#just a like 30 hour trip but we packed it in tbh!!!!
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sparklyslug · 1 year ago
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THINGS I LEARNED IN SALEM, DAY TWO:
The Salem Witch Trial Memorial was dedicated in the 90s by Elie Wiesel
It is absolutely crazy that more 20 people died in the span of like 3 months, and then, what—you just went back to normal? Looked these people in the eye afterwards?
One dude made like 84 of the tombstones in the old Salem cemetery. He favored the skull with windows decoration or the more distinctive urn with a willow frond coming out of it.
Cemetery drama: the only Mayflower pilgrim to settle in Salem is buried between his second wife and his “CHRISTIAN WIFE”
Also buried there: the Judge Hathorne who was the only one of the witch trial judges to never recant his judgement, an ancestor of Nathanial Hawthorne, who threw that w in there himself out of shame of association with the guy
Salem’s huge maritime industry meant it was a place for goods from India, China, Japan, all around the world—it was actually a super cosmopolitan and international spot.
According to my tarot reader, it’ll be an eventful but rewarding and exciting year, and when someone from my past reappears at the beginning of next summer all contrite I should NOT BELIEVE THEYVE CHANGED, THEY HAVENT, I GOTTA TELL THEM TO GTFO
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chaoticreation · 2 years ago
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Online Shopping... or not.
So I think this is really important to share, for those who might not understand what it’s like to survive in a shitty area. I’m disabled. So this is what online shopping looks like when I’m snowed in, or if my vehicle is in the shop, or if I really just don’t have the energy to get out. We do not have public transit where I live, and taxis/ubers are unaffordable. I do not have someone in the community that can shop for me.
Some of these are things I currently need again, and some of these are things I buy frequently for survival. Honestly, I encourage you to reblog this to spread awareness. This is what it’s like in America now.
In stores, I buy GV pizza crust mix, for like $2. As you can see, it’s not even available in this list. But it’s $9 for Martha White (which sucks tbh. Always sticks,) and $12 + $10 for shipping, for betty crocker. That is OUTRAGEOUS. (I’m not looking for the GF so that’s like, out of the question in the first place.)
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Disinfectants? Paper goods? Unavailable to ship. So I can’t clean my house, or dishes, but I also can’t buy disposable cups or plates. Go figure.
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Easy carbs. As a person that’s frequently hypoglycemic, carbs are key to survival. Bread, bagels. They’re easy. Every last one is unavailable to ship.
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So maybe I’ll try chips for carbs. That’s sustenance. Miserable sustenance, but susten- oh right. Unavailable to ship.
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Other snacks. Let’s try other snacks. Hmmm… $17 for a jar of salsa I just paid $5 for in store. I think tf not. Beef stick? What’s that say? $155/lb? It’s almost $10 for that little bit. After other results, I’m kind of surprised it’s not $20 for a single stick.
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Drinks. Let’s try drinks. Soda will give me sugar so I don’t die. But let’s see what’s actually available to ship. $18 for a 6 pack of sprite. $5 in store is pushing it, but $18?! You’re joking!
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I have one bottle of water left. Hydration is important. It reduces the risk of blood clots, (and I have a blood clotting disorder,) and y’know, keeps me alive. But I can’t drink tap water. It makes me throw up. Same with certain brands of water. Poland Springs has been a pretty safe water for me to drink. Let me get some… or maybe not? Over $30 for a case of water? Guess I’ll dehydrate.
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So let me get this straight; I can’t hydrate, I can’t get soda for sugar, I can’t get chips or snacks. I can’t even get bread to make pbj sandwiches. No bagels either. Or pizza crust mix, to even attempt to make my own bread or meal or anything. I can’t get dish soap to wash my dishes, but I can’t get paper plates or plastic cups. I can’t even get disinfectants to clean my house. Hell, I can’t even get tissues to blow my nose after crying from an extremely failed online shopping trip.
And Amazon isn’t any better when it comes to this.  
So what’s a guy to do when I’m snowed in? Or if I’m in too much pain to go shopping? Or if I have car troubles? We don’t have public transit in my area.
What am I supposed to do?! How is any of this okay?!
And you wanna know the worst part?
I was supposed to go shopping today, but I really just couldn’t function. I went out for dinner. It took me 4 hours to just manage to do that. My brakes felt a little off. A little clicky. It’s been really cold, and since this wasn’t consistent, I assumed it was just that. The cold. However, when I turned my car on after dinner, so I could go home, this is what I see. So I guess it’s a good thing I couldn’t manage to make myself drive 30 minutes from home for some groceries, but now I’m stuck without anything in the house.
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So the reality of not having access to a vehicle is yet another issue I have to face. (ABS & ESC OFF lights, as well as speedometer temporarily not working) I don’t know what the problem is, if it’ll be covered, if I’ll be able to afford the repair, or how long it will take. @sydthetiel​ has a vet appointment on Tuesday. I couldn’t get shopping done. I need help taking the trash out. And now I may need to beg for a ride just to take my girl to the vet. I literally don’t have anything to drink, and I don’t have carbs, and I don’t know if my van is safe to drive.
2023 is off to a great start, huh? Now what?
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lexallisonthailandtrip · 11 months ago
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Today was the best day yet. We woke up early for the buffet style breakfast at our resort. We had fresh fruit, juice, unlimited espresso drinks, and ordered eggs Benedict and crepes. Basically 3 breakfasts in one. I’m a firm believer that the quality of your breakfast is a great predictor of the quality of the day you’re about to have.
We packed a bag in the room, then jogged 1 mile down to the beach and purchased round trip tickets on a long tail boat to Railay beach. It was about a 30 minute boat ride through tropical water around these amazing cliffs, I reminded Allison I’ve never been to Hawaii or Mexico, and the closest thing I’ve ever seen to this is New Zealand. We saw rock climbers starting their routes by standing up in a kayak..!
We got to the beach and walked through town, and decided that we needed a coconut from one of the vendors. We continued through town towards the east side of Railay, on a path that went under some cave-like rock formations. About halfway to the other side, we saw people following a marked trail that went straight up the side of the cliffs. there were knotted ropes set to help climb up the wall, we’d already talked about rock climbing - so we went for it!
It was challenging, but the holds on the rock were amazing and the knotted rope continued in all of the difficult areas. I was impressed by how many families with young kids were going up, and also descending! We talked to a family from San Diego, and simultaneously remembered Ritchie and Chelsea talked about doing this exact hike on their trip to Thailand!
We climbed up to the top, followed the trail to the right and started descending through a canyon, lowering ourselves with the ropes, even passing through a tunnel in the rocks at one point! A mom of a family saw her husband pass through and said “it looks like he’s just been birthed.”
Tbh, the water was unspectular in the lagoon, and we were told it looks quite nice when the water level is higher. Regardless it was an amazing adventure to get there and just being in this undisturbed section of tropical jungle felt straight out of pirates of the carribean (…or Andaman sea).
