#fact is that my room suits this blog's vibe and it's even obvious on the vid

[hammill-goes-fogwalking]

HERE MY COVER OF AISLE OF PLENTY (intro)

[santastic]

the big, bad wolf || hwang hyunjin oneshot

》》 pairing: hyunjin x female reader

》》 summary: every year, you and the boys celebrate halloween with a party at hyunjin's - who just so happens to be your mortal frenemy. every year, you all dress up. this year, however, you decide to make it a bit more interesting: everyone picks an outfit for their random secret santa partner. it seems like a bit of innocent fun, but felix has an idea...

》》 word count: 2.4k

》》 genre/tags: halloween au, not quite e2l but e2 like...sexy tension???, suggestive themes (mostly just implications), a little bit of crack lmao

》》 warnings: cliche cheesy dirty flirting (come on hyunjin you're better than this), thicc romantic and sexual tension, reader is a simp in denial, suggestive themes, implied smut at the end, talk of biting but no actual biting, reader has dom vibes, hyunjin is bold until someone else is bolder

》》 notes: my first oneshot on this blog! I already wrote a halloween drabble, but I felt like writing something bigger than that and my friend (I see u vi) inspired me by suggesting some spicy hyunjin content. n e ways, happy halloween everyone! and if u don’t celebrate halloween, I hope u have a lovely weekend <3

navigation || skz masterlist

Halloween is always fun with your friend group. I mean, it's fun anyway - lots of cheap candy, neighbourhood celebrations, an excuse to get way too drunk - it's just a lot more fun with eight other crackheads.

You guys have a sort of tradition going by now, even though each year is a bit different. Hyunjin throws the party, Minho brings the alcohol and hides it from Chan until it's too late to stop everyone from getting shitfaced, Jeongin and Felix bring ungodly amounts of candy, and Jisung is a skeleton (literally every single year - it started when you called Tate Langdon's skeleton makeup hot, and it never ended).

Everyone (except Jisung) keeps their costume a secret - unless they're Chan and Felix, in which case they do couple costumes and keep it a secret from everyone else. Sometimes you even decide on a theme, like the year before the last, where everyone was supposed to dress as their favourite Pokemon. This inevitably led to intense fighting roleplays to assert dominance as your respective type, and in order to spare your reputation in the neighbourhood, you decided the next theme would be a little less wild.

This year, the theme was 'secret Santa costumes', meaning you each picked a random name from a hat to decide who you would be buying a costume for and a few days before Halloween, you were given your own costume to wear to the party by whoever pulled your name from the hat of destiny.

Technically that's not how secret Santa works, but no one questions Chan when it comes to holiday business.

You just so happened to get Jisung, and while the temptation to keep the skeleton thing going just for the meme was definitely there, you ultimately decided he should be a classic bedsheet ghost - except with no eye or hand holes cut out. You know, to add a little sprinkle of chaos to his already very chaotic life.

The lovely boy who decided your spooky fate was Felix, who had coincidentally been in charge of buying Hyunjin’s costume too - when you asked why, he said it was because the number of people was uneven, so he had kindly volunteered to take on an extra. You had honestly expected him to pick something weird or wild for you, so you were quite surprised by the outfit he had settled on.

"Is this...little red riding hood?" you had asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as you stared at the dress and hood in your hands.

"Yep! I saw it the other day and I thought it would be nice to go for one of the classics, you know?" he had explained, smiling as if he was ever so proud about his decision. Something about the hint of mischief in his eyes made you suspicious, but you had let it slide. "You don't mind, right?"

No, you didn't mind. You had given Jisung a ghost costume, so you didn’t really have room to speak on the originality of Felix’s decision. Besides, the dress didn’t look too cheap, nor did it look especially short, and the hood-cape made you feel way too powerful for someone wearing a $20 Target costume.

So you really didn't mind at all, until it came to the day of the party. Now, as you stand in the doorway to Hyunjin’s apartment, you suddenly mind a lot more.

”Lee Felix, I’m going to decorate the lawn with your fucking intestines, oh my god!” you whisper-yell to the boy who conveniently manages to dart away with the excuse of needing to help Jeongin open all the candy bags. Your angry eyes follow his retreating blue form - Chan picked his outfit this year, and of course he decided Felix should be an Among Us character.

Everyone in the group knows about the slight tension (read: obvious beef) between you and Hyunjin. Technically speaking, you’re friends. He invites you to his parties, you hang out with him when he’s with the boys. It’s just that neither of you can stand each other, because you’re both very bold and even more stubborn.

Whenever the two of you are together, you bicker like children and it’s pretty much endless. You could probably throw insults (and the occasional murder threat) at each other all day if the other members didn’t interrupt, and on those days you’d be more than happy to teach Hyunjin a lesson with a nice, strong punch in the nose if the opportunity were ever to present itself.

So, with this in mind, it’s quite clear why you’re planning Felix’s murder when you see Hyunjin walking around as the big, bad wolf.

You’re genuinely considering sneaking out the front door before anyone else sees you and running back to your apartment (because Felix just so happens to be your ride home), but fate decides to mess with you and suddenly, Hyunjin locks eyes with you from across the living room.

The way a huge smile instantly graces his pretty face sends a rush of butterflies, followed by anger, through you as you stare back at him. His clip on wolf ears are admittedly quite cute, but the fake fangs he’s wearing send your thoughts in a very different direction. As he makes his way over, you suddenly wish you had followed Felix to the kitchen - at least they keep the alcohol in there. In his living room, you’ve got no choice but to deal with Hyunjin while sober.

”Well, would you look at that? Seems like I found my little red riding hood.” he teases with a wink, leaning against the wall beside the door.

When you scoff at him, he gives you another big grin and you can’t help but stare at the fangs again. The vibrant blue contact lenses he’s wearing make his gaze feel intense even when he’s smiling, and the way his long, blonde hair falls freely gives him a glow that’s both angelic and positively demonic. He looks so annoyingly handsome, as per usual; if only his personality wasn’t the personification of the words ‘cocky asshole’. You can’t help but think it’s a huge waste of beauty.

“Excuse me-” you begin, ready to start the first round of arguing, but he cuts you off like the annoying brat he is.

“You’re excused,” he says, thinking his comment was very smart, and if it wasn’t a night meant for fun and games, you might’ve killed him on the spot.

“Fine, excuse you. I’m not your little red riding hood. In fact, I’m not your anything, thank you very much,” you snap, brushing past his tall figure as you head to the table the boys have set up to the side. There’s an array of Halloween-themed food, prepared by Chan, and you settle for a red velvet cupcake decorated with black frosting and what you assume are meant to be cat ears poking out of it.

