jazz hands, but only with left hand) Left-handed guy, everybody!

GWEN: Lucky, lucky me. (Beat) Yikes.

BONNIE: I need to pee.

CLEO: I need another drink.

GWEN: You need water-

CLEO: You need to shhhhuuuuuush

EVE: We all need another one!

GWEN: Of water or a drink?

EVE: Both.

BONNIE: Okay… but can I pee first?

EVE: GO! PEE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING!

CLEO: PEE LIKE THE WIND!

BONNIE: I’m going! (She exits)

CLEO: Ya know. I hope she doesn’t get hurt. I don’t! For the amount of shit I give her – she deserves someone good… we all do.

EVE: And we’ll all find someone…

CLEO: You think?

EVE: Yeah!!! I mean… Yikes. Think about it! Just think! Do you ever look back on your college years and just cringe? I’d like to think I’ve evolved. Back then, I met a man online named Mason. “Harvard Grad Student.” Ugh. It was so shallow—that’s absolutely the reason I went out with him. We met at a Panera, so a step up from a strip mall food court. He presented like a normal human. Then, we sit down. He immediately starts pressing about my family life. I share, “My mother and sister live in Western Massachusetts.” Now, most men take a hint and read between the lines that I have clearly left a father figure out of my statement. Not Mason.

MAN: “Where’s your dad?”

EVE: It’s no secret here that my childhood was not ideal. I’m not ashamed, but I’m also not yelling it from the rooftops that things weren’t pretty on a first date. So, I say, “He’s not in the picture.”

MAN: Ooooo! Daddy issues!

EVE: Thus began the string of inappropriate and unwanted line of questioning…

MAN: How much money do you make? As a live-in nanny, do they make you eat in the bathroom? What’s the most disgusting thing you’ve found in their house? Why did your dad leave you?

EVE: I told him that he crossed the line. He backed off and apologized. Then, he whips out his phone and says,

MAN: Do you want to play a game? I’ll go first.

EVE: This MAN… this DATE… this HUMAN I am supposed to be on a DATE with opened up my dating profile and began rating my photos on a 1-10 scale. Lowest was a 3 and the highest was a 6.

MAN: Don’t take it personally! It’s just a game. You’re funny. Guys would want to fuck a funny 6. Maybe if you lost some weight or straightened your teeth, you’d be more aesthetically fuckable.

GWEN: Aesthetically fuckable?

EVE: HE THEN WANTED ME TO RATE HIS PICTURES! A saintly Panera employee was cleaning around our table and I jumped on the opportunity to GTFO. Then, he invited me back to his place.

MAN: My apartment isn’t too far from here.

EVE: What? So you could take me from behind with a bag over my head? That’s not what I said. Instead, I told him that we wouldn’t be going out again. I don’t know. Looking back on who I was on that date—I cringe hard. How could I allow myself to be subjected to that? But, growth.

CLEO: Now, you pick fights with men in bars and make them cry.

EVE: He didn’t cry and I’m not sorry. First of all, no man will look at me and tell me that I’m going to make him dinner. This is not the 1950s. I am not June Clever. If I must make you dinner, it will be English muffin pizzas or fucking starve.

GWEN: Wait wait wait wait wait. Can we all agree that it was a little excessive to be fighting over English muffin pizzas?

BONNIE: Abso-fuck-ing-lutly NEVER

CLEO: (Drunk) BONNIE’S BACK!

EVE: We missed you!

BONNIE: Is this English muffin pizza man?

EVE: AKA THE WORST

BONNIE: (Consoling) I know, he makes ya mad.

EVE: I’m not sorry about it! That lawyer needed everything in his life to be perfect. Every date was lavish—each course at a different restaurant. All without prices on the menu. When his smug face looked at me and said that our next date would be at my place and that I was going to cook dinner, English muffin pizza was the only thing I was offering. I am not fancy wines or Italian menus with words I needed to secretly google translate. I am English muffin pizza. When he looked at me and said that I could “do better” and he would find me a recipe to make… I saw red. Take no shit, hold no prisioners. Best part, he still tries to match with me on dating sites!

BONNIE: (Sighing) Men…

GWEN: Aren’t much better than women!

BONNIE: Debatable.

GWEN: Want to bet?!

CLEO: Oh boy.

GWEN: So online, if I talk to women they’re all like “are you actually even queer? Have you ever even been with another women before?” and it’s like, fuck off! First of all, yes, I am. Second of all, yes I have. I thought you might be someone who wouldn’t JUDGE me based on what I look like but I guess I was wrong. It makes me sad that I thought otherwise. Then I might as well forget meeting some men because sometimes when guys see that you’re bisexual they’re all like:

MAN: So… are you into threesomes? Have you ever had one? Would you like to?

GWEN: When is that ever an appropriate way to start a conversation?!

EVE: All manners seem to go out the window when people go online.

CLEO: Ain’t that the truth.

BONNIE: (Drunk. Trying to be optimistic) Well plenty of more fish in the sea, right?

GWEN: That’s what they seem to keep saying.

BONNIE: Well I found Clyde! He can’t be the only one who’s decent that was online- there’s like a million thousand and two people in this world… they can’t all suck and be crude, right? I mean no ones perfect – I’m certainly not perfect but you just gotta find someone who meshes with you, you know? Sometimes it takes, a lot of dates- I went on a lot of dates, remember?

CLEO: We remember.

(BONNIE dramatically gasps)

EVE: WHAT?

BONNIE: LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS MAN I WENT OUT WITH THIS ONE TIME. OKAY? This was one of them. He was only one date but it was in the middle of a bunch of dates when I was trying to get out there and date, you remember?

CLEO: We remember!

