#idr whether i ever posted it here

[jetcorax]

[taegularities]

oh my god, i'm seeing so many fic: ruin you asks these past months. it's so fulfilling to see nobody forgetting the couples. also, the fact that a!oc gained so much traction even among the new readers? :')))) used to be my favorite oc too, despite the fact that we first knew ry!oc and had attachments with her haha. still adore her. idk why, rid but i see yourself the most in a!oc amonst your other ocs :''))))) perhaps due to the sweetness <333 btw, all these asks even bring me to ask, since idr it being revealed before- when did tae/a!oc first tell each other i love yous properly? because i rmbr a!oc only saying she is falling for him before the timeskip

remember your old post where you expressed your worries regarding writing a new drabble or something related to the series? because you thought nobody any longer would be interested? then your recent post with similar thoughts concerning fic: cmi too? riddyy, i get where those come from but are you kidding us?! we will eat up anything like a starved little nation! we're never tired of your contents. whatever it may be. whether it's an old fic or new release! go for whatever your heart inspires. i'll always root for you, my favorite tumblr girl!

but to reassure you once more: i'm looking forward to the promised fluff of cmi, riddyyy <3 it's much much needed indeed. i'm looking forward to the upcoming new jungkookie fics, i'm looking forward to you bringing back ry couple/s (probably tae and a!oc more lmao because we have so little of these two), i'm looking forward to anything your beautiful brain and heart comes up with really. anything, really. like so many others on this app. i hope you see our love in the way we always write to you and our unhurried anticipation!

sjiskaiakkak anyway, stay healthy and happy vacations to you!!!! also, are you still in turkey? safe travels <3

ohhhh i wanna tell ry/ruined babyfans that the taekook angst is in cmi too 😮‍💨 although, not as bad since circumstances are slightly different HAHAHA

babe this is a love letter what the heck !!! 😭 so i'm going to give you one back.

you literally echoed my thoughts – it's always so nice to see people still care so deeply about these characters and that they still live in your minds after all this time. it's the same with c&f – i didn't expect everybody to love it so much, and even less for people to remember it. probably the biggest reason why i wrote another part at all <3 haha yesss, i do love ry!oc but a!oc has a special something about her that we've grown to adore, right? 🥺 no wayyyy, you see me in her?? that's a top fkn tier compliment what 😭

ahh yeah, oc told him she was falling in love with him and then in the very last scene there was something like "you love me, right?" – "i do." but i think they'd been together for a couple months when tae came up with this big, elaborate date where he'd take her to their favourite exhibition.. then they went to a restaurant at the end of the town and took a walk and he just couldn't get himself to finally say it lmao until they reached a small hill, and he was like, "ok this is the moment," and told her he loved her 🥺 this entire date just to tell her 🤍

ughhh, yes, my brain is a menace like that 😭 sometimes it's hard to convince myself that people really care (i think that's what cmi oc + jk and i have in common? :')), so it's the sweetest thing of you to remind me that you're still here. i do always worry bc things get quiet here, but i'm so thankful you're all here to reassure me and don't get annoyed by these moods of mine jfkahdkf and you never, ever rush me, so i truly love you sm.. :(

i'm back home now!! turkey is gorgeous. thank you, my love <3 oh wait, is there taekook angst in cmi? elaborate 👀 haha but yeah shit is definitely different this time around 😂

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

🌟 idr if ive ever asked this .. but catarina with the ashen wolves !!

Ooh! I am not sure whether you have, but I do think I might have been asked this question a long time ago, so it's possible! And, regardless of whether that was also you or not, thank you very much for asking it here, friend!~

(source: this post by cloudy-memes)

Send a 🌟 + name and I’ll talk about my self-insert’s bond to that character! - I'll do this in relative order of closeness, if that's alright~

So, first of all, we have Hapi, who.. Catarina does definitely have a very close bond with, by virtue of Hapi being one of my romantic F/Os. The two share a lot of opinions on things, though I would say that Catarina is not quite as apathetic as Hapi tends to be - even so, the two enjoy each other's company greatly, as both of them feel that they can just be themselves and not have to worry about things when the other is around. I think it would take some time for Hapi to trust her with knowledge of her sigh, but when she does, the fact that Catarina responds with wanting to find ways to adapt to it (e.g. taming the monsters), instead of just ways of mitigating it (e.g. killing the monsters), stands out a lot to Hapi and is a strong catalyst for the pair really becoming closer.

Next, I think I would say Catarina gets on best with Yuri, because the two have a number of comparable personality traits - in fact, even their Crests have the same effect in-game, in that they prevent enemies from counterattacking. I'm also thinking of tying part of her backstory to his, in that both of them ended up in Abyss for the same reason/as part of the same incident (since Yuri was also in the Blue Lions house, which is where Catarina would also have been placed initially - and his retailation at what his group were asked to do would most likely have been something she supported him on). So, all these similarities are what lead the two to have a strong bond of friendship.

Following this is Balthus, who is not generally the sort of person Catarina enjoys the company of very much, given his more rowdy personality. However, they actually have a closer bond than might be expected, because Balthus first attended the Officers' Academy in the same year as her older half-brother, Tobias. The two of them (plus Holst) had a fierce friendship, even despite Holst and Balthus being Golden Deer whereas Tobias was a Blue Lion, so Balthus knows a bit more about Catarina's younger self than the others as a result - and sometimes struggles to see her as any older than she was when he went to school with her brother, which leads him to both be caring towards her and also sometimes be unintentionally belittling.

Finally, we have Constance! I wouldn't say that Catarina and Constance dislike each other by any means, it's just that she gets on least well with her compared to the other three. Constance has a habit of turning everything into a competition, particularly when it comes to unconventional magics, whereas Catarina does not enjoy being competitive whatsoever. So, this can leave her rather exasperated at her. Even so, there can definitely be moments where the two are able to bounce off of each other very effectively and get on brilliantly - it's just generally a case of whether Catarina's bluntness clashes with or act as a fun foil to Constance's theatrics.

I hope that all of these answers were alright, friend! Thank you very much again for sending this in, even if it has been some time since it was first sent ;w;

[change-the-rules]

I Highkey have Not been able to stop thinking about this post ever since i first saw it and in a bid to not undertake writing a wholeass fic for it here are some of said Thoughts™

so trans!Alex, young, pre-transition, over 18 but probably started college younger so olivia doesn't realize how young since they're in the same year (canon puts both cabot and benson as born in '68, but SMarch was born in '74 so cabot could be a yearish younger here, Whistler is probably sameish age as tori anderson who was born in '88 so for my purposes im gunna say oliva is 20 when)

her and alex have a one night stand

alex is kind of messed up about it bc gender feelings, p soon after ends up disappearing, takes time off from school, transitions, transfers to new school where no one knows her (we know she went to harvard law school but idr where she went to undergrad not that it matters let's say they met at a party)

and then olivia realizes she's pregnant, she already knows that she wants to be a detective but still hasn't begun to heal from the trauma of her conception or her mother's abuse, so she finds out she's pregnant and freaks out but feels like she can't have an abortion bc if her mom still had her how could she not have the kid just bc she wasn't ready, couldn't handle it, basically girl is still fucked up

so she doesn't attempt to locate alex, has the kid on the dl, gives it up for adoption and never looks back

fastfoward to when olivia meets alexandra cabot, she doesn't recognize her even tho she feels familiar in a way olivia can't put her finger on and alex isn't about to out herself even if she still thinks about that night often

they def dont figure it out til post alex gets back from witsec

whistler meanwhile is raised by parents who never tell her she's adopted, noah is their biological kid and the two of them look So Similar, choose your own angst as to whether she gets kicked out in hs (idk why i'm just so attached to her parents disowned her....it's terrible but it feels right) and it comes out then and noah is all like it doesn't matter You Are My Sister, or if she only finds out after noah dies and like he kept their parents from doing anything drastic bc he was the golden child but when he dies Then they disown her and it comes out so she loses literally everything all at once idky Kate brings out the angst in me

in canon alex ends up volunteering in prosecuting sex crimes in war torn areas and also eventually quits practicing law when an abusive husband gets acquitted and murders his wife in retaliation at which point she joins a secret underground organization that helps battered women disappear either of which I feel like can have her paths cross with the fbi

and idk this is where plot issues come in and ive stopped trying to think further bc again avoiding writing A Fic but like maybe alex gets setup by a navy officer or agent or someone high profile whose wife she helped smuggle away, so alex's blood gets found at a crime scene and when they run it Surprise Kate comes up in the system (idk how dna traces work rotflmao but if shes got dia security clearance she's probably in the system yea?) idk

maybe when benson and cabot meet whistler they just seem To Know but surely it can't be blah blah blah lmao again idk but eventually adult!kate gets a family that loves her and it's all very sweet

she really is like The perfect cabenson kid okay i just can't Can Not this lives rent free in my brain i also rly don't know why my brain went this route instead of like cute fluffy cabenson raises her except im lowkey obsessed with jamming plausible scenarios into canon and also kate for whatever reason rly does bring out my angst whore side

[ijhyo]

may i ask why are you ot6 ? i’m only curious !! i come in peace 😊 [ also that emoji was sincere istg 😭😭 ]

PLSGFDHDD don't worry ur okay 😭

im gonna use this as My Official response to this question so i can redirect ppl here if they ever ask me again.

simply, the whole nword thing with heeseung way back in 2021. if u don't know what happened basically in a now deleted (or at least the part is gone idr) en behind video thing, somebody was singing sza’s love galore and sang the nword. lots of discourse about whether it was heeseung who sang it or just some other person and blah blah blah but i think it was him (like u know what he sounds like, let's be real)

now is that my whole reason for not liking him? not really but even if it was i think its enough, but yk there's MORE 😯

honestly the handling of that situation was literally so shit and every time i think about it i get so pissed off. you had nonblack engenes gaslighting and being so fucking racist to black engenes expressing their disappointment (the shit they were posting they lucky i never passed them in the street), you had the pisspoor damage control being done by the members (how convenient jake got a photo with layla to share and won going live in the same 48 hours) and the icing on the cake being belift completely ignoring everything and releasing a statement talking about how they "protect their artists" and blah blah

i dont gaf if u (engenes in general not u specially anon) think he did or didn't say it, but i dont want to hear anything if u aren't black. even if it were to come out that he didn't say it as much as i would be like "oh okay sorry for shitting on u and stuff" i still wouldn't be able to like him again bc of all the other stuff that surrounded it yk? (bc what do you mean u going to post pictures of l*nchings to defend somebody who's TOO DAMN GROWN to be saying the nword like okayyy)

so yeah that's just #ME i dont fw him bc as far as im concerned he DID say it but even if i thought he didn't his fans and engenes r nasty as fuck and i dont like them and he gives me the ick now

