#i got a NJ ticket though!!!

[raytorosaurus]

I hope it’s okay to ask you but you seem to know everything about MCR so you might know. But I read recently that they were the designated bbq band on their first Warped in 2004 so they had to cook for everyone. Have you ever heard of that being the case? It just feels like a weird thing, with Ray apparently being a hermit in the bus and Frank being vegetarian and Gerard being blackout the whole time. I can’t imagine Mikey or Matt Pelissier holding down the fort.

haha yeah apparently so! warped tour was designed to be as efficient to run as possible because its primary purpose was to book up-and-coming bands and put them out there. it had a lot of weird components as a result - e.g. the sheer number of bands and locations, cheap tickets and free tickets for parents, and a constantly changing lineup schedule so attendees couldn't plan their day in advance around specific artists (so the artists were on a more ~equal footing and to encourage ppl to show up when the gates opened and stay all day). it was also notoriously gruelling and uncomfortable for the bands - really demanding schedule, no showers, etc etc.

so one of the things it did (along with showcasing local acts at each location) was invite a "bbq band" to join the tour for free and play every day if they helped run the nightly bbq that fed all the musicians. according to this podcast (around 17 mins in, but the whole episode is a short and really interesting listen, i recommend it!), mcr were that band in 2004 (they were only on the first half of the tour tho, june 25-july 18,24). i'm not sure exactly what his source is but he seems to know his stuff, and i'm almost positive i've heard gerard refer to it in an interview at some stage, though i can't remember when 😭. anyway, that doesn't mean they fully ran the bbq and were the only staff - they were just helpers! warped had a catering company and served a truly enormous amount of food every day, and apparently the artist's bbq was something like 300 hot dogs, 300 burgers, and 100 veggie burgers a night (all from that podcast). mcr definitely wouldn't have been doing that on their own, they were probably just helping out hahaha.

anyway, this was all in 2004, when the lineup included thursday, the used, tbs, coheed and cambria, the bouncing souls, etc. so revenge had only been out for like a month and they didn't have their own bus yet - i'm like 80% sure they stayed on senses fail's bus that tour, but i can't remember which one of them said that or where haha (they definitely shared a bus directly afterwards as they toured back towards nj).

after that is when they went to japan, came back, fired otter, and filmed inok, and went back on tour with bob and face to face all in the space of 2 weeks. that tour is when their van finally broke down for good and they got on their first own tour bus at the end of it.

the more ~famous mcr warped tour is 2005, which is the one with fob etc. i haven't seen lotms in a while but i actually assumed the bit where ray said he'd been a total hermit in the back of the bus was from that 05 tour, because that's the one they had the bus studio where he spent a lot of time writing parade demos. either way, he might not have been partying and socialising a whole lot, but i'm sure he would've sown up to bbq duty anyway! it was their free ticket, after all.

[soafteritellhimreal]

My swiftie followers comment with your Ticketmaster story I want to know who I can cheer for for getting tix and who needs a hug ❤️

For me I had a rough start with a happy ending. I’m based in DC and she’s not touring here but I registered for presale the INSTANT the tour was announced and was shooting to go by myself to a Philly date. I didn’t even GET a code though. I was waitlisted even though I had a merch boost. I took the day off so I was prepared for the capitol one presale but of course they announced they were moving it to tomorrow when I’m working. I was screwed so I basically gave up. Then five minutes later my friend in NY calls me to tell me she bought us tickets for NJ. She not a huge fan like me so I wasn’t even expecting that!!! The seats are probably the worst I’ve ever had but I’m GOING so I don’t even care. Then I got a text from a friend in FL that she’s going to try to get us Tampa tix tomorrow when I’m at work. I’m so lucky to have two beautiful friends who took care of me, especially when I’ve been so lonely this year.

I hope I hear good news in the comments 🥰

[marriedtoadisneyaddict]

Hi everyone, we’re Matt and Krystle and were so excited to get started here on Tumblr! Married to A Disney Addict is our Disney fan community and we wanted to invite all of YOU to be part of our Ohana! So we figured what better place to start than the beginning. We really want this to feel like a family community and the best way we can think of helping to create that sort of feeling is dedicating our first blog post to the story of us so you can all get to know us a little better.

My name is Matt. I was born and raised on the Jersey shore to a large Italian family (yes, we all met at Grandma's every Sunday for dinner). Growing up, my family was never that into traveling, we'd visit a few places once in a while, but we tended to just go to the beach. My parents did take us to Disney World twice growing up and we found it fun, but honestly it never really was our "thing." Meanwhile, in northern NJ, Krystle was living the opposite life...the DISNEY life. Her parents and younger brother frequently visited Disney and it dominated their travel expereince. I imagine her childhood bedroom filled with stuffed Disney dolls, posters of her favorite Disney movie on the walls, and Mickey Ears everywhere (she confirms this was basically true).

In September of 2007, Krystle and I met at a concert while attending Kean University. We quickly fell for each other and before we knew it, we were dating. Krystle quickly began talking about how much she loved Disney, but that her family hadn't been in a couple years. That's when I knew what to do. I visited a travel agent and booked a Disney vacation for our 1 year anniversary. She cried when I told here we were going and seeing just how happy she was in Disney made me start to grow to love the magic of WDW.

It was obvious that she was the one and before I knew it I had an engagement ring stored in a safe at my parents house. She had always told me of ther dream of getting engaged in Disney with her family, so I knew I had to wait a little while to make that dream come true. The trip finally arrived in the Summer of 2009 and I'll just say, while riding Tower of Terror with the most expensive thing you have ever purchased in your pocket is a little nerve racking, seeing her face as I proposed in front of the castle was the best day of my life (until we got married...and then had Lincoln...and the.man Landry). Our wedding, while not overboard, was definitley Disney inspired (we had Fast Pass tickets as the table numbers and a Mickey ears cake topper to name a few) and of course we had to honeymoon at WDW (although she did let me take her to Aruba a couple months later).

Ever since our first year anniversary and first trip to WDW together, we have been fortunate enough to go almost at least once a year. We may have missed one or two (especially during the pandemic), but we also threw in a couple multi-trip years to make up for it lol. We have occassionally gone just the two (three) of us, but we mostly travel with Krystle's family who purchased Disney Vaction Club (DVC) shortly after we met. Up until this point though, Disney was still definetly Krystle's "thing" as I mostly enjoyed going becuase of how happy it made her.

About 7 years ago I started an Instagram account called "married to a disney addict" as a bit of a joke to both document our Disney adventures and to share my "pain" as Krystle dragged me to another visit to hot and humid Florida and the Mouse House. It was fun to intereact with others who also had a significant other who was more into Disney than they were, but we all seemed to share 2 things in common. 1) We loved how much our partners loved Disney and 2) we all seemed to be turning into bigger and bigger Disney fans ourselves (why else would I have created a social media account basically dedicated to it)?

While we still refer to Krystle as the "OG Disney addict," the truth is I started giving her a run for her money about 5years ago. Not only was I simply enjoying Disney more myself, but on May 20, 2017, our son Lincoln was born. I had always said that I wanted to wait until our kids were about 5 until we brought them to WDW...Lincoln went for the first time at 15 months (well technically the baby bump went too), and then 3 more times within a 1 year period! After seeing how he literaly ran to Mickey on his first trip and how much he loved being there (yes, even at just 15 months old), I knew I was stuck. I would never, not love Disney. On his very first trip, we bought into DVC for ourselves to ensure we could always bring him back. I started to enjoy Disney more and more for myself and well, now here we are... both of us able to say that we are "Married to a Disney Addict."

Thanks for reading along and we hope everyone will follow along with the fun and become part of our Ohana! We invite all of you also join us on IG and FB (@marriedtoadisneyaddict) and on our website marriedtoadisneyaddict.com!

