#i’m not from wv i’m just an enjoyer

[visenyaism]

did you ever watch History’s Hatfields & McCoys (2012) idk but I feel like it’s up your alley (trying to remember if you’re from WV or just like it, and HvM to me is kinda similar to ASoIaF)

I have not, but how am I now just finding out that the Hatfields and McCoys were from West Virginia I always thought it was out West when it was the holler the whole time. incredible 

[fangsnpaws]

cg!sam winchester headcannons ✩ wc: ~530 ✩ [div.]

this is about SFW agere/petre. dni if k¡nk. i’m a minor.

☆ CAREGIVER SAAAMM!!!! he would be so sweet. just be the best ever. that's it. that's the only headcannon. /j

★ i think that he wouldn't already know about regression, and it might take him a while to understand, but he would be so supportive. once he knew how much it helps you, he'd be all for it.

☆ he would probably do extra research into it. i mean... it's sam. i feel like he would really want to learn the science/psychology behind it. partially just out of curiosity, but also so that he can understand better. he would want to know exactly what's happening when you're regressing or dreaming so that he doesn't accidentally do something wrong.

★ he would LOVE playing!! whether you're a pet or a human little, he would adore it. i think he'd specifically really like physical playing! ⤵

☆ pretend roughhousing, picking you up and throwing you onto a bed/couch just to make you giggle, tickling if you'd enjoy it, spinning you around, putting you on his shoulders, doing the airplane game where he lays on his back and puts you in the air using his feet, crawling around on all fours and letting you sit on his back, playing peekaboo, etc.

★ but of course, he would really love all types of playing! with plushies or other toys, playing pretend, going to a park or outside in general, playing online games or board games/puzzles/card games, just anything. him and dean didn't have a lot of time or opportunities to be kids, so this would be really enjoyable and healing for him <3

☆ i can totally see him being a huge nickname guy. both calling you nicknames and petnames (if u want!), and receiving them!

★ i think some of his favs for you would be: baby, bud, pumpkin, tiny, hon(ey), bug, cutiepie, silly things like stinkybutt, jellybean, munchkin, short-stuff, and nick/petnames related to your animal type if you're a pet!

☆ i think some of his favs to receive would be: bubba, bubs, dada, sammy, samsam, and maybe even a sammy-wammy hehe

★ if you were okay with it, he would love to tell dean funny and adorable things that you two do together!! i think he'd love telling cas, too. (cg!cas hcs coming soon??)

☆ because of the frequent traveling, he would love to get you a toy or souvenir from everywhere they go! whether it be just a random tshirt, or something like a mothman plush if they're in point pleasant, wv!

★ speaking of random tshirt gifts, i think he'd really love buying you clothes and/or gear!! he'd love letting you borrow his clothes, as well as picking out goofy tshirts and bottoms with adorable patterns.

☆ he would take so much pride in being your caregiver, and be so happy that you trust him and that he'd be able to take care of you! having sammy as your cg would result in a lot of funny memories, so much healing for the both of you, and so much happiness. i think he'd be great at handling negative regressions, too. doing whatever he can to take care of you and bring you comfort <3

[homestuckreplay]

EOA2 - Character Opinions

Just like at the end of act 1, I’m rounding up all the characters and how I feel about them so far, to see if my opinions change over time. There are a LOT more characters in Act 2 than in Act 1, so here’s hoping I remember them all. If I’ve forgotten anyone, let me know!

Love ♡

John Egbert – Still my most favoritest character. I love his facial expressions so much. He’s really going through it, but despite the horrors both immediate and hovering, he finds joy in the small things, which is a trait I love in both characters and real people. His excitement over making the pogo hammer is a highlight of the act, and his movie referencing so hard he breaks the box and his trying to be a paladin with the Slimer pogo as his faithful steed are excellent too. I love how John uses his very specific areas of expertise, like movies and magic and his other interests from the start of the story, to solve problems that don’t at first seem related. I love how he’s openly scared and reluctant and how he rises to challenges anyway. I love how he knows he doesn’t know things and is willing to experiment. I love how he has strong emotional responses often for no apparent reason. I just think he’s neat.

Rose Lalonde – I have so much fun reading anything Rose says. Her GameFAQs are so unintentionally hilarious but she’s also got a great intentional sense of humor, like her fake-mustache W and her trying to create the Colonelsprite. I do think she plays a little fast and loose with John’s life, expecting him to navigate combat on narrow platforms and stairs above an endless void, but I can cut her some slack because she’s having to balance her responsibility over John with trying to save her own life. All of her scenes so far have been based around her game connection with John – either actively playing the game, or trying to reconnect her laptop – and my hope for act 3 is for Rose to get a story of her own. Ideally one that involves summoning one of those sick ass creatures from the grimoire.

Zazzerpan the Learned – He is a twenty foot tall wizard, and as such, is the only Homestuck character I would describe as ‘hot’.

Wayward Vagabond – Easily the best mayor Can Town has ever had. Started off as a rude tyrant yelling at John, but it ended up just being cultural differences, and they’ve really worked on communication. I love how creative WV is, how ready they are to take enjoyment in life where they can get it, and how much they care for their non-edible possessions. They’re in this very structured, somewhat antagonistic, Sburb-mediated relationship with John, but I actually think the two of them have a lot in common, and if they could just sit down together with a big train set they’d have a blast.

Serenity – Not only is she glowing and sparkly, but she’s smart and good at taking responsibility in an emergency.

Like

Nannasprite – Ghost? Harlequin? Game construct? Loving grandmother? Nannasprite is all these things. Sure, she’s going way overboard on the cookies, but she doesn’t know John well enough to know he’s not into baked goods. And she really got him with the bucket on the door. That was a great prank. Mostly, I like her for giving me the Good Lore. Please Nannasprite, I will eat as many cookies as you want if you will infodump to me about Sburb for hours on end.

Rambunctious Crow – An absolute scamp who’s just doing what crows do. Made even cooler by the addition of a sword.

Neutral/Mixed

Dave Strider – I still think Dave sucks, just like at the end of act 1. I think his insistence on irony is exhausting and his raps are a chore to read, I hate how dismissive he is of other people’s interests and how superior he is about his own, I think he’s way too quick to resort to violence and way too slow to do any kind of self reflection. But. Having learned more about his bro and his living situation, I understand why he sucks so bad, and I don’t think he’s really to blame. I hope that Dave’s bro is kidnapped by imps soon, in Sburb or otherwise, because I think that’s the only way Dave could become someone I actually like.

Dad – I’m harsh on parents in fiction. I think Dad seems like an awesome guy, I love his Serious Business app, his preparedness re: shaving cream, his bucking of gender roles by always being in the kitchen, and his refusal to go quietly with the imps. But despite the external trappings of a father and his obvious love for John, he seems unwilling to meet John where he is and be the dad John actually wants and needs. I wish he would do more to get to know John as a person, to perhaps offer him some tasty roasted vegetables, to perhaps buy him the Nintendo DSi instead of a harlequin doll, to open up to John about his own life and to take him on some trips into Seattle. I wonder if he regrets not doing all that now that they’re separated.

