#its close to the couple major bus stops id use so i can use those on bad hip days

[just-gay-thoughts]

Local girl deciding to live an apartment not this school year but the next, local girl has looked at every apartment building in her city and decided on her top 3 with numerous back up options

[dustofbrokenheart]

The Covenant: Tech Guy

Reid Garwin x Reader

Word Count: 3,826

Summary: After renting a laptop from your campus library, you run into a download problem. A call to Library Tech Services for help introduces you to Tech Guy. Good at his job, but with questionable people skills, you learn to work with him. It certainly helps that he has an attractive voice.   

This was not good, not good at all. It was less than an hour to midnight, the sun long since having set, and time seemed to pas faster, not slower, the later it got.

Now, you considered yourself to be pretty good with technology, perhaps not a computer genius but good enough to be able to troubleshoot most of your problems. It was pure bad luck that the night your capabilities failed was the night before you had an assignment due in Graphic Design.

Your own laptop had been ruined after an accident in the library had left the screen nothing more than a web of shattered fragments, but thankfully the library also carried laptops for checkout which saved you from having to fork out money that you didn’t have to buy a new one. You thought that checking out a laptop would be a quick fix to your problem, but you underestimated how high their demand was.

The librarian you spoke with at the circulation desk put you on a waiting list much to your disappointment and you left the building empty handed, unsure when one would become available.

The answer was six days later, the night before you had something due.

When they left a voicemail on your cell phone around seven o’clock to tell you that it was ready for pick-up, you immediately hopped on a bus bound for the library. The anxiety should have been somewhat alleviated because you could actually start to work on it now but when you got back to your dorm room and opened it up, another problem presented itself: the program you needed wasn’t installed.

Bad luck 1 – You 0.

Every time you tried to install it a message would pop up prompting you to enter an admin username and password in order to start the process. You had never seen that message before and innocently tried your own username and password. When that didn’t work, you tried three more times just to be sure.

Next stop was the internet, everyone’s favorite place to ask questions. You ran a quick search describing the problem and read through a couple of chat room threads. Disappointingly, nothing really applied to the situation at hand.

In hindsight, you shouldn’t have spent so much time trying to fix it because all that came of it was a lot of wasted time and you still hadn’t installed the program. You really didn’t want to take another trip to the library tonight if you could help it.

Frustrated and stuck you opened up the library’s webpage to see if there were any answers to be found. They didn’t but you did find the phone number for Library Tech Services, which was miraculously open even this late in the night.

Punching in the numbers you dialed and waited for someone to answer and when they did, it was short and to the point. “Library Tech.”

“Umm, hi… my name is y/n and I’m having an issue installing a program on my laptop rental.”

“Hmm. What’s the problem?” Again, not much to go on but the you could admit that tech guy’s voice sounded attractive.  

“Well. I clicked on the install button, but as soon as I did a message telling me that I needed admin permission to continue flashed on my screen.”

“Did you try your university username and password?”

“Yes.”

“Did you double check that you typed everything correctly?”

“Yes.”

“Did you try Google?”

“Of course, I did,” you answered with exasperation. He snickered and you felt your hackles rise. You called the number to get helped, not to get laughed at. Attractive voice be damned.

“I promise I exhausted every trick I know, I’m not stupid. But I do have something to finish tonight so if you can help me out here, that’d be great.”

For a split second you felt bad for being short with him but the aggravation was quick to return. He was the one providing terrible customer service… why should you feel bad calling him out on it?

He must’ve gotten the hint because he cleared his throat and started being serious. “The library puts restrictions on its laptops because they don’t want people downloading stuff willy nilly. What do you need to install?”

“Just Adobe Illustrator.”

You heard him typing on a keyboard in the background. “Sounds okay to me. I’ll just give you the admin credentials so you don’t have to make a trip over here tonight.”

You started to say thanks until you processed the end of that sentence. “Wait, what do you mean by that?”

“Normally we require people to come in person to fill out a form. Once the request is approved, a person is supposed to enter in the admin stuff, but I’m going to give it out over the phone to save you some time.”

His words left you speechless. You had no idea there was a whole process to do something so simple as install a program; you should’ve asked more questions before you walked out with it. It was a good thing to remember for next time. And the earlier guilt returned, too. He was being so nice now, bending the rules so you didn’t have to make another trek on the bus, which was quite frankly a gamble after dark.

You thanked him profusely, the tension draining from your shoulders. Once you told him the laptops id number and he was able to confirm that it was rented out to your account, he shared the username and password with you.  

With baited breath, you typed in exactly what he told you to and couldn’t help the happy noise that escaped you when it worked. It was impossible that tech guy saw your chair dance through the phone but he laughed again, making you question if he somehow knew anyway.

“Thanks, you’re a life saver!”  

He cleared his throat and said “Glad to be of service.” Then he hung up without another word.

You pulled the phone away from your ear and looked at it blankly. What the heck was that about? Thinking back on the conversation left you feeling very confused but you threw yourself into getting your images drawn up on Illustrator and soon lost yourself in the work.

You ended up staying up late well past your normal bedtime but the deadline was enough motivation for you to push through the drowsiness and yawns. Around 3:30 you finally finished and emailed it to the professor so you wouldn’t have to worry about it in the morning.

Sleep came easy that night and you vaguely remembered dreaming about tech guy’s voice which was utterly ridiculous. He hadn’t even mentioned his name, for goodness sakes! Plus, he was so hard to read, bouncing between jerk and nice on a whim. Nope. You were not going to stoop to finding out who he was. Not a chance.

After yesterday’s incident, your first course of the new day was to go grab a cup of coffee. You weren’t an easy riser on a good day, even less so after being up until the wee hours of the morning and caffeine was going to be essential for powering you through your classes.

Your go-to place was a campus coffee shop two blocks down from your dorm. It was still winter but you found that as long as you bundled up, the walk over went quickly and the cold air worked wonders for organizing your thoughts. But the real reason it was your favorite was not its closeness, it wasn’t even for the coffee; it was because of the heavenly pastries they made daily. The croissants, the eclairs, the danishes… they were all excellent. None was above their banana chocolate chip muffins.

A little bell chimed as you opened the door and the blast of heat from inside the shop felt nice against your chilled cheeks. The familiar worker at the register looked up and smiled when they saw you. “Hey, y/n! Should I start working on your cappuccino order?”

“Yes, please!” You approached the counter, removing your gloves to make it easier to take out your card from your wallet. A gleaming dessert case also caught your eye and you tried to glance over discreetly. As subtle as you tried to be, the cashier knew you too well after serving you for the past couple of years.

“Oh, sorry. We’re out those again.”

“Again?” you questioned sorrowfully.

He gave you a sympathetic shrug. “They’re very popular, they always go fast.”

It used to be that you could get your hands on a banana chocolate chip muffin whenever you wanted one but the secret must’ve gotten out to the rest of campus because you’d struck out for the past weeks. With a dramatic sigh, you settled for a chocolate croissant. It was no muffin but it was something to tide over your stomach until lunch.

“You know,” you started conspiratorially, “How can someone be so talented yet stupid simultaneously? If that no-good-baker bothered to make more of them knowing how fast they sell, this wouldn’t happen.”

You had never actually met the baker that was the source of the yummy pastries. In fact, you’d never even seen him and only knew that he was good at what he did and that he never came out to the front of the shop. There was really no reason why you ragged on him that morning other than you had major plans for that muffin that now had to be put on hold.

The cashier chuckled as he rang you up and looked back at the door to the kitchen for a moment. “I’ll pass along the message.” He slipped the croissant in a brown paper bag and handed it, along with the travel coffee cup, over to you.  “Have a good day. See you next time.”

You accepted it with a “You, too,” and were out the door to catch the next bus to your class.

*** 

Later that week, you ran into a familiar problem with the laptop. This time you needed to add Photoshop but figured that it shouldn’t be an issue now that you knew the password. So when you typed in the exact same thing as last time and the computer told you it was incorrect, you dragged a hand down your face and groaned. Well, you weren’t going to make the same mistake twice.

Swiveling around in your chair you grabbed your phone and called the Tech Services line again. The only thing that would make this even better would be if tech guy answered again, that’s how your luck was going that week. And sure enough, “Library Tech Services.”

You refrained from groaning again. Out loud anyway. “Hi, it’s y/n again. I was the one who called about the admin credentials Monday night?”  

“What’s up?”

“I’m trying to install Photoshop right now and it’s telling me the username/password is incorrect, which is impossible because it’s what I used the last time.”

“Right. We had to change the password for our monthly maintenance, it’s a security thing.”

“You’re kidding,” you said surprise coloring your voice. “Any chance you can share the new one with me?”

“Technically, I wasn’t supposed to give that to you last time.”

It was time to turn on the charm and convince him like you managed to previously. As you pleaded with him to do you this favor he interrupted you.

“How bad do you need it?”

What was wrong with you that hearing him say that put your mind in the gutter? He definitely hadn’t meant it that way when he said it! He was much chattier this time around so you were able to appreciate his voice better and his voice just did it for you.

You cleared your throat. “It’s not an emergency this time, no impending next-day deadlines, but I do want to get working on this new assignment…”

“Okay, okay. You’re lucky I like you.” That was news to you because you didn’t get that vibe based on the last call. It was nice to hear though. Some clicks sounded from the other end of the line and you waited silently for a few moments before he was ready to say the new password.

“Whew, we’re good to go,” you updated him as the Photoshop installation started. Another moment of silence passed.

Finally, he said a quick, “Good.”

You weren’t caught off guard when you heard the click that signaled he had hung up. Unlike the last call, he hadn’t seemed rude and he did mention that he liked you. Maybe he was just an awkward sort of guy, despite his killer voice. That might explain why he worked an IT job, weren’t those kinds of guys supposed to have terrible people skills?

You worked with Photoshop for a bit and when you reached a good stopping point, you got ready for bed. That night you laid awake for a while, unable to drift off to sleep. Instead, you replayed the conversation with tech guy over and over in your mind.

He was very helpful when he wasn’t giving an attitude and he this was the second time he had bent the rules for you. That pesky word ‘like’ kept rattling in your brain and you started to wonder if that nice voice belonged to a nice face. Furthermore, was there a chance that he found your voice attractive as well?

***

Sunday morning on a college campus seemed like a smart time to visit the coffee given that most of campus wasn’t up yet, which increased the chances of you getting your hands on a banana chocolate chip muffin. Maybe even two or three if you were honest, to make up for the past several failed attempts.

The sun hadn’t been up long when you opened the door, the little jingling bell announcing your presence. A barrage of delicious aromas caressed your nose and to your extreme delight, one of the scents you detected was a banana-chocolate combination.

You walked up to the counter and the cashier smiled as he told you good morning.

“So… can I get three banana chocolate chip muffins?”

He merely smiled and started working on your cappuccino. “Of course. Reid just finished them so they still in the kitchen, piping hot.”

Reid must be the baker that was responsible for the muffins as well as responsible for never making enough. “Finally! This is a long time coming for me.”

“I passed him your message, I think he took it to heart.” He handed over the drink and turned to go to the kitchen. “I’ll be back with the muffins.”

He pushed the door open and for a split second you caught a glimpse of a side profile belonging to a blonde guy. He was too far away to distinctly make out any facial features but he had nice shoulders framed by his black tee and obvious blonde hair that was hard to miss. He looked cute to you, at least from a distance.

Those two details were the only things you took note of before the door closed, effectively blocking you from more staring. Too bad. It was totally ridiculous to think about but tech guy’s voice would be a good combination with baker guy’s looks.

You picked at the lid of the coffee cup while you waited for the rest of your order already anticipating how they would taste. Your plan was to only eat one this morning and to ration the rest, but you were honest enough with yourself to know that you might enter a feeding frenzy and have all three finished by lunch.

When the door opened up again your eyes searched for the seemingly cute baker but there was no sign of him. There wasn’t a chance to get down about it, however, because a smile lit up your face as soon as you saw the medium sized brown paper bag that held the muffins.

“Reid says these are especially for you,” the cashier said as he lifted the bag over the register.

You were quick to raise your hands to take it from him and made sure to thank him as you left, not questioning why Reid, a person you’d never met, would make a comment like that, figuring that he was referring to how you complained that the muffins were always sold out.

The morning air was especially cold as you trekked back to your dorm, your breath condensing into a fleeting, frozen cloud around your face and the only thing keeping your hands warm was the cappuccino you held between gloved hands. Still, the trip to the coffee shop was definitely worth it and you were hoping that it was a good omen to start the day off with.

***

Perhaps you were still experiencing the high of the morning victory at the coffee shop, but later on that night while you were working on homework once again, you started thinking about tech guy again. There wasn’t any need to call him; you now had both Illustrator and Photoshop on the laptop and there wasn’t anything else that you needed to install.

Still, you debated calling him. Not because you needed to but because you wanted to. Which was weird, even to you, but you had missed him the past couple of days, bad people skills and all. After the second call, you felt even more confident that he wasn’t as condescending a guy as you had first thought him to be. And you wouldn’t mind getting to know that awkward version of him better.

The hard part was you literally knew nothing about him other than he worked the night shift at the library. You didn’t have a name, a face, not even a work schedule to confirm whether he was working tonight or not. Reid must’ve been serious when he told the cashier those muffins were made especially for you because there had to have been a secret dose of recklessness mixed in there. How else would you explain this strange, and potentially creepy, call you were about to make?

The dial tone rang and you took a deep breath, not sure how this would turn out. On the fifth ring, someone finally picked up. “Library Tech Services.”

You laughed in relief. Tech guy was the on the other end of the phone. “Hey.”

“Hey, y/n. Having another crisis?” On one hand you felt a little embarrassed that you no longer had to say your name for him to recognize your voice but on the other, the possibility that he enjoyed talking with you, too.

“It may come as a surprise but I can get through a day without having a tech issue that needs solving.”

“Oh, really?”

“I swear.” You crossed your heart even though he couldn’t see you.

“Well, what do you want then?”

Time to be brave. “Actually, I called for you.”

“I would hope so, I’m the only who works this shift meaning I’m your only option.”

“No, um, I meant I wanted to tell you thanks for helping me out with installing that stuff on the laptop. You were a lifesaver.”

“I try.”

“Seriously! I definitely would’ve missed one graphic design deadline, potentially two if you hadn’t come to the rescue.”

That seemed to get his attention. “Is that your major? Graphic Design?”

“Yep. Don’t I give off bumbling artist vibes?”