[mango-dolphin]

trying to post art more, even if it’s wips. so uuuuuuuuuu here’s another pjo oc of mine, feat. an adult demigod!!!!

realized i keep using the tags as rambling locations and since i’m typing shit ANYWAYS i might as well put it in the actual post:

her name is Persephone Jackson (all pronouns) and she’s in her late 30s / early 40s. she goes by Percy . That’s the joke !!!

her parents are Eris and this chaotic lawful neutral lesbian professor of ethics, which would explain. a lot about her honestly.

i can’t Particularly get into his whole deal but you May know the following:

transfem icon. queen (figurative)

she’s a powerful spellcaster and alchemist, learned most of what she knows from either Circe or her godly mother.

was not a camper at Camp Half-Blood. whether or not they’ve stepped foot into the camp, or any camp, is a different story entirely

that sword in the pic was a b-day gift to him from his gram-gram Nyx :) he hasn’t really met her, but he hears from the chthonic side of the family every once in awhile. idk the powers of the sword but it’s definitely a magical weapon.

its most prominent skill is subterfuge via Absolutely Fucking Around And Finding Out. or at the very least scrambling around people’s comprehension of events for maximum chaos.

also specializes in curses as well as boons, but xe’s particularly great at cursing!

they may or may not be a mercenary

they may or may not have worked for triumvirate holdings for a little while.

in a polycule with other folks who happen to be named after gods too, which ended up being a coincidence at first but Percy absolutely insisted that they keep up the theme. somehow, zir partners have mostly continued to have god/mythologically relevant names

yes. yes he has been confused for Perseus Jackson several times before, and vice versa. neither of them particularly know of each other and never had the opportunity to cross paths (they’re kind of doing their own things, y’know?)

oh i forgot to mention she’s tall. she’s over 6 feet but idr if i ever gave her a numerical height

thank u for making it this far. here’s another picture of percy (perse? persey? god why did i decide to name em that)

[washymylifeaway]

SunaOsa fanfic recs: valentines edition~~

SunaOsa is one of my all time favorite ships and this past month, there has been/was an exchange going on between writers (here is the link) and artists (separately) and because I don’t have a life (or maybe it’s just that SunaOsa is my life LOL), I’m here to tell you some of my favorite fics from the pile :D However, as much as I love a ship, sometimes fluff is too asajndajnd so mind you there will probably be a lot of good fics missing just cause I couldn’t get myself to read more fluff (or angst) LOL (IM SORRY but sometimes I also just can’t motivate myself to read a fic no matter how good it looks OOPS).

As always, please check warning and tags before reading any of these fics, and take care of yourselves!!!!

In no particular order (jk the order is last updated haha) tho my favorites will have *** next to them :)

***glass stained black by unrequitedangst (E) 31k // Mafia AU’s are some of my favorite kinds of fics, and this one did not disappoint! The character development of Osamu is really legit and despite being mafia, it’s not that heavy or angst of a fic (but you should still definitely read tags and warnings first). It’s an Osamu heavy fic, and if you’re into reading him being stupid, go right ahead LOL.

redux by catalysis (T) 2.3k // ngl I hate break-up fics with a passion truely (when you can’t handle fluff or angst what to do) but I liked the concept for this one hehe (so I made myself suffer LOL). It was short, but cute !!! and the unspoken words really hit me in the FEELS (so what I’m dramatic fight me LOL).

Impropriety by DeathBelle (T) 5.7k // royalty~ I love the banter between them in this fic and we DO stan respectful Osamu yes we do <33333 The relationships between not only SunaOsa but SunaAtsu (because even though it isn’t really SunaAtsu best friend agenda, I can delude myself into think it is okay :/) are done so well and so nice he’s mean Osamu is best Osamu.

***what are you waiting for? by Slumber (T) 3.7k // MIGHT BE MY FAV FIC FROM THIS EXCHANGE!!! It made me cackle and I love how they learn new things about each other!!!! Like the development is so good and Suna is really doing the MOST!! Also, I love recursive endings AHHHHHH!

agape by sketchedsmiles (T) 11.7k // soulmates, then they were SOULMATES! (ik that’s not how it goes but pls just humor me LOL) This fic really depicted Osamu’s insecurities/internal turmoil/overthinking really well and the realization he has vs Suna’s AHJAFKASFJ. I love confident Suna.

fireside by tartaglia (starkartifices) (T) 3.6k // we do love the subtle flirt flirt don’t we hehe ;) It’s short, it’s fluff, and it’s funny - what more could you ask for? Also whats a vigilante fic if there isn’t at least one pun about being a vigilante LOL.

Over and Over Again by tookumade (G) 6.4k // I would like to order one reassuring, reliable Miya Osamu for myself please and thank you :((( The way the relationship is so GOOD like both Suna and Osamu pick each other up and they know the other has their back ajfhkajdfl. I would purchase all the onigiri with the deal Suna was proposing ;) Onigirintarou.

from here to eternity by TheGlovedArtist (T) 6.6k // I for one am a big fan of mythology and stuff (heroes of olympus but like IDR any of the plot LOL) so of course I read this fic. The snark appearances of Sakusa and Komori gave me LIFE and the difference in descriptions from Astumu and Kita cracked me up. This is another respectful Osamu fic (yes I love these) and in this one it was a ‘I save you as much as you save me’ type beat LOL. Gotta love rings.

***Subtle Inarizaki Dating by sifuhotman (T) 15.2k // THIS ONE. Even if you don’t read the whole thing, I beg of you, please, I AM ON MY KNEES, read the SID for Astumu. It is worth the loss of all your brain calls I guarantee it. It made me giggle so freakin much. Suna might be an A-Hole but he’s OUR A-Hole <3

Forever Begins with 8 Seconds by subtlehues (T) 3.9k // FLUFF hehe, I love their dynamic in this one it’s very good and cute and everything great! Also, I am all for the head cannon that Suna cannot cook, yes pls. Also SUPERPOWERS whooooooooh.

***try again, and again, and again by rosegoldwriting (T) 2.6k // SOULMATES! If you ever wanted a specific soulmate AU! for SunaOsa look no further, it probably comes out LOL. I love this concept of them just being like ‘WTF’ everyday, it gives me life. Also, count how many soulmate AU’s you recognized because I just thought about it and I think it’d be fun LOL. (I went back and I think 11 but I’m not sure LOL)

let us burn by SilverMoonT (G) 13.5k // I am always up for a nice vampire Osamu and witch Suna (which believe it or not, is my second one because I read the other one by this writer LOL) This one is more Suna POV and it really goes into his fears and desires, and I like the way Osamu pushes him to live more freely.

***reasons to microwave an elixir by spiritscript (T) 8.2k // THIS ONE. UGH I love, and it’s funny and cute and it EVEN HAS CRIME (kinda not really but yes)! I love the quiet moments they have and the PET AHHHHHHH! We love medic Osamu :DDDDD But also the betrayal and the sparring (and the irony at the end LOL) AJSKJNFK.

we fall between by stringendos (T) 14.7k // honestly the entire time I was just screaming at my computer, begging for them to hurry up and realize, but alas this is a ~slow burn~ for a reason and the tag ‘exes who act like theyre married’ really is the reason I read it and I do not regret LOL. Also bless Matsuda and stan her.

All the Time in the World by minie_ai (M) 8.8k // we love immortality! Denial! And Suna mentally filing away blackmail against people (namely Astumu) LOL. Running away from your problems is always the answer (I am saying this is a not sarcastic manner because I too, run away from my problems LOL) but ramen is ALWAYS a good answer. We love ourselves some emotional constipation LOL.

***none but you by broikawa (T) 7.2k // everything is a competition always LOL, not that I’m complainin but still LOL EVERYTHING. I really love this one because I love the progression and cock-block SakuAtsu hehe. I love them being synchronized idiots <3

it all comes back to you, (my home) by iritaescents (T) 4.5k // FOREVER, WE STAN FOREVER. Anyway, LOL this was is very very cute and fluff and not slow burn, it fast burn LOL. It’s a cute fic to read and it even has our favorite, now say it with me SOULMATES LOL.

Can't help falling in bed with you by tirralirra (T) 6.7k // here we see a 5 + 1 with points for the title (I think it’s very funny LOL my humor is bad ;)) Not that it really needs extra points because it’s a great fic in itself LOL but I really liked the title so I felt the need to share this with you all (OOPS). This was so cute, and the + 1 is HILARIOUS.

It’s no longer up :(((((( -> love's consequences by xginpuff (T) 6.5k // WARNINGS AND TAGS been a while since we had an angsty fic in this list (LOL the way I just tried to avoid all of them hehe). I read the tags but ngl I was still surprised later LOL maybe I’m just dumb, but anyway IK it starts out a bit confusing, but after you read more, you’ll get into it!

***sunagashi by bastigod (T) 9.8k // if there’s anything I like more than mythology, it’s folklore LOL. I love this fic and the plot is written so artfully AHDSAJN. Also the scene with the Ume-chan and her comment (so snarky I love). Also they way I went through so much trouble trying to figure out the kanji LOL (SPOILER it’s miyarin hehe)

catch me (while i'm still runnin') by lunarins (T) 4.3k // first and foremost, may we have a moment of silence for Komori and his eyebrows..... Continuing, this fic was so good because I love a good heist hehe. Their slight of hand abilities really doing the most LOL, and the ending OMG. I love the way the writer added in how they appeared to others during the heist, it really made it so good! Ugh to have a painting class and almost die LOL.

***if we get this right by Slumber (G) 5k // OLD FRIEND plsplspls I love this fic and I love how Osamu slowly relearns who he knew Suna as AHHH. The ending, again UGH, I really loved it and their banter with one another.

The Study of Suna Rintarou by DeathBelle (T) 6.1k // PLEASE the way Osamu kept getting offended omg. But also the effort Suna puts into getting to know Osamu, I was in ~love~. Read to me Osamu, READ TO ME. But also the Osamu is an oblivious MF agenda is alive and well within this fic hehe.

