#i am literally looking at a product with what looks like a headphone jack in the picture.

[theorderofthetriad]

jfc i'm looking at mp3 players and all the recommendations are for these giant bricks with full touch screens that have no headphone jack and less than ten hours of battery life, is this a fucking joke?

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS | CHAPTER 3

Rating: Explicit.

‼️TW: Reader is EIGHTEEN! Recreational drug use, smoking and alcohol consumption, deeply internalised self-loathing, very questionable moral standards. Daddy kink taken half-seriously. BDSM themes in later chapters - explicit content will come with it’s own TWs. FIRST PERSON POV.

Summary: You’re Peter’s classmate, a child of rich and famous but uncaring parents. Getting paired up for a lengthy project with the boy was an interesting turn of events and you don’t know whether to feel blessed or cursed when you develop, seemingly, a perfectly normal, harmless crush on Tony Stark. Fueled by feelings of inadequacy and boredom, your life spirals out of control - and you’re lucky your newfound friends are there to pick up the pieces even if you cannot find it in yourself to believe these amazing human (and not so human) beings voluntarily give you more than a fleeting glance and an offhanded thought. And they brought cake!

A/N: Peter always unapologetically stealing all the uwus. It’s the MCU law, sorry, didn’t make it. Tony Stark can ✨rail me✨. Enjoy, deviants.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub @mostly-marvel-musings​ @vozit​ @littlegasps​ @pilloclock​ @shereadsinquiet​

Beta read by the lovely and patient @miscmarvelwritings ! She deserves THE WORLD! I’m not kidding. Please visit her and show her some love, my homegirl is stressed 💖✨

I didn’t see Bruce nor Tony for a week. The doctor was away on some science conference (he sent me one dorky selfie next to a whiteboard full of barely intelligible equations as proof), Tony was in California, having some sort of a board meeting. How do I know? Peter, out of lack of better things to do, constantly texted me updates on his science patron’s whereabouts and what-abouts.

In times like these, it took me for a loop - I was on a first name basis with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. In the beginning, I was intimidated - I avoided them both like the plague and tinkered in the lab with headphones on whenever I could, until Tony made a comment so snarky I couldn’t resist joking back. That’s not to say Bruce was a social butterfly, but even he gave into my tomfoolery after seeing me stand calmly throughout several of Tony’s hissy fits.

What amazed me even more so was that despite Tony being literally an insufferable little brat, I still longed after him. Sure, the man was hot as hell - but his physical traits were much less significant when it came to my feelings towards him than the amount of sheer drive and willpower he possessed. He was stubborn - that’s another trait we shared - and unapologetically himself in every damn situation.

I could write poetry about the million expressions in his face, about the shine in his eyes.

But I won’t. He’s a technical guru. Ever since I started hanging around the tower, I became much more conscious about what I posted online. Not to say I had a Stark fan blog or anything, but I’d stopped scrolling through the tag, even if I didn’t actually click on any articles. I dutifully reblogged pictures of Tom Ellis instead - while he was a very fine, distinguished man, he wasn’t Tony Stark. I enjoyed looking at the first and enjoyed being around the other. And even though my feed still had the occasional “I love arm” shitpost, I focused on aesthetic pictures and quotes instead - things I had an active internet presence for.

My personal life wasn’t very interesting. I didn’t have any close friends and any and all sex I’ve had was just a bunch of one night stands, fueled by alcohol, selfish lust and the occasional joint. Despite having a fair share of kind, generous lovers, the morning after left me feeling a little bit emptier every time. I thought about getting a boyfriend or something… But quickly became totally clueless as to where I could find one. Men under twenty-five could barely hold my interest long enough to have a casual chat and I wasn’t naive enough to think there were a lot of honest, well-intentioned thirty-somethings that wanted to date my high school ass.

Peter had a crush on me, I knew that. The boy developed one or another kind of feelings for anybody who showed him the tiniest bit of kindness and it alarmed me. In any other case I would have bailed on him, gently, of course, to spare him the disappointment but my selfishness got in the way. I regretted it every day. A wave of desperation rose in me every time I thought about moving on without seeing Tony or Bruce, without Peter shyly smiling at me as he explained how the things he created worked. A faint hope that one day, his schoolboy puppy love will grow into a brotherly kind of regard was the only thing that kept me afloat in my sea of guilt.

As the Fall rolled around, so did my gloomy mood. It was hard to be sad when the sun was shining and the birds were chirping outside, but with clouds hanging over the city like a lead curtain, the bottled up negativity rose to the surface uninvited. Mother had returned from her business trip, adding an uncomfortable, hollow sort of chill to the house wherever she stood. I don’t know what was worse - the hours we spent in one room ignoring each other or the immaculately structured questions she asked me about my studies and extra-curriculars. Mother didn’t ask me about my friends, or my feelings or any of the other things a mother was supposed to give a damn about.

I was an asset to her company and that was that. If you would have asked her, she would tell you I’m old enough for her to mind her own business - which was technically true. Yet according to her, I’ve been old enough since seventh grade. My dad answered his messages sporadically, sometimes with a two-word answer and sometimes with a cocaine and booze fueled rant eleven texts long. I felt sorry for him. I really did.

My phone was blowing up. Party invitations, likes from people I saw once or twice (“oh my god, you’re, like, so hot, what’s your Insta”), DMs from guys looking to score an easy piece of ass. I never answered. If I wanted to party, I just sort of showed up and everybody went along with it. I took care of my appearance and it showed - never once was I turned away from a party. Everyone wanted to dance, to share their drinks, to light up and get faded together and fade into the city, into the cold air and grey sky.

Skirt swaying and top clinging to my chest, I danced. The sweaty, heated bodies around me did the same. Not one of us cared, it was a Tuesday night and the place packed way too many people. An arm snaked around my waist, startling me. I had to begrudgingly crack open an eye to see the bastard in the dimly lit room.

“I saw you at the bar, you looked bored. Maybe you need something to cheer you up?”

So not a creepy rapist. Just your friendly neighborhood drug dealer. At house parties like these, there was always The Guy. He never danced, he sipped on the same drink all night yet always looked like he was having the time of his life. I was no stranger to the occasional joint, or even something more stimulating…

“I got the good stuff, sweetums, you’ll be fine and dandy in no time.”

Eh, what the hell. I inconspicuously danced with the guy to the middle of the crowd, exchanging a few crumpled dollar notes for a baggie of two pills. In no time, I chased one down with a hastily poured Jack.

The world did become better, as the drug dealer promised. People were nicer, friendlier and I almost didn’t believe mother was a useless, stone cold bitch. I almost didn’t care that I was deeply, madly in love with a man as unreachable as Olympus. If I squinted, the guy sitting at the bar looked kind of like Tony, tan, dark hair, worn jeans and a band tee.

So I danced. I danced and I stared right at him and then we danced some more. I closed my eyes, letting his arms grab me and pull me, I let his beard scratch my neck where he sucked a mark on me, I let his rough palms choke me against a wall in one of the bedrooms on the second floor of the house. It felt good to be wanted. It felt great to be needed as he rutted inside of me, hitting that sweet spot with every twitch of his hips.

It felt lonely when he left, pressing a kiss to my forehead and saying something dumb like “Be good, kid.”. I don’t remember what exactly it was, only that I had to turn my face away from his breath that reeked like weed and vodka.

To shake off the void that made home inside of my chest, I went to the roof to get some fresh air. The house had a nice patio on it - I actually knew the owner - that hosted more plants than I’d care to count. There was an ashtray and an abandoned pack of cigarettes. I greeted the faintly blooming sunrise surrounded by a cloud of smoke, shivering in the autumn mist.

Sounds of the party became less prominent with every passing minute as people geared up to go home and get a few winks of sleep before going to work. New Yorkers weren’t really thoughtful partying on a Tuesday, but then again, neither was I. The city always was busy - even then, at the crack of dawn, the dull throb of a bassline was rudely interrupted by a blaring car alarm followed by dogs barking in aggravation.

The more I sat there, the bleaker everything became. I had enough common sense to know I was just coming off the drug but for once, I had been happy and content for several hours without a care in the world. It had been too long since I felt that way and what’s a little low after a good high?

Mother left for her early conference at five AM sharp, I entered my house at five-thirty, making a beeline in the shower and immediately dumping my alcohol and cigarette soaked clothes into the wash with the smelliest detergent I could find. I gave similar treatment to my body and my hair, using the chemically-smelling products on my body and on my hair, brushing my teeth multiple times.

By the time I was leaving for school, only a faint smell lingered in the air where I’d previously entered, so I set the air freshener to automatically spray the obnoxious mist every ten minutes. Mother gets home at twelve for lunch, that should be more than enough time for any remnants of my partying to disappear into the lilac and lavender fumes.

The Valium I’d popped to deal with the aftermath of Molly made my brain sluggish. One look in the mirror and I hastily put my sunglasses on - the ashen colour of my face and the slightly crazed look wasn’t very complimentary to my complexion. The teacher didn’t give a damn. I stared blankly ahead of me for most part of first period.

“What happened to you? You look like hell!” Peter’s exclamation, while usually would’ve alarmed me, barely made a dent in my stupor.

“I feel like shit, too,” Admit what you can’t deny. Deny what you can’t admit. “I didn’t get any sleep. Like, at all.”

Peter frowned, the crease between his eyebrows growing deeper with every passing second. I flinched when his hand tentatively touched my forehead - the pounding in my temples slowed to a dull throbbing but it was still unpleasant when someone was all up in my space.

“Jesus, you’re as cold as a corpse. Maybe you should go see the nurse,” His worry bled into me too. Like hell I was going to the school nurse! They were specifically trained to recognize the signs of substance abuse.

“I’ll head home straight after school, I think we’ll have to skip our sciencing,” No way also I’d be letting Tony and Bruce see me like this. Oh my God, I was a mess. “Mother’s home.” I added. Even the emotional frostbite I’d get from being around her was more tolerable than being a downer for Peter and Tony.

Peter’s face immediately softened in sympathy. He knew almost everything about my relationship with my family, including him actually seeing my mother that one time. He told me she gave him the creeps and I don’t blame him at all. The stoicism that was required for her work made my mother an unbearable person to exist around outside of her fancy office on the top floor of a glass high-rise building.

“Okay, but promise to text me if it gets worse. You might have caught the autumn bug that’s been going around,” He obviously said the last part to calm himself down. Sweet little Peter, naïve child. I solemnly nodded nonetheless.

When I got home, I went straight to bed. Tony was being Tony, as usual, but in a strangely kind way. I suppose it should’ve made me feel better and it kind of did, but then it went downhill from there. I couldn’t explain why I started crying. I bawled my eyes out at how unfair this god-damned world was and when the doorbell rang… Let’s say, the delivery boy hightailed it out of there once the bag of takeout was deposited into my arms. I looked and felt ghastly.

I ate as much as I could and dropped into a restless nap, drifting in and out of sleep with exhausted exasperation. There had not been a time where I felt so low after popping a pill and I was equal parts alarmed and satisfied. For one, the drug dealer didn’t lie like they usually do - the stuff was good and I still had the other pill hidden away in a bottle of painkillers, inconspicuously mixed with other white pills but shape distinctive enough for me to recognize should I have need in taking it again.

The thought of well, taking it again, was fleeting. I had school tomorrow and a missed science bender to make up for. A few buzzes of my phone later, I felt happier. Better. Not so down anymore. I meant every word that I said - Bruce was very precious, kind and gentle. And so, warm and soft. And totally kissable.

Well, fuck. What do I do now?

[dinosaurtsukki]

Tsukki fanfic owo S/o is always loving and caring towards tsukki but one day tsukki keeps being emotionless and neglecting s/o. He thinks that s/o will always be there cuz s/o has always been the one saying how much she loves him. But s/o gets mad cuz it was a bad day and tsukki is still emotionally off. S/o ain’t like screaming or anything but silently crying cuz that’s how tsukki is and thinks that she should take care of her own emotions. Tsukki sees this and opens up about being stoic.

Heyyy if you’re taking requests for tsukki fic, can you do a wholesome tsukki and s/o kinda thing. I wanna have one where tsukki laughs and enjoys his time with s/o. like he secretly thinks a lot about how much he loves s/o. idk but I just wanna read fanfic where tsukki laughs and smiles a lot :”)

okay i know these two were probably sent by two diff. people but i kind of wanted to do both of these in one, slightly long drabble hehe. i hope you all like this i had a ton of fun thinking of it and writing it :). also, i made reader a university professor because that’s an occupation i’m more familiar with. and,,, i hope this is what you were looking for ? (i kind of went off a bit ahh i’m sorry!) 

You and Tsukishima struggling with being around each other 24/7 during quarantine 

(feat. arguing, pen-clicking, and then some singing and fluff later on)

between you and tsukishima, it was him who predicted that the pandemic would inevitably lead to a long lockdown period where you two would have to live in the same space, twenty-four hours a day. it was your one ray of light during that dark time when the world was essentially on fire. you and tsukishima tended to have busy work schedules with him at the museum and you teaching at the nearby university so you saw the lockdown period as a way to spend more time with your boyfriend.

the first few weeks were fine aside from the constant caution whenever you or tsukishima went out for groceries. neither of you had work yet with the university and museum still adjusting so you two spent the time learning how to bake bread, sleeping in until noon, and staying up late, curled up on the couch and re-watching the Jurassic Park series.

the next few weeks were... less than fine. both of you had to get back to work, which meant a whole lot of online meetings. tsukishima spent hours working on the new online exhibits that the museum was doing while you were grading papers for days. that’s when you started picking up on some of the annoying things that your boyfriend did, like: not putting the milk back in the fridge, hogging the blankets when you guys slept, and playing the music on his headphones really loud that you had to remove them yourself to talk to him. but you weren’t the only one picking on annoying habits. tsukishima felt that he was just now realizing how many products you had in the bathroom that he couldn’t even find his own shampoo. he hated that you always finished the hot sauce by dumping two tablespoons on your food whenever you ate. and he absolutely loathed the sound of you frantically clicking your pen whenever you were stressed.

but, those few weeks were still somewhat alright. the two of you either dealt with things by talking it out or just ignoring them altogether. tsukishima would still carry you to be whenever you passed out on the dining table and you still made him an extra cup of coffee in the afternoon.

and then, the next few weeks happened. at this point, tsukishima barely had any work to do with the museum’s online exhibit up, except for answering the occasional dumb question on their website. he spent most of the day pacing the house, looking for something to do unless he was going to lie in bed while blasting music. you, on the other hand, were chest-deep in writing course packs, syllabi, compiling readings, emailing students, and conducting online classes. almost everything you two did led to you or tsukishima jumping at the other’s throats. 

and that’s when the metaphorical shit hit the metaphorical fan.

you were in the middle of checking papers, knowing very well that your deadline was fast approaching and if you wanted your students to get on with their next task, you had to send them the drafts of their papers as soon as possible. as per your usual habit when you were stressed out, you were clicking your favorite violet pen like crazy. tsukishima, who was at his desk on the other side of the room that you two shared as your office, could feel his sanity hanging by a thread that was unraveling with every click of your pen. and you were clicking your pen a lot. 