BONNIE: Remember! A few years back-

CLEO: RIGHT-

BONNIE: Tryin’ to get out there. Okay! So, we met online. And we were chatting – and then he asked me out. And I was like FUCK IT let’s go-

GWEN: YEAH YOU DID.

BONNIE: I did! I mean I told him that I did not love meat. Like the food meat. Not meaning like dick meat but like meat meat. Like cows. But, I’m not a vegetarian.

EVE: Obviously.

BONNIE: RIGHT. So he was like “Well I know this REALLY GOOD SPOT IN LOWELL (she glares at the audience) LET ME TAKE YOU IT’S VEGERTARIAN.” And I was like. I know where we’re going.

GWEN: YOU LOVE LIFE ALIVE!

BONNIE: I DO!

CLEO: But not on a first date, dumb ass.

BONNIE: I MEAN, RIGHT. BUT IT WAS FINE. So, it was summer. It was summer camp. I was working at summer camp.

EVE: You always work at summer camp.

BONNIE: RIGHT. SO, I was all sweaty from working at summer camp. BUT I ran home I showered, I wanted to look nice and smell nice cause it was a date.

CLEO: Praised be.

BONNIE: And so I go, I shower, I looked nice!

GWEN: I bet you looked hot!

BONNIE: I sure tried. And I meet him at Life Alive. And he’s standing there. And – well you know I like beards-

0 notes

endlessarchite · 7 years ago

Text

Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️

Moving in, Valentine’s Day, fun gifts and more! Everything going on at the UDH since I last posted…

Whoosh. Remember how in the last post, I told you guys I was getting ready to attend a big woodworking conference?

Yeah… that was quite a whirlwind! I got the booth design built just in time and will have more on that in a future post to recap the whole thing (P.S., the Rustoleum team was amazing to work with and I am so pleased that everyone seemed to really like my booth, and I even got an attagirl from THE Ben Uyeda himself, and I’ll have an Ikea hack project to share with you from the build, and AND the story will unfold exactly how you would expect a topsy-turvy design process from yours truly to unfold, including theft of half my booth by the end of the conference, ), but there is still SO MUCH MORE going on here at the UDH that I felt the need to update you on some important personal updates first.

Psst. Affiliate links used in a few spots below.

Moving in!

I won’t keep you waiting in suspense for the whole post. The big announcement? K and his pup Stella are officially moving into the UDH.

As of next month, the UDH will have a total of 4 — if you’re counting Charlie and Stella — which of course, I do. I thought I would feel a bunch of butterflies by announcing it or jumping with excitement or something… but honestly? They have both been around the house so much that it just feels very natural and normal and mellow to make their living here the real deal.

K and I have been dating for some time now and we’ve (naturally) discussed many times over what our plans are with life in general and each other, and it just started to make more sense for us to live together going forward. I’m sure that comes as no surprise to most of you, since he and I have been working on projects together and you’ve seen me mention other changes to some of my design plans (such as wanting to rebuild the closet, designing a Murphy bed for the guest bedroom so it can fit a separate office space, etc.).

The added benefit of us saving that extra dough of separate rents is that we can save up for the vintage camper renovation that much faster. She’s got a name now, and I’ll cover a bunch of details in a future post.

New bed plans

Over this past weekend, K took some time to move his essentials (other than the garage stuff… THAT will be an organizational feat to combine our tool collections, ha!). I now have a king-sized mattress sitting in my living room as I write this, because K and I are building a new bed design together (it’s going to be sooooo cool — I can’t wait to finish it and share!). With the way both of the pups like to take over every square inch of the bed (how does one tiny dog take up so much room???), I decided this was the best solution to giving me a better night’s sleep.

As you can imagine, that chaos is a little uncomfortable (and messy!) for all involved, especially while my attention has been elsewhere on this WorkbenchCon project, but we managed to get through the worst of it so far and have just a little more to go before everything is out of our walking paths.

Stella and Charlie have had their ups and downs (they have both been aggressive with each other with food, so we’ve had to redouble some training and they’ve both improved). But they seem to have come to the conclusion that they are both in love with K and I and at least reluctantly love each other, so we’re all pretty happy with this situation. They both really like that they are no longer alone if we ever have to leave them at home.

Valentine’s Day

But, speaking of K and home and all of that, I wanted to also share what we did for Valentine’s Day (sappy posting alert!). We did the usual nice-dinner-and-gift-exchange thing, starting with a rooftop date at one of my favorite spots in Atlanta (would you guys want to see a list of great date places if you ever visit the city? I have been taking pics from our dates and am planning to compile them into a top ten this summer).

I like to watercolor as a stress thing when I can’t sleep, so I made him a homemade card with some personalized art a few nights prior:

(the cookie is an inside joke)

You might also be tickled to see what I got him:

It’s the LEGO Saturn V Rocket! You should’ve SEEN the big eyes and grin K gave me when he opened this up and started organizing all of the pieces (I’m living with a super-nerd). We’ve since spent any nights I have off (rare with this week’s WorkbenchCon stuff, but we’re getting back to it tonight) putting it together. This is just part one, so we have lots more left to assemble!

Putting it together has reawakened the LEGO nerd (in my case, puzzles… the more I think about it, Ron Swanson and I have a lot more in common than just an interest in building) in both of us.

via GIPHY

I’ve since found out that there are other huge LEGO kits we might want to put together (like this and this… and this and this). Also, there’s a place in Denmark called the LEGO House (not the Ed Sheeran song). I’ve been known to take a crazy trip or two, so it’s not entirely unlike me to decide to go across the world to see something like a house filled with toys.

