#i suppose it could also be layer 0 security‚ in a way | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jungshookz · 4 years ago

Note

omg it’s me again i just thought of sth and only you can make it so good;; EMT seokjiN and this prompt i saw sth like “will you stop flirting with me? you just got seriously injured and I’m the emt trying to tend to your wounds, i don’t give a fuck that i look cute when i’m concerned, you’re lucky you’re not dead you dipshit”

➺ pairing; emt!seokjin x reader

➺ genre; sfw!! namjoon is clumsy!! y/n is particularly cheeky that even i was like :0!! and handsome seokjin is simply handsome!!

➺ wordcount; 4.9k

➺ what to expect; “i’m just checking out your pupils, darling. trust me. you’ll know when i’m about to kiss you.”

➺ note; i thought i’d kick off the christmas with cee event with a jin drabble seeing as it was recently his birthday!! also i hope this drabble pumps you UP for the other drabbles that’ll be posted this month <3 happy deceember!!

»»————-　❄　————-««

“i just don’t think this is a super good idea, you know?” namjoon mutters sheepishly, looking down at you while you busy yourself with tightening his laces, “i mean, i can barely walk three steps without tripping over a normal floor, so i don’t know if me on ice is going to be any better-”

“oh, will you please give it a break? i’ve got you!” you get up off the ground before dusting your knees off, “besides, you were the one who said you wanted to try ice-skating - and it’s not like the ice skating rink is as steep as a mountain or anything. it’s all nice and flat! see?” you gesture towards the zamboni currently making its rounds on the ice, “and we came here just in time for a nice, clean layer of ice for us to skate on. there’s nothing that could go wrong!”

“nothing that could go wrong?!” namjoon gawks, hoisting his foot up so he can rest his ankle across his knee, “look at this thing, y/n! what kind of a shoe is this?” he taps his fingernail against the metal blade before quickly retracting his hand and shuddering, “these things are literal weapons- why can’t i just skate without the skates?”

“because that... wouldn’t be ice-skating anymore? that’d just be... ice-walking. and your sneakers won’t do you any good on the ice, anyway,” you shake your head before shrugging, “the blades are supposed to help you, like- they get a… solid grip on the ice and it helps you move around better, you know? something like that.”

namjoon scoffs and leans back on the bench, “please explain to me how a thin metal blade is supposed to get a solid grip on ice-”

“look, the offer to get you one of those little kiddie things for you to hold onto still stands.” you point over to the front counter, “they have one that looks like a penguin! it’s adorable! i mean, i think it’s a little shorter than your knees so you might have to crouch down a little if i get one for you-”

“wha-” namjoon immediately frowns before crossing his arms, “y/n, i am a grown man. i don’t need to hold onto a penguin-”

“okay, suit yourself!” you chirp, sticking your hand out for him, “c’mon, you manly man. i wanna get on the ice! i’ve been waiting all week for this-”

namjoon grumbles curses under his breath as he pushes himself up off the bench

penguin

he doesn’t need a penguin!

how dare you!!!!!

you can’t help but giggle as you watch him waddle towards you, being very careful not to fall over and twist an ankle

admittedly, bringing namjoon to an ice skating rink probably wasn’t the best idea

one time he sprained his ankle after tripping over literally nothing and he had to use a crutch for like two weeks

he’s verY susceptible to injuries

when he first brought up the idea of going to an ice-skating rink you were going to turn him down and suggest something safer and more namjoon friendly...

but it’s december!

and december is literally the time to go ice-skating!

and there’s always a hot chocolate truck that’s parked right by the rink so hopefully you’ll be able to soothe namjoon’s bruised bum (you’re betting that namjoon’s bum will be all sorts of bruised after ten minutes on the ice) with extra whipped cream and marshmallows

hopefully he won’t be as grumpy as he is now when he’s sipping on a big ol mug of rich, creamy hot chocolate

“we’re going to have so much fun! the last time i went skating, i-” as soon as you slide onto the ice, namjoon suddenly yanks you backwards

you turn to look at him only to see him gripping onto the railing for dear life

he’s not even on the ice yet!

big ol’ wimp

“what’s the matter? cold feet?” you joke, namjoon giving you an unimpressed frown, “what?? you have to admit that was a good joke-”

“that was an awful joke-”

“namjoon…” you purse your lips and place your free hand on your hip, “you know that you have to be on the ice in order to ice skate, right?” you give his hand a reassuring squeeze, “i’m not going to let you fall. i promise! but in the rare case that you do fall, feel free to fall on top of me to cushion your blow. i’ll gladly break a couple of ribs just to keep you from hitting the ground!”

“what happens if you skate circles around me and end up cutting a circle into the ice and then i fall in??”

oh god

here we go

“that’s not going to happen, namjoon.” you shake your head, “because we’re not in a cartoon.”

“what happens if i accidentally fall backwards and end up stabbing myself in the eye with the blade?”

“that’s not going to happen, namjoon- first of all, the tip of the blade is rounded off, so you won’t be stabbing anything at all, and second of all, we both know you’re not nearly flexible enough for your body to be able to bend in half like that-

“what happens if i fall to the ground and someone skates over my fingers and slices them off?!”

“that’s not going to-” you pause for a split second, “well, that could happen, so maybe just don’t fall and remember to keep your hands off the ice-”

“okay, well- i don’t want to do this anymore!!!” namjoon lets go of your hand and you resist the urge to fall to the ground and let out a primal screech of rage, “if there’s even a chance that i’m going to lose the tip of one finger today, there’s no way in hell i’m getting onto the ice-”

“you’re not going to lose any fingers-”

“how can you be so sure?!”

you immediately shut up before reaching up to pinch the bridge of your nose

you love namjoon with all your heart but sometimes he’s just.., a little much

he’s not very big on risk-taking

he’s always been very content just staying within his comfort zone which is fine!

you never pressure him into doing anything if he very clearly is uncomfortable with it

with that being said, it’s just that whenever you even try to nudge him like a centimetre out of his safety bubble, he flips out on you just like how he’s flipping out right now

like that one time you made him try a vanilla bean frappucino (arguably the plainest most basic frappucino flavour on the starbucks menu) instead of his usual iced americano and after he took a sip he accused you of trying to make him get diabetes

it’s not like you’re purposely trying to torment him by forcing him to ice skate

you just wanted to come here and have a good time with your friend!

“namjoon, you seriously need to calm down-”

“i am calm! i am so calm! in fact, i’ve never been MORE CALM-!”

it doesn’t take long for you and namjoon to start bickering with each other, the both of you too wrapped up in yelling at each other to notice the weird glances you’re getting from everyone

“all i’m trying to say is that the only reason why we’re here in the first place is because you said that you wanted to try-”

“yeah, and now i change my mind! what, are you saying i’m not allowed to change my mind?”

“i never- i never said you weren’t allowed to change your mind, i just want you to try to understand that it can be a little frustrating for me to set everything up for you only for you to chicken out at the end-”

“chicken out?! how dare you?! i am not chickening- i’m backing out for the safety of my eyeballs and my hands-”

“i said i would hold your hand the whole time!”

“that’s not secure enough! you holding my hand on slippery ice as a form of safety is equivalent to me getting on a rollercoaster using flimsy shoelaces to tie me to the seat-”

“that’s why i said i would get you the penguin so that you have two handles to hold onto-”

“i don’t want the friggin’ penguin!” namjoon snaps, stepping aside when a little kid nudges past him only to immediately glide onto the ice

the two of you pause to watch him and you gawk when he starts zipping back and forth like a maniac

that could be you right now

you, too, could be having a blast on the ice right now if it weren’t for your manbaby friend over here

you gesture to the random child currently twirling around on the ice before scoffing, “namjoon! look at him! if that literal toddler can do that on the ice, you can at least step forward to stand on the ice-”

“that is not a child, that is just a very tiny professional ice skater-”

you press your lips together in frustration as namjoon continues to list off reasons why the two of you should just go for hot chocolate and then go straight home

and for a second you think about giving up and just giving him what he wants but...

no way!

you are noT letting him talk himself out of this one this time

you wanna go ice skating today and you’re going to figure out a way to make both you and namjoon happy

okay

so he doesn’t want to hold your hand

he doesn’t want the penguin

what other options do you have??

you twiddle with the end of your scarf before pausing and looking down at it

…

lightbulb

»»————-　❄　————-««

“alrighty… how does that feel?” you tighten the knot before giving namjoon’s stomach a pat, “nice and secure?”

yep

that’s right

you ended up tying your scarf around namjoon’s waist like some kind of a leash

you’re really hoping people won’t think this is one of those pet-play situations where namjoon is your human puppy and you’re his BDSM dominatrix

you’re not shaminG the kink or anything!!!

you’re just not into the whole arf arf roll over thing

it probably didn’t help that you wore a leather trench coat today

the weather’s finally cooled down enough for you to wear it so obviouSLY you had to wear your super cool leather trench coat but now you feel like you should take it off just in case it makes you look like you’re... into barking

namjoon hooks a finger into the scarf and gives it a little tug, “…i suppose… this is better than nothing…”

“great!” you sigh in relief, “so… i’m gonna take it nice and slow, okay? we’ll start off with some basic gliding and then we’ll go from there.”

unfortunately the ice is a little rougher now because it took like twenty minutes for namjoon to practice just standing on the ice without toppling over

you’re just glad that he’s now willing to actually give skating a try instead of giving up and going home

this is progress!!

you wonder if you’ll ever be able to convince him to go skydiving with you one day

...baby steps

“so, gliding is kind of like… it’s kind of like marching, i guess?” you hum, “it’ll help you transition into skating. you’re gonna march two steps forward and then let yourself just glide forward…” you wrap the end of the scarf around your fist to really make sure that it won’t slip from your fingers (because you’re 100% sure that namjoon will have a meltdown if you let go of it) as you continue to skate backwards slowly, watching namjoon’s feet like a hawk

you’re surprised he hasn’t fallen yet what with his wobbly knees

“am i… am i doing it??” namjoon asks dumbly and you can’t help but grin when he starts to pick up the movement

thank god he’s a fast learner

“hey, look at you go!” you laugh lightly, giving him a thumbs up, “you’re doing it! i mean, we’re going pretty slowly... but you’re doing it!”

namjoon reaches forward to grab onto the scarf when he wobbles a little and you immediately stop so that he can rebalance himself

(you don’t know how you’re going to catch him if he falls because he’s definitely going to end up crushing you and breaking all the bones in your body)

the two of you spend the next twenty minutes or so slowly making your way around the rink

for the most part, namjoon does just fine

there was one point where a little kid knocked into him from behind and he nearly fell over buT luckily he grabbed onto the railing before anything happened

he looked like he was fully ready to chase after the kid to strangle him but that’s beside the point

you let out an impatient little sigh as people continue to whiz past you

boo

you wanna do some whizzing too!

“are you…” you trail off, looking back over at namjoon, “okay to move on to stroking?”

namjoon’s brows furrow as he lets go of the scarf after regaining his balance, “stroking?”

“mhm!” you nod, turning to glance over your shoulder for a second to make sure there’s no one behind you, subtly skating backwards a tiny bit quicker, “it’s literally just, like, a longer version of gliding. you just extend the same motion for a longer period of time, that’s all.”

“oh... like... like this?” namjoon pushes off a little harder and you nod enthusiastically at the smooth movement

“yeah, there you go!” you laugh when namjoon picks it up with no problem, “look at you! you’re a natural... you might even be better than that tiny professional ice skater from earlier- make sure to lean forward a little…”

namjoon grins excitedly as he continues to glide left and right all while you (unbeknownst to him) gradually pick up your pace while pulling him towards you

hey!

he’s doing it!

this wasn’t as hard as he thought it’d be

he’s doing it!!!!!

and he’s going waY quicker than he originally was, which is probably a good sign, right?

“can i take the lead?” namjoon stands up a little straighter and puffs his chest out, “i wanna lead you now!”

you slow down a little and look down at the scarf that you’re still clutching onto for dear life, “you wanna take th- okay, well, do you want me to untie you?”

“oh no, i think you should still hold onto it just in case, but i wanna lead the way!” namjoon bounces up and down excitedly and clasps his hands together, “please, y/n? you’ve seen how fast i can go now!”

right

he can go super fasT on his own and it’s not because you’ve been pulling him along like a little wagon

you know what

it’s fine

you’re not worried about namjoon leading the way mainly because you know he’s just going to go around and around in slow circles

you could probably get away with closing your eyes while he pulls you around

you snort before nodding and sliding to the side so that he can skate past you, “alright, hotshot. you take the lead. now it’s really going to look like this is a leash- woAH-” your eyes widen in surprise when namjoon suddenly surges forward, his legs going left and right and left and right at a consistent pace-

oh god

okay

you speed yourself up as well to try to keep up with him, keeping your grip tight around your poor stretched out scarf

“namjoon-!” you laugh uneasily, “take it easy, you speed demon-”

“we should go ice skating all the time!” namjoon cheers, raising both his hands up in the air as he continues gliding like a maniac, “isn’t this fun?!”

“oh shit, sorry, excuse me-” you try your best noT to collide with people as you skate past them, “namjoon, i know you think this is fun but i really think you should slow down a little- oh, frick-” you curse to yourself when you notice that your scarf is caught in the clasp of your bracelet

shit!

this scarf was expensive!!!!

there’s no way you’re going to accidentally yanK out the threads and ruin it

“c’mon, stupid thing...” you look up for a brief second to make sure that namjoon’s still going straight and that he’s not about to round a corner or anything before looking back down to try to unhook the thread

you could try tugging on it but you’re worried that it’s going to mess up your scarf and you are noT willing to take that chance

“i’m turning here!”

“uh-huh, yeah...” your tongue pokes out in concentration as you use your nail to try to pluck it out and...

ah!

success!

there we go

no destroyed scarves today!

“what did you just sa-!” your eyes widen in surprise when suddenly the scarf disappears from your fist and you look up to see that the-

SMAK!

»»————-　❄　————-««

...

my head hurts

...

my ass hurts too

...

you peel an eye open slowly before closing it again

holy moly

your head is spinning and your ears are ringing and you’re pretty sure your eyes are permanently crossed because you can’t seem to get your vision to focus

is it possible to feel like you want to throw up and pass out at the same time?

you squeeze your eyes shut before shaking your head a little in a poor attempt to shakE the pain away

jesus

what happened??

the last thing you remember is going full speed on the ice and then everything went black

you push yourself up onto your elbows before looking around

you… are in a van that smells like bleach for some reason

why are you in a van??

oh god

were you kidnapped???

were you chloroformed and kidnapped???

you jump when one of the doors suddenly swings open and you immediately pull your legs up and away so that your kidnapper can’t reach over and drag you out by the legs

“hey, you! how are you feeling?”

