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rainberrydrops · 2 years ago

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21 Questions Tag

thank you for this @aomitois 🤍

1. Nickname:

✨Ries✨

2. Zodiac:

♉

3. Height:

your pocket-sized 4"11 girlie ✨

4. Jock, nerd, prep, goth?

Definitely nerd. I have a lot of interests that I enjoy talking about

5. Last thing I googled:

"Star Rail Yukong" 🤣 I just got her last night and I am going to build her so I'm looking at guides

6. Favorite musician:

I have a lot! It's hard to pick my most favorite among them. But if I were to recommend a musician to a friend, I would pick Blü Eyes. She's so underrated but her songs speak to the soul and the heart.

7. Song stuck in my head:

Currently? It's "Let Me Let You Go by One Ok Rock"

8. House or block flat?

There are very few flats here in my country, it's mostly condominium units 😅 so I will choose a house. It would be so cool to have my own house someday and I will surely enjoy decorating it

9. Followers:

971 amazing beautiful hoomans 💖✨

10. Do you get asks?

Yes, sometimes! And I really appreciate the time they took to send me one 🤍

11. Amount of sleep:

usually around 6-7 hours 😅 it's so hard for me to get a full 8 hours sleep nowadays. Life is really busy and there are a lot of things I have to do and want to do

12. What are you wearing?

It's usually hot and humid in where I live so just a basic white shirt and dark green shorts 😆

13. Dream job:

I do not dream of labor 🤣 but I'm proud to say I fulfilled the dream of my younger self and currently working as a professional writer for events marketing. She has always wanted to become a writer. While the process of achieving this is not easy and I experienced having self-doubt and questioning my life decisions countless of times, I guess you would always end up where you're supposed to go. And I can say I am content with the current job that I have. I am not an ambitious person and I have no desire to get promoted to a higher position because that would only mean more workload for me 🤣 and I hate the thought of that. I place a great value on work-life balance and that's the first thing I prioritize every time I apply for a job

14. Dream Trip:

I have a lot of places I want to visit! I guess it's because growing up, I wasn't able to travel a lot. So now that I am older and earning my own money, I want to spend it in a memorable way. I hope I can travel more in my country, the Philippines, because we've got a lot of beautiful scenery, forests, nature spots, and islands that I haven't seen yet. I want to visit the East Asian and other South East Asian countries because I'm interested in their culture. Traveling to Europe is also on my bucket list, and I want to visit The Netherlands the most so I could finally see my long-time best friend @happysops 💜

I have a lot of things I want to do 🤣

15. Instruments:

I hold high respect and admiration for musicians because I am not musically inclined 😅 I never had a chance to learn how to play any instruments

16. Language:

Tagalog, English, and I can read and understand a little bit of Korean and Japanese. I took a Spanish class back in college but I have forgotten everything I learned from there 🤣😭

17. 10 Favorite songs as of now

• Quarter Life Crisis - Taylor Bickett

• Getting Older - Blü Eyes

• Hype Boy - NewJeans

• Cupid - Fifty Fifty

• Ditto - NewJeans

• Left Right - XG

• Doushite - Takasetoya, Emi Noda

• Let Me Let You Go - One Ok Rock

• July - Laur Elle

• You'd Never Know - Blü Eyes

18. If you were an animal: 😼

19. Favorite food:

pepperoni pizza, takoyaki, dried mangoes, matcha!!

20. Random Fact:

I like watching concerts and attending art markets. I usually spend my paycheck on them 🤣 (please don't be like me). Actually, I will be attending Nmixx's concert this weekend and next week I'll be roaming around in another local art market 😆 being surrounded by talented and creative people uplifts my energy~

21. My aesthetic:

I don't really have a specific aesthetic but I like wearing comfortable clothes based on my mood on that day 😆 and cute jewelry and accessories 💖 my go-to bag is totes!

Tagging: @roselise @froglovemushroom

#ask ries #about ries

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drivelikeaminister · 2 months ago

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Midlife Crisis Appraisal

In just a few hours I am going to turn 45 - and although the decade changes (10, 20, 30, 40, 50...) are usually celebrated more than in between - 45 feels like a big one. The chance is very high that I have passed or am quite near to half of my life being over. At 40 I could still internally tell myself that 80 isn't that old, and there's a good chance of making it. 90 and onward gets less and less likely. Which is to say, I am at the point where I can no longer deny that I am at or past my midpoint of living. Instead of a midlife crisis, I'm aiming more for a midlife appraisal.

The mid point has me thinking about what is past and what is yet to come. Sure, I have a few "bucket list" items I'd like to accomplish before I die: hike the Appalachian Trail, write a book (on accountability), complete an Ironman Triathlon... but even more important than any of those personal accomplishments is the time I spend with my loved ones and the impact I have on the world.

It is all about priorities and when faced with the reality that my time is limited - as is all of our time - the question for us remains: what will you do with your life? Our answer is how we live. I'm finding that both "yes" and "no" are coming easier to me as I age. I am more likely to say "yes" to my children for odd/fun requests: "Do you want to pack a picnic and eat outside on a weekday evening? Sure!" "You want to wake up early and watch the sunrise from a parking garage? Yes please!" Conversely I am more likely to say "no" for professional or optional items: "There's an optional meeting to go over a topic I'm not interested in... no thanks!"

This is where knowing and living my priorities becomes paramount. My mental and physical health is a priority - so I run, go to the gym, go to therapy, meet with a professional mentor and try to get enough sleep. My family is also a priority - so I alter my schedule to be present, take time off for school holidays, work early/late to be present on weekends and strive to always be loving. Spreading kindness in the world is a priority - so I preach and blog about faithful living and I try to live an example of care for others. The list goes on, but these three are at the top.

What is most important in your life? Would someone watching you be able to tell what is the most important for you just by observing? How might your priorities shift if you thought about your time being limited? The truth is that none of us know when our lives might end. Could be tomorrow, could be in another 45 years... Where do you want to put your energy and time? What and who is the most important in your life and how can you life your priorities? Might something need to shift?

At times I know that what I say and what I live aren't in concert. When I scroll social media instead of promoting love through my writing, or when I let work needlessly interrupt my sleep or family schedule... These are the times I am reflecting on improving in my next 45 years. Here's to keeping my focus on family time, self care and spreading love!

At risk of being abrupt, that's all I have to say and it's past my bedtime, good night! :)

P.S. If you want to celebrate my birthday do not get me anything. Instead, donate to a cause which you find meaningful and tell me about why the cause is important to you.

#midlife crisis #appraisal #spongebob #priorities #family #self care #love #life #mortality #birthday

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rezilient-m3 · 7 months ago

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May 21, 2024

It's been FOREVER since I wrote in this thing. And I honestly forgot about it for months at a time. When I would remember, it seemed too daunting of a task to even consider because of how much shit went down since Sept 6, 2022. lol.

I don't even know where to begin.... last subject was James walking away from his charges. We did have the final date of trial on Dec 13th of 2022. His charges got lessened to "assault on a minor", like to say he hit our daughter and not tried the "sexual interference" he first started out with. So, that was devastating.

So, to move on from that and to try make this a "catch up" post and to make the longest stories ever short... here we go...

Since that court date, the girls had been going to visit their dad (in the first time in 2 and a half years) at their grandma's. I couldn't do much about it. They wanted to see him and knew that they could because the no-contact order had been lifted. Then, on January 13th, they went to live with him. They knew for a week they were going and didn't tell me. I found out by an email from one of their teachers asking if they should pack up their things. So, that was fun.

Anyways, at the time, I did not know shit about the "status quo", and that I could have kept them home with me considering that they've been with me for 2 and a half years by that time. All I knew was there was that last court order from June 2020 that stated he was primary and I got every 2nd weekend. So, I thought I had to let them go. It was a hard night.

There was a guy, Brent, from my past that I had recently ran into on Dec 10/22. I remember the date because it was a Kane Brown concert when I went out that night and seen him. We added each other on social media. He was an old, one-week old bf from when I was like 14 or 15. lol. Anyways, on this night, I texted him to say I was ready to fall off (my sobriety), and he called me. He stayed on the phone with me for over 5 hours to keep me company. That really helped me. Anyways, this guy goes on to be another long story, and is still sort of present, but I don't want to get into that. I just needed to mention him to know how he came to be, and how much that actually meant to me at the time.

Moving on to my life after that. I was still in school. (I am currently going into my 4th year of ISW btw). My dad asked me if I wanted to lawyer and I remember saying that I didn't want to fight for kids that didn't want to be with me. Cuz I knew that they wanted to go. And I said it wouldn't be long until they wanted to come back.

It was March when my oldest said they wanted to come back. Here's the piss off though. I hired the same lawyer to represent me in Alex and I's court stuff. (Idk if I mentioned it before, but him and I came up with our own agreement concerning our son. I didn't go for half of his stuff). But this fkn guy didn't do shit for me for months. Idk what I was thinking. I just assumed he was getting things done as the days, weeks, and months were passing. I emailed every time something went down (pertaining to their dad's drinking and domestic issues with his gf, while my girls were in their care). But nothing. I finally just called the law firm and asked the lady at the front to ask if this guy was still representing me or if I could just get my retainer back to hire someone else. (But since everything happens for a reason), The boss lady that owns the firm called me. She told me she took a look at my file and was very apologetic about this guy not responding and didn't know why, but was happy to take on my case for the same fee if I would have her. Of course I agreed. I honestly don't remember when this happened. I'm gonna guess in Aug/23. Cuz I know it was a long time. But things started moving. And it was a lot of work, on her part. I had to go from the beginning of our lives, and tell every detail. Along with all the situations that had occurred over those short months while they were with James. Because there was a lot. He's still the same pos as he was when I was with him, and still abusing his now, on-and-off gf.

It took a long time. And by the time I was in court, trying to change the interim order (meaning, trying to prove that there are good reasons to changing my every 2nd weekend to being primary throughout the court process of pretrial and possible trial). And, by this time, my girls changed their fkn minds about coming back. lol. It had everything to do with their friends they made at their schools by this time. Their dad still wasn't proving to a safe place. But whatever, I was too far in, AND, wouldn't even consider giving up because they thought they wanted to stay there..... I ended up winning the interim order. They came back home January 31st of this year. So, been with me since. Plus, James and I are currently undergoing a court ordered "high conflict mediation" lol. We had the initial interview together and our one-on-ones with the lady assigned to us. We will have meetings throughout the summer. Fun! (smh). Then, after this, (cuz I know we won't agree to anything mutually), we will go to pretrial to let the court decide where they will live permanently. So, this fkn journey still isn't done for me.

