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moonlit-imagines · 4 years ago

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Headcanons for being Hope van Dyne’s child

Hope van Dyne x child!reader

Scott Lang x stepkid!reader

warnings: insects (ants), sharp weapons

a/n:

prompt: anonymous: “Happy holidays darling! Would you write HC for Hope Van Dyne's child? Love the step-parents HC 🥰”

growing up as a lil smarty pants

grandpa hank was pretty proud, although he didn’t see you very much

once every few years

but he did tell you all these crazy stories about his adventures that you honestly thought were just fiction (until you were older)

“and i was as small as an ant, but i was still incredibly strong! remember that, kid. just because you aren’t as big as someone else doesn’t mean you can’t beat them�� -hank

“y/n doesn’t need to be hearing those stories, hank” -hope

“why not? they have important life lessons in them!” -hank

“why does mommy call you ‘hank?’” -you

“because mommy hates grandpa, isn’t that right?” -hank

“okay, i think that’s enough of this visit. come on, y/n, time to go” -hope

your mom was very supportive of you, nonetheless

she wanted to be different from her dad

so she showed up to EVERYTHING

birthdays, sick days, tucking you in for bed, parent-teacher conferences, art shows, you name it

“here’s some tea, jellybelly. it’ll make your throat feel better” -hope

“mom, i think i’m dying” -you

“you’ll be fine” -hope, givin’ u a kiss on the forehead

life wasn’t like, extra crazy or anything. sometimes she’d bring you to work and honestly? darren cross didn’t seem like the worst guy. he even brought you whatever you might need if your mom was staying late at work

“hey, van dyne junior! i brought you a puzzle that might keep you busy for a while...and a happy meal from mcdonalds! let me know if you need anything else, me and your mom will just be in the lab for a little while” -darren

“thank you!!!” -you

uh huh, ur mom taught u manners!

anyways you started spending more time with your grandpa cuz they had a plan

thats when you found out that his “turning small” stories were not, in fact, bullshit

“wait grandpa...you actually did shrink as small as an ant?” -you

“why would i lie?” -hank

okay well cue you wanting to shrink down to ant size now it was your new aspiration

you did learn how to command ants tho!!!!!!

but unfortunately (or not so unfortunately) hank brought scott to the party

“hi!” -you, waking scott up

“what?!” -scott, jumping back against the headboard

“hi.” -you, staring at him “im y/n. these are my ants”

bullet ants were just crawlin around the place

“oh, that’s....that’s cool. any chance you could tell me where i am or how i got here” -scott

“wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy” -you, leaving abruptly

“are you bothering our guest?” -hope, watching you proudly nod “good job, jellybelly”

mom taught u how to punch 🥰🥰🥰

and let you use scott as a punching bag

but scott wasn’t like awful or anything he was just insufferable at times

“i think you’d like my daughter cassie. she’s weird and smart just like you” -scott

“did you just call me weird? mom, can i punch him again?” -you

“no no no! i meant weird in a good way! please dont hurt me anymore!” -scott

chasing him around the yard ready to ATTACK

hank had to tell u to cut it out

“dont tell them what to do” -hope

“someone has to” -hank

“excuse me? i parent y/n just fine, better than you ever did for me!” -hope

“do they do this often?” -scott

“every time they see each other but that’s not very much” -you

“hm...hey, do you like ice cream? specifically baskin robbins?” -scott

ur mom said “we do not associate with idiots ❤️” and then proceeded to associate with said idiots

scott did end up saving u from darren tho bc that mf tried to hold u hostage and scott was really not in the mood for that bullshit

“you alright, y/n?” -scott

“murder is okay, right?” -you

after that whole ordeal he and your mom were kinda a thing uh huh

and he introduced you to cassie!!! she was amazingly sweet and you could def see the family resemblance

“is this my new sibling?! i’ve always wanted one!” -cassie

“hey, me too!” -you

you hung out with her on a weekly basis, with or without scott

and mom and grandpa were working on a ✨special project✨

one you insisted on being apart of

“no, y/n, we can’t make you your own suit. you’re too young for this sort of thing” -hope

“pleaaaaase mom? i swear i’ll he responsible with it!” -you

“you’re mother is right, y/n. you’re just not ready yet. maybe someday, but not anytime soon” -hank

scott took you on family bowling trips yes he did

and just corny stepdad shit

but he went to germany and mom and him broke up and FF to two years later when you guys had finally reunited

“scott!! you asshole!!” -you, like this -> :)

“kiddo!! sorry to hear that!!” -scott, same energy

shading him the whole time

“ach mein gott” -you

“are you kidding me, y/n? i make one mistake. ONE” -scott

“you’re one mistake has caused me to live in MINIATURE HOMES” -you

“THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD THING” -scott

“WELL IT’S NOT” -you

“did you at least miss me?” -scott

“sicher habe ich” -you

“god dammit” -scott

surprise!! u kind of had a suit (for emergencies)

as a van dyne/pym, it was almost a necessity to know how to use pym particles

scott acted like a proud dad

“wow, you’re really doing it!!!” -scott

“halt die klappe” -you

“please stop” -scott, tearing up

finding out about ✨grandma✨

she possessed scott and touched ur face and told you that she was so excited to meet you but you didn’t know wtf was going on and you had the urge to smack scott but THANKFULLY you did not

“i have to meet her for real! let me help you guys!” -you

“okay” -hope

“what? really?” -you

“it’s about time we put your genius to good use” -hope

scott offered you a high five for that and u literally accepted it

“don’t get too happy, that was just an in-the-moment thing” -you, watching scott’s eyebrow raise “fine. you can have a hug”

okay okay well everything went okay and then half the world ~vanished~ including ur whole family but like cassie and her family took you in and you spent five years very alone and upset until one day cassie called you downstairs and whoopdedoo???? scott???????

“is my mom with you?” -you

“sorry, sport, she’s not...do you have your suit with you? we need to go on some...hero business” -scott

you missed scott a lot over the past 5 years, this really did cheer you up, even if it was just him

“how’ve you been holding up the past few years” -scott

“the world sucks, man” -you

“i can see that” -scott

he turned on some tunes for the two of you to enjoy otw to the avengers hq and it was probably the best memory you created since everyone disappeared

“wait, reach into the glove box” -scott

“oh, god, i hope there’s no rodents in here...” -you, reaching for a picture “is this..?”

“family photo!! you were little back then, i can’t believe how time flies. i mean, it flew really quick for me, the quantum realm is no joke” -scott

you were busy staring at the picture of your mom, you really missed her

busy ~saving the world~

and going to 2012 with scott

“hey uh just so you know, i might be able to make pym particles” -you

“‘might?’ and if we use faulty pym particles we ‘might’ die. would you like that?” -tony

“hey, back off, stark. they’re just trying to help” -scott

next thing u know ur in present day and THEN u actually got to hold the scepter bc scott let u

“im gonna stab you!!” -you

“no!!!” -scott

the other avengers, literally mourning natasha while you chase him around with a sharp weapon: 😧

okay after the place was destroyed u got to face mr. purple man and yo mama showed back up and saw you on the front lines

“y/n????” -hope

“mom????” -you

“scott!!!!” -scott

“really, scott? a shrek reference? now?” -you “...nice”

the reunion with your mom was short and sweet but you missed her forehead kisses and she gave you one immediately!!!! and she was crying but you were too bc damn

“listen, after this, we’re gonna have such a fun family night. i’m so sorry i couldn’t be there for you all this time” -hope

“mom, it wasn’t your fault...it was that purple bastard, let’s get him!” -you

“they grow up so fast...” -hope

i n s e c t f a m

insect fam killed it out there and then ✨attended tony’s funeral✨ together right after

that’s one solid family 😌💖

anyways time to celebrate a (halfway) return to normalcy

with your *sister* cassie and your mom and your...scott

you were just happy to all be together again, it’s been WAY too long

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @rorybutnotgilmore // @locke-writes // @sweetheartliz07 // @queen-destenie // @natasha-danvers // @lokihiddles // @frostedficrecs // @lotsoffandomrecs // @johnmurphyisqueer // @teenwaywardasgardian // @pappydaddy // @captainshazamerica // @freya-xo // @ravenmoore14 // @thisetaernallove // @ofthedewthesunlight // @canarypoint // @zoeyserpentluck // @randomawesomeperson102 // @spideyandtheboys // @ghost-bich // @wonderful-writer // @of-a-chaotic-mind // @groovyfluxie // @procrastinatingsapphictrash // @lxncelot //

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simmonsofshield · 5 years ago

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Broken, Mended Chapter 5

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader, Sam Wilson x Reader (platonic)

Summary: After breaking off an engagement, Y/N may have possibly hit rock bottom. But she doesn’t have time to think about it because she gets deployed to Iraq. Leaving their daughter with her friend, Sam Wilson, she’s gone for a year. She doesn’t like talking about her ex-fiance and is unsure if she’ll ever be able to love again. What happens a certain Captain is his literal doppelganger?

Words: 1400+

Warnings: None I think.

A/N: It’s been 5 weeks or so and I’m sorry for that. I had a serious case of writers block. Luckily to work through it, I’ve already started my next fic! Can’t wait to get to that one :)) This is for @ussgallifreyfics 550 follower writing challenge! Takes place during Civil War.

tag list is open

A gentle shaking of her shoulder wakes Y/N up. She knew she was exhausted, but didn’t realize it was this much. She remembers sitting in the warehouse while waiting for Steve to return with a car and now she is being woken up inside the car. She looks around and blinks a few times, waking her eyes up. “A Bug? Is this really the ideal car for three giant men?”

Sam chuckles as Steve answers, “It’s low profile.”

“Not with you three in it.”

The car slows and comes to a stop. Steve gets out and pushes his seat forward so Y/N can get out. He offers his hand and she takes it, pulling her out as she grabs the Falcon wings with the other.

“The facility is up two blocks and across the bridge. When the road splits go down and take the tunnel.”

“’Kay, got it.” she nods. She turns and waves at Sam before beginning her walk up the block. She hears the car turn around and the sound of its muffler fading as it gets further away.

As Y/N approaches, the big garage door opens, revealing Sharon and Nick Fury. She suddenly feels nervous, her hand going to scratch the back of her neck.

“Got something to say, Airman?”

She looks at Fury and shakes her head, bringing her arm down, “No, Sir. Just been a long few hours.”

He gives a single nod in response. He turns and begins walking back into the headquarters, towards one of the surveillance rooms. “I’m putting you with Agent Carter on this hunt for Barnes. I know you’re close to Wilson, and I’m assuming wherever Barnes is, Rogers and him are close. So if you have any way of contacting or tracking him, I’m all ears.”

She looks at him with mild confusion, “How did you…?”

“I did a background check and saw that you both served together. Also, you both have wings. It’s not hard to put it together.”

“Right,” she shakes her head at herself and chuckles. She looks back at Fury, “unfortunately, I have no idea where he is. We don’t exactly keep our phones on us when we're flying.”

“Okay. How ab-” his phone rings and he answers it. He doesn’t say a word and hangs up after only a minute or so, turning to Sharon. “Agent Romanoff has requested you.”