“i- um-” you sit up all the way before turning and leaning back against the metal bench screwed into the side of the van, “i think i’m oka- a..a...aaaaaayyyy....?” you trail off dumbly, finding yourself being unable to shut your TRAP

okay

hello

you blink owlishly at the very handsome kidnapper before tilting your head to the side a little

the corners of his mouth twitch in a smile and he mimics your movements, tilting his head as well

maybe… you weren’t kidnapped

you just died and went to heaven, that’s all!

this is heaven

heaven is the back of an impeccably clean van and you are currently staring at a real-life angel

“sorry you woke up all alone, by the way- i just had to ask your friend a couple of questions as to what happened... i also had to comfort him a little because i’m pretty sure he thinks he killed you-”

“i’m sorry, am i not dead? is this not, like, the bus to heaven or something?” you ask, looking around at your surroundings

there’s a lot of medical-related tools and gadgets in here considering the fact that this is heaven

apparently heaven has heart defibrillators which doesn’t make much sense

“hey, hey- relax!” you jump when you feel him wrap his fingers around your ankle to get your attention, “you’re not dead. this isn’t the bus to heaven. you’re just in the back of an ambulance. you got into a little collision with the plexiglass barriers.”

okay

that makes more sense

“oh, thank god.” you breathe out, “because if i did die, then body slamming into plexiglass would’ve been a humiliating way to go.”

“mm, i totally agree. i would’ve been embarrassed having to drag your dead body away from the plexiglass.” mr probably-not-here-to-kidnap-you laughs lightly and opens the door a little wider for himself, “i just wanna patch you up. will you let me do that?”

you feel your mouth go dry when he takes his jacket off

hello broad shoulders

“you can do anything you want to me.” you blurt out, watching in awe as he steps into the ambulance to join you

you’re pretty sure the fact that you might have a mild concussion has something to do with it but your filter has just completely disappeared because jesus christ you want this man to ram into you harder than you rammed into the wall

you just don’t get it

how can one man be so... attractive?

the soft, perfectly tousled hair is right!

the pillowy, cherry-coloured lips are right!

the twinkling brown eyes are right!

the low, soothing voice is right!

the broad shoulders and equally as broad chest... veRY right

everything is just so RIGHT

you swallow thickly when he sits down across from you and crosses his legs, his knees practically pressed right up against yours

you’re certainly not complaining about being so close to him but you’re definitely going to cramp up like this and you always make really weird faces when you get pins and needles shooting up your legs

you move your legs so that your ankles are on either side of his thighs before scooting your bum a little closer towards him

heh >:-)

“can you tell me what your name is?” he asks, pulling a first-aid kit out from under the bench

“y/n y/l/n.” you answer almost instantaneously, keeping your eyes glued on his face as he rummages through the box

“mhm… very good…”

“what’s your name?” you watch as he rips open a little gauze pad

god

even his fingers are pretty

“seokjin.” seokjin smiles sweetly, your heart skipping a beat when he reaches up to brush some hair away from your forehead, “i’m just going to clean your cut up a little bit. stay still for me, yeah?”

you nod obediently and find yourself leaning forward a little bit even though you know you probably don’t need to

“what’s your last name?” you ask, seokjin looking down at you for a brief second before focusing back on the cut on your forehead

“kim. why?”

“just wanted to know what my future surname is going to be, that’s all.”

seokjin snorts before raising a brow, “quite the charmer, aren’t you?”

“it’s not every day that i get to talk to a very handsome ambulance man.”

seokjin chuckles, smoothing his fingers over the pad to make sure that it’s secure before pulling away, “mm, that’s fair. can you tell me what day it is?”

“saturday. which i think is the perfect day out of all of the days to go out on a date, because if we get super drunk and have crazy sex tonight, we can wake up late tomorrow and go out for brunch-!”

seokjin suddenly pinches your lips in between his fingers before frowning in concern, “your bottom lip is a little busted.”

“pheel vfree to kiss it bhetter.” you murmur, seokjin pulling away to rummage through his little kit again, “you look really cute when you’re concerned, by the way.”

“is that so?” seokjin hums, pulling a q-tip out and a tube of what looks to be some kind of a gel, “you can’t go around kissing strangers, you know.”

“you’re an exception.” you grin, dodging the q-tip when seokjin tries to dab some gel on your lip, “i was serious about the date, though. what do you think?”

“i think-” seokjin tries again only for you to turn your head the other way, “i think that you need to stop flirting with me so that i can do my job-”

“i’m letting you do your job!” you argue, “i’m just asking you an innocent question, that’s all-”

“if you were letting me do my job, you would be all patched up by now-” seokjin laughs lightly, shaking his head and leaning backwards when you move your head again, “okay, how about this? i will happily go out with you if you just stay still and let me clean up your lip.”

you perk up immediately, “for real?”

“for real.” he nods, holding the q-tip up, “are you willing to cooperate now?”

“mhm.” you hum contently, leaning forward and immediately pursing your lips, “please fix my lips so they’ll be nice and healed by the time we go out on our date.”

“why? are you planning to do a lot of kissing on our date?” seokjin teases, applying the gel before using the other end to dab off the excess

“that’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

seokjin presses his lips together to hold back a smirk

you are... awfully cheeky, aren’t you?

he’s verY into that

and bonus points because you’re very attractive and definitely his type

“okay, lemme just do one last thing here.” seokjin reaches into his shirt pocket for a little flashlight before reaching over and pinching your chin in between his fingers gently and bringing your face closer to his

“you’re not even going to wait until after our first date to kiss me?” you murmur, your eyes widening slightly, “and i thought i was coming on strong.”

“i’m just checking out your pupils, darling.” seokjin hums, “trust me. you’ll know when i’m about to kiss you.”

you shift in your spot a little as you feel youR cheeks starting to heat up now

oh,.,. how the tables have turned.,,.

seokjin’s just glad that he finally figured out how to get you to stay still so that he can get along with his procedures smoothly

“hi, pretty girl…” seokjin coos, raising your eyelid gently so that he can get a good look at your pupils, “mhm, that’s right… just keep your eyes on me…”

gladly

you’d keep your eyes on seokjin for the rest of your liFE if you could

“is this finally the part where you kiss me?”

“nice try, cheeky.”

»»————-　❄　————-««

“so y/n’s going to be okay?” namjoon chews on his thumbnail anxiously and you reach over to pat his knee reassuringly

the poor thing is going to chew his entire hand off if he doesn’t stop soon

he joined you on the ambulance ten minutes ago but for eight whole minutes was just profusely apologizing to you (“i’ll never put on another pair of skates for as long as i’ll live!” “namjoon, it’s fine-” “for as long aS I LIVE-”)

seokjin nods as he packs up his kit and slides it back underneath the bench, “y/n’s going to be just fine. you can relax!”

“namjoon - you’re acting like you ran me over with a monster truck. i’m fine!”

“how many fingers am i holding up?” namjoon holds up three fingers and you blink at him before raising a brow

“obviously five.”

namjoon’s eyes widen in panic and he turns back to look at seokjin, “y-you said she was fine!”

“three! three fingers, you’re holding up three fingers-” you giggle, reaching forward to push namjoon’s hand back down, “seriously, joon... i’m fine! i swear.”

“alright, all you have to do is keep her company during the ride.” seokjin clears his throat, “i want to do a couple of scans at the hospital just in case!”

“aw, but i don’t want namjoon to keep me company-” you whine quietly, leaning against namjoon’s shoulder as you look up at jin, “why can’t you keep me company instead?”

“someone has to drive the ambulance.” seokjin teases, reaching down to pinch the apple of your cheek gently, “i’m all yours at the hospital.”

“namjoon can drive.” you push your bottom lip out in a pout before batting your lashes at him, “don’t you wanna hang out with me?”

“if namjoon’s driving skills are as good as his skating skills, i think i’m going to have to pass.” jin laughs lightly, sliding back into his jacket “we can hang out once we get to the hospital.”

namjoon narrows his eyes suspiciously as he glances back and forth between the two of you

...

..,.,...the energy in here...,.,..

.,,.,.,,the vibes,.,..,

someone definitely wants to fuck someone

seokjin sighs to himself as he hops into the driver’s seat before slamming the door shut

he pulls his phone out to check the time before smiling to himself because :-) your number is on his phone :-)

he wasn’t expecting to get a cute girl’s number today but he welcomes this surprise with open arms!

“y/n y/l/n...” he murmurs under his breath, reaching up to adjust the mirror

your name does seem like it’d fit with his surname

his ears prickle when he hears your muffled voice through the thin partition and he leans back a little so he can do some sneaky eavesdropping

“i am planning... to have so much sex with that man. but in like a romantic way, you know? because i’m classy like that.”

seokjin snorts to himself before shoving the key into the ignition

(for the record: he feels the exact same way as you do).

christmas with cee 2020 masterlist

🎁what would you like from ceenta this year? 🎁

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bipolarinboston · 4 years ago

Text

Questions about the psych ward you’re afraid to ask

I was inpatient at three different hospitals in the Boston area between 2017 and 2018. Newton Wellesley Hospital (NWH) January 2017, McLean June 2018 and Mass General Hospital (MGH) twice September 2017 and November 2018

What about my phone? In January 2017 NWH did not allow cell phones. I went to the ER (at my hospital, MGH) with my mom in crisis. She had my phone, and kept it with her when they decided to admit me and send me to NWH. If you ended up on this unit with your phone they collected it with your valuables and handed them over to security for the duration of your stay. There were two computers in the OT room that we were allowed to use when the room was staffed. (So beware of logging into sites you had two factor authentication set up for new computers)

The other two places allowed phones with restrictions. At MGH the nurses kept our chargers locked in the laundry closet, all together. I still have my medical id sticker on my charger. If I remember correctly you had to surrender your phone at night. At McLean they supplied their own bank of chargers out in the common areas. We needed to be up and out of bed for vitals before we could use our phones.

You’re encouraged to not be on your phone so much, as you’re there for treatment. It’s hard to strike a balance because I did want to stay on social media, but I didn’t want to say anything about being in the hospital. The first stay at NWH was actually helpful for me as a detox. I do use my phone too much and being psychotic and on social media is not a good mix for me.

What do I wear? I wore my clothes in each unit. But each place had different expectations. At MGH it was perfectly acceptable for you to spend the day in your hospital PJs as long as you kept your hygiene. I hated those PJs, they were too warm and ill fitting so I wore my own clothes during the day.

NWH had an expectation that you were dressed in your own clothes. I remember they had a washer and dryer and staff would assist with laundry. What's important to know is that everything you bring in is screened for contraband and unsafe items. You can't wear clothing with drawstrings and that includes shoelaces. A lot of my sweatpants and hoodies had drawstrings. For one pair of sweats I let them cut the drawstring because I really wanted to wear it.

This is one of the reasons why it's helpful to have family or friends have access to where you live so you can get some creature comforts. And when I heard the laundry machine wasn't the cleanest at MGH I just cycled a few days of clothes with mom.

Do they feed you? Yes and it's hospital food. That means at both NWH and MGH I was given a menu to order each day, like any other patient there. There was also a fridge/cabinet area off the common room for snacks and drinks. Instead at McLean Sodexo had a contract to provide food. There was no menu as they brought meals to the dining room. You didn't have a choice in food but if you had your phone and cash you could call for delivery. There were binders of menus by the entryway. But as someone who has to keep an eye out for crohn's food triggers I did not enjoy having less control over my food.

Where do I sleep? The number of patients on the floor is based on the beds they have. At NWH I had a roommate and we had a room big enough for drawers/shelves, chairs, but shared a desk. We had our own bathroom, but had to be let into a common shower by staff. The unit was pretty old and claustrophobic and the plumbing and heating proved that. At McLean it was similar, except there were common floor bathrooms and showers.

MGH had real adjustable hospital beds and bathrooms with showers attached. Staff will still do their 15 minute checks and will knock on your bathroom door.

Checks? Staff must visually count you every 15 minutes. The person who is assigned that role will usually have a clipboard or list to check everyone off. At night it means opening your room’s door and visually spotting that you’re in bed, alive. After the first couple nights you usually can ignore it.

If you are having a hard time and dealing with suicidal ideation, or intrusive thoughts, you should let staff know. They may put you on a 5 minute list, meaning you’ll see them around more often.

What do I do? You’ll be assigned a care time to work on a treatment plan. Usually a psychiatrist and nurse will meet with you each morning, sometimes there’s more people like a social worker on your team as well. Whatever brought you to the hospital will be worked on, with the goal to stabilize you. That is their priority. In the meantime between rounds, meds, and meals there are groups scheduled. What’s available depends on the unit you’re in. There could be morning and evening check-ins where you just talk about the day as a group. Could be light exercise or yoga groups. Pet therapy and music therapy break up the day but it's all dependent on staffing levels. The pets are handled by volunteers for example when I saw them at MGH.

Back when I was at NWH I remember there were a lot of groups. From right after breakfast until post dinner check out. At MGH there were far fewer. The big difference was MGH’s visitor policy so the evenings were a lot more open. At NWH there was only a certain time in the evening that family and friends could visit during the week. And yes you’re expected to go to groups. Staff keeps track, and notes will go into your file. It will help, if not right now, then later when your care team sees good progress notes in your file. Even if you’re not into it, it’s a way to pass time and stay out of your room.

Weekends are quiet, sometimes to the point of utter boredom. There’s less activity and you will often just see the doctor on call instead of your assigned team. Depending on staff coverage there might be some structured activity, like open art block but not nearly as much as during the week. They emphasize visitor time.

Can I go outside? Depends on how the unit is set up and staffing. McLean is on a campus and I was there in June so I was lucky to go outside. There was a level of privilege - staff needs to know you're stable enough to go out. NWH had a little enclosed outdoor space that staff worked hard to clear ice from. I was so glad to get out. But unfortunately you can't go outside if you stay at MGH. There's not enough staffing or much of a protocol. Besides, the closest outdoor space to Blake 11 is right at the front entrance where cars do drop off.

What are rounds? All three of the hospitals are teaching hospitals meaning they’re affiliated with a medical school. I didn’t just see a psychiatrist. At the bare minimum I also saw a resident, a doctor who is in training and has picked psychiatry as their specialty. I remember a couple days the doctor let the resident interview me. I am pretty relaxed when it comes to teaching hospitals as I’ve only ever gone to MGH. But they have to ask you for permission. They want you to be involved in your treatment plan and give consent. If you're not comfortable having more bodies in the room then necessary you should speak up. And if you talk to your assigned nurse for the shift they will relay a message to the doctor.

What’s a shift? The floor has to be staffed 24 hours. There are different coverage levels for each shift. Night is the lightest for example as everyone is supposed to be asleep or in their rooms and quiet. Day shift is the busiest, with people running various groups as well as rounds happening. I remember NWH had 3 8 hour shift rotation and MGH had 2 12 hour shift rotation. I remember when I first went to MGH I was so confused because everything was different from NWH. They even called their non nursing staff different terms, probably because of the job requirements.

How long do I stay? Everyone’s treatment plan is different. For example someone who arrived after you may leave before you do. Generally your care team will try to figure out what’s going on and a game plan when you meet them for the first time. I’ve stayed about a week, maybe a little more depending on the stay. I stayed longer at NWH, but it was my first admission and I had a psychotic break while on steroids so it was more complicated. And my last stay at MGH was longer because we were doing a major treatment change, and rediagnosis. I woke up on the unit at MGH again and asked for a sleep study, but the attending had looked through my file of all the other admissions and diagnosed me as bipolar. I switched over to lithium which needed to be monitored and increased slowly.