See Ya Real Soon,

Matt and Krystle

http://marriedtoadisneyaddict.com

[greensparty]

Movie Review: The 4:30 Movie

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Kevin Smith's directorial debut Clerks, one of my all-time favorites. When I was getting into filmmaking, seeing Clerks was highly influential. It was a full-on “you can do this too” moment for me. Since that debut, Kevin Smith has had such a unique career in that he has made big budget movies, low budget, and everywhere in between for both studios and independently. He has built up a cult following and brought his characters into various sequels including 2022's Clerks III (read my review here). When I interviewed Clerks III stars Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson after it's release, they both spoke fondly of Smith and the fun environment he creates. Smith's earlier work like Mallrats and Chasing Amy are his strongest era. Since then, he has tried to dip his toes in other genres with mixed results (i.e. Red State and Tusk), but he tends to do his best work when it's somewhat personal. Being released this week from Saban Films is his semi-autobiographical coming-of-age comedy The 4:30 Movie.

movie poster

In suburban NJ during the Summer of 1986, teen Brian David (Austin Zajur) gets up the guts to call Melody Barnegat (Siena Agudong), a girl he flirted with the previous Summer and never got the guts to do ask out. She agrees to meet him for a movie at 4:30PM that day. Before that he goes with his goofy buddies Belly (Reed Northrup) and Burny (Nicholas Cirilo) to the same movie theater for some cinema trickery (one buys a ticket and sneaks the others in, etc). But when they piss off Manager Mike (Ken Jeong) the plan for Melody to meet Brian at that same cinema becomes endangered. There's small appearances from Kate Minucci, Method Man, Sam Richardson, Adam Pally, Rachel Dratch and loads of View Askew alumni.

Smith directing

The tone of this movie is similar to Mallrats in that it is a teen movie that's combining romanticism with crude humor, which isn't always easy to pull off. It is a coming-of-age teen movie in the vein of Smith's hero John Hughes, which in 2024 is refreshing to see. I'll start with the positive about this movie: this was something that truly spoke to me and more specifically the person I was at 16, even though that was more than a few years past 1986. The protagonist is a teen film geek, who has a vast knowledge of film and pop culture, insists on keeping quiet during a movie and staying for the credits, and reads Starlog magazine. To say I could relate would be an understatement! There was a real heart to this movie that looked back a pre-cell phone era (there's a funny gag where a character calls the movie theater and ties up the landline, drawing the ire Manager Mike). Now here's what I had an issue with: since this was Kevin Smith, I had hoped it was going to be LOL funny throughout. Instead there was some funny parts and then long periods before the next part I laughed at. Some of the jokes were low-hanging fruit winking-at-the-audiences references to the time period and what we know changed since (i.e. jokes about how no one would care about Star Wars sequels, prequels or spin-offs). In other coming-of-age comedies like Adventureland for example, I'm alright with it not being laugh-a-minute, but there's a certain expectation with Kevin Smith and because of this I wished it had been funnier. There's also some characters that are more like caricatures. I am pleased to see Smith going inward and personal like a lot of his best work (i.e. the Clerks movies). Clerks III was a serious comeback for him and here he's trying to sustain that...with mixed results, but it's the main character / Smith alter-ego Brian who makes this movie as we don't often get movies about film geeks (Clarence in True Romance being one of the notable exceptions). Let's hope Smith's next semi-autobiographical film is even better!

For info on The 4:30 Movie

3.5 out of 5 stars

[kilar]

CAS - service - Slovenian Language & Culture

From September 12th until October 3rd I attended my colleague’s Slovenian Language & Culture workshops that were also her CAS project activities. The workshops took place every Tuesday in our school, PRHG’s library and were hosted by Mia Baškovič, my dear Slovenian colleague. The first workshop was oriented towards the Slovenian language, more specifically, some of its basics. We learned the alphabet has 25 letters and is similar to Croatian, just without ć, đ, lj, nj and dž. Fun fact - Slovenians have dual, which is like when you refer to precisely two persons or objects, isn’t that crazy!? We also learned about some peculiarities in pronunciation regarding letters such as u, v and l. We talked števila (numbers), barve (colors), greetings (pozdravi) and also something called “Lažni prijatelji” (“False friends”). I’ll try to explain it the best I can, so basically it is a word that means or sounds similar to a different word from another language, but differentiates in meaning. For example, in Slovenian stol means chair, while in Croatian stol means table. I found that bit very interesting. We also talked about some proverbs and idioms, my favorite idiom is: “Volk sit in koza cela” meaning: “A full wolf and an unharmed goat”, I just like how goofy it sounds. In the second workshop we talked about some national and geographical aspects of Slovenia, its population, area, lakes, rivers, mountains, the president, major cities like Maribor, Celje, Kranj, Koper and of course Ljubljana. We learned about Slovenian provinces and what they’re known for. My favorite was Gorenjska with its beautiful mountains and lakes, I believe it captivated me the most of all provinces because of the snow sports, I’ve never been skiing before. In the third workshop we talked some more culture; sport evens, competitions and athletes, historical discoveries such as the Neanderthal Flute or the Wooden Wheel also architecture; castles, bridges, historical buildings and churches. We also talked about some art, I loved this part! There’s this famous silent movie called Kekec which is quite popular over there even though it was created in the last century. We also listened to some music, it was beautiful to hear an acapella group called Perpetuum Jazzile, it is truly incredible what the human voice can achieve. Another fun fact!!! Did you know that the Slovenian band called Laibach performed in North Korea…isn’t that interesting? This workshop was the last before the great Kahoot quiz!The great Kahoot quiz was the final workshop, all of us who attended gathered around a table while Mia presented the quiz. The tensions were high as we’re all very competitive. But there was another twist, the first place prize. It was two tickets for Škocjanska jama. Now, this was a big deal since Mia got them for free. I am almost finished with my driving lessons and am working towards getting a drivers license, so I was really hoping to win it since it lasted until March of next year, 2024, and until then, I’d surely be done with driving lessons. Spoiler alert, didn’t win the tickets. But, that doesn’t matter, I won third place, just behind a few points. I got a notebook, pen and some kind of neck keychain. I liked it and I use it. The purpose of this whole workshop was to learn about a culture that wasn’t mine. I have Slovenian friends that thought me a bit about the language, but I didn’t know this much about culture. I realized how similar yet different we are. We’re neighboring countries that share the same sea and interests. We live off each other, Slovenians come as tourists during the summer and Croats also come as tourists but during the winter. I like exploring new cultures because it enables me to seek new perspectives and find new attractions. I also do believe I’ll be able to understand Slovenian a bit better today than I did a few months back. I also love supporting my friends and their projects. I truly enjoyed my time at the workshops, Mia always brought homemade Slovenian dishes such as Potica, cookies and Prekmurska gibanica. I really enjoyed those.

In all, this was a great new experience, I learned a lot about Slovenia, its language, culture traditions, cities and attractions and had a lot of fun doing so. I can’t wait for another project of my friends, I think Mara is next! Until then, stay safe and eat some Potica!

[ianmhill]

5.20

Well, the weekend didn't quite get off to an auspicious start last Friday. We had tickets booked at the Keagan Theatre to watch a play called "Sweat". Initially I was fearing it would be a bit of a heavy production because the tag line was that it was about 'bloodlines and family lines'. Then I was encouraged, because the blurb on their website mentioned that it contained 'warm humour'. Though I got concerned again when I read further on to find "Additionally, this production features the use of stage blood which may splatter the front row of the audience".

