#i also taped the net in the place where it is

[hiddenworldofmary]

giant fucking moth left something on my window net how do i safely burn down my entire apartment

[muniimyg]

10.5: love 》 series m.list

note: we made it !!! i am so incredibly grateful for everyone's love and support with c2u <3 meeting u all was so fun ,, answering ur asks and interacting thru comments truly made my day ! i'm glad i was able to share this silly goofy concept and have it well received . as usual ,, please lmk ur thots !!! i have 3 extras that will be posted soon (ie: their first hook up, a comfort scenario, and one final smut extra) so please look forward to those !!! thank u for ur patience ,, all the love 💗

warnings: sex tape vibes (kind of), pussy eating (nom nom), fucking LOL ... dirty talk & creampie! easy shit yk? lmaoo

taglist request: CLOSED

🏷️ permanent taglist: @joonsjuice @taetaecatboy @pb-n-juju @miss-rainy-days @firesighgirl @whoa-jo @vantxx95 @pamzn @kakixaku @casspirit0705 @tae165 @defzcl @sopebubbles @leefics @ggukkieland @bebebutbetter @yoongimentita7 @boraength @era-genius @4ksj @vampcharxter @miss-jupiter @floweryjeons @taegijns @jeonqkooks-main @ellesalazar

//

As much as Jungkook loves to play soccer for the glory, he loves it best alone. 

When the bleachers are empty and the field is wide and free—that’s when he feels the most love for his sport. To others, it comes off as lonely and sad but to him; it’s serenity. Sometimes, it’s the only place he feels like he can truly be himself. It’s a place where he doesn’t have to be anything to anyone. It’s a place where he can be lost and found at the same time. It’s also his go-to place when he can’t sleep. Jungkook hasn’t slept well in weeks. He figured it was time to be in his own space.

His haven. 

His favourite part has got to be when he plays so hard that he doesn’t even notice the world is waking up. The moment Jungkook looks up and sees the sunrise—he always gets this feeling in the pit of his stomach. It’s an easiness that can’t be explained.

It’s an incredible relief. 

When he sees the sun, he stops playing. He takes a break and sits down to watch the sun bloom on the horizon. There’s so much bliss in the stillness of the world. He feels so much clarity when it’s just him, the net, and the ball. It’s like nothing else matters and his mind can focus on one thing: winning.

Jungkook has only done these late-night sessions a handful of times in his life. 

The first time was the day before Uni tryouts and he doubted his talent. Everyone kept telling him he had nothing to worry about, but that didn’t make him feel any better. To Jungkook, his luck was just like everybody’s. He was afraid of it not coming through when he needed it the most. Therefore, he worked his ass off regardless of his luck history. 

Note: Jungkook was the first in his year to get in. 

The second time was when he fucked up at a game and cost his team a minor setback. It wasn’t the end of the world—he just felt like shit.

The third time was the day he redeemed himself and scored the winning goal that got the team to championships. It was the best game he had in a while. It was also the first time felt tired of it. Tired of the game, tired of the play… Just tired. 

The fourth time was when he decided to take a break from soccer and tend to his burnout… Eventually, he came back after a few months. Of course, he did. He loves soccer more than anything in the world…

That was until you.

He didn’t go back to the field and have a session to himself to celebrate. No, he celebrated with you instead. You didn’t know and he never told you… But that’s what he did. The first day he came back to soccer, he went to you right after. With you, he found rest. 

That’s when he realized something… 

He wasn’t tired anymore.

At least, whenever he was with you.

He wasn’t tired. That’s all he could really ask for, right? To fall in love with someone that was his safety net. 

The fifth time would be today. 

Jungkook has been out here since 3AM, kicking the ball and practicing drills. It upset him, to be honest. He thought being here would help ease his heart. Everything feels so clogged up and messy to him. It’s like no matter what he does to try to clean up his mess, everything stains. So, he thinks to himself that maybe if he ran enough laps or kicked the ball hard enough—it would stop.

The mess. 

The yearning.

The loving. 

But it doesn’t.

No, instead his heart continues to ache. As he clenches it every so often, he thinks of you. Then, for a second, his heart is still. In the stillness, he tries to think of good things around him. 

At least the rain wasn’t pouring as hard as it was an hour ago.

At least the sun is coming up and it’s a new day. 

At least you were here—

Wait. 

You’re here?

Jungkook rubs his eyes. Partly due to disbelief and partly because the rain made it hard to see you clearly. Yet, somehow… In his heart, he knows it. He knows it’s you. 

How’d you know where he was? More importantly, why are you here? 

Why was his heart racing so fast again? 

Be still. 

He isn’t sure of what to do. Should he wave? Should he call your name? Are you here on accident? 

Considering it’s almost 6AM… It can’t be an accident, right?

Just as much as Jungkook’s head begins to fill with questions, yours does too. As you walk closer and closer to him, you can’t help but only hear your heartbeat pound louder and louder. Is this normal? To feel like your heart could jump out of your chest if it meant getting to him faster? You let your mind spin. 

Why the fuck are you here? 

What are you doing again?

Did you write everything down?

You sure felt a lot braver ten minutes ago… Suddenly, seeing him has made you doubt all the courage you worked to have for this moment. At the same time, the complex feeling of pure happiness and relief blossoms. You can’t help but smile at the sight of him. There’s a stillness in the world and it’s only when you look at him and it’s good. You know that now… But oh my god. 

You’re about to lose your shit. 

How did you get here?

When did it all begin? 

Was it from the first night you two slept together? Or was it the karaoke night when you realized you were waiting for him to kiss you? Could it be time he fucked you in front of your mirror and you vowed to never drink coffee before meeting up with him ever again? 

… No. 

Maybe it was when Mina came along. 

You gave him a blowjob just to stall him from going (bad move, by the way. That was pretty bitchy). Oh, and we can’t forget about the time you craved him when you were drunk out of your mind and all he did was take care of you. Half asleep, you woke up to him mounting your mirror on the wall… And well, maybe…

Maybe it was then. 

When he fixed your mirror, he fixed your heart. 

That’s probably why the time you two hooked up in his bedroom at the party felt so right. It was finally clicking.

You were into him then.

You just didn’t know how to admit it. Then, it got fucked up because you were caught off guard. 

The perilla leaf.

The exile. 

The hate sex. 

Everything good and bad has led to this moment and you can’t help but feel like you’re falling apart. Finding the origin of it all feels exhausting… In your head, you debate it all. In your heart, you’ve always known. 

You see, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. 

The friendship, the sleeping with him, the hurting him—the loving him… It wasn’t supposed to do this to you. You aren’t supposed to be this nervous and so impatient at the same time. You aren’t supposed to feel this stupid either… 

But you do. 

… And that’s okay. 

Sometimes, with love, you’re going to feel a little stupid. You just have to cross your fingers and hope the person you’re being stupid for is just as stupid as you. 

In your case… There’s a good chance he is. 

As you stand on the sidelines, Jungkook places his hand over his eyes to see you clearer. He tilts his head in confusion as you drop your bag. 

Then, just like that…

It happens. 

His thoughts pause, his heart goes still for the nth time, and his world slows down as he takes in the sight of you. Nothing will ever be better than this. The same way he feels an ease when he watches the sunrise—he feels it as he looks at you right now. 

God, he loves you so much. 

He has known it for so long but this… You in this moment; it’s bliss. 

Complete and utter bliss. 

If that isn’t enough… His heart is completely undone the moment he realizes two things: one, you’re wearing his jersey, and two; you’re holding a towel in your arms for him. He can’t help but let a laugh escape his lips. All that shit you said about how you would never be a part of his fan club and how you could never be that girl…

Oh, this is gold. 

Honestly, it’s more than enough. For you to show up and make this effort—it fills his heart. Yet, you’re you. Always full of surprises and ways of making his heart go on overdrive. As he sinks in his thoughts and soaks this moment in; he watches you take a deep breath. Then, slowly but surely, you extend your hand out to him. 

It’s then when he knows it. 

The wait was worth it.

The wait is over.

You and Jungkook sit on a bench, under the technical area’s cover. For a while, you two watch the sunrise in silence. Both too afraid to say anything to ruin the moment—both so undoubtedly in love. Once the sun is fully up, you brace yourself. 

This is it. 

Jungkook turns to you, chasing your eyes. 

“You nervous or something?” he jokes, as he begins to dry his hair with the towel you placed around his neck. 

“Yeah,” you confide. “Am I doing this right?”

Jungkook’s eyes widen as you scoot closer to him and take the towel. In your continued silence, you take over and start to dry his hair. Scrunching the towel, you pat dry his neck and cheeks. He gulps, unsure of what to do… He likes it though. He likes that you’re taking care of him and that you’re trying. He knows you are. 

As you pat dry him, you try to find your words. It takes a moment, but you think to yourself… It’s now or never, right? You’re already here. You’ve already folded. 

It catches Jungkook off guard when you suddenly tug him close. Putting the towel aside, you cup his cheeks with your hands. Your hands are cold, but he doesn’t mind. If anything, he’s holding himself back from kissing them. With a pout on your lips, you begin your confession. 

“I hate being your friend.” 

Jungkook squints at you and chuckles. He removes your hands from his cheeks, smirking at you. “What bullshit are you on now? Didn’t we agree on—”

“I never agreed,” your eyebrows knit together. “It’s been like… A day and a half and I’m going crazy being your stupid friend.”

“Fine,” he snaps. “Enemies?”

His suggestion annoys you.

You lift your hand to hit him, but he catches your wrist. Then, he opens his hands for you. You sigh teasingly but take it. Intertwining your fingers together, you two sit in silence again for a moment. 

Holding hands, watching as the rain pours, and preparing to give your hearts to one another… It feels like this could be a dream.

“Tae and Yuna, ” you begin, breaking the silence. Your voice sounds weary and desperate. “They’ve been friends since the very beginning. He always had feelings for her and she did too… But she didn’t do anything about it until it was too late. He’s dating Mina’s friend now or something—it’s so messed up. It’s so unfair, y-you know? They deserve each other so much and I—”

“Breathe,” Jungkook comforts you. “They’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t want that to be us,” you blurt. 

Jungkook blinks at you. 

“It’s so scary. Jungkook, I don’t want that to be us… B-but it is us, isn’t it? Y-you hate me because of—“

His eyebrows knit together. “___, I don’t hate you. Don’t say that.”

Your lips quiver, unsure of how to navigate through this talk. Maybe you should have planned it better. Maybe you should have written this whole speech out instead of word-vomiting like this… But that’s the thing. 

You aren’t good at this.

Regardless, you’ll try for him.

