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skzsauce01 · 4 years ago

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Cutie Pie

Synopsis: Who’s your secret admirer? Guess you’ll have to unmask him at your academy’s end-of-term ball.

Warning: none

Word Count: 5.1k

Pairing: fem!reader x Bang Chan, best friends Sana and Nayeon

Saturday was the most anticipated day of the week. The academy only allowed mail to be collected on Saturdays, so Jihyo, the unofficial resident adviser, would head down to the mailroom early in the morning and collect all the packages and letters for everyone in the hall. She didn’t need to do such a thing when everyone had access to the mailroom, but it was a passed down ritual from the opening of the girls’ dorm. There would always be a few girls in the common room, waiting for their deliveries of skin products and 3 AM impulse buys. You would know; you were a sucker for a sale, no matter how much money your parents made.

However, this particular Saturday, every single girl was awake at seven o’clock and impatiently waiting for Jihyo to appear. Even you, who had pulled an all-nighter on Thursday to cram study, had let your excited roommate and friend Sana drag you into the common room with no complaints. Despite how exhausted you felt, you wanted to know what the theme of the end-of-term ball was as well.

You yawned and huddled closer to Sana on the plush velvet couch. You wished she would have let you grab your thick comforter before you left. The usually lit fireplace — though more for decoration than actual function — held nothing but ashes, and the big, drafty room was colder than usual. You shivered and mumbled a few choice words to your roommate, who was in too good of a mood to retort back. Luckily, Nayeon, who was on Sana’s other side, threw a section of her own comforter to you, and you gratefully snuggled under it.

“Thank you,” you said, nose already buried by fluffy white fur.

Sana poked your arm. “What do you think the theme is this year?”

You shrugged. You were always bad at guessing. “Winter Wonderland?”

“That’s what we did two years ago!” she shook her head. “Hey, Nayeon. What about you?”

However, before Nayeon could reply, Jihyo entered the room with an armful of boxes. “Mail!” she cheerfully announced.

Normally, girls would descend upon her like a murder of crows to pick up their packages, but everyone stayed still and stared at the rolled up poster at the top of the mail pile. They all watched as she slowly set down the boxes in the middle of the room and eagerly waited for her to say the theme. But Jihyo only grinned and teasingly asked why no one wanted their orders.

“Jihyo! Tell us already!” Momo whined. She raised the pillow she was previously hugging, threatening to throw it at the older girl.

“Okay, okay,” Jihyo smiled. Agonizingly slow, she unrolled the theme announcement poster. “This year’s end-of-term ball is… Midnight Masquerade!”

A wave of gasps and whispers rippled across the room. This was something no one was expecting; more often than not, themes were recycled from the ones twenty years ago. Thrilled by the prospects of daring new outfits and dancing with a boy, the murmurs evolved into full length conversations. You slunk low into your seat while half listening to Sana and Nayeon decide what color to wear. A masquerade, huh? Not only were there now dresses and shoes to discuss, but also masks. Since everyone would be less noticeable wearing them, then maybe…

“Maybe your secret admirer will ask you to the ball!” Sana suddenly said out loud.

“Shh!” you hissed. You quickly scanned the room to make sure no one heard. Fortunately, everyone was engrossed in their own worlds.

Your roommate rolled her eyes. “Who doesn’t know about him at this point? He bought all your leftover apple pies during the Fall Festival.”

“Who could forget?” you said, remembering how fifty apple pies were bought in a single purchase.

You paced the tiny area inside the booth. It was the last day of Fall Fest, and there were still boxes of unbought apple pies. If you didn’t sell them all in an hour, the club would lose money. Not that it really mattered, you thought to yourself, as JYP was a private academy that received exorbitant amounts in donations and tuitions anyway. Surely the student council would allocate some funds for the Astronomy Club. However, the club’s reputation would be hurt, and selling apple pies had been your idea. Being president sucked sometimes.

Seungmin, another board member of the club, soon returned from his break, and you guiltily dumped the task on him. You promised to come back ten minutes before Fall Fest ended, and he merely waved you off. You spent the rest of the time doing your best to steal customers from other food booths, but no one seemed to want gourmet apple pie when there was a lobster food truck around.

When your time was up, you headed back to the booth with a frown and a posture that would have been deemed unacceptable by your mother. To your confusion and delight, there were no more pies left. Seungmin explained that someone purchased all of them on behalf of his employer. He also offhandedly mentioned that the man muttered, “What is that boy going to do with all this?” while handing him the money.

You prodded Seungmin for more answers, but that was all he knew.

“And he sent you that cute card after, too!” Nayeon chimed in.

You received the card the next Saturday after the festival. When you went to check if you got any mail, there was a horde of girls surrounding the coffee table. Momo had an envelope in her hand, and you assumed it was another letter for her from her long distance boyfriend, but to your surprise, Momo herself presented it to you with a flourish. The fancy white envelope had your name inked across the center in rose gold.

“Who is it from?” Dahyun asked, standing on her tiptoes behind you, trying to read over your shoulder.

You carefully opened it and immediately felt heat rushing to your face when you read the simple message on the creamy paper: “I think you’re a cutie pie” followed by a line drawing of an apple pie.

Dahyun had read it out loud, and news that you had a secret admirer spread throughout the academy like a wildfire. Even after a month, no one could even mention pie without a teasing glance in your direction.

“What if he reveals himself to you at the ball?” Jeongyeon stage-whispered. Evidently, no one wanted to talk about dresses anymore when a mysterious boy was involved. “Wouldn’t that be romantic?”

Too flustered by being the center of attention, you didn’t respond. You had to admit, Jeongyeon was right. Six-year-old you would have swooned at the current situation, and bold thirteen-year-old you would have pestered anyone and everyone for more information. Fall Fest you simply kept the note hidden in your desk drawer and secretly reread it. Sana caught you once, and it was embarrassing to say the least.

“Y/N, are you busy then?”

Sana’s words snapped you out of your haze. You looked at her. “Hm?”

“Shopping next Sunday!” she brightly answered. “Nayeon said she’ll drive us!”

So, it was set. You and Sana would meet Nayeon in the common room at 9:30 to check out the new boutique downtown. However, you already had an idea of what you wanted to wear and were starting to draw the design in your head. You made a mental note to call up your favorite fashion house to place an order. You would go shopping for shoes, but the dress and its matching mask was a done deal.

Sana and Nayeon had similar ideas, and the three of you made a promise to each other and yourselves to only focus on accessories though you were sure that pact would be broken the moment you all stepped foot into downtown.

The rest of the week flew by quickly. Amidst doing homework and studying, you chatted with the other students about the masquerade, which was only a month away. Some of the boys started asking girls to the ball with elaborate bouquets, self-composed songs, and in one case, a choreographed dance number. Sana and Nayeon crossed names off their “Who Could Y/N’s Secret Admirer Be?” list with each asking. By Friday night, their list was tacked onto the bulletin board in the common room so other girls could contribute. You stationed yourself on a nearby couch, pretending to be busy typing an essay on your laptop. You were too curious to actually write anything, so instead you watched like a hawk whenever someone even came close to the bulletin board.

“... and Ok Taecyeon,” Dahyun read aloud. “So, it’s not them. How about…” She closed her eyes and jabbed her finger to a random spot. “The wall?”

“Definitely not the wall,” you giggled.

“He’s kind of cute though. Dark blue paint, random fliers.”

You laughed at her as she began cooing at the wall, telling how dashing it looked in dark blue. Dahyun was always trying to make you feel better about the situation. She was the last person to come by for the night, and you begrudgingly headed back to your dorm to go to bed an hour after Dahyun left.

Saturday afternoon you went to check your mail after waking up. The winter coat you ordered arrived on Wednesday, and you desperately needed it now that temperatures were starting to drop. To your surprise, the common room was nearly full, and the commotion turned into silence as you came into view.

“Hey,” you cautiously said. “Did something happen?”

“You got a letter,” was the simple answer.

Like people passing each other buckets of water to put out a fire, the girls passed down the letter to you. You didn’t miss the sly looks that were exchanged. Once the thick envelope was in your hand, a sense of deja vu washed over you. When you glanced down, your name was written in rose gold, in the same loopy calligraphy from the Fall Festival. Your heart fluttered, and you knew why, but the lump of anxiety in your stomach you didn’t understand. Maybe it was because you wanted privacy for such a momentous moment. Maybe it was because you had fifteen pairs of eyes on you.

“What does it say?” Jeongyeon asked, graciously not saying what everyone wanted to know — “Who is it from?”

You might as well get it over with, you reasoned, since everyone would badger you with questions anyway. You lifted the flap, breaking the red wax. You noted that the family coat of arms featured two floppy-eared dogs and branches with rounded leaves. The last letter didn’t have a seal, you remembered. The same cream-colored stationery as before greeted your eyes, and you opened the card with gentle fingers, taking care not to crease it.

Meeting you would be grand. I’ll be waiting with a red rose in hand.

A pressed rose petal decorated the bottom half of the note, and you absentmindedly touched it while trying to slow your racing heart. Your eyes were glued to the message, rereading it over and over again. This was it, your chance to finally meet him. A hint of a smile started to show on your face, and Mina, observant as always, pointed it out.

“Is it something good?” she said, already knowing the answer.

You nodded, hiding your visibly flustered face with the envelope. Cheers erupted throughout the room, Sana being the loudest one of them.

“So, who is it?” Nayeon asked. “Is it BamBam? He’s been acting suspicious lately.”

“Jeongin? He always asks you for help,” Chaeyoung suggested.

You reread the card, searching for a signature, an inside joke, something to indicate the sender. Unfortunately, all you had was the seal, but you recognized none of the elements that would help you narrow down your search.

You showed everyone the broken wax. “Anyone know whose family seal this is?” You handed the envelope to the closest girl, who glanced at it and passed it to the next person.

When it reached Sana, she brought it centimeters away from her eyes, scrutinizing every little detail she could pick out. “It looks familiar, but I don’t know,” she finally said out loud. “I’ll ask around. Okay if I take a picture, Y/N?”

“Please.” You wanted to know who this mystery boy was more than anyone.

The envelope came back to you, and you carefully tucked the card inside. The crowd started to thin out as girls started to head back to their rooms or out of the dorms. So did you.

Once inside your room, the package that held your much needed winter coat was left discarded at the foot of your bed. With shaky hands, you reopened both the cards you had received from your secret admirer. You traced the words with a trembling finger, feeling the imprints made by the fountain pen, marvelling at how elegant his handwriting was. It was written by someone with a firm hand and a delicate touch, you imagined. Someone who was deliberate and kind and…

You shook your head. There was no sense in projecting your hopes of him on him, especially since you didn’t even know who he was.

Yet with only a slight feeling of embarrassment and some guilt, you lifted the stationery to your nose in a poor attempt to sniff out his cologne. All you smelled was expensive paper, and your whole body heated up when you realized how shameless you were a mere two seconds ago. Thank goodness Sana was busy and had no chance of bursting in.

You hid both letters inside your desk and opened your package, pretending that the past five minutes didn’t happen. The whole day was like that, pretending that you were cool, calm, collected when you really had the energy equivalent of five cups of black coffee coursing through your veins.

Sana came back with no new answers. At night, you drifted in and out of sleep, wondering who he was and how he would reveal himself to you.

As decided, you and Sana met up with Nayeon in the common room at 9:30 the following day. You yawned, regretting not taking any melatonin before you went to bed; you were tired from hours of unrestful sleep. Luckily, Nayeon, the driver, was in a much better state than you.

“I asked BamBam yesterday,” she said as she pulled out of the parking lot, “and he says it’s not him. I asked about his seal, and his is completely different.”

“He could be lying. What if he used someone else’s seal to trick Y/N?” Sana gasped.

“But why would he even do that? There wasn’t any seal on the first letter I got,” you replied. “It’s probably just a hint.”

“Ah! So he wants you to know who he is but is too shy to say it outright!” Sana declared. “But someone has to know. Is it too much if I post an ad in JYPaper?”

“Yes.” The school newspaper had many readers, and you didn’t want to be known as The Girl with the Secret Admirer again. “I don’t think they even allow things like that. We have at least three weeks to figure out who he is anyway.”

“Killjoy,” Sana pouted.

Soon, the three of you arrived in front of the boutique. As expected, the promise to buy only accessories for the masquerade was broken when Nayeon spotted an emerald green dress with lace details.

“Maybe I’ll wear this instead,” she wondered out loud. Before any of you could stop her, she grabbed it off the rack and brought it to the register, not even bothering to check the size.

You and Sana shared looks before heading over to the display of shoes. A cursory glance told you that none of them would match your dress the way you wanted. Despite that, you tried on a silver heel bedazzled with possibly real diamonds as Sana selected a black velvet pump. Nayeon returned with a brand new bag with the boutique’s name emblazoned on the front.

It was a similar experience at the other stores the three of you later visited. At least one of you would buy an unneeded item, while the main purpose of buying shoes for the masquerade was forgotten. The topic of your secret admirer, however, was not as lucky. At the end of the day, you had learned far too much about the Hwang family’s supposed seal, and Nayeon’s trunk was filled with shopping bags of various sizes and multicolored tissue paper. No progress was made.

“Y/N,” Sana started, her voice in an uncharacteristic lilt that typically meant she was going to ask for a favor, “can you take my bags too? Chan says he’s free now, and I want to ask him about the seal.”

“Can’t you just do it over text? I bet Chan wouldn’t mind,” you said. You threaded the handles of as many bags as you could through your arms. “You bought so many things.”

“If I do it in person, I’ll know if he’s lying or not.”

“He’s on the student council,” Nayeon pointed out. “We voted for him because he’s honest and trustworthy.”

“Please? He’s my friend, and I haven’t talked to him in ages,” she tried. For some strange reason, you couldn’t help but feel that it was a flimsy excuse for her not to take her fifteen bags back to the dorms.

“I’m your friend too,” you huffed. Despite your show of annoyance, you grabbed one of her bags as well. The last time she and Chan spoke face-to-face was two weeks ago, which was ‘ages’ since they usually had dinner together at least twice a week. “Fine. But he better know something useful.”

Sana lit up and eagerly waved goodbye. You called after her, “You’re treating me to dinner tomorrow!”

Nayeon added, “Me too!” as she picked up a black bag with gold ribbons for handles.

After three trips back and forth, Nayeon’s car was finally empty. Sana still had not returned, so the two of you went to the dining hall for a late night snack. Nayeon checked the “Who Could Y/N’s Secret Admirer Be?” list and read off the names still not crossed off.

(Apparently, Jeongyeon had created a spreadsheet and shared it with all the girls, so the list could be updated in real time. You were both surprised and not surprised at this news.)

“What about Felix?” she suggested. She flashed her phone screen at you, and Lee Felix had no strikethrough. “He’s a new transfer, so maybe that’s why no one recognizes the seal. Or maybe he doesn’t have a seal.”

You shrugged, more focused on the cheese platter on a nearby table. “Maybe,” you said, loading your plate with delicious morsels.

Nayeon mumbled something about your disinterest when food was in front of you, but she did the same. Chaeyoung, seated in a booth near a window with her own plate of cheese and crackers, waved you over.

“Rumor has it that your secret admirer is Lee Felix,” she said, forgoing a greeting.

Right beside you, Nayeon hissed, “See! I was right!”

“Someone saw him with some red roses last week, and your card did have a rose petal on it,” she continued. She nibbled on a small block of cheese as she looked for your reaction.

You chewed on your bottom lip. Was it really him? Was Lee Felix your secret admirer? You only knew him by a string of associations — Chan’s friend. Sana’s friend’s friend. He was pretty cute, you admitted.

“Maybe,” you replied, already thinking about his sharp jawline and the dusting of freckles across cheeks. “But only three more weeks until I find out.”

Sana had been acting strangely recently. She had started asking lots of specific questions about things you liked in guys. While you would have normally brushed this aside as Sana being Sana, she would follow up with questions like, “What do you think of this quality in a boyfriend?” Your answers were noncommittal, but she always smiled far too innocently and typed it on her phone. When your star-embroidered dress and its matching mask for the ball had arrived, a hint of a grin had appeared on her face. Then she had squealed, “He’ll love it!” and immediately clasped a hand over her mouth, like she had just told a huge secret. During the latest shopping trip with her and Nayeon — where you finally found a pair of heels you liked — Sana had smirked when the three of you unexpectedly ran into Chan and Felix, also shopping for the ball.

“Is it Lee Felix?” you asked moments after the boys were out of earshot.

She pretended not to hear you. “Hey, Nayeon, what do you think of that dress over there?”

You frowned, debating whether this meant it was Felix was not Felix. But it was clear that she knew something.

Weeks passed, and there was no new information about who your admirer could be. Much to your disappointment, Sana kept her lips sealed and tactfully changed topics whenever the masquerade was brought up.

Now that everyone was getting ready for the masquerade, she was dancing about you, deciding where to best place the decorative pins in your hair. You were fine with the situation earlier since you were waiting for Momo to finish Dahyun’s makeup, but Dahyun had been long gone.

“Here! No, here!” Sana selected a new location, deemed it not perfect, and took out the pin.

Momo, who had been patiently waiting to start on your makeup for a solid five minutes, gave you a sympathetic smile. “Sana, are you close to done yet?” she asked. “We’re going to be even later than we are now.”