“Right, sure, but we’re still matching tonight. It’s kind of like-”

This time, you cut him off. “It’s not like Chan and Felix. It’s not. We’re not wearing couple costumes, so don’t say it.”

He shuts his mouth (finally) and you take it as your cue to leave before he says something else to piss you off. Unfortunately, he seems to have the desire to ruin your night further and chooses to follow you on your journey.

“So anyway, I guess this was Felix’s plan, right?” He gestures to your costumes. “Unless you had something to do with it, that is.”

You don’t bother to address the second part of what he said and instead just nod, scanning the room for the previously mentioned mastermind. As soon as you can get your hands on that boy, you swear you’ll slaughter him for subjecting you to Hyunjin’s torturous teasing all night.

“He was already on thin ice after trying to tell me Bulbasaur is a better starter than Charmander, but now he’s actually dead to me,” you growl out once you spot him sitting beside Minho, laughing happily with his classic red solo cup and a slice of chocolate cake. Jeongin sits beside them, tearing open bags of candy with no assistance from Felix, because of course he was lying about helping him earlier.

Hyunjin laughs softly and you curse your heart for skipping a beat at the sound. Sometimes it feels like your head hates Hyunjin while your body is stupid enough to like him, and it’s part of the reason why you hate talking to him so much. Every time you stop throwing insults and sass at him and instead sit back and listen to what he has to say, a part of you realises you don’t exactly have a proper reason for disliking him. He’s not all that bad, and sometimes you even find yourself laughing at his jokes and witty remarks.

But you’d really rather not go through the endless cycle of those thoughts right now, especially when the cause of your problems is standing beside you eating a chocolate bar.

“I have to say, though,” you comment as you turn to look him up and down, “the big, bad wolf concept suits you pretty well.”

Before he can accept the compliment, you continue. “You’re both big, hairy beasts who dress like grandmas.”

The obvious offence on his face is so satisfying you almost wanna snap a photo to reflect on this moment in the future, but you refrain from doing so. He would just pose anyway, and the photo would probably end up making your stupid heart flutter again.

“Well, at least you think I’m big. Besides, if dressing like a grandma gets me closer to eating you, then I suppose it’s a sacrifice I’ll have to make,” he whispers in a husky, seductive voice that kind of makes you want to choke-slam him, but you suspect he might enjoy that anyway.

It angers you when he makes flirty comments like that, because as annoying as they are and despite you knowing full well he only says it to get under your skin, it still makes your heart race every time. Maybe in another universe, Hyunjin is a sweet boy who innocently flirts with you and brings you roses instead of a big, bad bitch who’s just acting like a horny teenager. Annoyingly enough though, you think you’d fall for him either way.

You turn away with the intention of finally escaping to the kitchen to grab something to drink, hoping to settle the thoughts dancing around your head, but he reaches for your wrist. The feeling of his fingers pressing warmth into your skin just makes your head spin even more, and you’re so distracted you don’t pull away from him.

"Aw, don’t run away now. Are you scared of me, little red? There’s no need to be, I’m just joking. I won’t bite unless you beg me to."

You pull your arm back as soon as the words leave his mouth. Hyunjin has a lot of things (a severely irritating personality, a stupidly handsome face for such an asshole, a loud voice solely meant for pissing you off on a daily basis, the list goes on), but the thing he definitely has most is the fucking audacity.

However, the most annoying part by far is the way you feel your face heat up when you register the last thing he said. You’d rather die than let him make you flustered, so you shake your head slightly to clear those thoughts from your mind and look him in the eye again.

"Scared? Me?" you scoff, staring him down with a steady glare and if he was anyone else, he'd probably shiver in fear.

Unfortunately, he is not anyone else. He is Hwang Hyunjin, and Hwang Hyunjin does not shiver; he beams with a smug grin and makes your blood boil.

"Mhm. Look at you. You’re basically dressed as my prey tonight, babe." He purrs the pet name like the absolute fuckboy he is. "And sure, the real you is feisty, but you're all bark and no bite."

The overly confident, proud smirk on his face makes him look like a damn peacock flaunting its feathers, and you decide then and there that you'll do anything to get rid of it.

"All bark," you echo his words, walking towards him slowly, "and no bite, huh?"

You swear you see his eyes widen for a split second at your change in demeanor before the stupid smirk returns, and the little rush of victory you feel from catching him off guard is enough to keep you walking forward.

His gaze never leaves yours, especially when you're standing on the tips of your toes in front of him, noses just barely brushing against each other. Your hands grip his shoulder to balance you, and you run a finger over his collarbone up towards his cheek, where you gently cup his face. The small distance between the two of you means you can hear his slightly uneven breathing and see the curiosity swirling in his bright blue eyes as he waits for your next move.

You reach a hand up and thread your fingers through his long, bleach blonde hair, and his breath hitches when you gently tug at it. Even his wolf ears almost seem to droop submissively. He doesn't dare move, but his eyes keep flicking down to your lips and back up again.

"Now, that's just not true at all, is it?" you whisper, tilting your head as if waiting for an answer, but he can't find the words to form a witty response. It’s about time he learned some manners, really, even if he needed your guidance for that.

"I'm warning you now," you continue, "you might wanna watch your tone. I might look like your prey, but I promise I bite harder than you do, babe."

You make sure to emphasise the pet name, purring it in the same way he did minutes before. He bites down on his bottom lip, and the way his fangs press into them makes you lick your own lips nervously. It seems as though he can't take the tension anymore, because he goes to lean in and finally close the distance between the two of you as his hands find your hips.

Of course, you'd never let him have that control, especially after his bold attitude from earlier. Even though the temptation to lean in is certainly there, you step away from him and smile sweetly.

"Learned your lesson yet, puppy?"

He doesn’t respond for a moment, clearly still taking in what just happened. When he registers your question, he tilts his head to the side as if in thought - the way a dog might, funnily enough - before he hums quietly.

“I’m not sure. Maybe you should teach me once more, little red,” he suggests, voice low and slightly breathless, “but preferably a bit more in depth this time.”

- ᴇ ɴ ᴅ -

(A/N: AHHHHH I haven’t written a oneshot in SUCH a long time oh my god,,,,, it was a lot of fun tho even if I’m not super confident writing full things. this one was short anyway so I kinda feel like it doesn’t count, but I’m still v happy to finally post my first skz oneshot! I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading <3)

© santastic  —  all rights reserved. reposting, translating, copying and/or stealing is prohibited. ask permission if you wish to create anything inspired by my original ideas.

