#find naperville

[jakeabel]

IT IS SO FUNNY WHEN FOB FICS USE REAL ILLINOIS TOWN NAMES. GIRL WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN GURNEE

[flowergardeninthewall]

Guys, the tapioca flour on the top shelf of my cabinet has been taunting me for the past month.

[heartsofminds]

if you could see my thoughts, you would see our faces

“I do a lot of things you don’t do. Doesn’t mean you should be knockin’ yourself out to try ‘em.” or Carmy takes an impromptu smoke break and you're begging him for a drag.

A/N: just a sweet little blurb that's been sitting in my back pocket for a while. hope y'all love it as much as i loved writing it!

Smoke breaks never last forever. 

The cacophonic slam of a door, the pliable edges of a pack of American Spirits, the grooves of a lighter’s spark wheel, the mix of brisk Chicago wind smacking your face, and the heat of a silently shameful cigarette caressing it in a false sleeve of comfort – The world is silent during a smoke break. 

Until the door opens and someone asks to bum a light. Or until you get called back in because everyone and their goddamn mother in River North decides to come in to try the dinner special, yet pretend like they’re actually fucking curious to know what you think the best thing on the menu is. Or until the ignored panic in the back of your mind knocks the wind out of you when taking a particularly long drag that leaves you stifling a deep and hearty cough. 

The small moment of peace before it all still remains good. The moment of peace is fine. The moment of peace is all you can afford to get sometimes. 

A smoke break never lasts forever, but the temporary solace it provides is enough for Carmen, whose brain never seems to stop spinning no matter how fast or slow the world is turning without him. 

He��s gotten better, he thinks, about voicing his discomfort and finding ways to “cope” with his feelings of metaphysical spiraling. He’s still getting the hang of this whole “finding meaning outside of the kitchen” thing, but he figures that twenty-eight years of having your worth summed up in how well something was chopped or seasoned or sautéed or whatever the fuck is ridiculously hard to disengage from. 

His therapist would kill him if she knew that he credited a portion of the advancement of his well-being to you. He can hear Erin tell him that he can’t rely on people to make him feel better; that the only person who can determine Carmen’s worth is Carmen himself, but quite frankly he doesn’t give a fuck. 

And then he remembers that not giving a fuck is him making his own decision about his life (which he was never allowed to do before, which is why he thinks he was damned to hell to pick the profession he has), and his heart swells a bit with pride. He cares about something for once that has all to do with him and the meaning of life and living and being alive and in charge, and that idea is no longer a room with a false ceiling that can cave in at any moment. 

He doesn’t give a fuck because he does give one, and he has never known that something as simple as being loved, fully and authentically, was something that would make all the difference. 

Despite not being stressed out nor having a “real” reason to smoke (except for the fact that he’s a creature of habit, and you seem to love the word “addicted” even though he disagrees), he finds himself lifting the window near the fire escape of his apartment and stepping out onto the rusted steps that are less than functional and whips out his lighter and the red cardboard package harboring his cigarettes. 

The lights are off in the apartment and the soft whistling of the heater helps him make sense of the foggy window glass. Chicago is nightmarishly cold in November, yet his body doesn’t seem to mind the teen-digited temperature that plagues the indigo-hued 1 AM sky. 

Carmy loved in living in the city (and the actual city of Chicago and not Naperville or Joliet or Downers Grove like all the other self-proclaimed “Chicagoan” jagoffs that littered the outskirts of the city for sleep, but polluted it for play). 

He liked living in New York City but he loved living in Chicago. New York was too noisy which, he knows, is so fucking ironic given the fact he lives in the heart of all things bustling and boisterous. 

But New York had the kind of noise at night that was isolating; the sounds of cars honking and the squeal of the subway telling the stories of a million different lives of a million different people that he didn’t know. 

New York City is the largest city in the United fucking States, yet a twenty-two-year-old Carmen could not have felt lonelier while he was there. New York City is the perfect city in the United fucking States to go soul-searching in, and yet a twenty-two-year-old Carmen could not have been more clueless about who he was at the time.  

And he’s still figuring out this “thing” called having an identity and finding peace, and he’ll never feel like he knows a whole lot about anything, but he does know two things for certain. 

He fucking loathes feeling lonely and he fucking despises feeling clueless. 

Chicago is noisy, but the kind of noise that sends an irritated streak of comfort down your spine; the hatred of your twin bed and its mismatched sheets in your childhood bedroom, but the comfort of knowing a refreshing and safe sleep is to follow that night. It was the kind of noise that filled living rooms on Christmas Day or the backyard on the Fourth. It was the sound of a vacuum cleaner running on an early Saturday morning during the first week of summer break and the ticking of kitchen timers and arguments and laughter and tears of all kinds. 

He was always reluctant to come back. His pride is something he holds close to his chest but wears with quiet confidence. He would rather die than it seem as if he ran away from New York back home with his tail between his legs. He would rather die than admit to himself that Chicago is where he was meant to be and where he should have always been. He would rather die than admit that through his fucked childhood and even fuck-ier adulthood (Thank you Mikey and Mom and NOMA and Chef David), the city is his safety blanket. 

Carmen hasn’t been back to the house since the incident five Christmases ago. Everyone mutually (and very silently so as to not piss his mom off even more than she always perpetually seemed to be) decided that Christmas Eve dinner is much better suited for Uncle Jimmy’s house. When Natalie called on the phone to let him know about the change of venue the following year, he had known from her tone that another Richter scale meltdown had occurred once their mother found out. 

From then on he found ways to stay away; to stay put and to put his life on hold and it was the closest thing he could get to not breathing with, you know, still actually fucking breathing. 

And it worked for a while. It worked for one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five days, to be exact. 

But then Mikey died and then there was a restaurant and then there was every relative that had ever known of his existence knocking down his door and begging him to let them in; asking him if he was okay and prodding him with questions about any and everything in between his mom driving her car into the fucking house and his brother deciding croaking was better than sticking around this hell hole. 

And it’s crazy, he thinks, how him simply observing the weather and thinking about possibly smoking a cigarette before bed created this rabbit hole of what would usually be the beginning of an anxious spiral. 

Fucking Christ, I need a cigarette. 

His fingers create an unrecognizable beat on the package of cigarettes in his hand and he takes the first step out onto the fire escape. 

Carmen’s body weight bares down on a piece of the wired metal and it groans in protest. The sounds of tires passing through slush on the road create soothing white noise for his ears. The thin blue henley shirt he has on does little to shield the wind from icing his skin, but he doesn’t mind. 

He can’t chance going back inside to fetch his jacket. The coat rack near the front door lies at the end of a pattern of creaks from your apartment’s shitty floorboards. You’re not a light sleeper in any sense of the word (nor are you entirely sober right now), but he knows that he never places that one particularly decrepit plank of wood right, and the noise will jolt you out of your slumber. 

His nimble fingers swiftly pull a cigarette out of the carton. He cups it with his left and uses his right to cradle the flicker of his lighter. The orange flame disappears as fast as it had been kindled and he inhales deeply and his exhale is shallow. 

Carmen had been smoking since he was fifteen, but he never really had a reason to do it other than Mikey did, and it was a way to spend more time with him. It was their little secret; something that was his and Mike’s and something that seemed like a big deal at the time but would mean jack shit the second he turned eighteen. He never really loved the way cigarettes smelled. He could hardly stand the taste and the constant health class lectures about them being bad for your lungs freaked him out. 