“But she has to look perfect! She’s about to meet her secret admirer!”

The few girls present in the common room — where Momo had set up for the night — murmured in agreement.

Sighing, you snatched the handful of pins away from her and stuck them artfully into your curls. Or as artfully as you could in five seconds. It didn’t matter; they were shaped like stars, so they would look nice anyway. “There. Hair, check.”

After makeup was complete, Nayeon carefully tied your masquerade mask back, and Tzuyu held up a mirror for you. With Momo’s handiwork and half of your face covered, you barely recognized yourself. Your heart raced at the discovery; would he recognize you then? The letters he sent rested on your lap, and you absentmindedly touched the broken wax seal.

“All ready to go!” Sana cheerfully said. She pulled you up from your chair and linked arms with you. “Let’s find out who he is.”

Would it be Lee Felix, the top candidate among the girls, or someone who had gone by unnoticed? You gripped your skirts tighter in anticipation, and Sana slapped your wrist away in fear that you would wrinkle the fabric.

Downstairs, the ballroom was packed. Nayeon opened the double doors with bravado, and dozens of eyes looked in your direction. You thought everyone with their masks on looked like great horned owls staring you down, and you self-consciously adjusted yours, to Nayeon’s chagrin.

“What do I do?” you whispered to yourself. All the onlookers had returned to their own business, and you followed your friends through the crowd. “How do I even find him in all this?”

Nayeon had great hearing. “Red rose, remember?” she said. The baroque music nearly drowned out her answer. “He’s waiting with a red rose.”

“We’ll meet you by the punch table!” Sana shouted, already disappearing into the throngs of people. She grabbed Nayeon by the elbow, and you were left alone.

Stricken by the fact that you had no idea what to do and that your friends had basically ditched you, you stood in place. The letters were hidden in the folds of your skirt, and you repeatedly tapped on the sharp corner of the envelope to calm your anxiousness. You had imagined a Cinderella-like reveal, where the crowd would part and your prince would be waiting on the other end of the ballroom. Then he would reveal himself, and the two of you would dance the night away. Though in hindsight, the current situation was much more likely to happen.

You scanned the room, looking for any sign of red. Ties, dresses, masks, but not a single flower. Why was red such a popular color for masquerades?

“Y/N?” you heard to your left.

Eyes wide, you turned in that direction, only to see a boy with a rose in hand talking to a girl with a midnight blue feathered mask. Dahyun, you realized. Dahyun laughed and shook her head before pointing in your direction. Her and her eagle eyes, you gratefully thought.

The next part felt like a dream. Like a princess from a story, you picked up your skirts and walked up to him. It was him who was frozen in place now as you neared him. The background blurred as you focused solely on him, surreptitiously studying the exposed part of his face. His black mask blocked you from seeing his eyes, but the embarrassed smile was familiar.

“Hi,” he breathed, holding out the rose to you.

Heart beating, you took it and replied, “Hi.” After a beat, you blurted out, “Who are you?”

The smile turned into a grin, and you felt your cheeks growing hotter as you realized that his grin was just for you. Oh, he was cute. Or the lower half of his face was at least. “Don’t recognize me?”

“Should I?” You checked the broken seal on the second letter. Was there a secret message on there that you missed or something? It was still the floppy-eared dogs and what you learned from Jihyo’s research was eucalyptus branches.

“Wow, Sana actually didn’t tell you?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought she would have.”

“Sana? What does she have to do with this?”

“She’s a mutual friend of ours. She’s one of my closest friends too. We’ve known each other for years.”

Then, it all dawned upon you. Sana, who thought the seal looked familiar, who wanted to speak to an old friend in person, who looked like she had been hiding a secret from you during the past three weeks. Sana, who had fussed over your appearance, who left you in the center of the ballroom for no real reason.

“Chan?” you whispered.

“Yeah. Are you disappointed?”

“No! I’m just surprised! I didn’t think that— Everyone thought it would be Felix, so I… kind of believed it…”

“If you want to dance with Felix, then I can get him for you,” he quietly offered, his face falling.

You caught his sleeve before he could turn away, and you didn’t miss his shocked expression when you quickly said, “No! I want to dance with you. Really.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to—”

“Yes, I’m sure. Please stay.”

You loosened your own mask and let it hang around your neck. Suddenly you felt shy now that all of your face was showing. You vaguely knew Chan from years of being friends with Sana, but this was a completely new experience and feeling.

“You look really beautiful,” he softly said. “I like the stars on your dress and in your hair.”

“You look handsome too,” you shyly replied. Sensing a possible awkward lull in the conversation, you asked, “So… why did you think Dahyun was me?”

He groaned and looked away. The tips of his ears matched the flower you were holding. “Sana told me your dress was dark blue, and Dahyun’s was blue as well.”

You smiled, remembering Dahyun loudly announcing that the common room wall was her date and that she would be matching with it for the ball.

“Did she tell you that I would be waiting here, too? She and Nayeon ditched me here.”

“Yeah,” he admitted. With a sudden burst of confidence, he stepped forward, his hands hovering around your waist. “She told me a lot of things, but especially about you.”

“Like what?” You hesitantly wrapped your arms around his neck, and he jumped but pulled you closer nonetheless. The two of you began to sway to the music. “That I wake up in the afternoon on the weekends and she hates it because she has to tiptoe around?”

He laughed, and the lines around his eyes crinkled. “Yes, but other things as well. That you like stars and that you stayed up late to help her study for an exam even though you pulled an all nighter the night before.”

“Oh?” You remembered it, but you didn’t think she told anyone.

“Yeah. She made you sound unreal. I checked out the Astronomy Club booth in Fall Fest to meet you myself, but I got shy. You looked really pretty that day,” he added, making you blush. “And then I heard you and Seungmin talking about how many pies you guys had left, so I decided to help out.”

“By buying all of them.”

“Yeah. Kind of a stupid idea, now that I think about.”

“You definitely got my attention.” You rested your head on his shoulders and felt him sharply inhale. He relaxed soon after, and you continued with, “I couldn’t stop thinking about your card for weeks.”

“And I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” he quietly replied, earning yet another blush from you.

He leaned closer, and you felt a breath get hitched in your throat until he whispered, “Not to alarm you or anything, but everyone’s watching us.”

A quick peek was all you needed to confirm his words. Dahyun was still lingering around, and Sana miraculously showed up, looking like the cat who swallowed the canary. Seungmin looked like he was giving Chan overly enthusiastic thumbs-ups.

“Do you wanna still wanna dance?” he mumbled. The music was loud enough that no one would be able to hear, but it was something intimate in a scene where the two of you were being gawked.

“Come with me,” you said.

“To wh— Oh!”

You slithered out of his hold and led him by the wrist through the crowd of onlookers to a more secluded spot near one of the giant windows in the hallway. Groups of people parted for you like the fairy tale scene you had imagined earlier. With your skirts flowing back and a handsome boy behind you, it certainly felt like a fairy tale. Once the two of you were alone, you leaned against the wall and looked up at him.

“So, who exactly is the guy beneath the mask?” you ask, pointing at him with the rose. “I wanna know more about him since he already knows so much about me.”

He pushed his mask up to his neatly combed hair and smiled at you, full dimples on display, galaxies in his eyes. “Just someone who thinks you’re a cutie pie.”

~ ad.gray

#stray kids #skz #bang chan #chan #stray kids scenarios #stray kids imagines #fluff #skz scenarios #skz imagines #skz fluff #bang chan fluff #stray kids x reader #twice #20201203

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canon-himbo · 4 years ago

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Some Starkid/TCB characters as teachers

So, I had the idea to make a teacher au for SaF, but there’s not enough canon characters for that. So, I decided to make ye olde crossover!

THE TEACHERS:

TGWDLM:

Paul:

Tech teacher

He’s really bad at it, to be honest

No one has the heart to break it to him

He knows how to work a computer from 1994

But has no clue how to turn off screensaver

Emma:

She’s the one sub that’s always there

She will substitute for every class

She’s even in the school yearbook

It’s always fun to see her flirt with Paul

Some classes have a betting pool on when they’re gonna go out

Spoiler alert, they already are

Ted:

Vice principal

He’s kinda an asshole, but his friends claim he’s got a reason

Will bust your ass if he sees weed

Has been told numerous times not to bring alcohol to class

“Oh, but Mega gets to stumble in with a hangover, yeah?”

His water bottle is filled with vodka

Shh don’t tell Zazz

Charlotte:

The sweetest school counselor you will ever meet

Oliver claims she’s cheating on her husband, but nobody buys it

She’s got every cat poster imaginable in her office

Even the little “hang in there!” one

Bill:

Music teacher

Is begging Keeri to put on Mamma Mia!

She refuses

When Alice transferred to Hatchetfield High he wouldn’t shut up about it

After a trip to Watcher World, they’ve gotten along much better

He plays the violin, and well.

Hidgens:

Biology teacher

He wants to be the theatre teacher and constantly asks to help Keeri

She’s sick of people wanting her job

He’s married to Chad

No one’s met Chad

Considering Hidgens’ track record, he may not be real

FIREBRINGER:

Zazzalil:

The best principal you will ever meet

She’s always down to clown, but still keeps everyone in line

How she does it, no one knows

Jemilla:

Special Ed teacher

Come to her with your problems, she will fix them

She and Zazzalil are married

[Everyone liked that]

Keeri:

Theatre teacher

Choreographs all the dances herself

Has never cooked a meal in her life.

Up is trying to teach her how

Ducker:

Choir teacher

Also does Art when Emberly doesn’t have a class

Is very enthusiastic

All the time

SAF:

Curt:

History teacher

No one would suspect it, he’s the poster child for ADHD

But he actually makes his lessons really fun

When he doesn’t want to teach, he’ll play Bond movies

Curt loves them more than any student

Owen:

English teacher

Gets made fun of because “how typical is it that the ELA teacher is actually English??”

He’s Not Having It

Best friends with Curt (may or may not be pining, who knows)

Cynthia:

Superintendant

Do not cross her. You won’t live to tell the tale.

Barely comes around but when she does you should run

Some teachers know what days she’ll swing by and purposefully call in sick

Barb:

Chemistry teacher

Sponsors the Robotics club

Sweetheart and easy to take advantage of

But if you do end up taking advantage of her the students will avenge her name

Tatiana:

Math teacher

Sponsors the fencing club

She’s very professional, and refuses to tell you anything about her life

BLACK FRIDAY:

McNamera:

Coach as well

He also teaches one calculus class when he has the time.

No one knows why

Left the military on an honorable discharge

He’s a mystery. No one knows anything about him

Tom:

Shop Teacher

Resident Himbo

His wife died, be nice to him

Everyone’s dad

Becky:

School Nurse

Sweetheart

Her and Tom may be dating????

Who knows

Everyone’s mom

STARSHIP:

Taz:

P.E. Coach

Sponsors wrestling club

Scary as fuck but in a supportive way

Up:

Home EC teacher

He used to be the Coach but he got into a car accident so now he’s home ec

He’s surprisingly good at it

cries when he messes up in class

THE STUDENTS:

BLACK FRIDAY:

Lex:

Just transferred to Hatchetfield High

Brought her boyfriend Ethan along

Loves her sister, hates school

It just be like that huh

Ethan:

Best boyfriend

His great uncle is Hidgens

Don’t mention it

He actually shows up to school every day, but he’s never passing his classes

Trying his best

STARSHIP:

Bug:

High Schooler

Trans King

Dating February and Very in love

Aspiring astronaut

February:

Cheerleader

Future scientist (loves chemistry class)

A little bit vapid but nice to everyone

Junior:

Trust fund kid

Annoying as hell

I think he knows a pot dealer

Don’t ask him though he’ll tell on you for wanting weed

SIS:

Keith:

Overly confident

Dating Gwen

Maybe dating Scrags???

Their friend group is so tight people don’t know who’s dating and who’s just friends

Gwen:

The one girl in school everyone knows

She’s fun when you get to know her

But when you first meet her she’s a bit… much

she’s quite the actress, and she knows it

Scrags:

Wants to be a film noir detective

Turns out that’s not a real thing, so he’s going to join the FBI instead

His dog Cluebert died last year and he’s still not over it

Someone get him therapy

Esther:

Junior’s dealer

Incredibly smart and passing all her classes

But never shows up to any of them

Says she has a girlfriend but no one’s ever seen her

Maybe that girlfriend is Gwen? Who knows

Not the Hatchetfield High students, that’s for sure

#hatchetfield #starkid #black friday #tgwdlm #the guy who didn't like musicals #spies are forever #solve it squad #firebringer #starship #paul matthews #emma perkins #bill woodward #curt mega #owen carvour #henry hidgens #i don't want to put all the character tags #so just deal with it #add more if you want!

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douxreviews · 6 years ago

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Quantum Leap - Season One Review

"Oh, boy."

Quantum Leap began as a mid-season replacement in early 1989, ran for five seasons (1989-1993), and made a television star out of Scott Bakula. While it was running, it was one of my two favorite shows (the other was Star Trek: The Next Generation). There wasn't much good science fiction on television back then. Actually, there wasn't much sci-fi on television at all, unlike today's sci-fi-rich television environment.

What happens

A brilliant scientist named Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) invents time travel. Pressured to produce results or lose funding, he tries it on himself — and wakes up in 1956 in someone else's body. With the help of his Quantum Leap Project partner Al (Dean Stockwell) who visits Sam in the form of a neurological hologram, Sam discovers that he must correct whatever it was that "went wrong" in the original timeline before he can leap out again. It is theorized by Ziggy, the artificial intelligence back at the Project, that if Sam can't make the appropriate correction in each leap, he'll be stuck in that person's body forever.

What works

There is so much to love about Quantum Leap. Fortunately, the two best things about the show are the main characters, Sam and Al, and the actors who played them. I've always thought that Sam Beckett is a dream role for an actor, and Scott Bakula was more than up to the challenge of playing a new character in a new situation every week. Okay, not exactly a new character, but he still had to play Sam's interpretation of that character, which added some acting layers while still preserving the integrity of Sam himself as a character.

Yes, Sam Beckett is just too perfect. A genius with six doctorates, his massive intellect made him capable of stepping into nearly anyone's life. What helped make Sam less perfect was that the Quantum Leap process made "swiss cheese" out of his memory. His partial amnesia also helped disconnect him from his old life, making it easier to immerse himself in the lives of the people he leaped into, an excellent plot device.

And then there is Al, who is also brilliant and multi-talented, and whatever Sam can't do while living someone else's life, like fly a plane or speak Italian, Al can step in and help. Al is also the king of double entendres and references to scoring with women, and under other circumstances, I would have found such a character repulsive. But Dean Stockwell is just so lovable in this part. He made it easy to see the humanity and goodness inside Al, right from the start. And Bakula and Stockwell played so well off each other. Even though Sam and Al were totally different people, they were believable as close friends.

The basic premise of the series is great, too; it's a fascinating framework for a time travel series. The only real limitation is that Sam couldn't travel to the future or to a time earlier than 1953. Setting episodes in the fifties, sixties or seventies made Quantum Leap all about the nostalgia, though. Gender roles, period music, historical events woven into the story like the east coast blackout and the streaking fad in the early seventies, you name it.

And then there were the clothes. I have little interest in fashion, but I love the costumes on this show. Scott Bakula looked so comfortable and natural, so right in those period outfits. Sometimes they were yummy; occasionally they were hilarious. What I enjoyed just as much was Al showing up in bizarre futuristic outfits in outrageous colors, which fortunately never became fashionable in real life. Like Bakula with the period clothes, Dean Stockwell simply made that wardrobe work. Al is a colorful character, and his wardrobe matches his personality.

What doesn't work

There isn't much I don't like about Quantum Leap. Maybe it would have been interesting if they hadn't been limited to Sam's lifespan, and the United States (and yes, brief spoiler, they do get around that occasionally in future episodes). And yes, it tends toward the procedural, since most of the episodes are Leaps of the Week, but hey, it was the nineties.

One thing did leap :) out at me during this rewatch — the show's tendency to lecture. In this abbreviated first season, we got "The Color of Truth," the first time that Sam leaped into the body of someone who wasn't a white guy like himself. Instead of just being a person of color with an important life experience that Sam had to figure out and change, "The Color of Truth" is a sixty-minute lecture on the evils of racial segregation in 1955 Alabama. Not that there's anything wrong with the topic: it was a huge and important part of the recent past, and the episode was both well-intentioned and well done. But preachiness can be a turnoff, and this wasn't the only time it happened.

Another thing I didn't like was that every episode ended in a cliffhanger as Sam leaped into his next challenge, in what always appeared to be dire circumstances. Yes, I get it, cliffhangers help bring the audience back. But I would have been a lot happier if they had simply ended each episode with Sam leaping out, who knows where.

The music replacement controversy

When Quantum Leap was initially released on DVD way back when, Universal decided not to buy the rights to a number of the songs featured on the series simply because it was prohibitively expensive. Changing the music changed the series, though, and many fans were livid about it. The worst offenders were the season two episodes "M.I.A." and "Good Morning, Peoria." (I'll talk more about why fans were upset in my review of season two.)

After some research, I can report that Amazon and Netflix fixed this serious problem; the original music is intact. (I'm writing this review in December 2016, and I live in the U.S.) Unfortunately, Netflix decided to stop carrying Quantum Leap as of January 1, 2017, when I hadn't quite finished my rewatch, so I had to move to Hulu. And unfortunately, Hulu does not feature the original music. I have no idea what is going on with the music in the DVD sets. If you plan to buy Quantum Leap on DVD, you might want to find out about the music replacement situation before purchasing, if it matters to you.

