#dj bus replacement service

[rgf-inmultiples]

BLOOMMCR | via ra.co

[seen-live]

[daneclose]

(DJ Bus Replacement Service)

[sneakyjames]

New Music Worldwide: DJ Bus Replacement Service by Worldwide FM New Music Worldwide is a weekly mix series hosted by Thris Tian. This week’s New Music Worldwide comes from the weird and wonderful DJ Bus Replacement Service. Investigating the murkiest corners of the web, DJ Bus Replacement Service can be conceived as one of the deepest diggers out there. The UK artist began her path initially in 2009 as Spannered Oddcast #8 and developed into the current form of DJ BRS in 2015. Performing in a supreme leader latex mask, real name Doris Woo, plays a range of wild, weird and wonderfully unknown music to raise the hairs of her audiences. Influenced from the likes of Dr. Demento and The Annoying Music Show, DJ BRS simply loves to play unconventional and incorrect music. https://ift.tt/2LIp4rA https://ift.tt/2pWWLf0 June 11, 2018 at 09:55AM

[lululawrence]

Polyamory Fic Rec

I thought I’d made one already, but apparently I hadn’t. So, since @twopoppies had an anon looking for more, I figured I’d go ahead and make a rec list now. This is not exhaustive, but it’s a start! 

Please remember to leave the authors kudos and nice comments to show appreciation for their work.

I Should've Known by @nikogda (Liam/Louis/Harry, 11k)

It started out with little things here and there. A light that needed replacing. The belt in the vacuum. Small things, and eventually they took advantage of it.

Louis decided they needed another, larger repair whilst talking with his alpha neighbour, Liam. Liam had said he would do it for Louis and his partner, Harry.

And, well, it sort of went a little off track from there. What was an innocent thing at first, was now the two omegas’ way of catching the sweet deep scent of their alpha neighbour one whom they both mutually crushed.

Or: the one where alpha Liam moves in next door to bonded omegas Louis and Harry. All three go on their own journeys but in the end find that maybe, in the end, it really was always each other.

And That Was That by @lightwoodsmagic​ (Zayn/Liam/Harry/Louis, 23k)

“Okay. When Zayn and I were working on the set yesterday, Liam dropped by and mentioned he had a date. I asked Zayn about it, and he said that they’re ah - poly?”

Harry blinked.

“Oh yeah, I knew that. Li mentioned it when we were playing tennis once.” He ran his hand through Louis’ hair, smiling softly when he nuzzled into the touch.

“Is that what’s making you act strange? Because it seems like something that works for them, and I —.”

“Zayn has feelings for me.” A deep breath, and then blue eyes locked on green. “He said he needs distance because he has to get over them.”

Harry hadn’t realised his hand had fallen from Louis’ face until his fingers were being tangled and gripped tightly.

Or, Zayn and Liam have been polyamorous for years, but Harry and Louis are monogamous. When Zayn meets Louis and starts to fall for him, it opens them all up for something they've never experienced before.

That Don't Define Who You Are by lululawrence (Nick/Harry/Louis, 7k)

“Shit,” Harry muttered, rushing towards the man. “Are you alright?”

The man clearly tried to muffle his scream. “No, I’m really not. I’m afraid you’ll need to call 999.”

When Harry reached the man, he saw the man’s leg had gotten caught by pieces of the bike that had come apart beneath him. Without thinking, Harry leaned down and lapped where the blood was flowing quickly until it slowed.

“I’m so sorry, I just didn’t want you to pass out whilst I was on the phone.”

“God, no, don’t apologise,” the man said. “My mum’s a licking omega, see. Quite soothing.”

Harry blushed. “Yeah. Let me see about an ambulance for you.”

Or the one where Harry is a licking omega with a broken bond who helps heal a fairly hapless beta with a folding bicycle. When Harry also meets the beta's alpha, things start to get... interesting.

Its Mutual We (All) Discussed It by @nikogda (Zayn/Harry/Louis, 29k)

“Well you go to the agency, Alpha Donor Services and fill some forms out, whoever is doing the deed gets tested and such. And then they match you based on the papers with a few Alphas. You read the information on them and pick a few, they make sure they’re still willing and tell them about you. Eventually you guys will meet in public, do that a few times until you’re comfortable.” Niall scratched his arm lightly, and glances over at Harry, “The point of the service is to help a family, mostly an omega one, who can’t have children of their own. An Alpha will help an Omega get pregnant.”

“I feel like this is a lot.” Harry mumbles, setting his mug down.

“It is. Or well it was but it was worth it, H. I mean, I would do this again. We already talked about it.”

“Really?”

Or: Two omegas in a committed relationship are ready to start a family. In the process, their alpha donor becomes part of the family too. Every part of their relationship may be unconventional but all of them have never been happier

old haunts are for forgotten ghosts by fortymaliks (Nick/Harry/Louis, 8k)

“It’s the three of us, now,” Harry says, finally.

Louis blinks.

“Like,” Harry rushes to clarify, “you, and me, and Nick.”

Louis wakes up with amnesia, and learns that he's missing two whole years of his life. Two whole years, and some interesting developments...

Orion's Belt by @londonfoginacup (Nick/Harry/Louis, 24k)

Louis and Nick have been in a happy committed relationship for two years, their matching soulmarks on display for the world to see. It’s been them against the world, the alpha/beta singer and radio DJ power duo.

All that changes on February 1st, when they wake up to a third matching soulmark.

As they say, the course of true love never did run smooth.

You're a Rabbit, Louis Series by @magicalrocketships (Nick/Harry/Louis, 16k)

"Maybe Louis turned into a rabbit," Nick suggests. They both laugh. Louis doesn't. Harry is an idiot and Nick is an even bigger one.

Louis stomps past both of them on four tiny, furry, baby rabbit paws, and into Nick's flat. "I hate you both," he says. He sits on the rug by the TV. "And you can stop following me around too," he says to Pig, who sits down next to him on the rug.

"But seriously," Harry says, from the door. "Where's Louis?"

Louis thumps his back leg on the floor. "I'm here, you idiot."

"I'm not really suggesting this could be true," Nick says carefully, "but are we sure he isn't a tiny baby rabbit?"

The "A" in "Normal" by Yesitstyles (Nick/Harry/Louis, 28k)

Louis eats chips, argues with his best friend Nick about the validity of various sexualities, and falls for a second crush. Harry tries to spell the word "normal".

Loving You's the Antidote by lululawrence (Nick/Harry/Louis, 11k)

Nick and Harry had never been an obvious match. When eighteen-year-old Harry, newly presented as an omega, came home freshly bonded to Nick, a man nine years his elder and a beta no less, Anne had been more than skeptical and Eileen had shared some harsh words of her own. That didn’t deter them, though, and their families soon realised there really was something special about the bondmates that allowed them to work together almost seamlessly.

It was only a few months later that Harry started getting sick.

Or the one where Harry and Nick have been able to keep Harry's disorder at bay over the course of their relationship, but when they move to London and away from their support system, they find themselves in desperate need of help.

Come Out and Play by @dinosaursmate (Combination of OT5 pairings, 30k)

“I have this… fantasy.” Louis smiled self-consciously. “Well, I- I’ve been thinking about it recently, you know?”

Harry smiled softly. “Say it, Lou.”

“I have this fantasy,” he repeated. “Of… all five of us.”

“All five of us,” Harry exclaimed. “Gosh.”

Louis buried his face into Harry’s armpit, and Harry giggled softly. --- Harry and Louis discover a new kink in their relationship, and it brings all the boys closer than they could have ever imagined.

Trinity's Fate by Anonymous (Nick/Harry/Louis, 43k)

When a person is sixteen years old, he or she finds out if they are a dom or a sub. Later when they turn eighteen, the name of their soulmate(s) appear somewhere on their body.

Louis Tomlinson, a sub, fears getting a dom more than anything.

When his eighteenth birthday approaches and the names Nicholas Grimshaw and Harry Styles, a well known dom couple who are DJs for BBC Radio 1, appear on his arms, Louis panics.

Let me be your good night by Conscious_ramblings (Nick/Greg/Harry/Louis, 8k)

The one where Harry and Louis are in love, they end up at a party with some friends, and end up discovering things about themselves, and their friends that could change everything.

The thing was, Harry and Louis weren’t poly. They’d never even played with others together, despite having talked about it quite a lot in the heat of arousal. When they had been at torture garden and antichrist they had flirted with the idea. Harry had even kissed a friend of theirs once to rile Louis up, which had lead to a great session on the Saint Andrew’s cross. Louis loved to watch Harry flirt, loved the way jealousy turned him on and riled him up, loved how pliant and submissive Harry could be when Louis claimed him after. But they definitely weren’t poly, and Louis wasn’t quite sure what that meant for this evening. Everyone else attending the party was, and Louis’ green-eyed-monster had been feeding off that fact for most of the bus ride here. Now he was confronted by a really hot man playing with his boyfriend’s hair like it was no big deal, and he didn’t know quite what to do.

Perfect Sky by @polkadotlou (Nick/Harry/Louis, 40k)

Sub pairs are a rare thing, not only because of the jealousy that can brew between submissives if a Dom isn't attentive to each.

A sub pair has to be balanced.

Harry and Louis have always fit each other without trying. With them, it's easy.

But sub pairs can't just go out in the world and live on their own.

Alternatively, Louis always knew that a Dom was going to come into his and Harry’s lives – he only wishes Nick picked him too.

The Only Thing That Keeps Me Grounded by lululawrence (Nick/Harry/Louis, 28k)

“Shit, I definitely missed the last train.”

“Oh no,” Louis lamented. “I’d offer a ride, but I’m part of a carpool and we’re full already. I’m so sorry.”

“Really, it’s fine.” Then, what Louis said sank in. “Wait, I thought you were here alone?”

“Oh, I am. I’m the only one dancing here tonight. The others were working. In fact, here’s Nick now.”

It felt like slow motion as a tall, lanky man with incredible hair came walking over towards Louis. He smiled before pulling Louis into him and giving him a quick kiss.

“Nick, this is my new friend Harry. He just moved to the area and he’s amazing at swing. Harry, this is my husband, Nick.”

Fuck.