We returned back where we started, stopped at the lookout point - one of the best we’ve seen anywhere, ever. - descended back to the start of the trail and continued walking towards the east beach. Went for a swim to an island, saw a massive jellyfish, then walked back to the town, hopped on our boat and took the ride back to Ao Nang. When we got back we ate at a restaurant on the beach. Drinks and awesome food… total bill ~750 baht, about $20.
We walked back to our hotel, showered, swam in the pool, booked massages, and just as we started to walk inside for the massage, raindrops started to fall. It poured for the entire hour, and let up right as we finished our session.
A perfect day!
Edit: Allison said this was not the correct order of events, the reason we went to Railay beach was because of Ritchie and Chelsea and she specifically asked Ritchie to send information about the hike. He sent a picture of the beach with an arrow to the lookout point. We followed the arrow.
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simp-4-kylo · 4 years ago
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I need a club Adam! Like where he could be a owner or just a guy who sees you
Driver’s Side��
A/N: First let me say sorry for how late this request is! I really have been working on getting things rolled out :) Literally life has been so busy and I want to write but every time i go to sit down to write I either fall asleep or something comes up :( I do love you all and I PROMISE I am working on all the requests !!! Alright much love to you all. Enjoy the stuff below :)
Warnings: sexual tension, kinda NSFW but no actual smut, possessive!Adam(?), Adam is a club owner but he ended up not being the club owner because i chnaged my mind and rewrote half of it and still am not pleased with it oops ,umm Adam Sackler warning? He is a warning, like for real this man is a whole warning tbh.
Word Count: 1,462
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Walking down the streets of New York, he ended up at a warehouse that was booming with music and crammed packed with people. The smell of liquor and smoke filled the air and the loud music had the building pulsating, shaking it right out of the foundation. The air is at least 30 degrees warmer than the air outside the building, and the mixing smells from each person. Adam wasn’t a huge club goer, but he did enjoy them every now and then. This time he made the decision to go clubbing by himself. 
Walking around the building, he kept debating with himself in his head. He wasn’t here to drink, he kept turning each and every shot he was offered. Not wanting to break the promise he made to himself and honestly not liking the taste of alcohol. He knew he looked like the biggest loser in the entire place. How could he not? He was this tall man standing in the middle of a bunch of people jumping up and down, dancing to the beat of the music.
Fuck it, he had decided to call it a night and go home. Maybe he’d run on his way home to burn off some of the pent up energy, or maybe he’d find something on his way home and would start a new project with all of his power tools. As he was heading out, he tossed his red solo cup filled with water on the ground along with other cups and bottles. 
He headed towards the exit of the place, pushing past clumps of people and walking on the sticky floor. Then he saw you, standing towards the entrance. You were glancing down at your phone and then up, looking around the place. It looked like you were looking for someone. He continued to make his way towards the entrance, suddenly he saw two men approach you. He couldn’t hear the conversation going on but he could tell by the look on your face that you were clearly uncomfortable. 
“Hey there you are, this place is massive and I thought I lost you.” Adam said as he approached you and wrapped his arm around your shoulder, he had no idea what he was doing and he was praying you would catch on, and that you did. You had leaned into his chest as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders. You had hoped that he was just being a nice guy and trying to help out, versus being a creep just like the two guys in front of you. “Awe, c'mon man. You don’t mind sharing her for a night? She’s hell of a thing.” one of the two guys leaned forward lightly punching the man who had his arm wrapped around you. You had felt him tense in response to the crude statement.
“Fuck off before I beat the shit out of you.” The man next to you had replied as he caught the man's recoiling arm. The two guys walked away after your saviors response, they were clearly upset that they couldn’t get you to go home with them. It felt like hours as the two of you watched them walk away. It wasn’t until you noticed the next song had started playing, that you were still holding onto the man who had rescued you. “Shit. I don’t even know- Thank you so much for saving me there. I’m not usually someone who just stands there and doesn’t do anything, but I guess I just got scared and wasn’t sure what to do.” You had said as you had removed yourself from his embrace.
The man in front of you just smiled, and holy was it the most beautiful smile you had ever seen plastered on anyone's face before. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head a little bit. “Aw don’t worry kid, it was nothing. Those guys were a bunch of creeps.” He said as he released a small giggle. You couldn’t get enough of the man in front of you, he felt so very welcoming and warm. 
Adam had felt the same way, he kept staring at you and he was now afraid that you were going to think he was also a creep. He really couldn’t get enough of you, he barely knew you but you felt so warm and welcoming. “Adam.” He had said out loud, almost in a scolding way, he wasn’t actually sure if he was scolding himself for being a weirdo or if he was trying to introduce himself. You just peered up at him (due to the unnerving fact that he was most certainly the tallest person you had ever met). 
Feeling your nerves start to stir in your stomach, you reached out towards him and then he followed suit and the two of you shook hands. Adam had released a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. He had wanted to get to know you more, the aura that was being released from you swirled around him and made him want to just reach out and hold you against him, he wanted to be greedy with you and not let anyone else be with you. Mentally he scolded himself because you were just a complete stranger, you had not even known him for the night let alone an hour! His thoughts were cut off by your voice saying “hey why don’t we get out of here? This party is lame and I saw a nice diner a few blocks down, why don’t we go there?”  He couldn’t believe that you had wanted to spend more time with him, he must be dreaming. “U-uh yeah! Totally we can d-do that. Sounds nice.” Adam said clearly tripping over his words, in response to him you let out a small giggle. Oh that sound made Adam want to smile but also take you against the wall right then and there. 
The walk to the diner wasn’t long because of all the stories Adam had told to you. Some of them you had to double check with him to make sure they actually happened, they were just that crazy. Upon entering the diner the two of you were hit with the smell of fresh eggs and bacon, yeah you were glad you left that club. 
“Then I basically got kicked out of my own home! It’s fucking bullshit!” Adam said with a mouth half full of scrambled eggs, small yellow clouds of egg fall on the table with over exaggerated movements. Sitting there with a huge grin on your face, you couldn't remember the last time someone had made you laugh so much in one night. You desperately wanted to spend more time with Adam but didn’t want to come off as creepy. 
“Well I guess I should get going then. It is getting pretty late.” you said as you dropped a few dollars on the table for a tip. “Uh wait! Let me walk you home.” Adam had said. You smiled and said sure, as the two of you made your way outside you and Adam walked side by side towards your apartment. Every now and then your hands would brush up against each other causing the two of you to blush. As you walked closer to your apartment you grew nervous because you didn’t want to sound weird and invite this guy in. But would it really be weird? Like he saved you from two creepy dudes and you just shared a meal together. You decided to just shoot your shot and go for it. 