“Hmm you seem pretty confident to me but there’s nothing wrong with that. My grandma was—” He started that sentence but abruptly cut off and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Are you saying I remind you of your grandma?”

“Shit,” he grumbled. “My friends told me to stop bringing her up when talking to hot people.”

“Don’t sweat it, she sounds like she was awesome so I’m honored. But back to the part where I’m hot… do you really think so?”

“Obviously. Do you think I hand out library secrets to every person who calls? Your voice is strong and you sound super smart so I tried my best to be cool with you.”

“Okay but future tip: hanging up on people and not telling them your name is rude, not cool.”

His embarrassment was tangible through the phone and you let him sweat momentarily before speaking. “Luckily for you, I like dorks such as yourself and am willing to look past it as long as I get your name.”

“It’s Reid. Reid Garwin,” he rushed to say.

Now that was interesting. You fell back on your bed, your brain trying to make connections. The name while not super common, wasn’t rare either and what were the chances that you met two of them on the same day. If Reid with the nice body and tech guy, er, Reid with the nice voice were one in the same, you wouldn’t be upset. Quite the contrary.

“Reid as in Reid who bakes my favorite sugar fixes on campus?”

“One in the same. You seen me there before?”

“Only once,” you reveal. “When I went to pick up some muffins this today.”

It was his turn to laugh. “Wait. Are you saying that you’re that customer who called me stupid the other day?”

“…Maybe.”

“They don’t let me out front cause I’m ‘too much’ for people but rest assured that the door isn’t that thick. I feel like an idiot for not recognizing that it was you though.”

The revelation that Reid was baking a tech hero, a winning mix by the way, thrilled you all the way from your head to your toes. At the moment you didn’t even care that he heard you calling him names at the coffee shop although you were sure the mortification would set in later.

“Would you like to go out sometime—”

“You do want to go out with me sometime—”

The two of you spoke at the same time and when you realized that the other had read your mind, you both giggled.

“After you,” you assured him.

“Shit, would you like to go out sometime? There’s a restaurant downtown that’s really good and I promise not to bring up grandma Garwin again.”

The plan was to pretend to think about it but your excitement overrode your brain and you said, “Deal as long as you promise to tell me more about her, not less.”

He started to answer you but stopped suddenly and you could vaguely hear him getting scolded by someone, reminding you that technically he was still on the clock.

“Sorry,” he grumbled, “The librarian on duty told me to stop flirting and get back to work. Stop by the coffee shop tomorrow though and we can talk more.”

You said your good-byes and rolled around your bed, the comforter thoroughly rumpled by the time you stopped. It seemed that your luck may be turning around for the better.

_______________

Thanks for reading my most self-indulgent piece to date. Also my longest! Reid may consider himself to be mister cool, but he is also an awkward bean who would make a great tech guy. It's also my first time experimenting with moodboards, let me know what you think :)

[amairawrites]

Sometimes I write mediocre shit.

In general, when I revise a scene, I revise it directly on the only copy of the story I have, because I live life on the edge and also have it stored on the cloud and accessible from two computers and my iPad.

Point being, when a scene I write kinda sucks, all evidence of it sucking is destroyed by the time the chapter goes up on AO3.

Except the last scene in chapter seven of To Be Vulnerable. I wasn’t happy with it, and I hadn’t had enough sleep to articulate why, so I sent it off to my proofreader and @decidedlysarah for feedback. Thus, it lives on in the sent folder of my email.

And I have posted it here in its entirety, behind the cut, for all of you to read.

(And here’s a link to the chapter with final version – last scene in it.)

Shiro placed another shirt in the suitcase on his bed, only halfway packed despite his flight leaving in five hours. Ryou had been excitedly texting him nonstop since this time yesterday, and, well, waking up every hour on the hour would leave anyone exhausted. At least he had the small side benefit of studying – and now working – at the Galaxy Garrison. The air base attached to the Garrison had constant flights to and from major international air bases, so he wouldn’t have to take a bus to get to LUF. Because he would definitely fall asleep on one and miss his stop.

He stared at the few boxes in his nearly empty room and sank onto the bare mattress. These four walls had been his space for the past five years at the Garrison Academy, and he would be returning to new quarters in the officer’s wing in three weeks. 

“A bit surreal, isn’t it?”

Hedrick leaned against the frame of the open doorway, arms casually crossed. A frail smile flitted across Shiro’s mouth, vanishing as quickly as it came.

“Yeah, it is,” he said. He wrung the shirt in his hands, then folded it and set it on the bed. 

Hedrick stepped into the room and sat at the desk chair. “It took me three months to stop automatically walking back to my cadet dorm after I graduated.”

Shiro flopped onto his back. “I don’t know why it’s bothering me so much, though. It’s not like I ever felt at home here.” He curled his head up to look Hedrick in the eyes. “I always felt more at home with you and the other instructors.”

“Well, that will be literally true in three weeks.”

The laugh broke from Shiro’s throat before he could stifle it.

His phone chimed with a new message from Ryou – this one demanding they get ramen immediately after Shiro’s flight landed. Ryou must have been just as exhausted by now; he’d already made that demand twice. Shiro rolled his eyes and tucked his phone in his pocket.

Hedrick grinned and rose to his feet. “Come on, I’ll help you get the last of your stuff moved over. When does your flight leave?”

“1815.”

“Oh. Dropping you off at Luke?”

Shiro sat all the way up. “Yeah, why?”

“I’m flying that one. Taking the new cargo jet up to Comox for their mechanics to train on. You can sit in the cockpit with me.”

Shiro smiled at that.

Lieutenant Hedrick was the versatile kind of pilot who had mastered both fighter jets and cargo jets, an essential skill for anyone aspiring to fly through space. He had been up there once before, to the Mars Research Base and back, when Shiro was in his first year at the Garrison Academy.

And when he’d returned, he had promptly taken Shiro under his wing and taught him all the skills he would need, too. Even still, Shiro had excelled in his fighter classes and was merely competent in cargo classes.

“That sounds great.”

Hedrick thumped his hand on the small stack of boxes. Only three. “Come on, now. Don’t want you to miss your flight, right?”

They each grabbed a box and ambled through the hallways to the officers’ wing. Their footsteps echoed off the walls and around corners. Most of the cadets had already left for the summer. Shiro was usually gone by now, too. He’d never seen these halls so empty.

Montgomery waved as they passed her room. She, like most of the single officers, lived on base. Actually, all the officers Shiro knew did, except Iverson.

Huh. Why had Iverson bought his house?

They reached his room and he tapped his ID against the lock to let them in. Shiro still wasn’t used to having so much space. Most of the cadet rooms were singles like his had been, with a few doubles for those who preferred them, simple beds and desks with tiny attached bathrooms.

His new room seemed more like an apartment, twice the size of the cadet doubles, with a large central room, and a bedroom and spacious bathroom opposite the kitchen. Only the bed, nightstand, couch, and kitchen table had been furnished; anything else, he’d have to get on his own.

“Who all has access to my room?” Shiro asked. The cadet rooms would let any officers in, but he was no longer a cadet.

Hedrick set his box on top of Shiro’s and leaned against the wall as he pulled off his boots. Shiro smiled; Hedrick had remembered his preference for shoes off after the very first time he entered Shiro’s cadet room.

“The only other people with automatic access are security personnel and Admiral Sanda,” Hedrick said. “I think Iverson, too, if you’re an instructor. But you can authorize anyone you want.”

“Even if they’re a cadet?”

“Sure. Got someone in mind?”

“Keith is applying to start this fall.” Shiro’s hand drifted to his pocket. He’d taken a photo of the two of them at the top of the cliff and set it as the background on his phone, and it still cheered him every time he saw it.

He showed the picture to Hedrick, who grinned and patted him on the back. “Look at you, following my advice and getting a friend out of the deal.”

Shiro blinked, then shook his head. He had completely forgotten that Hedrick had to urge him to be friendly to Keith in the first place; now he got along so well with Keith that it felt like he always had.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said, more to himself than to Hedrick.

Hedrick’s phone chirped, and he pulled it from his pocket with a sigh. “Time to start the preflight checks,” he said, shooting Shiro an apologetic smile. “See you out there in a couple hours.”

The door slipped shut after him, and Shiro sighed.

The apartment was nice, but also too large, and still too empty, to feel like home. The couch was the same basic gray as all the other couches around the Garrison; the bed had only the standard-issue white sheets that everyone replaced within their first month. 

Shiro shook his head again, and walked back to his old room to grab the last box and his suitcase. Unpacking and rearranging went quickly. The charging dock for his phone went on the nightstand, while the smaller charging cord went into the suitcase. The clothing he wasn’t taking back home got shoved into the closet to organize when he got back. He left the rest, a mess of little things he’d accumulated over the years, in the boxes.

He was too tired for this shit right now.

Last was the tiny model IGF Harpy fighter jet, a gift for Ryou. Shiro would be flying the real thing a month from now, and Ryou would be thrilled to have the little figurine.

He nestled it back in a velvet drawstring bag, and gently placed it in the middle of his clothing.

Then he zipped up the suitcase and hurried along to the airstrip. Hedrick’s jet was easy to find. Easily three times the size of the fighters, it squatted over the taxiway like a lazy cougar, big and heavy and slightly threatening. After all, even the cargo jets were armed.

Shiro grinned and darted up the loading ramp, through the cargo hold, and into the cockpit.

Hedrick gave him a thumbs up, and then a finger over his lips as he tapped the earphones of his headset. Shiro nodded, grabbing the copilot seat for himself and pulling the second headset over his ears.

“Didn’t know you had a copilot for this, Lieutenant,” someone in ATC said.

“It’s just Shirogane,” Hedrick replied. “Didn’t see any reason to keep him holed up in cargo for an hour when there’s an empty chair up here.”

“Right. Airbrake controls next.”

Shiro sat quietly, a soft smile on his face as he listened to the remainder of the preflight checks. Something about this felt so much more intense than doing the same in a sim, even though here he was just a spectator. Maybe it was being able to hear the hydraulics and servos moving as Hedrick worked through the checklist. Maybe it was seeing the real landscape all around him, rather than on one of the giant sim screens.

Then they were cleared for takeoff, and Hedrick taxied out to the main runway.

“Buckle up and hold on tight. This thing has just as much takeoff power as a fighter.”

“Right,” Shiro said, arching an eyebrow.

Hedrick met him with a feral grin – concerning, on a face usually so mild. “Air Traffic Control, permission to use the blast takeoff?”

“Ugh,” came the reply, with some additional muttering about fighter pilots in cargo jets. “Permission granted.”

Something spooled up, and a few things by the wings sounded like they were shifting around, and –

“Shit!” Shiro shouted, as Hedrick launched like he was flying a rocket.

They reached cruising altitude in only two minutes.

Hedrick leveled out the jet and flipped his microphone off. “So who’s taking you the rest of the way?”

“The Kōkū Jieitai has two long-range jets at Luke for upgrades, and one of them is heading back to Chitose.”

“Close to home?”

Shiro smiled. “Practically Sapporo’s backyard.”

Hedrick stretched over to pat Shiro’s shoulder. “Bet you’re excited to go home.”

“Yeah, I...” he started, then trailed off. The smile faded from his face.

He wasn’t excited.

He didn’t feel like he was going home.

[hosseocc]

The Delivery - Part Four

Word Count: 3569

Pairing: Reader x Mystery

Genre: Thriller, angst, Stalker!au, Non-idol!au

Warning(s): Lil bit of swearing

(Not my gif, credits to owner!)

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Read: previous : next

Two days had passed since I discovered the footage of Jennie had been deleted and I was conflicted as to whether I should bring it up with her or not. There’s no way that for even a second, I would believe she was part of this. She’s just as clueless as I am, and more than that, she’s my best friend. Right now, she’s the only one I can turn to and lean on. I was still waiting for Namjoon, who had told me he’d try and recover the missing files, to get back to me. Dragging myself away from my thoughts, I reached over to turn the alarm off that I had repeatedly put on snooze for the past five minutes. I forced myself out of bed and got ready for the day.

When I reached class, I took a seat in the middle of the room next to the window and shortly after, I was greeted by an energetic Jennie. “Morning” she beamed, sitting next to me and taking out her things. “I miss you, we haven’t seen each other in ages” she then frowned.

“You were at my house the other day, remember?”, I chuckled and shook my head “And besides, you’re the one that left me to go see your boyfriend!” I teased.

“Well we’re together now, and that’s all that matters” she quickly said, feigning innocence suddenly. Our conversation was cut short when the class began, but I needed to let Jennie know I had to talk to her about the footage.

I quickly nudged her with my elbow and silently whispered “We have to talk after class”. I ignored her worried look and tried to focus on the lecture. With everything that was going on right now, I’d need a miracle to be able to pass.

“I don’t understand,” Jennie spoke. “Are you accusing me or something?” her tone was bewildered, and I instantly felt bad. When class ended, we made our way to a local restaurant for lunch and quickly began speaking about the situation at hand. When I told her about the memory stick, the video and missing security footage, she displayed the same anger and fear that I had. But now, it seemed most of the anger was directed towards me, all thanks to my inability to speak without sounding like an accusing asshole.

“No!” I quickly sputtered, “that’s the last thing I want to do, I swear. I just –“ I had to stop speaking to collect my thoughts before saying something completely stupid. Having this conversation with my best friend was something I never expected, and it was breaking my heart. “I’m sorry, this is all coming out wrong. Are you sure you didn’t see anybody suspicious near my flat?” I asked, looking back at her.

She shook her head before answering, “I really don’t remember seeing anybody, I wasn’t paying attention, I was in a rush to get to Yoongi’s. Plus, it’s not every day I’m on alert for the next creepy stalker in town you know” she retorted, taking a sip of her drink. I gave her a look of annoyance at her sarcastic comment, which by now I was used to from her. She noticed it, and lowered her cup, before sheepishly smiling, “too soon, sorry.”

“It’s fine, I was beginning to wonder when the cynical Jennie was gonna make an appearance” I joked. “Seriously though, I can’t believe how quickly they got to the footage and deleted everything, even the footage of you coming and going.”

“I can understand how the footage of me leaving is gone, because that was around the same time they left the memory stick at your door…but I got there two hours earlier, why did they delete that too?” she spoke, sounding like she was asking herself. I could almost see the lightbulb pop up next to her when she quickly sat up and looked at me with wide eyes. “What if they did it on purpose to make me look suspicious and turn us against each other?” she gasped. “they said they’ve been watching you, so they must know we’re close and wanted sabotage that, so you had nobody to turn to!”