Take a Hint by pancake_surprise (G) 2.3k // ok so I had just read a tumbr post about the one bed thing and then I saw this fic. It was like the stars aligned okay? I was like, ig I HAVE to read it now hehe. But seriously read it, it’s cute and like everything else, of course there’s a challenge to be made LOL.

Heatwave by pancake_surprise (G) 2.1k // the way they were dating without knowing they were dating man. The tag ‘Didn't Know They Were Dating‘ more accurate than the ‘first dates’ one LOL jk but actually tho am I kidding? It’s the first official one IG. LOL anyway, we do love the doin of the defining of relationships. Yup.

If you made it all the way down here, CONGRATS LOL. Like I said, I didn’t read all of them (sadly) and these were the ones i did read LOL. I might add more depending on whether I can motivate myself into reading fics I know will be good LOL so we’ll see heh. Honestly, I thought I was gonna get word counted, but YAY we finished (for now hehe). Also sorry for any possible typos (is this no beta we die like men?) I’m running on 90 min of sleep so my engrish be strugglin LOL. Be safe and wear masks :)

[cliveguy]

pls give us the hays code discourse, i have no idea what the hays code is and frankly i’m too afraid to ask, it just showed up one day on here and i’ve just been going w it, but pls if u would be so kind to educate us <3 i would appreciate it

idr what discourse i wanted to start but the hays code is sooooo interesting so im gonna go off on it

the hays code is another name for the motion picture production code that was put into place in the 30s in america. it's probably best known for forbidding "sexual perversion" from being shown onscreen in a positive light - which had an early influence on tropes like predatory gays and bury your gays. it also had a massive influence on what people call gaycoding/queercoding now, since people did their best to get around the code. a lot of gay tropes come from this era of hollywood, and it's pretty interesting to see films still use them even though the hays code is faaar behind us.

it's actually also really interesting to me though because the code wasn't just about gay people, which is something pretty often forgotten. it also forbade positive portrayal of ANYTHING seen as sexually immoral at the time, which included sex before marriage and interracial couples. murderers and criminals were also only allowed to be villains and had to be punished at the end of the story, which might seem stupid but has actually had a massive impact on the way people view media, which you can see if you look at any twitter thread on irredeemable media lol. (sidenote, i can get why ppl forget it wasn't only gay ppl targeted by the hays code, because the gay rule was the last one to be fully ignored)

i think the thing i wanted to start discourse about was possibly that gaycoding ≠ hays code. the hays code was only operating in hollywood, and even books about gay film history like the celluloid closet completely forget this. they'll be like "this was the FIRST EVER film to portray a gay couple positively!" when gay romance films with explicit sex were released in europe decades before lol. gaycoding also existed in books looong before film was even invented, and a lot of hays code era films took their gaycoding cues from the tropes in these books.

BUT when it comes to modern american media (like supernatural ...like this is what it's about) you CAN see the influence the hays code has had. the years of gay ppl only being allowed to be portrayed as villains has lead to evil characters just implicitly having gay features just by default (eg; mark p's lucifer is obviously playing into the gaycoded villain pretty heavily, but seemingly without awareness that that's what he's doing.) and bury your gays can be pretty easily blamed on the hays code. whether or not you believe cas' death was bury your gays, it's a trope spn has used a ton of times.

um that being said i don't think all of the homophobia or gay coding on spn can be attributed to being due to the hays code. imo, while there was some censorship on the show and a lot of modern media homophobia stems from the hays code, ultimately it was just a lot of men with problems disorder being homophobic. a lot of the gaycoding can also be pinned on queerbaiting, which is something completely seperate.

also also: most of the hays code posts are just jokes and idc because they associate hays with gay shit and he would have HATED that xx

(also if u find this kind of thing interesting i think the celluloid closet is free to watch on youtube!)

[klarolinedrabbles]

sorry if i'm nosy but i live for drama and the quarantine ain't helping lmao so do you have any more wild anecdotes from the kc/tvd fandom besides the ones you told a while ago?

Oh there’s definitely more.

There was the muffin incident. Which, sounds ridiculous, and I assure you it both is and isn’t. But basically, one of my dearest friends in the world, Jenn, @jonsnowbitch, decided one day she was going to conduct an experiment, if you will. And this experiment entailed sitting through an entire episode of TO and in that specific episode, replacing Camille’s presence with an inanimate object, and determine whether or not the story remains the same. Spoiler alert, it does. And the object Jenn chose was a muffin. Which didn’t sit well with some CK stans, who missed the entire point of Jenn’s post, and/or chose to ignore it. You can read it here. It’s the reason we have these amazing gems;

Uhhh there was a point where we had confirmation Carina was just hangin around on the blogs. She’d done an interview where she’d said her two most visited sites were these two blogs who hated TO, me and Hillary were like well that could not more obviously be us. Then like a year or so later, someone had sent me a screenshot of a tweet of hers, because I’m blocked by her on twitter, where she said she was just scrolling on a blog and came across a post that said ‘carina get off my blog’ which was something I’d written like the day before, lmfsksks. 

Uh let’s see, SOME WRITER LEFT TO, idr who exactly it was, Charlie something, I wanna say. He’d officially departed as a TO writer and he’d posted a picture of his goodbye letter on twitter, and he ended it with, ‘and yes, I love Klaroline too’ the kill bill sirens were real. We were like wtfwtfwtf. The fact that he didn’t say that till he was out the door, plus the way it was written. We’d had this theory that there was a Klaroline gag order, and that all but confirmed it for us.

Uh the last week or so of TVD’s series finale filming was pretty wild. 10/10 do NOT recommend, that was horrendous, no one knew wtf was going on. For some god-awful reason, this new girl popped up during S8 of TVD with information. But she had about a 60% success rate, which caused heaps of confusion in my inbox and on twitter. Every damn day was something whacked. She had this unprecedented access to sides, which are usually audition script pages, or misleading one’s. Like she’d posted a script page of I wanna say Matt or Alaric idr in a hospital bed scene, and it wound up being Stefan. It was just chaos. 

The day they leaked the board in the writer’s room during TO S5, spoiling that Hayley died mid-way through the final season. My running gag used to be that there was something in the water over there. The amount of times they themselves spoiled shit. Leah spoiled Camille’s vampire arc by posting a bts where she was very clearly wearing a lapis lazuli ring, some guy in S4 spoiled his character’s death, I mean the list goes on.

Narducci had given some interview once about how ‘tHIS UPCOMING EPISODE HAS THE MOST CHILLING ENDING WE’VE EVER DONE’ and I was like oh well I gotta see this, so I watch the entire episode just for the purpose of whatever this ending was, and it was just Aurora telling Klaus how she’d got the one-up on her brother that day and to come back to bed. I sat there for like five minutes going ‘....what’ because I couldn’t believe that was all it was. They had a notorious habit of overhyping things. Like who’s death was it in S2, I think? I honestly can’t even remember, that’s how whack it was. BUT THEY WAY THEY HYPED IT UP, LMFSKSK. Those weeks leading up to it, they had us convinced it was like Marcel or someone who was kicking the bucket. And then it was...no one. 

Which is why when spoiler anon said ‘in less than half a season they kill x, y, and z’ I didn’t believe them. Lemme think, the invasion of the sterobots. SC was up against CS in the finale of a poll, and there is absolutely zero way that fandom had the numbers to beat CS. Then one of their own went and said ‘we’ve been using bots’ and the rest is history. We were up against DE in a poll on EW. I don’t remember if it was the phone call or the letter though. But point is, they were gaining on us, while also competing in another poll on the same site and someone came to my inbox and snitched. Said she was in a gc and they were discussing how to overtake the poll. We lived some Wild times, ya’ll.

[xuune]

some thoughts on s7

this ended up me kind of rambling about my thoughts and feelings on s7 that are all over the place, so please bear with me if these thoughts don’t seem too well organized or anything: 

now, before i even actually saw the season, i was just snooping around here on tumblr to see what ppl’s reactions were, and i kind of let it get to the better of me. some people were just over dramatizing what was happening in s7, and their negativity on the season made me believe that i would wholeheartedly dislike the season. i saw all the posts with people going on about how if youre still watching the show, you should immediately drop it (and it was mainly centered around few central complaints going around right now, pretty sure you can figure that out on your own on what that was). it was understandable on where the frustration was stemming from. i only got 3 hours of sleep because of what people were saying despite not even seeing the season for myself and seeing how events would ultimately play out. but like they would always say, you shouldn’t let other people’s judgement affect you, and it really shouldn’t be the determining factor on how you view things or how your opinions are formed. 

when i watched the season, my general reaction to it was that its “ok”, i didn’t think it was entirely and absolutely terrible. i already know how a lot of us didn’t like the way a few characters got treated. i mainly thought that the animation looked nicer and improved in some of the action scenes. the writing was kind of “meh” for me when it came to whatever certain plot points that got introduced or continued. watching it on my own actually removed any thoughts of me disliking/hating the season entirely. 

even though i say this, the things i mention here are mainly about some issues that kept being brought up by people and circled around ever since s7 got released. 

in terms of character development? besides what we’ve been given for hunk, which has been awesome so far (i dont really feel like i have much to go in depth with for this, its already self explanatory in the season itself), i guess its going somewhere. i’ve got some hope, but it’s not on the level where its overwhelmingly high and optimistic. everyone’s been talking about the lack of actual lance development, how he’s constantly being reduced to being the “dumb” one, but we actually see him take initiative when needed. lance has been shown to stepping up and taking his role into account when handed the opportunity to do so, and it was multiple times when lance was given the re-established position of keith’s right-hand man. despite whatever remarks keith made on lance, whether or not they were supposed to come off as teasing/joking for the audience, keith does still seem to believe in lance’s capabilities. if he didn’t, keith wouldn’t have trusted lance the task on leading their team on their mission(s). lance actually got scenes where he could shine off as being portrayed more than what he’s constantly being insulted as. there are still some scenes of them showing mutual trust and respect for each other, especially with lance voting for keith during “the feud” and the reasoning he gave. but yeah, some parts it did seem like keith was kind of ooc in certain episodes when comparing his personality back to s3. who knows why keith gave the reasoning he did when he voted for lance. EDIT: acoolemocucumber’s post makes a good note on pointing out how during the voting section, keith is actually the first one to start writing. it’s later revealed that he chose lance on first pick. lance was the second to finish. even though he was peeking over at hunk and pidge to see who they chose, he instead decides to choose keith. keith choosing lance as a first choice without pure hesitance is amazing to see, and it really shows he trusts and respects lance a lot despite the reasoning he gave. then again, actions speak louder than words and countless times keith has shown to be that kind of guy by relaying a lot of important tasks to lance throughout this season. 