You stopped walking as you made your way to the staircase leading up to the front of your apartment. “Well I guess this is it.”  You said with an audible sigh. You were going to ask, you had too. “Can I have your number-” “Would you like to come inside for a bit?” The two of you had said in unison. A small smile appeared on Adam’s face, “yeah, yeah I’d like that very much. Maybe you have a pen and paper in there that I can write my number down on?” He had said. 
Now it was your time to smile, you gave a little chuckle and said “of course”. “Alright, c'mon now handsome.” You said and instantly turned around to face the door hoping you could hide the embarrassment painted on your face. To your surprise when you went to reach for the doorknob you felt a pair of hands around your waist and a chin resting on your shoulder, hot breath in your ear followed by “lead the way, sexy” and a lick behind your ear. A shaky “Oh fuck” left your mouth as you struggled to open the door.
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tessarichardss · 4 years ago
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new york’s very own tessa richards was spotted on broadway street , with a striking semblance to zoey deutch ! you may know them as @tessarichards or hitting the front page of tmz as ex-reality star rumored to have moved to new york for an internship with hassenfeld children’s hospital . according to tmz , you just had your twenty-fourth birthday bash . while living in nyc , you’ve been labeled as being guarded , but also tenderhearted . things that would paint a better picture of you would be endless nights you’ll never forget, sunflowers, running barefoot through an open field . ( cisfemale + she/her  ) +  (  saxon , twenty-six , she/her , cst )
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Out Of Character
Hello bbies! 🥰 My name is Saxon and I’d like you to meet the absolute labor of my love Tessa and love her even though she doesn’t deserve it! We are always open for connections, ideas or plots so please, please, please do not hesitate to hit me up if you want to conjure something up with this lovable and ridiculous energetic puppy. I look forward to roleplaying with you and your children!
Basic Information
Full Name: Tessa Grace Richards.
Nickname(s): Tess.
Birthday: Febuary 10th, 1996. 
Orientation: Heterosexual.
Language(s) Spoken: English, Spanish.
Background
So Tessa was born to an unwed couple who were in their mid 30′s at the time, her mom thought the two of them were hopelessly in love until Tessa was four and dude just dipped? Her mom came home one day and all his stuff was gone, no note or anything, he drained their account and they haven’t ever heard from him since.
This obviously fucked Tessa up young because she has mad issues with love meaning anything and also abandonment, like she definitely doesn’t sleep well at night because she spent years waking up and running to the window every time she saw car lights, thinking it was him coming home.
Her mom is an absolute saint of a woman however (think Lorelai from Gilmore Girls meets Donna  Sheridan from Mamma Mia), just an absolute quirky angel of a woman who definitely took in and helped abandoned animals but was also the place all the kids in town knew they could go if they had shitty parents/living situations or just a bad day and they needed a safe place to go? So obviously she stepped up and took down all dudes pictures and just raised Tessa like the single boss she is.
Tessa grew up into like an angel of a kid but oh buddy was she a chaotic one. Total tomboy, full of insane energy and personality, always on the move and exploring and doing things she shouldn’t be. Definitely the type to show up back at home as the suns going down just covered in dirt and bumps and bruises. 100% knocked her own baby teeth out from falling and slamming her face and had two front silver teeth as a little kid.
She was never very girly and because she grew up in this southern town that was just full of very critical asshole kids from more well-off families than her own was, particularly the girls who were very prissy, she definitely ended up clicking more with boys and quickly became ‘one of the guys’. Like undoubtedly had an all male friend group and was definitely the girl that girlfriends would be paranoid about while all the dudes were like confused as to how their girls were jealous because Tessa was just like another guy/little sibling, there was no interest on either end.
She had two shitty relationships as a teenager, the first cheated on her because she wasn’t ready to have sex and then the second whom she actually gave it up to, turned out to just be with her on a bet to see how long it would take him to get in her pants? She ended up punching dude in the face when she found out and broke his nose and asshole’s family actually wanted to press charges until Mama Richards shut the shit down.
TW: SUICIDE ATTEMPT MENTION Has slight anger management issues? Like she’s chill but when she blows up man does she blow up. Pushed a girl down a flight of stairs at school after she made a remark about a friend who had tried to commit suicide, the family did press charges this time and Tessa had to go to anger management classes and serve community service hours. She also got kicked out of school and just decided not to go back, went online and just got her GED at seventeen instead.
She was (and still is) very close and attached to her mom, absolute most important person in her life, but she worried about her so much her mom realized she probably wasn’t ever planning on leaving? So her mom got the help of her friends and they actually filled out an application for her to go onto a reality tv show? Seems crazy but each season took place in a different part of the world and her mom knew she wanted to travel but would never make the decision herself so when she got cast her mom was just like “lol here you go bye now”.
She hated it at first because she had grown so used to Texas and the country and her friends and making sure her mom was okay that it gave her a lot of anxiety and stress but she actually fell in love with it? Made a lot of close friends, became a fan favorite of sorts and would you believe it, the dumbass fell in love.
This boy wormed his way into her heart and it was a kind of a slightly unstable relationship because she would try and push away from him and her feelings but he always drew her back? He even proposed after like months of them being together and she panicked and ran but still he drew her back and they agreed that they should chill with the idea of engagement/marriage? He ended up leaving the show after like their fourth messy break up? And she, would you believe it, followed. The two ended up sleeping together but she was overly aware of the fact that he wasn’t actually in love with her anymore so she saved herself any awkward conversation and further heartbreak by just dipping before he woke up. 
After this, Tessa returned to Texas and spent a solid week just out partying and drinking with friends and suddenly - BAM, she was having a one night stand with a complete stranger which was rather out of pocket for her and then even more suddenly - BAM, a pregnancy with no clue as to who the child’s father was. Thankfully it ended up being the one night stand’s and he turned out to be an incredible guy and father.
Obviously she never returned to the show and focused instead on becoming a mother and setting up a future for herself and her child.
She’s always been a big fan of kids (worked for a daycare after school, actually helped start up a charity that works with orphans/orphanages while on the show) and so she decided that she wanted to be a child life specialist and started attending school during her pregnancy and the two years that followed.
She ended up having a little girl named Addison, this child is her whole world and she’s 1000% the mom that posts about their kid too much on social media but she’s 100% turned Tessa’s life around and helped her mature in ways she wouldn’t have without her and she just loves her kid more than anything/anyone else. 
She assumed her life would remain in Texas until a trip to New York a few months back to visit Alex Morgan (who remarked on the fact that she should move in) ended with her packing up her daughter and her bags within less than a month and landing her in the state for the foreseeable future. 
She’s currently continuing her last year of school through online classes in order to get her bachelors while interning at the Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital. 
Personality
A dork? Literally the biggest dork, the dorkiest of dorks, just a whole friggen dork. This child rambles like you wouldn’t believe and her mouth 100% works faster than her brain so like you never know what to expect but she’s just a happy, friendly, sarcastic little bean with social anxiety and a heart of gold tbh.