I stared at her in bewilderment and wondered how I hadn’t thought of it before. “Wow…that actually makes sense, no wonder you’re a criminology major” I noted.

“So are you, you idiot” she commented. I waved her off and looked around the restaurant, until a thought hit me, and I quietly spoke “what if one of them is here right now, watching us? We would never know.” From the corner of my eye, I could see she also started looking at the people around us, but after deciding nobody looked suspicious, I stopped staring.

“We don’t even know how many of them there are, it could be anybody. Maybe that woman is hiding guns in her children’s backpacks” she said, and I giggled before hitting her. I immediately stopped laughing when I realising this wasn’t even a situation to be laughing about, but it was one of the many reasons I was thankful for Jennie; even in our darkest moments, she always knew how to provide some light.

“I really don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you by my side” I admitted, looking at her.

“Wow, I never thought I’d see the day Y/n Y/l/n turns soft,” she said, causing me to roll my eyes, “But you should know by now that I’m always here for you no matter what. We can’t give those psychos what they want, we must stick together okay? I’ve got your back” she smiled. I knew I could trust her words, and I cursed my self for ever doubting her.

“On that note,” she continued, “have you told your parents about any of this?” I immediately shook my head. Worrying them was the last thing on my mind, I was kind of hoping that this would all blow over before I was forced to inform them about it.

“I don’t wanna worry them, you know? Right now, I just want it to end so they’ll never find out about it. If they do find out, they’ll definitely make me move back home and that’s not what I need” I said.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. It would be best if we can put an end to this as soon as possible” Jennie agreed. “If you feel uncomfortable at home, you can stay with me until this all blows over. Technically its not allowed, but nobody’s going to find out” she offered. I thought about it, and knew I would feel safer on campus, where the security was a lot stricter. However, I knew I couldn’t risk Jennie getting in trouble by the university, I declined.

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t want to put you in that position. You might get kicked out of there if anybody finds out” I politely declined.

“Don’t worry about that! my flatmates are really cool, and besides if security finds out I can just come and live with you” she laughed.

“Well it would be nice to have a roommate, I guess,” I said. “okay, I guess I can stay for a couple of days maybe and then we can go from there” I finally agreed.

Half an hour later, we stepped off the bus and made our way up to the hospital. I had some more investigating to do and at first, planned to do it alone but Jennie insisted on coming with me for support and I couldn’t turn her down. I knew coming here was a big risk, but it was one I was willing to take if it meant I was finally going to get some answers. If ‘Mr Kim’s’ injuries were as bad as they were reported to be, it meant he could still be in hospital recovering. I couldn’t think of a reason why he would be there just to keep up an act, but I was determined to find out just how far they were willing to take this.

We walked towards reception and were about to ask what room he would be in, when we realised we didn’t even know his supposed full name. I pulled out my phone and attempted to search for the article about the accident, but nothing came up. Had they already deleted them too?

“Is there nothing there?” Jennie asked, peering over my shoulder.

“It’s all gone, I can’t believe this” I exclaimed sighing in frustration, we both sat down and tried to figure out our next steps. If we both went and asked to see a Mr Kim from the accident that occurred over a week ago, they would think we were madwomen.

“I have an idea!” Jennie almost shouted, startling me. “We could pretend to be journalists or something and say we’re here to interview him. hopefully they’ll let us in then” she spoke.

“Do you think that would work? What if they ask to see some ID or something?” I asked, noting how smart her idea was, but not knowing whether we would get away with it or not.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do the talking from there. We don’t really have much choice now, come on let’s go” she pulled me up and dragged me to the front desk with her. As I was looking around, something caught my eye and I immediately halted in my step, causing her to stop and look at me.

“Snap out of it, Y/n, we don’t have time to be scared! It’s now or never” she attempted to encourage me, thinking I stopped because I was nervous.

“No, it’s not that…look down the hallway. Doesn’t that guy walking look exactly who we came here for?” I pointed out to the figure of a man walking through the doors and turning a corner.

“Oh my gosh, you’re right…maybe we don’t need to act today. Thank God you spotted him” she sighed, before letting go of my arm.

“Come on, let’s follow him” I whispered, and we took off.  We were both walking on a very thin line here, and if it did turn out to be him, I had no idea what I was even going to say.

Keeping a cautious distance, we slowly followed him trying to look as least suspicious as possible. We kept our footsteps silent and senses alert in case he suddenly turned around. When he finally disappeared into a room, we waited a couple of minutes before walking up to the door.

“Hey, you sure you want to do this?” Jennie asked me, making sure I was okay, I’m sure my obvious nervous state was enough to give away the fact I’d rather be doing anything but this, but I stood my ground.

“Yeah, this is something I need to do. It might be the only way I get any answers” I tried to convince both her and myself. She offered me a sad smile and nodded her head.

“That’s fine, sure you don’t want me to come in?” she asked once again. I had told her earlier that it was best to wait outside, for backup but more importantly for her safety. I didn’t want him seeing I had brought her with me because it would only involve her more than she already was, and I was already anxious for her safety with her just being with me.

“Yeah, I’m sure, just keep a watch out for me. I won’t be long” I smiled and assured. Turning back to the door, I held my breath as I knocked, and before I could change my mind, I opened the door. There were two outcomes to this situation; either the fake Mr Kim was in there and I had no choice but to face him, or it was someone who I had mistaken for him, which meant I would be making a fool of myself. When I finally managed to look up towards the bed, I had instantly wished that the latter outcome was the true one, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.

Sitting up, with a bruised face and bandages covering his right arm, was the familiar face displayed in the news as the innocent delivery man attacked on the job. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I instantly felt sick and had to hold onto the doorframe to steady myself. I didn’t actually think he’d be here, but seeing him heighted my fear, even though I refused to show it. Just who the hell were these people? When his gaze met mine, shivers swam throughout my body and I forced myself not to look away and keep my guard up.

I studied his features and wondered how someone who looked so young and innocent could be so deceiving; his façade reminded me of the same one Seokjin had put up, and fooled me with, before I watched the video. I instantly concluded that these people knew how to choose their players…with their looks they could fool anybody into thinking they were harmless. What stood out to me about the person in front of me though, was the scar on his cheek that told me he had put up with some fights before. It screamed ironic, however as they had chosen to assign him to the role of a vulnerable hospital patient.

“You finally came” he smirked. Closing the door behind me, I walked further into the room, but remined closer to the exit than the bed.

“I didn’t think you’d actually be here” I thought out loud.

“What were you expecting? A new delivery man to come knocking on your door?” he mocked. I instantly decided I hated this guy even more than I had before; the conversation hadn’t even lasted thirty seconds, and he was already spewing cocky remarks.

“I’m not here for your jokes. Just tell me what I need to know. Who are you people and why are you doing this to me?” I instantly questioned, getting straight to the point. I wanted to keep my time here as limited as possible. As soon as I got my answers, if I got any at all, I was gone.

“Woah, no introductions? You’re getting ahead of yourself sugar” he replied, his pet name causing me to cringe, but I held back. “All you need to know is that my part is done, now that you’ve finally showed up here. I spent ages waiting for you, you know. Do you always keep men waiting like this?” he asked, appearing smug which only infuriated me more.

“I’d hardly call myself a man if I were you” I spat back. I was not here for his bullshit. “Stuck in a hospital bed for days, not allowed to leave until I showed up. Did your boss order you to do this? Such an obedient little thing you are.” I snarled, letting my sudden surge of anger overtake me, which I felt like I would regret later, but at this point I didn’t care about holding back. I didn’t even know what I was saying, he could be the boss for all I knew and here I was running my mouth as if my life wasn’t on the line.

He stared at me for a couple of seconds, narrowing his dark eyes. I watched his body language, and noticed how his fists were now balled up, which made me smirk. My attitude had gotten a reaction out of him and if I could keep it up, maybe he would spill out answers. “Watch that mouth of yours. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Boss wouldn’t like to hear his little girl is so patronising” he spoke.

“You mistake me for somebody who cares. I don’t know who your ‘boss’ thinks he is, but this shit is going to stop now. If your boss and any of his fucking minions come near me again, you will be sorry” I threatened. Inside, I knew I was all talk and at this point the best thing for me to do was just leave the country, so they couldn’t find me, but I refused to show it. On the outside, I stood my ground and refused to look intimidated, because if I could fake even a little bit of confidence, maybe it would eventually grow on me.

Whatever little confidence I had, however, came crashing down when he threw his head back and started laughing. “Wow, you nearly had me fooled there. But you’re so wrong sugar, boss hasn’t even come anywhere near you yet. The fun is just starting.” His words sent shivers down my spine and I watched as his evil smile grew and the look in his eyes resembled those of the monsters I’d grown to resent and fear as a child. I was about to spit out another snarky reply, when a familiar voice suddenly spoke out behind me.

“She’s a feisty little one isn’t she kook?”

I whipped around so fast, I’m surprised I didn’t get whiplash and came face to face with the next person to reveal themselves as part of this psycho gang. But emotions of hurt, confusion and anger overtook me when I realised this was somebody I knew, someone who had been part of my personal life for quite a while, but more than mine…he was Jennie’s boyfriend. He was sitting on a sofa directly opposite ‘kook’s’ bed, and partly covered by a curtain which explains how I hadn’t seen him before. He was in here the whole time, and he heard everything.

“Yoongi?” I barely whispered, furrowing my eyebrows, not believing what I was seeing.

“Surprise(!)” he lamely said, in a poor effort to throw his hands up. “Not expecting to see me?” he smirked.

“What the fuck. Are you doing here.” I fumed. At this point I was so sure I’d lost my mind; the events leading up to this meeting had already driven me crazy, and this new revelation had caused all my rationality and sanity to fly away – I was left with nothing.

“Just like everyone else, I had a part to play and can now be relieved of that duty. I have to admit, I’m reluctant to let go…Jennie knew how to please me, I’ll miss her.” he slurred, tapping his hands against the back of the sofa and I began seeing red. If it wasn’t illegal, I swear my anger alone would be enough to make me kill these two with my bare hands.

Yoongi took out his phone and pressed play on what seemed like a recording. When I heard what he played, I nearly gasped. Not only were these people trying to ruin lives, but they were brave enough to mess around with the police force too? The two-minute recording sounded out a small part of mine and Namjoon’s conversation when I told him everything.

“I thought you were warned not to tell the police?” Yoongi retorted, as the recording stopped playing.

By now, I had already lost it and started laughing as it was the only way I could deal with my anger. It started off as a small chuckle, and eventually I was bent over, hands on my knees trying to catch my breath.

“I-Is this some kind of sick joke?” through broken breaths, I watched as both of their smirks fell off their faces at my sudden outburst. “You people think you’ve won, don’t you?” I spoke, as my laughing abruptly stopped, and I stood up straight. I knew that I looked as psychotic as these people proved themselves to be, but that was the only way to play them at their own game. If they were going to threaten and terrorise me by playing with my head, then so was I.

When I quickly realised the reality of the situation, I turned to face them.

“Fuck you” I spat, as I ran outside of the room and prayed that Jennie would still be standing there. But my biggest worry was confirmed when I was met with an empty corridor. I could only think of the worst-case scenario, and it brought waves of nausea over me.

“Shit!” I swore, as I tugged at my hair, pulling out my phone and calling Jennie as I made my way to the entrance. When it went straight to voicemail, I was about to ring back again when I received a text from her.

*

[Jenkins ♡] 4:11pm

‘Hey, don’t worry about me, I just needed to get some air. I heard everything Yoongi said. I’ll see you later. I’m sorry for everything you’re going through and leaving you there.’

*

That wasn’t even a close attempt to typing the same way Jennie did. If they thought they could try and fool me with fake texts from my own best friend, they had another thing coming. I don’t know how they managed to take her in the midst of a busy hospital in broad daylight, but I knew if anything happened to her I wouldn’t let anyone live.

Dialling the only person whose number I could think of, I began speaking as soon as they answered.

“Where the fuck is Jennie, Namjoon.” I hissed.

I was done playing stupid games. Now, I was going to fight back. And I was going to win. 

[welldamnsatoru]

I’m sorry that I’m busy // Shawn Mendes

Request: Can you make a fanfic about Shawn & a girl where she goes on tour with Shawn, but she feels them getting distant from each other? She stays on the bus and continues to support him & after awhile (lots of talks between them) they make up?

authors note: I’m not feeling too good about this one but I felt the need to post something since its been a while

This was possibly the most boring job I’d been assigned on the tour yet. Shawn had me unpacking possibly hundreds of boxes filled with his latest album and my job was to check that each one had been signed by him. Then, get this, I had to put them all back. 

I was feeling much like one of his crew members rather than his girlfriend. It had been this way for quite a while though, Shawn doing his thing. Going out with the boys to celebrate after his show and somehow ‘forgetting’ to ask me if I wanted to go as well.

He usually claims that he thought I’d rather stay on the tour bus or in the hotel room. Ever since the San Francisco show where two fans had became a bit too obsessive over me, I’d been banished to the bus.

 I sigh, letting one of the CD’s drop back into the cardboard box and I walk over to the mini lounge, flopping back into the smooth leather. I missed Shawn. My mind wondering to what he might be doing right now. He didn’t say where he was going when he left this morning- just saying that Andrew would find me something to do to pass the time.

By pass the time he meant unpack boxes. 

Having enough of the silence, I grab my phone and ID card that were laying on the coffee table and climb off the bus, heading towards the arena. I nod at the security guard standing by the back entrance as he knew who I was-  he’d been travelling with us from show to show.

The next door however, my ID was checked. I could hear a guitar in the distance and I head straight for one of the gates that lead into the arena. I walk out into one of the top stands- a fairly large stadium layed out below me.

My gaze draws towards a figure on stage. Shawn. I make my way down the stairs and find a seat- on the right side of the stage but close enough that if Shawn looked up he recognize who I was.  

I laugh lightly as Shawn dances around the stage, his head bobbing to the beat. I guess my voice echoed because Shawn’s head snaps up to look at me and his strumming stops.

“Y/n?” He calls and I nod. He shouts something else.

“What?” I call, leaning forward in my seat.

He shouts it again.

“I can’t hear you?” I laugh at his disgruntled expression and he places his guitar on the ground before running off stage. Its a minute before I hear his footsteps trailing down the stairs.

He takes one of the spare seats next to me, his knee brushing my thigh.

“Didn’t know you were here,” Shawn mumbles, leaning forward to kiss my temple.