“Yes sir.” she waves her hand for Y/N to follow. She does and they go up an elevator and down a corridor to where Commander Ross was when James was still in holding. They enter the small briefing room where Natasha Romanoff is waiting. Tony Stark sits at the opposite end, out of earshot.

Natasha speaks in a hushed tone, “Secretary Ross just gave us 36 hours to find Barnes and the other two. I need you to find them and figure out a way to get them to willingly come back.”

“All due respect, that’s near impossible,” Sharon replies, “I can get in contact with Steve but there is no way he’s just going to waltz in here with Barnes. A fight of some kind will happen.”

“I was afraid you’d say that. Just get me a location then.”

She nods and walks out, Y/N following. She turns to Sharon, who’s already typing on her phone, “So you expect a fight to happen, and you’re still just….gonna give Agent Romanoff their location? Wouldn’t it be better to, I don’t know, not do that?”

“Theoretically yes, but James Barnes isn’t just anyone. He’s the Winter Soldier, yes, but he’s also Steve’s childhood friend. Assassin or not, that bond is not something that Steve can just push aside.” They walk down some stairs and into a back room as she continues, “He’s going to do whatever he can to keep the authorities - local and SHIELD - away from him. He’s reckless in that manner.”

“You really seem to know the man.”

She shrugs, “I lived across the hall from him for a couple years in Brooklyn. Undercover. I also heard a lot about him from my Aunt Peggy.”

“Peggy Carter?”

“Yeah.” Entering the room, she grabs the shield and Sam’s wings, telling the agent there that she was ordered to transport them. He nods without a question and the two women leave with the items.

They arrive under an abandoned bridge and wait less than five minutes before the blue Bug drives up behind them. There’s a short exchange of words, the trunk is popped, and then Sharon and Steve….kiss. That was unexpected. She crawls back in the car as Steve takes the items out and closes the trunk. He hits the car twice letting them know they can go.

It’s silent for a couple miles before Y/N speaks. “So...we gonna talk about that?”

“Eh..” she shrugs, “it was nothing.”

“Nothing? You just kissed Captain America.”

She laughs, “Yeah. Well, after watching him for two years and pretending to be his neighbor and everything, I thought there was something there. He must’ve too. And yeah, the kiss was good, but I don’t see a relationship happening. It would just be weird,” she shrugs again, “I mean, he really had a thing for Peggy. It would be weird to date him.”

Y/N makes a face, “Oof, true. Probably shouldn’t keep it in the family.” They both laugh at that.

“Your leg is shaking,” Y/N looks down then at Sharon, not even realizing it was happening. “nervous about something?”

She looks out the window for a moment, then back at the blonde, “I guess.” she sighs, “it just...you nonchalantly told Agent Romanoff that a fight was probably going to happen, and she barely reacted. Like she expected you to say that. How are you two not more concerned?”

“This is like a normal Tuesday for us. These people are literal superheroes, and with the whole Accords thing and Vienna on top of that, there’s currently a lot of bad blood running through the Avengers. The only way they know how to solve that is by fighting.”

“Not everyone has superpowers,” she points out, “what if someone dies?”

Sharon shakes her head, “They will fight, but not to the death. None of those people have the stomach for that. It’ll probably be mostly hand-to-hand fighting. Moderate injuries at worst, barely a scratch at best. No hospitals even.”

“You sound so sure.”

“I am,” she nods, “you’re thinking about your buddy, Wilson?”

“Yeah. He lost his right hand in Afghanistan. I just don’t want him to have the same fate.”

Sharon pulls over, putting the car in park. “Get out.”

Y/N looks over at the blonde, “Excuse me?”

“I’m an agent. I can tell that this is going to bother you the whole drive back and if we were to get back to HQ, you’d probably just pace, thinking about all the what if’s. Grab your wings and head back to the airport.”

Y/N considers that, “Yeah, you’re probably right.” She gets out of the car and closes the door, opening the back one to get the wings. Closing that door, she looks through the window and gives Sharon a salute before extending her wings and taking off.

As she approaches, she sees a lot of damage. The parking structure is smoking, basically in ruins, planes and numerous vehicles are destroyed, the tarmac is destroyed, but among all the damage, she sees a black plane leaving a hanger. She’s too far away to see who’s flying it but if she had to guess, it’s most likely Steve taking James somewhere.

Besides being out of eyesight, she doesn’t have the time to figure it out because a line of flying suits are going after the plane. From where she’s at, it looks like Iron Man and War Machine, and a little further behind is…..Sam. She ups her speed and tries to catch up with him.

She gets close, but enough to get his attention. She continues to tail him until suddenly something happens to her jet pack. She glides for a little bit before free falling, but she’s trained for instances like this, so she’s not panicking yet. It’s not until she tries to deploy the emergency chute and it won’t eject that she starts to worry.

The ground continues to get closer. Y/N tries the second emergency chute and that one finally does deploy, but it’s too late. It catches some air but not enough to lift her or slow her fall. She knows what’s about to happen, she just hopes she lives through it. Before hitting the ground, she hits a button on the side of her goggles that sends out an emergency signal to any nearby Falcons. And then she does, not knowing what happens next, everything going black.

tags:

@cake-writes @supraveng @vxidnik @kallafrench @itsallyscorner @polarcrystall @eliza5616 @ilovesupersoldiers @ashwarren32 @itsgonnabe-brian-may

#gallifreys500 #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers imagine #captain america x reader #sam wilson x reader #avengers x reader #Steve Rogers #captain america #MCU fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #mcu ff #marvel ff #marvel #MCU

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jlf23tumble · 5 years ago

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What do you think about a good old fic rec in honour of that new harry content? (With whatever kink you want !)

I was all set to give you some random-ass deep dive, but then INSPIRATION STRUCK ME because I am legit not over this photo, so here’s a fic-related breakdown for ya, my apologies if you’ve already read ‘em because I’m SURE I’ve already rec’d ‘em:

1. She Feels So Good, by zedi. That’s the voice that comes out when Harry’s in a skirt, nails done and gestures soft and flirty. That’s the voice Louis is a sucker for every time, even now when it’s coming from a prerecorded segment playing off a monitor. That’s Louis’ good girl. (imagining of post-Late Late Show antics, I’m using it for the jumpsuit style, which is definitely featured in this one)

2. Tied Down, by @ham-palpert. The most interesting case in Liam and Niall's careers falls directly into their laps, courtesy of an epic fuck-up of one Harry Styles, partner to the almost-infamous drug dealer Louis Tomlinson. (read the tags; death isn’t always as it appears)

3. Ballet Direction series, by Blake/ @newleafover. Harry is invited to practise her Snow Queen solo in a post-class rehearsal with Louis Tomlinson, who is only the most beautiful, charming, talented ex-Sugar Plum Fairy in the whole world. (dreamy girl direction with quasi-disaster ballerina Harry)

4. little black dress (it’s all right), by istajmaal. harry is a girl sometimes. louis loves her all the time. (start of an amazing genderfluid series, and we’re spoiled for choice with fics of Harry in a dress, but this series packs an emotional punch)

5. A Certain Romance, by 13ways. A rumor isn’t a rumor when it doesn’t go away, said Elton John. Harry and Louis make sure the rumors don’t go away. Pretty Harry. Louis wants to do things to him. (part of another great series, this time the end of one, and I picked it for the shirt description alone)

6. Take Me Under the Blue, by objectlesson/ @alienfuckeronmain. Louis hasn’t even seen his legs yet. He doesn’t know how they work or how long they’ll be. Maybe they won’t suit the rest of Harry at all, and he’ll have to grow into them or something. It doesn’t matter; Louis has loved Harry for a year with scales, so he can’t imagine wonky legs putting a damper on his attraction. (I know I literally rec’d this last week, but this picture gives me mermaid with legs vibes??? idk, but this is a great fic, so here you go)

7. Small Doses (Loving You It’s Explosive), by QuickedWeen. Louis and Harry continue to clash all while Harry is trying to move his way up the ranks in Manchester's amateur boxing circuit, but they can't seem to stay away from each other. (so many great boxing fics, but the dynamic in this one, inchresting, and bonus points to the daddy kink in the sequel)

8. taste on my tongue (just can’t get enough of you), by messyjessy08 (needs ao3). He pulls a hand up to his chest, pressing hard against one of his pecs, “My fucking—her crying’s making them—Lou.” Louis gasps, understanding. He reaches a hand up, pushing Harry’s aside, and thumbs gently across Harry’s nipple, somehow already dark and swollen, without having touched them once. “Lou, they’re fucking—’m leaking.” (yeah, boiiiiiiiii, mpreg, a/b/o, AND lactation kink, and it’s all because that last picture is so Chesty LaRoux, I cannot WAIT for the HQs)

#fic rec #hello to my new followers lmao #anyway yeah!!#picture 8 is somethin' else #eternally fond of 4

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hcurly · 5 years ago

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♡ 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚖𝚎(𝚖𝚎) — 𝚘𝚘𝚌 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚎.

In which Nikki could not get all three of her muses in one gif and @ariagrans comes through. ( @hollywoodland-hqs )

How long have you been roleplaying?

I feel like I was roleplaying before I even knew what it was. So, 10 years, probably.

What are your hobbies outside of writing?

I am the most boring person ever. Lately I just work, sleep, and play Animal Crossing. I have a horrible attention span for some things, but I do enjoy reading when I have the energy to pick up a new book, watching TV shows (I love Barry and rewatched it a couple times, and have SNL playing a lot) and movies, faves being drama, horror and comedies. I also admittedly watch John Mulaney’s comedy specials far too often, is that a hobby?

Do you have any pets? Tell us about them!

I live with my 5 year old dog Lucy (demon diva pug) and my family’s dog, Misty (wholesome black lab/pit mix pupper who is actually 9). We also have my sister’s ancient rabbit, Oliver, and our even more ancient turtle Speedy living with us.

If you had a month of free time to learn to do something new, what would you choose?

Sadly, I just had this and didn’t do it.. but, if I had a month of free time AND ambition / a will to actually do something, I’d love to relearn guitar and ukelele. I own both and I’m clueless to them now. I also would love to get into photography. Anything creative, I guess!

Do you listen to music while you write? What are three songs on your playlist?

Most of the time! Which is why my replies are probably a mess sometimes, oops. I have playlists for different ships, and am slowly working on muse playlists. Most of the time, though, I just listen to what I feel like at the time. Three random songs I’ve listened to most recently: Falling by Harry Styles, Liability by Lorde, everything i wanted by Billie Eilish. Yes, I’m a sad bitch sometimes.

What’s a favorite recent youtube video/channel?

I love Dylan Is In Trouble and his movie commentaries cheer me up. I also enjoy watching a lil bit of Buzzfeed Unsolved because Shane and Ryan are everything and true crime / the supernatural is interesting to me.

Tell us one random fact about you!

Some people know this already, but my only tattoo is on my forearm and it’s in Harry Styles’ handwriting. It says “all the love” and I got it just over 5 years ago. Dedication to my muse, check.

Who is an FC you’ve always wanted to use but haven’t yet?