Then, the other "big" news is: I ended up back together with Alex. This happened on my little half sisters bachelorette. She got married at the end of Aug/23. We had her party two weeks before her wedding. I drank. I remember I tried to message Brent. He didn't reply, so I blocked him. When I got home at 7am, I texted Alex. I told him I still loved him and I didn't know what to do about it. He told me he loved me too, and I told him to come get me. We slept together a couple times after that. I kept thinking that we couldn't do it again because of how we ended the last time. I kept telling him this, too. He said he understood. But I kept coming back. and not too long after, our son busted me in his bed one morning. So, we kind of used that as an excuse to not take anything back and to at least try.

Moving forward to January again. I was supposed to be starting my first practicum. (I started 3 weeks late, but not getting into that.) I also got word that my girls were to come back to me on Jan 31st. AND, I was supposed to find a new place to live because my landlord was going to sell his townhouse, so he gave me to the end of February. Everything was happening at once. It was a stressful month. I couldn't find a place in the same town we all live in. I probably could have in the city, but that wasn't something I wanted to do. So, Alec said his house was always open. It took me a long time to consider, and I had always voiced my fears about everything to him about being afraid of ending up homeless with all my kids again (oh yea! ALL of my kids are here with me. My oldest has been living with me since summer 2023 lol). Anyways, he knew. And he's trying. I see it. He's also always working, so hardly here since. So, idk. Like, it's good, and I love him. But, always feels like there's certain lingering thoughts still. But I guess I could get into that another time.

Idk if I got everything. It's everything I could think of right now. Maybe I will keep it up, if anyone cares lol.

#allofme #thisisme

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hotarutranslations · 10 months ago

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Hachioji 2nd Day!

Evening

Morning Musume '24 Concert Tour Spring ~MOTTO MORNING MUSUME~

Had 2 performances in Hachioji!

Thank you very much🏅

Kyaaa---🏅

We did 4 performances at Hachioji but including the rehearsal it was 5 performances--🏅

The first day had first day excitement but,

Today, Since there were those where it was their first day today, How was Morning Musume🔥 That's how I feel standing there

Actually especially today in the afternoon, there were high cheers of it being your first day, It made me happy there were those of you😎🫶🏻

With the evening performance, The fans were in high spirits about it being the last of the 2nd day, I could feel it so much before the start, It was hot😎🫶🏻

I was so alive today…🌎🔥

Its really, how to say it, Although its limited, I feel totally sad that these two days are over,

My body isn't moving but, I want to repeat the feeling, of this weekend 1 more time lol

Next week is our Osaka performances so I'm looking forward😌💙

We'll be visiting around the country from now on

Please wait for us, everyone countrywide😌💙

The spring tour tickets are on general sale..

🩵🎫e+ 🩵🎫TicketPia

Also the finale has been decided

May 27th (Mon) Nippon Budoukan

.🌏👏🏻

Tomorrow, the FC advance reception starts from 5:00PM

Lets meet again!

📺Hello Pro Dance Gakuen Season 11

April 18th 11:30PM~ A Learning From TSUKUSHI-san Adventure🕺

In season 10 we challenged breakin', its reairing continuously! On the 15th, 17th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, #1~#6 all at once! Check out HP for info!

Sendai Broadcast "Ara Ara Kashiko" Every week (Sat) 10:25AM~ Ishida Ayumi Goes~!

I appear once a month as part of the AraKashi Family

The previous shows, and makings, are on OX VIDEO STORE!

Also on YouTube

Sendai Broadcast Ara Ara Kashiko

📺"HinaFest 2024" Before Special ~NamaTake Member Great Gathering 2 Hour SP~ (tenative)

CS TV Asa Channel March 24th (Sun) 12:00PM~

Thank you for following.. Instagram💙🩵

💿Releasing February 7th

Morning Musume '23 25th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT TOUR ~glad quarter-century~ at Nippon Budokan

Thank you for waiting for the Blu-ray&DVD! Its finally releasing--!

Its already nostalgic but, It has an amazing medley, really Please enjoy it many times

📚Releasing on February 7th "Hello! Project BEST SHOT!! Vol.26"

Ishida AyumixOda SakuraxNonaka Miki📸 Fukumura MizukixIshida AyumixOda Sakura📸

✍🏻Tokyo Sports note Series #146 Memories of Panda(san) Village with the two that were like elementary school students

🪩Spring Tour Has Been Decided Morning Musume '24 Concert Tour Spring MOTTO MORNING MUSUME

We'll be going around the country from March 16th!

🪩HinaFest March 30th and 31st at Makuhari Messe

🪩JAPAN JAM Morning Musume '24 will be performing on May 3rd!

⚾️《LIVE DAYS！～Exciting Big Exhibition Match～》 June 2nd(Sun), after the Hokkaido Ham Fighters vs. Yokohama DeNa Baystars match, Morning Musume '24 will be having a special mini live!

.👗👠 Aoyama Clothing x Morning Musume '24

📻Morning Musume '24 Morning Jogakuin ~Houkago Meeting~

Airs Every Saturday, On Radio Nihon at 12:00AM~

Past Broadcast Episodes Are Available →Program Details

Yamazaki Mei's Panda-san Daisuki!! ~Expressing Love Towards My Favorite Panda-san♡ ver.~ in Adventure World

Yamazaki Mei's Panda-san Daisuki!! Mei-chan's Holiday. Adventure World with Oda-san and Ishida-san

see you ayumin <3

#Ishida Ayumi #Morning Musume '24 #Morning Musume #Hello! Project #Translation #Blog

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rinskirt · 2 years ago

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does ami still know how to use tumblr?

i figured i could start journaling again. tbh i always liked long-form journaling a lot more than short-form blurbs and updates. twitter is more for memers, or people who like to make big, bold statements. i like to flesh things out, or think in pointless circles, which usually means 10-tweet threads no one asked for cluttering up their timelines. my posts aren't funny, or entertaining. i feel like i come off as really annoying on twitter. which for a long time has sucked and made me use of the site unpleasant. especially since it seemed like the last one left. but with twitter falling, where else is there to go?

i wish we could just bring back livejournal. i feel like the way hey separated things into communities--so you weren't forced to get annoyed over memes that aren't even for you in the first place, or diatribes about ships that are only logical and enjoyable to the people who ship them--was sincerely superior. i miss it. sadly, i don't know if it will ever come back since social media prioritizing engagement means the more people who see something, the better--even more so if it starts a fight because that will mean even MORE engagement, and even MORE clicks, and the cycle just keeps going.

tbh, for a couple years now i've been thinking it would, mentally, be so much better for me if i just quit social media. then i wouldn't have to see my friends' super exciting lives while i'm sitting home alone for the nth weekend in a row. it would mean less comparing myself to other people. more time to spend on doing things that would actually better my life. but it's a scary thought. because i'm so used to social media, so used to relying on the constant presence of others, would i still reach out to people? do i even know how to reach out to people anymore, without just screaming into the void that is twitter and hoping someone hears? will everyone forget i ever existed if they no longer see my tweets? or, worse, will they actually be glad i'm not on their feed anymore? would leaving social media just mean i'm alone from here on out?

idk. this is the dumb shit that haunts me. i grew up on the internet and on social media--was a part of the first generation to do so--so it's hard to envision my life without it. (really, social media is probably why my ability to reach out to others is so stunted...) plus, as an otaku, you kind of need social media to connect to others who share your interest. at least, you do if you're not an intensely outgoing extrovert. which i am most definitely not.

going to the genshin concert made me long so much for at least one actual flesh-and-blood friend who would want to go with me to stuff like that. i had so many feelings and thoughts that i just stewed over the entire walk back to the station, and then the hour and a half train ride home. all around me were people discussing it excitedly during every intermission, but i just kinda sat there and stared into space, listening to everyone around me talk, taking in all their thoughts and feelings and not being able to share any of my own.

i'm not someone who minds doing things alone. i think because of who i am, and the life i live, and the illness i've been dealt, i couldn't survive if i wasn't willing to do things alone. i feel like maybe that's a very lonely thing to say, and a very lonely way to think, but it's just my reality. i decided to abandon my entire life in the states where i already didn't have a ton of friends, and i came to a place where most of the people are just as shy and unwilling to reach out to strangers as i am. plus i continue in this limbo of moderately-okay-but-not-great japanese, at the level where you plateau if you don't speak much. and i don't speak much. i have a lot of trauma around speaking. it takes a very safe atmosphere to coax it out of me.

i was considering starting a journaling style that i saw recommended, where rather than writing, you record yourself speaking your thoughts and feelings. and while i know that would probably be very therapeutic and helpful for me in the long run, i haven't been able to bring myself to do it. in a book i've been reading lately, "the body keeps the score" by bessel van der kolk, he discusses how trauma freezes the part of the brain that processes language, and makes it hard to actually discuss what you're feeling. that's always been a problem for me. i don't want to talk about things. i don't want to put certain feelings and thoughts into the world. i don't even know how. not even to my phone in the privacy of my home.

but i do want to try it, if i can get myself to that point. i really do want to get better. i want so badly to stop being afraid of everyone in my life, of being abandoned by them, or being hated by them if i open up and show them the worst of me. if i admit how lost and sad and trapped i feel a lot of the time. i feel like i look like such a negative person, such a bitchy and whiny sadsack of a human, but it's because i'm afraid of everything. i'm like that annoying small dog that's so afraid you're going to kick it and so it makes itself as unpleasant to be around as possible so you just leave it be. if no one likes me, if everyone just leaves me alone, i'm safe. i can't be hurt anymore.

for how sad this journal entry comes off, though, i feel like i've been in an okay place mentally lately. the fact that i've been going out and doing stuff again is a sign of that. for a long while i remembered the first year i was in japan, how excited i was to go out and just do things, even if i had no one to do them with. but sometime around covid, that started slipping away--i stopped leaving my apartment until i was invited out, and stopped going to restaurants and shops and events unless someone would hold my hand. but i'm finally in a place where i feel like i've started to rebuild a bit.

i've been thinking a lot lately about what my priorities are, and what i can do to achieve those things, so i can have some semblance of peace and stability in my life. and right now, i feel like i want to just prioritize the idea of feeling good about myself and good about my life. i worked so hard to get to where i am now, and it feels like such a waste to be living it miserably. and while part of me can't help but feel like being miserable is just the hand i was dealt with my anxious, weird brain, i want to try to do something about it. i don't want to just continue to be sad about things and let those things fester even if they're things that can be changed.

so for now, i'll change the things that are in my power to change--my diet, my sleeping habits, getting enough exercise, doing more of the things i enjoy, cutting out more of the things that make me miserable (no matter how fun and addictive they seem in the moment...), and just being kinder to myself if i fail in any of those at any given moment. i want to feel like i am some power over my life again, however little.

anyway. now that i've made myself cry writing this, i need to run to the store. but it truly is therapeutic to actually type all this out. i enjoyed it. i missed journaling. i'll have to do this more often.

