#hoping we start to see more woho stuff come in

[pwhl-mybeloved]

out of all the women’s sports cards we get (which is not many, unfortunately for meeee) WNBA cards are the most frequent. panini has done a better job than upper deck imo integrating womens sports into their product line and the variety of card types is larger

[fluffymcu]

Letting Loose

Part ELEVEN

This series is TICKLE related.

Series Summary:  You’re the little sister of the one and only Captain America. You’re also the youngest girl on the team, so that automatically makes you the avengers’ little princess. And they spoil you as such. They have become your amazing family and you don’t know where you’d be without them. This series will show random adventures and fluffy events in the daily life of the reader and her family, along with an unexpected turn later on as you read.

warnings: drama? this is pretty long lol

Word Count: 3,693

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----

Another 2 weeks have passed and you’ve tried your best to invite Ruby Anne in your daily routines, inviting her to your room to hang out with Peter, asking her if she wanted to go to Delmar’s after school you guys, asked her to movie nights with a small group, but nothing was working. It was extremely frustrating.

“Hey do you want to watch a movie with me and Peter? We’ve got some snacks!”

“No thanks.”

“Hey, me and Peter are about to go walk in the city for a bit. You wanna come and get some fresh air? Maybe get out of this room for a bit?”

“I’d rather die.”

“ok...”

It was almost impossible to get her to spend more than 5 minutes around any of you and it was making you impatient because you knew Tony was yearning to spend some time with her. You considered many times to just give up, but you reminded yourself why you were doing this. 

For Tony. You would tell yourself. For Tony.

-----

Bucky and Steve were packing for a mission they were going to in 3 weeks. They wanted to get ahead and pack their suits and weapons so they wouldn’t have to worry about it last minute. 

As they were getting their stuff ready, Bucky was extremely surprised to find his battle vest dyed pink. He stood there, with it in his hands, just staring at it for a moment. Steve noticed the dyed vest and looked at Bucky with a raised eyebrow.

They started at the vest before turning to each other and giving a knowing look before nodding in unison. 

“Y/n.”

Yes, you had pranked Bucky by dyeing his vest pink, but that was yesterday! And frankly, you had forgotten you did it. You were feeling pretty stressed with all the Ruby Anne drama so you decided to have some fun and do what you’ve always loved to do; prank Bucky.

------

A knock is hear from Ruby’s door and she rolls her eyes, and opening the door. When she sees it’s Tony standing there, she sighs, pursing her lips and walking away. Tony steps in with a half smile and and shuts the door halfway. 

“Hey so, I just wanted to check how you were doing-”

“I’m fine.” She says quickly, crossing her arms and not keeping eye contact with him. “You come here everyday to ask me that.”

“Yeah, well I-” He pauses. “I wanted to see if you maybe wanted to go shopping? Get you some nice clothes, or whatever you want. Maybe we can go look for some decorations for your room? This was a guest room so it’s pretty simple and general, maybe you’d like to customize it a bit?” He asked, hope lacing his voice. He wasn’t surprised though, when she quickly turned him down. It still hurt though.

“No. I’d rather- No. Just no.” She grimaced, furrowing her brows together. Tony nodded slowly, biting his lip and grabbing the doorknob. 

“Ok! Well uhh... if you need anything, anything at all, or just wanna do something, I’m here.” He nods. “And I’ll always be here for you now.” You smiles tightly before leaving the room. Ruby’s gaze falters and she sighs slightly, feeling a bit guilty about the situation. It seemed like the longer she’s been here, the more guilty she felt for pushing him away. But every time, the anger inside her would convince her that this is how it has to be so she wouldn’t get hurt again. But there was a part somewhere inside her that wanted to be with her dad so bad, but that feeling is buried so deep inside that she doesn’t even know it’s there.

And you knew that, because every girl has a love for their father. No matter how big or how small. It’s almost impossible to have absolutely no feelings of liking to your father. That’s why you were trying so hard; to bring that part of her to light.

You were gonna get it out of her, if it killed you! I guess you can thank your parents for that strong determination personality trait they passed on to you and your brother. 

-----

You grunted, in a fit of giggles as you were tackled onto your bed by Bucky. He immediately began tickling you, clawing his fingers into your ribs and digging into the spaces. You arched your back but couldn’t move much since he was basically pinning you with his body weight. “Whahahat dihihid I dohohoho?!” You cried, confused since you were only minding your own business with Peter, when Bucky and Steve burst through your door and tackled you. Steve was standing behind Bucky with his arms on his hips, wearing a teasing smirk as he watched Bucky turn you into a puddle of giggles.

“You know what you did, Y/n,” Bucky teased, wiggling his fingers under your arms while blowing small raspberries on your neck. “You dyed my vest.” Your laughter went up an octave as you realized what you had done yesterday, making him chortle. “Yeheheah exactly. So now, I’m teaching you a lesson about messing. with. my. stuff.” He growled, accentuating each word with a raspberry.

You were lost in laughter when you turned your head to look at your brother. “STEHEHEHEVE!”  You squealed, not being able to say much else before you were overtaken by uncontrollable giggles. Steve smirked, lifting his shoulder and putting his hands up in defense. 

“Don’t look at me for help, Y/n, I came to watch.” He teased, raising his eyebrows. You let out a whine in between your round of laughter and didn’t even spare a glance at Peter, you knew he wasn’t gonna help. You’ve learned from too many experiences like these that Peter is too scared of being the next victim to actually do anything to help. So you just laid there and accepted your fate.

Ruby had come out of her room, making her way down to the kitchen to get something small to eat since she hadn’t eaten that day and was also planning to skip dinner with the team again, but as she walked down the hallway she was greeted with your hysterical laughter. She passed by your room to see you being tickled to death by the soldier, your brother standing next to him, chuckling at you. You were screaming out pleads and apologies as the two continued to tease you and she decided to leave then, as to not be caught looking and made her way down the stairs. 

“IHIHIM SOHOHORRY BUHUHUCKY!” You begged, weakened by all the fighting back you were trying to do. Peter giggled beside you and you couldn’t even glare at him properly because you couldn’t stop laughing. “PLEHEHEASE LEHET ME GOHOHO! I WOHOHO- I WOHO- BUCKY!!” You squealed, not being able to finish your sentence anymore. “I CAHAHANT BREHEHEATHE!!”

Bucky paused for a moment, letting you catch your breathe. Steve was openly chuckling and Peter was grinning from a distance. Once you caught some of your breath, you turned to glare at Peter before scolding him. “Coward!” You squealed as Bucky started to poke around your sides again, making you squirm around and giggle nervously. “Wahahahait! I wohohont dohoho it again! Plehehease!” 

“You promise?” He asked, looking at you expectantly. 

“Yehehehes!” 

“And you’re gonna dye it back, right??” He raised his brow, pinching your hips for persuasion. You yelped, arching your back and nodding immediately.

“YEHEHES! I wihihill!” He let you go, taking his weight off you. You fell limp and panted, residual giggles slipping out of your mouth. Bucky left it at that, leaving your room. Steve cooed at your exhausted form and pinched your cheek.You growled, pushing his hand away. Steve did it again, but this time to annoy you, pushing you down and peppering kisses over your face. “Hey!!” You yelled, trying your best to sound angry, but it didn’t phase him at all, instead encouraging him to keep going. You burst out into giggles once again at his playfulness, pushing away from him. He let go with a smile before ruffling your already messy hair. 