But the poor start came before the play. I had arranged to meet my wife for a bite to eat before the show. I cycled over to Dupont Circle and as I started the short walk to Hank's Oyster Bar I felt a few spots of rain. Within minutes it was hammering down, proper Washington DC rain. My wife called to tell me she was also out in the rain, with no umbrella. I marched off to meet her, with my brolly, but by the time I got to her, the only part of me still dry was my head. She, on the other hand, was utterly drenched. Soaked through!

We decided to go back home to shower and change our clothes (as sod's law would have it, by the time we got home it had stopped raining and the sun was out!). However, in the end the play was very good (the 'blood' spattering was actually very minor) and the food at Hank's was pretty reasonable too.

Early on Saturday evening we decided to go for a walk. But by the time we got to the end of our block, we were thinking twice - the heat and humidity were insane! We limited ourselves to ambling down to the Waterfront where we had a couple of glasses of wine and a few snacks before a slow and uncomfortable stroll back home.

Over the weekend, we completed the repair of the (decorative) shutter at the front of the house that fell down in the poor weather a few weeks ago. It was relatively straightforward, but maybe we'll get someone in to do that sort of thing in the future!

I have sent my bass guitar back to Sweetwater to be fixed. I noticed when I got back from vacation in NJ that it was distorting heavily regardless of how the knobs were set and despite a change of battery, I couldn't resolve the issue myself. Hopefully they can sort it out.

[diamondwind99]

Lets get personal asks :) (I sent some of these before, but I don't know if it actually sent, and I forgot what I sent. So.)

3: grab the book nearest you, turn to page 23, give me line 17

7: what's your strangest talent?

14: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?

15: do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

18: do you believe in karma?

24: do you have a collection of anything?

28: what is your biggest what if?

29: Do you believe in ghosts? What about aliens?

32: what's the worst place you've ever been to?

38: what's the weather like right now?

47: do you have any obsessions right now?

54: what's the last thing you purchased?

58: can you touch your nose with your tongue?

67: what were you doing last night at 12am?

74: what's a song that makes you happy when you hear it?

95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere! You have to depart right now. Where are you going to go?

As always, if there's any you aren't comfortable answering, no pressure <3

heck yeah i can finally get to these asks

3: grab the book nearest you, turn to page 23, give me line 17

"...deemed to be enjoyable (or that at least were supposed to have been enjoyable." - The Power of Fun, Catherine Price

7: what's your strangest talent?

I can twist my arm in a weird way that really freaks my brother out >:)

14: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?

hiking!

15: do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

I like both. Both is good :)

18: do you believe in karma?

What goes around definitely comes around, good or bad.

24: do you have a collection of anything?

Scrunchies. And art supplies :)

28: what is your biggest what if?

What if I don't graduate on time :/

29: Do you believe in ghosts? What about aliens?

Not in the Ghostbusters or Youtuber Ghost Hunter way where there's apparitions and stuff, but there's definitely Something spiritually. I'm not so sure if aliens are real... and do we *really* want to find out?

32: what's the worst place you've ever been to?

NY/NJ.

38: what's the weather like right now?

Kinda cloudy, but nice. You should have seen that massive storm yesterday though!

47: do you have any obsessions right now?

Dungeons and Dragons!

54: what's the last thing you purchased?

cool pens :)

58: can you touch your nose with your tongue?

nope. I tried

67: what were you doing last night at 12am?

chilling in bed watching youtube

74: what's a song that makes you happy when you hear it?

Any Way You Want It by Journey

95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere! You have to depart right now. Where are you going to go?

SCOTLAND!!!! I wanna run through old castles in a flowy dramatic gown and a tiara!!!!!

[the59er]

April week 2 let's go!

10th Apr 2023, Monday Listening: Speed of Sound, Chris Bell

Boss made me come to the office to help him welcome a new joiner (NJ). Then my boss left at lunchtime leaving me alone with NJ 🤦🏻‍♀️ I also recall:

wearing my sambas to work because Im still excited about owning them 😂;

going down to my car just to warm myself up because the office was cold as usual;

calling zuls just to rant my ass off about the day during break

office giving us bubur lambuk (which was delish); and

leaving office at 6.

--

11th Apr 2023, Tuesday Listening: Charlie, Damn Dirty Apes

Got tickets for 17 movie date even though the day is far ahead 😬.

Received a cute Raya gift from Aims 🌟.

Tarawih.

& look at these cuties in clothes! 🥰

--

12th Apr 2023, Wednesday Listening: Your Love is King, Sade

Work in office Wednesdays. Zuls came so we berbuka at Bones! & the masjid has finished its renovation at the ladies' and it looked so pretty ✨

Stopped by yush for a nightcap :)

--

13th Apr 2023, Thursday Listening: Walking After You, Foo Fighters

Received a beautiful picture. Thankful. ❤️

--

14th Apr 2023, Friday Listening: Dare Me, Beach Fossils

Went to the Bank in the a.m. to tukar duit raya. Officer was super nice, called me "adik" (lol) and gave me raya packets from her own stash (since raya packets for customers were already out of stock).

Budget meeting.

Received raya gift from Nisa 🌟

Looking forward to Saturdate!

--

15th Apr 2023, Saturdate Listening: Do the Panic, Phantom Planet

House chores forever until I finally left the house after Asar for 2121!

Went to Zhan in the hopes of catching Fido's artwork BUT the gallery closes at 5pm (we reached there at 6). But sempat catch up for a few minutes before we left for buka @ BR.

Moreh @ burger spot with a side of Ted Lasso. Lovely day & super proud of you!

Passed by the carnival otw back. So preeeeets.

--

16th Apr 2023, Sunday Listening: History Lesson Part 2, Minutemen

Errands a.m. Insanely hot day. Left for the grocers @ 2.30 p.m. Ironed remaining baju kurung for the last few days of tarawih. And for some reason I decided to clean the car after tarawih today, in prep for tomorrow! 🌹

--

Thank you, second week of April! 🌟

[billk128]

It’s Boss Time, Once Again!

Having about given up on seeing a first leg/arena show on this Springsteen and the E St Band tour - the ticket pricing fiasco, the still too high prices for upper level seats in area shows, though I almost pulled the trigger for the Tues. Long Island show. etc. - I got a text from my older sister Maria - a complete lunatic and not only not a Springsteen fan, she doesn’t even really like music - stating that her daughter, Samantha (Sam), who works for the Devils and the Prudential (”The Rock”) arena the Newark, NJ, where tour-leg ending show this past Friday was held, was in a company raffle for Press Box (literally the rafters) seats (and Bruce inflation doesn’t end here - the seats for these raffles normally go for $25, but these were $50). 

I didn’t see the text until the next day of course, but said yes, I was interested if she won. She didn’t, but the colleague who did sold her the tickets and Sam contacted me directly w/ the news, though I’d be sitting w my sister, who again, had little show interest, but was in I guess just to be at some alleged scene. She was already plotting on contacting a security guard she knows (George) through Sam to get us “better seats” (there literally weren’t any available), and I said I was happy to be going and would be there for the music, so leave me out it.

I had 2 other sisters and other friends to hang with pre-show and we ran into Vito and his wife Laurie (for you Fijis reading) and hung out with them as well, before entering into a mad crush trying to get into the arena - lousy job by the Rock on managing entry, it ended up delaying the concert some 15-20 minutes. But my press box view (you been up there, Whitey?) was at the lip of the stage and the bird’s eye view of the stage was cool, and would have been nice towards the latter party of the show where the band interaction came more into play, but more on that later.

Maria heads off to visit a friend in a suite below and the show starts...I see Nils with that portable lap steel he plays, figured a new opener, and it was indeed, a somewhat tepid but solid enough version of the rarely played Local Hero, one of several Jersey nods throughout the show. The gas was then stepped on for the normal opener, No Surrender, and really never let up on from there, aside from the 2 acoustic numbers. When the tempo of Prove It All Night is on, you can pretty much bank on a good show, and it was on the money.