But now that he knows what it feels like to have no thoughts in his head and be left alone in the solace of smoking a cigarette in the dead of night, he thinks he gets it. 

The silence is cut in half by the sound of the rickety floorboard groaning out in a warning. He doesn’t have to peek his head inside and look around to know that it’s you. You never sleep well after a night out and even though he had to carry you up the stairs, drag a damp washcloth over your face to remove your makeup, and bribe you to stand up long enough to take out your own contacts, he should have known better than to be anywhere but in bed next to you. 

Your drunkenness has started to fade and you’ve gone down on the meter from “off your ass” to “slightly tipsy.” Him picking you up from your girls’ night at one of the clubs downtown was more than two hours ago, but he figured you would’ve came and found him by now. 

You have such a fear of missing out and while it’s not Carmen’s favorite thing about you, it does warm his heart to know that you want to spend time with him or that you’re scared he’s doing something interesting without you around. He wishes your ‘fomo’ was based on some issue that he could tangibly fix and not on what he knows is your badly bruised self-esteem. It makes his chest heavy that sometimes you can’t see how great you are; that sometimes you don’t understand why he wants you around and loves you so dearly. 

He can hear your footsteps approach the window ledge and he wordlessly holds his arm out for you to grab onto. Your fingers come out from under the blanket you’ve thrown over yourself like a shawl and grasp his like a lifeline. 

Your body effortlessly molds to him; your front pressed to his back and his unoccupied arm pulling you closer like a seatbelt on your waist. The subtle pressure on your midsection comforts you and your body lodged into his helps alleviate some of the sting he’d been suffering from the cold. 

“You’re mad at me,” you speak. Your voice is small and soft; gentle just in case he really is mad at you and this isn’t something your drunk mind conjured up as you lay in bed alone. 

He sighs and turns his head to take another drag from his cigarette. He makes sure that your hair is out of target of his smoke exhale. A subtle whine leaves your throat as he steps away from you and he grins. Carmen loves when you’re like this; when you’re clingy and being near him is never enough to satiate you. 

“M’not,” he says. You shift from one foot to the other and his eyes momentarily gaze down to make sure you put on socks before you come out here to join him.

 Even though he can’t see your face, he knows that the corners of your mouth are posed in a frown. You hate it when he doesn’t elaborate. It makes you feel shut out. He’s not helping his case of denying your accusation. You may just burst into tears if he doesn’t provide more dialogue. 

Your nasty habit of feeling like everyone is upset with you all the time is swelling. His nasty habit of smoking more cigarettes a day than he knows he needs is bulging. 

Another drag from his cigarette. Another exhale of smoke. Another attempt at trying to be better for you. 

“Can’t ever be mad at you, baby. Not with a face like that,” he croons. The words come out of his mouth so easily; endearment dipped in honey and love warmed by sunshine. Adoration is easy when it comes to you. He’s never known a peace like this. 

“Sly dog,” you mutter. The brain fog from the four tequila lemonades you downed earlier makes you slow in finding a smartass thing to say. Carmen fights the urge to poke fun at you because he knows that you’ll take him seriously. 

“I love you. I love you. I love you,” your words silently praise. 

“You make it easy,” his hold on you acknowledges. 

Your face is numb from the cold and the alcohol making its way through your system. The lips pecking a kiss against your temple can barely be felt, yet you contently hum once the damp seal of them releases the affection you’ve been longing for. He never makes you work hard for his undivided attention when he readily has it. Wordlessness crafts a cradle of comfort for you both. Soulmates in ways that soulmates usually aren’t. 

Another drag from his cigarette. Another exhale of smoke. Another show of actually being better for you. 

A beat of silence passes with the whistling of the wind. 

“Can I try?” your voice is small with unacquired confirmation of what his answer will be. 

He giggles and you’re mesmerized by the way the smoke exhales with each minuscule twitch of his chest. You turn around at the feeling and press your palms to his torso. It’s impossible not to admire him. You’re always starstruck but he makes it easy to be that way when he looks so peaceful and sweet and good. 

Good for you. Good for your heart. Good for each other. 

You make a mental note to tell him that he should wear this shirt more often but know deep down that you’ll forget to do so until it comes back clean in the laundry basket in a week. You need to work on that, you think; telling him that you love him when you feel it. Moments like this don’t last forever, and you fear for the day that the ooey-gooey feelings of love in its purest forms are fleeting. You know that Carmen makes it impossible, but you can never be sure. Much like he, you’re always half expecting the ceiling to cave in. 

“Sweet baby wants to be a smoker?” he chides. He doesn’t feel bad when you flash him a pouty frown. 

“Carm!” you gripe. Your cheek presses to his pec. You hate when he does this; when he can’t give a straight answer. It isn’t something that needs an answer, but the satisfaction of having one, of being connected to him and the inner world of his mind he tries so hard to keep from everyone, would feel nice. 

Carmen’s tattooed hand snubs the cigarette out on the dish left on the ledge of the window. His fingers curl to let his knuckles brush the hair on the top of your head. You try your hardest not to melt into his touch. He’ll have a field day if you let him have the satisfaction of making you visibly weak in the knees. 

“Didn’t even say no yet, sweetheart.” 

“Yeah, but you’re being mean. Just tell me “no” instead of making me suffer.” 

He quirks his eyebrow and brings a gentle hand to guide your chin upwards, forcing you to make eye contact with him.“Well, m’gonna if you don’t lose the ‘tude, baby.” 

The shift in his tone of voice and the forced eye contact sends a beam of warmth down to your stomach. He has a way of leaving little leeway for negotiation and argument. It’s abstract to his everyday life, but that was complicated, you know. When it’s you and him and him and you, there is never a need for a fight for dominance or a clarification of authority. You both understand each other on a level that is molecular. There is never any need for guessing. 

His finger flicks your lip playfully before swiping a calloused thumb gently on the plush of them. You had fought him so hard earlier when he tried to swipe the lipstick and liner you had put on earlier off with a washcloth. He finds it wild that you’re wide awake and coherent after witnessing the mild temper tantrum you had thrown about it not even two hours earlier. 

Carmen spots the gentle gleam in your eyes and his heart instantly softens. He sighs, momentarily taking his hands off of you and reaching back in his pocket for his carton of cigarettes and lighter. 

“Fine, but you gotta light it.” 

The aforementioned cigarette sits unlit between his lips, the end sticking out like an invitation and the filter hid between his teeth like a dirty secret. He half expects you to chicken out when he hands you the lighter. You always freaked out a little about the flame being so close to your fingers. Something about feeling the heat so close to your hand made you insanely nervous and he could never seem to fully understand. 

His expectations are exceeded when your thumbnail crafts friction with the spark wheel and the illuminated peach of his lighter of the month spurs to life. You don’t cup it with your hands to shield it from the wind. You let it grow and shrink as you lift it up to the unlit butt sticking out of his mouth. 

Your eyes watch in childish awe as the wrapped paper gives way and reveals the hearty smell of tobacco and a sunburst of ashes upon making contact with the manufactured heat. You had watched Carmen smoke hundreds of times, but something about seeing it now right in front of you kindles a spark of curiosity deep in your belly. 

“Can’t believe my sweet girl wants to puff on a cancer stick,” he says. You know that he’s joking, but his trying to get you to change your mind strikes a nerve deep within you. 