----- 

You went downstairs to the basement to dye Bucky’s vest back to black, listening to music on your earphones and in your own thoughts. When you were done and satisfied with the color, you went to get Bucky’s approval. When he approved, satisfied, you gave it back and went upstairs to Peter’s room. 

“You were no help.” You chuckled, launching yourself onto his bed. Peter smiled, closing his laptop. 

“With what, the situation with Bucky or dying the vest back?” He asked. You scoffed and rolled your eyes.

“Both actually.” You said. Peter chuckled, putting his laptop on his nightstand and getting up to sit next to you on the bed. 

“Well, to be fair, dyeing the vest was aaallll you, honey, so I say you got what you deserve.” He smirked, chuckling when you glared at him playfully. “BUT... I can make it up to you for not helping you out by taking you to go get pizza.” He asked, shrugging an arm. You smiled widely and nodded.

“Ok! I’ll go ask Ruby if she wants to come with us.” You say, getting up but Peter grabs your wrist to stop you as he gets up.

“No no, don’t worry about her right now, let’s just go the two of us. You’re worrying about her too much, you need to relax and unwind.” He smiled sweetly at you. He was right. You were constantly giving a lot of yourself to invite Ruby Anne where ever you went and constantly got disappointed when she’d refuse.

After a moment, you let out a breath and sigh, nodding. “Okay. Let’s go. Will we ask Happy to take us or..” You ask, pointing towards the door.

Peter grinned widely, looking away. “Uhh, I was thinking maybe we could swing over there.” He shrugged. He knew you loved to go swinging with him and it’s been a long time since you guys have gone together. You smiled and nodded excitedly, running down to tell your brother where you were going. You were thankful the team let you go out into the city alone as long as Peter was there with you, because they knew he would protect you. They are bit more challenging to convince to let you swing with him, but they give in in the end most of the time.

Peter watched you leave his room to tell your brother, and he couldn’t help but feel that same giddy feeling in his chest when he’d see you so happy like this. So carefree.

Peter had a bit of a crush on you for a while now, but he never told anyone, especially not you, because he didn’t want to make things awkward between the two of you. He loved what you two had. He knew that sometimes platonic relationships are even better than romantic ones. That’s why he always kept his feelings to himself. He was sure that if he told you how he felt, it wouldn’t ruin anything, but he knew it would be awkward between you, so he kept it a secret. Part of him hopes it’s just a small crush that will soon go away, but a bigger part of him knows that’s unlikely. But he was completely fine with your relationship now. He was completely fine with maybe having to wait years until he confesses, maybe when you’re older. He didn’t mind that. As long as he had you close to him, he didn’t need a romantic relationship with you. He would happily wait for you a thousand years until the time was right.

Peter mostly suppressed these feelings and throw them at the back of his mind, and it would work; he’d forget about them, forgetting he even had them in the first place. But it was small random moments like these: seeing you jump up excitedly to tell your brother something, or when you’d have your crazy moments and jump on top of the kitchen island and sing your heart out, “gracing” the team with your ““amazing”” as you’d like to call it, singing, or battled against Tony in a sass match, that would remind him of those feelings deep down. But over time, he had learned to develop the skill of shoving those feelings down effectively for the sake of your relationship.

He shook his head out of his thoughts and grabbed his suit to go swinging.

After getting approval to leave from Steve and putting on a nice outfit, you and Peter left, screaming in nervous excitement as you swung through the trees and eventually buildings as you got closer to the city. You both landed on a rooftop of a building and dropped down on an alley for Peter to change out of his suit. You turned around, letting Peter change and also keeping a look out. You heard him quickly get out of his suit, giggling a bit when you heard him knock over some trash cans as he changed. “Ok!” You heard him breathe out. You grabbed his suit to stuff it in your bag and you both made your way to the pizza place.

You ordered a simple pepperoni to share with him, since you both could eat like 4 slices anyway. You were big pizza eaters. You sat across him at the booth and scrolled through your phones for a bit, making small talk as you waited for the pizza. When it came, you both instantly dug in.

“So,” Peter started, not caring that his mouth was full. “What’s the deal with Ruby Anne? She’s been here like, what, 2 and a half months? I haven’t really talked to her much, cause I’m trying to give her her space, but you talk to her a lot more. What’s the deal?” He asked. You sat back on the booth and let out a sigh.

“I don’t know Peter. I don’t know what her deal is. I try and try, but it’s like every step we take, she takes 20 steps back. I’m trying to get her to open up because I don’t like seeing Tony like this. I mean yeah, he’s gotten used to her behavior and manages it a lot better but it doesn’t mean those feelings are gone.” You said wistfully, taking a sip from you drink. Peter nodded in agreement, holding on to the last thing you said.

He’s gotten used to it and manages it a lot better but it doesn’t mean those feelings are gone.

He hummed. He was lost in his though for the second time that day, observing how what you said could also be applied to him. No. Brush it off! He thought to himself.

You looked up and saw that Peter had an absent expression on his face and he’d stopped eating. You frowned and waved in front of his face. “Hey, you good?”

He finally pushed he thoughts to the back of his head and snapped out of it, looking at you and smiling. “Sorry, yeah I’m good. I was just uhh thinking about what you were saying...So, do you think she’ll ever forgive him? I mean, it’s not fair, that’s true, but has anyone actually said that to her face? Like, cause you know how there’s some people who don’t realize what they’re doing until someone literally tells them flat out? Maybe that’s what she needs.” He shrugged. You nodded slowly, processing his words.

“Yeah... you’re right. I assume Tony’s not gonna tell her, cuz he doesn’t wanna mess up any progress, like they made any.” You mumbled the last part, making Peter chuckle lightly. “So maybe I’ll have to be the one to say it. I just have to figure out the right words.” You hummed.

———

You and Peter finished your pizza and swung back home, but not before pressing your faces against the window of the pet shop right next to the pizzeria, cooing at the adorable puppies playing in there.

You got home and found the team at the kitchen, talking. You joined them to see what they were talking about, standing next to Nat and hugging her by her neck. She wrapped an arm around your waist, patting your side affectionately. After you listened in on the conversation, you perked up. “You guys are gonna watch a movie?”

“We’re planning to. What do you wanna watch.” Tony nodded at you. You shrugged and shook your head.

“I don’t really have anything in mind, you guys can pick.”

After a few moments of deciding on a movie, surprised that it didn’t break out into an argument like it usually does, Clint spoke up. “Alright then, Tony why don’t you go ask your daughter if she wants to join?”

Tony fell silent for a few seconds, unsure if he really wants to go and ask, for fear of dampening his mood. Steve caught on to that and raised his hand.

“Why don’t I ask her this time?” He suggested. Tony nodded, offering him a small smile which Steve returned, telling everyone that he’d be right back. Tony took a seat on the couch and you sat next to him between him and Pietro. You were fighting a bit with Pietro over the amount of space he was leaving you. He was doing it on purpose.