Uncertain

gardenGnostic – I want to like GG, and I hope I will end up liking her, but Act 2 has built up so much mystery around GG that even though she’s had a few further pesterlogs I feel like I know less about her than I did at the end of act 1. She really plays up how she ‘can’t’ tell people things but still insists on mentioning them, which is an annoying trait, but I like her positive attitude and the fact that she’s so encouraging to her friends.

Peregrine Mendicant – I like that they are collecting mailboxes, as I am a huge fan of the postal service as an institution, but I do not have a sense of them as a character.

Mom – First off, we should eat the rich and redistribute Mom’s wealth. Her millionaire status aside, I don’t think she’s a good parent, or that exchanging passive aggressive notes with your daughter or ignoring her suicide threats is in any way healthy. But, it seems from WV: Ascend that her role in the story is bigger than raising Rose. Whether that goes towards redeeming her or makes her even worse, only time will tell.

Dislike

Sburb – I’m deeply fascinated by Sburb and I love to analyze it, and the story is making it increasingly clear that the game Sburb (2009) is just a small part of the larger entity Skaia (~4 billion BC). As a story element it’s amazing, but as a force acting on the characters it’s nothing but sinister. Willing to sacrifice the whole continent to achieve its secret goals, many of whom haven’t elected to play the game, and keeping its nature hidden from players until it’s far too late, it’s like a form of extreme gamer Darwinism allowing only its best players to survive. Its use of mind control and its impact on real life means it can’t even be fun to play, arguably the worst sin for a video game.

Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff – I would not hang out with these guys.

Midnight Crew – These four spent a hundred pages stuck in a bunker and all they were able to do was inflict violence on each other and fail to play 52 pickup. WV managed a skilful escape 32 pages after getting stuck. Case closed.

Hate

Bro – Just the worst guy imaginable. Anyone who controls a child through violence and fear, withholding food and a safe home, is irredeemable in my book and bad enough that I can’t even enjoy reading about him. There’s nothing wrong with being into puppets, or porn, or puppet porn, or even making a career out of puppet porn and ventriloquist rapping, but there is something wrong with forcing these things on people who aren’t comfortable with them and aren’t able to say no.

Lil Cal – He is bad to look at.

[bbyboybucket]

Thoughts on Multiverse of Madness (contains major spoilers!!!)

- I’ll start by saying over all, I liked it. It was fun, crazy, definitely visually stunning and captivating, it some insanely awesome scenes. It was very enjoyable. BUT I had some big issues with it.

- first, I feel like it was rushed in the beginning. Things went too fast and there was no build up, it was just kinda like “hey this is happening” and it was especially that way with Wanda’s villain arc and I’ll be talking about her first.

- literally it was so rushed and felt ooc because it was right off the bat. Her villainy and motivations originally felt very shallow. It was all so surface level and lacking for like the first half of the movie. Once again, she felt so out of character to me, like it wasn’t even the same character I know and love.

- I will say though that it was FUCKING AWESOME to see what she was capable of. I lived for seeing her power be so great and loved that the movie gradually continued to show us more of her ability. Seriously, the further in we got, the more awesome she was.

- also will say that I liked it being pretty comics book accurate.

- however, I really just don’t understand why they chose this story line for her. It was so unnecessary and undid every bit of character development in Wandavision. It would have been better if there was some kind of build up to her realizing what she could have from America’s powers and she’d slowly getting more corrupt. But she went villainous off screen and it was shown within the first few minutes of the movie. I didn’t expect it to happen so quick. And I understand the whole thing of her being corrupted by the dark hold, but that just felt like a cop out. An easy way to justify making her like this when there was potential for real depth and dimension here.

- also gotta say I LOVED HER BREAKING THE 4TH WALL

- but, towards the end, there were some real good character moments for Wanda. The line of“I wouldn’t ever hurt you, I wouldn’t hurt anyone. I’m not a monster.” hit so hard. And just that whole scene in general. It made me feel so much, and honestly it was super in character and very well done. I loved it.

- but I’ve gotta say I’m kinda surprised they didn’t make Vision a more important point here. I know she let him go in WV but if they were gonna undo most of that development anyways, why would she not care more about him. Like really, if she’s going to a new reality where her kids exist, why would she not go to one where she has her kids AND vision. It doesn’t make sense and that would be infinitely more in character.

- I also don’t think she’s dead. There’s no way in hell she is. 1. If she actually was, it’d be much more emotional, especially since she’s such a well liked and huge character. It has almost no emotion to it, even less than previous mcu “death” scenes where the character turns up later (ie. Bucky, Loki, etc.) 2. They wouldn’t kill off one of their most popular and most profitable characters, especially not in her prime time. This is Wanda’s golden area, the hype is all hers, she’s pulling in awards, she’s getting tons of talk. She’s too valuable for the mcu to lose.

- now, I do like what they did with strange here. I feel like they have him a lot more depth and made him much more likable than before. Not that he was unlikeable, but more so you feel more connected to him after this movie, like you got to know him.

- I love that they took his worst traits and exaggerated them in his variants. Why? Because it’s very interesting to see this cool, all powerful superhero, humbled and not be portrayed as perfect by the narrative.

- But even more than that, it shows that you don’t have to be perfect to be good. It’s all about what you chose and how you try to be, and owning up to your mistakes. Because even though the other Stranges weren’t so great, our Strange made the right choice and did the right thing over and over again. He tried to be the best he could and proved everyone who doubted him for his flaws, completely wrong.

- I also liked seeing the more emotional side of him. I liked seeing have so much love for Christine, but putting hers and everyone else’s best interest above his deepest desire.

- I also really really loved the father-daughter like thing he had going on with America. Some may see it as more of just a mentorship or something, but I definitely feel that parent relationship and I could feel that he really cared for her. It reminds me of Tony and Peter, but 10x better.

- I have mixed feelings on the reveal of Donna. Idk. I do like the insight it gave us into his character. But I feel that it was dropped to quickly and it was a shame it wasn’t explored just a bit more. It almost felt random and irrelevant. Like yes, I do get the thing of them both saying “we don’t talk about that.” and it showing how much Strange bottles up inside (kinda a small theme in this movie, hm?). I like that and I felt so bad for him when he said “I couldn’t protect her.” But also I just wish there was more of a pay off to it, I just wish it didn’t feel so misplaced because it could’ve had more impact.

- also liked the growth of his magic in this, he had quite a few new tricks up his sleeve.

- I’m very curious about what the screaming was at the end. Also wondering about the end credits, when he suddenly was fine? Was that a time jump, different Strange? Also curious to see where his character is going from here and how it’s going to play into the bigger part of the phases 4 and 5 of the mcu.

- also super cool that we have a new character introduced that I’d never heard of till today and I wonder what role Clea is gonna play from here on out.

- speaking of new characters, I fucking loved America. Like love love love love loved that girl. God she was such a little sweetheart. Her powers are awesome for one, but who she is is awesome too.

- I think she had great development in this movie, I loved that they made her not be able to control her powers. Is it a bit cliche? Maybe, but they made it work so fucking well. I felt for her, because she couldn’t help any of this, she was just a young and innocent girl who was scared but tried to be brave anyways.

