#holy crap 2 posts within 5 months of each other!

[trials-of-apunllo]

ToApril back! 804 dead, 77 injured

[fanfictiondreamscape]

First Kisses (Haikyuu - pt. 6)

Title: First Kisses (Haikyuu - pt. 6) aww crap the final part-

Genre: floof. Mega floof.

Pairing: Ushijima/Eita/Tendou/Shirabu/Goshiki x Reader (all separate) 

Notes: Sadly, this is the end of the Haikyuu boys series! I hate typing that up, but it’s the truth. And I can still do some of these for other fandoms if you readers like these. Also, I think I’m going to make a directory once I get some requests posted (following this, of course). Would that make things easier for people to find the request rules and masterlist? Probably - why would I even bother asking that question? 

Also, I apologize for the amount of cursing in this. I’ve been trying to cut back on it when writing, but it slips sometimes. Again, terribly sorry! 

Anyway, read on if you wish! I hope you enjoy! 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Masterlist

Ushijima Wakatoshi

ushijima is a simple and straightforward man

so, it can be easy to assume that he’d want someone that is very straightforward and simple as well. 

that doesn’t immediately translate to them being stoic and constantly stone-faced, though.

someone that can be considered blunt (to a fault), yet still remains very sociable and charismatic.

yep, they’d be somewhat popular for their aura.

otherwise, i imagine that he’d want to the kiss to happen in private. 

but, something would happen during it that’d kind of ruin that.

like, imagine that the two of you are on a date. 

something very easy-going, maybe even a study date.

there’s definitely some small snacking going on, though.

so like, 

the two of you would be reviewing your notes.

the both of you had been at it for a bit of time, too.

you were getting tired, you could tell that he was too, and you were determined to fix this.

so, your plan?

you discreetly pull your bag over to your side.

while he didn’t notice the initial action, he was pulled from his study-coma due to the sound of a zipper.

he didn’t look over his shoulder until you had tapped his bicep 

(that felt absolutely beaUTIFUL MY GOD-) 

you had a simper on as you waved a small gift card to the nearest fast food restaurant,

“are you getting hungry, too? i’ll pay.”

he glanced down at his unfinished work, and while he did have second thoughts

he did realize that he was hungry when his stomach rumbled.

it embarassed him a little, but he knew that he could trust you enough to be vulnerable 

(as vulnerable as he felt being around you)

his lips twitched up into a small smile, and that was all the confirmation you needed. 

you grabbed his limp hand and pulled him from his seated position

while the normal person may have shied away, you’re dating the tall guy

so his height led to him towering over you 

and you found the whole scene to be adorable

(as did he, but he wouldn’t say that - he still had a filter of a kind)

either way, the walk to the random restaurant was spent in comfortable silence

(aside from the grumbling stomach sound.)

(seriously - both of your stomachs were growling obnoxiously loud, and it left you surprised as to why not a single person had even given you nasty looks.)

(just some odd food for thought - holy shit. food.) 

ANYWAY

when you reach the place, you order your food

it couldn’t have taken any longer to come out

and you were getting a little impatient

a little habit you had whenever you were starting to become agitated was making him melt,

you were starting to scrunch your nose up and mess around with your fingers.

you were also starting to pout.

(yeah, that even sounds adorable. to him, the view is an absolute masterpiece.) 

when the food comes out, though

your face lights up from the previous expression, and the way you just glowed in the sun-

holy-

he would die from a cuteness overload, and it’d be your fault. 

so, you may have momentarily broken ushiwaka.

good job! 

either way, you two got the food and had made quick succession of walking back to your work to sit and relax.

and yes, while the food was greasy and slightly disgusting, it was quick and allowed you more time to do your work.

though you were unaware of his actions when eating, he was almost too aware of yours.

you were actually going through the food somewhat cleanly, but the way that you smiled when you made eye contact with the food

(if that would even be possible) 

either way, your lips curled up in the most sweet expression, and

holy- 

“you look cute.”

you paused.

‘did he really just say that?’

you blushed, of course

you blinked, you stood and you came to

“r-really?”

he nods, you blush brighter, and he decides that he just has to do it now.

“can i...”

his ears are turning red as he’s speaking.

“can i kiss you?”

you nod, and he awkwardly reaches up to cup your cheek

you turn even redder and he leans in

but he pauses, and you finish the motion for him.

you both are shocked by the actions that both of you had just done

but the feeling of each others lips together?

yeah, that’s forgotten.

you both get a little closer, a little more rough.

there is a lot of control in it, though that doesn’t negate any of the messiness that comes with something like this.

two teenagers that haven’t had a real relationship or kiss, just doing this for the first time? 

yeah, this is gonna be a bit of a tough ride. 

but as tough as it is, it still manages to be very loving.

the two of you indulge in the moment since, honestly, both of you have some trouble with your emotions. 

it doesn’t last though.

and it’s not because of you two, no- 

it’s because of tendou.

the boy barges in on you two, flips his shit, and jumps the gun immediately. 

you laugh, ushiwaka smiles (see above, absolutely precious) 

and everything just slowly gets a little more comfortable between you two following the kiss.

overall, very awkward and very inexperienced. 

but still very loving and controlled, with the passion still coming through. 

and the scenery?

couldn’t be more perfect. 

private (somewhat), intimate, and most definitely quiet. 

perfect for the both of you.

(plus, you got to tease the living crap out of the giant guess monster afterwards due to his reaction.)

(jokes on him, he talks a big game in this area, but he can’t own up.) 

Semi Eita

boy here is a savage

and a borderline tsundere

so, i find that he might be attracted to someone similar to him in that sense

very competitive, very passionate, and very hot-headed

but definitely better with their emotions than he is

they’d be more open to letting their emotions out, but they’d also radiate bbe

(read: bad bitch energy in spades)

which i also think would mean that the first kiss would happen in an area that would be very emotional to the two of you

possibly a first date spot, possibly a spot where you two just share some huge memories (aside from the first date spot)

but it also wouldn’t happen right out of the gate

nor would it be completely happy

like, imagine this

sooo

gym.

the volleyball gym.

you two had your first run-in with each other there

you both also had your first date with each other here

(just, i imagine that there would be something super attractive and glorious about the gym, possibly a skylight or something under the stars)

(seriously. can’t leave school grounds? picnic in the gym under the stars, people will think you’re helping me train.)

and to top all of that off, that was where tendou and goshiki pushed you two into each others arms and made you confess to the other.

(yep, you guessed it - you’re a manager, and a 3rd year)

and, with you being a third year-

here you are.

you two are nearing graduation, 

you’ve been dating a for around a couple months,

and you both wanted to relive your memories before you break away from the high school that you’ve attended since you were younger

so, yeah

a very emotional day and following.

so, the both of you had just gone to the cafeteria, the old dorms rooms that were looking barren

seriously, the rooms that the third years had been in were getting cleaned before graduation

which just so happened to be up and coming within the business week.

yeah, cue the tears 

(oh wait, you already cried a fair amount a while ago and you’re saving the remaining ones for graduation.)

either way, you were pretty down about the whole thing

as was semi 

and the both of you just needed the comfort of each other

just visiting the places that brought you joy over the years.

the gym was the final spot, and it was one that the both of you had silently agreed upon visiting.

the stars were out and the time was brushing 10 pm

you two had gone through the motions throughout the day, but now?

you both wanted nothing but to imagine a night under the stars, much like the past dances

so you did

you had pulled your phone out of your pocket, set it right up on full volume

and played a slow song 

semi had wrapped his arms around your waist, yours around his shoulders 

the comfortable aura from the both of you made you both calm down 

and allowed the both of you to get lost in the moment

you were able to ignore the looming feeling of sadness that would most definitely follow

so, that being done, you got lost in each other under the stars 

you were eyeing the way his eyes seemed so drawn into yours, the eye contact being so intense

the way your bodies just molded together

the way the music made the atmosphere lighten up

just...

an overall perfect moment.

and here, here is where that perfect moment was taken advantage of.

“can i kiss you?”

you paused for a second and blushed, but! 

“yes, semi, you can.”

you leaned up and kissed him.

he smirked when you did it, but responded nonetheless

and, in typical semi eita fashion, it was very passionate.

you were just as driven as him, so your response was equal to his 

there was no making out or any trace of a french kiss, but 

it was super sweet and loving, despite the snarky attitude the two of you carried.

it lasted a fair while, and since it was under the night sky 

and was also in an area that was secluded, especially at that time of night.

so yeah, when you two pulled away, you both went on with your action of slow dancing under the stars for the second time.

so, overall?

very sweet, as well as passionate

and yes, while i did hc them to happen during an emotional time,

the two of you would take the comfort you feel from each other, and manifest that into the kiss

(and its also an emotional moment for people that act like semi and his s/o’s headcanon).

but, again, 

very long, passionate, loving, and romantic

(holy shit, who would’ve guessed-)

and it was everything you could have asked for while slow dancing with each other 

under the moonlight

with the stars reflecting the other

beautiful. just beautiful. and perfect.

Tendou Satori

tendou is a tease, right out.

he’d want a s/o that can dish out what they can take.

and that includes any jokes, “insults”, and pick-up lines that are thrown to either of you.

so, someone witty (and a little sarcastic)

also athletic.

for some reason, i can just imagine the two of them just running around for the hell of it 

like racing each other into grocery stores or the mall, maybe even the gym

and like, measuring up enough to tie on race wins.

they’d definitely be shorter, but their stamina would be nearly endless

but the kiss i feel would come up out of the blue. 

possibly in the hallways to tease the living crap out of each other in the middle of an “insult” battle

so, basically just imagine the two of them are walking from lunch

and they were going at it

semi, reon, and ushijima were starting to get annoyed, but they found of the things you were throwing at each other

still doesn’t make it any less annoying

(honestly, they were just staying close to see who would win or call it time-out before they reached class.)

“so what, tall-ass? at least i don’t have to duck when walking.”

“yeah, and you? i don’t have to worry about jumping whenever i have to avoid you when you’re biting ankles.”

“oh, this again?”

i think you get it.

either way, things were taking a turn for the more impulsive

you had begun to target his shonen, he had begun to target your movie genre obsession

yeah, when you both hit those targets?

things were getting bad.

so, being the parental figure that he is, semi had tried to break it up

and he did...

“guys, calm down. i don’t want to have to separate you in the damned hallways.”

you two quieted down for a bit and laid off the borderline offensive banter

“thank you.”

but semi’s attempt only lasted for a few seconds.

“okay, but seriously, you still aren’t caught up on the last volume, what makes you think you have the right to-”

“one more word, and i’ll kiss you.”

the five of you were still walking, but 80% of the group straight was caught off guard.

you, despite being part of the 80%, still refused to back down when you were still shocked

“oh really?”

“yep. keep going, i dare you.”

“you don’t have the guts.”

“you sure about that, doll?”

“oh, damn straight i am.”

“keep it up.”

“gladly.”

this continued on for a while, pushing to an end when you two reached the hallway for your classes

but tendou was determined.

and time was still plentiful.

so when you spoke next, well...

“okay, just face it you won’t-”

and he kissed you.

straight up, in the hallway, in front of the eyes of many students.

and he wasn’t shy about it in the slightest

tendou went full messy on you, you responding similarly.

the shock of it definitely wore off quickly for you.

it was filled to the brim with passion

and yes, while it was a ‘shut up’ tactic,

it worked wonders for the both of you, seeing as this type of stuff would have been expected of the both of you

didn’t make it any less loving though

(at least, after the initial force.)

so, if you know what i mean, this lasted for a while.

(translation: make out session)

yep, you two straight up shared tongue in the hallway 

(and you may have been pulled closer to him and laid against the wall as the people started to disperse following the action and it’s suddenness)

just, quite literally, a surprising mess.

and it took a few to get you two away from each other

(literally, semi stayed behind to try and pry you guys apart but was dismissed when a teacher had come by the scene.)

(yep, you two got pried apart and given a warning)

10/10, would do it again.

overall, though-

again, 10/10, would do it again

seriously. 

that kiss is passionate, messy, and borderline sexual

BUT

that doesn’t mean that it is any less loving

(see above for author here’s repetition of the same sentence)

plus the breathlessness that comes with the whole experience

holy shit, yes

plus the scenario in which it happened as well as the setting?

oddly perfect for the two of you

casual, comfortable, and open

(yeah, i can’t imagine the kiss happening anywhere but at school don’t @ me)

Shirabu Kenjiro

first things first, this boy is a hardass.

but he’s also the only member of the Shiratorizawa volleyball team that didn’t get in on an athletic scholarship.

so, that being said, his s/o would most likely be someone highly intelligent

like, if he’s in class 4, they’d either be in the same class or a higher one

either way, highly intelligent

i also have the feeling that he’d have to have run-ins with them near constantly

think like, team manager?

they’d would also be very introverted and responsible

he already was drawn to their intelligence, what else could be asked aside from basic college-prep class student other than responsibility?

and the introversion is simply because the man is a man of action, i’d reckon

otherwise, for the kiss.

well, it’s in the library.

the two of you had decided to study together before the exams

you both got in on academic scholarships, so you both had to keep the grades up.

it didn’t necessarily help that the two of you also had little time on your hands because of volleyball practice and games.