K got me flowers and a few gifts, but I think my favorite this month has to be the duckling he had cut out for me at his office out of a scrap piece of Corian. As much as I’d like to have my own CNC machine here at home, I doubt I could find the room for it until the shed is built in the back yard! (And as for those succulent buds you see on the right, that’s a tutorial coming up that I’ve been working on for you this winter… propagating them is crazy easy, so an upcoming video and step-by-step photo guide is on its way).

So, there you have it: lots of little updates, but it’s back to the bed builds this week. Did you have any Valentine’s Day plans? I have covered them in years past, single or not, so if you’d like to see some of those posts, here’s one (and another). And what do you think of the big news? (Hopefully you’re happy for me, but you already know from reading me I’m damn well going to do what I want anyway, ha!). I hope you’re all having a wonderful week!

P.S. If you guys saw the first pic and thought there was something different about my hair, that’s also true but it felt weird to do a dedicated post about it. Here are a few more photos of it down. I absolutely love the change and need a lot of advice on how to best maintain it, so I’m all ears if you know a lot about color care!

The post Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️ appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

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darwinbigelow · 7 years ago

Text

Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️

Moving in, Valentine’s Day, fun gifts and more! Everything going on at the UDH since I last posted…

Whoosh. Remember how in the last post, I told you guys I was getting ready to attend a big woodworking conference?

Psst. Affiliate links used in a few spots below.

Moving in!

I won’t keep you waiting in suspense for the whole post. The big announcement? K and his pup Stella are officially moving into the UDH.

K and I have been dating for some time now and we’ve (naturally) discussed many times over what our plans are with live in general and each other, and it just started to make more sense for us to live together going forward. I’m sure that comes as no surprise to most of you, since he and I have been working on projects together and you’ve seen me mention other changes to some of my design plans (such as wanting to rebuild the closet, designing a Murphy bed for the guest bedroom so it can fit a separate office space, etc.).

New bed plans

Valentine’s Day

I like to watercolor as a stress thing when I can’t sleep, so I made him a homemade card with some personalized art a few nights prior:

(the cookie is an inside joke)

You might also be tickled to see what I got him:

Putting it together has reawakened the LEGO nerd (in my case, puzzles… the more I think about it, Ron Swanson and I have a lot more in common than just an interest in building) in both of us.

via GIPHY

You'll Also Love

You Asked, I Answered: Dating Again

Five Things Guys Just Should Not Say

Date Night… and a Coffee Table

The post Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️ appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

from Home Improvement https://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/valentines-day-two-additions-udh-%e2%9d%a4%ef%b8%8f/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#home improvement

0 notes

darensmurray · 7 years ago

Text

Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️

Moving in, Valentine’s Day, fun gifts and more! Everything going on at the UDH since I last posted…

Whoosh. Remember how in the last post, I told you guys I was getting ready to attend a big woodworking conference?

Psst. Affiliate links used in a few spots below.

Moving in!

I won’t keep you waiting in suspense for the whole post. The big announcement? K and his pup Stella are officially moving into the UDH.

New bed plans

Valentine’s Day

I like to watercolor as a stress thing when I can’t sleep, so I made him a homemade card with some personalized art a few nights prior:

(the cookie is an inside joke)

You might also be tickled to see what I got him:

Putting it together has reawakened the LEGO nerd (in my case, puzzles… the more I think about it, Ron Swanson and I have a lot more in common than just an interest in building) in both of us.

via GIPHY

You'll Also Love

You Asked, I Answered: Dating Again

Five Things Guys Just Should Not Say

Date Night… and a Coffee Table

The post Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️ appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

0 notes

garagedoorsbrighton · 7 years ago

Text

Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️

Moving in, Valentine’s Day, fun gifts and more! Everything going on at the UDH since I last posted…

Whoosh. Remember how in the last post, I told you guys I was getting ready to attend a big woodworking conference?

Psst. Affiliate links used in a few spots below.

Moving in!

I won’t keep you waiting in suspense for the whole post. The big announcement? K and his pup Stella are officially moving into the UDH.

New bed plans

Valentine’s Day

I like to watercolor as a stress thing when I can’t sleep, so I made him a homemade card with some personalized art a few nights prior:

(the cookie is an inside joke)

You might also be tickled to see what I got him:

Putting it together has reawakened the LEGO nerd (in my case, puzzles… the more I think about it, Ron Swanson and I have a lot more in common than just an interest in building) in both of us.

via GIPHY

You'll Also Love

You Asked, I Answered: Dating Again

Five Things Guys Just Should Not Say

Date Night… and a Coffee Table

The post Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️ appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

from Ugly Duckling House https://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/valentines-day-two-additions-udh-%e2%9d%a4%ef%b8%8f/

#Ugly Duckling House

0 notes

bespokekitchesldn · 7 years ago

Text

Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️

Moving in, Valentine’s Day, fun gifts and more! Everything going on at the UDH since I last posted…

Whoosh. Remember how in the last post, I told you guys I was getting ready to attend a big woodworking conference?

Psst. Affiliate links used in a few spots below.

Moving in!

I won’t keep you waiting in suspense for the whole post. The big announcement? K and his pup Stella are officially moving into the UDH.

New bed plans

Valentine’s Day

I like to watercolor as a stress thing when I can’t sleep, so I made him a homemade card with some personalized art a few nights prior:

(the cookie is an inside joke)

You might also be tickled to see what I got him:

Putting it together has reawakened the LEGO nerd (in my case, puzzles… the more I think about it, Ron Swanson and I have a lot more in common than just an interest in building) in both of us.

via GIPHY

You'll Also Love

You Asked, I Answered: Dating Again

Five Things Guys Just Should Not Say

Date Night… and a Coffee Table

The post Valentine’s Day and Two Additions to the UDH ❤️ appeared first on Ugly Duckling House.

from Ugly Duckling House https://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/valentines-day-two-additions-udh-%e2%9d%a4%ef%b8%8f/

#Ugly Duckling House

0 notes

kaitlinmcandrews · 7 years ago

Text

If you were to ask anyone when the best time to visit Japan, I bet you anything that many people will say spring. Spring is probably the best know for the cherry blossoms.