“Thought I would take a break from CD sorting.” I chuckle, shaking my head in distaste.

“So that’s what Andrew had you doing,” He chuckles, chucking an arm over my shoulders yet his gaze stays locked on his guitar on stage- as if he was guarding it.

“Yeah, hey listen I was thinking.” I pause and Shawn slowly looks away to meet my eyes. “Do you want to do something? Maybe go get some lunch or we could go to the park?” I ask, smiling at the prospect of spending time with my boyfriend. He’d been so focused on shows recently that I’d barely seen him the past couple weeks.

“You know I can’t.” He dismisses me, a frown on his face.

“What? Why not?” I ask, eyes widening in surprise.

“I have a lot to do here, besides I’m sure you can find something else to-”

“Don’t you dare tell me to find something else to do.” I move to stand up, his arm falling from my shoulders.

“I’m sorry I can’t spend every second with you Y/n. I’m a busy guy.” his tone is clipped and I feel my anger burn.

“I’m not asking to spend every second with you Shawn.” I snap, shuffling out the isle and back up the stairs. He gets up and follows.

“No need to walk away like this.” He calls and I spin around to face him.

“You don’t even understand do you Shawn?” I shout, my frustration spilling over.

“Understand what?” He growls, fists clenching.

“I’m not some dog that you can leave at home and will still show you love and attention, no matter what, when you arrive back.” I glare daggers at him. “I don’t want to be on the bus 24/7 packing and unpacking CD’s because that’s all Andrew’s got for me to do.” 

He scrunches his eyebrows, confusion written on his face.

“I want to be with you and see what you do.” My tone is so desperate that I sound like I’m whining. I hate that I’m like this in front of him but I was so sick of being treated this way.

“I’m not trying to sound like a kid Shawn but I’m bored. You really wanted me to come on tour with you but now that I’m here, I feel like I’m being tucked away into a small corner and not allowed out.”

“I’ve asked you to go out with the boys and I.” Shawn retorts and I roll my eyes.

“Yeah, the first night, ever since then you barely tell me anything.”

“I’m sorry that I’m busy.” 

I sigh, turning away from him. I reach the top stair when his hand wraps around my arm, tugging me back to look at him.

“What do you want me to do?” He asks, begging me to tell him something to fix the brewing fight. Shawn hated conflict between us and within the two years that we’d been dating, this was maybe our 3rd or 4th major fight.

“Let me come to your show tonight.” I say outright, no hesitation. 

“No.” Shawn says, no hesitation.

“What do you mean no?” I yank my hand out of his vice like grip, my glare returning.

“I don’t want you there tonight.” My jaw drops and I stare at him in disbelief.

“What?”

“The fans are being particularly sensitive right now and I just want them to have a good time.” He shrugs his shoulders, not seeming to realise he just dug himself his own grave.

“They’ve had two years to get used to us Shawn.” I frown, crossing my arms over my chest. 

“Some are still upset over it.” He defends, eyes narrowing at me.

“So you’d keep your own girlfriend locked up just to keep a few thousand of girls happy?” 

“I’m not locking you up Y/n. Its just the tour bus.” he says with a faint smile as if he was trying to make me feel better.

“Forget it Shawn. I’ll just go back to the bus. Or maybe not, maybe I’ll just go home.”  His face pales. 

“I don’t want you to go home.” he rushes to say, tripping up the stairs to follow me as I make my way back out the arena.

“Make up your mind Shawn. One minute you don’t want me here and the next you do.”

“I want you here but I don’t want the fans to see you. They get upset- like those girls from San Francisco.” Shawn’s voice argues from behind me but I keep my pace firm, always a couple steps ahead.

“First off Shawn,” I call back to him. “You are always going to have fans around you so if you don’t want fans to see me then we might as well break up because there is no way I’m doing a secret relationship.”

“You don’t mean that?” Shawn’s voice cracks and I stop and face him.

“Secondly, the fans in San Francisco weren’t upset by us. They were asking questions about us and I answered them. They got hysterical because they found us cute. Shawn, they cried because we were cute, alright?” My anger seeps through my words.

He freezes. I cannot almost see my words turning over in his head.

“Why didn’t you tell me that?” He accuses, his own anger coming to the table. 

“You never gave me a chance- just shoved me on the bus and we never spoke of it again.” 

“Y/n,” he whispers, reaching out for my hand. I hold his gaze for a moment, watching the anger disappear until his eyes are the warm brown color I love again. I put my hand in his.

“I’m sorry I didn’t let you explain.” I’m tugged into his arms, my head buried into the crook of his neck. I sigh softly, letting his hands trace soothing patterns on my back and sure enough, my anger is gone as well.

“I forgive you.” I whisper, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“I thought they were upset and I thought you were upset. I thought it was best if you and the fans just took some time apart.” He kisses my forehead softly.

“I love that you tried to protect us Shawn, but you should have asked what happened.” I tell him softly, not wanting to provoke another fight.

“I’m also sorry that I left you alone unpacking CD’s all day.” He chuckles slightly.

“I’m not forgiving you for that, that was torture.” Shawn laughs, pulling back to place a kiss on my lips before slinging his arm over my shoulder and leading me out the door. 

“So about that lunch date..” He trails off grinning at me.

“Sounds like a plan.” I smile back, leaning into his embrace. Its a few moments of a comfortable silence, the bakery only a couple blocks away from the stadium, when Shawn breaks the quietness.

“What did you tell them that made them cry?”

[lewigm-blog]

Newsletter 3: Lima tell you something about Peru’s Capital…

Me trying to imagine and pose for a cute couple’s picture. Cat has to send me a picture of her sitting on some steps so I can photoshop her in. (Also I wonder what was going on with the couple behind me. I’d like to think that I captured a cute moment of them) Published April 16, 2019

Gypsy Music

“God is a gypsy who plays her violin

At the gate of my heart.

Hidden in the high thin notes of her wild music

is her longing for love.

She plays her rhapsody

Until the tears come… longing, longing to be invited in.”

-        Sr. Lou Ella Hickman

 After spending a short six hours at the Starbucks in Cusco, I finally finished my pre-Lima newsletter in Cusco… That is to say that I am only three newsletters behind now! I am excited to be writing going through my experience and time in Lima with a broader perspective on what the Lima trip has meant for me. The city has much life and is constantly moving with rushed vendors hopping onto moving buses on highways and throughout every street. Interestingly enough, traffic seems to function better than some major U.S. Cities. Everyone here is an aggressive driver, not much like Jersey or Long Island drivers in the ways they can be careless or distracted, but rather they drive with an attentive, but intense approach to driving. Not all conductors can be characterized this way, but I can say this much about the commercially employed and apparently licensed drivers.

Amidst the bustling movement of people and vehicles, I have been able to draw out three “themes” or questions that capture my time in Lima: Traffic, privilege and more traffic, “Why am I here?”, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” While some of the events and moments I describe while in Lima fall clearly into one theme, most others blend and find their place somewhere in between.

Traffic, privilege and more traffic

As my fellow first year community mate and I arrived in Lima, we were met with an overwhelming heat and cloudiness that pervaded each and every breath we took. It was as if Peru was letting us know that although we had come down 3,000 meters of altitude, we weren’t going to make it through the coastal region without some discomfort. In true volunteer fashion, we were provided with a cheap Altel “dumb” phone (which only worked on speaker phone) to communicate with our JVC community back home for anything migrations related. Another adjustment we had to make was navigating the city without access to consistent internet. We found ourselves downloading, screenshotting and even hand drawing walking and bus routes to move around. It became our nuanced approach to being simple living JVs in Lima.

One of the aspects that struck me the most about Lima was the rhythm and pace of the traffic and the Limeñan people. Our entire first day in Lima was spent attempting to understand the bus routes and system. We stayed at the “humble” Inmaculada Colegio located in Santiago del Surco, which was conveniently located near a major highway (Panamerica Sur Highway). The highways have bridges and other points of access so that pedestrians could make their way to bus stops. Bus companies in Peru tend to be privatized and have specific routes which only added to the confusion. The city of Lima had its own public bus company, but we never made it to that point in our time with public transportation. After failing to describe our destination to nearly 20 buses, we decided to hop on a random bus and see where it took us.

Once aboard, we zipped past several districts and areas of the city, both poor and underdeveloped and also drove through areas that were more touristy and gentrified.  One region in particular, San Luis, had me disconcerted and would shift my perspective for the rest of my time in the city. As the bus drivers maneuvered through hordes of stagnant traffic, several passengers hopped on and off to get to their destination. One young man, about my age, made his way onto the bus and stood near a woman in a seat in front of my community mate. I initially thought nothing of him as he appeared to be just another passenger who, like most other Peruvians on public transportation, had little regard for personal space. He suddenly bent over and drew closer to this woman putting his arm around her, speaking to her as a close friend would. I couldn’t hear much of anything over the incessant car horns and chants of street vendors attempting to sell their goods, but after he spoke, the woman seemed distressed as she began to shake her head. He crouched down, and it appeared that he was comforting her. She then opened her backpack and he searched through it, taking out some money. He casually called over a bus vendor selling snacks and purchased a soda with her— I suppose now his—money. In a dramatic and cruel fashion, he opened and drank the soda in front of her, gasping in delight after consuming the first sip of his spoils.

If my description of this event so far hasn’t told you much about me, I am quite weary and observant of those around me, especially in unfamiliar territories. Perhaps it was the inner gringo in me or all the news media clips that my mom and other family members would share with me before arriving in Lima, but I feared for my own safety. In that moment, I felt that my decision to wear Chaccos, Touristy white cargo shorts and a Henle Long sleeve shirt was the worst thing I could’ve possibly done (Picture this but with a different shirt). I experienced an intense pressure and anxiety as my Americanness and privilege seemed surged up as if it was beach ball that I was trying to hide underneath water. I felt very out of place and wanted nothing more than to disappear. I had never seen a robbery in action.

What could I have really done? What if he approached my community mate? I only felt the sweat profusely leaving the pores from my hands onto my knees and shorts as these thoughts passed through my mind. Seeing what I believed to be a casual Jason Bourne-esque robbery on the bus, I only wanted to get back to Andahuaylillas. I struggled thinking about how I would travel the rest of my time in Lima. My community mate and I still had a whole 12 days in the city, and I wanted nothing more than to leave after our migrations process was over. I was never quite at ease during the rest of the trip after that moment but had to pull it together for migrations.

The next few days were spent drawing out maps to the tramites and customs office about an hour walk away. What we expected would be a process that would take a few trips and days was over in a matter of three hours. We left the Inmaculada early ordering an Uber from inside the Inmaculada to take us to the interpol and customs office. We thought we had arrived early enough but there was a long line of others waiting to be let through. One thing to note is that Peruvian lines can be complicated and generally disorganized, but we didn’t know that at the time. With a great wave and influx of Venezuelan refugees, things were backed up for everyone who may have just wanted to renew their licenses, ID’s and file any other paperwork. I was growing nervous after seeing other folks in line pulling out the same sheets of paper that looked completely different than ours. I thought that we had forgotten something back in Andahuaylillas and our trip would be for nothing!

When we finally reached the front of the line, an employee asked me where my papers were, and he noticed that my community mate and I had United States passports. He then loudly exclaimed “Oh you’re AMERICANS?! Why didn’t you come up front and say so?!” and then he took us inside. As we walked past several offices and groups of people, we were told that we had waited in the Venezuelan line and we would be tended to shortly. The process afterwards was clear and simple. We were fingerprinted, had our teeth checked and signed a few documents. Within a few hours we were out of the interpol offices and I was to check up on my religious carnet in a few weeks back home in Cusco. It seemed like an easy process for us but there were many Venezuelans still in lines and I wondered how long they would be there.

For those who may not know, Venezuela is going through an economic, political and humanitarian crisis. The “President” Nicolás Maduro has allowed for much corruption to go unchecked for years, leaving many to flee the country so that they can provide for themselves and their families. Many Venezuelans seek refuge in nearby countries such as Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Many of the street and bus vendors in Peru today are Venezuelans hoping to make some money to meet up with family in other countries, or to simply feed themselves for the day. It is both sad and amazing to see the resiliency and positivity of many Venezuelans who are grateful for every sale and donation.

During my trip with the tourist bus company PeruHop, I met a Venezuelan named Luis in Paracas who was working in a hostel we stayed at. He fled the country as things were starting to get violent and desperate and he told me how grateful he was to find employment and a place to stay. Most of Luis’ friends and family weren’t so lucky. Oftentimes, even if they managed to leave Venezuela, they struggled finding consistent employment.

The sentiment and tensions that some of the Limeñans had towards the newly immigrated Venezuelans weren’t helpful during the mass migration. During mass at the Inmaculada, some Catholics grumbled about parables or readings that welcomed the stranger and foreigner. This crisis has been going on since Hugo Chavez’ presidency in 2010. It has been nearly a decade and the issues have yet to be resolved. The distaste and disapproval of their migration seemed ironic to me because just a few decades prior, Venezuela had opened its borders to receive Peruvians. I suppose it surprised me to witness a distaste of migrants and refugees in another country. These issues are present everywhere I suppose.

 Why am I here?

This question of “Why am I here?” came up often during my time in Lima. After our migrations experience took only a mere 3 hours to accomplish, I wondered what we were going to be doing for the next 12 days. My community mate and I decided to spend a few days on the safe and touristy bus company called PeruHop. It took us to the beach town of Paracas, near the Ballestas Islands or better known as “The Galapagos of Peru.” We also stayed in Huacachina and the area of Ica, home of the largest desert oasis where spent an afternoon looking at the sunset after sandbuggying. This was definitely an experience that I would normally enjoy but given the reason I had come to Peru in the first place, seemed to contradict the JVC value of simple living and solidarity with the people we served.

This was a difficult discernment process because it wasn’t a decision that affected solely myself, but my other community mate as well. I had not been accustomed to living a life of much travel, vacation and privilege before. As some of you may know, I was raised with my brother by a single mother who had sacrificed much to ensure that we were provided with the necessities. Here and there money would be saved up to take a trip to the free Knoebels family park or on the rare occasion, to Dorney Park. Time off and vacationing wasn’t the norm for me, and it was difficult to discuss with my JV community mate since our upbringings were starkly different. I constantly had to ask myself, “Is this really simple living? Why am I spending more than 3 months’ worth of stipend for a trip that most of the people in the Quispicanchi region will never experience? Am I doing this because I want to or to appease the community?” Questions like these surged constantly and left me feeling uneasy and resentful.