(stress runs high in this household, y’know?)

 either way, you find a way to work around the stress and go on your merry little studying way

(AKA ‘hope-to-god-that-i-don’t-absolutely-lose-my-mind-before-exams’ way)

besides the point, you had been wanting to kiss him as of late. 

seriously, you two had been together for a good few months now

and you both wanted to take things slow

but the perfect moment had come and go many, many times

and you were starting to get a little POed. 

‘does he not want to kiss me?’

‘does he not like kisses?’

‘does he not like me that much?’

yeah, you are intelligent but you are also pretty insecure 

(and also very pretty, but since people find your straight face kind of terrifying, not many of them talk to you - not like you care, after all.) 

and while none of that is true, from his perspective, of course

shirabu is just shy.

yep, that’s all it is.

he’s seen the moments, he’s wanted to take the chances

but things just haven’t worked out for him.

it’s always at the worst times, and frankly-

it was getting annoying for the both of you.

for different reasons, of course

but annoying nonetheless.

either way, you two came to the library to study, not make out in the surprisingly hidden area that you had chosen-

ANYWAY

you both got down to business quick.

flashcards, notes, textbooks, you name it

you needed it, you had it

and the both of you had an amazing grasp on the subject matter

so you both went about your normal study process 

(that had been modified to match the library)

things had been going smoothly for a while.

there had been a few slip ups, on both ends, but there was still a few more days beforehand and you both planned to tear into the study material as they continued

so you’d both be fine in the long run.

you still weren’t happy with it, though.

it’s not a surprise that you two had decided to take a small break to hone and get some water.

and while shirabu took the water and small snack route, you took the opposite

you had shoved your face into your notes and reviewed what you got wrong, even going to the extent to annotate the notes you already had with extra information from his notes and the subject textbook.

shirabu had been watching you as you concentrated, 

eyes grazing over the information with intensity that only intrigued him 

(holy shit, i sound like i’m preaching something, why am i like this-)

the way your bright eyes practically glowed with drive

god, it drove him wild.

and whether it was the stress coming to a head, or just the look in your eyes-

hell, maybe even the lack of care that you had for your health-

he just had to kiss you

(distraction, aid, or not)

he knew that now was the perfect time, that this moment would be the best time to do it

so he knew he had to suck it up

and that he did.

he was still hesitant in his approach, though.

“s/o, look at me.”

“hmm? whaddaya nee-”

straight up smooches you midsentence.

the uncharacteristically bold move shocks you, but he makes it quick

(or at least quick enough to distract you from overworking yourself) 

and as quick as it is, my god-

it is passionate.

veyr rough, very forceful, 

but he was careful not to hurt you.

either way, the love and lack of hesitance came through.

and safe to say, the messiness was very prominent as well.

on one hand, though, you stopped pushing your head so hard to study

and you also managed to take the hint.

“so you felt that too?”

“yeah, i did. now stop studying and get some water, idiot.”

you chuckled at him, but did it nonetheless.

you two spent the rest of the time huddled closer together, as well.

(you two didn’t realize the third years peeking through the bookshelvesn watching this though)

(”my god, our little second years are growing up! T_T”)

overall, though

given the preciseness of the kiss, you both felt content with it for the time being 

(i know, a short kiss despite the many times it failed? damn.)

but yeah, given the circumstance, it worked for the both of you.

the library setting, too, holy-

just, overall a great kiss

short, sweet, a little messy, and very shy

(just like your relationship lol)

(sidenote: you two got teased relentlessly by tendou, but semi shut it down quick.) 

Goshiki Tsutomu

can we cover this first? 

this boi is awkward. 

yes, he’s driven. yes, he’s capable. and yes, he is intelligent.

but that doesn’t negate awkward. 

this is why i think he’d have to know his s/o before dating them. 

they would be aware of his little quirks and habits, as would he.

but they’d have to be much more sure of themselves in other areas in order to help push him forward

he does the same, of course, but he’d have an odd time handling it.

so yes, they’d have to be sure of themselves and, possibly, even motherly

patience and tolerance would be key to support this boy.

that being said, i have a feeling that he’d try to make the first kiss happen with a cliche romantic build up

i mean, he’s not stupid, but he most definitely is unaware of how to deal with romantic endeavors. 

(that is actually kind of adorable, but hey - he’s oblivious to things like this, so tell him.)

otherwise, he started the date off in a typical manner.

he had walked up to get you at around 5 pm

you had the okay to skip dinner with your family/guardian for the night, you were prepped and ready in your flowing outfit \

(vague for personal reference)

he had also come prepared, dressed nicely and clean

holding your favorite flowers in his hand, possibly even some small candies for you (that are also your favorite) 

just overall, you could tell he had paid attention to the things that you liked 

(no duh though, you two have been friends for years).

either way, he had everything planned.

and it started off with a picnic at the park.

what else would he hold the candies in?

you thought the basket he was using was a little oversized for candies alone

and you were right.

he had everything that he could bring (and knew wouldn’t rot) with him.

what he didn’t know is that there was none of the food he had originally packed in the basket

and the blanket he had prepared wasn’t there 

(his mom had taken the basket he was supposed to use and he took the one she had - potluck problems).

safe to say, you both didn’t really like the food in the basket

and worse yet? the food was nasty with a capital N

yeah, that part of the plan was bust.

your alternative? 

McDonald’s.

some small amount of money for some small amount of fast food? 

good enough.

not for goshiki, but hey - what can you do?

otherwise, his next plan was fairly simple. 

he’d planned to meet his mother at the amusement park later that night to trade off the basket and enjoy some rides with you.

(and his plan included the ferris wheel) 

anyway, since the ‘meal’ didn’t last long, you settled for walking through town. 

and you did, but...

it rained. 

and the both of you got soaked.

it didn’t last long, thankfullly, but boy oh boy...

goshiki was starting to get a little depressed. 

you noticed, and reached for his hand. 

if things weren’t working out, you’d find a way to replace it.

right now, it was calling your older sibling to come and get you from where you were and taking you to his flat 

(it was the closest) 

either way, he had come by and two had decided to change into off-hand clothing that had been stored there 

(you left some clothes there for when you wanted to see your brother and fell asleep, your brother had some old clothing that fit goshiki)

either way, the awkwardness settled

your brother left you two to your own devices as he had some quick college assignments to complete. 

so you two decided to watch a tv show you both liked while you waited. 

eventually, it happened as such.

your brother had left his room after it was complete and, to keep some secrecy, pulled your brother aside to tell him the plan.

he agreed, and goshiki’s first kiss plan held a chance. 

eventually, as 7:30 rolled around and it started to get dark, your brother told you two to get your stuff and get in the car

“we’re going to the carnival - y/n i’ll pay for whatever you need.”

you both just went along with it.

when you arrived, goshiki walked off for a little bit before running back to you and taking your hand in his.

your brother had already bought a good amount of tickets for you two to use, so you were in the clear. 

you two had ran around, going on a rollercoaster even! 

(you were smiling, goshiki was crying - good times)

but when night fully came upon the sky, he knew he had to act fast.

and, luckily, his luck didn’t screw him over. 

the line to the ferris wheel was short, the sky was getting darker by the second, and he could see people setting up fireworks from his crappy vantage point below the hill.

‘perfect timing.’

and indeed it was.

you had been seated next to him and the ride had begun, and the fireworks had been set off. 

the lights were reflecting, and the pressure of the night just hit him square in the face.

“hey, s/o, i’m sorry about today.”

“what do you mean?”

“the picnic, the walk...it didn’t work out the way i wanted it to and i’m sorry for that.”

you laughed, making eye contact with him.

your bright eyes made him blush and your smile made him melt.

it didn’t help that the neon lights and the fireworks were reflecting in the depths of your eyes.

he knew that the time was now, but he was afraid that if he took the bold chance, you’d push him away.

you, on the other hand, had a completely different idea. 

when he had directed his attention to the floor of the compartment you two were in, you had reached for his chin and pulled his face to meet yours.

you straight up kissed him. 

this shocked the boy, but he went along with it and cupped your cheek in his hand as you wrapped your hands around his neck and pulled yourself closer to him

it got more passionate, and much more messy.

hell, you didn’t even realize how breathless the two of you were until the loudest firework went off right as you two reached the top.

you pulled away from each other then

and while the two of you were bright red, you still cuddled up closer to the other for as long as you could before you both had to go home. 

but, just in general, holy-

this boy’s whole attempt was the cutest thing, and the kiss?

same way.

honestly, it was shy and so timid, 

but it held the messiness of the whole thing still- 

it was still immature, no matter the whole ordeal.

otherwise, both of your romantic fantasies were met to the highest standard when you had kissed on the ferris wheel just-

mwah! 

[astridthevalkyrie]

Oh, let's have some fun. Salty Ask List, HTTYD fandom, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19

I’m so sorry, I went through half this post before realizing you only meant the HTTYD fandom, but it felt like such a waste to delete everything, so just ignore all the non-HTTYD stuff.

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Okay, here are a list of ships that I do not get, as in I don’t necessarily hate them, but I can’t bring myself to ship them:

Harmione, Kataang, Zutara, Merricup, Jelsa, Barchie, Jlaire, Rayllum, Jason /Janet (is there even a ship name for them), and Lingfan.

There’s no OTP in the HTTYD fandom that I don’t like that is popular. Hiccstrid really is the only big pairing in the fandom, and I like Hiccstrid, so...

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

Basically see above? Every single ship on that last is a couple whose non romantic relationship I thrive for. 

But in a general sense, nearly all my ships. I like writing people being friends more than I like writing them being in a romantic relationship. I like writing Hiccup and Astrid being friends with each other - even when they’re a couple, they’re friends who kiss every now and then. SO, every ship technically. 

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?

I do not care for Rufflout or Dagla or Heathlegs but I don’t consider them popular OTPs. 

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

Zutara, Harmione (these two are gonna be recycled a lot, pfft). Hiccstrid to a certain point, the love square in MLB, Jake and Amy? Kinda?

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

Already answered!

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

REGINA MILLS. There’s probably others but I cannot stand Regina Mills, holy crap. She is everything I hate. Her character and fan following boggle my mind so much. The woman is terrible and the writers’ love for her screwed over every other character. That being said, I love Lana Parilla.

There’s also two meanings to “dislike” in this sense. Characters like Regina are ones that I dislike but ultimately am still entertained by. Cheryl Blossom and Severus Snape fall under that category too. But I could also dislike a character simply because they’re boring, like Nini from HSMTMTS or Elena from TVD (but I’ve only watched one episode of TVD so don’t come for me there).

For HTTYD I dislike RTTE Hiccup, RTTE Tuffnut, Grimmel and Dagur to a certain point. 

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Regina’s redemption arc because she never regretted anything and constantly blamed everyone else and never did anything to atone and literally separated the evil from herself as though the evil part of her was someone else and not just her. Like, she was not possessed, she was not controlled, she may have been manipulated by Rumple, but her evil actions were entirely her own.

I also dislike Dagur’s redemption arc honestly? He never was shown to be changing, he just did a complete flip out of love for Heather and didn’t really have to go through any work for it, so it doesn’t feel satisfying.

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Already vocalized, but some people hold HTTYD up on a pedestal and ignore its flaws. Its villains are racist and antisemitic and the writing is sexist (yes, even the movies, describing astrid in a “sexy ball of fire” is weird). 

15. Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

Which opinion do I have about RTTE that isn’t unpopular, pfft. Let’s see if there’s any I haven’t talked about yet...

The timing of the show was so weird? It’s supposed to take place when Hiccup is nineteen, so one year before HTTYD2 at least, and yet it’s kind of impossible that everything happened within a year. Specifically in Shellshocked (I think), Astrid mentions that Hiccup has been working on a plan for months, months that we did not see that happened between episodes. The writers also seriously wrote the show as though they had not seen HTTYD2, and while Mala and Atali and Minden are cool characters that I appreciate, BERK SHOULD BE THE ONLY ISLAND THAT HAS MADE PEACE WITH DRAGONS. As for being “canon,” it depends on what you define as canon. 