Or the one where Harry moves to Washington DC to be a nanny and never expects that his past struggles with love will be brought to a head. He definitely never expects the solution to it all will be the man of his dreams that just so happens to be married to the other man of his dreams.

Tell Me It’s The Strongest Shape by @louandhazaf (Nick/Elgar/Louis, 73k)

Nick and Elgar have it all. They’re famous, successful, and engaged to be married—and sometimes they play with others.

When uni student Louis gets street cast by Elgar for a GQ photoshoot, he's drawn into Nick and Elgar’s complicated relationship.

They've always invited mates into their bed. It doesn’t ever mean anything. Until… it does.

it hurts, but it's worth it by words_unravel (Liam/Harry/Louis, 14k)

Liam finds the shots of the three of them, rolling around and laughing, a week or so later during a late night. After a moment's pause, she saves one of the photos, giving it some inane, boring name. She shuts down her computer after that and goes to bed.

It takes a long time before she falls asleep.

[youngbugandtonystank]

Hi, good mornining! I saw your recent post, and I have few questions. 1) have you previously done a review of Og!MJ's character or anything about her actress' interview? Bcs its my first time hearing (reading) that she is like that. I would like to know more about it, please? 2) i've been looking for ages for more information regarding michelle's family, where did you find the deleted scene? I've never heard about that. :( Thank you for your help and contribution to this fandom!

Hi♥

have you previously done a review of Og!MJ's character or anything about her actress' interview? Bcs its my first time hearing (reading) that she is like that. I would like to know more about it, please?

Instead of supporting the new Spider-man (and yes, she’s entitled to her own opinion but c’mon, this comes as really petty from her part), she decided to criticize him back when everyone was criticizing the new spider-man. Back then everyone was doubting Tom; saying he was either too young, looked too skinny to fit in the role, or didn’t have what was necessary to be spider-man. This happens almost all the time with all kinds of actors. This happened with Gal Gadot when she got the role of Wonder Woman, same with Candice Patton when she got the role of Iris West, etc. Kirsten was one of them, she even suggested Tom was doing it only for the money. She didn’t stop and see the effort he was putting into the character, she could’ve even reached out to him or Laura Harrier (who was the female lead at the time) to congratulate them. Andrew Garfield didn’t have a problem doing that;

"If I am being totally honest, I am so excited Spider-Man is back in the hands of Marvel. I think that's a really awesome move.”

This happens a lot with cancel culture too, people are quick to judge something they usually don’t even know. 

She told Marie Claire magazine, “We made the best ones, so who cares? I’m like, ‘You make it all you want.’ They’re just milking that cow for money. It’s so obvious. You know what I mean? I don’t care. Everyone likes our Spider-Man. Come on, am I right or what? Listen, I’d rather be in the first ones than the new ones.”

And this was Holland’s response to her:

“She’s entitled to her own opinion and I’m not one to judge at all. I definitely am not doing this movie for the money. I mean, it’s a job that I think anyone would do regardless of what you were getting paid, you know? All I know is I had the greatest time on this movie and I absolutely loved it and, you know, if she doesn’t want to go and see it, I don’t really care. I don’t dislike her in any way for what she said and she’s entitled to her opinion, so it’s all cool,”

She could’ve handled this with more class tbh. But still, I’m guessing she can change her mind anytime she wants. 

i've been looking for ages for more information regarding michelle's family, where did you find the deleted scene? I've never heard about that.

"There was a moment when they come back from Washington in Homecoming — I don't think it made it into the movie — where you get the sense where she clearly doesn't have someone there to pick her up and meet her at the bus and May and Peter offer to give her a ride home. You get a sense maybe there's some sad home life going on." writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. They wrote the script for Spider-man: Homecoming. 

This is the part that bothers me about her character. They don’t even bother with her. Like, this scene was not even filmed because it’s not between the deleted scenes in the DVD, or at least they didn’t consider the scene to be worthy to be there. If she was going to be an important character, why don’t they let her have a storyline or at least let the audience know more about her? 

Take into consideration that we knew Mary Jane Watson’s family (Philip and Madeline), inspirations and daily life (She was a waitress, a former actress, a Jazz club singer, was in the broadway theater, she loves modeling and worked to develop independence and smarts, etc) and story (In order to escape her abusive, alcoholic father she pursues a career in acting to find more freedom and self-direction) in the Raimi’s films. 

Mary Jane: Oh. They said I needed acting lessons. A *soap opera* told me I needed acting lessons.

Peter: Lemme buy you a cheeseburger. The sky's the limit.

We knew Gwen Stacy’s family (George, Helen, Philip, Howard, Simon), inspirations and daily life (She was a lab assistant to Dr. Curt Connors before becoming the senior research officer at Oscorp Industries, she was the valedictorian of her school, one of Midtown's star students, she’s in the debate team, she used to help Flash with his homework, got the antidote to replace the reptilian serum, she was going to go to Oxford with a scholarship in molecular medicine, etc) and story (her father was the captain of the New York Police Department who strongly wants Spider-man not to involve her daughter in his superhero life while she’s head intern turned senior research officer to Dr. Connors who is the world's foremost authority on herpetology and is studying to follow her dream career in molecular medicine) in the Amazing Spiderman. 

Gwen: I have to go to England, Peter. It's important to me. I mean, maybe we're on different paths right now. You know? I don't know. Maybe we're just going different ways. 

Peter: Gwen. Good luck.

We knew Liz Allan/Toomes’ family (Adrian and Doris), inspirations and daily life (academic goals, has parties, discusses normal things with friends like crushes and superheroes, Betty is her best friend, wants everyone to have a bright future, reads coaching books and watches TED talks to motivate her team, she’s also the head of the dance and planning committee, one of the top students in Midtown, she’s the captain of the decathlon team, she mentioned she struggled to balance school and other priorities as a sophomore, etc) and story (While she was busy studying and building a career for herself, her father was selling illegal alien weapons and was in the trading business behind her and her mother’s back) in Homecoming. 

Peter: Wow, you really... This is really important to you.

Liz: Yeah. It’s our future. I’m not gonna screw it up.

It feels like they’re involved in the story, like they’re actually main characters instead of being the love interest only. And take into consideration that I don’t even like Mary Jane from the Raimi’s films. 

Isn’t it weird that we don’t know anything about Michelle?

We know:

She likes to read.

She is fluent in sarcasm.

She likes to go to protests. 

She’s in the academic decathlon.

But I could say the same about the extra kids in the decathlon team. 

I could go around the excuse of ‘some things happen off-screen’ when it comes to the romance between Peter and Michelle (something that they didn’t even take time to develop either), but what’s the excuse for her character development? We know even more about Flash than her. We know Flash likes being a DJ, he studies hard to be #1, he’s rich, he feels jealous of Peter, his parents are never around and make him refer to them in a detached manner, we even saw Flash’s date in Homecoming and the fact that he took her to dinner first before going to the dance. We even know Flash’s butler lmao. This is why part of me believes she’s only there as fan-service, given that fans love the connection between Tom and Zendaya, and because the actress herself is popular. 

This could also be happening because Spider-man belongs to a bigger world now. He’s part of a big franchise and maybe these details aren’t necessary anymore. Maybe romance is not a big deal because they need to focus on Peter. But I still think it’s unfair. I hope we can see more of her story in SM3. 

[erasmusinaber]

Local Aber Guide by ESN

A következő kisokost az ESN society egyik tagja írta össze nekünk, aki már 4 éve itt tanul, így nagyon jól ismeri a várost. Ezt szoktam én is böngészni,amikor új helyszíneket  szeretnék felfedezni:

“Cafes.

- Agnellis

For anyone fancying an authentic taste of Italy this place is just a little hidden away around the corner from Starbucks but is run by a local Italian family for reasonable prices.

- Ultracomida

Great for its Spanish food, delicatessen and fresh orange juice it makes a particularly great place to visit as a larger group. Just up the street from the pier.

- The Carlton

Much more British on the spectrum and a staple of Aberystwyth, head here for a great pie or some fresh Welsh cakes and coffee. Hidden above retail shops on the main main street opposite Cafe Nero.

- Sophie's

Very local and popular but more American in food choice, makes for a great breakfast choice.

- Caesars Cafe

About as good as it gets for an English breakfast, simple but effective for a Sunday breakfast after a heavy weekend, if that's your style.

- Treehouse

A favourite for those more environmentally and organically conscious. Simple but tasty food and a brilliant locally sourced delicatessen to match. Just off the high street next to Alfred's Place Church.

- PD's Diner

Unmissable on the promenade but you have to be lucky with the weather, on a nice day half the town will be there for fish and chips with a cider.

Restaurants.

- Little Italy

Perhaps less authentic but one of the most established places in the town and where every couple young and old will head for Valentine's day. Great food, a little expensive in other words. Right on the high street but more towards the University side.

- Pysgoty

Again on the expensive side but famous for its fish the country over with an intimate and pretty environment, great for a special occasion such as visiting family. On the marina above the sailing club.

- Fusion King

Very popular for students due to its value for money and about the best Aber will offer as Asian food goes, doesn't replace a good ramen for me but good food in it's own right. Just off the highstreet around the corner from ultracomida. (If you are craving more Japanese then Swshi is a new company doing sushi deliveries in the area, you can find them on Facebook).

- Baravin

Awesome setting on the seafront, a blend of Welsh food in a French style, offers a range of usually solid choices though expensive

.- Upstairs at the PierClue is in the name for location.

Pier are one of our sponsors so your attendance really helps us once we get the member cards up and running. Great food, great views and the price is reasonable.

- Backyard Barbecue

Hidden away just off the highstreet next to Treehouse but a hidden gem. I can't think of where you'd find another authentic American smoker in Wales and the price isn't bad at all. Try the ribs.

- Le Figaro

Opposite the train station and another stable of Aber with a regularly changing menu bit again maybe a little expensive for a student budget.

- Medina

Excellent more middle eastern style food that makes a healthy choice but has a lot more going for it than that, highly enjoyable atmosphere.

Places to drink

- Rummers

Aber famously has the most pubs per capita in Europe and this is one of its kings. Decent price, great beer, great pub quiz every week and live music on weekends, good eating option and cocktail bar upstairs. About everything you want from a pub. Nestled by the bridge that leads to the marina.