Also an aggressive lil’ lady though, like 12/10 chance she’ll throw hands if you want to fuck with or say something about the people she loves.
A chaotic soul as well like down to party and have a good time and will definitely drink a dude under the table, definitely broke her ribs two summers in a row from a drinking game because this child doesn’t know when to slow down or chill out, she’s just trying to live.
Emotional as hell, like definitely cries during commercials and Disney movies, but like if you’re trying to tap into her serious emotions she’s gonna shut that shit down. She keeps people locked out tbh and just jokes about the serious shit in her life if she does talk about it.
Desired Connections
Friends? This is tricky because she was basically in Texas for most of her life and then traveling? But someone who lived in/visited Texas and they met? Someone she met while filming the show in some random country - they were living there or traveling and met while she was out and about one day? Maybe someone she met through her charity work? Someone who has a kid or a younger sibling/niece/nephew/godchild who she took care of at the hospital or even on a home visit and they met her/know her that way?
Exes? So her most recent ex is off limits because it’s based off a real connection but like either of her exes from high school? The first one would have had to have lived in Texas for some time but the latter could have been visiting friends/family for a summer? If anyone has a character that works for these I’m down for the drama, especially the second because Tessa is fully ready to break dude’s nose again.
Half siblings? So Tessa’s dad basically bailed when she was little - maybe he had another family? Could have had a kid before her who he also bailed on, could have started a family during the same time or after, he could have stayed there for them or bailed on them as well? They could know about Tessa, or neither could know about the other? Tessa pry wouldn’t know about them because she made it a point to never bother searching for this man let alone any family but literally I’m down for whatever other ideas you’ve got on this one!
Honestly Tessa needs some guy friends! Like I said she’s always been very much more one of the guys - would rather be drinking a beer watching a sports game and yelling than going on a shopping spree okay she has 0 interest, and since she moved from home she needs a new guy group to cause trouble with but also, who makes a better wing woman than a girl okay? Chaos friend but also mom friend rolled into one because she will get involved in shenanigans but will also call you out for acting dumb too.
Also here’s some open, wanted musing connection ideas; https://tessarichardsmusings.tumblr.com/tagged/tessa-%2B-open
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purplesurveys · 4 years ago
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1124
survey by nadine07
Three Names You Are Called:
1. Robyn, by virtually everybody. 
2. Byn, by close family members.
3. For some reason I have some friends who call me Bynbyn? even though I never established it as a nickname?? but they use it as an affectionate nickname so ultimately I don’t mind it. It just takes me aback sometimes, lmao.
Three Colors You Are Wearing At the Moment:
1. Red
2. White
3. Pink. Or light purple, depending on how you see it.
The Last Three People To Call You:
1. My mom, though I missed the call because I was at work earlier.
2. I just saw that Ysa, my director, also tried to call me. This story is so fucking stupid...I physically went to the office last Wednesday to pack some groceries, and all day long I had been leaving the door slightly ajar every time I had to go out because I haven’t had my biometrics enrolled yet and I don’t hold the keys to the office (and I was the only one who requested to go there for that day).
Of course, knowing my luck, the door slipped while I was out (I had to very briefly hand a package to a courier), locking me out of the goddamn office with all my shit inside. Even worse, I had a meeting going on with a client – I had speaking parts assigned to me, and I got locked out like 30 seconds before my part would start. I’m guessing Ysa called me during the time I disappeared but I obviously couldn’t have answered the phone. It was infuriating, especially since my manager had to cover for my slides which she didn’t practice for.
I’ll no longer get into how I managed to get back inside since it’s another embarrassing and complicated story altogether, but suffice it to say I was really upset about the whole thing and I still feel uneasy imagining how that meeting could’ve gone down with my disappearance.
3. A courier. They usually call when they’re already arrived where you are, so that they know where exactly to meet up with you.
Three Days You Look Forward To Each Year:
1. My birthday, because it’s kinda cool turning into a different age.
2. Whenever Wrestlemania is scheduled, which is usually late March or early April.
3. ...I don’t have any either favorite days/dates.
Three Jobs You've Had:
1. PR associate.
2. That’s my first job. I’ve had two internships before that, and they were both at PR agencies.
3. -
Three Bands/Singers You Love:
1. Paramore
2. Beyoncé
3. The Japanese House
Three People You've Talked To Today:
1. It’s exactly 7 AM. I could’ve talked to my parents when they headed downstairs earlier but I pretended I was still asleep on the couch so that they couldn’t, hahaha. They’ve since gone out to jog. I don’t think I’ve said a word at all yet this morning, actually.
2. -
3. -
Three Things You Could Grab From Where You're Sitting:
1. My phone.
2. The other end of this table.
3. My vape pen.
The Last Three Things You've Had to Drink:
1. I most recently had a glass of water after I finished my bag of salted egg chips.
2. I finished off the last of my coffee.
3. I also drank soju last night as an impromptu thing because I saw that I still had a peach-flavored one (my favorite) in the fridge.
Three People You Can Always Count On:
1. Angela.
2. Andi.
3. I’m also gonna name Pia even though we aren’t the closest. Girl has been crazy supportive over the last few months.
Three Places You Want to Go:
1. That I haven’t been to yet? Seoul in South Korea.
2. Thailand.
3. Morocco.
The Last Three Places You've Gone:
1. Other than places in the house – the local coffee shop inside my village.
2. The office.
3. The Starbucks beside the office. I had arrived a bit early so I had some time to walk over there and order something.
The Last Three Non-Relatives You've Hung Out With:
1. Angela.
2. Hans.
3. We were 8 in the group the last time we went out lol. But aside from the above, Pia (a different one) was the one who made the most effort to talk to me as well.
Three People To Be Stranded On A Desert Island With:
1. Angela.
2. Kate.
3. Not sure. Maybe Al for some comic relief while we try to survive there?
Three Smells You Love:
1. Cookies being baked.
2. A hotel room.
3. Seafood.
Three People You Look Up To:
1. Angela’s mom.
2. Andi.
3. My manager, Bea. Well she just got promoted, so I guess I’ll call her my director now, hahaha.
Three Places You've Lived:
1. The duplex where I mostly grew up, just a village away from my current one. I got to experience living in either house, as well.
2. Tondo, Manila. With my dad’s family.
3. Sampaloc, Manila. My parents briefly had an apartment and I was there for like a few months as a newborn.
Three Good Teachers You've Had:
1. My music teacher for the entirety of high school.
2. My professor in international relations.
3. My professor in my social history and history of Filipino women electives.
Three Things You're Good At:
1. I gotta say I’m great at parking, hahaha. Backward parking, parallel parking, you name it.
2. Going through my to-do list and finishing off every task by the end of the day.
3. Reflexes, or reacting/responding immediately, especially in games.
The Last Three People You've Kissed:
1. Gabie.
2. -
3. -
The Last Three People You've Dated:
1. Gabie.
2. -
3. -
Three People With Whom You've Shared a Secret:
1. Andi.
2. JM.
3. Jo was the first person I informed about my breakup, and I didn’t even reveal it publicly until like three months after. I didn’t expect to confide in her especially since we aren’t the closest, but I think I was just desperate to tell someone then to finally acknowledge reality.