The sound was as I expected a bit diffuse at that altitude, but it got better over the first few songs, as it tends to do, and I was in a nice groove when Maria returned. She said George called has a couple of times and said he could get us into the frontstage Pit area. I was highly skeptical, and she did not know what the Pit was, so I showed her, and told her, it’s like being in a club, and you have to stand the whole time, which she balked at, but she can’t resist the alleged prestige. I was a bit torn, because I expected better sound on top of the more visceral Pit view, so, after Max nailed the drum break to kick in Letter to You (I love that break), I said let’s go, and we got to the floor level quickly. We were a hallway away from the front of the pit, and could hear the show, but not see it...and George was nowhere to be found. 

So Promised Land starts and sure enough, it has a perfect sounding tempo, and the song sounds really good, but where is George? This is exactly what I didn’t want, and here it is unfolding. The song ends and I guess Bruce chugged a beer or shot with a fan, and Out in the Streets starts, and finally George shows. He walks us all the way around to the other side, ominously muttering about telling no one about this or him and as I suspected, he had no wrist bands for us to be in the Pit, so now I’m doubly concerned, but we’re now on the floor and moving up to the pit. Upon arrival, he fades into security area and we get stopped dead in our tracks due to no wrist bands. Now what?

We walked back to the back of the floor and there was plenty of room. We likely would not have been able to enter again had we left, but I had no real plans to leave and told Maria she could stay or leave or do whatever. She was uncertain, and couldn’t really see much, as even I had to move around to catch the live action vs. the video, but it wasn’t bad (as noted though, the birds eye view would  have been cool for the ending section hijinx). The sound was better, but I realized I hadn’t been in an arena in how long now? So I had to adapt to that wider expanse feeling and realize I wasn’t in a club, where the sound washes over you much more directly. And it actually was pretty damn good, specifically when voices or instruments were highlighted in solos, they were very crisp-sounding and impactful.

Back to the show, in an attempt to move quickly:

- Bruce’s voice and singing were outstanding. Very little of the typical concert hoarseness, he was on top of the vox all night. The ending wordless howls of Backstreets were impeccable. 

- He played the majority of lead guitar as well, but that playing hasn’t quite kept up. He flubbed the start of the mid-song solo in Prove It All Night almost like a novice, but has the ability to pause and make it seem organic - as he rips off the rest of the stinging solo perfectly. So it kind of comes and goes at times, but always ends well. 

- I was wondering how they would move from the rocking Candy’s Room into the jazzy Kitty’s Back, and there it was: Candy typically ends on a piercing, high guitar note, but here they added a second note down to end it, and Bruce then arose holding one note while the rest of the band was silent. And he held that note...and held it...and held it w a wry look on his face as the fans went from puzzled to potentially annoyed by this screaming note...it was great, actually, funny, and then Bruce broke that note and played the somewhat intricate opening guitar of Kitty’s Back flawlessly. Pretty cool. 

- Bruce has no grasp of his own catalog - if he wants to play a party song, why does it have to be Mary’s Place? That song served its purpose at the time, and it’s a fine song, but it’s toast now. Ever heard of maybe Sherry Darling, Bruce? That said, backing singer Curtis King got spotlighted during Mary’s Place and sang this amazing, wordless, soul/gospel bit towards the end that was jaw dropping. 

- Bruce loves his band, everyone got spotlights here and there, other highlights were Nils’ otherworldly solo on Because the Night (which he parleyed into more interstellar work on the mobile pedal steel during The Rising), and Anthony Almonte is new to the band on percussion, and he and Max squared off during E Street Shuffle in a duel Max was lucky to keep up with - Almonte played some of the fastest drums I have ever heard. He kind of took that one over...

- Jake Clemons can do no wrong - he gets HUGE cheers any time he plays, it’s gotta make him feel awesome. He is also playing better and with more of his Uncle’s power, so he is earning it.

- I knew the spot before Thunder Road would be ripe for a different song, but good ole Bruce has no concept, so they played Jersey Girl. Sure, people think it’s great, but it’s really not. 

- My sister ended up hanging in there with me and she was admittedly won over and enjoyed the show - won over I think by Bruce’s voice and the fact that pretty anyone knows at least part of the last 8-10 songs before the show-ending acoustic I’ll See You in My Dreams. All solid to great tunes and all extremely well played, and the crowd was nuts, singing along and that was pretty sweet from the floor perspective, having all of those voices coming down at you. Nice effort by the Jersey crowd for certain...

- Glory Days was kind of a revelation - played briskly and at its single length (meaning no endless vamping or repetition), it sounded great, fun and joyous, and seeing this group of early 20s kids going off to it (not to mention the entire floor), and knowing every single word, etc., it was both validation of the song’s actual quality, and kind of reaffirming for me, looking back on my own youth and musical passions.

- Rosalita preceded Glory Days, and had the same refreshing vibe - played well, briskly, with classic mugging and plenty of energy, w/ Nils paying the circular lead during the bridge, and band members interacting all over. Born to Run also sounded great, and while the bottom was solid all night, even Garry Tallent stepped out a bit on bass on this one, playing some an interesting note progression that added tasty flavor before the musical crash/flourish and the “1-2-3-4!” that kicks it all back in.

If the acoustic ending left some flat after all that rocking, it’s a great, uplifting song, and Bruce’s voice and presence are commanding. His blocky chord playing on acoustic has always thrown me a bit, I think tunes like this could use some finger-picking, but regardless, it’s a more intimate moment worthy of attention. I for one was grateful to be there for a great performance. The show will mutate in Europe, as it always does - I predict at least Nightshift will be dropped, though it’s a fine rendering, much better than the somewhat tinny version on record - and I get another shot in a Philly stadium in August. Catch ‘em if you can!

Setlist - 4-14-23:

Local Hero (tour debut, first performance since 2013) No Surrender Ghosts Prove It All Night Letter to You The Promised Land Out in the Street Candy's Room Kitty's Back Nightshift (Commodores cover) Mary's Place The E Street Shuffle Last Man Standing (acoustic, with Barry Danielian on trumpet) Backstreets Because the Night She's the One Wrecking Ball The Rising Badlands Encore: Jersey Girl (tour debut) Thunder Road Born to Run Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) Glory Days Dancing in the Dark Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out I'll See You in My Dreams (solo acoustic)

[everfascinated]

I haven't been in the north east for a while and I never took the metro in NJ (just got driven through it as a kid) so I can't speak to those, but this pic (snagged from Google images cause I don't save things and it's been years) looks accurate.

The card worked on subways and buses in NYC by swiping it and that little chip cut off the corner was standard. I was only there a couple days, but I think the other side got stamped with info. The card wasn't as flimsy as a paper/single use ticket was and, while the one I got was really for tourists and only designed to last a week, I think the rechargeable ones were a little more waterproof? Can't remember if they were hard plastic though, it's been too long lol

does anyone have a picture of what a metro ticket look like asking for a project purpose ksdfjsdf

[awickeddream]

Wells Fargo center site keeps crashing and putting me back in the waiting room

[iero]

So, going through more of my clothes this morning for stuff to get rid of and I never thought I’d say this, but I think it’s about time I got rid of my REVENGE hoodies because I just don’t wear them anymore. My question to you guys is do you know how much authentic OG REVENGE hoodies go for nowadays? 