Uhhh. I most recently picked up the ones I would’ve answered for this, so. Probably a female FC, but I’m not great at playing them therefore there’s always hesitation. Sophie Turner, perhaps. I also have FCs I’ve played years ago and would adore playing again for nostalgia, but I don’t think I’d get a good grip on them again. I guess that one would go to Brendon Urie.

What’s a plot you’ve always wanted to write but haven’t yet?

MORE ANGSTY STUFF. IDK.

Do you have a favorite plot you’ve seen someone else in the group do?

The Evan/Billie plot had me all whaaaaat. So, maybe that! But I genuinely enjoy seeing everyone’s muses and/or ships blossom, no matter what. ( @evanpeaters, @goodlourd )

Who on the dash makes you smile?

Is it cheating to say literally everyone? I think of this group as a family and am really happy writing with everyone. Some I’ve been writing with forever, and others I just simply love dearly. I’ll tag a few URLs I remember off of the top of my head, but this truly goes for everyone. ( @ariagrans , @ohlizzo , @itsgenevievegnt , @jocklowden , @hqnessa , @diannahq , @larsonhqs )

What is your favorite memory in the group?

I’ve been here since day 1, and seeing this place open and strive to become a safe haven in the RPC has to be the best memory. But from then on, I’ve loved stuff like group trips that allow everyone to interact.

What’s your favorite thing about your celeb(s)?

Harry Styles: I love how kind this man is. He truly has a heart of gold, and I try to showcase that as much as I can through writing him. I’ve stanned my lil Harry for so long, and seeing him become the person that he is makes me happy.

Bill Hader: This guy. I just love him, idk man. I could listen to his dumb laugh on repeat and the talent that he has amazes me. Cliche answer, but my favorite thing about him would be his personality. He can be serious but he also has that silly, funny side everyone loves and I think he’s well rounded and just such a delight. I adore him.

John Mulaney: I really like how open he is, especially with things that he’s struggled with and how he’s overcome them. I know he gives a lot of people hope that whatever they’re going through, it can be possible to come out on the other side. Watching him do stand up gets me out of dark times and I truly love him with my entire heart. One of my favorite people ever.

What’s a plot you miss?

I miss playing Joe and having Jack be savage as hell to him. I just miss playing him so much in general sometimes. #RIPJoe ( @jocklowden )

What would you love to see this group do in the future?

Group events are my favorite, so, stuff like trips, etc, never get old to me. I love having all my muses in one place and having some stuff sprinkled out during the week that they can chat about and get everyone involved. Maybe something like a Hollywood Land yearbook would be fun, a blog of some memories and superlatives that match our muses. To play off what Ina said, completely AU work projects that everyone could be on together sounds fun, like a movie with a random plot with directors, writers, actors, musicians on the soundtrack with a premiere at the end of it. I HAVE NO IDEA? Just... lovely group things that make my heart go whoooosh and make people feel loved and involved.

#( out of styles )#( ooc meme )#( appreciation week )

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arc-ada · 8 years ago

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Baby's first liveblog - Save Me! Lollipop ep1

This isn't my frist time watching this series. That would have been back sometime in my early middle school (maybe younger?) years, shortly after discovering the wonder that was the free anime section on Hulu. As such it was one of the frist anime I ever watched.

My actual memory of the show is limited to the point I'm honestly kinda surprised I found it again.

The things I remember are as follows:

1. Even at the time I would have hesitated to call the series as a whole......good. I probably wouldn’t have called it bad either but... (not that that stopped me from staying up late bingeing it)

2. The characters are very clearly color coded.

3. I found the bad guys oddly compelling (the main aspect I'm curious to see whether or not it holds up)

4. The gist of the plot was that the female lead swallows some magic something and tus needs protection by the mail leads

5. The people who want the magic thing intend to basically rip it out of her killing her in the process

6.The villain's backstory ep made me sad and frightened and I loved it

7. My tiny child self’s introduction the concept of the beach ep. horribly risqué by my standards at the time

8. The ending was kinda disappointing

Also worth noting that I'm watching the dub, because that is how I originally experienced it.

So here goes episode one “The Princes Who Fell from the Sky!”

I may regret going with the dub. (I'm leaving the captions on to so then I can get dialog in screen caps and type less.)

We open with our main heroine finding herself unable to relate to her friends attraction to a boy. #relatable

She then relates her Ideal guy in a manner that's generic but not as generic as my old go to of “a nice one I guess?” #significantly less relatable

The main attribute she seems to want?

Willingness to die for her.

Somewhat interesting that there's already two of them in her fantasy sequence

Honestly I kinda understand getting the urge to stick the magical-gem-thing in your mouth even without mistaking it for candy (the candy thing is definitely a better reason than that though)

Part of the way through the conversation, after the subject of cake comes up, One of her friends starts quietly repeating the phrase “I love cake” while the other friend keeps talking to Pink (I’m just gonna call her pink). I now headcanon nameless friend #2 as being autistic. I’m glad she’s happy.

The rest of the main cast literally fly down from the sky, accompanied by a bunch of other randos. Our heroine is rightfully alarmed by this, causing her to swallow the gem. The male leads calms her down.

instantly meeting her one real standard.

I'm glad I've reached a point in my life where I don't feel the need to try and force myself to enjoy this particular wish fulfillment fantasy

I have thoughts about this whole theme song but I'm just gonna leave you with the opening line.(if you ignore the chanting the song really opens with, that is)

Our heroes quickly figure out Pink has swallowed “the crystal pearl” as it is apparently called.

Blue proves himself to be the less composed of the two but Red keeps him in check.

Things are all moving pretty fast right now.

useless sidekick I haven't felt the need to mention until now screws things up.

This new guy's voice is the worst yet and that's saying something.

Middle school me is legitimately shocked and scandalized. I feel nothing.

The boys reveal that they’re sorcerers from some non-earth place, despite already having seen them fly and use magic Pink doesn't believe them.

The boys go into more detail explaining that there completing a final exam of sorts by playing a really intense and competitive game of fetch. Whichever team gets the pearl becomes pro-sorcerers

Pink finally believes them and realizes the danger she's in (or at least the inconvenience of her situation.)

Magic HQ say they can make a medicine to get the pearl out

(well isn’t that a fun coincidence) Honestly kudos for these guys for keeping their Wizard aesthetic intact without going so far as to ban usefull things like cellphones. (looking at you harry potter)

The boys vow to protect Pink just in time for the giant owl to show back up.

Red tries to employ the same escape strategy as before.

Gotta get this all laid out as fast as we possibly can. Definitely not any more interesting ways to convey something like that than to just say it.

The party splits up to get Pink away from the villains. Half of them fly into the air with the less-useless-than-expected-sidekick

She then proceed to try to wriggle her way out of blue's arms (no really) almost falls to her death and then gets embarrassed when he catches her.

Middle school me and I are a bit more on the same page here, seriously man what the hell. I thought we were supposed to like you.

They plummet for real this time. Pink uses blues face to break her fall. Good on her.

I feel like this show really doesn't trust its audience to follow what's happening at all. It's seems like every thought the characters have needs to be said out loud at least twice.

Purple cuts right to the chase.

I have a certain respect for Purple.

Brown's (? I swear I remember this guy being Green before. I may have misremembered just how color-coded these characters are) laugh sounds like a chipmunk.

Purple begs for sweets, Brown contemplates murder.

I can't decide whether or not I'd find Purple annoying if it weren't for nostalgia. As it is I'm getting the warm fuzzies.

Okay that's adorable.

Cuteness continues.

Brown gets jealous. Declares he won't protect Pink.

Purple establishes why she and brown are the villains. Much to Pink and Middle school me's surprise.

look at her little face

I love her so much

Absolutely brutal.

Brown is inclined to agree.

I guess the sudden turn they take from non-threatening to dark is part of why they stuck out in my mind so much.

If they had shown this scene first I would have thought they were overreacting.

oh my gosh

holy shit

she just

okay so the snakes are browns thing and he has a magic whistle

Okay apparently the flute is a bigger deal than I realized

also

the ugly CG snake seems like a needlessly complicated and drawn out form of murder.

there's multiple flashbacks to early in the episode with dialog I don't remember being there before?

admittedly there's a decent chance I just got caught up writing this and forgot. (I swear I didn’t intentionally get a screenshot where it looks like she’s staring at his ass)

I'm pretty sure this is new.

Pink gathers up her strength and cries for help. This seems to make the boy's magic doodad tracker, which I believe I failed to mention before, go off.

it's shaped like a teddy-bear

The boys Make a dramatic entrance kool-aid man style

Oh? Snap? What an amazing zinger?

Magic fight ensues. Baddies continue to be very open about the plan to brutally kill Pink.

Brown makes clear his plan to hypnotise red and blue while awkwardly talking around his flute.

Pink gets all martyr-y

sidekick assures Pink Red and Blue can't lose because “there fighting for something Important”

We get some backstory about red and blue having been protected by someone themselves once. Other than the fact this guy uses he and is older than blue which don't know who but they make sound like stand up dude.

This does go a way to make blue seem a bit more likable so I guess it serves it's purpose pretty well.

Honestly the whole protection spiel here is fairly sweet even if it's super cheesy. I think the explicit mention of familial love makes it a lot more palatable than the plain “boy knights protect girl princess because that's how it works” thing they've had going on up until this point.

Doesn’t really relate to the situation at hand all that well though. Trying to make us feel the same way about pink and these boys she just met rings pretty hollow. and trying to have that same dynamic in what is clearly intended to be a blossoming romantic relationship is still pretty uncomfortable. It’s really one sided. I'll be interested to see how they handle that and if Pink gets a chances to come into her own any.

The Boys get what looks like a magical-girl transformation sequence but they don't change clothes.

Blue blasts off the baddies à la team-rocket

I love her

The team reaffirms that everything's cool between them and their devoted to their mission. Pink swoons some more.

until hijinks ensue again

And so we reach the end of the episode and I am left with the start of a beautiful collection

#Save Me! Lollipop #Mamotte! Lollipop #live blogging #anime liveblogging #Save Me! Lollipop live blog #this got long but it's really mainly images

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agentdagonet · 8 years ago

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Echoes, Ch. 7

can’t believe I forgot to put the last 2 chapters of Echoes up here. Seeing as I’m about to upload chapter 9, I’ll put 7 and 8 up beforehand. Thanks for sticking around, guys!

Find it here on AO3

Find it here on tumblr: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Fic Summary: Feet dangling off the edge of the bed, hands still resting on the earpieces of his glasses, Eggsy opened his eyes.

And promptly shut them again, screwing them shut like a child who had the distinct misfortune of biting into a raw lemon. Breathing harshly in his nose and out his mouth, trying to stave off whatever delusional panic had befallen him, Eggsy reopened his eyes.

‘Harry?’

Or: The Hologram Story Nobody Asked For

Eggsy had spent the weeks following the Hologram Incident trying to go back to the way things had been before it. Sure there were things missing in the house now, a few knick-knacks and paintings- the most notable loss was that picture of a demon-looking thing by the kitchen which Eggsy was only too happy to part with. Mr. Pickle was one thing, he had a sentimental excuse, but the demon-thing (he didn't even want to give it a name. When you name something, you want to keep it- no way Eggsy was going down that slope) had put Eggsy off from eating more than once after tough missions.

