#it's also much cheaper to do this than buy the pin machine honestly

[meownotgood]

guys I'm scrapping the buying my own pin making machine idea for ONE REASON AND ONE REASON ONLY

I found a seller who makes custom pins... IN HEART SHAPES

I'M GONNA GET AKI PINS THAT ARE SHAPED LIKE A HEART

[loquaciousquark]

Hi! I think I remember you posting about "making" your own computer? I'm sorry to bother you with something like this, but was it difficult? Would you say you have to know a lot about how computers work to do it? Thanks!

Heck yeah!!! Oh man!! Gosh guys can I talk to you about building computers and how EVERYONE willing to do some basic googling is almost certainly capable of this I promise?

Welcome to:

Okay okay okay so let me spin you a li’l yarn: I was in optometry school in 2010-2011ish and I had been living up to now on prebuilts, mostly laptops, but DA2 was recently out and gosh darn it I wanted something I could play a proper game on. A friend of mine had a 10yo daughter who wanted to build a computer herself, and he told me if I’d buy the parts, he’d walk both of us through how to do it (what really happened was the 10yo built my first computer and I watched and brought drinks, so–no, I wouldn’t say you have to know a lot about how computers work to do it!).

The physical requirements are some basic manual dexterity & arm strength (you gotta be able to manipulate some tiny things and put some pressure on some connections) and you will most likely need to lift up to 15 pounds, although you can limit that if you go for smaller components. The ability to bend forward and twist and reach will also probably be necessary, although some careful planning can also likely mitigate that.

I think I have pictures of the actual build process somewhere, but regardless, it resulted in this bad boy that served me well for about nine years. I was shocked to see how easy it was to put together, honestly; if you can follow a Lego assembly book, you can put a computer together. With tools like PCPartPicker that have built-in compatibility checks to make sure all your pieces fit, it’s a piece of cake to put together a parts list that you can feel really good about. You just pick whether you want your motherboard to come with fancy lights or not (hint: rgb is unironically cool & i’ll fight anyone who says otherwise).

In the end, you’ll need a set of basic components. You’ll need:

A case to put all the pieces in

A motherboard, the circuit board of the computer that connects everything, basically the heart of the computer

A CPU, the brain of the computer that determines processing power, or basically how fast it can do math and direct traffic

a CPU cooling system, which can be either mechanical fans or liquid cooling, gotta keep that baby chill; may or may not come packaged with the CPU depending on what you get

A graphics card (aka GPU), the thing that makes video games look pretty (and what will probably be the single most expensive item in the build depending on how good you go)

RAM, a short-term memory processing component that comes in different amounts (4gb, 8gb, 16gb, 32gb, 64gb if you’re a madman) depending on how fast you need your short-term memory to work. Good RAM allows you to do things like open a bunch of Chrome tabs at once, run Photoshop at the same time you’re listening to youtube videos, or process the demand of loading up a host of enemies in Mass Effect. Most everyone these days can get by just fine with 16gb of RAM, which is what I have.

a hard drive (or the new, faster, more expensive version, a solid state drive) which functions as your long-term storage bins. This is where you save documents, images, and install your programs. These come in tons of sizes–the larger your files are, the more storage space you’ll want. I always put at least a terabyte of storage in my builds.

a power supply unit or PSU, which gives the electrical juice for everything to run

a monitor (the more hertz, the smoother the video will be - you’ll want either 60hz or 144hz depending on how much your number of frames-per-second matter to you)

a keyboard and mouse

speakers or headphones or both!

Optional addons:

RGB lighting for everything :O

an optical drive (aka something to put DVDs, Blurays, or other physical CD disks into)

fancy liquid cooling pipes

additional case fans; most cases come with adequate fans, but if you are using the computer in a room with poor ventilation or you find that certain components are running hot, you can install additional fans

coincidentally you can also get fans with RGB lighting too

cable extenders when you are going for a specific color scheme

So it can definitely all look overwhelming at first, but when you start to look at how everything is laid out, you’ll notice some trends. Look at these motherboards, for example.

These are just four random motherboards I pulled off Newegg, a commonly used computer parts purchasing site. Sure, the colors are a bit different, but the layout between them…is all basically the same! Here, I’ll draw it out.

In just about every modern motherboard you buy, this will be the rough layout. Everything else is window dressing–what kind of GPU you get, what kind of CPU you get, whether your RAM lights up cool colors or not. Your motherboard will ALWAYS include a map that has extensive descriptions of what each connection does.

Much, much, much more under the jump!

Most of these you won’t even need!

There are always some compatibility things to consider–as I mentioned, PCPartPicker can help you figure out a lot of these–but the biggest one to care about is the CPU. There are two major companies that make CPUs, AMD and Intel. They both have pros and cons on the chips they make, but right now, AMD makes a family of CPUs called Ryzen that both outperform and are cheaper than Intel’s current leading brands, the i7 and i9 lines. Intel was king of the hill for a long time, though, and their CPUs are still really good quality, so some people still go with them over the cheaper alternatives for now. (There are some reports of black screens with the new Ryzen lines, but as I’ve never owned one, I can’t personally speak to how common that is.)