[theswarmanthology]

Myrthe, 21, The Netherlands

Fast Facts: How long have you been a fan?: 5-8 years Did you get to see MCR live before this tour?: No, this tour was my first time seeing MCR How many shows on this tour did you attend in total?: 1 Favorite album: Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge Show experience out of 10: 10 Did you cry at your show?: No

Which date of the tour did you attend? 06/02/22, Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands

When did you get your tickets for your show? Was it a struggle, or were they easy to grab? I actually got tickets for the show in Bologna, Italy first, since they hadn’t announced any in the Netherlands the first time around. So I figured, if I’m gonna have to travel anyway I should just plan a vacation and go to Italy for a week even though the Germany shows are closer. I had an entire trip planned including plane tickets, a hotel and some small excursions to Rome and Florence. Obviously the pandemic started a few months later and that all went out the window. I was very sad my show and trip got canceled/postponed and cried a lot. The show got moved by two years, and a month (from July to June I think) and I couldn’t make it to Italy at the new date anymore. But then they suddenly announced new Europe dates including one in Rotterdam so I could go! Getting the tickets for that was pretty easy and I was so excited when I got my tickets!

Did you attend with anyone else? With my dad

What did you wear? Black jeans, a black sleeveless t-shirt and black canvas shoes (boots? Not sure if they count as boots or sneakers or whatever)

Where were your seats? Pit, center stage!

What was your favorite song(s) from the setlist they played at your show? It’s not a fashion statement it’s a deathwish!!

What song were you most hoping to hear? Did you get to hear it? I love their entire discography so I was happy for them to play anything! Some of my favorites they didn’t play were sharpest lives, desert song and heaven help us but they did play sleep, deathwish, skylines and give em hell and many other songs I love!

What was your favorite moment from the show? I don’t have a specific moment, more something that was spread out across the entire show: I loved hearing the entire crowd sing along to the songs and singing with everyone. It felt magical. Especially during Mama and Famous Last Words, it’s incredible to hear everyone. Also seeing Welcome To The Black Parade was amazing because it’s such a classic. Really felt like, ‘wow, shit, that’s actually My Chemical Romance up there. They’re real!’

What was the most unexpected moment from the show? The thing that felt the most unexpected should really have been the most obvious thing actually: the start of the show and the band actually walking on stage and starting to play. I guess I was still very nervous they would cancel last minute, and the static before the show seemed to last an eternity and it didn’t feel real. And suddenly they were actually right there, and it felt like a huge surprise.

Did you snag any merch? What pieces? Yeah! I got the haunted castle Newark NJ shirt and the black swarm one with the yellow/green fly

Many fans describe seeing MCR live as feeling like coming home. Did you experience anything like that at your show? Yeah! It’s one thing I don’t really have words for but it definitely felt like magic, coming home and the best night of my life. It’s just that those words don’t even begin to cover the experience.

Thanks, Myrthe! They can be found on Tumblr at @extinctioninthemorningrays.

[buriedinbaltimore]

Imagine the foxes playing two truths and a lie...

The upperclassmen start playing it as a drinking game one night and Neil is intrigued. Andrew is also intrigued but doesn’t show it and refuses to play.

They are all already pretty tipsy, with Kevin, Matt, Nicky, and Aaron pretty much drunk.

Allison goes first, she has an amazing poker face and calmly says all three statements with no facial twitches or vocal cues. “my first car was a Toyota Camry (truth), my prom dress cost over $10k (lie), and I once made out with Miley Cyrus (truth)”

Renee, Neil, and Aaron guess right, Matt, Dan, Kevin, and Nicky have to drink.

Then it’s Matt’s turn and he is terrible, he starts snickering before he opens his mouth. “I’ve swam with sharks (truth)” he says, but he cannot control his face and it keeps contorting as he tries to maintain a neutral expression. He takes a deep breath to try and control his giggles, “my favorite flower is sunflowers (truth)” then he can’t hold it in anymore and starts hysterically laughing and chokes out, “My favorite city in the world is Newark, NJ (lie)”

Everyone gets it right and Matt has to drink.

Dan is next, she goes for the “one of these is so out there and crazy it can’t be a lie...or is it?” method.

((It is.))

“I’ve never shot a gun (truth), as a kid my favorite food was celery with ranch dressing (truth), and when I was 18 I won the lottery but the ticket was ruined and I couldn’t claim the money (lie)”

Aaron jumps in with “Obviously you never won the lottery, how would you even know if the ticket was destroyed”

Dan has her story ready. “When I first turned 18, I played the same numbers every week. It went on for a few months when my numbers were picked, but by that point playing was more of a habit than anything else and I wasn’t too careful with my tickets. I searched for it everywhere and found that I left it in my jeans pocket when I did my laundry.”

Allison asks what the numbers were, and Dan answers with no hesitation, which makes Allison tilt her head and stare into Dan’s eyes. Dan looks back without guile, totally relaxed.

Nicky is looking at her with his eyes wide and mouth slightly open and asks how much money she would have won

When Dan answers $53 million dollars Nicky gasps and Matt groans.

Neil, Renee, and Allison get it right, but everyone else falls for it.

When its Nicky turn he forgets to say a lie.

He is sitting there trying to come up with something for what feels like forever while every goads him for taking so long.

Finally, after waiting 5 minutes, Kevin says “I’m going because Nicky obviously can’t come up with anything” and Nicky jumps across Kevins lap and goes “No no no no no, I’ve got it!”

Without moving off Kevin he says “I’m allergic to shellfish, I died my hair green once, and I’ve read all the twilight books three times“ He moves back to his spot looking pleased with himself.

Everyone starts discussing theories until Andrew says in his bored, flat voice, “Nicky, those are all true”

Nicky starts to protest, thinks for a second, then just says “Fuck!” and takes a shot.

Kevin rolls his eyes so hard that his entire head rotates then says, while slightly slurring, “Okay, my turn! I’ve played a game of pick up basketball once (lie), I know all the lyrics to We Didn’t Start the Fire (truth), and I’ve traveled to over a dozen countries (truth).”

Matt starts hysterically laughing again, “You know all the lyrics to We Didn’t Start the Fire! oh my god Kevin you are such a nerd!” everyone else starts laughing at Kevin too.

“Maybe I do, maybe it’s the lie!”

“Everyone knows you’ve never played a sport besides Exy in your life Kevin” Dan says, “Will you sing it for us? Please, please, please!”

Allison, Nicky, and Matt join Dan in asking Kevin to sing. Renee even says, “It would be lovely to hear you sing it Kevin” to which Kevin blushes a little and answers, “Maybe later” and then takes his shot.

Aaron is drunk enough at this point to spill some truths he otherwise never would, and will wish for the rest of his life that he never had.

“When I was little, I wanted to be a figure skater when I grew up.(truth)”

Everyone goes completely silent and stares at him unsure whether to laugh or not but he doesn’t realize and continues

“The first time I got high I thought the squirrels in the tree wanted to adopt me as their squirrel king (truth), and I hate Taylor Swift (lie)”

No one says anything at first, and just when Aaron starts to realize something is up, Nicky says “Nah man, you LOVE T. Swift, you can’t deny it!”

They collectively make a silent agreement to ignore this new information about Aaron until he sobers up a bit and can either defend himself, or will be more fun to tease.

In the end, everyone but Renee guesses right, but she guessed wrong on purpose because she didn’t think that Aaron should be having any more to drink.

When it’s Renee’s turn, she smiles sweetly and says, ”I can juggle up to 7 balls (truth), I have never drank diet soda (lie), and I once had a pet turtle named Vincent (truth).”

No one is confident about which is the lie and it is the longest the foxes debate after anyones turn. It doesn’t help that Renee refuses to answer questions, and whenever someone tries to ask her anything she just smiles and shrugs.

It comes out to Neil and Aaron getting it right, while everyone else has to drink.

“How the fuck has it never come up that you’re a master juggler?” Allison asks angrily

“It wouldn’t be appropriate to do it at practice, and we’re not really around balls much otherwise.”