What's next? For me I went to partial after I was discharged. I remembered as a teen when I was diagnosed with Depression I went to partial after being in the hospital. I found it's helpful to ease the transition. You might have only been hospitalized for a few days but it's a completely different routine. It's like going from 0 miles per hour back to 60 very quickly. Partial is a therapy program set up with structured groups during the day but you sleep at home and commute.

Tips

It is easier staying in the hospital when you can have visitors, especially someone who can bring you things. It is easier to have your phone to coordinate visitors.

Unless your psychiatrist and you agree to prearrange an admission, you will most likely be coming from the ER. Two times of the four I was put into an ambulance and sent to another hospital. The other two times I was sent upstairs to MGH��s unit on Blake 11.

Odds are there is no air conditioning. Don't expect any windows that can open either. Sometimes the temperature in the unit really varies, so you might want to wear layers.

You do not need to make friends. It does help to pass the time if you can talk to people, and you may feel less alone. If there's issues with your roommate you can ask staff for help.

Figure out when the meals should be delivered so you're ready. Sometimes they are late or they forget your tray. Try to be nice no matter what. I've never gotten warm food that was too cold for me but I've heard staff offer to nuke it in the microwave.

If you're at a teaching hospital be prepared for students to visit as well. I saw many nursing students at MGH. I would chat then up. It's a change of pace. I remember a medical student was on my care team and gave me psychological testing.

#psych hospital #Boston #Depression #bipolar #hospitalization

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humansoulsarg · 5 years ago

Text

Blast from the Past Garfield Comics Solve

On March 28, 2017 - Pangent dropped several modified Garfield comics on the tumblr. Frantic work happened by the team in the discord. You can go find it if you want to relive the chaos. For some reason, it appears this solve was never posted to the humansoulsarg.tumblr.com blog. Today, we aim to remedy that situation. Enjoy! Pangent comics: FEED ME: https://pangenttechnologies.tumblr.com/post/158944128617

Original:

Use a Vigenere cipher to decode the comic. Ciphertext is shown in the Pangent version, the Key is the Original text Panel 1: MR TQIAE MVP WWG ZKBKTQIRO ELE A TRXNOBTIQMA HIZ LBSC LB VP GZO MNLM QITQ EZNI. Hi, there… I’m Jon Arbuckle. I’m a cartoonist, and this is my cat, Garfield. Panel 2: OR TPHAFI MNI AHMNNMIUA CAXJ SDTM MBJ TMFK JU CO WWIATJ PPQOBQIA ERVG AAFQNL. Hi, there. I’m Garfield. I’m a cat, and this is my cartoonist, Jon. Panel 3: XDR QRUY XQQYPQC IB CO ERCHATFMW YSDO. NEJV EPU. Our only thought is to entertain you. Feed me.

Results: panel 1: FJ AJEJA EJG IJG IJHIJFEJC EJE J ADJAGJAIDJH AAH DJGE JB CJ GIJ EJAJ JAAJ AIJA panel 2: HJ AIDJBA AHI JCEJCJAIA AAEJ FAAF EJB BAHI JD JA IJAIAA BCJGIJEJ AJJA AJAIJA panel 3: JJA CEJA EJCEJJJ AJ JA AEJDJAFEJ AEJJ. JAGJ ABA A1-PF convert (set A=1, B=2, C=3, …, J=0, K=A, … P=F) and reverse, recombine into 3-character groups, decode as decimal ASCII: panel 1: 109 101 100 105 097 032 057 048 118 049 107 104 105 053 056 098 097 097 051 050 106 media 90v1khi58baa32j http://mediafire.com/?90v1khi58baa32j unlockering.zip panel 2: 109 101 100 105 097 032 119 109 104 098 122 056 116 051 119 103 053 098 112 049 108 media wmhbz8t3wg5bp1l https://mediafire.com/?wmhbz8t3wg5bp1l breathless.zip panel 3: 12 107 100 051 056 104 051 100 100 053 051 053 100 ?kd38h3dd535d Unsure what to do with this at the moment, let’s look at those ZIPs… unlockering.zip contains unlockering.wav A Kansas City Standard encoded audio file.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_standard

Decoding yields a text file with some Vigenere text at the beginning and an ASCII art picture Vigenere with key ‘guineapix’:

The ginger one is called Daisy. She is a special needs pig. She has cataracts in both eyes and is blind. The little one with black nose ears and feet is called Lucy. The big ball of fluff is Annabel. Her breed is Swiss. The one with funky fur on the back end and ginger round the eyes is Boris. A neutered boar who lives with the girls.

breathless.zip contains breathless.wav A Kansas City Standard encoded audio file. Decoding yields a text file with some Vigenere text, decoded with key 'guineapix’:

Lottie, you’d like this. I was reading a book the other day. We’re in the information age, right? All of us, we’re just bombarded by too much information, all the time. Spam emails and social media. Doing really simple things becomes difficult, or complicated, or distracting. We’re all looking for a way to cut through all the noise. It’s easy to blend in and get ignored. It’s an atmosphere which rewards people who really stand out. You have to be bold and spicy and delicious. You’ve got to be a spirit. Can’t be a ghost. Dick Tracy’s on, I’m gonna shut the TV off. There are days when I think we could take over Pangent. The three of us. Take it over and make it right. Maybe that’s just a dream. Maybe that’s the thought that keeps me here. Our mutual friend Alex Schreyer has created a culture of secrecy and fear. He learned that from his dad. So we’re scared. Hiding behind layers of security. We don’t talk to each other. That’s not the way to make a scientific breakthrough. We need to share information. We need to talk to each other, brainstorm with each other. Care about one another. We could fix Pangent. Change everything about it. We could accomplish great things. But we’re scared. Scared of what we could actually do. Lottie, there’s something you wrote for the personality test. Technology. Information wants to be free. And progress belongs to the people. Companies will keep their secrets. They’ll copyright anything they can. But they’ll market it and sell it and blow it up all over the place. Well, information gets out, one way or another. Once you invent something, you can’t uninvent it. Sometimes you have to be real careful with what you put out into the world.

Pangent comic: Pipe https://pangenttechnologies.tumblr.com/post/158944279592

Original:

panel 2: NTA FJIAF EXATM QHPR YEBN NWFW Now Where could my pipe be? panel 3: MRFSAJPOJ!! Garfield panel 2: AFE JCEJB CJGIJ EJAJ JAAJ AIJA panel 3: GRONSFELD!! A1-PF on Panel 2, reverse, and group by 3’s: 109 101 100 105 097 032 053 056 1 media 58? Aha! Combine comic 2 panel 2 + comic 1 panel 3: 109 101 100 105 097 032 053 056 112 107 100 051 056 104 051 100 100 053 051 053 100 media 58pkd38h3dd535d https://mediafire.com/?58pkd38h3dd535d withourterrors.zip withourterrors.zip contains withouterrors.wav A Kansas City Standard encoded audio file. Decoding yields a text file with some Vigenere text, decoded with key 'argentinamayorsassenheim’: (ooh! a combination password)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% C: Drinking Bird update. Thirteen months without any significant incident. Lucky. I’ll raise a glass to that. The Cube has stabilized to a degree I wouldn’t have thought possible when we began studying it at the beginning of 2017. Reluctant as I am to admit it, Leslie Walsh (aka MayorSassenheim) is responsible for most of that. She’s written code that keeps the Cube stable without real peaks and valleys, and it seems the Cube is capable of learning from that. If I trusted her, I’d leave her to her work and be done with it. I wish I could do that. The situation would be simpler. Officially, I left Project 555 a long time ago. L: you pinged me why did you ping me C: I didn’t. I was talking about you. It must have pinged you automatically L: “Drinking Bird update” jesus lottie C: What? L: you shouldn’t even be doing this who is that even an update for C: For myself. L: of course C: talking to myself thinking about myself it’s what I’m good at. L: i didn’t say that. turn your mic on i’m switching to voice. C: Over a year without any kind of disaster. Leave me alone, I’m celebrating. L: You’re lurking. In the shadows of a project you were fired from how long ago? C: I can do what I want. L: Yeah, I think that’s actually your job title at this point right? Like we don’t know what to do with Lottie and we don’t want any trouble, so I guess Lottie does what she wants. C: Leslie, I’ve been avoiding this conversation for awhile, and I’ve thought long and hard about what to say. So, here it is. Fuck off and die, Leslie, and also fuck you. L: How’s the kid? C: Beautiful. She’s the sun and the moon and the sky and the stars. She’s about six full time jobs, but Eric helps. He’s not bad at the whole father thing. L: Good. I’m glad. I’d like to see her. C: I don’t think that’s a good idea. L: I wish you’d let me be a part of your life again. C: Well, shit happens. L: What was I supposed to do? C: The four of you stole the project out from under me. L: Is that what you think happened? C: And now he’s in charge of all of it. L: Officially, he always was. None of that changed. C: You took control of my work. L: And nobody died. Nobody got hurt. Like you said, nothing happened for thirteen months. What should I have done? Leave it all to him? Dammit Lottie, I did this for you. I worked myself to death on this project, just to make sure it wouldn’t kill anybody. C: It wasn’t your responsibility. It wasn’t your burden to take on. It’s mine. L: Well, shit happens. C: This project, it drains you, it changes you. You shouldn’t have had to deal with that. It’s wrong what you did, and it’s wrong what it did to you. To both of us. L: Lottie, I did my best. Under the circumstances I tried to do what you would do. In my head it’s like I was you. C: That’s ridiculous. For one thing you’re smarter than me. L: No, I’m not. My god, I’m not. C: You are. L: This is a weird thing to say, but like … do you ever feel like you’re in the wrong timeline? Like you’re in a science fiction book about, what if the Nazis won World War II or something? Sometimes it feels like, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Like everything is wrong. C: Yes. I do feel that way sometimes. I think it’s called depression. L: Why do you hate me? C: I don’t hate you. I don’t want to hate you. We were friends and I love you. L: Lottie. C: But we can’t even be friends now and it’s bullshit. It’s him. Alex. And Liam. On their own they’d be almost harmless. The two of them together, they amplify each other’s worst qualities. L: Oh believe me, I know. Multiplying and dividing by a pair of zeroes. C: God, them and every other asshole I had to deal with and still stay halfway sane. L: Project Four. C: Project fuckin Four! Working at Pangent, it’s poison. It poisoned you and it poisoned me. Maybe I do hate you, Leslie. I hate what you did. I hate that you did it better than I could have. L: I miss you. C: Don’t be dramatic. We were only friends to get back at him. L: We were friends because we were friends. C: You know what he said to me, a couple weeks before he took control of 555? He said, I know that you and Leslie will always be friends. Didn’t sound great, coming from him. I think somewhere inside me, I made my mind up to prove him wrong. L: We could have talked this out. Dammit, we were friends. We were supposed to protect each other. C: Whatever that was, that was a moment in time, and times change. You’re stuck in a moment and you think that moment will last forever. But really a moment only comes once. L: I saw you, poking around in the code. Like the whole entire time. You weren’t super subtle about it. Were you trying to get my attention? C: Probably. Yes. L: Alex saw it too, I’m sure he did. C: I don’t care. L: I mean like I kept him from seeing the last build you did. Well, the second to last build. You should really have hidden that better. C: I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. L: He isn’t spying on this chatroom. C: You don’t know that. You fucked me over so many times. You let him in through every backdoor. L: I let him play. Like, I let the baby have his bottle. It was gonna be a fucked up situation either way. C: That doesn’t mean I can ever feel safe again. L: I get that. I’m sorry. C: You should be. I should be. There’s a lot of sorry to go around. L: You finished it, didn’t you? 555. That was supposed to be a final build. Then you erased it. C: I stopped it before it finished uploading. L: It was a finished build. C: Compiled without errors. L: I thought so. What would happen if we ran that code? C: I don’t know. It’s gone. Deleted. Forever. L: I have the partial upload. C: Of course you do. L: I saw you uploading. I mean I started downloading the minute the transfer started. And yeah, so it cuts off at a certain point. So I found the matching point in your previous build and put two and four together. C: See, this is why I can’t trust you. L: I mean I don’t know everything you changed in that build but like I figure it was all pretty top level stuff and bug fixes, whatever was left. My copy is spliced together, but do you think it’s identical to the build you deleted? C: I don’t know. L: It compiled without errors. C: Leslie, no. Oh, I can’t breathe. L: I’ll ask you again. What would happen if we ran that code? C: I don’t know. I don’t know if I want to know. It’s dangerous. L: Of course it is. I mean that’s been the whole problem from the start. C: Yes. L: You finished the code. All of it. And then you deleted it. C: Yes. L: Are you glad I kept the data? C: Yes. God, I’m actually shaking. I hope he’s not listening to this. L: So, what do we do from here? C: I don’t know. Leslie, I’m sorry for not talking to you like a human being for so long. I didn’t know what to say and after awhile, it was just … I put it off too long. L: Not too proud of any of this myself. For reals we’ve both got a lot to pologize for. C: There’s a lot of sorry to go around. L: Yeah but like, I’d like to see you. You, with Eric, and Rachel, and Sharon too. C: Who is Sharon? %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

WTF??!!?! Wowzers.

Comic 3: Odie Pangent Version: https://pangenttechnologies.tumblr.com/post/158944845847

Original:

Randomiser transcribed/vigenered/A1-PF’d comics 3 & 4, I don’t have copies of the intermediate steps, just the finales: 640114011114754011541010018015017823795018115018019723201111231019017901123101401611230115012301111141148231218923001101811411101511101411231594234111017019911167 Comic 4: Lasagna Pangent Version: https://pangenttechnologies.tumblr.com/post/158945180237

Original:

After Vigenering ciphertext with original text, and converting A1-PF: 645111118017970171111151148236456231115013014111115011723201111231019017901123101401611230115012322101110141111167230115018117917231218923001101811411101511101411232594234111017019911167 These final strings may not look like anything, but if you reverse them and manually space them, you get 76 111 99 107 101 114 32 49 51 32 114 101 115 101 114 118 101 100 32 98 121 32 84 114 111 110 32 105 110 32 116 104 101 32 110 97 109 101 32 111 102 32 79 108 105 118 105 97 32 87 105 108 100 101 45 110 45 74 111 104 110 46 76 111 99 107 101 114 32 49 52 32 114 101 115 101 114 118 101 100 32 98 121 32 71 97 118 105 110 32 76 111 114 101 110 122 32 105 110 32 116 104 101 32 110 97 109 101 32 111 102 32 71 105 111 114 103 105 111 32 65 46 32 84 115 111 117 107 97 108 111 115 46 which is of course decimal ASCII:

Locker 13 reserved by Tron in the name of Olivia Wilde-n-John.

Locker 14 reserved by Gavin Lorenz in the name of Giorgio A. Tsoukalos.