I understand that I have many differences with others, but I struggled to find a balance between our different gustos (tastes) and interests during our time in Lima. It was a particular challenge being just one on one with that person, but I (eventually) realized that I was at odds with my community mate because we are different people. I understood the saying “You learn a lot about yourself and others when you travel with them.” It was certainly an intense way of experiencing this saying as it was two people.

I have found that this whole arranged marriage part of the Jesuit Volunteer experience was difficult because well… it’s arranged! In my life, especially leading up to my departure, I tried spending most of my time and energy with the people I cared for the most. I had no problem leaving an event or kindly declining invitations to spend time with acquaintances. I simply did not have the time to casually be wasting time, or at least that was how I bluntly rationalized that decision. I spent time with the individuals who I would consider true friends, the people that gave me so much life and added value to me as a person. I believe that I may have brought a bit too much of that no-acquaintance attitude into Peru. Naturally, I didn’t realize this completely on my own. I had the help of some Jesuit apartment mates for two weeks at the Inmaculada.

 Bohemian Rhapsody

Contrary to my earlier descriptions, not all from my trip was a negative experience. I had a wonderful time within the walls of the Inmaculada. With it being the start of the “summer vacation,” the colegio was empty and quiet. The only sounds came from construction, much like the University of Scranton during the summer. Life was still going on, but at a much slower pace. Any other noises would come from the aforementioned Zoo, but mostly from the bird exhibit. Macaws and Peacocks would constantly shriek and call out throughout the days and late in the evening. I never quite grew accustomed to those sounds because they were always foreign and unexpected in the super city.

           The time I would spend in the Inmaculada before and after exploring the city with my community mate was a time to order my life and for calm reflection. This was both good and bad because I would have a lot of time on my hands to think about why I am here, which was a frustrating question to ask. I felt that I was just wasting my time and struggled to understand what this time in Lima really meant. I was at odds with my community mate on how to navigate the city. I struggled with the value of simple living after paying for three months’ worth of stipend for PeruHop. I wanted to start working and although I recognized that I would (eventually) appreciate my time adjusting into Peruvian life, but that didn’t make going through it any easier. Interior conflict and resentment was a brewin’ and what I needed was some spiritual direction.

           I found that during those times I would write and converse with the Jesuit brothers and priests who stayed in the Inmaculada to reorient myself. I discovered much life and joy within the Jesuit milieu in the mornings around the dining room. It was a time that I would chat with my new source of inspiration and passion for food, Olga. I would always cook an egg in the kitchen so that I could preview what was to come for lunch and hear about her life in Venezuela. I also noticed the routines and particularities of some of the Jesuits. One Jesuit would always have a fruit, perhaps a granadia or a sliced apple, while reading the paper. Another would always ask Olga for an over easy egg. As she would make his egg, he would toast a slice of bread, spread butter and pour olive oil, made from the Inmaculada’s own olive trees, onto his toast. Quite a unique way to do breakfast, but my community mate learned another way to spread butter!

Everyone had a routine and I realized that it was something that I longed for myself. I began asking them about their lives and roles in Lima. Some Jesuits were simply passing through, while others were more permanent residents working within the schools in the area. I really enjoyed my time with the director of the Inmaculada, Father Oscar. He was the parish priest who originally brought JVC to Andahuaylillas. I also enjoyed speaking with Monsignor Alfredo Vizcarra, the bishop in Jaen. His story was particularly interesting because he was sent to work in Chad, where he founded 17 Fe y Alegria schools. He had no particular desire or interest to go to Chad, but that is where he was sent, and he was able to make a difference there. Monsignor Vizcarra told me that although his mission had many successes, the journey was not without any challenges or failures. In that moment, I related to this because I hadn’t clicked particularly with any of my community mates. Perhaps I wasn’t as open to the experience to learn and grow within the JV community as I had once thought…

 “Hidden in the high thin notes of her wild music is her longing for love…”

 This was an experience of God; a chord was faintly being played that I recognized, something I could hum along to. The initial feelings that I had when I was called to enter this JV experience resurfaced and I felt renewed to be challenged as a person to grow for and with others. The sound that beckoned me brought with it much excitement and fear. It was a call to be more able to find God in all things. In that conversation with Alfredo, I had also asked him about his motivations for joining the Jesuits. He told me that he was called early on in life, but with a well-maintained prayer life and dialogue with God, he found solace as he left his studies of law for the Jesuits.

As he continued to speak, I questioned and began revisiting my faith life and relationship to God. Was what I had only a technical or academic sense of faith? Do I really believe that I am a Catholic? Can I say confidently that I own my faith, that I have a relationship and prayer life with God? I realized that the answer wasn’t clear just yet. Up until that point I realized that I didn’t have a defined and clear relationship with God. I don’t know if anyone ever does reach a constant state of nirvana, but I felt that perhaps I wasn’t even trying. I merely appreciated what the Catholic faith life had added to my life. Sunday masses helped provide an orientation for my life one week at a time. Ignatian Spirituality appealed to me because of its intellectual approach to faith and life. It was as if I was stuck with only talking about Faith, God and sharing stories and reflections of my life without ever being clear that God was at the center of it all.

 “At the gate of my heart…is her longing for love…longing, longing to be invited in…”

I didn’t believe in the faith with all my heart. I saw its goodness and potential, but I was not ready to accept it. This was the challenge for which I felt called to face during my time here in Peru. It was also a call to see God in other people as well. I realized something surprising about myself during this reflective period. I had been used to taking on the responsible, big brother role within my family and I was beginning to show some of that with my community mate at times. I had come into this volunteer experience with expectations and desires for what I wanted a Jesuit volunteer to be. Naturally, when those expectations weren’t met, I was going to be inevitably frustrated. I had not given myself or my community mate the space to discover this new world and chapter in our lives. It wasn’t fair of me to do that, and it is something that I have slowly been improving on.

My conversations with the Jesuits and my brief experiences of prayer after that night gave me something more focused to work on; To be truly open to witnessing and hearing God’s call to not only love others, but to allow myself to accept the ways in which others want to love me. I hope that with time and effort, I can continue to explore and renew the commitment to a healthy and holistic relationship with God. To nurture a relationship with the God that is always there, the God that is always beckoning us to let Him in, even when and where we least expect it.

“Is this the real life? Is this just Fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality. Open your eyes, look up to the sky and see...”

 Gypsy Music (Or what I call “God’s Bohemian Rhapsody”)

“God is a gypsy who plays her violin

At the gate of my heart.

Hidden in the high thin notes of her wild music

is her longing for love.

She plays her rhapsody

Until the tears come… longing, longing to be invited in.”

-        Sr. Lou Ella Hickman

A group of international PeruHop friends after winning Trivia Pictured (Left to Right): Jenz (Our Danish sugar daddy who paid for our drinks) Jary (Holland Native who came for Peru’s international car derby Dakar, Also loves Chipotle more than anyone I know even though he’s only been there once), Jack (An Australian student just traveling and balling on a budget) Me (Inhaling to look decent in the apparently medium sized shirt) Phyllis (My community mate who killed the celebrity part of Trivia) Margerite (German free spirit who was such a kind soul)

Me trying to imagine and pose for a cute couple’s picture. Cat has to send me a picture of her sitting on some steps so I can photoshop her in. (Also I wonder what was going on with the couple behind me. I’d like to think that I captured a cute moment of them)

The view from the Olive Cerro at the Inmaculada. It was cloudy but a spectacular view nonetheless

Links to Photos:

Lima: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HnVHCALVR6naKB7s6

PeruHop Adventures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/rpkFB8eWsf677aUB8

[albanuvo]

Accident

Based on real events that happened on Oct.6th 2017

Like every weekday now, the alarm goes off 6 am. I run to the bathroom to put toothpaste on Ayden’s toothbrush and go into the kitchen to heat up his one waffle. I have an odd feeling but I chuck it to not sleeping well. Ayden spent the night coughing. Fast forward to 7:30 am, the alarm goes off for us to leave the house and I get that weird feeling again. I grab Ayden’s hand tight as we cross the road. I have this feeling of protecting him. I find myself doing it all morning. I didn’t pay it any mind as I usually have days when I’m more emotional and once again chucked up my maternal helicopter parenting on that itself. We fed the Canadian geese and Sea Gulls, the sun was out and it was a beautiful morning. We finished to then head to the Welsh Pantry for our shared ham and cheese toasty.Once again my grip on Ayden as we crossed the intersection quickly. Its time, We enter the gate so that the kids can head to their classrooms, all the children roll around in their scooters and walking in with their parents. The parents tired looking but with the sense of relief to give up their responsibility for just a couple hours. They love them, of that I’m sure but a moment for yourself isn’t selfish.It is much needed. As we continue to walk, in only a few feet in front of me a little boy scoots by so fast and somehow falls nearly facedown off his scooter, the poor little boy cries as his mother leaves her conversation with other mothers to aid her son. He brushes his blond hair off his red tear filled eyes being restricted to his helmet. Thank god he was wearing that helmet. Ayden says oooo that must have hurt and I feel sorry for the child. He was ok. All these kids have scooters, I’d say more than 87%. I walk Ayden in through the gate and the classroom door opens and in he goes. I love you…kiss…hug …It still hurts but easier to let go day by day.

I’ve been running around all day, I get off the bus with that feeling still bugging me but I remember I have to call the clinic to book Ayden an appointment, they tell me I don’t need an appointment as long as he gets there before 5:30. I message Alex to let him know and he says funny enough he had already called, forgetting after a certain time they do walk-ins. Got home took a shower, groceries came at 10:06 am than 11-12 when it was scheduled for, whatever.

1:06 Alex calls me to let me know that he can pick us up from the school and if I could grab him some food from Morleys. I agree and I am relieved I don’t have to run home to get ready for work at 5 pm.  Guess the routine will be changing up. 1:30 pm The alarm is going off time to leave to the bus stop. That feeling is back again. Maybe I’m just tired. Hello again to the same bus driver. The bus taking me calls off every stop and I can’t shake off that feeling but I try to focus on other things like how warm the sun is.  

Then we arrive at my stop, Hampton Court Bridge. I walk off the bus an sit right at the first bench. it was cool and the water moved rapidly but also calmly. I spot a man, perhaps Jamaican with his 2 sons. One in the stroller the other about 3 or 4. I was nervous about seeing them so close to the edge but I figured they fed the geese too and the water wasn’t deep on the edge. Another thought popped into my mind.  If the child fell in who would jump in, I cant swim! does the father know how to? I cant tell you why I think these thoughts so frequently but when I do I promise something ends up happening that day. He finishes admiring the river with his son, he starts to pull the stroller backward back up towards the ramp bumping over a bunch of tiny rocks and plant life on the trail. The older boy runs back up the trail as the father in another language I couldn’t understand calls back to him, saying, Papa, something …Idk but somehow I knew he said papa is leaving, bye son. Its what we do to get our kids to come and go with us, scare them into thinking we are leaving them behind. Seems cruel doesn’t it, not really tho, not many of us would be willing to leave our children alone or behind. Those who truly love would never do that. The man sees me and says good day to me as he continues to pull the stroller out and up the ramp passing me, the youngest is such a cutie too. Another bus stops behind me from another company, a woman calls out to me and I recognize her, she’s the grandma from one of the beautiful lil girls from another class. She says hi to me and tells me that the bus we waited for came after I left a couple days ago. Waited for an hour and 2 busses never showed up. We chatted for a bit and she left while still looking back at me several times. I’m alone again, just the traffic behind me on the road and in front, the waves of the river and I’m starting to feel cold. I don’t want to leave yet and my mind starts to wander as I stand up and stare at the river from the ramp. Why am I here on this earth? What is my purpose?  I kid you not that’s exactly what I was thinking, money, career, marriage. All the things we think about while being alone and inside our own heads. I had that feeling and I couldn’t tell why. Was I depressed, Is my monthly curse to come playing up with my emotions or sensitivity? Idk something isn’t right. 2:20 its time to start walking… I get to the area but continue to walk up avoiding the first entrance and going thru another entrance further down. I sit across the street from the school, something I never do. I like to be the first at the gate but this time I sat.My phone rings, caller Id says, Amy. Hi, are you by the school?  I’m going to be late there’s this big accident and I’m only like 5-10 late could you pick up Miya? no worries and sure, make sure you let them know some fat black woman with short black hair is coming to get her lol we both laugh and she says I will call to let them know. We agree to meet up near hers. See I’ve never picked up his cousin from school before. Something once again I’ve never done. Dare I say out of routine. As it was 2:40 I walked into the hall that leads us to the gate noticed 3 women and a baby in a stroller in the front by the gate and an older man behind them. making me 3rd in line for my baby. It’s 2:50 can someone please open the gate now? finally, she pushes the gate. We all go into line up by the doors to get our kids. I speak to other mothers about their day and their younger ones while I wait for Ayden. Then the doors open. I wish the ladies a good weekend. I tell Ayden lets go get Miya and then we will head to Morleys to get daddy his food. We approach the class and the teacher at the door immediately says are you here for Miya, I smile and say yes and Ayden yells MIYA!!! I say thank you and tell them to hold hands. We start to walk towards Morleys. Once again that weird feeling kicks in so I say “Ok kids, hold hands and let’s go and don’t let go of each other. The long line of kids and parents and children on scooters seemed endless. “Miya, did you bring your scooter?” She says “No we came with the buggy today” “  I say to her “great so let’s go then”.  As we approach the road I then tell them to get on either side of me and hold my hand until we cross. They comply but are excited about being with each other.  We are about to cross another road at this point they both are holding hands again so instead of breaking them up I reach for their connecting hands to cross the road. We walk to Morleys. They sat down as I proceeded to make the order. They played as another woman with her baby and small daughter smile while looking at them and asks me if they are both in reception. I say no Only 1, she looked on as if trying to understand something she is thinking in her mind. I know what she is thinking, not psychic but the obvious, see Ayden and his cousin look like they can be siblings, same height, and very similar characteristics. the only difference is that her hair is blond. I say to the women “They do look like siblings but in actuality They’re cousins” Her expression changed as if her question had been answered and we both smiled. She continued to admire them as they played. How could she not they both look so adorable together when they play. I watch out the glass door as I see her mother approaching with her lil brother in arms, her face in relief in gratitude.  “Thank you for picking her up for me,” she says “No worries” And as I wait for the chicken burger meal We keep talking about the kids, discussing playdate, Halloween parties, and just usual mommy stuff. Finally its done!! it’s time to go and so we walk on thru the supermarket and are talking when an older women appearsbehind me, looked like a gypsy you see in a scary film, She was pushing her little cart into the other trollies. she was wearing a scarf and \i could see a long skirt coming through her long brownish sweater, I guess I was in her way. I apologized and moved forward she smiled. I thought in my head about the movies you see about when they feel done wrong how they curse you.I know silly & SO STEREOTYPICAL but we were talking about Halloween and she spooked me as I didn’t see or hear her walk up behind me. I cut the convo short and said let’s text the plans as I have to go to work so home to get dressed etc. Since that sandwich took ages Ayden and I took to speed walking, all the while he complained of leg pains, I said to him “We are meeting up with daddy, We won’t walk.” he was adamant that he should then run. I said no! if your legs hurt just walk but try to go fast cuz I need to go home to get dressed. As we walked I grabbed a few leaves. I found this huge one I thought was awesome. We got to the car I hand Alex his food and buckle Ayden in. Let’s go! We are driving for a bit and notice a bit of traffic. its school, time of course. Kids and parents everywhere but not as bad as I had been at Morleys for enough time for the majority to disperse. We are driving down the road, it’s warm as the sun beams right into our eyes, down come the visors. Alex then say’s “ OMg there was this huge accident on the way here” I interrupt with “Yeah that must be the same accident as to why Amy was late to get Miya” Not even half a second after Miya rolled off my tongue …On the opposite side of the road a child speeds off the sidewalk into traffic, We hear what sounded like a million voices screaming a bus comes to a hard halt everything stops for a split second like a pause in a movie , in a blink of the eye everything happens simultaneously I watch Alex raise his hands to his heads , I watch as a mother screams hysterically as many ran towards her side, she drops to the floor…her screams echoed thru the cars  as others run towards the bus, people come running out their cars the bus drivers face in terror as he runs out of the bus and towards the back. Alex exclaims I didn’t just see that, god no I didn’t see that boy get hit! Is he under the bus OMG. I was in shock not being able to move or say anything I held my hand to my face, saying no no no what happened. I couldn’t see too much now as the commotion was behind the bus. I wanted to come out the car but Alex stopped me. He said “I know how emotional you are, if he is bad you cant see that. You cant go to work with that image in your head, he is being helped and it won’t help to crowd them. they will need space. “ you cant get out the car.” I wanted to so bad, something kept nagging at me. I listened to my husband disappointed at myself a bit. Traffic was at a standstill until a woman started directing it. cars came past us the car in front of us belonged to a lady and man who ran out, neighbors came running out to see the commotion. the lady took her car and parked it in reverse to the park and slowly we crept up to go by. I needed to see… I had to, I NEEDED TO KNOW IF HE WAS ALIVE. As we drove by, my husband said don’t look but I couldn’t listen again I looked, I saw him laying in the grass wrapped up in what looked like a fleece as the mother cried and others surrounded him. He was moving! Alive! As we kept going my husband was trying to keep calm as he drove. He saw more due to his angle but all I could think was, We just mentioned about the accident before 2 times before it just happened in front of us AN ACCIDENT Ayden was in the back seat so he didn’t see anything but what he did do was hear the poor woman’s screams. Screams that I kept hearing and thinking to myself it was a small child, I’m a mother! I would lose it if something happened to my child. We start to talk about how seconds before it happened a car stopped them from continuing on their journey as it turned into the estate and left them waiting to cross. We recalled seeing the mother looking into her stroller at the baby with another woman before it all happened so quickly. meanwhile, I could feel my body shaking but not visibly, it was from the inside. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that inside vibration before, was that actual shock? Forget how I feel imagine how that mother was feeling, that poor child, the bus driver. he did nothing wrong, wasn’t speeding. The child came out of nowhere onto the road. All I could hear was her screams.