Everyone asks for a demonstration, “I will juggle later if Kevin will sing.”

Everyone looks at Kevin who sighs but says “Okay, fine!”

They all cheer then wait eagerly for Neil to go.

Neil sits quietly for a little while, not as long as Nicky, but long enough that Aaron says, “Come on this should be easy for you! You lied to us all for a year, what’s the problem, the truth?”

Neil shoots him a dirty look but doesn’t respond for a few more seconds then says,

“My mom and I once helped deliver a baby at a truck stop in Alberta, I’ve been bitten by a camel, and I can speak 7 languages”

Everyone just stares at him.

“Two of those things are true?” Matt finally asks

“Yeah.” Neil says, shrugging. Everyone is silent again.

Nicky turns to Andrew for help, but he refuses to say anything. His eyes are bright with interest though and he looks at Neil for a long time. Internally, he thinks the one about helping birth a baby has something off about it.

After much debate, Allison, Kevin, and Matt guess the baby, Renee, Dan, and Aaron guess the camel, and Nicky says the languages, “No one can know SEVEN languages!! I won’t believe it!”

They all turn to Neil expectantly and he says, “It was the first one, we were just outside Vancouver, in British Columbia, not Alberta.”

“But you, Neil Josten, have helped deliver a baby?” Allison asks incredulously.

“Technically I wasn’t Neil Josten yet…”

Everyone groans. Everyone takes a shot.

Cut to 15 minutes later, Renee is juggling an exy ball, some apples, and Matt’s phone while Kevin sings. Nicky tries to sing along with Kevin but definitely doesn’t know the right words, Aaron is watching Renee wide eyed, Dan and Matt are playing air guitar behind Kevin, and Allison is looking for more things for Renee to juggle. Neil and Andrew sit quietly on a desk holding cigarettes, observing their idiot friends.  

Stories Behind the Truths and Lies

Allison

My first car was a Toyota Camry (truth) - Allison’s parents wanted her to learn how to drive in a safe car that wouldn’t draw a lot of attention, so they got her a Camry. She only drove it for 3 weeks before demanding an upgrade.

My prom dress cost over $10k (lie) - This was almost true. She had ordered a custom Zac Posen dress but before it was finalized she made her decision to go to PSU and play Exy, and her mother canceled the order. She ended up wearing something she found in a vintage store that she altered herself. She ended up enjoying it a lot, which led to her decision to study fashion. (In my hc she played professional Exy for 3? seasons but was injured and then started her fashion line.)

I once made out with Miley Cyrus (truth) - While out clubbing one night she met Miley through mutual friends, they were attracted to each other, they made out. Miley asked for her number but Allison wasn’t looking for anything more than a hook up.

Matt

I’ve swam with sharks (truth) - He did this with his mom on a vacation and they both loved it. They also have a tradition where they watch at least one night of shark week together, or at least call each other to talk while they are both watching.

My favorite flower is sunflowers (truth) - No story lol I just think he would like sunflowers.

My favorite city in the world is Newark, NJ (lie) - I love thinking about New Yorker Matt. Raised on the Upper East Side, dad a top plastic surgeon, mom a public figure? Child grew up surrounded by serious privilege. HC that in fifth grade he made friends with a boy who was on scholarship at his school. Let’s call him… Metin. He lived in Queens? He took the subway? Matt goes to his house one day and it is 1/8th the size of his apartment and there are 9 people living there; Metin’s parents, two grandparents, his uncle, his two sisters, and his cousin. They all speak Turkish in the house and it’s loud and crowded but so full of life and love and Matt loves it. He and Metin grew apart when Matt started using, but before that they were best friends for years and explored the city together, Matt learning about and experiencing so much culture that for the first 9 years of his life he didn’t know existed. When Nicky wanted to go to Times Square for New Years Matt knew he had to be a good host and take them but inside he was DYING. I’m getting off track. No New Yorker could ever like Newark. I’m not convinced anybody could like Newark. It is indeed, very laughable.

Dan

I’ve never shot a gun (truth) - Dan hates guns and refuses to shoot one.

As a kid my favorite food was celery with ranch dressing (truth) - Idk I just thought this was cute. And also thinking about young Dan who didn’t have a lot of access to healthy foods getting celery sticks and ranch with her free school lunch and getting SO excited. Trading her cookie to a classmate for their celery.

When I was 18 I won the lottery but the ticket was ruined and I couldn’t claim the money (lie) - I like to think this is part true. After Dan turned 18 but before she was recruited for the Foxes, she played lotto a lot, always with the same numbers that she got from a fortune cookie that said, “Failure is not defeat until you stop trying.” She stopped playing once she signed with Wymack.

Nicky (all truths)

I’m allergic to shellfish - Mostly I love that Andrew knew all these things about Nicky, especially his allergy because he’s always looking out to make sure Nicky doesn’t eat something he can’t.

I died my hair green once - At first, when he took custody of the twins and started showing up for them at school at stuff, he hated the looks he got. He was a 19 year old kid who was supposed to be their guardian? Not to mention the way people eyed his skin and hair when he said he was family. One day he decided to dye his hair blond and he asked Andrew and Aaron to help, to try to bond. Aaron wanted nothing to do with it, but surprisingly, Andrew seem enthusiastic about the idea. He bought the dye and did everything for Nicky in the kitchen. When he was finally done roughly washing the dye out of Nicky’s hair, Nicky went to the bathroom to see how he looked and saw that Andrew had died his hair green. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh at the prank or cry because he foolishly thought he might be getting through to Andrew. When he went back to the kitchen, he tried to laugh it off and said maybe he should go to a salon to get the color right. Andrew told him he was stupid to try and change how he looked just because people were dumb enough to think that families needed to look alike. Besides, they weren’t a family anyway.  “Family” is a toxic excuse for things people put up with, a reason we accept the tragedies and inconveniences forced upon us. (Nora’s words) Nicky was upset, and dyed his hair back to his natural color once the roots started growing in, but he reaffirmed his commitment in that moment that he would show the twins what Erik had shown him, what a family could really be.

I’ve read all the twilight books three times - Nicky was a huge fan of twilight, even going to the midnight release party for the last book. He was disappointed in the movie adaptations but loved the casting and watched for the eye candy. He is loving the twilight renaissance especially the twilight is gay discourse.

Kevin

I’ve played a game of pick up basketball once (lie) - Kevin has never played a game of basketball, or soccer, or tennis, or baseball, or any other sport for that matter and can not understand why anyone would want to.

I know all the lyrics to We Didn’t Start the Fire (truth) - Kayleigh Day was a big music fan, she loved everything from classical to country, but one of her favorite artists was Billy Joel. After she died and Kevin moved into Evermore, he almost forgot about her music because the music at the Nest was all chosen for pragmatic reasons, like its BPM and ability to pump the players up. One day, when Kevin was around 15 years old, a rebellious Raven played his own music while training in the weight room. He and his partner were the only ones in there until Riko and Kevin showed up, and they turned it off as soon as they realized they had come in, but Kevin heard some of “Only the Good Die Young” and for the first time in a long time had a vivid memory of his mother. He asked the boys what had been playing, and Riko scoffed at the name Billy Joel. That night while Riko was sleeping, Kevin downloaded Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits and listened until he feel asleep, and he continued listening to it for weeks until he started remembering more of his mothers songs from his childhood. We Didn’t Start the Fire was one of his favorites because history.

I’ve traveled to over a dozen countries (truth) - Between travel through Europe with his mom while she spread Exy and professional appearances he made with Riko, Kevin is the most well traveled besides Neil.