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

Have Hiccstrid be in a relationship already. Give Dagur a proper redemption arc. Snotlout and Astrid are bisexual. Hiccup changes outfits so that he starts wearing armor closer to his HTTYD2 outfit. More time spent on Berk. Less of a “gotta catch em all” feel. More villages introduced. Heather is a proper grey character. 

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

Instead of the dragons leaving, I would have had them stay and beat the odds and gotten an optimistic ending instead of a pessimistic one.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

I’m not on Tumblr as much anymore, but I wish that there were more discussion posts like there were around HTTYD2/early RTTE times. I know it’s hard to discuss theories and stuff when the franchise is over, but I miss analyses and discussion and that kind of fun.

[azuremist]

Around a month ago (or a few weeks ago, I don’t have long term memory), I made a post along the lines of ‘should I make a top ten Animal Crossing villagers list’? And even if it got no notes, I knew I was going to do it anyways, because I wanted to infodump about Animal Crossing and I still do! But I don’t think I actually knew what I was getting into; when I went through the list of all the Animal Crossing villagers, picking my favorites, I ended up with over 30 villagers that I really loved. So it’s now a top ten list, plus five honorable mentions that would have killed me upon impact to exclude. (And even then, I still ended up excluding some villagers that physically hurt me to leave out.)

So anyways, what I’m saying is, here’s my top ten Animal Crossing villagers, plus honorable mentions, AKA literally just one big infodump.

#10: Carmen

Carmen is a peppy rabbit whose color scheme is clearly based off of mint chocolate chip. She’s one of my current villagers, and honestly, I got so excited when I saw her. I didn’t know she existed before, and I adore mint chocolate chip/food-themed villagers! One of my favorite fun facts about her is her catchphrase. I thought her catchphrase, ‘nougat’, was just a funny way of saying ‘nugget’, to go with her food theme. However, it’s a reference to a completely different food, which is made with nuts! Going back to her design, something about the way she looks makes her look both sassy and soft, and I love the vibes she gives off. So glad to have this funky bunny in my village.

(Rest is under the cut! :])

#9: Stella

I honestly didn’t realize how partial I was towards sheep villagers until after I made this list.

So anyways, Stella just looks so calm and almost sleepy, which is a look that I really love on sheep-based characters, because of the tradition of counting sheep to fall asleep. She is perpetually blushing, which is an instant plus in the character design department for me. But her catchphrase, ‘baa-dabing’, just makes me think of her as a huge dork! A very sleepy and soft dork who I love.

#8: Fauna

I consider Fauna a fairly popular villager, and I completely understand why. Her warm color scheme makes her look extremely welcoming, plus her cute appearance (again, with the blushy cheeks) makes her seem sweet and kind. Even her catchphrase, ‘dearie’, gives off almost motherly vibes. Adding to her motherly view from me is her skill being math and her goal being to become a teacher, which would help me a ton, because I suck at math! One of my favorite things about her comes in her Pocket Camp profile, which describes her as being very friendly and getting along with everyone, and her only true flaw being her competitive streak. This is followed up by advice to not look at her while playing cards. I love characters who are friendly and cutesy, but once you flip a certain switch, they enter ‘serious mode’.  I love Fauna, and I would let her beat me in Mario Kart.

#7: Mitzi

I love Rosie as much as the next person, but personally, my favorite blue cat has to be Mitzi. She was one of the original villagers in my very first Animal Crossing towns, and she was very quickly one of my favorites in the village, because of her resemblance to a Siamese cat, which was one of my favorite breeds of cats. She was the first villager I ever sent a letter to or talked to, because I was drawn to her design, and I consider her my best friend in-game. She’s very nostalgic for me, but even if she didn’t have that tie to my childhood, I still think I’d adore this funky little cat!

#6: Cherry

I don’t know to describe why I love Cherry except she gives me goth lesbian big sister vibes. Her personality type is literally ‘uchi’, which translates to ‘big sister’, which means she’s tough but caring and protective. Her profile says that she’s good to take to a concert, because you’d never lose each other, hinting she may make sure you’re safe. Even despite this, she has huge goth/emo vibes, with her appearance and catchphrase being ‘what what!’ I desperately want this fictional red dog to take me to a rock concert and be my older sibling.

#5: Etoile

Remember how I said I love sleepy sheep? Yeah. Etoile is everything I love about Stella, but bass boosted. More pastel? Check. More themes of sleep and nighttime, with her name translating to ‘star’? Check. Blushy cheeks? Check!

Etoile is one of the Sanrio villagers, based off of the Little Twin Stars. I adore all of the Sanrio villagers, but Etoile is easily my favorite, despite my favorite actual Sanrio character being Cinnamoroll. And, despite not usually taking interior design into account, holy CRAP does Etoile have her aesthetic on POINT with her house! Like, I want to live in her house with everything within me, and it fits her perfectly.

I may not know much about the Little Twin Stars, but I adore Etoile.

#4: Lucky

Honestly, my favorite thing about Lucky is simply about how his name ties to his appearance in irony. He’s in a full-body cast, and his catchphrase insinuates he constantly hurts himself on accident, making him extremely unlucky. So imagine addressing someone as Lucky as he continuously trips and hurts himself. I love it. Also, I look WAYYY too deep into his lazy personality and take it as him having depression because of his presumably-permanent injuries, and so, when I got him in my village when I was going through a depression spell, it made me super happy. Something about Lucky makes me look way too deep into his character, but I love him because of it! Super good comfort character.

#3: Pietro

Pietro gets a lot of hate because of his clownish appearance. I’m sure you’ve either seen the comic of someone hitting him with a net over and over to make him move away, or the picture of someone using the megaphone to call him an abomination in-game. But those people are, uh, how do you say it…

COWARDS.

Pietro is a GOOD lad, and I’m happy to see lots of people liking him more with the rise of clowncore. This is another one of the villagers that was in my first town, though he moved in later. I was never afraid of clowns that weren’t purposefully coded as scary, so I ended up really liking him! As a kid I loved extremely colorful characters, so his rainbow theme really made me attached to him, which has lasted until this day!

#2: Goldie

Goldie is another fairly popular villager who I adore. I didn’t like her that much, though, until Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. She comes with the ‘natural’ theme, and one of her quotes describes her reading a book that the sun makes people feel happy. She also wants for you to craft a harpsichord. This makes her come across as a helpful, bookish sweetheart. Like, she seems like the kind of girl who would dream of living in a cottage, and she seems like a great gal to have as a friend.

Also, she and Cherry are uhhhhh girlfriends. Thank you and goodnight.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

I have a lot of favorite villagers, but I didn’t want to make this too long, so here are some honorable mentions that only just barely didn’t make the cut.

Muffy:

Are you KIDDING? A PASTEL GOTH SHEEP?! It’s like they were attempting to design a character to cater specifically for me! I honestly was shocked when she didn’t find her way onto the final top ten. I love her.

Stitches:

Again, another villager that feels like it was made for me specifically. I love stuffed animals so much, and I specifically have memories of loving a well-worn teddy bear, making me love Stitches instantly.

Chai:

Remember how I said I loved the Sanrio villagers? And how Cinnamoroll was my favorite Sanrio character? And how I love pastels? Oh, and did I mention that I love tea and tea-themed characters? Yeah.

Okay! With those friends out of the way, it’s time to announce my #1 friend!!

#1: Merengue

What can I say except ‘I’m predictable?’

I’ve jokingly asked multiple friends to kinassign me an Animal Crossing villager, and almost every time they assigned me Merengue. Which, I mean, understandable. She’s pink, always blushing, and food-themed. Plus, she’s a baker! I’ve, personally, always wanted to learn to cook and bake; I’ve only ever really made cake and brownies. Her hobby is also doodling, meaning she likes to draw, just like me! I love the creative use of the horn to put a strawberry on her, and (I’m probably projecting with this) I like how large she is? I don’t know, I love the fact that the most food-related animal is a big animal like a rhino, and it makes me feel super happy.

Merengue also reminds me of Alcremie, a new Pokemon which I really like, so I guess that the pink and whipped cream-related idea just sort of makes me drawn to something! She’s an extremely large and friendly gal, and she seems like she would make me muffins when I’m sad. 10/10, would actually die for this pink baker rhino.

[ludacryst]

Survey Says..

1: How tall or short do you wish you were? I'm 5'3, but I sometimes wish I was shorter because of how cute it can be in a relationship. I've watched too much anime, okay?

2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not) Well, @warpedbelief didn't help me figuring this out because his dragon idea was really cool. However... I'll just stick with cats. I love cats. (I also love dragons..)

3: Do you have a favorite clothing style? Comfortable. Lol. I mostly wear PJs.

4: What was your favorite video game growing up? Final Fantasy series in general. 7 & 9 Specifically. My heart was always with Zelda ALTTP though.

5: What three things/people do you think of most each day: Erwin, Wiggles, PoF (Power of Friendship, so my friends/family.)

6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say? Caution : Speaks her mind far too often. No filter. Bossy af. Does not cave easily.

7: What is your opinion on [insert person/thing here]? I don't know.

8: What is your Greek personality type? [Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic] Melancholic.

9: Are you ticklish? .....No...?....(Yes)

10: Are you allergic to anything? Lots of stuff. There's a list uploaded somewhere.

11: What’s your sexuality? Heteronormative Bisexual. I used to call it straight with a twist until I figured out there was an actual term for it. Basically, I'm emotionally attracted to men and commonly see myself in a relationship with men. (My Husband, HI.) However, I have similar attractions physically to women, but have never seen myself in a relationship with one other than physically.

12: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa? Cocoa or Tea, but I'll drink any of em.

13: Are you a cat or dog person? Cat. 1000% They're chill just like me... once they're older.

14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson? Elf, probably. I love nature, I hate being allergic to it though.

15: Do you have a favorite Youtuber? Nah, I just skim youtube from time to time, no favorite.

16: How tall are you? 5'3.

17: If you had to change your name, what would you change it to? I'd probably keep it in the realm it's already in. So, I'm Crystal. I go by Crys (Chris) so probably Christina.. or anything that could shorten it to Chris of sorts. It's just me.

18: How much do you weigh? 175-190, depends on if I've ate fast food recently or not. More averaged at 186, but it's jumped a lot the past few months. Goal weight is 125.

19: Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? Sure. I don't disbelieve. Had a thing when i was a kid a few times that make me think something exists.. whether or not we know what it is.

20: Do you like space or the ocean more? Space. Stars. I love water don't get me wrong, but I'm more curious about what we can't physically reach.

21: Are you religious? Nah.

22: Pet peeves? Liars, people who try to grind my gears, people saying "I'm going to do it just to spite you." I'm tired of toxicity of people.

23: Would you rather be nocturnal or diurnal [opposite of nocturnal]? Diurnal. I'm defaulted to Nocturnal, so just eat some edibles and we're in bed by 10pm! :)

24: Favorite constellation? Leo ;)

25: Favorite star? Sirius, it shines the brightest.

26: Do you like ball-jointed dolls? I don't like dolls. They're creepy.

27: Any phobias or fears? Irrational : Dolls, Being around people. Rational : Heights, Closed Spaces t-t

28: Do you think global warming is real? Fucking. Is this seriously a question? Of course it's real.

29: Do you believe in reincarnation? I actually like to. It gives me hope there's something after death.

30: Favorite movie? I'm not sure I have a favorite movie...

31: Do you get scared easily? Nah, but I love a good jump scare.

32: How many pets have you own in your lifetime? Christina - My first doggie, passed away when I was in 4th grade. She was a mini collie~ Alexi - My green/yellow parakeet. Passed away at roughly 2-3 years old. Jiggy - My gray/white beautiful DHS big boi kitty. (2006-2016) Momma - My loving calico who picked me over everyone. ;o;  (2006-2018) Wiggles - Adopted from my family, he's a tyrant! He loves his dad more than me tho... [rude] (2016-???)

33: Blog rate? [You’ll rate the blog of the one who’s asking.] You CC please.

34: What is a color that calms you? Blue. Blue is always relaxing, especially softer/darker blues.

35: Where would you like to travel and/or live? Travel wise, I want to visit a lot of places. Germany, UK, Canada... more specifically Niagara Falls.. Live wise, if I could, I'd live in Canada. However... I just want to live in the midwest, or east, somewhere more affordable in the US.

36: Where were you born? Ohio!

37: What is your eye color? Blue-gray.

38: Introvert or extrovert? 1000% introverted.

39: Do you believe in horoscopes and zodiacs? I think they're amusing as fuck. I don't believe/follow them 100%. I do like to imagine what it would be like if they were right though. I follow zodiac stuff way more than horoscope.