[drawlfoy]

The Sound of...Magic? (don’t hate me)

pairing: draco x nanny!reader

warnings: i was considering making it a little nsfw but then i remembered my grandkids might find this blog one day and i’ve gotta play nice. mentions of death (if you couldn’t already tell from the request). this part is gonna be a little sad so if you’re a crier i’d bring some tissues--i recommend the kirkland signature brand, a great bang for your buck. (not sponsored but if you’re reading this kirkland signature, i’m up for the challenge). also mentions of alcohol abuse

special thanks to @ihavebeenahurricane for sending the request!

summary/request:  Draco x Reader request! Draco hires reader as a nanny after his wife dies and slowly falls for the nanny who’s a halfblood from America trying to find herself 😍

a/n: i’m going to take the whole “slowly falls” wording from the prompt and RUN with it! if you haven’t already guessed, i’m a giant fan of longer stories. i love this prompt (and i’m getting major sound of music vibes from it, which is the ultimate summer musical to me) and i’m going to milk it for all it’s worth. the first few parts will be dedicated to fleshing out the characters and setting the stage for what’s to come, so buckle up bitches, we’re going for a multichapter ride. you decided to read stuff from a slow burn fanatic, so this is on you :P

FINAL a/n: in all seriousness, i’m going to twist the canon a little bit. in this au, draco’s wife dies when scorpius is much younger for the purpose of the whole nanny aspect. i apologize if this doesn’t follow the canonical universe to a T--i’m just here to have fun and flex my writing muscles! i apologize for any sloppy mistakes i may have made writing this. i never had a chance to proofread and i have a lot of writing to do now that requests are coming in! i promise to come back and edit.

music recommendation: i recommend listening to peer pressure and row from the soundtrack of the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. i listened to it while writing this. it’ll make you cry. even if my writing doesn’t, the music will by itself.

enough of my blabber. thanks to anyone who read my incoherent 11pm babblings. onto the story--specifically Draco’s backstory!

word count: 1,304

Draco Malfoy owed everything to Astoria Greengrass. After the Second Wizarding World War, he felt as though he had nothing left. The social structure and core values he was raised under were suddenly ripped out from under his feet. It wasn’t that he was born with hatred of the impure--he just didn’t know any other way. The mark on his arm only made the transition into life after the war more difficult--the hours and hours of wizard trials he had to endure were nearly as painful as being under Voldemort’s constant supervision. Seeing the eyes of so many he had grown up with glare at them from the crowds, admitting that he betrayed them...it was a test beyond anything he had known before.

And yet, by some spontaneous miracle, his charges were dropped. His father, Lucius, was given a life sentence in Azkaban, and his mother, Narcissa, was on house arrest for four years. Potter ended up testifying for him, stating that he refused to identify him when he was brought to the manor even though it was obvious it was him. It was very likely that Draco had saved the Order in that one instance of bravery, and the Ministry decided that the act was enough to prove Draco’s innocence. 

Saying goodbye to his father was difficult, but Draco always held a bit of resentment towards him. If it weren’t for his father, he would never have been forced to bear the mark. He’d miss Lucius dearly, but there was a silver lining--Draco would never have to witness another raging alcoholic fit towards his sweet mother. The conflicting feelings that plagued him when Lucius blew up at the two of them, throwing various objects and causing carnage around his house, and then immediately following it up with promises of gifts and love would no longer be around. Draco, in a sense, was never freer. 

He had always known of Astoria. While she’d been two years below him, she often hung around her older sister, Daphne, whenever Slytherin common room parties took place. Of course, he never saw much of her during the war when she was evacuated from Hogwarts, but he had taken note of the slight brunette with light green eyes. 

It was only during one of Narcissa’s dinner parties, when he was 20, that he noticed just extraordinarily light green they were. He remembered thinking that with her eyes, she would never have to bother with jewelry--all the sparkles in the world were already carried in her eyes. 

They had spoken that night in the balcony, outside of his room. She’d confessed just how afraid she was about the new wizarding world and how she thought no one would accept her. Draco had gently picked up her hand, tracing the delicate knuckles in fingers.

He’d told her that she’d always have him. She’d blushed, a magnificent rose, and Draco couldn’t help himself. Before he knew it, her lips were pressed to his,their eyes had fluttered shut, and his hand had snaked its way around her tiny waist. In that moment, Draco began to feel like a person again--a whole, loving person, with love, and love, and...love. 

Their wedding hadn’t been the most extravagant of weddings, a fact that a younger Draco would’ve been shocked at but a wiser one adored. Astoria had looked stunning in her pale green gown--an escape from tradition, Draco had thought fondly--and had her dark hair loose and wavy around her shoulders. Draco had worn a dark green suit with a boutiienniere JKFKLFjkl;f charmed to sparkle silver pinned to his lapel.

It was just enough to be a true Slytherin wedding.

Narcissa, Daphne, Blaise, and Zabini had attended. With both of her parents deceased, Astoria had been nervous at first, but Narcissa had taken her in with open arms and welcomed her as her own.

It had been a tough couple of years after the marriage. After complaints of fatigue and chronic migraines that not even the strongest of potions could cure, his beloved Astoria was diagnosed with a blood curse. When Draco asked the healer how long she had, the healer simply shook his head and responded, “Just enjoy the time you have.”

Astoria had taught him to be open-minded to the new world, designating every Friday night as a “Muggle Date Night”, much to his initial chagrin. She dragged him to countless attractions--bowling alleys, movie theaters, old thrift stores, their local IKEA, even the quaint café on 42nd. The latter was his favorite. Astoria would always order her coffee black and discreetly charm it to her taste while Draco would simply settle for a scone and some tea. The pair would look out into the city nightlife, picking out interesting people and making up their life stories. Muggles weren’t so bad anymore. 

The day that Draco figured out he was going to be a father was the one of the best days of his life, only second to the day he married the very person who was mothering his child. They had both burst into tears when the pregnancy indicator potion turned a deep blue, informing the couple that they were having a boy. 

Muggle Date Nights began to happen less and less often as Draco worked harder hours at the Ministry to attempt to prepare for the new addition. With Lucius behind bars, the majority of his family fortune had been seized, and as a result, Draco was forced to work to support both his mother and his wife until they were able to join the workforce themselves.

Arguments, when they came, were brutal. Neither of them ever raised their voices, but Astoria cried and stated the truth, which was infinitely more painful. She told him how he was never home and how her time was ticking. She reminded him that their child was going to be motherless and that her husband was going to be wifeless very soon.  Draco reminded her that it was either his work or eviction from their manor, to which she stated, “screw the manor. I want you.”