We arrive home and I feel weak, I get inside the house and start to get dressed as Alex locked himself in the bathroom. I continued to feel like I was shaking. How was I going to work like this? keep calm…keep calm …relax…but the screams. Alex didn’t want to drive. but nonetheless, he drove me to work stressing about the fact that he wanted to take Ayden to the clinic to get checked due to his cough and phlegm from being sick since the second day of school. We arrive at my job, I get out Ayden has fallen asleep in the back seat, I open the door to kiss him and I kiss Alex before I go inside.  I don’t feel comfortable being here, I think to myself. I walk through the store giving fake smiles while inside I was shaking and wanted to cry but I kept my composure. My friend at work noticed something wrong. I told him what happened and he did his very best to keep me from thinking about it. I tried to even laugh and make jokes to drown out the screams when he went on break, the screams came back. I couldn’t concentrate. 

It’s 8:30 pm time for my 15 min break and I see I have a missed call. No one really calls me so I immediately assume its, my husband, as it says NO CALLER ID It happens sometimes…It was him an then he tells me what happened…. The Surrey police put out a tweet for witnesses to come forward with information. He felt he wanted and needed to help so he called. he found out that the boy was 4 years old (Damn same age as my son) We saw him go so fast due to him being on a scooter! He was Alive (thank god) but that the damage was to the legs, we didn’t know how extensive the injuries were but a relief came over me knowing he was going to be ok. almost like something left my body. I was sad to hear he was hurt but happy to know he made it. I’m glad my husband did the right thing in providing what information he could. I thought to myself … I hope there is an update soon, via news or something.

After all this, I can’t help but think the many series of events that led to this happening. The times I worried about the kids on scooters, the traffic, then mentioning of the word “accident” 3 times before it happened in front of us. the fact that the very next day on Saturday, Oct 7, 11 people are injured in a “car crash” near the London museum, which they say is not terrorism-related. Why does the word “ACCIDENT” keep popping up?

[jasonmcgathey]

This has already been a fun, if sprawling and chaotic, section to tackle. Expect frequent changes as I continue to add to and revise the sections. It’s probably going to take a while to get a handle on this page – so just maybe, if you can, try and avoid these orange construction cones and blinking arrows straight out of the Spring-Sandusky interchange mess. If it looks a little skeletal, know that I am working on this as my current main project, and continue hoping some brilliant idea will help me organize it a little better. Until that lightning flash of inspiration arrives, maybe a series of alphabetized districts (with a couple I’m making up just now) and/or major roads is the best way to go:

Arena District (north of Spring, west of High)

Brewery District (south of the interstates, west of High)

E. Broad Street

W. Broad Street

Downtown Proper (area with most of the government buildings, etc, between Broad, the Scioto River, the interstates, and S. 4th Street)

German Village

N. High Street

S. High Street

Uptown District (everything north of Broad that isn’t covered elsewhere)

    -Arena District-

Nationwide Arena

North Market

  -Brewery District-

Though downtown as a whole has been plagued by this to some extent, the Brewery District is unique in that I feel like for 20 plus years now, there’s been this trend of bars blowing into here with a ton of hype, and being packed to the gills in what has always been a happening district – in other words, a theoretically sustainable business – but then the masses stop showing up overnight, a few months down the road, and the place is toast before you know it.

Banana Joe’s – an early lesson in how the night of the week is everything. We came here on a Friday and it was one of the most insane crowds I’ve ever witnessed; a Thursday journey maybe two weeks later had more in common with a funeral home.

Brewmasters Gate (485 S. Front St.) – this would be an excellent example of what I’m talking about. This opened as a positively cavernous club in the early 2000s, and had to be just about the most popular place in town for a good six months. A bunch of us drove down here often during the summer of its heyday, during which time it was unfailingly jam packed with young people throwing down, spilling out to the spacious patio and even the sidewalks. By the following summer, nobody came here, and you were looked at kind of strangely if mentioning it. I’m not sure exactly when it closed, but it didn’t seem to stick around very long after this. Strangely enough, the place survives and has maintained the same name, though it appears this is now just a hall people rent out for events.

Tommy Keegan’s – stumbling across this entry in my journal, from early 1998, is an especially striking example of why I’m glad to have taken so many notes. I actually forgot all about this enterprise and haven’t heard mention of it since.

Tommy Keegan’s looks vaguely like one of those modern faux Irish pubs or something, with its painted cement floor, its dark and generally unfussy atmosphere. Being located underground doesn’t hurt, either. The front, larger room holds most of the bar’s occupants, including some annoying, talent-challenged goober playing acoustic guitar and singing near the door. It’s hard to imagine he would receive much encouragement or tip money even if warbling at the campus BW3. But apparently, they pay him to come here.

The back room is a bit more subdued and we make a bee line for it. They’ve got one of those giant hoppers dispensing free popcorn back here, and even while knowing in the back of your mind it’s only going to make your thirstier, desiring ever more beer, which is why they manipulate you such, in the moment you just don’t care and grab some anyway. Or at least this is what I do.

It’s Keisha’s birthday and we started out with a much larger posse, but the war of attrition has whittled us down to these seven survivors: the birthday girl and Pam, and then Damon, Paul, John H, this Mike guy who’s kind of cool, and me. But somehow there’s this random kid just hanging out by these pool tables, of which the bar has a couple back here, and by some convoluted turn of events he winds up being partners against Paul and me in a few games of standard billiards. Damon is absolutely on fire for some reason, and they totally smoke us from start to finish. But we’ve already exhausted what limited kicks are to be found at Keegan’s, and have agreed to strike off for Victory’s next.

“Stay and play a few games with me!” the kid begs Damon, “we’ll make some money!”

“Ah, we gotta go,” Damon returns with a laugh.

Victory’s – I’ve only actually set foot inside of Victory’s once prior to this, nearly a year ago, that night of Maria’s birthday bus. And while it feels impossible to have memories down here from a year ago, which were pretty crazy yet not really referenced at all since then – neither in my thoughts nor discussions with these guys – I guess it’s another example of how the proverbial moss is growing beneath us, and we’d best keep moving if wishing to avoid entrapment by it.

So the layout here is much different that I remember, but then again, I’d been pretty blasted that night, a singular experience thus far in my Columbus residency. There are two front rooms with one long, connected bar that runs in the middle of each. One side is basically a chill out zone, while the other is encumbered with a dance floor to boogie upon, and a stage for the band. In the back, which is kept much darker, there’s an elevated second dance floor, this time under the purview of a nearby DJ booth, while beyond here the pattern repeats with that exact same scenario out on an exterior patio. The patio is not presently open, however.

Damon and Paul sit off to one side which allows them the perfect vantage point for drinking, smoking, watching and critiquing the band all at once. They call themselves Jonesy, though I’m not exactly sure of the spelling, and these guys do a fantastic job mixing 80’s covers with a few more recent selections, from the likes of Nine Inch Nails. So good, in fact, that these two are debating whether this band isn’t just miming to a tape. Featuring keyboards and electric drums, both elements you don’t see a whole lot of in this city’s live scene, they also boast an impressive live show, although it might actually belong to the bar.

The rest of us are out on the dance floor, hopping around to the music, hoping for a cheap brush of fate with one of these ladies. John breaks away from us to scout the perimeter for any fresh prospects. During this interim I do enjoy the inevitable wayward interactions with Keisha.

“I thought that was so hilarious earlier when my friend got kicked out of the bar, and you were like, gee, that’s terrible!” she’s shouting into my ear at one point, laughing hysterically.

John returns with even better information than this. “There’s a couple outrageously hot chicks on the other dance floor,” he tells me. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

We stroll off to the back room and step up to the elevated floor, casually work our way toward these two honeys. And yes, they are quite exceptional in appearance. Just as we’re about to zero in on them, however, these two dudes swoop in and throw their arms around the girls, clearly some sort of flag panting move. Damn. So the ladies are claimed, but whatever. As more ammunition mounting in this war chest of whatever you want to call it, Keisha and Pam have actually followed us back here, with Mike in tow right behind them. So they climb onto this platform with us, and we continue dancing in this dingy corridor.

-E. Broad Street-

Columbus Dispatch

Columbus Dispatch (62 E. Broad) – Home of the city’s major daily newspaper. I don’t feel like Cleveland bests Columbus in very many categories at all, but this is one exception – The Plain Dealer has always been a better paper. A lot of people, including some of my friends and I, were vaguely horrified when the Dispatch bought up treasured weekly independents, The Other Paper and Alive! True to form, they soon axed The Other Paper, citing overkill. In fairness, however, I will say they didn’t really seem to tinker with Alive! much, far less than expected.

-W. Broad Street-

COSI

Center of Science and Industry. It’s an okay spot, though much less exciting than one might imagine. A trip to the zoo or the Ohio Historical Society easily offers you much more bang for your buck. Only recommended if you’ve never been and are burned out on all the other similar options in town.

Emma digging into chocolate cake at Spaghetti Warehouse

  Spaghetti Warehouse – Treasured destination over the years, mostly because my daughter Emma is somewhat of a spaghetti maniac. Our most notable visit here was probably her 4th birthday party, which featured a memorably random cast of family members. Up above are some photos of her attacking chocolate birthday cake at that party. Maddie appears to be enjoying herself considerably just watching her sister in action. As the name would imply, it’s a great old building with a warehouse vibe, the highlight being this train car with highly in-demand seating.

  -German Village-

The original Max & Erma’s was opened down here in 1958 (739 S. 3rd Street), before becoming a franchise in 1972. Sadly this spot went belly up in 2017 and an operation known as Wunderbar currently calls this address home. But as a consolation prize, there’s no shortage of great restaurants and taverns both, mostly within walking distance of one another, down in this district.

  -Uptown District-

Mitchell’s Steakhouse

    Downtown Columbus This has already been a fun, if sprawling and chaotic, section to tackle. Expect frequent changes as I continue to add to and revise the sections.

[gocasualrunawaycollection-blog]

Why do health insurance companies charge more?

"Why do health insurance companies charge more?

Why do they charge more to people who have, say a family history of cancer, or chronic illnesses.? Whatever the reason, do you think that's correct? why or why not?   as a follow up question, if doctors karyotype at birth and discover that one has a higher chance of a chronic illness, should health insurance companies be able to charge you more?   Thanks so much!!

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://insureinfo.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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My fiancee and I are doing some research on health insurance. What is the best kind to by? What should we be looking for? I take lexapro and birth control everyday. We are nonsmokers, full-time college students and fairly young. I'm about to turn 19 and he will be 20. How much should we expect to pay for health insurance? Can we still be on our parents health insurance after we get married? Anything would be great! We would love to have a plan that has good coverage. We aren't looking for the cheapest, just something to cover us. Thanks!""