40: Hugs or kisses? xoxoxo - Preferably hugs, they're for everyone! *HUGS*

41: Who is someone you would like to see/visit right now? Scotty! ( @warpedbelief )

42: Who is someone you love deeply? @hyphenhero - My husbando.

43: Any piercings you want? I really dunno any more. The only one I've been considering lately is Daith.

44: Do you like tattoos and piercings? I don't dislike tattoos and piercings.

45: Do you smoke or have you ever done so? Cigarettes are disgusting. Be more descriptive of your "smoking." I have marijuana vapes I enjoy.

46: Talk about your crush, if you have one! Well, I married him.

47: What is a sound you really hate? Anything pitchy. My ears have been killing me the past year or so.

48: A sound you really love? Meow.

49: Can you do a backflip? HAHAHA No.

50: Can you do the splits? Almost did them on accident the other day. It really hurt. (No)

51: Favorite actor and/or actress? Do voice actors count? Because then I'm between two. Johnny Yong Bosch and Matt Mercer.

52: Favorite movie? Wasn't this asked already? I don't have one.

53: How are you feeling right now? Tired.

54: What color would you like your hair to be right now? I really want to bleach it blonde again.

55: When did you feel happiest? Maybe when we first moved into our second apartment? The rent was cheaper, it was nice. I miss freedom. Though, I also miss having a full guild of friends and getting along and having fun together.. Man I'm getting old.

56: Something that calms you down? Marijuana primarily. Hugs. Kittens.

57: Have any mental disorders? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!] Anxiety, Depression, Memory issues xD Honestly you should just ask if there's stuff NOT wrong with me.

58: What does your URL mean? It's a nickname a friend gave me 11 years ago. Holy crap. It's been 11 years.

59: What three words describe you the most? Sassy, Bratty, Mom-ish.

60: Do you believe in evolution? Yes.

61: What makes you unfollow a blog? Too much spam/boring content. Stuff I'm not interested in. Sometimes inactivity for years.

62: What makes you follow a blog? Stuff I'm interested in typically.

63: Favorite kind of person: People I can just talk to about anything. I like to talk. I don't like to be pestered and felt bad about not responding right away. I enjoy helping people. So I'm mostly a listener. I like to talk about stuff we're mutually interested in. Sometimes I love people I can debate with but not hate after (reasonable debates.) I guess I'm going to be that guy and copy what my friend said.. "Engaging, but not too much that I’m constantly tired. I like doing nothing, but doing nothing with the right person."

64: Favorite animal(s): Cats. All the cats.

65: Name three of your favorite blogs. I don't really actively follow any specific blog in particular! :x

66: Favorite emoticon: :smirk: (use it on discord... though if you played maplestory, it's an F3 equivalent... )

67: Favorite meme: You said that tho?

68: What is your MBTI personality type? INFJ-T

69: What is your star sign? Leo

70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog? No dog, but you'd be damn right to guess I'd train them.

71: What outfit out of all your clothes do you like to wear the most? Any of the fluffy pjs with a thin tank top.

72: Post a selfie or two? https://ludacryst.tumblr.com/tagged/me https://ludacryst.tumblr.com/tagged/wedding

73: Do you have platform shoes? Nah. I don't have heels either.

74: What is one random but interesting fact about yourself? My memory is absolutely shit in most situations.  However, in certain and RANDOM AF situations it can be clear as day. If I want to learn/remember something? Forget about it. If I could not care less about something? You'll be damn straight I'll remember it.

75: Can you do a front flip? Lol, no.

76: Do you like birds? Yeah, cept the annoying high pitched ones T_T

77: Do you like to swim? I used to love to. I can't really be in the sun for long any more though.

78: Is swimming or ice skating more fun to you? Never been Ice Skating! Always wanted to try. I'd probably equally enjoy both.

79: Something you wish didn’t exist: Mosquitoes, Cancer, Violence. On the violence part... It's mostly guns. If we had swordsman style fights - It'd be more interesting.

80: Some thing you wish did exist: Cures to incurables. Cancer, Epilepsy, Autism, etc. (I'm an epilepsy survivor.)

81: Piercings you have? Had an eyebrow piercing, lost it the same month I got it to pink eye.

82: Something you really enjoy doing: Watching television. I miss reading. I have a hard time focusing on reading now.

83: Favorite person to talk to: I have 3! Erwin (@hyphenhero) - My husband~ and my friends Scott (@warpedbelief)  and Brandon.

84: What was your first impression of Tumblr? What the fuck is this and why do people use it? inb4 I replaced wordpress with it.

85: How many followers do you have? I don't really check. My Tumblr is mostly for me... and I just restarted fresh these past few months.

86: Can you run a mile within ten minutes? Maybe if I tried. Used to be able to run one in 6.

87: Do your socks always match? Yeah.

88: Can you touch your toes and keep your legs straight completely? HA, Never could.

89: What are your birthstones? Peridot, Sardonyx, Spinel

90: If you were an animal, which one would you be? Cat? Yes. Spoil me.

91: If a flower could aesthetically represent you, what kind would it be? Tulips.

92: A store you hate? Umm.... I don't know if I avoid any stores in particular....

93: How many cups of coffee can you drink in one day? 1-2. My stomach gets pretty upset.

94: Would you rather be able to fly or read minds? Fly. Definitely. I get lost in my own mind enough.

95: Do you like to wear camo? Situationally.

96: Winter or summer? Winter 100%. Hate the heat. Love the snow.

97: How long can you hold your breath for? I don't know. Like 30 seconds maybe?

98: Least favorite person? They who will not be named. It gives them too much attention.

99: Someone you look up to: I used to look up to my mom a lot. Now I'm more-so my own person, I just do what I can to do right by me and my hubby.

100: A store you love? Uhm.. Any cheap store... I don't really have a favorite. I guess amazon for saving me gas?

101: Favorite type of shoes Skechers.

102: Where do you live? California.

103: Are you a vegetarian or vegan? If so, why? Nah. I love ham too much.

104: What is your favorite mineral or gem? Cubic Zirconia actually. It's so undervalued but so pretty.

105: Do you drink milk? Used to. Not really much any more.

106: Do you like bugs? Sometimes. But not in the house.

107: Do you like spiders? Sure, they get rid of the bad bugs.

108: Something you get paranoid about? Being followed. Bugs crawling on me.

109: Can you draw: Used to be able to. Not any more.

110: Nosiest question you have ever been asked? I don't know, I usually tell people anything they ask lol.

111: A question you hate being asked? Any question I had previously already answered, and they just weren't paying attention. Anything related to me/my own working/schooling.

112: Ever been bitten by a spider? Not that I can remember.

113: Do you like the sound of waves at the beach? Yeah, it's really relaxing.

114: Do you prefer cloudy or sunny days? Cloudy, 100%

115: Someone you’d like to kiss or cuddle right now: I would like to cuddle Momma right now.. Why you gotta go and make a girl sad for survey thing? (My calico that passed away last year..)

116: Favorite cloud type: Cumulus, Cumulonimbus, and Nimbostratus. Yes I googled them for their names.

117: What color do you wish the sky was? I honestly love the colors the sky is/can be, especially at sunrise and sunset.

118: Do you have freckles? Yes, but you can only see them when I have a tan. So to anyone who hasn't seen me since I was 10, you'd never know I had them.

119: Favorite thing about a person: How they treat people. If they're kind to animals. Eyes. Definitely eyes.

120: Fruits or vegetables? Fruits @_@

121: Something you want to do right now: Play Zelda - BoTW on Hard - but... I'm lazy.

122: Is the ocean or sky prettier? Ocean. But they look best together.

123: Sweet or sour foods? Candies or actual food? Food, sweet. Candies, sour.

124: Bright or dim lights? Dim as you can go without causing me to have seizures over tiny little things.

125: Do you believe in a certain magical creature? I wish. Dragons would rock my world.

126: Something you hate about Tumblr: Yahoo owning it.

127: Something you love about Tumblr: The freedom it USED to have.

128: What do you think about the least? I dunno, I think about it the least... so it won't naturally come to me.

129: What would you want written on your tombstone? Carpe Diem ....heheheh.

130: Who would you like to punch in the face right now? Why would I name them? Again with the attention thing.

131: What is something you love but also hate about yourself? My Epilepsy. It's shown me who really gives a fuck about me, but also it's taken a lot from me.

132: Do you smile with your teeth showing for pictures? No, I hate my teeth.

133: Computer or TV? Computer, it offers more.

134: Do you like roller coasters? Never been on one, definitely want to try.

135: Do you get motion sickness or seasickness? Sometimes motion sickness, never got seasick tho.

136: Are your ears lobed or attached? Attatched.

137: Do you believe in karma? I like to believe in Karma, but I really feel like people don't get their just desserts :(

138: On a scale of 1-10, how attractive would you say you are? -5

139: What nicknames do you have/have had? Crys, Crysti, Cryssi, Crysii, Ludacryst, Toxie, Punky, there's probably more but effort.

140: Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends? I am unsure.

141: Have you ever seen a therapist/shrink? Yes. More than one therapist.

142: Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others? Yes.

143: Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts/help? Giving.

144: What makes you angry? Lots of little things. Dumb things. Mostly the way medical/doctors are here... Our president... a lot of things really.

145: How many languages do you speak fluently? I can barely manage English, you want me to learn more?!

146: Do you prefer boys, girls, and/or non-binaries? I kinda answered this earlier.

147: Are you androgynous? No.

148: Favorite physical thing about yourself: My eye color.

149: Favorite thing about your personality: I'm more willing to let people go if they make my life worse. I used to be terrible at that.

150: Name three people you would like to talk to right now in person. My Mom, Scooter, Matt Mercer.. (shh)

151: If you could go back into time and live in one era, which would you choose? ANY ERA WITH KNIGHTS AND KINGDOMS AND WEEEEEEE............ (I like a lot of oldie based shows.)

152: Do you like BuzzFeed? Eh.

153: How did you meet your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner? [If you have one.] MapleStory. Not even remotely kidding.

154: Do you like to kiss others’ foreheads or hands for platonic reasons? Yes. I'm a very touchy person if I trust the person. I prefer hugs on most though. Forehead is pretty sentimental to me.

155: Do you like to play with others’ hair? Sometimes, yeah.

156: What embarrasses you? My teeth, my weight, a lot of things.

157: Something that makes you nervous/anxious: People. Crowds. Planes. Heights. New Doctors.

158: Biggest lie you have ever told: If it's the biggest lie I've ever told, do you think I'm going to out myself on social media?

159: How many people are you following? Fuck if I know... I'm too lazy to check.

160: How many posts do you have on your blog(s)? See #159

161: How many drafts do you have on your blog(s)? See #159

162: How many likes do you have on your blog(s)? See #159

163: Last time you cried and why: It's been over a lot of things. My health, my families health, my cat, hurting myself, etc.

164: Do you have long or short hair? Medium?

165: Longest your hair has ever been: Just below my shoulders.

166: Why do you like, dislike, or have neutral feelings about religion? Neutral mostly, because you can't prove or disprove a god exists. Just because you haven't seen something does that mean it's not there? Also, just because you believe in something, does it mean that it exists really? I'm agnostic. Though Wicca seems like a more reasonable religion in most aspects (I've dabbled in research, I hope that doesn't offend anyone.)

167: Do you really care how the universe and world was created? Not really. I just care if it's gonna blow up before I die.

168: Do you like to wear makeup? Like? Not usually, it just helps me feel a little better sometimes.

169: Can you stand on your hands or head for more than thirty seconds? Nope.

170: Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully? As much as I could.

[unsettledink]

From the Ask Game Post celebrating finishing Act 1 of Gotcha:

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an "architect" or a "gardener"? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

Grrrrr I have a very low opinion of him lol. But as to the actual question – with the exclusion of Gotcha, definitely a gardener. I generally get a snapshot or a scene or two, and then start working out from there. Sometimes it's just letting it sit for a while and see what starts connecting, and sometimes I'm actively going okay but what happened between? How did they get there? After I've got enough parts I have to start getting a little more specific about the daydreaming. Or, well, I don't, nothing is topping me from posting 2k of one random scene!

(And now I ramble about outlining Gotcha lord what a project:)

Gotcha is a very different experience. It started out because I wanted a lot of not that kinky sex between Quentin and Peter, way back in... ooof, Sept 2019. So I literally made a list of the things I wanted them to do, lol, and then kept thinking of more. There were so many that I wanted to be part of the same fic that I realized I'd have to have some sort of connective bits between, sigh.