“You do it so why can’t I?” you huff, agitated with him seemingly withholding the cigarette you so desperately crave. 

“I do a lot of things you don’t do. Doesn’t mean you should be knockin’ yourself out to try ‘em.” 

You roll your eyes. “It’s just one. Don’t be so mean.” 

He pulls the stick from between his lips and creates a perfect “o” ring with the smoke in its wake. A dopey-eyed grin plants a home on his face and his eyes look deep into yours. 

Fucking show-off. 

“All it takes is one to get addicted,” he continues to smoke and the cigarette butt starts to diminish with each puff he takes, “You sure you wanna bite, sweetheart?” 

“One won’t hurt.”

His gaze lowers to your lips and back up to your eyes. “Don’t wanna end up like me. All sad and addicted to cigarettes.” 

“Carmen, please. I just want one,” you huff, lightly pushing his chest away. He moves slightly with your force and has to stifle a laugh. 

“They ever show you Teri the Smoker in health class?” Carmen takes the cigarette out of his mouth and pretends to examine it, faux and forced curiosity at the cylindrical tube sitting between his lithesome fingers. He’s not giving into you on purpose, you know, and he’ll give in eventually, you also know, but him trying to delay the gratification of getting what you want is starting to annoy you more than it usually would. 

“Yes? What does that have to do with anything?” 

He pops it back in his mouth and takes an obnoxiously long drag. “Nothing,” he breathes out the smoke with his statement, “Just funny that you know that and here you are, damn near hands and knees, gagging for a cigarette.” 

“Carmen.” 

He laughs and you can’t help but love the sound. 

“You know, it’s real fucked up of you to ask for a drag from my cigarette that I get with my hard-earned money,” he says and you roll your eyes, “You should know I love you too much to let you stick a cancer stick in your mouth.” 

“It’s just one!” you plead. 

“It’s never just one, sweetheart.” 

“Well, who says’m gonna get addicted like – like you and Teri the Smoker?” 

“The nicotine content on the carton. That’s who.” 

He’s not paying you any attention and it’s starting to ache your heart a little. You know that he’s distracted; that he’s just trying to prevent the ashes from getting on your blanket and from getting the smell of smoke in your hair, but him biting at your insistence a little less than he was previously sends a pang of gloominess through your chest.

“You smoke all the time, and if you get a hole in your throat because of that then you’re so mean.” 

His lips upturn in introspection.“M’mean?” 

“Very,” you answer dryly. 

“Humor me.” 

“Because then I’ll have to live the rest of my life without hearing your voice again and then I’ll be so sad.” 

He shrugs, half knowing that you’re joking but half expecting something more to come out of what you’re getting at. “Ehh, don’t think anyone at the restaurant would miss it.” 

“I would!” 

You smack at his chest again lightly and he remembers how touchy and wild you get after you’ve been drinking. It’s never bad or out of control, but you’re more affectionate than usual and less gentle than you normally are. 

“Yeah, baby? Gonna miss my voice?” 

“Mhm,” you purr, leaning up to get closer to his ear, “Gonna miss how you call me a good girl. And how you whine when I pull your hair and how you tell me that I’m the tightest and wettest little th-” 

“Jesus,” he laughs, playfully pushing the side of your face away as your teeth nibble a tiny bite on the thick of his palm, “Fuck off.” 

You like to play around, too. That’s also something he sees more of after a night out. He never indulges; knows you get too riled up and in your head when it goes somewhere he’s not comfortable with, but he loves it nonetheless. Being together has helped the other not be so scared of permanence. Moments like this confirm what he knows, and he realizes that you’re a saint and he wants to marry you. 

The stuff that comes along with it has been plaguing his mind as of late, but he realizes how little it matters when he sees you all happy and grateful to be around him and doing the most mundane of things. He’ll get you that ring and that house and those babies and the happiest fucking life in a heartbeat, and he’s oddly comforted by the fact that he knows you’ll let him. 

Carmen’s never been the best at not wearing his feelings on his face and you know he’s deep in thought when the banter dies and the whistling of the wind takes its place. You hope he isn’t spiraling. He tends to do that a lot. You tend to feel powerless when it happens. 

Your eyes study his face; the lightness of his irises, the spiral of curls, the slope of his nose. The tequila from earlier remains in your system, but it doesn’t change the fact that you love him so deeply. 

“You know, it’s bullshit that you’re giving me hell about putting a cigarette in my mouth.” Your voice cuts through the quiet and he starts to grin again. 

“Hey, s’only bullshit because you’re sittin’ here beggin’ and then telling me I’m gonna have a fuckin’ hole in my throat from smoking too much.” 

“I never said that it was gonna be bad, Bear. I just said I was gonna miss hearing your voice is all.” 

His free hand comes out to sit on the base of your neck. A calloused thumb draws small semi-circles on the bottom of your hairline. 

“You know, her quality of life was probably amazing,” he speaks, “Like didn’t she have kids and grandkids and friends and shit? Health class is fucked up for making her out to be the ‘throat hole lady’.” 

“You shouldn’t say that,” you grimace and he plants his lips on your forehead. 

“Yeah, you’re right.” 

You make him softer. If it was anyone else, he wouldn’t think twice about how insensitive it had come off. His therapist is always saying people can’t make you better, but she clearly hasn’t met you. 

“But that was kinda the whole point? You shouldn’t want to be like her?” you pause and the frown lines in your eyebrows write “pensive” on your face before you even realize it, “. . .Because she does have a hole in her throat. And her quality of life was just very. . .different?” 

Carmen nods. “They’re fucked up for that.” 

“Jesus, Carm. Do you think smoking is bad or not because you’re giving me soooo many mixed signals here,” you sigh, your forehead moving forward faster than you intended and hitting the bony composition of his collarbones. 

He hums softly; part listening to what you’re saying and part acknowledging that he wants to move on from what you had said. 

“Did you know that your life expectancy goes down by eleven minutes or some shit like that each time you smoke a cigarette?” he swiftly changes the subject. 

You pick your head up and narrow your eyes playfully. “Oh, you don’t even love me enough to let me smoke one so I can be put out of my misery a whole eleven minutes earlier when you die from smoking a gazillion packs a day and leave me all lonely and wrinkly.” 

“I think you’d be hot wrinkly,” he replies matter-of-factly. 

“I think you’d be hot if you let me smoke one.”

“You’re probably not gonna like it.” 

“Okay.” 

“Okay.” 

He realizes that the cigarette has pretty much burned itself out. There’s possibly one or two more drags left before he has to ash it out completely. He debates on whether he should let you have at it or silently take the last two and usher you back inside. If he chooses the former, he knows that he’ll feel bad if you don’t like it, and he worries that your realization will kickstart the unraveling of something almost perfect he’s found for himself. He can’t bear to take another loss in his life. If he chooses the latter, he knows you wouldn’t even be aware that he had smoked it entirely by himself, and that you’ll gripe and complain for the rest of the night and table the conversation for another time when he’s in a less resistive state. 

“Carm, you have to give me a puff from it,” you complain, snapping him out of his thoughts. 

He’s giving in to you. He always does. He doesn’t know why he pretends like he has free will when it comes to you. 

“C’mere,” he beckons your face closer, “And don’t use your hands. You have that blanket on and I don’t wanna have to call Chicago Fire tonight.” 

Carmen lifts his hand up to your mouth and gently laughs when you go cross-eyed to eye the filter sitting in between his pointer and middle fingers. 