Insurance RSX vs S2000?

Hi there, my dad is planning to buy me a car by the latest the last week of March. I asked him for an RSX simply because I like the reliability of a civic, but i feel that a civic is under powered. So I'm opting for an RSX. No, i will not be getting the type S because I know insurance rapes you for it. Well my dad said he'd rather buy me an S2000. I think it's cause he wants to drive it around so my mom doesn't have to nag at him for buying a sports car. I was wondering how the RSX BASE model will compare to the S2000? I know the Type S RSX's insurance is much higher than the S2000. I was wondering how about the Base model? My dad will be helping me with gas and insurance up until I graduate which will be in a few months. So I just want to start being smart about everything. Please help!""

Maternity Insurance...Anyone have it?

My husband and I are trying for another baby. And most insurance companies in TN say you have to wait 9 months for the insurance to take effect. So is there any insurance out there that will help without having a time limit and not Tenncare or WIC. We will not qualify for that due to our income.

Where to get pregnancy insurance?

Please can someone tell me where to get pregnancy insurance? I am a UK citizen and will be spending the whole of 2010 in America (Boston). Thanks

Car insurance for a 16 year old in miami?

how much do you have to pay monthly??year??

Do you have to have car insurance for all of your vehicles (California- read more for details)?

I live in California and I understand that by law here you have to have car insurance; at least minimum coverage that is. But does this apply to all cars regardless of whether you even drive them on the street or not? The reason why I ask this is because I have a 1971 Chevy Camaro SS which I bought from my father about a year ago (He basically gave it to me, but I didn't want to look spoiled in front of my sister so I gave him $2,000 for it). I did have it insured for the first year thinking it probably wouldn't cost me much, but now I really regret getting it insured since it costed me nearly a fortune this year alone. And the thing that really sucks is that I've never even driven it yet since it still needs a lot of tuning up (and unfortunately I don't have enough time to fix it up since I'm usually a very busy person). Do you think it's possible to uninsure my camaro since it's not even drivable yet? I mean it's not like I'm going to hit a car or something with it since it's just sitting in my garage the whole time. I would ask my insurance agent about this, but I never really trusted them. (They were the ones that persuaded me to get it insured in the first place without even telling me whether I had to or not)""

Why is there a disclaimer on the Allstate Auto Insurance commercials that says Not available in all states ?

Afterall, its called Allstate !""

Health insurance please help?

When you roll over, job wise, when does your health insurance usually start?""

I hit someones car (My first accident)?

I was pulling out and hit another car I was going under 5km/h backing up and I cut the wheel to much and hit a parked car How much is that gonna cost me We are not going through insurance How much would it cost to paint it

Can an insurance company drop your auto insurance any time?

I have had 3 claims in 4 years. The first two claims where while living in another state. I since moved and just put in my third claim today (first claim with this company). My insurance payment really isn't all that high, about $75 monthly. The lady told me today that it would go up 10% if the cost was over $750. (it will be) She said this didn't effect my insurability or anything, but what if I had another accident in a year?? The real question is, can an insurance company drop you for any reason at any time? Some have said no, only within the first 60 days, others say yes, absolutely any time. What's the right answer?""

""Pizza delivery driver insurance in own car, where can I get insurance uk?

I have been offered a job as a pizza delIvery driver but I need to insure my car with business insurance I have tried everywhere but know one does it please Help x

How much could be the average insurance for a SMART car?

How much could be the average insurance for a SMART car?

Mandated Health Insurance is different from Mandated Auto Insurance how?

The Supreme Court will be deciding if the government can force us to buy health insurance from a private corporation. The government forces us to buy auto liability insurance from a private corporation. I am at a loss to see the difference.

""If i borrow my friend's car for a road trip, what about insurance?

i have insurance for my car and my friend has insurance for her car. if i borrow her car for a few weeks (out of state road trip) do i need to get extra insurance?

What is the day to day of a Commercial Insurance Broker?

I am interested in becoming a wholesale insurance broker as a career and would like to here from those that know about the current day to day life of someone in this position.

California Health Insurance. 22 living with parents?

I recently graduated from university and have a job, but don't make that much money. I am currently living with my parents. My dad is 58 and makes 55k-ish a year. My stepmom is 60 and doesn't work. My 24 year old brother makes about 12k a year. Both me and my brother are both in debt from school. I can be on my dad's health insurance plan but it's too expensive. I think he claims me and my stepmom as dependents. What are my health insurance options? Any advice would be great. The more details the better.""

What is the best affordable health insurance plans?

I am 20 years old and do not have health insurance and I need to get my wisdom teeth pulled! So i'm looking for an affordable health insurance.I've already applied for Medicaid and was denied.I need help please!

What car insurance company has the best rates and prices?

i just bought a car and dont know which insurance company to choose

Cheap Insurance companies for a Piaggio NRG 50?

I just bought a Piaggio NRG 50 and wondering who is the best company to get insured with and how much will it cost at the least? Thanks!

Why do health insurance companies charge more?

Why do they charge more to people who have, say a family history of cancer, or chronic illnesses.? Whatever the reason, do you think that's correct? why or why not?   as a follow up question, if doctors karyotype at birth and discover that one has a higher chance of a chronic illness, should health insurance companies be able to charge you more?   Thanks so much!!

Homeowners insurance vs. property taxes?

which typically costs more homeowners insurance or property taxes?

How much should i get for insurance repairs?

I have a 98 pontiac grand prix gtp and it was keyed all over every part of the car. The side mirror was broke off. The key marks are all the way down to primer. My deductable is 200. How much should i expect to get to cover the damages?

Minor car accident with no car insurance?

I was in a minor car accident last month and i was the one at fault. I was backing out of a parking space and a lady with her son who was driving pulled up behind and was going pretty fast. I left a minor dent in the front part of her car and a few scratches. She has been harrassing me since the day it happened and finally she contacted me and i agreeded to pay the cost of the damage because i didnt have insurance at the time. But then she sent me a sheet with the costs of the damages, 1,000 dollars!! I think it's way over priced and a lawyer doesnt want to do anything about it. She keeps calling and harrassing me and threatening me with the law. what can the law do? what can the judge do to me in court? will i go to jail?""

If you have full coverage Insurance and your car is stolen?

What happens? My mom had a 2000 Lincoln Navigator. It is completley paid off and she went out of town yesterday and her car was stolen from a motel parking lot. If the car is never found, how much does the insurance pay and how long does it usually take?""

My insurance co. just cancelled my policy!!! Plz. HELP!!!!?

IVE HAD TICKETS FINALLY THEY SUSPENDED MY LICENSE BUT I TOOK DEFENSIVE DRIVING JUST BEFORE THEY SUSPENDED IT BUT WHEN MY INSURANCE CO. REVIEWED ME IT JUST SHOWS THAT MY LICENSE WAS SUSPENDED NOT THAT IT WAS REINSTATED BECAUSE OF THE POINTS REDUCTION FOR DEF. DRIVING. ANY WAY THEY WANT 3345.07 PER 6/MONTHS PLUS MY HUSBAND 995.00 THATS 4400.00 PER 6 MONTHS!!!! ANY ADVICE HOW TO GET SOME INSURANCE CHEAP!? PLZ HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can anyone tell me Obama's discount rate for Health Insurance?

He states healthcare will be affordable for everyone? What %age discount will we get? How much will insurance be (per month) for those battling chronic diseases that cost in the tens of thousand of $ each month? Do you think those people denied, due to preexisting health conditions, will be able to afford insurance now?""

""If you had an extra car that was paid off and cheap on insurance, would you sell it or keep it for a back up?""

If you had an extra car that was paid off and cheap on insurance, would you sell it or keep it for a back up?""

How do I check on an existing life insurance policy?

How do I check on an existing life insurance policy?

16 yr old car insurance?

I'm about to turn 16, and about to get a car (Volvo cross country) I will have another 2 main drivers on the account. How much will it be in a roundabout? Also I will be 16^ I have a completely clean record C average And a male""

Insurance claim and deductible questions?

I scratched somebody's car while they were parked, so it was my fault. Damages were minor. Since my car is old and I've dropped coverage on my own car (I have coverage for the other car), I have no plan to fix mine. And the other party offered to settle on our own and not go to the insurance company. So, the questions are: 1. If I claim to my insurance company, how much out-of-pocket do I have to pay? His deductible? Or $0 (since I am not fixing mine)? 2. Would my insurance rate will go up even though I have a clean, no at-fault, claim for at least 10 years? 3. Is this settle on our own legal? And anything to watch out for? 4. What would you do if you were me? Thanks much!""

How much will my insurance go up after dui in ny?

OK so i recently was caught for a DUI in NY state , i am under my sister's insurance (geico) and the car is in my name....i want to know how much will the insurance go up even though my sister never had a claim and i am under her...""

""SHORT ,IMPORTANT ,INSURANCE QUESTION ?!?!?""

I was driving my moms car, and i was at a stop sign, and a guy made a very narrow turn and then when he saw me he stopped, after he started going, he then made the turn , but ended up hitting the back left side of my bumper, nothing major, only some scratches on the paint, i got out with my mom and we exchanged information, but he said that he will not pay a cent for it, and he is ready to call the cops and file a report, i thought about it considering that i only have a permit and the car is under my moms insurance, and i just let it go as i may he may have made an excuse cause i am 16 and i am still training with my parent next to me. if i called the insurance company to get it fixed, will i be blamed and will i get the insurance rate to increase or he would have been the one to blame? thanks and please tell me true answer!""

""Anyone with Progressive, are they a good reliable insurance?""

I am thinking of switching to them, due to a good rate and seems like a decent coverage. Has anyone had any problems with their insurance though?""

Need to find affordable health insurance?

My health insurance just went up again. I live in New York any places i can check out? It will be greatly appreciated

Is it realistic to think that my motorcycle insurance yearly premium will be less than $2000?

I am a 20 year old male in Southern California. I have had a drivers license for just over 2 years (no accidents), will be taking a Motorcycle Safety class right before getting my license, have decent credit, and will be financing a used motorcycle ($5000 or less and have between 500 and 900 cc because I am a very big guy). I know it will vary a lot but is it crazy to think that I will be paying less than $2000 per year for my insurance?""

What is a good health insurance provider in Texas?

My mom gets sick very often and would like to purchase some health insurance since she isn't eligible for MedicAid. What's a good health insurance provider in Texas?

Cancelled car insurance?

My car insurance got cancelled for misrepresentation of garaging. I travel a lot for work and I had two places. My car got vandalized at my secondary place of residence and the insurance company and after I filed a claim, the insurance company treats is as a misrepresentation. I am about to get an insurance with a different company. Do i need to disclose this fact? How would that affect my rates. I have 1 week left on the policy.""

18 yr old Car Insurance Advice?

I recently moved out of my parents home due to family issues. Im 18 yrs old and need car insurance but can no longer get it through my parents which made it much cheaper. Im wondering what my best options are.

Car insurance after customization?

If I put a body kit, new wheels, etc... onto my car will it affect insurance? Do I need to let them know? Before? What about the warranty, I have bumper to bumper warranty.""

""Car insurance help, please answer!?""

im 19 years old got my license when i was 18, im moving in with my grandma for a year or so, would it be cheaper to put me on her insurance?""

Car insurance?

suppose someone is paying $700 a year for liability car insurance and gets a speeding ticket. how much higher can this persons insurance go up?

""Will my car insurance rates go up, hit and run accident?""

I was parked out of my girlfriends house and apparently during my visit someone had hit my car that was parked on the side of the road. The other car just nicked my bumper (no damage to fender) but hit it hard enough to totally tear the bumper off the driver side and the front of the car and was left dangling on the passenger side. There were also scratches on the top of my driver side mirror, and the mirror itself popped out and was shattered. Basically my question is...if I claim it, will my rates go up? I believe I am insured under my parent's names and not my own. I had one accident that was my fault about 2 years ago.""

Need help for car insurance. lied about points?

i recently took a car insurance policy but i didn't tell my insurance company that i have 6 points and have told them my wrong address. but today i have called them, that i will be changing my address this weekend. so this will be sorted as my i have to pay 300pounds more. I want to tell them about my points too, but i am scared, will they cancel my policy I took the policy 12 days ago. i want to tell them about my points. please can anyone tell me who actually worked for or still working in a car insurance company, that if i tell them now before my cooling off period over will they cancel my policy or just amend the details which will be little increase in my premium? I am a second driver on this car.""

How much does flood insurance cost?

How much does flood insurance cost, as well as wind insurance?""

Auto Insurance Question?

well I want to buy an E36 BMW M3 (1996-1999) in couple of months, but i want to know that how can i get an insurance quote from other insurance companies. My moms insurance name is Access, but i want to get quotes from different companies to see which one is the cheapest. the problem is that, i don't have the car yet and there are questions that the website asks that i can't say it because i don't have enough info about the car, and i can't bother the sellers if im not going to buy the car yet. so how do you think i can get an insurance quote online when i don't have the car yet. sorry if the question sounds confusing""

Why do health insurance companies charge more?

Why do they charge more to people who have, say a family history of cancer, or chronic illnesses.? Whatever the reason, do you think that's correct? why or why not?   as a follow up question, if doctors karyotype at birth and discover that one has a higher chance of a chronic illness, should health insurance companies be able to charge you more?   Thanks so much!!

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/average-health-insurance-quote-23-year-olds-harry-escobar/"

[kidsviral-blog]

Summer Is Almost Upon Us, So Here Are 16 Travel Scams That You Should Avoid

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/summer-is-almost-upon-us-so-here-are-16-travel-scams-that-you-should-avoid/

Summer Is Almost Upon Us, So Here Are 16 Travel Scams That You Should Avoid

As someone who has lived and traveled abroad, I can tell you that tourist scams abound, and they’re the worst.

Designed with stealing your money (and sanity) in mind, these maneuvers are the tools of the trade for schemers all over the world. Since summer will be here before you know it, let’s go over what you should be on the lookout for when you hop on a plane to your dream destination.

After all, nothing says “please get me out of here everything is terrible let me go home I quit” quite like losing your cash, credit cards, and passport to some lady who just threw her baby at you (more on that later). If you’re planning on visiting a major city abroad this summer, here’s what you need to know.

1. That guy handing you a friendship bracelet is 100 percent not your friend.

Flickr / Kevin K

Remember those bracelets you used to weave for your besties in elementary school? Well, when in Rome (or anywhere else for that matter), don’t let some strange dude on the street lure you in with false promises of friendship. He isn’t Becky Williams, and this is not the third grade. By the time that heartless fraud wraps a colorful lie around your wrist, he’ll have asked you for all of your money. Nothing is sacred anymore.