Important episodes

1.1/1.2 "Genesis (September 13, 1956)": This is a decent two-part pilot. The brave test pilots and their long suffering wives waiting at home kept reminding me of the 1983 movie The Right Stuff, which might have been their intention. (In fact, many Quantum Leap episodes remind me of specific movies.) Maybe it shouldn't have been a two-parter, though, because honestly, while Sam's "wife" was doing the laundry, I got a little bored.

This pilot does mention the possibility that Sam's leaping is being directed by God. You'd think God would have the power to fix things Herself without having to use Sam, but okay. Maybe God employs other people like Sam, too.

1.6 "Double Identity (November 8, 1965)": Best episode of the season, and an obvious tribute to The Godfather. The wedding scene where Sam had to sing and Al gave Sam the Italian lyrics to "Volare" was funny, and kept getting funnier as Sam channeled his inner lounge lizard and really got into it. In fact, it went on so long that you'd think it would stop being funny, but it didn't.

(This might be a good time to mention that Scott Bakula has a beautiful, professional singing voice that they often featured in the series.)

Later, during a life and death situation and wearing hair clips and shaving cream, Sam had to converse in Al-prompted Italian. Bakula spoke the lines Sam didn't understand as if he were reciting poetry. And the ending with the thousand watt hair dryer in Buffalo causing the east coast blackout of 1965 was practically perfect.

1.9 "Play It Again, Seymour (April 14, 1953)": A very Sam Spade sort of episode with bits of Casablanca, with Sam in the body of a private eye who looked like Bogart investigating the murder of his partner. Of course, there was a dame — his partner's slinky wife, Alison (Claudia Christian, one of my favorites from Babylon 5). There was also a poorly written novel called Dead Men Don't Die, a dropper named Klapper, and every hardboiled detective cliche you can imagine.

Much of "Play It Again, Seymour" was filmed in the Bradbury Building, a Los Angeles landmark that was also used as a major location in my favorite science fiction movie, Blade Runner. When I was living in L.A., I went to see the building in person. It's gorgeous.

Sam was born in August 1953, and this final leap of the season was set in April 1953. I can only assume the leap range was defined by Sam's conception, not his birth?

Bits and pieces:

-- In season one, Sam leaps into and must become: a test pilot, a professor of literature, a boxer, a veterinarian, a chauffeur, a drag-racing teenager, and a private eye.

-- There are many references to three characters we don't get to meet in this first season: Ziggy, the artificial intelligence that gives Al projections on what Sam is supposed to change; Gooshie, a little guy with bad breath who also works on the Project; and Al's current girlfriend Tina. (Okay, oops, I'm wrong. According to IMDb, Tina is the woman with the flashing earrings that Al picked up in his car.)

-- The person that Sam replaces turns up in the imaging chamber, and Sam only knows how others see him by looking in a mirror. The synchronized mirror scenes are okay, although the motions were never choreographed well enough for me to suspend belief. Maybe those scenes should have been done more simply.

-- In the pilot, Sam wanted desperately to contact his late father but couldn't remember his own last name. Later in the season, in a lovely scene, Sam did speak with his father on the phone but of course, didn't tell him who he was.

-- It is established in season one that animals can see Al, that Al had been raised in an orphanage, had participated in protests during the civil rights movement, and has been married five times.

-- Famous people: Sam gives teen Buddy Holly the lyrics to "Peggy Sue," and shows a tiny Michael Jackson how to moon walk.

-- Notable actors: Teri Hatcher as Sam's first love in "Star-Crossed," Mark Margolis from Breaking Bad in "Double Identity," and Claudia Christian in "Play it Again, Seymour."

-- The saga sell is fun and so are the opening credits and theme music. But come on. A little "caca"? That's childish. I'm glad they didn't retain that.

-- Scott Bakula has a streak of white in his hair. It's not artificial; he has said during interviews that he's had it since childhood.

-- We're told that you cannot fix your own life. Why?

Season one is all "leap of the week" episodes, but it's a short first season and there's nothing wrong with that. By the end, we still don't know much about Sam, Al, or the Quantum Leap Project, so there's a lot of story left to tell.

On to season two!

Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

#Quantum Leap #Sam Beckett #Al Calavicci #Scott Bakula #Dean Stockwell #Quantum Leap Reviews #Doux Reviews #TV Reviews #something from the archive

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omgkatsudonplease · 7 years ago

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[fic, viktor/yuuri, canon divergence] Constructive Criticism

Written for @elle-chat, who donated to @katsukiyuuristrophyhusband‘s nancy fund. The prompt was “canon divergence, vicchan lives”. Thanks for donating; hope you like this!

He gets the call from Mari around noon. “I thought — I thought it was best to let you know,” she says, her voice wavering over the connection, each breath like static. “Vicchan’s at the vet. He — there was an accident. We’re not sure if he’ll make it.”

Yuuri sets down the phone with shaking hands, ending the call like an aforethought. He clenches his fists, feeling the hallway shift and his breath come short in his chest.

Of all the days, it had to be today, right? The day of the Grand Prix Final in Sochi? He feels a lump rise in his throat, choking out the rest of his air. There’s a hand on his shoulder, Celestino’s voice resounding from the end of a tunnel as he guides him to his feet and onto the rink for warm-up. His feet don’t feel like his own; the rest of him seems cut off from his brain, from his vision now fogging up on the —

“Mr Katsuki!”

Yuuri feels the cold hardness of the ice, the pain flaring into painful clarity. He blinks rapidly, the fog in his head clearing as other hands help him off the ice into the bleachers.

The whispers echo around him. Is he all right? Will he be able to skate tonight? Hopefully he hasn’t hurt himself. He’s being poked and prodded, checked for injuries. He’s sore, but fit to skate, if he could get himself out of his head (or his head out of himself) in time to do it properly.

“Do you need some time alone?” asks Celestino. Yuuri feels the guards on his skates. He loosens the boots, nodding as the solid firmness of the ground returns as he puts his shoes back on.

“Five minutes,” says Celestino. “But you know you need a little warm-up. Don’t do any jumps. You psych out too hard if you fall.”

Yuuri takes a couple deep breaths and smiles.

Yuuri’s not allowed on social media before competitions. It’s a rule he worked out when he was younger and just starting to get noticed by the JSF as their new rising star. It doesn’t even matter if the feedback’s negative or positive; either he’ll get discouraged from the critics or he’ll feel too much pressure from well-wishers hoping he won’t fail.

So because Celestino has taken his phone at his past self’s own insistence, Yuuri can’t check in with Mari about Vicchan and has to fiddle uselessly with the zipper of his jacket as he tries to calm himself down. The others are still skating; he can hear the scratches of skates against the ice every time the rink door opens and closes.

“Are you alright?” A shadow falls over him; Yuuri looks up, and is briefly blinded by the halo of light obscuring the figure from view. He blinks, and then his childhood idol’s concerned expression swims into view.

“Um,” he says intelligently, berating himself almost as soon as he does so because yes, that’s definitely the first thing he wants to say to Viktor Nikiforov on the day he’s supposed to meet the man on the same ice.

(He’s almost glad he doesn’t live in a society where the first words of a soulmate are tattooed on his body somewhere, because if on the off chance Viktor Nikiforov had been his soulmate, well.)

“You took a fall earlier, and I was a little caught up but I just wanted to see if you’re okay,” Viktor clarifies.

“I’m fine,” Yuuri says, as if on autopilot. “Just nervous.”

Viktor chuckles. “We’re all nervous,” he says, and then to Yuuri’s increasing consternation the handsome silver-haired Russian takes a seat next to him. “Viktor,” he says, extending a hand.

“Yuuri,” says Yuuri, shaking his hand. “I — I know your name.”

Viktor laughs. “A lot of people do,” he points out.

“Yeah.” Yuuri looks off into the distance. “You don’t have to — you don’t have to sit here, you know. With me. I’m fine.”

“How do you know I’m just sitting here with you?” Viktor’s grin is roguish. “I could just be tired and you’ve got the only empty seat next to you.”

Yuuri points to the empty chair across the hallway. Viktor laughs again.

“Okay, point,” he concedes. “But really, I just came to wish you well. I watched your short programme — it was phenomenal.”

Yuuri gapes at him. “You watched —” he begins, but Viktor holds up a finger, and Yuuri’s mouth stops short.

“Thing is,” he says cheerily, “you really need a new choreographer. They’re not making use of your stamina at all. I’ve seen your other stuff too, and it’s obvious you’ve got so much more than what your coach is giving you.”

Yuuri would like nothing more than to transform into ooze and slide between the cracks of the earth. Vanish forever, away from the bright eyes of Viktor Nikiforov’s strange insulting compliments that still make his heart skip a beat. “I — it’s — well, what would you do?”

“You seem to have some kind of block that’s keeping you from feeling your piece entirely. As if you’re scared of unleashing your real emotions onto the ice,” Viktor remarks, and Yuuri can’t help but laugh at that.

“Takes one to know one.” It slips out before he can really stop himself, but to his surprise Viktor’s expression is more amused than insulted.

“You think I’m not feeling my piece entirely?” he asks.

“Um, no, sorry, I mean —”

“It’s all right.” Viktor grins widely. “I love hearing constructive criticism. No one offers it to me anymore; I almost miss it. What do you think I should do?”

Yuuri takes a deep breath. Critique Viktor’s skating? That’s like someone telling him to call the moon ugly, even if the surface of the moon is actually scarred with craters…

“I don’t buy your free skate,” he says. “You’ve got this great love song and you put a lot of skill into it, but your emotions feel manufactured, you know? Like you get some of the loneliness down, but when you’re going into the ‘stammi vicino’ portions where the singer meets his lover, you tend to lose some of your emotion.” He pauses. “Like you’re pretending you understand what love is.” He pauses again. “Not that you’ve — I wouldn’t know — sorry.”

Viktor seems to have gone completely still at the outpouring. He taps his lips thoughtfully with a finger, and then his eyes twinkle as his lips curl up into a smile.

“I really appreciate that, Yuuri,” he says. “I think we should both do our best today, yeah? Give me a good show; I’ll be watching.”

“Me, too,” says Yuuri, hearing Celestino call for him. “Thanks, Viktor.”

Viktor waves at him as he stands up. “Davai, Yuuri.”

He gets a text from Mari after his performance. Vicchan pulled through, it reads. He’s ok. He’ll be home soon and recovered by the end of the week. It’s as if someone has pulled a string and released the tensions coiled in his chest, because it’s suddenly so much easier to breathe.

He sits in the kiss-and-cry, waiting for his scores. Celestino has a hand on his shoulder, smiling proudly. Yuuri hadn’t skated his best, he knows, but he’d skated well enough, knowing Viktor’s eyes are on him. Trying to prove to Viktor that he can at least make the most of what’s given to him. He fell on one of his jumps and popped another, but hopefully combined with his high short programme score, he’ll —

And the score for Yuuri Katsuki is 178.52, putting him at 262.07.

In the end, that only nets him fourth place below Viktor, Christophe Giacometti, and Jean-Jacques Leroy. But Yuuri takes it anyway, because Vicchan is alive and well and he’d like nothing more than to see his dog again.

He fires off a text to Mari: Can I see Vicchan when I get back to the hotel?

Her response is immediate. Yes.

The next time he talks to Viktor, it’s at the banquet after the exhibition skate. He hadn’t skated in it, but he had watched Viktor’s appreciatively from the sidelines. For one heart-stopping moment, Viktor had winked at him as he passed him along the boards, and it had taken all of Yuuri’s strength to remain upright and conscious after that.

Viktor’s eyes had lit up at seeing him enter the room, though the way he surveys Yuuri’s suit clearly suggests he has some opinions about its cut. Of course, the Russian looks perfect in his own charcoal suit and black tie; Yuuri probably looks like an overgrown bug in comparison.

“No, I’m just thinking that it’s a waste to hide your gorgeous figure in some blazer jacket twice your size,” replies Viktor cheekily, and Yuuri tries not to blush.

“Thanks for the advice,” he says.

Viktor grins. “You did well,” he replies. “I’d have given you more points, but alas I’m not the ISU.”

“I popped a jump and fell,” Yuuri points out.

“But you really had emotion this time,” Viktor says. He takes Yuuri by the arm. “What do you think about my routine this time? Sold you on my love story yet?”

Yuuri purses his lips. “I guess?” he says, and Viktor laughs.

“You guess?” he asks. “Wow, you’re a tough crowd to please.”

“I was — it was a good performance. You were good.”

“But not as emotional as you would like.” Viktor winks at him. “I’m guessing the next time we meet it’ll be Worlds, so we have until then to make our separate routines perfect for each other, right?”

“Why are you doing this?” Yuuri blurts suddenly. Viktor drops his arm, blinking at him. Yuuri feels embarrassment well deep in his throat but he forces it back down, pressing on. “Why are you suddenly so friendly to me? I’m just… this is my first year at the Final. We’ve never… you’ve never talked to me, or shown me any sign that you knew I existed.”

Viktor bites his lip, suddenly looking sheepish. “I — I, er, didn’t know how to best approach you,” he replies. “We never skated in the same group at Worlds, and we didn’t get seeded into the same competitions for the Grand Prix, and, well. World Team Trophy’s usually spent half-drunk so I don’t even remember half of what happens during that. But I’ve… well.” He looks downright embarrassed now, his cheeks flushed bright red. “I saw you having a bit of a rough start yesterday, and I just wanted to offer you something to cheer you up.”

“Oh.” Yuuri nods. “Thank you. I’m sorry I was presumptuous.”

“You’re not —” Viktor shakes his head. “You’re the best skater Japan has to offer, so I was told as soon as you started showing up in Grand Prix events to study you.” He laughs a little. “You’re not like most of the competition. You really make the music your own. I admire that.”

Yuuri wonders why the sprinklers haven’t turned on yet, because his face is practically on fire. “Dance with me,” he suggests, for lack of a better way to deflect attention from his skating.

Viktor looks as though Christmas had come early. “Of course,” he says, and takes Yuuri’s hand.

In the morning, Yuuri wakes in an unfamiliar hotel room to the sound of his phone alarm and the warmth of another body in the bed beside him. His head is groggy, but not from alcohol; as he rubs the sleep from his eyes, he turns and sees Viktor lying in bed next to him.

And then Yuuri realises they’re both naked, and the events of last night come creeping back into his memory.

Viktor stirs, cracking open one bright blue eye. “Morning,” he mumbles, and Yuuri’s breath flees him; in the golden morning light he’s almost angelic as he looks up at Yuuri. He wants to freeze the moment and live in this feeling forever. But the alarm continues to ring, so Yuuri snoozes it and reaches out to brush some hair from Viktor’s eyes.

“I have a flight soon,” he says. Viktor makes a disappointed noise, which causes Yuuri’s heart to skip a beat.

“We traded numbers, right?” he asks. “If you… I dunno, just in case.”

“Yeah,” says Viktor. “We should do that.” He sits up, too, yawning and stretching before leaning out of the bed to fumble for his trousers on the ground. Yuuri tries not to stare too hard at the curve of his ass. He fails.

They quickly exchange numbers, and Yuuri feels awkwardness curl strangely in his chest as he clambers out of bed to get dressed under Viktor’s watchful glance. His own room is on a lower floor; he’ll have to run down and get his things. It’ll be obvious to Celestino that he didn’t come back last night, but he’s beyond caring at this point.

“So,” he says once he finishes buttoning his shirt, tucking his tie into his trouser pockets and adjusting his ill-fitting blazer. “Bye, then?”

That seems to galvanise Viktor out of bed, stumbling towards him with a maddening gleam in his eyes. He pins Yuuri against the edge of the hotel’s desk, kissing him deeply and sweetly like he had done last night, his tongue plundering Yuuri’s mouth of all the breath left in him. Yuuri’s hands tighten in the hairs at Viktor’s nape, wanting more of him to have and hold.

“Text me when you get to Detroit,” Viktor breathes, and Yuuri smiles against his lips at that.

“I will,” he promises. “And I’ll show you the pictures of my dog that I promised.”

“I’m glad he’s alright,” replies Viktor. Sometime during last night Yuuri had told him why he had been so worried before the free skate, and Viktor had sighed and said he’d have felt the same if Makkachin had been at the vet with no news about his recovery. They had drifted off to sleep after that, and Yuuri had slept soundly in Viktor’s arms.

He smiles now, his body light and his heart joyful at the prospect of staying in touch with Viktor. “I’ll see you around?” he asks, as Viktor walks him to the door.

“Until Worlds,” says Viktor, and it’s a promise and a challenge all in one.

Yuuri grins, leaning forward to kiss the playful smirk off his face. “Until Worlds,” he agrees, and smiles all the way home.

#yoi #viktuuri #victuuri #ficlets for nancy #lily's dabbles #anyway they're cute playful rivals now awww

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years ago

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We Asked 12 Wine Pros: What’s the Best Wine Key?

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of watching a sommelier’s wine service, you’ve witnessed the choreographed dance of opening a bottle under pressure — potentially in more ways than one. While the choice of wine key might seem like an inconsequential detail, the tool itself can make the difference between elegant dining experience or disaster.