‘it’s their nervous habit, it’s their nervous habit, it’s their nervous habit,’ tsukishima repeated as he closed his eyes and increased the volume of the music he was listening to in hopes to drown out the sound.

click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-cl--

“can you not?” tsukishima tugged his headphones off and swiveled around to yell at you. the sudden volume of your boyfriend’s voice made you jump in your seat but unable to react fast enough when tsukishima stood up and plucked the purple pen from your hands. 

on any other day, you would have simply apologized and reasoned with tsukishima about your nervous habit. but, you weren’t grading a shit ton of papers on any other day.

“easy for you to say when you don’t have all these papers to grade!” you stood up and looked at your scowling boyfriend right in the eye. both of you had dark circles under your eyes and unwashed hair and neither of you cared. “why don’t you get out of the room if it’s so damn annoying?”

“maybe it’s because i also live here and i have every right to be comfortable in the office without having to hear the sound of your pen 24/7!” tsukishima yelled.

“well it’s not like you have anything important to work on,” you snapped, putting emphasis on ‘important’. that struck a vein with tsukishima and you could see the irritated quirk of his eyebrows. 

“are you saying that i’m useless here?” he said slowly and menacingly. “it’s not my fault that the fucking museum isn’t open at this time.”

“i’m not saying that but it sure would be nice for you to give me a helping hand once in a while when you know what i’m going through,” you huffed. you knew that you two were straying far away from the discussion about your pen-clicking habits but all those weeks of putting up with each other’s habits and other frustrations were bubbling from the surface.

“don’t you think i wish i could just take a break from all this? it sure would be nice if you just asked me how i was doing or cooked dinner more than just a few times a week!” you yelled.

“what am i, your mom?” tsukishima scoffed.

“no, you’re my boyfriend,” you emphasized. “and you’re just supposed to do things like that especially when you know what i’m going through. like, i get that you like keeping to yourself most of the time and you’re not super into cuddles or anything but, i don’t know, a ‘how are you?’ once in a while would be fucking great!” you gasped for air after your rant ended. for a fraction of a second, tsukishima looked almost sad or sorry and you began to hope that maybe you got through him. but, as quickly as it came, tsukishima scowled and turned away.

“if dinner’s what you want then fine, i’ll make something later. but for the love of god, stop clicking your fucking pen,” he sighed and sat at his desk before putting the headphones over his ears. you fumed at his indifference, you could practically feel your face heat up from anger. in a few strides, you crossed the room to his desk.

“we’re not done talking tsukishima!” you yelled over how loudly you knew tsukishima was blasting his music. in one quick motion, you unplugged the aux cord of his headphones.

unluckily for tsukishima, his phone did That Thing called ‘Playing Your Music Out Loud After Removing the Headphone Jack’ that he desperately avoided again and again by constantly lowering the volume on his phone before removing his headphones. even more unluckily for him, he was blasting his playlist full of taylor swift songs that had somehow held his sanity for the past few weeks.

and you, a sworn taylor swift fan, heard the very familiar opening track of ‘Wildest Dreams’. 

both of you were quiet as the intro played, both very shocked from the sudden interruption that had broken your heated argument. and then, tsukishima reacted by reaching for his phone. unluckily for him again, you reacted faster and grabbed the phone first.

“no way,” you exclaimed as you opened his playlist and scrolled through the songs, your anger quickly forgotten. 

“y/n, give it back!” tsukishima gritted his teeth and swiped at the phone in your hand. he could feel his own face heating up from embarrassment at his secret being revealed. 

“why are you embarrassed about it? it’s cute! you should have told me way sooner and we could have listened to folklore together,” you grinned at him. “and i love this song. ‘you said let’s get out of this town--’”

“give it!” tsukishima grabbed the phone out of your hand while you were distracted singing. 

“no, no, no! don’t pause it! i love this!” you whined, grabbing at his arm as he sat down. tsukishima was one press of a thumb away from ending your enjoyment. but, it was exactly that which stopped him from pressing ‘pause.’ now that he thought about it, when was the last time he heard you laugh.

and besides, ‘Wildest Dreams’ was a good song.

“come on tsukki,” you grinned cheekily. “look! it’s about you! ‘he’s so taaalll and handsome as heeeellll,’” you sang, trying to reach taylor’s high notes. 

“do you realize how embarrassing you’re being right now?” tsukishima sighed, but the hand over his mouth hiding the grin on his face betrayed how flattered he was.

“sing with me! sing with me!” you chanted, jumping up and down on the balls of your feet. “come on, nobody’s watching! in case you haven’t realized it, it’s literally been just us here.”

tsukishima looked at you. he wasn’t that unhinged from the lockdown yet that he would start singing taylor swift out loud.

but the ecstatic look on your face was something that he undoubtedly missed, along with his favorite strawberry shortcake at the cafe you two frequented. and you were right. it was just the two of you.

“...say you’ll remember me,” he sang softly. the grin on your face widened and you let out a giggle before joining him.

“standing in a nice dress staring at the sunset babe,” you sang. tsukishima smiled freely as he sang and watched you enjoy yourself. and then, you held at his hands and tugged him from the chair.

“what are you doing?”

“we’re going to dance. duh.”

“wh-what? no!” tsukishima shook his head even as you successfully tugged him out of his chair. “singing is one thing and dancing is another thing.”

“think of it as more like, you already sang so might as well dance,” you smirked at him. tsukishima stubbornly kept still even while you held his hands and swayed from side to side. “tsukkiiiiiii,” you whined when he still refused to move. you kept swaying while pouting up at your boyfriend. finally, he let out a sigh and put a hand behind your back before pulling you closer to him.

“that’s not how you dance, idiot,” he muttered. 

“so... you’re going to show me how?” you smiled cheekily. tsukishima rolled his eyes but proceeded to sway you back and forth as he hummed along to the music. you enjoyed the slow dance before, without warning, tsukishima grinned and spun you around.

“hey!” you laughed, feeling yourself stumble before being pulled back into tsukishima’s arms. 

“what? i thought you wanted to dance?” this time, it was his turn to smile cheekily at you. 

“yeah but--” you were cut off with tsukishima spinning you around again. “tsukki-- i-- stop!!” you attempted to say in between your boyfriend laughing and repeatedly spinning you around. 

“stop! i’m dizzy!” you erupted into fit of laughter as you wrapped your arms around your boyfriend to stop him from spinning you again. “where the hell did you learn that?”

“mom always had this thing where she would suddenly dance during christmas and new years when she had too much to drink,” tsukishima smiled at the memory as his hands circled around you. “usually, it was akiteru who she pulled to dance. i kind of, picked up a thing or two.”

“hmmmm, a new fact about tsukki,” you hummed and looked up at him. “i’ve learned two new facts today.”

“two new facts that you’re going to keep secret,” he emphasized, flicking you lightly on the forehead. 

“yeah, yeah. you can stop burying yourself in your headphones now and blast your favorite artist on loudspeaker,” you sang. 

“fine,” he muttered, wrapping his arms around you tighter. tsukishima realized that he hadn’t hugged you like this in a while. hell, you two hadn’t had this kind of break in a while. after weeks of feeling like he was ‘putting up’ with you, tsukishima remembered what he was doing sharing a living space with you in the first place. 

“hey... i’m actually not that bad at grading papers. like, i know grammar and how to write a proper argument. also, i had to tutor two idiots throughout high school,” tsukishima said. you looked up at him with a relieved smile on your face. tsukishima felt a knot in his chest loosen. maybe he should have offered that weeks ago.

“that would be great, tsukki,” you smiled. “i’ll... try not to click my pen too much.”

“yes please,” tsukishima sighed with relief and let you go. “i’m getting some water from the kitchen. need anything?”

“some tea would be great right now,” you nodded and sat back in your chair.

“got it,” tsukishima nodded and started for the door. but before he left, you called out to him.

“love you, kei.” 

tsukishima smiled as he reached for the doorknob. “love you too, y/n.” 

taglist (still open to anyone who wants in): @montys-chaos​ @miyumtwins​ @strawberriimilkshake​ @pocubo​ @sugawara-sweetheart@akaashisbabydoll @laure-chan@therainroguefanfiction@atetiffdoesart@stephdaninja@oikaw-ugh @charliefredb @dramaqueenweeb1469@tremblinghearts @applepienation also you @janellion because you’re responsible for any swiftie!tsukki content that i write from now on

[iamodmk]

BLOG POST- Nostalgia, yes, my parcel arrived in the mail today. My 2005 model used iPod Video 80GB in white with the Wolfson DAC chip aka A1136 model has been loaded up with 1,600+ songs & I went over to Value Village to purchase this silicone case. I literally went through EVERY. SINGLE. phone case package. I found 3 iPod cases- I bought them all & for 3-5 bucks each it was a decent purchase. Only one did not fit. 2/3 ain’t bad. Finally I’m using a newer pair of Apple headphones with the remote on the right side (that doesn’t work on this model because it’s so old). That is what you are looking at. I took it out today & listened to music from 1960-2012ish since that was the last time I downloaded music. I’ve had spotify for YEARS I can’t believe it & everytime I had my phone out I impulsively opened the app thinking I was listening to the streaming service when I’m reality hit me that I was in fact playing wired music from a hard drive lol I always wanted this machine. To me it is the quintessential APPLE device. Since 2011 I’ve been looking at this exact model. The white 80GB iPod 5.5 has been a dream to own & now that I do I can say I am very happy. The 3.5 headphone jack has wear as sometimes the channel comes through like a cheap off brand MP3 player but that’s to be expected. I’m sure the ipod has been opened once or twice with some modifications/upgrades to it BUT the device was factory reset with the computer telling me “welcome to your new ipod” which means iTunes recognizes the device as a Apple product. It’s so cute to hold in my hand & it’s about 3/5th the size of my iPhone Xr but hot diggity is it a beaut to look at! I’m so happy that it works, & is, as advertised :) I was worried I was going to get a reproduction with off brand upgrades for the price I paid for it but I got a pretty standard used but preloved device! I’m so excited to FILL THIS THING to the MAX with music from chamber, baroque to Montero, DONDA & Certified Lover Boy. Thank you @ebaycanada for coming in clutch! . . . . . #iamodmk #gaymer #blogger #music #apple #ipod #nostalgia #gay #lgbt #socialmedia #cree #firstnations #indigenous #twospirit #lgbt #amazing #love #filter (at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTny_dmMbii/?utm_medium=tumblr

[i-review-the-things]

Sony WH-1000XM4

Amazon recently had a sale for the Sony WH-1000XM4s so I was like: why not? 

tl dr: amazing for average consumers ( I am one :) ), most problems can be fixed by holding custom and power buttons for seven seconds to initialize product. Quality control is cool, headphones sound great, very comfortable, long battery

The actual review: Amazon usually sells these headphones for $343-ish. I lucked out and got them for $270 and they’re still on sale. 

Disclaimer that this review is not sponsored in any way. I bought these headphones because I genuinely wanted to see if they lived up to the hype.

 Everything sounds great on paper, if you are interested in the spec sheet, you can find it here. Assuming you know what these headphones are supposed to be capable of, I’ll start with my experience:  

In the box: You get the case, super compact, especially because it makes use of the headphones’ ability to fold. You also get a two-jack airline adaptor and a usb-c charging cable. My personal favorite addition is the auxiliary cable so that I can use my headphones even when they’re off as normal wired headphones.

ANC: I completely overestimated the capabilities of the ANC, but they are also somehow better than I expected.  Allow me to elaborate: these headphones will not cancel out someone screaming right next to you, but it will do a stunning job at making them sound like they are two rooms over. Play some music at at least 15% volume, and you won’t be able to hear anything.  Source: My mom keeps calling me for dinner and has to physically touch me for me to realize it. While making the sounds around me sound like bad airline intercoms, the ANC excels cancelling constant sounds e.g. low frequency hums and any humming in general. I put my headphones in and I can’t tell if the air conditioning and my computer fan is on anymore. The app gives me the option to adjust the ANC to my liking, so when I’m outside, I can still hear my surroundings. You have the option to turn on adaptive ANC, which lets the ANC adjust based on your movements and location.  However, I have decided to keep this function off because I’d much rather toggle it manually with either the app or using the custom function button on the headphones. All in all, great experience.  I’m baffled when I take these out and realize how much noise there actually is.

Next up: The sound quality.  I normally listen at pretty low volumes to prevent hearing loss but man, these headphones get so incredibly loud at 100%.  It’s like having your own car speakers on your head. The sound quality is pretty leveled with a slight bump in bass, but with the app, you can customize however you want. All of the sounds are crisp and clear and I have no issues with sound quality whatsoever.

Battery: I literally charge these for an hour and they are fully charged. I use these for 5 hours straight and according to the battery gauge, they have only lost 10% battery life. I am blown away.

Comfort: The clamp force and headband weight are precisely balanced and don’t make me feel uncomfortable at all.  I experience virtually no fatigue when wearing these headphones. The earcups are soft and so are the headbands, made of some sort of leather and foam. I want a pillow made out of these. The only complaint I might have is that they get hot at some times, but that is just because I’m locked in my room 24/7.  Outside, they never get stuffy.

Lastly, Build Quality: I personally got the Midnight Blue selection and it is looking fine. The sleek design looks great on any type of person. The gold/bronze accents on the case zipper and headphones are the cherry on top. I could swagger with these all day long. The headphones can be flexed and twisted far beyond what I thought they would be able to withstand.  

Totally worth the money.  If you can afford it, buy it.

Thank you for reading my review :))

[bimbostudies]

fun might be a stretch here i’m not gonna lie, but ever since i started waking up at 5 am i’ve been a generally happier person!  i know this sounds like a nightmare but the mornings, i’ve noticed, are a space of so much potential.  especially if you’re in college, getting up early can be great because you can have a few hours to yourself before your roommate wakes up, and you can get a head start on your day and overall be more productive later on.  

convinced? great!  here’s how to do it, and some suggestions for what to do with all your extra time.  

THE NIGHT BEFORE

set an alarm: assuming your body doesn’t naturally wake up at 5 (if it does, rock on), an alarm is gonna be necessary.  but there are ways to do this to maximize impact. 

sleepyti.me: this website calculates the length of your sleep cycles and allows you to see when you’ll be in your lightest sleep (a.k.a., when it’ll be easiest to wake up). 

have roommates/living with family? perfect.  Get a loud alarm clock and set it up close to where your roommate sleeps.  Set that alarm for 5:01.  Set your phone alarm for 5:00.  (make sure the clocks are lined up).  when you wake up, you’re gonna jet on over to that other alarm as soon as you wake up, and the adrenaline is gonna wake you right up.  