I’m kind of torn on what I think about spring. As you probably know, I love love love cherry blossoms. Each year, I take way too many photos of these flowers. I also love the festivals that happen around this time. I also loooove festivals. I love food tents, I love eating outside, I love looking at all the different foods that are offered, and I love that I can just walk around with a beer and it’s no big deal…. hmmm I only named things to do with food didn’t I? Festivals are more than just food! … Or are they….?

Okay, as I said, I’m a bit torn. The biggest reason I think spring is a bit overrated is just because of the weather.

Now, this is totally perspective.

I like being warm. Spring is just not warm enough for me. For a normal Canadian, yeah, it’s warm. I think it was in the teens or low twenties. The biggest issue for me was the huge drop in temperature at night. If you know me and Pat at all, you’d know that we are night owls. I love festivals and would 100% prefer to go to them in the evening. Problem is, not only does the temperature drop as soon as the sun goes down, but the sun goes down so freaking early! I don’t know if a mistake was made when deciding what time zone Japan belongs to, but the sun goes down way too early (and comes up way too early in the morning).

Goodness, that was a heck of a tangent. Let’s just get on with it. I’ll try to separate this like I did with the other blogs in this ‘series’.

Tokyo

Koishikawa Botanical Garden (小石川植物園 // こいしかわ　しょくぶつえん)

On one of our days off, we headed up to Tokyo since I heard that the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom. Well, I guess the key word was “starting” haha. Oh well, the botanical garden was still quite beautiful. It was a bit out of the way, but it wasn’t too bad.We walked from Hakusan station on the meguro line.

It cost about 400 yen I believe so it was actually quite cheap. I’m not sure if the prices change in different seasons. We were kind of in an off season. I think that going while the blossoms are out would be absolutely stunning. Even going in the summer would be nice when all the trees and grass would be green. When we went, it was a bit grey haha.

Not too much to really say about our day. I really tried to take artsy photos of flowers haha. Enjoy~

un-bloomed sakura trees

I was a bit dissapointed, but I swear that I heard the cherry blossoms were blooming in Tokyo. Since we were already in Tokyo, we decided to walk to Ueno from the garden. Ueno is known for its cherry blossoms. It’s a pretty long walk already, but we made it even longer. On the way, we noticed quite a few tourists heading in the same direction. we decided to check out whatever they were headed to. It was a pretty neat cemetery called Yanaka Cemetery.

Yanaka Cemetery （谷��霊園 // やなかれいえん)

It was actually pretty cool. I’m glad that we took this detour, even if it added another 20 min to our already long walk. It probably took us over an hour to get from the gardens to Ueno. Pat seems to love walking….

Ueno Park (上野公園 // うえのこえん）

Anyways, we had been to Ueno once before, but only at night. It was really cool to see it in the daylight. I’d looooove to see it during the full bloom of the cherry blossoms. Anyways, again, not too much to say.

Just IMAGINE this in full bloom!

It was a nice little day trip. So, if your in Tokyo in the spring, especially during the cherry blossom season, I think these 3 places would be absolutely breathtaking. My only issue with Ueno is how crowded it is. I can’t even imagine how it would be during peak season.

~Cherry Blossoms (sakura // 桜 // さくら)~

So, like I mentioned earlier, I really really like the cherry blossoms. Unlike last year at the private school, we actually had time off to go places. We were actually in the middle of our spring break. We had basically all of March off. I was so upset last year because of our awful time off schedule. We were in a place known for cherry blossoms and could barely see any of it! This time, we had a lot more time to look around. Although I wouldn’t say Kawasaki and Yokohama are necessarily famous for cherry blossoms, I knew I would be able to find some hidden gems. Tokyo, on the other hand, does have some pretty well-known places.

Unfortunately, this year was a bit weird. The cherry blossoms almost did things in 2 parts. They seemed to blossom about halfway and then we got some bad weather. The wind and cold weather seemed to halt the blossoms. After a couple of days they rest of the blossoms started, but the other half was dying or had fallen off from the wind. Ultimately, the trees never seemed to be 100% in bloom at any time. They were still really great, just not their best I suppose. Also because of the weird timing, we weren’t able to see much during our spring break, but we had to see a lot of them during our weekends off. Oh well, still better than last year!

If you want to see the posts I’ve made in the past, check them out: 2016 Kansai, 2015 Korea festival, 2015 Korea random

Koganecho Sakura Festival

Pat and I don’t live in Yokohama, but that’s where all the great stuff happens. To be fair, Yokohama is like the 2nd largest city in Japan or something crazy. Kawasaki, where we live, is not too high up on that list. Where was I going with this?

During cherry blossom season, there are sooooo many cherry blossom festivals. Of course. They are scattered in every season at varying times. I highly recommend attending at least one if you are in Japan at the right time. We decided to go to this one in particular was just because our friends lived in that area. Luckily, this area has a large river running through it, so it is so beautiful during the spring. There are cherry blossoms along this almost the entire river and is absolutely stunning. From Hinodecho to Gumyoji is a fantastic walk if you happened to be in the area.

The festival itself was close to hindecho and koganecho station. (I know this means nothing to most of you…. it’s mostly just in case people are on my blog for potential cherry blossom spots).

As I mentioned before, the cherry blossoms this year were a bit strange.