He didn't wear the glasses inside, changed from his suits as soon as he was able, locked everything back up tightly in the wall, and moved on. It's what Harry would have wanted.

Except he couldn't put Holo-Harry from his mind. He'd wanted Eggsy to have something of him than those few periods they'd had together that hadn't involved Eggsy reading to an unresponsive body. What had he meant by that? What was hiding in those hard drives that Harry had wanted him to have? As curious as he was, he knew that now was not the time. He was still mourning him, he was still reeling from the loss of him, and to go and peruse his private files... Eggsy was just about positive it would break him, to learn more about Harry than he had already known. If this was how shattered he was from losing a near-stranger how much more painful would it be to have lost a friend?

It's a unique situation, to be able to learn more about someone you already felt connected to after they had died, but it wasn't one Eggsy thought he could get through. Not yet.

So he snatched up every mission he had the opportunity to bid for. He kept himself busy, out of the house, away from his mum and Daisy; he kept himself from thinking too deeply about anything other than completing the mission at hand and getting out alive. Of course, these things weren't meant to last, and soon enough Eggsy had broken his left arm and was forced out of the field for just over a month barring emergencies.

'You can't be serious- the fuck am I supposed to do here for a month?!' 'You could always catch up on your reports- last I heard Merlin was ready to break a limb himself if it would get you to write them up.' The words were muffled in the way only holding a pen cap between your teeth can make them, but they needn't be perfectly clear for Eggsy to hear the smile in her voice. Roxy had a sharpie in one hand, Eggsy's arm in the other, held at such an angle that he had no idea what she was doing with the former of the two.

'That's exactly what I'm gonna do, yeah? Out of commission so I'm gonna write about all those times I actually did the job without fucking up. Cheerful.' It's bitter, but he chuckles anyway. In his haste to get in and out of his (Harry's) house he hadn't bothered to sit down and type up his reports. 'Why do they need me to write 'em down anyway? They was there and there's recordin's and shit why torture us with paperwork?'

'Just because we're not affiliated with any government doesn't mean that we're without governing, Eggsy.' She'd spit the cap out, now, her tongue sticking out slightly in concentration, 'But I also think they're a bit mad you've been doing so much. There's policies about working too much, you know, and if it weren't for the world still being a relative wreck from V-Day you'd have passed them long ago.'

'I don't see you getting corrected for bein' out on assignment so much.' This was the first time they'd had more than an hour together since the Hologram Incident- not that Roxy knew anything about that. He didn't know how to put it into words- and he highly doubted Merlin was off telling Roxy about all his personal time outside of HQ. Still, the point remained: Roxy had been just as busy as Eggsy had been, she wasn't one to talk.

'That's probably because I do what they ask the first time, Eggsy.' She nods to herself, taking a picture on her phone before capping the sharpie. 'Anyway, I'm off for the next two days- you up for a night in tomorrow? I'll bring pizza, you grab beer, we'll Netflix a shitty film?'

'Yeah, alright.'

-----

'Hey, mum.' Eggsy kissed her on the cheek before swooping down to do the same to his sister; if he was gonna be grounded for the next month he was going to use the time to catch up with his family. No better use for it.

'Surprised to see you 'round, sweetheart- it's been a while.' She continued to stir the pot, but nods him towards the place at the table he sets up every time. It was autopilot, and luckily he was over often enough for dinner to warrant the muscle memory, though he often arrived more injured than the last time she'd seen him.

'Yeah, sorry 'bout that- they had me travelling from posh place to posh place picking up fabric- got this blue silk in that would look lovely on you, mum.'

'Oh none of that tripe here, love. Forge' about work and enjoy a nice dinner with your family. Just cos you've got your own place and a fancy job doesn't mean you can' come back home and relax, babe.'

Dinner itself was uneventful, on the whole; Eggsy made sure Daisy ate all her food and didn't feed it all to her imaginary dragon, Spots. Cute as the notion was, the mess was not fun to clean up, so Eggsy was sure to act out leaving some food for Spots in the living room before they actually began eating. The evening settled down when Daisy tuckered out, Eggsy brought her to bed and read her a story about knights and dragons (she had an unnatural obsession with dragons for her age), and now the two adults were sat on the couch with mugs of hot chocolate.

There was something to be said about the little things.

'Had someone come 'round about your dad, called himself Merlin.' Eggsy didn't want to have this conversation now. Actually, he wasn't certain that he wanted to have this conversation ever but this was his mum and there was no way he was getting out of this.

'Oh?'

'Don't play dumb, Eggsy; there's only so many people in the world who would willingly introduce themselves as Merlin- I know he's your boss.’

‘Yeah, well, forgive me if this is all new territory- I never really expected you to meet. Let alone in those kind of circumstances.’

‘So you knew he was coming, then? Pretty out of nowhere.’

'You can’t plan finding someone’s Will when you didn’t think one existed, mum. And I wasn’ gonna drag up the past- not after you just getting through everything else.’

‘You knew what happened to your dad and you didn’t tell me?’

‘Yeah; I mean it’s not like I could just pop up and say “hey, mum, I know how dad died!” cos you’d have asked how I found out and it woulda been a mess. Never you mind that Dean literally tried to kill me the day I found out and only stopped cos of that voice saying he was gonna tell the police. Never felt like an okay time to tell you, after that.’ Eggsy shrugged; he couldn't meet her eye, not with that between them.

‘I- well... you still shoulda told me.’

‘Why, to get you all depressed all over again right as you were getting through this? I remember what you were like right after dad died. I wasn’t gonna subject Daisy to that.’

‘I did my best, Eggsy!’

‘You let dads death eat you up inside so deeply that you forgot my birthday and I had to go and make myself somethin’ sweet cos I wanted my birthday to be like before. Twice.’ Michelle had no response to that, looked down at her lap and wrung her hands trying to think of a way to show Eggsy she had been trying. ‘I know it was hard, mum, but it was like you forgo’ all about how your decisions were affecting me after that. I don’t blame you now, but it weren’t fun either and I wasn’t gonna let Daisy go through something like that if I could help it. So no, I wasn’t gonna tell you.’

‘Well I know now. And I haven’t ended up like that.’ She’s justifying the past and defending the present all in one go. Or trying to, at least.

‘And I don’t think I’ve been more grateful to the universe in all my life.’

‘... So he also mentioned his friend.’ It's said casually, overly casually, and Eggsy was immediately on alert. This wasn't gonna end well.

‘The one who died?’ Maybe if he acts disinterested she'll let it go.

‘Yeah; said his name, too’ Oh no. ‘Said his name was Harry an’ doesn’t that sound familiar.’

‘Mum, do you really want to talk about this now?'

'Yeah, I do- why're you so banged up about his friend's death that you're still needing nights with Roxy? I love her, don' get me wrong, but it feels like every time you both are over she ends up holdin' you while you cry.' She may not have been there for him before but she sure as hell was going to be there now. If it wasn't already too late.

'Yeah, well I don't want to talk about this.' C'mon Michelle, you can do this.

'Tha's just too bad, Eggsy, cos I got the feeling you need to talk abou' it. I'm not letting this slide, love, it's been over a year-'

'Yeah well it certainly took you longer than tha' to pull yourself together after dad so sorry if I'm not over his death yet.'

'I-' She looked contrite, one hand extended as if to offer comfort, but Eggsy didn't want anyone touching him right then. He's never good about tactile comfort in times of stress. Dean left a pretty deep scar over the whole touching thing.

'I'm heading out, mum. I'll see you next week, maybe.' She'd pushed him too far, too soon.

Michelle covered her mouth with one hand, stifling a sob as the door clicked shut behind him.

#dagonet writes #echoes #kingsman #kingsman: the secret service

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willafigg · 7 years ago

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my staff took offense to my Facebook post, private dinner ahead of a holiday party, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My employees took offense to my Facebook post

I am the manager at a food service establishment. I am Facebook friends with just a few of my current employees (from back before I was a manager), but do not make it a practice to continue to add my employees on Facebook.

The other day, I was frustrated that I couldn’t find anyone to cover a shift, and had a conversation like this: Employee: I really need more hours. Me: I’ll do my best! I need someone on Saturday, want to come in two hours early? Employee: Nah, I don’t want to.

It struck me as kind of funny, as well as frustrating, and I posted it on Facebook, with no identifying details and some details obscured to make it as nonspecific as possible. Two days later, two employees who I’m not friends with on FB are taking offense to it and gossiping about it behind my back. How do I resolve this? I feel bad that I offended someone and shouldn’t post work-related frustrations on Facebook in the future, but also feel like they are being overly sensitive and inappropriately spreading negativity in the workplace.

I don’t think they’re overreacting — while you might not have intended to, you basically mocked an employee publicly. You can’t blame them for spreading negativity when all they’re doing is talking about something you did (which is the original source of the negativity, if you think about it!). I agree with you that that was a ridiculous exchange, but you’ve got to have some discretion as a manager and making fun of an employee destroys the trust people need to have in you.

The best way to resolve this now is to apologize to the employee, and to others who saw or heard about it. Say that you thought you could joke about it good-humoredly without any ill will, but you regret doing it and you’re sorry for causing people discomfort, and you’re not going to use Facebook to talk about work in the future. And then stick to that. If you otherwise have good relations with the people you manage, this should blow over.

2. My company has a Salvation Army angel tree, and I don’t want to support a religious, anti-LGBTQ organization

For the holidays, my company (large, multinational corporation) put up a Salvation Army angel tree in the cafeteria. For readers who don’t know, an angel tree has tags on it with an underprivileged kid’s name, and a list of items they’d like for Christmas they wouldn’t otherwise get. People take the tags, buy what’s on them, and bring the items back to be given to the child. To my company’s credit, they implemented it well. No pressure to donate, just a single office-wide email making us aware of the tree and its location. It seems to have proven popular, as a second email went out stating the first tree’s tags had all been taken, and a second was now available.

So what’s the problem? I personally don’t feel comfortable supporting the Salvation Army for a couple reasons. First, they’re a religious-based organization and I’m an atheist. Secondly, and most importantly, they have a history of anti-LGBTQ views and discrimination, including backing out of care agreements that would have required them to help LGBTQ individuals. An angel tree is normally something I’d want to take part in, but I can’t in good conscious support such an organization with my money. If there were other, secular and non-discriminatory charitable options available through my employer, I would happily support one of those. However, the Salvation Army angel tree is the only holiday charitable outreach my company’s location (North America HQ) is doing (that I’m aware of).

I don’t think my employer would want to appear anti-LGBTQ, and I want to think they care about one of their employees wanting to participate in charity, but not being able to due to ethical reasons. How would you suggest I address this?

Speak up! Talk to whoever has the authority to ensure this is done differently next year (or potentially even to add other charity options this year) and approach as if you’re assuming they didn’t realize and will want to be more inclusive. Say something like, “I’m concerned that we picked a charity with a history of anti-LGBTQ views. I’m not sure if you realize, but the Salvation Army LGBTQ discrimination and has even backed out of care agreements that would have required them to help LGBTQ people. I don’t think that’s something the company would want to be associated — and I think there are people here, myself included, who would love to participate in charitable outreach if we instead were working with a secular and more inclusive organization. Is it possible to get some more inclusive options for this year, or make sure that we switch this next year?”