If you don’t have a roommate, you can still utilize a similar system.  Set an alarm, and put it across the room. It’s gonna be a lot harder to hit snooze when you’ve already walked that far.  

make a to do list: listing out things you want to get done/need to get done the next morning are going to give you more motivation when you wake up.  while sleeping is gonna be tempting, psyching yourself up for the next day will help you get up.  Scroll down for an example of what I like to do when I get up early! 

this is gonna make me sound like a real caucasian suburban mom but I really really love pinterest for to do list inspo.  If you can find a specific recipe you wanna try for making breakfast that’s gonna be more exciting than just writing “breakfast”

I would also recommend setting out your outfit for tomorrow ! Looking at makeup looks you wanna try if you wear makeup!! If you don’t, that is wonderful and congratulations on being freed from the confines of human performance in that way I wish that was me so badly!  

generally, just do anything to get you excited about starting tomorrow.  hype yourself up bitch ur gonna look cute and have a great day !!!!!  

straighten up your space: take 15 minutes before bed to straighten up your room.  stack your books, put clothes in the hamper, and just generally declutter.   

I have adhd and I literally hate cleaning so much but I hate mess even more, so waking up to a neat room makes me feel less overwhelmed and more in control of my life

A lot of people clean in the morning, which is also valid, but if you’re telling yourself that you’re gonna do that because of procrastination, do not listen!  That voice is the devil

self care: this is a meaningless term at this point, but what I generally mean is make yourself feel fresh.  Take a shower, wash your face, brush your teeth, take a hot second to change into pajamas instead of sleeping in your clothes.  You’re gonna sleep better if you give yourself transition space to let your brain adjust to the fact that you’re going to sleep.     

drink a big ass glass of water right before you go to bed.  you’re gonna need to pee the next morning so badly that your body will literally not let you go back to sleep.  unpleasant? maybe.  but the hydration is good for you.   

sleep!  Honestly sleeping is one of the sexiest parts of the day and getting a good night’s rest is gonna be a real game changer.  I recommend shooting for at least 6 hours, but if you’re able to go to bed earlier, don’t just stay up because!  Get some rest

THE MORNING OF

once your alarm has gone off, get up and do not get back into bed.  I like to aim for at least 20 minutes of moving around before I even touch my bed again, but some people make their bed as soon as they get up to discourage going back to sleep.  Also a valid point.  

stretch!  Once you’re up, stretch your core by putting interlocking your fingers and raising your hands into the air.  This always feels so nice after just waking up 

head to the bathroom: if you have long hair, put it up. Otherwise, splash some cold water on your face, brush your teeth, do your skincare routine if you have one (i recommend having one!  Even if it’s just washing your face and putting on some cheap lotion from the beauty aisle of the grocery store).  It’ll help you get ~into the zone~

If you’re into it, work out!  i rarely work out, I’m not gonna lie to y’all, but I’ll occasionally go to the fitness center in my dorm.  If I’m feeling extra motivated, I’ll bring some notes or reading to look at while I’m on the elliptical/cycling machine/treadmill because exercising actually helps you process things better.  

yoga: yoga is a super nice workout in the morning because it doesn’t need to be super intensive.  It’s good if you’re feeling already awake, but I would avoid any routines that include corpse pose/child’s pose if you’re feeling a bit sleepy still.  

dance: dance is so nice!  There’s a barre in my workout facility, and I sometimes head to do a barre workout while I listen to some upbeat music.  I’m also a big fan of just dancing around in my room in the mornings, and I definitely did that more before I had a roommate lol 

running/walking: running and walking (especially with a pet!) is a great way to start the day!  It gets you outside into the cold, which will wake you up, and it can be pretty cathartic.  I don’t usually run in the mornings just because it’s dark this time of year and it can be kinda unsafe, but if you’re comfortable with going on a run or you live in an area that’s safe enough, it’s awesome!  Always take pepper spray and your phone though !  

easier alternatives: do ten jumping jacks, stars, or run in place for a minute.  Anything that gets your blood flowing is gonna make it easier to sleep.

ake your time getting ready!  now that you’re up early, you don’t have to rush around trying to get your makeup on on time, or throwing together an outfit in the two minutes you have before the bus comes.  Take your time.  Treat it like a ritual.  Get ready intentionally.  You’re going to feel more put together and you’re gonna feel like the stunner you are and that’s gonna make you feel more confident going into the day!  

make your bed: this is one of the best things to do in the morning because it’s low risk, high reward!  Making your bed takes like five minutes max, but when you get home your room is gonna look 300% neater and you’re gonna feel so much better.   

go over your schedule: finish any last minute things you’re gonna need for the day, whether that’s printing assignments, putting your name on your worksheet, or remembering to bring a specific book to class.   

pack your bag: related to the above, take the time to pack your bag.  Do you have your chargers? Your headphones? Your notebooks? Your pencil case?  Having time to do this thoughtfully instead of rushing is gonna make it less likely you forget something important! 

breakfast: for the love of god, eat breakfast.  If you’re up early, you have literally no excuse not to.  It can be as easy as some toast with jam or as complicated as apple cinnamon pancakes with two different side dishes.  Whatever it is, make something yummy to fuel you for the rest of your day.   

pack a lunch: making lunch at home will save you a lot of money which rocks, especially if you’re a college student supporting yourself.  It’s also a lot more convenient because you don’t need to spend time waiting in line for food or walking to a place to eat.   

get to school/wherever you need to be early: I know, at this point you might think I’m a lunatic but there are a lot of benefits to getting to school early, even if it means you have to wait in the parking lot for a bit. 

traffic is more manageable earlier in the morning: if you leave only when you absolutely have to, you’re gonna end up on the road at the same time as every clown and their mother, and it’s gonna take you a lot longer.  For example, in high school, if I left at 6:45 I would get to campus by 7:05.  But if I left by 7:15, I would get there a few minutes before 8.  Not sexy!  

Less anxiety! If you leave early, you’re guaranteed to get to class on time, without the heart attack of praying that the bus driver or the person in front of you on the freeway starts flooring it.  When you’re early, you have that time to yourself, and you don’t have to feel like you’re in a rush.  

once you’re there, find somewhere to hang out and read/get some work done!  I like to review any notes I took to prepare for a lecture the morning before to refresh myself.  It’s not necessary, but it helps!  

If you’re reading this and thinking gosh, what an absolute nerd! that’s fair.  You can spend this time on social media if you’d like, or reading, or listening to a podcast/audiobook!   

This is your time, you earned it.  And by the time your day starts, you’re gonna feel like you’ve already done so much that you’re ready to take on anything that gets thrown at you.   

okay I hope you all enjoyed this advice!  let me know if there’s any other master posts you’d like to see me do :)

[percussiongirl2017]

Review of SFTB Products

This is a complete review of all of the scents I have from @scentsfromthebunker. I will have a separate list for the Marvel scents. I was going to link all of these, but it would crash the Tumblr post and break the links. Just go to the SFTB blog and follow the link in her bio! I’m going to put this under the cut because it’s super long.

1. AKF- Water, Witch Hazel, Lavender, Chamomile ~This was the very first scent I bought from SFTB and I think it’s the only one that’s still mostly full. I mainly use it when I’m having a really bad day. It’s not too strong and it’s perfect when you just want to relax.~

2. Angel Grace- Spearmint, Water, Witch Hazel ~Angel Grace is one of my all time favorites. I wear it to work a lot and it makes everyone think I have gum. I occasionally mix it with Jack and the perfect combination. It definitely puts me in a better mood.~

3. Baby- Water, Witch Hazel, Leather, Cinnamon, Coffee, Vanilla, White Lily, Sandalwood, Musk ~There are 3 bottles of Baby in my house currently. One of them is mine and the other two belong to my brother. He has to test all of the scents I buy because he’s nosy. He fell in love with Baby and instantly asked for 2 for Christmas. I think he keeps one in his truck and his friends can’t figure out why his truck smells so nice.~

4. Billie- Water, Witch Hazel, Cranberry, Vanilla, Lemon ~ I can’t even describe how amazing Billie smells. I love the smell of lemon because it makes me think of things that are clean. Billie reminds me of drinking lemonade in a graveyard, if that make any sense.~

5. Castiel- Cinnamon, Caramel, Sandalwood ~Cas smells safe. The cinnamon gives it a slight spice smell, but it’s balanced out enough that you want to smell more. It’s like a long hug after a bad day. It’s like being wrapped in his trenchcoat and falling asleep in the Impala.~

6. Captivated- Sandalwood, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Clove, Cedar, Amber ~Okay this one almost caused a fight in my house. This one has all of my Mom’s favorite scents so she was really excited when I opened it. I have to order another one so she doesn’t steal mine. It’s almost intoxicating how great this one smells.~

7. Charlie- Water, Witch Hazel, Rose, Orange, Strawberry, Musk, Coconut ~ I love the strawberry and rose combination in Charlie. It makes me think of sunshine and summertime. Charlie just smells happy. Like you wanna put your headphones on and dance around the house kind of happy.~

8. Chuck- Wintergreen, Vanilla, Tobacco, Frangipani ~We all want to smell like God. This one also passed my brother’s approval so he wants one for his birthday. I normally don’t like the tobacco smell, but this one is an exception. It’s balanced just right with the other oils.~

9. Claire- Rose, Apple, Jasmine ~ Claire’s scent is interesting to me. The rose and apple mix well together and the jasmine is just pronounced enough for you to smell. It’s really nice and smells amazing.~

10. Crowley- Water, Witch Hazel, Cinnamon, Apple, Vanilla, Tobacco ~ Like Chuck, I don't normally like the tobacco smell, but this one blends well with the cinnamon and vanilla. It smells like apple pie at a bonfire. I really really like Crowley.~

11. Dean- Water, Witch Hazel, Vanilla, Cinnamon, White Lily, Clove ~AMAZING! I love vanilla and cinnamon so getting Dean was a must. I wear Dean (or Sam) when I know the corporate office is going to be at work. I need a Winchester to have my back.~

12. Demon! Dean- Vanilla, Cinnamon, Orange, Eucalyptus, White Lily ~So take Dean and imagine a darker scent. To me, the cinnamon is a little more pronounced in this one. It’s definitely one I like wearing when I’m writing angst.~

13. Donna- Water, Witch Hazel, Rose, Musk, Lily, Strawberry, Pear, Pineapple ~ A fruit salad with a shot of whiskey. That is the best way I can describe Donna. It has the musk scent, but it’s not super heavy. The rose and lily balance it out nicely. It’s like the perfect balance of happy and determined.~

14. Eileen- Hydrangea, Musk ~ Eileen smells like a walk in the garden. I can’t help but smile when I spray Eileen. I also like to pair Eileen with Sam because they balance each other out.~

15. Gabriel- Water, Witch Hazel, Orange, Clove, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Gardenia, Musk ~ I love the orange and vanilla scent of Gabriel. It makes me think of baking with my Dad. It’s like spending all day baking and then going outside and sitting on the porch.~

16. Heaven- Gardenia, Magnolia ~Heaven reminds me of fresh laundry hanging on the line. It’s a spring morning in a hammock with a good book. It’s relaxing.~

17. Hell- Orange, Cinnamon ~ Hell smells amazing. If Hell really smells like this then sign me up! The scent lasts for hours and it goes great with Sam or Dean.~

18. Jack- Peppermint, Vanilla ~Oh my gosh, this precious nougat child smells amazing. It reminds me of Christmas and I wear it with Angel Grace. I like wearing it when writing fluff because it just puts you in a good mood.~

19. Jamie- Sandalwood, Rose, Vanilla, Pine ~Kilts. I swear to Chuck that’s all I think of when I wear Jamie. I need to watch Outlander so I can get the full experience. I like the outdoorsy scent and I use it around the house a lot.~

20. Jared’s Empathy- Vanilla, Sandalwood, Pear, Pineapple, Musk, Rose, Lily, Cinnamon ~Look, I’ve met Jared, I’ve hugged Jared, and I’ve almost passed out in front of Jared. I swear this is very close to what Jared smells like. I’m currently out of Jared and I need to send my bottle back. I used to wear Jared to work, but I think I ran out during the Black Friday/Thanksgiving/Christmas rush at work. It kept me calm during all that craziness.~

21. Jensen’s Warmth- Vanilla, Cinnamon, White Lily, Rose, Coffee ~So, (as weird as it sounds) Jensen feels safe to me. I was terrified of him at Nashcon last year, but he just has this warmth about him that feels safe. I wear Jensen when I’m feeling overwhelmed. I’m a little low on Jensen because I shared him with my manager at work.~

22. Jody- Gardenia, Cinnamon ~Jody is such a Mom scent in my opinion. Like when you have those days where you just need to go to your Mom. It’s a protective and nurturing scent that makes you feel good.~

23. John- Water, Witch Hazel, Sandalwood, Musk, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Patchouli ~The sandalwood, musk, and cinnamon combination is freaking amazing. The vanilla and patchouli balance it out perfectly. It’s almost like Dean, but it has more of a aged smell to it. It reminds me of leather jackets for some reason.~

24. Love Yourself First- Ylang Ylang ~ I love using this one with my AKF and YANA scents. It’s perfect when I’ve had a rough day at work or school. Plus it helps me sleep at night.~

25. Lucifer- Apple, Orange, Lemon, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, Vanilla ~ Lucifer makes me think of cookies for some reason. Like spiced snickerdoodle cookies. That probably sounds weird, but I really like Lucifer.~

26. Lucifer!Sam- Amber, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Apple, Sandalwood, Clove ~Lucifer!Sam gives off a warm and almost protective vibe to me. I’ve started wearing it to work and it lasts my whole 9 hour shift. I am in love with Lucifer!Sam~

27. Mary- Jasmine, Rose, Honeysuckle ~ Mary is another one that reminds me of spring and fresh laundry. Mary makes me wanna curl up with a good book and just relax. I love honeysuckle and it just makes this scent perfect.~

28. Meg- Water Witch Hazel, Violet, Lavender, Chamomile, Cinnamon ~One of my all time favorites. I use Meg around the house because of the lavender scent. It’s one of my Mom’s favorite and I also use it in my room when I’m doing homework.~

29. Michael!Dean- Cinnamon, Vanilla, White Lily, Sweet Tobacco, Musk ~ It’s exactly how I imagined he would smell. It’s like Dean but with more mystery behind him. I currently use this one at work and I share it with one of the girls in electronics. It helps on stressful days when customers are yelling at me.~

30. Misha’s Kindness- Coconut, Vanilla, Gardenia, Cinnamon ~Misha never fails to make me smile and that’s why I really like this scent. It always puts me in a good mood especially after a bad day at work. I sprayed one of my shirts with it before throwing it in the dryer and it smelled like Misha all day.~