i’ll do say that i enjoyed most of the scenes they shared when they had to take a leading initiative with each other though. that was pretty nice to see again, and it felt like a decade since i ever saw that kind of dynamic from those two. 

there were a lot of action packed scenes, and i watched through those entirely to see if there’s any important plot detail to know, or make note of, while watching the ep to make sure i wouldnt be lost with whats happening so far. some people found it boring, some people found the fight scenes amazing and stunning. certain scenes had me really amazed on how well it was animated, some other scenes not so much in terms of repetition, and thats kind of bound to happen if we’re provided an arc where its continuing to keep the tense vibes on the recurring events with the current situation of the season. 

this is just merely my take on it, (my memory’s not the best with how much information im recalling from those 13 episodes) but it kind of felt lackluster with how the paladins barely got any kind of break where they could seriously spend one episode on unwinding, having in-depth conversations one on one, and not be so worried about the galra all the time. sure, there’s a few scenes like that in a few episodes, but it didn’t seem enough to make it feel like it balanced out whatever conflicts or character issues were newly or constantly introduced. 

ive read posts already about how some people had liked the season a lot, loved the actions scenes and all. but to me, some conflicts that took place seemed out of place or just didn’t really align well (idk how else to phrase it) especially with adam’s death, and i had minor mixed feelings about ep “the journey within”. 

about adam, it just seemed out of place and rushed for them to introduce shiro’s s/o only for them to take him away. we don’t get to see how fleshed out adam could’ve been, and i’ve already seen the frustration/rage people had with adam being killed off when considering how the creators told the viewers that they were gonna get to see adam, but weren’t told how long we’ll see him (plus the entire thing abt lgbt rep that was promised?). the thing with adam left me on a weird note, mainly because if you were just given no other info besides the info from the season, you wouldn’t even be given too explicit information about the relationship shiro had with adam. from there, it felt like there was no point in adding adam into the story if the viewers aren’t given clear information on what kind of bond shiro and adam had besides adam saying that they’ve been through a lot together (or whatever he said, idr it too much) and the “how important am i to you” line for lgbt rep points. its just pretty vague “””representation””” thats just leaving the audience to make the most out of what they’re given. we’re only given confirmation that they used to be fiancés from what they said in panels/interviews, but never in the show. im not sure what to really think about that, my mind’s just kind of in the void when i think about it. but this part i structured kind of badly and i apologize for that, but hopefully those of you can get what im saying. 

as for “the journey within”, it was reasonable for the way characters acted; theyre all tired, frustrated, and losing hope and were floating in space waiting for nothing but at least something to happen. keith snaps, gets irritated at everyone, lance is also the one to lash back out at keith saying keith ran away, giving the audience a big sign that lance was hurt by keith’s disappearance/leave from the team. but for keith to quickly later on go take everything back in just a few minutes seemed really awkward for me. its a kids show and all, but i just kind of didn’t like how that one section of that episode was written ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just a feeling i had with it. however, i did love how hunk took a lot of the initiative during the episode, it’s showing his growth of actually him continuing to fully accept his role as a paladin and determined to not back down regardless of his own cowardice that could prevent him from doing so at any time.  

and there’s the thing about k/acx: ive already seen a bunch of people going somewhere along the lines of disbelief, anger, frustration on how keith is getting het endgame but when i saw the episodes, his interactions with acxa didn’t even seem borderline romantic to me at all? to me, i merely saw 2 characters actually getting on better terms with each other and returning the favor. the two no longer see each other as enemies but allies now. keith only went back to save acxa because it seemed like he believed that he felt in debt to acxa for trying to save his team. ezor and zethrid merely poked fun at acxa, but if you consider previous seasons where acxa and keith interacted, the two just continued to return the favor of owing whatever debt they had for each other. it didn’t seem like there was any romantic tension intended in any of the scenes where they interacted. we already know acxa betrayed ezor and zethrid by switching sides, and if you were betrayed you’re bound to make at least a  remark on whoever betrayed you either way. in this case, ezor and zethrid found it reasonable to make a comment on acxa’s alliance with keith, hence how they teased acxa possibly crushing on keith (whether or not thats actually confirmed, its just left ambiguous and up for interpretation at that point). there’s the parallel with how they animated the shot between keith and acxa talking to each other, but neither did that one seem romantic to me? i hope im not the only one who thought that? the other scene people talked about was when acxa is in the same scene where keith was present when he visits his dad’s grave with krolia. i dont get why some people were upset about that either. even though its at the last ep of s7, there’s nothing to imply that keith invited acxa to go visit his dad’s grave with him or anything if you consider their placement in the scene. if keith did care about acxa’s presence being there when he visited the grave, wouldn’t he at least acknowledge acxa’s presence by showing obvious attention to her, or have her close to where him and krolia were? she remains distant but respectful of keith in the scene. i dont see where these scenes would imply keith automatically finds a romantic interest in acxa. acxa to keith? maybe, we don’t entirely know. keith to acxa? i dont see it being implied anywhere at all. not to mention keith’s “can’t we just fight” statement right after ezor and zethrid teased acxa about having a romantic interest in keith. again, its just my take on what’s being presented and my own thoughts on how people are viewing it. 

and with a/l, it leaves me on a bad note with how its progressing if its really getting the sealed deal endgame. like most people have been saying, it would be good for them to be endgame if they were only written better. am i entirely convinced theyre endgame? not really because there’s that small chance where vld pulls a 180 and the show creators stay true to their words on lance not being a rebound, lance being someone’s first choice, lance getting what he needs, not what he wants. what’s being given/presented so far is just bad writing with how allura suddenly reciprocates feelings for lance out of nowhere despite showing consistent disinterest in lance’s advances in previous seasons. s4 and onward we see her seeing lance more than just an annoying flirt, and the two become better friends who could genuinely talk to each other without having allura annoyed with lance’s flirtatious antics, and without lance being reduced to a constant flirt. during allura’s interest in lotor, we’re yet again presented how allura doesn’t return feelings for lance, especially during the scene when the mice told her about lance’s feelings for her back in s6. she seems rather disappointed, pitiful, or uncomfortable with knowing how lance genuinely liked her when she liked lotor during that time. later on, allura’s been out of her previous love interest with lotor, and hasn’t shown returned much of the same interest in lance. sure, she hugged lance and he returned the hug, but that only seemed necessary in the moment for when allura had felt betrayed by someone she wholeheartedly trusted and fell in love with. she needed comfort from someone and the person she spoke to was lance who was able to lend her some comforting words. but that was about it. i’d like to say that considering that this is a kids show, it does give a bad incentive for children to develop on believing that if they continue to force their feelings onto someone else, the person they’re interested in will eventually like them back out of the blue, which is the worst course of action to take despite being rejected countless times (and its kind of being shown with what a/l has right now). to take this kind of scenario and to fix/put it with good writing would to just properly depict lance accepting rejection and allura staying true to her previous feelings on not reciprocating his feelings. in a general sense, we all know that we can’t always get what we want, and that’s an important moral that always gets taught over and over again even if youre a child or an adult. rejection and acceptance of the rejection is something that can be taught here through the romantic subplot they’ve been having. just deciding that they should become endgame out of nowhere would leave the writing very dull. having allura get out of her previous love interest with lotor only to quickly move onto lance just doesn’t leave off on a good note. it just reduces lance to a rebound and that’s about it. 

the writing for me wasn’t really that breathtaking, overwhelming, or emotional or anything when it came to new plot points being presented (you know, all the fight scenes, galaxy garrison, that stuff). again, a lot of things seemed pretty rushed, i had mixed feelings for some but not all episodes. it was nice to see mostly everyone united back with their families and characters developing new motives for what they believe in doing. yet, the writing kind of just wasn’t on the level of where it actually gets me really interested and invested into the storyline like how it had back in s1 to early s3. i’ll still mention how the writing did it’s part in presenting development for hunk, though. i enjoyed that a lot.  

some parts of the writing were questionable, some parts of the season were enjoyable, but it wasn’t entirely overwhelmingly disappointing for me. the season was on the bare minimum on having the writing go “decent”, but again it felt pretty “meh” and this is just my own feelings on it. people have their own opinions, frustrations, concerns, questions, some people loved it, some people severely hated it or just felt extremely disappointed. 

the season has its peaks and lows, some pros and cons, but whatever you take from it is what you believe. 

i’ll still keep watching the show to see how it ends, that’s for sure. 

[aquarianlights]

I’m So Sorry And I Really Hope No One Leaves Me After This But I Need To Tell SOMEONE

For those of you that know me on FB, please don’t spread this on FB. This is a tumblr-only post. I’m usually pretty open about everything with people that know me irl, but. . .this in particular is not something I can let people who know me irl know. . . coz they’d leave me. And I’d be alone. In fact, I expect to lose a ton of followers after posting this. . .I’m gonna put it under a read more cut coz it’s so fucking horrible and you’re all going to be terrified of me now. . . I haven’t even told Chelle or Janita. . .or any of my roommates. . .whom I all trust 100%. . .because I know everyone is gonna leave me after this. And I just hope to fucking GOD that Chelle, Tajh, and Jeff (my roommates) are out of the house when these people come to evaluate me. . .because I haven’t told them about it yet.

Anyways. . .if you want to hate me and be scared of me for the rest of your existence, read below the cut. . .

So. . .I got a call the other day. And it’s been weighing on me since then. I told Tiffy almost immediately after it happened but she’s the only one I told coz I knew she wouldn’t abandon me over this.

Since I’ve either been in wards or in therapy ever since I turned 18, I haven’t needed an annual “evaluation” by a professional who takes his/her assessment back to a board of professionals to evaluate. . .something. I’m not sure what. They didn’t clarify over the phone. I’m THINKING it may be on whether I am fit to live in society or not? But I do have catastrophic thinking, so I may be thinking worst case scenario here and it could be something totally trivial and I’m just panicking.