- my heart hurt for her when she said she killed her parents. imagine, growing up with that heavy of guilt and fear of your own capabilities. That poor bby. 💔

- but once again, loved the relationship she built with Strange. I also love how as time went on, he helped her have more faith in herself and really gave her that needed boost of confidence. But fuck, I also felt terrible when she was going to sacrifice herself. She’s such a sweet kid omfg.

- also, I love love love love that she had the idea to show Wanda the horror of what she actually wanted. America sat up that powerful moment. Her badass fighting scene was followed up seamlessly with one so emotional.

- also love her spunk, and sass, and she was so cute trying to learn other magic and in her robes. I’m so excited to see more of her in the future.

- I was so worried about the cameos in this movie. Like going in, I was anxious that the movie would be relying too heavily on them….but I was wrong. It was very well done.

- first, I loved seeing John Krasinski as Reed Richards. I LOVED IT!!!! Like literally he was so perfect for that role and it was just fucking great. Perfect in all senses. (Also very sexy)

- Maria was a bad bitch, being the one to survive longest and gave Wanda a run for her money.

- I have mixed feelings about Captain Carter. I originally was not excited about her being in it because of the fact that she was such a huge role in “What If?” And I didn’t want a repeat of that. But I truthfully didn’t mind her too much in this.

- however, I fucking HATED!!!! AND I MEAN HATED!!!!! The fact that she said “i can do this all day.” No. No. No. No. No. I will not accept that. I’m not even a big Steve stan, but that is his and only his to say and they should not have made her rip it off and take away the value. Steve says that iconic line so many times because he was a disable bullied kid, showing his bravery and putting up with hell to stand for what he believed in. Peggy Carter was not that. She’s not the same.

- also I just don’t even really understand why she was a part of the Illuminati in the first place because she is way less powerful compared to all the other characters that surrounded her. Also don’t understand how she didn’t die sooner. I feel like they just wanted to give her as much screen time as possible here but I don’t feel like she should’ve been an Illuminati member at all because realistically, there’s nothing that special about her to be in such a position. I didn’t mind her, but it would’ve been better to see a different character, especially since we already got our fill of Captain Carter in “What If?” and I feel like the more she pops up, the more it undermines Sam.

- anyways, continuing on, the scene where Professor X enters Wanda’s mind has to be one of the coolest fucking scenes in the entire mcu. It’s one of my new favorites.

- the visuals in this movie were just so good omg.

- also liked the further explanations of the dark hold and the souls of the damned. That was cool as was the antithesis, the book of Vishanti. Once again, the magic in this movie was amazing across the board.

- The cinematography was amazing too by the way. Not just the CGI but the way things were shot, the way it felt almost like a horror movie at some points, the way it was just so pleasing to the eye the entire time. I loved that.

- also i was kinda expecting Mephisto to appear at some point. I never have taken that seriously before but for the first time I actually wondered if he’d appear because of how much talk about the dark hold, the forging of the scarlet witch, etc.

- also was kinda thinking Shang-Chi was gonna make a cameo and Loki too but neither happened.

- last thing I can think of right now, is that I kinda wish we would’ve gotten another post-credits scene that had more connection to what’s coming up in the mcu. Bc that short little one about just what’s next for Strange, isn’t enough for me 😩. I fr was hoping for something new to freak out about.

That’s all.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Hi I’m sorry to bother you, and I’m sorry if you’ve already answered this before, but I was wondering if people can still somewhat enjoy parts of WandaVision if they acknowledge and don’t excuse the problematic history surrounding the show and the its characters?

Look, I’m not the thought police. I can’t stop you from enjoying a tv show, and I’m not interested in trying to moralize about consuming ‘problematic’ media. I can only really tell you the same thing I’ve already said several times over-- if you understand the problems that the MCU Maximoffs represent, you should be unable to enjoy them or frankly anything about them. It’s not just the casting. It’s the development, the adapted material, and the conversations that have been had both within and without the industry. It’s also about the fact that intentional erasure of Romani history and the false conflation of the Roma population with lower-class white Europeans are real factors of structural racism.

Olsen is fully aware of these issues, as was Joss Whedon during the development of AoU, but she and several of her colleagues nevertheless continue to exploit pejorative language and racist imagery regarding her character. Much of the material that WandaVision draws on is material which references her identity and her family’s history, so the people making WV had to have known about those elements and made a conscious decision about how they wanted to address them-- and make no mistake, they did address them.

These are not actions that I am willing to make concessions for, and I am not willing to hold space for other people to do so, either. I cannot tolerate any form of engagement with the show that does not include a conversation about this, and that’s exactly what you’re doing any time you share fanart or gifs, or put up posters, or praise it uncritically on any platform.

Maybe if the last few months had gone differently for me, I would be taking a gentler stance right now, but they didn’t. Let me tell you what I’ve been going through.

Every industry person I’ve reached out to* during WV’s run has either brushed me aside, or else paid me lip service while refusing to have a public dialogue about the show’s racism or even change their behavior in loudly endorsing it. My LCS has not removed their promotional material for the show, even after I disclosed my identity and had a conversation about it in person. I’ve been sent hate speech and suicide bait on this blog several times in response to my writing. Meanwhile, twitter threads rife with hate speech and misinformation erupted around Roma actress Mihaela Dragan’s statements on the show, and similar responses followed Roma writer Jessica Reidy’s article about Roma women and witchcraft.

I’m taking a hard stance because it’s been made pretty clear that playing nice and making concessions won’t achieve anything. It has been proven to me, time and time again, that people who would otherwise be progressive and anti-racist will avert their eyes and feign ignorance when they hear the words “Roma” or “gypsy.”  You are all looking for chances to pretend we don’t exist. You are all looking for chances to ignore and enable antiromanyism, even in such an immaterial arena as Marvel fandom. I’m asking for the bare minimum, and I can’t even get that. So I say, no, sorry to ruin your fun. I'm sick of it.

I wish Teyonah Parris all the best moving forward and I hope she gets the opportunity to play Monica Rambeau in the lead role unburdened by misogynoir that she deserves. I hope that the child actors have safe and enjoyable careers moving forward and that they will be able to cleanly step away from this project, and the MCU's fandom, as they get older.

*This includes primarily fellow LGBT folks and fellow people of color. Since I’m in a bad mood, I’m going to name two people who I had one-on-one conversations with that amounted to nothing: Kevin Wada and Luciano Vecchio. If you’ve spent any time on this page, you’ll know that these are two artists who I admire deeply and have shown tremendous amounts of love and (financial) support in my time as a comics collector. This really stings, and I have had to honestly ask myself if I can continue to support either of them in good faith having been sent such a plain message that neither of them care about me or my community.

[sapphicsuperheroes]

Not only was this episode dreadfully stupid, but it was also really boring. Jonathan Majors is a highlight in everything he’s in so, at least I had him, but the dialogue just went on and on and on and on. It was so explain-y I felt my head was going to explode. Not only that, but the whole episode felt like it was trying to fill in an ending that the writers couldn’t figure out. Loki and Sylvie shifted back and forth on their motivations and desires so much I got fucking whiplash. I was completely unable to follow anything that was happening.