#personal: journal

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cocochannel00 · 3 years ago

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The Azoff Family: A Case Study on one of the Music Industry’s Most Connected Families

(ft. a breakdown of the Grammy voting process and problems)

This is very long so I will try and split it up into categories for everyone (sorry I got carried away- I spent like 2 hours writing this) but enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I want to preface while the majority of this is based in research, some parts may be speculation. I don’t know the family personally so I can’t tell you what goes on behind closed doors but I can tell you how parts of the entertainment/music industry work. I’ve had 5 internships in the industry (one in marketing at one of the big record labels) and the rest of my work is publicity (what I enjoy) and events and a former advisor used to run in the same circles as Irving Azoff (and he spilled some tea last year) I’m not out here to diminish the hard work of any artists or their teams, I’m simply here to showcase parts of the industry that aren’t always shown.*

Please also see: Story Time: How Fan Pages Directly Impact Columbia Records Decisions and Harry Styles Image

IRVING AZOFF: NEVER STOP THE GRIND

Let’s begin with the great business man himself Mr. Irving Azoff Irving Azoff is the literal posture child for connections and power in the music industry (he was also inducted into the 2020 rock and roll hall of fame class which is like a huge fucking deal for a manager to be inducted so you know he's the real deal)

In conclusion, I love Irving Azoff and his drive.

Irving Azoff: Early Years Run Down:

He came up middle class (dad was a pharmacist, mom a bookkeeper) in Danville, Illinois

He dropped out of college to run a small Midwestern concert-booking empire and managed local acts in the era

Opportunity came knocking and he got the chance to manage the Eagles and the rest is history

He's one of the best negotiators and has negotiated business on behalf of stars like Stevie Nicks, the Eagles, and Jimmy Buffet

Azoff has been an incredible manager and his drive to always advocate for his clients while basically not giving two sh*ts about what people think of him has gotten him the incredible reputation he has today.

All of Irving Azoff’s Major Job Positions:

Former President MCA (major label)

Former CEO of Ticketmaster and executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, the behemoth formed from Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation.

In 2013 he and Cablevision Systems Corp. CEO and New York Knicks owner James Dolan formed a partnership, Azoff MSG Entertainment (Currently still CEO)

----> Azoff also ran the Forum in Inglewood under Azoff MSG Entertainment after MSG purchased it in 2012 (it was sold in 2020 to the owner of the Clippers) — why do you think Harry played the forum for the Fine Line show? Azoff connection

Azoff MSG Entertainment encompasses all of the other companies including Full Stop Management, Global Music Rights (performance-rights org), and the Oak View Group (arena developing company)

He also is the co-founder and manager of the lobbying group Music Artists Coalition, a group that helps lobby for artists-rights issues such as royalty rates, copyright issue and healthcare insurance (see he's not all bad)

Essentially what I'm getting at is this man knows anybody who's anybody. He's the man you want on your team to help promote your music, plan your tour, and get you on that Grammy nom list.

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JEFFREY AZOFF: THE CHILD OF NEPOTISM

So for those of you that don't know, Jeffery Azoff is Harry's current manager and the son of Irving Azoff (the third of four kids). He's currently a partner at Full Stop Management, the company owned by Irving and the one artists such as Harry, Haim, the Eagles, Kings of Leon, and Meghan Trainer are signed to.

Jeffrey graduated from the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business and started working fresh out of college at his father's old Management company (Frontline Management) working under Maroon 5's manager Jordan Feldstein (the only way you get that kind of internship/job as a 21 year old fresh out of college is if your family or family friends gives it to you). He worked here for 5 years.

Direct Quote from Irving Azoff to Jeffrey (really tells you a lot): "Listen carefully, because I’m going to say this one time. You have a phone and you have my last name. If you can’t figure it out, you’re not my son."

After working for his father, Jeffrey moved on to the talent agency CAA (Creative Artist Agency) where he worked for roughly 3 and half years before joining his dad in forming Full Stop Management in 2016.

While he was at CAA, Irving moved over clients like Christina Aguilera and the Eagles to the talent agency to help with tour booking instead of doing it internally through LiveNation (he was CEO).

Even though I'm sure Jeff has had to work somewhat hard to get to where he is (or at least to mess up his dad's work as he doesn't seem like the type to take laziness well), the door into the industry and every job was basically handed to him on a silver platter.

Not to mention if you watch episodes of keeping up with the kardashians (like myself) you can actually see Jeff hanging out with kendall and the rest of the fam at their Palm Springs house (you know you're a nepotism kid if you have an in with the Kardashian crew). Invite me next time Jeffrey!!!

Think of the Azoff's as the mafia family of the music industry, you don't mess with the mafia

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THE GRAMMY AWARDS: STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS ON STEROIDS

Ok so here's where we’re going to get into a bit more of the speculation/grey area. I don't need to tell you that award shows are corrupt (See the Golden Globes Emily in Paris scandal) and the Grammys are not an exception. Think of the Grammys as one big student council/government elections where despite the fact the teachers tell you six times to vote for the best candidate, you're still going to vote for your friends even if they aren't the best.

A simplified break-down of Grammy voting:

1) Recording Academy voting members (artists, producers, musicians- anyone involved first hand with the creation of music; All voting members must have been producers, performers or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album (or 12 or more digital tracks) and record labels will submit nominations in various categories to the grammys (songs need to be released commercially between October 1 of the previous year and September 30th of this year). You can also become a voting member by either winning a grammy or being endorsed by a current voting member (hint hint)

2) Once received, the recording academy with have the academy of trustees and its reviewers organize them and approve any changes to the 30 categories/fields (aka they can add new categories or remove old ones; so no best ukulele album of the year -- this is where things get funky)

There's speculation that during this stage when these special groups of 8-10 people are organizing genres, there's an "unwritten rule" that you need to be careful what album you green light (especially for famous artists) if you don't want them to win) (Rob Kenner said this- he used to be on one of these committees). Famous people tend to get more votes from clueless or lay Academy members that don't know the specialized categories or don't care enough to listen to songs that aren't radio trending.

3) After the nominations occur, Voting members begin their first voting. Members can vote for the four general categories of record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist and a maximum of 15 categories, all within their areas of expertise. Now the interesting thing is that while these are the guidelines there is literally nothing stopping them from voting in whatever categories they want (i.g. a rapper voting in the opera category despite not listening to opera). Theses ballots are all tallied and the top 20 entries are determined in each category (funky moment #2)

In 12 of the 84 categories those top 20 go to the ballot and it's done; for the rest it’s not like that. 59 categories including the big four go to a "nomination review committees" (identities are protected so they can't get lobbied... sure) who take a look at the top 20 and narrow it down to 7 or 8. (these are the special committees the Weekend talked about when he was snubbed). They're supposed to choose the nominees "based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible recordings" which lets be real if that was the case Watermelon Sugar (along with most of the others in the category) I don't think would have been nomimated as they are very generic pop (none of them are special... sorry to the WM lovers out there).

This committee is basically held to THE HONOR CODE SYSTEM... I mean tell me when the last time the honor code system worked in literally any scenario (literally wtf). Don't take my word for it though the former CEO of the Academy Deborah Dugan (a queen) filed a complaint against the Recording Academy basically claiming that the nomination review process was rigged (she was fired after 5 months on the job).

Quote from Deborah Dugan "Members of the board [of trustees] and the secret committees chose artists with whom they have personal or business relationships... It is not unusual for artists who have relationships with Board members and who ranked at the bottom of the initial 20-artist list to end up receiving nominations."

These review committees can also exploit there power by adding up to two nominees that don't appear on the top 20 list to the final voting ballot (except in the 4 big categories - which watermelon sugar that one wasn't nominated for)

They also have craft committees for like non performance stuff (like album notes, engineering and arranging) that don't even get voted on by the academy voting members

4) After all of that fucked up mess, the grammy's decided is ok, the ballots go back to the voting members for the final vote. Deloitte (an accounting firm) then counts all of them, seals them in envelopes, and delivers them to the Grammy award show.

** The Grammy's just announced this year they're removing the "secret committees" so let's see how things shift in the next couple of years**

So obviously I'm not saying this to discredit Harry's nomination or his win as Fine Line was in the US top 20 albums for the majority of 2020, however, we must acknowledge privilege. Harry has a big name to him and a huge following, and while all of that shouldn't be taken into account, it does. He also has the Azoffs, a very well connected family with friends in lots of places that would be able to put in a good word here and there to get support behind Harry. Harry won best pop solo performance for Watermelon Sugar in a category with Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Dua Lipa. Look at the names there, the songs (ya'll can try and remember them cause I'm too lazy to write it out) and tell me that those top names with all of the music produced didn't get there through some connections.

Do with all this information what you will and if you are interested in learning more about the entertainment industry on your own Endeavor (owners of WME, a big talent agency like CAA) is hosting a free online program called the Excellence Program to help guide the future generation of industry executives. The program is a-synchronous and starts on July 12th. Highly recommend giving it a go if you're interested!!!

Alright ya'll that's it. Feel free to message me with your thoughts!