But they called me. . .and told me that since I’m not in therapy and haven’t been and have not been in a ward for over x amount of time, I need to have annual visits by professionals to be evaluated for mental stability. If I were to get into therapy, get in with a psychiatrist for med management, and/or end up in a ward again. . .I wouldn’t need the evaluations. In fact, I did not even KNOW about the evaluations until this phone call because I HAVE always been in a ward or in therapy since the 18-19 age when this was initiated.

Apparently. . .in either my first or second adult institutionalization. . .I was diagnosed as sociopathic. Like. . .a straight up sociopath. No one told me this. No one even bothered to fucking MENTION this to me. And so. . .that went in my record when I was 18 or 19 and some sort of organization decided to keep tabs on me because of that diagnosis and the things I had done/said to earn that diagnosis. Apparently there’s not that many boxes that were left unchecked when checking when trying to diagnose me.

This went on my record. . .and was passed on to every therapist I’ve had and every ward I’ve been in. When I saw psychiatrists and psychologists, they knew and apparently thought I knew, so they never brought it up because I never brought it up. Which...is really fucked up. And the psychs in the wards always had me as a high risk patient with the bright red, yellow, or orange bracelet (depending on what they use) indicating I was high risk. I always thought it was coz I am schizo. But, no, apparently being schizo does not necessarily make you automatically high risk. . .but being a sociopath does. Why? I’m not sure. It’s not inherently bad to be a sociopath. . .is it? And I’ve been trying very hard to change the things about myself that make me qualify as sociopathic without even realizing they were attributed to that issue. . .disorder? Is it even called a disorder? Fuck, I don’t know the first thing about sociopaths/sociopathy.

But anyways. . .Apparently they kept putting me on two strong af antipsychotics at a time in wards because they were scared I’d do something or snap or whatever the fuck. Apparently they tried to talk to me about it and drill me on things I’ve done relating to stereotypical sociopathic behaviour but I’ve always put on a different personality for wards, so I had no idea they were talking about THAT. They never actually said the word “sociopath” so HOW WOULD I FUCKING KNOW??? HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW? HOW? HOW HOW HOW??? AND I’M BEING BLAMED FOR NOT KNOWING!!!!!

ANYWAYS. . .I got this phone call from the organization that has been keeping track on my mental health record since I was 18-19 (Idr which). It was basically a guy informing me that I needed my annual evaluation soon after introducing himself and telling me who he was and the organization he was associated with (which, I am familiar with coz I have worked with them before in crisis situations). And I was like “The fuck??? WHAT evaluation?” And he was like “Mental health evaluation. You know, for your issue?” Him trying to be discreet just made me mad and offended, tbh. But I didn’t show it. I was basically just like “What, you mean my schizo disorder? You can say it. You can say I’m schizo.” Like, it pissed me off that he was avoiding the word. Because I was like ‘it’s not a big deal that I’m schizo. why the fuck is an apparent professional avoiding the fucking word?’ I had no idea that he didn’t mean that at all. He hesitated on the phone and said “No, I’m talking about your sociopath diagnosis.” Which is when I almost dropped the phone. I took it seriously for a second and then burst out laughing and was like “WOW okay, thanks for the laugh, but no seriously, what evaluation are you talking about??” I legit thought this guy was joking to lighten the mood.

He was not. He repeated himself. And when I hesitated and made a confused, shocked noise. . .he then said “No one told you about this? You’ve been diagnosed when you were 18 when you were at MHRC for the first time and psychs that have seen you outside and inside wards have kept current with that diagnosis as they must report it to us that you are stable and medicated.” And I swear to god, if my life were a cartoon, my jaw would’ve been through the fucking floor. . .I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t think. Luckily, no one was home when this phone call happened or I would’ve been fucked. Because only my speaker phone works so I literally HAVE to have all my conversations on speaker phone. So. . .if anyone was home, even with the doors closed, they would have heard things. And I would’ve been fucked. There’s no way anyone would let a diagnosed sociopath stay in their home. . .even medicated. Even my absolute best friends. . .they’d probably be scared for their lives, EVEN WITH KNOWING ME AND KNOWING I AM OKAY AND SANE AND FINE AND MEDICATED AND A GOOD ASSET TO THE HOUSEHOLD. Still. . .just that diagnosis alone is going to fuck my ENTIRE LIFE over. . .

But apparently I have to have a yearly visit to evaluate my mental status with this organization or one of its affiliates. Because they’re cracking down hard on a) the war on drugs, b) school shootings, c) murders/serial murders/bodily harm/etc. . .all of which are highly associated with sociopathy. APPARENTLY. I’m not even sure if that’s true. That’s just what they told me. How credible are they? WHO THE FUCK KNOWS. THEY FUCKING LOCKED ME UP WHEN I WAS JUST TRYING TO FUCKING GET HELP ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO IN A CRISIS SITUATION SO I MEAN FUCK THEM.

And NOW they’re fucking getting an affiliate association here in LA to come fucking do my evaluation and report back to them??? Is this even a legal thing they can do? Is this a state-regulated thing? Coz, I mean, I know NC has these laws. . .but, I’M NOT IN NC. I mean, my residency is either in NC or FL. I’m not sure which. But. . .I’M IN NEW ORLEANS RIGHT NOW AND HAVE BEEN FOR OVER A MONTH. I know that doesn’t make me a resident, but. . .since they do have affiliate associations in the area. . .does that mean it’s a government regulated thing??? Coz they can’t just. . .if it’s state regulated, they can’t just. . .

How is this even fucking legal? To come literally to wherever I’m living, come in my home, and count my fucking psych meds and go through the paper trails of my psych history and medications. . .and to “make sure” I’m still medicated and make sure I’m not on drugs and make sure this and that and do an evaluation on whether I am mentally stable enough FOR THEIR STANDARDS or not.

FUCK THIS. Absolutely FUCK THIS.

Okay. . .I have to literally accept that I have been diagnosed as a sociopath by every professional I have ever come into contact with and all of them kept it from me. I have to come to terms with the fact I am legally obligated to stay on medication and can be penalized if I do not. I have to accept that I have an annual evaluation with fucking whoever the hell who basically just shoves their fucking opinions onto a legal document saying whether THEY PERSONALLY THINK I’m stable or not.

I don’t FEEL like I’m a sociopath or even have any sort of sociopathic symptoms. I don’t THINK I am a sociopath. I feel like that is a SERIOOOOOUS misdiagnosis and they should fucking reevaluate that. In fact, I KNOW I’m not a sociopath.

So this is absolute bullshit that they’re putting me through this. And since I have a legal diagnosis, if someone (like an employer or something) were to ask. . .wouldn’t I be legally obligated to tell them? This is going to fuck so many things up in my life. . .and if my roommates happen to be home when these people come to fucking evaluate me. . .they’re going to find out. They’re going to fucking find out. And I’m going to get kicked out. And no one is ever going to let me live with them or let me near them or ever let me fucking be friends with them AGAIN. I am going to be alone and abandoned by everyone I know and love because of this. Because of a fucking misdiagnosis.

And it kills me. . .because I can’t do anything to avoid this happening. Even though it IS a misdiagnosis and they’re 200% wrong, I can’t stop them because they THINK they are in the right. And they have the power, not me.

The one fucking phone call just shattered my life into fucking pieces. And could possibly leave me homeless or permanently institutionalized.

I’m scared. . .but I’m moreso angry. Angry at their fucking incompetence. I know me better than any of them know me. So don’t you think I would, personally, know if I were a goddamn sociopath? Yeah, I absolutely would. So fuck them and their dumbass OPINIONS. Coz that’s all they are. . .opinions.

Who the hell is that stupid to think I, ME, KILLIAN, AM A FUCKING SOCIOPATH? Who the hell is that goddamn stupid? Not saying ignorant; ACTUALLY STUPID.

Fuck, I’m mad. Scared and upset. . .but mostly just fucking mad. . .

Listen to me, not them. I’m right, they’re wrong. I may have a legal diagnosis, but they’re still wrong. They’re fucking wrong so please just trust me when I say this isn’t true and a legal diagnosis like this means NOTHING.

[topfygad]

10 Awesome Things to do in Ubud, Bali

This blog post was written in collaboration with Orbitz. All opinions are my own.

Every year about 6 Million travelers are taking a flight to Bali, and half of them spending some time in Ubud. It’s no surprise that the beautiful village became such a popular hotspot over the past decade. Ubud is a true treasure of Indonesia and it’s not hard to fall in love with this magical place…

  3 month ago I made the decision to come back to Ubud for an extended period of time. I have gotten so much into yoga over the past year that moving there for a few months in order to deepen my yoga practice seemed one of the best things to do in Ubud.

  I visited Ubud on many occasions over the past 10 years, and every time I wondered, what would happen if I just stay longer? Well, it was about time to find out. Here’s some inspiration for your visit – 10 things to do in Ubud, Bali. 

    Ubud is an absolute food heaven! I’m not exaggerating! From all the places in the world, this is my personal favorite when it comes to food, and I’ll tell you why: Vegan food everywhere, it is unbelievable!! And not only vegan, you can also find vegan raw (at Alchemy), vegan macro (at Clear Cafe), and vegan gluten free (at Sawobali)… just to name a few of these wonderful places to eat. And the best of all, it’s extremely affordable. I have never paid more than $10 for a meal in Ubud.

  Cooking is at the heart of Balinese culture, and there is no better place than Ubud to take a cooking class. One of the most acclaimed cooking schools in Bali is Ketut’s Balinese Cooking Class. The Cooking School runs programs that are perfect for anyone that wants to understand Balinese flavors, culture and food.

  Too lazy to cook, but you would love to try different kinds of traditional foods? Take it easy, and go on a foodie tour in Ubud to enjoy a delicious culinary feast!

    Tegallalang Rice Terrace is one of those surreal places you won’t forget. It’s even more magical during sunrise and sunset,however If you’re exploring the area without a guide, make sure to head to Tegallalang as early as possible (6AM) to escape the crowds. You can park your scooter on the main road on top.

  The place is heaven for photographers and drone pilots, the rice fields stretch out for miles while the terraces sit at an elevation overlooking the countryside. If you get tired from hiking through the paddies there are plenty of cafes and warungs along the main road with million dollar views. 