“I’ve been selfish,” you admit, letting your eyes dart to the field. You can’t look at him. It feels too overwhelming to.  “I’ve been inconsiderate and I know I can’t justify my actions because they hurt you—I just need you to know that I was scared. It was so scary trusting you, falling asleep beside you, and waking up next to you. It was so scary watching you laugh with other girls and not knowing how to tell you how I felt… I’m sorry I started fights while trying to figure out how I felt about myself… Honestly? I think I was so scared because you made it so easy.”

A beat.

“T-the truth is… I’ve always known how I felt about you.” 

Jungkook can’t help but smile. He wonders if you know what you’re doing to him… Do you? He’s afraid you don’t.

“Really?” he pries, moving closer to you. “How do you feel about me?”

Attempting to be intimidating, you turn to face him with a glare. 

“D-don’t push it.”

Jungkook pouts. “But I want to know… Please, please, please?”

For a moment you contemplate. Then, you look at him and take it all in. His wet hair, soft eyes, and pouting lips… How were you ever strong enough to say no to him before? Truly, you’re a changed woman.

Curling your fist, you shut your eyes and say it. You tell him the whole truth. 

You give him your heart. 

“You said you got ahead of yourself… But have you ever considered that I was beside you the entire time? L-like you said you’ve had feelings for me since the first time you made me laugh… Me too. I knew it then too. I just didn’t know what to do because every time I dated guys, it all felt the same… With you, it was different from the start. I don’t know how to explain it… All I know is that I like you in every way it’s possible to like someone—I like you. My heart has been yours all along. I’m sorry it took me so long to give it to you. It just felt like everything with you kept falling into place and I was terrified I was f-falling too… I think—n-no, I… Umm, I know that I…”

Something others may not know about Jungkook is that he’s consistently bad at one thing. That one thing is playing it cool when it comes to you. He has to fight his inner demons to stop himself from professing his love for you every 10 minutes. So, it would be a lie that he wasn’t loving this. He loves watching you feel what he feels. 

Your words, sweet and well-awaited, completely captivate him. 

He can’t help it when you’re like this. So perfect, so cute, so his. He can’t resist!

Which is why he kisses you mid-confession. 

Jungkook kisses you slowly and deeply. Like never before, you lose your breath from how passionately he kisses you. Once you two pull away, he rests his forehead against yours. Smiling, he sneaks in a couple more kisses. 

Timidly, you say, “So… You aren’t mad at me anymore?”

With a laugh, Jungkook shakes his head. “God, you drive me crazy.”

“So… That’s a no, right?” 

Jungkook rolls his eyes and purses his lips. You press your lips against them and kiss him once more. 

“___?”

“Y-yeah?”

“... I checked my phone a moment ago and Yuna ratted you out. She texted me like ten minutes before you came. Said if you don't show up I should knock on your door and fuck your feelings out of you.” You gasp, burying your face with your hands. Sighly dramatically, Jungkook makes a cheeky comment. “Once again, I waited for you.” 

You hit his chest playfully. In pure disbelief, you groan at him. “What? Y-you knew and still made me do the whole speech—”

"I didn’t know!” You ignore his claim. “Although, I wouldn't have had any issue fucking the feelings out of you—"

"Are you insane?" you fume. "I was literally sick to my stomach trying to get this confession thing done right!"

“I was excited!” He teases, and nudges you. You remain annoyed at him. Jungkook can’t help but find it cute. “Awh, ___! Come on. It’s not every day that a guy gets to see his girl in his jersey, holding a towel for him on the sidelines! Also… I just really wanted to see what all your fuss was about. I promise, I didn’t know.”

It’s too late. 

Just as you stand up and storm away from the embrassment, Jungkook catches up to you. Out on the field, the rain continues to pour on you two. Drying him off was useless if you were going to be this dramatic. 

As he catches your wrist, you shove him away and cross your arms. 

“I feel stupid,” you sigh. “Y-you knew how I felt about you. I was worried and anxious the entire time and y-you knew!” 

Jungkook shuts his eyes and can’t believe how feisty you are. It’s entertaining and frustrating at the same time. God, you were so complex… But at the same time, he knows you’re just afraid. This is you finding an out. This is also you trying to stay. 

He takes your hand. 

You don’t shake him off say anything. 

You let him take it. 

He holds it like it’s all he has ever wanted to do (it is all he has ever wanted to do).

“I didn’t know everything! Hey, the fuss was cute,” he ensures you. “Do it again.”

“No!” you cry, feeling your clothes start to stick to your skin. It’s pouring now and you instantly regret being dramatic.

Except, Jungkook looks so perfect. His hair is wet and his shirt is soaked so you can see the way his muscles curve. He’s so handsome that you have to gather all your strength as a woman to keep yourself from jumping on him.

“This shit is so hard!” you complain through the rain. “How did you do this? You confessed like every time we fucked—”

“Yah!” Jungkook warns, feeling a little embarrassed. Maybe he should be the one to storm away now…  “Be nice to me or else I’m about to reject you.”

You roll your eyes at him. Grabbing him by the collar, you tug him to your eye level. Happily, he complies. 

“Do it then,” you call his bluff. “Reject me right now.”

Jungkook looks into your eyes, loving the way you look at him. He blinks at you slowly and bites his inner cheek. For a moment, he’s silent. You’d think he’s contemplating or something… But he’s not. He’s been sure about you since your first laugh, remember?

“Kinda cruel considering you’re all I’ve been waiting for,” Jungkook confesses, as he dips his head low and kisses you. 

As he kisses you, you squeeze his hand. Holding his hand tighter, he smiles into the kiss. The rain continues to pour, making everything feel unreal. As he pulls away, he looks at you the way he always has… This time, you get what Yuna was talking about.

The warmth in his gaze.

The love in it.

The you in it.

After what felt like endless heartache with other boys—this felt healing. 

This was yours. 

Him. 

And that’s when your heart tells you something you never knew… 

You waited well too. 

You two escape the rain and make it to your place.

In your bedroom, you quickly get undressed and sit in front of your mirror to dry your hair. Jungkook comes out of the washroom all clean. Passing by you, he plants a kiss on the top of your head. You watch from the mirror as he reaches inside your closet for one of his shirts. 

Your high from the moment at the field suddenly dies. Suddenly, you realize the confession wasn’t enough to move forward. For fucks sake, he has his clothes in your closet.

“Jungkook?” you ask cutely.

“Mhmm?” he responds as he dresses himself.

You almost choke on your words. “What are we?” 

He grins, coming back to you and swaying you side to side. Without batting an eye, he answers: “friends, of course!”

Instantly, you push him away. Your shoulders slump as you glare at him. He laughs his ass off, loving the way you reacted. When he calms down, he kneels in front of you and apologizes. 

“Okay, bestie,” you play along as he gets up. “Should we eat perilla leaves to celebrate?” 

Jungkook’s mouth drops. His eye practically twitches at the mention of perilla leaves.

Throwing his hands up dramatically, he cries, “Oh god... My girlfriend is so mean to me… She’s so hot, holy shit.”

Girlfriend.

That sounds about right.

He’s so big. 

Sometimes, you forget that.

It slips your mind because Jungkook has always been a giver. You never really had to worry about it being uncomfortable. He makes sure you cum first and always puts his needs above yours—tonight was a prime example of just that. 

As he towers over you, he leaves a trail of kisses from your neck to your lips. Each kiss is so soft and intimate, your pussy clenches at his very touch. It doesn’t help when he places his thumb on your clit, rubbing and stretching it out to stimulate you even more. As you moan into his ear, he feels shivers go down his back. 

You gasp as he bites your skin, enticing you to want him even more. 

“Jungkook,” you breathe, “put it in, please.”

“Mhmm,” he moves the hair strands on your face and kisses you. “Be good for me, okay? Be patient. Gonna fuck you good so I need you to be on your best behaviour.”

“B-best behaviour,” you repeat rather lewdly. “Okay… W-whatever you want, love. You have it. You have me.”

Love.

God, you and your fucking words.

Jungkook bites his bottom lip, trying his best to take his time. Truth be told, he wants to fuck you silly right now. He wants you so bad that your legs won’t work and he’ll have to tend to your soreness. He wants to fuck you so good that you scream his name and lose yourself in him… But he’ll take his time tonight. 

He wants to show you so much. He wants to show you how good he can make you feel. How you won’t ever regret your decision of being with him. He wants to show you what kind of man you chose and what kind of man you get to have.

A good man.

A man that has wanted you for so long that now that he has you—oh was he ready to drag it out.

Jungkook gently places his dick in between your folds. It’s hard and thick. You can feel it against your wet pussy and want nothing more than for him to put it in. Instead, Jungkook lifts himself and sits in between your legs. There, he holds the base of his cock and slaps it against your pussy. He rubs his cock up and down your folds. Then, he splits them open with his fingers and spits on it. He then spreads his spit with his cock. You feel so lucky when he pokes it inside once in a while. Like a tease, he takes it out so quickly that you begin to feel frustrated. 

“P-put it in, please…”

Jungkook smirks. 

“Put what in?”

You glare at him.

“Your hard, thick, stupid cock. Put it in my wet, needy, desperate pussy right now… Please?”

Jungkook lets out a sexy chuckle. “Not yet,” he tells you, as he fully stops. He then moves over and helps you sit up. Leaning against your headboard, he spreads your legs. Just when you think you can predict his next move, he reaches over to your nightstand and grabs his phone. Unlocking it, he passes it to you.

“Film me.”

You nod, following his orders.

Tapping record, you angle the camera to your pussy. You watch through the phone screen as Jungkook positions his face in between your legs. Gulping, you throw your head back as he makes his first lick. 

Jungkook holds onto your thighs, helping you keep your legs open. He digs himself into your pussy, devouring every inch of it. To deepen himself, he digs his nose in and curls his tongue as he licks you. When he pulls away for air, he sucks on your clit making sure to keep you on your toes. 

“Oohhh,” you sob. “S-so good. J-Jungkook—“

“Mhmm,” he murmurs onto your skin. “Tastes so good.”

“A-aghhh! Oh my god!”

The thing is… Jungkook has eaten you out before.

But this was different.

It was slow and sensual. The way he licks you and eats you out just feels so surreal. Your toes curl, your stomach winces, and your pussy tightens as you’re about to climax—

Jungkook pulls away. 

He has a devilish look on his face. You stop the recording and toss his phone aside. Suddenly, he takes hold of your ankles and tugs you down. On your back, you open your arms and welcome him in again. Gladly, he buries himself in your breasts and moans at your softness. 

“That was—“

“Everything my girl deserves,” he tells you sweetly. “My girl…”

“Your girl,” you pull him in for a kiss. “All yours..”

Jungkook moans, unable to stop himself. He lifts his hips, making space for him to quickly pump his cock before guiding it inside you.

… And oh my god.

He feels so good.

Him inside you is so fulfilling and healing. 