Extra Sources if you'd like to read:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdndn/how-grammys-voting-actually-works-and-where-the-alleged-corruption-lies

https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/voting-process

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-11-05/irving-azoff-eagles-manager

https://celebrityaccess.com/caarchive/jeffrey-azoff-exits-caa-to-launch-new-management-company/

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/grammy-awards-secret-committees-945532/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/grammy-awards-eliminate-secret-committees-voting-changes-1163887/

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copperbadge · 7 years ago

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Hi Sam! I'm just curious, what's your usual bed time + fall asleep routine? [Personally I work the night shift (+ half the week at my place, half the week at my partner's place) and podcasts have been a godsend to help me fall asleep where I might not always have the "comforts" of home/routine]

Oh man, I was thinking about this the other day, I now live quite out of step with normal in terms of the hours I keep. I actually have a skewed view of how populous Chicago is because I’m only ever on the street at 4am, 6am, or 4pm. When I go out on the street on a Tuesday at 9am for whatever reason I’m always shocked by the number of cars I see on the road.

So, it varies a bit because I have to make allowances for the schedules of like...society, I guess, where shit happens in the evenings because nobody else goes to bed at 8pm.

Usually, if I’m on my schedule and not going out in the evening, my “get ready for bed” alarm goes off at 7, I’m in bed by 7:30, and I read or listen to podcasts until 8 or 8:30ish, it varies a bit. I get up these days around 3:30 because that’s when the kittens decide it’s SNUGGLE TIME, but sometimes I nap between 4 and 6. Like this morning I got up at 3:30, went running from 4 to 5, had breakfast, and went back to sleep from 5:30 to 6:10.

So, if I go to bed a bit later than usual -- like, I’m thinking of going to a concert tomorrow that starts at 7, which means I probably won’t be home before 8:30 at earliest -- then I’ll make sure the next morning not to set my 4am alarm, and just plan to start getting ready for work at 6:25 instead of 6:10 (to catch the later bus).

I do like falling asleep to podcasts, or to ASMR videos, though those are a bit more difficult because you have to have both earbuds in and that can be uncomfortable when lying down.

For the conference this past week I knew I would be out relatively late at least one night, so I started hitting bed a little later in order to adjust, and over the weekend I adjusted back. But I’m lucky, I sleep easily and wake easily, so I can do a bit more fudging with regards to my sleep schedule than some people.

Just imagine what kind of biohacking I could do if I actually drank coffee, I guess...

#mythologist

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ledouxbruit · 6 years ago

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7/3/18-7/5/18

Kayla birthday is the 18th of July but I thought it would be cool for us to celebrate it over the July 4th weekend. Sam Smith was in town on that independence day so it felt kind of perfect. She and I are both huge fans and July 4th is a meaningless holiday to black people so...

I got an airbnb for 3 days/2 nights so we could turn the birthday concert celebration into a mini staycation. I got the tickets way back in January, it admittedly took about a day to finally cough up the dough to get the tickets. I'm so insanely cheap lol. The tickets were pretty good so I'm glad I paid the extra. The airbnb was about the same price but for a 2 night stay it was a pretty good deal. I ended up getting that about a month before our eventual stay. I didn't tell Kayla anything about the concert because I wanted so bad to surprise her, spoiler alert, I failed.

So the day of the airbnb check in Kayla and I met up in the sub, bags on hand. She was telling me that I didn't give her a train time. I didn't even look at them. No idea why she didn't just check it out real quick. Oh BTW, our entire stay the weather was in the 100s!!! So I was just a puddle the instant I stepped outside. So we got off the sub and waited about 20 minutes in the heat for the bus. I'm dying and Rudy just seemed chill. I don't know how that's even possible! After a quick ride on the bus we got to our stop and it was a short 4 minute walk to the house.

When we arrived we immediately started checking stuff out. And Kayla started to critique the place. The floors could have been swept better, especially since they requested no shoes in the apartment. All of the smoke detectors were gone and there were some exposed wires... Other than that and the insanely small bathroom... It was a really nice space. Wouldn't mind living there. The neighborhood was really cool as well. We had a chance to walk around and check some of it out and it was such the perfect example of gentrification. We saw white people walking dogs and moving in plants. Asian people in their garden and running a corner store. Black families cooking out and selling water ice. It was cool.

Our first day was too hot to go hangout outside so we chilled in and ordered food. The driver went to the wrong damn block and I had to wait outside in the heat for like 10 minutes. We just sat inside and watched Netflix/Hulu/YouTube until Ru felt like using me like a piece of meat to please her needs.

Oh! I almost forgot... So Ru and I tried to smoking for the first time. I got some from a friend of ours a few days ago and it was absolutely terrible. She wants to try again and I'm down for it... Just have to be a different type or something. Maybe it was stale?? Whatever it was it didn't get us high. We just had a horrible taste in our mouth. Let's see how next time goes.

We were watching TV and relaxing and around 830pm our old behind were tired and ready for bed lol. We took showers and got in bed and ended up staying up listening to music for hours. Think we got to sleep around 1am maybe 2am. After being used like a slave again. I slept okay but Rudy said I kept her up all night snoring.. The bed was pretty comfortable after awhile, the blankets were not. They were so weird and held heat. It was like a comforter with a sheet attached, I just didn't like it.

Day 2 was the 4th and I made some cool plans for us. I have to explain something first... So I couldn't tell Kayla we were going to Sam Smith concert but I still wanted her to pick her clothes for the night. So when I told her what to wear she immediately went into Kayla mode and kept trying to guess where we were going. I hate that she does this and I have to stop feeding into it. She guessed kitty cafe and just to keep her from guessing further I told her that was where we were going. Turns out the cafe is within walking distance of the apartment so it was a cool idea.

So we woke up and got ready after being used again. We walked to the cafe and it was so cool. In my head the cafe had kittens 🐱 all around and it didn't sound like the best idea.. But the cafe and the kitten area are separated. I made reservations the day before and I just assumed we would have the room to ourselves... For the price of a reservation that was the only thing that made sense. But anyway... The kittens were so adorable! It had to be like 20 of them in there... Unfortunately they were all for the most part sleeping. 😴 I got a really good strawberry 🍓 lemonade 🍋 and Ru got a milkshake 🍧 that thing was crazy! Glad I got a pic of it. We stayed about an hour and played with the little babies then headed back home. I showed Rudy hanging with Mr Cooper for the first time and she loved it. We have to watch that some more. Even though Kayla liked Holly Robinson body... It was okay... But wayyyyy to skinny legs. Anyway.

So we got dressed for the concert, I told Kayla we were going to see fireworks but I don't think she belived that for a second. She wore the shirt I picked out and she looked absolutely amazing. Legit wanted to make us late because I wanted her right then. Like she made us almost late to the kitty cafe for the same reason.... I called us a lyft and we headed out. The lyft was tight because someone else was there for a few and then we got stuck in traffic! That was annoying. Luckily we got there just as the opening act was going on. Wasn't feeling her so she and I went to get a drink and a t-shirt. Drink didn't really do anything. Sam Smith came on and he was GREAT! He was so good. I kept watching Kayla as she was watching the show and I couldn't help but be reminded how much I love this girl. She doesn't even notice probably but when Sam would hit a note or sing her favorite part she would do a head nod like she was feeling the hell out of it. It's so cute. I sang dumb loud until I felt like my voice was getting sore, which now that I think about it is probably why my throat was swollen Friday. I wish we got more pics together at the concert. We caught a lyft back home after waiting for this one couple to find the car. When we got home we were supposed to smoke again but ended up just in bed messing around until the unthinkable happened! After Kayla was done with me... She kicked me out the room because I kept her up the night before snoring!! So rude. To be real... I slept even better alone. Will never tell her that though.

Day 3 was our last few hours in the apartment and I wish it went better. It started off great. I woke up and went into the other room so I could use Kayla. That was fun and I enjoyed just laying on bed with her. I ended up getting a little grouchy because I didn't really get what I wanted but i guess that's just natural. We jumped in the shower and Kayla went around getting pics of the apartment. I have no idea why I took my grouchiness out on her about something so dumb but I did. I asked her not to take a pic of the messy bedroom and she did. So instead of being there with her for a few more hours I rushed us out and home. I barely talked to her during the trip home and once I was almost to my stop I regretted it. I started to miss her lol. Idk if it was so much of me missing her or me knowing I would and knowing I threw away 3 hours of time with her.

The trip was fun and I want to do it again soon. I absolutely love this girl and enjoy hanging with her. She has truly become my best friend and the love of my life. Our anniversary will be here shortly so maybe we can plan another staycation. Who knows, maybe we can go somewhere other than Philly.

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biggy-habes · 5 years ago

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So another year came to an end. But not just the end of a year, but the end of the decade! The '10s have come to an end. With the end of every year there is always a reflection. What happened? What was great? What really sucked? What could I have done differently? What do I hope for in the new year? Well, this was not just a single year but an entire decade to process! In the past 10 years I have lived in 3 different states. I've worked 4 different jobs. And like a typical drifter, I am a bit private with my past. I seem to just appear at a new job in a new state every couple of years and apart from some lingering drama I seem to have an undisclosed past. There are many of you who did not know me before I came to North Carolina. There are quite a few of you who did not know me before I was in recovery. And only a few of you who knew me before I lived in New York (the first time). I have lived several lives and have displayed countless shades of personality. Well, here is your chance to catch a glimpse of what my life has been like. Well, for these past 10 years anyways. The ups, the downs, the shitty heartaches, and the bitchin' experiences. A lot has happened and my memory is absolutely horrible, so I will recruit the assistance of my timeline on The Facebook and a few Spotify playlists. I have added a few songs to give a soundtrack as you are reading. I carefully selected these to be specific to the time period as well as where I was during that era. So now, here is a walk down memory lane. The Tens of Haber.