31. Negan- Amber, Cinnamon, Sandalwood, Patchouli ~ Kicking butt and taking names! Negan smells like determination and gives off an air of authority. The cinnamon gives it just enough spice to make you wanna come back for more.~

32. Pie- Apple, Cinnamon, Vanilla ~Smells good enough to eat! I love wearing Pie with Dean or Demon!Dean. It’s sweet, but not overpowering.~

33. Purgatory- Orange, Cedar ~ This one reminds me of the forest and the orange lightens the scent some. It’s like going down a walking trial and coming into a clearing. It smells wonderful and amazing.~

34. Rowena- Water, Witch Hazel, Raspberry, Rose, Orange, Musk, Coconut, Patchouli ~ I forgot how much I loved the smell of Rowena. It almost reminds me of raspberry tea. It’s light and fruity and I really like it.~

35. Ruby- Water, Witch Hazel, Rose, Musk, Orange, Coconut, Violet, Patchouli, Vanilla ~ Ruby is one of my newest additions and I am in love with it! This is literally how I imagined Ruby would smell. It’s a darker smell, but the orange gives it a kick. The rose and violet are subtle, but not overpowering. It’s just freaking amazing and I can’t wait to use it more.~

36. Sam- Water, Witch Hazel, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Coffee ~My Sam bottle is almost empty! It’s great to use when I’m studying and I can’t focus. I also use it on my pillow and I sleep so much better. The coffee scent is great for when I going to work and I’m still tired. Everyone at work really likes Sam.~

37. Soulless!Sam- Vanilla, Cinnamon, Orange, Coconut, Patchouli ~ This is honestly how I imagined Soulless!Sam would smell. It’s like spicy Sam honestly. It’s amazing. I wore this one a lot last semester because I had to deal with some difficult people in class. I occasionally mixed this one with Demon!Dean and it’s really nice.~

38. Wayward Sisters- Azalea, Apple, Jasmine, Musk ~ This one smells wonderful. I love the mix of jasmine and musk. The azalea is just enough not to be overpowering. The apple adds a sweet scent. It’s just amazing.~

39. Winchester Bros- Vanilla, Sandalwood, Musk, Cinnamon, White Lily, Rose ~Take Sam and Dean and travel with them in the Impala for a few days. It’s borrowing a flannel and you’re not sure which brother it belongs to. It’s falling asleep in the Impala and one of the boys carrying you into the Bunker. It smells like Winchester and I love it so much.~

40. You Are Not Alone- Orange, Rose ~ I love the smell of orange, okay? The rose scent tones down the orange and gives it a more floral scent. I like wearing this one with Jared or Jensen. It’s perfect to wear after a stressful day at work.~

Go and show @scentsfromthebunker some love! I’ll have a Marvel review up soon!

[bbyiknowplaces]

Lover Dissertation.

Written while listening to the entirety of LOVER. @taylorswift @taylornation

(Lover by Taylor Swift. August 22nd 9PM)

I FORGOT YOU EXISTED - A bop.  A real bop. This beat. I LOVE IT. HOLY. “IT ISN’T LOVE IT ISN’T HATE IT’S JUST INDIFFERENCE.” AND IT WAS SO NIIIIIIIICE. Holy crap this is literally so catchy and “SO YEAH.”

CRUEL SUMMER – TAKE ME NOW. WHAT DOESN’T KILL ME MAKES ME WANT YOU MORE. UNBREAKABLE HEAVEN. ALL THE EASTER EGGS. Okay, Cruel Summer is a bop and it’s going to kill radio. I DON’T WANNA KEEP SECRETS JUST TO KEEP YOU. I LOVE YOU AIN’T THAT THE WORST THING YOU EVER HEARD.

LOVER – Oh, just hand me a box of tissues and throw me someone to dance with. Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close? FOREVER AND EVER? RIP ME.

THE MAN - I would be complex, I would be cool. Her vocals. Okay. Holy crap. BOSS LADY. Really though the vocals are SO GOOD. CRAP. IF I SWORE I WOULD SWEAR RIGHT NOW. WHAT I WAS WEARING?? Also  a bop. This beat. Is this Jack too? I have to go check.

THE ARCHER- Just shoot me in the heart already. Dark side, I search for your dark side, but what if I’m all right, right, right, right, here? Oh man, if I was at a secret session it would have been almost worthless because I would have almost no recollection of these songs after one play. Seriously. This is free though time because I know every word of The Archer. I SEE RIGHT THROUGH ME I SEE RIGHT THROUGH ME. It’s taking like ten minutes to download the album to my computer because it’s a big file even though it’s a zip. 18 tracks, baby. Okay, here we go. Continuing.

I THINK HE KNOWS – SNAP. SNAP. SNAP. SNAP. This rap. THIS BEAT. SHE IS SO IN LOVE. I WANNA SEE WHAT’S UNDER THAT ATTITUDE. He better lock it down or I will never stay, hahahaha! BOY I UNDERSTAND. So where we gonna go? Dang.

MISS AMERICANA & THE HEARTBREAK PRINCE – Ooh, eerie. Ripped up my prom dress. I love this sound. NO CAMERAS CATCH MY PAGEANT SMILE. IT’S YOU AND ME. YOU PLAY STUPID GAMES YOU WIN STUPID PRIZES. Voted most likely to run away with you. HEART EYES. You are the only one who seems to care. THE DAMSELS ARE DEPRESSED. NO CAMERAS CATCH MY MUFFLED CRIES. CRYING. (O-KAY!) I love the shouts. GO FIGHT WIN. Someday we’re gonna WIN. Takes me back cause the drama FEELS LIKE HIGH SCHOOL. EYE ROLL. They whisper in the hallway, “she’s a bad, bad girl.”

PAPER RINGS – Cat and mouse for a month or two?? THIS IS ADORABLE. I LIKE SHINY THING BUT I’D MARRY YOU WITH PAPER RINGS. I HATE ACCIDENTS EXCEPT WHEN WE WENT FROM FRIENDS TO THIS. I’m with you even if it make me blue. PAINTED YOUR BROTHERS WALL BLUE. Who’s counting 1,1, 1,2,3,4??!?? In dirty dreams?? I mean true. BABY BOY. DREARY MONDAYS. I like this beat too. Sick. Honestly. I’m almost halfway through! Oh no! You’re the one I want. HEART EYES.

CORNELIA STREET – THIS IS THE SEQUEL TO DELICATE. AFTER THEY LEFT THE BAR HOLY CRAP. This production AHHHHHHHHH. I’ll never walk Cornelia Street again. This is so dreamy. LIKE DRIVING IN THE DARK WITH WINDOWS OPEN. Card sharks, playing games. SAT ON THE ROOF YOU AND I, DRINKING BEER OUT OF PLASTIC CUPS I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT. SACRED NEW BEGINNINGS. LISTEN, I HOPE I NEVER LOSE YOU. HER BREATHY VOCALS AWWWW SHHHHH. AAAA FREAKING CAR DOOR.

DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS – THIS PIANO. WHAT. I dress to kill my time. Okay, the piano is still going. What. WHO IS THIS ABOUT. IS THIS JOE? WHAT. TOM. What? CHANDELIER STILL FLICKERING. But I’ll be alright, it’s just a thousand cuts. THE SAD VIOLIN.

LONDON BOY -  ON MY SCOOTER. THAT WAS SO CUTE. THAT WAS JOE. HIS VOICE. LOL. YOU KNOW I LOVE A LONDON BOY. CAMDEN. DARLING I FANCY YOU. WHY DID MY ANCESTORS MOVE TO AMERICA, I COULD HAVE BEEN BORN IN FREAKING ENGLAND. THE WEST END. GREY SKY. CAB RIDE. DON’T THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME. HER ACCENT HAHAHA! HIS MATES. LIKE A TENNESEE STELLA MCCARTNEY. So I guess all the rumors are true? WINK.

SOON YOU’LL GET BETTER – Oh, I love a guitar. I didn’t tell you I was scared. Desparate people find faith. THE HARMONIES. JUST LIKE I IMAGINED THEM. EVEN BETTER. CAUSE YOU HAVE TO. What am I supposed to do if there’s no you? Just so sad. I just.

FALSE GOD – Saxophone yes. I don’t know anything about this one. I can’t talk to you like this. I still do it for you, babe. HOLY MORE SAXOPHONE. YES. TAYLOR YES. We’d still worship this love. I know heaven’s a thing, I go there when you touch me. Hell is when I fight with you. THE ALTER IS MY HIPS I MEAN. Well, that was sexy.

YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN – A REAL FREAKING BOP. It’s better with headphones. The reverb. It sounds different when put with the entire album. Seriously, though it sounds different. I can’t wait to hear the secret session audio tomorrow and put all these songs into their stories cause I’m not that great at it and even if I were great at it, Taylor has all the details and context to really paint the actual picture she’s trying to get across.

AFTERGLOW – Okay. Okay. Put you in jail for something you didn’t do. SHE’S SO GROWN. WHY’D I HAVE TO BREAK WHAT I LOVE SO MUCH. HEY IT’S ALL ME AND MY HEAD. I’M THE ONE WHO BURNED THIS DOWN. BUT IT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT. I DON’T WANNA LOSE THIS WITH YOU. MEET ME IN THE AFTERGLOW. Low, blue, ways she describes him. PUNISHED YOU WITH SILENCE. It’s all me, in my head. It’s all me. I promise to be over dramatic. J JUST DON’T GO. Tell me that we’ll be just fine even when I lose my mind. Okay, Joe has been through a lot and Taylor has been through a lot and a relationship is so much give and take and highs and lows but holding onto each other through the whole thing and WANTING TO HOLD ONTO EACH OTHER is what makes it real.

ME! – The ORIGINAL. THE EASTER EGG MASTERPIECE. FREAK. LET’S DO THIS. MEET ME IN THE AFTERGLOW. Wow, that’s gonna be stuck in my head for a while. Me takes on a bigger meaning after hearing the rest of the album and I like that it’s at the end to tie things up that there’s only one of you and me and NOBODY’S GONNA LOVE YOU LIK ME.

IT’S NICE TO HAVE FRIEND – Vocals. Choir. Oh. STEEL DRUM. WHAT. Taylor walking to school carrying coffee. Steel drums though. You been stressed out lately, me too. THE TRUMPET. UH, BELLS. UKULELE. CHURCH BELLS. FEELS LIKE HOME. STAY IN BED ALL WEEKEND. CAUSE THEY’RE BEST FRIENDS AND LOVERS. COLBIE CAILAT.

DAYLIGHT – SO DREAMY. EVERYONE LOOKED WORSE IN THE LIGHT. I’ll tell you the truth but never goodbye. I don’t wanna look at anything else now that I saw you. THIS IS SO CUTE. SHE’S FOUND. IT. SHE SEES DAYLIGHT. CLEARING THE AIR I BREATHED IN THE SMOKE. RAN WITH THE WOLVES. CLOAKS AND DAGGERS. THIS BASS. YES. I COULD NEVER LOOK AWAY. OMG IMAGINE THIS AT THE END OF TOUR. AND NOW I’M WIDE AWAKE. DAYLIGHT DAYLIGHT DAYLIGHT DAYLIGHT REPEAT FOREVER. BRIDGE. TAKE ME. TAKE ME AWAY. AND I CAN STILL SEE IT ALL IN MY HEAD. BURNING RED. IT’S BURNING RED. OH CRAP. OH CRAP. SHE DID. SHE DID!!!!!!!!!!!! IT’S ONLY HALFWAY OVER WHAT THE FREAK. I ONLY SEE DAYLGHT. ALL THE BACKGROUND VOCALS COMING TOGETHER. THE PIANO, IMAGINE HEARING THIS ON THE PIANO ON TOUR. STEP INTO THE FREAKING DAYLIGHT AND LET IT GO. LET IT GO. THERE’S STILL 45 MORE SECONDS. AUDIO. YOU ARE WHAT YOU LOVE AND I LOVE YOU, TAYLOR. NO DON’T LET IT BE OVER. I HAVE TO LISTEN TO IT AGAIN. DON’T LET IT STOP.

Wow. It’s really over. There’s so MUCH, FREAKING SO MUCH. Oh, man I just love it so much. The honesty, the love, the reflections of relationships and things done wrong and things done right. It really is a new beginning. I want this feeling of being complete and whole and loved no matter WHAT to never end. Because you both deserve it.

[dailytechnologynews]

Is there really not a perfect 11.5-13.5" Windows tablet choice?!

Hello guys. For the past week i've been researching to find the perfect windows tablet choice for my specific application need. However it seems there isn't even one device that doesn't have some type of throwback. I'm not asking for everything, but it seems it is either hit or miss, even if you take into account overpriced products. Please hear me out and let me know your thoughts.

I am essentially looking for a WINDOWS TABLET which its primary purpose is to be fitted to my car as a secondary "dash" per say so i can use it to interact with my aftermarket motorsports ecu. It will function as a monitoring dash for the most of the time, but can be used to datalog (aka record data) or for direct tuning (so i don't have to bring my laptop everytime i need to make changes to my engine calibration). I wouldn't mind using it at home as well since i will have it, but mostly will work as a travel/trip companion since i have a PC at home. It has to be a WINDOWS tablet as the software that interfaces with the ecu is only windows based.