As you can see, they aren’t too impressive. Like, at all….We did find ONE fully bloomed tree, though! (so, I took 234039843 photos of that single tree….)

The first thing I personally like to do at a festival is seek out festival food. I have a soft spot for food tents, eating and drinking outside, and just eating interesting things. It is definitely a thing I will immensely miss when we go back home to Canada. Here is some food we got!

yakiika (grilled squid)

yakiika (grilled squid) // left is the body, right is the legs

dango (rice cakes with red bean paste)

sakura umeshu and sake

We got other types of food as well, but it was too hard is to photograph and eat at the same thing. I’d say the most common types of food at any Japanese festivals are takoyaki (deep fried octopus balls), okonomiyaki (cabbage pancake with different sauces), yakisoba (grilled soba noodles), and assorted meat on sticks. They are all so good. None of them are healthy. I highly recommend.

It was pretty hard to get around, so I really didn’t get many photos. It was pretty busy:

This area was an interesting location for a festival. There were tents along the river so there wasn’t anywhere to sit. The roads on either side of the river were closed for traffic, and absolutely packed with people. On the other side of the road were a whole bunch of small izakayas (Japanese pub). Our fiends happen to go to a few of those izakayas on a regular basis, so we have met some of the shop owners. It is a pretty neat experience to be able to drink with the locals and support their businesses. If we didn’t know them, we may have not gone to any of the izakayas. We probably would have not even noticed that they were open.

As you can see, these izakayas are really tiny. It is a pretty neat experience.

Looking through my photos, it is just us drinking haha. Well, here are the few cherry blossom photos that I managed to take.

Mitsuike Park (三ッ池公園 // みついけこうえん)

Not too long after this festival, the cherry blossoms were really starting to bloom. I have always wanted to have a hanami (flower viewing) since I heard about it. I mentioned in my last year’s spring blog how I wanted to go, but Pat didn’t know what I wanted and we didn’t really get to have one. Even if we did, since we didn’t have friends in Kyoto, it might not have been that fun.

Well, this year, we have friends!!

Can you believe it?!

Haha, okay, that is a bit dramatic. Well, anyways, we were lucky enough to have a hanami. We went to a park that is kind of in the middle of Kawasaki and Yokohama. We are the only ones that live in Kawasaki, so usually we have to travel to Yokohama if we want to do anything with them. When I was looking for the best place to have a hanami, the results I got were mostly in Tokyo. Tokyo has too many tourists so I try to avoid going there if possible haha.

I really couldn’t find a good place. The best place for a hanami is usually a park. So, I looked at parks in the area that had a lot of cherry blossoms. I decided to check out this park that is near my workplace. I was doing research like 2 weeks before cherry blossom season. Luckily, this was the first place I checked out and instantly thought that it would be perfect.

Here is where the park is on Google Maps:

It obviously much closer to Kawasaki, but it’s technically part of Yokohama…. so….. I was able to convince some people to come ^-^.

I packed a bag with beer, umeshu and chips and we set off to our hanami. If you want to go to this park, unfortunately it is only accesible by bus. It isn’t near any train stations. You could walk, but it’s an uphill walk. We took a bus at Tsurumi station (near the JR side, not the keikyu side). The park wasn’t too busy

There are actually quite a few busses that go there. They are all on the same side of the bus depot. Google maps is pretty useful in Japan, so you can just google the bus routes and numbers. (Google was useless in Korea so I always want to give the bus numbers haha).

We were able to find a spot fairly easily. We set up our picnic as soon as we arrived and took turns going out for photos and such.

The weather was …okay… I personally prefer to be warm so a nice spring day is still too cold for me haha. Luckily for us, it wasn’t too crowded. Unluckily for us, we were still a few days too early. I think if we had gone 2 days later, it would have been perfect. I’d say the trees were at 75% bloomed. I think they only had the potential to bloom to 90% because of the strange weather this year.

There isn’t really much to talk about. We just hung out, talked, drank and enjoyed our day. It’s so nice to be able to drink outside. Another thing I will miss when we go back to Canada haha.

There were quite a few different types of sakura at this park. I could only tell the difference between the dark ones and light ones haha.

Okay, photo time. As always, there are a lot.

Hello~

The nice thing about this park is the nice lake in the middle. It really add to the cherry blossom photos, in my opinion. There were also a whole bunch of ducks there!

Maybe I just like water, haha, I don’t know…

It started to get really windy, which was a pain. It kept blowing our food and empty drink cans all over the place. Our picnic mat also had to be held down. The wind was frustrating and also made the weather a lot colder than it already was (it wasn’t cold… I’m just a wuss).

It was a really nice day and I’m glad that I can check hanami off of my Japan bucket list.

Meguro River, Tokyo (目黒川, 東京 // めぐろがわ, とうきょう)

So, because I obviously have an unhealthy obsession, I needed to venture out on my own so I could take 2034983 photos and not annoy everyone. Once the sakura were basically a full bloom, I ventured out to Tokyo once again. I know, I just said that I hate it because of all the tourists….. but….. I really wanted to see this place.

Meguro river essentially runs from shimbamba station to naka-meguro station, but the cherry blossoms are the most heavily concentrated between meguro shinbashi and nakameguro.

I got off at gotanda station and walked along the river and was pretty dissapointed until I got to meguro shinbashi. As soon as I saw the sakura, I started a trail save thing on google maps on my phone.

So, if you are planning on visiting this famous river, just be aware that the entire river is not as fabulous as it is between the two points shown above.

It’s not a bad walk by any means. From above, you can see that there weren’t many people so I was able to get some nice shots without people in them.