“Pietro scoot over!” You whisper yelled, pushing at his shoulder. Pietro only smirked and made himself stiff. You groaned and started to giggle as you kept pushing, having to get on your knees on the couch to get momentum to push. Pietro started to chuckle and poke your armpits to bring your arms down. You yelped and scolded him.

“Pietro no! No tickling!” Of course, like he does with everything, he took it as a challenge.

“No tickling?” He teased, launching a full blown attack on your armpits, causing you to fall into Tony with a big laugh. Tony smiled a bit at that, his mood lifting with the sound of your laughter and you leaned your head on his lap as you giggled hysterically.

“PietrohoHOHO!!” You squeeze your arms to your sides, trapping his fingers there. It tickled like crazy since he’d always do the thing where he’d use his speed to vibrate his hands and fingers, making it tickle ten times worse. You shrieked and dissolved into hysterics, trying to turn in your belly. Tony started to chuckle at you with a wide smile, and you noticed. Despite the torture you were going through right now, it made your heart swell to see Tony smile genuinely. So if it meant that you’d have to endure this a bit longer to get Tony to smile a bit longer, you were willing to endure it.

“Lift your arms, Printsessa. My hands are stuck.” He smirked, chuckling when you shook your head. You knew what was gonna happen if you’d lift your arms. He’d only dig in deeper and laugh at you for being naive. You giggled desperately, kicking your legs out.

“Gehehehet your hahahahands OUT!!!” You squeaked, giggling along with him as he continues to tease you.

“That’s why you need to lift your arms!”

“No! AHHHH!” You shrieked, convulsing on the couch when he forced his hands out and vibrated his fingers in the spot right above the side of your hips. “NOHOHOHOOO!” You couldn’t take much more of this, you were going insane. You tapped on his hands and yelled out for mercy. “UHUHUNCLE!!” Pietro chuckled and let you go with a teasing smirk on his face. Tony was also openly chuckling, and you smiled up at him, still panting. “You could have helped, you know.” You quipped, making him laugh and pat your head.

“I know.” He shrugged, making you roll your eyes playfully and sit up. When Wanda put on the movie, you snuggled up to Tony, curling up and resting your head on his shoulder. He sighed contently and mirrored your movements.

———

“Hey,” Steve greeted from the doorway of Ruby Anne’s door. “Everyone’s watching a movie downstairs, why don’t you join us? Vision’s making snacks and we’ve got candy and everything.”

Ruby shook her head from her place on the vanity. “No thanks. I’m good here.” She mumbled. Steve looked down for a moment before nodding. He was about to leave when he paused and turned back around.

“You know, I know things are hard; your mother died a few months ago, you’ve had to move in here with us, but he’s really trying. He wants to be a part of your life if you let him. Just... think about it. Give him a chance.” He shrugged his arm, giving her a pleading look. With that, he leaves, shutting her door. Ruby sighs, rolling her eyes and fighting the guilt in her heart, deciding to take a nap to sleep it off.

——

Steve walks in as the movie starts, and sits next to Nat, wrapping an arm behind her. Nat scoots over closer to him, just a bit so to not make it obvious, but everyone knew. There wasn’t really anything official going on between them, heck, Steve hadn’t even said anything hinting that he had feelings for her, and neither did she, but neither of them complained or shied away when one of them would show small PDA to the other and vice versa. You were secretly rooting for them ever since they started this, which was only a couple of weeks ago. You thought that Nat would be great with Steve, and it would finally help your brother move on and find happiness in a relationship. But you knew; baby steps. They weren’t dating, they haven’t told each other they liked one another, and they both were recovering from past relationships that didn’t work out. But if and when they’d get together, you are gonna make sure Steve can count on you for your absolute support.

The movie played on, everyone eating their snacks and enjoying the movie before cleaning everything up after and going to your separate rooms to go to bed.

[thatfluffyboi]

So Hello There to all people following me who are still there. I guess it’s finally time for an update and what may happen in the future So, why I disappeared? Honestly? I can’t really pinpoint the reason. I finished highschool, got to my dream college, finally moved to a big city and now I have the adult resposibilities™. Another thing is, after the second DLC my passion for doom kinda fizzled out. I still love the base game and I do hope we get some more lore either through next game, spin-offs books, comics anything that isn’t streams really. It was just hard to do anything doom related when the game’s end left a bad taste in my mouth. Another thing is that, I am now a trans dude and i go by he/they! I know the “now” might sound weird but I started this blog when i was stil a cis woman. So woho to me coming out. So now that we got through the updates and comfirming that i am in fact not dead, time to say what will happen or at least what I hope will happen. I will try to go back to writing my fic, I still think about it, I’m still working on the story and I have a a lot of stuff written for it, I just need to organise it and maybe make it sound somewhat good. I also have other stories with my doom ocs planned out that i want to put out there somewhere. I might ignore the lore of the dlcs somewhat tho, purely because I don’t like them. There are also new fandoms I’m Into, mainly Devil May Cry so don’t be surprised when you see the wacky woo hoo pizza man himself on my blog. At first I wanted to keep it purely doom but with twitter collapsing on itself rn and other websides and social media being meh at best i will just kinda, throw evething in here, it’s my blog after all. And yes i might write or draw something from these fandoms too. How often i will post? it’s hard to tell really. as of now uni is surprisingly *not* kicking my ass but who knows how long that will last. Another thing is that I draw slow as fuck same with writing and with my schedule already being busy I don’t have that much time to work on stuff. That and it’s hard for me to find motivation most of the time. I might start shitposting tho As for now, just know that neither me or the goddess of war are dead, you will get your lesbian marauder i swear even if i will need to crawl out of my grave to finish it

[fanficcollection]

Tumblr - Girl (Part 8)

Tumblr – Girl (series) Part 1 Masterlist

Pairing: Misha Collins x reader Summary: answer time Word Count: 2.148 Warnings: it’s a quite smooth one, parts of a panic attack, mental illness, maybe parts of implied rape

Notes: it’s been some time, but here it is, part 8! Woho.. it’s a quite smooth one, but I hope you like it in spite of that.

As always loads of love and thanks to my precious beta @sinceriouslyamellpadalecki you are truly wonderful! Thanks so much!

Enough talk, enjoy Part 8. :)

Mishas POV

With some new energy the text gave me I mastered the rest of the convention, the panels flew by and soon it was time for the closing ceremony and with the knowledge of Y/N being okay I could enjoy the whole day. I had a smile tugged on my face and when the whole convention sang “Carry on my wayward son” together I got goose bumps. From time to time I saw Jensen looking at me, and smiling, sometimes I met his gaze and he seemed truly content with the situation.

After the convention ended, I went to my room, there were two more hours left before our drivers picked you up for the flight back to Vancouver. I first packed all my things to my carry-on bag, I never brought much stuff with me to a convention weekend, then I lied down on the bed, took my phone out to make some notes on my answer, which I wanted to do later, but then I saw there were a few messages from the cast:

 Rob (5 min ago): Hey buddies, what about some farewell-drinks? In 10min in the Lobby? Dick&Rob

 Jared (3 min ago): Mish, are you joining for some drinks?