Comic 5: Alone Pangent: https://pangenttechnologies.tumblr.com/post/158946474637

Original: (with the 'rest of the story’ to trigger your existential crisis)

GU RAT HFR EBA LQI SUI NHE RK UJ RSM OAN LNG CP HCA TNE VRE ZK OU BCI ONT IK SMO MBN ZN NEL MK KNM BQO RET PD NCO RCI OW NH RR TW FRE AWY JXD GN PO EJM HT PP NHO UQA CEN RID EJH SWA LXN HYO VC TI OD SH LEL DKR XAT PM RES FI which becomes FD AJA ABA AJA JJA HJA AAA AG BC JAA AJA DAA GI HJA GJA EJA HG BC BJA AAA BC AJA IJA GI JAA BC AJA DJA FAA BC JAA EJA BC JE ID GI CJA AJA IJA IG BC ABA HI BC JJA AJA HAA DAA AJA EAA AJA DAA BC CE ID BC DAA AJA GJA II AAA FG 64 101 121 101 001 801 111 17 23 011 101 411 79 801 701 501 87 23 201 111 23 101 901 79 011 23 101 401 611 23 011 501 23 05 94 79 301 101 901 97 23 121 89 23 001 101 811 411 101 511 101 411 23 35 94 23 411 101 701 99 111 67

Locker 15 reserved by Omega12 in the name of Niklaren Goldeye.

—– So everyone’s favorite Orange cat gave us bigtime story drops, and three locker reservations. Nice to get those on the books.

#puzzle #puzzle solution #human souls arg #submission

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artist-of-indecision · 5 years ago

Text

Shadow Tracker

This post is inspired by numerous writing prompts and the game “Love Nikki Dress Up Queen”. The story is told me an enhanced human and soldier named Rica and it takes place in the futuristic sci-fi world.

https://youtu.be/WyjeWEYYp8k (listen to this for the first half of the story, I wanted to reflect on her experiences and background)

https://youtu.be/W2TE0DjdNqI (listen to this for the second half of the story, I wanted to give a sci-fi feel and to show her heartbreak)

https://youtu.be/5mGmbSRayEU?t=30 (example of robot dog functions 0:30-0:45)

Dog-napped

I limped, staggered, heavily breathing, panting unevenly. I held on to Hemis for support while Kaiser walked on ahead. Crimson droplets dribbled from my wound and formed a path, tracing my steps. The mission was completed successfully, however, an enemy scouting group returned sooner than we had expected so my term suffered injuries.

Hemis was the one mostly intact, just missing a part of his left ear. Kaiser was missing a leg and I got stabbed in my abdomen. I made sure to either retrieve or destroy their lost limbs so the enemy does not get their hands on any information.

No one glitched or lagged.

Right now, our priority is to find a safe spot to do first aid and report back as soon as possible. My visor got cracked but it should still work. Staying in enemy territory is not an option, more forces could be coming and I have not yet called for backup. I probably cannot take on a skirmish against another group, but I could perhaps handle one or two people. Kaiser and Hemis can still function, no problem.

We found a seemingly abandoned and damaged space pod, after scouting for signs of life, I went in and sent Hemis to keep watch. I reached behind me to grab my right cable and Kaiser automatically sat upright. I placed down my gun. I attached the cable to his back so he could scan my vitals while I improvised first aid. I did not bring a kit with me because I thought it was obstructive.

I tore off strips from the sleeves of my top and tied it tightly around the gash. I would check if there was anything stuck in the wound but attempting to remove anything could result in more blood loss, not to mention that getting blood on my hands would hinder my grip on my gun. A notification from Kaiser blinked across my goggle screen; his scan revealed that my life might be in danger if I continued losing blood. I removed the cable.

I sent a coded message to Lieutenant Lucia, my superior.

Almost immediately, I got a reply.

That’s odd, the lieutenant is not the type to compliment people randomly.

A few minutes later, Hemis detected a presence approaching. It could be an enemy so we quickly exited the space pod and found different hiding spots.. Even though the pod provided cover, any vehicle could explode if shot in the right places. I quickly assumed my sniper’s position - this strained my wound - aimed at the direction Hemis detected movement. A standard spacecraft grew larger in the distance.

I sent Hemis ahead to test if it was friend or foe, and kept Kaiser on standby. When they were about 100 meters away, Kaiser and Hemis suddenly turned off and collapsed. On high alert, I aimed at the vehicle. Suddenly, it felt as if my nerves were electrocuted and I blacked out.

Mad Dog

There are two cables attached to my back. They keep me sedated, calm, under control. The drug is probably why I am expressionless most of the time. They are my sustenance, they keep me alive. Both cables are frayed, due to wear and tear and the conditions of my missions - the harsh environment, the constant battles - yet they are still somehow secured together. I have not yet had a chance to see Doctor Sophia to get them fixed. Either I was busy with duties and missions or she was busy with her latest experiments. There should be no harm in delaying it more. You can see the black external layer and the glowing, fluorescent, neon green and yellow electricity flowing through the exposed fine lines of wiring. They match my dogs, Kaiser and Hemis. I should give them a scan too when I finally see Doctor Sophia. I always get a two weeks’ notice before my next mission, so I can prepare, train, rest. The higher ups value skilled personnel, after all.

I take on solo missions often. “You’re like a lone wolf, Rica” my comrade and roommate Angelika once said.

Apparently I bit someone when I was a kid. I went crazy for some reason and started attacking people. Like a mad dog, they say. That is one of the reasons why I wear a mask, Angelika said it looks like a muzzle that aggressive dogs wear. I like dogs. Another reason is because it hides my face when I have orders to kill people. They do not need to know my identity, I am just a [Shadow].

I never found out if they held a grudge because they did not survive one of their missions. It is not like I do not get dangerous missions, I think. There are only standard things like infiltrating enemy bases, finding and defusing hidden bombs, run-ins and battles with foes. Losing a limb or two is not a big deal, either. Some are even proud or excited because it means they get an enhanced artificial parts. That opinion is not very popular but also is not uncommon. Doctor Sophia gets excited because it means she has more materials to test on.

Doctor Sophia basically raised me when the organization took me in. She gave me an education and performed the risky numerous surgeries when I was heavily injured from perilous missions. That is why I have stitches all over my body. I was a guinea pig for her experiments but I did not care because it made her happy. Now I am stronger than normal humans; my bones are enforced with metal, my senses are heightened, there are ports in my back to attach cables to my spinal cord. The doctor created Kaiser and Hemis, specially made and customized for me and my missions. I cannot always have them around with me in my dorms unfortunately, because it is like always carrying a gun around, Hemis and Kaiser are weapons after all.

Involuntarily Tamed and Adopted

I was pretty good at finding lost things. I was a quiet kid who did not like talking to anyone but I enjoyed exploring whenever I could. I found objects such as key-chains and their owners praised me for it.

I once found a collar, which Doctor Sophia explained belonged to the organisations tracking dogs. There are no more dogs because it took too much time and resources to train them. She showed me the newly developed mechanic canines the organisation was going to use.

That was when I started liking dogs.

This event led me to train in scouting with Hemis and Kaiser and I eventually became the Vice-Captain of the [Shadow Trackers], our organisation's specialised tracking team. My dogs were less advanced back then. They are metaphorically and literally part of me. I can connect to their systems with my cables. I trust them more than I trust my superior-do not tell the lieutenant that.

But I have never been back-stabbed by the organisation. Doctor Sophia was like a mother, Angelika was like a sister or a best friend. Lieutenant Lucia was a tyrant-again, do not tell her that.

So what was this feeling of betrayal?

I woke up in the house of a girl and her brother, the artificial intelligence student prodigy, who I was supposed to assassinate. So why were they nursing me back to health? Did they not recognise me as their enemy? The brother could have hacked my equipment. That means I cannot contact anyone.

If the organisation did not kill me, that means I am still useful to them. Therefore, I decided to wait, secretly collect information from them while my injuries heal, and keep an eye out for orders to return. Weeks after I recovered, the siblings foolishly gave me freedom to do as I wished, without asking for compensation, allowing me to live with them.

I cannot let myself adapt to this mundane lifestyle. How can ordinary people be so naive and vulnerable? I needed to report back, it has been too long.

On my way back from ‘taking a walk’, I noticed a secret message in today’s newspaper. I grabbed one and rushed back to the house. Impatiently waiting for the doors to open after punching in the entry password, I looked at the paper. The last time I saw this type of code, it was for an important mission. I ran to my room-which I had already checked for cameras-and deciphered the message.

<RICA: YOUR FINAL MISSION IS TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE-S, L, A>

Surprisingly, tears streamed down my face; even if I was in pain, I would not cry. I would never again see Doctor Sophia’s familiar lab ceiling, Angelika’s bouncing pink curls, or Lieutenant Lucia’s death glare, calling me weak.

I had never asked for this, yet those three risked their positions and lives in order to give me something they will never have themselves.

Crushing the newspaper in my shaking fists, I whispered “Mission accepted”.

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supersecure-blog · 5 years ago

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Something awesome - cryptography chapter

Below is what I’ve completed for the cryptography chapter which includes the research and write-ups which I blogged about earlier. Altogether this chapter was about 2.7k words (yikes)

What is cryptography?

Cryptography is the art of encrypting data. If you ever developed a secret code as a kid, so you and your friend could communicate without anyone else knowing what you’re saying, then you’ve already had experience with writing your own secret code!

Cryptography is done in many ways, with some of the most common being through the use of codes and ciphers. This guide will cover a few of the more basic ones, and provide pointers to more complex ciphers for those who are interested.

Why do we need cryptography?

If we didn’t encrypt any of our sensitive information or messages over the internet, then potential attackers could easily steal your private data or read confidential messages. This is why cryptography is so important - because it provides us with confidentiality.

Cryptography is already being used in many ways in your daily life - you just don’t see it happening. For example, one of the key aspects of cryptography is what is called a hash. These are used to authenticate log-ins like your passwords whenever you log in to an account.

Below are some of the main examples of how you can encrypt your data:

Ciphers

The basic concept of a cipher is you have a message, usually in plain english, that you want to make secret (called encrypting your message). This is called your ‘plaintext’. You then apply the rules of your chosen cipher to a plaintext, to get a secret message which is called your ‘ciphertext’.

Then, you send your secret message to your friend who also knows the rules of the cipher you chose to use. Using that knowledge, they then decrypt the ciphertext you gave them, to reveal the original message in plain english.

You can think about this like something that you might be more familiar with. If you know what pig latin is, for every word that you say take the first letter of the word and move it to the end of the word and add the sound “ay”.

So if I wanted to say “pig latin”, which is my plaintext, in pig latin I would use the above rule to transform “pig latin” into “igpay atinlay”, which is my ciphertext. For someone to understand my ciphertext, they would have to know the rules of pig latin in order to decrypt and find my original message.

In this section we’ll be covering some of the most common ciphers:

Caesar Cipher

A secret ‘key’ is chosen between the people who want to communicate secretly, which will be a number between 0 and 25. Then, each letter in the message is shifted forward or backward by that key to receive the encrypted message.

For example, “This is an example” with a forward shift key of 1 gives the encrypted message: “Uijt jt bo fybnqmf”

Although the message may seem very secret, in reality it’s actually very easy to break! All you have to do is just apply all possible 26 forward and backward shifts and only one key will likely give an answer which looks like plain english.

While this may take a lot of time for someone to do by hand, because of computers, this process can be done a lot faster.

You can find a tool to encrypt and decrypt your own messages using the Caesar cipher here. Simply change the message in the left box to what you want to make secret, and then use the + or - buttons to choose the ‘key’ for which to shift your message. You should find your secret encrypted message in the right box!

Substitution Cipher

Unlike a Caesar cipher, where you are shifting the whole message by a certain amount, in a Substitution Cipher you choose each different letter in your message, and shift that by a different amount.

Basically what this means is for each letter in the alphabet, you choose a different letter that you will replace it with when you encrypt your message. For example, you could choose to substitute the letter ‘a’ with the letter ‘p’ when performing your substitution cipher. You would then do this process for every letter in the alphabet until you get something like:

plain alphabet : abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

cipher alphabet: phqgiumeaylnofdxjkrcvstzwb

An example encryption using the above key:

plaintext : defend the east wall of the castle

ciphertext: giuifg cei iprc tpnn du cei qprcni

You might think that this way of encrypting your messages is way better than the Caesar Cipher, because it would be much harder to figure out. After all, if an outside person was trying to decrypt your message, the would have to go through every possible substitution.

However, something that we don’t consider is that this cipher actually preserves letter frequency. In the english language, some letters appear in words more than others. However, when it comes to cracking substitution ciphers, what we can do is count through all the times we see a certain letter, and try and compare that to what we see in normal english.

Remember this little name: “etaoin shrdlu”. This tells you the most frequently occurring letters in the english language in descending order. So if you see a certain letter like ‘z’ appearing a lot more frequently than others, chances are it could be either an ‘e’ or a ‘t’.

Substitution ciphers also don’t do anything to hide the length of words in your message. So if you have a three-letter word like ‘zcy’ in your message, chances are it would be a word like ‘the’.

Using all the above, it actually becomes a lot easier than you think to decrypt a substitution cipher. You can have a try for yourself using this link.

Vignere Cipher

The Vignere cipher uses a special table and a key to generate the ciphertext.

In addition to the plaintext, the Vigenere cipher also requires a keyword, which is repeated so that the total length is equal to that of the plaintext. For example, suppose the plaintext is MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY and the keyword is HOUGHTON. Then, the keyword must be repeated as follows:

MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

HOUGHTON HOUGHTONHOUGH TONHOUGNTO

We then remove all spaces and punctuation, and convert all letters to upper case, finally dividing the result into 5-letter blocks. As a result, the above plaintext and keyword become the following:

MICHI GANTE CHNOL OGICA LUNIV ERSIT Y

HOUGH TONHO UGHTO NHOUG HTONH OUGHT O

To encrypt, pick a letter in the plaintext and its corresponding letter in the keyword, use the keyword letter and the plaintext letter as the row index and column index, respectively, and the entry at the row-column intersection is the letter in the ciphertext. For example, the first letter in the plaintext is M and its corresponding keyword letter is H. This means that the row of H and the column of M are used, and the entry T at the intersection is the encrypted result.

Repeat this process to generate your ciphertext!

Caesar Cipher

If you want to have a further look into different ciphers, try these resources:

Affine Cipher

Wheel Cipher

Playfair Cipher

Hashing

To summarise what a hash is, it requires two things:

A hash function, which is any kind of mathematical function that takes input and produces some output

A message that is given as input to the hash function.

There are three main requirements of a good hash function:

It should be easy to calculate the hash value (output of hash function) given a message.

It should be very hard (ideally impossible) to calculate the original message given a hash value.

No two messages should have the same hash value.

Example of the hashing process:

In the above image, the ‘input’ is the message and ‘Digest’ is our hash.