But of course he didn’t listen, He wanted his son to have the best life possible, and in some immature part of his lizard brain, he believed that the blood curse would go away if he just worked hard enough. Everything always happened for him if he worked at it enough. That’s just how the world worked.

Scorpius came into the world in the dead of winter, very fitting for the tragedy about to come. Astoria cradled him in her arms once, and then passed them to Draco,

“I think I need to go now,” she said wistfully, looking out the window of the hospital wing into the cloud of black outside. 

“Whatever do you mean, darling?” Draco asked, amusement in his voice. 

She must be very intoxicated on those pain potions he remembered thinking to himself. 

But then the healers began rushing in, one by one, each yelling her name and preparing random concoctions Draco had never even heard of in even his most advanced potion courses. Her once golden skin turned pale and her light green eyes, once sparkling with Slytherin pride, were beginning to dull. 

“Draco, my love,” she croaked, reaching one frail hand out to grasp at his own, “You must give him the time you were unable to give to me.”

“But I love you!” Draco sounded more like a child than his own baby did, crying in the corner in his cradle. 

“And I you.”

Just like that, it was over. She had lost the battle, and Draco had lost the war.

Tears began clouding his vision as he looked back and forth from his baby to his now deceased wife.

He never expected his first day of being a father to go like this. 

[saint-patrice]

it’s time for another one, friends!! today we are loving and appreciating mr charles patrick mcavoy (i, personally, do this every day). this one is for @softboybradenholtby/@cheeksavoy​, thank you for encouraging my nonsense!

Note: a few people have said they like these posts, so i’m happy to take requests if there’s a particular player you’d like to see! see this page for details, and a list of ones i’ve done so far :)

is a young charlie mcavoy attacking his usa teammate with a hug not the best thing you have seen all day? perhaps not, but it has to rank pretty high, because it’s adorable. also makes for a good meme template, for example i would label charlie as “me” and colin white as “the bruins,” “my mutuals,” or even “charlie mcavoy”

(gif via @gaudreau) quick!! someone arrest him for Too Handsome crimes

(gif via @davidpastrnak) the only thing better than charlie mcavoy is charlie mcavoy with glasses!!! and that is a scientific fact. i’m not sure i can cope with how much i love him

there are so many pictures of our boys with pups and i appreciate that to no end. this one in particular

(gif via @werenski) this is the first gif of charlie i have saved on my phone and i think that’s very valid of me. are there any pictures of the rest of this suit anywhere? because it looks amazing - i love the blue on him!! he is positively radiant here, and that single loose corl improved my quality of life by 250%

(gif via @phillymyers) how can you not love him???? he’s just laughing his life away after his first career fight (against none other than pld), and then when he got out of the box he proceeded to provide an assist to get a gordie howe hat trick!!! fucking legend and a half right here. oh, and he was 19 at the time

“This kid's fucking jacked. Thick, dense, built whatever you wanna call him he's got it. Legs thicker than my chest, and shoulders wider than my wingspan. Making full use of his frame and with the golden flow to top it off. He dwarfed us all. Bonafide stallion.”  (if you’re currently wondering what sort of crack i smoked before making this post, just click the link)

if these 2 aren’t your favoruite d-pair you may need to re-evaluate your life choices. i just love them so much, and i love that every clip of cmac hugging zee just has him looking like he’s clinging onto a tree for dear life. heavy father-son vibes,, very adorable

how does he actually do it...how does he look this good all of the goddamn time. if i didn’t love him i would hate him for it yknow

every single photo and piece of video from charlie at world juniors is so premium - and he won gold!!! i’m very proud. i want to kiss his face so bad okay

don’t let his sweet face deceive you though, this is a “big boy” we are dealing with, to use hockey terms. and looking at this it is immediately obvious that he could kill me with extreme ease, so i am slightly afraid. luckily he only uses his v strong arms for good, like holding dogs and beating the living shit out of p*narin!!

this is such a mess of a photo and i love it. what the fuck is he doing. i showed this to a friend (non-hockey literate) and asked her to guess what height both of them were. i forget her answer but when i told her charlie was 6′ she had an existential crisis that only got worse when i told her how tall zee actually was. basically charlie is just our 6 foot baby long beach dman

LOOK AT THIS SHIT!!! HE HASN’T CHANGED A BIT

i went from learning that charlie had a tattoo, with a dodgy quality picture where it was barely visible, to then seeing this video and this photo in the space of 2 days and i think it’s going to take me a long time to recover from that having those revelations at such breakneck speed. this man is a mf Machine

(gif via @chuckersbean) okay i promise this is my last slightly self-indulgent inclusion of proof that this man is Lorge. i mean jesus christ just run me over already, i’m begging you

when i said earlier that the only thing better than charlie mcavoy was charlie mcavoy in glasses, i may have failed to take charlie mcavoy in glasses with a santa hat holding a 4ft teddy bear into consideration - my bad. this is very endearing and i am kin with whoever put the heart stickers on this photo 

bahhhhh look at this ridiculous man. who gave him the right to be this handsome in his coat and his glasses and his beanie?? he’s nothing short of amazing and i will not be taking questions on that opinion

(gif via @marchnds) baby! baby boy!!!! if you don’t cherish him i will appear in your room at 4am holding a large wordsearch book which i will use to beat some sense into you

(gif via @davidpastrnut) i included this gif in my top 5 chuckie post, but i love it to the moon and back, and this is my blog dammit, so i’m putting it in again. i cannot explain why but something about this is so goddamn cute it makes my heart do things and i just adore this boy and his backward cap and shitty beard so fuckin much okay

this is the cryptid i see in the corner of my room when i wake up with sleep paralysis in the middle of the night

looks like he has no idea what’s going on here and like,, me the fuck neither charlie

(this is an elusive gif that i can find no real source for despite trawling through tumblr for 20 minutes. google just says it’s from giphy. if it’s yours please hmu)

there it is folks!! the smile that brightens my day no matter what!!!! charlie really does have the most infectious of smiles though, you just love to see it (at least, i do) i am desperately hoping we make a move to keep him in boston this offseason. because, even with my emotional attachments aside, i think he is going to go on to do incredible things with his career, and i totally agree with people saying they think he’ll be wearing the C someday. i mean just look at what he’s already achieved by the age of 21 for christ sakes 

lmao 

(gif via @i-hate-hockey) i literally never want to see chuckie sad. ever. he is perfect in every way always. also what’s his skincare routine holy moly