To help those of us at home streamline our drinking accessories, VinePair reached out to wine industry pros across the country — who have, collectively, opened thousands of bottles — to recommend the best gadget for the job. Below, sommeliers from Santa Monica to Indianapolis share their tried-and-true wine key picks.

The Best Wine Openers Recommended by Wine Pros:

Pocket by Coutale Sommelier

Wood-Handled, Double-Hinged Le Creuset

The Durand

Pulltap’s Double-Hinged Corkscrew

CB2 Brushed Gold Bottle Opener

Sommelier by Coutale

Winebow Imports Double-Hinged

Vintage Image SS Waiter’s Friend

Keep reading for details about all the recommended openers!

“My go-to wine opener is always the Pocket by Coutale Sommelier. It’s an extension of my hand at this point! The knife stays sharp the longest, the screw is the perfect width and goes into cork smoothly, and the double-hinge is sturdy but flexible at the same time. It’s perfectly compact to fit in any pocket of my work wardrobe.” —Chloe Miranda, Sommelier, Birdie G’s, Santa Monica, Calif. (Donate: Independent Restaurant Coalition)

“My favorite wine key is a wood-handled, double-hinged Le Creuset. It was a wedding gift, and after five years and more cork pulls that I would care to count, it still works like the day it came out of the box.” —Carlos Baz, General Manager and Beverage Director, Goosefeather, Tarrytown, N.Y.

“Everyone knows the somm’s standard is the ‘double-hinged’ corkscrew for its simplicity and durability, but for collectors with older bottles (or just home enthusiasts who have left a Cab in the bottom rack in the basement for several years), the Durand screw is worth its weight in brass. It contains the two-pronged cork extractor commonly used for older corks, but together with a traditional corkscrew in one elegant, simple piece, so you can use both at once for maximum confidence in extraction with no cork crumble.” —Adam Berlin, Owner, Buena Vida Tapas & Sol, Atlanta

“Through the years of working as a bartender and trying many brands, I tend to opt for Pulltap’s double-hinged corkscrew. There are certainly fancier wood-handled, shinier options available, but for me, Pulltap’s has always been reliable, sturdy, and affordable. I usually need to replace my wine key twice per year.” —Arielle Natale, Bar Manager, Elaia Estiatorio, Bridgehampton, N.Y.

“After 30 years in the business, my go-to wine tool is the Coutale Sommelier Pocket series. I’ve owned tools approaching $200, and this one (which only costs about $25) works just as well. It features a double clutch that doesn’t dig into the cork too deeply, a svelte worm, and, most importantly, a blade with micro serrations that cut evenly — even through those dreaded German foils. It’s very stylish, and comes in nice brown or black wood or stainless. I open hundreds of bottles a year, and the one I currently have has been a trusty companion for about three years now.” —Gary Mullis, Assistant General Manager, Foxcroft Wine Co. Waverly, Charlotte, N.C.

“My favorite wine opener is The Durand, available through the Rare Wine Co. It’s designed with older bottles in mind, gently removing the cork from its sides and center at the same time. For old corks that are disintegrating, it’s pretty foolproof. I use it anytime I have a cork that is fragile or suspect — usually bottles 10 years or older. The last thing I opened with it was a 1994 Cornas from Auguste Clappe. I started buying wine when I was 25, when access to wine was very different, and now find myself drinking a lot of older bottles. I think it’s important to taste wines that have aged — you get insight into what might happen with the wines that you’re producing right now.” —Jay Boberg, Co-founder, Nicolas-Jay, Willamette Valley, Ore.

“At Infinite Monkey, we operate with no vineyard and no pretense, making this no-fuss solution from CB2 [brushed gold bottle opener] our go-to behind the bar and at home. It’s ideal for our taproom since it opens cans as well as bottles. I always have one stashed in my pocket for easy access.” —Quinn Woodhouse, Lead Bartender, The Infinite Monkey Theorem Urban Winery, Denver (Donate: Women’s Wine Guild of Colorado)

“My absolute favorite is the Coutale ‘Sommelier’ Wine Key because it has a double-hinge and the all-important flat knife. It cuts foils really cleanly and gets the cork out in one easy gesture.” —Marianna Caldwell, Assistant General Manager and Sommelier, Cassia, Santa Monica, Calif. (Donate: The United Sommeliers Foundation)

“I gravitate towards any wine opener that has a double-hinge and a decent blade. The double-hinged wine opener helps prevent the cork from breaking or tearing by providing better leverage at two points rather than one. Having a decent blade on your wine key ensures that you can cut the foil off of the bottle in two quick cuts. A functional tool overall is all that is needed for efficient and proper wine service. The one we use in the restaurant is from Winebow Imports. The knife is wonderful with the foil, and it’s an easy cork grabber. The only other tool that can be potentially helpful for me when opening older bottles is an Ah-So cork puller, which is essentially a tong for the cork. This tool can be useful when a cork is particularly crumbly or old.” —Julie Masciangelo, Sommelier and General Manager, Il Posto, Denver (Donate: Il Posto Emergency Relief Fund)

“The Durand: It’s indispensable for old bottles. If you enjoy wines with age on them, you know the unique pain of old corks. It’s a particular kind of fear that only increases as a table of guests or friends watch as you struggle to save an old wine from itself. Regardless of provenance, old corks can be difficult (sometimes impossible) to pull out cleanly, often crumbling and leaving residue in the wine. As someone who opens a great many bottles each year, I rely heavily on the Durand and wouldn’t dream of attending dinners without it.” —Walker Strangis, Founder, Walker Wine Co., Los Angeles

“The best wine opener is NOT a monogramed, matte-finished, bubinga-handled, powder-rose, pearl-inlaid masterwork that sleeps in a whale bone and velvet case! It’s a black and stainless Pulltap’s double-hinged waiter’s corkscrew — because people always steal fancy looking ones, and the ugly functional ones never walk off! I trick mine out and grind off the serrated teeth of the foil blade. I hate the tiny particles of foil dust that those make.” —Josh Ratliff, Sommelier and Director of Culinary Arts, Newfields, Indianapolis

“Working wine pros need a tool that is efficient, sharp, and durable. No serious professional would ever be seen with a winged, electric, or air-pressure corkscrew, among others. A good corkscrew should be easily pocketable, particularly when working table-side in a restaurant. I’ve seen numerous expensive tools like Laguiole, the Durand, and others. But my favorites over the years have been the sleek stainless steel models officially known as ‘Vintage Image SS Waiter’s Friend’ from the Wine Appreciation Guild based in San Francisco. They are French-made, have a sharp micro-serrated blade for clean capsule cutting, and, most critically, do not wear out too quickly at the two most important lever points… It’s fast, it’s safe, and it lasts.” —Joseph Spellman, Master Sommelier, JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery, Landmark Vineyards, JNSQ Wines, Paso Robles, Calif.

The article We Asked 12 Wine Pros: What’s the Best Wine Key? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/we-asked-best-wine-opener/

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johnboothus · 4 years ago

Text

We Asked 12 Wine Pros: Whats the Best Wine Key?

The Best Wine Openers Recommended by Wine Pros:

Pocket by Coutale Sommelier

Wood-Handled, Double-Hinged Le Creuset

The Durand

Pulltap’s Double-Hinged Corkscrew

CB2 Brushed Gold Bottle Opener

Sommelier by Coutale

Winebow Imports Double-Hinged

Vintage Image SS Waiter’s Friend

Keep reading for details about all the recommended openers!

The article We Asked 12 Wine Pros: What’s the Best Wine Key? appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/we-asked-best-wine-opener/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/we-asked-12-wine-pros-whats-the-best-wine-key

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rooreelooo · 7 years ago

Text

GOTY 2017

2017 was a good year for games. You know it, I know it, it's been said by everyone who has any interest in this hobby at all. Having said that, putting this list together really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! The peaks of the year were higher than any year in memory, but outside of those islands of excellence it was otherwise not too noteworthy for me. Maybe I just didn't play as many games as I'd like? I dunno, I think I get stuck in ruts sometimes and struggle to properly diversify.

In an ideal world I think I would like to play games from many genres, telling many different stories and coming from many different cultural and social backgrounds. I want to play large games at the top of the budget scale, and smaller games at the bottom. I want to play it all! That's the dream! But that's never the reality - what actually happens is that I get stuck playing the same games for weeks and weeks, pouring hours and hours into them while other things pass me by. I don't have unlimited time to game, and these fuckin things just keep getting bigger and bigger. Endless sidequests, unlimited padding, arbitrary gating and stalling mechanics... these things are probably the bane of my existence. I just need to fuckin learn how to let go, and feel good about walking away when I've had my fill.

Anyway let's talk about specific games that I enjoyed this year. In the past I have tried to only include games released within the specific year on my list, but I am making two exceptions this year with FFXV and Uncharted 4 because they were both a big deal to me and I didn't actually own a PS4 until this year.

Honourable mentions:

Stardew Valley

This was in my GOTY list in 2016 as well! I know it's not a new game per se, however the Switch port is new. I played and enjoyed this in the past, but the barrier that prevented me from being properly invested was always that I wanted it on a portable device. I wanted this game to be the game I played in bed in the evenings, and I wanted it to keep me entertained on train journeys and in front of the TV while watching other things. That wasn't possible for me until 2017, and now that I have it on the Switch I have finally managed to properly sink my teeth into it and get weeks of Good Good Farming under my belt. That is one heck of a good port! It doesn't feel new and fresh enough to make the numbered list, but I need to clarify that 2017 was definitely Stardew Valley's year in my opinion.

fuck jojamart, and fuck big business

Hiveswap: Act 1

I don't think this was good enough to make the jump into the numbered list either. I really enjoyed the writing, but it was all over too quickly. Even when poking every corner and reading every little nugget of writing it still lasted only 3-4 hours for me. It also doesn't help that it was kinda glitchy, to the extent that none of the cutscenes would play for me, necessitating that I keep a YouTube longplay open that I could tab into every time I needed to watch a cinematic. Presumably that bug got patched out, but by that point I had already completed it and didn't have any intention of playing it a second time.

The reason I'm singling it out here is because I feel lucky to even play this game at all! This has had one of the longest and most fucked up development processes ever. The Kickstarter for the Homestuck Adventure Game launched & completed in September 2012, and the five years that followed was just an endless stream of bad news, delays, restructuring, rumours of stolen funds, and other shady goings on that the public will never know about. For most of those five years people assumed that this game would just be vaporware, so I am super happy for the people who worked on this project that they actually managed to get it released. And I'm happy that it's good! And funny! And has a great soundtrack! And you know what? It managed to get me excited about the world of Homestuck, something that I thought for sure would never happen again. Here's hoping we don't have to wait another 5 years for Act 2 because I really want to see this story through.

what a long fucked up road it’s been huh

Final Fantasy: Record Keeper

I still play this game every day. Literally every day. I have never played a game with as much regularity as this one, and I have definitely never sank as many hours into one single game as I have FFRK. I love it! It maybe doesn't excite me as much as it did in it's heyday, but it still gets updated with interesting new content all the time. Looking at some of the stuff we have on the horizon, it seems like 2018 will have even more huge event additions and overhauls, so DeNA is definitely doing the work to keep this fresh. I will admit that a lot of the recent endgame-level boss battles have been making me feel pretty unsatisfied (fuck Magicites) but that doesn't mean I'm not excited for the next batch of them to drop in February.

I just think this needs celebrating. We've passed the 1000-day mark with this game, and in that time I reckon the number of days that I didn't boot it up is in the single digits. It's been fully integrated into my daily routine in a way that no video game ever has, and the fact that I can consistently clear endgame content with high-level relics without spending a single penny goes a LONG way to making me feel good about it. I cannot see myself ever loving another mobile game the same way that I love FFRK.

three goty lists in a row and still going strong

Anyway, now for the actual numbered list:

10. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

I played this at the beginning of the year, so I'm a bit rusty about it, but from what I can recall I'm pretty sure it was an exciting and swashbuckling race around the world with a surprisingly touching family story at its centre. As somebody who has never played any other Uncharted game (and had never really wanted to), I think I would have skipped this one entirely were it not for the fact that I got it as part of a console bundle with the PS4. Steff gets very antsy if I buy new games without giving the ones I already have a proper shake, and so partly for her sake I decided to give this game a spin after sitting on it for a few months. And you know what? I'm super glad I did, because otherwise I would have missed what was easily one of my favourite games of the year.

Gameplay wise there is a lot here I didn't like, so maybe that's what prevents it from climbing higher on the list here. Turning the difficulty on to easy mode was essential, but even after doing so I still felt like the combat sections were too drawn-out and numerous. Likewise I feel like there was a lot of environmental padding, and far more of my time was spent trying to get somewhere cool than actually doing stuff once I got there. Nate and Sam just cannot get from A to B without somehow stumbling across an entire mountain's worth of cracks, ledges and jumps. I felt a LOT like Milhouse whining and wanting to know when Itchy and Scratchy would finally get to the fireworks factory.

I wouldn't say the gameplay was ever outright bad, but I will say that it was kinda an ocean of average. Within that ocean however were islands of excitement! Like Nathan and Sam driving around for fucking months in a motorboat trying to find Hidden Pirate Utopia on the backside of Skull Island or whatever, I too felt like I was navigating these seas from exciting plot point to exciting character interaction, and then to dynamic unique gameplay sequence or well-choreographed cutscene.

Honestly the thing that I took away most from this was how nice it is to play a game with such a good cast of characters. Nathan and his extended friends & family felt real in a way that video game characters rarely do - I loved that there were characters who made bad decisions, and then doubled down on them when called out on it. I loved that there were characters who lied to themselves about what they want, and then deluded themselves into thinking they had legitimate reasons to do pointless and dangerous things. I loved that there were characters who argued, fell out, and then showed genuine regret as well as emotional maturity in how they chose to make amends for the harm they caused. The fact that all of this is wrapped up in a story about two brothers trying to hunt down a hidden pirate society is just icing on the cake really. I should probably play The Lost Legacy huh? You know, the Uncharted game that actually DID come out in 2017.

brb gotta climb this fuckin mountain

9. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

In a lot of ways, this is the best Fire Emblem game to have been released in years. I enjoyed Awakening when it was released and still think it's pretty good. I also enjoyed large parts of Fates despite the abysmal characters and dialogue, but I think neither of them are as good as this game. Maybe it's because this is a remake of a game that was originally released in 1992, but parts of this game feel unencumbered from a lot of the bloat that has bogged this series down in recent years. There's barely any support conversations yet the characters still feel fleshed out, and the relationships that exist feel satisfying even without being able to recruit the inevitable time-travelling baby that is spawned by the coupling (you know, like how it worked in the other 3DS games).

The fact that the underlying game is so old does have a downside though, as many outdated features were still kept intact in this remake. For example, the map layouts are almost always dull and strategically uninteresting - I'm pretty sure that like 90% of battles take place on a map which is just an empty field littered with a few trees and gravestones for cover. It's made worse by the fact that the only kind of mission is the 'kill all enemies' variety, and missions such as 'survive for X turns' or 'protect some NPCs' weren't retrofitted into it - the overall effect is an extreme lack of variety on a battle-by-battle basis.

It's still a lot of fun though, and the enjoyable characters and enemies kinda offset a lot of the dullness of the battles. I was particularly impressed by the quality of the voice acting and localization! Honestly I hope that future games in the FE series look to this game for inspiration... lol, ok no. You and I both know that ain't gonna happen. Nintendo has planted their flag in the fertile 'anime matchmaker' soil. Still though, if the next FE game makes use of the Switch's hardware to deliver a game with the same level of polish and execution as this one, it would probably at least look fantastic!

these guys wont be joining me in battle, they’re just for show

8. Pokémon Ultra Moon

What a weird game... ok so Pokémon Sun was my GOTY of 2016, and I stand by that assessment. I think it was the best Pokémon game in years, and I think it added a lot of variety to a series that was in dire need of a shakeup. You can't deny that in many ways it was hurried out the door though, probably in order to get generation 7 out in time for Pokémon's 20th anniversary. It has some cracks and holes that were plastered over, and I dunno about you but when Ultra Sun & Moon were announced I was hoping that we'd get a version of those games that had been fully repaired and restored. You know, a version with the benefit of an extra year to restore the obviously missing content and handle some of the plot holes. What we ended up getting was... not that.

This game is an alternate telling of the Sun & Moon story, and I think that's an interesting concept - despite starting off largely the same, you get some visitors from an alternate dimension who branch the story off in a completely different direction. Eventually everything goes off the rails, and we end up with something that is largely different in a pretty cool way! I think that the new additions to the plot are weirdly janky and not very well executed, but it was fun to play a version of a game I love where everything ends up playing out differently. It's a bummer that some of my favourite scenes from the original got cut in favour of the new Necrozma stuff, and it definitely hurt the characterization of Lillie and Lusamine along the way, but whatever. That's only a problem if you view Ultra Sun & Moon as a replacement for the originals, and I don't. I view them as a side project, one that doesn't replace the originals but rather takes it in a different direction.