After thinking and revising my requirements several times after getting disappointed by what is available here is the break down:

Dimensions: Height needs to be around ~205mm +10mm max so the tablet can be secured in the glove box when not in use. Ideally height should be maximized so that the display area is maximized as well. Length larger than 300mm is not a problem but would get annoying to fit to the car since it will extend more towards the passenger side. This effectively limits me to ~11.8-13.3" tablets, so Microsoft Surface Pro can be used as a reference design (since i haven't seen bezel-less windows tablets yet) Display: This is the most important attribute of the tablet. 1080p absolute minimum resolution, 2K ideally, 3K is probably not gonna be noticeable at the usage distance. Here is a screenshot from my 1080p laptop so you can see the ECU software in datalog mode (slightly cropped but so you can get an idea: http://content.invisioncic.com/r260425/monthly_2017_09/fuel_pressure_link.png.bc827c0a96fe120632f1d7c168e66a64.png However let's not forget brightness and contrast. Brightness should be ~400nits or better for a glossy display, and contrast should be considered over color accuracy. Viewing angle in the length span should be at least 150deg but i think it is hard nowadays to find such a bad display panel. Finally a fully laminated panel is recommended. Physical interfaces: I essentially need a single full size USB port so i can connect my ECU to the tablet. After my research i decided to allow for USB-C assuming that i can get a dongle that will allow me to interface without any issues; but it's best not to allow for that route due to possible incompatibility issues (like what happened when usb3.0 was released). Extra USB ports, USB-C that allows charging and data, video output port, headphone jack, m.2 expansion slot, sd card slot are all pluses. Wireless interfaces: Min wifi and bluetooth. 802.11AC and bluetooth v4.2 or better all pluses. CPU/GPU performance: Generally something better than N3450 (tested my brother's CHUWI surbook mini) and more recent will help, GPU performance is irrelevant for the task so the majority of intergrated GPU's will do fine. RAM: 4GB absolute minimum, 8gb ideal Cooling: I prefer passive cooling, but usually the cooling solution used is sh*t. At least in some cases it can be modded (i'm experienced and willing to do) Battery: 4 hours light use with full display brightness as minimum. If charging is performed over USB-C i hope it is not the stupid kind of power->battery->device like in phones and can work like in laptops where the battery is not used when power is supplied to the laptop. This way you don't wear out the battery since the device will be connected to power most of the time it is operated. Storage: 64gb absolute min, ideal min should be 128gb, speed is relative but i think at least m.2 sata interface ssd; NVME huge + Others: Pen support and attachable keyboard are pluses, but i plan on using a good bluetooth keyboard with backlight (required) so it makes them irrelevant if the tablet is good, Thunderbolt 3 is a +, unlocked bios +, kickstand should work on a lap without cutting your pants off and stay in one place, sd card reader + Reliability: From what i read most chinese tablets are pretty bad with both hardware and software issues out of the box. Backcover should be metal to act as heatsink and be stiff enough, weight and thickness is not that important Condition: New or used. I believe some products offer better value when bought used and others because have been discontinued Pricing: My budget is flexible but depending on the features lots of them are overpriced especially bought new. I would say ~500eur for a new tablet with min features required and 1000eur for one with better hardware. Considering i'm building a 7nm PC in a couple of months the market pricing is really unacceptable for most windows tablets. Blame Apple for it, but i'm not a rich consumer neither i am a sheep. Performance to value is what i always look for.

I literally checked every windows tablet and 2-in-1 i believe. Here some potential picks and what i didn't like.

Microsoft Surface Pro (4 - 5 - 6): At first glance it is a good base candidate..but..really Microsoft? It's 2019 and no USB-C? Proprietary connector and overpriced hardware? Questionable reliability? Get the f*ck out of here. Unless you find a good used deal i don't think it would be worth it. Another Apple wannabe. Eve-tech EVE V: This is one tablet that hits all the boxes, kinda, since by now it is almost obsolete in terms of CPU performance..sadly while i'm greek-cypriot i would go with the stereotypical view for greeks because the CEO is a "malakas" and i'm really sorry to all the people that were scammed. On the other hand i believe there is some truth to the Paypal issues he had since my friend had similar issues (because of not much experience) and even I couldn't help him get them fixed as Paypal is run by assholes as well which need a punch to the face (their excuse it is the system and they can't do anything about it - like wtf). I still use it but the time a different payment system reaches similar adoption i would gladly switch. Chuwi Surbook: Slow CPU, screen is not fully laminated, mediocre specs but was good price at some time ago. Maybe the announced "surbook pro" would fair better? Voyo Vbook i5/i7 Plus: Nice screen, fair pricing? Not the most quality build, shitty battery, i7 model throttles? Teclast X6 Pro: A slightly better vbook i5? No full detailed reviews yet, and i wasn't that impressed from the previous X5 review Alldocube Knote 8: Seems good on paper, but no type-A usb ports Jumper EZpad 6: Possibly the only windows tablet in stock with a good value, however i need something with a better and larger display Acer Switch 3/5: Mediocre screens, single type-A port on the right side (since my car is RHD and the ecu is on the left side i would prefer it on the left side), shitty battery performance, a little overpriced Dell XPS 12 9290/Latitude 5290/Latitude 7285: Great displays, powerful, only 5290 has type-A port, mediocre battery life, overpriced but there are good used deals Asus Transformer 3 Pro T303UA/T304UA: Premium specs but discontinued, expensive, only 1 type-A port and it is on the right side (again), T304 is a huge step backwards even though newer (what the heck Asus, are you drunk?) Lenovo ThinkPad X1: Overpriced, no type-A ports, Gen3 is too big and has display coating issues, Gen2 is more suitable due to size and type-a interface but older and screen brightness not that good - all too tall Lenovo MIIX series: new 630 uses an ARM processor so no go (since i can't force the software developpers to re-compile), 720 rates very high in the features i need, 2 usb type-A ports, nice display, etc. 520 is a little newer with weaker hardware but still good for its price HP Pro X2/Envy X2/Elite X2 1012: HP's other offerings like the Elite X2 1013 are too tall for my needs, and while they have good displays and good build quality i am not font of their design decisions. I have a Zbook 17 G5 workstation at work we bought new and not even 6 months passed and the CPU fan now rattles like crazy..here's my 1st day rant about it: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Note-to-HP-Zbook-17-G5-design-engineers-Please-read-and/td-p/6914797 Also they are overpriced like crazy. I wouldn't ever think of buying again from them. Also the power supply is proprietary as some of the internal hardware. F*ck HP Huawei MateBook E: Aside the lack of ports it is a pretty good designed device, display is perfect but slightly smaller than the biggest i can fit - depending on price it might be a good consideration assuming i can run a USB-C dock i can charge within the car Samsung Galaxy Book 12: Similar to the Huawei above, just a little faster but with a worse display, extra usb-C port. Older and more expensive than the Huawei Toshiba Portege X30T and others: Ports are on the keyboard and not on the tablet, won't work for me.

I think i've covered 99% of the options but i may could have missed 1 or 2. To be honest i won't need this tablet for another 3-6months i would guess but at least i've done my research so i will be prepared when the time comes to buy one. What do you think? I know i went a little crazy but i'm that type of person that never regrets his purchasing choices because i don't buy blindly.

[satloading933]

At&t Zte Maven Review

At&t Zte Maven Reviews

At&t Login

So this is my ZTE Maven 3 a TNT full review.

At definition is - —used as a function word to indicate presence or occurrence in, on, or near. How to use at in a sentence. Rt5161 driver. Try fast and safe sign-in with ZenKey. Sign in with ZenKey. Learn about ZenKey.

“Lorem ipsum” dummy text is used by many web-developers to test how their HTML templates will look with real data. Often, developers use third-party services to generate “Lorem ipsum” text, but now you can do that right in your editor. Just expand lorem or lipsum abbreviations to get the following snippet. Try 'Lorem' and F3. This gives you the Lorem Ipsum. Horst ( 2015-07-29 03:09:59 +0100) edit. @karolus - shortcuts depend on locale (DT in English, TEX in French ). LOREM (Latin) remains LOREM. To find them EditAutoText unfold the Category (e.g. Standard) pierre-yves samyn ( 2015-07-29 09:05:45 +0100) edit. =lorem If you want multiple paragraphs you can put a number in the ( ) There are also a lot of random Lorem ipsum text generators and here is a cool article by Tom with ideas. https://satloading933.tumblr.com/post/657375138155757568/lorem-ipsum-shortcut.

9pin USB Header Male 1 to 2 Female Extension Splitter Cable Connector Adapter (Male 1 to 2 Female) 4.4 out of 5 stars 625. E-SDS USB 3.0 2-Port 3.5 Inch Metal Front Panel USB Hub with 1 HD Audio Output Port/1 Microphone Input Port for Desktop 20 Pin Connector & 2ft Adapter Cable. Premium10-Pin USB/AC97/HD-Audio Internal Header Y. Ac97 cable. HD Audio to AC'97 Adapter Cable. Estimated Delivery. Order within. Be the first to review this product. 0 Questions, 0 Answers Ask Your Question. Product Details: Audio adapter cable, internal, AC97 to HD audio. Audio cable to adapt the AC97 frontpanel connector on a mainboard into a HD audio connector- AC97. Audio adapter cable, internal, AC97 to HD audio. Free Shipping Worldwide. Audio cable to adapt the AC97 frontpanel connector on a mainboard into a HD audio connector- AC97 male plug to HD audio female plug. Tags: AACP to AC97 cable HD Audio AC'97 Adapter 変換. The front panel audio header on an Intel® Desktop Board lets you connect to a front panel audio module built into a system chassis. See the header pinout configuration below for connecting a chassis with Intel® High Definition Audio (Intel® HD Audio) or AC'97 (Audio Codec '97) audio. Item 1 Internal Motherboard AC97 HD Audio 9pin Male To Female Extension Cable Cord 50cm 1 - Internal Motherboard AC97 HD Audio 9pin Male To Female. Save on Audio Cables & Adapters. VisionTek 900639 DisplayPort DVI-D Black cable interface/gender adapter - 900639. Trending at $34.19. 6 Inch 3.5mm 3-Ring Speaker/Microphone Headset.

So first I want to talk about aesthetics of unlock at&t zte Maven 3 so for a device that only cost you $30 on 18th I personally think this is a beautiful device. The back of the phone as you can see has a slate’ish feel to it you can see it has a slate feel to it I love the feel this back I wish they can incorporate it on a little more ZTE devices.

At&t Zte Maven Reviews

I love this feel it’s like a sandstone backing that can actually be removed so if we take a look I can remove this backing by a little knob tap to actually reveal our whole battery. Now that’s not something you see every day in a device as you can see it is flexible but it’s not something you see.

So ZTE Maven 3 has up to 32 gigs of SD card storage plus the built-in storage that came pre-installed already and then the sides of the device are technically plastic and as you can see it looks a little like a fake’ish metal but I know it feels plastic for sure.

The one thing I don’t like in unlock at&t ZTE Maven 3 is the power button isn’t texture it’s not like a cheap feeling texture which I love better than just smooth but you can differentiate it for sure and then the camera hump also isn’t that bad.

At&t Login

Then the front of the ZTE Maven 3 is another place that doesn’t look too bad for a 5-inch display you get your three capacitive buttons and then on top you get a ton of finger prints. Then you get also an LED light right up there and the other thing you get is your camera and your screen. The screen on zte Maven 3 literally isn’t that bad like if I go like this three dots am I going to go over to this screen right here and I will zoom into it as can see this isn’t that bad so let me turn off auto brightness here turn it down more it really isn’t bad I think it’s a beautiful screen like for what it is I think it looks beautiful I think it looks vibrant for being only 480 TFT panel I think it looks vibrant and it comes with a ton of different software built into it already 7.1.1 comes built in so as you can see I haven’t loaded up much on here at all or anything at all really I did I tried some stuffs nothing would actually load for me and from here I went through and I just tested it out calling and texting on it and taking pictures too so in my opinion I love the picture quality I did a video that I will link down below just for camera I think the video wasn’t the best but the picture quality for this device blew me away like I was surprised that how good the picture quality came out for a dis device 5 megapixel rear camera 720p video and fun and a 2 megapixel front camera 720p video and they’ve also Lumia way in terms of what they did and for the poor performance of the device I was able to text fast and call people well that worked out the battery lasted me all day of calling and texting people it has a headphone jack for you people that care and it has a micro USB charger and what came in the box I’ll list I’ll link the initial getting video down below the unboxing video where the don’t where what happened was it came with just the micro USB and the brick and for what it is is beautiful I think it’s nice it feels nice in the hand it’s not too big not too small that’s what she’s personally I’d like a bigger device but it doesn’t feels great I think the back if it were a little more sandstone II and not just a little bit cheaper feeling I think it would be a little better but for what I did feels excellent now everything on this device is great if you want spent 30 bucks one gig of ram a gigs of storage with like three four gigabytes usable now people say it’s bad some people say whatever I say if you’re looking for a cheap device maybe to get your kids for only 30 bucks you get them a device that can blast them for a little bit maybe you just want to teach them the values of owning the phone but you want to be smartphone so they can text their friends maybe even do snapchat if that’s what they do and you just want if it reloads on this phone but you just want to show them maybe you’re also scared that they’re gonna break the phone or at least my mom did this she did it where she did it where she bought me a cheaper smartphone at the time was expensive but I mean I’m calling it cheaper now because technically it was cheaper than the cheap smartphones the budget smartphones at that time and I now I buy my own phones for myself so maybe you want to teach them that maybe they’re earning up to her towards their first phone but you want to actually just give them their first phone maybe they’re and it’s something whatever it is I think this is a perfect phone for that I’d recommend this phone to anybody looking please don’t get mad one gig of ram 8 gigs of storage with 4 gigabytes approximately 4 gigabytes usable not bad at all I think it’s great for what it is and a great starter phone for any kid out there.

[bl-giftexchange]

Connection Issues

 To @light-of-hyperion From: @needshea1ing

I REALLY HOPE YOU LIKE IT HAPPY HOLIDAYS 8’)))))))))

Words: 2144

Ship: A hint of Rhack. Just a liiiittle hint 8’)

*

The lights flickered above his head again and this time, Rhys could not hold back his sigh. He instead spun on his computer chair, looking at the neon that seemed to be having a rave party all by itself.

“Jack?” He called out, not expecting an answer. “Jesus, Jack. Will you please stop? I’m trying to work here if you hadn’t noticed.”

The lights only seemed to flicker harder, and a steady beeping coming from the security system could be heard now. Someone was apparently having a bad day. At least it wasn’t like the other time, which had included a sudden central heating shutdown that had lasted for a couple of hours until Jack realized that his little ‘harmless prank’ also affected the circuits he used to interact with the outside world. Computers never much liked cold weather.

Rhys shook his head, putting his headphones back onto his ears and went back to type at his computer.

“Don’t make me restrict your permissions any more, Jack. Pretty sure you wouldn’t like being stuck in a coffee machine.” The warning seemed to take effect, as the lights stopped flashing and the security system went quiet. In a second, the old Atlas base turned awfully quiet.

The first weeks could have driven anyone up the wall, and Rhys had quickly invested in a new pair of headphones to put at least some music on while he worked. Rebuilding a whole company from the ground was tedious work, and while he had found a couple capable hands that were ready to do the literal heavy lifting for him, he was pretty much alone working on logistics. He needed a couple more weeks before things could really get started. A few months and things would start rolling smoothly again.

Or they would, if some jerk wasn’t constantly demanding Rhys’ attention by suddenly shutting down the lights. Which he did at the very moment the newly ‘promoted’ CEO let his guard down.

“You know Ole Jack makes the best damn coffee in this godforsaken place, cupcake. C’mon.”

The whole base went pitch black for a few seconds before the emergency lights sputtered a couple times as they turned on. It wasn’t enough to work in a productive manner. Rhys groaned and put his headphones down, his organic hand rising to rub the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

It was the third time this week. Three times a self-centered idiot decided it was play time and claimed his attention in one of the most infuriating ways. At least this time the computers remained on thanks to external batteries. Earlier this week, it had been the wifi. The second time, Jack had pulled the best number in his ‘let’s annoy Rhys’ repertoire yet and had put something on the intercom speakers through the whole building. Rhys didn’t even want to know how much time Jack had lurked around the net to find that porn sound clip he played in a loop for a whole hour.