Hmmm… how do I wanna do this…? Do I wanna just spam you with 2304983098 photos? Do I want to seperate them a bit? Ugh, the decisions I have to make for this blog.

I’ll seperate them a bit.

As soon as I got to Meguro-shinbashi, I knew that I was where I wanted to be. I have seen so many photos from this exact spot. I wiiiish that I could photograph them as well, but I’m not so skilled haha. Sorry. I took four of the same photo with different camera settings, but they all kind of look the same haha.

Surprisingly, there aren’t too many bridges along this river so there aren’t too many chances to get photos from this angle. For the majority of the walk (which was stunning by the way), I was walking along the river on a road or sidewalk.

Recently, I bought a small tripod and a remote timer for my camera so I was happy to test them out~

I definitely got some funny looks while taking those photos. I had to put my camera across the street and zoom in, so I don’t think people even saw my camera. Just me standing by myself haha.

Since I suck at waking up, I had actually gone to Tokyo around 4pm or so. I wish I went earlier so that I could see the sun shining on all the sakura. oh well. I think I missed the rush a bit and I was able to get some nice close-up photos of the blossoms.

Companies definitely take advantage of touristy spots though. I mean, the lanterns do look really cool, but each lantern has a different advertiser on it.

camera setting made it way to light…

As soon as I arrived at the next bridge, I did the same thing as last time: take 012349238 photos of the same thing with different settings.

As I mentioned earlier, I had left pretty late. The one advantage was that I was able to get some day and night shots. The lanterns looked really cool in the darkness, but it was pretty hard to capture it. I swear, I played with my camera’s settings like crazy. I suck.

On that note, does anyone else notice that cameras tend to make it look a lot lighter than it actually is? I mean, those were taken at dusk I’m fairly sure and it looks like the afternoon….

Oh, hey! Did I ever talk about my second obsession: tree caves? I’m100% positive I have. I love them sooooo much. I wish so badly that I could photograph them and show the depth. They are so freaking cool. Here are my attempts:

My best attempt?

It went on for quite awhile. Around this time, it started getting really busy. I quickly found out why. My guess is that people come either in midday or at night. Both times are beautiful and have their own charm.

Once I got to the last bridge (basically), I was stunned. It was actually sooooo beautiful. I stayed there for about 45 minutes waiting for the sun to completely set. Here is, again, 24-30943 photos of the same thing!

side 1

side 2

side 1

side 2

Both sides of the bride had a great view. I really enjoyed it. I took some photos here and there on my way back.

I left feeling satisfied about my day trip. If you are a sakura fanatic like I am, I highly recommend this river. Even if you just go to the first and last bridge on the route I shared.

Nikaryo Yosui Canal, Kawasaki ( 二ヶ領用水と大石橋, 川崎 // にかりょうようすい, かわさき)

This is a bit of a weird one… It is in the middle of a residential area of Kawasaki. It isn’t close to where I live, at all. How did I learn of this place, you ask? Well, I take Japanese lessons in that area and they gave me a guide book of things to do/see in Kawasaki. When I saw the photo of the sakura hanging over the water, I knew I had to go. They listed some other spots that looked amazing as well, but I just didn’t have the time.

I went to this place AFTER the prime bloom time. I was hoping that it wouldn’t have been too late, but it was. Most of the blossoms are wilted. But, at least I know that if I went in prime season, it would be absolutely beautiful.

oooh, the hanging type

wow, so pink!

The blossoms were pretty unique. They were the type that hang down, and they were also very pink! It was really pretty. If I am still in Japan during next sakura season, I would definitely go again.

Phew, finally done with the cherry blossoms.

Almost done, guys, almost done. One last activity that we did in spring.

Ashikaga Flower Park (あしかがフラワーパーク)

I hope this one doesn’t get too long. This could probably have its own blog post, but I figured it would fit in this series….

Every once in a while, I look up what festivals and events are happening around me. I figure that since I’ll probably only be in Asia once, I should do/see as much as I can. So, while I was looking around, I found a pretty cool ‘event’. It isn’t a festival or event really, but a flower park that is famous for a flower called wysteria (the Japanese name is fuji // 藤 // ふじ). Wysteria have a bit of a longer blooming period than cherry blossoms. They basically start to bloom as the cherry blossoms start to wilt. I have never heard of this flower until I found this post. As far as I know, they aren’t native to Canada.

I really want to improve my photography skills, and for some reason, I’m really into flower photography. You may think I only like cherry blossoms, but I swear I like other flowers as well.

Now, as soon as I knew about these cool flowers, I naturally looked at where is the best place to see them. They bloom in various places in Tokyo, but I found a flower park that is kinda infamous for them. It is a place called Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi prefecture (NNW of Tokyo). Here is the website if your interested: https://www.ashikaga.co.jp/english/index.html .

As soon as you leave the main metropolis areas, the trains become infinitly more difficult to use. You may have noticed from all my navigation problems we seem to have haha. So, it’s my fault for always wanting to explore outside of Tokyo, but Japan has a LOT to see that is outside Tokyo. I wish more people talked about them. That’s why I do these blogs ^^.

Okay, so lets start with how to get there.

I’ve mentioned before that the best way to find directions in Japan is to go to the website and find a tab that says “access”. They don’t always provide times and such, but it is a good place to start. For example, this website gives this information:

The access pages aren’t necessarily in English, but this one was, luckily. I mostly used Google Maps to get us there, but it was nice to have this as a reference. I especially like to use these pages when Google maps suggests taking the shinkansen. It took us probably 9months of being in Japan to realize that there is usually a way to get somewhere without the shinkansen (which is way too expensive…). Here is what Google map suggests:

Unfortunately, I don’t remember what route we actually took, but we definitely didn’t take the shinkansen. We had a weird situation at, I assume, kitasenju station (I really don’t remember where we were, but that must have been it….). There were actually signs for what train to take to get to this flower park, but the train was full! It must be that nikko-kinugawa line. It seemed that you couldn’t use your rail pass (the card that you beep in and out with) and had to buy tickets for this particular train separately. I was a bit confused as to what we were supposed to do, so I asked, in Japanese, “Does this train go to Tochigi?” and he dismissed me by saying in broken English “ticket first” over and over. Like, fuck, what the hell dude? So does it or not? like, you want me to buy a ticket for a train that may not even go where I want to go??