“You okay?”

You nod, mesmorized by the man he is.

“More than.”

With that, Jungkook kisses you and begins to fuck you. He thrusts in and out, making you feel his entire length with each stroke. Your body takes him in as if it’s welcoming him home. As he feeds you your craving, he picks up the pace. You wrap your legs around him, moaning from how good it feels as he buries himself in you. 

“F-fuck,” Jungkook hisses. “Love this. Feels so good.”

“Mhmm,” you whimper. “J-just like that!”

Jungkook continues to fuck you, drilling himself deeper and deeper. Soon, you’re chanting his name and his ego begins to boom.

Jungkook fucks you like he loves you… And you know it. You can feel it. To express so, you claw his back. Digging your nails deeper and deeper, holding him close.

“N-nghhh! I’m gonna cum—”

“Cum for me, pretty girl. You behaved so well,” he praises. “Proud of you.”

Your heart flutters. 

Then, your pussy clenches as you release. He feels it. Jungkook groans, accepting that this round will be over soon. There will be plenty more, for sure. As he pumps inside you lazily, cautious of being sensitive to your climax but also because he’s hitting his. 

Then, he creams your pussy. It oozes out, but he pumps himself a few more times to stuff you.

As he spills himself onto you, he lets out heavy breaths and collapses on top of you. You let him catch his breath there as you tangle your fingers in his hair. 

“I love you,” you confess. 

“Good… I was hoping you would.” Jungkook lets out a tired laugh. “I love you too, ___. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. You’re everything I’ve ever loved.”

You hold him tighter.

“I love you more.”

Jungkook bursts into laughter. “Love, we are not going to play that game.”

Tilting your head at him. “Why not? It’s true.”

“You think you love me more than I love you?”

“Mhmm.”

“Prove it.”

With that, Jungkook laughs as you shift position. Leaving him on his back, you climb on top and straddle him. As you lift yourself to guide his dick inside, he lets out a whiney moan. You are so sexy. You are quite literally his favourite part of living.

“I’ll prove it,” you accept the challenge. “Will you last though?”

Jungkook’s lips slight part, amazed and shocked at your initiative. In response, he relaxes and gestures at your body. There’s a tightness that overcomes his entire body. It’s mixed with excitement and relief. For the nth time, he gives in.

Jungkook folds.

Happily, he gives himself to you.

“With you? Forever.”

Forever.

After 3 rounds, you two call it a night. As you drift to sleep, Jungkook holds you. Before this, you two talked as much as you could and even began to make plans. There is an indescribable comfort in being with each other.

Upcoming dates.

Better ways to communicate.

Everything and anything in between—you two want it all.

As the rain pours, Jungkook finally shuts his eyes. He pulls you closer, kissing you for the final time tonight. There would be tomorrow to kiss you anyway.

Tomorrow and the day after that… And the day after that. And the days that follow—he’d do just that.

He can’t wait to kiss you forever.

To hold your hand forever.

To love you forever.

For the first time in a while, Jungkook finds rest. His heart stays still and feels loved. Besides, this is what he has wanted to be all along—

Close to you.

[foxbirdy]

hi!

just saw your pictures of you doing some marine biology fieldwork and i just wondered if you have any stories about the experience that you would like to share. Im in 1st year uni right now and i have no idea what im gonna specialize in other than “science!!” but i work on boats for my job right now (tallships, very cool stuff) and so marine environment work really appeals to me. If you have the time, I would love to get a picture of what the work you’re doing entails.

(What does the day-to day of marine biology research look like? What kind of stuff are you studying/information are you gathering? Whats it like? Is it awesome? feel free to answer none of these also)

thank you!!

OH, I'm jealous - it's a dream of my mine to get to work on a tallship. & I love to talk about this stuff!

In all honesty, the day-to-day changes pretty dramatically depending on what project work is available. Right now, as a student, a lot of what I'm involved in ties into coursework or research that's happening at the university! I volunteer with a couple different labs, and there's a huge variety of stuff to get in on. For example:

Last Saturday, I spent about six hours pulling otoliths and gonads out of eighty invasive roi, taape, and toau caught by local spearfishermen. Otoliths are the ear bones of fish, and similar to the rings of a tree, they have ringed annuli that can give a lot of information about the life history of the individual species. We cast these otoliths in resin, and then cut cross-sections to look at them under the microscope. The hope is that this information will help us understand when these species become reproductive, and how to control their populations.

The last several Fridays, I've been involved with an effort to collect some water quality and plankton data after a lot of heavy rain. This work was out on the boats, and we used deep and shallow drogues, YSI, light meter, secchi disk, and a couple plankton nets, moving out from the swollen rivermouth and into deeper, saltier water.

Last month, I spent a lot of time on invertebrate snorkel surveys, mostly looking for presence/absence in the nearshore. Next Tuesday, I'll be doing fish surveys in the same location. The Wednesday after I'm hopping on a wetlands restoration project & removing invasive bull grass, and a night snorkel afterwards. Next Friday is a lab day, working to process the plankton samples we've collected, and I'll be in the coral nursery afterwards. That's the really fun thing about university - there's so much different work going on, all the time!

In the summers, outside of school, that work is just as varied. I've really enjoyed having jobs that allow me to do a little bit of everything, and thus far, my supervisors have been very supportive of me in that. Here's some other projects I've gotten to work on, all within just one position:

Servicing passive monitoring systems! These are pictures of my replacing a SEABIRD logger, which has been taking a water temperature measurement every thirty seconds for the past 360 days. This helps conservation managers track heatwaves in sensitive ecosystems. We prepped new loggers with batteries and SD cards and waterproof tape to prevent biofouling, and then used snips and zipties to make the switch.

Scientific fishing! This helps get life history and population data for our target species, large pelagic fish. We collected biopsy samples, placed tags, and released primarily ahi, but also ono, and mahi. (Full disclaimer: this picture is from a subsistence fishing trip and not a scientific one, where people generally have too many things in their hands & are moving too quickly to take pictures. He was a very delicious dinner for our crew, though.)

Other marine tagging! I got to assist with bluewater cetacean tagging of several different dolphin and small whale species, and shark tagging for galapagos, blacktip reef, grey reef, and dusky sharks. Cetacean tagging was done with an air rifle, not easy at high speeds on the boat. Shark tagging was more hands-on, as we had to manually apply the tags.

Coral reef monitoring! The mission of these surveys was to track coral health through heat stress events, and to identify harmful species. I'm looking under the coral head in these pictures for crown-of-thorns starfish, one of the most urgent species threats to reefs in the Pacific.

This is the bastard. Notice the dead coral around him.

Oh I'm about to smack into the photo limit, huh. Please hold!

[billythesimp]

Never Judge a Film By Its Cover

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎...

Thank you for the request Client_Clover! I hope this is too you liking, I've never done work like this when it comes to basing interactions off of aesthetic/genres.

Wise w/ gothic-alternative-sweetheart! reader

𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡...⋙

Tagging: ☘️ anon

tw: none

⋈ Wise is used to all kinds of people in both kinds of works, whether it’s helping a client in the hollows or approaching a customer to recommend a new tape they figured would be to their liking. No matter the person, he is able to adapt to their personality and knows that better than to judge a person by their looks. He has an eye for these kinds of things, picking up on the littlest details of his customers which makes him a great salesman when it comes to film options. 

⋈ When he started taking an interest on one of the regular at the shop, he was thrown for a loop when he first laid his eyes on them. In a way, they reminded him of Ellen a bit, a very low energy personality who looked around the place with hooded eyes and a ‘Don’t approach me’ attitude. Their clothing choice was also interesting to say the least, wearing different monochromatic articles that could run from looking like a mess of nets and off-shoulder tops to high waisted skirts paired with long trench coat vibes.

⋈ Of course, the many times they come by they only view the tapes and even are with a group of friends from the looks, everyone being the complete opposite of what they seem like, cheerful and bubbly they stand out with a serious case of RBF. [Resting-Bitch-Face] But that makes him even more intrigued, who is this person and what are they like. How do they attract such bright people despite their gloomy-gothic approach? He figures this out one day when they come into his shop looking for something, walking out of the staff only room to find them at the counter.

▿

“Oh, sorry for the wait. Could I help you with something?” 

They only scratch at their cheek, eyes wandering away from Wise’s gaze before presenting a film in hand. “Uh, yeah. Could I rent out this tape?” He only looked down at the tape in question, the genre surprising him to say the least. “Oh sure. Just Oh~ Sweetie today?” The nervously nod, a faint blush painting their cheeks like dapped out watercolors. He rang it up, smiling to himself before handing over the tape. 

“Alright, you’re all set. The return policy is usually a week from today, but feel free to drop by anytime before then. There’s a fee for late returns, but feel free to call the store if you have any questions. Thank you for your business.” Their eyes gleamed in excitement as they held the case in hand, Wise could almost see the sparkles emitting off of them before they waved him bye with a sheepish smile blessing his vision. Once out the store, he could only stare before smiling to himself again.

⋈ Since then, he is always greeting them while also discussing new films that would be to their liking. Mainly ranging from rom-coms to fantasy-adventure, he has gotten to knowing them to the point where they’ve become close friends. Wise enjoys their conversations as they always mention their favorite part of the tapes; he recommends them with childlike innocence, glowing brightly with a cheerful disposition. They invite him out sometimes when he’s clocked out for break, treating him to noodles or listening to some new records across the street. Another place they are a regular at, learning more about their interesting taste in music that fits their aesthetic.

▿

He’s asked about your lifestyle once, giving him a nervous response while twiddling with your fingers. “Ah, well, I get that question a lot. I always had a fascination with gothic fashion and the aesthetic as a whole, so I wanted to express my love for the art form by wearing what I found comfortable. People are surprised when I mention that, but many people I’ve met say that it’s really cool, so I continue to express myself freely- sorry, I’m probably rambling now.” Your yapping slowing into a nonsensible muttering which Wise assures them that he doesn’t mind it one bit.

“Well, I think you're pretty- neat! It’s pretty neat, so I can’t argue with you on that.” He nodded along, seeing how they only skipped beside him with renewed confidence. “Thank you, Wise!”

⋈ Whenever he’s out and about, should he spot them in their usual circle or looming over a display alone, despite the aura they have hovering over them he still makes it a habit to call out to them. The moment before and after they spot him makes his heart flutter, how they look over with a subtle glare before perking up and grinning cheekily and waving him over. Really, it’s a sight to behold.

⋈ Maybe one day they’ll be more than friends, but neither of them would admit it. No number of soft touches and gentle smiles will push them to confess their little attraction to one another. So for now they’ll cuddle up on his bed while watching another film. As friends, yeah really close friends.