 Jensen (2 min ago): Are you in your room? I’m on my way to you before good-bye drinks. :)

After reading that text I heard a knock, probably Jensen. I quickly jumped up and went to the door to open it. When I saw the familiar face I let him immediately in the room. “Are you joining for the goodbye drinks?” he asked and the first time in a few weeks I really thought about it and nodded.  “I think it’s not a bad idea.” I said and smiled. Jensen smiled as well. “Good to see you this happy, bro” he said and patted my shoulder. “Have you answered her yet?”  he asked. “No, I guess it will take some quiet time to find the right words, I don’t want to put pressure on her and I don’t want to send just a ‘quick text’.” I took my phone from the nightstand and went to the door “Ready to go?” I asked looking at Jensen. He nodded slowly and left my room before me so I could lock it behind me.

 Later that day, back at my place in Vancouver I took my laptop, it was an important text and writing it was a lot easier on the computer, there was more space and it was easier to organize the scraps of words I had in my mind at the moment. First I put my earplugs in and looked up a inspiring playlist then I opened tumblr and started typing slowly, I often typed and deleted it, it took me a while to find the right words, but then it started to fit together.

“Dear Y/N,

I hope you got all my texts, every single one, I as well hope you saw what they meant, they mean that I’m there even if you are not, I don’t stop being there, I’m here when you need it, when you are ready. It’s sad to hear that the demons are still chasing you, but I was so happy to read that you are still fighting them, that’s a quality that tells a lot about you.

And as I told you, unless you want me to stop writing, I’m here, there is nothing to forgive, nothing for you to feel bad about and once again, because no one could ever hear it too often, you are important! To me, to other people out there, I care, I’m here when you need someone to talk.

Y/N, what you said about the characters and the actors really got into my mind. You are such a strong girl and I think I got something that would maybe help you to keep up your fight. Some time ago I got myself some Con-Tickets for Vancouver Con, but sadly I can’t attend the con due to job issues, so I have to find someone to give my tickets to. Would you like to attend the con? I know, it’s probably hours of flying from your home town, but I would give you the tickets for free. Please, do me a favour and visit the guys, meet them, see it as a reward for your brave fight.

I’m looking forward to hear from you!

Love,

Dmitri “

I read the mail again and again, but then I decided to just go for it and sent it. Hopefully she would accept the offer to meet us in Vancouver; it was a possibility to get to know her without revealing that I lied to her about my real identity. Maybe I could talk about it to her in person; at least I could try to avoid a misunderstanding by talking from face to face.

 Your POV

While reading all the messages you fell asleep, you were deadly tired even though you slept in in the morning. In your sleep you started crying, you dreamt crazy things about Jacob, you could almost feel his fingers on your skin and you started shivering by that thought. The memories of yesterday came up, you felt like you saw the scenes from some outside: you saw when he slowly pressed his lips on yours, when you first rejected it, because it didn’t feel right, your stomach turned by this scene, then you allowed it and even leaned into the kiss, you could nearly feel his lips, smell his scent.  

Then all of a sudden there was an annoying noise, you didn’t know where it came from but you couldn’t stop it. When you woke up you recognized what the noise was, your phone, an awkward standard ringtone. You first thought it was just an alarm you set to not oversleep, but as it kept ringing you noticed someone was calling you. “What?” you answered the phone without looking who was calling. “Hey darling” the voice on the other end said “are you alright? You sound sleepy, have you slept until now?” he asked, it was Jacob. “I’m okay. Just a headache and very tired.” You said shortly. “And no, I was up for a few hours, but then I laid down again, because of my head.” There was a bit of a lie in it, your head was okay, but you didn’t want to tell him that you texted Dmitri and you of course didn’t want him to know you cried the whole afternoon about Dmitri’s messages.

 “So can I still come over tonight?” he asked politely “I can bring some food, maybe pizza or Chinese?”  you thought about a good answer, he already told you in the morning that he would stop by for dinner, but somehow you needed some alone-time, but you were to slow. “You know what-“ he said, “I’m coming at about eight, I’m so sorry I can’t be there earlier. Is pizza ok with you?” You didn’t know what to say, you didn’t want to lose him, you’ve already lost Dmitri because of your shitty behaviour, so you just accepted and ended the call.

You decided to put on some comfortable clothes and go for a walk to clear your mind, university things floated round your head, there was not much time left this semester, you thought about getting a summer job, maybe travelling a bit. When you got into a nearby park you sat down for a moment, your mind wandered, you thought about everything and anything, you didn’t want to go back, everything seemed peaceful here. Taking your  phone out you scrolled through your Facebook feed; you were not one of the persons who posted every little thing, you were more the observer; you looked at profile pictures of your former classmates, many of them were in a relationship according to their profile. They seemed happy, but on the other hand, you as well didn’t share your down times, all the information on this page were just illusions of happy lives.

You closed Facebook, it made you angry to see all their lies. Instead you opened up Tumblr, Tumblr was different. A smile sneaked on your face when you thought of that convention, where Misha was confronted with Tumblr and trying to understand it; he had compared it to Facebook and every single one reacted not amused.  While your blog was loading a small sign popped up to show you that you had a new message in your inbox, it was about an hour old. Why didn’t you see that one earlier? Maybe tumblr was fucking around again. Then it dawned to you, the notifications on your phone were still turned off. Whatever, there were more important things right now! With shivering fingers you entered your inbox, it was from Dmitri, your heart sank, your stomach turned and your vision blurred, you knew it was his last message, it had to be, you couldn’t imagine he want to keep your friendship up after everything that happened.

You had to take a few deep breaths to calm down; it wasn’t easy to keep your eyes focussed on the lines when you finally managed to open the text. For a short moment you stopped, did you really want to read it, after that message you had most likely lost the human being you trusted. But you had to know if he at least forgave you. Yeah, you had to read it. So you started to concentrate again, tears silently rolling down your cheeks, you slowly read one word after the other you didn’t catch the meaning at first.

Unknowingly you looked out for some words of reject, some kind of insult, some complaining, but there was… nothing. Nothing like that, no hate. Like earlier in your friendship. There were just nice words, again. Why couldn’t he be human once, he always was so calm, so friendly, so caring. “How did I deserve him?” you mumbled. Then you started again, reading the text, processing it.

The next moment you got interrupted, your phone was ringing, again. You saw Jacob’s name flash on the display and you waited a moment before answering “Hey. What’s up?” you asked. Your mood was a lot better than before, to know you haven’t lost Dmitri lifted you up and there couldn’t go anything wrong today. “I’m right in front your door and obviously you aren’t at home.” Jacob said “I thought we said 8 o’clock?” You quickly checked the time, it was 5 minutes after eight. “I’m so sorry, I’ll be home in about 5 to 10 minutes. I completely forgot the time.” He said something you didn’t understand, but then his voice got softer “Okay babe, just hurry up a bit, the pizza is getting cold.” He said nicely and you promised to be there as soon as possible. Then you ended the call, got up and went back to your place, you were happy, nothing could break your mood tonight.