Annoyed, I went to the ticketing area and asked a different train attendant the same question and he luckily answered (nicely) that it was full. Again, fuck you first guy. So, the new attendant showed us which train we could take instead and said that it is cheaper, but next one comes in 40 min. So, we waited. The next train was pretty full, but we got a seat. It took a bit longer than the sold out train, and added that 40 min of waiting time onto our trip. That meant that the already long (almost 3hrs) ride up there was extended by an hour.

Ugh.

Oh well, we got there. It was just a long journey. The local train from Tochigi to the park was crazy packed. Everyone was going to the flower park! It was so packed that I got off before Pat and had to wait like 5 min until he came out as well. We were not standing together and people just push and shove their way off the trains (whoever says that Japanese people are oh so polite have never had to navigate the trains during rush hour or an event….). I tried to take a photo of how many people there were, but it was kinda hard…

As that website mentions, there is a bit of a walk from the station to the park. It was easy to find just by how many people were walking in that direction. We basically just followed the crowds.

This was another place that changed their price depending on what is in season and how fully bloomed the flowers are. We went at prime time for their most famous flower so it was the most expensive price that it could’ve been. It was like 1300 yen (~$15) each or something like that.

Despite how busy it was, this park is actually really big so it was easy to walk around and take photos without it feeling to crowded. Well, once you got out of the entrance way that is…

Surprisingly, this park had more than just wysteria. It was a really diverse flower park!

Another thing that I didn’t expect was there is more than one type of wysteria. Not only are there essentially 2 distinct colours, but different type of trees. Some hang it bunches, some are seperated. They did some interesting things with them for sure. Here are the white ones in tree form:

They had some in hanging-above form:

They also had some sparsely on a wall:

I have a feeling the wall one is fairly new, since the ones in the pink/purple variety were much fuller:

Of course, these ones came in regular tree form:

And lastly, the star attraction, the hanging above form:

Do you see the tree?

It’s hiding in there

Sorry, I couldn’t capture how cool the ones that hang from above look…. We noticed later, that those ones that are hanging down all come from one tree! Isn’t that crazy? So, there is one tree in the middle (if you look closely, you might be able to see it) and the bamboo structure supports the branches above you so it can continue to grow. There were actually 2 overhead ones in the purple variety.

I’ll be honest guys, I actually think the white ones are so much prettier.

Anyways, this was a really great place to go if you love flowers. The whole park smelled amaaazing. They sold flower flavoured ice-cream that we didn’t try. One random thing I noticed, this place was very mobility-impaired friendly. I saw a few people in wheelchairs that were able to enjoy the flowers. I think that as a mobile person, I often forget how difficult it would be to go to some of these places.

Okay, with that, I think I’m done talking about spring.

This is definitely the longest post in this series. Part of it is because I have an obsession with flowers, and part of it is that we had a lot of time off during spring and were able to do more things.

The 4 Seasons of Japan – Spring If you were to ask anyone when the best time to visit Japan, I bet you anything that many people will say spring.

#cherry blossom festival #cherry blossoms #Japan #kawasaki #koganecho #koishikawa botanical garden #meguro river #mituike park #Nikaryo Yosui Canal #sakura #tokyo #ueno park #yanaka cemetery #yokohama

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alexwhoneedsfriends-blog · 8 years ago

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Who Needs The Festival (2)

Last time on “Alex, Who Needs Friends”: Things about the festival. Really, the event and the last post were so long ago [do better, Alex - a new blog coming soon (not really, I’m already behind on this one)]. Anyways, I will continue recounting some Festival highlights!

Conference Story #2: I’m Your Biggest Fan! No, Seriously! I’m Still Not Kidding!

Right before we got our room assignments, our Conference Director asked which panel we were most excited for. I was most excited for our Legends of the Hidden Temple panel which would explore the new film based on the Nickelodeon game show. As a kid, I loved watching the Nick GAS (Games and Sports) channel! I wish that channel still existed (or that our family still had that channel). It was BOSS! I’m very PRO Nick bringing back the ‘90s. That’s one reason I was excited about this panel.

The other reason: ALEX JENKINS REID! Who is Alex J Reid!?!?!? WOW! OK! That doesn’t surprise me at all that you don’t know who he is. One amazing thing about doing a lot of film and tv research is that you learn A LOT about people and are often met with wonderful surprises. Alex J Reid is the screenwriter of the Legends movie. Since I hadn’t seen the film yet, that’s not why I was excited about seeing/meeting him. He also is the creator of the show Resident Advisors on Hulu. The show was released on Hulu my senior year as an RA. I talked about it A LOT that semester. It is an excellent case study in how NOT to be an RA, which makes it hilarious. I mean, obviously, when teaching residents about safe sex, DON’T staple condoms on a bulletin board! I digress. I LOVE the seven episodes of this show.

I was ecstatic to learn that this panel (w/ ALEX J REID) would be in my room! All the interns knew I was soooo excited for this panel. It was being held on the last day of the Conference, so it was also an amazing end for me. Well, it kind of was. It was actually a little stressful. Let’s stick to the good parts!