3. Private dinner ahead of a holiday party

My husband works for one location of a larger, national organization with several other locations in our city (it’s a network of charter schools). The national organization throws a Christmas party for all the school staff in our city on a Friday night and spouses are invited. The principal at my husband’s school is taking his staff out for a nice dinner before the actual party and my husband was just informed today (two weeks after the initial invite) that spouses are not invited to the dinner but may meet up with everyone after

While the party wasn’t especially appealing to me in the first place, I really don’t want to show up after he’s been to the dinner. (For context, I won’t know anyone and work for a competing charter network.) How can I bow out without looking like a prima donna? Should I suck it up and go?

If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to go. You can simply have a schedule conflict; no one from his office is going to to think you’re a prima donna for not going; it’s very normal to have conflicting plans, especially at this time of year.

That said, this doesn’t sound particularly outrageous. Holidays parties are, at some level, team-buiding events, and your husband’s principal wants to have time where their whole team gets together ahead of the party. That’s not really a big deal or worth being offended over, or skipping a party that you were otherwise happy to go to.

4. Taking on long-term projects when I know I’ll be quitting soon

I moved out to my current city (across the country with no friends or family in the area) nearly three years ago and am finding that I really don’t like it here. After a lot of wrestling with this, I’ve finally decided to leave and will be relocating to be closer to family and friends. I plan to quit my job in a few months when my lease ends (February). This was a tough choice because I love my job and the company I work for, but this is the best choice for me.

I haven’t told my supervisor yet because I feel that giving this much notice is inappropriate and could just make things awkward, but I am concerned because I am being asked to start working on long-term projects that I know I won’t be around for. Should I start them knowing I won’t be around to finish them or is there a way to get out of these projects without letting my boss know why? Or should I just tell him now?

Nope, you shouldn’t tell your manager before you’re ready to give notice. (And there’s advice here on figuring out whether that should be two weeks or longer.)

It’s very, very normal for people to take on long-term projects but then end up leaving midway through them. In fact, it’s rare for anyone in a job that has long-term projects not to do this. It’s just part of doing business. Otherwise no one could ever take on any long-term projects because there’s never a guarantee that they’d be around to finish them. Keep doing your job just as you’d always do it until you’re ready to give notice.

5. My coworker is always late and always explaining it to me

I work in academia and I have been at my current job about four months. My officemate and coworker and I started at the same time and basically have the same job, just working under different people. We work in an office very separate from the rest of our department and faculty, like essentially a different (but interconnected) building. We both commute in, her on transit and I drive. Regularly (as in every day) she is 20-50 minutes late for work, but still leaves at the same time as me at the end of the day.

Now, I know this behavior is annoying but realistically doesn’t impact my work or my life, so I try and not let it bug me. The problem is that every day she’s late, she makes a point to say something about it, most often “Omg, I really need to start catching the earlier bus! I miss it by five minutes and then I have to wait for the next bus and that one isn’t the express.” I don’t know how to respond anymore! I find it awkward that she tries to justify her lateness to me, as I’m not her boss, just a coworker. The thing about our office is that literally no one would ever know she was late unless I said something, which I don’t think I would ever do. I do like her, as far as I can tell she’s very good at her job, so I don’t want this to become a problem. But I almost get the vibe she’s explaining herself just in case I “tattle” or am judging her or something? Gah, I just feel like I’m put into an awkward position every morning!

That’s annoying. I think you’re probably better off just internally rolling your eyes and ignoring it, but if you do want to say something, you could say, “You’ve said that a bunch. Do do you think you need to start leaving earlier?” Say that once or twice, and she’ll probably stop with the comments every morning. Be aware, though, that that approach risks souring the relationship between you. (Not that it should, and not that it definitely will — but it’s possible.)

You may also like:

my coworkers keeps hacking into my Facebook and posting as me

I overheard higher-ups complaining about my friend, posting on a company’s Facebook page after applying, and more

I’m in trouble for telling a former employee that my coworkers have been making fun of her

my staff took offense to my Facebook post, private dinner ahead of a holiday party, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

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#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703

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shotbydalonewolf · 7 years ago

Text

my staff took offense to my Facebook post, private dinner ahead of a holiday party, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My employees took offense to my Facebook post

2. My company has a Salvation Army angel tree, and I don’t want to support a religious, anti-LGBTQ organization

3. Private dinner ahead of a holiday party

4. Taking on long-term projects when I know I’ll be quitting soon

Nope, you shouldn’t tell your manager before you’re ready to give notice. (And there’s advice here on figuring out whether that should be two weeks or longer.)

5. My coworker is always late and always explaining it to me

You may also like:

my coworkers keeps hacking into my Facebook and posting as me

I overheard higher-ups complaining about my friend, posting on a company’s Facebook page after applying, and more

I’m in trouble for telling a former employee that my coworkers have been making fun of her

my staff took offense to my Facebook post, private dinner ahead of a holiday party, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703 http://ift.tt/2j1wU79 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703

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s-kinnyheaven · 7 years ago

Text

my staff took offense to my Facebook post, private dinner ahead of a holiday party, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My employees took offense to my Facebook post

2. My company has a Salvation Army angel tree, and I don’t want to support a religious, anti-LGBTQ organization

3. Private dinner ahead of a holiday party

4. Taking on long-term projects when I know I’ll be quitting soon

Nope, you shouldn’t tell your manager before you’re ready to give notice. (And there’s advice here on figuring out whether that should be two weeks or longer.)

5. My coworker is always late and always explaining it to me

You may also like:

my coworkers keeps hacking into my Facebook and posting as me

I overheard higher-ups complaining about my friend, posting on a company’s Facebook page after applying, and more

I’m in trouble for telling a former employee that my coworkers have been making fun of her

my staff took offense to my Facebook post, private dinner ahead of a holiday party, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703 http://ift.tt/2j1wU79 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703

0 notes

shmow-zows · 7 years ago

Text

my staff took offense to my Facebook post, private dinner ahead of a holiday party, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My employees took offense to my Facebook post

2. My company has a Salvation Army angel tree, and I don’t want to support a religious, anti-LGBTQ organization

3. Private dinner ahead of a holiday party

4. Taking on long-term projects when I know I’ll be quitting soon

Nope, you shouldn’t tell your manager before you’re ready to give notice. (And there’s advice here on figuring out whether that should be two weeks or longer.)

5. My coworker is always late and always explaining it to me

You may also like:

my coworkers keeps hacking into my Facebook and posting as me

I overheard higher-ups complaining about my friend, posting on a company’s Facebook page after applying, and more

I’m in trouble for telling a former employee that my coworkers have been making fun of her

my staff took offense to my Facebook post, private dinner ahead of a holiday party, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703 http://ift.tt/2j1wU79 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703

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kapitanwingter · 7 years ago

Text

Chapter 4 - Rustbucket

"Whaaat now...." I said still half asleep "Just five more minutes...stop with the ringing already...."

In the end I did punched the clock so it would stop ringing.

Then I looked at it. And shouted.

"ÉDES FASZOM I'M LATE"

I still can't describe the situation better than I did back then. Having said screw you to breakfast I jumped into my uniform grabbed a pen and the notebook closest to me and rushed towards the school building.

I saw nobody walking towards it so I panicked and started running even faster. In the end I arrived at the gate by seven-fifty-four.

"My my what brings you here miss I-will-almost-skip-school-today" said the morale committee girl at the gate "Guess this is your lucky day already, carry on Hungary-san"

"Thanks a lot" I said "Annoyance-san.."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" she shouted after me.

"I SAID KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK" I replied

"That's not what you..."

"SORRYCANTHEARCHA" I said as I slammed the main door behind me.

I swore to myself I would never be late again. That brunette half-pint midget was really creepy.

First lesson was math for which I had enough energy first time in my life since I literally ran a kilometer fourty seconds after I had woken up. Math is the subject I love and hate the same time equally. It's interesting....most of the times....when I understand it. Not to mention I'll need it if I ever want to be an engineer just like Dad. Of course I can e-mail him and he always helps me but honestly this is the case when you either figure the things out for yourself or you will never understand it.

After math it was history.

Then Japanese, which is currently the most troublesome for me. Why you might ask? I'm not a native though I must learn literature and culture during these lessons. Interesting but rather hard though not necessarily useless for me.

As for fourth period I sat through an English lesson the very same way I did it back home. I know everything there is to me, not to mention the level I studied before was higher. They focus on foreign languages in this country but they are not really good at them. I guess it's only natural so understandable.

Nothing really happened during this time. I talked to some classmates between lessons and the teachers didn't tease me much and it's not hard to figure out why.

Lunchtime.

I didn't take my time today, I went to the dining hall and on the way I ran into Saki. They were writing some kind of welcome-back test because their math teacher is like that. She finished early while the others are still struggling with it.

"I mean I know that woman but still...it is getting closer to the last drop" she said.

"Sounds like you didn't do very well" I replied.

"Nah, I wouldn't say it was easy but as my Mom always says I shouldn't try to deal with things I can't so I left some things unanswered. Like two out of ten. Anyways let's eat something"

"Yeah"

I just pushed a random button on the vendor however Saki took her time to figure out what she wanted to eat. You could naturally bring a bento but we are not in the situation where any of our moms could make us lunch. We sat down at a table in front of each other with two seats to spare. I was looking out the huge windows of which we sat next to while reacting and answering to Saki's monolgue about waterpolo. I don't dislike the sport I just don't like it very much though my Dad does it when he has time and my country is strong in it.

Some time later two of Saki's classmates came by.

"Good day Tamara"

"Good day Kaga" I replied "Please, do sit if you want.

"Much obliged" she said "This is Nashikawa Kanae, our classmate"

She was a bit shorter than me, had a ton of bracelet on her arms and a necklace. She also had middle sized black hair and a very overconfident look on her face.

"Howdy" said Kanae "Finally met you, nice to meat'cha! Call me Kan"

"Likewise" I said "You can call me Tam or Tami"

"Sooooouh..." said Kan "Heard you might consider taking up sensha-dou, huh?"

"News sure spread fast"

"Or Saki over here just approoves of you a lot"

Saki blushed a bit.

"Don't you worry a bit!" she continued "I will teach you everything I know...if you can keep up that is"

"You're going overboard again, Kanae" said Kaga.

"Oh right like you can teach her everything miss I-shot-through-the-garage-on-my-first-day-chan"

"Which never happened again because I read the manuals after and had no problems ever since" said Kaga calmly

"Waitasec" I said "You are doing sensha-dou as well?"

"Your deduction capabilities are sparkling today" she said.

"At least you know what a tank is, right?" asked Kan

I grined with half of my face while cracking my fists under the table and explained to her how well I "know what a tank is, right".

Kaga and Saki were eating their food calmly as Kan there next to me went a bit pale.

"I hope I didn't say anything bad" I said

"Not to us" said Kaga.

"I had no idea you are already such a pro miss Tami" said Saki.

"I guess Kan-chan here can't play the big-bad senpai role with you" said Kaga.

"You actually shot an 88....?" said in the end Kan.