(gif via @gaudreau) stunning!!!! magical!!!! ravishing!!!!! handsome!!!! gorgeous!!!! divine!!!!! and so much more! this whole interview with him is just delightful, tbh i always find his media stuff v enjoyable. he gives really genuine answers (not that other people don’t but like,, maybe he’s just young enough to not have had to revert to cliches constantly because he’s answered every question before idk), and i think his personality comes across well. he seems like a very fine young man

#ISaidYes

this is literally just every hockey player trying to use all 3 of their brain cells to come up with a sentence that doesn’t include ‘chip it in’ or ‘get pucks deep’. not that i can hold it against any of them, i only have 2 brain cells, and i use both of them for loving charlie mcavoy. his expression makes me laugh but i mostly included this because that suit he wore to the nhl media day is my favourite thing on the planet, and i’m glad there is so much content of him wearing it

tl;dr - op loves charlie mcavoy. thank you once again to @softboybradenholtby :)) as mentioned, i am taking requests for more of these, although i’m currently sitting on 5 or 6 in my inbox so it might take a while - feel free to keep em coming though! 

[gramgoessurfing]

Thoughts of a redhead in the ocean

I’ve decided to write about another trip because I had enough thoughts to fill up more space than a few tweets, I hope. This is about a 5 day surf trip I took down California in my 2010 white Toyota Camry, which isn’t exactly what a 25 year old boy dreams his surf car will look like. After shaming my family for retroactively making the wrong decision at the car dealership when I was in my junior year of high school for only this moment, I filled up my tank of gas and played tetris with my 5′9 surfboard until it fit diagonally inside my car. It wasn’t a good look. I avoided eye contact with all other drivers for the full duration of all red lights I encountered. If you read my last 2 blogs about my trip to Europe and Africa, you may have noticed the subjects of my blog are becoming less exciting and adventurous, both in activities and geographical distance from homebase. I’ve decided my next and last blog will be 2000 words about the uncharted territory of my studio apartment.

The way I planned this trip is that I didn’t. I had no idea what beach I was going to until the morning of each day, nor did I care as long as there were waves and sunscreen. I did not tell my mom about this strategy because she would have felt that she failed as a mother as to how I planned this trip and would have either spent years in therapy or bulk ordered those awful York peppermint candies she likes (again) to suppress her feelings, to which I don’t know what’s worse. I then proceeded to buy a book that’s above my reading level and took off.

My first stop was Santa Cruz, which is also my favorite town. You know you’re in Santa Cruz when you see most people longboarding their dogs barefoot down the sidewalk. There’s an appropriately named break called pleasure point where I like to go and surf until I either cant feel my arms anymore from paddling or I see the ugliest creature both in or out of the water that seems to linger around the area, the elephant seal. God made this animal to raise the self esteem of humans.

I started this trip on a Monday and hopped in the water around 2 pm. People who surf at 2 pm on a Monday are different than people who surf on a weekend. On a weekend, you look around when you’re out there and it seems obvious that the majority of people are just those with regular jobs trying to harness enough fun to get through the next workweek without an ‘incident’. Monday at 2 pm is different. There’s a different vibe. Time tends to slow down and there’s less clutter and you look around at the diversity of water lovers sitting atop a board waiting for the next set to come in and project what went so right (or wrong) in their lives that they are in the ocean at such a time. You can tell there are people out at that time who need to be; you can feel their pent-up energy likely from the aftermath of some type of job stress or gambling addiction crisis and they’re here because if they’re here they’re not causing domestic violence at home. Then there are the people on the other end of the spectrum, those who are either unemployed (like me) or retired and are searching for the high from the waves that inevitably comes with pleasure point at high tide.

My friends have told me when they’re in the ocean surfing or swimming their problems tend to go away. They’re not thinking about their job or what errands they have to run or that their girlfriend is mad at them for not waiting to watch the most recent episode of Ozark together. I don’t know if thats true for me. Yes, my problems that I usually worry about go away, but new problems replace them. Now I’m just on the constant lookout for any abnormal movement in the water to locate whatever seal or shark smells the blood of the small cut on my thumb from biting my nails during the most recent NBA playoff game, or worrying if my pale redhead self is going to need chemo sooner than later because I just wanted to catch 1 more wave while the sun gives me freckles that I didn’t ask for. Also, judging by the way wells fargo keeps bothering me about how I don’t have enough money in my savings account, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of their recently hired tellers put on a wetsuit and found me in the ocean to tell me the way I’ve been using my credit card lately doesn't match up with my ‘financial roadmap’.

Pismo Beach: This was the climax of the trip, and sorry for using such a word but I didn’t like any of the other options that  http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/synonym offered me so this is what I’m going with. Climax. I’m not sure what I did to deserve what happened this day. I don’t think I’m a big believer in karma but I was looking back at what I could have possibly done that morning to grant me such luck. Maybe it was the cadence in which I ordered my tall iced Americano at starbucks or the fact that I complimented my air bnb host on the layout of her bathroom before I left only to get a response that guests weren’t allowed in that bathroom. Whatever it was, I was in heaven for 90 minutes at Pismo pier and caught so many 6 foot lefts I would have still been smiling if someone threw a boba tea at me later that evening. When trying to park at the beach I took a wrong turn and approached a parking attendant who told me I needed to turn around to previous parking lot or I could spend 4 dollars to park on the beach. I laughed right in her face thinking she was making a joke only upon realizing moments later when I walked to the beach with my board that there were, in fact, cars parked on the beach. Strange place SLO is.

I need to take a quick break and dedicate a section to the things nobody wants to talk about: getting into a cold/wet wetsuit. There’s two type of people in this world: those who know what this feels like and those who don’t. Those who know have a certain look in their eyes and there needs to be more advocacy to address the victims. If you’re one of the lucky few who has no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll guide you through the experience. This is the part of this blog where I wish I recorded an audiobook, but bear with me: There’s a few ways you get stuck in this situation. Either you surfed recently and left your wetsuit in your trunk due to laziness or you surfed recently and left your wetsuit in your trunk due to stupidity. Whatever avenue led you to this point, there’s no turning back. First comes the shameful act of untangling your cold, damp suit while retracing the steps that brought you to this point. Nothing better than the 5 stages of grief perfectly describes the process. denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. All of those words have a place in this. You start to ask yourself if you even want to surf and if the 45 minutes it took you to get to the ocean could just be turned into a nice drive and back. You actually telling yourself things outloud under your breath like ‘it’s not the destination that matters but the journey’. But then you snap out of it. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the side mirror of your Camry and know you’d never be able to look at yourself again if you don’t grow a pair and put that fucking wetsuit on right now. So you do. You put one leg in at a time and pull it up your waist where it passes a particularly sensitive part of your body and then pull it up over your shoulders and by this point you realize the world isn’t a fair place and you go hop in the water.