Regardless, once you pick which family of CPUs you want to go with, AMD or Intel, you just have to pick an Intel-friendly or AMD-friendly motherboard. This is always specified in the description of the motherboard. I own the Asus z370 motherboard, so here’s what it says in the description for CPU:

Anyway, once you’ve picked all your parts and had everything shipped to you, it’s literally just a plug-n-play, step by step until everything’s plugged in. Your motherboard manual will also include recommended order of installations, too, and often how to install them.

It helps to remember that the manufacturers of all these parts understand that they are expensive, and they really DON’T want to make them hard to install! Broken or difficult pieces during installation means that the customer is upset, and upset customers ask for refunds and lose brand loyalty.

It also helps to understand that a lot of these connections are based on certain standards–I didn’t realize until I was rebuilding my current machine that these holes set for screws really do work with just about everything you get, as long as it’s the same generation, because motherboard manufactures WANT you to have the flexibility to go any attachment brand you like and still be able to use their board to mount them. 

So, you pick your case and open it up, and you put the motherboard down on top of all the little screw holes until they match, and then you screw all the screws down firmly.

Old rig, partially disassembled:

New, in approximately same state:

(One of the reasons I went with this larger white case than a smaller, slim case like my old one, is because this nicer case has what’s called “cable management;” that means there’s a built-in back area behind the motherboard where all my cables can be jammed without messing up the “aesthetic” of the glass window. My first build obviously did not have that, as seen in that first picture at the top of this post, so I had to just jam my cables wherever I could fit them so that the sides would close, haha.)

Anyway, you can see that the motherboard is just screwed in where it should be, and my CPU is already installed where it should be. I haven’t mounted the cooler for it yet because I needed to clean off the old thermal paste and install new thermal paste before doing so. My two sticks of RAM are also mounted in the top right in the motherboard’s recommended configuration & locations for two sticks (vs. one, vs. four).

Then, with the cooler in place, it looked like this:

So the cooler I have is liquid cooling in a closed system (the thick black tubes running right to left) which is attached to a fan that mounts in place of the white fan on the left from the previous picture. It was as simple as unscrewing the old fan and putting the new one in its place. I think I even used the same screws. The fan is powered by that thin cable running along the top of the case that plugs into a little socket on the motherboard labeled “CPU Fan.” It was as simple as just finding the right plug; it doesn’t even have directionality, just a three-pin socket, so it doesn’t even matter which way you plug.

Already it’s looking like a proper computer! And because this case has cable management, I took a picture of what it currently looked like from the backside.

This case is cool because it has a neat set of connectors mounted on the back of this little hideaway to connect the case fans. I could have run the white fan cables through to the front of the motherboard for them to get power/marching orders, but it was cleaner aesthetically to attach them here in the back. Nothing wrong with connecting them on the front, though–that’s what I did in my original build!

You also might have noticed I’ve mounted the PSU in that white case by now as well. It’s the large black and red box in the bottom corner, seen best from behind. The white case comes with what’s called a PSU shroud, which just means there’s a fancy white cover over it to keep the ~aesthetic~ when viewed from the front side.

The next step is to mount the graphics card!

There’s instructions in your manual as to exactly how these mount, but it really and truly is just removing the dust cover brackets where you need to, and then a delicate plug & play, pushing that big guy in until you hear the click! (Click good, snap bad. Haha. I’ve changed out these cards several dozen times and never broken one, though!)

You can also see the ugly red-tipped cables plugged into the GPU and the motherboard, both on the right side. These come from the Power Supply Unit (they are all permanently connected in most brands, and look basically like a squid’s tentacles–once you have your items mounted onto the motherboard, you just look for the connector from the PSU with the right number of pins and plug it in!)

This guy is the worst. He is fat and hard to maneuver and always requires SO MUCH FORCE to click into this delicate bendy board and your heart will ALWAYS be in your throat as your fingers shake from how hard you’re having to push to sink it, and it will ALWAYS eventually go in but you’ll hate every second of the doing. I hate you, 24-pin EATX. I hate you so much.)

The next thing I did was mount my optical drive (because yes, I still own one), my hard drive, and my solid state drive.

The hard drive and SSD both serve the same purpose (long-term data storage), but the SSD is much faster and uses newer technology. It’s also more expensive for the amount of storage you get, so I have a 256gb SSD that holds my operating system, my heavily-used programs like Firefox and Photoshop & Premiere, and one or two video games I play the most that I would like to load as fast as possible. This is the drive that can allow me to restart my whole system in less than five seconds.

The hard drive is 1.75 terabytes and holds everything else: fics, pictures, videos, music, other games, etc.They mount onto the racks with pre-drilled screws. The optical drive just slides into the socket snugly until it hits the back of the rack.

All of these use a standard connector called a SATA cable which runs between the back of the drive to a SATA socket on the motherboard. Most motherboards come with at LEAST six or seven of these connector slots, and some come with more. They look like this:

and are pretty universal. Any kind of extra storage or drive you want to add to your computer will probably connect with a SATA cable. I think my motherboard, my SSD & HD, and my case purchases all came with a pack of loose SATA cables of different lengths to be used for whatever I wanted.

The rack each drive is mounted to came installed with the case and pre-drilled with screw holes (and provided screws) for attaching either the HD or SSD in every slot. Because this case is all about aesthetic, it also comes with two vertical SSD mounts on the back of the case if you wanted to remove the right-side rack altogether, but as I mentioned, I have the optical drive, so I couldn’t go with that option.