    Goa Gajah stands since the eleventh century. It was initially constructed as a spiritual retreat to practice meditation away from the interference of society. A trip here rewards you with an area carrying sprawling vendors selling art, souvenirs, and refreshments.

  Entry is free and you are offered the assistance of a guide when you enter through the ominous mouth of a demon – the doorway to this temple. A pool lies waiting with seven Hindu deities immortalized on seven vases acting as waterspouts.

  Take your time to admire the animal carvings and ancient inscriptions along those ancient walls. The entire area carries an ornate, time swept feeling which does a great job of bringing one to realize just how magical this landmark actually is. 

    After Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling book “Eat Pray Love“, Ubud became the mecca for all those searching for enlightenment. Ubud is one of the most incredible places in the world, if you want to connect with yourself, deepen your yoga practice and learn about meditation. There are numerous yoga studios in Ubud, the most popular ones in the center are Yoga Barn, Radiantly Alive and Ubud Yoga Centre.

  All of these studious above have a delicious restaurant onsite, and with plenty of yoga and meditation classes every day, it’s easy to keep yourself busy all day long without doing much. Try Healing Yoga at Yogabarn, it’s an amazing experience.

  Yoga classes cost on average about $10 per class. If you’re on a budget, try one of the local studios, Saraswati is a smaller, but comfy studio, located in the center and classes are as cheap as $5.

    Ubud Art Market and the Royal Palace are located in the heart of Ubud, and right next to each other. Between these two, you can easily get lost exploring and shopping for hours, buying souvenirs and taking in the awe-inspiring culture & history of Bali. The Royal Palace in Ubud is a structure that has stood since the start of the 8th century. The detail and level of preservation are remarkable and making this place a must see.

  While in the area, you can’t miss the chance to sample some of the best Indonesian food in Bali. Puspa’s Warung is a popular and cheap eatery with some vegan choices. If you feel like having a healthy dessert, head to Acai Queen around the corner, they have the best vegan Acai Bowls in town!

    There are approximately 750 monkeys living within the grounds of the Monkey Forest, visiting the sanctuary is one of the most popular things to do in Ubud. It’s a fascinating place to explore, with Hindu temples scattered across the complex.

  Watch your stuff when you’re around the monkeys, they love to snatch things such as sun glasses, water bottles and obviously if you carry around food, they will grab it from you in no time! Don’t put your phone or camera beside you if you decide to take a rest on a bench. Basically attach anything tight onto you! I’m not kidding.

  It’s 100k IDR to enter the Monkey Forest, that’s roughly USD7. If you’re on a tight budget, just walk the trail around the Monkey Forest. It’s free to pass, you’ll see many monkeys there as well, but motorbikes using this path as a shortcut, so the walk can get a bit stressful during rush hours.

    Balinese music and dance is among the most vibrant displays of culture you’ll ever see. You can witness this spectacle at many places around town, one of them is at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, where you can enjoy a hypnotic performance at the temple, featuring a Balinese Hindu drama & dance act, also known as Kecak dancing. The entrance fee is 100k IDR (US$7).

  Another great way to a grand show of Balinese Culture is to head to Laka Leke Garden Restaurant. The buffet has a broad selection of vegetarian and Indonesian dishes. Enjoy your tasty traditional meals as you watch Kecak fire dances, Kris and Barong dances, and many other cultural displays. Every night a different show is on offer.

    Ubud’s beautiful spas give a full-service treatment including ayurvedic massages, body scrubs, and local healing therapies like flower bath treatments. You can look forward to ancient Balinese remedies granting you the highest level of relaxation and therapeutics.

  Where to go? You can’t go wrong with the world-class service of Botanica Bali Day Spa for luxury and true local tradition. Another leading option seated in the middle of the rice fields is Karsa Spa. Their full day treatments aside jungle trail scenery will have you calm and rejuvenated. Definitely make an appointment in advance! 

    Ubud is wonderful to explore on a scooter or bike. Once you hire a scooter and explore the city and its surrounding villages, you’ll soon understand why this is the favorite form of travel for locals. Stick to smaller rads and off-route streets to avoid traffic.

  A trip through the city with multiple busy intersections can be quite daunting for a tourist, but the adventure is a unique experience if you dare to try. Please don’t ride a bike without helmet, International Driver Licence and insurance! If you’re not feeling confident, skip this! There are plenty of drivers available to bring you around. Unfortunately Grab, Uber and Gojek aren’t working in Ubud. 

  I’m renting my scooter from Darma Putra Bali Bike Rental and I’m pretty happy with their services and the conditions of the bikes. Give them a try if you’re looking for any scooter rental.

    Photo © Jorge Láscar under CC BY 2.0

  Puri Lukisan is the oldest art museum in Bali, with a focus on wood carvings, modern and traditional Balinese paintings. It’s a wonderful place to spend a couple of hours. If you have kids, you could easily end up spending the day. You can look forward to gracious displays of Balinese art at its best. Each painting gives you a wonderful depiction through a vivid story, and the entire visit can be quite calming. There are tons of exciting workshops for kids but be sure to reserve your booking at least one day in advance.

  The museum operates between 09:00 and 17:00. The entry ticket cost 75k IDR ($5) and gives access to all four different galleries, plus a free drink at the garden cafe.

    You only have 24 hours to explore Ubud?

  If you’re in Ubud only for one day, I suggest doing the Best of Ubud Tour, which covers the highlights of the city and its surroundings. It makes sense to plan ahead for shorter stays, so you can relax more while you’re there and don’t need to waste time with travel planning. Also, you can earn more when you travel by booking your activities through Orbitz.

  If you’re lucky enough to stay more than a day, make sure to book your hotel in Ubud in advance, especially during peak season in July and August, as well as Christmas and NYE it’s getting busy and rooms are filled up in no time.

    Whether you’re looking for peace and relaxation, amazing food, or just hauling your scooter along to explore the green jungles, Ubud is a place that you’ll probably never forget. It’s especially fun for those who enjoy exploring the lesser seen trails and villages surrounding this area. 

  I hope you enjoyed this guide to Ubud and you’ll love this place as much as I do! Needless to say, there are far more than 10 things to do in Ubud, I’m here just a few weeks, maybe in a few months I’ll come up with even more places to visit in Ubud! Until then, I’m enjoying this magical town as much as I can…

Happy travels!

     This post was written in collaboration with Orbitz.com.

Enjoy exclusive deals and get plenty of benefits, such as complimentary hotel upgrades by becoming an Orbitz Rewards member! Join here to become a member now!

  If you like this article, please share.

                  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Sabrina Iovino is the founder of JustOneWayTicket.com. She’s half German, half Italian and has traveled to more than 50 countries around the globe.

She feels weird to write about herself in the third person, so she’ll switch now. Phew…much better! Let’s restart:

Hi, I’m Sab! This is my blog and I write about the things I love. Mostly.

  Follow me on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Google+ | Youtube

              source http://cheaprtravels.com/10-awesome-things-to-do-in-ubud-bali/

[thebottomoftheapple]

Hello Again

Yes, it’s been over a year again.

I’m not going to stress myself but I do really want to write more. I feel like when I wrote more consistently, I was happier, overall. Or maybe I’m just really sad right now and have been for a while but it’s all just coming out now. I haven’t really cried like this honestly since maybe when I graduated, which I didn’t think was that bad. A few months earlier I think I cried even more when my “London Boyfriend” broke up with me (IDR if i ever mentioned him before but it’s too irrelevant at this point so). ANYWAY yes there’s a new boy involved too but I’m not sad because of him...I think..but i do think he brought out all of this.. or maybe he’s just the last person I wad with and everything’s finally catching up to me (We’ll talk about him later).

So I’m finally going to Atlanta. But let’s recap the last year first.

(I haven’t read my last post bc I cannot rn) Last year I was still freelancing at NowThis and was planning on leaving to ATL in the spring/summer... but then they offered me a full time job and I took it. I wouldn’t say I regret it because I did learn a lot and saved a good amount of money. But i would say it attributed to this stagnant discontent-ness that I’ve been masking by going on vacations, getting drinks and going out with friends, and talking to Milton. I haven’t fully felt like myself in a while and it sucks because I feel like I’ve personally regressed. Like being abroad, my summer in ATL and I suppose graduating were great high points for me. I was excited, eager, and for the most part fulfilled. Obviously, life wasn’t perfect back then but ever since being back home I feel like I’ve been pretending to be all those things I used to be.. with distractions. But now I’m FINALLY changing things up and doing what I think is best for me.. and I’m scared. It’s not just the fact that I’m leaving all my friends and family behind (which is much bigger than I thought it was), it’s also the fear of failure, of making the wrong choice, of making a good choice for right now but maybe not for the long term. I’m scared. Of being alone, of making mistakes. But I’m also excited (lol 😭) to just go. The sadness really hits when I’m up alone all night, like I literally feel helpless cause I’ve been doing this for too long. But hopefully this will go away once I get down there and I pray they’ll have work for me much sooner rather than later once I’m there. But because I have some family there it shouldn’t be too bad, right? I think I am really excited though, eager to start - yeah it’s the uncertainty too that’s wearing down on me. Once I start that first gig, I know everything will be sweet. I just have to be patient *sigh* but also fill up my time somehow. 🙄

Sooooo I guess I can go into Milton now... yes, that Milton 😂. It’s really crazy because I’m still unsure on how I exactly I feel, but I know I do really care about him. So it started when I went up to cuse for Mayfest weekend. Basically he invited me over to smoke and I was off the molly lmao so I was chattin’ about everything and anything when I was with him. He subtly tried to make moves but I was dismissing them because it’s Milton... and what happened early... But then he kissed me and I liked it and the rest is history... LOLJK but we’ve been talking since (I’ve concluded I only like to guys who don’t live near me bc......). In the beginning it was fun, good sex, and someone nice to talk to and if I’m being honest I never really saw him as someone I’d want to be with seriously, partially for shallow reasons but also we spent like a whole week together and by the end of it I felt like we were an old married couple, like we loved each other but didn’t like each other. And i thought I shouldn’t feel like this with someone I’m not even in a relationship with... but this weekend kinda felt like that again. Like I was cleaning up like I was his wife and he was just watching tv. But this time it felt a little more right, normal? Maybe I keep getting these inklings because they’re tapping into the future? or past? In another dimension?I don’t know, it’s weird. But he really opened up to me more than he has before (which has been a lot!) And I just tried to console him you know, but then I started crying in the middle of the night..... and after he left, I cried when he facetimed me, and I cried some more after I hung up. And I’m tearing up thinking about it now (UGH). But yeah now I really don’t know how to feel about him, since I’m leaving. It’ll probably be like how it was with every other boy, sad for a bit but then I’ll meet someone knew and pretty much forget about them. Or maybe we’ll get married in 10 years, who knows. I want to get a tarot card reading done (lmao that’s a random sidetrack). No but he’s actually really great like from all the boys I’ve talked to, he’s been the most genuine and that’s something I’ve always wanted and whether it’s with me or not, I truly do wish him the best in the future.