“You just inhale, hold it, and then breathe back out,” he instructs. He feeds the filter to your lips before suddenly pulling it back. “Don’t choke yourself out though. That uh – that won’t be good and then you’re really not gonna like it.” 

Your neck extends to get closer to Carmen’s hand and you do what he says. You inhale, hold it, and exhale. You don’t think you’re doing it right (and he knows that you didn’t, but doesn’t say anything because he knows it’ll make you whiny) but you’re satisfied that he trusts you enough to try. 

“Took it like a champ, baby,” he cheers, “So proud!” 

He pushes the butt of the cigarette into the dish and your blanket-covered hands come up to palm his face gently. The plush of the cover feels soft against his stubble-covered cheeks, and your gazes catch each other’s. 

A moment of tranquility. A moment of peace. A moment of love. 

He so desperately wants to marry you. 

[callivich]

Gallavich Winter Fic Recs ❄️

@ohkate asked me for my favourite winter fics so here we go! 💖

I bet there’s some I’ve forgotten, so I may add to this in the future. I’d love to know what everyone else’s favourite wintery gallavich stories are, if you feel like sharing?

The Axe by redkay

“Do you have an axe?” Ian asks. “On me?” Mickey clarifies.

A better day (for you) by @captainjowl

Ian is unhappy, Mickey can see it. He's quiet and withdrawn, and it's obvious that something is weighting on him. Worried, Mickey tries everything to cheer him up, but nothing seems to be able to improve his mood. Until suddenly, a few weeks before Christmas, Ian gets a phone call that brings the spark back to his eyes.

Closed for Christmas by @abundanceofnots

Two boys, one (not so) festive evening.

Santa Comes Early by @whatthebodygraspsnot

Late Christmas Eve night, Mickey wakes to find a stranger in his living room. What follows can only be described as holiday magic. Or maybe a fever dream. Because Mickey didn’t know Santa Claus had a son. A son who’s not only extremely handsome, but who just so happened to make a special trip to Mickey’s house, without his father knowing about it. So really, how can Mickey not fuck him?

12 days of gallavich by @sam-loves-seb

a collection of christmas one shots featuring ian and mickey through the years

Keeping Warm Amongst the Cold by @scarlet-witchery

Two newlyweds, a snowy day, a pile of Gallaghers, and lots of memories.

Show Me Family by @ifallonblackdays

Ian wants to celebrate their first Christmas in their new apartment. It backfires spectacularly. Until it doesn't.

Miracle on Naperville Road by @whatthebodygraspsnot

Mickey’s known for a while now that he and Ian are closer than coworkers really should be. There’s something there between them - it’s obvious - their timing has just always been off. But this year, the Christmas party at their rich boss’s house feels different. Important. Destined. Ian and his ex are freshly split. And Mickey’s just made sure he’s single too.

Love is Patient by @whatthebodygraspsnot

Mickey’s husband wants to send out Christmas cards this year, so god damn it, they’re gonna send out Christmas cards! Now if only said husband wasn’t distracted by a book in bed, instead of coming to see the final product. Surely Mickey can fix this in a normal and un-demonic way, right? …right? Hello?

Truth or Dare by @thisdivorce Ian and Mickey share some truths.

mentally, physically weak by pinkpantherman

“Think I got a way to warm you up, princess,” he says suggestively, kisses trailing down Ian’s jaw, easily accessing his neck when Ian tilts his head back. “Okay,” Ian mumbles with a smile, looking down and brushing his nose against Mickey’s, “but I’m not removing these clothes in any way, shape, or form, so you better get creative.”

Valued by @whatthebodygraspsnot

Mickey wakes up from his afternoon nap to find his husband getting the backyard ready for winter. Early. Like how he came home early from his visit to the Gallagher house. Something’s off with Ian, and even though it’s hard for him, Mickey’s gonna figure out what. And then he’s gonna fix it.

Jack My Heat by @whatthebodygraspsnot

After a long winter day outside, Mickey helps himself to Ian's body heat on the couch. It's perfect - they've got a blanket, a fire in the fireplace, a joint that's keeping them laughing - everything that makes for a good hangout. They're best friends, after all. And when an accidental, curious little grind works up between them for the first time, maybe something more?

to the thawing wind by @gardenerian

Living and working in the icy chill of an endless winter, Ian and his family are assigned to work the farms to bolster food supply. They live quietly enough, following the rules, until Mickey and Mandy Milkovich (with all their secrets) are moved in across the road.

'Tis The Damn Season by @sweetcresta

“How long you in town for?” Mickey’s voice, muffled by the cigarette hanging from his lips, pulls Ian from his trance. He looks over at him, and for a split second, Mickey looks younger, like the high school boy that used to bring Ian to his knees. But in reality, they’re in their mid-twenties and they’re starting to get lines on their faces, the teenagers they once were lost to the passing of a decade. Instead of letting the memories linger, he wills them down with a gulp. “Just till the end of the weekend.” OR: Ian comes home for Christmas and old habits die hard. Based on Tis the damn season by Taylor Swift.

Merry & Bright by @arrowflier

On the eve of their first Christmas in their own place, Ian and Mickey prepare to host their family and think about how much their lives have changed.

Hay It's Getting Cold Out by @depressedstressedlemonzest

Mickey wants to shelter the stray cat he's grown attached to outside the apartment complex.

just another mall rat monday by you_me_us

Ian and Mickey are both working in a mall when a winter storm hits, somehow they are the last employees left inside and they have to survive together for one night.

like looking through a fogged mirror by charlemint

"It snowed! Wake up, it snowed!" "Th'fuck?" Mickey grunts, sleep thick voice cutting into the quiet after the toddler's morning assault on his ears. "Gonna guess it snowed," comes a flat, sleep slurred voice behind him, the pair of arms circled around Mickey's middle tightening. "Snow day for you then, Kris Kringle?" Mickey asks, his lips turning up in a lazy smirk when the nickname earns him a swat to his hip.

Throw a Girl Around by @arrowflier

Kev and Vee are in town to start the year off right, and an afternoon of playing in the snow with the kids turns into an afternoon of giving Mickey shit. In other words, it's a day ending in y.

LET IT SNOW! by @restapesta

Lip thought the upcoming blizzard to be the perfect excuse to disappear from home for a while. What he didn't think of was anybody being at the Gallagher house as he did so, especially not Ian and Mickey.

Auld Lang Syne by @arrowflier

On New Year's Eve, Ian is looking forward to a fresh start. Mickey, not so much.

ablaze by @catgrassplantdad

Ian and Mickey finally put their new fireplace to good use.

Snowballs and Sneaking Out by @gallawitchxx

Mickey shows up to the Gallagher House in the middle of the night with a surprise for Ian.

Notes on Optimism by @gallavichy

Mickey POV Cooperative Gameplay one-shot. Ian and Mickey take their Christmas trip to New York.

[mayo-in-the-morning]

Well look at that we’re BACK with episode seven! Mayo in the Morning is a podcast all about Gallavich fic where we interview writers in the fandom, talk about tropes, the writing process, and give fic recs. In this episode we talk to Jane ( @captainjowl ) about her life in fandom, reading and writing, and being a fanfic detective. 

We don’t yet have a guest lined up for next episode so if you have suggestions or requests, send them in! 

Enjoy the episode loves, come and talk to us after you listen 😌

Notes for episode seven under the cut.