- Harry's

The undisputed champion of sports bars in Aber which is where you'll want to be heading for the upcoming rugby world cup if you know what's happening or not, the atmosphere will be crazy. Right opposite Little Italy.

- Scholar's

Not uncommon to find the occasional lecturer dotted around here, a great place for an affordable Sunday roast dinner while watching football. Just around the corner from Harry's.

- The Cambrian

Very student centred pub, the cocktails are like none you'll find anywhere else and very effective

- The Libertine

Best cocktails in Aber and prices reflecting that but if you want to be served an excellent daquiri then head here.

- Ship and Castle

Quintessentially British which is a good thing as pubs go and a good selection of beer and ale, again a bit expensive.

- Weatherspoons

A chain pub but again a classic of Britain and nicely located in the train station, extremely cheap, you'll probably end up there in freshers week as will everyone.

- The Glengower

Longstanding member of Aber society and regularly makes the lists of best pubs in Wales. Top draft selection, some great annual events and traditions, the terrace is always full on a nice day

- Academy

On that bridging point between a pub and a club, atmosphere can vary and it can be a bit on the pricier side but forever a cool venue as a converted church.

- Bar 46

Again on that 'plub' level, 2 for 1 cocktails always tempting and they can do well with their events, personally I love to go just for a pint while I hang out with the owners Labrador.

- Harleys

Last of the plubs, good place to warm up your dance moves before hitting the clubs, very popular with the fresher faced students.

- Downies

...psychological studies could be written about this place, shamelessly cheap and can have one of the strongest atmospheres but I don't think it's changed since the early 80's, I'll be nice and say 'rough around the edges' but for those who can get past that it can have a strange charm

- Why Not

One of the main nightclubs though still often referred to as 'Yokos'. it's going through changes at the moment so I guess you'll be as much of a judge on how it'll be as I will this year.

- Pier Pressure

The other main club and with a late hours pub downstairs, very quaint and with good DJ sets recently as a small town goes so fingers crossed that continues. Pros are more space, cons are no drinks on the dance floor.

Places to visit

- Constitution Hill

Its like a requirement to walk up it at least once though taking the old funicular railway is cool too, nice views of the town, good little cafe on top. Worth a visit once or twice.

- Borth Zoo

Not about to blow your mind and it's going through massive overhauls but if you want to see animals then hop on a train and you'll be there in 10 minutes.

- The Rheidol Railway to Devil's Bridge

The train is a bit pricey but it's very much worth doing to go and see the ancient bridges that have some very nice places to eat and relax around them. You'll be able to see eagles swoop through the trees as you ride the old steam train up the valley.

- Llanerchaeron

An old manor house and farm designed by the same guy who designed Buckingham palace. You can get the T1 service bus down there and walk back to Aberaeron which is itself a lovely town before you catch the bus back again.

- Ynyslas Beach

A train ride and then a bit of a trek but if you want a nice beach nearby then this is your choice, follow the estuary up for some great views too.

- The Pier

Nice and close, the arcade can always be fun and the pool hall sinks a lot of hours on rainy days for those interested in billiards.

- The National Library

Genuinely a really cool building with millions of books, some very interesting like ancient copies of the Magna Carta and the Mabinogion for those interested in British and Welsh culture. If you have any Welsh ancestry then this is the place to check records too.

- The Pwllheli Line

This would be a mental test in dealing with Welsh infrastructure but catching the train to Dovey Junction and then changing onto the northern line takes you to some interesting places. Barmouth for its beautiful town and estuary, Harlech for its famous castle, and Porthmadog/Portmeirion for its postcard perfect houses. Far more than that on the way too if you like a good hike or a camping trip.

- Cardiff

Great city for a weekend visit and now free weekend buses that go nicely if you have one of our membership cards for discounts on hostels. Highlights are Cardiff Castle, the Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, the wild selection of shopping choice and the massive variety of annual events. Most of the centre is all within walking distance which makes things very easy for visitors.

- Pembrokeshire

Can be difficult to access due to little infrastructure but absolutely worth the effort. Stunning natural beauty in places like Mwnt, Barafundle, Fishguard, Pembroke Castle, Angle, Tenby and more. If you like hikes then Wales is the only country with a complete coastal path and this is the place to make use of that.”

[imfbsl]

dj bus replacement service harca a pixelekkel

[goodlucktai]

the way you move ain’t fair, you know

final fantasy xv pairing: promnis word count: 1595 summary: Ignis and Prompto, and three times they danced. read on ao3

x

It doesn’t help that their audience is laughing. Ignis levers a stern look at them and tightens his grip on his dancing partner’s waist before the inevitable escape attempt can be made.

“Ignore them, Prompto,” he says. “Don’t go slinking off now, you’ve almost got the hang of it.”

“The hang of stomping on your feet?” Prompto says miserably. “Yeah, I’ve got that down.”

There’s a ball coming up, the first one that Prompto will attend as the prince’s royal guard rather than the prince’s personal guest. There’s a certain level of etiquette he was trained in already, along with the other recruits that were going into regular Crownsguard services, but with higher clearance comes additional requirements.

At least, that’s how Clarus pitched it. It was a kinder, more professional way of saying “your best friend threw you under the bus.” Because if Noctis had to dance, by Shiva, so did Prom.

He’s not the clumsy teenager he was in high school. He’s grown into his wide shoulders and long limbs, leanly muscled from training, lithe and flexible and strong. Ignis is certain he’ll be a beautiful dancer, if only he manages to learn the steps.

“You’re much better at this than Noctis,” Ignis says plainly, making no effort to lower his voice. It carries easily across the polished surfaces of the airy ballroom. “It took him weeks to learn a simple waltz, and that was with a handful of royal tutors. He may appear graceful now, but appearances are deceiving.”

It surprises Prompto into laughter, the first unselfconscious sound he’s made all evening. Noctis looks betrayed. Gladio looks as though he’s happy just to be alive in this moment. At least they’ve stopped making fun.

“Well,” Prompto says, “I guess I can think of worse ways to spend my time.”

His posture is relaxed, his body radiating warmth against Ignis’ hands where they’re holding him. He’s been sized for a formal tux for the event, and generally Ignis has a proclivity for the sharp and elegant lines of suits and gowns-- but Prompto looks good like this, in paint-stained sweats and one of Gladio’s T-shirts. Ignis almost prefers it to the tailcoat he’ll wear at the ball.

“As can I,” Ignis says, and he signals Noctis to start the music again, and away they whirl.

“Aw, come on, Iggy,” Prompto says, “I know you’ve gone clubbing before. Don’t lie to me.”

Twenty-four and ludicrously charming, Prompto leans languidly across Ignis’ desk like a cat that caught a canary. There’s a smile tugging at his mouth that is almost a smirk, knowing and self-satisfied.

Ignis shuffles paperwork around for something to do with his hands, well aware of their friends’ hawk-like eyes following the verbal volleys.

“It’s been several years,” he says stiffly. It’s the wrong thing to say when Prompto shoots upright, hands planted on the edge of Ignis’ desk, victory in every light and line of his body.

“So you have gone!”

Gladio is looking at Ignis like Ignis just did a backflip over his desk. Sometimes the prince and the Shield seem to forget that he does have a personal life outside of his professional one. It’s just that the lines between personal and professional are perpetually blurred, considering how much of his heart his comrades and his liege take up.

“Prompto, no.” Ignis uses the tone he usually uses to shut things down. It usually works. “I’m much too busy to take a weekend off for no other reason than you want an excuse to make me wear eyeliner.”

The silence that follows is weighted. Prompto blinks, and looks at Noctis, who gently palms his face as though he can’t bear to look at them. Gladio says, “You know your birthday is on Saturday, right, Specs?”

Ignis pauses. Glances down at his ever-present planner, open to the current month, and finds the unmarked date looming back at him.

“Ah,” he says.

“So, you realize you just rendered your entire argument obsolete now, and there's no way you're getting out of this?” Prompto asks gently.

“Yes, I realize that.”

Which is how Ignis finds himself at a club on Saturday, with Sunday off as well. Ignis has to wonder how in the hell his friends managed that, because he hasn’t had two consecutive days free in-- frankly, he doesn’t want to think how many years.

Prompto, at least, is in his element. He’s confident here the way he isn’t in most other places. The neon lights of the club wash over his pale skin and fair hair, turn him technicolor and violet-eyed, and he attracts more than one lingering look as he walks backwards toward the dance floor, fingers curled stubbornly in the belt loops of Ignis’ jeans to pull him along.

“Just one song,” Prompto shouts over the thumping bass, a beat Ignis can feel in the soles of his shoes. “No, two. Three.” He grins crookedly, at himself or at the two of them or at their friends drinking themselves stupid at the bar or at the ridiculousness of all of it combined.

He’s lovely, Ignis thinks, not for the first time. Vivid and wild when he forgets to box himself in. Built for movement, for action, a runner’s body and an artist’s core. His eyes are fixed points in the dark room, like a path for Ignis to follow through the gyrating crowd and dizzying music. His hands are a constant warmth, searing through the thin material of Ignis’ borrowed shirt.

And a strange shiver of delight shoots through Ignis’ stomach at their closeness, when Prompto presses in to say, “Dance with me, Iggy! It’s your birthday!”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Ignis says, and holds Prompto where he is, where there’s barely inches between them. “I’ll follow your lead.”

By the end of the night, Ignis’ feet are sore and his eyes feel bruised from the strobing lights and there’s a headache forming at his temples; but none of these things stop him from following Prompto’s gentle tug on his collar, and leaning in to kiss him while they wait for the valet to bring around the car.

“Thank the Six you’re so persistent,” he says. “I’d hate to have missed this.”

“I’d’ve gotten you one way or another,” Prompto assures him, grinning. Ignis believes him.

Noctis and Prompto are spinning around in circles on the dance floor, both of them turning thirty this year and behaving like the children they were when they first met. They haven’t knocked anyone else over, by the grace of Shiva, but it probably has more to do with the wide berth other dancers are giving them than their own observational skills.

“It’s nice to see the two of them behaving with the due dignity and decorum of their offices,” Ignis remarks mildly, setting aside his champagne.