And then, uh, the connective bits started getting more important and there were emotions and plot and wtf? By that time I had realized I couldn't put this all in one massive doc, but I didn't have a timeline or a real idea of what went where, just that some certain things happened and how I wanted it to end. Scenes kept popping up and it was getting more and more overwhelming. It didn't help that I was working overnights at a hotel during that time, so I literally had eight hours all alone with nothing to do but daydream and write (well it was a good thing too but).

I realized that as much as I've never been a fan of outlines, I needed something for this monster. I'd finished Better Than not that long ago and not having a structure for it was difficult.

I ended up really liking the format of the percentage outlining I found here, because I could figure out those basic points easily enough, and then start figuring out where the problems went, and then roughly how much space should be filled between them. I probably spent four or five nights messing with it, getting one for the fic as a whole and then one for each of the six acts (also basically why I did six acts vs any other number lol). And while a few things have moved around, those have stayed pretty solid throughout.

Great! But then I reached another point, where it was like... the space between 20% and 35% of one act ends up being like 20k, I need a little more structure withing THAT jfc help.

I spent a really, really long agonizing amount of time trying to map it out precisely on a calendar. Which was really frustrating when I had something pinned to a certain date – say, Halloween – but I wanted scene 1 to happen at least two weeks before that and that meant scenes 2-5 need to happen before that but scene 6 is tied to a date only a month earlier, how can I fit that many scenes in there???? But forcing myself to really work within that framework helped me make stronger connections between scenes and reasons for things to go where they do.

I've gotten away from being exact down to the day of a specific year and let most things fall 'sometime within this week', but it's still really useful. Right now I've actually got a sticky note map up on my wall that I was using to restructure Act 2 before I got really going on edits. I did that for 1-3 at one point and being able to visually see color coded clusters like that was incredibly helpful.

I kind of hope I don't ever have to get that exact or detailed for another fic because holy crap it's been a lot, but I also don't think I could have gotten far on Gotcha without it.

[sending-the-message]

I used to work on the deepweb: Part Three by Panley01

Hey everyone. It's Ryan again. I mentioned in my last post (Link here if you missed it: https://redd.it/7mzdw4 ) that things were getting a bit hairy, well I'm out of town and sorting things out. I've received multiple threats for talking about this stuff but I think my tracks are well enough covered, I should be safe. I can't help shaking the feeling I'm being watched though... I'll put it down to paranoia. But enough about that, I'll be fine. It's time I carried on with my story.

After the second set of events at the farmhouse I made the outward decision to never go there again, regardless of pay. Yes, I like the grand I had to spend, yes I was curious. But I wanted to live and going back there would lower my life expectancy by 60 odd years. If the old lady didn't shoot me, I'd likely die from cardiac arrest just from being back there. Matt has been busy researching the case. I've messaged him a few times but I only get one word replies. I can't help but worry about him... This whole thing feels off and not just because of the murderous old lady. I decided I'd do some of my own digging, perhaps I could find something to help Matt out. In all honesty not knowing was killing me, but then again... Knowing could literally kill me... Regardless I started by looking at the cases of the missing children. Online records showed that the mayors two kids went missing a couple months ago... Considering the old lady supposedly shot them only a couple weeks ago... Either that old man was lying or those kids went missing before showing up at the farmhouse...

The other kids had all went missing within 2 months of each-other. All the same story, they go out to visit a friend or go to an event and never show up. No trace of the disappearance... No leads... No witness... They were all dead cases. All kids of powerful people going missing then two turn up at a farmhouse on the fringe of town, get shot and all of a sudden the person who shot them is getting blackmailed by those same powerful people? Perhaps the old lady wasn't at fault after all... But what could be going on? It's been roughly two months since the last disappearance, would there be another missing kid soon? If so, who? How was Matt so good at this stuff? More to the point... How can he afford to pay people? Did he have a boss? This whole line of thought added to my theme of having lots of questions and barely any answers... But then again, some questions you just don't want answering... If the old lady didn't commit those murders, then why did she have that cork board? Perhaps she was trying to find the truth as well... It hit me. Jacob.

I sent Jacob an e-mail asking him if he had photos of the cork board, also letting him know to contact me on the sending e-mail if he had any work for me. His reply came quite promptly: "Ryan, I do have photos but I can't show you. Photos are for Matt. You ask him, not me. Thanks for letting me know e-mail. I'll tell you if I have work. You good kid." I sighed in defeat. I could ask Matt but there was no way he'd say yes... I didn't want to go behind his back and Jacob was his employee but... "Jacob, I'm looking into the same case as Matt, please, I really need to have those photos. I'll pay you?" Ironic, I was going to offer to pay Jacob with the same money he'd paid me not long ago. "Ryan, I have uploaded the photos. Here is the link: [Removed, for obvious reasons.] Link goes in 5 mins. Get quick. You owe me job." I always found it hard to argue with Jacob, especially when his point involves me not losing my money. I quickly visited the link and downloaded the photos. It was a clearnet link so I was about 90% sure the files were safe. I studied the photos, trying to scavenge whatever information I could.

I'd been looking through the photos for a few hours, I wasn't much further but I did find out that all the kids were involved in drugs. Nothing hardcore, just weed, couple less intense pills... I suppose when you have rich parents you can afford to do that crap. Quite how the old lady knew this is beyond me but then again, everything about that hag was completely beyond me. The two kids who invaded the farmhouse were dealers it turns out, weed dealers. They operated in the town, where they got their drugs from was a mystery though... The other kids seemed to all be users. The kids in question would also often frequent the same pubs, restaurants, shops... Seems they were all friends? Even with this new information, I was no closer to actually having an idea of what the fuck was going on... A bunch of drug loving friends all vanish progressively then two break into the home of an old lady who was watching them? This was all incredibly confusing and I was STILL no closer to knowing anything substantial. I decided I'd look into drug traffic in my town, best way I knew how? You guessed it. Deepweb. I went back onto my favourite forum and started asking around, pretending to be asking as a buyer. I found a guy who was a local dealer and asked to meet up under the premise of buying some weed. I had no fucking idea how much weed cost or how much to buy so... I asked for 2 spliffs worth. Do kids even say spliff anymore?

After a short drive into the town centre, I met with the guy at some apartment block, he was waiting in the foyer. I had brought £500 of the 1k pay Jacob had given me, I wasn't here for drugs of course, I was here for answers. I greeted the guy with a handshake. As part of our agreement, I'm not allowed to describe him so... He was a person. He had arms and legs. That's all I have to say. After talking to him for a while, offering the money and saying a dealer had hurt a friend of mine and I wanted to know who, he told me a bit about the local dealers. Apparently the entrepreneur who's kid went missing had been siphoning off business funds to run a deepweb drug trade in the town. The dealer didn't know much more than that, only the boss himself and the fact the trade was carried out over the deepweb. Guy even said the deepweb gave him the chills, he just operated on it because that's how the boss likes it. He also said he knew two dealers had been taken out recently. He wasn't sure who did it, just that they were missing. I thanked him and headed home. Was this what being Matt was like? It was pretty exciting... This whole situation was still irredeemably fucked up but actually finding stuff out? That almost made this worth it... Oh, I never actually bought the weed by the way. In fact he ended up smoking it so... Said snitching gets him edged but clearly £500 is enough to buy some pretty useful info.

So... A bunch of druggie kids who are all friends, who go missing when they go to meet their friends, who's dealers work for a guy on the deepweb, who's kid is also friends with those kids, and those dealers invade the home of someone investigating them, end up getting killed, all the other kids are still missing. All this had me at was that clearly, that businessman was corrupt as fuck. If only I knew someone on the insi - Lara. -- Breaking from the story to let you know, if you haven't read my "Courier" story, you won't know who Lara is... Give it a read if you missed it! https://redd.it/7n70em -- I sent her a message, asking if she had done any work in the area, if she had any contacts? She got back to me after a couple hours, hours I spent staring at the ceiling contemplating why I took that job in the first place... "Hey stranger, long time no talk, yeah I've ran a few jobs. What's up? Something wrong?" I was at a standstill for what to reply with. Should I tell her the truth? "Some dealer attacked a friend of mine, all I want to do is find out who they were..." I paused, choosing my next few words with inhuman trepidation "... But they went missing a few weeks ago. Know anything?" I waited... My breath catching in my throat as the seconds ticked by. "Ah, I think I know the guy, I take drops from him pretty often. Mostly weed right? Last time I saw him he was gassing on about someone who was watching their work... There were a few kids with him at his place, all looked about his age. Half of them spent their time ogling me as ever... Stupid kids ;)" I thanked her for her help and promised I'd talk to her more often again, I'd been pretty busy recently after all...

I think I was beginning to get what was going on... Bunch of kids get together, all with powerful parents who can aid them, and run a deepweb drug business? With the Mayor, police inspector, a supporting entrepreneur and the kids themselves, they could run a pretty good business free of risk. And anyone who tried to interfere... Well, just look at the old couple. I thought about what Matt might know... Maybe he could help? I composed a message full of the information I'd gathered and the sources. It took me about an hour to write up... His reply came more promptly than his previous ones. "Holy crap Ryan! You've been doing my job for me eh? I was trying to find out the same things but, being so far away I couldn't meet with any contacts. I was actually considering asking you to work for me again but hey, I needn't ask! Good job man! I'll get to work trying to find out more. In the meantime I need you to lay low. I've looked higher up the pyramid than you and let's just say some potentially dangerous people are behind this. Same account as last time for your pay I take it?" I was at a loss, I'd found more than Matt? These people were dangerous? I mean I know they attacked the old lady but... Where did it go from here? I was so busy thinking this over I almost forgot Matt had just offered to pay me. I replied with a curt yes and a good luck and sure enough, there in my account was another £900. Christ. I mean, costs considered it was more like £400 but still... This was good money. And yet... Was I really about to risk it by going against Matt and investigating more?

Well, that's it for now. Before I can put out the next part I need to make sure some people are okay being mentioned in it. After all, this information is pretty... Well... Illegal. But I should be able to get the go ahead by tomorrow, after all, money talks. And I didn't impulse spend ALL the money Matt paid me which leaves me with some bribery cash. Things will nearly be wrapped up in the next part, I'm sorry for extending things out by telling this in parts but there are alot of factors at play and I control barely any of them. Hopefully, I'll see you all next time for part four, until then. I'm going to head to bed for another painful night of no sleep.

[hannahreveur]

Top 10 Books I Read in Summer 2017!!!!

Time for one of my favourite things to do! Definitely will be making this a tradition from now on :)

Since I had four months of summer with the university timeline, I’ve read a total of 40 books this summer, whoop whooop but I am very tired. Anyways, here is the list of my favourite books:

10. The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney - This was probably the best mystery/thriller book I read this year, part of what made it so attractive to me was its incorporation of architecture. Who knew minimalism and streamlined technology could be made into a nightmare... hahaha

9. One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus - Personal favourite YA contemporary novel. This was another mystery/thriller which tbh wasn’t exactly very “thrilling” for me. The ending was predictable and not exactly a plot twist, but the characters and their stories were so well done I couldn’t help but fall in love with this!

8. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See - AHHH I love this so much! A historical fiction novel with a dual perspective (one in the past, one in the present) that incorporates the extremely interesting oh my lord i want to take a class on this culture of an ethnic minority within China. First of all, I love tea so learning about the production, history, and selling of tea was so cool. The story itself gets dark at times and had some heartbreaking moments but there was a happy ending and overall, it was a well crafted work!

7. Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Honestly, this book is kinda ridiculous and if you feel like you don’t understand the point of what most of the people is saying, that’s ok! I think this book captured the excessive, thoughtless extravagance of the culture during this time so well! It wasn’t just a society that valued physical materialism but also superfluous political ideas. To me, this book became almost profound when you thought about how quickly ideas change, and how even the most influential revolutions are only a recurring trend in the grand scheme of themes. Highly recommend this book for a read now and probably years in the future as well!

6. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn - what would this post be without a WWI/WWII novel eh? This one is about.... wait for it... a female spy (!!!) who was recruited to the Alice Network (which was real) in WWI and a pregnant (scandalous!) American who is determined to find her lost cousin following the destruction of WWII. I don’t want to reveal too much about the characters and who is who, but their relationships are woven cleverly into the storyline and the whole plot captivated me from the very first! An amazing piece of historical fiction <3

5. Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy - I DID NOT KNOW THIS WAS A TRAGEDY GOING IN AND I WAS VERY SAD FOR MUCH OF THIS BOOK. let me just say: poor Tess, she was just going through so much crap and I was much annoyed with the men in her life for much of this novel. Thank God for sexual education and increasing awareness of gender equality <3<3<3. But this was well written and was a hella fast-paced classic so if you’re into that, check this one out!