[atamascolily]

I took a closer look at the label in the lower right-hand corner to confirm that yes, this is an outdoor unit of an air conditioner. Most of the text is pretty utilitarian description with info about model numbers, but at the top there's some English text, "MRMASA".

I've seen a lot of speculation that this is a reference to Sengo Muramasa, a famous Japanese swordsmith, which seems kind of random to me, so I'd like to see a bit more supporting evidence in the actual film. Likewise, I'm not sure if there's any thematic significance for the air conditioner beyond "convenient round and spinning domestic object that Japanese audiences would recognize instantly"; I'd like a little more context before I start spinning off theories.

Yes, everything in Madoka Magica is there for a reason, but there's already so much symbolism in this shot--from the spinning fan to the cross-quarted circle to the closed eye to the pink tape crisscrossed everywhere to the "Fragile, handle with care" stickers with the cracked goblet that maybe the label is just the label this time. Maybe.

However, just for fun, I went and searched for what "normal" Japanese outdoor units look like. In general, they have their brand name in English on the front, which makes me suspect that MRMASA is a knockoff name for copyright reasons.

I also got this stock photo from near a train station in Tokyo:

As you can see here, the SHAFT version is just amped up for the aesthetics, but the sentiment is basically the same: a kind of community space where people express their feelings via stickers and spray-paint. (To be honest, that part surprises me a little as it doesn't match my experiences in the country, but Japan contains multitudes and there are enough little details that I feel reasonably confident that the location data is accurate.)

It's even more striking in the context of Mitakihara, which has always been this gleaming, futuristic and utopian city.... at least in the open public spaces. The alleyways and dead ends--the places where witches lurk--is an entirely different story, and it's an open question for me how much witches are responsible for what we see in this image.

The net result is that this seemingly innocuous image of an air conditioner fills me with dread. This latest incarnation is beautiful, but it is undeniably fragile, vandalized and literally held together with duct tape, and I don't think it will take much for it all to come toppling down before the end.

(And that's without the fact that the closed eye at the center will probably open at some point in the actual film!)

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

before this goes any further, I want it on the record that you all asked for this.

my first and most petty point: Midnight Mass gets basic details about Catholicism wrong, such that even I (not a Catholic) twigged them. The big one is that Catholics DON'T HAVE MIDNIGHT MASS FOR EASTER - it's a Christmas thing - but since the priest holding the mass is also a vampire, I can accept that he's going off-book. I have a harder time with them holding a PICNIC for ASH WEDNESDAY, aka THE DAY LENT STARTS, aka the day everyone starts fasting and are therefore not snacking on a potluck. It's a minor thing, and normally I wouldn't pick at it, but since this show ostensibly revolves around Catholic doctrine, it bears mentioning.

on a writing level, not one single character in this show talks like a human being. or acts like one. I couldn't give you any information about who these characters are as people, because they're not people, they're mouthpieces for Flanagan to impart his ideas to the audience. He is both deeply in love with his own writing and entirely unconvinced that his audience is smart enough to Get It, so he has his actors turn to the audience and lay it all out. Not only is this bad writing on a character level, it brings all plot and tension to a screeching halt whenever it happens. The most unintentionally hilarious instance of this has to be when Annabeth Gish comes to the sheriff to tell him that the church is being run by a vampire and her mother is aging in reverse, and his response is to start rambling about where he was on 9/11. Like. Nothing about this makes sense, and also why should we care when it has fuckall to do with the story?

(as regards the sheriff character: I, a white Quaker, am not the person to critique this show's handling of Islam. But I will say that Flanagan doesn't seem to have a clear idea what he wants to communicate: the overarching plot is antitheistic, in a very r/atheism sort of way ("WHAT IF THE SACRAMENT WAS VAMPIRE BLOOD" ooh wow didja cut yourself on that edge there, buddy) but Flanagan has no idea how to balance that with the precepts of any religion that isn't Christianity while also maintaining his broadly liberal bona fides, so it all sits very uneasily next to the church plot. I'm not advocating for the show to go full Christopher Hitchens, but I am saying that if Flanagan wants to posit that faith is a mass delusion and a net detriment to any community formed around it . . . he needs to either focus only on Christian characters or be willing to engage with how other religions function in society, because as is, the storyline with the sheriff and his son just peters out into nothing.)

but the thing that made me angriest - that took me from "this is so boring and pretentious and badly written" to "oh FUCK this guy and the horse he rode in on -" was the titular midnight mass. It is very overtly inspired by the Jonestown massacre, which a lot of horror media does, but what it fails to account for is that the members of the People's Temple did not voluntarily kill themselves. I know "drink the kool-aid" has entered the popular lexicon as shorthand for "blindly following a leader," but extensive testimony from Jonestown survivors - not to mention the death tape, which is available online if you really want to ruin your day - all confirms that the people who died that day were forced to drink poison at gunpoint, after years of brutal abuse from Jones and his inner circle. And even after all of that, people fought back. And not outsiders - people who had been in the Temple for years and wholeheartedly believed in the mission that had lead them to Guyana in the first place. (Christine Miller was a fucking hero and she deserves to be remembered for it.) Jonestown was not lemmings going off a cliff, and any serious take on the story would involve reckoning with that - that these people believed in a higher power and also believed that they had a right to live despite what Jones told them. But that would contradict Flanagan's point of "religion is dumb, WAKE UP SHEEPLE," so instead he borrows the iconography of a truly horrific tragedy and disrespects the victims by implicitly representing them as dumb, brainwashed cult members who eagerly toss back poison because they think sky daddy wants them to. He has so little respect for the subjects he's portraying, and the real people whose deaths he is copying for shock value, that he doesn't care about the inner lives of anyone whose beliefs might demonstrate that faith is more nuanced than his screed would have you believe.

There are good horror properties out there that are critical of religion and society - The Medium, which we posted about a few days ago, is one. The Witch is another. So is The Sudbury Devil. Hell, you could go back to the sixties with Witchfinder General. Religion - especially socially dominant religions like Christianity in the west - can and should be critiqued. But Midnight Mass is too sloppily written to be a critique of anything besides, accidentally, how far Mike Flanagan's head is shoved up his ass.

Anyway, that's why mod L doesn't like Midnight Mass. I did warn you.

[erythromanc3r]

Crash!

Oh, hi! @pearlypairings came up with an awesome little prompt (party crashing) and naturally I took that and ran with it — right for The Grammys! This ficlet takes place in the It Ain’t Fiction-verse, circa ‘93!

💥 🪩 👠

He’d heard it a million times before – ‘they don’t feed you at those things!’ – and figured it was one of those bad anti-jokes decrying the absolute excess of the industry, the kind of bourgeois bullshit all the friends he’d made playing the smaller clubs used to scoff at when a bigger act would come around, shrieking over unmet demands in their riders.

Like, of course they wine and dine you. It’s The Grammys.

It turns out, they really don’t. Combine an empty stomach with being seated for no less than five hours for what amounted to a broadcast taping of a self-aggrandizing, industry-wide circlejerk sprinkled with the occasional live performance, surrounded by the kinds of people that made him rue the day he ever thought of picking up a guitar…and you’d begin to understand why he was determined to salvage the experience for his beautiful Plus One, who sat so politely and clapped when the signs said ‘applause’ and smiled with far too much kindness while she listened to agents and producers and hangers-on try to one-up each other through name-drops and net worths.

His label reps had mentioned an afterparty at the Beverly Hilton, and it seemed like a natural enough way for the night to progress – you go to the stuffy ceremony, then you hit the afterparty as a reward for your good behavior, right? Like some kind of marshmallow test performed en masse?

Wrong!

Eddie wouldn’t exactly call his behavior a tantrum, but he’s not particularly proud of how he handled the doorman’s inability to locate ‘Munson, party of two’ on the guest list. It was tantrum-adjacent, at worst, nothing an apology and a generous tip couldn’t fix, and he did genuinely believe this snub was initially a mere misunderstanding, that his name was missing on this particular document (the true and complete form tucked away in some back office, naturally) but Eddie’s persistence eventually resulted in a FIRM and DIRECT request for him to step aside…because he was, according to security, ‘holding up the line for the individuals on the guest list’.

Fucking ouch!

Chrissy, meandering behind him in a seashell dress and her shiniest, clackiest pair of heels, folded her arms and made her way to the valet with her head down. That’s when the plan first came into his mind – she looked way too good, was far too patient with her time for him to let her not enjoy the fruits of their labor tonight.

This particular ballroom couldn’t be any harder to get into than the Shrine Auditorium, could it?

“Not so fast, baby,” he murmured beside her as she dug through her clutch for the valet ticket. “I have an idea.”

There was worry in her eyes, sure! But there was also that glint of mischief that made his heart sing. “You don’t want to go home?”

“Fuck no, not yet at least. I want you to have the night I promised you.”

“But what if we get caught?!” She whispered.

“We leave the way we came. C’mon, you think you’re the only one who wants to rub elbows with Ms. Jackson? Besides, I could use the kinda cred that comes with crashing an industry party.” His small come-hither gestures lead them sauntering around the corner, where a gaggle of young men in black-tie adjacent catering uniforms leaned against the fence, already fatigued, already on their second or third smoke break of what would be an unbearably long evening.

And opposite them, the kitchen door was propped open with an overturned milk crate. Easy peasy lemon-fuckin’-squeezy.

“The doorman might not want to let me in, but you know who will? You know who's gonna be happy to see us? The guys who have to wash these rich asshole’s dishes. That’s who.”

(Chrissy’s dress is from the Versace s/s ‘92 collection btw ✨)

[dyed-red]

I voted for priest Sam hair! Not only because it was the correct choice, but, hey, bribery! So for a mini Dickey, a choice between outsider POV of the boys being weird about each other or late seasons domestic!Winchesters? If neither of those work for you, write something you like 😁

I love that my bribery accomplished nothing, because everyone taking me up on the offer is someone who was already going to (or already had) vote for the correct choice anyway :D truly net zero impact on the poll, which is likely for the best.

and ahh, i do love both outsider PoV and domestic!chesters, so this is good. and in my typical fashion, my answer is:

Set after 12x11, "Regarding Dean".

They're very beautiful boys is the thing. Well, not the thing, but certainly part of it. Rowena thinks that anyone would be hard-pressed to judge her somewhat embarrassing lack of self-preservation in this regard, if they too got to experience the full effect of Sam Winchester imperious gaze or Dean's intermittently roguish and boyish smiles.

That or, like so many before her, she truly just did contract Winchester Derangement Syndrome. Oh well.

She'd wanted to skirt out of town quickly, after helping fix up Dean's memory. It would be the prudent thing to do. But it was also an opportunity, one that might not drop into her lap quite so easily again anytime soon, to get a read on the brothers without being observed herself. One had to wonder how they did it, held the world together with duck tape and a can-do attitude, considering how ordinary and brutish they'd seemed at first.