Santa Barbara next. Gloomy, overcast, misty, Santa Barbara. I went out near a wetlands earlier in the morning on a break with small waves and the smell of methane gas surfacing up through the kelp due to the oil reserves nearby. It seemed boring compared to the day before but I always have a baseline happiness when I’m in the water regardless of what’s happening. After catching a few small waves, I peed in my wetsuit and got out of the water. Apparently somebody in Isla Vista took a break from playing snappa and decorated a concrete structure:

No matter what day or time you’re out though, there’s always that guy who thinks he either owns or has reserved the ocean for the day. I have devised a 4 step process as to how to identify who this person is and it is very easy:

1) paddle for and try to catch literally any wave

2) wait and listen for an extremely loud voice calling everyone else off the wave

3) watch the target person scream profanities/give evil eyes to anybody who was within 100 yards of him on the same wave as he paddles back out

4) watch him put his affliction t-shirt in the parking lot after he’s done surfing.

If you’re wondering, the answer is yes, this is the exact same person who tells you to stop being a bitch when you’re playing pick up basketball and calling your own fouls and call one on the guy who pushes you with 2 hands during a layup and you look back at him and he’s of course wearing a randy moss NFL jersey and what he thinks are basketball shoes but are really from the streetwear section of footlocker.

Los Angeles: After Santa Barbara I kept driving South and stopped in Ventura which I have no good content about except that its a perfect place and I would like to move there. After that I drove to spend the night in West Hollywood at an air bnb that ended up being a windowless bedroom in the back of a massage spa (healingpoint, see below). In my defense, I did not seek this out I just booked my room too fast without reading descriptions. I spent most of that night walking around in mandatory slippers and looking at different consistencies of massage oil that were for sale. I still haven’t finished unpacking the strangeness of this night, but I’m sure the effects it had on me won’t come out until later in my life, much like when your mom’s passive aggressiveness toward you as a child doesn’t manifest itself until you’re 22 and yelling at your significant other about how they got the wrong color shower curtain.

[foundcarcosa]

cxc.

1. Your first OC ever? >> Technically, my first ever OC was probably a teenage girl named Clarissa, or an Earth-loving (in the time of moon habitats) young man named Eden, or a moon-dwelling girl named Deirdre Halloran, or Aidan Quinn or any of the other characters from my Beauty and the Beast rewrite... because I made up all these guys when I was still in single-digit age and continued to develop them throughout middle school. Although that development didn’t get very far, because back then I knew way less about how to write humans than I do now.

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs? >> I have too many OCs to have an actual favourite.

3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else? >> Darya, a friend from my early RPing days, let me ‘adopt’ one of the lesser-known (amongst our circle) members of her Katin clan -- Mikhail -- once. I don’t think I got to play him much at all, but it was still flattering enough to be entrusted with one of them in the first place.

4. A character you rarely talk about? >> All of them????? Except the fandom ones.

5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be?  >> Eh, that’s quite all right.

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related? >> A lot of my characters probably look alike because I gravitate towards certain physical traits. I can’t think of two particularly stellar examples off the top of my head, though.

7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories? >> Some of them are. The Bayou Devils crew is part of a kinda urban fantasy-ish nWOD-based thing I was going to write. The Anathema was part of a very formulaic urban fantasy story I’d written last decade that I sometimes fantasise about overhauling and rewriting... except I’m not sure I can take the Anathema out of that particular formulaic urban fantasy mold without having to do away with everything about them.

8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here! >> I roleplay a fandom OC, Anand, who’s based in the Dragon Age fandom but is meant to be compatible with a wide array of fandoms. He’s not really fully formed. I’d planned on fleshing him out during the act of RP.

9. Would you ever be willing to give any of your OCs to someone else? >> Sure. I’m a storyteller, not a hoarder.

10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design?  >> Er... I’m not sure how to answer this.

11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”?  >> Like, someone with a really sunny disposition? Dax Kessler is a bit like that. But he’s a mutant, so there’s also the fact that if he’s attached to you, he will literally hulk out and destroy anything that even looks like it’s trying to hurt you. ...That’s ideal, right? An attentive, good-humoured six-foot-seven genetically-modified mutant? Hell, I’d take it.

12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot >> Dmitri Katin. He’s Darya’s and I love him to death. I love him like I love my own self. I would kill for Dima.

13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs?  >> Do I have any OCs that aren’t troublemakers...? They pretty much all are, in some way or another. I’ll pick one, though... Severin Sane. He runs a bar called the Church of Ill Repute, where everyone calls him ‘Reverend’, and he’s a vampire. That all just sounds like trouble, doesn’t it. Well, it totally is.

14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory  >> Siobhan Caine was born of an archangel and an archdemon, making her a very potentially-powerful nephil but also making her incredibly cursed by both factions. She was under a spell of forced celibacy for a good few centuries. It sucked. At some point she became the Mistress of a faction of darkling creatures in a particular region, House Umbra, and after some time she met this one particularly powerful and particularly determined darkling who was determined to break her curse. He did, long story short, and the Seraph who’d cursed her punished them both, but it was a short-lived punishment, and so they got complacent. Until the Seraph came back and took her away from House Umbra, and the region it was a part of was destroyed... presumably by archdemons.

Like, her story was so fucked that it’s mostly the reason I don’t use her anymore. Where do you even go from there...?

15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people? >> Of course. Let’s share.

16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)? >> Oh, I don’t know. 

17. Any OC OTPs?  >> Logan Iritian’s first and strongest love is always gonna be Siran Kezerian, who’s another one of Darya’s. We had a lot of OTPs amongst our children.

18. Any OC crackships?  >> I don’t know.

19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why) >> Man. I don’t know. They all mean a lot to me. I guess I’ll go with Doyle... well, he’s not Doyle anymore, he’s Rhys mac Keltar, because he got all his memories back and he doesn’t have to live by a borrowed name anymore. He was the first character I played in Legion of Darkness, the RP group that I met Darya in way back in 2009, and he’s gone through so much in that group. He was very loved, though, by everyone. I remember I killed him off because I needed to free up a character slot for a Faction Leader I wanted to introduce... and I immediately realised what a mistake I made because I was so distraught afterward. So the staff all made an executive decision to increase the number of character slots for staff, and thereby enable me to get Doyle back. <3 Good times. Real good times.