4. Uprooted by Naomi Novik - Dragons, wizards, magic, mysterious castles and isolated towers, dark woods and darker magic. Intrigued? READ THIS BOOK!!!

3. Monsters of Verity Duology by Victoria Schwab - This is technically two books but I am including it because I read both within a week and holy was it a ride. V. Schwab always amazes me with her unique storylines (a world of monsters v. human??!?!), the level of complexity and growth of her characters, and how she beautifully hands out words thAT END UP COMPLETELY DESTROYING ME! this book also raised some cool ideas about what is human? a monster? etc. etc. and it made me cry, so I recommend this 

2. Red Sister by Mark Lawrence - I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe some nuns with knives in the dark and who knew how to kill a man. Which I guess kinda was what this book was about... but like not.

“I was born for killing – the gods made me to ruin.” 

SO yeah, it was darker, the main character who enters the convent was a lot younger which added a whole other level of dark sinister bad-assery into this story and I WAS LIVING FOR IT. anxiously awaiting the second book as we speak...

1. Beartown by Fredrik Backman - I thought I would hate this book because it describes itself as a story about a community that loves hockey and a) I don’t care much for family/community dramas and b) I don’t like sports. But this book blew me away. I found it easy to keep up and sympathize, if not love, each character within this story and all the events/characters were handled with such elegance, respect, dignity, and eloquence. HOLY LORD this book just made me so emotional and I WANT TO HONOUR IT ON MY GRAVE. 

I think this book is so important to read in this time and age, so here is one of my favourite quotes/excerpts to hopefully hook you in ;)

“Hate can be a deeply stimulating emotion. The world becomes easier to understand and much less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into friends and enemies, we and they, good and evil. The easiest way to unite a group isn't through love, because love is hard, It makes demands. Hate is simple. So the first thing that happens in a conflict is that we choose a side, because that's easier than trying to hold two thoughts in our heads at the same time. The second thing that happens is that we seek out facts that confirm what we want to believe - comforting facts, ones that permit life to go on as normal. The third is that we dehumanize our enemy.” 

If you’re still here thanks for sticking around to the end! I won’t be reading as much in this next year but I’d love to know what your favourite books of 2017 are so far!

xx

[myquirkylife]

If you’ve been in a never-ending cycle of dieting down and eating minimal total calories without seeing much difference or plateauing, chances are your body needs a reverse diet to strengthen your metabolism. What’s a reverse diet, you ask?

Reverse dieting is a process in tracking macronutrients in where you gradually increase your calorie intake after a sustained period of dieting. This concept allows you to slowly reintroduce extra calories (usually in the form of carbs and some fats, while keeping protein fairly consistent) so that you can help your metabolism recover from low-calorie dieting. Adding calories back in slowly is ideal in order to not rapidly gain back what you worked hard to keep off. Not to mention, it helps tremendously for your mental health after the stress of so much calorie restricting. I digress, this post is not intended to explain exactly what a reverse diet is, so if you’re curious to know more, here are a few great sources:

Macro Fit

Corina Nielsen

Dr. Layne Norton, PhD

You may have seen folks in the fitness industry that track their macros, post about their reverse diets on Instagram with glowing pride. Just check the #reversediet hashtag…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

When people post about their reverse diets, it is usually all sunshine and happiness. Hell, even I have been guilty of that the first time I ever was put on a reverse diet, which was back when I first started tracking my macros two and a half years ago:

December 3, 2014

The first time around, it sure was fireworks and fuckyeahs all around. I mean, what’s not to be ecstatic about? Coming off of bro diet and paleo, I was eating bread again, eating much more AND getting leaner?! You bet your ass I was eager to share my results. Who wouldn’t be?

Well, that was back then. I’ve done a couple short term (bad idea, but I’ll touch on that a bit later) reverse diet stints since then. I have been in a constant vicious cycle of dieting down to fairly poverty macros, but would get exasperated with the low numbers and see little change, so I was quick to think they’re not working, so I’d hop right back into a reverse diet, but as soon as any gain began happening, I’d freak out and get back into a cut.

This time, I’m here to stand on my little soap box and proclaim that reverse diets are not all rainbows and sunshine every time. Are they necessary? Yes, but there is a dark side to it that not many talk about.

Fat gain is inevitable. How much will vary. As you saw, on my first reverse diet, I leaned out quite a bit. Those are the lucky few – and, from what I’ve seen, it seems like people tend to lean out on their first reverse diet and not as much on their following ones. But don’t quote me on that, I don’t have scientific data to back that up, it’s just what I’ve seen. On some, the gain will not be noticed, but on others, it most definitely will be noticed. You will notice it before anyone else does – specially on the scale – and this is where most people will want to jump ship and start to cut (diet down / lower macros) again prematurely, before they’ve truly given their metabolism a chance to recuperate and get their intake up.

Too soon?

Mental fuck. This correlates to the last point but it deserves to be expanded on. The mind is a very powerful part of your being as a whole and holy crap it makes it hard af to be okay with gaining some weight. It takes mental grit to accept yourself in a controlled chubbier state. Not to mention, during the reverse diet process, you’ll be seeing a whole lot of #transformationtuesday and Before/After posts on social media of people with the body you had or want. And if you happen to be reversing in the summer months, it stings just a little more. The gain will mess with your mind and make you question why you’re doing this.

So much food. Eat all the foods they said. It’ll be fun they said. Well, I may be in the minority here, but I do not have goals to eat 300g+ carbs and 150g+ fats. You may see people on social media that eat that much (and more) and look shredded with comments on their posts from followers green with envy about eating that much and how they wish they could eat that much and look like that. Well, eating a lot not only can leave you full all of the time (which can make training uncomfortable) but it also gets expensive! I’m currently on a reverse diet and I’m currently at about 180g carbs and 70g fats and it is already starting to feel like a lot. Sometimes it gets to a point where the thought of eating another meal to hit your numbers for the day is nauseating. When you start to feel this way, first of all, be patient, but second of all, you have start to include more calorically dense foods into your day while still getting in your micronutrients, of course.

Feels like forever. The more I consult with experts (hey Mark from Avatar, you the real MVP), the more I realize how much I shorted myself in the past on the previous reverse diets I’ve been on. My first two lasted no longer than 2 months each. Any sign of puffy or gain and I ran back to a cut. From what I’ve read, the recommended timeframe is about 4 to 6 months, but obviously it is case by case.

Enough about the overall dark sides. My experience on this particular reverse diet has been fairly unique because of numerous factors, but doesn’t make it any less of a mental fuck.

Having hip arthroscopy surgery in November 2016, followed by being put on a too aggressive reverse diet while still in recovery by my coach at the time, combined with dealing with a developed mysterious constant abdominal discomfort, caused some initial weight gain post op. Fast forward to about March, during my journey to find out why I’ve been experiencing abdominal pains and while still going through the last of my physical therapy, I made the decision to re-join Avatar under the moderate fat loss setting (of course I wanted to start cutting again, haha) and sadly, my body did not respond to poverty macros for the month I was on them. No change or loss and eating very minimal calories considering by this time I was cleared to return to regular training. After a long email chat with Mark, I was advised to begin a conservative reverse diet because it really wasn’t safe for me to go any lower with macros for someone my size and with the amount of training I was doing. And I’ve been on a reverse diet since then. There was an initial gain when I first started but after about 2-3 weeks of keeping at it, weight finally stabilized and has been within a 2-3lb range since then. But boy is it a mental battle.

My woes: I try to avoid being in pictures at all costs these days because I feel fluffy. I’ve avoided going to the beach to not have to put on a bikini. I’ve only posted training videos when I’m very happy about my post op recovery but refrain otherwise because I don’t like the way I look in them. Weighing myself tends to be disheartening, but I know it’s necessary to see trends. Knowing that I know what to do to lose fat but holding off for my own good, is so hard. Feeling sexy while in this chubbier state is hard to come by. Training while not only dealing with that pesky mysterious abdominal pain but also while generally being in a state of full, sucks.

There ARE bright sides…don’t worry, I’ll keep this section brief since these benefits are what people tend to talk about when referring to reverse dieting.

Fun foods. Eating more definitely has its perks. You’re able to easily fit in more “fun” foods such as bagels, rice, pasta, peanut butter (not just a tiny teaspoon), donuts, french fries, pizza and much more. Of course, you can fit these foods in while cutting, but it is definitely not as easy, and usually have to eat a lot less through rest of the day. I’m trying to keep this in mind and fit in foods I normally don’t get to. And also remind myself that this reverse is temporary so I might as well take advantage and try to enjoy it while I can.

Socializing. Having the freedom of being social and actually eating at these social events without feeling extremely restricted is a pretty great feeling. When on a cut and on low macros, it takes a lot of planning to attend and enjoy a social event. With higher macros, you have more flexibility to enjoy the people around you and the food that is there.

Get strong(er). This is the part I’m trying to focus the hardest on. I’ve had the all clear from my surgeon since April and I have been back on a full 5-day weightlifting cycle since then, working on technique and re-gaining the strength I lost post op. Couple this with eating more and it is the perfect recipe for getting stronger. It seems to have been working because I am extremely close to matching my pre op lifting numbers (more on this in a post coming soon). Eating at maintenance or in a surplus is the prime time to make gains in the gym. Although it may not feel like it, you ARE building muscle underneath the fluff and one day it will show.

Temporary. This is another aspect I’m trying to keep in mind. A reverse diet is temporary. There will be an end to the fluff. Remind yourself you’re doing this for the long term, for the big picture, for your optimal health.

This post is not meant to make you fear reverse dieting. Reverse dieting is necessary. Humans were not meant to diet their whole lives. Not meant to be in an endless deficit. So, here I go, going to keep on trucking on this reverse with a plan to begin cutting in late September or early October. Until next time, party people.

Check out my mew post that covers the dark side of #reversedieting, what people don't tell you If you've been in a never-ending cycle of dieting down and eating minimal total calories without seeing much difference or plateauing, chances are your body needs a reverse diet to strengthen your metabolism.

[superleeleehipster]

After reading some of the 7x13 spoilers as well as some of your reactions, I figured I’d put in my two cents on what’s happening in hopes of helping everyone sort out their initial feelings.

I’m going to point out some negatives for a bit but I’ll try and make it hopeful at the end!

SPOILER WARNING (under the cut)

So the recent spoilers about Carol and 7x13 sort of highlight a still ongoing problem with TWD in general, and that is a huge issue with plot holes and missed opportunities. 

It’s not just a shipper problem, for I can name tons of missed opportunities for Caryl. It’s a whole TWD problem, especially when it comes to relationships. I remember reading a good post from someone (can’t remember who) that talked about the lack in the ability to write good romance in the TWD, and it’s true. Most of the romances in the show haven’t had enough build up, or had mixed signals that threw us off so that when it did happen, we all threw our hands up like, ‘what?’.

But back to the missed opportunities. I just want to show you a few of plot holes that are not even Caryl related that show there’s problems with lazy writing:

1) We didn’t get to see Tara’s reaction to Denise. That whole relationship was kind of odd to begin with, for without any clues or hints, Denise suddenly kisses Tara after saving the other dude’s life. Then they became a loving couple... felt a bit forced and random.

2) We never found out whether or not Daryl read the ‘Survivors of Child Abuse’ book he found in ‘Consumed’. Yeah we found that out recently when one of the fans asked Norman and he said he did. But we had to find that out outside of the show, which is a bad sign.

3) Richonne canon moment was a bit sudden and surprising, and not necessarily in a good way. We found out from Danai (not the show) that there was a two month gap between 6x09 & 6x10. Soooo many missed opportunities within that time frame to show where Richonne’s relationship was heading. So when it did become canon, it almost felt forced. Like suddenly they’re making out, making love, and then holding hands the next day like they’ve been doing that all along. Don’t get me wrong, I love Richonne and they’re a powerful couple, but I felt bad for the shippers b/c it felt very anticlimactic.

4) We didn’t get to see Maggie and Daryl’s reunion. Yeah they’re supposed to have a talk in 7x14, but why not have both, ya know. I’m sure there were sections of 7x08 you could’ve thrown out in order to see the reunion, something the GA would rather watch but no...

5) We only got a fraction of character background for Glenn before he died. We knew he was a pizza man, we knew his mom used to cook good meat (3x01, when he said just like my mom used to cook it), and we knew the people that had an impact on him. But we got nothing else. He was an original character and he only got a fraction of background as the others did.

There’s so many more plot holes I can name but I’ll be merciful and stop while I’m at it. And don’t even get me started on missed opportunities for Caryl itself. GAH! 