Nope. This time, Rhys wouldn’t fall into Jack’s game. He would purposefully ignore whatever he did. If he didn’t get the attention he craved so much, maybe he’d just… stop whatever he was doing, get bored and put the lights back on. It worked with kids, so it had to work with a giant manchild, right?

Except the giant manchild was in fact a bunch of codes and had a skewed perception of time now thanks to this. It could probably be days before he’d put the lights back on.

Rhys couldn’t help but curse at his previous reasoning. Feeling lonely at the then-desert base was no good reason under any circumstance to reinstall that AI into the mainframe, even with extremely restricted permissions. At the time, it had felt like a good idea. Rhys could use the company, and maybe… Maybe just clear the air about the whole crashing-Helios-down-and-trying-to-get-rid-of-its-leader-permanently situation. He had miscalculated Jack’s reaction by miles, and a dark part of his mind told him that had he not slightly toyed with his coding, the AI would probably had blown the whole base into the stratosphere. The first month and a half had been straight out hell. Rhys didn’t even know how he could have been so patient with whatever Jack threw at him. Maybe it was masochism. Maybe it was the disgusting remains of the star-struck feeling he had back when Jack addressed him for the first time.

Maybe it was wishful thinking and stupid optimism when he thought that everybody deserved a second chance. Or a third, in Jack’s case.

After a time, Jack had seemed to calm down – or at least to slow down on the whole ‘I’m angry at you so I’ll turn the sprinklers on while you work’ thing. Rhys had been lucky on that one, as the water had not been turned back on yet. All it earned him was instead a bunch of insult thrown at his head and a couple hours of radio silence. But then Jack had slowed down in his demonstrations of anger, and instead seemed to demand attention in a somewhat nicer way. He sometimes reminded Rhys of a child that noticed his temper tantrums went unanswered at best, unnoticed at worst.

Ugh, he really, really needed those lights on.

“Okay now, what’s up?” Rhys gave up, asking to the security camera in the corner. He had soon given up on any form of intimacy after installing Jack into the Atlas system, and he now knew his favorite spots to check on him from.

“I. Am. So fucking b-o-r-e-d, Rhysie. You got no idea how dull this is.”

A nearby screen flickered on, displaying what was now a familiar sight to Rhys. Jack looked back at him, an electric blue rendition of his sharp features on the screen in what looked like a parody of a webcam call.

“Seriously, how can you do this all day?” The AI continued, leaning back as if it was on a computer chair. “I look at you and every single time you’re there going tipitty-tapitty at this stupid keyboard looking like you’re brain dead already… which, come to think of it… yeah, maybe you are.”

  There was a pause during which Jack looked expectantly through the screen, seemingly hoping for a reaction from Rhys.

  “Thought you’d have it in you, kiddo, but I’m getting disappointed now,” Jack pressed on. “Where’s the gusto? The explosions, the bandits dying, the cash flowing in and the ladies swooning?”

Back in the day, Rhys would have wished for all of that. There was a small part of him that still wanted it, but he quickly smothered it into silence. It was not anywhere near realistic, not when things hadn’t picked up yet.

  “That’s your idea of success, Jack. Not mine,” he ended up replying, turning away from the screen and turning on the built-in flashlight in his robotic palm. If he couldn’t work, at least he would go outside and take a break. He did more than the standard overtime hours, all that while dealing with Jack’s bull. It was more than deserved.

  “Aw, come on! Don’t tell me you don’t have dreams, boy. We all do.” The screen turned off, another one lighting up down Rhys’ path. “Take a hint from a pro: a company without a vision doesn’t work. If there’s no endgame goal, there’s no drive. And people want that stuff. They wanna go towards something, anything. You gotta throw them bones and make them think your idea is worth it.”

  Yeah, right. In Hyperion’s case, it was ‘worth killing and dying for’. Even if Rhys didn’t want to admit it, it took more than just a nice goal to follow. What Jack gave his employees was a promise for something bigger than just people – and as much as Rhys hated to admit it, he bought into it as well.

  “I have a goal, don’t you worry about that,” Rhys mechanically replied, headed for the door.

  “Oh yeah? What is it, then?”

  Oh. Yeah, shit, what was it?

  “It’s– ah. Uh.” He could feel Jack’s judgmental stare like a thousand needles on his skin. “I want to find a way to help people. How, I don’t–”

  “Don’t we all,” Jack cut in, his tone sharp over the speakers. His voice softened a bit as he continued. “I wanted that as well. You know it, cupcake.”

  Rhys stopped in his tracks, turning to look at the closest screen. No, don’t fall for it. You know what he did–

  The eyes that met with his through the glass were those of a tired man. The smile did not seem as mocking anymore, the exhale of breath almost submissive. Either it was a display of faked emotion in order to manipulate him, or it was genuine – which would be welcome, for a change.

  “Y’know, I get it, you’re still mad. Hell, I am still mad sometimes. But I meant it: we could do great together. Fix things. Make it all better.”

  Rhys wanted to believe him. He really did. It was the same voice that had convinced him to sign up all that time ago. The same man that persuaded him that bearing with Vasquez’s and a couple other assholes’ antics were worth overlooking, because in the end, they would make things right. Sure, Hyperion worked under the law of the jungle, but they achieved things. There was a big deal of Jack’s own personal vendettas imbued in the system, but in the end things went towards the same goal.

  He had believed in it.

  Hell, he even had one of the stupidest boy crushes on Hyperion’s leading man ever since he set foot on Helios.

  Maybe it had all been part of the game, but he had put his trust in Hyperion. And even if it ended up crashing down (literally), Jack was right: he could be of help because he knew how those things worked. Even after his death, he had left a legacy behind. And that was something Rhys wanted to emulate with Atlas.

  The screen flickered, Jack moving to a nearby holographic projector to face Rhys. With the way the emergency power supplied provided only that much light, the projection was even clearer. It was exactly like Rhys remembered it when Jack had been installed in his own cybernetic implants, only he was confined to the space provided by the holographic devices. He stood there at full scale, barely an inch and a half taller than Rhys – which didn’t really make any difference thanks to the CEO’s heeled boots. Rhys walked closer, eyes fixed on the three dimensional image; Jack almost looked tangible that way.

  “So, what say you? Wanna partner up with the handsomest man in the six galaxies? And, huh, by that I mean me.” Jack smirked, and Rhys groaned. There he was, the asshole he knew.

  He made a deal with the devil once. Doing it again could be the worst idea he’d ever have.

  “Easy there. I’m more looking for a… mentor of sorts.”

  The groan Rhys got as an answer was telltale: Jack didn’t like not having a part in the decisions per se, and having the role of a guide was far less profitable for him. It was as far as he was ready to go, though. Giving Jack any more latitude to do as he pleased could be dangerous.

  He was playing on the safe side is all.

  “Heh. Chicken not ready to go all in I see.” Rhys puffed his cheeks at Jack’s statement, which earned him a short, loud laugh. The hologram was suddenly close to him – too close, even. Jack was pushing on the limits of the devices allowing him to materialize.

  “Alright, I’m game. I’ll play it your way.” A hand made of blue light rose, and Rhys almost flinched despite knowing very well that physical contact was impossible. It was only a projection, nothing real. Yet he still felt the prickle of little electric shocks as the hand cupped his cheek and a thumb lingered on his lower lip. Jack’s head was tilted to the side, his piercing gaze staring Rhys down. “But know that whenever you’re open to a more involved alliance, I’ll be there. All you need is to be ready to wear your big boy pants, kiddo.”

  Rhys almost missed the clicking sound before the lights turned back on and the hologram vanished. Despite it all, he could still feel the tickling feeling of small electric shocks on his cheek and lip. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the exit door. He couldn’t go back to work now.

He had once again made a deal with someone who could very well be the end of him. The break was more than desperately needed.

[distant-rose-archive-blog]

Reading all those headcanons were super interesting. I enjoy learning little things about them that we didn't know before. I was wondering if there were any more that you'd be willing to share? If you don't want to that's totally fine.

I am totally okay with sharing more background information on this universe. I mean it’s kinda my pride and joy right now. I actually sad I won’t be updating it this weekend and possibly next weekend as I finish up my dissertation. I’m trying to get it done by Wednesday of next week so I will have an entire month off before I start my next degree and can dedicate more time to writing this and finishing my visa. But yeah, never hesitate to ask me anything.

Not sure what you’re interested in hearing, but this is what I can think of off the top of my head:

Harrison and Wes both cannot stand ketchup. They consider it the Devil’s sauce. However, Harrison’s ketchup dislike is more because it’s too sweet while Wes literally can’t stand tomatoes or tomato base products. He refuses to each anything potato related.

Despite common belief, it was Henry, not Killian, who taught the kids how to play liar’s dice and would use french fries as betting chips like he and Killian used to when he was little. He learns quickly that they’re all better cheats than he is.

Beth got her first tattoo when she was sixteen years old. She has a floral skull tattoo on her shoulder blade, which cost a shit ton of money but it’s one of her favorite tats. She was so happy with it, she admitted to her father that she do. He was less than impressed.

Killian and Emma refer to their children as ‘the Jolly Jones crew.’ This is often shortened to ‘the crew’, ‘the jolly crew’, ‘the Jones crew’ or ‘the J crew.’

Neddy’s baseball number is 2. If asked, he will say it’s because of Derek Jeter. The real reason is that when he was little, he used to think the number 2 looked like his father’s hook so he likes to think its his way of honoring his dad and challenging his support when he’s on the field.

The Jones family has two dogs - a black lab/new foundland mix named Black Spot (often called Black or Blackie) and a jack russell named Seaweed. Black Spot was brought home by Wes after he found him tied up to a fence by the cannery and abandoned. Killian hated that dog at first, which is why he named it Black Spot - a mark of doom/death for pirates. Granted, Killian comes to love Black and they’re besties after a few months. Seaweed was taken in as a therapy pet for Harrison and was named Seaweed because he has a habit of tangling up people’s legs by walking between them and tripping people up.

The first time Wes ever got drunk, it was Gideon when they were 13 and found Killian’s rum stash. Needless to say, they got massively drunk and super sick. Wes had to get his stomach pumped. It was the first time Wes had seen his mother cry.

Beth is one of the best fencers in Storybrooke and took up a job as a fencing coach post-high school because she didn’t want to work with her parents or her brothers or go to college. She was super intense and Regina-levels of brutal in her training. She got fired for making a thirteen year old boy cry.

Harrison has one significant other for the entirety of his life - Nasira. She’s not the first person he kissed, but she’s his first and only everything else. They get married when they’re together for eight years before they get married. 

Neddy is a strange fear of bats because of an illustration of a bat sucking blood out of a person’s toe he saw when he was little. Because of that picture, not only is he afraid of bats but he also wears socks when he sleeps.

Throughout college, people would mistake Beth for being Henry’s kid rather than her brother due to the 19-20 year gap between them. People would often come up to him and be like “it’s great that you’re a single father and she’s so cute.” And Henry would be like “erm, no. I’m not single and I’m not a father. This is my sister.” No one believed him.

Harrison has a knack for fixing and building things with his hands. He enjoys it mainly because it gives him something to focus on and just allows him to let go and unwind for a brief moment. This is one of his stress relievers.

Wes legit went his entire high school career basically wearing the same red hoodie. He refused to let Emma throw it out. It got often ratty and disgusting but he still wore. Emma would have to try and steal it from him in order to get it washed.

When Beth goes to the Enchanted Forrest for the first time and actually becomes a pirate, one of the first things she acquires is a red great coat that she gets tailored to her figure. It’s a deliberate nod on Beth’s part to the cartoon Captain Hook. Killian is not amused when he finds out it comes a signature part of her wardrobe.

Like Henry, Neddy has a knack for writing. Unlike Henry, he’s NOT an author in the mystical sense. He does however get a few short stories published that may or may not feature family members.

Because his roommate was loud and often would sneak in girls to have sex while he was “sleeping”, Henry often sleeps with headphones on. It’s something that he does throughout the entirety of his life. His wife just rolls with it, but she’s not impressed when they have Lucy and he can’t hear her.

[thisislizheather]

January Jewels

Forgive the lateness of this post! Here are the highlights from January.

Still using the Origins GinZing Eye Cream and I think it’s working, so I’ll keep at it. It doesn’t leave those red circles under my eyes (that other eye creams have done to me) when I’m using it either, which is a huge plus.

I can’t remember if I’ve ever mentioned how good this ArtNaturals shampoo & conditioner is for hair growth. I’ve been using it for a few months and it obviously takes a bit to start working, but it definitely does. I’ve also tried their Himalayan salt scrub, which is also pretty great.

Again, I’m not sure I’ve ever mentioned it, but I’ve been in love with this perfect tinted moisturizer from AmorePacific for about a year now. I know that it’s too expensive, but I really try to make it last at least a year to make it worth it.

Nobody told me how good orzo is! I may have told Nathan it’s a kind of rice so that we can continue to eat it regularly?

I watched about three or four episodes of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo since every person on the planet did as well, and I think I’m good and don’t need to watch more. Although I did see this one Buzzfeed post about actually helpful insights from her whole deal.

Did you know that if you have an iPhone, you can literally shake it to undo typing? Layla just taught me that, so great.

I tried the burger at Beebe’s and it was good! Especially if you’re in the mood for something quick & tasty.

Read & loved Busy Philipp’s new book.

Sampled some of the donuts at Dough and… oh man. Too doughy! I know, don’t kill me. And there were barely any poppy seeds on a supposed “lemon poppy seed donut.” Go home!

I’ve been using Kiehl’s Buttermask For Lips for a few weeks and even though it’s pretty decent, I think the Laneige Lip Mask is a slightly better product in terms of how soft it makes your lips in the morning.

Finally ate at Emily in the West Village. Didn’t realize they took over the old Blue Ribbon location, it’s such a beautifully small spot. The food was fantastic, it’s still unclear to me what exactly a Detroit-style pizza is, but it’s lovely and weird and so good. The burger was great too, just definitely not worth $27, that’s insanity for meat on a bun, I’m sorry.

Oh! I tried this awful salmon recipe off of Half Baked Harvest, which usually has amazing recipes. I kind of like that that woman isn’t perfect now.

Had the best hot chocolate of the season so far at Boro Hotel.

My friend Dave Merheje has a stand-up special on Netflix that is crazy good and he’s the best and you have to watch it.

So I’m all caught up on This Is Us and man. It’s a lot. When William told Randall, “Take me to meet your father” and he starts talking to Jack at the tree? I haven’t cried that much at a scene since Tom Hanks lost Wilson. Good christ. I think one of the best parts about this show is that it covers all the years of a life of someone and I feel like no show has tried to do that, it’s so crazy good at times.