Hosts and Guest

Leigh // she/her // @thisdivorce // vitalspark

Howl // she/her // @howlinchickhowl // howlinchickhowl

Jane // she/her // @captainjowl // captain_jowl

Mayo In The Morning // asks

Current & Recent Fandom Events

Masquerade - Recently completed, read all the fics and check out the winners here! (Although with this one it feels like we're all winners)

Gallavich Love Fest - A valentines treat, check out @gallavichthings to see what people were loving up on.

Gallavich Gift Exchange - ongoing, sign ups close 18th Feb. Find out more here.

Shameless Big Bang - Posting now! Schedule here.

Fanfictions mentioned

Almost There & let the bodies do the talkin' both by Jane

Two of your Earth Minutes by @the-rat-wins

Our Favourite Fics this month

Jane:

Maintenance by devovitsuasartes / Wishbone by fangirl on fire

Howl

Cold Feet by aeli_kindara / Miracle on Naperville Road by @whatthebodygraspsnot / Good Luck (Not Bad Luck) by @the-rat-wins

Leigh

Furlough by @loftec / That's the Way We Get By by @mytangledmind

[locksmithofnaperville]

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[the-eternal-quest-for-balance]

It’s no surprise that the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA has been funding the immigration crisis in the United States. A recent FOIA response from the City of Chicago obtained by Terry Newsome of Behind Enemy Lines podcast confirms widespread reporting that FEMA has been doing just that for sanctuary states and cities across the country.

In the 70 pages of emails, FEMA’s “Office of Partnership and Engagement” corresponds with City of Chicago officials to alert them of the numbers of asylum seekers being sent to the city of Chicago and suburbs such as Naperville and Elgin. Over 5,000 asylum seekers were placed between February and April 2023. While the media and government attempted to gaslight the public by suggesting that the government was not funding the migrant invasion linked FOIA documents confirm, from government email addresses, that over $300 million went to communities receiving migrants.

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

Haley Reinhart "Can't Find My Way Home" Naperville RibFest 2018

[leporellian]

don giovanni modern au headcanons

'didnt you already make a modern au headcanons list like 2-3 years ago' yeah and i'll do it again baby. this time though its better

(if you're wondering i sourced all the last names from various don juan plays over The Years, except for elvira's, which is a tribute to her original actress in the moliere play.)

on don giovanni himself - giovanni tenorio is, essentially, a rich idiot with no day job. his dad is a republican congressman, and giovanni says he "disagrees" with him, but really this means "giovanni calls himself a libertarian and thinks weed should be legal while Not Caring about any of his dad's other policies". - (he will change political affiliations on a dime if he's trying to persuade/seduce someone.) - (it's also funny he's a libertarian bc he's also very much a catholic still.) - giovanni's parents are pretty excessively doting on him and refuse to believe that their sweet little angel, their only child, could be a... well, you know. in childhood his mother was excessively permissive while his father was straight up physically abusive (in the "kids these days don't get paddled like they used to" way), and while it's unclear how much of that influenced the kind of person giovanni became it seems like both parents regret their parenting in their own way. - because of his family being old money, as well as his dad's stock investments (don't tell anyone LOL), giovanni has a stupid amount of money he usually treats as entirely disposable. he has no idea how to manage it and usually spends a good amount of it buying stupid shit to entertain himself for like 5 minutes or to aid in a Scheme. - (this has led to situations where leporello will come home to find giovanni holding an umbrella cockatoo and swearing it as their new pet, for example, because giovanni thought it would be fun. and it was, for maybe about twenty-six minutes.) - also because of his dad being a rich congressman with Connections giovanni is pretty easily able to get away with everything. any time leporello questions this giovanni goes "oh it'll be just like ted kennedy" which annoys lep to NO end because he doesn't even know what to say to that - he lives together with leporello, his childhood-friend-turned-roommate-turned-possible-indentured-servant, in some stupid ass mcmansion somewhere in the chicago suburbs. i'm saying naperville for now bc naperville is like the mcmansion-slash-unhinged-rich-people-behavior capital of illinois godbless

(why does everyone in this modern au live in or around chicago? because i know that place best. personal bias sorree)

on leporello - leporello catalinon was childhood friends with giovanni, which is funny bc they're so different in terms of background and upbringing - he was born the eldest of five (his siblings are all sisters) into a working-class jewish household, not too far from where giovanni grew up. he and giovanni met in elementary school and bonded, because back when he was a kid giovanni was actually somewhat nice. - eventually giovanni got in trouble in high school doing some dumb (and in hindsight relatively harmless) shit and giovanni's parents decided being his being in a public school was the problem, so he and leporello fell out of touch when giovanni relocated to some catholic school - leporello has a passion for the archival process, so he went through college with the goal of someday becoming a historical archivist. this was a good idea in that he's good at that and a bad idea in that it left him with a bunch of debt he couldn't pay back. - while coming home the summer after college he got back in touch with giovanni, who was like 'oh hey you know you could come live with me and i won't charge rent AND i can pay off your college debt for you'. leporello was like 'oh that sounds great :)' only to realize once he moved in that Something Was Not Right About Giovanni Now, and that somehow in the six years they had fallen out of touch giovanni had become... not different but definitely lacking something. - (but at this point he'd already been roped into the abusive-friendship-slash-indentured-servitude deal and he couldn't imagine any other options. so.) - also he's autistic but you knew that already.

on elvira - elvira duparc actually grew up more near central illinois, which... for those unaware of the illinois Landscape once you get out of chicagoland it turns into 'corn and weird republican backwater towns' Fast. so she grew up in a small republican town - her family was one of the better-off there, and it was a town where everyone Knew each other. so like she was considered upper-class within the community but compared to the kind of money giovanni or even ottavio's families have it's not That much - giovanni ended up in the area while on a trip somewhere and you know how it ended up going. he neglected to tell elvira about his parents or anything so until she finds him again she has No idea his dad's a congressman - he essentially pulled a 'look at me i'm so helpless and lost all on my lonesome' sort of thing and elvira, who really is ultimately an 'i can fix him' person even if she would deny the charge, took him in. in some ways he was seemingly perfect bc he was just as catholic as her family but there was also a definite subconscious idea of Escape in that giovanni had traveled much more than she had and if she were to be his partner she'd likely go move in with him away from home - anyway he abandons her and the whole town immediately turns on her and she's gossiped about like she's the town's prime slut. so she buys a beat up volvo and gets out of dodge to go find giovanni and hold him accountable (or... fix him.) - also she's bisexual and has adhd but she doesn't know either of those things until After the plot of the opera. godbless.

on donna anna and don ottavio - anna ulloa and ottavio robinson are engaged but really they don't seem to be a good couple... anna is always rather closed off (Read: Closeted Lesbian Alert) while ottavio is. definitely says he loves anna and appears to be devoted to her but it's unclear how much he'd actually do for in a time of crisis. and Well - ottavio and giovanni were actually college buddies and their families know each other bc ottavio's dad is Also a congressman. ottavio claims he doesn't endorse any of giovanni's "tomfoolery" but at the same time his attitude about it is to essentially just ignore it. some suspect he secretly envies giovanni in some way and just never says anything about it. ottavio also seems to be trying to go into local office and work his way up to being a gov official on the same level of his old man. - actually ottavio's first Government Job was being an assistant for pedro ulloa, anna's dad, who's a county commissioner. which was how he and anna ended up meeting. - anna very much wants to hold office just like her dad. in fact she probably wants it even more than ottavio does. but she hasn't ever actually Ran for office yet and just busies herself with various government jobs. meanwhile ottavio is like, on a school board or something and is almost sort of indignant about it - anna is deep in denial about being a lesbian and tries to reason why her and ottavio are a Fine Couple Actually constantly. she's been asked on multiple occasions if she's aromantic and she's like NO... i'm just PRAGMATIC and TAKING IT SLOW that's all... but like. looks into camera We know what's going on. - (to be fair anna's parents were very distant with one another to the point you could claim Both of them were deep in some closet or another and just never fully figured it out. so anna doesn't have any baseline of what a relationship Should look like.) - (anna's dad was basically like... you know the dad from bambi? best possible comparison i can make.)