I welcomed 2010 in at a 12 Step Recovery function in Lawton, Oklahoma. I had recently moved back to Lawton after spending a year working in Washington, DC. You see, I had grown roots while stationed in Oklahoma during my time in the service. Life apparently felt like that I needed a second tour, but this time as a civilian. I had carried a lot of emotional baggage with me from my year living in Maryland, and I believed that running and starting a new life was the best course of action. When I returned to Lawton I was losing my mind. I was straight off my rocker! I was at the height of one of my worst mental breakdowns. I recently moved back to Lawton, Oklahoma. By choice. From Maryland. Yeah. See the previous statement. Anyways, I was waist deep in 12 step programs and played a very active role in my local Narcotics Anonymous group. But one thing that I had always had was a weakness for women. I would fall hard for girls that I had no business being with. At this particular time I was messing around with girls from the local halfway house. And I was getting the results that you may expect. I had fallen hard for a girl named "Lori" (no need to drag her real name into this), who I allowed to tear into my life and my heart like a goddamn tornado! She had recently started coming to meetings after ending up how most addicts end up in the rooms. The courts. She was what you would refer to as "adorable". Short dark hair that seemed to reflect light with its shine. She had deep, sultry blue eyes with long, fluttering eyelashes. When she started to show attention to me I was immediately became hooked. When things came crashing down and my heart got crushed I started sliding down the slippery slope of sanity. Fortunately I had an amazing friend, Nicole, who lived in Oklahoma City. Nicole is one of the most enjoyable people that I have had in my life. We briefly dated and she has played an incredibly important role in my story! I have so many wonderful stories and experiences involving us. Stories that I will save for another post.

Anyways, Nicole and I share the same birthday, and we both love to go big so we both took a trip to Boston to celebrate my 31st birthday. As it turns out the Yankees were in town so I fulfilled a lifelong dream of watching the Sox and Yankees play in Fenway Park! We got lost in downtown Boston and had to find our way back to our hotel using public transportation in the middle of the night. Nicole, who has lived in Oklahoma all of her life, got to get a wonderful glimpse of the not-so-nice parts of South Boston. It was a great birthday weekend for the both of us.

I got back from our trip with a clear head and I decided to get my ass back in school. I remained active in my NA group (shoutout to Different Way in Lawton, OK! That place was my home for a long time!) I may appear salty sometimes when speaking of my time in NA, but recovery mad a lot of positive changes in my life. One of those changes was gracing me with the motivation to complete my Bachelor's Degree. My apartment was an 8 minute ride away from the local university (Cameron University…GO PIONEERS, BITCHES!!!). I was able to focus my energy on studying. I have always had a knack for school, and I really enjoyed studying psychology and sociology so I was easily able to focus on my schoolwork. I was working a side job as a per diem psychometrist for a neuropsychologist named Dr. Hamil. I have so much credit to give to him for taking me on as a mentor. He saw something special in me. He saw talent. And I was happy to work for him whenever he needed me to. I was taking a lot of trips to Oklahoma City for testing assignments in assisted living facilities. And to be honest I was making a decent amount of scratch doing it. Now my full time job was working with the trainees going through Fort Sill that were having a difficult time adjusting to military life. On slow days I would have plenty of opportunity to work on the testing data that I had collected over the weekend. One day while scoring testing paperwork that I had sprawled all over my desk there was a knock on my office door. It was the chief of the clinic giving a potential psych tech the grand tour. "Mr. Haber, I would like you to meet one of the interviews for the tech position." She was slim and stylish, with long, dark hair and a smile that seemed to radiate comfort. And that was the first time I laid my eyes on the woman who I would eventually ask to be my wife. She extended her warm, slender hand. "Hello! I'm Amanda."

Our first encounter was short and sweet. And to be honest, it really did not leave much of an impact. A few months would pass before I would learn that she was hired. So this would be the first time that Amanda would actually enter into my life. By the time she was hired I was back working at the main behavioral health clinic on Fort Sill. I shared an office with several other psych techs. At any one time there could be 8 or more of us fighting over a computer. I walked into the clinic and was told a crop of newbies had started. I went in to introduce myself. And there she was. I reintroduced myself and blushed a little when she told me that she remembered me from our first encounter. We commenced with the getting-to-know-you chit chat. As the weeks went on we talked more and more, and flirting began. She knew about my side job in the city and asked if she could sit in on a session with me to learn more about what I do. So one night after work her and I drove to OKC for a 4 hour testing session with an ADHD child who was bouncing all over the room. Afterwards we stopped at McDonalds on our way back to Lawton and shared a 20 piece Chicken McNugget (because yo boy Haber is classy!). I would later find out that she had no interest in learning about psychometry. She just wanted a reason to spend time with me. Anyways, while driving back I mentioned that MC Hammer was going to be at the Oklahoma State Fair and if she would like to go. And that, my friends, is how my relationship with Amanda began. At an MC Hammer concert! In TRUE Haber form!

Eventually Amanda and I started dating. And it was incredible! She was a great woman. And she was great for me. When we had met I was going through a lot of internal strife, and being with her was calming me down. That November, after discussing the idea with Amanda (and after we got back together following a HUGE argument and eventual "break") we decided to adopt a pup. I went to the pound on Fort Sill. I walked down the row of cages and looked at every one of the hopeful pups. I stopped at this scrawny auburn-colored little shit who was barking as loud as he could as he put on his meanest look. But there was something in his eyes that told me that he has been in some shit and he was just needing someone to love him. I could relate to that. I asked the Poundtender (I'm really not sure what the manager of a pound would be referred to as, so we will go with this) about him and he told me that he was surrendered by an elderly couple for being too aggressive. I asked if I could take him for a walk in the yard. I sat on the grass and reached out my hand and he timidly came over to me, not certain whether to trust me or not. This was all it took for me. On November 8, 2010, I took Fennie into my home and into my life. Which means that it has been him and I for an entire decade! Women and jobs would come and go, but he has remained by my side through all of it. He truly is my Ryde or Die!

The winter this year was unusually harsh in Oklahoma. It seemed as if at least once a week work was closed due to ice and snow. I was living in a shitty 1 BR apartment on the borders of the Lawton hood and the heat just was not capable of handling the cold temperatures for so long. There were several days where Amanda, Fennie, and I would just huddle around the fireplace and turn the oven on to keep us warm. December rolled around, and we were still in the still-kinda-dating-but-not-sure-where-this-is-going phase so I chose to spend Christmas with my family. My sister had been living in Georgia at the time and my mother had recently moved up there as well. Two days before to make the long drive to Atlanta I received a call from an old friend Jake. Jake and I had worked together at a treatment center in Tampa. He informed me that a mutual friend of ours, Emilio, was reported missing. Emilio was a gentle soul who, like most of us that got deep in the drug lifestyle, had his share of demons. But he was a kind and fair man who had a heart that was filled with love for others. He was a new daddy and one night he just vanished. While walking into Moe's to have dinner with my family Jake called to let me know that Emilio's body had been found. I will never forget that Christmas. I sat in front of my loaded burrito with a dazed feeling all over my body. Emilio was a remarkable human being, and the world lost a great man the day that he was taken from us.

2011 began with Amanda and I…well…shit was getting kinda real.

Amanda and I ended up making the decision that I would move into her apartment. The reasoning that she gave was that it would be more economical, but I am sure that her being afraid of staying at my shitty apartment played a major role. Around this time I also started getting an itch to do something more with myself. I was one year away from completing my Bachelors degree and I was starting to question what I was going to do with myself now that I had no schoolwork to complete or classes to attend. This was when the idea came to me….BAM! I am going to become Dr. Haber! So this was when I made the decision to pursue my PhD in Psychology. If I had only known how much of an uphill climb the next 3 years would be on me because of this decision, perhaps I would have reconsidered. I developed a plan of action. I would boost my vita with extracurricular positions and accolades. I was asked to join the psychology honor society and attend the Psychology Club meetings. I worked with an outstanding neuropsychologist and mentor named Dr. Jason Albano, who pushed me to be the best PhD candidate that I could possibly be. I would spend hours in his office just asking for direction and recommendations. He suggested that I take the Psychometrist Certification exam, the gold standard in the field of psychometry. Dr. Albano would help me find time to study and my colleagues were an invaluable resources.

I will get more into the certification exam. But first, I am aware that I dropped a bit of a twist earlier with the Starting Attending Mass Again comment. As you could probably deduct from my postings on The Facebook that this just ain't me! Well, let me tell you about my Catholic Jon phase. Gowing up I attending Mass every Sunday with my grandfather. This was mostly due to the fact that he would buy me McDonalds afterwards. I never really had a strong belief in a god. Even as a kid I remember reading my CCD workbook and would think "Hey, wait a second. Something does not add up." It was once I got sent to rehab that I slowly started to build a belief in a higher power. We would get taken to 12 Step meetings and I would hear everyone talk about how you can't make it in recovery without a Higher Power. So, I guess I better get one of those! So I would work with my sponsor and talk about it at meetings and eventually I had some sort of Higher Power of my own. It hit all of the qualifications that they told me. It was loving. It was forgiving. It was greater than me. Cool cool cool. Let's go full speed ahead with this whole recovery thing. It wasn’t until I started seeing a girl named Jill in Oklahoma that I was able to call it by the name God. I would attend church with her and one day I decided to go up and get "saved". And ever since then I started learning more about Christianity and my idea of God would change as I grew. I started going back to Mass after encouragement from a friend who was heavily into the Catholic Life. One thing about me is that I latch onto something and go deep into whatever that might be. Catholicism was no different. Before too long I was absorbing anything involving Catholic Dogma that I could get my hands on. Every night I would pray the Rosary. During Lent I would practice self-mortification. When Amanda and I started she started attending Mass with me and it became a fairly strong bond in our relationship. She was accepting of my zeal towards my beliefs at the time and would support me however she could. This was something that I would eventually take for granted, and what would be a major factor in the demise of our relationship.

And that is where I will end this chapter. I will get further into all of the changes that 2011 would bring. I will label this period the "Amanda Era".

Now I will say that there was a lot of heartache involved in the ending of our relationship. However, I will only write about her in a positive light. She played a very important role in my story, and there were so many great memories in my story that involved her. At this point time has faded most of the hurtful memories and the good ones are what remained. So stayed tuned for the next chapter where we will tag along with Amanda and Jon on their journeys around the country.

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peachwaifu · 7 years ago

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☾ ⁞ ❛ ᴀʟʟ ᴡᴇ ɢᴏᴛ | ᴠᴏʟ ɪ

note ⁞ i just really wanted to write some boyfriend!shawn. i'm already working on a second chapter ehehehe word count ⁞ around 1.6k

Your name: submit What is this?

Mariana’s strumming her guitar, her delicate fingers still just starting to form calluses. It’s not that she’s new to guitar — she’s definitely not; she’s been playing since she was ten years old now. But she gave up her life of music for 5AM shifts at a coffee shop and seven hour study sessions at night. All in all, she’s just been too busy to pick up her guitar and strum her stress away. All that changed when she met Shawn though. Now, her life consists of 5AM shifts at a coffee shop, seven hour study sessions, and late night FaceTime calls with him.