So now we have all the major pieces mounted! The last set of connections are a collection of small fiddly pieces that all plug in roughly the same area and do things like light up the case’s LED, provide that startup beep, connect the USB sockets on the case’s front to power, etc. This is by far the section that takes me the longest because I guarantee I will ALWAYS plug at least two into the wrong socket and not have a beep, or my audio won’t work or something until I go back and reconnect them.

The next thing was to plug in my monitors and…see what happened when we hit the power button! (Monitor connections just plug directly into your graphics card in the back of the case.) And here’s what happened!

So it turned out when I was connecting my SSD (which has my OS on it), I was pushing on the little connector while sitting on the back side of the case. I thought I had the thing in the socket, but what I’d actually done was jam the connector just under the lip of the motherboard (that is, not connected to anything at all, just hanging in open space). Once I realized, though, it was an easy fix!

The last thing I wanted to do to complete the clean white look I wanted was to replace those UGHLY red PSU cables with what are called “cable extenders.” I bought some white ones on Amazon; because most PSUs’ cables are permanently attached at the box, you plug your cable extenders into the other end and then feed them through the case, so that’s the only portion visible. The ugly PSU cables are still there at the other end of the white cables, just hidden in the cable management area behind the motherboard.

I spent some time fixing up the cables to curve exactly how I wanted them to, then picked my LED RGB colors and closed up the open side with the glass wall. All that was left was to plug in my mouse/keyboard/speakers/headphones/mic/webcam, etc., and we were done!

Ta-daaaa!

The first build I did, the one in the blue & black case, took us about two days due to some unexpected problems. First, we were trying to salvage an old CPU from my HP prebuilt to save a little money. Unfortunately, they used basically no thermal paste to connect it to its fan, and when we were trying to get the fan off, it actually tore the CPU out of its socket and bent a bunch of its pins. I ended up going to Best Buy or something and getting a replacement off the shelf.

The other issue I had was that I foolishly didn’t back up my files, and lost a bunch of them in the rebuild (including my Hawke’s original run through the DA2 game :( :( :( ) Always back up your files before ever going in and messing with your case!

Over the years I replaced a bunch of components in it, which is why it lasted me so long, but the transfer into the new case only took me about three hours, and that was with a bunch of breaks throughout. I probably could have done it faster if I hadn’t wanted to savor it, haha. The cable management for the backless desk took a lot longer, though! (…and a LOT of zip ties.)

I do set my new build on a small glass stand (again, from Amazon) because Hamlet’s pretty sheddy and I wanted to keep airflow as good as possible. I’m limited on how many case fans I can install since I have the optical drive rack taking up a lot of space on the right, but I could install new fans on top if I wanted. My temperatures are great, though (I monitor with CoreTemp & GPUTemp, as well as my motherboard’s built-in temp monitoring software), so I don’t need to unless I decide I need more RGB.

Anything I might want to add, I run through PCPartPicker to make sure it’ll fit what I already have. For example, my parts list looks like this (full view and complete parts list available at this link): 

ANYWAY.

If you are patient, if you can fit small Lego-like pieces in labeled sockets, and you are a decent googler, you can build your own PC. It’s really, really hard to do serious damage to components nowadays, even if you plug something in wrong. There’s a bunch of resources, though, and I’d recommend the following places to start:

newegg.com - parts for sale, getcher parts here

pcpartpicker.com - put your list of components together, and it’ll flag any compatibility issues or known problems

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/ - great starting point for new builders, tons of advice and how-to’s for every step of the process, and a decently responsive community to help troubleshoot any issues you might have

And I obviously love doing this kind of thing, so if there’s anything I can help with, I’m more than happy to try! Just let me know, and I hope this was helpful!

[redfoxwritesstuff]

Coffee and a Wedding? Chapter 2

And here we are. As a reminder, coffee will be updated on Tuesdays however it may not be *every* Tuesday as it is my off day and I’ll have other one shots to post sometimes. Tag list is always open and I do love to hear from readers. 