Three Irresponsible Things You've Done:
1. Vape.
2. Road rage.
3. Leave my laptop in a classroom as I left to go to another class, in another building.
Three Movies You Love:
1. Two for the Road.
2. Revolutionary Road.
3. Room.
The Last Three People You've Gone to the Movies With:
1. Angela.
2. Leigh.
3. Gabie.
The Last Three People You've Ridden in a Car With:
1. Laurice.
2. Kuya Toby.
3. Lui.
Three Facts About Your #1:
1. Can I name my best friends instead? Angela is in her final year of college taking up architecture.
2. She has two shih tzus, Hailey and Kennedy.
3. Her mom is a pediatrician and has her own clinic in their home.
Three Places You've Gone With Your #2:
1. I haven’t been too adventurous with Andi...most recently we’ve gone to a Korean barbecue joint for a one-on-one catch up date.
2. TK.
3. Rita’s house.
Three Things You've Done With Your #3:
1. Kate works for the government.
2. Last time I talked to her, she’s still set on retake a law school exam after not getting admitted to her campus of choice last year.
3. She had a bad habit of dating orgmates.
Three Things You Have in Common With Your #4:
1. Laurice is great at debate.
2. She lives in the south, so I don’t get to see her a lot.
3. She has a cute habit of calling many of our friends by their respective honorifics, even though they’re the same age or even when she’s literally older than some of them.
Three Things That Annoy You:
1. Making the effort to go to a store and seeing they’re closed for the day, even though they didn’t indicate it in their social media accounts.
2. Offices of government agencies and their ever-grumpy staff.
3. Filipinos’ tendency to turn 3 lanes into 6 during a traffic jam.
Three Things That Attract You To The Opposite Sex:
1. Asexual. Pass.
2. - 
3. - 
Three Material Items You'd Save If You're House Was On Fire:
1. My laptop, since all my work files and a whole ton of memories are in here.
2. My phone, so I can update family and friends.
3. My glasses. Realistically, I wouldn’t care about any of these and would jump up to grab my dogs instead.
Three Careers You've Considered:
1. Journalist.
2. Lawyer.
3. Historian.
Three Things You Wish You Knew About Your Future:
1. Whether marriage or kids will be part of mine.
2. When I’m dying, and what from.
3. Where I’ll end up living, and what kind of housing.
The Last Three Songs You Listened To:
1. Wait On - Hayley Williams
2. Good Grief - Hayley Williams
3. Over Those Hills - Hayley Williams. Stream Flowers for Vases, friends.
Three Things You Consider Lucky:
1. I don’t believe in lucky charms.
2. - 
3. - 
Three T.V. Show Characters You Wish Were Real:
1. Mr. Peanutbutter from BoJack Horseman.
2. Chandler Bing from Friends.
3. Glenn Rhee from The Walking Dead.
Three Issues You Have Strong Opinions On:
1. Racial equality. 
2. Gender equality.
3. Abortion rights.
Three Things You Wish You Could Change About Yourself:
1. That I wasn’t so clumsy at work.
2. That I wasn’t too selfless all the time to just about anyone.
3. That I had a better hold of my finances and keep spending just because I’m still within budget, heheh.
Three People From Your Past You Wish You Could Spend a Day With:
1. My grandpa, who passed away before I could properly grow up and shoot the shit with him over some beer.
2. Nacho.
3. Sofie, so we can properly catch up, just the two of us.
Three Famous People You'd Like to Meet:
1. Beyoncé.
2. Hayley Williams.
3. Leni Robredo.
Three Things You Are Wearing:
1. A t-shirt.
2. A pair of shorts.
3. Underwear.
The Last Three Places You Went That Were More Than 2 Hours Away:
1. Tagaytay.
2. My dad’s family’s home in Laguna.
3. Those are the only places we’ve been to where we had to travel for a while.
The Last Three Reasons You Went to the Hospital:
1. Blood and urine test for my ~mystery illness~ last year.
2. I had to be confined for a couple of days because of low platelet count.
3. ...I was born. I haven’t made many trips to the hospital. 
Three Things You Are Addicted To:
1. I’ve never felt comfortable using the term addicted because it’s an actual condition...but if you mean to ask for what I’m hooked to at the moment, I’d go with coffee.
2. And salted egg chips. I literally bought five bags of chips yesterday and I’m already finished with my third.
3. Anything Korean, tbh. Korean food, shows, music, etc...the Korean Wave is very strong over here and I’ve finally been reeled all the way in.
Three Favorite Colors:
1. Baby pink or pastel pink.
2. Mustard yellow.
3. Maroon.
Three Things You Will Do Now That This Is Over:
1. Find another one to take for later.
2. Finish my breakfast, and maybe heat up some leftover pasta because I’m still hungry.
3. Maybe get my embroidering template so I can make some progress today.
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charlievveasley · 4 years ago
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Rules: answer 30 questions and tag blogs you are contractually obligated to know better.
i was tagged by: @leiaofrph xx
name/nickname: charlie
gender: female
star sign: taurus
height: 5′7
time: 11:47pm
birthday: may 4th (don’t say it)
favorite bands: theory of a deadman, DNCE, Voiceplay
song stuck in my head: Save Your Tears by The Weeknd
last movie: The Proposal I think? whatever was on TV before hockey tbh
last show: Gilmore Girls lol
when did i create this blog: 2016! it’s gone through a few revamps since then so it looks nothing like it used to, but here we are
what do i post: gif packs are the only thing of substance tbh
last thing googled: something hockey related, I’m sure - the things I google are so boring I can’t even remember
other blogs: 1x1, character blogs
do i get asks: sometimes, and i love every one of them
why i chose my url: ok first of all, charlie weasley is the best weasley and he deserved better and second of all, im pretty sure i was having a mental breakdown at 3am lol
following: 211
followers: 284
average hours of sleep: usually 5-7 i think? (sometimes on sundays I catch up on sleep and get like 12 tho)
lucky number: 3
instruments: just them vocal chords y’all
what am i wearing: a UCF sweatshirt and UCF sweats (and I’m under a UCF blanket but I promise I’m not usually this extra lmfao)
dream job: forensic scientist - and tbh i might even be qualified now 
dream trip: honestly anywhere thats not tropical
favorite song: I Got So High That I Saw Jesus - Noah Cyrus (but the one ft. Miley bc I’m a slut for some good harmonies)
last book read: The Illustrated Man 
top three fictional universes: alagaesia, wherever the House of Night was, hogwarts/wizarding world in general
people i tag: @sinii-sterr @lewistan @malfoyswrites @alexisxrose
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shitty-check-please-aus · 6 years ago
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skip this post if you’re just here for the jokes
this was my final day in Seattle!