 When you arrived Jacob smiled friendly and gave you a hug with his free hand and pulled you in into a kiss, it didn’t feel that bad as you remembered it from yesterday. You kissed back lightly and unlocked the door. “Come in.” you invited him and closed the door behind him. “How was your day, darling?” he asked you while he put the pizza on a counter on the kitchen. “It started a bit nasty with the headache and so on, but then it turned out quite okay. I made it a lazy day, was quite cool. What about your day?” you asked back politely. “Was okay I guess, there wasn’t much to do at the hospital, so it got a bit boring, but I looked forward to this the whole day.” He answered and once again pulled you into a kiss. He gently stroke your neck with one hand and placed the other one on your back. The touch felt good and you leaned in it, you felt his lips curl up to a smile during the kiss and you had to smile as well. Then all of a sudden he pulled away and you silently whined. “The pizza is getting cold.” He told you with a smirk on his face and you nodded. “What about a nice movie and pizza on the couch?” he suggested and you quickly nodded. You let him choose the movie and he went with a romantic drama, then you got some drinks, non-alcoholic today and sat down next to him.

After you were finished with eating you put the carton on the floor and Jacob slipped a bit closer to you. You leaned your head against his shoulder and felt his hands caress your upper arm. It felt nice, maybe you were just too drunk yesterday to realize it, maybe you totally overreacted.

Part 9

Tag-List:

@chantelle-c333 @awolfamongstus @jannalionheart @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @evyiione @destielschild @xx-melissa-x @kcam1621 @captainsherlockwinchester110283 @smoothdogsgirl @kristendansmith @haappy-go-lucky  @laffytaffyhumor

[jackieswift]

8 months later part 4

Hello! I hope y’all are having a great day (or had a great day). This is the part 4 of the story and it will be one more after this one. This was suppose to be the last one, but I don’t really have time to finish the story tonight (it’s evening where I live). And I totally recommend you to listen to “Apologize” or like we all call it in Sweden “too late to apologize” when you read the first Adam part. Reading the text I wrote and listening to that song makes me emotional. So just a tip if you’d like to cry or something.

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Part 1: http://jackieswift.tumblr.com/post/156452687077/8-months-later

Part 2: http://jackieswift.tumblr.com/post/156496810142/8-months-later-part-2?is_related_post=1

Part 3: http://jackieswift.tumblr.com/post/156540347947/8-months-later-part-3?is_related_post=1

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

*Adam’s pov*

I sat there and talked with the love of my lives best friends boyfriend, the guy I once had a big twitter fight with. I knew I had grown as a person and it seemed like he had too. Maybe we could just put it all behind us. The door went up and I looked that direction right away. In the doorstep the doctor stood and he didn’t look happy. I got goosebumps all over my body.“Gigi, Zayn and Adam?” he asked. I just wanted to know what had happened. I couldn’t handle this anymore. “Yes” I said. The man with a rock walked over to us and I could then see how Gigi woke up. “What have I missed” she asked Zayn and sat up. She looked over to me and put on a fake smile. Zayn whispered “Nothing yet”. The doctor sat down next to us and said “I’m glad you’re up. I have something I need to tell you.” I could hear it in his voice, that he was nervous. He paused, and that pause felt like the worst moment in my life. Like it never ended. Then he finally continued “I’m sorry to say this, but Taylor…..”

Gigi cut him off with “Your bastard” and hit me, even though I’m pretty sure it was hard, I couldn’t feel it. I wasn’t in the room anymore. Or technically, my body was, but in my mind, no! I was like dead. Gigi continued with something about that I should have fought for her and that she loves me.

I think I only heard a few of her words, but I didn’t know what to say. Once again the tears started falling down from my face. Taylor loved me and I loved her. But it might be too late. Too late to apologize. Too late to start over. Too late to love her. Too late to cook for her. Too late to propose. Too late to marry her. Too late to have kids with her. Too late for everything I want in life. If she’s gone, I don’t know if I will be able to go up from bed in the mornings. She’s the reason I wanna go up from bed. The thought of growing old with her, that’s what takes me through life right now. But it all might be gone. Everything. I was in shock, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do anything, or that will say anything other than cry. I couldn’t breath. It was as if my airways were clogged….

*Gigi’s pov*

The doctor started talking and his words made me so upset. I couldn’t lose my best friend. I let my body take over, I hit Adam and screamed at him. I knew it wasn’t fair, but if he fought for her we would never be here. But at the same time, if I had gone up faster maybe Taylor would have been fine. What if this is like the psychology I learned in school, what if I just tried blaming it all on someone else, because deep inside I knew it all is my fault. I’m the bad friend. That friend that might just watched her best friend take her life, and not just that, also in front of me, and because I wanted to kiss and get cozy with my boyfriend I let her do this to herself. I told Zayn he didn’t understand the song, but obviously I was the one who didn’t. If I only knew Taylor loved him this much, then I could have done something faster.

“Woho wasn’t that a bit…too much? Taylor will survive, don’t worry about her last words. She’s just very down. It could take weeks for her to recover and we can’t promise that everything will work like it used to. The amount of alcohol she gave her body for so short time is dangerous. And instead of fighting each other I would really like if you kept together and appreciate each other, I’m pretty sure Taylor would be really upset if she saw you guys like this” the doctor said. And I knew he was right.

I asked him some questions about Taylor’s condition and when we could meet her. He told me we had to wait for a few hours before he could say anything, and that she still was asleep.

*Adam’s pov*

I felt my phone buzz, I took it up and saw that it was a text from Austin. I had texted Austin right before I headed into the hospital. This text took me back to reality. I realised the doctor was gone and also that both Zayn and Gigi looked at me. “So you’re back?” Gigi asked. “Eh, I….” I started, but she interrupted with “I’m sorry. I thought she would die and I just got emotional and really wanted to blame someone else, because that’s apparently how weak I am in this situations” she said. “So she’s okay?” I asked with some hope in my voice. Gigi gave me a strange look “Wow, you didn’t heard a word of what that doctor said, did you? She will survive, but the doctor said somethings can be changed” I felt pretty bad for being “away” in my thoughts, but I couldn’t help it. Now when I knew she would survive I felt like I would too. I read the text from Austin “ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I’M ON MY WAY RIGHT NOW”. I really missed having him in my life. He was like a little brother to me. I sent him a short text back, just to let him know that she would survive. I started asking a lot of questions about Taylor and I wanted to know everything the doctor had told them. “You guys, I texted Austin. But I really feel like I have to call Andrea. A text wouldn’t be fair. And I know what you’re thinking, that I texted Austin. But that’s just because he’s filming his new movie tonight. So he’s just a bit outside of here and will probably be her in a hour or something.”

I walked outside to give the love of my life’s mother the second worst call she could get. “Hello Adam. Why are you calling this late? In the middle of the night…” Andrea said and I knew I would give her the shock of her life. “Are you sitting down?” I asked her. “No, I’m lying, it’s in the middle of the night Adam” she said again and sounded pretty pissed off. Now I knew what I wouldn’t do in the future I thought before I started “Taylor have been in a, let’s call it an accident. And she’s on the hospital right now. I thought you wanted to know. She will survive….” “Oh my baby girl” I hear Andrea say with a worried voice. “But it’s pretty bad. She’s passed out and has been for at least a couple of hours.”