Well. Maybe not entirely brutish. Sam's command of Latin and spellwork had always intrigued her. But that was neither here nor there, and he wasn't accomplished enough a spellcrafter to see through the glamour that she wove around herself -- an angling and aging of the face, a darkening and straightening of the hair, a thinning of the lips and tinting to the eyes. Enough that, with an outfit passably dull, she could opposite to them in the pub where they made their way for dinner and rest before they'd set out in the morning. A quiet place on the outskirts of town, locals trudging work boots in and tired or sore from the day. Sam and Dean fit right in. They seemed to fit in most anywhere they went.

Better chameleons than even her glamour could afford her. A few hundred years and Rowena wasn't sure she'd perfected the art of invisibility as well as two men gorgeous enough to be on magazine covers. That was something.

She'd followed them in, waited across the parking lot, and wondered if Dean had injured himself somehow on the day's misadventures. She didn't recall anything, not much action except for at the end there, otherwise just Sam pasting sticky notes to objects and Dean becoming cuter and more bearable by the minute. She didn't recall anything, but Sam's hand never strayed from Dean's back as they made their way across the lot, and Dean never shrugged it off.

By the time she slipped inside, found herself a stool at a table with a view of their booth, they were seated across from one another. She'd never noticed, never bothered to, how far their legs stretched under a table, tangled up into each other's foot-space. At her height, not an issue she had frequently. But Sam was leaned back, fingers on the table, leg, ankle jostling against Dean's calf underneath it. He looked relaxed, and something in Rowena's chest eased at seeing it.

The curse was properly fixed then. Of course she wouldn't wait around in town just to be sure, she wasn't their minder and anyway she'd been certain it was fixed before they parted ways. Still though, confirmation never rankled.

Dean looked around and Rowena turned her gaze to the bland offerings on the menu and in her peripheral she heard his voice, not the words, and then Sam's laughter, loud and startled for a moment then quieter.

When she glanced over, Dean was grinning, leaned in, and Sam's face was so fond her own stomach felt a little gurgly, as if caterpillars (never butterflies) might take up residence.

There was a motion, quick dart, and Sam's hand was on Dean's. Overtop, maybe on his wrist. Rowena's caterpillars turned to lead -- waited with bated breath as their waitress came over and they separated, expressions shifting quick like guilty schoolboy -- and then burst forth into winged insects instead, fluttering around her insides. She bit the inside of her cheek, eyes alight, and ignored the moths taking up residence inside of her.

Well, that was something then.

It wasn't all that scandalous, that kind of sin. Proscribed by the law of every place and time, but something you saw a time or twenty if you lived long enough. It wasn't as if she hadn't suspected. Her imaginings had been more brutal though, more teeth gnashing end-of-world anger with each other, clinging and messy and mad with it. Hand touches across the tables and -- the memory surfaced from earlier in the day -- delighted grins over the potential for a front row seat to some 'live skinemax', that hadn't been what she'd conjured up.

And oh, to be the live entertainer with Sam, to have pleasure made into a show for Dean's affections. Too bad Sam had to be so focused on fixing his brother, they could have had some real fun that afternoon. She certainly wouldn't have complained.

She ordered something herself, a salad and, because life was short, two types of dessert to follow. If there was some thing cold-blooded American capitalism had done right, it was egregiously portioned and delectably indulgent desserts.

The brothers ate, and laughed, and sighed across their bench from each other, seeming weary but well. Ordinary, but far from it. Their legs tangled deeper into each other's space. Dean's fingers drummed an absent pattern, no doubt from one of those rock bands he liked, and Sam nudged him with his leg and directed him to where some dart boards were setup. They brushed shoulders and elbowed each other, were close enough for her to catch snatches of their conversation. Teasing, mostly. Challenging, boyish one-upmanship. Flirting, quite obviously, when Sam's voice dropped to growl something in Dean's ear she couldn't catch, the tone of which had her stomach swooping anyway.

They left not long after, when her second dessert arrived. A little flavourless, in comparison. She left without bothering to finish, left town that night without dawdling any longer. The boys were good, and were comforting each other, and they owed her one. The rest was between them.

[eolewyn1010]

Downton Abbey Fashion 48 - evening dresses in 1922

Before we get to Rose’s evening dresses, I’ll quickly put in those of her friend Madeleine Allsopp. She’s only around for the Christmas special, so this shouldn’t take too long.

Yay for sack dresses? This is a dusty pink-silver dress that looks nice enough on Madeleine; it just isn’t the most flattering cut you can get in this decade. I also imagine the weight to be weird because of this big-ass pearl embroidery just tacked onto the front. And then she has a headband with more beading, pretty basic.

Honestly? So much better. Both the color and the draping on the front are very flattering, and the brocade has my favor anyway. I also like this style of headband way better, probably because the previous reminds me of cheap flapper costumes that have very little to do with 1920s styles. Which just goes to show my prejudices, but there we are. Madeleine’s drop waist has something like a double coil embroidery holding it in place, but I can’t see enough of the skirt to say what effect this has on the overall look.

Her dress for the ball, pretty in theory, is a shade of slightly golden cream that was popular at the time. Problem is, it doesn’t fit Madeleine. Look at the second picture where she lifts her arm to show off the armscye. I know, 1920s dresses are baggy and loose and all that, but this should not be big enough to almost give us an eyeful of side-boob! Or it should be dipping so deep to her hips that we can easily see another layer worn under it. The dress itself is nice with all its embroidery; we celebrate the return of the squiggly lines. And she picked quite cute, youthful jewelry to go with it.

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

Over to Rose and a last impression of her season 3 hair frizz. The peach dress is almost a little too peach what with her complexion. But it’s a nice dress, mostly covered in a shiny white pattern to help out the nude impression, and it has little slit sleeves which I personally like. The mild baggy top effect from the drop waist cannot be helped, but this waistband comes with tassels so I’ll be lenient.

For another occasion, Rose has taped a bit of golden lace into her hair. Okay, no, she hasn’t, but this headband is clearly made to emulate the look. So, Rose wears it to a dress which has an entire base layer made of golden lace, showing through in that frontal V and at the skirt. Somehow, the combination with this dark blue silk satin makes the dress look rather severe for Rose’s bubbly antics, so I’m actually glad for the headband; it brings back the whimsy.

Hey, we got dip dye! Is dip dye the right term for what I mean here? Anyway, this lovely ombre that runs over the entire dress from near white down to an intense pink, making this a rather flashy dress despite the simple wrap top style. Shame they didn’t go in for a voluminous skirt; imagine how this color would swoosh on some gathers. But this is for a family dinner, not for dancing, so the little V of her chest being embroidered is where the fancy ends.

This is a little more sandy-colored than peach, so yay for variety on the color palette? It’s fine; it’s not my favorite, but it isn’t doing anything wrong. In fact, the slit sleeves and the volume it has for gathers and draping net it a few points with me. But overall, this is a bit meh for so exuberant a character as Rose and could do with a little more effective embroidery, so, next. Look at the lovely leaf headband on your way out.

A pretty blue dress for the birthday party Rose throws for Robert, this is a nice example for why I like the 1920s dresses better that go down smoothly over the hips than those that tie in on the drop waist. What can I say; I like streamlines better than sack tops. It still gets some shaping via the skirt, the separate layers slit in the front and sprinkled with these little white rhinestones that, in the V around the neckline, almost look the a row of little white flowers. Me like.

There are times when I think Rose helped herself to the contents of Edith’s closet; at least I haven’t seen this shade of washed-out emerald on her before. The dress has a big flower embroidery on the skirt, and then the neckline and the armscyes have this more abstract embroidery band in black and silver that runs down the center and then suddenly turns into a row of square ruffles on the skirt. The skirt itself is a little gathered into the drop waist seam, which reminds me that this is indeed a dress Rose wears for dancing. I guess the little extra volume is for swoosh then.

This velvet dress has the most beautiful, nearly electric blue; they should let velvet more often have colors that aren’t dulled. It has these elements of silver-white lace all over it, giving it an impression of clouds on a very blue sky. The bottom of the skirt is very pretty, but it leaves me wondering if these glittering vertical beading lines run out in long fringe. I know fringe wasn’t the big, hyped thing in the 1920s it later got the reputation for, but it would actually fit Rose and her tassel necklace, and she could afford it.

Coral this time, but still velvet, which makes me think all the silver is not actually woven in, but beaded on. It almost looks like a ton of little shell plates, doesn’t it? The pattern itself is a bit inconsistent, here a band of scallops, there a zigzag line, in between art nouveau-esque flowers… The overall impression is nice enough.

And back to the blue, a bit dustier than before. The color having lost its symbolic meaning for the character of Rose means that it shows up in much more random intervals and at any occasion whatsoever. For a change, I wish it didn’t do that ruffle thing down the sides of her skirt, at least not in tiers; it seems a bit inconsistent with the rest of the design. I wouldn’t mind that embroidery of squares and lines being broken up by long knife pleats in the hip slits instead.

Finally, for her debutante ball, Rose puts on this very pink number with these very large silver flowers. The color suits her well, but this may be my least favorite dress of hers. Why is Rose, the flapper extraordinaire, repeating this weird, stiff-looking skirt style that already didn’t look great on her debutante dress? Her friend Madeleine wears a more common style for the occasion, so no, this is not a debutante dress code anymore. Since this is a dance event, I would have loved something with more movement to it. I also think many small flowers arranged over the entire dress might have made for a nicer picture than slapping a couple of big-ass flowers only on the skirt, but at least the flower shape is nice. The yoke design is just clunky. Pretty headband though.

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

Season 4 done, so I must face my demons (as in, Mary) and look into the season 5 outfits. To be fair, the fashion choices will be vastly superior to the character choices; I think the next season has the most of my favorites on the entire show. But oh boy, I will miss the comparatively reasonable behavior of season 4. I will not miss the panniers. Get those out of here.

[mcfallen-god]

Another personal post but I need to vent it out somewhere

Since yesterday early in the morning (likely between 5h and 7h/8h), my cat has disappeared.

It is very unlike him, knowing we live on the second or third floor or whatever you call that floor that is not the ground floor, nor the one above but the one above the one above.

And if you don't understand that, it's really not important. As the point is my cat, which is considered a member of my family and with whom I do have emotional attachment and tenderness as toward my one child, has gone.

I don't know really how, since the balcony (the only access he has to the outside) has a protection net, but maybe he boldly squeezed himself out, chasing after flies, mosquitoes or feeling just adventurous.

That net is here because he is actually clumsy and with a little sense of self-preservation (aka the kind to jump first, and look where he lands afterward).

Anyway. He is not used to the outside, he is scared by people, dogs and other cats.