Gladio claims the chair beside him, since most of the organized seating has gone out the window at this point in the evening, looking a happy mix of amused and proud. He’s a little pink from the alcohol, and his eyes are still a little puffy from his emotional speech at dinner. The glance Ignis gives him is unrelentingly fond. He figures he can get away with that today, of all days.

“This is the rest of your life,” the Shield says. “Aren’t you glad you signed up for this?”

“I signed up for this when I was six,” Ignis replies dryly. “Had I had any idea then what my future would look like, that might have influenced my decision.”

Gladio huffs out a laugh, not buying it. They’ve been friends for too long. “Yeah, influenced you to sign up faster. You wouldn’t trade a second of this for all the Michelin stars in the world. And that’s not what I was talking about.”

Ignis lets his eyes wander across the rolling garden. The lanterns and string lights are a warm glow, rocked gently by the summer breeze, and the clinking of cutlery and glasses is a pleasant backdrop, and the live band was replaced by an energetic DJ hours ago, a friend of Prompto’s from his favorite nightclub. The music is energetic, and the people on the dancefloor are having a good time, and Ignis has suddenly had quite enough of his cake and champagne.

He stands, folding his napkin over his plate politely.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he says, with playful severity, and heads away from one of his closest friends and towards the two of them currently making a nuisance of themselves among people too polite to say so.

“Specs!” Noctis cries gladly, without the good grace to look apologetic. He and Prompto both are shining with joy, they have been all night. “Here to steal your husband back?”

The word sends a thrill through him, and he smiles inwardly. What he says is, “Here to stop the two of you from mowing down everyone within a five foot radius, yes. Now hand him over.”

Prompto’s hair is a mess, and his tie is undone, and his suit jacket is gone to parts unknown and probably won’t ever be recovered, and Ignis has never loved anyone more.

“How much longer do we have the DJ?” Ignis asks against his hair. Prompto hums, muffled in Ignis’ chest.

“Ace’ll stay all night if I ask ‘im to. Why?”

“That’s how long I want to dance with you,” Ignis says.

Prompto looks up at him, eyes shining. “Everyone else’ll probably get bored and go home.”

“All the better,” Ignis says, and Prompto laughs, and they dance.

[davidpwilson2564]

Bloglet

Friday, October 25, 2019

The night of the big Queens award dinner.  After errands (beautiful weather we're having) I prepare myself to go out there.  I know I have mentioned before that no longer having the cast iron stomach I sometimes have complications when there is food. (It can't possibly be water out there that is the problem. My son is to be feted; I know there will be food... So, in order to prevent the possibility of feeling  bloated and gassy (TMI!) I pack Alka-Seltzer (sometimes I require two doses) and a more recent discovery called Gas Relief (!). 

Just before leaving I turn on the TV.   Elijah Cummings' memorial service.  Obama is speaking.  "You're not a sucker to have integrity..."  We know where that was aimed.  (Cummings took such abuse.  Remember young Mr. Shkreli smirking at him?)  They show the people in attendance.  Some Trumpers among them.  Jim Jordon is chewing gum.  (The brownest nose in D C.  And you know, funny thing, even after all of that [what someone has called posterior osculation]Trump has never mentioned him.) 

I should have followed the traffic report (what do they call it? Rail and Road Report?)...I think the "A" service will be replaced by a shuttle bus in Brooklyn. (Track work.)  So I get the local ("C").  A miserable ride but I'm early so that's sort of okay.  In Brooklyn a final paroxysm and the train goes out of service.  Another shows up.  Change at Euclid.  Much excitement as a huge rat is on the platform.  The rest of the trip goes without incident.

A Kenichi's house...Jean and the girls get dressed up.  Kenichi says he has a speech ready but I think he might be kidding.  A bit later we head out.  Howard Beach.  Villa Roma.  I've never been here before...  Big community blowout.  OMG.  Lots of people and Kenichi says, "I've got to work the room."  Which he does.  Very nice staff and passable food.  Some speechifying and then dancing (a DJ...teeth rattling latin and disco..) and then Kenichi is introduced.  "Man of the Year."  (For his work heading the community board and the Queens Symphony.) He makes an excellent speech. 

Though there is much to comment on, one thing interesting about this experience is that it seems so far removed from all the awful things that are happening in the world.  One's belief in the decency and civility of people is restored. 

[festibusfortherestofus-blog]

Why a bus?

The bus is currently in Skokie, I left it until I could be sure I had plates and had a place to park it. I was doing dinner if my research on the fly since I decided to make the purchase so quickly. Looking at the prices of the other buses on Craigslist and the condition of the one I bought, it felt like a pretty good bargain. Apparently I hadn't actually told my husband hot much it cost and when I did tell him he was pleasantly surprised! $3000 is really a pretty good price for any vehicle of that age that runs so well. It's a diesel all the fact that it has attend 130,000 miles on it is a non-issue. She's really just getting warmed up. Her life up to this point consisted of driving kids in CPS to special education classes. So what will the bus do in it's next life and why did I buy it?

I briefly mentioned Bonnaroo in my first post. I had been looking for a vehicle to take to music festivals, Bonnaroo in particular. I'm a huge Volkswagen fan and have always wanted to own a VW Bus if some kind, but they're such collector's items that it's really difficult to get one for a decent price and if you do I'll probably need a lot of work and will be difficult to maintain. The engine would need to be rebuilt or replaced and they tend to have a lot of body rust, especially in Illinois. They're much easier to get in California, but still pricey. I know the current owners of @therealroobus and there's is a bit of a different situation because they bought it already converted, but they love taking it to Bonnaroo and have been doing great things in our community. I hadn't bought one yet because I camp in group camping and a regular bus would have to park in RV. However, I saw a short bus in group this year and thought well that would be a lot more manageable wouldn't it? I would prefer having more space, but the size allows me to park it more easily and the renovation would be cheaper. I should still be able to sleep 4 to 6 people with no problem an still get a kitchenette and hopefully a very small bathroom. I haven't decided for sure yet, once I have it here and can measure it I'll know for sure what I want to do.

Every year we pack up our stuff and drive the Pathfinder to Tennessee to attend Bonnaroo and seeing as how I'm the most organized, the responsibility for pretty much everything falls on me. We camp with Reddaroo in group and I run a craft beer exchange every year so we bring a lot of stuff. This year packing was a nightmare and I couldn't get everything in one car and had to bring my beetle at the last minute. I thought how nice it would be to have an vehicle that we could sleep in but still camp in group camping! My husband want a huge fan on the idea of a VW Bus, but said he likes the school bus much better. He's over 6' talk and weighs 350lbs and the VW sounded small. He says he likes the idea of a school bus because he'll be able to stand up and really walk around in it. I think it'll give us that space we're looking for with a manageable size. When I took it for the test drive it really drove smoothly! I couldn't even tell I was driving a diesel, it reminded me of driving my parents' Chevy Suburban when I was a kid. Also, this is actually a Chevy! A Chevy Thomas to be exact. It should be relatively easy to get it serviced.

Now I can do this remodel however I want to so I can have something ready to go, I can throw in a dufflr bag of clothes and drive it in to a festival and bam! No setup, just park and camp. And the fun things we can do with it too! A ladder to the top and we can easily turn it into a DJ booth or a dance floor. Our camp cooks food every year, I could throw a hitch on it and fabricate a grill that can attach at the hitch. I'd just back it in to wherever the kitchen will be and cook right off the bus. If I can get a fridge in there it would be ideal for storing the camp's food without having to keep coolers full of ice and chicken all weekend. I'll also be investigating solar panels as a partial energy source instead of just a generator. I'm about to get some for the roof of my house so I'm already researching them.

A lot of these are just me throwing out ideas. Hopefully I'll be able to actually start implementing some of these soon. Then I just need something creative to do with the dozen bus seats I'll have left over!

I also have plans to attend burning man as soon as my schedule permits. I think this will make a nice vehicle for that. I'll be able to invite a couple of friends to join me with all the space I have and should have enough amenities to make it a fairly comfortable trip.

As I get into the nitty gritty I'll post about my trials and tribulations. I'm not one who generally thinks people care what I have to say, but other blogs have been really helpful to me so far with information on the legalities and clever ideas for the transformation so if I can put more of that out there to help someone else I would like to. So let's get going!

[tumblunni]

More daily acconplishment diaryness!

Finished unpacking and sorted my clothes into clean and need of washing. Dug out the old webcams i was too scared to use for years and maybe i will try em once i set up the computer again?

Cleaned all the mold out of the refridgerator even though it was GROSS AND SCARY. Woo!

Also finished about 1/3rd of washing every dish i own, which is good cos they were stacked so high i couldnt even see the sink before! I actually found a bunch of dishes i'd lost while i was cleaning up before i left last month. SO MANY FALLEN SPOONS! But i didnt have time to wash any of them so i'm sure they're glad to finally be disinfected and ready to use again. Some had gone rusty or broken and had to be thrown out tho.

Made a big A3 calendar for the next 3 months so i can try and be more structured in my life. Maybe it will work? I dunno about any sort of weekly schedule yet, gonna wait until i get more clarification on what days classes are available at the library and when i'm gonna be seeing support worker richard again and Mystery New Support Worker Who Is Replacing The Hospital Basically. Like they said i can indeed have the support without the mega supervised shared housing thing, so i'm gonna be meeting a new group of mental health recovery specialist tutors who can visit me at my own home instead of me going to the hospital full time. I'm actually kinda glad of all the horrifying lack of privacy in the hospital in one way, like i've always been terrified to invite people inside my house because of the same reasons. But now in the aftermath of EVEN MORE people up in my personal space and EVEN LESS privacy and AN EVER REVOLVING LINE OF STRANGERS who DO MEDICAL TESTS ON MY PEE, it seems a little less scary to just let the same support worker sit on my sofa every month. Im still flying on the fear of all that stuff and this seems positively pleasant in comparison! And i'm sure that feeling will wear off as i become less jittery again, but by then i'll have had some practise talking to this new support worker on my sofa and hopefully i'll be less scared in general.