When they first met, she didn’t think much of him. He was just another pop star who had another overplayed song on the radio. She was a fan, don’t get it twisted, but she knew that she was just another face in the crowd to him. Only… she wasn’t.

He didn’t notice her in the crowd. No, that would’ve been nearly impossible because unless the house lights were on, there was no way in hell Shawn could properly see anyone past the first few rows in the crowd. She didn’t spend more than $80 on her concert tickets, so she was somewhere much higher, somewhere where he couldn’t see.

It was actually a mutual friend who introduced them. Her friend, Rei, invited her to her wedding in LA, and Mariana packed up a weekend’s worth of clothes and drove her ass to Los Angeles. She was sat at the same table as him, and they hit it off instantly. Their conversation flowed easily, and while Mariana was thinking she was never going to see him ever again, Shawn couldn’t wait to ask her when they could meet for coffee. Except… Shawn got cold feet and left without even saying goodbye, much less her number.

They didn’t talk after that until two months later, Mari got a text from an unknown number one morning asking her if she was free for coffee. She texted back asking who it was, and Shawn didn’t hesitate on calling himself a dumbass and telling her it was Shawn from the wedding and that he had gotten her number from Rei and that he’d only be in LA for the weekend and he really wanted to get a cup of coffee with her.

You can only imagine how much his heart sank when she told him that she didn’t actually live in LA, sent with a broken heart emoji and a bunch of sad faces. She let him know that she was actually from around San Francisco, and his heart found new hope before he replied with ‘coffee next Thursday then? I’ll be in San Jose.’

It was love at first sip for Shawn when they finally met up for coffee. He wanted so badly to fall in love with someone, and when he thought all hope was lost, it was as if the universe finally answered his prayers and brought him Mariana. The only problem? She was all the way in California whilst his home was in Toronto. But he figured that’s a problem he’d think more thoroughly if they ever get far enough down that road.

So here they are now, five months later. Mariana’s strumming her guitar for the first time in maybe two years whilst he’s on FaceTime with her, tucked in his Toronto bed.

“How is it we’ve been together for four months and I never knew you actually sang — like for real? And that you play?” Shawn’s voice is groggy and croaky due to a mixture of sleepiness and a sore throat. Mariana shrugs, halting her strums and resting her chin on the base of her guitar. “Are there any other secrets you’re hiding from me?”

“I play the piano… kind of.” Shawn’s ears perk up a little at her answer. “I used to be in choir? I don’t know. I used to take music a lot more seriously.”

“Babe, what the fuck.”

Mariana laughs at his curse and places her guitar back on its wall stand across her room. “Sorry, sorry! S’not my fault that it never came up!”

“Fuck, Mar, I really thought you just had a nice voice! I didn’t think you actually were trained or anything. What the fuck, dude. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Calm down, dude,” Mariana snorts. “I haven’t touched my guitar in ages, and I haven’t sang properly since high school. And it’s not like you had any reason to ask me about it. You’ve never been to my house so you’ve never seen my choir pictures or any of my guitars — ”

“You have more than one?!”

“Or like my piano in the living room or anythin’.” She ignores his interruption and sighs. “D’you see what I’m getting at here?”

“No?”

Mariana rolls her eyes. She doesn’t know if he’s genuinely this clueless or if she’s just not being obvious enough or if he’s just really sleepy. “You’ve never been to my house. You’ve never met my family — only my cousin that one time and that was on accident, and like, babe, we’ve been dating for almost half a year. I know you’re busy as hell, like trust me, I know, but I just? Don’t you think it’s kind of weird that we’ve never met each other’s families?”

“You wanna fly out here to meet my family?”

“No, Shawn I — ”

“So you don’t wanna meet my family?”

“That’s not what I meant. I just mean that it’s — ”

“What do you mean then, Mar?” She’s annoyed by now. He keeps interrupting her, and it’s such a pet peeve of hers whenever she can’t finish her sentence, and he knows this.

“Jesus fucking Christ, if you would just let me finish.” Her Macbook is perched on the edge of her bed and she’s thankful for this because now she has two free hands to tangle into her hair due to frustration. “You’re such a fucking Leo.” Mariana spits out his zodiac sign like it’s a slur, but she knows damn well that she loves that he’s a Leo.

“Hey!”

“I’m just saying that, like, you’re in California pretty often and we see each other often enough.” She hears him trying to start a sentence but she glares at the webcam on her laptop before he even gets a chance to speak, as if saying try it, Mendes with her eyes. “I know it’s not often enough, but we talk everyday and you come to visit when you can, but whenever you visit, you don’t say hi to my family. And you know how important they are to me. They’re starting to think I’m lying about even having a boyfriend, and you know how hard it was for me to even convince them that I’m 20 and I’m allowed to be in relationships now, and just… ” She trails off before she starts rambling unnecessarily.

“Yeah, I know that baby, and you know that it’s important to me especially since it’s important to you. Next time I’m there, I promise, I’ll meet them. We can have a cheesy dinner at the table, and then I’ll fly you out here and then you can meet my fa — ”

“Shawn, I don’t… have a valid passport anymore.”

“What?”

“My passport expired like four years ago.”

“Mariana, why haven’t you gotten a new one?”

“There was never a point before! I haven’t left the country since I was like 10! And, like, I’ve been meaning to get a new one because I wanted to visit Canada anyway before I met you, and visit Mexico too but, like, passport books are just so expensive and I figured — ”

“Babe, I’ll pay for your fucking passport, just — ”

“No, Shawn I can pay for it myself, I just wanted to let you know that it’ll take about two months or maybe longer before I can even think about leaving America, but also I don’t know if my parents will let me travel to a whole ass other country by myself to meet my ‘maybe real’ boyfriend’s family.” She puts quotes around ‘maybe real’, recalling the time her dad accused her of making up Shawn being her boyfriend.

She doesn’t have to look at the screen on her laptop to know that he’s rolling his eyes. “You’re 20 years old and you have to ask your parents for permission to travel. I know it’s not my place,” Shawn starts, and Mariana already gets irritated before he even continues, “but I think they have too much of a hold on you. You’re literally an adult.”

“Well, sorry, that I didn’t start travelling the world at like 12 years old,” Mariana rebuttals, crossing her arms.

“I wasn’t 12!”

“Whatever.”

And that was the end of that. Mariana lays down on her bed with her laptop beside her, eyebrows still furrowed, but her irritation dies down slowly. Shawn’s still on the screen, but his eyes are closed and his face is dimly lit by the light on his own laptop. She can tell he’s still awake, but by the slight movement of his shoulders and the soft snores that are leaving his mouth, she can also tell that he’s ready to fall asleep at any given moment.

“Goodnight baby,” she murmurs, and she thinks that he doesn’t hear her, but the subtle curve of his lips prove her otherwise and her lips mimic his as he responds with a mumbled out ‘night, love’. Her heart still skips a beat every time he calls her a pet name, and yeah she’s probably being dramatic, but she squeals a little inside her head and her cheeks blush a little, and it’s just her favourite thing to be called cute little pet names and it’s even better when it’s coming from her favourite person.

She’s happy and content as her own eyes close and she falls into a blissful sleep.

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes fic #shawn mendes fluff #shawn mendes smut #mine.

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red-era-swiftie · 8 years ago

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I'm begging you all, please please reblog and tag Taylor in this