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)? >> A lot of them do, yeah. For example, Danny Aubrey, whose musical style (and personal aesthetic, honestly) is based on Volbeat. He’s also part divine, so his voice can project to an astounding degree. That’s very helpful.

21. Your most artistic OC >> Just gonna do what I’ve been doing and name an OC at random (I have so many that inevitably there are multiple that fit a question, ok, and I’m not even using fandom OCs for this!). 

22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how?  >> No? I don’t know how they would get an opportunity to do that.

23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like? >> Mistral Vane was originally a formidable giant of a demigod, a physical representation of the eternal storm... but I had him sacrifice a piece of his divinity to become human-passing, so I could use him in more RP groups. There just wasn’t a lot of playing room for a freakishly huge avatar of electricity, you know?

24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why? >> Any of them. All of them.

25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?) >> I really don’t think I have any blatantly obvious self-inserts.

26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will?  >> Why on earth would I have to do that?

27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song?  >> Danny Aubrey, whom I mentioned earlier, was inspired by Danny & Lucy (11PM) by Volbeat. Part of his backstory reflects it, as does the fact that his musical style is based off the same band.

28. Your most dangerous OC?  >> Logan Iritian is pretty dangerous, considering he’s the avatar to the pure undistilled entity Ira, or Wrath (hence his name). The thing is, he hates being the Iritian. He was the Avaritian (when he hosted Avarice) once, and that was only marginally better. I think if I write him again, he’ll probably be the Luxurian (give you a hint what sin-entity that’d make him the host of), which was kind of fun to write him as for the brief time that I did.

29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going? >> Dane Skjöld. He’s always been a shade too curious. That’s how he got trapped in a house ‘haunted’ by one of my more frightening OCs, VII, who almost eviscerated him. Luckily, Dane’s twin, Thorin, came through and saved his bacon. He got away with just a brand (the numeral “VII”, of course).

30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection?  >> Seth. Ramesses Set Khaldun is very sensual, as in they love being touched and touching nice things. He’d love being surrounded by stuffed animals. Just one nude blissed-out incubus buried in a mountain of enormous plushies from F.A.O. Schwartz. <3

31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really) >> Domenico Sauvageon would have one of those dolce-vita-lifestyle type blogs, with the fancy foods and luxury items and headless men in suits. He’d have a three-column layout with a Louis Vuitton-inspired background and his own face as his icon. But he’d also sometimes make really useful and informative posts about fashion and makeup and how to pair your wines and shit, and he’s only a snob in that he prefers the finest things -- he doesn’t snub people who can’t access those things. In fact, he loves to share. He’ll spoil you until you end up a snob just like him.

32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why?  >> I don’t know enough about horror games to answer this. VII would make a great horror game antagonist, though, I’m sure. It’s got a bit of a Silent Hill vibe about it.

33. Your shyest OC? >> Rhys mac Keltar. Or Silas Carmichael, who can’t speak and who is very self-conscious about it.

34. Do you have any twin characters? >> Thorin and Dane, mentioned earlier. They’re... uh, also quite Lannister about it. But I’ll just leave it at that...

35. Any sibling characters?  >> Danny Aubrey has a sister, Lydia. Acheron Cruor Dane has a sister, Isolde -- but I don’t use Isolde much as an OC in her own right.

36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)?  >> I can’t remember any that were made specifically for that, but I have plenty that turned out that way after the fact.

37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human  >> Oh my god, almost every character I’ve discussed in this survey has been nonhuman, or at least augmented-human.

38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer?  >> Seth. He’s a very good and very hypnotising belly dancer.

39. Introduce any character you want  >> I’ll introduce one if someone sends me an ask with a letter in it. I’ll pick a character whose name begins with that letter or the closest letter.

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share! >> This whole survey is fond memories, lol.

41. Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!) >> People have drawn fandom OCs of mine, but none of these guys.

42. Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods?  >> Well, Danny -- Daniel Apollonius Aubrey, whose lineage includes a Greek god. Also, Zion. He’s fascinated by mythology, despite the fact that he’s a Judaic angel.

43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess >> Sure. I like ‘em tall, dark-skinned, long-haired, and nonhuman/superhuman.

44. Something you like about your OCs in general >> I don’t know. I’m very attached to them all. They were so much fun to conjure, and they hold so many possible stories in their existence.

45. A character you no longer use? >> There are a lot of those-- OCs I created specifically for a certain RP group that have no real use elsewhere, OCs that never got developed enough for me to care about keeping them, OCs that were just too tropey for me to even bother with. There’s a veritable OC graveyard in the back of my mind.

46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly? >> I don’t think so, no. Sometimes I did, though. I try to be fairer to them these days.

47. Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child?  >> Probably.

48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure >> No such thing. I make monsters. Gods and monsters, one and all. Even my nice guys are monsters (Logan, for example, who’s the most affable and loyal guy imaginable, is a high-ranking demon).

49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes >> Logan would fucking love them. Except he’d be the obnoxious guy to send you memes you’ve already seen a thousand times, but he just saw for the first time. Because he’s slow on the uptake. 

[kpdaydreamingabout]

Japan

4 April 2017

For a guy my age, I’ve seen a lot of the world already. Different climates, terrains, animals, people, cultures, colors, perspectives; I soak it all in and take bits and pieces back with me.

I had the opportunity to choose where my friends and I would travel to next. Instead of choosing Australia and South America (the two remaining continents outside of Antarctica I have yet to touch), I chose Japan, one because the tickets were dirt cheap, and two because the last time I went, I had a life-changing experience, and I wanted my friends (Bruce, Cam, and Jimmy) to have that opportunity as well.

The first city we visited was Shibuya, the city known in the US as the setting for Tokyo Drift. Shibuya is truly awe-inspiring, with a culture and beauty that leaves you speechless. Like NYC and Las Vegas, Shibuya is a city that literally never sleeps. As a reference, I stayed at a bar that remained packed until 5 in the morning! And the lights….don’t even get me started on the lights. They are the lifeblood that keeps this city humming. My personal favorite activity in Shibuya is people watching at night (sounds simple, I know). Climbing a ten-plus story building to the top and peering down at the hordes of pedestrians below, going about their everyday lives under the bright lights. There is a feeling of peace that the view provides. Very few activities in this world that can match the bird’s eye view of Shibuya. 