Oh! And i did decide one thing about a weekly schedule! I have to go out to town at least once every weekend. Or somewhere else fun on the bus. Now im not scared of regular buses i need to train myself to be less scared of the big long one in this neighbourhood. And getting to go out and experience ACTUAL SHOPS and COOL THINGS has cheered me up so much, i cant lose that just because the bus is longer now! The first planned outing is to go to town either on my birthday or the day after, cos i get my disability benefit on my birthday and i can afford to go do some mildly small fun stuff. Shame i spent all my savings and monthly bonus on preparing for stupid hospital, like man i must have wasted 500 quid on all that? The laptop and the new suitcase and new clothes and stocking up on toiletries and soooo much preparing aaa. I still dont know whether to be mad at myself for "only" lasting three weeks or proud of myself for enduring the worst three weeks ive had since i lived in a homeless shelter. Well i got free food at the hospital so it was better in that sense, but it was somehow even more invasive and nervewracking than the homeless shelter! I'd honestly prefer the days of nothing but bread and butter. And hell we had internet there and i was allowed to bring my tv even tho it was a huuuuuuge crt thing bigger than my entire body. I still have it even tho its outdated and broken cos i simply cannot carry it back down the stairs XD

ANYWAY that has been the random progress of today! Next order of business is that tomorrow i go return all the library books from the other library, and just continue going out for walks more often even if im broke and have nothing much to do. Well at least the library has a gym in pokemon go! Also hopefully the internet repair guy will call back tomorrow. And then on friday is the B day and the having money again, so lol anyone have any suggestions on what i should do to celebrate? I dont even really know what people DO when they go out for walks, aside from.. Walk. Like whats an activity i could even do on my own, aside from cinema? And i dont think theyre still showing the incredibles 2 so there might not be anything else good to see. Sigh! And then all i've got to watch out for is the Integrated Autism Service meeting on october 17th which i know NOTHING about not even where it is or what time. Hopefully i can get more details now im back home and able to meet up with dj richard the funky support worker again. Also on november 5th i have to remember to go get my eye test. I hope maybe i can get a new colour of frames this time! And then i dunno sometime nebulous in between all that i'm gonna get a phone call from the hospital guys again to settle the last of the paperwork and introduce me to the new hospital classes support person worker mystery thingieness. Which is a little anxious, so i kinda hope it happens sooner rather than later so i can continue riding the wave of relief from being home and accomplish loads of scary things before it wears off.

...man that wave is kinda annoying tho cos now i cant sleep! Im so hyped up!!i already did so many accomplishments today and they just make me hyped up to do more!!! THE LONGEST GREATEST TUESDAY OF THE YEAR

[worldofanimenews]

Thoughts on Anime Expo Chibi 2022: A Compilation

A9ent 760 - Staff Writer When Anime Expo announced an event in Ontario, California for November 2022, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get back into the anime convention experience after being away from the scene for years. The recent passing of my friend Greg Hignight, who had been a well-known personality in the L.A. anime scene, brought out many friends that I have not seen in a long time and have reconnected me with the convention scene at first with Pacific Media Expo in San Gabriel a couple of weeks ago and with AX chibi his past weekend. In the spirit of Greg's "Go out and show them what you've got and be proud of it" motto, the following thoughts I've had about the convention this past weekend have initially made their way on my social media, and for the sake of posterity I've decided to make those thoughts available in one blog post on a site I haven't touched in a long time. Hopefully, it will give you a sense of what it's like to be at a convention in Ontario, California and plan accordingly and also to give you a taste of how Anime Expo did with their first "mini" event and give you a sense of whether you want to spend the money to attend or not.

DAY ZERO Ontario is a great venue for throwing an anime convention because of its access to hotels near the convention center for travelers, whether they are driving there or flying in (if you don't mind shuttling over from ONT airport). Mass transit options aren't readily available to the convention, outside of the Ontario East Metrolink station on the Riverside line and what seems to be a 35-minute bus ride from there to the convention center. Since it's a commuter line, don't expect weekend service to take anyone back and forth from the show, though. Hopefully the county can do something to improve on the ground transportation options heading to and from the convention center in the future.

The big issue for attendees on a budget, eating at the convention center can be super expensive, but what the food choice in convention center catering lacks, the "night market" food trucks make up for it while giving attendees a chance to get some variety in what they're eating for the day (food costs may vary). The only issue that may be a deal breaker is the "outside food and drink policy" inside of the venue area. You aren't able to bring food or drink upon entering the premises and con center staff will ask you to dispose of it before tapping your wristband to enter. Speaking of which, no badges were issued for AX chibi but you will be issued an RFID wristband with a "tighten once" adjustment and if it gets lost you have to pay a replacement fee, so plan accordingly.

While no indoor events were held on day zero, the bathrooms were available for attendees to use, but masking is required anywhere inside the building unless you're eating or drinking. To make up for events being held outside, careful consideration has been made to provide most of the outdoor sitting areas with a heat lamp to keep everyone warm in the 40 degree weather til the event ended around 11PM. Artist Alley was open for business and was inside a tent, but I haven't had a chance to see if it was climate controlled somehow. The outdoor stage handled all of the live programming of the show including a City Pop Dance Party event run by Gregory A. Hignight's Tune In Tokyo Events team and the DJ's dedicated their set to him in light of his recent passing. Other live events included performances by Koto, S4X, Super Soul Brothers, Black Ros3 and tsUgU Itagaki with each event ramping up the energy as the show went into the evening. With the temperature in mind at this time of the year, my suggestion for attendees would be to dress warmly if most of your time will be spent outside hanging out with friends or catching cosplayers around the show.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the convention has in store for the rest of the weekend and hope that the powers that be at SPJA continue to improve on it and keep bringing events like this to the IE. DAY ONE I finally got a chance to check out the artist alley. Despite being outside in a big tent, it looks like artists were in a mostly climate protected location and the crowds inside the tent weren't a complete fire hazard. A look into the dealers' room had a really good selection of merchandise that was sure to cater to anyone looking for anything from clothing to traditional offerings like posters and the occasional sword and plushy. Seeing Hypland's display of a Lambo and a Porsche decked out in Naruto and DBZ was the first thing to catch your attention the moment you walked into the dealer's room and makes me think of how far dealers' rooms have evolved from the days when most halls wouldn't have had that 30 years ago. Other offerings included the manga room where one can read a manga while resting in a room with other anime fans, the arcade room for vintage and current arcade video games, a tabletop gaming room, Lounge 21 for the 21 and over crowd with musical performances on a mini stage, a cosplay set space with different scenes for cosplay photographers to do photo shoots in different settings and a maid cafe provided by the Dreamland Maid Cafe crew, which I would have found out more about if there was enough visible signage telling attendees that there was an actual second floor with tons of other stuff to do.

I also spent part of the day hanging out with a con attendee who had never been to a California anime convention before and it got me thinking that sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes to show you what it is that makes conventions special. While most of the time was spent looking through the dealer's hall and "speed running" the artist alley (which never really ended up not speed running at all lol), the rest of the time was spent talking about what anime fandom was like in Missouri (the conversation felt so wholesome and innocent it made me appreciate how lucky California has it sometimes) and watching him take photos of cosplayers from different anime shows that are popular these days. It all goes to show that no matter how different the scene has changed, the whole core of the fandom and how attendees act has not changed significantly in the past 30 years and it was refreshing to see enough to re-invigorate the spirit. I swear the energy just felt so infectious that you wanted to get motivated to do fun stuff at the convention, and I really appreciated that feeling. Fast forwarding a couple hours and outdoor live events continued to catch people's attention with music shows, cultural workshops and performances concluding the night with Dueling DJs at the end of the night. I was able to check out the Bon Odori Dance lessons provided by Little Tokyo's Ondo dance group where they were encouraging crowd participation while teaching you Japanese folk dancing and how it could also be easily applied do modern music (which they called "Pop Ondo") and it was very fun to watch. If my legs weren't so tired from all the walking around and standing, I probably would have joined in. Night Market/Food Vendors and photo booth were still running and the larger turnout of people on Saturday really filled out the place til about 9-10pm when crowds started to dwindle. Things wound down around the 10 o'clock hour with no one at the food trucks and most of the indoor programming and artist alley closed, but the DJs carried the night with a healthy amount of stragglers til the venue closed up around 11PM.

Knowing that the night market and food trucks* will not be available on Sunday, that leaves the outdoor stage, artists alley and indoor events left to carry out the con til closing at 6pm, so I hope they can finish the weekend off on a high note. Here's hoping they can pull it off.

[*Editor's Note: the food trucks ended up being available on Sunday until the end of show at 6PM]

DAY TWO: THE FINAL DAY What could they do to end its inaugural weekend and leave attendees on an emotional high? While the final day of convention is usually a recover from wild partying and pack up to leave, the convention felt like it was doing the same. Night Market and Night Market Stage were closed off to prepare for closing, so events were moved into the "North Rotunda" of the convention center so that basically translated to events being mostly relegated to the back of the building that hardly anyone noticed. Although there were rumblings that the stage was used for events, but I didn't really spend much time outside on the south end to notice. In AX's defense, I thought that their use of the outside patio, which they DID call the North Rotunda was a very creative use of space, making the upper balcony stairwell from the second floor into a DJ booth which gave everyone a clear separation between the performers and the attendees. For me it was more of a chance to spend some time on the events happening inside the building to appreciate some of the indoor events I might have missed from the past two days. It was also a chance for me to get a bit silly thanks to the help of the folks from Furyu in the form of some cardboard bunny ears they were handing out to everyone while promoting their figure company to North American audiences. It sounds like they'll be doing more promotional events in the Los Angeles area, so it will give me an excuse to visit LA city more often.

One of the newer trends with anime conventions in recent years is the inclusion of a maid cafe, and AX chibi had one that seemed to be one of the busier rooms that needed a reservation to get into. A larger room would have probably helped them over the weekend, as attendees were literally filling every hour slot available and there was a limited number of spaces to get into it. This was one of, and only, events which required payment to get into and for the $35 per person minimum with a 2-person party minimum requirement, it was an enhancement to the modern anime convention experience. Dreamland Maid Cafe did a wonderful job at keeping the audience entertained for the hour long service and their dance routines were on point without a movement out of place. My only complaint was probably the waitlist if you wanted to eat at a certain time of the day. Even though I waited in line to make a reservation at 10:30AM, the earliest they could accommodate for me and my party was 5:00PM, which was the last hour of the convention, but it did give me a chance to maximize the time I had left to interact with the con before it closed for the year, which was spent catching up with my cosplay friends (in between photo shoots), my con photographer friends (in between shooting my cosplay friends) and the new friends I've made along my AX chibi journey.