Clint x ofc, trope tastic goodness. Have a trope you want to see in this? Send it my way. 

~~~~~<3

Clint and I worked more together in the mornings in the coming weeks than we had before. He asked me, of course, before changing my schedule to spend more time paired with him. It made planning the trip easier, he said. We needed to get to know each other better, he said.

Every morning I’d come in right on time and he’d be setting a plate out for me on the table closest to the coffee bar. Apparently he had noticed that I wasn’t one to often eat breakfast before work. It was something I’d probably mentioned in passing one or two times but never did I think that he would pick up on it and do something like make sure I had breakfast at the start of my shift. This was our last shift before we fly out tomorrow and it was honestly fairly dead.

“You all packed?” Clint leaned against the back counter as I was cleaning off tables as the morning slowly passed us by. “We leave tomorrow morning.”

“For the most part.” I hated talking about the trip and the wedding. Every time the topic would come up, I’d be a blushing mess. I was terrified that he would realize that his place in my story was so much more than just a name for my imaginary boyfriend.

Our coworkers had no idea, but Clint would occasionally make us take pictures together for me to send my family. He was invested in the sham relationship. All in. Part of me hated it because I could just imagine how good of a boyfriend he would be for real.

“How do people make these tables so gross so fast?” I complained, breaking the heavy silence.

“Magic. And hate.” I rolled my eyes at his answer though I couldn’t help but laugh. “What color will your dress be for the wedding?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t got one yet.” God this sugar spill just became the most fascinating thing in the cafe. Luckily, it was caked on and mixed with a tried tea spill resulting in a dried, sticky mess. “Why?”

“I need to pick a suit to complement it, duh.”

“You make it sound like you have a closet of suits to pick from.” Standing up, my back popped and I couldn’t help but groan when I stretched.

“I do.”

“What?”

“Just because I dress down and own a cafe doesn’t mean I don’t dress up. I didn’t always own this place, you know.”

Moving onto the next table, I set to work scrubbing pen marks left behind by students leeching off our WIFI to do their homework. “I thought you did. What did you do before?”

“I worked there.” Clint jabbed his finger toward the looming building in the distance. “Working on network security.”

“You worked at Stark Tower?!”

“Yep. Tony is still a good friend. Bring him a coffee most mornings when I take a break.” Clint shrugged like he didn’t just admit to being friends with what could possibly be the richest man on the east coast and financier of my scholarship. “More importantly, why don’t you have a dress yet?”

“I haven’t gotten around to it. I hate dress shopping and it’s all expensive.”

“Fine, I’ll buy.” Clint shrugged as if it was nothing. “We’ll go after you’re off and the afternoon shift gets here. Unless you’ve got something else planned?”

“You want to take me dress shopping?” I was already spending far too much time worrying about surviving the wedding with him, now he wants to bring my death before we even get on the plane.  

“Well, yeah. You need a dress. I need to match you. Can’t have your family think your boyfriend is a sloppy dresser, now can I?”

~~~~~<3

It was getting harder and harder to act normal around our coworkers. They wondered why I was now opening the shop with Mr. Barton nearly every morning. Now we would be leaving together. It wasn’t fair yet I loathed the fact that this would end when we got back from the wedding.

“Ready?” He asked, pulling the towel out of his back pocket and tossing it into the hamper that lived under the counter.

“Yeah, let’s get this over with.” My cheeks heated but it wasn’t so bad. I had it under control.

“You two off for an early date?” Sara asked from where she leaned on the counter. “I didn’t think Mr. Barton dated anyone- let alone employees. Not fair!” She whined and yep, my face felt like it was on fire.

“I do date, I’m not hopeless. Why do you all think all I do is work?” Clint complained, not actually denying anything. “Come on you, let’s get that dress.” Yep, this is going to take some explaining later that I really would not be looking forward to.

~~~~~<3

Clint hailed a cab and took us to some a mid level dress shop I’d never afford on my own though it wasn’t designer. I was terribly nervous about the whole event. My hair was a proper mess and I was not exactly dressed up and yet here I was, out with the man I had spent so long fantasizing about.

The shopkeepers were kind enough and directed us toward their dresses without much of a question. I expected questions. I don’t know why but I did. Instead all we got was a ‘this way’ and a point. Did she think he was my uncle? Older brother?

He wasted no time in digging through racks and pulling out options, only asking my size as an afterthought. It was so surreal that I had no opportunity to really formulate a coherent thought until he was dumping a pile of dresses into my arms with orders to try them on.

So into the changing room I went, feeling rather ridiculous as I stripped out of my clothes and shimmied into a teal tea dress. I didn’t like the color and it felt too loose in the waist. As I turned this way and that, I heard from outside the changing room “Did you get stuck?”

“No?”

“Then hop out and let me take a look.”

“You’re joking.” He had to be joking.

“I’m not. Get out here.”

And that’s how the evening was spent. My face surely couldn’t have gotten any redder as he complemented colors and fabrics as if he was some sort of designer. I spun and moved as he talked about fit, cut and flow with a tailor that showed up. A benefit of being friends with Tony Stark, or so Clint said.

Notes were taken and pins placed. I stood painfully still as I was measured. Through it all, both men assured me I would have a dress by morning that would fit like a dream. Clint was scrolling through shoe options and getting opinions from me and the tailor both while he worked.

It was a whirlwind of activity that came to an end when Clint handed over his card for payment before I could even wrap my head around what was happening or the cost of the dress. I stood gaping at him, probably doing a rather good imitation of a fish.

“Coming?” I didn’t even realize he walked toward the exit until he called out for me.

“Yeah,” I called, back while jogging to his side. “What now?”

“Now home I guess. I need to pack my suit still. How are you planning to get to the airport in the morning?”

I shrug, “Don’t know. Taxi probably.”

“I’ll pick you up.” He decided and I really had no argument that worked.

~~~~~<3

Morning came too soon. What also came too soon for my liking was a persistent knocking at my door. Groaning, I covered my face with a pillow and willed the knocker away. When that didn’t work, I pawed at my phone until the screen lit up and revealed it was just barely six in the morning.

I didn’t have to be up for another hour, longer still if I didn’t bother with hair or makeup and I honestly didn’t plan on it. Yeah, I’d be traveling with Clint and yeah, I wanted to look good around him but I was going to spend most of the day either on a plane or in airports. It wasn’t worth it.