Our ‘cryptographic hash function’ above could have been something as simple as f(x) = 10, where x is the message. It’s easy to calculate the hash value, which fits the first criteria, but it breaks the third criteria. This is because no matter what our message is, the hash will always be the same!

Also, something like f(x) = x, would not be a good cryptographic hash function. With this function It is easy to calculate the hash, and we also avoid collisions, meeting the first and third criteria. However using this function, our message is the exact same thing as our hash, which kind of defeats the purpose of using a hash in the first place!

What do we use hashes in?

As you will see below, hashes are used to store passwords. If we just stored the actual password itself in something like a database, if a hacker or an outside person were to gain access, the would be able to easily gain access to everyone’s accounts. We uses hashes as an extra layer of security.

Even if people see the hashes, the point is that it is a super long and tedious process to try and figure out a password from a hash. You need to know the hash used, and then match every single different input to your unique hash which would take an extremely long time - so much that even trying to get your password wouldn’t be worth the time.

Passwords

Have you ever thought about how the password you use to log in to your computer is stored? etc/passwd is a text file, which contains a list of the system’s accounts, giving for each account some useful information.

What is in a etc/passwd file?

Typical output would include a line like: root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

Fields separated by columns in order are:

Username: root

Encrypted password: x

UID: 0

GID: 0

Comment: root

Home directory: /root

Shell: bin/bash

Encrypted password found in etc/shadow file

What is in a etc/shadow file?

Example output of shadow file: root:$6$IGI9prWh$ZHToiAnzeD1Swp.zQzJ/Gv.iViy39EmjVsg3nsZlfejvrAjhmp5jY.1N6aRbjFJVQX8hHmTh7Oly3NzogaH8c1:17770:0:99999:7:::

Fields separated by columns in order are:

Username: root

Encrypted password - Usually password format is set to $id$salt$hashed, The $id is the algorithm used On GNU/Linux as follows:

$1$ is MD5

$2a$ is Blowfish

$2y$ is Blowfish

$5$ is SHA-256

$6$ is SHA-512

So for the example above, we can see that the password is hashed using the SHA-512 algorithm.

You can have a further look into how passwords are stored here

picoCTF writeups - Cryptography:

See my previous blog post here

#somethingawesome

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junker-town · 3 years ago

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7 winners and 3 losers from Week 3 in the NFL

Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images

Matthew Stafford is out here playing the best football of his career.

One of the more curious stories of the offseason was the behind-the-scenes feeding frenzy around Matthew Stafford. Teams furiously made calls to Detroit as soon as it became clear the Lions were ready to rebuild and let him free. The Panthers, Broncos, Colts and 49ers all made attempts, but in the end it was the Rams with the firepower to make the deal.

It’s not that Stafford was bad, obviously far from it, but when you have so many teams eager to get a 33-year-old quarterback it’s clear the entire league is thinking the same thing: This guy has plenty left in the tank, and desperately needs a change of scenery.

Three weeks into the season it’s not just the best trade of 2021, but one of the best in YEARS. Stafford is playing better than he ever has before, and the now 3-0 Rams have a much-needed statement win against the Buccaneers, which was billed beforehand as a battle between the NFC elite.

I really hate projecting stats this season, because it just feels wrong. In a few years we’ll get a better sense for benchmark numbers, but as it stands I’m still in favor of normalizing projection for a 16 game season, just because it feels right. So, just know that the following numbers would be bumped up even more.

As it stands, if Stafford keeps up this pace he would finish with:

5,024 yards (highest since 2011, 2nd highest of career)

48 touchdowns (career high)

5 interceptions (career low)

78 percent completion (career high)

10.12 yards-per-attempt (career high)

130.63 passer rating (career high)

To be clear, this would not be a good season by Matthew Stafford standards, it would be the greatest quarterback season of all time. Saying this will all hold is like predicting a game of Jenga after the first move, but outside of touchdowns (which he’s still within striking range of) Stafford’s 2021 would eclipse Tom Brady’s 2007 and Peyton Manning’s 2013 in every other statistical area.

I think it’s been far too easy to overlook Los Angeles this season, as tends to be the case with a lot of west coast teams. They get forgotten in the discussion and it’s not until the end of the season everyone gets surprised they’re really good.

It’s time to start paying attention to what’s happening with the Los Angeles Rams. Beating Brady and the Buccaneers will go a long way to earning some attention, but beyond that Stafford might finally get the credit he’s deserved for a long time.

Winner: Justin Herbert

The Chargers have been the bridesmaid in the AFC West for as long as I can remember, but it’s starting to feel like things are turning, and the biggest force of chance is Justin Herbert.

I had the game between the Chargers and Chiefs circled as one to watch, and I’m glad I did — because dang it was fun to watch Herbert play. He finished the day with 281 passing yards and four touchdowns, spreading to scoring love to three different receivers.

Herbert is showing no signs of dropping off following his record-breaking rookie season, and in fact he’s getting better. While he’s on pace to throw more interceptions than a year ago, he’s also upped his passing yards, completion percentage, yards-per-attempt, and touchdowns.

It helps that Los Angeles has done a great job putting weapons around their rookie, and it’s paying huge dividends. On any given play Herbert has no fewer than three significant receiving threats to find, and they can be swapped out for a diversity of players to give defenses really tough looks to manage.

With the Chiefs struggling so far we could be seeing a power shift in the division. Even if we don’t quite reach that zenith it’s clear the Chargers are close, really close.

Loser: Expecting a rookie QB to carry you

It really felt like we were turning a corner after Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert changed their team’s fortunes in their first season. That came off 2018 and 2019 when Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray got the job done respectively. Now we’re learning in the glorious, charred remains of hubris that quarterbacks stepping into the NFL and excelling is really, really difficult.

It’s no so much about Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Justin Fields and Mac Jones struggling, as much as it’s a testament to the fact that the NFL, despite best guesses, as not been “solved.” Sure, college offenses are more advanced than ever, and rookies better prepared than at any point in modern football — but still they walked out onto the field Sunday and all got their asses spectacularly kicked.

Trying to decide who was the worst of the crew is a fool’s errand. Like eating five variants of earwax ice cream and deciding which is the most palatable. Let’s just instead combine the rooks into a cerberus of mediocrity. If all four were one player, here’s the stat line:

77-of-140 (55 percent completion), 717 yards (5.1 yards-per-attempt), 2 touchdowns, 7 interceptions — 51.2 passer rating

If you match that up to the closest modern era player you get ... Jimmy Clausen. I’m sure at least one of two of these guys will be good when the dust settles, but goodness right now these teams are not benefitting from starting a rookie who has that deer in the headlights look. It brings us to ...

Loser: Pass blocking

If you follow along the league you’d see roughly 20 fanbases complaining about not having a good offensive line, and it comes with cause. The league’s lack of good QB protection is remarkably pronounced this season.

Part of this comes from there being so many first and second year quarterbacks still adapting to the league’s speed and what they can get away with under center, but nonetheless the result has been absolutely staggering.

From 2010-2020 the average number of pass rushers who finished the season with 10+ sacks was 20. As it stands there are currently 39 players on pace to finish with double digit sacks.

In addition, six players are on pace to finish with 20.0+ sack seasons (reduced for a 16 game schedule). That’s a mark only 21 players have achieved in NFL history, and over a quarter could be added to this list by the end of the year.

In short: The league is in dire need of more pass blocking, and there’s a serious brain drain at the position.

Winner: Justin Tucker

You need to do something pretty special to get a nod as a kicker, and, well ... Justin Tucker did something pretty special.

This angle of @JTuck9's record-breaking kick is incredible. #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/H1udG62DFi

— NFL (@NFL) September 26, 2021

Tucker drilled the 66-yard field goal with a little assistance of a bounce, but I don’t give a crap about how this happened. It wasn’t at elevation, there was no tailwind to benefit — just a dude with a leg that didn’t fly off when he obliterated the ball into the next century.

Winner: The Tom Brady Adele promo

Oh, this was bad. It’s a winner though because I am a huge fan of terrible movies. Just enjoy this work of art.

pic.twitter.com/FN4Wf0TuUg

— clips for con (@clips2021) September 27, 2021

The entire overwrought package was so bad it left Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth speechless — which is no easy feat. I know everyone really, really wants to make Brady vs. New England a thing in Week 4, but it’s looking like it’s just gonna be sad.

Winner: Changes of scenery

We’ve already talked about what Matthew Stafford has done for the Rams, but Sam Darnold is balling in Carolina, Teddy Bridgewater is surging in Denver, and heck, even Jared Goff is finding his footing on a Lions team that’s much more competitive than anyone gave them credit for.

The major QB shuffle that happened this offseason is paying some serious dividends, and adding another layer of fun to an already wild season.

Loser: Pittsburgh Steelers

This was a 12-4 football team a year ago! Now they’re losing to the Bengals inside their division. That’s not supposed to be a knock on Cincinnati, it’s just, like, nobody in Pittsburgh should be happy with how this team is playing. At 1-2 they can definitely still turn the season, but the AFC North is such a rough division and now the Steelers hit a rough stretch against the 3-0 Broncos, the 1-2 Seahawks who are in a similar position of desperation, and then return to the divisional slate with the Browns.

The wheels really could fall off this soon.

Winner: Jaguars accepting their fate

I watched a really fascinating documentary last week on the benefits of psychedelic drugs being used in therapeutic settings, and how researches are struggling against lingering stigma from the 1960s to secure funding.

Inside this one of the most fascinating elements was the use of psilocybin mushrooms by terminal cancer patients. To make a long story short, using the drugs was shown to have significant mental benefits to those facing death, making their acceptance of mortality and peace as their condition worsened much, much easier.

So when I saw this tweet, it reminded me of that.

Jaguars WR Marvin Jones with a message for everyone: “go home and drink some wine”

— Mark Long (@APMarkLong) September 26, 2021

Acceptance is such an important part of the process.

Winner: Football fans

I don’t care which team you support, three weeks in this season has been spectacular. On Sunday another five games were settled by a single score, taking the league total this season to 21.

If you want to be cynical about the league, fine ... I get it, but when you have over 20 percent of games being close it means we’re in for a wild ride. Furthermore, I don’t know if anyone has firm feelings about who is good, and who isn’t. It feels like there are as many amazing teams with losing records as paper tigers with winning ones, which keeps the intrigue flowing for the next 13 weeks.

I think we’re still holding to have a very special season.

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thegrassisaalwaysgreener · 5 years ago

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Peru- Part 2

Tuesday October 1st, 2019 Since we were leaving bright and early for our flight to Cusco, Hotel Santa Cruz gave us to go breakfast bags- so nice of them! We were picked up by the tour company and brought to the airport. Our guide brought us through check in and all the way to the security area, which was very kind of him (and made me feel a bit like a child). Our flight from Lima to Cusco was about an hour and a half and the scenery as we were descending was super interesting. The area was very mountainous and rocky appearing. We were greeted at the airport by another guide from Tucan Travel who’s name I have forgotten (I thought I had everyone’s name written down but can’t seem to find them). This guide was awesome and told us all about the city en route to the accomodations. After we checked in to our hotel (Anden Inca), he took us on a walking tour of the main square (Plaza de Armas) and showed us some great spots to check out to visit, eat at and of course, where to shop. After being left by the guide, we wanted to hang out and decide what activities in Cusco we really wanted to do and when. We were planning to pick up the “big ticket” that was $130 soles each but got you into a multitude of activities in the Cusco region including museums, the Sacred Valley of the Incas and Saqsaywaman. The cost of Saqsaywaman was 70 soles each anyways and we would be reimbursed for our Sacred Valley of the Inca tour, so it was a no brainer. We wandered around the town for a while, checking out the alpaca wool stores, main square and various markets. We had a delicious lunch of alpaca skewers/stir fry with veggies, salad and potatoes at Caja before grabbing our “big ticket” and getting more money out of the ATM. We walked back to the hotel to grab warmer clothes (aka a jacket and scarf since that is all we really packed). Since we were feeling mildly short of breath at rest, we took a cab (10 soles) up to one of the points of the city to check out Saqsaywaman (which sounds funny and can be spelt tons of different ways). This Pre-Incan, walled complex is built from large (up to 200 tones) stones that were carefully cut to fit together without mortar. This complex was believed to have been used for ceremonies but its exact use is unknown. This complex is massive and there are lots of local guides who are willing to take you on a tour for a small fee. Since neither Jill nor I are huge into exact history, we were happy to wander around ourselves and enjoy the intricate stonework and great views of the city. One of the coolest things we saw from this vantage point was a large stadium down in the city that was painted rainbow colours and stood out amongst the stone of the surrounding area. After seeing the majority of Saqsaywaman, we walked down the road to check out “Christo Blanco” (White Jesus). This 26 foot tall statue of Jesus was a gift from Arabic Palestinians, who sought refuge in Cusco after the Second World War This status of Jesus is similar to that of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer but on a smaller scale. There were many people selling souvenirs at the base of Christo Blanco and many tour buses came and went. We managed to find a cab to take us back down the hill to our hotel, where we took a bit of a break after a long day. I had been at altitude before, but being at 3400 m, all of a sudden, for a long period of time was different. We started taking our Diamox (which is supposed to help with altitude sickness) and stayed well hydrated but let me tell you, the SOBOE was real. After relaxing for a bit, Jill and I met up with our group in the breakfast room of our hotel to meet our tour leaders - Raoul and Richard. We were debriefed on the next few days and what we could expect. We were also given our small duffle bags that were to be brought with us for our trek. Some of us had to rent sleeping bags, extra air mattress and poles, so that was sorted out at this time as well. We were told our duffels had to be less than 5 kg (for the porters who would be carrying it all) and our sleeping bags weighed 2.2kg. This was going to be interesting to say the least. For anyone that knows me, knows I am not the best packer and like having many options when I travel. There would be no extra options on this trek. There was some information in our packages about the tour and about weight limits, but I didn’t recall it stating the exact size and was shocked that 5kg was all we could bring. After all, we were going for 4 days to hike into the Andes Mountains en route to Machu Picchu. When we did Kili, we had way more stuff- then again that was 4 more days of hiking. In any case, we were all quite stressed about what we would be bringing with us and what we would have to cut out (or put in our day packs). Once the meeting was finished, Jill and I went and did a rough pack, which was so sad. There were so many things we had to cut out of our packing due to weight. We had the bare minimum packed and ready to go (including many layers since it would be quite cold at night at- around 0-5 degrees). We headed down the road to the Aztec Inca Restaurant. This spot had just about any cuisine you could ask for-American, Mexican, Italian, Peruvian etc. We were two of the only patrons in the restaurant that was run by an older woman and her son. We each had a Mexican inspired dish (tacos and enchiladas) before wandering around in search of this cool dessert spot we had read about that had ice cream rolls. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t find said spot (and later found out it had been closed a month prior to our visit) and enjoyed checking out the stone streets and busy bars/restaurants of Cusco. I was even offered cocaine from a random on the street, which was a first. As a side note, we had been told that drugs were super common in Peru and that we could “get whatever we wanted”. Now, neither Jill nor I were looking for anything more than a glass of wine, but we learned in Mancora that men were solicited far more for drugs than women were. We didn’t believe that drugs were so readily available until we went around with Daniel and he was stopped every other block and offered drugs. End of story about drugs and back to dessert. We stopped at Qucharitas for our sweet tooth fix, which ended up being a fab dessert choice. Qucharitas had cold stone ice cream, crepes and all sorts of other delicious treats. Jill had a fruit crepe while I settled for coconut and chocolate ice cream with a churro cone. Both desserts were amazing and were probably the last desserts we would be having for a while. We headed back the hotel for a good nights sleep before our next big adventure!