Aaron

When I was little, I wanted to be a figure skater when I grew up. (truth) - When Aaron was around four or five, he watched the winter olympics on TV and fell in love with figure skating. Tilda never bothered to get him skating lessons, but one day, when Aaron was seven, there was an attempt to revive the Ice Capades. Aaron never thought he would get to go, but Tilda surprised him with tickets. It is one of the few really good memories he has of his mom.

The first time I got high I thought the squirrels in the tree wanted to adopt me as their squirrel king (truth) - I just imagine Aaron trying his mom’s drugs for the first time alone in the back yard, laying flat on his back looking up at a family of squirrels, saying, “I’m king of the squirrels!!!”

I hate Taylor Swift (lie) - Katelyn is a HUGE Taylor Swift fan. When they first started hanging out, Aaron didn’t really like her music but didn’t want to say anything. Eventually he started associating her with Katelyn though, and he loves watching Katelyn sign and dance so much that he now genuinely enjoys her music.

Renee

I can juggle up to 7 balls (truth) - Renee always had a natural juggling talent. She never really tried to learn, it was just always something she could do.

I have never drank diet soda (lie) - She does prefer non-diet soda, but she has tried diet before.

I once had a pet turtle named Vincent (truth) - Vincent was a gift from one of her mother’s boyfriends, the only one Renee ever remotely like. He was horrible to her mother, but had a soft spot for Renee and treated her kindly. They broke up after a couple of months, and he gave her Vincent as a parting gift. She had him until she got arrested, she couldn’t go back home to get him and when her mother went to prison he died.

Neil

My mom and I once helped deliver a baby at a truck stop in Alberta (lie) - This happened while Neil and his mom were on the way to Seattle. It was the middle of the night and they stopped to get gas a few hours out from Vancouver when they heard a woman screaming. There was nothing around for miles and only one other car in the lot that had been there when they pulled in. His mother immediately dropped the gas pump and Neil was already back in the car when the screaming stopped and his mother hesitated. Neil had never seen his mom hesitate with a potential threat around before, and he listened closely to try and understand why she stopped. All he heard was a woman panting harshly, but it sounded almost as though there was a rhythm to it. Mary signaled for him to get out of the car, and ordered him to grab some blankets, the first aid kit, and water bottles and follow her. They walked behind the locked public bathrooms, and found the woman squatting, with tears running down her face. Mary wasn’t very gentle or comforting, but she told the woman in a calm and confident voice that they were going to help. Neil didn’t do much, but he let the woman hold his hand and squeeze until he thought she would break it. He gave her sips of water between her contractions and did anything else his mother said. Once the baby was out, wrapped in a blanket, and in its mothers arms, Mary grabbed Neil and they left without another word to the woman. She stared after them, confused and grateful. Neil and his mother never spoke of it again.

I’ve been bitten by a camel (truth) - Neil and Mary spent a few days in Dubai to get some papers from a specialist there before traveling back to North America. The man did his business out of a racetrack where they held camel races. To get to his office, they had to travel through the back part of the track that the jockeys used to get the camels into position. Neil got too close to one of the camels and it bit his arm, luckily (or not), the jockey was in the middle of beating it and before it closed its mouth too tightly, landed a blow that caused the camel to immediately open its mouth again. Once he was freed, Neil was out of reach in a millisecond.

I can speak 7 languages (truth) - English, German, French, Russian, Hebrew, Czech, Greek. (To clarify he can speak 7 languages but he wouldn’t necessarily call himself fluent in all 7) We all know English, German, French, and Nora had a hc that Andrew and Neil learn Russian so they can talk to each other even with the cousins around which I love. Hebrew - In my hc Neil is jewish, as are Mary and Nathan. After running away, Mary didn’t know where to go once she had left her brother. She didn’t speak any other languages besides English, but she could understand Yiddish from hearing her grandparents and sometimes her parents speaking it growing up, and she could understand Polish from her time married to Nathan. She didn’t want to go to Poland in case any of Nathan’s contacts recognized her, so she decided to go to Israel. She knew there were communities there that spoke Yiddish and she was familiar if not comfortable with Hebrew from going to temple when she was younger. But most importantly she knew Nathan didn’t have any regular contacts there. While they were there, along with learning Hebrew, Mary pretended to be interested in converting to Greek Orthodox in order to get secret Greek lessons for her and Neil. After a while but sooner than she had hoped, Mary got a warning that Nathan had figured out where they were. She didn’t think it would be wise to go directly to Greece so she decided to move them to Prague next, since Czech and Polish are fairly similar and she really had no other ideas. While in Prague she continued her and Neil’s Greek lessons, and they went on to Greece eventually. Mary didn’t want them to lose any of the languages they learned, so she came up with a system that on certain days of the week they would speak to each other in certain languages. After Mary died, Neil pretty much gave up on Czech and Hebrew because he hadn’t been surrounded by them in so long and he hadn’t used either except with Mary since they moved from Prague or Israel. They had lived in Greece for longer than they had in Prague or Israel though, moving to a few different cities, so he felt stronger with Greek.

Fin. 

This is my first time writing anything fanfiction, my first time doing any creative writing at all really, and I would love any and all feedback!! Thanks for reading this long ass post, I hope it wasn’t terrible!!

[sineala]

Hi Sine! How’s life? If you don’t mind me asking, did you and your wife start out as a long distance relationship? How did you manage it?

Well, anon, it’s been a Very Long Year already. I am currently suspecting that my brain is not going to actually let me write any of these ficlets I was hoping to write this month, but we’ll find out.

Anyway, yes, @lysimache (❤️) and I met on LiveJournal in 2001 because we were both in Due South fandom. I identified as straight at the time! We started dating at the very end of 2002. At that time we lived on opposite coasts of the US (me in CA, her in NJ), and we were long-distance until the middle of 2004 so, about a year and a half. Which seems like a long time when you are in the middle of it, but now that we’ve been together for eighteen years it comprises a relatively small fraction of our actual relationship.

How did we manage it? We talked a lot, mostly. We talked on AOL Instant Messenger every day and we called each other either whenever I had found a cheap prepaid long-distance card or, after I got my first cell phone, in the evenings, because that was when Verizon offered free minutes. So I think these days, you all have it a lot easier than we did because you are probably not paying for your long-distance calls by the minute and also these days it doesn’t cost ten cents each to send and receive text messsages. (My wife’s brother used to like to text her I JUST STOLE TEN CENTS FROM YOU. Repeatedly.) These days, communication is, comparatively, so much easier! And you can even have video chat!

Also, we visited each other in person as often as we could. Shoutout to my mom, who responded to “Hi, Mom, I think I’m gay and also I’m in love with this girl I met on the internet” by buying me a plane ticket to visit her. I mean, I understand that seeing people in person is not a thing any of us are doing right now -- though honestly I am very glad to be stuck in a house with @lysimache because she is awesome and there’s no one else I’d rather be stuck in a house with and I would be very sad and lonely without her -- but that is definitely something to keep in mind for later, whenever we can all see people again.

It probably also helped that we made plans to be together relatively quickly so we weren’t, like, indefinitely long-distance, which I bet is probably pretty rough. I ended up staying at my undergrad institution to do a one-year MA program, and then I applied to PhD programs on the East Coast, got into one, and that was when we moved in together. I am pretty sure that every single source of professional relationship advice would tell you not to move across the country to move in with your internet girlfriend when you are, like, 23 and have never been in An Adult Relationship before, but, y’know... it worked for me! So there. Ha.

You have my sympathies, anon, and I hope it all works out for the best!