More godforsaken knocking sounded at my door. Throwing the pillow over my face again, I made a valiant attempt at suicide by pillow. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in my attempts to smother myself and the knocking just wouldn’t stop.

Getting up and mumbling, “Fine, goddammit.” I make the first mistake of my first day being my boss’s girlfriend. Without a single thought, I make my way toward my door. The realization that I was wearing a pair of cheeky purple panties and a tank top didn’t come until it was too late. I yanked open the door to find Clint standing with a takeaway bag in one hand and two paper coffee cups clutched in his other hand, Arrowpoint brand- of course.

“What?” I grumble as he stands stock still, just looking at me as if he had seen a ghost. “Why are you here?”

“Coffee and breakfast. Cheaper than eating at the airport.”

“We don’t have to leave for another two and a half hours!” Throwing my hands up in the air, I turn and stomp into the apartment.

“Nice panties. Fits the brand.” Clint commented as he followed me into the apartment.

I tried to tell myself that he couldn’t not notice them. He wasn’t checking out my ass, he just couldn’t help but notice that the purple panties had a black arrow on them with the words “take aim” underneath.

“Plates and stuff are in cabinets. Figure it out.” I directed as I continued my childish stomping toward my bedroom. “I didn’t wear them for you, by the way.”  

I could have sworn that as I slammed the door shut, Clint muttered under his breath, “If only I could be so lucky” but that couldn’t be right. Clint was a good man, a bit flirtatious but never something that would mark him as unprofessional. He was an equal opportunity flirt. It didn’t matter if he was talking to a man, women, older, younger or human. I’d once even caught him flirting with the espresso machine when it was new, but if I didn’t mishear him – a big ‘if’- that would clearly cross the professional lines, wouldn’t it?

Flopping face first on my bed, I tried to put the thought out of my head. It didn’t matter. He was just my boss. None of this had to mean anything. He’s just helping me out. Because I got caught in a lie. He probably didn’t even think of me as anything more than one of the kids he hired.

After I dragged myself up, I gathered my bag and after slipping some sweatpants on, dragged it out into the living room. Clint had made himself at home, setting out two takeout plates of food. Eggs, potatoes and ham sat begging me to eat but no, I needed to shower first and wash away my shame.

I didn’t linger under the hot water in the small bathroom, though I wanted to. A quick wash down and some solid deep breathing had me feeling better. My wet hair was pulled into a low bun that gave away my lack of effort in it’s lopsided nature and wet strands sticking out here and there and a simple swipe of eyeliner had me looking good enough. A few more deep breaths and I stepped out of the steamy room and sat down to eat.

“I didn’t actually mean to get here this early.” Clint admitted as he pushed a pile of shredded potatoes around on the paper plate. When I made a sound that probably passed as an ‘oh’, he looked up at me and god dammit- I never thought I would be looking into his blue eyes at my shitty little table in my kitchen. “I could have sworn it was an hour later than it was.”

“Could have happened to anyone.” I say as if it hadn’t annoyed me to be woken up so early.

“Probably better anyway- we can get to the airport early. You never know what’s going to go wrong.” I resisted the urge to tell him that things had already started to go wrong since I was up an hour earlier than I wanted to be and opened the door to my boss and crush in my damn panties.

~~~~~<3

Once we left my apartment, I didn’t have time to be nervous about what charade we were trying to pull off. The first two taxis simply didn’t show up. It was as if the great black hole had taken them, forcing us to call for a third. Clint had forgotten to grab his suit and we had to go back for it. I hadn’t known until now that Clint had actually lived in an apartment above the cafe. I’m not sure what I had expected to be in the space though.

We parked around the back and I watched as Clint ran up stairs that looked like they couldn’t possibly meet code in their condition. His foot caught about half way up and the driver and I both could do nothing but cringe as he fell forward and hit the stairs hard.

It didn’t seem to slow him down at all however. He was up on all fours crawling up the stairs nearly as fast as he had been running before hand. It was honestly impressive.

He was only inside for a second before running out with the same reckless abandon, suit bag held over his shoulder and door pulled closed with the momentum of his run. I honestly expected him to fall down the stairs but instead, he grabbed onto the railing and hoisted himself onto it in a move I recognized from attempting it many times as a child.

For a few feet it seemed like it was going to work out for him far better than it had for me in my childish attempts. And then the suit bag got caught on a railing and pulled Clint sideways. It would make sense to slide off onto the steps and continue down the stairs like a normal human being. That is not what happened however.

I couldn’t do anything but watch as he leaned forward, over corrected and leaned back, too far back. In a blink of the eye, Clint’s head was going down and his feet were in the air as he grabbed at the railing. He caught it, for a moment and his body slammed into the side of the staircase. The blow surely knocked the wind out of him and his grip failed. Down he went and I fully expected to be calling for an ambulance.

Instead, he landed on his feet with his knees bent. He crouched with the force of the landing before standing tall as if nothing happened at all.

“Is he human?” Asked the driver.

“I thought so...” My voice trailed off as Clint opened the door and slipped into the back seat next to me. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. Fine. Whacked my hip on the kitchen counter.” Clint glanced at me before requesting that the driver take us to the airport.

“You fell off the stairs!” I couldn’t believe he was going to talk about hitting his hip and not what we saw.

Clint at least had the nerve to look sheepish. “It happens.”

“It doesn’t just happen to people!” I throw my hands in the air.

“It does to me?” Clint laughed as the driver took us slowly toward the airport. He was lucky, this time I let the topic drop. It was that or tell him that he scared the ever loving shit out of me because that would mean admitting to him that I care about him.