Wednesday October 2, 2019 The Anden Inca hotel had a great continental breakfast, which we enjoyed before putting the majority of our belongings into the hotels’ storage room and hopping on the bus. We were heading towards the Sacred Valley of the Incas- a valley/river combo in between beautiful mountains that featured many Incan structures, temples and of course Machu Picchu. We would be travelling from Cusco through the Sacred Valley en route to our starting point for our trek. Our tour guides spoke to us about the valley, the Incas and all the history around the area. While I took many notes (on seemingly everything), I won’t bore you with too many details. Our first stop of the day was at Awana Kancha, where we learned the difference between Alpacas and Llamas and saw several different types of alpacas. We saw how they made the wool, used various herbs and spices to dye it and watched women weave beautiful clothing items. This “living museum of the Andes” also featured many different types of corn and quinoa, which are abundant in the Andes. While the history and information was really neat and helpful, I was most excited about feeding and petting the alpacas (well and taking selfies of course). After shopping and washroom breaks at Awana Kancha, we hopped back in the bus for another 35 minutes or so before arriving at the Pisaq Archeaological Park. Our guides explained that we would be driving through many different Incan cities that were all special in their own way with fabulous lookout points and views. Pisaq was very neat and had an urban centre, cemetery and ceremonial space in it. We got to walk through the ruins and learn about what kinds of activities were done in which parts of the ruins. We also saw some beautiful landscapes and the various levels of terraces that grew different types of crops. Despite the rain and cold, we had a great time exploring the ruins and learned a lot. Next stop the town of Pisac to check out the market. I was super excited about this because so far, all of the markets we had seen had been awesome with tons of great art, clothing and souvenirs. Most of the people still spoke Kechewa (or Quechua) which is an ancient language of the Incans. We had about 30 minutes to wander the market and were told to meet our group at a designated spot. After walking up and down the market and checking out many stalls (and losing 50 soles out of my pocket) we decided not to buy anything since we didn’t have any extra weight left in our bags. Half-hour later, the group was not in the designated meeting spot and we were mildly concerned about how we would find them as the market seemed like a maze and our Spanish was still dismal at best. After a bit more searching, we found them and laughed as they changed the meeting spot but didn’t tell everyone. We spent another 40 minutes in the bus before getting out in Urubamba for lunch at InkaLicious. The buffet was 35 soles a person and had many great salads, meats and veggies. The dessert options were pretty good too (of course). We were all stuffed and happy with our day and meal so far. Back in the bus we went for the short drive from Hullyamba (Or Urubamba) into Ollyantambo. Many of the names of the towns (as you can gather) are still in their original Incan name, which is super neat. Ollantaytambo meant “Resting Spot” as this is the last town before the Inca trail begins towards Machu Picchu. This town is nestled in between the Urubumba River and the large snow capped mountains. This town is known for its large archeological site that was home to many religious and military spots as well as rich agriculture. We explored these ancient ruins and learned all about its history. Many of the large (80 tonne) stones were brought from the other side of the valley over 9km away, in the Incan times. We visited the various temples (Sun, Earth, Wind, Fire) and learned about each of their significance. At the top of the ruin, the views of the town below and mountains around us were incredible. It is crazy to think that all of this was created hundreds of years ago by the Incans/PreIncans and all of the work they put into creating their homes/ceremonial spots. I definitely wouldn’t have been cut out to be an Incan back then. We were given our bags and directions on how to get to our hotel, as our bus wouldn’t fit well down the narrow, stone roads of the town. We stayed at the Tika Wasi Hotel which was very cute with nice comfortable rooms but poor acoustics (as we were realizing was a theme in Peruvian hotels). Jill and I hung out and enjoyed some down time before we met our group at Café Corozones for dinner. We sat at a table with some really cool people and learned a lot about them and their neat jobs (e.g working on American millionaires’ yachts). The altitude was definitely affecting my appetite so I had some chicken noodle soup before we wandered back to the hotel for our last comfy sleep for a few days.

Thursday October 3rd ,2019 Today was the first day of our Inca Trail Trek! We were up relatively late around 730 and had breakfast before leaving the hotel at 0815. We walked over to the main square and were picked up by a large coach bus. The bus seemed to go off-roading (along a railroad track and over a small river) through a small town where we would pick up the majority of our team and supplies. We met our whole group (which included the 12 of us trekkers, 2 guides, 1 chef and 14 Porters) and took a group photo before checking in and walking through the gate to the start of the trek. The Inca trail is three overlapping trails that all terminate at Machu Picchu. The trail itself is approx. 80 km from Ollantaytambo but the hike is around 40 km total. The highest elevation of the hike is the “Deadwomans pass” at 4200 meters. While we had a general overview of the trek, each day we would get briefed on what would happen the following day at dinner. Since this trail is very popular and sacred, there is a max of 500 people allowed on the trail each day, which includes the 300 or so porters/staff. The start of the trail begins just outside of Ollantaytambo/Chilca area along the Urubamba River. We snapped some great photos in front of the Inca Trail signs and with our welcoming crew of llamas. As we walked along the river, our guides taught us things about the trees we were walking past (munia, peach, avocado) as well as all the “cochinilla” (parasite on the cactus) that are used as die for alpaca wool along with pointing out the various mountains, glaciers and special spots. Today would be the only day that we would see donkeys/horses as porters along the way and was said to be very scenic. I was surprised to learn that there would be many rest stops with places to purchases snacks and water. Not that I had much hiking experience, but when we did Kili, it was basically just hikers and staff the whole time with nowhere to buy anything or anyone living in the small towns. Today we would be hiking for about 1.5 hours at a time. We were told this was an “Easy” day but I gave it a 6/10. There were lots of small hills that were not super challenging, but challenging enough at 2,600m. The weather was just perfect for hiking, warm-ish, sunny with a slight breeze. Each 1.5 hours or so we would stop for water and a snack if needed. The washrooms so far were similar to those we had seen in our travels- toilets without toilet seats. They were better than holes in the ground, which I was used to on my last trek. Of course, the porters were ahead of us and they would be at the lunch spot/camping spot with everything ready for us before we got there. Our lunch today was at 1400 and was delicious. We had soup, rice, veggies and chicken. Lunchtime was about an hour and it rained throughout our lunch. We found some free toilets (most were 1 sole to use) and we used them before heading out for the last part of our trek. We only had about 2 hours left and we stopped a few times for breaks, washrooms and shopping. I felt pretty short of breath today and was walking slow and steady (which may be the theme of my trek haha). I got to know a few of my fellow trekkers and really enjoyed this part of the day. To me, travelling is good for the soul because you not only get to see amazing things but meet awesome people you might not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet. We made it to camp at 1640 and happily saw that the porters had everything all set up already- these guys were amazing! Our campsite was called at Huayllabamba and was at 3000 meters. There were some ruins in our area so Jill, Tony and I walked up there. I guess I forgot to mention our amazing hiking friends! Jill and I were joined with some fabulous people. Tony, Rehka and Deepak were from England and were definitely the parents of the group. They are some of the loveliest people and I was excited to get to know them more. Emily was also from the UK and was there travelling alone but was bunking with Katherine from the island of Guernsey (closer to France but considered an island of the UK). Malcolm and Caroline were also from the UK and were big into tennis and hiking at home. The final duo in our group was Jess and Tom, the cutest young couple from Australia who were travelling for several weeks together all through South America. The group seemed awesome and I was really excited to finish the trek with them! Anyways, back to the ruins! We walked up to the ruins, which only took about 10 mins and had a neat view of the campsite and area around us. Despite being tired and sore I was super happy we made this small extra trek and enjoyed a different display of the area. By the time we got back, it was time to get to know our crew. We learned each of their names along with how long they had been a porter for and if they had any kids. Most of them did not speak English or Spanish but their native language of Ketachaw. The porters were anywhere from 22 to 60 years old which I thought was insane. These men were just amazingly tough and strong to do this weekly. They often leave their families for weeks at a time, as it is pricey and long to get home for days away. Many of them live in small towns around the town of Ollantaytambo and the Cusco area. We had some free time before dinner so I had a $10 soles “hot shower”, which would be the last of the trek. It wasn’t warm at all but nice to shower in the middle of nowhere on a trek after a long first day. After the shower, tea and hot chocolate were ready along with crackers/cookies. We all chatted and got to know one another before dinner. Dinner was extensive- soup with rice, pasta, stuffed chicken, a beef stew and pumpkin squash puree for dessert. This chef was awesome and definitely was accommodating as we had a few dietary restrictions on this trip. Raoul briefed us on the next day including our wake up time (0545 eek!) for our 0730 departure and what the hiking would consist of. The first day of the trek was great! We hiked just over 12 km in 6.5 hours, which included lunch and multiple breaks. Day two was going to be the most challenging day and we were excited to get to it!

Friday October 4, 2019 0545 definitely came early! I didn’t want to get up and out of my sleeping bag as it seemed freezing outside (it was a low of about 5 overnight) and my sleep wasn’t the best. The sleeping bags that we had were the mummy type and we had used our sleeping bag liners that made it even harder to move around in. I also didn’t realize we had a tube-like fleece blanket that went into the sleeping bag. I wish I had figured this out as it would’ve been nice in the cool night air. Sleeping in wool base layers with the multiple layers of the sleeping bag kept me comfy until I had to go to the washroom at 2130 (so annoying). We also had extra air mattress each which was pretty slippery. While the first night sleep wasn’t the best, I was excited to get the day started. We got our stuff packed up and we were ready to go for breakfast soon after wake up. Breakfast was a weird but yummy porridge, toast, eggs and fried rice. I made sure to pick up some extra water from the lady who was selling water ($10 soles for 1.5 litres which would be 1/3-1/2 the price in the city). We were out hiking with our poles at 0730 and knew that today might be a bit of a challenge, as we would be going over our first and highest pass of the trip. The first ¼ of the hike wasn’t too bad. There were many steady inclines with lots of flat spots. I did the majority of this first part alone in about 55 minutes or so which was kind of nice. I have been listening to a lot of podcasts and doing some mindfulness and found this to be super helpful while hiking (thanks Ben Bergeron). The quickest time for this ¼ was 40 mins and the longest was about 1:05 mins so I was happy to be in the middle. Our snack at this time were apples and a bounty bar which I saved for later. I’ve found that while I am hiking, I don’t get very hungry (probably because of the altitude) so keeping hydrated is key for me. The 2nd quarter of the trek I did with Emily and we kept a good pace. We stopped lots to takes short breaks and enjoy the view. Jill was a speedy gazelle and way ahead of us. After the 2nd quarter, we stopped for lunch where it was cool, breezy and rainy. Our lunch was a delicious mushroom soup with pasta, veggies, avocado and some sort of chicken and bean concoction. As with our previous meals- it was all great and sustaining. The last two hours towards the summit were pretty tricky but we stopped often for quick breaks, which helped a lot. It took us just under two hours to get to the top and of course it started raining when we got there. Alpacas/llamas greeted us at the top which was very welcomed. We climbed to the peak and took tons of photos before it really stared to pour. Those of us who were at the top made our way down and stopped for a quick toilet break just after the Dead Woman’s Pass (at 4200 m). It was quite slippery on the way down which made me super nervous with my clumsiness and knee surgery less than a year before. We enjoyed the scenery, conversation and watched the fog roll over the camp site and the rest of the area while we hiked. It took us just under 2 hours to get to camp and boy was I glad to be there! When we got to camp around 1645, we noticed that our site was in the middle of the camping area, which was slightly annoying. To get to either bathroom, you had to either climb up or down- super challenging when your legs are already exhausted and shaky from almost 2 hours of declines. The rest of the group came in on their own, a couple at a time and were greeted with cheers and high fives. We had our afternoon snack of tea, hot chocolate and crackers before enjoying some time in the tent relaxing. It was quite chilly out and I did not want to get out of the tent for supper (even though I knew it was a must). After another delicious dinner we were briefed on the plan for tomorrow. We had hiked a total of about 11 km in 8 hours and were all excited for a good nights sleep.

Saturday October 5, 2019 Today was going to be the “scenic” day of our trek. It was also going to be the longest so we were woken at about 0500. We were out by 0630 after a yummy breakfast of eggs, toast, coffee/hot chocolate and a type of sugar puff cereal (think Sugar Crisp but less sweet). We set off on the first part of the day, which was a steep pass that was going to take us about 2 hours. The 40 min or so walk up the stair-like stones was mildly challenging after a large breakfast, before we made a stop at the Runkurakay complex. I decided to be stubborn and chose to hike in my t-shirt (because my hot pink rain jacket bled onto my skin when it rained). Despite it being cool out, I figured I would be sweating really soon. I regretted my decision about 30 mins into the hike when I was already soaked and cold but chose to be stubborn and waited until the top of our last pass (almost 2 hours later) to throw on my light rain jacket. We waited for the group shivering and huddled together and then made our way down towards our camp spot. We stopped for a quick snack and bathroom break before walking the 1:00-1:30 mins to lunch (1h if you’re Jill, 1:15 or so if you’re me). As always tea was ready for us when we arrived at Phuyupatamarca (or the town in the clouds) and we enjoyed a great meal of soup, potatoes, pork chops, pasta and salad. We learned more about the ruins we were around as well as some of the significance of the culture and area. After lunch, we were given the option of a shorter route and a longer route that had another beautiful set of ruins to see. The longer route was about an hour longer but would be well worth it. Naturally, we decided on the longer route and enjoyed the shade and reprieve of some of the trees on the route towards our camping spot. The ruins that we visited were called Intipata and are very impressive. These ruins are often missed because you can’t see them fully from the path and are not the most common route but they are way bigger and expansive that you would think. They are home to many llamas (or alpacas, I still get them confused) as well as many different plant sources of nutrition and over 200 kinds of orchids (which is the most famous plant on the Inca Trail). After many photos and selfies with the llamas, we made our way to our campsite that seemed close but took us almost an hour to get to. There were many steps along the way and every time we thought we had found our campsite, we learned it was another groups. While today was our longest day, it was also the most relaxed (minus the cold and rain). Our knees and legs were pretty sore but the 17.5 or so km we managed to hike didn’t seem so bad. Since there was only the one steeper incline, it was mostly downhill/flat which I personally liked a lot better. Our tents in Winay-Wayna were set up quite close to the top edge of some rock levels which was a bit unnerving. People had to walk past us to get to one of the washroom as well but after the first few people, I stopped noticing. The bathrooms at this campsite were some of the worst (and smelliest) that we had seen. Throughout the hike, the bathrooms were mostly stalls with toilets without toilet seats on them or holes in the ground. We were getting an extra leg workout in by all of the squats we were doing. Dinner was delicious (as always it seemed) with quinoa soup, lomo saltado (traditional Peruvian beef dish), rice, noodles and veggies. At the end of the meal, we were given a delicious cake! It’s crazy that the chef had time (and the resources) to make a cake in the middle of the Inca Trail! Our crew came in for our last goodbyes- which were a bit awkward but cute nonetheless. We gave out our tip envelopes as a group (also awks) before being briefed on our last day of the trek.