I, as a comics fan, know Kang is terrifying. But like, how did Loki get terrifying from this guy? He was kinda chill, I’d hang out with him. I know he said he’s terrifying but like… show me please? All I’m saying is that any “realization” or development that anyone had felt off-screen or unexplained. They gave Majors a long monologue to show him off (as they should, I adore him, but I digress) and just had Loki and Sylvie sit there. And when he was done they argued. And then they fought a bit. And then…there was a kiss. Same visceral reaction as the R*ylo kiss tbh. And then Sylvie stabbed Kang…and Mobius is an amnesiac, and I don’t know—did it feel as anti-climactic to others as it did to me? Cause I was really fucking bored. The whole episode was one really long scene, trying to set up too much at once. They were telling me the stakes were high rather than showing me, so I felt no tension because of it. Not to mention this one dolly shot that kept going in and out onto Kang’s desk and had me wanting to pull my hair out in frustration.

And for a show that got Loki so right in the first episode…what happened? He literally felt so off and I can’t pinpoint why. And for Sylvie to just up and stop trusting him again..I thought they cleared this up last ep??? I don’t know…am I crazy? This episode was so terrible. I’m mad but also confused. Cause at least with Wandavision + Falcon & the Winter Soldier..the endings were relatively anticlimactic but enjoyable at the minimum. They still managed to wrap up things. In a big fight, which is debatably not the best way to end a show, but they still got to their points, even if they were unsuccessful. I could still watch the WV + TFATWS finales with minor interest in the story/characters. But the Loki finale?? No thanks. Feel free to disagree, by all means, but hoooo girl, this just wasn’t it. I’m bitterly disappointed, but I guess that’s what I get for raising my hopes too high for Disney.

[alina-vanille]

Humanity & Superheroes, or The moment I fell in love with Monica Rambeau

I love WandaVision. One of the best things about it, of course, is that it is about my favorite couple in the MCU. Wanda and Vision both are severely underused characters in the movies and I’m like many others was thrilled for them to get their own show.

And what I also dearly love about this show is that it introduced or re-introduced some amazing characters: I didn’t care much about Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man - he was a great comic relief, but that was it - in this show though I’ve learned to really appreciate his character and looking forward to seeing him again; then there is Kat Dennings’ Darcy Lewis who was for me one of the (very) few enjoyable elements about the first two Thor movies. I also fell in love with Wanda’s kids - with just a couple episodes these two dudes managed to win us all over. 

But the true revelation in this show for me was Monica.

I have to confess, I didn’t much like the idea of Monica’s character from the moment I learned that the little daughter of Captain Marvel’s best friend Maria is going to become a superhero, much like her idealised aunt Carol. 

I was underwhelmed because I imagined Monica to become just another generic supergirl, much like Captain Marvel herself, who is going to fly around glowing pretty lights, kicking ass while shouting “wooo!” I imagined her to be a characterless fangirl, whose sole purpose in life will be acquiring superpowers just so she could join her boring aunt Carol, so that they could fly and glow together. 

Well, I was wrong in my assumptions. And not just because this grown up Monica we are introduced to in the show doesn’t seem to be all that thrilled about Captain Marvel, but because Monica is a wholesome, independent character with her own story, motivation and agency. And because she is deeply human - something, I felt, Captain Marvel was lacking. 

Monica as a character is first of all established as a human being, not a superhero. 

I quickly saw that and Monica became more likeable with each scene she was in. It was clear she was going to get her superpowers at some point in the show, but it was fine, because there was already a human connection between a character and a viewer, which made waiting for Monica getting her powers and abilities thrilling instead of: “right, here we go again”.

But the moment I think I fell in love with Monica (and loved the story of WandaVision even more) was this scene in episode 6, where Monica tells Jimmy and Darcy that she is going to do whatever it is in her power to help Wanda, because she (Monica) knew exactly how Wanda felt. 

“I know what Wanda is feeling. And I won’t stop until I help her”.

This scene rings even more clear and true after episode 8, where we finally could clearly see for ourselves how alone and desperate Wanda truly felt.

Monica felt that too. And what I absolutely love is that her motivation for going back to the Hex wasn’t to just play the hero and kick a bad guy’s ass, but to save another human being with whom she truly sympathised with. 

More than anything Wanda needed her family, a friend - she felt so completely alone and desperate. And because Monica’s own feelings following the loss of her mother, mirrored Wanda’s own, she decides to go against all odds and help Wanda, because Monica needs that help as well.  

In this light Monica getting her powers feels completely deserved, so instead of exasperation you actually feel justified that such an amazing character is going to be a new superhero in your favorite franchise. Because you first of all love and admire Monica as a human being, her superpowers is just a cool bonus. 

I sincerely hope that following WandaVision Monica and Wanda are going to become great friends and might even share adventures together.

Also, I may be unfair to Captain Marvel, but I can’t help contrasting her with Monica. I couldn’t care less if there was another CM movie, because her character just left me so cold. 

Wanda’s and Monica’s stories in the WV clearly show that connecting with the heroes on a human level is so much more important than them having cool-looking superpowers.

[visixnaryx]

ok, the longer i stew on the events of wv, the more upset i get.

before the show even started, the possibility of two visions was a big theory many people had, and i was vehemently against it. bc i knew, i knew that if it happened, all the characterization, all the development, and vision’s family, would belong to an illusion of vision.

and i can’t help but feel cheated that it went down that way, you know? 

it’s just led to such complicated feelings about it. like...  vision should have had this. vision should have had his family and now he doesn’t even know who the fuck his sons are??? and i want more insight into who hex!vision really is, because i didn’t feel satisfied with the answer. is he nothing more than just wanda’s memory or is he truly some piece left of vision from the mind stone? or are they saying that vision was the mind stone? everything that made him human? 

so where does that leave the original vision? without emotion? if so, fuck that. i’m just genuinely pissed about it. i feel robbed. i had hoped the two visions would merge, so he wouldn’t lose what he gained in westview, but they really said ‘fuck your stupid ass hopes and dreams, tori!’ 

i hope they can idk do something like that in the future? i don’t want everything that happened in westview to be nothing to him. 

also it sort of soured my enjoyment of looking at cute moments vision had in the show bc my brain just goes ‘but he’s not vision’. like that fucking sucks??? vision didn’t hold his babies. vision didn’t marry wanda. i don’t want to look at it that way, but here we are.

[lesbiancarat]

From watching others James corden tends to be good with foreign guest so hopefully this one will be no different ^^

Also the way that announcement sent me spiraling because like....are they promoting? Are they just going to sing home run? AH. ALSO ALSO I know people always get concerned when they’re lots of comebacks for our boys but idk it’s weird I feel like since they’re technically promoting “less”, as in not doing the whole four week deal they’re sorta like, bored in a way? Normally, they most likely would have done a tour at least like in Japan or fansigns around Korea or world tour by now, but since all fansign is a lot less formal and you can’t go anywhere they sorta want to do more? Of course I don’t want them to be tired but they’ve never had a hiatus thus far or any slowing of activity and since a lot of stuff is at a standstill it’s sorta like “yeah, I had my free time but now what?” I’m sorta basing this off of a lot of other artists who write their own music from the western interviews saying how they were at first happy for the break then got bored and then started writing more music (ie Taylor Swift Billie eilish etc).