We live near a big, noisy, crowded avenue where people just go too fast. And on the other side, it is a whole district of buildings with many, many, many places to hide, sneak and disappear between bushes, high grasses and weeds, building works, underground parking lots, etc.

This is all without taking in: the evil people being able to steal him, catch him, hurt him, without thinking about all the cars that are parked around and where he can hide under or in (the car body, the hood and around the engine), without thinking about how he might have been so scared he ran far and lost his way, without thinking he might be injuries and beaten by other cats, strays or outside-home cats.)

I'm all terrified, devastated and very calm, confident, but also desperate and restless about it. My mood is weirdly twisting between these emotions.

Of course, I didn't eat well, of course I didn't sleep well. Of course every noise makes me think someone might have seen him or it might be him.

And things like: when people in a building next to the next of mime's tore and threw one of the posters I taped near their entrance, it makes me lose hope in huma it's and worry twice for my cat. They basically just... took it off, made a ball out of it and threw it.

But that's not the worst. The worst is whenever I open the door, returning home from looking for him, I have the reflex to open slowly and check if he is behind the door, expecting his little head to pop, his big eyes to look at me, his ears to spread as he mews as loud as he can, sliding between my legs, even though I KNOW he is not home.

That keeps breaking me everytimes.

Though, even if people, probably one bitter person, sad, frustrated, unhappy in their life, took off one of my posters... Everyone else I met was kind, patient, sympathetic and even either told their relatives loving around or planned to look around to help...

And yesterday evening, another emotional rollercoaster. We (my partner and I) kept looking by the window and balcony, where he likely fell, expecting him to... Come back when things were quieter outside.

And we saw a cat, looking like ours, black and lean. Instantly I jumped out and ran down, trying to approach the cat.

But it was not our cat. This one, we saw her(?) before (assuming she is a female since she seemed once pregnant), but now she is too thin to be Oscar, taller on her paws, not having the primordial pouch (that bit of "fat" that hangs under every cat that is well fed and allowing them to survive without eating for a bit), and her tail is thinner and long than my cat, and her face is also longer and thinner when mine is round and with a short nose.

And my cat reacts to his name, and to our smell, he would not flee, he would come sniff, not just walk away patiently and check if I follow.

But people can't know these differences. They see a black cat. They tell us, and we explain it's not ours. What will people do next time? Tell us? Assume it is still not ours? Or just not caring because it is too much to handle for the sake of strangers?

That other cat, she is hanging on the exact same area our cat might have gone.

And on the other side is the territory of a very fierce orange cat (cute but violent).

That's the worst feeling. When a loved one is missing. I can't imagine how worst it might be for those with family members going unfounded.

I will add pictures of him under the cut. It wouldn't change anything, since I doubt any of those who will have the motivation and strength to read this all, live near my area anyway.

[spookyrobbins]

wanted to ask you some fun “who is more likely to” questions about calzona.

Who is most likely to be the “good cop” and “bad cop” with their kids?

2. Who is most likely to snore while sleeping?

3. Who is more likely to keep racy pictures of the other after their divorce?

4. Who is more likely to say their exes name in bed after their divorce?

5. Who is most likely to admit they're wrong?

6. Who is most likely to want to cuddle after sex?

7. Who is most likely to forget their anniversary?

8. Who is most likely to playfully steal kisses in public?

9. Who is most likely to attempt a DIY project and end up with a hilarious fail?

10. Who is most likely to initiate sex in public, or an unexpected place?

11. Who is most likely to suggest experimenting with BDSM?

12. Who is most likely to suggest playing strip poker?

really curious to see your answers lol

omg i love these!! please always send more haha (i’m on mobile so excuse any goofy formatting lol)

1. “good cop” vs “bad cop”

okay so first we need to look at how calzona were raised - arizona in an overly strict household with lots of expectations and rules and presumably discipline (and it’s not just the colonel bc he wasn’t around all the time so babs was also part of it)

callie conversely in a far less regulated environment where there are some expectations but pretty much callie can do as she pleases and she gets support from her dad in everything - the fact that callie was seemingly just “exploring” post undergrad and eventually joining the peace corps is good evidence of this - callie’s expected on some level to be successful but she has a major safety net (spoiled brat affectionate)

so to answer the question - arizona good cop callie bad cop

they’re both reacting in the opposite to their own childhoods. arizona doesn’t want her kid to fear her and while she’ll create rules and guidelines and not be totally let them be wild, she just doesn’t have it in her to be like her parents

callie on the other hand feels like she was given too much leeway and was too spoiled as a child so she goes the opposite direction

although admittedly arizonas the way scarier one of the two bc it’s very rare that she’s actually mad

2. snoring

low key probably callie but she’s in extreme denial about it

arizona eventually loses it and goes and wakes mark up and drags him in and tells him to fix it and she’s sleeping on the couch until callie stops snoring

(but also calzona who both snore and neither thinks they’re the one snoring)

3. racy pictures post divorce

honestly both of them. they both have pictures and videos hidden deep in folders and feel varying degrees of guilt about it

callie is more likely to look at them though and then she feels weird bc she’s in a relationship but she feels way more into the old pictures of arizona than penny

arizona feels very odd about a lot of them bc they’re all pre plane crash and it’s almost like seeing another person

(ask me about the penny finds a calzona sex tape hc!)

4. saying their ex’s name post divorce

as a general rule i’d say callie but also something tells me arizona was way better in bed than penny lol

arizona ofc seems to exclusively date women who in one way or another vaguely resemble callie so maybe easier to make that mistake

5. admit they’re wrong

neither of them and it’s a nightmare

like they’re both super stubborn and won’t back down and they’ll just argue in circles until they’re hoarse

eventually one of them will get worn down and tired and back off a bit

arizona won’t admit she’s wrong but she will sort of like take responsibility to end things

callie will just say she’s tired of fighting and it’s dumb but also not admitting she’s wrong

6. cuddle post sex

probably arizona - she’s low key kinda touch starved in my opinion

but callie loves to cuddle and loves how arizona always curls up afterwards and wordlessly demands cuddles

callie is defs the big spoon most of the time and she’s sort of obsessed with it

7. forget their anniversary

arizona remembers so many random things and keeps track of all these details but she’s also sort of terrible about dates. like she’s missed her own birthday before.

callie kinda needles her about it when she realizes arizona has no idea why they’re going out to dinner and arizona almost cries bc callie’s being so sweet and she planned all these things and arizona just missed it

8. steal kisses

i mean canonically it’s arizona and i’d agree with that she’s just so delighted to kiss callie and be with callie

she loves sneaking up to ortho and surprising callie and callie’s kinda shy and blushy about it at first bc it’s all very new and she’s kinda self conscious about how everyone’s always aware of her relationships but soon she grows to love it and will seek arizona out herself

9. diy projects and failing at them

callie’s actually really handy - i mean she works with power tools and is out there building things but i think even before she went into ortho callie was handy. she liked ceramics and building little things. she can absolutely build the crap out of ikea furniture. arizona finds it incredibly hot

arizona on the other hand is not particularly handy or even arts and crafty. she understands the theory but then somehow it always goes horribly wrong. arizonas basically been banned from helping with science projects. she is a very good baker though and she and callie have teamed up to make epic birthday cakes

10. sex in a public place

callie but arizonas only like a half step behind her

calzona have 100% hooked up in the bathroom at joes and both of their offices and a variety of on call rooms and locker rooms and callie’s car and teddys apartment (teddy has no idea and they have no plans to tell her)

11. bdsm

arizona - she’s a bit more adventurous to start with but callie’s very into it and always willing to try something once

12. strip poker

arizona but it’s mainly bc callie actually knows how to play poker and arizonas trying to distract her

and like callies not gonna say no but she absolutely demolishes arizona and only has to take off her shirt which only serves to distract arizona

[loquaciousquark]

4-Sided Dive Highlights - Critical Role C3 up to E43 (Jan. 3, 2023)

What are timeliness and punctuality, really? A construct of the oppressive bourgeoisie, that's what. Regardless, we join Ashley, Travis, Sam, and Liam on tonight's episode. Sam wins host with a natural 20 and immediately misses his spot. The opening schtick requires Sam to read the rest of the prompter as Drunk Jimmy Stewart and watching him struggle with the impression is hilarious in and of itself.

What the Fuck is Up With That? Everyone enjoyed hanging out with the Gorgynei. Travis likes that they aren't all werewolves. He clarifies that when Chetney turned into a werewolf, the Claret Order in that area came to him and said, "This was not a planned thing, so you need to learn to control this immediately or we will end you." People uncontrollably changing and spreading the curse gives them a bad name. What if a werewolf bites a werebear?

Liam would be a were-rat in real life. Sam wants to be a were-eagle.

Everyone loved the fight against Chetney. Travis: "Everyone should have at least one moment in their lives where Matt Mercer leans across the table and hands you a piece of paper that's just instructions to fuck up the rest of the table." It was titled Chetney Unleashed! and gave him 60 extra hit points, the frightening howl, and three legendary actions. Ashley wonders if he'll get there in base character campaign. Liam also loves getting to fight the party, no holds barred. Travis generally feels like the group fights in sync, but in that moment he felt like "I can't read their minds anymore! I'm disconnected from the flow!"

Travis had a tiny plastic werewolf of Wolf Man he used to bring to church with him on Sundays. Ashley is indignant he never named him. "He's a killer, Ashley. You don't give him names." He used to get up early on Saturdays to watch the Teen Wolf cartoon and colored his skin brown with magic marker to simulate fur and taped fake claws to his fingers.

Orym's sword upgraded! He has a tiny bit of additional range and some grasping vine abilities. Seedling: The Wayward Pilgrim.

Everyone is wearing blue except for Liam. Cute!

Travis always gets tripped up when Mercer reveals a secret such as Predathos which he's been building to for years. Planerider Ryn was mentioned in the original Tal'Dorei campaign guide, then had her sanctum visited by the M9 in C2, where Luc got killed. Sam is convinced they're getting into alien, intergalactic stuff for this world now. Liam gets genuinely giddy talking about the intertwining of dunamancy, the mesh net around Ruidus, and the threads of fate.

Liam thinks dunamancy is part of existence itself, but the beacons might be "rabbit pellets" of Predathos shot out when he arrived. Is Predathos Galactus, eater of worlds?

Dani comes on to straighten out lore! Early iterations of the Exandrian creation myth implied that the gods and primordials never got along--while they coexisted, there was always some animosity. Later, with the schism/Calamity, the Prime Deities went to open war against the primordials and betrayer gods in order to protect creation. This new suggestion that everyone fought together against Predathos at some point is an exciting reveal, and that two of them were devoured by Predathos is very alarming.

What is Bell's Hells going to do with this information? They're so new to even interplanar travel that the idea of inter-deity warfare is beyond them.