If you know me, when it comes to Japanese food, you know that I love yakitori (I would eat skewers everyday if I could), while maintaining a weird relationship with ramen in San Diego (in the States, I can count on my hand how many ramen bowls were worth the price, and I have had  A LOT of ramen bowls). Where the yakitori in San Diego is amazing, it is on another level in Japan. It was so good that we made it a mission everyday to find yakitori joints around Japan. And Oh my god, the ramen. I’ll say this; the WORST ramen I’ve had in Japan would match, if not exceed the taste of the BEST ramen I’ve had in the States (and that is because they used a style that is common in the States). That is not an exaggeration. We visited one of the most well known ramen shops in Japan, and it was literally Heaven in my mouth. It was so good that I had two bowls in the span of an hour for breakfast. 

The next destination after Shibuya was Osaka, my third favorite city in the world after my hometown San Diego and Dubai. The nightlife is insane, I’ll just start there. Where Shibuya is a place where the popular thing to do is find a restaurant and babysit beers with your friends after a long day of work, Osaka was a place known for letting loose and drinking for hours after work. 

One of the first places we happened upon on our first night was a place called Milk Bar. The owner/bartender has shelves of vinyls all over the bar, and plays said vinyls of rock music from the 60s to the 80s all night long. I really liked the vibe, and felt it was a great way to kick off our first night. It was also the first time that I really went out and drank with Bruce, Cam, and Jimmy, so it was a hilariously fun time wandering the streets of Osaka drunk with them (Bruce and Cam usually black out at their parties, Jimmy usually smokes). 

The second night after spending a day trying new foods and treating ourselves to massages, we found a nice food court(?) where locals come to have beers and eat finger foods all night. Again, it was a great time drinking with my friends as I got to see a side of them I never really knew about (They’re relative lightweights, but I tricked them into matching me on drinks). So for a solid three hours or so, we chilled and talked over piles of skewers and multiple rounds of beers. 

We then decided to go to this place where the whole second floor was made up of at least ten different bars. At one of these bars was where we met a bartender named Kanaan, a Japanese girl whose last night living in Osaka happened to be that very night (she allegedly began drinking four hours prior to our arrival). 

She was probably one of the most down people I have ever met. This girl took me completely by surprise.

First of all, I never expected to meet a Japanese girl who was as cute as she was chill (And I mean chill as fuck! The first two words she taught me were “oppai” aka boobs, and “kanpai” which is the equivalent of cheers or DOWN YOUR SHOT BITCH depending on the context). Second, never expected said chill Japanese girl to be able to drink like a sorority girl (I have never seen anyone who can down tequila straight without flinching as much as I saw her do it, AND SHE WAS STILL FUNCTIONAL ENOUGH TO POUR DRINKS). And lastly, I never expected someone who was okay with getting deep with a complete stranger from another country (not a single boring or awkward time with her).

As you can tell, this girl had me sprung like a damn slinky.

Anyways, back to the story. So my friends decided to sneak home, leaving me with a bunch of drunk Japanese people. So, it being her last night and all, I asked Kanaan to show me around after her shift, not expecting her to be down because who in their right mind would hang out with a complete stranger in the middle of the night, right? BUT THE GIRL SAID YES, and I ended up having one of the best nights I have had in awhile. 

She introduced me to places in Osaka that only the locals knew about (none of that Trip Advisor or Yelp shit), had the best whiskey I have ever tasted, and bonded with a bunch of random Japanese people (have some new drinking buddies for the next time I go). I walked her home, and despite the fact that my place wasn’t far away, she wanted me to come up. 

It was crazy to me, because where did she come from? This girl came out of nowhere and showed me the time of my life. 

Waking up next to her the next morning was a strange feeling. I knew and understood that the moment I say goodbye and walk out that door, that that was it. (Poof) I would never see her again.

That’s the beauty of life, though, I guess. Sometimes, whether it be fate or pure coincidence, you come across amazing people whose purpose is to help you re-calibrate and get you back on the road you were meant for, disappearing as fast as they came in. I will never have the chance to create moments with her again, and that’s okay, because the few I was able to have were incredible. 

So one long tangent later, a toast to Kanaan, a girl who defied all reasoning and expectations (chugs beer).

Sidebar: so this may not be funny to you, because you had to be there, but that very morning after leaving Kanaan’s house, my friends and I prepared to see the cherry blossoms in Tokyo (the full bloom was expected for the week after we left, but the blossoms were still a sight to behold). I suited up, so I was looking as fresh as a five star sushi restaurant (had to bust out a Japan simile heh heh heh). I was getting double takes from both females and males all day long, just sayin’. Anyways, getting off track as usual. So, we boarded the subway and were making our way to the outskirts of Tokyo, our next destination. There were these two girls in our car that would not stop checking us out! Like literally, they were staring as if they were peering into our very souls. (And I am pretty sure they were staying longer on that train than they intended to, because our commute was a solid 40 minutes). So, as they were eye-fucking us, we were texting each other joking about what they were planning on doing to us once we got off the train (I know it’s a little fucked up, but I am dying while typing this by the way. One of the girls will forever be known as the Amish Snape). Again, i don’t expect you to find this funny because you weren’t there, but the memory will always be funny to me. End sidebar.

So our next destination after that was Kyoto which, don’t get me wrong, is a beautiful city with plenty of history laced within its roots, but we weren’t in that “let’s take pictures of touristy shit” kind of vibe (what makes it worse is that we knew that Kyoto would be a boring destination WEEKS in advance, but still decided to go because we booked an AirBNB there). We really wasted a day here as all we did was take a hike up a mountain shrine, ate, and then went home to take a nap that in turn morphed into a 10 hour sleep (granted the room we had was great with three separate beds). 

So we returned to the outskirts of Tokyo, namely to buy gifts and see the Sky Tower (the largest tower in the world), before getting bored and ultimately deciding to return to Shibuya to explore further (It took literally a week, but we were finally able to get karaage chicken and Steins from a very exclusive restaurant, and oh my goodness was it worth it). We packed shopping, drinking (we literally drank at least twice a day), and finding new spots to eat all into that last full day. 

The very next morning, I woke up really early and decided to take a stroll to soak it all in before leaving. I happened upon an empty park that was full of cherry blossom trees (the parks were usually packed with picnic goers during the cherry blossom season, so this was an anomaly and a blessing). I was extra thankful for that, because I was allowed time to meditate by myself, feeling the energy of the nature around me.

Anyways, I’m sure I’m forgetting some moments from the trip, but that’s all the word vomit I could come up with at the moment. And, as has been the case with my blog logs in recent weeks, my ass is not going to edit this shit, BECAUSE I AM TIRED AS FUCK! In summary, we ate a lot, drank a lot, and truly had a great time. The highlights for me are obvious (cough Kanaan, cough food). I plan on coming back by next year for sure. 

I bid you adieu Tumblr. Let’s make this year’s birthday month legendary, yeah?

KP.