And so speaking of this weekend, I had my goodbye party 😂It wasn’t what I pictured it to be like but I still think it was successful. The whole thing went by super quick for me because I was too busy making sure everything was going right: with the decorations, and the food, and DJ, and pictures, and money and wristbands, and just making sure everyone was having a good time. I was def overwhelmed but I think everyone had a good time. I got lit and had fun so that’s all I could ask for (except for it being cheaper ughhhhh but whatever it’s over now, I’m never doing that again until I’m big ballin’ then YES). Turnout could’ve been a little better toooo lol but I think that sums up how many and who really fucks with me so it’s fitting 😌My squadrin got me an amazingggg care package with polaroids, snacks, other things I love, and handwritten letters 😢, which I haven brought myself to read yet. But they are so amazing, literally the best people ever, all things considered, they are the best! And then I spent the next couple nights with Milton, where he gave me a super sweet gift as well! A gopro type of camera, ugh he’s so sweet. 

And now the party and party planning is over and there’s nothing left but to leave (and Max & Nat’s Bday party). So I’m here, home alone, sad lmao and i hit my fucked up nail again and now it’s hanging on for dear life and IDK what to do, I’m so upsetttttt lmaooo this would happen to me, Karen put this omen on me smh. ANYWAY I’m glad I decided to write again. I do feel better, just like I did before. I want to continue writing, maybe monthly. And to help me do this I’m going to set monthly goal(s). For January I’ll be lite:

Throw my going away party (done lol)

Drive down to Tio Edwin’s house

Work on my first of many projects in ATL

I’ll let you know how everything goes next month! (or sooner 😉)

- XOXO KIKIPALMTREE

[fallingfromdepression]

hello! haven’t posted a not-reblog/personal post on here in a while. i haven’t been on tumblr much lately (either bc of blocking it via selfcontrol or just not interested in it anymore) but i want to make a post for future me to look back upon this yr so here it is. 

2017 wasn’t the greatest year (personally or in general lol) but it hasn’t been the worst either! one of the worst things that happened was the spring quarter depressive ep which was actually kind of scary in retrospect... idr if i posted about it on here but i distinctly remember thinking about suicide/dying at least once every day for that period and it still kind of concerns me to this day whenever i remember it. i don’t really remember it that well since it was a while ago (like where was my roommate during all this? did she have early classes and thus why i don’t remember seeing her whenever i woke up and had those thoughts?) and i’m not going to assume that i won’t have an ep like that ever again but it was definitely one of those events that, afterward, made me think about my life outside of those depressive episodes. otherwise, 2017 has just been one of those years where i just chug along... there’s been some trip-ups along the way, but i think i’m a better mental state this dec than i was last dec. 

in terms of this school yr, i think this past quarter was a good one (one of the best ones i’ve had @ college so far). i took a break from my anxiety-inducing dance crew and while i still am not solid on a major/minor yet, i do have a better idea of who i am as a person, and how i work and when/how to be productive and do well in school. i still have some social anxiety and self-confidence issues esp when interacting with new ppl, but honestly there’s a growing part of me that is starting to care less about how others think about me sometimes. anyway, as long as i stay positive in my interactions and make attempts at interactions, everything will be a-ok! (hopefully...!) still dk whether or not i’ll do the dance crew this yr (seems like my set group from last yr isn’t going to come back winter quarter as planned) but i just need to plan ahead and stay positive regardless. whatever happens happens, and prioritize yourself and your future before all else! keep this quarter’s momentum (in terms of academics and slowly improving mental health) going and don’t settle for anything less...!!

hope 2018 is a great year for everyone and a better one for the global community. see you all next december!!

(some lists of 2017 and for 2018 under the cut.)

stuff i got into: 

feh and l/ove live! (ll was literally like a few days ago tho lol) both mobile apps that can be kind of distracting at times i suppose but at least feh was a pretty big part of the latter part of 2017 lmao

mp100! i went and checked and apparently i got into it this past summer which is a little surprising tbh bc so recent?? anyway the manga ended like a week or so ago which is a little bittersweet but i can’t wait to see anime s2!

buzzfeed unsolved and worth it! two series that are totally... worth it (even if i did get into unsolved during finals week when i should not have). i slay myself

stuff i fell out of:

bullet journaling. omg i think i got into it like back in dec 2016 and i actually made an attempt to do some bullet journaling... even did that daily journaling all summer. but i fell out of it once school started in sept bc stuff got hectic and also it kind of takes a lot of time lmao. i think the daily journaling was nice in hindsight tbh

vol/tron. about gd time tbh

hopes for 2018/goals for the new year basically. bold being the ones that i can at least attempt to do if i for some reason just fall apart sometime lol:

less procrastination

plan ahead in advance

use focus keeper to keep chugging ahead

just do it! whatever non-academic/future related work you’re doing is not worth it rn if you haven’t finished the work! (but at the same time take breaks. don’t burn out)

go to sleep earlier

whatever’s on the phone can wait until tomorrow!

you’ll feel much better in the morning than doing whatever it is into the late hrs of the night (unless it’s work due in the morning then yikes)

care less about what others think about you!

99.9% of the time, ppl don’t actually think that badly of you

they’re not the boss of you and your life! so what if some ppl don’t love you? there are others who do

you are a great person. your self-worth isn’t found in others tbh

find and love yourself

journal. draw. take some time to relax and think about stuff

find your own aesthetic and embrace it

less distractions! (major culprit being the phone lmao)

do work instead

use selfcontrol

[theglowingbunny-blog]

The Overrated $9 Liquid That Really Works

I was so hesitant at first to write my review about The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, because even after 1 month of continuously using this serum, twice a day, I still haven’t figure out what it really does to my skin. Before I start talking about my own experience with this serum I think it would appropriate for me to talk a little about The Ordinary brand itself and do quick intro about the star of the show, Niacinamide and Zinc, in case you don’t know what the hell it is just like me 5 months ago.

The Ordinary comes under the DECIEM umbrella (Hylamide, NIOD, Fountain). The Ordinary's founder Brandon Truaxe built the brand on total transparency. Their approach on straightforwardness (I mean just look at how they named their products, Niacinamide 10%, Retinol 1%, Lactic Acid 5%, no further explanation needed, if you’re still confuse by the name then just visit their website, a literal skincare-pedia for all of their product) just mesmerized me, no gimmick, no this is a glow serum, this is a youthful serum, just straight the star ingredients, except for the Buffet, do your research and you’ll know why it’s called the ‘Buffet’. Aside from the straightforwardness, The Ordinary charm lies on its product price. For an example the Drunk Elephant vitamin C serum is charged for $80 while The Ordinary’s Vitamin C Suspension 23% will cost you $9.70, sounds too good to be true right? But Truaxe told Caroline Hirons that he invented The Ordinary because 'brands...continue to disguise commodity innovation for ingenuity through creative use of packaging, communication and pricing.' His way of keeping the prices down in his new range is to take the in demand compounds people are after, split them across serums and keep the margins low and standard.

Now let’s talk about what the heck is Niacinamide? So, Niacinamide is a Vitamin B3 that will help us to reduce the appearance of skin blemishes and congestion, a congested skin is a great canvas for acne bacteria to grow. While Zinc on the other hand is supposedly to help you balance out your sebum production, the excessive sebum production could lead you to skin congestion, so yeah these two ingredients really do complements each other. Some studies also said that Niacinamide can suppress the melanin production of our skin thus resulting a brighter skin tone. Do note that The Ordinary wrote on their website that this particular product is not an acne treatment product.

I bought this serum last April, but only begin to use it steadily from May through the mid of July. I use it twice a day, straight after washing my face on the AM and after an essence on the PM. At the middle of July I start getting lazy using the serum because I thought it didn't do anything visibly beneficial to my skin, but things got a little crazy when I stopped using it. The time when I stopped using it also happens to be that time of the month where I got my period, my hormone was taking its own roller coaster ride at the time and.. BAM! my hormonal breakout was inevitable, plus I was also exposed to a quite dusty environment (re: forgot to change my bed sheets regularly). After I’m done with my period that month, I was still breaking out, not as hefty as I was on my period, but little pimples was bugging me here and there. I went to the Cosrx BHA Blackhead Power Liquid to cleanse my pores from within, but it didn’t work, I broke out even more. For whatever reason the Cosrx BHA liquid never benefits me, let me know if you ever tried and succeeded with the Paula Choice’s one, please.

Another period started to approach me again, it was in the middle of August by the way, so yeah I had a major breakout for a month long. I read on the internet that someone who battled with acne tried using this mixture for a week, every night to combat her acne and she said it works. Inspired by that exact story I decided to reintroduce the Aztec Indian Healing clay + Apple Cider Vinegar mixture to my routine for a week, focusing on my forehead because that’s my main warzone. First attempt, the next morning I woke up looking GREAT, my pores seemed like they’re shrinking in size and it calmed my inflamed acne, so I thought it really does work and definitely gonna try out this clay mixture for a week, every night. Several attempts later, my forehead still looking like a warzone. It turns out that the Aztec clay mixture was too sensitizing for my skin to being use in a daily basis. The theory is when you sensitize, over exfoliate your skin, your skin barrier gets thinner, fragile and making it prone to dryness which provoke excessive sebum production that could clogged your pores hence acne is born.