Sunday October 6, 2019 Today was THE day. Or should I say, the morning. We were woken up rather early at 0330 so we could be up and out of our tents at 0350 to get in line at the check point. Groups were lined up earlier than we were but we still managed to hang out under the wood awning until the booth opened at 0530. We had been given breakfast bags to go with sandwiches, juice, fruit and a bar that we could munch on before we started our final hike. It was almost like a race when people got past the check point- which I think is kind of funny. It was barely daylight when we started the hike but thankfully, we didn’t have to use our headlamps because that would’ve added an extra level of danger for clumsy kids like me. The hike to the Sungate was about an hour and very pretty. It was quite undulating at times and involved some legit monkey steps about 10 mins before the Sungate. These steps required most people to use their hands and feet to climb up. There were about 30 in total and I was next level cranky after that. We made it to the Sungate at about 0635 to see that surprise, surprise, it was foggy. We couldn’t see Machu Picchu in the distance, making the whole thing mildly anti climactic (I was having dejavu from Kilimanjaro). Our group came together at the top to take some photos and enjoy a snack before hiking that last 45 mins or so towards Machu Picchu. Peruvians (and especially those in the MachuPicchu/Cusco Region) really believe in and respect the theory of the three “Gods”. These gods are the Condor, Puma and the Snake that represent Heaven, Present and the underworld. Half way between the Sungate and Machu Picchu, we found three levels of an altar that represented these Gods and had some great background history/folklore around them. This was considered the last stop before the city of Machu Picchu. Before we arrive at Machu Picchu (“Old Mountain”), it is probably important to make note of what it is and why it is so special. Machu Picchu is the most renowned Incan citadel/city that was initially built in the 15th century, high up in the Andes and then abandoned (due to the Spanish invasion). It was built in the Incan fashion of precisely shaped dry stonewalls that are held together without mortar. While its exact use back in Incan times is unknown, there are many different ceremonial spots along with terraces that may have been used by the ancient emperor Pacachuti. While this “Lost City of the Incas” had existed for thousands of years, it did not come to be known as the amazing place it is until the early 1900s. Hiram Bingham of the USA, discovered this ancient city with the help of an 11 year old Ketchwa boy, who he paid to show him up the Urubamba River to these amazing ruins. Initially, this beautiful Incan ruin was a jungle covered with bushes and trees. He had many people come to help clean it up to see what was really underneath. Many of the details of what was found are hearsay, as he wasn’t known as the most honest and truthful man (allegedly). Gold and silver were among some of the more valuable resources that were found once excavation began (among many skeletons of woman and children who were sacrificed in the name of tradition and culture). Machu Picchu is also considered a Unesco World Heritage site which means it attracts thousands of visitors per day. While they do limit permits on the trail, over 2500 people visit Machu Picchu every day, making this dangerous for long term survival of the beautiful site. It was not meant for the weight and foot traffic that it has attracted which makes it so much more important for everyone to do their job and abide by the restrictions set out. The Peruvian government does it’s best to help with the sustainability of this historic site but it is said that only 8% of the revenue from Machu Picchu goes back to the community, the rest going to Lima (not a confirmed fact, just tour guide hersay) We arrived at our first sight of Machu Picchu around 8 am and it was already pretty busy! Our group met up at the main entrance after taking some amazing photos en route (and a minor altercation with some large German men). We were able to get our passports stamped with the signature Machu Picchu Stamp (which is way cooler than I thought it would be). We got in the line for the washrooms and bag drop that was not super well organized or laid out and dropped off our bags. Visitors are only allowed to bring fanny packs/small back packs into the site. Our guides took us all around these beautiful, ancient ruins. We learned much more about its history and learned about each of the areas that we visited. While I loved being at this amazing spot, I have to say I was exhausted and wasn’t enjoying it as much as if I had slept more than a few hours the night before. After a few group photos and tons of photos from literally every angle we could, we were done our tour/visit. It started to get super busy around 1030 and so we made our way back the entrance to grab our stuff and hop on the bus. Our guides clearly have been around the block before- we made it to the line for the buses just as everyone else seemed to as well. They didn’t have it very well organized and the line for the bus wrapped around the whole entrance way into the entrance line. We were given our 12 soles tickets for the bus and made our way from Machu Picchu into the town of Aguas Calientes (coolest name ever). The bus ride was about 25 mins and we were dropped off in the centre of town around noon. We didn’t have to catch our train until 1445 so we headed to our lunch spot called Munaycha. Emily and I shared “nachos” and pizza along with some fresh cold beers and pisco sours. It was so nice to relax and sit on proper chairs and enjoy the company. After a few beers and pisco sours, we made our way through the town towards the train station, mildly intoxicated. Thank goodness Raoul knew the streets like the back of his hand, or else it wouldn’t have gone well. We rushed to the train, grabbed our tickets and found our seats on the nicest train I’d ever been on. The seats reclined and had tables in front of them and was super clean. Tony ordered us another round of beers and we laughed (a bit too loud at times and were shushed) and enjoyed the 1.5 hour train ride. In Ollantaytambo, we said goodbye to Richard before jumping on another bus that would take us into Cusco. We knew we had about a 2 hour drive so we made a pit stop at a store to grab water and more beer. The drive felt long but was pleasant with beautiful sights, great company and awesome music. By the time we made it back into Cusco, my tipsy feeling had worn off and now I was just exhausted. We said our goodbyes to Raoul, thanking him and giving him my hiking poles (that I vowed to never use again).The Anden Inca staff were amazing and already had our bags in our rooms. Our room for the next two nights was even better than the last one, with a nicer bathroom, cute ceilings and tons of extra room. After a much needed shower, we got ready to meet the group and go for dinner. Dinner was at the Aztec Inka place Jill and I had been to before as we had some picky eaters in the group and knew this place had a bit of everything. After burritos and water, I was super tired and headed home to bed early around 2130 after saying goodbye to the half of our group that would be leaving in the am.

Monday October 7, 2019 Today was definitely a sleep in day! Well for me at least (sorry Jildo). We had breakfast at the hotel and met with our jungle group (Catherine, Deepak, Rehka, Jill and myself). We were briefed on how the next few days would go including wake ups, airport transport times etc. After our breakfast meeting, Jill and I walked into town and checked out the Cathedral Basilica. The town was celebrating Santa Rosa day but then we found out the parade was actually for Our Lady of the Rosary day. We enjoyed the parade a bit before paying the $25 soles each to enter the beautiful church. I have to admit, I was most excited to see two things- 1. The last supper painting with the meal being a guinea pig and 2. Black Jesus. While photos were not allowed to be taken, I really enjoyed seeing these two interesting pieces and learning about them. After the Cathedral, we visited the Inca Museum (10 soles) which was way bigger and more interesting than I had anticipated. We saw awesome pre Incan artifacts and drawings along with many relics from the Incan times and even mummies. Jill and I had talked about getting massages, so we ended up finding one of the many people in the square selling them. Similar to many other massage places we had been to, we were lead down random hallways to get to the small massage room. We had to wait a while to get started- we think the lady had to find someone else to massage one of us. Our massages were decent (especially for 50 soles) and made me feel more relaxed and less sore for sure. Jill and I still needed to pick up some souvenirs so we headed back to the hotel to grab our backpacks to contain all of our goodies. We stopped at Las Frescas that served delicious poke bowls. They were massive, healthy and exactly what we were looking for. We sauntered around the main square, popping into various alpaca stores. We found an amazing market to browse and barter for scarves, blankets and other little souvenirs. I love a good market and barter sesh so we had a good afternoon and picked up some great stuff. We realized it was later on in the day than we had thought and had to pick up our laundry before the lady went home from the day. We packed up our stuff for the amazon and got everything organized. We were both so tired and not feeling so great so we bailed on dinner and picked up a few snacks (that ended up being totally unnecessary) for the Amazon before going to bed early.

Tuesday October 8, 2019 Today we were leaving Cusco (sadly). Jill and I both agreed that this was probably our favourite town of the trip with its neat landscapes, beautiful buildings and great culture. After breakfast and check out, we were met by our guide Paul from Tucan Travel who would take us through traffic (thanks to another Peruvian Holiday) to the airport. Paul gave us all the info we would need for the day and we were checked into the Latam flight in about 25 mins. We made sure to get out some more soles as there would be no other opportunities to get money out for the cash only Amazon EcoLodge. Most ATMS cost about 13-20 soles to get money out so make sure to take this into account if you’re short on cash in Peru. Security and boarding went well and soon we were on our delayed flight to Puerto Maldonado but safe and sound. The flight from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado is only an hour but the temperature difference when we got off the plane was evident. We were warned that the Amazon and surrounding area was very hot and humid but that because of El Niño (I think), the temperature can change drastically and quickly. We were told to make sure to only bring what we needed (in duffle bags of course) and to pack long pants for our walks as there was lots of bugs and plants that might cause issues in shorts. I definitely was feeling the heat the moment we got off the plane and wasn’t feeling well at all. We waited for our bags before hopping into the open air bus that would take us to the Eco Amazonia’s headquarters in Puerto. Puerto Maldanado has a population of about 80,000 is mostly a tourist place with one main square and is a port to many Amazonian trip. It is on the Madre de Dios River in the Madre de Dios region / Amazon basin. We were given 15 mins or so to get our stuff organized into our duffle bags for the trip before heading towards the port. We saw their version of the Golden Gate Bridge called Puente Billinghurst which is also the longest bridge in Peru at 750 meters long. We took a 1 hour speed canoe ride on the Madre de Dios River. We learned that we weren’t actually on the Amazon River (Duh) but on a tributary of the river that is over 1500 km from the actual Amazon River. We were staying at one of the many eco lodges in the area called Eco Amazonia. We were already told that there were restrictions on electricity (only really on from 1700-0700) and that there was no cell services/wifi among many other small details. None of these things would be an issue for the short time we were here- we would embrace the quiet and relaxation. We had a great buffet lunch after being briefed on the strict timeline of the next 36 hours. After our yummy meal, we were showed to our individual huts. This place was magical! It was quiet and serene, rustic and charming, all wrapped into one. Each of the huts were for 2-3 people and super cute. They had a small “mud” room with seats to leave your muddy stuff before entering the room. There were three twin beds in our room with a bathroom. The shower was a bit strange as it was open to the room in a way but was cute and just what we needed. The tops of the room were screens only so we could hear all of the fun nature noises. We got ready for our afternoon hike to Caiman Lake. The hike is really a short walk (1 km to the lake) but we stopped to learn about some of the types of trees, animals and birds in the area. Julio was our guide and carried a knife for safety reasons, which made him look extra bad ass. We saw many “Iron trees” en route to cocha caiman (caiman Lake) which was a bit smaller than I had anticipated. We learned about the caimans (similar to an alligator) and several of the 70 subtypes. Caimans can vary in length but some can grow up to 4+ meters. They are mostly nocturnal but do enjoy the sun and fish. They are shy by nature but can be aggressive when needed. We saw many of them in the water and even saw a few come up onto the land thanks to Julios baiting skills. We heard the boiler birds and saw some beautiful macaws flying around. After our walk back, we hung out and checked out the hammocks, pool and quiet areas of the lodge. Happy hour ended around 1800 and the deal was, as usual, 2 drinks for $20 soles (a steal since the drinks were 16-28 a piece). While the bartenders tried real hard, they were busy doing other jobs at the lodge and didn’t have a ton to offer in terms of alcohol and mixer. We were really sad they ran out of tonic, vodka and sparkling water but realized where we were and were thankful that they even had a bar. What was neat about this lodge, is that the staff play many roles. The tour guides would help in the kitchen and dining room as well as in the bar. It is a small staff who get some amazing things done each day. The manager Mauricio was amazing and very welcoming. After our happy hour drinks, we grabbed our long sleeves before heading to the entrance for our late night canoe ride. We were going with the group and Julio to check out some more caimans. It was significantly cooler and less buggy than we had anticipated. Jupiter, Saturn and Scorpio were out in full force which was super cool to see. Julio used his “caiman call” and laser sharp vision to point out many caimans on the way. Our boat ride was very relaxing and enjoyable. After the boat ride, dinner was ready in the dining room. We were served a quinoa soup with fried yuka, chicken, veggies and a lemon tart for dessert. We made sure to top up our water bottles as water and hot drinks were only available during meal times (0530-0730, 1330-1500 and 1900-1800). If you didn’t have water at other times, you had to buy it at the bar. We enjoyed some more drinks and chatted after our great dinner. We noticed that there were very few people enjoying the common area at this time. There had been many people hanging out playing pool and foosball before dinner but it was a ghost town after. We played pool and foosball until just before 2200. The main lights go off at 2200 so we made our way home for showers and bed.

Wednesday October 9, 2019 Despite going to bed early, we both slept until our wake up call at 0600 by Julio. We made it to breakfast for 0630 which was great! The options were extensive including omelets, cheese, fruit, homemade bread, ham and cakes along with a variety of juices. We ate quickly since we had to be ready for our long walk at 0700. We got our backpacks ready with water, sunscreen and bug spray and met the group. The first cool thing we saw on our stroll was the trumpeter bird who sang to us. We grabbed a photo with Tony and the trumpeter since he was staying in the bungalow named after this fun bird. On the walk, we stopped every 100 m or so to learn about various plants, bugs and animals in the area. There are 6 different types of monkeys on the nature reserve and we managed to see 3 of them on our walk (howler monkeys, brown capuchin and squirrel monkeys). We saw some cool non human friends like the amazon crested toad (with two fake eyes), a gross millipede, cute sloth and one large Goliath tarantula. Julio taught us about many of the different trees and plants, several of which have healing and medicinal properties. After about 3 hours, we made it to Largo Apuvictor which was our main destination. There was a lookout point which had a beautiful view of the brownish/murky water (we had come to realize was what all the water in this area looked like) and the vast jungle around us. We had snacks while waiting for our canoe ride. The canoe ride was lovely but we sadly didn’t see an anaconda (which was the ONLY reason I went on this walk). We saw some nice birds and a turtle while on our canoe ride. Some members of our large group had many questions and walked super slow, so we got ahead and walked a big quicker back to the lodge. We hopped in the “indoor” pool and cooled off before planning our afternoon. We were supposed to take another boat ride to Monkey Island, but our group decided to skip it and enjoy some R&R at the lodge. While the lodge was amazing, the strict schedule wasn’t exactly what we were looking for on vacation, especially after do the Inca Trail. We spent the afternoon drinking and lying in the hammocks. Mauricio personally delivered a round or two of drinks to us out by the hammocks that overlooked the river. We were served a yummy lunch (not that I can exactly remember what it was…) before enjoying more time out by the water in the hammocks. I swear, I could’ve lived in the hammocks. We played a bit more table tennis and foosball before our yummy meal of rice, meat, veggies, soup and a delicious chocolate cake. After dinner, we had some more drinks, including one of the grossest wines I’ve ever had and some members of the group indulged in tequila shots. As always, we had great conversation and so many laughs before showering and heading to bed for our last sleep in the amazon. The rooms were way cooler overnight especially with the marvelous fan that worked wonders.