I didn’t mean to make this so long lol but it was sorta like my thoughts ya know?

yeah I've watched i think bts and blackpink on james corden and it was a lot more enjoyable than some other interviewers! I'm ultimately not too worried it's just that I get second hand embarrassment super easily when it comes to english interviews... (like even if it's a western artist being interviewed dhfkfj idk if english speaking interviewers are inherently cringy or if it's bc it's my native language that makes it worse dhfkfj)

and yeah it does seem a bit late to be promoting homerun... but at the same time it seems like a tight turnaround to have a comeback before early January when they haven't announced it yet? like if we really are getting a cb before then I'd expect them to announce it in the next week so they can start releasing teasers and ppl can pre-order, etc. or maybe they'll announce and promote the cb before the interview but not release the album until after? that's not usually how svt does things though dfjsh

or maybe they have some other project that isn't a comeback... idk what it would be but maybe it's related to the year end schedule we still don't know about. or maybe were all just overthinking this and they'll just promote homerun DHFKGJGJ all we can do is speculate

and yeah i totally agree, i honestly don't worry too much about svt having too many/too frequent comebacks. p sure svt have said they get bored on wv/fancafe whenever they have a few weeks off dhdjfh they might have talked about it in hit the road as well but I could be misremembering. like pledis probably does want to keep them active and make sure they have frequent enough cb's but I don't know that they control it as strictly as people think. and I trust svt to speak up for themselves if they need a break. + that sort of thing is something we can't really directly do anything about as fans anyway, and i don't like to worry about things i can't control DHFKGJ

[rollandbeers535-blog]

Convert Wavpack File To A number of Wav Information

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[spoonsrest]

Time for Party Business!

Hi Friends! The time is finally here. we are ready to share our WV cabin with you!

I acknowledge that I am genuinely terrible at making this forum shareable for us all to post pictures & see the calendar of when it’s available. So if any of you are good at this? I would be happy to exchange some days at the cabin for building a site that does the job.

OK! What do we have at the cabin?

WHERE- It’s 2 hours from Baltimore, 20 min from Berkeley Springs, WV.

WHAT- The cabin is 700 sqf indoor space with a huge screened in porch, hot tub, woodstove & fenced in yard on 2 1/2 acres of woods. It is in a community, not totally isolated. That means the main road gets plowed in winter & is accessible year round (4 wheel drive is needed if it snows to get in our driveway).  

PETS & KIDS? Yes! Both are welcome if they won’t destroy the place. The yard is fenced in. The house is reasonably kid friendly. We don’t have kids ourselves, so it’s on you to do a trouble check on any dangers lurking within. Let us know if anything is really bad that we can fix for future friends.

HOW MANY FOLKS CAN IT SLEEP? It sleeps 6 comfortably with a queen sized bed upstairs, bunk beds & fold out couch downstairs. There are folding cots & a couch on the screened in porch for folks who want to be closer to nature. There are also 3 cleared pads for tent camping outside of the yard.

I NEED FIRE IN MY LIFE- We have a wood stove inside, a fire pit in the yard & a second fire pit outside of the yard. Lots of wood & kindling stocked up.

HOT TUB??? The screened in porch has a hot tub for 5 people, towel warmer, ceiling fans, breakfast nook for 4, beer fridge, AN OUTSIDE SHOWER- my 100% favorite attraction.

CONNECTIVITY- Many phone services don’t work in our area, so be prepared to go out of range. Take a text break! We just got internet, so the TV has Netflix, HBO, etc for your viewing pleasure. We also have a DVD/VRC - the full set of Twin Peaks AND Dark Shadows on VHS for your throwback spooky cabin enjoyment.

SWIMMING HOLE- Wander out our back gate down a mossy path to Sleepy Creek- this is for guests of the community only & there’s almost never anyone else there. We have tons of tubes for drifting in the creek.

HIKING- It’s a short walk from the cabin to The Tuscarora Trail. Similar to the Appalachian Trail, only virtually empty. Other great nearby hikes are The Devils Nose & Cacapon State Park

I’m sure I’ve skipped a lot of relevant info, so feel free to ask! And again, if anyone wants to help build a site for us all to share, I am totally up for that.

Enjoy our cabin! Spoon & Lee

[sketzocase]

Playing x-men circa late 1990’s. (It’s a story time- sorry it’s so long!)

Ya know those weird games you play as kids?

My cousins, my little sister, and I used to play like x-men or lord of the rings.

To perfectly explain this understand that I have 10 cousins on my dad’s side. When you add me and my sisters- that totals to 13 grandkids.

And we were often all housed in the same farm house at the same time (not for night time lodging but for day time our parents would of course hang out with their brothers/sisters/sis and bro in laws- that stuff.)

When we were all playing together there was this kinda cool thing that ended up hanppening that resulted in the babies of our family being kinda born close together. So, imagine having a cousin that’s like... in my case with the cousin I’m closest to, a month younger than you. So yea- instant friend! Same age, same interests- it’s a good time.

One summer day, we decided we were going to play x-men.

Of course, not every cousin knew x-men characters so the characters were assigned dutifully by my cousin and I.

Simple things like his younger brother was always wolverine, and his younger sister was always shadow cat, and blah blah blah. For the two of us, we both wanted to be nightcrawler. So he was a actual nightcrawler and I was girl nightcrawler (Give us a break- we were like... 9)

SO playing x-men obviously involved using powers.

And obviously two nine year olds are not randomly going to gain the ability to teleport. So, we invited rules. Shadowcat could phase through something but she only had to the count of five.

My cousin and I could ‘teleport’ by announcing that we were teleporting and therefore making all other x-men ‘freeze’ for the count of three while we ‘disappeared’ and reappeared.

It was good fun. Everyone understood the rules and shit was just enjoyable.

Now, when I said that my cousins were pretty well spaced out amongst different age groups- what I didn’t mention was that there were a few who were a year too old or a year too young.

One of my ‘older’ cousins is only a year older than me.

She usually didn’t play with us as she was considered “an older kid’ (a ‘point’ that me and my cousin argued over for years) and thus played with my older sister (who is the oldest grandkid) and our other cousin who was second oldest. ( again for perspective, my sister is only three years older than me, so it’s not like a huge age group- my sister was just (said with love) completely controlling and couldn’t play with us because we didn’t ‘play right’.)

One day the ‘not so older cousin’ decided to join us in our x-men game. We were pretty happy- more players means more fun!

So when assigning characters, with everyone taking who they liked to be, she refused to be anyone we gave her. Sighting that if I could be a made up character- so could she.

We couldn’t really argue so she was free to make her own character.

Thus “Rose” was born.

The only way to describe “Rose” is if you imagined Rogue becoming just the BIGGEST Mary Sue you could make. Rose was unstoppable.

Rose being able to win against any given character and even strip us of our powers, made the game quite dull.

But me and my partner in crime? We weren’t having it. This was our game and we would make sure everyone liked playing.

So, to do this, we made it our goal in the game to defeat Rose.

I know, I know, You’re thinking- what are two measily teleporters going to do against this great power that’s constantly changing to defeat us.?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

My cousins and I all share this wicked sense of humor. And we really like fucking with people.