on zerlina and masetto - they're just some guys. literally - zerlina aminta and masetto batricio are two freshly-graduated-from-high-school sweethearts who are like, going into the local community college together or some shit. zerlina wants to be a schoolteacher but honestly she absolutely would teach children swears if she was able to so she's a long way from her goal. masetto... idk what masetto wants to become. a physical therapist maybe? - they haven't even voted for the first time yet so they don't actually know that much about anyone's Government Parents. like when giovanni's trying to butter up zerlina he's all like ...you know my dad could let you get anything... he's congressman tenorio... and she's like Who the fuck is that. which rubs giovanni more of a wrong way than he admits. - zerlina absolutely still reads warrior cats and could name nearly every major and minor character in my little pony: friendship is magic. note that neither of these passions are in a childish way but in a 'oh she is kind of unhinged godbless' way. - masetto is also autistic but in like the complete opposite direction of leporello. leporello is a chatty extrovert autistic who is so so desperate to please people and understand social skills. masetto is polite but beyond that he really cannot be bothered to give too much of a shit. - which means between masetto "will say the obvious thing everyone is thinking but doesn't want to say" and zerlina "has no filter and will give her honest opinion completely unprompted" they WILL collectively tear you a new one without even realizing what they're doing. leporello was around them for like 30 minutes tops and they somehow fully psychologically analyzed him and nearly drove him to tears without realizing it. (which is funny given he's like 10-11 years older than them.) - zerlina can and likes to drive like a maniac but she chooses not to most of the time <3 she wanted to be a monster truck driver when she grew up and honestly it's unknown if she ever actually gave up on that dream or not

on Other Stuff - i think giovanni dies by grease fire. he's overworked leporello to the point lep can't cook like usual, and once elvira gives her as-per-canon spiel abt him Stopping right the Fuck Now he's already got his mind off it. so when things erupt into flames he doesn't think and just shoves a whole pot of water onto it thinking That will Stop It (it didn't) - i'm not entirely sure the specifics of the statue here but i think leporello very clearly remembers that after they'd both been burned by the grease fire- leporello being in better condition than giovanni- giovanni started shrieking about pedro ulloa and "the man of stone" and started panicking about his last rites. the smoke had made leporello too woozy to see much but he does feel like Something Else Was There. who knows how much of it was real or how much of it was leporello's smoke-induced delusions - afterward when leporello was in the hospital over the whole thing giovanni's parents decided to give him the choice of either suing them or them just paying him enough money to clear both his medical bills and the leftover debt he already had so he can start anew. leporello is too tired to fight at this point so he just takes the money. he finds he has a bit left over and donates that away to women's shelters - the whole story is reported in the media as being that giovanni committed attempted assault and manslaughter, and then purposely killed himself over it with a grease fire when he realized the cops were closing in on him. the death report isn't exactly accurate but leporello doesn't know how to explain what he's seen so it just remains that way. giovanni's father resigns in disgrace a few months later because it led to the reveal of just How Many of his son's actions he was covering up. - leporello and elvira are friends of Course they are friends. she shaves off her hair and becomes a total biker butch and he ditches all the clothes giovanni got for him that he found So scratchy and uncomfortable. they both live in their own apartments now and both are visibly much happier for it - (although i do imagine the don's abuse and the nature of his death- he had a closed casket funeral, i'll say that- have left leporello with a case of ptsd) - about a year after everything goes down anna dumps ottavio and starts dating elvira like 2 weeks later LOLLLLLL... and another year on leporello finds his own partner that he loves and trusts. so. they're happy in the end even if the path there isn't smooth - you might also ask, 'wait if anna and ottavio both wanted to hold political office who got there first?' the answer is zerlina. she ran for school board and got in by sheer willpower alone like something out of looney tunes. it turns out she's way better at arguing about things than she is at actually teaching kids. GODBLESS!

[kaesaaurelia]

On Podcast Addict I tend to subscribe to everything that sounds interesting and gradually work my way through it, but sometimes this results in me subscribing to something I already tried and disliked. So I've been going and renaming podcasts to indicate why I shouldn't subscribe to them if I come across them. I have 4 categories:

1. REMOVED - this podcast has been taken down and probably paywalled. Wondery does this constantly.

2. BLOCKED - this podcast actively sucks in a way I find offensive, despite otherwise looking interesting. Frequent offenders are history podcasts full of racist dogwhistles and true crime podcasts that treat it like a sporting event.

3. NOT INTERESTED - this podcast has a deceptively interesting name and cover art but it is about something I'm not interested in, or I tried it and didn't like it. The former is more common than the latter, weirdly? So many podcasts that are called like Dinosaur Cult Leaders of Chicago (not really) and have the kind of cover art you'd expect a podcast about dinosaur cult leaders in Chicago to have, and I'm like oh tell me more, and then it's about, like, sports, or every single word in the title is jargon and it's about crypto, or it's about optimizing your synergistic leadership portfolio and the hosts are two older guys ("dinosaurs") from Naperville ("""Chicago""") with a small but ardent ("cult") following.

4. JUST TWO GUYS - "Brad and Gary are just two dude guy man friends who make each other laugh! Listen to them talk about everything from politics to relationships to football every week! Their unconventional takes are definitely different from the 5000 other podcasts by just two dude guy man friends who make each other laugh! For example, when some of those podcasts talk about 'football' they mean soccer! And some of those podcasts have THREE guys!"

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 8.2

Holidays

Airborne Forces Day (Russia)

Airmobile Forces Day (Ukraine)

Aviation Day (Slovenia)

Bonalu (Telangana, India)

Bunny Day (Japan)

Congolese Genocide Day (Congo (DRC))

Crabhog Day

Day of Airborne Forces (Russia)

Day of Azerbaijani Cinema (Azerbaijan)

Day of Maiden Katrica (Elder Scrolls)

Day of the Water Nymphs (Macedonia)

Deez Nutz Day

Dinosaurs Day

802 Day

Emancipation Day (Several Caribbean nations)

Escalator Day

Ewe Day (French Republic)

Fallen Paratroopers Remembrance Day (Ukraine)

Fiesta La Patrona (Spain)

Greenwich Mean Time Day

Hydroxychloroquine Day (India)

I Came I Saw I Conquered Day

Ilinden Day (Republic Day; Macedonia)

International Golden Lion Tamarin Day

International Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Day

Jabotinsky Day (Israel)

Lady Godiva Day (Coventry, UK)

Little Mix Appreciation Day

International Jewish Day

International Pony Day

Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)

Lincoln Penny Day

Mark Lee Day (K-Pop)

Mary Prince Day (Bermuda)