Thursday October 10, 2019 The howler monkeys woke us up before our 0600 wake up call, which was actually welcome. The sound of all the birds, crickets and monkeys was magical to wake up to. We had a nice final breakfast before settling our fairly large tab (thanks to all of our bevvies). We tried to fill up our water bottles but the lodge had run out of water (uhoh for the next people arriving) so put our tip in the tip box, finished our packing before saying goodbye to Mauricio. Our last group photo in the Amazon was taken before we hopped on the speed canoe back to town. I soaked up some rays and had a bit of a snooze on the 1:45 min long boat ride. The staff brought us back to the office in the open air bus and then right back to the airport. I was pretty happy to be off the open area bus as the drivers in this area were pretty crazy and didn’t abide by any specific rules of the road. The airport check in was easy and we were happy to find air-conditioning on the other side of security. The small restaurant in the terminal didn’t have much to offer and the small convenience cart was very picky about their money being “clean”. Thankfully, we managed to get some water before our Latam flight back to Lima. We landed in Lima 1.5 hours later and were picked up again by a Tucan travel staff member. They dropped us off at the Hotel Santa Cruz about an hour later. As usual, the weather in Lima was dismally grey and cooler. After unpacking our stuff, we grabbed some delicious sandwiches and coffee across the street at Caffeteria. Kat and I decided to take an Uber to the local Indian/Inka market to pick up a few last minute souvenirs. I was very impressed with this market and of course, picked up more souvenirs that were probably unnecessary and may or may not fit in my bag. Our Uber got us back to the hotel for 1700, giving me plenty of time to shower and get ready for our evening activities. As a group, we decided to go to the Park of the Reserve halfway between where we were in Miraflores and downtown Lima to check out the Magic Water Circuit show. There were two different show times and we opted for the earlier one so we could go for a nice dinner after. This water show did not disappoint! There were several different fountains with various coloured lights and fun effects. The show itself was about 15 mins and was pretty neat. We made sure to have a great vantage point so we could see all of the fountains. We managed to find a taxi to take us back towards the hotel area. The hotel had made us a reservation at El Senorio de Sulco, near the water in Miraflores however when we arrived, they didn’t have a table for us. Our group was not happy about this but the restaurant made it all better by feeding us two pisco sours while we waited. We enjoyed several bottles of wine and a delicious meal before finishing off our night with some night caps at the hotel bar (our English friends were not good influences on our livers!)

Friday October 11, 2019 It was officially our last day of our trip! In so many ways, it had seemed as though we had been away forever but then in other ways, it flew by! We enjoyed our last buffet breakfast at Hotel Santa Cruz, before saying our “see you laters” to our new friends with the promise of a reunion in England. Jill and I had a few more places in Lima that we wanted to check out so we made sure we were packed and ready to go. The hotel was kind enough to let us leave our stuff there while we went to explore for our final day. We had been told that Huaca Pucllana (or Huaca Juliana) was a must see by a few people so we headed over there first thing in the am. This adobe (mud brick) pyramid was made out of 7 staggered platforms around 200-500 AD and was used as a ceremonial centre by the PreIncans, Wari people. While the pyramids were neat to see, I was over it about 15 mins into the 90 minute or so tour. You had to be on a guided tour, which was a bit annoying, especially since our tour guide was very difficult to understand. The copious amounts of booze we had the night before didn’t help either. One of the best parts of this visit were the alpacas and guinea pigs we got to see. After the ceremonial/playground adventure, we grabbed coffees while we wandered around downtown Miraflores before hopping into a cab to the Frias market in Baranco. Baranco is known as the hip/art district of Lima and we were excited to explore this area. The market was filled with cool stalls with different clothes, food, art and jewelry. They often have live music in the evenings as well but we were a bit early for that. We were also starving so we checked out a Peruvian/Chinese fusion restaurant for lunch and ordered WAY too much food for the two of us. The rice, noodles and wontons were all amazing and cheap (which was the best part!) Since we had enjoyed the Lima by Walking tours so much, we decided to check out the Barranco walking tour. We were to meet the group leader in the central square by the beautifully painted library at 1610. Starbucks was in the area, so we grabbed coffees and waited for the group. The center of Barranco was super cute with many pastel coloured buildings, beautiful gardens and flowers. It was a beautifully sunny and warm-ish day (shocking for Lima) so we were extra excited to spend our last afternoon outside in the nice weather. Barranco is known as the “bohemian” part of the city and is home to about 30,000 people. It is one of the 43 districts in Lima. People from Miraflores and the historical centre moved to this area or have a “summer house” in Barranco because of its artsy, eclectic and relaxed vibe along with its access to the ocean which is lacking along the coast of Lima. We learned a ton about the history of the area (that is interesting but I won’t bore anyone else with it) while wandering around, checking out the views of the ocean and beautiful graffiti. We saw the famous and romantic bridge of “sighs” where you make a wish and hold your breath while you cross. Legends say you only get this wish once in a lifetime so it’s important to make it a good one. The city was initially mostly Spanish with Andean and Incan influence for many years. At the end of the 19th century, many people from China and Japan emigrated to the area, so there is a neat mix of all the cultures. This is evident in the art, food and design of the homes. We made several stops for great photos and loved the views we had. The tour ended at the Dedalo gallery that was filled with several rooms of clothing, jewelry, toys and art. Most of the artists were local which was really neat to see. Jill and I decided to walk to Larcomar since it looked pretty close on the map. Famous last words! The walkway along the coast is anything but direct and both our bum ankles were feeling it by the time we made it to Larcomar. Despite being a bit sore, the views along the coast were amazing and I was glad we did the walk. Larcomar is a cool mall that was built into the cliffs of the Lima coast. It was several floors tall and had a beautiful view of the coast and water. The stores were mostly higher end but we enjoyed wandering around nonetheless. We were finally having a Paletta bar and so excited! The Paletta bar was basically a stuffed ice cream bar that we had seen all throughout the country. I got one with Nutella on the inside wrapped in Kinder surprise flavoured ice cream, dipped in chocolate and Jill got one with a form of blueberry jam inside and cheesecake flavoured ice cream. They were bomb and definitely worth the wait. After a bit of a mishap finding our Uber, we managed to make our way back to the hotel where we took up the lobby and sprawled out on the couches for a few hours. It was nice to have a place to hang out and get organized before our flight. We ate our last Peruvian meal at the hotel (which was gross wings and average nachos) and some beers before taking our final Uber to the airport. We left the hotel at 2330 and made it to airport at 0005 since it was late and there was no traffic. Check in and bag drop was super easy and we spent some time enjoying duty free and buying our last minute souvenirs (thanks to Jill, we had an extra checked duffle that we threw some stuff in).

Saturday October 12, 2019 Our AC Rouge flight was very uneventful- I slept the majority of the trip thanks to Gravol and went through the thousands of photos on my phone. I tried to enjoy the gross egg breakfast but was just so excited to be headed home. While I LOVE travelling, I was so happy to land at YYZ. Customs and security was a breeze and we made it through around 11 am. Jill and I said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I am so lucky and thankful to have such an amazing travel buddy with whom I mesh so well with. We always have a great time together, regardless what continent we are on and this trip was no different. While there are so many places in Peru we didn’t get to, we had a jammed packed 3 week adventure that I won’t soon forget!

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timalexanderdollery · 5 years ago

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“Knowledge workers” could be the most impacted by future automation

A staff member eats lunch in front of SoftBank Group Corporation’s Pepper humanoid robots during the World Robot Challenge in Tokyo, Japan, on October 17, 2018. | Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

A new study of artificial intelligence suggests better-paid, better-educated workers might be more impacted by automation than previously thought.

The robot revolution has long been thought of as apocalyptic for blue-collar workers whose tasks are manual and repetitive. A widely cited 2017 McKinsey study said 50 percent of work activities were already automatable using current technology and those activities were most prevalent in manufacturing. New data suggests white-collar workers — even those whose work presumes more analytic thinking, higher paychecks, and relative job security — may not be safe from the relentless drumbeat of automation.

That’s because artificial intelligence — powerful computer tech like machine learning that can make human-like decisions and use real-time data to learn and improve — has white-collar work in its sights, according to a new study by Stanford University economist Michael Webb and published by Brookings Institution. The scope of jobs potentially impacted by AI reaches far beyond white-collar jobs like telemarketing, a field that has already been decimated by bots, into jobs previously thought to be squarely in the province of humans: knowledge workers like chemical engineers, physicists, and market-research analysts.

The new research looks at the overlap between the subject-noun pairs in AI patents and job descriptions to see which jobs are most likely to be affected by AI technology. So for example, job descriptions for market-research analyst — a relatively common position with a high rate of AI exposure — share numerous terms in common with existing patents, which similarly seek to “analyze data,” “track marketing,” and “identify markets.”

It’s more forward-looking than other studies in that it analyzes patents for technology that might not yet be fully developed or deployed.

Typically, estimates of automation effects on the workforce, which vary widely depending on the study, have focused on what jobs could be automated using existing technologies. The findings have generally been most damning for lower-wage, lower-education workers, where robotics and software have often eliminated part or all of certain jobs.

The specter of increased automation has raised concerns about how large swaths of Americans will be able to support themselves when their jobs become mechanized and whether the loss of low-income jobs will increase wealth inequality. This new patent research suggests automation’s impact could be much broader and affect high-paying white-collar jobs as well.

Lionel Derimais/Corbis via Getty Images

Staffers from different startups work on their computers at the coworking space Collective Temperance Hospital in London, England, on June 9, 2016.

A caveat: Some AI patents might never be used, and they might not be used for their initial intentions. Also, one’s actual job is not wholly defined by the text of the original job description. But this study does provide a framework with which to view general exposure to automation.

As Adam Ozimek, chief economist at freelancing platform Upwork, put it, “Just because someone patented a device, for example, that used artificial intelligence to do market research does not mean that AI will in fact be successful at this for practical business use.”

The Stanford study also doesn’t say whether these workers will actually lose their jobs, only that their work could be impacted. So it’s perfectly possible these technologies will be used to augment jobs rather than supplant them.

This is not the first time white-collar jobs have been in jeopardy from technology. Many white-collar jobs that were supposed to be sent overseas — actuaries, technical writers, and customer service reps — didn’t see the cuts that were predicted more than a decade ago.

And for what it’s worth, market-research analysts seem to think many elements of their jobs can’t be done by using artificial intelligence.

“It can tell us what’s going on, but it can’t tell us why it’s happening,” Gina Woodall, president of marketing research firm Rockbridge Associates, told Recode. “It’s getting better and better at telling us what consumers are doing, but it won’t be able to tell us what’s driving them.”

What market research analysts say

Nearly 700,000 people in the US work as market-research analysts, people who study market conditions to sell products or services, and their job growth outlook for the next decade is much higher than average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s a job that, as its title implies, brings analytic thinking to bear on disparate data and thus is usually safe from talk of automation.

But according to Webb’s research, market-research analysts are much more likely than average to have overlap with AI patents.

Market-research analysts have already begun to contend with AI in their jobs, but so far it’s been used to assist their work or free them to do other tasks.

Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images

Techies work at the Woodstock Exchange in Cape Town, South Africa on November 22, 2016.

“We’ve deliberately moved up-market, doing less cookie-cutter simple research because there are a lot of automation and tools that can do that easily,” Woodall, who has been working in market research for 20 years, said. “Where I see our place in the world is focusing on more complex business problems using higher-level analytics.”

Steve King, partner at the small business consulting firm Emergent Research, put it this way: “Our value-add is not data collection or even the first layer of analysis (we mostly outsource these steps). Our value-add is being trusted advisers and an outside source of business insights.”

George Augustaitis, director of industry analytics at CarGurus, previously worked at a company that worked directly with an AI tool called Lucy, which would be able to answer analyst questions based on the data they uploaded to it.

“My team embraced it because we all had the idea that it would be less of the grunt work for us building the charts,” Augustaitis told Recode. “We would spend more time analyzing the data, connecting the dots, being in meetings presenting to clients.”

Webb’s data shows that not every aspect of market research analysts’ jobs fall under AI patents. Those aspects include conducting research on consumer opinions, collaborating with other professionals, and attending staff conferences to brief management on their findings.

Augustaitis said he thinks someday AI could be a “great junior analyst” but thinks such tools would fail when situations were abnormal, like the 2008 recession.

“I don’t know how they would perform when something happens that no one is expecting,” he said.

Jim Loretta, a qualitative-research consultant based in Miami, Florida, emphasized the human element of his job: the importance of conducting surveys and other market research in person.

“How people feel — a lot of that is captured face to face,” he said, referring to subtle human gestures and reactions he sees when, for example, asking a focus group about a new marketing campaign. “I don’t know how [AI] would capture any of those qualitative buttons you would get in a face-to-face meeting.” That may be true now, but the field of AI emotion recognition is improving rapidly.

And for now, artificial intelligence tools are not especially accurate when it comes to making more nuanced decisions.

“Even today you’ll see headlines very clearly written by a computer on Bloomberg and they are wrong a lot,” a hedge fund investment analyst told Recode, referring to how Bloomberg uses automation to help with a third of its content, usually for split-second reports on company earnings. While such technology is good at quickly writing up an earnings miss or a basketball score, it can miss the larger context.

“It’s amazing what an edge you can get just from actually reading every word of a document.”

He also points out that if more jobs could be automated, they would be.

“There’s a reason there’s not more unemployed hedge fund analysts: Because you do still need that human hand, at least for the time being.”

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gracieyvonnehunter · 5 years ago

Text

“Knowledge workers” could be the most impacted by future automation

A staff member eats lunch in front of SoftBank Group Corporation’s Pepper humanoid robots during the World Robot Challenge in Tokyo, Japan, on October 17, 2018. | Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

A new study of artificial intelligence suggests better-paid, better-educated workers might be more impacted by automation than previously thought.

It’s more forward-looking than other studies in that it analyzes patents for technology that might not yet be fully developed or deployed.

Lionel Derimais/Corbis via Getty Images

Staffers from different startups work on their computers at the coworking space Collective Temperance Hospital in London, England, on June 9, 2016.

And for what it’s worth, market-research analysts seem to think many elements of their jobs can’t be done by using artificial intelligence.

What market research analysts say

But according to Webb’s research, market-research analysts are much more likely than average to have overlap with AI patents.

Market-research analysts have already begun to contend with AI in their jobs, but so far it’s been used to assist their work or free them to do other tasks.