Aside from the storyline, I think this is probably the best Pokémon game in recent memory. The improvements to the UI and menus are appreciated, and the addition of 100 extra Pokémon give it a level of variety and replayability that goes much further than expected. We lose a little in the narrative to gain a lot in the gameplay, and honestly I think that's probably a fair trade in this case.

rebattling these guys was, i’ll admit, a hell of a lot cooler than i was expecting

7. Splatoon 2

I'm someone who barely ever cares about online competitive games. I just don't - it's never been my thing. I don't come to video games to win. That's why I'm surprised that I was able to ever get as engaged in Splatoon 2 as I did! I played a good chunk of Splatoon 1 on the Wii U, but the loop of matching up against strangers online over and over again ad infinitum wasn't interesting enough to hold my attention too long. So why did the sequel (which is largely just more of the same) land so differently?

I think that the release landscape of the sequel was just much better than the original. It came to me at a time in my life when I was far more receptive to going out of my comfort zone on a game like this, and the fact that it was on the Switch was a huge point in its favour because it got swept up in the zeitgeist and excitement of this amazing new console. My time with it has probably ended, and if it were to be released now I don't think I'd ever be able to work up the same enthusiasm, but back there in August the stars aligned - it was absolutely the right game at the right time.

Salmon Run is so good - I think it's my favourite part of the game for sure. Collaborative multiplayer is so much more preferable to competitive multiplayer, and defending that grimy ocean base with a random spread of allies and weapons was fun every time - even the times we lost. My only gripe is the bizarre decision to withold it and only open the doors on a specific schedule, which I'm sure you can tell me there's a good reason for but still upsets me. I don't always get to play games as much as I'd like, and sitting down on a busy evening to enjoy a few hours of Splatoon only to discover that Salmon Run has locked up for the entire evening just feels disappointing.

I wish I could have participated in more splatfests, but I kept missing them! After the initial Ketchup vs Mayo one I completely failed to hear about any subsequent ones, and only found out about their existence after they had already wrapped up. When's the next one? Is it soon?

squid simulator 2017 improves on the 2016 model in many ways, with more accurate squid movement and squid noises

6. Disgaea 5

What the fuck is up with this series? But like... for real though, wtf? I've never played one of these before, but I had always kinda been interested in them because I'd heard they were one of the most complex and technical tactical RPGs in the genre. I guess that's true, and I can't deny that the idea of a good tactics RPG on a handheld console like the Switch was an enticing prospect, but BOY. What I ended up getting was NOT what I expected. In a good way though!... I think?

This series does a lot. It's like... ok, imagine a regular tactics RPG. Now imagine that 100 hands reach out and grab hold of every small nook and cranny of the game, and then they all pull it out in different directions leaving a misshapen and deconstructed mess. Now dunk that in a stupid anime plot with some lame-characters who sometimes spout really funny dialogue, and you have this game. If that metaphor makes no sense then I'm sorry, but this game left me very confused and frazzled and I'm really struggling to adequately vocalise why.

I think it's because of how much customisation you get? Like, every part of the game can be tweaked and adjusted - the game gives you all the sliders that control stuff like enemy difficulty, quality of the rewards, and strength of items. It also allows you to create characters from scratch, meaning that you sorta have free reign to basically approach any part of the game in any way you like. If you think that sounds broken and exploitable, then you are 100% correct - this game is absolutely broke as fuck. It knows so, and it revels in it. In fact, it seems to encourage players to find any ways of exploiting it they can. If you can find a way to powerlevel your characters up 20 levels at a time, outpacing any and all storyline bosses, then yes you should do it. Why wouldn't you? It's a demon's right to take advantage of anything and everything that gives them a leg-up over the competition after all. It doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the game, but rather it just makes it even more fun. After all, you might be steamrolling through the stages, but you're doing it on your own terms.

Yes there is a lot of grinding - especially in the endgame where you start getting your characters to level 9999 with 100000 in each stat. This game kinda makes grinding into an artform I guess, but it doesn't stop it being weird and time-consuming. I had a lot of fun with this game, but when I stopped playing I was feeling like I never wanted to see a number ever again.

i played this on the switch, so yes i am counting it as a legit 2017 release

5. Super Mario Odyssey

This game is the perfect 3d platform-collectathon-adventure-whatever-you-call-this-genre-nowadays. I think it wins best controls of the year, as it just feels and flows in such an intuitive and logical way. Once you master the art of throwing the hat and diving off of it, throwing it again and diving again you start to move around in worlds in ways you never expected and approach challenges from directions that seem completely wrong. There's a lot of satisfaction from nailing a complex series of jumps, landing somewhere far away, and thinking 'I don't know how I was SUPPOSED to get here but here I am I guess!'

An open world platformer like this is judged in how well you feel like you can memorise the world layout, discover shortcuts, and move swiftly between A and B, and in Mario Odyssey those things all come very naturally. If you can see a piece of level geometry then you can definitely get there, and there are no invisible walls keeping you on the 'correct' path and preventing you from wandering too far astray. I don't really know how to explain how good that feels - it just does. It feels Right.

If this game has a flaw, I would say that it is too much of a good thing. There's value in knowing when to step back, draw a line underneath everything and declare it complete, and I feel like maybe the devs didn't quite know when the correct time to do that was. The end result is that it feels bloated - too many moons have been crammed into a small space. Sometimes I felt like I could barely walk a few steps without kicking over some random rock and finding a new moon, and the novelty wears off once you realise there's like 900 of those fuckers out there. I barely made it halfway through that pile before I had completely grown tired of tracking them down, which is a shame! I feel like maybe if you eliminated about 50% of the moons from the game the whole thing would feel a bit tighter and more focused. Nevertheless, I didn't lose any sleep over the ones I failed to collect, and it didn't detract from my enjoyment. I played exactly as much Super Mario Odyssey as I wanted to, and that left me completely satisfied.

it me, merio

4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The highest compliment I think you can pay Breath of the Wild is that everything just makes sense. It's surprisingly free of video game contrivances, the sort of thing that you take for granted and don't really notice until they're gone. Most of the time, when you sit down to play a game it's like you're agreeing to a pre-arranged set of conditions about what you can and can't do in that world. You can walk around, but most scenery is not interactive in any way. You can use bombs to blow up rocks, but don't try to use bombs to blow up pillars because they're non-blowupable. Fish can be caught at a designated fishing hole, but the fish that swim in the river are decorational and obviously cannot be caught. Playing video games is often an exercise in learning what parts of the world are put there for you to play with and what parts are put there to simply act as barriers and shepherd you along your way, and the more games you play the more fluent in this language you become.

Breath of the Wild doesn't really truck with that kind of thing. If you think that something makes sense, then there's a good chance that it can be done. Trees can be chopped down to form bridges, enemies can be killed by rolling boulders onto their heads... I dunno, I guess that this game still has an internal logic, but it covers its tracks so much better than I am accustomed to. The most important thing it does is nurture the notion that there isn't a right way of doing anything - that you can go about completing your goals in any way you choose. It's just nice, and gives the entire game a feeling of freedom and creativity and discovery. I guess the same could be said for any large environment, but I dunno. The quiet understated way that BotW allows you to complete your goals in your own pace and fashion just feels very personal and intimate.

I think the biggest problem I have with the game is that it's sense of scale and discovery is purely a one-way street. You start off as a shirtless hobo with no memories or knowledge, and you gradually learn how to defend yourself and explore. Every play session is a new lesson in survival and accomplishment, and over time you build up a repertoire of gimmicks and tricks that you can use to help yourself. The world is big and scary, and enemies will DEFINITELY kill you in one hit, so every advantage you can take is worthwhile. But the world doesn't remain big and scary forever, and as you explore it becomes smaller and smaller, while you become stronger and stronger. By the end of the game you can go anywhere and do anything, and no enemies are a threat to you... but the spark of discovery has been extinguished, never to return. I actually felt a lot of melancholy when I stopped playing that game - I felt like a fish who had grown too big for its bowl, or an adult who revisits their childhood home later in life and is surprised by how much smaller everything has become.

the rain and weapon durability never even bothered me, i liked them

3. Final Fantasy XV

This was a great game, and one that I absolutely did not expect to like as much as I did. I mean... ok I love this series, so I'm a little biased here. Even though there were several aspects of the game that looked a bit suspect prior to release, I was willing to give it all the chances it needed to impress me. It turns out that such a level of lenience wasn't really warranted. It was a good game in and of itself! A great game even, with a fantastic setting, likable characters, and a story that was dull within tolerable standards.

The structure of the game is weird, and there are too many pointless sidequests with no narrative worth at all. "I know you're the crown prince of my city but I'm still gonna ask you to wander into the wilderness and kill 10 dogs for me." Uh, how about fuck off? But once you realise that you can safely ignore any and all of those, then the game actually becomes pretty liberating.

I think that it's no coincidence that the atmosphere resonated so well with me because of the specific time when I played it. I had just come back from a holiday in Iceland with friends, and the six of us had done a lot of sightseeing punctuated by driving long distances over beautiful natural landscapes. Lots of 'hey everyone look out the right side of the car right now!' and 'hey let's pull over here and take some photos of that waterfall!'. Coming back from that holiday and playing FFXV felt like a direct continuation of that excitement.

I remember one mission where Prince Noct and his Boy Squad were escorting Iris to some city, and they were all sitting in the car just chatting to pass the time. Crossing over a large bridge, the gang decided to pull over and have a wander around to check out the local wildlife, and so we did just that. This game is very pretty, and the five kids standing at the side of the road watching the sun set over this bridge, taking a few pictures and chatting lightly, really captured the fun and discovery of sightseeing in a way that was very dear to my heart. There was no great narrative or gameplay reason to stop and look around - it was just the joy of seeing something really cool in the company of people who are very dear to you.

For all it's flaws and weird fantastical JRPG contrivances, the long road trip that Noct & Co embark on felt very sincere and realistic to me. Having it come to an end was upsetting in the same way that it's upsetting to come to the end of a holiday, to have to travel home, say goodbye to your friends and go back to your boring real life. Of all the games I played this year, this one had the biggest gulf between 'how emotional I was expecting to get about it' and 'how emotional I actually got about it'. Don't even get my started on the final hour or two of gameplay, holy shit, way to build me up and tear me down Square-Enix.

sponsored by cup noodle: “noodles in a cup”

2. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

Let me just say one fucking thing about Crash Bandicoot - he fuckin rules. Yes he may be a disgusting orange shirtless triangle with arms sprouting out the sides of his head, but man his games are good! I'm certain that most of my love for those games is because of rose-tinted nostalgia glasses, but I don't care. I've been playing those games since I was a child. Once a year I make a point to go back and play one of these games to completion, and this tradition has only strengthened with the knowledge that Steff also loves these games. The two of us play them together, and we have a jolly old time breaking crates and collecting Wumpa Fruit and that sort of thing. They have given me so much joy in my life, and this year they got polished up and re-released by Vicarous Visions so the whole world can once again experience Crash Bandicoot Fever all over again (as if I ever stopped having it)

This trilogy is kinda the perfect way to bring those games up to a modern standard. The controls feel good, the levels have been faithfully rebuilt, and everything looks so much prettier and nicer. For someone who has such a high level of familiarity with the original trilogy, it's an absolute delight to see them handled so well, and I can confirm that the feeling of playing those games has been perfectly upscaled.

I think what I loved most though is that this doesn't just upscale an old game, but it makes intelligent changes and additions as well - ones that don't feel out of place. Lots of quality of life improvements smooth over the rougher part of the decades-old level design, and new content is added in the forms of time trials on Crash 1 and 2 levels. This completely recontextualises the level design and gave me ways to explore these levels in ways that I hadn't ever done so before! I used to speedrun Crash 2 before I was too young to even know what speedrunning was, so having an actual in-game time attack mode get added to those levels was a level of personal nostalgia that I really wasn't expecting. It's like I'm back in 2004 all over again, playing Crash 2 on an emulator in my friend's conservatory as fast as possible, trying to distract myself from the scary bits of Event Horizon (and still getting frightened).

Of course, I guess I should point out that a lot of those Crash 1 levels are Not Built For Speed. At all. They're tests of stamina more than of perfect execution, and getting relics on them was... interesting, to say the least. It might have been frustrating and difficult at times, but it forced me to take knowledge that had been in my brain since I was literally a babby child, and utilise it for a purpose which it had never before been used. It was an amazing feeling and I loved every minute of it, even the minutes when I was swearing my sorry ass off and yelling after my hundredth death on that goddamn High Road, Fumbling in the Dark, or even (god forgive me) Stormy Ascent. And I would do it all again, and I WILL do it all again, probably once a year, until I die and leave nothing more than a comical skeleton in a Crash Bandicoot Tshirt and a speech bubble that says "WOAH".

}8^]

1. Nier: Automata

I don't really know what to say about Nier Automata that hasn't been said elsewhere - this game has a LOT of talking points, and everything it has to say has been explored by other people who are better at that sort of thing than me. There is one thing that I haven't really seen discussed all that much though that I'd like to touch on, and that's the way it handles recurring characters and elements from the original Nier.

With how many people are coming forward and saying that the game is a great jumping-on point to Taro Yoko games, and that most important plot details from the original game are referenced within Automata as well, it almost seems like this game is viewed as more of a replacement than a sequel. Not many people played Nier 1, and a HELL of a lot of people played Automata, which is a shame because I love that old game a lot!

That doesn't stop it from being an excellent sequel though! Automata does a good job at getting players up to speed on all the important plot details that need to be carried over, but my favourite parts of Nier Automata were the parts where it delved a little deeper and made direct reference to characters and events from the original game. I don't want this to be flooded with spoilers, but suddenly genre-shifting into text-only visual novel in order to explore Popola and Devola hit me harder than I had been prepared for, and was possibly one of the most affecting storyline beats of the entire game. Furthermore, stumbling upon Emil's underground house and recognising it instantly as Kainé's shack made me have to stop and take a break. The way the original Nier ended left me feeling as if I would never ever ever get a chance to revisit these characters, and that for better or for worse I had heard the last of them. The second I heard the opening piano notes of Kainé's theme in that underground cave and realised what I was about to hear however, I felt like a door that had been closed for a long long time was suddenly and unexpectedly reopened.

I appreciate it for handling characters and events from Nier 1 with a light touch, but I appreciate it even more for handling them at all. Honestly it just makes all the Emil stuff even more horrifically sad and upsetting, but hey - sometimes life is horrifically sad and upsetting. Everything that lives is designed to end. We are trapped in a never-ending cycle of life and death. Those are the words that bookend this game, providing both the beginning and the end of the narrative. But that's no reason not to stick with it and see it through nonetheless.

Who knows, maybe one day you'll get a shot at breaking out of the destructive and depressive ruts you find yourself imprisoned in and have a chance to do something else with your life. Maybe you could even help a stranger in their time of need, and show them that there is more to the world than abject despair? I can't return to the world of Nier Automata after ending E, but I can at least know that I made the world a better place for someone else who was trapped within a horrific cycle of their own. How unusual that such a depressing and bleak game could end in a way that imparts such powerful feelings of validation and empowerment in the player.

Fucking hell, Nier Automata is a good game.

#text post #GOTY

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kismetconstellations · 7 years ago

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What a wonderful night to mention that Sharply overshadowing Ryan all the time is a dick move, borderline emotionally abusive.

Indeed. The dynamic of the Evans family can be aptly described as dysfunctional, at best, with Mr. and Mrs. Evans prioritizing appeasing Sharpay via spoiling her rotten (buying her a Barbie Doll pink, monogrammed convertible, funding East High’s theater department, which includes adorning Sharpay’s dressing room in lavish furnishings, pressuring an employee at their country club into promising to sing with her, convincing the cafeteria workers at East High to provide Sharpay with her own specialized, reserved lunch) and complying with her demands, all while scarcely acknowledging Ryan’s existence.

Ryan has a plain, not customized moped, the men’s dressing room is significantly lacking in every regard, and Ryan goes through the line and chooses from the same lunch items as every other student at East High. It’s possible this is all voluntary, on his part, but, considering Ryan’s flamboyant wardrobe and similar love of luxury, I doubt it.

I know Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure was intended to be Sharpay’s movie, but if that particular film was the introductory point for a new viewer, they would be forgiven for at first believing that Sharpay is an only child, or that her brother, who only receives a passing mention nearly forty minutes in, is much older, rather than a twin. Mr. and Mrs. Evans very much act like Sharpay is their only kid. There’s no reference to Ryan and his acceptance into Juilliard when Sharpay tries to persuade her parents to let her go to New York; no acknowledgement of Ryan and Sharpay performing in the Lava Springs talent show together when Sharpay does a solo performance for a fund raiser at the country club.

It’s as if Ryan’s own parents have forgotten that he exists.

Now, it’s natural for siblings to feel a need to compete with one another, to some extent, be it for attention, or “resources”. I’m the eldest of three siblings, and my younger sister and brother practically waged war against one another on a daily basis when they were younger. And, Sharpay obviously has a fear of being upstaged by her (more talented. Come on, you all know it’s true. Ryan is obviously a better dancer, and he can choreograph and play the piano. All Sharpay can do is sing and kind of dance.) brother, to the point that Ryan is aware that she has “always wanted the spotlight”.

However, both parents favoring one child over the other seems to have encouraged Sharpay’s competitive, attention-seeking nature to the point that she sees fit to intimidate and bully others into submissively stepping back to let her shine. Even something as small as letting Ryan head to the stage before her, despite him sitting closer to the aisle, is unacceptable.