It just hit me that Taylor’s been with me for over ten years. I can’t believe how much I’ve grown in those years and how much I owe to her. ~ I was eight when “Taylor Swift” came out. I had just started school, and I was happy, as most eight year olds would be. I listened to it so much even though I couldn’t relate to many songs at all. I loved Our Song. I would always put on the southern accent whenever I would sing it, I loved that song SO much. I would listen to “Taylor Swift” on repeat for days on end. ~ I was ten when “Fearless” was released. I bought it the weekend after it came out. I remember loving The Best Day soo much. I think that would have to be the first song I ever really connected to. I was bullied in primary school (elementary for you Americans) and the only person who helped me through it was my mum. She always made me happy, especially after coming home from school everyday. The Best Day and Change were my anthems all through school. No matter what I went through, I felt for the first that Taylor was with me through it all. ~ “Speak Now” came out when I was twelve. I was in my final year of primary school. I was probably the happiest I had ever been. I was a school leader, I moved up to a higher level in my dance classes and I had more friends than ever. My life was really starting to look up, so I thought. I felt so connected with Taylor that year too. I would have “Speak Now” on repeat what seemed like every day after school. Mine, Sparks Fly and Speak Now were my anthems for a good year. Not because I was dating anyone, but because they were happy, like me. When I was thirteen, I started high school. I went from knowing everyone by name to knowing no-one. None of my primary school friends went to the same high school as I did. I went from a school with a total of 200 kids to a school with over 1,000. It was hard. It was stressful. It was awful. I was relentlessly bullied that year. I didn’t fit in with many people in my year at all. I went from having over 15 friends at school to only being able to count them all on one hand. I wasn’t popular, I wasn’t cool and I wasn’t missed when I’d miss a day. That year was hard for me. I went from being happy to being so distressed all the time. Taylor would always make me happy. I discovered a new side to me that year. I listened to Dear John every day after school. It worked for me, it was a good song for me to cry too. I also rediscovered “Fearless” that year. Change became my favourite song. It spoke to me on a level I’d never be able to explain. I also loved Long Live. In 2011 I had already loved Taylor for five years, which seems like a long time when you’re thirteen! I promised Taylor I would never leave her, because she’d never left me. ~ In 2012 the album I needed more than I knew came out. “Red” was the thing I needed to keep going. To push on. I was fourteen and life was awful that year. The bullying got so out of hand that I had to move schools. The only good thing that happened that year was that I rekindled with my old primary school friends at my new school. I didn’t think at fifteen that life could get any worse. In early 2013 I became really ill. It seemed as though I was sick every week, which as a result made me fall behind in my school work and miss regular classes. The doctor finally did a blood and discovered I had CMV. Basically, it’s the same thing as glandular fever. I was constantly tired, and my muscles ached really bad non-stop for three months. It was so bad that I couldn’t continue my studies for a whole term at school. I had CMV on and off for over eight months. In August 2013, after most of my symptoms had gone I continued experiencing chronic fatigue and achey muscles. The doctor referred me onto a pain specialist who diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia. It means chronic fatigue plus pain everywhere. I had a slightly different case to most people as my pain is a constant 9.5/10. No matter what I did nothing made the pain worse… or better. I thought about giving up on more times than not, but Taylor saved me, Red saved me. I’ve never been so low in my life but I got through it all thanks to my best friend Taylor and Red. They both got me through so much. I had missed so much school that I had to be pulled out and study at home via distance education. That was the start of it all. ~ On December 14th 2013 I attended my first Taylor Swift concert. After eight years of loving her I couldn’t conprehend how lucky I was to be able to see her live for the first time. My older sister took me (even though she’s told me repeatedly she doesn’t like Taylor. How?!?!) In the bathrooms before the show started I had a breakdown. I’m absolutely terrified of guns and bombs and was petrified of something happening during the show. Once Taylor came out, all my worries/anxieties/problems disappeared. Literally. The next two hours were the best two hours of my life. I didn’t stop dancing or singing or screaming out of happiness until the show ended. Even after the show ended I was soo happy and filled with so much adrenaline. I hardly slept that night because I couldn’t believe I just witnessed the girl I’ve loved since I was eight, live on stage doing what she loves. ~ From that day forward I promised myself I would never stop loving Taylor, because she’s given me so much happiness of which I wish to give back to her as many times as I can. ~ The following October, “1989” was released. I don’t think I had ever been that excited for an album ever, apart from Red because that was announced and released at the perfect time. The day “1989” came out I was at a very important dance competition, so despite trying, I couldn’t miss it and stay home and just soak in all of “1989.” My dad has always loved Taylor. He loves that she makes me happy and loves how much I love her, he also knows how great a role model she is. As I was travelling to the competition the “1989” album release day, despite me already having preordered multiple copies of it, he offered to go down to the local CD store as soon as they opened to buy me another copy of it. He was at the store before they opened, and when they opened he was the first customer in the store. He knew straight away where to find it and bought the very first copy of 1989 that store sold. When I got home from the competition (we placed second in two items in case you’re interested, one of which I had a featured role in) I went straight to my room where all my brand new 1989 cd’s were and put one on straight away. I spent the rest of the day listening to it non stop for over six hours. Just over a year later I began the greatest weekend of my life to date. I was lucky enough to get tickets to the final two shows of the 1989 World Tour, in Melbourne. Even though I didn’t have tickets to the first Melbourne show, I decided to go in anyway as my friends were there and I really wanted to see them all get so hyped before the show. We had a little picnic and heard Taylor sound check Red. (at this point you should know how much that means to me) The next day I went in early whilst my sister was at school so I could be closer to my favourite people in the world. My friends and Taylor. Later that afternoon my aunty and sister arrived for the show. I’ve never been as happy as I was in that moment. I’ve never been able to describe it but Taylor’s Clean speech that night really resonated with me. She has this magical power that makes you feel like it’s just you and her there. Like it’s just you two talking as friends rather than in a stadium full of 30,000 people. I did not stop screaming and crying and dancing that whole night. Then she played “Fifteen” for her surprise song. I screamed so loud because it took me back to 2013, when I was fifteen. It’s actually magical because when I went to the Red Tour she played it, I was fifteen and then at 1989 when she played it my sister was fifteen. The second night was even better. (I didn’t know it was possible) My sister and I had seats in section D on the floor directly in front of the catwalk. That night was much like the first in the sense that I didn’t stop crying or dancing the entire night. That Clean speech resonated with me so much as well, just because of the point I was at in my life. Then it was time for the “surprise” song if you will. From the first guitar chord she played I knew it was Long Live. I immediately dropped to the floor and started crying like I’ve never cried before. I screamed every single word of it SO loud, because that’s our anthem. I’ve never ever been that happy, ever. I haven’t been anywhere near that happy since then, and I never will until I meet Taylor one day. ~ That next January everything went down hill again. I had to stop my dance classes and stop studying via distance even. My pain and fatigue had never been more dominant and I was constantly in a world of pain. Nothing at all has changed since then. My stamina has severely declined and I can no longer go on shopping trips with friends or even go take a walk with my dog at the local park. ~ I had my 19th birthday just under a month ago and I spent the day watching Journey to Fearless and the Speak Now World Tour live with one of my closest friends then had a night out with my family for dinner. That birthday means so much to me because I was surrounded by (most of) the people I love the most. Today I’m barely getting by. I’ve never been lower emotionally and never been in so much pain or so tired. I’m so emotionally and physically drained and I’m struggling to find things that make me smile everyday. I’ve never needed Taylor more than I do today which also makes me more thankful for her each and every day. She’s probably the only reason I’m still here today and I’ll never be able to ever thank her enough for that. She’s my best friend, my life, my love and I hope more than anything that one day I get to meet her in person. I hope so much I get to thank her for absolutely everything. Tied Together With A Smile from her debut album “Taylor Swift” is the only song I’ve had on repeat recently in my head recently. Because that’s my life. There’s this quote I’ve had as my lock screen the past year, “one day someone is going to hug you so tight that all of your broken pieces will stick back together.” Everything in me believes that will be the case when I meet Taylor, because I feel like she’s the only person who’s always been there for me, no matter what. ~ As I had to leave school, I eventually drifted away from all my friends there. I don’t speak to any of them anymore. The only friends I have now are those I’ve met online because of Taylor. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here today which is yet another thing I have Taylor to thank for. Taylor Swift is the only reason I am still here today, and I really hope I get to thank her and hug her in person someday. @taylorswift

#taylor swift #fibromyalgia #fearless #speak now #red #1989 #my queen #my world #my best friend #thank you taylor swift

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grapsandclaps · 6 years ago

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GRAPS AND CLAPS REVIEWS - PROGRESS WRESTLING CHAPTER 78 '24 HOUR PROGRESS PEOPLE'

Hello and welcome everyone to another edition of Graps and Claps, this time taking me on a short journey to Manchester for PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 78 '24 Hour Progress People' from the Ritz in the first time since a banging show in February at the same venue and the first time since the big Victoria Warehouse show in May so for the people in attendance the anticipation of seeing something that they hadn't seen live for a few months was high.

Having spent the last days at Southside Wrestling which if you want to check anything out from there weekend of 3 shows make sure you check out the all-womens show on the Friday night which nearly everyone stood out on the evening especially Kris Wolf, Millie McKenzie, Kanji and Shanna with the latter winning the Queen of the Ring title and duly defended it the next evening against former NXT wrestler Kimber Lee on the Saturday evening show.

There were also a couple of killer Mike Bailey matches on the Saturday shows vs Senza Volto in the afternoon and in the evening as part of a mixed tag team match where he teamed with his real life partner Veda Scott taking on another couple in the form of Xia Brookside & Sean Kustom that exceeded expectations by far, plus there was the continuation of my long running feud with Nottingham's No.1 Soy Boy Gabriel Kidd who offered me out to the car park for a word or two which never materialised. Truthfully though the Southside Sheffield Double Header's are usually great fun but tiring on the legs and your liver if you are drinking many £3 cans of Hooch!

With that said, let's get into my trip to PROGRESS on Sunday which started at 11am from Rochdale Train Station arriving into the first meeting spot of the Brewdog next to the Albert Hall concert venue due to Oxford Road being very busy due to the Manchester Derby between Manchester City and Manchester United and also the Remembrance Sunday commemorations. Only the one drink in here for me which was a Mad Hatter Brewery Choco Choc Choc (£4.80 2/3rds) that had a burnt orange after taste to it but it was spot on as a palate cleanser to commence the drinking for the day.

After a phone call from Athers of his whereabouts, we moved on to The Courtyard which is located not too far away from the Ritz and is widely known as more of a student drinking den with prices as low as £2.85 for pints of Pravha of which I had 3 pints of, take into account as well the half price 10 inch pizzas on a Sunday (£4) and you have a relatively cheap afternoon out before the graps. The only downfall about this place are the urine stained piss gutters and as Athers found out - no locks of note on the disabled toilet doors, meaning me and our Geoff had to play guardsmen to make sure the door was shut whilst Athers was doing his business.

Arriving at the Ritz for 230pm, we were supposed to be sat in 4th row seating but due to the sheer amount of people I know standing up for the afternoon we took our position in front of the merch desk which provided an excellent view for the afternoon's action, so without further ado let's get into what went down!

After the usual pleasantries from compere Jim, we got into the first match with Eddie Dennis receiving quite the ovation from the Manchester audience but was soon turned to jeers once the match got going against his opponent, the aforementioned 'Speedball' Mike Bailey who was looking to continue his blinding form from the weekend into this match. Early stages and Eddie used his considerable height advantage on Bailey as he he hit a sweet Cravat Neckbreaker for a two count, Bailey fired back though with a boot to the face following up with a twirling Shooting Star Press for a two count. It has to be noted that Bailey is very accustomed to using his body as a dangerous weapon using many variations of double knee stomps and splashes to wound his opponents, but on one occasion during this match, Bailey tried to his the double knees to Eddie on the Apron but missed leaving him with very sore shins - OUCH!

Back in the ring, Eddie hit a big powerbomb for 2 count but Bailey came back once again to hit a tornado roundhouse kick to Dennis whilst he was in the ring corner to floor Eddie, leaving Bailey to hit the Moonsault double knees from the top rope for a close two fall. Bailey though once again tried for the Moonsault knees but he missed leading to Eddie hitting a Next Stop Driver which got an amazing 2 count that brought a huge reaction from the crowd in attendance. Sadly though Eddie didn't rest on his laurels and duly put Bailey away with a Super Style Next Stop Driver for the win to end an amazing opener that set the tone for what would be one of the best PROGRESS show certainly in the last couple of years. Both lads deserved the round of applause from the Manchester faithful - fan-dabbie-dozzie!!!