The morning of the panel, Nickelodeon wanted to have a quick run-through with the tech. I waited for them anxiously in the room. ALEX J REID (yes, it will be in caps EVERY TIME) was the first to arrive. Having studied his picture, I knew it was him the second he walked in. I went and introduced myself. Professionalism. He was early, so we talked(!!!!). He asked me how the festival was going and admitted that he was excited for this panel. I told him it was going well and so was I. I took a deep breath and said “I’m going to be mad at myself if I don’t tell you how much I loved your work with Resident Advisors.” He seemed a little surprised. I told him how much it meant to me my senior year as an RA and how I tried to share it with others. He told me about how he and his wife created the show. While he wasn’t a RA in college, his wife was. Fun fact: a girl falling and “breaking” her crotch was based on an incident his wife experienced as a RA!!! All the insider knowledge. As we continued to wait, we talked about our respective college years, and he told me about the trials of being a new father. In my mind, we totally bonded! Two Alex’s, taking on the world!

Truly, these 10 minutes, sitting and talking MADE the festival for me. Even though I worked long hours and was always a representative of the festival, it was nice to have time to feel like I connected with another creator. Thank you, ALEX JENKINS REID! I can’t wait to see what you do next!

The Rest of the Fest: Films

After four days of the Conference, all the Conference interns had all access passes to enjoy the rest of the fest. I was determined to take advantage of it all! While I didn’t get a lot of sleep during the Conference (a regular amount for a college student during exams), I was still running on adrenaline. All the adrenaline. I looked up all the films that looked interesting and planned out one to two possible viewing schedules for each day. On Monday, I saw three films. Since the Conference was over, most of the fest staff were the theaters helping out. I would chat with them as I entered and left venues. I really felt closer to the staff and the fest as a whole. On Tuesday, I saw three films. I was on a roll! On Wednesday, I started getting tired. I only saw two films. There was also a party on Tuesday or Wednesday, but I was too tired to attend. Or it was on Tuesday night and I decided to watch The Flash instead. Or both. On Thursday, I only had the energy to see one film, but I went to the closing night party.

Best film I saw: Brave New Jersey! Months later, I still think about this film. If you ever get a chance to see it, DO IT! And if you can, TAKE ME!

The Parties

I only had the energy to go to two parties during the fest. The first one was the night before the end of the Conference. A couple of interns and I went out for food after our nightly meeting, enjoyed a drink, and then went to the party. It was cool. A lot of people were there. Open bar. I met some college friends of another intern. They asked me about post-grad and I told them the truth: it is difficult and unexpected, but once you accept that it feels a lot better. They thanked me for being candid. I don’t want to say I was a hero… We ran into many staff members who reminded us not to get too drunk because we had to work the next day. We had casual, non-work related convos. Chill.

Only bad thing about that night: one of the interns drove me back to my car. As I hopped in my car, I realized I dropped my phone in her car as she was driving away. Dudes! That terrifying! I rushed home and hopped on my laptop to try and contact her. Thank you, Google Voice! I was able to get in contact with her and meet up to get my phone! Crisis averted. Otherwise, because my phone is my alarm, I was planning not to sleep. Thank you Google for being a GREAT backup plan!

I also went to the last party of the festival. I spent a majority of this party in an awkward situation after awkward situation. I was the first intern from my department to arrive. I saw some other interns that I vaguely knew, so I chatted with them for awhile. What are their names? I have no idea. Their faces were familiar enough. I think it was mutual. Then, those interns went to get more drinks and never came back. (Whatever.)

I was left talking to this one artist. He asked if I was an artist. I told him I interned with the festival. After moments of silence, I said I write screenplays sometimes. He then went on to lecture me about how I should present myself as an artist. Ok. No one asked you. Eventually, he said, “nice talking to you,” and walked away. It was for the best.

I turned around and started talking to another guy. He liked to talk and I was not interested. First, he talked about how this festival like “underdog/minority” stories, which he’ll keep in mind for next time. Bye. He was dressed in a suit, at a pretty casual final party (I think I was wearing jeans, like a majority of people). He then pointed out another guy from across the room that was also wearing a suit. He started making fun of that guy, calling him a pretentious, Eric Trump look-alike. As that guy came close to us to grab a drink, the guy I was already talking to stopped him and mentioned that he was making fun of him for wearing a suit too. They shared a laugh.

The three of us chatted for a little while before the original guy left and I was left with this new guy. Actually, this new guy was pretty cool. He was from London and his girlfriend had a short in the festival and he made a small cameo. Having studied abroad in London, we discussed London a little bit. He went to graduate school in New York, so we talked about that too. Then, somehow, he started talking about his love of American football. I’m more of a baseball fan, so I didn’t really care. But this conversation went on and on. Eventually, his girlfriend joined us, and his girlfriend’s sister, and some other intern who was friends with them. I was really done.

FINALLY, my boss saw me and said she wanted to talk to me. It was a perfect save. I had been over in that corner for 2 HOURS! My boss is BOSS! She was also sooooo drunk. Good for her. She deserved it for organizing an AMAZING conference. Anyways, we talked for a couple minutes, she introduced me to her husband, and then we joined the other department interns. Safety! The rest of the night was chill! We talked about our fave films (and our least favorite). By the end of the night, we decided that even though the festival was over, we would love to hang out again. We also began tossing around the idea of a writer’s group.

This Is What You Came For

I moved to intern with this festival and I don’t regret it. Definitely, one of the GREATEST experiences of my LIFE! I would love to continue to pursue a career in film festival planning. Who knows, maybe one day I will start my own.

#whoneedsfriends #festivals #filmfestival #ResidentAdvisors #BraveNewJersey

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