So we take our mark and start attempting to defeat the mighty “Rose”.

She realizes that she can’t ‘trap us’ as long as we can teleport and we annoy her sooo much that she decides to transport us to Antarctica and strip us of our teleportion. Which really sucks for a nine year old. Start the game with magical escape powers and then not have them.

So, we regather ourselves and go back to the battle.

She says we can’t- because we were in Antarctica and couldn’t teleport anymore.

We told her that we took a bus.

She says we can’t take buses from Antarctica. We tell her to produce a solid source that says we can’t take buses in Antarctica. (Mind you- this was the 90’s. No one had cellphones and google was not that big of a thing in rural WV) Of course, she couldn’t PROVE that we couldn’t take a bus- so the point stood.

She then did a bunch of stupid and petty things to try and ‘stop us’. But it never worked.

Eventually she stormed off .

And that, my friends, is how nightcrawler and uh.. girl nightcrawler defeated the all mighty rose. And that battle will forever be sung in the walls of the good time memories of my childhood.

[cebeavers]

Paramount’s Carowinds 2004

May 14, 2004 Photo Album

I had known for months that I would be able to hit Carowinds in May as I was going to be in N.C. for the weekend of the 14 anyhow, so I made plans with my good friend (and then roommate) Jon to go with me again like we did last year.  Months of planning (and finding out they would finally be getting a Star Trek themed coaster) came to a head, though, in May, as things changed fairly drastically.  The origional plan called for Jon to head out to N.C. and spend the week with friends, and he and his friends would be meeting me on Friday at the park, after which he'd head back to Salisbury, N.C. with me for the weekend.

As the beginning of May rolled around, though, Jon realized that he lacked the funding to travel to N.C. for a  day, much less a week, so I was without a riding partner, as all my other friends weren't going to be able to make it till friday evening.  That same week, Andy messaged me on CoasterBuzz to let me know that he too would be hitting Carowinds on the 14th, and wanted to know if I wanted to hook up for some rides, to which I replied sure.  We spent the 2 weeks before making plans over IM mostly, and the phone, and on the day before the trip, I called and made final plans to meet Andy. We were to meet at the park, but if one of us got there signifigantly early, that person was to get in line for BORG, and we'd meet up after we both rode.

The morning came, and promptly at 4am, I awoke, got ready, went to town to gas up, and at 5am, headed out from the tiny town in WV where I reluctantly called home for the North Carolina sun.  I had planned to stop at 6am for breakfast in WV, but the place I had wanted to get biscuits from hadn't opened yet.  I put off breakfast for a while, and decided to head for the interstate.

After a couple of hours & houndreds of miles I was heading into N.C., but I was way ahead of my schedule.  The park hours listed on the website were 9:30am to 5pm, and I had wanted to be at the park no earlier than 9am but arrived at Lake Norman at 8am.  Since I was so early I decided to hit McD's for breakfast, and to take up some time.  This must have been the fastest, most efficient McDonalds I've ever been to!  I had wanted them to take their time so that I wouldn't be so early, but the McDonalds was very fast and very efficient (too bad Carowinds didn't have these people as ride ops!).

When I got past the road work that slowed me down a bit I still got to the park around 8:30, so I called Andy as I was going into the parking lot.  After making final morning plans to meet I paid my to park, got the flyers the very friendly attendant gave me (I appologized for talking on my phone, and the parking attendant was so very nice), parked in the very first spot in the very first non-handicaped parking row (never been that close to the gate before) and headed in.  The flyers were advertising the months concerts (man I wish I could have gotten down later this month for Ginuwine!), and the other was an appology and a list of closed rides.  The flyer appologized for the inconvience, but stated that since school was still in they still didn't have a full staff and, as such, Frenzoid, Thunder Road Backwards, and a few other kiddie rides wouldn't be open.  This was nicer than last year as there wasn't a list given out.

I had gotten my ticket online for $12 less than gate admission, had them check my bags, and entered the park at about 20min. before 9am.  When I got there, I was informed that the park actually opens at 9am, and so people were lined up on the enterance side of the bridge, waiting for staff to let them in the rest of the park.  One of the first things I noticed was how well the park looks, and how friendly the staff were.  Call it the southern hospitality, but its always welcome!  Walking from my car to the enterance, I kept hearing something very eerie, and soon realized that I was hearing the BORG talking, which was so very cool.  While waiting for Andy, I watched BORG and Vortex testing.  Both look amazing in the front of the park, and Vortex with its new paint is great!

I finally saw Andy at Will Call outside the park(they had a bit of trouble getting his tickets).  I could tell it was him because of the 'Raging Bull' T-shirt he wore, which is the same as in his profile(thankfully, I knew it was him then).  When he finally got his ticket and into the park, we meet breifly, and headed straight to BORG for a mornings first ride on the new coaster.

Star Trek BORG Assimilator-BORG looks good with it's new paint and in its new home.  The themeing struck me first, and looks incredible with the sphere and wreckage flung all over the place in the middle of the lake and under the ride.  The line wasn't very long but it was the coaster that was on everyone's list.  We hit the single rider line in hopes of a shortened wait and it paid off.  I had heard that the single rider line was a joke, but hitting it first thing got me and Andy both in the front row at the same time.  They do, however, make you take off your glasses (unless, like Andy, you're smart and bring a strap) so I was to be blind during the ride.  Riding in the front was great.  The coaster, while shaky  was fun, exciting, themed, and a great way to start the day.  It was also my 50th coaster.

Its a bit different than Batwing, but still fun.  The coaster was running 2 trains, but the load times were a bit slow.  After our first ride we ran around and hit it up again, hoping this time for a back row ride.  The exit is under the lift hill, and you get a better look at the themeing, which is cool.  Another thing that I noticed, that was very cool, and done very well, were the BORG voices, now louder.  The greatest thing was that there were more than just one voice speaking, and it made it feel much more realistic, since I'm such a BORG fan anyhow.

Trip two was fun as well, but Andy got assigned to row 3, and I got our coveted back row ride.  They've added TVs to the cue with Star Trek playing, which is nice, and the lift has a speaker giving the whole spiel about assimilation and resistance is futile.  Flying around the sphere was great, and going down near the water makes this coaster unique, and very fun.  Overall a great addition to the park.

So next we walked thru Nick Central and I told Andy a bit about the park before all the theming that has taken place in the last couple of years.  Walking over to Top Gun we saw that Reptar had no line, and since Andy had never done a Vekoma Jr. Invert we hit this next.

Rugrat's Runaway Reptar-Last year this was the new addition and I really enjoyed the rides I took last year, but this year it seemed a little rougher.  Nothing too bad to complain about, but a difference.   We got front row, with fast dispatches, and little load time for a fun, fast, and family friendly ride on Reptar.  The part over the midway is so fun, as is flying back thru the track.

So we decided to give Top Gun a goand as we neared the station and noticed no long line so we were happy.  Unfortunatly the ride was experiencing difficulty when we got in line for the front.  But as with every other coaster in the park, the que line had had TVs added.  We waited 15-20min. and the ride ops kept announcing that they were sorry for the delay and that they would have the coaster up shortly.  Finally they ran a couple of test trains, and eventually we were at the front of the line.