Mindfulness Day

National Blockchain Day

National Boob Day

National CAD Day (a.k.a. National Computer-Aided Design Day)

National Children’s Day (Tuvalu)

National Coloring Book Day

National Ex-Girlfriend Day

National Hugh Day

National Jacqueline Day

National Rap Music Day

National Sisters Day

Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)

Pantsu Day (Japan)

Paratroopers Day (Russia)

Republic Day (North Macedonia)

Roma Holocaust Memorial Day (EU)

Take a Penny, Leave a Penny Day

World Anglo-Indian Day

World Feed the Poor Day

World Find a Four Leaf Clover Day

Yeezy Day (Adidas)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Make Some Old-Fashioned Lemonade Day

Miracle Treat Day (Dairy Queen)

National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

Independence & Related Days

Butuan City Charter Day (Philippines; 1950)

Declaration of Independence 1st signed (US; 1776)

Kabankalan City Charter Day (Philippines)

Makira Ulawa Province Day (Solomon Islands)

Napoleon Bonaparte made 1st Consul for Life (France; 1802)

1st Friday in August

August Bank Holiday (UK) [1st Friday]

Bandcamp Friday [1st Friday]

Braham Pie Day (Minnesota) [1st Friday]

CafeSmart Day [1st Friday]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

Health Advocate Day [1st Friday]

International Beer Day [1st Friday]

International Mustache Day [1st Friday]

Jeans for Genes Day (Australia) [1st Friday]

Moxee Hop Festival begins (Washington) [1st Friday]

National Water Balloon Day [1st Friday]

Tomboy Tools Day [1st Friday]

Twins Day Festival begins (Twinsburg, Ohio) [1st Full Weekend, begins 1st Friday]

Umuganura Day (Harvest Thanksgiving; Rwanda) [1st Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning August 2 (1st Week of August)

Gallop International Tribal Indian Powwow (thru 8.11)

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (Sturgis, South Dakota) [1st Friday for 10 Days] (thru 8.11)

Twins Days (thru 8.4) [1st Full Weekend; Friday thru Sunday]

Festivals Beginning August 2, 2024

Appalachian Arts & Crafts Fair & Festival (Buckley, West Virginia) [thru 8.3]

Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival (Cary, North Carolina) [thru 8.3]

Blueberry Arts Festival (Ketchikan, Alaska) [thru 8.4]

Blueberry Festival (Wilton, Maine) [thru 8.3]

Brat Days (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) [thru 8.3]

Brew at the Zoo (Columbia, South Carolina)

Calgary Fringe Festival (Calgary, Canada) [thru 8.10]

Charlestown Seafood Festival (Charlestown, Rhode Island) [thru 8.4]

Clark Potato Days (Clark, South Dakota) [thru 8.4]

Cowtown Days Festival (Ellsworth, Kansas) [thru 8.4]

Creamery Picnic (Stevensville, Montana) [thru 8.3]

Dublin Irish Festival (Dublin, Ohio) [thru 8.4]

Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Edinburgh, Scotland) [thru 8.26]

Edinburgh International Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland) [thru 8.25]

Festa Italiana (Naperville, Illinois) [thru 8.4]

Festival of the Flowers in Medellín (Medellín, Colombia) [thru 8.11]

Fish Sandwich Festival (Bay Port, Michigan) [thru 8.3]

Glad-Peach Festival (Coloma, Michigan) [thru 8.4]

Glengarry Highland Games (Maxville, Canada) [thru 8.3]

Gorolski Święto (Jablunkov, Czech Republic) [thru 8.4]

Grape Country Craft Beverage Festival (Dunkirk, New York) [thru 8.4]

Guča Trumpet Festival (Guča, Serbia) [thru 8.4]

Indiana State Fair (Indianapolis, Indiana) [thru 8.18]

Locomotion Festival (Felton, California) [thru 8.4]

Mossyrock Blueberry Festival (Mossyrock, Washington) [thru 8.4]

New Jersey State Fair/Sussex County Farm and Horse Show (Augusta, New Jersey) [thru 8.10]

Newport Jazz Festival (Newport, Rhode Island) [thru 8.4]

North Branford PoCo Festival (North Branford, Connecticut) [thru 8.4]

Old Time Harvest Festival (Jordan, Minnesota) [thru 8.4]

One Love Reggae Festival (Wiesen, Austria) [thru 8.3]

Otakon (Washington, DC) [thru 8.4]

Pluk de Nacht Film Festival (Utrecht, Netherlands) [thru 8.10]

Possum Festival (Wausau, Florida) [thru 8.3]

Reggae on the River (Piercy, California) [tgru 8.4]

Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo (Edinburgh, United Kingdom) [thru 8.24]

Scranton Jazz Festival (Scranton, Pennsylvania) [thru 8.4]

Sidmouth Folk Festival (Sidmouth, United Kingdom) [thru 8.9]

Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally (Binghamton, New York) [thru 8.4]

SunSka Festival (Vertheuil, France) [thru 8.4]

Sweet Pea Festival (Bozeman, Montana) [thru 8.4]

Taste of the Coeur d'Alene (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) [thru 8.4]

Tokyo Idol Festival (Tokyo, Japan) [thru 8.4]

Vintage Ohio Wine Festival (Kirtland, Ohio) [thru 8.3]

Watsonville Strawberry Festival (Watsonville, California) [thru 8.4]

World Cosplay Summit (Nagoya, Japan) [thru 8.4]

Feast Days

Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church)

Albert Bloch (Artology)

Alfonso A. Ossorio (Artology)

Arthur Dove (Artology)

Barley Day (Pagan)

Basil Fool for Christ (Russian Orthodox Church)

Bei Dao (Writerism)

Chateaubriand (Positivist; Saint)

Death of King Rufus Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Distribution of Charity Moneys (Strictly Imps Only; Shamanism)

Dryads Day (Greek Wood & Water Gods)

Elias (a.k.a. Ilia or Elijah the Prophet; Christian; Saint)

Etheldritha (a.k.a. Alfrida; Christian; Saint)

Eusebius of Vercelli (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Anahita (Ancient Persia; Everyday Wicca)

Feast of Our Lady of the Angeles of the Portiuncula (Franciscan Order)

Fomorian King Bres’ Agricultural Gifts Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Håkon Stenstadvold (Artology)

Holling C. Holling (Artology)

Ilinden Day (St. Elijah Day; Macedonia)

Isabel Allende (Writerism)

James Baldwin (Writerism)

Jan van Scorel (Artology)

John Radecki (Artology)

John French Sloan (Artology)

Justin Russolillo (Christian; Blessed)

Khao Phansa begins (Buddhist Lent; Thailand)

Lady of the Angels’ Day (Costa Rica)

Martian Time-Slip, by Philip K. Dick (Novel; 1964)

Monster Monster (Muppetism)

Peter Faber (Christian; Saint)

Peter Julian Eymard (Christian; Saint)

Perdono di Assisi (Pardon of Assisi), the plenary indulgence related to St.Francis of Assisi originated in the church of Porziuncola (Catholic Church)

Richard Wilson (Artology)

Robert Holdstock (Writerism)

Robert Goddard Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Samuel David Ferguson (Episcopal Church)

Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten (Artology)

Sidwell (Christian; Saint) [Farmers]

Stephen I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Theodots (Christian; Martyr)

Thomas of Dover (Christian; Saint)

Vermicelli Day (Pastafarian)

Virgin of Los Angeles Day (Costa Rica)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