Sam talks about his conflict between wanting to learn more about himself in Yios and the group's time pressure elsewhere. Everyone laughs at the poor secretary getting bribed, even unintentionally, into helping them.

Liam originally thought that someone got up to the moon ages ago and built the city after it was created, but now he's not sure. Instead, he wonders if it's part of a city which just got chunked up from Exandria when creating the moon in the first place. Dani posits that everyone on the moon is a worshipper of Predathos (Predathans) because since worship gives a god its power, you don't want worshipers of a god-eater running around outside the mesh net, strengthening it on the main continent. If new people have begun worshipping him with flares, occasionally teleporting themselves to the moon, that might be strengthening Ruidus and causing the changes we're seeing that may be making Predathos stronger. Liam is sure that if someone exploded Milwaukee into space, the city would survive.

Sam and Ashley both are desperate to go to the moon. Ashley wonders if they're mining the moon. BASA? Bells Aeronautics Space Administration?

Otohan used to follow the Duskmaven, but appears to no longer do so. Ethedok used to oversee darkness and winter; Vordo used to oversee fate and order. After those gods were eaten, their realms were combined into the fate and death/darkness domains of the previous god of the dead, prior to the Raven Queen ascending.

Liam finds real gambling very boring; the other three gamble for fun. Liam has no interest in getting good at reading people; he'd rather take his $80 and go see a show. Laura apparently loves to gamble (craps, Sic Bo Dragon). Travis is not allowed within a mile of Laura when she's gambling; he's a cooler for her! Ha! Once he came up to her while she was on a hot craps run and the dice immediately threw snake eyes. Ashley has played War at Vegas against the house and lost and won $20 in about fifteen seconds before leaving. Liam would rather buy a Switch.

The Tower of Inquiry! Travis approaches a very dangerously leaning tower. There is no, no, no way this is going to work. AND IT DOESN'T, DOWN IT COMES. Every time he doesn't score the most points in Quiplash, he must perform certain exercises. back to the tower: what genre of video game would your character enjoy? Orym: Soul Caliber. Fearne: The Sims, because she wants to control things. Chetney: Rollercoaster Tycoon. FCG: Duck Hunt or Hitman.

Sam doesn't know if FCG was successful at any of his assassinations and really wants to know.

Ashley pulls a block from the toppled six-inch tower and still almost knocks it over. Character's favorite Broadway musical? Chetney: Beauty and the Beast. FCG: Starlight Express, Orym: Billy Elliott. Fearne: Into the Woods or Hadestown.

Liam's block: Character's favorite reality TV show? (Ashley loves reality TV and and is loving Below Deck right now. "Downton Abbey, but for boats.") FCG: Couples Therapy. Chetney: Bob Ross. Sam: Not Bob Vila? Travis, as Chet: Don't give me that amateur shit! Orym: Ninja Warrior, American Gladiator, MXC.

The Deep Dive! What was the inspiration for Shithead? During character design, he was asked if FCG had a familiar. He thought perhaps he should since he kept shitting on other people's familiars, but once it was designed, he landed back on, "No, I HATE familiars," and gave the character to Matt. "I made this thing, I don't know what it is. Can you do something?" and Matt took it from there.

Liam loves magic after Caleb, so he's glad to have a bit of magic again. Since it wasn't a new/extant sword, he got to pick his own name. He was tossing around ideas of plants pollinating, of seeds being dispersed by the wind over great distances in order to start new life, and landed on Seedling.

In Fearne's eyes, Grandma can do no wrong. She genuinely believes Morri will help them without strings. Ashley didn't expect how much she enjoys actively coming up with ways to make everyone at the table squeamish. Matt and Aabria both helped create Morri--Ashley did have tons of input though. Lots of Fearne also came from ExU--she reflects some of Aabria's playfulness. Liam: "Nana is fucking dangerous." Ashley: "Noooooo!" Liam: "She is at BEST true neutral, right in the middle, and Fearne is her darling little Rapunzel child imp while she is dark, dark, dark and twisted."

Why was Ruidus affecting Chetney specifically? Travis has no idea. He can't tell if Predathos is growing in power or if it's a quality from the consumed deities. Is this a pulse, a harbinger of something to be unleashed? Chetney traditionally only transforms from a full Catha, and he normally maintains control the whole time; this was the first time Ruidus had forced him to change and had caused him to lose control.

FCG wants to do things like smell, love, and taste, so baking is meant to help them understand how taste works.

Block break, gosh dang it tumblr.

Chetney dissing Orym's wolf figurine went about as well as could be expected. Chet was very kind when Orym told him about Will, and he wanted to repay him with something Chetney valued. Liam did order a wooden wolf figurine from Etsy, but it was too good for both Orym's skill and compared to Travis's gifts, and now he feels weird about dragging this poor Etsy seller through the muck, so he's just going to keep it at home.

Ashley couldn't look Marisha in the eyes after a coin flip. She was depressed for a full week. She hated holding their lives in her hands. Having to do that has affected Fearne in a very big way (more protective); she's starting to learn how to experience human feelings. "This makes my stomach really anxious and I don't know why." After talking with Laudna, Ashley isn't sure if either she or Fearne feel better.

It's too early to tell if Chetney's beast is better tamed. Travis doesn't trust Mercer at all.

What's the deal with Imogen's weird fire alien? Exciting stuff!

What did FCG think of the Speak with Dead spell? It's super creepy and gets into soul stuff--if you can just talk to someone after you're dead, what does that mean? "What do I believe? I don't actually know yet!"

Orym, despite his high history, knows nothing about the history of other realms. His history comes from overhearing Exandrian conversations about local issues, not other-planar stuff. Sam: "For the record, I don't just willy-nilly choose which rules to follow or not. I just don't follow the stupid ones. Like luck. Luck's a stupid rule."

Fearne felt incredibly special that Laudna asked her to pass something on to her. Fearne has a fascination with what makes people tick, and getting to work on that with Laudna was special.

It hurt that Chet's original howl went unanswered. Still, Travis liked the metaphor. Alone, not enough; together, we start the party.

Tower of Inquiry: What would be your characters' Smash Ultimates? Boy, this is not the crew for this question. They immediately misinterpret it as to which character they would play. Orym: Princess Peach. Fearne: Bowser. Sam: Lucario, the first name he sees while Googling; Liam suggests Kirby; Sam suggests Rob. Chetney doesn't even try.

A minigame to preface the break: Sam, Name That Staff! He's been given a dossier with names and faces and he's worked closely with all of today's contestants. First crew member: a lovely fellow in teal shorts who's been an editor at CR for over four years. He talked with Sam for half an hour about Donkey Kong at the recent holiday party. Sam suggests: "Dave, or something with a D." Alas, it's Max Schapiro.

Contestant two: a TALL guy who's been a producer on the show for three years. "He burned his crotch while helping you do an ad read bit." Sam: "Eric?" No, no, it's Kyle.

Contestant three: it's Marisha. Just Marisha in a sweatshirt. Sam: "I feel like I should know this one. It's tip of my tongue. I know that you're one of the two women on the show. Two women? Maybe there's only one." Dani: "It's definitely three." Sam: "You're not Ashley, because Ashley's here on the show. It's a trick question. She doesn't work here." Marisha: "You were at my wedding!"

There is a very funny ad over the break featuring Travis and Laura in a straight-to-TV holiday romcom spoof.

Post-Break Shenanigans! Quiplash, for the first time for most of them, it looks like. FCG is desperate for guidance and has been reaching out to the Changebringer for guidance, but if she doesn't answer soon, he might start reaching out to other gods. After the first round, Travis has by far the most points.

Ashley is beyond excited about the potential to visit the Fey Realm and meet Nana. (Oof, I am behind on these, yikes.). After the second round, Sam is in the lead. Travis, as promised by Jenga, runs around the set shrieking like a little schoolgirl. However, he wins the last round and asks a question instead.

Travis was super grumpy after the first game of the M9 reunion because he so immediately lost his orb. He hated that he had to give up the fight.

Caleb in Liam's head is so "gasp, point" about everything going on with the Cerberus Assembly. Liam loves/hates every development.

Our last development: the lights cut out, and when we can see again, we are shocked, SHOCKED to see that the set broom has been broken bloodily in half and has a kitchen knife sticking out of it. Murder? On MY Critical Role set? To be continued, it seems...

And that's a wrap. Is it Thursday yet?

[arctic-hands]

A few people have asked me about my SillyPunk vest that I put that patch on yesterday. I don't have any recent photos of me wearing it because my apartment hasn't had hot water for like three weeks and sponge bathing with cold water has left my hair a wreck, but here's the front as it is on the back of my computer chair. The whole vest can be seen here in the post where I bought it (image also captioned)

[Image Description: a tan suede (unsure of real or faux) vest with goldish flowery embroidery holding it together. The buttons are likewise goldish embroidery, as well as the button holes. There is netting as the bottom in the same goldish thred. The vest is covered in buttons and pins. There is some unintentional lens flare coming up the top of the vest, from a TV in the background. End I.D.]

[Image Description: on the right shoulder is a small enamel pin of the Progress Pride flag (horizontal stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, with a right-pointing triangle composing of black and brown stripes, followed by stripes of the trans pride flag (blue, pink, and white). The pin is facing triangle-down, as if a military rank. End I.D.]

A lil Chevron to show my allegiance

[Image Description: on the right breast of the vest, a pin button that has the trans flag on it, with the words "trans men are men" on it, with the smaller words "Baltimore Transgender Alliance" up top. Beneath that pin and to the right is a tarnished-looking metal brooch of the Sock an Buskin (the Greek theater comedy/drama masks, one mask laughing manically and the other one weeping). End I.D.]

The trans closet was out of "Trans Women Are Women" pins when I was there last. I'll get one eventually. Also, a lil bipolar rep.

[Image Description: slightly lower, a pin made of a black, circular sticker that says "End Covid I Got Vaccinated" with the outline of a needle and syringe and a checkmark. Thee sticker is coated in something glossy, and is affixed by a safety pin. Also affixed by a safety pin to the left is a weird, flat key with no teeth. End I.D.]

That's the sticker Maryland gave out with the first round of vaccinations. I wanted to keep it for posterity, so I stuck it to some cardstock, sealed it all with Mod Podge, went over the image part with some Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, and then stuck a safety pin on with some strong duct tape. The key is something I found on the top of my door frame in my old place. I just noticed something shiny on the corner of the door frame, reached up, and found it. Neither tumblr nor reddit could figure out what it was a key to. Mine now.

[Image Description: further down, an enamel pin in the shape of a painter's palette, with paintbrushes in the hole. The palette says "study art" and in a box beneath it it says "for fun or fame". End I.D.]