Surprisingly, this one of the few times I can say I've had a good time at an Anime Expo event. The large show in Los Angeles has become an overpriced mess of claustrophobia and herd mentality in recent years, this is a pleasant change. It provided its guests with a taste of what's to come with their large event in the summer while maintaining a harmonious convention-attendee schedule balance. The overall consensus from attendees and vendors has been that it was one of the most relaxed shows they've been to in a long time (and no doubt a money maker for anyone in a seller's capacity over the weekend) and they should be applauded for their effort in making that a reality. I hope that they keep this positive momentum up and that it gives them an incentive to keep this convention going in the years to come.

GOT A CONVENTION TIP OR A NEWS ITEM TO CONTRIBUTE? Share them with us at worldofanime760@gmail.com.

[magistralucis]

Breakbot + Busy P + MYD + Alan Braxe + Borussia @ XOYO, 26 May 2018  [Review]

A fantastic reward for the comedy of errors that is my life.

Been a while since I did a review of a gig! Technically, I should have done one for Justice last September, but given the amount of content I gained from that performance, I keep thinking that one has to be several gifsets and a video upload instead of me rambling on. I’ll get to it in a billion years;;; Over the weekend I went to this all-nighter and didn’t sleep for like, 30 hours? And I’m still recovering. So much like the TBB review last year, this is going to read super disjointed, like a bunch of random stream-of-consciousness notes I took over several hours. (Which 70% of this review actually relies on.) There are pics and a few lil’ gifs, all splendidly red-tinted to reflect the lighting in the club, but the tl;dr is essentially:

The Journey

As previously stated, I do not live in London. London is not easy to navigate. I do not have the strongest sense of direction and frequently map out walking paths and exact number of turns and landmarks nearby my intended destinations, which works for me 9/10 of the time - but this means that when things go bad, they tend to go really bad holy fucking shit under the influence of certain factors XOYO is the hardest fucking club to find in the entire universe. I have never had this much trouble finding a single location despite having such clear directions from multiple sources. It’s not the club’s fault, of course, thousands of people find it just fine - the stars just utterly refused to align for me this particular weekend, turning what should have been a straightforward path from A to B to over an hour of running around.

To attend to this spectacular all-nighter, I took the train from my university city to London, alighting in King’s Cross St. Pancras around 7pm. XOYO is located about a minute away from Old Street Station, which as you can see from the above image of the Northern Line is only two stops away; I could have been at the club in less than ten minutes. Because of this, I was slow to take the Tube when I initially arrived, instead stopping for a snack and some adequate hydration at King’s Cross (also tutting at Platform 9¾ which is not that impressive a display but that’s neither here nor there); I don’t think that was unwise in itself, but it was a decision that I ended up regretting, because it meant I didn’t find out about the spanner in the works until it was almost too late. 

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

A five-minute journey on a single subway train from A to B was all I was asking. Well it turns out I couldn’t do that!!! Because fucking engineering works!!!! All the Northern line service bilboards and directional posters were papered over and the information being given was often deeply counterproductive (or outright incorrect). First I was directed to Euston to try to make a switch there, but no Northern line services were running at all. Then I came back to King’s Cross and subsequently tried out Moorgate on the Circle/Metropolitan line, which was running Northern line services - but nothing northbound, like I needed! This was exceptionally infuriating because Moorgate is only one stop away from Old Street station. I was delayed for nearly an hour purely trying to solve this problem, because even past 7-8pm the stations were s t u f f e d with people all trying to navigate this Northern line dilemma in their own way. This line splits along the way, too, so depending on where you’re headed to and where in the ‘part closure’ your intended destination sits, you could be lost in utterly infuriating bullshit like I did, being only 1-2 stops away from where you are and being unable to get to it unless you walk or take overhead transport. 

And, you know, those people had already paid and gone past the barrier when they found out about the closures. Most of that info could only be had inside. At King’s Cross St Pancras, the only info available outside the barrier were announcements on rail replacement buses - confusingly worded at that, all three of them entirely northbound from King’s Cross St Pancras (I needed southbound for Old Street). The London Underground isn’t obscenely expensive, but it’s not disposable money either! There’s a bus directly from King’s Cross to Old Street Station (which I ended up taking in order to return) - but if you paid and entered the Tube station, you’re going to want to solve the problem before signing back out of the barrier! 

fml in the end I just walked. 7-8 mins from Moorgate and then XOYO itself is hidden in an alley between two massive building complexes with naught but a red neon sign to point your way. It’s not a big neon sign. On one hand maybe it was a good thing I was held up traveling. I arrived about 5 mins after the club opened and was let in straight away. If things had gone as I’d planned I might have ended up camping out in front of XOYO for an extremely awkward hour or whatever. There was no queue; despite it all, I was that early, and was amply rewarded for my earliness. But man. 

On the other hand, I was dehydrated all over again.

Hour-by-Hour Review

Contrary to the anguished nature of the vent above, most of the night was damn excellent and the review below is the main meat of the experience. I recollected this through small notes I was making on my phone - mostly of timestamps and a single keyword, like what songs were playing at the time - and some videos I took, the position of each photo, and my own memory from yesterday. They are patchy notes, but they are as detailed as I can make them, and largely accurate. Essentially: if you’ve read this far, I invite you to come live the night with me all over again! :D

9:30PM - 11:00PM: I was the only person seeking entry to XOYO when I finally turned up, though music was already playing inside. “You here for an event?” The guard asks, and I produce my ticket and passport. “Just so you know, there’s a band playing in there at the moment - the actual, uh, techno, that’s not going to start until ten o’clock. You can go in now, but once you’re in, you’re in - you won’t be able to come back out and back in again.”

I just look at them. “What am I going to do outside for half an hour. That’s fine.”

Ticket scanned, passport checked and confirmed, bag check occurs. I read that XOYO has airport-security level bag checks, but that was not my experience. I might just have been too damn early to raise any alarms. I’m let in, visit the bar, buy some water, visit the bathroom, tidy up a bit, tie my jacket around my waist to conceal my bag, etc. Around 9:45PM I peer down at the main room downstairs to check out this band, although I come back up shortly to prepare for the main experience...

... which, uh, doesn’t take place until eleven. After the band leaves around 10PM, what actually happens is that the main room is sealed off for DJ setups while in Room 2 upstairs Joshua James plays. I had the choice of saving my energy for later and resting on the bench, or going to see him; I chose the former. Security guy lingering in front of the main room says it might open in ‘half an hour’ when I ask him on the dot at 10PM. My guy that’s the longest damn half hour I have ever waited in my life. At least I can people-watch and save my place because like always, I want to be at the front when the doors open.

11:00PM: The main room finally opens and Borussia is in the house. The dancefloor is very empty for about half an hour while he gets the crowd going. Ushers frequently come by, brandishing red penlights to take away glasses and empty bottles and lost property and the like. XOYO only has a max capacity of 800~ people and I’m fairly sure that’s spread across two rooms; the glasses are like, proper solid pub glasses, too, actual breakage hazards. I imagine it’s because it’s a small and intimate club that the choice of glasses makes sense; even in Electric Brixton they gave out plastic, and that one holds close to 2000 people. I saw several toppling over or rolling on the ground before someone came to snatch up the whole stack of them. I applaud their diligence. 

11:10PM: Also this dancefloor is incredibly sticky. Pedro is visible on the left. He talks to a backstage fan before disappearing.

11:23PM: There’s a girl next to me with her boyfriend. We meet eyes. This girl will recur a few more times during the night. Swig of water taken. 

11:30~PM: A note about the stage structure of XOYO.

As mentioned previously, XOYO is a two-room club, one upstairs and one downstairs. Downstairs is the main and the top one’s for opening acts and smaller shows; the downstairs has a dancefloor, a bar off to the side, and an elevated stage. Now the important thing about this stage is that you can get on it. There are no barriers between audience and DJ in a XOYO set, except for the ready-built DJ booth and all the speakers and equipment set that may or may not be piled around it. There is a steel mesh of sorts to separate the sides of the DJ booth from the stage/dancefloor viewing area, but aside from that, it is entirely possible for you to mount the performing stage and be about two feet from the DJ at any given time. Around this time is when people begin to mount the stage and like. Dance. But sparsely.

I will return to this stage later. I’m currently parked in front of the DJ booth.

11:40~PM: 

Pedro pops back into the scene briefly. He doesn’t linger for long there, but he’ll be back for the switchover. This is the best photo I could get ffffff

11:40~PM (not long after the above): Borussia puts Gorillaz’s ‘DARE’ on and the room goes fucking wild. The girl returns. This time we meet more than eyes and actually dance together, her boyfriend hitching her up on his back for about 30 seconds midway. This is the first point of the night that Borussia starts smiling and I’m taken by how sweet his smile is.

11:54PM: You know what I think Borussia kind of looks like Gesa if you squint

12:00~AM: Pedro in the house. He takes over slowly from Borussia, who exits amidst thunderous applause. For some reason, Pedro did not look awfully happy for most of the show. Compared to the last time I saw him DJ (opener for Justice) he seemed like... stoic? Like he had a lot in his mind. He was capable of cheer when need be, man knows how to drive a crowd, but like... the air about him was different. I have no explanation for this. It may just have been my perception.

12:00 - 12:30AM (?): I genuinely cannot remember when this first happened, only I remember Pedro being at the forefront and giving the people involved an amused glance at some point in the night. So it goes here, even though they might first have appeared during Borussia. Two incredibly scantily dressed and also gorgeous dancers, one male and one female (visibly), rolled out of the backstage area and began dancing on the elevated stage around the same time e v e r y o n e began piling on. I’d kill for the ability to dance on the heels they did holy fuck

12:13AM: I CAN SEE IRFANE OFF TO THE SIDE YES HE CAME AFTER ALL I know he’s officially part of Breakbot now but the XOYO description made it sound as if only Thibaut was coming. False alarm! The duo lives on.