We talked for awhile and when I hung up she and Scott was already packing the “must haves” before they were heading to the airport. I looked at the door, in there I knew Gigi and Zayn sat and waited for me to come back. But I couldn’t do that yet. I had to see her. I walked through a corridor in the hospital and thought about all those times Taylor and I watched Grey’s Anatomy together. How they always run in the corridors and it always was so much drama. I felt like my life right now easily could have been an episode of that show. Then I found it, “Tilda Svensson” it stood on a small sign outside a door. Taylor had a few rules when it came to hospitals. She was never Taylor Swift, or of course the doctors knew who she was, because come on, who doesn’t know who Taylor is? But she always had a sign with a swedish name, because her good friend Max Martin is from Sweden. And the names always starts with a T and S, because of her real names. And she always took Svensson or Sandberg, because that was the two names she had practice on saying a lot. And according to her, that was as much swedish it could get. When it came to first names she always took Tilda. She thought that was one of the world's cutest name and had told me that she wanted to name one of our daughters Tilda. That idea sounded wonderful right now and if this situation was the thing that would bring us together I would definitely name our firstborn daughter that.

I walked over to the door and I can swear that my heart raced in 200 claps per second. This was it. I knew I hadn’t permission to see her and I knew that she wasn’t awake, but I had to see her. I opened the door and there she was. The love of my life looking all destroyed. She had lots of wires and stuff around her. I didn’t knew what anything other than the infusion was. I know she needed that because of the alcohol, because her body was more than just dry. She needed this water to survive. I walked over to her and sat down on her bed. I rested one of my hands on her arms and took the other arm to her face. I leaned against her and kissed her cheeks. She smelled disgusting from the alcohol, but in that moment, nothing had ever smelled better. I took my fingers over her lips. Those beautiful lips I wanted to kiss everyday for the rest of my life. I pulled my hand through her hair and then kissed her lips. I kissed her like I didn’t want to do anything else in my whole entire life. Like that was or last kiss. Because who knows….I leaned back from her and watched her one last time before I had to go back to Gigi and Zayn.

My hand on her body moved without me moving it. I could hear “Uhugh” coming out from Taylor's voice and I start smiling and the tears once again starts pouring down my face. “You’re….omg...I love you so much” I said and leaned in for a hug. “Who...who are you” get’s out from Taylor’s mouth and I backed off right away. “Don’t you recognize me?” I ask with a sad voice. “No, I’m sorry…I guess I should. Are we married? Or are you my brother or something. Or you might be my best friend?” I could see it on her face, that she’s confused. “Do you know who you are?” I ask her. And now I could see even more fear in her eyes. A tear falled down from her cheek and she whispered “no”.

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

The next part and also the last part will probably be out tomorrow! And yeah sorry for the whole swedish name thing, as a Swede, I’m still not over the fact that Taylor said her name was Nils Sjöberg for the This Is What You Came For release. So what do you think? Is Taylor’s memory gone? Will Adam and Taylor get a happy ending?

[softviking]

Ramblings and Personal stuff i carry around for a while now.

So hi. :) This will be a rather personal and potential long post so i will put this under the Read More stuff. Mainly for the very few people who happen to follow me for whatever reason and think “who the hell is that and why should i care.” You dont, i somehow feel like my Tumblr blog is some kind of safe spot...i hate the word but it is true. I dont do too much here on Tumblr, less now because most of my shows and stuff is on hiatus or so...but i feel surprisingly calm and secure when im on tumblr. It feels like i can write stuff down in my blog and get it out of my system...thats the main reason i will write this now. So for those who dont care, this pretty much is the end of a pointless looking Post but actually just the beginning. XD

Either way, have a good day, night, week, month, rest of the year all. Life is hard but you can make it, i believe in you.:)

Well here we go then for me and maybe a few people who are interested in what this weirdo has to say.

The year 2018 has been a really heavy year with a lot of things that happened. Mainly in my life we had two deaths, my uncle and my grandma. My uncles death was more of a shock, grandma dying was more a relief for all. My parents who were day and night there for her in the last difficult few months, relief for her because she is in no pain anymore...it was sad and everybody cried but we knew it was for the best. But before that happened, two good things happened in our life two. First my niece was born...and i cant even find the words to say how much i love this girl and how much laughter and life she brought in our already chaotic family. I never thought i would adore a baby that much. More than that it helped me realise that I AM NOT WORTHLESS. Its probably my biggest flaw, the mindset of thinking that im just a waste of space, that im not good enough no matter how often someone tells me that opposite. I hate that i cant shake this god damn mindset off, that it keeps coming back with every tiny mistake or every little thing i dont do perfect. Seeing how my brother and sister in law, how my family trust me with this tiny little being...helps me a lot. Seeing how this baby is not afraid of me, how she trusts me and how i can make her smile...thats something i never thought could happen to me.

Anyway...second good thing was that my brother got married. Dont know if i wrote this down here but when he first told us about this girl from Albania, we were a bit worried. He is a bit of a simple mind who often does things just out of spite. He didnt made it too easy to trust this whole thing, getting married after just 11 months of knowing, having spent most of their time together online...it causes us a few gray hair. But after having met her a few times and her now staying here for a few months, the girl is family. She is smart, friendly, helps a lot and is in general a really nice person. We get along well. So we have two new family members who will celebrate their first christmas in our family...a good thing.

Here is the thing...There was a lot going on here and there, small and bigger things that made me look at my life. And i realized that while im happy...i want more. Specificly i realized that i want to “socialise” more. I wanna met people, build friendships...find someone to love. For the longest time i was looking for excuses...but i realized those excuses were just because im afraid. Afraid of what could happen...which i realize now isnt as dark as i imagine. The worst that can happen is that people reject me...woho, big deal. Im sure there are a lot of people on this planet who dont like me...its not the end of the world. So i wanna put myself out there more and maybe here...interact more with the Shippers and stuff around here. Its something i didnt do for two reasons mainly...