I woke up at like 8, which is early for me (except that it’s the same time I always wake up if we look at the time difference) so I messed around getting ready for a while, went to a Piroshky Piroshky stand (seriously, a pastry filled with egg and cheese is all I want in this world), and headed over to the Museum of Pop Culture! Mostly because it was open at 10 and the other stuff I wanted to do was open at like 11. I would’ve gotten there before 10, but I got turned around and walked the wrong way for 5 blocks. GPS in cities is not ideal. 
It was fun, but tbh I think it would be about 70% more fun if I had been going with other people. There were a lot of photo ops that just weren’t great selfie photo ops, especially in the bonus Marvel exhibit. I also think that it would be more enjoyable if I was into like 90s Seattle grunge music, but I’m at peace with being someone who needs to listen to happy music most of the time. I got to play around a little in this room where you can play drums and guitar and bass and (in one corner) sing, though honestly they need to make the singing part better. I wanna have one excuse where I’m not tipsy to show off the fact that I can sing all of Bohemian Rhapsody if I put my mind to it. 
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(I also think that the wear and tear of travel is hitting me or I’m getting sick, so. Probs would’ve been more fun if I didn’t keep feeling vaguely lightheaded. ah well.)
I’d looked through tags and saw that @lardosducks had recommended that I go to Skillet at the Seattle Center, which was a fucking excellent recommendation for a fast and delicious burger. I sat at the bar because it was pretty empty and talked to the bartender guy (like he wasn’t actively tending bar because it was 12:30 but if I had wanted booze I assumed I’d talk to him) about the food culture in Chicago vs Seattle. He gave me a free refill on my diet coke so A+
Then I went to the Dale Chihuly Garden + Glass and bought the combo ticket to the Space Needle because it was kind of sunny. This was one of my top things to do because my mom loves Dale Chihuly sculpture, and has brought my family to his exhibits whenever she can so I really like it. It was awesome, and I caught a demonstration of glassblowing, which is a magic I will never tire of.
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THEN I went to the Space Needle, and spent like two hours there because the sun came out and it was beautiful! FYI for the Seattle people who told me not to go to the restaurant– I couldn’t have if I wanted to, because they closed it. The rotating zone is now a glass-floored free-for-all with one lady selling wine and beer at a kiosk. 
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I bought a tshirt with a rainbow screenprinted over the space needle because I’m not straight and I’ve grown pretty good at identifying whether I actually want something or not when faced with the allure of a gift shop. Then I went home to the hotel at like 5 because I had no battery, either in my soul or in my phone. 
All in all, I walked like 6 miles, ate some good food, wandered around cool places, and had a nice time in Seattle! I would definitely come back if I got the opportunity, because there are definitely things I didn’t get a chance to do (International district, I’m sorry, I’ve just been too exhausted when dinnertime hit to walk that far on this trip) (art museum, I’m sorry, too) and I like the vibe of Seattle. Had a lot of people assume I was local, which is fun considering I didn’t even pack any flannel. I did the thing where I just say I’m from Chicago, which is true in some ways and not true in other ways, all weekend. Didn’t meet anyone else even really from the midwest at PodCon, which makes me curious about their stats re: locals vs people who fly in. 
AND I had insomnia last night, so I got to be: Sleepless in Seattle
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jonwongton · 5 years ago
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KCON LA 2019 Recap
Wow what an insane three days. My expectations were pretty low from KCON NY but I was really impressed by some of the events they had at the convention.
I'm just gonna use everyone's real names in this because it's too hard to remember everyone's handles.
Thursday, August 15th
After work, I went home, made dinner, packed up, and then went straight to the airport. The flight from San Jose to Burbank is literally an hour gate to gate (45 minutes of flight time lol) so it was a super short flight. The only pressing thing was that some of my discord buddies were doing karaoke in ktown so I really didn't want to miss out on that. My mvp sister came to the airport to pick up all my stuff and I ubered straight to the karaoke place to see everyone (I forgot to take pictures though :(). Jordan started me off with Rough and after they sang a ton of other girl group songs, I did Red Flavor and Energetic. We didn't want to go too hard before the convention even started so we all decided to meet at the convention before noon. The izone fanclub meeting was at noon and the fromis_9 fanclub meeting was at three, so I definitely wanted to go to both (all six moderators for the two fanclub meets are in the group I went with).
Friday, August 16th
I woke up at like 9 and I went with Cyn to go get Trieu Chau noodles, which tasted even better than I remember.
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Everyone wanted to get lunch in between the fanclub meetings but I don't trust eating in big groups and I'm pretty good at not eating for long periods of time in case anything happens.
I got to the convention at around noon, but it took me around half an hour to check-in because my dumb ass was so lost. I'm super glad the lady that gave me my wristband let me tighten it myself just so I could take it off freely between the three days. I also went to the merchandise pick-up and got my two fromis_9 slogans and a loona slogan. I ran over to the izone fanclub meeting right after.
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There were a ton wizones there and they played three rounds of games through kahoot guessing these random ass facts I don't even think a hardcore wizone would know. We then did the Violetta and La Via En Rose fanchants and it ended there. After that I walked out with Nick and Danny and we went to the mob so they could try buying their izone and itzy hi-touches.
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So the mob in LA was batshit insane and the hi-touches were marked up SOOO much higher than I ever would have guessed. An A1 pack is $170 and it comes with one hi-touch, two audiences, and a red carpet pass (ignore the red carpet pass I don't think anyone cares about that). Stray Kids/Ateez hi-touches were easily going for $300, and I heard someone got really desperate and dropped $700 for her Ateez hi-touch. Out of the nine hi-touches that happened (should have been ten but rip Chung Ha) my feel for the prices went something along the lines of (+ their average price from what I saw)
Stray Kids ($350) > Ateez ($300) >> Izone ($200) >>> Itzy ($150) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SF9/Mamamoo ($100) >>>>>>>> Momoland ($75) >>>>> N.Flying ($50) >>>>>>>>>>> Verivery ($40)
Yeah people are insane. And with the audiences I'm pretty sure you have a solid 7/9 chance to make a huge profit. If you posted in the Facebook group and did the "dm me your best offer" I'm pretty sure you'd be able to sell your Stray Kids hi-touch for $600+. People were even buying Stray kids audiences for $100 like are you serious...
The supply and demand was also super polarized. We waited for almost an hour and not even a single person had an itzy/izone hi-touch for sale, yet there were probably at least 10 people willing to drop a nontrivial amount of money for anyone that came up. If you're willing to pay this much money to touch a few groups, diamond doesn't sound that bad anymore (all-access hi-touch, plat only gets 2).
I stood around and talked until like 2:30 until making my way to the fromis_9 fanclub meet. I think loona was at star square at the time so the turn out was even smaller than New York imo.