12:28AM (?): Girl I was dancing with earlier + her boyfriend reappears from the bar direction. She mounts the elevated stage and disappears into the crowd.

12:30AM (?): THIBAUT AND SO-ME SPOTTED I WANT TO ATTACH THE PHOTO OF THIS MOMENT but it’s too blurry fuck shit

12:34AM: With a grin worth a million pounds Pedro puts on ‘Audio, Video, Disco’. Lighting changes to bombastic yellow and everybody just about dies for the next five minutes to follow. This was universally the reception whenever anything Daft Punk or Justice came on (Pedro also played ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ immediately after) - many people, Thibaut included, had Justice shirts on and earlier on the 26th Justice played a set on All Points East, so this was understandable.

12:39AM: Fuck it. I’m going on the elevated stage. I just hitched myself up.

12:40~AM: I can see so much better from here.

There’s a bit on the stage where the steel mesh barrier ends, and the DJ set curves away from the rest of the stage, where you can see everyone in the booth really clearly. Currently this spot is occupied by a dude and a girl who I progressively come to realize was getting increasingly drunk/high - she was clinging onto the sides - so I just gravitate towards the steel mesh instead, neglected by most people. For most part my view is blocked by people hanging around from backstage but every now and then they vacate, and I get a good side view. Not long after I settle in, Thibaut pops up for a short while, swigging from a bottle - and the girl I was dancing with from before almost crashes into the mesh shouting her hellos at him. (This is when I realize that she’s French.)

And, uh, I mean. What can you do when a thing like that happens. I join in, of course. Thibaut did not hear either of us before slinking back, but this did have the effect of the girl patting me on the shoulder for our first real conversation:

French girl: [Muffled something]

Me: Ah?

French girl: [After a few tries through the noise] You like Thibaut?

Me: Yeah! Came to see him mostly!

French girl: 😍💖😍💖😍 I’M THE BIGGEST FAN 😍💖😍💖😍

The oddest thing is that during this exchange, the boyfriend guy with her kind of gently takes off my hat and tries to put it back on me backwards. I have no idea what the fuck and I give him a look that conveys that I have no idea what the fuck ‘cause like... dude why are you taking my hat exactly??? Am I missing something??? I replace it and carry on. The girl’s swept away towards the bar again.

12:40~AM: Pedro is the only person who can pull off LeLe’s ‘Breakfast’ in a DJ set without it descending into narm territory imo 

12:40~AM: MYD IS HERE MYD IS HERE

1:00AM: Thibaut and Irfane take over at last, the latter first, then Thibaut more fully. Mama P stays at the back, watching over the situation, before silently withdrawing. 

The stage is so crowded I can barely breathe. French girl does not return. Ushers begin to move about the dancefloor carrying large foreboding black bags, not for glasses but for lost property.

1:00~AM: J E S U S 

1:10~AM: So-Me is the third one in the booth. I wish people would announce it properly whenever he turns up - I didn’t think to expect him at all, as he was not there with Pedro when I saw him open for Justice and his name wasn’t on the guests list. He feels like a lottery treat ; w ;

1:10~AM: Usher on the elevated stage. He finds a credit card on the floor and flashes an exact 🤨 look in my direction, as I was the closest to him. “Not mine,” I mouth at him, and he stashes the card in the lost property bag before vanishing into the crowd.

1:11AM: Come to think of it I’ve seen people lose some seriously scary shit on dancefloors. Like when I went to see TBB and Justice, on both occasions I’ve seen someone lose their foreign identity card. I’d be fucking terrified for my life if that happened to me - and given that I’m toting my passport around (some places don’t seem to accept BRP...?), which I cannot afford to lose whatsoever, I enter a state of brief panic while I check that nothing has been thieved from my bag. All clear.

1:23-25AM: Jesus Christ Irfane is so touchy-feely with Thibaut they’re in love I’m literally crying

1:30~AM: Because of the above mentioned affection-shenanigans, I stop dancing in order to get some photos and videos of the pair. One of the backstage fans notices. “Do you want me to take a picture for you?” He shouts through the mesh; I hesitate, because I’m not in the business of giving my phone away to strangers, but I take the risk. It turned out he made this offer during a period of very weird lighting and it wasn’t a good time for photos, but this is the best out of several attempts from him:

“It’s not a good time,” he shouts as he hands my phone back over. “sorry.”

“Thank you anyway,” I holler through the bars. He flashes a grin and we carry on.

1:30~AM (after the above): Remember the scantily dressed gorgeous dancers? They’re back, dancing on a bunch of speakers (?) next to the side view. Drama with the (drunk?) girl hogging the side view; she gets into a conflict with one of the dancers and it gets really fucking tense. I’m not 100% on what happened, but I can imagine that something that wasn’t meant to be touched was touched or that she was giving the dancer some serious attitude - like the girl was literally grabbing the (drunk?) girl by the face and telling her to get a fucking grip. The dude with her eventually leads her away and the dancers dismount the stage, disappearing into the crowd - I didn’t see them return again, which was a right shame. 

tl;dr I took the empty spot and was able to photo marginally better than before.

1:35AM: 

Jesus God this is heavenly

1:41AM: 

Best quality: his wiggles

(He was mouthing along to ‘Why?’.)

1:40~AM: I keep thinking I stepped on something. This continues for some five minutes before I finally look down and yep whoops I was stepping on something all right. It was a hefty croc leather wallet/purse thing, all black, very sticky from the floor. I set it down in front of me and handed it over to an usher less than two minutes after. Another swig of water. Thibaut’s wiggles do not in any way pale next to Irfane’s.

1:50AM (?): Yet another event I know happened but can’t remember where exactly to place. ‘My Toy’ comes on. I hear this one is a fan favourite and while I can think of better songs in Still Waters, I get to see for myself just how true this statement is. In fact, Breakbot played quite a few of their stuff - not a lot, but enough to bring on significant cheers whenever they did. ‘Back For More’ was the starter and ‘Fantasy’ came on at some point but ‘My Toy’ was easily the most popular of the lot!

2:00AM: Alan Braxe takes over. Irfane and Thibaut continue to linger, as does So-Me, but I’m beginning to see Myd far more often - he must provide the climax to this all-nighter. He had a vinyl signing earlier on the 26th; he’s greeted with cheers whenever he’s visible.

2:00 - 4:00AM: A broad sweeping observation to indicate that my phone is dying a horrible death by this point of the night. I brought an external battery and had it going again once I left the club, but fuck trying to fumble with that in the middle of a club. All those photos did it, especially the videos, and burning the battery on that so quickly was not a good idea because I wanted to take more of Alan and Myd boo

2:20~AM: Alan’s set is considerably darker in tone. Probably more like what I’m used to before I got into EDM, in fact. I consider him responsible for the mild whiplash I got from headbanging.

2:24AM: XOYO’s smoke machines are at their peak performance around this time and I can barely see a thing. Not being a big venue, this is a problem. Irfane and Thibaut and So-Me pop back up for a selfie with one of the backstage fans and rope Alan into participating; he does so exactly once and turns back, as professional as always, while the other stay on for a second and third go. 

2:30~AM: wHAT’S THAT I HEAR???? CRESCENDOLLS?????

2:30~AM: IT’S CRESCENDOLLS

2:35AM: Hey remember when it took Irfane 10 years to figure out the Very Disco = Veridis Quo pun

2:40~AM: By this point I’m getting super hungry and I’m just about out of water. Water in XOYO is expensive. Something like 2.50 for a 300ml bottle. The DJs had a stack of these bottles by the side and were powering through them at alarming speed when they weren’t drinking other things. It’s my policy to go early and buy a bottle of water at the bar of wherever I attend a gig or concert, pretty much always. It’s my first time running out with more than an hour to go, though, but despite this I keep dancing with the empty bottle clutched in my hand. I don’t actually remember why. Maybe I thought I’d fill it up after the show or something. Spoilers: I didn’t

2:55AM: Right as Myd is taking over some dude pokes me and asks to have a sip of my water. I should not have been dancing with that empty bottle. He looks disgruntled when I tell him it’s empty and moves on. Sorry my dude I only wish I’d have been able to spare even a drop but I was genuinely out;;;;;

3:00 - 4:00AM: I hate having to sum it up like this but due to aforementioned factors (dying legs + low battery + lack of water) I do not actually remember much of Myd’s set. This is a great injustice to the man and it’s pretty much entirely my fault for not taking any time to rest (seating was provided near the bar) or not buying myself another drink; next time he’s in the UK, wherever he may be and whoever he might be with, I shall make the effort to hunt him down and give him a proper listen. What I remember of his set was brilliant, cheery but mysterious, coupled with Daft Punk’s ‘Rock n’ Roll’ somewhere in the middle. Please enjoy this terrible picture of him taken with my phone’s dying strength.

3:18AM: I can timestamp this accurately because it’s on the last video I took of the night. Enjoy some Myd wiggles

3:30~AM: This was roughly when ‘Rock n’ Roll’ was on! Irfane chatting away in the corner. So-Me lending a hand. Five minutes in he leans over and distributes stickers (I think) into the crowd. I was sadly on the other side and did not get a chance to receive any.

3:40~AM: People are beginning to hunker down on the elevated stage or leaving altogether. The night is drawing to a close. 

3:55AM: Phone blinks out completely at this point. XOYO is open from 9:30pm-4am on Fridays and Saturdays (also 21+ years only policy, which I appreciate) so I figured Myd should be winding down about now. Every DJ participating so far has switched out/bowed out after an hour, after all. Myd might need a minute more to think about it.

4:03AM: Myd might need three more minutes to think about it.

4:04AM: Myd might need four or five more minutes to think about it.

4:10AM: Myd why are you doing this. Myd it’s past closing time. Myd my guy you’re pouring ambrosia upon the unworthy. Myd ple

4:15AM~: In the end I leave a few minutes early. I have to stress that this had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of Myd’s set nor that he was playing beyond closing time - encores and extra content are extremely good! It’s just that my legs were dead! ;A  ; I limped upstairs and washed my face etc and he was still playing when I came out. That’s dedication. 

The End

As soon as it’s actually over, cheers went up - and as I’m sitting at the bench near the entrance of the club just trying to get my shit together, everyone files out all at once to a bunch of weary-looking security guards wishing us all a good night.