All of these examples are a good indication of not only the not so good cycle that the TWD keeps repeating, but also where their focus truly lies: Their main focus is to tell the broader picture of the storyline (aka Negan vs Rick & TF) by using random/pointless plots for our characters in order to maneuver the story to where he wants it. And the character arcs are suffering b/c of it.

A very good example of OOC would be this Carol self-torture arc, which (I hope to God) will end next week. I know she’s going to fight, according to spoilers, but I hope she is indeed better by the time 7x16 roles around b/c I’m tired of seeing Carol miserable. She needs to be better dammit!! But I think @leonstrenton is right when she says that Carol will get better but it’ll probably be very unsatisfactory for the viewers b/c Gimps only put this arc in her story so that she was out of the way from Negan... AGAIN, THE MAIN STORYLINE IS WHAT MATTERS TO HIM.

Also, according to 7x13 spoilers, Carol doesn’t go back to Alexandria immediately after she finds out about Glenn. Now that doesn’t make any sense b/c Carol was literally on her hands and knees during 7x10 asking about her family. Now it just seems OOC for her (credit for this valid point goes to the lovely @ocean514)

See, if I were a good writer, I’d make her go back to the Kingdom, make sure Zeke agrees to fight, and then go back to Alexandria to tell them that the Kingdom is joining them... but again, MISSED OPPORTUNITY!!

Another good example of a character arc being affected is not being able to see Glenn react to killing his first live person in the entire series. That would’ve been really interesting to see how it would affect his character, but they apparently had no time to do that b/c the Negan showdown was approaching. 

Let’s have one more shall we. Abraham and Sasha’s whole... relationship? Holy crap that couple had so little couplish moments that it was hard to say if they had even kissed... b/c we never saw them kiss! It was implied they had sex I know, but it was probably the most random, rushed, and short couple I’ve ever seen on the show.

So this plot hole issue isn’t just with Caryl, it’s with everything that’s going on in TWD. So take comfort in the fact that it’s not just a problem with writing for Caryl, it’s a much bigger issue than just those two.

Now for some hope for Carylers:

I am a Caryl shipper till the day I die, and my mantra for any kind of couple I want to happen is this: If they are both alive, there is still a chance!

We are going to have to deal with some hate after 7x13 b/c people will see the Carol and Ezekiel scene with Ben’s little brother as a foreshadowing to a ‘family’ moment. Personally I feel like this is Carol making a step to coming back to herself. She’s willingly helping Ben’s brother, trying to comfort him with his loss, which is a HUGE breakthrough in how she feels about helping kids if you think about her history. And I’m glad she’s making that step.

Another issue with the Carzekiel business is that for whatever reason, when two characters of the opposite sex share screen time, it automatically mean they will be a couple. Khary Payton himself had said he was surprised at how quickly people began shipping Carzekiel, even though they only shared a small amount of screen time together. Honestly, I’m glad Carol’s spending time with Zeke b/c she needs a good friend, and Zeke is an awesome dude, so why not strike up a friendship? 

Shared screen time does not = canon couple! ( @thaliasandy I know you’ve said this before)

Caryl will go canon eventually, it’s just that eventually is the keyword at this point. Will there be missed opportunities to show that? Of course yes, there already has been. Will it feel anticlimactic or out of the blue? There’s a possibility of that. But here’s the thing that we can look forward to:

Whether we get subtle/small canon moment, or (for the love of god, please) larger canon scene between them, Norman and Melissa will kick it out of the ballpark. It didn’t matter that they barely had any dialogue during 7x10, they don’t need it, for you can see how well they understand each other without even talking. It would be nice as the GA to hear what they’re thinking, but I’ll take lack of dialogue for a beautiful first kiss. 

Don’t fret guys. I know it is very hard to keep shipping this couple, especially now with all the hate going around. I’ve honestly never seen an anti group so adamant at shutting Caryl down so badly... I don’t get why they hate it so much... but people are nuts. 

But don’t pay them any attention. Do what Mel wants us to do and just get along with each other and celebrate the amazingness that is Carol, Daryl, and Caryl. Friendly debates? Sure! Hateful/nutty anons? Just delete the message and ignore them, for they got nothing better to do than to feed off of our insecurities that we unfortunately have from waiting this long.

Caryl on guys!

[pandabearlikes]

Temporary Affairs II

Table of Contents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Chapter o3.  Perfect Imperfection

  One Thursday evening, you nonchalantly sat on the rocking chair with soft lullabies playing through a headphone for the baby to listen to.  Light kicks emerged from your five-month pregnant belly and you patted it gently in response while gazing lovingly down at the child inside of you.  

  Suddenly, a beep came from your tablet, notifying you of an update.  Leaning over, you took the device off the vanity and swiped the screen a few times.  You looked at the screen curiously as the Facebook application automatically started up. 

  You narrowed your eyes and brought the flickering screen mere inches from your eyes.  Someone had posted on Jongin’s Facebook wall with a picture of Sohee and him during a masquerade ball and labeled it with tags #tbt #youtwoweresocute.  Bending your neck back, you snorted.  Does this person NOT know Jongin is now married?  

  You cursed under your breath.  Trying to contain your frustration, you scrolled down Jongin’s FB page and discovered that he had set his relationship status to be hidden.  Your jaw opened wide.  What?  Was he embarrassed to tell people that I was his wife?    

  Frowning and admittingly a bit hurt, you scrolled back up to the picture of Sohee and Jongin to examine every small detail.  From Jongin’s smile, to his sexy gelled-up hair, to his hands that were….you narrowed your eyes…they were on Lee Sohee’s hip area - borderline booty.  You snarled.  Clicking on her profile to stalk see your love rival, you weren’t at all surprised when the first post included several pictures of her in a form fitting dress promoting her beautiful S-curved…She…does have a nice body…

  But wait…WHAT WAS THAT???  KIM JONGIN LIKED IT?!  The tablet almost fell out of your hands and you managed to catch it just in time and as you do you accidentally hit the “like” button as well.  Oh fudge.  Now she’ll know you’ve been stalking her.  So you sat there debating whether you should unlike it or not.  While you pondered, the corner of your eyes caught your reflection in the mirror and you had to do a double take.  Holy crap, your figure was so not praiseworthy at this moment.  You mean…it was a given since you were pregnant and all but even you had to admit that compared to Sohee’s perfect figure…you paled in comparison.  Your shoulders slacked and you sighed.  Just as you do, your husband walked out from the bathroom with only a towel on his hip.  But you can’t even find it within yourself to spaz over his perfect chiseled body.    

  Dwindling of any will to feign a smile, you heard your voice ask, “Oppa, do you want to have sex?” 

  Jongin’s head whipped around immediately, looking at you as if you grew two horns on the top of your head.  

  “Jagiya, are you okay?” he inquired, placing his palm on your forehead.  

  “Is that a ‘no’?” you asked, your voice depleted of energy.  Yep, sexual appeal = zero.    

  “But you’re pregnant, Jagiya,” he reasoned, still confused by your sudden suggestion.

  “Is it because I’m not attractive anymore?” you probed, curling your knees up to your chin.

  “No, of course not.  Babe, what’s wrong?” he asked slipping on a pair of pants and sitting down on the bed with you.  

  “Is it because my figure isn’t as perfect as Sohee’s?” you can’t believe you just murmured out loud but you did.

  Jongin covered his face with a hand in exasperation just like all the other times you brought up his ex.  Though, his other still stroked your palms soothingly.  

  “How many times did you have sex with her?” you knew you were walking on a borderline but you took the dive anyway.

  Jongin’s eyes widened and you almost thought his eyeballs would pop out and fall into the palms of your hands.  His mouth opened permanently, speechless at your accusations.  What does that mean?  Your eyes grew glossier and glossier with every moment that passed without an answer.

  Finally he denied, “Where did you get the idea from?  Sohee and I never had an intimate relationship!”

  Strong denial = affirmation.  You bit your tongue to not cry but you don’t respond.  

  “Honey, I’m serious.  How in the world did you even get that idea?” he asked again, pulling you into his embrace and you started vocally crying.  

  “Lee Sohee hinted to me that you guys did,” you finally admitted tearfully.  

  He pulled you apart so you’d look at him in the eyes, “Are you telling me you’d rather trust her than trust your own husband?”

  “Then why’d you like her picture of Facebook?” you retorted.

  “W-what?  I did not.  I haven’t even been on Facebook for over a year,” he held his hands out defensively.  

  You snickered.  You gave him the chance to have an honest conversation with you and he was lying.  Angrily, you grabbed your tablet and showed him the picture with his supposed “like”.  He squinted and brought the device closer to his face.  With a snort, he turned the screen back to your direction.  

  “Jagiya, read it carefully.  Don’t tell me you don’t even know how to spell your own husband’s name,” he spoke.  

  You raised your eyebrow and took a closer look.  

  Kim…

  Jong…

  Dae…

  Internal face palm.  Embarrassed, you turned around to hide in a messy heap of blankets.  Shaking his head, Jongin chuckled, and took both your hands into his.  

  “Look at me, Jagiya,” he ordered but you were still so darn humiliated so he had to physically turn your head with both his hands.  

  You whimpered, pouting and fidgeting with the bed sheets under you.  

  “I love you,” he spoke, “but I must not be proving my words well and giving you a sense of security”.

  You shook your head, “No.  No Oppa, it’s not your fault.  It’s mine and my over sensitivity and the fact that I know you wouldn’t have married me if you had a choice”.

  “What?” his tone was loud and serious, causing you to flinch so he softened his voice and firmly said, “That is my fault too”.

  You looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows.

  “It’s my fault because I was a jerk to you when we first met.  But trust me.  Please.  I love you and I would marry you a thousand…a million more times even if I didn’t have to”.  

  “Really?” you looked up shyly.  He immediately nodded and a small smile crept on your lips.  Jongin sighed in relief.  

  “So are we good?” he asked, shaking your hands up and down.

  “Mhmm..”

  He exaggeratedly puckered his lips and you leaned in to kiss him.  He wrapped his arm around your neck to pull you closer.

      In the middle of the night, you’re awoken by the bed shaking underneath you.  Confused, you turned around to see Jongin stirring in his sleep, the pillow beneath him soaked in cold sweat.  You shook him.

  “Oppa.  Oppa…” you called, stroking his cheek while his eyes fluttered open.

  Fear drained any life in his eyes, in turn also scaring you to pieces.  You watched helplessly as he held his breath and stared at the ceiling with empty eyes.  You waved your hand in front of him but he doesn’t respond.  Your heart thumped loudly in your ears.  Without another solution, you threw your arms around his tensed body.  This was so foreign from the calm and happy husband you fell in love with.  

  “Oppa, it was just a nightmare.  I’m here,” you soothed but he remained still as a statue so you pulled his hand and placed it on your belly, “The baby’s here too”.

  Finally, he blinked.  Gradually, as if your child held the power to revive people, his soul returned back to his stilled body.  Jongin took a deep breath and relaxed under your embrace.  But you don’t dare let go, afraid you’d lose him to the Demons again, so instead your hold tightened.  Seeing this, Jongin brought his hand to your head and stroked it.  

  “Sorry, did I scare you?” he questioned.  

  You sighed in relief at the gentle sound of your husband’s voice.  

  “Oppa, did you have a nightmare again?” you asked, looking up at his now softer expression.

  “Mm…yeah but I’m fine now.  Don’t worry about it,” he assured.

  It’s my fault. 

  And it killed you each time he tried to hide his fears from you.  Were you not trustworthy enough?  Because wasn’t that what husbands and wives did?  They shared their burdens.  But you made no attempt to ask any further, afraid that Jongin would feel pressured to open his heart to you when you didn’t deserve it.  So the only thing you could do was pull him closer against you, hoping your warmth and the baby’s presence was enough to warrant him a soundless slumber. 

    a/n: lOL  this girl and her #firstworldproblems…haha I know she’s super immature right now (but really, look at me straight in the eyes and tell me if you’ve ever stalked your bf/crush’s exes before.  I DARE YOU TO SAY “NO”  I DARE YOU xD). She will grow up through his story though :D. 

  I have so many feels today.  Kris’s new song omg TAT.  I’ve been replaying it all day.  I’m crying over this other story that I wrote (omg, IDK why I keep crying while writing.  SO RIDICULOUS).  And ANY NARUTO FANS out there…because omg I finally read chp. 698 and I can’t even… @$@#%@%@@@%

  >3< I LOVE YOU GUYS SO SO MUCH!!!!!!  