I think this article would be a great read for further research into whether or not the Evanses are outright abusive, and the effects this abuse would have on Ryan. In my opinion, the entire family would benefit greatly from regular appointments with a counselor. Though, I can’t see this ever happening realistically.

Thank you very much for your two cents, and I apologize for this rambling, incoherent mess of a response. ^___^

#Queries and Responses.#xxschoolnewspaperxx #Ryan Evans #Sharpay Evans #Vance Evans #Derby Evans #High School Musical series #HSM Critical #Disney

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lyralikesdonuts · 5 years ago

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Lyra's Bride Guide to Saving Money on a Wedding

The following is my personal experience to budgeting for my dream wedding. Disclaimers: My wedding is still in progress, so definitely more to come and add WITH VISUALS. #budgetwedding #brideonabudget #brideguide

1. All-inclusive resort in another country

Let's get real y'all, living in California/ America for that matter, is expensive. My man and I have saved thousands of dollars by having a wedding in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. And do you really want to spend your future wedded life in so much debt that you're swimming in it up to your eyeballs? So far, we have spent less than $15k on this wedding. As I was speaking to my friends, it seemed that a wedding will often cost $20k at base price. (Unless you're having it in a forest, with like 30 people. More power to you 💪.) An all-inclusive resort includes everything you need to have a wedding (i.e. wedding planner, dj, photographer, food, drinks on tap, ALCOHOL, dance floor, entertainment, chairs AND tables). All you need to do is ask and shop around. You would be doing that anyway, but at a more reasonable price. Another positive thing about an all-inclusive resort, is that although your wedding would be smaller than normal, it would allow you to have a more personal wedding. You'd be able to distribute your time among your guests a lot more frequently. Often, we find ourselveg cutting people/ distancing ourselves from people in order to keep the number of guests down. In another country, that process will often happen itself. It can suck, but if you really want someone there, you can offer to pay for their stay. I mean, you're already saving so much money on your wedding. Although you are spending a couple hundred on plane tickets, depending on where. I chose Mexico to keep these tickets from getting too outrageous. Your guests will be paying for their stay, after all.

Downside: not everyone can make it to another country, but with technology today it would be easy to broadcast your wedding live for those loved ones that can't get on a plane. Or.... just record the wedding, if that is not necessary. Another potential problem, although it's cheaper, you have to pay for the wedding prior to having it. We often had to wire/ dump a couple thousand every month to deal. Balancing the amount of funds you spend every month on bills and outings MATTER a lot... A lot... A lot.

2. Take your time to shop around

It can be easy to pick the nicest, brightest deal out there but it may not be the BEST DEAL. What I'm saying is... take time to compare your options. A lot of resorts tend to have similar packages, but after calculating out how much food and drinks would cost per person.... The deal may actually not be as good as it may seem. Taking time to do some basic math when searching thru the hotel menus helps, literally in the thousands $$$. There are also things like having outside vendors or guests that don't stay at YOUR resort, in which you would have to pay a higher fee to have them attend the wedding. Guest list size may also play a factor. Some resort packages are limited to a certain amount and you may have to change resort location because of that. I had to ask to make sure my count would be reasonable for the hotel. The wedding planner had to alter the package price for my wedding. ( I have around 150)

3. If necessary, give yourself enough time to save money.

As much as I'd love to say I'm rich and flaunt whatever goodies I have.... I'm definitely not. And many of us are not, so let's be real. To be honest, I was shamed for the gap in which we had our engagement and when we're having our wedding party. It actually got me a bit insecure. BUT, I had to ask myself ..."are they paying for your wedding?? Answer: NO." So don't let these inconsiderate comments get to you. You are the master of your own grand plans. Your partner will thank you when you are saving money to own a big, large house that you can have your babies or hundreds of puppies in. Maybe not in San Francisco, but maybe in the Bay Area perhaps.

4. DIY as much as possible

To date, I spent a good amount of change on bridesmaid and groomsmen gifts, invitations, and etc . You may think that invitations and gifts can't be that expensive but..... When you think about it you will need nice, thick cardstock paper, envelopes, pretty printer paper, vellum, quality gifts, decorations, stamps.... So much more. I found that I saved money best by using Amazon, having experience in art, YouTube-ing, buying in bulk, and buying things over time (to decrease the monthly spending impact, ya girl has a lot of bills y'know) I also took A LOT OF time to compare gift value online in my spare time. I'm saying this because... How often will your friend wear a shirt or bring out a bag that says BRIDESMAID on it out? I tried my best to find practical but cute things, specifically with just their name on it. That is just personal preference. If you have money to spend on gifts that your friends won't really use EVER AGAIN... That's totally up to you. They are likely going to be in other weddings that provide similar trinkets. For me, I had to use my personal relationships to determine what style of bag they would often use or how often that friend parties or does activities to determine what I should spend on. If you don't know your friends personal style, take that time to get to know them to determine what to buy. I really try to be considerate and not load my friends up with things that they'll simply throw away. Useful shit is not always... crazy expensive. It doesn't have to be. For example, I found really cute monogram bags for $16. Follow my future posts for more on this.

5. Use your social network

I never did think that I would be looking to maybe BUY a 3d printer... But there I was ... Looking up to see if I could budget for a Glow Forge which has monthly payments.... To make invites, table settings, etc. I was looking at Etsy and Pinterest to determine if adding cute little details would be feasible. They were all SO OVERPRICED. Luckily for me, I found out that my super talented and artsy friend had a 3d printer and was willing to make me calligraphy wood signs, table name plates, and more. I literally thank God that I have friends with awesome talent and love me enough to give me hookups. I also have a very talented friend who takes wonderful pictures and works as a photographer to take my City Hall pictures. I would brag and show off their work, but my wedding is still " In progress." My cousin is a choreographer so he was able to help me come up with some choreography for my entertainment. Anyway, the huge takeaway is that... Friends are truly a blessing. Don't take them for granted because you may need their help.

6. Don't rely on others who will offer to help pay ** very important**

When your engagement comes, you will often have relatives asking where you'll have your wedding and in their excitement somehow come to offer in helping pay.... When asking for help, it starts to take an emotional toll when they tell you they don't have money yet or actually... "something came up". For me, this happens often. I have a large Filipino family who can be somewhat "wishy washy". I love them but it's hard to deal with when there are deadlines to be completed. There may be even times when you ask for help and they turn on you for haggling them for money. I would cry to my fiance and it would take a toll on him to have to step up and work more. Even today, I feel so guilty but grateful to have such a dependable man on my side. ANYWAY, Save yourself from any of these troubles by budgeting for a wedding you can afford. Make a high interest savings account and transfer a good amount of money into it every paycheck. Shop around to compare savings interests rates and try to transfer out money AFTER interest $ has been added to your account. The safety net offered by others may have a few holes.

You may spend more time than you think being worried about how the hell you'll afford any of this wedding nonsense when monthly bills are piling up. Relying on funds that you can't see may be a big, huge slap to your face and your wallet. It may even ruin a few relationships, but hey once YOU are able to finish paying this damn thing off you can thank YOURSELF and your partner for all the damn good hard work you put in. You'll even prevent a few relationships from collapsing. You can really say that you are your own boss and step back and be proud of your work. The day will be ALL ABOUT YOU, after all. You would've definitely earned it.

More to come as my wedding approaches... Stay tuned!

#brideonabudget #budgetwedding #brideguidetosavingmoney #weddingonabudget #lizzosavedme #financingawedding #howthehellikeepmyselfoutofdebt #wedding #engagedlife #engagement #engagedtobemarried

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artstartart · 5 years ago

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Artist Spotlight: Maya Pegues

Get to know one of our SCAD artists from the November 2019 Sale on ArtStartArt.

To get us started, share more about yourself and your artwork.

I was born and raised in Montgomery, AL by a Polish mom and an American dad. My mother is also an artist, so I grew up watching her and experimenting on my own. Also as a kid, I really got into the art of dance. I danced from the age of 3 until I graduated high school. I still do it now but not as vigorous because I want to focus on my painting. I also wanted to try new things because dance had kept me aly was busy and I wasn’t able to always have extra time to do other things. I then found SCAD and on a whim decided to apply there. I can now say that I am really happy and thriving in this artistic environment. My artwork tends to mainly be oil painting, but I do digital art, drawing, and choreographing too. The subject of my art is still in the process of being figured out but I am really into drawing and painting people. We will see how it goes and what I figure out in the future to make.

Tell us about your first experience creating.

It’s as young as I can remember. My mother being an artist always allowed me to draw or express myself artistically. Even if it meant I was going to make a mess, she wanted me to explore. It wasn’t really until middle school, then high school, that I really got into make my own artwork. My school however wasn’t an artistic school an focused mainly on sports and academics, but thankfully I had my mom and artistic friends to fuel my artistic drive.

What has been your favorite part of art school so far?

I’ve been loving art school so far! It’s been so great to be surrounded by people who share my passion and drive for art. I’ve also learned so much so far and have really improved in my techniques. The town of Savannah is also really great and has a lot of really interesting places to go see. The friends I have made here are people I will be friends with for life and they are all so talented.

What are you currently exploring in your work?

I’m currently just starting exploring more with painting, but really right now is me getting down techniques. When I am on break i’m going to explore more on my own because I’ll have more time on my hands. When in school i’m really focused on my classwork and side projects with films or little pieces of artwork. I’m hoping to get more into portraiture and blending the lines between abstract and realism.

What excites you about ArtStartArt?

I’m excited about getting my art out there for more people to see and hopefully to network with more people! I’m really glad ArtStartArt found me and gave me a chance! I’m excited to see where my journey leads me to.

If you had to choose another major besides art, what would it be, and why?

There are so many at SCAD, I wish I bc could do all of them. I think I would choose between Film, Performing Arts, Photography, or Fashion because I am really interested in all of those subjects and not just Painting. Painting just happens to be my strongest passion but I would love to learn as much as I can about different art forms.

What plans do you have for the future of your art?

I’m hoping to do a lot of things actually! I would love to work for a magazine being a creative director, taking photographs for spreads or ads, traveling the world making art, staring in films, producing films, directing films, writing stories, being in a tv show, teaching dance, choreographing dances, painting, and meeting new people. So it’s definitely a lot but i’m really passionate about the art world and would love to try anything and everything. I’m really just trying to give myself a base or platform to create my art on and give myself the ability to make work.

Describe your idea of artistic success.

My idea of artistic success is being able to create what you want without any limits. Being able to just make work you want to and people still buy it or want to see it would be success for me. Of course having sufficient funds is nice too, to be able to support myself, but it’s also just being able to have the world at your disposal.

Rapid fire questions for Maya:

Favorite book(s): Wildwood Dancing

Next place you’d like to travel: Hawaii

Guilty pleasure: Chocolate

Last album you listened to: Kayne West’s newest album

Best piece of advice you’ve ever received: Just keep creating work.

Behind the Scenes with Maya:

We asked Maya to share some images that encapsulated the creative process.

VIEW ALL OF MAYA’S WORK CURRENTLY FOR SALE.

#artistspotlight

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brightideawritings · 7 years ago

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The Divine Contract: Chapter 2

Here we go! Chapter 2 of the little sidefic inspired by the incredible @earthsong9405‘s Goddess!AU! As always go visit her page and see the amazing art and world building she has done!

“Tastes like…purple…window panes…” Rarity said in her asleep. Several more minutes of incoherent mumbling followed ranging from that daisies made the best muffins and the fashionable minotaurs wore dresses made of apples before the light of the rising sun woke Rarity. Ignorant of her own sleep talk Rarity yawned and stretched in her modest bed before she swung her hooves toward the edge of the bedside. Here she hesitated.

“Another day and so far not one step closer to saving Ponyville.” Rarity sighed, and played the events of last night in the Everfree Forest. Battling the shadow-demon and Twilight’s failed capture of the second shadow-demon followed by another two hours of waiting for Twilight to finish inspecting every inch of the area for ‘pan-dimensional resonance’. Rarity had returned to her quarters in the Temple of the Gods exhausted and disappointed. She had passed out immediately upon climbing into bed. This would be Twilight’s fourth day in Ponyville and they both were still no closer to discovering the reason why the shadow-demons were attacking Ponyville.

“Honestly, why do I feel so…hollow?” Rarity shook her head. She was awed by the magic that Twilight displayed, she controlled the energies of the dominion of magic so effortlessly it was in many ways breathtaking. Unicorns that were trained in the higher levels of magic needed time and preparation for complex spells but Twilight seemed to be able to use them with the barest of flickers of her horn. Rarity did not doubt Twilight’s Divine powers, but Rarity still felt as if there was some sort of gulf that had opened up within her over the last few days.

“I have been preparing for months for this. I’ve kept so many secrets from Fluttershy, Cheerilee, Sweetie Belle and so many others. I should be happy, but-” Rarity stopped her monologue when she heard a single knock on her door. At first confused at who would be calling upon her so early in the morning she was quickly not surprised to see the door open after the first knock revealing her sister, Sweetie Belle.

“Rarity! I’m coming in!” Sweetie Belle cheerfully shouted after she had already jumped into Rarity’s room. She looked at Rarity in her bed and her face frowned in disappointment. “You’re still in bed? WE have hospitium duty today and YOU said YOU would show ME how to do our duties!”

Rarity winced on the inside, she had completely forgotten she was to show Sweetie Belle how to administer to the wounded in the temple’s hospitium. As Sweetie’s Sister Superior it was Rarity’s duty to train the priests-in-training under Rarity’s wing. Rarity had made sure her afternoon and night duties had been shortened so that she could work with Twilight so she had overloaded her tasks to the morning shift. In particular she had switched hospitium duties with Fluttershy. Rarity surrendered and decided she had to put aside her worries about the shadow-demons for now.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity’s voice carried out into the hallway with mock mortification, “How many times have I told you that a priestess, and just as importantly a proper lady does not just barge into somepony else’s room uninvited? You must be courteous and who knows what you might see if you do not give a pony time to open the door for you.”

“Like what?” Sweetie Belle asked, but Rarity ignored her question and had already pushed off of the bed and closed the door behind Sweetie Belle. Rarity became a whirlwind as she dressed for the day, she did regret not properly combing her mane or putting on a facial mask the night before but Rarity had her ways of hiding how haggard she may appear to be.

“Again, a proper pony does not ask.” Rarity replied even as she combed her mane, “Where is Scootaloo? You both are attending the hospitium today.”

“Ohmygosh, I forgot to wake her up!” Sweetie Belle practically jumped in place before she streaked out of Rarity’s room. Rarity allowed herself to smile as she finished the last of her preparations and slipped into a fresh set of robes.

In a few minutes, Rarity had left her own quarters and collected both Sweetie Belle and her friend and fellow priestess-in-training, Scootaloo, from the dorms for neophytes. Rarity had pulled many strings to get Scootaloo accepted into the Temple of the Gods, the priesthood did not accept many initiates that were unsponsored (otherwise the priesthood would be straining to accommodate the orphans from the wars and shadow-demon attacks). Fortunately, Cheerilee was sympathetic and Rarity had arranged for a modest fund toward accepting Scootaloo as an initiate in the Temple of the Gods.

“Rarity! What are we going to do in the hospitium?” Sweetie’s voice echoed through the marble corridor even as its owner pranced around Rarity.

“Ooooo! What if we get to do surgery? I call dibs on the saw!” Scootaloo’s voiced joined with Sweetie’s, the filly dodging her friend as the both made completely opposite orbits around Rarity.

“Nuh uh! I want dibs!”

“Surgery? Really? Have we not been studying up on the roles and duties of a priest have we?” Rarity knew the answer to that questions already, but still the reaction from both fillies was priceless to watch.

Even Rarity was quietly shocked by both fillies stopping in front of her at the exact same moment, their faces turned toward her with genuine fear. A nagging part of her wondered if the two had choreographed it but their responses quickly washed away any thoughts in Rarity’s mind.

“Uuuuh…” both filies responses, looking at one another and back at Rarity.

“Ah, I see” Rarity responded, a slight smile on her lips as she continued down the corridor past both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, “Perhaps…perhaps I should mention to Cheerilee that you both could use some extra hours instructions…”

“Extra hours?!” Sweetie Belle gasped, “we can’t Rarity, after our daily duties we said we would meet Apple Bloom and-“Rarity’s younger sister was cut off by a swift elbow to her ribs by Scootaloo.

“-and help her buy some supplies in town!” Scootaloo finished for Sweetie Belle. Rarity did not need to look back to know both fillies were holding their breaths for Rarity’s next words. Do I doom them to a late afternoon of dictation and higher learning from Cheerilee or granting them freedom to play out their own agenda?

“Well…” Rarity paused for dramatic effect, during her own spare time after daily duties it would not be an uncommon sight to see her engrossed in a new novel that filled with drama, mystery and pregnant pauses, “I just may forget to talk to Cheerilee if you both pay attention and keep quiet while we are in the hospitium…”

“We will Rarity! Your, uh, Journeymare Priestessness!” Scootaloo was the first to chime up and catch up to Rarity’s walking pace. Sweetie Belle was a swift second.