A pin by John Waters that I got from the Baltimore Museum of Art last time I was there.

[Image Description: above the right abdomen, roughly where it would rest over the ileum, is a gold-colored brooch of the small and large intestines. The small intestine is studded with tiny faux diamonds. End I.D.]

I saw this pin online like two years ago and new I MUST have it for Crohn's-punk reasons, and then a few months ago I found it on walmarts site when I had a giftcard to blow.

[Image Description: at the bottom, a lil metal octopus affixed by a safety pin through the loop made by one of the tentacles. End I.D.]

A lil gift from a friend 🥰

[Image Description: beneath the last two pins, showing off the bottom of the vest. In addition to the netting at the bottom, there is also a panel cut out of the lower side of the vest an filled in with that netting. Dangling from the edge of of the netting like a punk pocket chain is a string of small black rocks, affixed at both ends by safety pins. End I.D.]

Found strings of volcanic rocks on the site Unclaimed Baggage (where they sell lost luggage that hasn't been claimed after a long period of time). No idea where it was sourced from, hope it's not Hawai'i, don't need that kind of karma.

We can only do ten images a post right? I'm gonna run out soon so I'll immediately reblog with the left side.

[termitestreatmentart]

Termite Treatment in Kissimmee: Defending Your Home

Termites are actually frequently described as "soundless battleships" considering that they can create considerable harm to your home prior to you also discover they are there. In Kissimmee, where moisture and also cozy temps generate suitable disorders for termite attacks, helpful treatment and prevention are essential. Right here's what you need to know concerning termite treatment choices and also just how to protect your property.

Knowing Pests

Termites are actually social insects that stay in swarms. The best common species in Florida are the far eastern below ground pest, the Formosan pest, and also drywood pests. They live on cellulose, which is found in lumber, paper, and also various other vegetation products. Their existence may bring about considerable structural harm, making early diagnosis vital.

Indications of Infestation

Being positive is key. Appear for the complying with indications of termite task:

Mud Pipes: These are pencil-sized tunnels made from dirt, which termites usage to travel between their colony and meals sources.

Disposed Of Wings: Swarmers lost their airfoils after breeding, commonly leaving them near windowsills or even lighting fixtures.

Echoing Appearing Hardwood: Tapping on lumber may expose hollow places, showing termite damages inside.

Frass: This is actually a fine-grained drug left behind through pests, resembling sawdust.

Treatment Choices

The moment an infestation is actually affirmed, it is actually important to behave promptly. There are actually several treatment procedures available:

Chemical Treatments:

Liquid Pesticides: These are used to the ground around the structure of your home. They make a barricade that stops termites coming from entering into. Visit our site for effective information on Termite Treatment Kissimmee now.

Termiticides: These chemicals target termites straight and also may be actually made use of as a location treatment or as component of a more comprehensive strategy.

Baiting Solutions:

Bait stations are actually positioned in the ground around your home. They include a slow-acting pesticide that pests eat as well as lug back to their colony, essentially removing it eventually.

Fumigation:

For extreme problems, particularly along with drywood pests, tenting as well as fumigating the whole building may be important. This approach properly does away with pests throughout the building.

Warmth Treatment:

Raising the temperature level of the infested area to dangerous levels for termites is actually an ecological option to chemical treatments. This technique is actually specifically successful for drywood termites.

Avoidance Tips

Stopping pests is actually as essential as treating all of them. Listed here are actually some efficient methods:

Decrease Dampness: Deal with leakages as well as ensure appropriate water drainage around your home. Termites are drawn in to dampness.

Timber Storage: Maintain woodpile as well as wooden structures out of your home's foundation.

Tape Cracks as well as Gaps: Assess and close any kind of positions in your groundwork, wall structures, and around home windows and doors.

Normal Inspections: Book qualified termite inspections every year to record any sort of problems early.

Choosing a Professional

When selecting a pest treatment company in Kissimmee, search for accredited as well as covered specialists with knowledge in the area. They ought to use an extensive examination, detailed treatment options, as well as manufacturer's warranties on their job.

Result

Safeguarding your home coming from termites in Kissimmee demands vigilance, timely treatment, and safety nets. By knowing the indicators of infestation as well as the readily available treatment alternatives, you can easily guard your property against these detrimental parasites. If you feel a termite trouble, do not hold back to connect to a specialist for assistance. Your home is your haven, and also acting against termites is important for keeping its honesty.

All American Pest Control

1101 Miranda Lane, Suite 131

Kissimmee, FL 34741

(321) 337-0919

Kissimmee Termite Treatment

[travelingtheusa]

INDIANA

2024 Aug 28 (Wed) – We packed up and left Elkhart at 9:40.  It was just 2 and ½ hours to the Jefferson Township Park Campground in New Haven.  This is a small county fairground with maybe 6 to 8 camp spots.  We have electric and water hookups.  There is a dump station but for one night, I don’t think we will need it.  The campground is kind of far from town so we didn’t go anywhere.  And we don’t really need gas since we only drove 113 today and will drive 130 tomorrow to Ohio.

2024 Aug 27 (Tue) – The temperatures have shot up.  It was 93 degrees today!  I guess there’s some kind of system passing through the Midwest.  We spent the day inside, working on caravan and national muster prep.

      The weirdest thing happened while we were doing the laundry.  At wash time, I put my bra in a net bag.  When the wash is done, I remove it and put it aside while the rest of the wash goes in the dryer.  I take it back to the trailer and hang it in the shower to dry.  Well, after I took my bra out of the washer, put it aside, and put the clothes in the dryer, I turned to get the bag and found it missing.  We looked between the washers, on the floor, and even in back of the washer but it couldn’t be found anywhere.  We even stopped the dryers and looked through the clothes there, but nothing.  After the clothes were dry and we had them back and folded at the RV, there was still no bra.  It’s as if it grew legs and just walked away.  Very weird.

2024 Aug 26 (Mon) – We packed up and left at 7:40 a.m. to bring our RV to Fun Town RV.  They will be looking at 3 issues we have with the rig and, hopefully, fix them.  We have a leak in the bedroom, the rubber seal on the living room slide keeps working itself out when we drive, and the solar control panel has an error code that we have not been able to clear.

      While the rig was at the dealer, we went out to breakfast.  It took 3 tries before we found a place that was open.  It looked really skeevy outside but it was quite nice inside.  The meal was plentiful and good.  Afterward, we drove back to the campground and sat in the truck, waiting for a call to come pick up our RV.  At lunchtime, we drove to a Steak N Shake for burgers.  Sheba got a taste so she was happy, too. 

      We returned to the dealer at 4 p.m.  The mechanic told us he broke his key in the lock and so, he replaced the lock on the door.  He then told us what he did.  The slide had left-over glue and tar that was catching on the rubber seal.  He tried to scrape it all off then covered it with silver tape.  He thinks that solved the problem.  We’ll see the next time we ride on down the road.  The mechanic then told us that he found a small hole in the bedroom slide that might have been the cause of the leak.  He repaired that.  Lastly, he found a reset button on the bottom of the solar control box in the basement.  It is not easily visible and he had to call the vendor to discover it.  We will put a label there so we will know from now on.  He also told us that we need to keep the area clear so it can get some air.  We currently have it packed full with all the stuff we will be donating to SMART.  Paul later moved the stuff around.

2024 Aug 25 (Sun) – We drove 108 miles from Zeeland, MI, to the Elkhart Campground.  This is a very nice campground.  I even recommended it to Nita, who is looking for a site for the 2026 national muster.  Hopefully, they pick this campground.  It is laid out nice.  Has a nice smattering of trees.  Have over 350 campsites with full hookups and pull through sites.  The laundry room has 8 washers and 8 dryers, all in working order. 

      After set up, we drove to Fun Town RV to see where it is.  We will be bringing the RV there tomorrow to (hopefully) get a few things fixed on the rig.  When we got back, we did some laundry.

[isabellarosestudio6]

Week 4: Making

Setting up the performance in the Frank Moran Gallery:

Install Equipment: ladder, fishing line, zip ties, masking tape, broom, 2.5m wide hoop

Film Equipment: 3 tripods, 3 video cameras (one of my own, 2 from the ELC), 2 microphones, track lighting from gallery.

Installation Objects: table, 2 stools, blowup doll, Marilyn Monroe wig and dress from "The Seven Year Itch", pink curtain, cake, 2 plates, 2 dessert forks, serving knife, comb, pocket mirror. Myself with exaggerated makeup, nude body suit and wig hair net.

Set up in process:

Finished installation set up:

Photos from after the performance:

Link to 2 channel view of performance (unfortunately one camera stopped recording halfway through):

Reflections:

Before beginning the performance, I was a little nervous about how it was going to pan out. Obviously there is alot of time invested into the concept, collecting objects, hitting equipment and setting up the installation, so there is a level of pressure for the performance to be successful. (Successful meaning hopefully conveys what I wish it too, with an additional level of visual interest).

After completing the work, there was a lot of relief with how it went. I felt during the work that I had planned and thought through the tasks enough, that there were no moments of getting "stuck" or reverting to familiar dance movements to fill time (in a way that might have been decorative or taken away from the works intentions). I was able to flow through the exercise, letting one movement lead me to the next, and reacting to ideas as they came up. This also lead to me finding a suitable conclusion, after I felt that the work had gone on for a suitable length of time and find a natural resting place in my movements and gestures. (A bit like making a painting- gotta know when to stop).

During the work there were also various references/movements that I was drawn to that I did not expect or pre-plan. They simply emerged as I was focusing on the set list of ideas and embodying the tropes at hand. One of these things was the use of "swan" arms from swan lake (which I am familiar with from my previous training). This was a fitting motif, as in the ballet the White Swan is representative of innocence and purity, ultimately being controlled, captured and eventually kills herself (depending on the version- there is a family friendly ending where they live happily ever after instead).

Here I think there are many similarities between the Swan and the icon/life of Marilyn. Both tragically exploited for their beauty, and at times pinned as either innocent or a femme fatale (black swan).

This was something that emerged instinctively through the body and potentially the body's own experience- the body as an archive.

Other things that emerged during the process, would be the repetition of actions related to "sparkling". Whilst I did brainstorm this prior, I didn't think I would use it during the performance, and especially not return to it frequently. Yet, at the time it felt appropriate- sparkling/shaking the body as a "star" or shiny celebrity object. Pinned as spectacle.

Other additional unplanned things I noticed:

- stepping on the dolls body and watching it move around with the pressure

- scanning both bodies with a mirror, like an eye watching. Mirror as symbol of gaze and image

- alot more sexual references than I intended, but again, this feels appropriate given the nature of womanhood.

Things to do:

Would like to make a soundscape to go with this

Play with video content further

Think about whether the work needs further digital editing, or whether it is best to leave the videos as documentation.