~~~~~<3

The airport was a hectic mess. For all the time we thought we had, we got out of the taxi in time to find chaos and people everywhere. Clint grabbed the handle of his bag and mine and yanked them out of the trunk. Before I could protest, he had

both handles extended and in one hand and snagged mine in the other.

“What’s the rush?” His grip was too strong for me to pull from and I nearly tripped over my own feet as we ran.

“I got a text from the airline. Flight’s been changed.” Clint yelled over his shoulder.

“So? Didn’t we just get more time than?” I nearly bit my tongue and was far too tired for this right now. Still, part of me registered that I was technically holding his hand.

“I got the message over two hours ago. The flight was canceled and we got put in one leaving an hour earlier.”

“So what does that mean?” I’m huffing as I ask, breaths coming harsh and fast. I’m not nearly in good enough shape for this and yet Clint’s running as if he could keep going forever. Finally we come to a stop at the baggage check and Clint is in full command of the situation- something I admittedly find hot as fuck.

“That means they close the doors in about 15 minutes.” He answered, hardly looking at me as he handed over the bags. As if it was completely normal, he grabbed my hand and took off running. His other hand pressed his phone to his ear but I couldn’t focus on what he was saying and on not tripping at the same time.

As we approached security, an agent waved us to the side and I was sure we were being stopped for some stupid extra security check. My ankles and calves hurt from where my carry on kept smacking into them but Clint didn’t slow until we approached the agent.