“Scootaloo’s right! We’ll be pay so much attention you’ll never notice! We’ll be like…like…”

“Temple ninjas! That would be so rad! I bet we could make really cool throwing stars out of-”

“Girls! We are here! Look! Look!” Rarity hoped she didn’t sound too desperate to steer Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle from their current course of thinking, but if she used ANY of the past attempts by the two fillies to skirt their neophyte training or add ‘extra curricular’ training it would not end well. Rarity needed both fillies distracted and shooed any thoughts of being ‘Temple Ninjas’ into the forgotten corners of their filly minds. Rarity was still apologizing to June Bug for taking their talk of “Temple Torchbearers” less than seriously, even though Rarity went out of her way to compliment how well June Bug’s tail hair had grown back.

Fortunately, both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were immediately taken by the sight of the hospitium. It was one of the larger rooms within the Temple of the Gods but it did at times feel fairly cramped, much of the space within was taken up by row after row of cots and a few privacy screens. Rarity was thankful to see that the majority of the cots were unoccupied. Unbidden memories leapt up, shrieks of pain and shouts of terror always punctuated the by the sounds of soft sobbing and the final breath of-

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle’s voice cut through Rarity’s thoughts, she shook her head and looked down at her sister.

“Yes, Sweetie? Did you say something?” Rarity softly loosened the grip on her sounding staff, she hadn’t notice how tight her grip had become.

“Aren’t we supposed to tend to the statue of Redheart, goddess of healing first?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Normally, we would,” Rarity smiled and gestured toward the statue of Redheart. The statue itself was carved from a portion of the north wall but rose across the ceiling of the room, with her head leaning down and arms widespread she looked to be encompassing the entire room with her arms and every corner was within her soft gaze. “Different Divine have different preferences.”

“Like apples and oranges?”

“Birds and bees?”

“Red and blue?”

“Pronouncing ‘vase’ as ‘vah-se’ instead of ‘vay-se’?”

“Almost. It is very much linked to each individual Divine’s likes and tastes. Not just in preference of something so material as the object of sacrifice but the proper action. Orthopraxy. Redheart would be insulted if a ritual to her was completed before tending to the sick and wounded in her view.”

“Isn’t it hard to remember each and every single Divine’s likes and like-likes?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yes, it is for most ponies. That is why there is a Temple to the Gods, not every settlement has one but fortunately Ponyville is big enough. We enact a civic duty for the entire town! We make sure the Divine, if some pony is coarse or blundering enough to offend them, take their anger on that individual pony and not on the entire town.”

“We give praise to the Divine when there may not be a pony in Ponyville to do so. No matter the act be it to freshen up their shrine with newly cut flowers, tending to the sick, or…” Rarity murmured quietly to herself, “…going on nightly patrols of the Everfree…”

“Going on nightly patrols of the…?” Scootaloo asked.

“Patrols of the temple!” Rarity hurried forward before either Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle could continue with that particular line of questioning, “Watch and learn, girls.”

Taking several steps into the hospitium Rarity stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes for a moment. After several moments, a smile split her features, her eyes moments ago had looked tired and haggard with a lack of sleep but now they almost seemed to shine with a newfound energy. Rarity breathed in deeply and let it all out.

“Gooooood morning, my darlings!” Rarity’s voice echoed throughout the hospitium, more than enough for every and any pony to hear her she continued her voice laced with an easy cheer, almost teasing but in a good-natured way, “How are you my gentlecolts and lovely ladies doing this Divine given morning? Hmm?”

Dozens of worn out faces turned toward Rarity from across the room. Some were standing, but most had to lean up from or crane their heads on their cots to look in her direction. Some were in the hospitium because of sickness but most were for injuries sustained from the latest of the shadow-demon attack to mundane farming accidents. Most were there because either they had no home to stay in or family to take care of them. The mood in the room, formerly somber, immediately shifted as the ponies visibly perked up at the sound and sight of Rarity, that could have mumbled a broken chorus of good mornings, while others simply smiled and laid back down or went back to their previous conversations.

“A Divine once told me, at a friend’s birthday party, that a smile is more than enough to brighten up a day” Rarity turned to tell Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle before she was off toward the first few patients.

To a patient observer Rarity moved through the hospitium with the grace of a ribbon caught in a summer breeze. Graceful in her motions and a pleasantly surprising sight to see. One moment chatting, some may say gossiping, with an older mare who was too weak to get out of her cot, the next changing the bandages of a stallion and before you knew it she was taking the temperature of a mare while also subtly mentioning the stallion in the bandages always seemed to be looking the mare’s way with a blush. Always she would be thanked and always she would reply the same, “Think nothing of it dear, generosity is always in style.”

It was not long before Rarity, with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hurrying to keep up arrived at one particular cot whose occupant did not seem too pleased at all to be stuck in the cot. Besides the fact that she was tall enough that her hooves hung over the edge the occupant looked about ready to leap up and buck an apple tree.

“Ahh, Applejack. I see we are getting caught up on that rest the doctors recommended you take. Oh, wait my mistake dear, they didn’t recommend it but ordered it, did they not?”

“Phooey. I ain’t needin any bedrest! Just because I got my arm bite off by one of them shadow-varmits everypony thinks I need fifty winks every time I sneeze! I ain’t going to fall over in ah breeze!” Applejack grumbled from her cot, her one good eye staring out toward the ceiling, far away from Rarity’s unimpressed gaze. It was true that Applejack was, Rarity had admitted to herself on more than one occasion, impressively built. Standing at around 6’7ft Applejack was larger than most stallions with the particular exception of her brother, Big Macintosh. Even missing her right arm up to the shoulder Applejack was a powerful sight to behold, the bright pink-red scars that marked across her body and over her shut right eye only had added to what was a mountain of what Rarity considered ‘stubbornness in pony form’. Applejack had been so severely mauled by a shadow-demon that no one had expected her to recover, no pony else ever had, but after a month she had returned to her family farm as if nothing had changed.

Which at times was a problem.

“That may be true, you have already proven you have incredible stamina, but…” Rarity let her words fall, and her gaze travel toward the ceiling.

“…but what?” Applejack asked, Rarity did not even need to turn her head to know Applejack’s gaze had drifted down from the ceiling to her. When Rarity looked back at Applejack she had been 100% correct, even correctly guessing Applejack’s scrunched brow.

“Well, you were out for a month, darling. What if one of your wounds reopened and you were back here for another month or even a week or two? A night or two isn’t so bad compared to that is it?”

“I suppose…” Applejack’s stubbornly scrunched brow collapsed into one of worry. If Rarity was correct she was weighing the possibility of missing out more time at Sweet Apple Acres and how it would affect her family. Rarity could not have prayed to the Divine for better timing when a filly’s voice with a similar twang to Applejack’s began to shout in the hospitium.

“Sis! Sis! It’s me, Apple Bloom!” Applejack’s younger sister shouted as she sped between the cots of the hospitium before jumping on one cot to use it as a springboard to cross the aisle and land on top of Applejack.

“I heard yah, Apple Bloom. That shadow-varmit didn’t scramble my brains.” Applejack beamed at the sight of her sister and squeezed her tightly in a one-armed hug.

“Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle chimed in from behind Rarity and were soon scrambling past Rarity to talk with their friend. Rarity noticed Applejack’s smile seemed to grow wider as she looked at her sister and friends talk among themselves. Applejack looked up at Rarity and winked.

“It’s good Apple Bloom has friends. With all this shadow-varmit hooey going on ‘am happy these three can find a way to have some fun.” Applejack whispered to Rarity. Applejack’s words made Rarity smile as well, not the cheerful smile she had worn since entering the hospitium but one that was less of a show for ponies who needed it and more genuine for just herself.

“I was ah little surprised to see you here today, Rarity. I thought Fluttershy was supposed to be makin the rounds?” Applejack asked. Rarity froze in place as Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stopped and turned toward her.

“What about Fluttershy?” Apple Bloom asked.

“She did say she would be here the other day.” Scootaloo added.

“Yea, why wasn’t she here to teach us?” Sweetie Belle added.

“Ah, well you see girls…Fluttershy actually traded duties with me today…because she…she…”

“I bet it’s because she can’t stand the sight of blood.” Applejack interrupted, nodding her head but at the same time looking at Rarity knowingly. She was only a handful of ponies that knew Fluttershy very well…

“What, really?” Apple Bloom asked, looking between Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

“I remember! That one time a supplicant tripped and scraped their knee on the stairs REALLY badly. Blood was EVERYWHERE!” Scootaloo said, waving her hands to emphasize.

“It wasn’t THAT bad Scootaloo. Just a scrape, but you’re right. Fluttershy was there and she just kept staring at the blood. And shaking. I think by the time Cheerilee pulled her away she was sweating.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Kind of wimpy to want to pass out from seeing a little blood if you ask me” Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders.

“I thought you said it was EVERYWHERE, Scootaloo” Apple Bloom elbowed Scootaloo in the arm.

“It was! Everywhere, sure most of it was on the supplicant’s pants but-“ Scootaloo and her friends continued to argue among themselves about the definition of everywhere.

Thank the divine for small favors and how easily sidetracked these three can be! Rarity sighed in relief and turned to Applejack who hadn’t taken her eye off of Rarity.

“So, if you’re taking over for Fluttershy now I suppose that means you’ll be free in the evening, right?” Applejack asked. Rarity winced on the inside, Applejack despite being what Rarity considered a straightforward pony she was remarkably adept at telling bluffs and lies. If somepony was not being 100% truthful she knew. Rarity had to choose her words carefully.

“Yes, that’s right. I will be free this evening” Rarity replied curtly.

“Oh really? I hope you aren’t gettin into any…trouble.” Applejack leveled her gaze at Rarity.

“Trouble? Me? I don’t ‘gettin’ into any trouble, Applejack.” Rarity smirked and tossed her mane over her shoulder.

“Then what are you doin later then?” Applejack continued, she seemed unwilling to let Rarity go without a more solid answer.

“I’ll be heading to the plaza.” Rarity replied, which was true. Before Applejack could ask what she would be doing in the plaza Rarity knew she had to lead Applejack off. Fortunately, Rarity’s reputation as a hopeless flirt had persisted even from when they were fillies together. “Why do you ever ask, darling? Does big, strong Applejack need a little assistance from a priest’s…healing hands to get back to Sweet Apple Acres?”

Rarity had laced her words with such a sultry undertone her words may have come from a demon. The not-so-innocent giggle and flutter of her eyelashes were the icing on the performance, but it was more than enough. Applejack blushed and shook her head, scooting under the cot’s blankets a little more and even holding them up as if that would be enough to ward off Rarity.

“Nn-not at all! Like I said, I’m fit enough to wrestle a minotaur! I don’t know why you go to the plaza to stare at those dresses the merchants bring in. Seems like a waste of a good afternoon when you could be doing so much more and…” Applejack continued to talk about the fine work ethic of Earth Ponies, particularly the Apple Family, and Rarity knew she had been successful in keeping Applejack from prying too close.

What she was doing with Twilight Sparkle was dangerous, and she would not let either her family or friends to come to harm because of her responsibility…

#the divine contract #MLP:FiM #alternate universe #Earthsong9405 #Goddess!AU #rarity #rarilight #raritwi #adventure #fanfiction

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hundredbillionbottles · 8 years ago

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Yusteece

I had never been so unsure as to what country I was in as on Thursday evening when I stepped out of an uber straight into a sludgy river of mud, hit by that thick smell which for whatever sciency reason happens whenever there is a particular excess of the stuff. Surely this type of wafting terrain only exists in the marshes and bogs of Glastonbury or Reading Festival? But as it turns out, having looked it up, mud occurs at festivals all over the world, and not just England (who knew?), especially at ones in cities with as high an annual rainfall as Bogotá. Hence, the scene at the carpark for Estéreo Picnic, Colombia’s biggest music festival, was a vast, squelchy brownness through which cars were revving their hearts out to conquer.

The inside of the festival was, however, a stark contrast to filthy floor. The place twinkled. Fairy lights threaded through the gaps between gazebos sheltering pop-up shops bursting with what Dom would call ‘wavey threads’, fantastically designed clothing unique to anything I’d seen before. Such gazebos stood in two long parallel lines, creating a wide path leading towards the food area, which was furnished with giant cushions designed as oversized Chocoramos (a Colombian chocolate bar/cake-type snack) and rubber dingies tied together and implanted with LEDs to make illuminated technicoloured igloos for people to crash out in. Watching over this area stood a proud tower displaying a clock counting down from 45 minutes. As the timer got closer to zero, the crowd around it got suspiciously bigger; with 5 minutes left on this now rather unnerving clock, the crowd exceeded that of the one watching the band playing in the tent opposite. Was this to commemorate some sort of event or special time of day? Was Judgment Day upon us? Was there a man inside the tower about to punch in the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42? The timer hit zero. Flares shot up into the murky night sky. Small packages started parachuting down from the tower, and the crowd viciously fought to grab them. I wondered what could possibly be so valuable to make humans this riled up, a question which was answered when I caught one of these mysterious descending packages myself, albeit by sitting on Dom’s shoulders. They were cheeseburgers. Cheeseburgers from Presto, one of the country’s leading fast food chains. Of course. What else? The last of the parachutes fell into the defiant claws of some maddened festival-goer and the clock reset itself to 1 hour.

Myself, George, Dom and Stephen wondered about the site for a bit and got some food from one of the numerous burger stands, and then from 7:30 to 2am we were non-stop hopping between the three stages. We saw Cage The Elephant on the main stage, whose new material surprisingly went down a lot better with the Colombian crowd than they’re older stuff, and then for the second time in my life I caught the only the very last song from a clashing Glass Animals set. We then went to go meet Andrew, a former teacher of Stephen’s from his IB school in Bosnia who was in Colombia trying to acquire funding for a new IB school in Medellín. He was a baritone Californian whose staggering height was ideal for a festival mostly attended by people from a country with a relatively low average height. With his silvery black hair, necklace and white button-up, he had the appearance of a wise man. This perceived wisdom was actualised with his first action: buying a bottle of whisky for everyone. With him, we caught The prettily gloomy XX set, in which the best song was the one Jamie XX song they played, followed by the funky house of Bob Moses in the Motorola Tent. We caught all the essentials of The Weeknd’s main stage headline set - The Hills, In The Night, I Feel It Coming, Can’t Feel My Face etc. – before embarking to a packed Budweiser Tent for Justice.

As the French duo didn’t come on until quarter to one, we were pretty knackered from the lateness and the business of the week at work not yet finished, and I didn’t think I would have the energy to enjoy the set. But how wrong I was. For little over 80 minutes I was, in every sense of the word, mindblown. Their show was a total masterclass of the live DJ show. From the moment they took to the stage, ingeniously mixing newer track Safe And Sound into the classic anthem D.A.N.C.E and then back into Safe And Sound, they did not speak, nor did they obnoxiously dance about the stage, they just calmly walked between their cubic decks putting care and focus into their craft, letting the music speak for itself. The stage design was correspondingly simple but incredibly effective, with two walls of LED cubes on either side of the stage which glittered and pulsated to perfection, and a screen behind them displayed elegantly choreographed graphics. I do not believe I have ever seen a show where the light-show so perfectly accompanied the music. I have also never, after seeing a band or artist, immediately felt the need to see them again as I did shuffling out of the tent that night to the sound of the chant “Yusteece! Yusteece!”. It was a faultless set, and the flooring noise of the crowd when the duo stood motionless and silent for almost 2 minutes, before dropping We Are Your Friends, was a true indicator that we were in the presence of greatness.

I was, however, certainly not in the presence of greatness when I studied my groggy reflection the next morning. I had managed to squeeze in 3 hours of sleep before work, which would have to sustain me for a day of rigorous prep for Monday’s ‘Alice In Wonderland’ experience slammed between taking four lessons on debating. By half 3 I was completely drained and searching for any smidgen of energy that would carry me through to The Strokes later that night, energy which I found at the very back of The Silversun Pickups set on the main stage. Agreeing that the band were mediocre, we went for a further explore of the festival site and discovered giant ball pit at the back of the field. We didn’t need a second invitation to dive in, and there was much rejoicing. People got tackled and buried and there was the occasional cascade of silver balls flying about the place. The childlike fun of it all launched me into the Flume set, the first few songs of Two Door Cinema Club, and then finally The Strokes, who played a charming and joyous set. They played for over an hour and a half, wheeling out almost every Strokes song you could possibly want to hear in that time. In our own little space to the left hand side of the main bulk of the crowd, I bopped along to Someday and 12:51 with Marce, who was ridiculously excited to finally see her ‘boyfriend’ Julian in the flesh, and then the whole place blew up for Reptilia and Last Nite. As the band’s momentum grew, so too did the hilarity of our surroundings, mostly due to ‘Messy’ Manuel, who was already too far gone before he bought his second bottle of whiskey. So over Casablancas’ growling vocals, Manuel gave Stephen and I completely illogical, nigh-on farcical, advice on how to talk to girls, which gradually developed into sentences which just made no sense at all, to the extent that even his mate couldn’t understand him when he tried to explain what he wanted to say in Spanish. It was a great show full of nostalgia and positivity; I loved how, despite their massive fame, The Strokes still played as if they were some band just starting out, playing in their social club down the road rather than performing to thousands of adoring people, seemingly improvising the setlist and strumming and fiddling with their instruments between songs. I’m so glad I can tick them off my list of bands to see, and so glad that I got to see them here with the people I did.