"Yes" I replied

"That. Is. AWESOME" she bursted out in the end "I've always wanted to shoot the big guns but goddamn I'm-the-boss-here Captain said 'Only after you had released all the energy inside of you'...."

"This Captain you are speaking of sounds rather bossy..."

"I would rather put it like" said Kaga "She doesn't approove of hasty decisions near a tank. Otherwise she is very confident and energetic...well...not as much as Kan-chan here"

"Oh don't you start it again..." said Kan.

"Starting what?"

"Nevermind..."

After talking to Kan for a little while I thought she really was good in heart. Just a bittle over-enthusiastic.

Lunch time was over. I headed back for another Japanese, biology and domestic-appliances class.

I was told to meet with with the sensha-dou team at their club-house, next to the big buildings I saw the other day. I looked in the dusty window and I could see a few people there as if they were waiting. I was ten minutes early of the de-briefing. I stepped in.

"Hi there" said the girl up front who came to greet me.

"Good day" I replied "Is this the..sensha-dou clubhouse?"

"If you want to call it that" replied the previous tall girl with long brown hair "But we prefer calling it HQ. I'm Eguchi Emese by the way but the others call me Cap for Százados"

She was wearing what seemed to me the tank uniform of this school. A dark olive colured coverall with a belt but she didn't wear the top half so her undershirt was visible. There was also an M39 Hungarian tanker hat on the table up from which I assumed it was hers.

"Ötvös Tamara, nice to meet you"

"Whoa whoa whoa wait you're the Hungarian girl? Seriously? Awesome. My ancestors are from there"

"Well you do have a Hungarian name"

"So. Ya into sensha-dou huh? So six new poeple gathered here this year so far - less than expected - but I hope more will come. We need to resupply our personnels after the ones finished here went away. I guess we can start the de-briefing, nobody else seems to be coming"

We took seats in that little treehouse. It really was a de-briefing hall. A projector on the roof, blackboard and whiteboard on the wall, maps, manuals and other kinds of information documents were everywhere with some desks where you could work and do some paperwork. There even was a long-range communications table with a morse-emitter.

"So" started Cap "Six of you are here now. This couldn't be more perfect! Welcome all to Árpád Girls' School's sensha-dou team. If you wish to go the door is there and nobody will ever hold you back but if you wish to stay...you will contribute to the thing this school is best at in rivalry with waterpolo. Sadly from year to year our numbers are decreasing but we are about to change that. All we have to do is show some progress which; We; Will"

She said this while walking left and right up in front.

"Right now with you guys we are able to man twenty-nine tanks, but for the upcoming battles we need thirty. With your addition to the batallion we grew stronger. From now on it's all up to you to show us how stronger. I think it's only fair to let you know what you need to deal with so here are our numbers: we have fifty tanks total - 2 Tigers, 2 Panthers, 5 Panzer 4s, 8 38M Told Is, 8 43M Toldi IIs, 4 Zrínyi with 105mm guns and 4 with 75mm guns, 8 40M Turán I, 8 41m Turán II and a 44M Tas"

"Waitasec" I said suddenly "I mean excuse me. We seriously have a Tas?"

"Yeah, any notice on that?" asked Cap.

"No...just...cool...only one was built" I said.

"And you can feast your eyes upon her later" said Cap with a grin on her face which seemingly she couldn't surpress "All right girls I'm gonna be frank with you, that is all the information you need, the rest you have to learn so here comes the top point of the day. Wanna ride a tank?"

"Hell yeah!" we all shouted at once.

"All right girls, I'll be back in a few minutes I have something to gather for you"

She left us there alone in an awkward silence.

"Well" I said "If we're going to be sardines in a tin can we might as well get to know each other first...perhaps...?"

"Sure why not, I guess I'll start then" said a girl with long silver hair " My name is Royama Reiko. I came from up north and been this school for a while. My hobby is sports shooting"

"Katsura Fusako. I came from the north as well and I don't really have any hobbies other than riding and gaming" said the girl next to Reiko who was quite tall, had middle long brown hair in a sideways ponytail but seemed a year younger than the rest of us.

"I am Ban Jitsuko" said the other tall girl with long blonde hair "I came from the seashore on the west and I don't have any hobbies at all but I like the navy and I want to join it eventually"

"I guess I have to introduce myself as well" start the girl next to Jitsuko with short black hair "I'm Toyota Eimi. I came from the northernmost island of Japan and I don't have a driving license yet but I want to drive cars to my heart's content"

"Watabe Aoi is my name and I was and am still classmates with Jitsuko" said she who had long black hair.

It was my turn next.

"I am Ötvös Tamara, I came here from Hungary or rather...was sent here. I have a lot to do with tanks and I want to ride a tank like I could never before at home. Nice to meet you all"

They nodded and said likewise.

"Crazy huh" said Eimi "We have not one, but two bloody Tigers"

"Well if our theme is Hungary" replied Jitsuko "It stands for reason"

"True that" said Eimi.

"I'm more fascinated about the Tas" I said "We only made one and it was lost..."

"What do you mean by 'we'?" asked Fusako.

"Well I am from the theme country" I replied.

"Oh right" she said.

"We might as well get along with each other if we'll be closed together" said Aoi.

"I didn't mean to offend I was just curious" said Fusako.

"Aren't only five supposed to operate the tank?" asked Reiko "It's not like we'll have two loaders, not to mention the space"

"You're right...what's gonna happen to one of us?" said Jitsuko.

"I doubt any of us needs to worry" I said "We need a commander, a driver, a shooter, a loader, a radio operator AND we could also have a maintenance personnel who can be a stand in to any of us"

"Great idea" said Fusako.

"She'll need to travel outside then" said Aoi.

"I'll laugh if you'll be that one, Ao!" said Jitsuko "Oh right her nickname is Ao, you can just call me Ji"

"A nickname to a name with three letters?..." asked Reiko.

"Got a problem with that?" said Ji.

"No just sounds rather interesting, anyways I guess call me Rei.

"Fusako's good for me" she said.

"You can call me Ei then, and you Tamara?"

"Tami's fine. I think this is the start of a wonderful friendship...or a horrible one"

Everyone laughed.

"Okay chaps, come with me" shouted Cap from outside.

We followed her and led us in the last hangar.

"My apologies, the OP tanks are already reserved. You're our 29th tank so what we have left are...four Turán I, four Turán II, seven Toldi I and six Toldi II..."

The girls started arguing what to choose, one of them even tried to sweettalk Cap into letting us drive at least a Panzer IV.

"Sorry, though we swap around the tanks according to the battles but we must respect the commanders' decisions"

I wandered into the hangar. It was the one for the medium and light tanks....then I suddenly spotted something covered in some clothing. I unraveled it and I forgot to breathe for a few seconds.

"Oy Cap!" I shouted "Is this one reserved?"

"That piece of junk? Hasn't turned on for decades"

I griend and opened up the engine compartment.

They were still discussing the matter of the tank but after five minutes they heard an engine roaring. I stopped in front of them and jumped out.

"Pan-paka-paaaan~" I said "You were saying Cap?"

"How on earth did you make that rustbucket ignite?" she asked with a surprised looking on her face"

"She has a rather...delicate engine" I replied "Weiss Manfréd Works made ones require the fine touch of a rough girl hehe. So whatchy'all think?"

After that I told them thoroughly my story with tanks.

"I think you already are our commander" said Ji.

They agreed and started throwing me in the air.

"Ta-mi! Ta-mi! Ta-mi!" they chanted.

"Well then, I guess it's settled" said Cap as she wrote the next to our names: 44M Tas.

#chapter #chapter4 #girlsundpanzer #girls und panzer #fanfiction #fan fiction #Winged

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mnranger5 · 8 years ago

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Spring Break Jackpot 2017, Phoenix & Sedona, AZ, 3/17/17 - 3/21/17

Trip #1 of 2017 is in the books, and this one goes down in the Hall of Fame for trips that we’ve been fortunate enough to experience. From the get-go, this trip had extraordinary written all over it – sun, fun and relaxation. A perfect spring break trifecta!

The Arizona trip kicked off on the first Friday of March Madness weekend – my most favorite sporting event of the year. Therefore, before we could start the vacation, we met Jeremy, Scott and Dave at the bar for some basketball and brews. We hung out at Lone Oak Grill for about 3 hours catching up and watching some hoops. Around 3:00, Dyan whisked me away to the airport so that we could get checked in for our 6PM flight.

At 5:30, we boarded the gigantic 767-300, the first wide body plane I have been on since my Dad took Josh and I to Las Vegas for my 21st birthday. Our seats were in the middle of the aircraft, so I didn’t get the window seat I had hoped for, but holy cow, this plan had freaking tv’s streaming live broadcasts! JACKPOT! As the jet taxied down the tarmac, I found the TNT feed, and tuned into the Jayhawks, UC Davis game, which at the time was a nail biter.

Two hours into the flight (from 32,000 feet) I watched the Jayhawks finish up a dominant performance! Best. Flight. Ever.

I was amazed at the technology inside the airplane. As if the in-flight tv broadcast wasn’t cool enough, the flight also had a real-time flight tracker which showed plane location, speed, altitude and arrival time among a whole bunch of other data. For the remaining 80 minutes of the flight, I geeked out on the gps mapping software. Such a cool feature for somebody like me who likes to find landmarks 30-some thousand feet below to find out exactly where I am in the sky! But all good things must come to an end, and we landed just after sunset in Phoenix.

Going into this trip, we knew the average temp in the Phoenix for this time of year was 77 degrees. When we walked out of the airport (in jeans and sweatshirts), we were greeted by what felt like a furnace! It was 92 degrees, and it was nighttime. But, coming from 30 degree Minnesota weather, it felt heavenly. We quickly made our way over to the car rental HQ and found out it was our lucky day.

About 3 months ago, I scoured the net looking for a reasonable price on a convertible Mustang or Camaro. I figured if we were going to be in a warm climate doing some road-tripping, we needed a fun car. Basically everybody going to Phoenix over spring break must have had the same idea, because convertible sports cars were running $500-1,000 for the 4 day rental. Geez! Feeling defeated, I tried a last ditch effort by downloading an app on my phone called “Carla.” The app claims to offer the best car rental rates available. After a quick 1 minute search for my specific trip, I found a deal through Alamo for a “Convertible Mustang, or SIMILAR” at $237. What? That can’t be right. Why is it so cheap? It seemed way too good to be true, but I had nothing to lose. JACKPOT! I booked by putting 10% down and the rest due at the rental counter. But we had a few headwinds working against us. In doing some research, I found that Alamo is notorious for giving people the “SIMILAR” car in the convertible class, which happens to be a Chrysler 200….not exactly a fun sports car.

I also came to the conclusion that since we were getting in late on a Friday evening, the good cars would be sold out from people upgrading their weekend rides. It was kind of like picking teams on the playground in elementary school. Everybody wanted the good looking sporty kids – they were always picked first. Nobody wanted the unsporty clunkers. I was keeping my fingers crossed I wouldn’t get stuck with a clunker.