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(decorating the stage with my signs)
We played two kahoot games and I actually won the guess the song after only hearing one second of it. There were nine questions and I legitimately knew seven of them, but they used the same questions in New York so I knew the last two were Youth (Hayoung's cover)/From Now (Jiwon's and Nakyung's OST song). That won me a medium size KCON LA 2019 shirt, but that was just a consolation prize. fromis_9 hadn't even left Korea yet so there's no way we could get signed merch. We then did the Love Bomb/Fun/Love Rum Pum Pum fanchants. I didn't go that hard on Love Bomb, but MVP Danny helped me hold my phone so I went full blast on Fun and Love RumPumPum. Ngl the Love RumPumPum fanchant was literally impossible unless you already knew it because the timings are so strange and no one can actually read romanized Korean fast enough (the subs didn't have the hangul). I'm kinda the fanchant guy so I really wanted to drop all that Korean practice at this opportunity.
After the fanclub meet, I finally got a chance to walk around the convention. This was my first KCON LA, but I heard in previous rooms they only got half the expo hall but this year they got the whole thing. Everything was spaced out pretty well and there was a ton more to do than in NY.
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I walked around for a bit, took some pictures, and then sat on a bench to hang out with Danny for like an hour since all the others went to go line up for KCON Rookies (there had to have been at least 1.5k people waiting).
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(that’s half the line)
All memes aside, it's nice to actually get to know some of the back stories behind some other friends. Danny and I realized we both ulted GFriend and fromis_9 and how willing we are to just throw money at both groups lol. I gave the extra fromis_9 slogan towel I ordered to my new friend and he left for Rookies since he was plat and had priority entrance. I made one more lap around the convention, said hi to an old friend, and then called an Uber to get dinner with my sister and two college friends.
It was a pretty fancy Japanese dinner that was definitely not worth it, but we got Salt and Straw after and that was awesome.
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We walked back to the apartment of two other people that joined us, and I left for Dan Sung Sa to meet up with the rest of the group after Rookies. I finally got to see my buddy Alex (he got diamond so he was busy milking the perks the whole day), ate some good food, and I drank a bit more than I should have.
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After dinner #2, I ubered back to Cyn's and planned to wake up fairly early to go to LAX.
Saturday August 17th
fromis_9 took off on their flight from Incheon at around 8pm our time, so they would be landing at around 10am PDT. The izone artist engagement happened to be at around the same time (11am, a ton of people in the group at hard core wizones), so only a few of us decided to go to LAX. I took an Uber to the airbnb and then we all went to LAX together. We also heard Stray Kids, Mamamoo, and Verivery were on the same flight, so we'd coincidentally get to see a ton of idols. At the airport, I met some fans from other discord servers and we just sat around waiting for them to come out of the special exit.
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A lot of the group went on Thursday to greet loona/izone at the airport, but a ton of them didn't even get to see them because they were waiting at the wrong exit. I kinda piggy-backed off their experience and made sure I was sitting at the right one.
After standing around for quite a bit, everyone formed two huge lines waiting to greet them. I wanted to stick out my hand for them to touch, hold up my Jiheon sign, and try recording it at the same time, but I only have two hands. I ended up placing my phone in front of the Jiheon sign and keeping my right hand free. They walked out super fast, but Jiheon pointed at me and laughed at my sign. It really only lasted 10 seconds, and I felt pretty mission-accomplished knowing Jiheon saw my sign at least once. Jiwon lead the line and I keep forgetting how smol she is. (I’ll post the video I got eventually).
The next artist that came out was Stray Kids, and they were super nice and waved at us. All hell broke loose When Mamamoo came out like I'm genuinely surprised the fans there were that crazy. First of all, they are SOOOOOOOOOOO short. I've seen pictures of Mamamoo standing next to GFriend and while they all tease Eunha for being 5'4", she's still taller then Solar/Moonbyul/Hwasa. The fans chased after the van and started screaming Mamamoo for a few minutes before dispersing. At this point, most people left, but out of no where, N.Flying also exited the airport. Ngl, I thought it was gonna be Verivery but when I only saw four members I made the connection. I was looking at the footage I recorded of fromis_9 that I couldn't record N.Flying coming out fast enough. There was nothing left to do so my group just ubered back to the LA Convention Center. Tbh at this point, this trip was already better than all of KCON NY minus what happened at Washington Square Park because I already got to see fromis_9 in person. They made 0 appearances at the NY convention and the day I went to the airport, they weren't even flying out so at this point, the trip was already worth it.
It was around 12:30pm when we got to the convention, and I was with all three fromis_9 fanclub moderators, so they got to go through the staff entrance while I wanted in the pleb line. Once I made it into the convention center, I rushed over to the KCON beauty station where loona was having a meet and greet (started at 12:40pm). There were SO many people and even on my tiptoes I could only catch the top half of the screen, though if I held my phone up I could record what was happening.
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A few people moved out of the way and I could kinda see Haseul's and Choerry's faces but there were so many orbits. I couldn't really hear what they were saying, but every time Chuu said something, the orbits there were roaring (she is undisputedly the most popular member among the crowd). They ended up just talking about some beauty tips and how they do their makeup, so I kinda knew what to expect when fromis_9 were coming tomorrow.
The meet and greet ended on time around 1:10pm, and at this point, I was starving since I hadn't eaten the whole day. We were gonna go to the food trucks to get food but we got the inside scoop that izone was going to be making an appearance at the Olive Young booth. A huge wall of people were already forming, but I decided to wait on the left wing where there were still cameras but much fewer people. I ended up recording the entire segment. We were trying to not be obnoxious yelling their names when they were doing something, but the entire crowd would call a member in unison until they did a little dance for us. Chaeyeon really won my heart with her fan service and Yujin gave us a ton of attention too. The cameraman there actually told us to cheer for them louder so he could record us LOL.
It was around 2pm now, so we waited around for more people to gather and we all headed to the food trucks. The street food they had was obviously overpriced but pretty good compared to the normal food they'd have in the convention center.
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There was nothing interesting left on the schedule for me, so I just walked around the convention center looking for something to do. I heard some screaming around the KCON stage, so I sprinted over and caught N.Flying's appearance. They were presenting the winner of some Cover Star K award, but the more interesting part is that they sang a snippet of Rooftop for us.
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Kyla tweeted that she'd be at the convention center, so a group of us walked around to places we thought she'd be at, but we didn't end up finding her. I walked back into the convention center and saw another mob at the Star Square, and it turns out N.Flying was reading off horoscopes and taking pictures with the fans that won their meet and greet.
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After that, I stood with James in the middle of the convention, and literally just so happened to bump into a group of maybe 30 people trying to meet up with Kyla (they nominated one person to DM Kyla on twitter). I followed this group around and we ended up moving to three different places until we found a spot that was fairly empty. I had a feeling Kyla was coming soon, and I made sure James and I were standing closest to the entrance. Kyla appeared with some other friends and when we formed a line get a picture with her, James and I were in front lol (I went second). She recorded a video message to a fan's friend that couldn't be there, and I told her she was amazing and such an inspirational figure in the kpop community. I got a hug and a picture with her.