[asrisgratitudejournal]

25-28/09

Wow, betul-betul ya the power of procrastinating tuh dan how to build a habit out of something susah banget. Sekali udah ditinggalin, pasti keterusan buat nggak ngelanjutin. The same thing happened to me with running and exercising in general. Tiba-tiba lihat kalender, nah loh, sudah tanggal 28 aja sodara-sodara. Terakhir nulis savouring & journal padahal 24.... ke mana 4 hariku hilang? Ok baiklah, mumpung masih ingat, yang savouringnya w skip aja ya. Ini lebih ke 5 things to be grateful for everyday dari 25-28 hari ini:

25/09

1. Grateful for the fact that I could wake up late? Mulai minggu lalu, pagi-pagi udah ngga ada kelas DD dan SMA16 lagi soalnya KSN-Pnya sudah selesai, jadi bisa bangun siang. Eh tapi ujung-ujungnya bangun pagi juga deng, karena jam 0730 ada seminar kuliahnya Prof. Koesoemadinata jadi kebangun pagi sambil dengerin beliau di zoom terus malah dichat sama Mas Probo jadinya, Alhamdulillah ya sekalian menyambung silaturahmi lah ya.

2. Grateful for the badminton session! Cuma ber-3 main sama Archu dan Baron, Brigita salah baca court jadinya dia ga dateng, tapi senang, at least I could let out of sweat and get some endorphin lah ya.

3. Grateful for... being able to cook and enjoy my own food(?) kalau gasalah abis badminton laper banget terus masak nasi+kaldu ayam walaupun kebanyakan air, terus buat tahu-udang-mussel-salted egg, dimakan bareng abon, dan bikin minum teh tarik juga. I think sambil makan sambil telponan sama mita juga waktu itu(?) lupa :(

4. Grateful for apalagi ya... just the fact that it's weekend I guess? Jadi lebih relax dan ga stres dan anxiety aja

5. Grateful for... my existence.... gatau lagi mau nulis apa karena lupa details hari sabtu kemaren tapi yang jelas for the fact that I exist aja dengan kondisi sehat sudah amat sangat bersyukur. AH! Inget! Kayanya there's something to do with duolingo sih, tapi iya senang karena I think I climbed up the rank or something? Yah semacam itulah. So... kesimpulannya adalah I am living a good life

26/09

1. Grateful karena bisa bangun siang lagi yey! Masih sama seperti yang no 1 di tanggal 25

2. Grateful for the fact that my mom and dad and sister are all healthy back home. Got to talk with mom a bit, and I'm just so happy to hear from her that everything eventually gets better back home in Indonesia(?) If we keep it up at this rate, I think we'll definitely go back to pre-covid earlier than predicted!

3. Ke London sorenya! Tadinya mau berangkat abis lunch jam 1-an gitu. Udah booking Tate museum juga at 1500 tapi ujung-ujungnya karena rumah lagi agak rame jadi antre kamar mandi (ini excuse ajasih) akhirnya baru jalan dari rumah jam 1430 HAHA dan sampe London jam 1630. Langsung jajan ShakeShack (which makes me very happy)

4. Grateful for the fact that I'm an ARMY too! Di London langsung ke BWON, ini resto Korea gitu, terus ada event birthdaynya NJ dan JK diadakan oleh @minaluvchim. Di sini ketemu teman-teman ARMY baru dan senang aja, senang gaksih ketemu orang-orang yang passionate with the same thing as you are?? Wow, I wish I feel the same towards people in my department though. Harusnya gitu sih, tapi entah kenapa geology now feels more like burden to me rather than passion :( Terus senang bangetnya juga karena ku datengnya di slot akhir, ku bisa stay lama-lama di situ. Karena awalnya galau kan, mau take shelter di mana karena si Kings of Convenience-nya baru perform at 2030. Yah.. intinya bersyukur sekali ngga perlu lantang luntung kebingungan di London sendirian...

5. Grateful for the free ticket from Nugi to watch Kings of Convenience performance @ Royal Festival Hall! Sesungguhnya lagu KoC yang ku tahu cuma Cayman Islands doang (help?!), but I always appreciate music & art anyway, jadi walaupun folk guitar is not a thing for me, I'd still be happy kalau ada yang ngasih tiket gratis buat nonton such great artists (or just any artist sesungguhnya). Udah deg-degan kan awalnya pulang malem karena kupikir bakal lama konsernya, tapi ternyata jam 10 udah beres(?) akhirnya dah sampai rumah deh jam 12 malam.

27/09

Kemarin. I feel like I failed myself every weekdays. You can tell from my writing, most exciting things happened over weekend. But anyways I still feel very grateful though, dikasih waktu yang banyak sama Allah. So, 5 things to be grateful for yesterday:

1. I have so much time. As usual, weekdays is a nightmare for me, but I can always take things slow. Pagi-pagi ngopi, makan roti, sambil nonton apa ya kemaren? Lupa. Yang jelas I watched quite a lot of things kemarin, salah satunya We K-Pop di mana Prince Khun menjadi salah satu MC dan bisa melihat dia berinteraksi dengan idol-idol kesukaanku. Intinya makasih YaAllah dibuat bisa menyukai sesuatu yang mana ga semua orang bisa punya interest sebesar itu towards things.

2. Masih punya nasi yang masak Sabtu abis badminton itu, jadi bisa makan enak tanpa masak.

3. Kelas SeedWISE! Got to meet another fellow di departemen2 sebelah yang mengalami struggles yang sama dengan diriku ini. And how they encouraged me a lot. Walaupun ku masuk kelasnya telat sih karena lupa wkwkw.

4. Just to be able to wfh I guess? Karena tiba-tiba kemarin Senin dan hari ini cuacanya buruk aja, the sun was out but only for like 5mins? Sisanya hujan dan angin huft. Nevertheless, I am still grateful for being able to experience UK weather though.

5. Kalina cerita di perempatan Headington situ ada yang habis meninggal kecelakaan sepeda ketabrak lorry gitu umur 32 tahun woman :( sedih banget terus Kalina bilang "Asri, just dont ride a bike" :(( tapi emang di sini safety buat cyclistnya kurang banget sih, terutama kalau udah versus HGV atau kendaraan bermotor :( yaudah intinya ini bukan bersyukur karena ada yang meninggal sih, tapi lebih ke bersyukur karena selama 1 tahun di sini I am still intact dan gapernah mengalami kecelakaan sama sekali alias Alhamdulillah (apalagi melihat nature w yang butter finger dan clumsy ini)

28/09

Wow. Hari ini. Another failure of the day I think. Mungkin nanti malam atau besok akan ku-edit tapi ku-list dulu sampai jam 1444 ini apa yang sudah disyukuri:

1. Tadi pagi bikin sarapan enak. Masih punya roti tapi butter dan jam abis, akhirnya bikin sarapan ala-ala English breakfast lah: ngegoreng suny side up + sosis + toast roti. Senang banget makannya HUHU

2. WFH lagi(?) jadi gaperlu merasakan dinginnya angin dan hujan di luar. Tapi ya kekurangannya memang jadi less productive aja sih. But let's see what I can do after this. Plannya juga sebetulnya mau belanja ke luar karena susu, butter, egg, dan roti sudah habis... tapi mager banget ngeliat kondisi di luar huf

3. tba

4. tba

5. tba

Dah sekian dulu diary PR kelas coursera saya selama 4 hari terakhir. Sebetulnya ini kan PR week 2 ya, harusnya udah beres sih, cuma disuruh 7 hari doang, but I think I'd keep it up setiap hari akan nulis 5 things to be grateful for ini. Maafkan kalau terlalu sampah untuk teman-teman semua karena gabisa relate at all dan sangat personal aka TMI, but I need to do this just for myself actually. Mungkin suatu saat nanti akan membuat tulisan berfaedah macam "Jardine" atau "Akses" yang gain traction cukup banyak. Tapi sepertinya untuk sementara ini, masih di sini saja dulu kualitas pos tumblr saya. Ciao!

28/09 1448 pm Woodlands Close 9