The man was largely built in every meaning of the word. It looked like had a frown that hadn’t left his face in years. I smiled at him, weary from the running and he hardly paid me any mind. As illogical as it was, I was sure I was about to be arrested in the airport. I hadn’t done anything, but I was sure just the same. It’s odd how that happens.

~~~~~<3

Tag list: @theheartofpenelope, @alexakeyloveloki, @0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7, @bradfordbantams, @theoneanna, @ruebx, @toozmanykids, @dangertoozmanykids101, @j-u-s-t-4, @missaphrodite23, @winterisakiller, @bambamwolf87, @nonsensicalobsessions, @tinchentitri, @michelegurl, @xoxabs88xox

[hillbillyhippiemusicreview]

POST #20 - Chris Knight & Grayson Jenkins | Louisville, KY, 10-24-19

Y’all, exactly a week ago, I had the opportunity to see someone who I consider a living legend. Another badass artist out of Kentucky: Chris Knight! This show was at Zanzabar, a small venue in Louisville, KY.

The venue doesn’t look like much from the outside. Just a white building with a large black “Z” on the front. Then you walk in and it gets even stranger. To the right you have a row of pinball machines and to the left a bar with a kitchen pickup window. You walk a little further and there are older restaurant style wood benches and tables with yet another bar. Then you take a turn and there is an awesome little room with a decent sized stage that is done up right. Sound quality and acoustics are pretty good, lighting is decent, honestly yall, I was impressed considering I just walked by a row of pinball machines and a kitchen pickup window! Z bar gets quite a bit of good talent, and I plan on being there again. American Aquarium will be playing a show there in mid-December, so hopefully I make that one.

This show started out with about a 45 minute set from Kentucky boy Grayson Jenkins. Grayson has left his mark all throughout the great Commonwealth with the majority of his music being based out of Lexington. His sound reminded me a lot of one of his songwriting buddies Nicholas Jamerson (and SundyBest before they parted ways). Grayson is one talented feller, like many of those artists that play solo acoustic sets often. It’s him, a guitar, a microphone, a couple harmonicas, and a quintessential Kentucky singing voice! He played a great set of his previously released songs off of his 2 albums (Down on Southland and Cityscapes & Countrysides), along with a new single and unreleased songs. And, if y’all are in Lexington, KY on November 15th, get on out to The Burl where Grayson will have an album release party for his newest EP! I hope to be there and would like to see y'all there too!

Shortly after Grayson finished his 45 minute opening set, Chris took the stage! I wasn’t sure what to expect with the 8 or so guitars surrounding the outer edges of the stage, but y'all, this was an intimate show and it was awesome! It was just Chris with a another fella, unfortunately I didn’t catch his name. Chris sang and played guitar while the other guy sang harmony, played guitar and played harmonica. My first impression when Chris said “How y’all doin’” was that he looked and sounded older than his actual 59 years. But, I was still damn excited to be there and to be honest with y’all when he started singing, it didn’t matter.

When he started singing with that unmistakable and unique voice you knew it was Chris Knight and I wasn’t disappointed at all! I was actually giddy as hell if I’m being honest with ya. He played a great set of old and new. Those songs included “Hard Candy,” “Almost Daylight,” “I’m William Callahan,” “It Ain’t Easy Being Me,” “Oil Patch Town,” “Little Victories,” “Enough Rope,” “Love & a .45,” “House & 90 Acres,” and “Framed,” just to mention a few. While “Enough Rope” was released several years ago, y’all, the live version with Chris’ voice today is the best version, Period. I also have to tell y’all, while Chris was playing, this was one of the best crowds I had been in. When that man was singing, you could hear a freaking pin drop! The crowd was there to listen to Chris Knight and sway to the music. I just wish that people showed that same respect the the opener. While more than half of the crowd was listening to Grayson, there were still a few jackasses that couldn’t care he was on stage. Y’all as talented as that dude is, he deserves more respect than that!

With that being said, overall the crowd was great, the acoustics were great and the room was awesome! There was no pushing and shoving and there were very few loud mouths. Honestly, that is my preferred style. If i just wanted to listen to music, jump around and get drunk, I’d go to a house party with friends that like my style of music. The beer is cheaper that way and the floors are softer to pass out on!

It was obvious that Chris thought the crowd was great too. When he ended with “Framed” and said his goodbyes, not one person moved. Everyone kept clapping and cheering, then someone started a “One More Song’ chant. After a couple of minutes that door opened and the fellas came out, waved at the crowd, and graced us one final time with “Jack Blue.”

Y’all, if you get the chance go to a Chris Knight show, do it! This fella has been active for over 20 years and his sound hasn’t changed. He stays true to himself and puts on a hell of a good intimate show. Go find his old music and then head on over to order your copy of “Almost Daylight.” That album is one of the best of 2019 and has 2, yes 2, legends singing on it; Chris and the great John Prine.

And that’s my spiel on this show y’all. Go to a show; whether it be a large venue or a bar you’ve never been to before. Listen to someone you’ve never heard of. Support live and local music. Buy some merch and keep listening to these badass artists!

-Cheers,N.

*This is an independent review. The Hillbilly Hippie Music Review was not compensated for this review.

*The opinions expressed are solely that of the author(s).

[taesthetes]

(1/?) Travel anon-hi! Oo, good luck! You'll do great and get to bask in potato-ness again! You've convinced me! I'm gonna try to go on a road trip with some friends soon then! Hopefully sometime this summer c; Ah, besides texting people at night while alone, I do walk with my car keys between my fingers (my car keys come out like a switchblade lol?) so I completely understand late night paranoia. Traveling alone and texting people keeps them updated on my goings (and updates their wishlists x'D)

(2/?) I know, right?? Things are so much cheaper in Korea D: When I was there, I hit up a cafe nearly every half day, haha. Sesame drinks are usually hot, but they taste a lot like asian sesame sweets? Nutty, and sometimes pretty sugary (depending on the place that makes it), but the hot liquid with it is steamed milk :D And yes! Hot Apple Cider! Would you try a Sweet Potato Latte? Those are really good too~ Hot Rice Drinks are a little odd to me, but I have a friend who likes those

(3/?) Oh! Taiyaki! Technically the Japanese name for the fish pastry, but you can have those in Japan too! Some of them are filled with chocolate or custard or matcha custard there :D I know what you mean; whenever I saw an interesting snack, I lined up and chowed down, haha. Good thing walking burns off all those extra calories! I’m guilty of trying a bunch of specialty Haagen Dazs ice cream flavors unique to those countries too X’D You’ll definitely feel the same way once you hit up a dog cafe

(4/?) Do you have any dogs yourself? Or cats? Pets, in general? While it’s not jiggly cheesecake, I did like the molten cheese tarts from Pablo Cheesecake in Japan! The tarts are smaller, so it’s easier to portion per person than one whole cake, haha. Uncle Tetsu is a well-known brand for jiggly cheesecakes, if you see one! And oh, don’t worry, please! You’re not scary or anything! I’m super comfortable talking to you actually. I’m just really - shy? Sort of? Thank you for worrying about it tho!