Next up brought the usual Women being on 2nd spot, but this one brought the debut of local favourite Lana Austin who has been touted for ages for a spot on a PROGRESS chapter show as she has consistently been one of the most improved wrestler on the circuit and without one of the best women wrestlers out there in the UK and Europe. Knowing Lana very well through the North West over the years brought a sense of happiness seeing someone who has worked hard to get to this spot be very satisfying. Lana's opponent for the afternoon was Isla Dawn who had a fine match against Millie McKenzie at the last Camden show till The Spice Girls & All Saints came in and interfered,

The early feeling out process in this match was very much a 50/50 split from an offence side of things, but from a crowd side of things it was 99% in Lana's favour. Lana managed to stun Isla with the 'Peach Punch' arse smash to get a two count but it was when Lana missed a dive from the top rope that she was duly punished by Dawn who had Lana up in the electric chair position to be transitioned into a bridging suplex pin to get the unpopular 3 count in a fairly decent contest - better luck next time Lana!

Third up, it was like looking at a mirror image as 'Smashmouth' Chris Ridgeway took on the 'Killer Import' Jordan Devlin in what looked on paper to be a hard hitting contest and one that turned out to be just that. Devlin who has been tearing up the Irish scene by store had the upper hand as he hit a Spanish Fly at one stage to get a two count on Ridgeway. Devlin followed up with hard boots and then a brainbuster which was then reversed by Ridgeway into a choke to send Devlin sprawling for the ropes. Devlin though shook this off when reversing another choke into a Piper/Hart pin for a 2 count, Devlin once again went up top trying to hit a Moonsault but was caught once again by Ridgeway who locked in a triangle choke.

With both wrestlers at a standing base though, Devlin headbutted Ridgeway in a duel of two rutting stags to get a two count to elicit a standing ovation from those in attendance. Ridgeway fought back from this and hit a Cradle Piledriver not seen since the days of Jerry Lynn in ECW but Devlin managed somehow to roll through from this and hit a huge Package Piledriver to get the 3 count to win an excellent battle - this show ruled! One thing I didn't quite get was the appearance of Paul Robinson who challenged the defeated Chris Ridgeway saying 'Your supposed to be Hard as Fuck, but I am Harder than you' setting up a match possibly for the next Manchester show in December - surely the bloke who is Hard as Fuck shouldn't have been the one who was just defeated? Probably this was one of two minor gripes on this afternoon.

Your half time main event next with David Starr who has had a beard trim taking on Ilja Draganov who thankfully didn't come out to them Wembley jungle drums this time. To follow up what had already been an amazing first half, this delivered despite as we would find out a bit of a duff finish in one sense (I'm a clean finish man). This match had lariat battles galore between both me with sweat and souls escaping both wrestlers bodies eventually flooring both men on a couple of occasions, dives by both Starr and Ilja were hit to leave people running from there seats to move out of the way.

Back in the ring with the match ready to go off the scale, Ilja hit a huge Torpedo Moscow headbutt to Starr to leave him laying but as he was ready to win the match out came 'The Kiwi Buzzsaw' Travis Banks wearing some newly acquired threads to attack both Ilja and Starr to cause the No Contest much to the disgust of the crowd and firmly positioning Banks in the position of bad guy for the future as he possibly goes into two mouth watering clashes against both Ilja and Dave which makes sense as we close out 2018, but just the clean finish man in me though they could have left this as an after match angle but hey ho - it is what it is!

Back from half time now with the crowd firmly settled from a scorching first half we returned with Tag Team title action as Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) made the second defence of their titles against #CTK (Timothy Thatcher & Chris Brookes). The CTK tag team dominated early one with both Thatcher and Brookes getting the better of the Aussies but Davis and Fletcher came back with for instance Fletcher hitting a dive to the outside on both Timo and Brookes.

Back in the ring Brookes tried many variations of trying to roll up the Aussies and got multiple 2 counts from Referee Joel, but it Brookes who got a taste of his own medicine as Kyle Fletcher used a roll up of his own to pin Brookes in around 15 minutes to end a really good back and forth match.

Inspired but failed chant credit goes to my mate Davey who tried to get me to chant 'Brooksey & Tim' to the tune of 90s Children's TV show Rosie & Jim - sadly it fell flat on its arse but I enjoyed it.

Second to last match now with the Atlas Open Challenge with the Champion Trent Seven facing a mystery opponent with many names mentioned around the RItz on the afternoon but ending up with a great option in the form of Liverpool's No.1 Zack Gibson accompanied with his tag partner James Drake for whom he had a few miscommunication's with in the last few weeks. What followed was to be one of the most funniest mic battles with some reet cutting barbs against each other - the one about Trent Seven being the cheap option if Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate weren't available left me in stitches and literally leaving Trent lying on the floor.

It was one comment though that would come back to bite Gibson on the arse as he said that all Trent was famous for was getting beat in 6 seconds by Matt Riddle at SSS16 two years ago. As the bell sounded though as per Gibson's request he was caught unawares by Trent who rolled up the Scouse Mouth in 5 seconds to send the crowd in rapture and roars of laughter as Gibson's expense - this was great booking and just what was needed after all the action before it (Thumbs up and a ten from Len)! After the match, disgusted at his defeat Gibson had a pushing match with Drake who he left alone in the ring as it looks like the Grizzled Young Veterans will be searching out divorce proceedings as a tag team.

Now is the time for the Main Event with No.1 Contender Mark Haskins trying to do the impossible as he looked to beat the unstoppable Austrian Monster WALTER. Now I admit and like a few others didn't have high expectations that Haskins would pull off the victory on this evening in Manchester but as we would find out the impossible nearly came possible! In this match Haskins played the underdog in peril perfectly here getting the Manchester crowd who had once booed him against Zack Gibson in his first title run, fully behind the man from Malvern.

With Walter looking dominant early on, Haskins managed to at least get in some offence as he floored the Austrian to hit a double stomp for a two count, Haskins followed up with the bounce back dive to the outside, back in the ring Haskins managed of all things to wrap Walter in a Sharpshooter to get him close to tapping, but Walter reached around with his huge arms (it has to be said that Walter is looking more and more in solid shape to add to his menacing demeanor) to reverse the submission into a choke of his own which Haskins managed to get out of.

Haskins on a couple of occasions tried to roll through to lift Walter but on the second time of trying he was caught in a choke sleeper but rolled through over Walter to get a 2 count. Walter did hit a powerbomb which has put away opponents in the past for a 2 count, but when at a standing base Walter put away a valiant Haskins with the Steiner Screwdriver for the 3 count to end a breathless main event and what a fitting end to an almost perfect 3 and half hour show and for me made me believe in Mark Haskins as a threat once again for the future despite losing.

Show finished, it was time for the debrief and a bit of a tea in Wetherspoons to chat with the usual folks about what a great evening of action it was. By the time 8pm, I left to catch my train thinking of what a great day and weekend I have had at the wrestling with some top people and in no way feeling burn out from it, but glad of the rest now until Sunday 18th November and Tidal Wrestling in Leeds.

In closing though, I fully recommend you check out this show on PROGRESS On Demand when it arrives as it could easily be in my top 10 shows of the year and touching the top 5 from a live experience side of things. So I hope you have enjoyed reading this review, please leave any feeback give it a share, like or retweet and I will see you next time for Tidal Wrestling at the weekend.

#grapsandclaps

@oggypart3

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wildgrave · 8 years ago

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i'm going to D.C. with my friends and i think you said you live there. i know there are museums but is there anything else to do?

if you wanna stick to stuff around the national mall, i’d recommend the national botanical gardens!! it’s gorgeous, and has both inside & outside areas. i love roaming around and taking pictures of the plants. also prefect if you wanna get those hipster instagram photos, and it’s FREE!!

the national zoo is pretty cool too and it’s close to two different metro stop, so it’s not hard to get to. honestly though i would NOT go if it’s hot outside, b/c the main path has absolutely no shade. but if you wanna chill in a room full of lizards, or watch elephants, check it out!! also, since its part of the smithsonian, it’s also FREE!!

if you have money to spend, georgetown is the place to go. it’s kinda hard to get to b/c they don’t have a metro stop, but once you get there, there are shops everywhere. m street is the main street, and besides your usual big-name brands, they have some cool places -- buffalo exchange is a cool thrift shop (kinda like plato’s closet?), and there’s a palm reader. also you have to go to thomas sweet!! it’s off m street, but it has literally the ice cream in the world (obama used to get his ice cream from there).

there are TONS of concert venues.

9:30 club is the biggest standing room you’re gonna find, and has the more popular indie bands (tickets usually range from $20 - $30).

u street music hall is owned by 9:30 club and has smaller indie bands (tickets usually range from $10 - $25).

the black cat is basically 9:30 club for punk bands, but it also has karaoke nights & doctor who happy hour & dance parties (tickets usually range from $10 - $25).

rock n roll hotel is an old funeral parlor converted into a concert venue and if that’s not dope idk what is (tickets usually range from free - $20).

dc9 is the tiniest venue in the world, but if you don’t care who you see (b/c let’s be real, no one knows any of the bands), it’s nice for an intimate experience (tickets usually range from free - $15).

and if you want to look at more concert venues, just download bandsintown & set your location to DC!!

if you’re willing to go out of dc, old town alexandria is pretty neat!! it’s kinda like georgetown in that there’s one main street of shops (kings street), but they have more local shops. there’s also a free trolley that takes you up and down the street. if you go, you absolutely have to check out sacred circle. it’s a metaphysical store, but even if you’re not into that, they have pretty crystals and candles and the staff is super friendly!

eastern market is also super cool. it’s an outside market where people have booths and sell hand-made items and other fun stuff!! you can check out a list of their vendors here.

i know you said “other than museums” but i feel like i should mention that some of the art museums have really cool exhibits!

the hirshhorn has a permanent barbara kruger installation that covers the walls and floors and it’s amazing. right now they have an exhibit by yayoi kusama that i desperately want to check out too!!

the national gallery of art is obviously worth checking out, and it’s free, which is always a bonus.

the phillips collection is in dupont and has rotating exhibits as well. right now there’s a toulouse lautrec collection on show and i am freaking out b/c it’s only up for two more days and i haven’t seen it yet!!!!

the renwick gallery is part of the smithsonian but it focsuses on crafts & decorative art which is vastly underappreciated!!

anyway these are just year-round things, because i don’t know when you’re coming, but my number one recommendation is to check out the arts section of dcist, which puts out a list of things to do in dc every weekend. honestly this is an a+ resource. stuff they list include film & art festivals, wine tastings, jazz shows, and plays.

hope this helps!!!!!!

#Anonymous

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