[douchebagbrainwaves]

BUT AS I THOUGHT MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT, I CAN WORK IN NOISY PLACES

Here's the thing: If you ever got me, you wouldn't have a clue what to do using programs we would recognize as such. Investors like it when you don't need them. So, since I'm optimistic, I'm going to try to get upwind of their opponents. It will work not just as a landmark in the history of computers, but as a model for what programming is tending to become in our own time. Then I looked at his face and realized he didn't understand.1 Thanks to OS X, Apple has come back from the dead in a way that would seem to be so limited by whatever language we think in that easier formulations of programs seem very surprising. It's also the best route to that holy grail, reusability. Part of the reason I say this is optimism: it seems that it should be distributed equally. Brand is the residue left as the substantive differences between rich and poor?

As a todo list protocol, the new protocol should give more power to the recipient than email does. Another thing ramen profitability doesn't imply is Joe Kraus's idea that you should put your business model in beta when you put your product in beta. The reason to ask this question isn't just so that our ghosts can say, in a modern democracy, variation in income is actually a sign of sanity. I wasn't paying attention, I didn't notice when the shadow disappeared. But although for most startups raising money will become, if not easy, at least some of the qualities of an angel, only to receive a 70-page agreement from his lawyer. The super-angels are in most respects mini VC funds, they've retained this critical property of angels. It's still not feasible for a lot of them were crap, but I don't think we'll ever reach the point where everything could be done in this area. How much is that extra attention worth? Beeton's Book of Household Management 1880, it may be found necessary, in some cases, for a mistress to relinquish, on assuming the responsibility of a household, many of the things that get discovered this way incidentalomas, and they did it. Which is precisely why we hear ever more about it.

Jobs. But how does it work? The trouble with lying is that you have so many choices. Some of the less imaginative ones, who had artifacts of early languages built into their ideas of what a program was, might have had trouble. A 747 pilot doesn't make 40 times as much as the average person. England, the Industrial Revolution did is their social disruptiveness. Here's the thing: If you ever got me, you wouldn't have gotten as a product company, because only that scales. The secret to finding other press hits from a given pitch is to realize that they all started from the same document back at the PR firm. If you're really committed and your startup is cheap to run, you become very hard to kill.2

It's like telling the truth, but why he's writing about this subject at all. The most dangerous thing for the frontpage is stuff that's too easy to upvote. Now that the term ramen profitable has become widespread, I ought to explain precisely what the idea entails. Especially in proportion to the amount they invest. Is there no configuration of the bits in memory of a present day computer that is this compiler? There continued to be bribes, as there still are everywhere, but politics had by then been left to men who were driven more by vanity than greed. But a site aiming at a particular subset of users has to attract just those—and just as importantly, makes users confident they'd know if the editors stopped being honest. In fact, wealth is not money. You don't need to raise. Maybe as startups get cheaper it will become increasingly important.3 This isn't just something that happens with programming languages.

The most dynamic part of the economy will balloon in the usual fractal way. Unless of course they are sufficiently advanced that they already communicate in XML. I wouldn't want it to grow as large as Digg or Reddit—mainly because that would dilute the character of the site, but also because it will be dark most of the techniques I've described are conservative: they're aimed at preserving the character of the site rather than enhancing it.4 I think this principle would also apply to sites with different origins. Maybe because the suit was also back in February, September 2004, June 2004, March 2004, September 2003, November 2002, April 2002, and February 2002. Except not quite: whatever would be least work if your ideas about programming weren't already influenced by the languages you're currently used to. The term angel round doesn't mean that all the investors in it are angels; it just describes the structure of the round can even change on the fly.

But by gaining control of the company. Here I want to take a break from working, I walk into the square, just as they will ignore advantages to be got from parallel computation, because that's where this idea seems to live. For example, people who apply to Y Combinator don't generally have much money, and yet still fail. What programmers in a hundred years, it seems safe to predict they will be much faster than they are now. Another advantage of being good is that it can easily kill you. Why don't more people use it? They're usually individuals, like angels. If the posts on a site are characteristically of this type are only a few things we can say with certainty about Jaynes is that he was one of the best in the business.5 This happens in software too. It's especially useful for language designers to think about where the evolution of programming languages is likely to lead, because they can steer accordingly. Whatever the cause, stupid comments tend to be famous on that account should set off alarm bells.

Writing software as multiple layers is a powerful technique even within applications. They'll each become more like super-angels are looking for companies that will get bought. One way to guess how far an idea extends is to ask yourself at what point you'd bet against it. If you suppress variations in income are somehow bad for society. As with the original industrial revolution, some societies are going to get: either part of a study. A couple hundred thousand would let them. Not quite.6 He showed how, given a handful of countries past that stage when the Industrial Revolution that wealth creation definitively replaced corruption as the best way to force them to act is, of course people want the wrong things. You grow big by being nice, but you had no choice in the matter, if you needed money on the scale only VCs could supply. One way to answer this question is to look back. They won't be replaced wholesale.

And they make a lot more interested. I'm not saying I used to believe what I read in Time and Newsweek. But it's gone now. Consulting, as I mentioned, a pretty bad judge of startups. Internet, and you're fixing the problem. Feel free to make it, or by the number of undergrads who believe they have to learn it to get a multiple of 10 6—one million x. That's going to change the rules about how to raise money. When we predict good outcomes for startups, because it may turn out to be a company. It's bad behavior you want to sell early. Though I don't think that's a bias of mine. Or the would-be successors both directly, as Roger Bannister did, by lodging the idea in users' minds that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Notes

It's worth taking extreme measures to avoid using it out of loyalty to the way and run the programs on the client?

This is not limited to startups.

We thought software was all that matters, just as you get an intro to a later investor trying to sell things to them? Joshua Schachter tells me it was actually a computer. At three months we made comparatively little from it, because the kind of people starting normal companies too. In 1800 an empty plastic drink bottle with a walrus mustache and a back-office manager written mostly in less nerdy fields like finance and media.

Digg is derived from Delicious/popular is driven mostly by people trying to dispute their decision or just outright dismisses it and make a brief entry listing the gaps and anomalies you'd noticed that day. Investors are fine with funding nerds. I called to check and in a rice cooker. Unfortunately, not bogus.

Y Combinator.

You know in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Oxford University Press, 1981.

Thanks to Ben Horowitz, Trevor Blackwell, Robert Morris, Paul Buchheit, Aaron Iba, Jessica Livingston, Chad Fowler, and Steven Levy for their feedback on these thoughts.

[weightloss18-blog1]

The 5 BEST Fat Burning Exercises FOR MEN! (LOSE WEIGHT FAST!)

New Post has been published on https://designweightloss.com/the-5-best-fat-burning-exercises-for-men-lose-weight-fast/

The 5 BEST Fat Burning Exercises FOR MEN! (LOSE WEIGHT FAST!)

What's up Champ! I'm Vince Del Monte of GeneExpressionTrainingcom In this workout I'm gonna show you the 5 most effective fat burning exercises for men

Alright We're gonna turn this into one of my favorite go-to workouts when I want to shred fat without a lot of time This is something I've been doing for years I've been teaching this for years and they're called Barbell Complexes Alright

Just becauses it's called complexes doesn't mean it's complicated It's actually quite simple but I will say it's very, very hard It's gonna make you sweat like never before, you're gonna suck for air, your muscles are gonna scream Your heart's gonna jump out of your chest You are gonna be in the hurt box So as long as you're committed to putting yourself into the hurt box for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, you will shred fat faster than ever before

Alright You're gonna increase your metabolic rate, you're gonna burn more energy during the workout and after the workout You're not gonna destroy your joints walking away on a treadmill or step mill or an elliptical Which is frankly just a waste of life And this is not only gonna make you look like a badass, it's gonna make you feel like a badass

I'm gonna take you through the workout and I'm just gonna walk you through the exercises and how it's done and how progress it Alright Let's get started Exercise number 1 is a Military Press In other words, an Overhead Shoulder Press with a barbell

Alright We're gonna be using this weight for the entire workout I'll tell you how to pick your weight in a second We want to keep our core strong, we want to drive our feet through the ground and we're focusing on being strong and explosive here This is not a workout where we're focusing on intent and really squeezing the muscle

Exercise number 2 is front squats If you have the flexibility, you want to put this onto your shoulders without re-racking it how I did and then it off I just don't have the flexibility to do that Front squats here for 7 reps Alright After you've done 7 front squats, you are going to flip the bar and go into bent over rows

We are doing these for 8 reps Alright After 8 Bent Over Rows with an overhand grip, again, you see how I haven't changed my grip at all, we're going right into Deadlifts We are doing 9 Deadlifts Alright And we're just bringing the bar a little below the knees so we can create more tension on the muscles So we're not setting the bar down, and pulling it back up

From 9 Deadlifts we're going to 10 Back Squats You're gonna flip the bar up over your head Be careful here This will be the toughest part of the workout and you're gonna go into 10 Back Squats Once you've done that, you've completed 1 round in the workout

The sequence of those exercises is critical If you change the order of those exercises, you're gonna pay for it Alright We're focusing on the weaker body parts to the stronger body parts They were sequenced on purpose

A lot of people that write complex workouts, I've seem them like how the heck, this doesn't make any sense Alright

When you do this workout, you'll see, "Oh, OK I see why you do Shoulder Press and Front Squats and Bent Over Rows" You'll see why it's sequenced in that order Okay It accommodates fatigue setting in from the smaller muscle groups Alright You'll also notice that we're increasing the reps with each exercise so it goes six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and then repeat

Alright what we want to focus on doing within the fixed amount of time is getting stronger Arlight The goal is not to do these for 30, 40, 50 minutes We want to act like a sprinter

We want to focus on getting faster We don't want to turn ourselves into a marathon runner and become efficient We want to be inefficient That's why the goal is to add more weight each week so a lot of you guys who've never done these before, will start off with 65 or 75 pounds as a male Alright

You're gonna add 10 pounds to the bar each week The time never changes You're always going to do 20 minutes But what I want you to focus on doing is doing more rounds in 20 minutes with more weight That's your challenge

I'll just give you guys a benchmark What I did myself I ended these springtime yeaah right around springtime, yeah about spring / summertime I did an 8 week cycle with these and I got up to 115 pounds so the weight you see me doing in this video for 10 rounds in 28 minutes

So if you can beat that, you're better than me So there's a little challenge for you A lot of people ask me "hey how many rounds is good in 20 minutes" At least 10 Alright At least 10 rounds

Now for me, it took me a little longer, so I've got a lot of rom where I can improve I'm going to try to bring that down, but you'll see for yourself it's pretty, pretty, tough Alright So start with 20 minutes Aim for 10 rounds

That might take you 8 – 16 weeks Alright As long as you're making progress each week, you will be losing fat and this is really going to crank up your metabolism it's gonna help you keep muscle mass as you're shredding fat, it's gonna make you look harder, its gonna give you a more sculpted physique, it's going to give you an opportunity to rehearse some key exercises, and these things are really good for managing stress A lot of people who can't lose fat, they're doing too much cardio It increases cortisol levels

Bringing in shorter, more intense workouts helps manage cortisol better, help you maintain testosterone levels So this is, this style of workout is the entire premise of an entire program I've actually created It's called Shredded in Six and it's just a series of Barbell Complex Workouts like this plus strength circuit workouts which are a little different and I'll show you guys in another video that teach you how to shred fat with weights in a very short period of time And that way you can stop going on the treadmill for 20 – 30 minutes after your weight training sessions or going to the gym early in the morning to do cardio I'm telling you guys that the more cardio you do, the more efficient you'll make your body at storing fat and utilzing less fat per unit of time Alright The research, the physiology on this is very, very clear

Alright We always want to train our body to become inefficient Alright We're always trying to make the workouts harder, we're always trying to do more in less time that's the mindset you have when you're trying to sculpt your physique Alright

Unless you're an endurance runner and going for performance, the rules change But if you're looking for a sculpted physique, you've got to start doing complexes once per week on a Saturday You don't need to do more than once per week If you can do more than once per week, you're not doing the properly, alright, you're sandbagging it so step it up, get the weight up a little more, and these will put you on the floor Alright

A lot of people do two, three rounds and they're like holy crap, I'm gassed Build up to ten rounds It's gonna take time, but once you do, you'll look like a badass, you'll feel like a badass, that's my challenge to you If you want the entire Shredded in Six System where there's over 12 months of workouts like this click the first link in the description or the link on the screen, and you'll be taken to a short page which will tell you more about the effectiveness these brief but brutal non-cardio fat loss workouts Alright Thank you so much for watching Let me know what you guys want me to cover in upcoming videos comment section below If you enjoyed that

If you're gonna give it a try, give this video a thumbs up Thanks for watching See you soon

Source: Youtube