While at the rental counter, there was some systems problems, which meant we got to bypass the line of customers and go to a special check-in counter. I must say, Alamo was fabulous, and check-in was a breeze. When I asked the representative if there was any Mustangs left, she opened the door to the lot and barked some orders to some of the guys working the lot. She came back over to the desk and said, “It’s your lucky day!” They had one more convertible Mustang left, but it was a 2017 Mustang GT with the 5.0L V8. JACKPOT! My reservation had been for a standard V6 Mustang convertible. Dyan and I threw our bags in the car as quick as we could. We wanted to get out of there before anybody realized they accidentally put us in an upgraded convertible! Maybe it wasn’t accidental, but the fact that they did not boast to us about an upgrade made us think we were getting away with a steal! The downside of the car is that it had a heavy cigarette smell from the previous driver. No worries for us though. We put the top down before we even got on the road – which rectified the problem immediately. We were driving in paradise!

Around 9PM we pulled into the Sheraton Grand Wild Horse Pass Resort. This resort is way on the south end of Phoenix, in the booming suburb of Chandler. This would be a one night base camp only – which was unfortunate, because the property was amazing. The entire resort is decked out in Native American themed décor complete with flute & percussion inspired soft music and a four story waterfall. The moment we walked into the lobby, my blood pressure dropped. It was so peaceful and serene.

Being SPG Platinum members, we were upgraded to a mountain-view suite which also overlooked the amazing pool complex, golf course and lagoon. We enjoyed some southwestern tortilla soup around the outdoor bonfire before calling it quits for the night.

With our internal clocks still on central time, we woke up around 5AM local time. We made a few errands to Walmart, Starbucks and Krispy Kreme, and by 7:00 we decided to hit the Wild Horse Pass Casino before it got too smoky. It was here I got up close and personal with a gigantic cactus.

While standing by the cactus, I could hear the buffalo calling from inside!

Unfortunately, it was not our lucky day, but we always have fun playing Buffalo Stampede!

It was getting hot, so we headed back to the resort and spent a couple of hours wandering the resort’s nature trails and cooling off with a swim. The pool complex is amazing.

Perfect for families – multiple huge pools, a water slide, hot tubs and an outdoor restaurant. We discussed at length how this would make an amazing spring break resort for all seven of us.

The next leg of our trip was the one I had been most looking forward to! After checking out from the hotel, we took a 45 minute drive northwest to Surprise Arizona.

Dyan bought me 5th row tickets to the Royals/Indians spring training game. A few of the big name players were off playing in the World Baseball Classic (Duffy, Hosmer & Perez), but we did get to see Gordon, Moustakas and Cain.

The environment was so much different than watching a regular season game. The players were joking around on field and interacting with the fans during the game. Being that our seats were so close to the action, we could listen to the coaches talking to the players in the on-deck circle. It is such an amazing experience for a baseball enthusiast.

We had foot long hotdogs and peanuts for lunch and tried our hardest to buy some spring training souvenir hats, but they unfortunately were out of our sizes at all the shops in the stadium.

I am so lucky to have Dyan in my life. She treats me better than I ever thought was imaginable. She basically is the ultimate JACKPOT! It was so much fun sharing an experience like this with her – and having her seemingly enjoy it as much as I did! By the 8th inning, the Royals were losing 4-3, and the sun was blazing at 97 degrees. We had a long drive to Sedona ahead of us, so we bailed out of the game an inning early to beat the traffic. The Royals ended up hitting a game tying home run in the bottom of the 9th sending the game to an extra inning tie, 4-4.

The 2.5 hour drive north to Sedona was pretty as we transitioned from the desert (1,000 feet above sea level) into the mountains (4,000 feet). The best part of the drive is the final 15 minutes after exiting the interstate. The drive into Oak Creek (town just south of Sedona) was spectacular. Literally, the mountains changed from “normal mountains” to exquisite “red rock mountains” in a matter of a couple of miles. It is an area everybody should drive through once in their lifetime.

We were staying at the Hilton Red Rock Resort in Oak Creek. While the hotel is beautiful and the setting is amazing, the check-in process was a sign of the not-so-great experience that was yet to come.

For context, my work has a vacation saving program called Adestinn whereby Blue Cross will match 50% of the dollars I contribute to my vacation account. The account can then be used to book (Hilton/Hyatt) properties through the Adestinn website. To make a long story short, I had booked two separate reservations for Saturday and Sunday night because we wanted a room with a view of the red rock mountains, but that room was only available on Sunday. When checking in that Saturday night, Corbin informed us that the hotel was 100% full, and that he could not get us into the red rock view room for Saturday – which was okay with us since we had not pre-paid for the nicer room. Corbin did inform us we would need to change rooms the following day to the nicer room. We told Corbin we had a busy day the following day and would not be able to check into the new room until late in the day. Corbin and his manager confirmed our two night stay and got us all checked in to room 1020, which included a fantastic view of the parking lot. They assured us our view would be so much much better the following day.

After settling in, Dyan and I hit up the outdoor Jacuzzi for a quick soak before dinner. I was craving protein, so we headed into downtown Sedona to the Silver Saddle Cowboy Club, which is supposedly the best steakhouse in town. Dyan and I got seated and browsed the menu. Another couple was seated five minutes later adjacent to our table. After 20 minutes, we still had not had a server come by our table, although the table seated after us already had their drinks. We were famished, so we walked out of the restaurant in search of a restaurant we could get some service!

Right across the street was 89 Agave, a highly rated Latin inspired restaurant. We were seated immediately in the back of the restaurant in front of an 80” tv that was showing the UMD Bulldogs vs. UND Fighting Sioux playoff hockey game! Who would have thought? A Mexican restaurant 1,500 miles from home showing playoff college hockey. JACKPOT! We enjoyed a great meal of bottomless warm tortilla chips/salsa, chicken tortilla soup and beef enchiladas. I imagine it was as authentic as being in Mexico – minus the college hockey.

At dinner we also formalized our roadtrip for the following day. At the beginning of the conversation Dyan said she wasn’t very interested in visiting the Grand Canyon. But then the wind shifted directions. After a quick Google search of the canyon on her phone, she caught the idea of seeing the Grand Canyon at sunrise. Suddenly you’d think that was the entire reason for us coming to the area! Our drive was originally going to take us about 8 hours through northern Arizona. Now, not only were we going to be driving 8 hours, but three of those hours were going to come starting at 3AM so that we could get to the Grand Canyon in time for the sunrise…… We quickly departed dinner so we could get back to the hotel for some sleep.

3AM came quick. Too quick… We packed up, checked out of the room, and were on the road by 3:30. The drive should have been uneventful being that it was in the wee hours of the morning. However, it ended up being one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. Experience you say? Yes, experience.

The GPS backtracked us toward the interstate before heading north to Flagstaff. It’s not too difficult getting carried away with a Mustang GT and before I knew it, we were pushing 80+ on I-17. About 10 miles outside of Flagstaff, we noticed a police car driving southbound with his spotlight pointed into the trees off of the highway. Clearly he was looking for something. About 1 mile later, I swerved to avoid hitting glass and plastic fragments all over the road. It was then I noticed a car had crashed into a shear rock wall on the right side of the road. The car was smoking badly, and I assume it had rolled on the highway leaving a trail of debris before careening into the rock wall. This crash had just happened, and it certainly looked like there could have been major injuries. We slowed so that we could call 911 to report the accident. As Dyan was dialing the phone, I noticed two elk on the shoulder of the interstate. As I began pointing it out to Dyan, she said, “it’s an entire heard of elk!” There must have been 30-40 elk just loitering in the field dimly lit by the moonlight. I had to wonder if the car hit or swerved to avoid hitting one of the elk. The 911 dispatcher got on the line and we reported the crash. She told me to maintain a safe distance from the crash because emergency responders were already nearing the scene - we relayed that the police car we had seen a mile back was looking in the wrong lane of traffic and needed to look on the northbound lane just before exit 322 at Munds Park.

That was a definite mood killer, and a wakeup call to a reality that we are in elk country, and should be driving much more cautious. Yikes. And little did we know, the drive would only get trickier from here. I am usually one to study maps, but since we only planned this excursion/route less than 8 hours ago, I never really had the chance to see what kind of terrain we’d be navigating. I assumed it was pretty much flat desert from Sedona to The Grand Canyon. Boy, was I wrong...

After passing through Flagstaff, the GPS put us on a little two lane highway in the middle of Cococino National Forrest. We continued seeing deer, and elk as the white knuckle drive took us unknowingly up the Kachina Peaks. Humpherys Peak (located within Kachina), an extinct volcano, is the tallest mountain in Arizona, topping out at almost 13,000 feet. While the mountains flanking Humpherys are not as tall, they certainly aren’t a cake walk to navigate - especially in the middle of the night. Since it was pitch black, we drove seemingly blind as we followed the winding mountain highway north. The elevation signs began at 5,000 feet, then 6,000 feet, then 7,000 feet, and 8,000 feet. We were climbing in the dark and finally reached a sign that said 8,046 feet. A sign that specific must indicate the highest elevation we would get to. As such, we began our descent down the back side of the mountain range. On the north side of the mountain range, there is a clearing in the trees and a long straightway. It was at this moment Dyan looked back from where we came from and noticed the moon-lit snow-capped Humphreys peak just a few miles away. We pulled off on the shoulder, shut the car off and got out to take in that moment. Not a sound in the air or a cloud in the sky. The moon and stars shined brightly on Humphery’s. At that moment, I had two mother’s, and one was called Nature.

A few miles down the road and we saw huge purple caution signs for an active wildfire. The wildfire was burning in the Kendrick Peaks just 2 miles west of us. The fire had scorched over 220 acres and was 75% contained. Fortunately, we never encountered any issues with the fire.

We slowly wandered north as the eastern sky turned from black to navy. We were getting close. But we, or I rather, was still on lookout for wild animals on the highway. Dyan, decided an hour long nap was priority. The terrain changed from mountainous to desert like and then to forest as we approached Tusayan, the gateway to the Grand Canyon.

We pulled into the visitor’s center at 6:00AM. We had 31 minutes to find the perfect sunrise location. Lucky for us, that perfect spot was a 5 minute walk from where we parked the car. It’s called Mather Point. Photographers and tourists jockeyed for position as everybody anxiously waited. We avoided the masses when Dyan found a huge boulder that rose about 10 feet over the crowds. We climbed the boulder and waited in the 30 degree air. As usual, Dyan dressed in her cutesy-tootsey hiking wear. She looked great, but she looked cold. As usual, I was prepared for the elements, with a warm jacket. You know how this story goes. Guy gives girl jacket. Girl stays warm. Guy freezes his butt off. It never changes…

The sun came up as advertised at 6:31 AM. Not even gonna lie, it was way more spectacular than I imagined.

I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, but I kind of always thought it would be overrated. Just a river running through the middle of a canyon. But seeing it up close and personal changed my outlook on this national park. It was stunning. There is a reason it is called “Grand” Canyon. I could not believe how gigantic the canyon actually is. The length to the other side must have been as long as it was deep. It’s so massive. Even more impressive is that it actually stretches about 300 total miles in distance, and a width of 18 miles across at its widest point. I am at a loss for adjectives on how to best describe something so incredibly scenic – that is my best indicator of how beautiful it must be.

We spent about an hour at various look-outs creating one postcard after another.