(5/?) True! I didn’t travel during fall/winter until after I graduated ;D now it’s just my go to time, haha. I’ve never made it to Japan for Sakura season because of that ;u; but it’s really expensive then anyways. Maybe someday~ I’d love to take photos of that! Omg yes, leggings everyday, all day - and definitely like potato versatility! Oo, maybe when you have a day to yourself, you could go to a nearby art museum and set up like those students, yourself? It might not be like the museums in-

(6/?) -your travels, but it’ll still work just the same! Art is beautiful wherever you go :D Yup! Switzerland is the happiest place in the world, haha. Honestly, for the crane machine we played, there was 4 of us teaming up 1 machine and eyeballing which plushies would be the easiest to pick up. I’m pretty sure we were just really absurdly lucky that day (unfortunately for our bystanders)! Sometimes, if you’re very into the crane games and still fail, a nice passerby or staff might take pity on-

(7/?) -you and help you win it. That’s what happened to us sometimes XD Yes! Empty suitcase all the way! I pack the bare essentials, and stuff a suitcase in a suitcase for max space on the way back :D Dango is sooo good, I’m drooling at the memory of it right now. I miss it so much ;u; Oh! I’ve heard of that one! I’ve never been there before, but I do want to try it when I go back this year! A good udon branch I tried had a Naruto for the logo, and it’s a chainstore, so it’s everywhere!

(8/?) Any ramen joint is amaaazingggg. Seriously, I’ve tried a bunch of random ones that I just wandered and found, and they were all so good. Have you ever had omurice before? Or oden? Or thought of trying a traditional Japanese breakfast? Those are all good too! I’m sure you’ll hit up Japan again and manage to do all the things you want to do! Maybe you’ll be in Japan when there’s a festival where you’re at! Japan has a looot of festivals after all ;D

(9/9) Okay, this is really long now, wow. Thank you! The new one seems to be working so far :D I’ll see when I get previews of my pins! I watched Avengers today~ I want to say it was good, but that really depends on your viewpoint, haha. Will you watch it any time soon? The rest of my day was mostly spent cursing traffic and getting hyped over the new bts photos! How about you? You make my day too when you reply me (and so in depth)! Thank you for that :D Good luck with your studies 💖💖

hi, m’love! and thank you!! ahhh i’m so excited to be a potato this weekend :’) there’s also mother’s day though, so i have to wake up a little earlier than usual to buy some pretty flowers and maybe an orchid plant for her present. omg yes!! i hope you have lots of fun on the road trip! it’s honestly quite stress relieving and fun to just drive to wherever and enjoy the company of your friends. and same! i do that with my keys, plus i have pepper spray on my key chain, too. and i suppose having heavy textbooks in your bag helps in this instance because i can swing it around if i need to ahah. my friends are already updating their wishlists, too :’)

oh and! my parents decided to change the vacation dates today, and we’re going to be in asia even longer and i’ll be gone for almost all of august in japan and vietnam, so i can go to the concert?? but i don’t think i will because i already spent a lot of money for my t swift tickets and i’ll probably spend so much in japan and vietnam already haha because for me, i’d have to say plushies and good food > bts

i think inflation is pretty high in asia (with the exception of japan) in comparison to usa, so i’m glad things will be much cheaper! oooh, i hope i can go to a dog cafe every half day in japan aaskdjfas and i’ll have to try a sesame drink then! it sounds delicious. and yes! i’ll try the hot apple cider and sweet potato latte, too!   hot rice drinks sound interesting, so i want to try one, too :D

omg now i’ll definitely have to try every taiyaki filling available in japan. and oh my gosh, i didn’t realize how much walking people do in other countries until i realized i actually lost weight when i went on vacation in europe even though i had super rich foods everyday?? i guess usa food portions need to be downsized and i should start walking everywhere now. oooh, i do that with the lays chip flavors! they have unique flavors in different countries, too, and i always try them. i’ll have to look for the haagen dazs ice cream now. hold up, i need to write all of this in my notes on my phone. i don’t want to miss out on any good drinks and food!!

and i wish i did! i want a dog or cat so badly D: the only pet i ever had were fish. do you have any pets? molten cheese tarts sound like heaven, oh gosh, i need to write down these food places too! and oh good, that’s a relief!! i’m glad you’re comfortable talking to me :’)

ahhh i’ll just have to wait until after i graduate to travel more! i think it’s also cheaper during other seasons besides summer since that’s when students are free to travel, too, so hurray for saving money! omg photos of sakura season would be so beautiful. i hope you get to go during then one day!! i love leggings so much, like my goodness, they’re so comfortable. i wear them to bed and i don’t even have to change before i go to my morning classes the next day. 

there’s actually a museum on campus, but the thing is, a lot of the museums around here are more of modern art feel? like obscure abstract sculptures, minimalism, and a lot of photography. i really adore paintings and the older art styles, like renaissance, surrealism, photorealism, impressionism, etc. of course, all art is beautiful, but it’s more enjoyable for me personally to be drawing inspiration from realistic paintings.

ahah i’ll just ask my parents and sister to spot me while i play the crane machines then. hopefully, i’ll get one! wow, but passerby and staff help you win it? is everyone good at crane machines there?? i need them to teach me their ways, so i can stop losing money haha i’ll have to do that, too! hopefully, the suitcase fees aren’t too high.

sfljkhdafs dango sounds so good right about now. honestly, i saw that restaurant in nct life osaka and i love fishing and i love sushi, so i immediately thought, “i have to go there someday.” and the udon chain had a naruto logo on it? i’ll have to look it up, but i wrote it down in my notes! but now, i’m suddenly craving for ramen omg i’m just imagining it. and no, but i’ve seen so many videos of omurice! it looks really cool :o and is oden sort of like a hot pot? hot pot is always yummy, and my mom makes a vietnamese version of it often. oh gosh, i would love to try a traditional breakfast, but i usually don’t wake up early enough for breakfast ahah. and i hope so!! maybe one day, we can meet in japan :D

that’s good to hear! i’m glad the new manufacturer is working out so far. i don’t think i’ll be watching it soon since i’m pretty busy, but if you want to talk about it, i’m totally fine with that! and god, traffic is the worst D: but yes, the new bts photos are so beautiful aslkfjhalsd and i just went to my classes, did my homework and some studying, and watched tv with my roommates, nothing too exciting sadly. and thank you 💞💞 i hope you had a good day today!! also though, i just realized i don’t know who your bts bias is! who’s your favorite? :D and do you listen to any other kpop groups?

(and i just followed you on instagram!! your art is so beautiful oh my goodness, my eyes feel so blessed, i’m scrolling through all your posts and everything is so pretty i cry)

also, if it’s easier for you to message me on kkt and if you have an account and are comfortable with giving me your user, we can do that, too!!