One: I think im boring and have nothing to say, that all i might have to say is dumb and a waste of time and just bothers people. Getting rid of this mindset is a hard thing, but i will work on it. Number Two...sounds weird but...im a guy. I know Tumblr isnt some man hating place, no matter how often it might look like it. Thats not the case, i know the place has its bad apples but its not as bad as people want to make it out. It has less to do with the people around here and more...yeah im a smartass here, more to do with society. I sometimes feel like as a guy i shouldnt be part of a shipping community, i shouldnt participate in fandoms with mostly women or transgender people or so. Thats completely on me of course...but i dont really know why. Its probably more annoying than anything because its literally the dumbest reason for not doing something that exists. I shouldnt feel like i have no right to talk to other shippers, to squeel when my ships have cute scenes, to cry when the angst is too much or a fanfiction is emotionally so strong that i have tears in my eyes or laugh out loud. Its nothing wrong with being a guy and shipping stuff or with being emotional...hell i just got tears in my eyes when i wrote the part up there about my niece. Its a weird, eye rolling, thinking im probably the dumbest person in the world reason...i know that. And i will get rid of this mindset in my head...if i have to fight and scratch, bark and bite to be a tall guy who cries and ships cute couples, who is soft as a teddy bear and easily to get to laugh...then i will do that. I wanna ship stuff, i wanna be a fanboy, i wanna squeel about two fictional characters being all cute with each other...and i want to do that with others no matter the gender. So now that i have put this out...the last point and the one im currently most scared about. Remember the whole “I wanna put myself out there more” thing? Yeah that is scary. Since i want to become a writer, make money with writing, get many people to enjoy my books etc...i decided to start with making a facebook account. And not just some secret thing or so, no i wanna do it like most people do. Pictures, talking, sharing who i am, what i like and so on. Thats really scary even to think about it, because of the incredible pressure i feel while thinking im just not good enough. But i will do it, i will put myself out there...hoping i can be cheeky and funny...because thats what i am...well at least more so while writing in forums etc than in person. I hope that i can get the attention of people, not only to socialise and make friends...also to sell my book(s)...yeah money rules the world. I want to make money that is true, but i also want to matter you know? I want to sit there and be one day proud because i know that people really enjoyed reading my storys, the adventures i write, the dangers the characters i created experienced, i want people to laugh about stuff those characters say and do, hate the villians...or love them, i want to know that i reached people with my own hands...that i was good enough. This part didnt go into the direction i hoped, but anyway. To close this off there is one other thing. Dont know if it sounds creepy or so...but i already put it all out there, whoever is around now can not be scared away...hell i probably just write this for myself so it doesnt really matter. Anyway...while getting a good look at the stuff Facebook has going...i found also something...the Girl i had a crush on for all my school years. And as i realize now, the girl i still have a huge crush on. I never dared to talk to girls, not in school or 7 years ago when my weight was double what it is now and i had no idea what to do with life. Yeah i throw this out now too...i never had a girlfriend. Im way...way past 18 years and never even held hands with a girl in a romantic way. Never really thought anybody would care for me that way...but i digress i think. Anyway, the girl is still as beautiful as i remember and it gives me a surprising confidence that she doesnt seem to be married and all that. So maybe there is also Romance in my way...but i dont want to hope too much. For all i know she doesnt even remember me, i didnt particular made a impression on anybody. I mostly watched her from far away in school...yeah i know it sounds creepy as hell but i was really shy and unsure. A part of me thinks that this is my second chance, that this might be how it was supposed to go...but thats more coming from the side that watches too much romance movies and read too many of you peoples great fanfiction in which the same characters fall in love and meet in thousands of different ways. Either way, i just want to know for now if there could be chance or just if she is happy...maybe it turns out it was just a childhood crush i never gave the time to overcome...maybe its more...i dont know. But i know that im willing to find out...something a year ago i wouldnt had dared to even think. So that pretty much sums up the past year and my mindset, what goes on in my little head. If anybody reads this...im sorry for wasting your time or thank you for listening, it helped me get this stuff off my chest. Which helps me focus and move forward. Anyway, thank you very much and like i said before...you got this, you will get through rough times and come out strong...i believe in you.

[kristinhelgamagnusdottir]

My first week in India !

So, I’ve packed all my stuff into a locket closet in Manhattan, said goodbye to the rooftop bars and have arrived in Bangalore, India !

I live on the campus of Infosys in Bangalore, and it’s like living in a botanical garden, this is my home (and office) garden for the next 10 weeks:

I arrived on a Saturday morning (super jet lagged since it’s 9.5 hour time difference), 2. June 2018, and spent the Saturday wandering around campus and admiring this place. The weather here is perfect (had heard horror stories about the heat in India and the monsoon rain season). It rains usually in the evenings but the days are beautiful and very nice to sit outside.

In the afternoon I found another intern wandering around, so we wandered together and found all the activities inside the campus. We went bowling, but there is also a swimming pool, tennis courts, badminton courts, ping pong, billiard and other activities.

Then I was added to a Whatsapp group for interns and after falling asleep at 5pm on Saturday (and waking up at 1am on Sunday) I joined a few interns (who had been here for 2 weeks) for a walk around the campus and inside the city.

We live in a area in Bangalore called Electronic City. We took a walk outside of outside of campus and, well... pictures say more than a thousand words. We also took a cab to the city and walked around Cubbon park and around the shopping area there.

The first thing you will notice in Bangalore is the traffic. There are cars and motorbikes everywhere and there seems to be no order, everybody honks constantly and I’m sure all the people on the motorbikes must have some kind of a death wish.

The second thing that comes to mind is my favorite: wild cows ! Everywhere you can find wild cows, just roaming around, hanging out, eating trash, chillin’ at the middle of heavy traffic road and blocking all traffic. Super calm. They are adorable. (There are also a lot of wild dogs which are not as adorable and we saw a wild goat standing on a motor cycle, I’m still sad I didn’t get a picture of that)

As you may know, cows are holy in hinduism. So the cows just get to hang out wherever.

The third thing you will notice is the cutest thing - the head nod. Indians nod their head to the left and right. First I thought it was super confusing since this nod can mean around 100 different things. Usually it means yes. Sometimes it means maybe. I’m still getting confused and just hoping that I’m guessing the meaning correctly.

Enough of that for now...

On Monday it was first day of work. So now I can cover what I’m doing here :)

I’m doing a internship at one of the major Indian tech companies, Infosys. The program is called Instep and my internship is 10 weeks. My project is on “Internet of Me” where I will be a full stack developer creating a recommendation system.

The first day was not exactly workday, but an induction day. We had a tour around campus and then lectures about the program and the company. We also had to go do more administrative work like opening a bank account, getting a sim card, laptop etc.

But after the day everything was set up !

On Tuesday I met my co-mentor. My actual mentor is located in Bhubaneswar in the east of India, but his coworker is more than ready to help me with anything. We talked about the project and I saw my office and the next few days at the office I spent looking at what the intern from last year had been coding. I wish I could show you photos from my office but it is forbidden.

That same evening I took a 2 hour taxi to the city (only 20 km but the traffic here is insane during rush hour) with three other interns - to go to the movies and see a Bollywood movie! I watched a few Bollywood movies before I came here but I was excited to experience it in a movie theatre.

A few things are different from the movie theaters back home:

1. You walk through a metal gate and body search - the purpose is not only for weapons but to find the candy you thought you could smuggle in! The girls had bought doughnuts to take home after the movies, but had to eat it by the entrance of the movie theatre because the doughnuts were not allowed in.

2. Before the movie starts, guests are asked to stand up from their seats while India’s national anthem is played.

3. In the case that there is any scene where someone smokes a cigarette in the movie, then you will see a horribly scary clip of cancer before the movie starts (and during the smoking scene there will be a big text in the corner saying that smoking kills).

But the movie was good (although I was still so jet lagged that I slept through most of it). I can’t wait to learn some Bollywood dances.

[khmagnusdottir-blog]

My first week in India !

So, I’ve packed all my stuff into a locket closet in Manhattan, said goodbye to the rooftop bars and have arrived in Bangalore, India !

(hmm I can’t control the size of the photos on this blog so I guess you just have to see huge photos)

So this is gonna be my new home for the next 10 weeks:

(Still can’t believe I live in a hotel room, it’s gonna be hard to go back to cleaning my room after this, and yeah I get two beds woho)

But the best thing about my new home is my garden. (Ok, maybe not “my garden” but eyhh...)