With every passing minute, the sun painted a new scene on the tops of the canyon walls and jagged rock formations.

After getting our fill of the canyon, we then continued the roadtrip traveling east on Desert View Drive (the frontage road to the canyon) stopping at several scenic lookouts along the way.

It was at one of these lookouts an elk decided to get up close and personal with us! At another lookout, Dyan decided to jump the safety railing and hike down onto one of the peninsulas that jets out into the canyon.

Another two hours into the desert drive and we finally arrived at Horseshoe Bend. Horsehoe Bend is a geological phenomenon created by a winding river perfectly wrapped around a peninsula of rock that just happens to be a thousand feet deep in a canyon. The result is a teal colored river making a perfect horseshoe bend. Again, I am at a loss for words on how to describe something so magnificent to the eye.

The difference in this scenario is that there was no guard rails on the cliff edge like there had been at the Grand Canyon. I was amazed at the tourists’ lack of caution. The kids running around and teens dangling their legs over the edge were enough to send me into a mini panic attack. So when Dyan wanted to get closer for pictures, I was not a happy camper.

We had a quick lunch in the Utah/Arizona border town of Page, before beginning the 3.5 hour drive back to Sedona. The drive was uneventful compared to our pitch black morning commute, but the sun was out and it had warmed enough (80 degrees) to put the top down.

About 30 minutes outside of Sedona, Dyan hatched a new plan. She had seen ATV rentals when we drove through Sedona the previous day, and wanted to rent an ATV to tour the back country. Forty five minutes later, we were strapped into an indestructible-mud-rocket that could take hairpin turns at 55mph. JACKPOT! Funny enough, you have to drive this through town (among traffic) in order to get to the back country. Once in the back country, we were free to explore. And explore we did!

When we picked up the ATV, they asked us if we wanted a scenic route, or a fun route. We chose FUN! Our route took us though the Ancient Hokanani Ruins.

We didn’t stop to see what the ruins looked like because driving that little hell-machine was too much fun. We blazed down the dirt straightaways at nearly 60mph. We climbed rock steps and crossed rocky creeks. We went airborn on jumps and two-wheeled uneven climbs. It was everything you could imagine an off-road course being. The only downside was the insane amount of dust that gets kicked up. At times, it was almost like driving through a thick fog, and we had a couple of close calls with some oncoming traffic! Crazy how an unplanned activity ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. When we finished, we were both covered in red dust from head to toe.

We needed a shower bad, but a cold beer even worse. It was now 4:00 and happy hour was going on at the Old Sedona Bar and Grill which was across the street from the ATV rental. As we cooled off from the heat, we watched Kansas destroy Michigan State 90-70, punching their ticket to the Sweet 16. It was also during this brief bit of downtime that Dyan decided it would be a great idea to do a sunset hike to Devil’s Bridge. She assured me it was 2 miles roundtrip….

At 4:30, we arrived at Devil’s Bridge trailhead with a couple of beers in the tank.

About a mile into the hike, I began realizing we weren’t even close to Devil’s. That is when Dyan let the truth be told. The hike is actually about 5 total miles. She knew if she told me it was 5 that I would have never agreed to go on the hike. So, there we were, in the middle of a desert forest dressed for the beach and tipsy as a tugboat. We were too far into the hike to just turnaround, but far enough away from the bridge that solicited some unpleasantries under my breath. So we hiked further. The easy hike turned into a moderate hike with akward steps. The moderate hike turned into full blown mountain expedition as we neared Devil’s Bridge. Glad I have two good knees. Oh wait, nevermind…

I will say, the view from the top of Devil’s is pretty spectacular, and is well worth the challenging hike to get there. JACKPOT!.

The red and gold mountains in the distance provide the perfect backdrop to the bridge carved into the rocks. Dyan and I posed for a few pics before heading back down the mountain.

I had feared we’d get caught out in the dark and be unprepared and cold, but my sidekick assured me the entire hike that we would get back to the car in time. And she was right. We walked up to the car right at sunset.

We were beat. We spent 9 hours on the road, 2 hours in an ATV and 2 hours hiking. All we wanted was a relaxing evening on our balcony overlooking the Red Rock mountains of Sedona . Unfortunately, Corbin at the Hilton had other plans for us. Around 6:30 we arrived at the hotel and Dyan stepped into the lobby to check-in while I fetched the bags from the car. As I approached the lobby entrance, Dyan met me and said, “You are never going to believe this. They don’t have our reservation for tonight.” I was floored. Time for a pow wow with management. We provided our confirmation number to the manager and she indicated she did not know what happened, but she no longer had our room available. We explained the situation to her that Corbin and his manager had confirmed us for the upgraded room a day earlier, so we couldn’t understand how they did not have our room. After all, it was pre-paid! The Hilton apologized profusely, and said they were overbooked and there was nothing they could do since all the premium rooms were already taken. They put us in a standard room and provided a $100 dinner voucher as a consolation. We were really ticked off, because we had spent $425 for the premium room.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, which was really good, but the service was awful. Our server Pauli was completely absent the entire meal. The manager, chef and host did all of the work at our table. After dinner, we made a quick stop to the Jacuzzi, but it was crowded with guests, so we didn’t last long. We needed sleep.

On Monday morning, we got out of the Hilton as soon as we could and headed south toward Phoenix to begin our pool day at the Westin Kierland Resort. About 30 minutes into the drive, Dyan and I both noticed a casino along the interstate. I sensed a pit stop coming.....

Cliff Castle Casino was not very large, but they had the two things Dyan loves. Buffalo Stampede and a High Stakes Slots room! After losing most of her daily allowance I suggested we get VIP Club cards to the casino. Each card gets a lottery chance at free slots play. I won $5 free (which I lost to the Buffalos immediately) and Dyan won $10. With her remaining money and VIP $, Dyan ventured into the High Stakes area where she sat down at the African Diamond machine. She was losing bad and was down to $6 left of her VIP money. That’s when she max bet and hit the free spins bonus. What came next was a game changer. On the first 9 (out of 10) free spins, she won NOTHING. On her 10th and final spin, she hit a JACKPOT and won $340!! We cashed out immediately and continued the trek to Phoenix.

We LOVE SPG properties, especially Westin branded hotels. They treat us SO well, and constantly give us upgrades. We arrived at the Kierland resort around 10AM. They indicated we were being upgraded to a large suite overlooking the mountains to the east of Scotsdale.

The room was not ready yet, but they offered us complimentary access to the guest lounge on the 9th floor to enjoy sodas, hors d’oeuvres and snacks while we waited. They also provided us with complementary access to the spa/locker rooms so that we could change and use the pool facilities for the day. They were absolutely accommodating.

The Westin pool did not leave much to be desired. There is a family pool, complete with lazy river and water slides which we spent some time at, however, our favorite amenity was the adult pool, where children under the age of 18 were not allowed. For 4 hours, we alternated between the pool and the sun chairs as we sipped Pina and Key Lime Coladas. Around 3, we checked into the room and got ready for the evening.

We headed toward Old Scottsdale for dinner, but neither of us were all that hungry…so, we started looking for things to do in the area. Well, well, well, there was a casino just a few miles away! Dyan looked at me and said, “It is your call, but I feel lucky.” I can’t say no to that, can I? We ventured into the casino, and immediately spotted two machines – Willy Wonka and you guessed it, Buffalos! Unfortunately both were occupied. We played lightly at several machines as we kept a close eye on our honey holes. About 30 minutes into gambling, one of the Willy Wonka’s opened up and Dyan sat down immediately. Within 5 minutes, Dyan produced a free spin bonus on a big bet. The Oompa Loompa’s were in her favor as they gave her wilds across the board. It was a JACKPOT win dishing out $308. A sign came up on the machine that said “Call Attendant” for a hand pay. The attendant was there instantaneously and paid Dyan for the win. It was also interesting that she shut the machine down and restarted it. She said they restart the machine after every jackpot win. Before leaving she made a point to say this Wonka machine had hit jackpot wins all day long! My guess is that was a canned statement trying to get gamblers to keep feeding the machine. Dyan was not hooked by the attendant’s statement and said, it’s time for a steak dinner!

We headed back toward the hotel and decided on Capitol Grill for dinner. Dyan had the filet, I had the aged NY Strip, and we shared mashed potatoes. We sat alone out on the patio for nearly two hours enjoying amazing food, each other’s company and the perfect evening. JACKPOT!

Our final day in Phoenix started off with a couple’s Rollerssage at the Agave Spa located inside the resort. The rollerssage was amazing. The spa’s description was spot on: The massage combines the deep healing power of a Swedish massage with radiating heat using a roll of smooth semiprecious stones to create relaxation and relieve tight muscles. After the massage, we utilized the spa facilities which included hottubs, saunas and steam rooms among other things.

After the spa, we laid out at the adult pool all day sipping frozen cocktails and snacking on chips and salsa. Every day we were in Phoenix, the temperature was well over 90 degrees and all sunshine. It was the most perfect spring break weather we could have asked for. Phoenix set records for high temps on multiple days. Our timing of this vacation and the extreme heat was perfect. The week before we arrived, Phoenix had temps in the 70’s, and two days after we left, it was only in the 60’s, with rain. We were so fortunate to have the weather we did.

Around 1:00, we packed up the Stang and headed to the airport. The amazing luck we had on this trip just kept rolling for us. As we drove into the car rental return, a young man looked over the car and asked us how it handled. I got pretty chatty with him telling him how awesome the car was, but did point out that the previous driver smoked heavily in the car (I didn’t want Alamo to think we were smoking in the car). As I was talking to the Alamo representative, Dyan was checking under the seats to see if we had left anything in the car. Dyan popped up holding a half package of cigarettes indicating they must have been left by the previous driver. The rep looked at the package and began profusely apologizing saying he was going to take care of the problem. He handed me a receipt for the rental that showed he took $100 off of the car rental! I told him it was not necessary and that we already got a great deal on the car. He looked at me and said, “Smoking is not allowed in our cars and I am sorry you had to deal with the smell. That is not how we do business, so hopefully this credit makes things better.” Wow! JACKPOT!

We shuttled over to the airport and checked in for what was sure to be a long flight home. Flights home are never a happy time!

Fortunately for me, we were on a brand new 757 aircraft which had the same entertainment package as our other flight. Dyan and I watched Office Holiday Party for the first couple of hours, and I geeked out again on the flight tracker software the rest of the way home.

I was even able to spot our Apple Valley neighborhood on our approach into MSP.

A couple days after getting back home, I received a survey from Adestinn on how I would rate my travel experience booking through them. I provided some honest feedback about the disappointment we had at the Oak Creek Hilton. I wasn’t really expecting anything to come from that feedback, but Adestinn circled back with me in the following week to let me know that they and the Hilton property were very sorry for the experience Dyan and I had at their hotel. Along with an apology, they offered a full refund ($425) for our stay because they were not able to give us the room we had paid for. Wow again! I feel like I won the jackpot for all the credits we received - first Alamo, and now this!

All in all, this trip was amazing at every single turn. While basking in the sun at Westin, Dyan and I were trying to rank all the trips we have taken. It was a consensus that Spring Break 2017 in Arizona at least has a share of the top spot, if not holding it outright! JACKPOT!

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