Top Gun The Jet Coaster-It had gotten just a tad bit rough, and could use a paint job but Top Gun is still one of my favorite coasters ever.  Its fast, furious, and intense, with good inversions back to back to back.  The mist under the walkway/tunnel was on full blast and cooled you off at the bottom of the batwing.  I still love this coaster, and it will always hold the distinction of being my first inverted coaster.

After Top Gun we walked around the midway a bit and then headed over to Thunder Road.  I'd love to ride this coaster backwards, but never get the chance.  The station was filled but the wait wasn't long.  We got in line for the back.

Thunder Road (forwards)-Two train operation, with stacking on the break run but the ride out was great, with some good pops of air.  Andy and I both enjoyed it but the trip back, though still fun, was really nothing to brag about.  I like Thunder Road, and its always more fun to race, but early in the season, and it running good, this is enough for me.

I had told Andy that the most air he'd probably get in the park was probably going to be on Scooby so thats where we headed next.

Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster-This had the best air in the park.  I personally think the one at Kings Dominion also has the best air in that park.  They're short, sweet, and full of hills.  There were two trains and we decided to hit the back of ours.  No real stacking, and it was a fun trip with me, Andy, and a bunch of kids.

The only other coaster at the park that I'd never ridden is Taxi Jam.  It was running, and there really wasn't a line so Andy talked me into trying to get a ride.  But after getting in line, and being let thru, the woman wouldn't let us ride together, and there were no single kid riders.  Heart broken we went over to Chopper Chase instead.

Chopper Chase-I'd seen this but never ridden before, and since I always put them in my RCT parks, thought I'd better take a spin.  Its cool that you go faster when you peddle, and its just a smooth, fun ride, with no wait.

Next, we decided to wait around the queue of Taxi Jam to see if we could ride with someone.  After waiting a few minutes Andy succeeded in selling his soul to the devil, got a ride on Taxi Jam with a single kid (No worries, the parents were fine with it), and his credit.  I almost backed out, but then met the cutest little girl named Murphey who's mother didn’t want to ride and said it was fine if I rode with her.

Taxi Jam-Most enjoyable because of the little girl, Murphy, that I rode with.  She proceeded to tell me that we have to raise our hands, and I told her that that was the only was you were allowed to ride a coaster.  Taxi Jam was actually quite fun, with a couple good hills.

After this, we were going to go get something to eat, but ended up just getting water instead.  We walked around Carolina Boardwalk and this gave Andy time to look around the park a bit more.  They've definitly cleaned up the park in the last few years, and with the painting this year, it looks good.  TVs were added to most major que lines, which I'm sure would make a long wait less painful.  But instead of eating, we noticed that Super Saturator had a small line, and Andy was up to it, so that was were we headed.

Nicelodeon's Flying Super Saturator-The line is just as much fun as the ride.  We were soaked before we even got to the station.  Setpoint knows what they're doing, as can be seen by the lines that are always around this coaster.  Its fun, and cools you down on a hot day.  We waited about 15 minutes and they had 3 of 4 trains running, with fairly fast dispatches.  When it was our turn, we took the back of the car, as I had never ridden backwards, and you don't seem to get as wet that way.  Andy and I both released our water bombs over the que line, drenching the crowd waiting to board.  This was more fun from the back, and definitly more fun than last years ride.

Next we went to see about Vortex, but the single rider line was closed and the line was longer than I had seen it in years, so Andy and I skipped for now.  I had told him that Cyclone was fairly smooth for an Arrow, so that was were we headed next.  I hadn't seen the line for this coaster that long in a while, but it was still fast moving, and we waited about 10 minutes for a back seat ride.  They added TVs to the queue here too.

Carolina Cyclone-Definitly the smoothest Arrow I've been on.  The trains looked beautiful, newly painted and put together.  They looked brand new.  There was a bit of roughness into the first Corkscrew, but this is still a fun, nicely landscaped, and fast paced coaster.

I wanted to do Drop Zone next, we queued up, but the line was way too long so we walked around the area, hit the bathroom and then headed to Hurler.  They've stripped all the theming from Hurler, to Wayne's car at the que enterance, to the Kewpie doll stuff in the station.  This is the only coaster they actually removed the TVs.

Hurler-This was the longest I've ever waited for this coaster.  The line died down later, but we didn't wait more than 15 minutes for this front ride.  WOW!  What got into Hurler this year???!?  Last year it was running better than it had been, but the front row ride we got was chock full of air (I came compeletly out of my seat on the first hill after the drop).  I had never had such good rides on this coaster, and was shocked and amazed.

After coming off our great Hurler experience we headed to Ricochet as it had no line.  This coaster could use some paint, but it dosen't look bad.  The line was fast moving.

Ricochet-Only 1 break on the course this year!  This was definitly a better ride than last year and Andy said this was possibly his new favorite mouse.  I'm almost inclined to agree, but Ricochet at Kings Dominion had a great first drop.

We went and got something to drink.  I had a lime slushy and Andy had water, and then headed to Goldrusher.  I'm not a huge mine train fan, but I wasn't gonna let Andy go alone...

Carolina Goldrusher-Not my favorite mine ride, but they did paint it.  It is a fun ride, and I got to finish my lime slush in the que.  The dispatches were slow, stacking on the break run, but it was running faster this year with the paint job.  Plus I got some good views of BORG.

We decided to wait out Vortex as the line wasn't overly long.  This was the last coaster we had to ride for Andy to get his credits today.

Vortex-Boy, it looks pretty.  Really pretty with new red and black paint.  I just wonder why they left the rails unpainted.  Even the 6 car trains look new.  But don't let the new paint fool you...  The line moved fast and we got on the front of the ride.  This thing is rough.  Definitly the roughest B&M I'd ever done up to that point.  This was the worst stacking for me today, because as we are waiting on the break run, I start heaving.  I threw up the lime slush and water all over the front of myself, all while going into the station as everyone in the station watching started yelling “Ewwww!”  I've never gotten sick on a coaster, but the day was hot, and I was not feeling well all day. ��Don't know if it was just the day, or if I'm getting old. I was sick all weekend.

After getting off the ride, I told Andy I needed to change cloths.  We went to the restroom, I changed, and then we went for a spin on the Sky Tower.  Since I felt a bit better, we headed back to Top Gun for more.  I went on once in the back, got off, and dry heaved again a few minutes.  I didn't feel up to another ride right then, so Andy went at it alone for a front row ride, as I lie down and waited.  Feeling better, I took my final spin on Top Gun from the middle with Andy.

Next, we went back over to BORG, but the line was out to the queue entrance.  Then we went over to Drop Zone which had no line what-so-ever.  Andy and I debated on wheather or not we like drop rides, but since there were no lines, we took 2 spins.  The ride ops were having fun and being very friendly with us.  We could have done more rides, as there weren't any people in line, but decided to hit Hurler.