2. The lady holding a rose will come between you and your significant other.

iStock

This scenario is a lot like the friendship bracelet situation, but this time, you’ll look like a bad person in front of your guy or girl. Here’s how it usually goes. The woman offers a rose to a couple strolling by. One half of said couple reaches out and takes it, because free flowers are the best flowers — but it’s not free. After the rose is taken off her hands, the lady demands money for it. Say yes, and the victim of this nasty enterprise contributes to a really irritating system. Say no, and they look like a miserly partner. Not cute.

3. Someone will throw a baby at you.

iStock

The good news is that it’s usually not a real baby. The bad news is that you’re probably not a pile of human garbage, and you’ll instinctively try to catch it anyway. While you’re fumbling through what is absolutely the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you (and I can tell you from experience that it is), mom of the year will steal all of your valuables.

4. You’ll give yourself away after you see a wallet on the ground.

iStock

You revel in not being “that guy” by reaching for your own wallet when you see one on the ground. If you’re wandering around in a major European city and you see a discarded wallet, do not reach for yours. It’s still there. You just used it to buy really overpriced shoes. Scam artists plant those wallets just to figure out where you keep yours.

var OX_ads = OX_ads || []; OX_ads.push( slot_id: “537251602_57086a5db3635”, auid: “537251602” );

5. Your taxi driver is taking his sweet time.

iStock

Taxi drivers exploit tourists by taking the longest routes possible to jack up rates. This will cause you a world of emotional and financial hurt, so familiarize yourself with the roads that lead to your destination, and call that nonsense out if it starts happening! I didn’t, which ended in a hefty, tipless payment to my driver and a frantic sprint to my terminal. It was the least fun.

6. People on packed trains are good at stealing your personal space (and your stuff).

iStock

One of my favorite things about living abroad was using public transit, which is sorely lacking here in the States. Take advantage of these inexpensive services when you travel, but if a train is crowded enough to leave you scrunched up under some guy’s armpit, zip up your bags and hold them tightly in front of you. Scammers love crowded trains, so be mindful of your purses and pockets.

7. If an overnight bus from one country to the next for almost no money sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

iStock

While you’re just trying to live your life on the night bus and snooze between Spain and France, someone’s in the luggage compartment stealing all of your valuables. That pretty much kills those bargain vibes.

8. Get all of your own luggage out of the car.

iStock

Hiring a private car to get you and your bags from the airport to the hotel is a great option, but if you can, take all of your own bags out of the vehicle. While most drivers offer to help you with luggage just to be nice, others will remove your largest bag, quickly hop back in the driver’s seat, and zip away with the smaller ones.

9. Fake cops are not the good guys.

iStock

If someone who looks like a police officer approaches you and says that there’s fake money circulating and he needs to check your wallet, ask for ID. If he doesn’t present you with proof that he’s an officer, get all up out of there. He’s posing as a cop to take your money.

var OX_ads = OX_ads || []; OX_ads.push( slot_id: “537251604_57086a5db37af”, auid: “537251604” );

10. Always count your change.

iStock

As a way of skimming a little off the top, cashiers sometimes exploit tourists by handing them less valuable coins when giving them change, since it’s hard for people to identify foreign currency at first glance. Familiarize yourself with what bills and coins look like prior to departure if you can! It’s not like any of us need to be more broke.

11. Don’t trust anyone when you’re purchasing tickets.

iStock

Seeing plays and concerts abroad is basically the best thing ever, but when it’s time to buy tickets, go straight to the booth or the official online vendor. Scammers target people waiting in line at theaters and arenas and offer them tickets for a fraction of the cost. The only downside is that they’re usually fake.

12. Always deal directly with your hotel concierge if money is involved.

iStock

Because everything is awful and the world is a spinning ball of pain, scammers will call you late at night, posing as your hotel concierge to confirm your credit card details. They know that people are less likely to venture downstairs later in the evening, which makes it easy for them to steal your info. If you suspect foul play, it never hurts to go downstairs and see what’s going on.

13. Everyone finds strength in numbers, including the kids who want to take your money.

Getty Images

Going back to the part about you not being a piece of garbage, it only makes sense that you’d want to help kids begging on the street. This gets tricky when they approach you in massive groups. If the kiddos come out in droves to hassle you, keep a close eye on your valuables. While you’re brushing one or two of them off, the other three will set their sights on your wallet.

14. That overly friendly local at the ATM isn’t helping you use the machine.

Getty Images

Even if you’re struggling with an ATM in a foreign country, take a deep breath and figure it out on your own. Do not, under any circumstances, allow someone to help you. Although it seems like the locals are trying to help you use the machine, they’re actually memorizing your PIN so they can steal your card and use it later.

15. Beachgoers beware: those free massages will cost you a pretty penny.

Getty Images

Locals love offering up “free” massages to tourists sipping mai tais on the beach. I’m sure you can guess by now that nothing in life is free, so be on the lookout for amateur masseuses. Even when tourists resist, they’re often pestered into shelling out pretty serious amounts of money.

16. Think twice about taking pictures for strangers.

Getty Images

Sadly, being nice to people on vacation isn’t usually rewarded with anything but a headache. One trick that locals pull on tourists seems innocent at first but quickly turns into something awful. Someone from a group approaches a traveler and asks them to take their picture. As the photographer is handing the camera back to its owner, the scammer purposely drops it and demands payment for the broken device.

(via Reddit)

Traveling is a blast, but you can never be too careful. When you’re out of your element, scammers know that you’re ripe for the picking. Maybe getting one of those horrible neck wallets your mom can’t stop talking about isn’t such a bad idea, after all.

Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/tourist-scam/

[pillarprojects-blog]

Buying local: The good, the bad and the tasty.

BEFORE

What challenges do I predict? Concerns?

 My primary concern is the lack of variety I’m expecting to find. It may be poor planning on my part, but I decided to do the “buy local” challenge in the winter months to see how sustainable it is. While having a bunch of different options for locally grown produce and island made products, February is typically the harshest month for us. Many storm days, and just overall, crappy conditions that make it hard to get around. This leads me to expect that the variety of stuff ill find will be fairly limited and quite expensive (prices of food skyrocket here in the winter).  My other main concern being my mobility. I currently don’t drive, or have access to a car so my main source of travel is walk in the winter. We regularly get hit with 2-3 feet of snow, which makes it even harder to get around. From the research that I did regarding sources of local produce, I determined that very few are within walking distance to me. So I’m sure that’ll be something interesting to try to work around.

  WEEK1

Difficulties:

 As expected, transportation was a HUGE issue. While having a bus system, it doesn’t run on storm days (Any day were government offices close). We had 3 storm days alone this week, where everything was shut down so I ended up being pretty stuck for the majority of the week. Luckily I was able to go to the farmers market and grab a couple things on Sunday before the snow hit, but by Tuesday I was running low and had to do a ‘cheat day’ where I walked to a corner store to get some frozen food for that night. Downside of making it to the farmers market? It’s only open Saturdays and Sundays and nearly everything was sold out by the time I got there at noon. Very little veggies left, and what fruit did remain was a little out of my price range (strawberries were $7.99 L ) Lesson learned. Looks like my weekends of sleeping in may need to take a break for the next month!

 Progress:

 Despite the issues I had this week with a lack of variety in regards to produce, and the trouble I had with getting around. I managed to have some success with getting some more local food sources to add to my list! After chatting with someone with a booth at the market about how little stuff was left at the other vendors, they referred me to a market place I hadn’t heard of that’s open 12-5 Monday to Friday and sources all their products from local farms. They offered a much bigger variety, but the priced were just a little bit higher than those at the farmers market. I managed to catch a ride with a friend to the area and checked it out. LOVED every second of it. The only downside was that it’s about a 20 minute drive away from where I live so I have to buy in bulk. I’m slowly starting to get into meal planning after having a few things I bought go bad.

 New things to try:

I added this section on after the week had already started. Once I started going around and looking at different things, I became pretty interested with some local products that I’ve never actually tried, due to always going with the “box store” buying. New thing this week? Locally roasted coffee. I almost regret finding it. I feel like I’m ruined for being able to drink my usual coffee from Tims. While costing $3.50 (large) it did end up being almost double the cost of my usual, the quality of it made up for the extra cost. Love at first sip. Enough said.

 WEEK2

Difficulties:

Transportation is still troublesome, but slowly and surely getting used to it. We still had some storm days (2) but I actually managed to plan ahead for once. The day before we got pelted with some more snow, I dragged myself out of bed to get to the bus and did a full day of going to a few spots I’ve discovered to get everything I needed to get me through the first half of the week. Lugging 40 pounds of groceries home on a bus is definitely not something I will ever even attempt to do again but got it done! I did end up breaking down again and cheated just a little bit this week. I ended up going to a grocery store to buy almond milk. After finally finding a local brand that does it, the price difference was too much for me (local was $7 per 500ml, store bought was $375 for 2 litres). I’m starting to notice the price difference of certain things can be substantially high.

 Progress

 Finally motivated myself to at least try to take the bus. Discovered that my student ID actually doubles as a bus pass, so I didn’t need to pay for traveling that way which was pretty sweet. I really started to monitor what I was bringing into my home this week. After finally getting into the groove of things with finding my food sources and getting around when we have 5 feet of snow, I really hammered down on getting my meal plans in order. In the process of doing so, I started to notice some changes in my eating habits. I’m usually a serial take out offender. I love to just order pizza to spare myself the sink full of dishes. Since week one started, I’ve probably only eaten out once or twice. Both times being this week after I found some local restaurants that I stumbled across during my research. Originally, I thought money was going to be a pretty big issue for me. I kind of had this picture in my head of spending and arm and a leg for local products but I’m starting to see the balance. Even though a lot of what I’m buying is more expensive than the box store alternatives, I’m actually spending quite a bit less since I’ve started on bringing in these new things. My random spending has cut down A LOT. I’m usually the person that will go to a convince store and drop $20 on candy and call that “dinner” on a busy day. It’s definitely nice to start seeing some of the rewards of the challenge at this point.

  New things I tried?

Local beer! Three words, Oh my god. We had a handful of microbreweries on the island but I always had a tendency to avoid buying the products due to the price difference. I decided to reward myself for the end of week 2 with a couple different kinds of beer to try out. This is another thing I’m somewhat regretting trying. Everything I tried was awesome. I’m usually not a huge beer drinker, but after trying them I fell in love!

 WEEK3

Difficulties

 Biggest problem this week? Lack of variety. Huge issue after all the storm days we had the last two weeks. When I went to the farmers market this weekend, probably only 40% of the usual vendors were there. Even with showing at at 8AM, pickings were small. I ended up leaving with just some potatoes and turnip. I had originally planned to go back the day after but we had another storm warning so they didn’t bother opening for the day. This definitely put me into a little bit of a slump. I ended up leaving somewhat cranky, wanting to go to tims for a breakfast sandwich and a coffee.

 Progress

 I feel like the biggest change Im noticing as I finish my third week, is how im starting to see more of a defined difference between my “wants” and my “needs”. For example, I WANT to go out and buy 5 bags of chips and not cook, but I NEED to stop being lazy and go get eggs for my breakfast. I usually drag my heels to cook myself meals. Completely dreading the mess Ill have to clean up after, but as I look back on the week im a little proud of myself for cooking at least once everyday. My meal planning helps a lot with that. After doing most of the prep needed on Monday after buying what I could, I had most things set up so that it required as little work as possible later in the week! I still consistently had a sink full of dishes all week, but its still some progress!! The biggest thing I noticed this week was the relationships im starting to build. The vendors at the market recognized me, and knew what I was there for. They even gave me samples of other random things for me to try out. It was such a nice experience. The whole interaction seems to add even more value to the product. Seeing who is growing it, and seeing my money go back directly into their pocket. Makes the whole experience feel more personal.

 New thing I tried?

 Local, organic caoca chocolate. I  feel like this is everything I’ve been looking for in my life. Or at least what I’ve been looking for the last 3 weeks. There was a new vendor at the market this week. A lovely lady and her sister were sell their handmade chocolates, even the mint in and on them was grown in their garden. For someone with a HUGE sweet tooth, this was a blessing. So much of a blessing that I spent $20 on a bunch of different ones she had so I could try everything that night. No shame!

 WEEK4

Difficulties

Being picky! For some reason, when I went shopping this week I had a hard time settling on anything. Most of this was probably a result of my own laziness. This was the week that I decided to branch out and try some more of those local restaurants I had added to my list. I did end up spending quite a bit more because of how much I ate out but overall I enjoyed everything and it seemed to get me out of my lazy, cranky slump. Lesson of the week? Laziness is your own worst enemy!!!

 Progress

 It’s been really dark and gloomy here this week. Switching between raining and snow. Worst combo EVER.  I fell into a little bit of a lazy streak but managed to drag myself out of it. New vendor this week at the farmers market with locally made organic cacao chocolates, so that was definitely the boost I needed. My intake of crappy food has decreased A LOT. I have such a sweet tooth and love chips way too much but with only buying local, I find its hard to find a variety of that tip of food. Tried chips from a local company and hated them, and same deal with some other sweets and goodies.

  AFTER

What challenges did I face?

Transportation was a huge factor.  Paired with the terrible weather we ended up having and my lack of planning seemed to be my biggest challenge throughout the month. One of my original, bigger concerns was money and the cost associated with buying local. I’d say about 60% of the products I bought we more expensive than what you would purchase in a grocery store. Regardless, with only buying local I was more selective with what I purchase and my random spending cut down A LOT. So I ended up saving some money (YAY). Certain products were out of my price range so I broke down and cheated a little bit (berries and almond milk) and there was very little local fruit, (box of strawberries cost 9.99). 

 Final progress report:

 Over all it was a good experience, saved some money. Found some new favorite things. I learned to meal plan to an extent, AND found sources for local products that I probably wouldn’t have found without giving this a go! While things were more expensive, I found the quality was better and overall had more appreciation for the products after talking to some of the people that grew it themselves.  The customer relationships I established with extremely valuable. I think ill try to keep it going, (with a few exceptions). I feel that the relationships built from this practice are definitely one of the most attractive things in regards to keeping up these habits. I made some new friends, and I discovered that I really enjoyed being able to put a face to what I was buy. I would rate the whole experience as a 8/10 and I’ll definitely be making an effort to continue J