I live on the campus of Infosys in Bangalore, and it’s like living in a botanical garden !

So I arrived on a Saturday morning (super jet lagged since it’s 9.5 hour time difference), 2. June 2018, and spent the Saturday wandering around campus and admiring this place. The weather here is perfect (had heard horror stories about the heat in India and the monsoon rain season). It rains usually in the evenings but the days are beautiful and very nice to sit outside.

In the afternoon I found another lost intern wandering, so we wandered together and found all the activities inside the campus. We went bowling, but there is also a swimming pool, tennis courts, badminton courts, ping pong, billiard and other activities.

Then I was added to a Whatsapp group for interns and after falling asleep at 5pm on Saturday (and waking up at 1am on Sunday) I joined a few interns (who had been here for 2 weeks) for a walk around the campus and inside the city.

We live in a area in Bangalore called Electronic City. We took a walk outside of outside of campus and, well... pictures say more than a thousand words. We also took a cab to the city and walked around Cubbon park and around the shopping area there.

The first thing you will notice in Bangalore is the traffic. There are cars and motorbikes everywhere and there seems to be no order, everybody honks constantly and I’m sure all the people on the motorbikes must have some kind of a death wish.

Another thing you will notice is that if you go to the park or somewhere outside of the main business area, you will feel like a celebrity.

At one point in the park, after we agreed to one picture, we had a group of 10 people all taking selfies with us at once and a line forming to get photos. 

The third thing that comes to mind is my favorite: wild cows ! Everywhere you can find wild cows, just roaming around, hanging out, eating trash, chillin’ at the middle of heavy traffic road and blocking all traffic. Super calm. They are adorable. (There are also a lot of wild dogs which are not as adorable and we saw a wild goat standing on a motor cycle, I’m still sad I didn’t get a picture of that)

As you may know, then cows are holy in hinduism. So the cows just get to hang out wherever.

 This guy was just taking out the trash, no problem:

Enough of that for now...

On Monday it was first day of work. So now I can cover what I’m doing here :)

I’m doing a internship at one of the major Indian tech companies, Infosys. The program is called Instep and my internship is 10 weeks. My project is on “Internet of Me” where I will be a full stack developer creating a recommendation system. I will probably go more into the details in another blog (also the project is still being defined in details so I don’t want to say too much).

The first day was not exactly workday, but an induction day. We had a tour around campus and then lectures about the program and the company. We also had to go do more administrative work like opening a bank account, getting a sim card, laptop etc.

But after the day everything was set up !

On Tuesday I met my co-mentor. My actual mentor is located in Bhubaneswar in the east of India, but his coworker is more than ready to help me with anything. We talked about the project and I saw my office and the next few days at the office I spent looking at what the intern from last year had been coding. I wish I could show you photos from my office but it is forbidden.

That same evening I took a 2 hour taxi to the city (only 20 km but the traffic here is insane during rush hour) with three other interns - to go to the movies and see a Bollywood movie! I watched a few Bollywood movies before I came here but I was excited to experience it in a movie theatre.

A few things are different from the movie theaters back home:

1. You walk through a metal gate and body search - the purpose is not only for weapons but to find the candy you thought you could smuggle in! The girls had bought doughnuts to take home after the movies, but had to eat it by the entrance of the movie theatre because the doughnuts were not allowed in.

2. Before the movie starts, guests are asked to stand up from their seats while India’s national anthem is played.

3. In the case that there is any scene where someone smokes a cigarette in the movie, then you will see a horribly scary clip of cancer before the movie starts (and during the smoking scene there will be a big text in the corner saying that smoking kills).

But the movie was good (although I was still so jet lagged that I slept through most of it). I can’t wait to learn some Bollywood dances.

Back to the work culture, then the first thing I noticed at my office was that the guy sitting next to me kept on taking all his phone calls on speaker from his desk phone. I looked around me, saw that no one minded and thought to myself why no one said anything since I found this super interrupting for everyone around... quickly I learned that this is what everyone does. People are working in remote teams and spend a lot of time on the phone, and then this seems to be the best way (I still vote for headsets though).

One of my favorite thing (at least the cutest thing) about the culture is the way Indians nod their head to the left and right. First I thought it was super confusing since this nod can mean around 100 different things. Usually it means yes. Sometimes it means maybe. I’m still getting confused and just hoping that I’m guessing the meaning correctly. 

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I told one of the coordinators of the internship program that I was interested in hiking, and he recommended a hiking company called Plan the Unplanned. I contacted them on Thursday and got the last spot on the Kudremukh Trek over the weekend.

What a great decision.

We left at 5am on Saturday to go to Kudremukh, which is around 8 hours drive away from Bangalore. I was the only non-Indian on the hike but everyone were super thoughtful and always making sure that I was fitting in and understanding the culture haha. I was super lucky.

The bus trip started with introductions, icebreakers and Indian dance party (at that time I wondered what I had signed up for)

I learned how to eat rice with my hands

When we finally got to Kudremukh we hiked up to a waterfall there in the monsoon rain

Then we went to our accommodation, a homestay where we had to save the electricity (only lights when going to the toilet) and the hot water for the shower was scarce. 

These were our beds for the night:

I must say this reminded me of my trips with the Icelandic Rescue team when I was in training there, but this was a more luxurious version of that. I honestly enjoy this simpleness at times, it makes you really appreciate warm soft bed, clean, dry clothes and showers. 

My most confused moment in this trip was this evening when it was my turn to get the shower. I walk in - and there is no shower. Only this bucket in the middle of the restroom:

With a little help from my new friends on the trip I learned that this is the way to shower in India. You fill up the big bucket with water, and then use the cup to pour over yourself. It was really not bad. (But not saying I would love to switch my shower for a bucket).

We had home cooked Indian meals (yeah I could have had a very bad stomach on the hike, but I took my chances and had amazing food).

We played games, shared experiences and had a very nice night.

The next day we woke up again at 5am and went out to the monsoon rain to start the real trek.

The total hike is around 20 km. This photo is taken at the first milestone (of many), next to the peace tree:

By that time I was already wet through each and every garment. The rain was just like a regular shower and the hike took around hours. I’ve never been as wet in my life.

We crossed countless rivers

And the scenery was breathtaking

And finally we reached the top !

This rain is no joke. Most of the time we were walking in a river.

Which also lead to a bigger problem - leeches !

There were leeches everywhere... people had tens of them on their legs, some on their neck, stomach and even the face. That was probably the least favorite part haha. I’ve never seen a leech before and now I’ve seen enough for a lifetime. No pictures of that because some people were really traumatized and it wasn’t exactly the photo time...

In stead I’ll post a pic of one leach we saw crawling in our bedroom on the Saturday morning, fat and happy after a good night with us in our beds :)

We arrived back in Bangalore at 4am on Monday after an authentic experience with a bus in India... no seat belts and the roads are super bumpy. I flew out of my seat completely to the floor 3 times wohooo...

Now I’m excited for next week, there is a 3 day weekend and I’m going on a trip to Jaipur, Agra (to see Taj Mahal) and Delhi. Also next week I’ll write more about my work and the work culture.