I join the line. It’s bright outside already. Some of the guards offer to call us a cab and some of the people take them up on it. I myself walk out of the club, turn left, and down Old Street Yard to examine the bus stops. One of the bus lines are 24hr and go directly to King’s Cross; as I reach one of the relevant stops and lean around, trying to figure out the times, the French girl from earlier recognizes me and pats me on the shoulder. “You were the girl dancing next to me, right?”

“Yep, that’s me.”

“How are you?”

“I’m good and so exhausted I could melt into the floor.”

She giggles and bids me goodnight as she moves to another bus stop. I didn’t get to ask her about Thibaut, as she wasn’t by me when he came on, but I can only assume she had a good time too. Soon the 214 comes along and I hop on towards King’s Cross. The sun is rising and the white noise in my legs dissipates, just a little, only to be gone completely some twenty hours later. Feels good man.

[sickouthere]

now we can talk some shit: feb 2018

hieroglyphic being - the red notes [the melody lingers, the seduction syndrome, video jazz] aoty!

omar-s - your socially awkward criminal 12″ [games that we play]

kodak black - heartbreak kodak [running outta love]

sob x rbe - gangin [anti social]

road hog - spares [ac]

ryuichi sakamoto - async - remodels [motion graphics remix, yves tumor obsession edit, alva noto remodel]

p. adrix - àlbum desconhecido [estação de queluz]

gunna - drip season 3 [spending addiction]

terekke - improvisational loops [220+g]

various artists - la contra ola - synth wave & post punk from spain 1980-86 [de picnic - jeanette me quiere, derribos arias - aprenda alemán en 7 dias]

kuniyuki takahashi - early tape works (1986 - 1993) vol. 1 [drawing seeds]

anenon - tongue [verso]

rezzett - rezzett LP [tarang]

CV & JAB - zin taylor's thoughts of a dot as it travels a surface [tombstones]

wolf müller & niklas wandt - instrumentalmusik von der mitte der world [der mitte der world]

gnaw their tongues - genocidal majesty [spirits broken by swords]

russell haswell - respondent [let suffering become you]

jonny nash & lindsay todd - fauna mapping [kokokan (heaven herons of petulu)]

gigi masin - KITE [irish dove]

SIT - invisibility chapter 1 & 2 [block]

shuttle358 - field [edule]

keiji haino & SUMAC - american dollar bill - keep facing sideways, you're too hideous to look at face on [american dollar bill...]

answer code request - gens [res]

omit - enclosures 2011​-​2016 [cd 2 construction [front end system loader]... so far, this big boy is about a day long so ill get back to you in decemba]

top repress was easily 2000 and one - belongings top reissue was probably basa basa ‎- homowo but special shout outs to rashad becker on the christoph de babalon remaster

tunes....

Z MONEY - BITCOIN, KODAK BLACK - ERYKAH BADU, JIMMY WOPO - LOST, KAMAIYAH FT. YHUNG T.O - SEASONS, CREEK BOYZ - ONE NIGHT, SOULJA BOY & GO YAYO - SOUND LIKE MONEY, U.S. GIRLS - ROSEBUD, MOUNT EERIE - TINTIN IN TIBET, JULIA HOLTER - SO HUMBLE THE AFTERNOON, YOUNG SIZZLE FT. PLAYBOI CARTI - AINT DOIN THAT, HOODRICH PABLO JUAN - THE MATRIX, SKOOLY - RACIST, MOZZY, SJAVA & REASON - SEASONS, 03 GREEDO - SUBSTANCE, 03 GREEDO - POP IT,  GRIFFIT VIGO - GQOMU 5, PINCH -  AHH FFF SSS &&&&& THUGGER - YES INDEED

shows n mixes....

DJ BUS REPLACEMENT SERVICE, BEAT DETECTIVES ‘FULL ON POETRY MIX 2018′, OLIVE T & FRANCESCO DEL GARDA, MAGDA BYTNEROWICZ, TRAUMPRINZ b2b DJ METATRON, EAST MAN, FLOATING POINTS b2b FOUR TET, MR. MITCH, DJ TAYE, KUSH JONES / BOJAQ, LANARK ARTEFAX, ANTENES, JESSY LANZA & BOK BOK b2b GIRL UNIT

january.....

[greenbagjosh]

20 April 2001 - dithpickable ducks in Lugano, DJ BoBo’s new CD - for 2001 anyway, and with an easy puzzle

Grüezi Mitenand!  Bonjour!  Buongiorno!  Hi everyone!

Thank you for joining me on the second day of the April 2001 journey.  On Thursday the 19th April 2001, I had departed Washington Dulles for Milano Malpensa MXP.

For the most part, the flight was uneventful.  About 5 AM UK time the flight was just entering British airspace.  The flight still had to cross French territory.  The flight landed at Malpensa around 9:10 AM.  The difference between September 2000 and April 2001, was that there was no jetway assignment for April 2001, and that there would be a "remote staircase exit" with a shuttle bus.  I took the bus to the terminal, went and did the passport check and baggage claim.  I turned my radio on, to tune into Italian stations.  The two major rules of digital tuning in Europe, AM stations are on 9-kHz steps instead of 10-kHz steps as in the USA, and FM stations are on 100-kHz steps instead of 200-kHz steps, but nowhere in the world anymore is 50-kHz step used.  I tuned in an adult contemporary station, I think "Radio Italia, solo musica italiana", and heard "primo treno per Marte" (first train to Mars) by Gianluca Grignani, and after that, "Campi Flegrei" by Edoardo Bennato.  I made sure to have hit the Record button.  And there would be more songs when I boarded the bus to Lugano.

About 9:50 AM, I left the airport terminal for the bus station next door.  I saw two busses empty that were to go to Lugano.  I picked the one that was due to leave sooner.  The fares were the same, 25,000 Italian Lira or 20 Swiss Francs.  The driver for FlyCar (sponsored by the Swiss Post, no longer exists, was since replaced by a regional rail service) came about 10:25 AM and let the few who were present board the bus and we went on our way.  The bus made its first stop at the old terminal, Terminal 2, which I remember flying in with my family in June 1987 when we were going to drive to Orta San Giulio in the Piedmont region.  During the bus ride I remember hearing the song "Questa nostra storia d'amore" by Matia Bazar.  The bus went north past Gallarate on A8 and my video camera was showing 11 AM local time.  I tuned into a radio station that was playing "Crying at the discotheque", a cover version of the 1979 Sheila and B Devotion's song "Spacer" by a new Swedish band called Alcazar - the videos of both songs are just as bizarre to watch.  The bus exited A8 just south of Varese and went on local roads to Gaggiolo where the border with Switzerland was located.  We had to sit for fifteen minutes for passport control.  I received a stamp in my passport as Stabio Confine with the 20th April.  After that, we were in the Ticino.

The bus went to Mendrisio, the first rail connection.  Everyone was going to Lugano, and between Mendrisio and Lugano, the bus was only on a drop-off basis after leaving Malpensa.  The bus skipped Mendrisio and went north on A2 to Lugano FFS.  It went past Fox Town mall, Bissone and Campione (one of Italy's exclaves surrounded by Switzerland), Melide (has a miniature museum) and ended at the station.  I did not have a rail connection at Lugano.  The hotel knew I was going to arrive about 1 PM, so I withdrew some money in Swiss Francs, and paid 5 Francs for a day pass for the bus.  At the time, bus line 9 went from the rail station to within a block of the hotel.  There also was a connection to the former trolleybus lines.  I arrived at the hotel, and they had a room for me.  It was a single room with a balcony facing Mt. San Salvatore.  Sadly the weather was not quite as nice.  The Ticino usually does not get visitors between November and March, and as a consequence, many hotels are closed between Airolo and Chiasso.  I had asked for a half pension for the night, so I should be awake about 6:30 PM.

I was not quite tired at 3 PM but would soon be.  I went to the Migros Supermarket at the bus stop, bought some food for lunch, then walked from the hotel to Riva Paradiso from Via San Salvatore.  I ate at the park on the lake.  I watched some ducks having a hassle with each other, some going as far as saying to the other duck, "you're dithpickable!" in the manner of Daffy Duck, making the AFLAC duck seem like Big Bird from Sesame Street.  About 3:45 PM I was getting tired and went into my room to sleep.  I turned on the radio and recorded an hour of the German-language station DRS 1 (you cannot get DRS 3 in the Ticino using a conventional radio, or anywhere south of Göschenen UR for that matter, but you can tune in its Italian-language equivalent.  DRS 2 is also available in the Ticino as is DRS 1 but not DRS 3).  About half an hour included an interview in Swiss-German with DJ BoBo.  He was invited to discuss his new CD "Planet Colors".  DRS 1 played a bit of "Color of life", one of the songs from the CD - “Chihuahua” would not be released for another couple of years.  After that, DRS 1 played "Yellow River" by Jeff Christie and "Layla" by Eric Clapton.  I don't have the recording at the moment but I remember there were a few more songs on that tape.  I went to sleep for a while.

The front desk called at 6:45 PM wondering where I was.  I came down fifteen minutes later.  They were still serving supper.  They served fish (cod, I think), penne pasta alfredo and steamed spinach.  It tasted excellent.  The hotel offered me more of the vegetables which I accepted.  The meal cost about 20 Francs. About 8:20 PM I left the hotel to go into downtown to see what had changed.  You might remember the San Carlino delle quattro Fontane church in downtown, on display in September 2000 when I was last there, but that had since been dismantled.  I walked to Piazza Alighieri Dante, where I remember in September 2000 seeing the thunderstorm and buying a point and shoot camera at the Manor department store on sale for 60 instead of 100 Francs.  There was a big sign with Helena Christensen's face, asking "C_e cose _anca a Lugano?"  It was an ad for a clothing store, and I do not want to give the name away.  I took the bus back to the hotel to sleep.  I recorded about an hour and a half of a local station, Radio Campione, which I remember from my last visit.  About a quarter of the songs were in Italian.

Tomorrow after we are well rested, we will go to Bellinzona, Locarno and maybe some interesting places off the map.  Please join me for tomorrow's journey.  Buona notte!

Auf wiederluege!  Au revoir!  Arrivederci!  Goodbye!