After a late realization of how I shouldn’t use a pretty strong clay mask everyday, I stopped using it and reintroduce The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% to my routine once again. I was still in a pretty pitiful break out at the time, I use the serum night and day, 5 drops, a drop on my forehead, cheeks, nose and chin. After 2 days, I noticed that my inflamed acne calmed when I woke up and how my forehead that use to be oily even after that crazy drying Aztec week is not greasy at all. So I do think that this serum really living it up to it claims in terms of helping me balance out my sebum production and this is a great thing for an acne prone skin people like me. Another thing that I noticed is that this serum will help me prevent my fresh from the oven acne scar from darkening, it’ll still leaves a mark but very very subtle. In terms of an old acne scar I think that this serum will help lighten those scars, but it’ll take few months before you notice how lighter it became from the original color. 

I’m not so sure about whether this serum will erase your acne scars completely, but based on my experience I do think it’ll help those scars less noticeable, but gradually, patience is the key everyone (hug!). I bought this serum from Ben Scrub at IDR 209.000,00- and I think it could last you 3-4 months with a regular use. The texture of this serum is a little silicone-ish, but it dries and absorbs quickly. Some didn’t like to use this under makeup, so they preferred to use this only at nighttime, but so far I don’t have that kind of problem so I’ve been using it religiously day and night. Bottom line is I do recommend this serum for those who is battling with acne to those who have a combination to oily skin, although dry skin might also benefited from this serum for its brightening properties and yes, I would definitely repurchase this serum.

I’ll see you all again on my upcoming post.

Stay tuned, Bunnies!  ♥

*This post is not sponsored.

Got any further question? Just click here

Don’t be shy, I’ll try my best to answer it.

with ♥, FARICA

[topfygad]

10 Awesome Things to do in Ubud, Bali

This blog post was written in collaboration with Orbitz. All opinions are my own.

Every year about 6 Million travelers are taking a flight to Bali, and half of them spending some time in Ubud. It’s no surprise that the beautiful village became such a popular hotspot over the past decade. Ubud is a true treasure of Indonesia and it’s not hard to fall in love with this magical place…

  3 month ago I made the decision to come back to Ubud for an extended period of time. I have gotten so much into yoga over the past year that moving there for a few months in order to deepen my yoga practice seemed one of the best things to do in Ubud.

  I visited Ubud on many occasions over the past 10 years, and every time I wondered, what would happen if I just stay longer? Well, it was about time to find out. Here’s some inspiration for your visit – 10 things to do in Ubud, Bali. 

    Ubud is an absolute food heaven! I’m not exaggerating! From all the places in the world, this is my personal favorite when it comes to food, and I’ll tell you why: Vegan food everywhere, it is unbelievable!! And not only vegan, you can also find vegan raw (at Alchemy), vegan macro (at Clear Cafe), and vegan gluten free (at Sawobali)… just to name a few of these wonderful places to eat. And the best of all, it’s extremely affordable. I have never paid more than $10 for a meal in Ubud.

  Cooking is at the heart of Balinese culture, and there is no better place than Ubud to take a cooking class. One of the most acclaimed cooking schools in Bali is Ketut’s Balinese Cooking Class. The Cooking School runs programs that are perfect for anyone that wants to understand Balinese flavors, culture and food.

  Too lazy to cook, but you would love to try different kinds of traditional foods? Take it easy, and go on a foodie tour in Ubud to enjoy a delicious culinary feast!

    Tegallalang Rice Terrace is one of those surreal places you won’t forget. It’s even more magical during sunrise and sunset,however If you’re exploring the area without a guide, make sure to head to Tegallalang as early as possible (6AM) to escape the crowds. You can park your scooter on the main road on top.

  The place is heaven for photographers and drone pilots, the rice fields stretch out for miles while the terraces sit at an elevation overlooking the countryside. If you get tired from hiking through the paddies there are plenty of cafes and warungs along the main road with million dollar views. 

    Goa Gajah stands since the eleventh century. It was initially constructed as a spiritual retreat to practice meditation away from the interference of society. A trip here rewards you with an area carrying sprawling vendors selling art, souvenirs, and refreshments.

  Entry is free and you are offered the assistance of a guide when you enter through the ominous mouth of a demon – the doorway to this temple. A pool lies waiting with seven Hindu deities immortalized on seven vases acting as waterspouts.

  Take your time to admire the animal carvings and ancient inscriptions along those ancient walls. The entire area carries an ornate, time swept feeling which does a great job of bringing one to realize just how magical this landmark actually is. 

    After Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling book “Eat Pray Love“, Ubud became the mecca for all those searching for enlightenment. Ubud is one of the most incredible places in the world, if you want to connect with yourself, deepen your yoga practice and learn about meditation. There are numerous yoga studios in Ubud, the most popular ones in the center are Yoga Barn, Radiantly Alive and Ubud Yoga Centre.

  All of these studious above have a delicious restaurant onsite, and with plenty of yoga and meditation classes every day, it’s easy to keep yourself busy all day long without doing much. Try Healing Yoga at Yogabarn, it’s an amazing experience.

  Yoga classes cost on average about $10 per class. If you’re on a budget, try one of the local studios, Saraswati is a smaller, but comfy studio, located in the center and classes are as cheap as $5.

    Ubud Art Market and the Royal Palace are located in the heart of Ubud, and right next to each other. Between these two, you can easily get lost exploring and shopping for hours, buying souvenirs and taking in the awe-inspiring culture & history of Bali. The Royal Palace in Ubud is a structure that has stood since the start of the 8th century. The detail and level of preservation are remarkable and making this place a must see.

  While in the area, you can’t miss the chance to sample some of the best Indonesian food in Bali. Puspa’s Warung is a popular and cheap eatery with some vegan choices. If you feel like having a healthy dessert, head to Acai Queen around the corner, they have the best vegan Acai Bowls in town!

    There are approximately 750 monkeys living within the grounds of the Monkey Forest, visiting the sanctuary is one of the most popular things to do in Ubud. It’s a fascinating place to explore, with Hindu temples scattered across the complex.

  Watch your stuff when you’re around the monkeys, they love to snatch things such as sun glasses, water bottles and obviously if you carry around food, they will grab it from you in no time! Don’t put your phone or camera beside you if you decide to take a rest on a bench. Basically attach anything tight onto you! I’m not kidding.

  It’s 100k IDR to enter the Monkey Forest, that’s roughly USD7. If you’re on a tight budget, just walk the trail around the Monkey Forest. It’s free to pass, you’ll see many monkeys there as well, but motorbikes using this path as a shortcut, so the walk can get a bit stressful during rush hours.

    Balinese music and dance is among the most vibrant displays of culture you’ll ever see. You can witness this spectacle at many places around town, one of them is at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, where you can enjoy a hypnotic performance at the temple, featuring a Balinese Hindu drama & dance act, also known as Kecak dancing. The entrance fee is 100k IDR (US$7).

  Another great way to a grand show of Balinese Culture is to head to Laka Leke Garden Restaurant. The buffet has a broad selection of vegetarian and Indonesian dishes. Enjoy your tasty traditional meals as you watch Kecak fire dances, Kris and Barong dances, and many other cultural displays. Every night a different show is on offer.

    Ubud’s beautiful spas give a full-service treatment including ayurvedic massages, body scrubs, and local healing therapies like flower bath treatments. You can look forward to ancient Balinese remedies granting you the highest level of relaxation and therapeutics.

  Where to go? You can’t go wrong with the world-class service of Botanica Bali Day Spa for luxury and true local tradition. Another leading option seated in the middle of the rice fields is Karsa Spa. Their full day treatments aside jungle trail scenery will have you calm and rejuvenated. Definitely make an appointment in advance! 

    Ubud is wonderful to explore on a scooter or bike. Once you hire a scooter and explore the city and its surrounding villages, you’ll soon understand why this is the favorite form of travel for locals. Stick to smaller rads and off-route streets to avoid traffic.

  A trip through the city with multiple busy intersections can be quite daunting for a tourist, but the adventure is a unique experience if you dare to try. Please don’t ride a bike without helmet, International Driver Licence and insurance! If you’re not feeling confident, skip this! There are plenty of drivers available to bring you around. Unfortunately Grab, Uber and Gojek aren’t working in Ubud. 

  I’m renting my scooter from Darma Putra Bali Bike Rental and I’m pretty happy with their services and the conditions of the bikes. Give them a try if you’re looking for any scooter rental.

    Photo © Jorge Láscar under CC BY 2.0

  Puri Lukisan is the oldest art museum in Bali, with a focus on wood carvings, modern and traditional Balinese paintings. It’s a wonderful place to spend a couple of hours. If you have kids, you could easily end up spending the day. You can look forward to gracious displays of Balinese art at its best. Each painting gives you a wonderful depiction through a vivid story, and the entire visit can be quite calming. There are tons of exciting workshops for kids but be sure to reserve your booking at least one day in advance.

  The museum operates between 09:00 and 17:00. The entry ticket cost 75k IDR ($5) and gives access to all four different galleries, plus a free drink at the garden cafe.

    You only have 24 hours to explore Ubud?

  If you’re in Ubud only for one day, I suggest doing the Best of Ubud Tour, which covers the highlights of the city and its surroundings. It makes sense to plan ahead for shorter stays, so you can relax more while you’re there and don’t need to waste time with travel planning. Also, you can earn more when you travel by booking your activities through Orbitz.

  If you’re lucky enough to stay more than a day, make sure to book your hotel in Ubud in advance, especially during peak season in July and August, as well as Christmas and NYE it’s getting busy and rooms are filled up in no time.

    Whether you’re looking for peace and relaxation, amazing food, or just hauling your scooter along to explore the green jungles, Ubud is a place that you’ll probably never forget. It’s especially fun for those who enjoy exploring the lesser seen trails and villages surrounding this area. 

  I hope you enjoyed this guide to Ubud and you’ll love this place as much as I do! Needless to say, there are far more than 10 things to do in Ubud, I’m here just a few weeks, maybe in a few months I’ll come up with even more places to visit in Ubud! Until then, I’m enjoying this magical town as much as I can…

Happy travels!

     This post was written in collaboration with Orbitz.com.

Enjoy exclusive deals and get plenty of benefits, such as complimentary hotel upgrades by becoming an Orbitz Rewards member! Join here to become a member now!

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                  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Sabrina Iovino is the founder of JustOneWayTicket.com. She’s half German, half Italian and has traveled to more than 50 countries around the globe.

She feels weird to write about herself in the third person, so she’ll switch now. Phew…much better! Let’s restart:

Hi, I’m Sab! This is my blog and I write about the things I love. Mostly.

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