American Graffiti (Film; 1973)

Castle in the Sky (Studio Ghibli Animated Film; 1986)

Doc Hollywood (Film; 1991)

Doing Impossible Stunts (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1940)

Don’t Look Back, by Boston (Album; 1978)

Emma (Film; 1996)

Europa Report (Film; 2013)

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (Film; 2019) [F&F]

Follow That Bird (Film; 1985)

In the Heat of the Night (Film; 1967)

It’s a Greek Life (Rainbow Parade Cartoon; 1936)

Lady, Play Your Mandolin! (WB MM Cartoon; 1931)

The Others (Film; 2001)

The Pebbles on the Beach, by Clarence Ellis (Geology Book; 1954)

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, “The Moonlight Sonata,” by Ludwig Van Beethoven (Piano Sonata; 1802)

The Suburbs, by Arcade Fire (Album; 2010)

Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain (memoir; 1933)

2 Guns (Film; 2013)

Weird Science (Film; 1985)

Today’s Name Days

Eusebius, Julian, Petrus, Stefan (Austria)

Anđela, Arnir, Euzebije (Croatia)

Gustav (Czech Republic)

Hannibal (Denmark)

Helger, Helgo, Holger, Olger (Estonia)

Kimmo (Finland)

Julien (France)

Adriana, Eusebius, Juliam, Julan (Germany)

Justinianos (Greece)

Lehel (Hungary)

Eusebio (Italy)

Norma, Normunds, Stefans (Latvia)

Alfonsas, Guoda, Gustavas, Tautvaldas (Lithuania)

Karen, Karin (Norway)

Alfons, Alfonsyna, Borzysława, Gustaw, Ilia, Karina, Maria, Stefan (Poland)

Stefan (Romania)

Gustáv (Slovakia)

Ángeles, Eusebio (Spain)

Kajsa, Karin (Sweden)

Alf, Alfie, Alfonsina, Alfonso, Alford, Alfred, Alfreda, Alfredo, Alonso, Alonza, Alonzo, Alphonso, Fonzie (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 215 of 2024; 151 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 31 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Tinne (Holly) [Day 28 of 28]

Chinese: Month 6 (Xin-Wei), Day 28 (Wu-Xu)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 27 Tammuz 5784

Islamic: 26 Muharram 1446

J Cal: 5 Purple; Fryday [5 of 30]

Julian: 20 July 2024

Moon: 4%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 18 Dante (8th Month) [Chateaubriand]

Runic Half Month: Thorn (Defense) [Day 10 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 44 of 94)

Week: 1st Week of August

Zodiac: Leo (Day 12 of 31)

[frances-baby-houseman]

great news: it was worth the schlep to naperville to see my friend Becky! She has so many fans who are so sweet and so happy to relate to someone willing to talk about their own struggle to find their identity. I loved meeting them! And my friend and I got Sweetgreen, a place I'd never been and also this was a robot sweetgreen, which was fun, and jeni's ice cream. Naperville is a real weird place! It's like an oasis of fancy in the western burbs. It was a very very long drive but I had my audiobook (once again thank you to @thecardiganqueen for the good thief's guide series rec!) so it went by pretty fast.

Becky does talk a lot a lot to every single fan and since we hadn't bought tickets (Becky said she put us on the list and when we got there they were like, there is definitely no list but you're fine! you seem to know becky!) we had to wait until the end of the signing line. But it was getting so late and we had such a long drive so finally we just budged in line with profuse apologies that we were old and had a long drive ahead of us. It was just great to see my friend.

[holidayvisa]

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Cairns anymore" - Dorothy

20 December 2023

I can't take credit for that. My dad (Mom, if this was actually you, please let me know, and I'll give appropriate credit) thought of it.

I walked to the Cairns public library, where there's free wifi. Do you know what there isn't at the Cairns library? Spaces where you don't have to be quiet. I went to the library because I needed wifi to log onto a group call with some of my DUUC friends from Wheaton/Naperville, Catherine, Braeden, Lizzy, Charlie, and Nathan. We had planned on playing Dungeons and Dragons together, but the wifi at my hostel was still out. It'd been three days or maybe even four days that we had no wifi. So I went to the library hoping to find wifi and a not-so-quiet place where I could log onto this group call. We played D&D for just over an hour when some library patron approached me and asked me to be quiet. I apologized, and I attended the rest of the D&D session by listening into the call, and typing all my messages into a group chat that everyone could read. It was still very fun, even though I couldn't speak for a lot of it.

We finished up that D&D session at 3pm my time (11pm for my friends in Chicago time), at which point I walked back to my hostel and packed up my things. I caught an uber with two Danish travellers who also happened to have a flight out of Cairns around the same time I did. At the airport, I was horrified to find that I hadn't purchased the right weight of checked bags, and I had to pay an absurd amount of money to check my bags. Whoops. To get onto the plane, they had us walk outside on the tarmac, which is always fun. The flight was bumpy. I never get nervous during flights. Like ever. But I got nervous on this one. There was one point where the pilot threw the plane into a different gear, pointed the nose straight up and gave us at least four Gs, then dove down and gave us zero Gs. During this weightlessness, sandals, cell phones, and water bottles started floating around the cabin. Someone turned on just the emergency exit lights. That's right, all the lights were out, except for the emergency exit lights. Finally, we leveled out, all the water bottles, cell phones, and sandals that were floating during the weightlessness fell back down to where they were resting before. And then we descended to a smooth landing at Sydney.

I took a train and then a bus to Dee Why to visit Marie and Daniel Vavich. They picked me up from the bus stop and drove me back to their home. It's wonderful to be with family.

I'm grateful for friends back in Chicago that love me and want to play D&D with me even when I'm on the other side of the world. I'm grateful for Marie and Daniel for welcoming me into their home and hugging me.

[spaceorphan18]

Q Part 1 (A little context before my question): I'm still a ghost (sideliner? Whatever you call me?) without a Tumblr account. I've never reached out to any accounts I ghost, although I've had urges to. chriscolfernews is an exception, to let them know of a few stuff. I've been here for, at least a year, I want to say? Sometime after the 6th season ended.

Q Part 2 (Question): So I remember the whole Naperville incident, but I never realized it was caused by tinhatters! Do you mind giving context of the event? Also, one of your posts within the last few days mentioned that Chris had an annoyed face, and I can’t seem to find it from videos. If you don’t mind pointing it out, could you? But I’m terrible with reading sarcasm too, so it’s probably my fault that I didn’t read it as Chris actually being annoyed...

Oh, hey the Naperville incident.  It’s interesting what I’m more comfortable talking about now then I was all those years ago.  

So, here’s the full story.  Back during the -- fourth? tour, I was in the audience and Chris did everything on stage.  I was sitting, maybe, four or five rows back.  In the front row, however, were a bunch of middle-aged women (whom were part of the tinhatters) who came out to a children’s event and began taking pictures of Chris’s butt when he was turned around.  

At one point, he noticed, turned around, and promptly told them to “stop taking pictures of my butt”.  It was played off as comedically - but for a split second, Chris seemed rather annoyed about it.  He quickly turned his attention back to the kids on stage, though, and went on like nothing had happened.  

Look - I clocked some annoyance - but there is video out there, and maybe that was just me.  I was much farther back, so I didn’t see his face close up.  *shrugs*  

Still - in general, not a cool thing to do -- especially at an event for children. 

[klaschoolsofnaperville]

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