Tell me you’ve seen the Futurama episode Jurassic Bark about Fry’s dog. I wept.

I’ve been hearing about Xi’an Famous Foods forever, so I made it over there and ate the spicy lamb cumin noodles, which was huge and really good, definitely enough for two people. It was super spicy and the lamb was incredible.

Finally tried Smith & Cult nail polishes and they last a pretty decent amount of time. In love with the colours Stockholm Syndrome & Doe My Dear.

Also in love with Cara Cara oranges. Find them. Eat them. Love them.

There’s this wicked new pizza place in my neighborhood, Massa’s, which definitely has a hint of what is so good about Patsy’s in the city.

Obviously I watched both Fyre Festival documentaries because none of us are individuals in this age and while the Hulu one was good for showing the terrible-ness of the financial specifics, and the Netflix one was good for showing the bigger picture of what a scumbag he is and the specifics of people who were screwed over - BOTH really were the same fucking movie. Dick guy. Dick advertising company. Dicks all ‘round.

I’ve been watching this 100 Baby Sims Challenge (a new one comes out each week roughly) and they’re so addictive to watch. I don’t even feel the urge to play, it’s weirdly enjoyable just to watch.

Watched the Ted Bundy tapes and after seeing the whole “series” on Netflix, I’m officially on board with the death penalty. I used to be against it more or less, but definitely on board with it now. Another thing? I can’t watch these types of series anymore. Not because they’re too horrific to think about or because they’re such awful crimes (they are, both of those things), but it’s infuriating to watch these pieces that treat these vile human beings with such dignity, who are thoughtfully studied and analyzed while each victim simply has a name, a photo and how she was brutally murdered… and that’s it. It’s demoralizing to everyone who suffered as a result of those crimes and disgusting that these despicable men are treated as celebrities with any kind of rights. It’s sick.

Tried Cadbury’s Royal Dark Chocolate and I swear it doesn’t even taste like dark chocolate, it’s so good. It’s like what all other dark chocolate WISHES it tasted like.

Went to Tavern On The Green in Central Park for the first time! This place will forever remind me of Ghostbusters, it’s amazing that it’s even still around. The service was great, the light inside the place is so bright and lovely, the food was fairly average, but I am glad I went.

Finally ate at The Dutch (somewhere I’ve wanted to try for years) and it was perfect. Look, I have a soft spot for steak tartare and their wagyu one was phenomenal. Even the jalapeño cornbread with whipped butter that comes before the food was amazing. Although bad cornbread is hard to find. The kale Caesar wasn’t anything to write home about, but that’s okay. The service was stellar and the hostess even said, “Goodbye Ms. Heather!” on my way out, which I loved. I will definitely be back here.

I made two new recipes from Chrissy Teigen’s second cookbook: the salted maple granola and the cheesy spicy breakfast hash. Both were crazy good! Some notes: ignore the microwave instruction on the hash. And lessen the granola ingredient amounts unless you want to be eating this granola for a year (it also tastes amazing unbaked).

I returned to Augustine inside The Beekman for Restaurant Week for lunch and even though it was day 1 of having the flu, the food (that I ended up taking home) was delicious. A decent steak tartare and a roast chicken that would put all others to shame.

I was in Starbucks on my laptop recently and since I forgot my headphones, I had to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack that they had on for at least an hour. Aaaaannnndddd I feel like you know where I’m going with this. Hamilton sounds like it fucking suuuuhuuuucks. I promise I’m not just hating for the sake of hating something successful. It actually sucked hard. I can’t imagine sitting through the actual performance, good god the patience you’d have to have.

Read The War of Art upon Nathan’s insistence.

So excited for the Big Mouth Valentine’s special next week.

[achilleees]

Hi! Have I mentioned how perfect your last jackparse daddy kink was? It's an absolute work of beauty. I was wondering if you've considered writing more for that particular 'verse? Even something short, other people's POV, 5+1? Or anything, really, just J and K affirming their lifestyle and how awesome they are together. Would be really really happy with anything you'll write either way!

Your daily jackparse ficlet is early today because it’s my birthday so I’m gonna go eat my weight in all you can eat sushi. 

Note: this is technically set in the sugar daddy verse but makes no mention of that dynamic. If you’re not into that kink, it won’t be a problem.

Ransom was nose-deep in his anatomy book when his headphones were tugged off him from behind. He twisted around, but there was no one there.

“Hey,” said Kent, from the seat right in front of him.

“Gah!” said Ransom, jumping. “Dude.”

“How are you even surprised,” said Kent. “I literally just - sigh.”

“Don’t say sigh aloud, it’s too meta, makes my brain hurt,” said Ransom. “What’s up?” He looked around. “…You study in the med school library?”

“Yes, that’s why I’m here,” Kent deadpanned. “For those sweet, sweet science journals.” He raised his eyebrows at Ransom.

“Right,” said Ransom. Maybe Holster was right, and he really did study too much, if Kent’s first thought had been to find him in the library. More than that, that he’d been right. “Okay. I’m caught up. What’s up?”

“I need to use your Amazon account to order Jack’s Christmas present,” Kent said. “I’m on his Prime, and you know, be a kind of lame surprise if he got an email detailing exactly what I was getting him in advance.”

“Aww,” Ransom said. “Adorable.”

Kent stared him down, unimpressed. “Dude, I was literally present when you were asking Jack for the exact same thing on Holster’s birthday.”

“Holster and I are also adorable,” Ransom said matter-of-factly.

Kent laughed. “Fair,” he said. “Password. Gimme.” He made grabby hands.

“Blugh,” Ransom said, taking Kent’s phone and entering in Holster’s Amazon password. “What are you getting him?”

“You’ll see,” Kent said, and winked. “Let’s just say Jack made a huge mistake telling me he was homesick when he couldn’t go home over Thanksgiving.”

“Ohhh boy,” Ransom said. This was gonna be good, he could tell.

Ransom had forgotten the conversation by that night when Holster made a choking noise on the couch next to him. “Dude, I think a rabid Canadian hacked my Amazon account,” he said, staring quizzically at his phone. “And I’m like… not even mad?”

“Oh right,” Ransom said. “Kent needed to keep his b-day present for the cap on the DL.”

Holster started laughing.

“What did he get him?” Ransom said, even more curious now.

“No, no,” Holster said, wheezing with laughter. “You need to wait until he puts together the final product.”

“Uncool!” Ransom said.

“Trust me,” said Holster. “You’re gonna want to wait.”

What the fuuuck.

It took extreme amounts of willpower not to log onto Holster’s Amazon in the next few days, aided by Holster changing the password to keep Ransom from it, like a jerk.

You should come over. I have fail cookies for you, Kent group-texted Ransom and Holster on Christmas Eve.

What is a fail cookie? Ransom replied, but he was already calling aloud, “Yo, Holtzy, Kent wants to give us cookies.”

“I am always down for free cookies,” Holster said immediately.

While they were in the Uber, their phones simultaneously buzzed. Kent had texted back a picture of a tan cookie shaped like a maple leaf, with neatly piped veins of a creamy beige. Win cookie.

Another picture came a few seconds later, of a tan cookie shaped like a maple leaf that looked like a five year old had gotten halfway through decorating it before becoming distracted. Fail cookie.

What is your ratio of fail cookies to win cookies? Holster texted.

DO I JUDGE YOU?? Kent texted back.

“I love that kid,” Holster said.

They let themselves into the house, which smelled delightfully of warmth and maple syrup. “Cookies?” Holster called hopefully into the house.

“In the kitchen,” Kent called.

Holster was already halfway into his second cookie by the time Ransom had taken off his shoes and joined them. “They’re really good,” he said, muffled by crumbs.

“Oh, you,” Ransom said fondly, patting his head. He took a cookie, which turned out to be maple sandwich cookies, filled and topped with maple cream. “Holy balls, these are good,” he said. “Happy Christmas, bros.”

“Oh shit, is the bedroom ready?” Holster said.

Kent, grinning, nodded.

Ransom looked at Holster, and Holster looked at Ransom, then they bolted towards the master bedroom at the same time. “You already know what’s there!” Ransom huffed, elbowing Holster to force him out of the way.

“He bought it on my Amazon!” Holster said. “I get dibs!”

“I cannot believe you two cannot walk down a hallway to look into a bedroom like civilized humans,” Kent said dryly from behind them. “You are adults.”

“Shut up, butthead,” Holster said, flipping him off, and Ransom took advantage of the momentary distraction and ducked under his arm, just beating him to the bedroom.

He looked inside, stared, and then started laughing so hard he nearly fell over.

The deep red, maple leaf-patterned comforter on the bed caught his eye first, along with the human-sized stuffed moose propped up against the pillows. Then his eyes drifted to the string of white maple leaf-shaped Christmas lights crisscrossing the ceiling; the lit campfire-scented candles on the windowsill; the crossed hockey sticks mounted on the wall; the Tim Horton’s rug on the floor; the Canadian flag hanging on the wall.

“Oh my god,” Holster said, breathless from both awe and laughter, and pointed up at the ceiling.

“Ah yes, the tour de force,” Kent said, just as Ransom looked up and saw the giant Justin Trudeau poster shellacked onto the ceiling.

“Oh my god,” he said, bracing himself against the doorjamb to keep from falling over from how hard he was laughing. “And Jack doesn’t know?”

Kent shook his head, grinning.

“Not to, uh, pry too intimately into the details of your sex life, but I feel like I would have trouble getting off with him smiling at me like that,” Holster said, gesturing up at Trudeau.

“Really? I feel like he’ll help me along, if ya know what I mean,” Kent drawled.

“Nice,” Ransom said, and they fist-bumped.

“But in all seriousness, uh…” Kent leaned against the wall, smiling at nothing in particular, this faraway look in his eye. “With Jack, you know… other guys, I might say yeah, but. With Jack, I don’t even see the ceiling.”

Holster and Ransom stared at him. “That is genuinely the most romantic thing I have ever heard in my life,” Holster said, finally.

“Shut up,” Kent said, blushing.

As soon as they were outside with the door behind them, Ransom rounded on Holster. “We are gonna have to do something extra adorable for Valentine’s Day to one-up this,” he said.

“Totally,” Holster said, nodding solemnly.

[sweetnestor]

Story of Another Us | Week 3

university au, platonic af

previous chapter

A wasted heart that just eclipses

“Good morning,” I greeted to my phone camera. I was still in bed, my hair was in a bun, and my face was naked, vacant of any makeup. “So I may have forgotten to post a video on Friday, so I’m just going to vlog today’s adventures.” By “forgotten,” I mean that anxiety took its toll and robbed me of my motivation, but I didn’t like admitting that without going off on many tangents.

I had done daily vlogs before. Lots of people liked them for some reason. Domesticity is apparently very popular. Also, some people only watched my daily vlogs in the hopes that Mark would pop up, or, at this point in time, maybe even Jack.

“Literally, all I have today is class, and I’m going to be taking a small Irish man with me,” I explained as I sat up. “I might even drag him to Sephora with me after. I do need to restock on some things, so we’ll see.”

I stopped recording and sighed. Now I’ve practically given away that I was going to be with Jack. Would he even want to be in my vlog? I should have thought about this before. I didn’t just want to throw a camera into his face. He’s said before he doesn’t like people doing that… Maybe I should just not make any video at all?

I thought about it as I got out of bed. I also noticed that the house was oddly quiet. Mark, Matt and Ryan must have been out of the house. As for Jack… he must have been gone too, that is if he decided to ditch class today. Maybe now I could have some time alone. I felt like I hadn’t properly recharged in a really long time.

Despite that I’ve made the opposite known, I decided to look like I had my shit together. It took about an hour to get myself ready, having decided to do something with my long ass hair. Thankfully, keeping it in a bun didn’t put it in bad shape, all I had to do was curl the bright pink ends. Then I went through my entire makeup routine, and that was when I realized there hadn’t been a sound throughout the house, not even Chica’s little pitter-patters in the hall. It disturbed me a little bit, but I took a deep breath and tried to convince myself it wasn’t a big deal.

Once I was dressed, I wandered about the house. No one was in their room or bathroom, or anywhere until I went downstairs. Jack was sitting at the breakfast bar, headphones on and staring intently at his laptop. However, he looked up when he saw me, smiling warmly. No wonder it was so quiet.

“You’re dressed up,” he observed, eyeing my outfit. I was wearing a skirt for a change, and plenty of people were definitely going to point it out.

“I’m just vlogging today,” I replied.

“Oh, well you look nice!”

“Thank you!”

He changed the subject. “I’m just waiting for this video to upload, and then I’ll be ready to go.”

“Take your time,” I told him.

I made myself a coffee while I waited. I decided not to eat anything with it even though it would have killed more time. Luckily, I remembered I still had to do my “makeup of the day” selfie so I went to the window in the living room and took my phone out. I got a few shots, making sure to get angles of every feature on my face.

After that, I went to Twitter to see what was going on. My mentions were just demands for the selfie I had yet to post. My MOTDs were the only consistent thing about my time on the internet, and when it's just a little late, people get antsy. And rude, mostly rude.

Instead of acknowledging that, I asked what highlighters I should try out.

Then I went back upstairs to the bathroom to look over what I used on my face today. All my products were scattered across the counter, but I knew where everything was, so I snapped a picture on my phone before deciding to take another picture for Snapchat. Once that was done, I put everything away, knowing they would be misplaced or broken if I left them out here. Once, I left my Kat Von D contour kit out on the counter for an hour and when I came back, the pressed powders were mysteriously broken.

Not long after I was done posting my pictures, Jack called my name from downstairs. I sighed, calming my nerves as I went to go meet him.

I didn't mention my vlog again until we were in the car. Or, I thought about mentioning it, but my anxiety induced ass kept my mouth shut. I had to get a video up on my channel, people were asking for it. I hated getting so nervous about it. I just didn't want him to think I was one of those YouTubers that vlogs every single second of their lives.

“Do you mind if you're in my vlog?” I suddenly blurred halfway through the ride to campus. “I-I mean, if you want, sorry. Like, it's just that I didn't post a video over the weekend y pues necesito poner algo en mi canal pero no quiero molestarte…” I trailed off, realizing I had switched languages. I did that sometimes.

“Bella,” Jack said, and I could hear a smile in his voice, “I'd love to be in your vlog. You don't have to explain yourself to me, even though I have no idea what you said. It's no problem at all.”

I was quick to hand him my phone. “Do you mind vlogging while I drive?”

“Of course!” He put on the front camera and aimed it at both of us.

“Hi! We’re on our way to campus!” I said in my ‘vlogger’ voice as soon as it was recording. “This is Jack, by the way.”

“Hi!” he greeted.

“We’re kind of roommates,” I tried to explain.