There weren’t really any acts on Saturday I was desperate to see. We met up with Andrew again and got some cocktails in, threw some serious shapes at Quantic, a Colombian band who mixed jazz and funk with the traditional music of the Pacific, and then vibed out at Deadmau5’s headline set. Between 11 and going to bed at 4, I cried with laughter 4 times at 4 separate things. For the second week running, I had a weekend that I don’t see myself forgetting any time soon, except this one ended with shovelling pringles into my mouth in front of The Revenge Of The Sith.

God dammit I need to see Justice again.

#travel #music #bogota #estereo picnic #justice #the strokes #deadmau5 #festival #friends #colombia #the weeknd

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chelseyroseblog · 8 years ago

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QUESTIONS I ASK MYSELF AT THE START OF EVERY NEW YEAR

Anyone else here a fan of Tony Robbins? If I ever feel uninspired all I need to do is pick up one of his books, flip to any random page and read a few paragraphs.

He reminds me to think of who I really want to be, how I see myself in years to come, what direction I'm taking, what goals I'm setting for myself, and how I plan on getting there.

I get caught up in day to day stuff so often that sometimes I forget to really think about how these things will pay off in the long run. Once I really sit down and think about where I see myself 10 years from now, it gives me motivation and changes the course of how I'm doing things.

One of the most important things I learned from Tony is to set some time aside at LEAST once a year and really just let yourself free and write about where you see yourself 5-10 years from now.

Write down everything about your ideal day from the moment you wake up until the moment you lay back down to go to sleep.

What are you wearing?

What does your house look like?

Who are you with?

Where are you in the world?

What do you do with the first hour of your day?

I've done this so many times that I this vision in my head like it already happened. This is how detailed mine is: (From here, we write down different questions that will help us figure out how we're going to get to this ideal day for us years from now. )

My ideal day 10 years from now:

I wake up around 6:15am in the second story of my modern home next to my husband and dog, I walk down the wooden steps to my big kitchen where I have a beautiful floor to ceiling window view of San Diego or LA, I make myself some espresso and a fresh juice and turn on some relaxing jazz music and light some candles.

I spend my morning by myself, reading and planning my day. I have a small breakfast then go back upstairs to get ready for my morning barre class.

I drive myself to barre in my blacked out infinite suv, my hair, skin and nails are on point and my body is in amazing shape because I eat clean and make time to work out everyday.

I get back from barre and enjoy some time with my kids and husband while I make them breakfast.

I work from home in my office upstairs.....

Okay, I won't bore you anymore but you get the idea. Let yourself think of every detail. Let your mind expand and don't place ANY limitations on yourself. Think about what you really really want.

Now that you know what you want to look like, how you want to live, and where you want to be with your career, you can start THIS YEAR with questions and goals in mind that will help push you towards that ultimate vision.

There's 4 set's of goals that we need to pay attention to:

- Personal Development Goals

- Career/Business Goals

- Toys/Adventure Goals

- Contribution Goals

1. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS:

STEP ONE:

Set a timer for 5 minutes and write down everything that you can possibly think of.

How would you like to improve your physical body? What are your goals for your mental and social development? Do you want to start to make meditating a habit that you do every morning? Do you want to learn a new language? Do you want to speak in front of an audience?

Emotionally what would you like to experience or achieve? Do you want to forgive someone or mend an old friendship? Do you want to start going to church?

Tony Robbins shares some questions to ask yourself before writing.

What would you like to learn?

What are some skills you want to master in your lifetime?

What are some character traits you’d like to develop?

Who do you want your friends to be?

What do you want to be?

What could you do for your physical well-being? (Get a massage every week? Every day? Create the body of your dreams? Join a gym–and actually use it? Hire a vegetarian chef? Complete the Iron Man Triathlon in Honolulu?)

Would you like to conquer your fear of flying? Or of public speaking? Or of swimming?

What would you want to learn? To speak French? Study the Dead Sea Scrolls? Dance and/or sing? Study with violin Virtuoso Itzhak Perlman? Who else would you like to study with? Would you like to take in a foreign exchange student?

STEP TWO:

Set your timer for 1 minute and give yourself a deadline for accomplishing each goal. If it's 1 year or less write 1, if it's 2 years, put a 2 next to it, and so on for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years etc.

STEP THREE:

Chose your most important 1 year goal and take 3 minutes to write down a few paragraphs about why it's so important to you. Why are you committed to achieving that one specific goal this year? Why is it so important to you? What would you miss out on if you didn't achieve it?

2. CAREER/BUSINESS GOALS

STEP ONE:

Take 5 minutes to write down your career/business/financial goals.

Here's some of Tony Robbin's suggestions of questions to ask yourself.

Do you want to earn: $50,000 a year? $100,000 a year? $500,000 a year? $1 million a year? $10 million a year? So much that you can’t possibly count it?

What goals do you have for your company? Would you like to take your company public? Would you like to become the leader in your industry?

What do you want your net worth to be? When do you want to retire? How much investment income would you like to have so you no longer have to work? By what age do you want to achieve financial independence?

What are your money management goals? Do you need to balance your budget? Balance your checkbook? Get a financial coach?

What investments would you make? Would you finance an exciting start-up business? Buy a vintage coin collection? Start a diaper delivery service? Invest in a mutual fund? Set up a living trust? Contribute to a pension plan?

How much do you want to save toward giving your kids a college education?

How much do you want to be able to spend on travel and adventure?

How much do you want to be able to spend on new ‘toys’?

What are your career goals? What would you like to contribute to the company? What breakthrough would you like to create? Would you like to become a supervisor? A manager? A CEO? What would you like to be known for within your profession? What kind of impact do you want to have?

STEP TWO:

Set a timeline for your goals by putting a 1 next to goals that you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, a 2 for 2 years, and so on. Try to do this in 1 minute.

STEP THREE:

Pick your top 1 year goal and spend 3 minutes writing about it. Explain why you are absolutely committed to achieving this goal this year and if you can't think of good enough reasons then you might need to pick a different goal that really fires you up.

3. TOYS/ADVENTURES GOALS

Take 5 minutes to write down EVERYTHING you could ever want, have, or experience in your life.

Here's some of Tony's examples:

Would you like to build, create, or purchase a cottage? Castle? Beach house? Catamaran sailboat? Private yacht? Island? Lamborghini sports car? Chanel wardrobe? Helicopter? Jet plane? Music studio? Art collection? Private zoo stocked with giraffes, alligators, and hippos? Virtual Reality machine?

Would you like to attend an opening of a Broadway plan? A film premier in Cannes? A Bruce Springsteen concert? A Kabuki theater production in Osaka, Japan?

Would you like to race any of the Andrettis at the next Indy 500? Play Monica Seles and Steffi Graf, or Boric Becker and Ivan Lendl, in a doubles match? Pitch the World Series? Carry the Olympic torch? Go one-on-one with Michael Jordan? Swim with the pink dolphins in the oceans of Peru? Race camels between the pyramids of Egypt with your best friend? And win? Track with the Sherpas in the Himalayas?

Would you like to start in a Broadway play? Share an on-screen kiss with Kim Basinger? Dirty Dance with Patrick Swayze? Choreograph a modern ballet with Mikhail Baryshnikov?

What exotic places would you visit? Would you sail around the world like Thor Heyerdahl in Kon-Tiki? Visit Tanzania and study chimpanzees with Jane Goodall? Sail on the Calypso with Jacques Cousteau? Long on the sands of the French Riviera? Sail a yacht around the Greek Isles? Participate in the Dragon Festivals in China? Take part in a shadow dance in Bangkok? Scuba dive in Fiji? Meditate in a Buddhist monastery? Take a stroll through the Prado in Madrid? Book a ride on the next space shuttle flight?

STEP TWO:

Set a timeline for your goals by putting a 1 next to goals that you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, a 2 for 2 years, and so on. Try to do this in 1 minute.

STEP THREE:

4. CONTRIBUTION GOALS

Take 5 minutes to write down how you want to give back. What contributions do you want to make to OTHER people's lives? How will you leave your mark or make a difference?

Here's some examples from Tony:

How could you contribute? Would you help build a shelter for the homeless? Adopt a child? Volunteer at a soup kitchen? Read to the blind? Visit a man or woman serving a prison sentence? Volunteer with the Peace Corps for six months? Take balloons to an old folks’ home?

How could you help to protect the ozone layer? Clean up the oceans? Eliminate racial discrimination? Halt the destruction of the rain forests?

What could you create? Would you come up with a perpetual motion machine? Develop a car that runs on garbage? Design a system for distribution food to all who hunger?

STEP TWO:

Set a timeline for your goals by putting a 1 next to goals that you want to accomplish in 1 year or less, a 2 for 2 years, and so on. Try to do this in 1 minute.

STEP THREE:

Now that you have your 4 MASTER 1 YEAR GOALS, use them to inspire you all year long!

Tony ends with this:

“Now you should have four master one-year goal that absolutely excite and inspire you, with sound, compelling reasons behind them. How would you feel if in one year you had mastered and attained them all? How would you feel about yourself? How would you feel about your life? I can’t stress enough the importance of developing strong enough reasons to achieve these goals. Having a powerful enough why will provide you with the necessary how.

Make sure that you look at these four goals daily. Put them where you’ll see them every day, either in your journal, on your desk at the office, o rover your bathroom mirror while you’re shaving or putting on makeup. If you back your goals up with a solid commitment to CANI!, to constant and never –ending improvement of each of these areas, then you’re sure to make progress daily. Make the decision now to begin to follow through on these goals, beginning immediately.”

As the saying goes, your dreams are the most precious things you own. Your goals are simply your dreams on a timeline.

Leave a comment below and let me know what one of your goals are for this year!!

#motivation #INSPIRATION #life tips #life advice #goals

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itsfinancethings · 4 years ago

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If you’ve been going to sleep recently to the deafening roar of fireworks, you’re not alone. From New York to Los Angeles to Hartford, Conn., complaints and reports about fireworks have ballooned over the last month. Boston police, for example, recorded 1,445 fireworks complaints in the first week of June, compared with 22 in the same week last year, according to the Boston Herald.

But just because fireworks usage is skyrocketing doesn’t mean that its industry is thriving. For the companies that sell smaller consumer fireworks, this enormous uptick is simply allowing them to get back on track after multiple months of no sales. Meanwhile, the companies that put on huge displays have been decimated by the cancellation of virtually all major events, from baseball games to concerts to parades. And because these companies rely disproportionately on July 4th shows, the widespread cancellation of Independence Day celebrations has left many wondering if they will make it to New Year’s without federal intervention.

“I’ve worked with these guys for 30 years—They’re desperate,” Julie Heckman, the executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, says. “I’ve never seen anything impact this industry like what’s happening right now.”

“It was hard to keep track of the cancellations”

Until March 2020, it was a very good time to be in the fireworks business in America. In 2019, revenue hit $1.4 billion, according to research gathered by the American Pyrotechnics Association. Three quarters of that came from retail fireworks—like sparklers, snaps and Roman candles—that can be bought by consumers and set off in backyards (and all too often, in the street).

Retailers that sell those types of smaller fireworks have been buoyed by a widespread relaxation of state laws over the last few decades. Since 2000, 17 states have liberalized their fireworks laws, with Massachusetts the lone state that completely prohibits people from owning and using them. Store owners like Anthony LoBianco of Intergalactic Fireworks in Langhorne, Penn. have seen their business expand, with more and more people putting on backyard shows or elaborate gender reveal parties.

The remaining quarter of the fireworks industry is the sale of display fireworks: the monumental, intricately-choreographed shows you might see at a parade or an Independence Day celebration. Display companies have seen enormous recent growth due to a rising economy and the booming live event business, in which food and music festivals have sprouted up all over the nation. Pyrotechnic technology is also constantly improving, spurring increasingly lavish and jaw-dropping spectacles with all sorts of whimsical shapes and deft color mutations. “Over the last decade, we tripled the size of our operation,” Steven Vitale, who runs the company Pyrotecnico in New Castle, Penn., says.

Pyrotecnico, which has existed since 1889, previously supplied and staged the fireworks for Super Bowl halftime shows and Democratic National Conventions, and was projecting 2020 to be its best year on record. But in March, as COVID-19 emerged as a serious threat to public health, his clients started cancelling one by one. “Coachella cancelled. Live Nation announced no more concerts. The MLB, the NBA, the NCAA Final Four: It was hard to keep track of the cancellations,” Vitale says. (New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that the famed Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks show, the biggest pyrotechnic celebration in the U.S., will go on despite the coronavirus).

Companies like Pyrotecnico might have been able to weather a few months of silent skies, provided that the country was back up and running for July 4th. Typically, Pyrotecnico puts on more than 600 shows for Independence Day, accounting for more than 50% of their yearly fireworks revenue. But at the moment, less than a third of those shows will happen. He says that as as a result, he’s had to lay off 65% of his workforce.

Jim Souza, of the California-based Pyro Spectaculars, says that of the 400 shows the company was going to stage on July 4th, they’re currently looking at 40 and decreasing—and that the company is down 90% in revenue. “I say that with stomach pains,” he says. He had to put 25 people on furlough before Payroll Protection Program funds arrived.

In New England, Atlas PyroVision Entertainment Group had booked about 235 shows for July 4th, including for the cities of Boston, Plymouth and Hartford. “Right now, we’re looking to do about 18,” Steven Pelkey, the owner, says.

These cancellations’ negative effects will linger long after the first weekend in July. Production typically takes longer than a year: Ironically, the supply for these patriotic goods is shipped from China, and there are many safety regulations and protocols surrounding massive international shipments of explosives. For many companies, July 4th shipments have long already been ordered and are now sitting in warehouses around the country.

Given the state of the pandemic, there’s little hope for these companies to offload them in the foreseeable future. Souza was hoping to offset his July 4th dependence with a fireworks festival and competition, the Sparks Fly Festival, that was supposed to unfold over a week in October in Glendale, Ariz. “It was signed, sealed, delivered. We were about ready to launch the website and tickets,” Souza says. That was cancelled, too, leaving him with a bare schedule over the next ten months. “We have to find a way to stay in business until next April, when more deposits will be due and hopefully major league baseball starts,” he says.

The idle storage of fireworks could cost each company heavily, due the security and liability insurance that comes with protecting highly dangerous materials. Pelkey says he is sitting on $4 million of heavily insured inventory that will continue to burn a hole in his pockets until whenever shows resume. “That’s going to be tough to recover, because customers are not going to accept a 25 or 30 percent price increase,” he says.

And the product surplus could wreak havoc on the supply chain next year. “We are going to really face some headwinds going into next season because we have high inventory levels now, and there will be less orders going into 2021,” Vitale says. “That’s going to destabilize a very fragile industry within China.”

A Tale of Two Cities

As the display side of the industry sees red, the consumer side has fared better, perhaps in part due to the former’s plight. “We’re experiencing a tale of two cities,” Heckman says. “The display side is on life support, but it’s been quite surprising to see this early activity on the retail side.”

In early June, the Florida-based Fireworks Lady & Co. created a marketing campaign highlighting the fact that most displays would be cancelled for the year. “We’re sorry we have to do that to our brothers and sisters in the industry, but that’s what we’re doing,” Patricia Taime, who runs the company, says. Since then, business has taken off, to the point that Taime had to hire nine extra employees to deal with the influx. “It’s been very nice,” she says. “We’ve been dealing with more and more inquires, and working some extra hours.”

Anthony LoBianco, who runs Intergalactic Fireworks in Pennsylvania, has seen a dramatic increase in sales since reopening after being closed for two-and-a-half months. “Usually there’s one week before July 4th where it’s like a mad rush,” he says. “But that level of activity is happening now. Everyone is buying radically: they’re bored, and they have nothing to do at night. Fireworks fill in that little void instead of sitting at home and watching TV.”

Pelkey says that since Memorial Day, Atlas PyroVision’s retail stores in New Hampshire are up 40 percent compared to the same time frame last year. “For the most part, people don’t have anything to spend their money as far as entertainment,” he says. “They’re going to do what they can do.”

Still, this increase in interest is barely making up for the months of lost revenue. Many stores are holding their breath to see if the activity sustains through the crucial July 4th weekend. “We don’t know if people are just buying early for the holiday,” Pelkey says.

And while sales have increased, store owners are growing concerned about the ways in which fireworks are being used once they leave the store. Over the last month, fireworks have been weaponized at demonstrations across the country. And several municipalities that have banned fireworks, including New York City, have seen a rash in illegal usage. “It weighs heavily on us,” Pelkey says. “If products get used in a manner that is not consistent with their safe use and intent, you could have state fire marshals or even governors not allowing them.”

“All we can do stress the safety of their usage and the laws until we’re blue in the face,” LoBianco says.

If fireworks continue be used in an illegal manner, that could inadvertently result in continued financial strife for the entire fireworks industry—if further restrictions are imposed, or if municipalities with planned July 4th celebrations rethink the idea of setting off bomb-like bursts over communities. The American Pyrotechnics Association is asking Congress for $175 million in loans for roughly 150 small businesses, as part of the next stimulus package.

If many of these businesses go under, it may be hard to replace them: the fireworks industry is riddled with complicated regulations, making the barrier to entry extremely high. “I think the industry is going to be crippled,” Vitale, of Pyrotecnico, says.

Assuming that America starts to emerge from the pandemic, Pelkey expects cities and towns to want joyous firework displays next July 4 or the year after. COVID-19’s economic damage, however, could complicate these plans. “For a few years, some of them are not going to be able to have a display,” he says, “because there just won’t be enough of us around.”

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