Andy and I debated on wheather or not we like drop rides, but since there were no lines, we took 2 spins.  The ride ops were having fun, and being very friendly with us.  We could have done more rides, as there weren't any people in line, but decided to hit Hurler.  The Park's website said the park closed at 5pm that day for Grad nite, but they changed it to 6pm.  We went on another good Hurler ride from the second seat.  We could have done this more, but I knew that I wouldn't be doing any more coastering after getting slightly sick again.  There weren't any people even waiting to get in the front when we pulled into the station.

The park started to empty out and we could probably have done a few more rides, but I was getting tired and had almost an hour ride back to Salisbury.  We went over to see about BORG, but they were having a temporary delay, and had taken one train off the tracks.  We walked around BORG to look more at the themeing.  They hadn't been letting anybody in the que, but then the coaster started running again.  I wanted one of the cool BORG shirts the ride ops were wearing, and was told I could get one at the gift shop.

There were quite a few cool shirts, but I got a tan version of the ones the ride ops wore on BORG, as black tends to fade too much.  I also got a BORG shot glass.  After this I told Andy it was time for me to go.  He decided to stay in the park till they kicked him out, so we shook hands and went our seperate ways.  He asked if I had wanted to go to SFoG on Sat with him, but I couldn't as I already had plans.  After I exited the park, I went to the Customer Relations window, told them I had had a great day at the park, and that I thought they were doing good.  They wanted to know if they could clone me.  I apologized for getting sick on Vortex, and they just joked with me that they didn't have to clean it up, so it was okay.  I filled out a comment card telling them how much fun I had, and that I thought the park was looking great, and had great customer service.

Andy was the first CoasterBuzzer I'd met in person.  I had a great time with him, and hope I didn't bore him to death.  It was nice to have someone else who spoke fluent Coaster Geek.  I just wish I hadn't thrown up a little on him (Sorry Andy).  But I thank him for putting with me for the day.

[kendra-inthemedia]

See ya l8r, NYC

I’ve spent the last decade or so working my way towards NYC. Ever since I chose to be a fashion major I wanted to test out New York, mainly because everyone said it’d be a waste of time or that I’d never make it in a city given I was from the small life of WV.

It’s crazy to think it’s over for now. I’ll be back home in mid-August and I’ll be going back to Kent roughly 10 days after my return.

Needless to say, I’m not the same person I was 10 years ago when I first decided to try out the big city. Although I’m still stubborn and determined, I can say with confidence I’ve seen a lot more than I thought I would by age 21.

I’ve felt a lot. I’ve seen a lot.

It doesn’t hurt my pride for me to say I don’t think I’ll come back to NY too soon.

Not that I’ll never come back, but probably not until I have a stable job.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a great experience, but the stress, money issues, and exhaustion I’ve put up with to be able to come to New York were hard on my soul and my anxiety.

On the bright side, every other city will seem small now comparatively. If&when I do leave home for good I would like to live in a midsize city. Maybe Columbus or even Tampa. I want to live somewhere that I can have a 20x20 yard for my mutt to run around in.

I will miss the availability of stores once I get back home. NY has everything and Kent will feel limited by comparison. I will miss going to see Broadway shows. I’ve seen 3 since my first trip back in March.

I will NOT miss having to carry my groceries up the hill and 4 flights of stairs. I will not miss having to cater to the loud crowded subway. (Wasn’t THAT BAD, but I would rather drive.) I will not miss living with my brother. I love the guy dearly and I would not have been able to stay in NYC with out him, but I would enjoy the city a little more if I were able to have a little more privacy.

The first thing I will do when I go back home, after a 6-8 hour drive across PA, is greet my very eager puppy. We got him back in November and it made me sad to have to leave over the summer and miss him growing up. He’ll be a year in September. I plan on having my mom record the reunion because he goes NUTS every time I come back.  I will probably cry.

His name is Louie.

One thing I’ve learned from NYC is how to adapt to my surroundings. I think I’m actually better with directions when off a grid. I think my independence has expanded even more since this experience. My mom was extremely worried about me coming here because she knew I didn’t deal with my move to Kent very well. I told her that I learned in Kent that the only options I had were to sink or swim... so I just keep swimming.

One day I might come back. The fashion industry thrives here. I don’t know where I’ll end up. I just hope that it’s not a total pain in the neck.

I am extremely thankful I was able to come to NYC and make my 13-year-old dreams come true. I’m glad I can say I did this and it didn’t break me because many people thought it would.

The day I finish my internship will be sad for me because I really enjoyed my time with my boss. Working with her has been like living someone else's life and I’m very thankful she took me on as an intern. My internship has been the most enjoyable part of my experience in NYC.

I’m happy I came to NY. Now I get to figure out what my new goal is. Hopefully, the next one won’t take a decade to accomplish. Haha.

:)

[spoonsrest]

Hi Friends! The time is finally here. we are ready to share our WV cabin with you!

I acknowledge that I am genuinely terrible at making this forum shareable for us all to post pictures & see the calendar of when it’s available. So if any of you are good at this? I would be happy to exchange some days at the cabin for building a site that does the job.

OK! What do we have at the cabin?

WHERE- It’s 2 hours from Baltimore, 20 min from Berkeley Springs, WV.

WHAT- The cabin is 700 sqf indoor space with a huge screened in porch, hot tub & fenced in yard on 2 1/2 acres of woods. It is in a community, not totally isolated. That means the main road gets plowed in winter & is accessible year round (a 4 wheel drive is needed if it snows to get in our driveway).  

PETS & KIDS? Yes! Both are welcome if they won’t destroy the place. The yard is fenced in. The house is reasonably kid friendly. We don’t have kids ourselves, so it’s on you to do a trouble check on any dangers lurking within. Let us know if anything is really bad that we can fix for future friends.

HOW MANY FOLKS CAN IT SLEEP? It sleeps 6 comfortably with a queen sized bed upstairs, bunk beds & fold out couch downstairs. There are folding cots & a couch on the screened in porch for folks who want to be closer to nature. There are also 3 cleared pads for tent camping outside of the yard.

I NEED FIRE IN MY LIFE- We have a wood stove inside, a fire pit in the yard & a second fire pit outside of the yard. Lots of wood & kindling stocked up.

HOT TUB??? The screened in porch has a hot tub for 5 people, towel warmer, ceiling fans, breakfast nook for 4, beer fridge, AN OUTSIDE SHOWER- my 100% favorite attraction.

CONNECTIVITY- Many phone services don’t work in our area, so be prepared to go out of range. Take a text break! We just got internet, so the TV has Netflix, HBO, etc for your viewing pleasure. We also have a DVD/VRC - the full set of Twin Peaks AND Dark Shadows on VHS for your throwback spooky cabin enjoyment.

SWIMMING HOLE- Wander out our back gate down a mossy path to Sleepy Creek- this is for guests of the community only & there’s almost never anyone else there. We have tons of tubes for drifting in the creek.

HIKING- It’s a short walk from the cabin to The Tuscarora Trail. Similar to the Appalachian Trail, only virtually empty. Other great nearby hikes are The Devils Nose & Cacapon State Park

I’m sure I’ve skipped a lot of relevant info, so feel free to ask! And again, if anyone wants to help build a site for us all to share, I am totally up for that.

Enjoy our cabin! Spoon & Lee

I’ll add more photos of the inside of the house this week.