“We crashed Mark’s house,” he said. “We’re the monsters in his basement.”

“Yeah!” I chuckled. “We’re also classmates, and if I vlog more, then you may see even more of this guy!”

“I also crashed Bella’s house,” Jack added.

I hesitated, then laughed. “Someone’s gonna take that the wrong way.”

~

“So class was cancelled,” I spoke to my phone camera as Jack and I walked through campus. “We have like, two hours to kill. So, we’re probably gonna go eat, and then go to Sephora.”

“What’s that?” asked Jack.

I smiled almost wickedly for the camera. “You’ll find out.”

Obviously I only said that for the vlog. I explained to Jack what exactly Sephora was, and the told him he didn’t have to come with me if he didn’t want to.

“No, I’ll go with you!” he cheerily said. “Let’s do it!”

“Wait, really?” I asked, surprised.

“Yes! Let’s go!” He sounded way too excited. Then again, it is Jack. But it’s also a freaking makeup store.

Either way, I wasn’t going to complain.

This is weird, but I felt a sense of peace walking into the store. Technically, it should have triggered my anxiety. If you walk in there with no makeup, you get death glares from other shoppers, and the employees treat you like you don’t know anything about beauty. Speaking of the employees, they also try to talk to you and advise you on what colors go with your eyes and skin tone and other stuff I didn’t necessarily agree with. Yet, I was calm when I walked inside.

Jack followed me wherever I went, looking fascinated but also confused. For once, there weren’t a lot of people in the store, so he wasn’t recognized by anyone. Yes, even in Sephora, Jack was sure to get recognized. That’s what I expected at least. Even more surprisingly, he was intrigued by all the products.

“What’s that?”

“Primer.”

“What does it do?”

“Smooths out your skin and helps your makeup last longer.”

“What about this? It’s shiny!”

“Oh! Just what I was looking for. Highlighter!”

I looked at the sample on the display shelf. Urban Decay. I hummed in thought.

“What does it do?” Jack asked, looking over my shoulder.

“Makes your skin glow,” I replied. “Kind of like a healthy glow, depending on what the highlighter is like.”

I swatched the sample on my finger, showing him the iridescent, pearly color. Then, a thought came to mind. “This color might actually go with your skin tone.”

He chuckled. “Mine?”

Smiling, I took his wrist and wiped, for lack of a better word, the shimmering product onto his skin. “Actually… no. You’re a teeny bit too pale.”

“Of course I am!” He laughed.

“But it would look great on me!”

We continued browsing through the store. I also realized I hadn’t been vlogging the whole thing. Every time I’ve tried to vlog in Sephora in the past, I was always told off by an employee. So technically, Jack was actually curious about these things. He followed me around the store, far more interested than I expected. He was especially captivated by the Too Faced counter, and I knew exactly why.

“Does… does that actually smell like chocolate?” he asked, pointing to a specific eyeshadow palette, a childlike wonder in his eyes.

“It does.” I smiled wide, practically giddy that someone was open enough to talk to me about my one interest. “I have this palette, too. It’s actually my favorite.”

“That’s so fucking cool! Wait-” He leaned closer to read the label. “Why is it fifty fucking dollars?”

“Excellent question!”

“And this! It’s a heart with powder in it! Why is it thirty five fucking dollars?”

“Let’s not think about prices,” I told him, sympathetically patting his shoulder. “They’re pretty, and for me, they’re necessary.”

“Are they really?”

“Well, it’s what I do for a living, so yes.”

“Why do you like it so much?” he asked, looking at me. “I’m not trying to be mean or belittle you, I’m actually curious.”

Don’t know about him, but the mood changed for me.

“I’ll tell you that story one day.”

~

I thought I had enough questions about Mark. Jack’s fanbase… well, they were a lot nicer. Still invasive, but nicer. I edited and uploaded my vlog the same day I filmed it, and it got the numbers I half expected. Plenty of views and likes, not that that mattered. What mattered to me was what they were saying the following day. Many of them requested I do Jack’s makeup for a video. Many requested he do mine. Some said we should date. But by far, the best thing I had seen was a drawing of me and Jack as Cosmo and Wanda. I guess having the ends of your hair dyed bright pink qualifies you as eligible to be drawn as a fairy! I loved it!

I hadn’t used Tumblr so much in a very long time. A lot of Jack’s followers were now messaging me, not just on there, but on Twitter, Instagram, and all of my other social media as well. I wasn’t sure whether to be cynical because they saw me now as an extension of Jack and Mark, or nervous because now more people were aware of my existence.

I mean, it’s not like they were doing anything wrong. Hardly anyone was rude, most people were saying I was pretty, that my makeup was on point. Compared to other vloggers’ audiences, Jack’s was very kind and welcoming. I was pleasantly surprised.

“You’ve been on your phone every chance you’ve gotten all day,” Mark pointed out that evening. “And you’re actually smiling.”

“I don’t think I’ve had this much attention before,” I said, still scrolling. “I thought people would hate me for being around Jack.”

Mark scoffed as he lied down next to me in bed. “What’s there to hate?”

“Well, I’m resented for being around you.”

“Hey, they came around. They like you.” Mark always tried to see the best in his audience, but he also knew they hated me when we first went public. I couldn’t really blame them, but it still sucked.

“Either way, I shouldn’t think about it too much,” I concluded, finally putting down my phone, turning to face my boyfriend.

As soon as I was unoccupied, Mark practically attacked me. He managed to dive into me and roll me onto my back. I yelped, then giggled as he pinned me down.

“I feel like I haven’t had you to myself lately,” he told me, leaning in so our noses touched.

“I know, things have been so busy,” I replied, despite how trapped I felt in this position. I tried to keep my breathing normal. It’s been awhile since I’ve been this close to anyone, and Mark knew this.

“Let me make it up to you,” Mark said, his voice deep and very close to my ear.

I gasped and shivered as his lips attacked my neck. My stomach dropped and my face heated up so much I was surprised Mark’s hair didn’t singe off as it tickled my cheek. I squirmed, trying to get out of this awkward position.

Luckily, Mark caught on, picking his head up and peering down at me. “You okay?”

“C-Can we do this another time?” I asked, my voice small and shaky.

He paused for a split second, but nodded and rolled back to his side of the bed. “I’m sorry, I got carried away.”

“It’s okay,” I replied, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry… I still get really nervous…”

I’m so stupid. It’s not like I was a virgin. It’s not like he didn’t make me feel safe… I felt so guilty.

“I won’t make you do anything you’re not ready for,” Mark reassured, reaching down to take my hand. “It’s okay, I promise.”

“I’m sorry.” That was about ninety percent of my vocabulary.

“Don’t be.”

_______

next chapter

[neenjamescommunications]

Mini Gift Guide For The Tech Traveller Business Person In Your Life

Normally, I shy away from gift guides. This year is different.

I consider myself a tech traveller. I travel about 150,000 miles per year (for some that’s insane, for other that’s called “February”). With that, I am always super specific about the gear that I travel with. Because I never check bags, everything must be super lightweight, ultra durable, multi-purpose and truly functional for heavy usage. Over the years, I’ve often had the question: “Where did you get that?,” while sitting in airports, hotel lobby’s or just over lunch with a friend. I quickly realized that I, in fact, am a huge nerd and love scouting out the latest and greatest in tech and travel gadgets that can make your business trip that much more pleasant.

Let’s level set first.

Before rattling off some of the best gadgets for the tech traveller in your life, it’s important to note that I travel with a MacBook Pro (the new one that is USB C only) and the iPhone X. I travel, mostly, domestically in North America and I have a physical aversion to checking any luggage. So, I pack light and wear similar clothes (black only!).

With that, here’s my mini gift guide for the tech traveller your life…

Anker PowerCore Fusion 5000 2-in-1 Portable Charger and Wall Charger. A killer little travel device that enables me to leave all of the Apple charger bricks at home for the smartphones and tablets and — at the same time — this also double as a portable charger for your smartphone. I can’t thank Scott Stratten enough for introducing me to this device. I also love how it plugs directly into the wall and recharges the battery, while being able to handle two USB devices. Simply brilliant. This literally took me from four separate charging devices/portable batteries down to just one.

Poweradd 2-Outlet Mini Travel Surge Protector. This is another “must have” device. I picked up a portable and mini travel size power bar at a trade show booth for free. I loved it. It eventually died, and I replaced it with this one… and I am glad that I did. This has room for a few devices to plug in, plus two USB ports. If you have ever been to a hotel, airport lounge or airport lobby, you know how scare, hard to find and tight the spaces are to actually plug anything in. This one is so well designed, that it even plugs perfectly into that pesky little outlet that are in the base of hotel room lamps on the night table. Frequent flyers also know how tough it can be to get those Apple chargers into in the in-seat plugs (if you’re lucky enough to have one). This cures all. I love the way the chord wraps and hides itself, and I’m a huge fan of the little green power light as well. You have no idea how often I plug something into a random wall on the road, and I don’t know if the socket is dead, if it’s the charger, etc… This lets you know when it’s actually getting power. This gets you from one plug to two plus two USB ports.

Anble 4-in-1 USB Type C to HDMI, DVI and VGA Converter. If you have to give a business presentation, you need to have one of these. While my primary dongles to attach my laptop to projectors are the official ones from Apple, I always want to have a back up (especially because these new MacBook’s are using USB C, and very few AV teams carry this new format/dongle). With that, I always want a backup. This is it. It’s an all-in-one, so I would not trust it as the only solution, but it’s great for a backup. The bonus of this one is that it also has DVI. DVI is a format I don’t see often (and Apple doesn’t even have a USB C to DVI dongle), but just in case I always keep this one handy. So, you can connect to VGA, HDMI and DVI all from this one dongle.

2 in 1 Lightning iPhone 7 Adapter for iPhone. If you use headphones, one of the biggest adjustments that must be made as you transition over to the newer iPhones, is the lack of a headphone jack. I’ll recommend some great Bluetooth headsets for being on-the-go next, but it’s a shame to waste the headphones that you already have. This would be a solution. The ability to plug into a corded headphone while also being able to charge your device at the same time (a must for being on the go with these battery draining smartphones). Candidly, I’m not sold on these adapters, but they are essential. The challenge (as I have discovered) is that while these do the trick of allowing you to listen to audio while charging your device at the same time (something, the official Apple adapter does not allow), it does render the buttons on your headphones useless. So, if you want to jump tracks, raise/lower the volume or even use the microphone on your headset for a call, these adapters don’t always allow for that functionality. Buyer beware. I’m hopeful that Apple creates an official version of this, at some point soon.

Bose QuietControl 30 Wireless Headphones. These are my wireless/bluetooth headphones of choice for travel. Bose is a brand that many know and love. I’ve gone through the lot of their headphones (and other brands as well). There is no doubt that the sound quality and true noise cancelling is much better on the Bose QuietComfort 35 Wireless Bluetooth Headphones, but I am a stickler on a few points that the 30 delivers on over the 35. First, if you ever have to sleep on a plane, I find it much more comfortable to have the in-ear option. The over-the-ears don’t allow you to move your head around as much, and if you’re lucky enough to get a lie-flat seat on an overseas flight, you can forget about sleeping on your side with the 35. I also much prefer the slim form factor of the 30 over the 35. The 35 has a much bulkier packaging, which makes it harder to slip into your briefcase. These are both expensive headphones. Both work great. I choose the 30 over the 35.

eBags Professional Slim Laptop Backpack. This is my backpack/briefcase. I could not be happier with it, and I have bought — literally — hundreds of briefcases and backpacks over the years. I’m always looking for something light, durable, black, professional and with enough pockets and areas that I can zip through security and customs without having to fumble around too much. The good people at eBags really have something with this bag. I can’t think of one thing that I would want to add/remove. This one is so smart — from the front pocket for emptying your pockets at security to the base at the bottom of the bag that will hold all external chargers, to the smaller top compartment especially built for your tablet (or Kindle or whatever) and the separate area for your laptop. If you’re looking for a professional bag that does it all… you can’t go wrong with this one.

Briggs & Riley Baseline Rolling Cabin Bag. Another area where I have spent way too much time, money and effort on is the ideal carry-on. This is the one. By far. Many airlines are now forcing gate check for carry-on bags that are too big. I went in the opposite direction, and I will never turn back. I often find myself on smaller planes, where all bags must be gate checked. This has stressed me out for connections and created delays. This is the best solution. It’s small enough that it can fit in many of the smaller aircrafts overhead bins. And, if it doesn’t, I slip my eBags briefcase (above) in the overhead bin, and this bad boy can go under any seat. I can’t express how much love I have for never ever having to gate check a bag. The trick with this bag, is that you have to pack light. I recommend rolling (tight) all of your clothing and coupling this with Eagle Creek’s Pack-It Specter Garment Folder Small (make sure you get the small version or it will not fit in this bag) for articles that you do not want to wrinkle (dress shirts, sport coats, dresses, etc…) — see below for that product. I’ve been able to use this cabin bag for two nights and three days on the road, though it is more ideal for a quick overnight trip.

Eagle Creek’s Pack-It Specter Garment Folder Small. I do not know how I ever lived without this product. Remember, if you are going to go with the Briggs & Riley Cabin Bag above, make sure you get the “small” version of this magic little packing solution. This garment folder claims to be able to hold up seven items (according to their website), but from my experience, it really hold two dress shirts and one sport coat tightly. Still, it compresses the clothes and keeps them wrinkle free — and it works like a charm. If you travel, you must try these out. They’re the best at space saving for packing.

RuMe Bags Baggie All Zippered Organizer. Last (but not least) is this little charmer. Cables, dongles, headphones, adapters, presentation remotes, etc… can quickly turn the inside of your bag into something that resembles a pit of tangled snakes. For years, this bag has been my go-to organizer. I put my two remote presenters in the front pocket with my USB stick of backup files. The middle section gets all of the dongles that I need to connect to random projectors and AV set-ups, and the main compartment gets everything else. These bags are simply awesome and will keep every small-ish piece of tech and accessory organized and never to be lost again. For those who live in Canada, Dollorama has a similar bag in their stores, that I think are actually better (thicker material and slightly bigger) for under $4, so go and hunt it out in the office/school supply section.

Those are my top tech traveller’s business person gifts… what are yours?

note: all of the links above are affiliate links on Amazon. My intent is to donate whatever money is generated by the links to a local woman’s shelter. Hoping that you’re cool with that? And, yes, I really do use each and every one of these gadgets almost every day. If it’s in this list, it’s because I love it and use it.

Mitch Joel is President of Mirum — a global digital marketing agency operating in close to 20 countries. His first book, Six Pixels of Separation, named after his successful blog and podcast is a business and marketing bestseller. His second book, CTRL ALT Delete, was named one of the best business books of 2013 by Amazon. Learn more at: www.mitchjoel.com.

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