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It was like 5pm now, so I broke off from everyone and sat at a table to drink some water, recharge, and plan out my schedule for the rest of the day and for tomorrow. At around 6pm, I walked over to my friend's hotel a block away from the Staples Center, and we sat around just hanging out before the concert. Nick showed me his izone lightsticks (yes multiple, apparently wizones customize a lightstick for each member) and Brian showed me his entire kpop photocard set (there were so many holy shit). Since we were all seated tonight, we just left the hotel at around 7:15pm and got in around 7:30pm for the preshow. The free ticket I got was part of a set of three, so the two people I was sitting with were also friends of the person I knew.
The view I got was also amazing, I'm surprised at how good P2 was (I would have taken this over P1 because P1 is kinda lower than I'd like). I'm not really invested into AB6IX, Ateez, or SF9, but when Loona came out I lost my shit oh my god they were amazing. AND I FINALLY GOT TO SEE LOVE PAINT LIVE. One of my favorite songs of all time performed by OT5. I was kinda sad Nu'est did real love true love instead of look because look is my #2 song by them, but I guess they couldn't repeat the set list from NY.
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After the concert, we split up into Ubers and went to BCD, which had a ridiculous wait because we were definitely not the only ones going after the concert. Everyone was starving and tired, but I'm pretty sure izone and loona knocked us all off our feet. 
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We planned to line up for P1 GA at around 8am and all parted ways. I was already super tired at this point, but Saturday was supposed to be the easy day compared to Sunday when fromis_9 would be appearing
Saturday August 17th
I got up around 7:30am and ubered back to the convention center, though I was late as hell and had sprint to join my friends standing in line. Actually I was so late that I had to make up some excuse of going to the bathroom and returning to my "spot in line". I got 596, but my friends that did GA yesterday said they had 400 and still got an amazing view.
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I wasn't too worried about it since I wasn't going to camp out overnight and I had buddies that knew what they were doing. It was around 9:45am, so David gave me his convention pass so I could get staff entry into the convention (he was going back to his airbnb to grab some stuff).
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We had enough passes to go around so I think five of us entered the convention early and went to the KCON message board to write some nice things. I wrote something super similar to what I did in NY, and then wrote something for GFriend somewhere else.
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(shoutout to Anh for spelling Gyuri’s name wrong)
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While I was finishing up my message for GFriend, I saw people sprinting into the convention center and Jordan started screaming my name to come over. I followed my instinct and sprinted towards him, and we got front row seats at the KCON beauty station. There were around 20 other people sprinting too, and I was actually pushed to the side by two girls that got there first. I had no idea people would come three and a half hours for fromis_9, but I think it's because people figured out how to do it with Loona. I befriended the two girls next to me since we'd be stuck together for a while, and I realized they were angels.
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I even got to push down other people's stuff so I could make room for Danny and Alex to sit front row with my group since they were plat/dia but didn't get early convention access. At around 11:30am, I left with Stephen to go get food, and I really got to know his back story too. It was mainly just sitting around until 1:30pm when fromis_9 would make their appearance. During our wait, we all signed Alex's sign which he was going to try and hand off to a member during the concert.
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To fromis_9,
Thank you so much for coming to KCON LA 2019. Starting from last year until now, listening to fromis_9′s songs or watching your videos have given me a lot of strength. That motivated me to teach myself a new language and inspired me to always be a better person than I was yesterday. I’ll always cheer you on and love you. Shall we be together until the very end? Fighting!
- American Flover Jonathan
1:30pm eventually came around and fromis_9 made their appearance. I recorded the entire segment here, front row and dead center :). I was shaking before they came out, but if I hadn't seen them as close as I did in Washington Square Park, I think I would have been shaking even more. Saerom walked out and waved at me, Jiheon walked out, saw my sign, gave me the same reaction as she did at the airport (lol), and I was able to get waves from all the other members (Nakyung, Jiwon, Jisun, Gyuri, and Chaeyoung for sure). Throughout their entire appearance, we were calling them by their nicknames during their downtime, flashing hearts at them, smiling, and these nine angels did the same back to us. At the end of the performance, I jumped out of my seat seeing if I could hi-five them, but Nakyung waved at me, Saerom waved at me, I asked Hayoung if she remembered me from New York (she did!), and told Gyuri she was beautiful for Ice (and for me because she's gorgeous). Honestly, the convention could have ended there, but we still had a concert to go afterwards. It was around 2pm and people wanted to go get food, but we heard Mamamoo was going to make an appearance at 2:50pm so we stood around waiting for 50 minutes. They showed up, I once again confirmed they were super short and everyone left to go get something to eat. I already ate earlier and had no plans of eating for the concert, so I actually broke off from the group to go to a panel.
I was definitely chasing idols this weekend but there were some panels I was interested in. The one I wanted to go to at 3:30pm was the "how to study/work in Korea", so I recharged by myself for around 30 minutes and went there.
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I asked the presenter a ton of questions (she was super nice), and then left a bit early to join a few others at the Verivery fanclub meeting (we had nothing else to do).
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I tried meeting up with the guy which I reserved a banner from, but I couldn't find him around the convention anywhere. It was around 5pm, so I left the convention once and for all and went back to my friend's hotel to wait until the GA concert queue up at 6pm. At this point, I was tired as hell and somewhat scared my phone battery was gonna die because I was at 44% (I used 20% to record the 25 min fromis_9 appearance). Luckily he had a charger so I got up to 55%. We just chatted about how excited for the concert we were and where we were gonna sprint to.
At 5:50pm, we left to the GA entrance and tried cutting in line, but got caught because some girl snitched on us lol. The first security guard told us "we should go to the right place in line" but just left, but then his supervisor was the actual person that kicked us out. We had to go through security and get three additional wristbands before we could actually start sprinting toward the stage. The 10/10 spot we wanted was taken, but I was really happy with the final spot we got because any closer and I wouldn't be able to see over the stage.
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The concert was absolutely amazing. I was familiar with every group that was performing so there was almost no song where I wasn't super hype. Miroh lived up to the hype and I think the entire stadium was shaking and yelled stray kids together. I did the entire Fun! and Love RumPumPum fanchants so loud people in the pit pushed my forward to the barricade and the guy next to me offered to hold my camera so I could finish off Love Bomb (my recording). Seventeen was also insane, we got Good To Me (I don't think non carats knew the song that well but I lost my shit because I loved it way more than Home), Adore U, Clap, and the infamous Aju Nice (which was insane). I think the third encore was a little unnecessary, but we were all losing our shit because it was so fun.
During the encore stage, I was waving my Jiheon sign, and Chaeyoung walked over and saw it. She had to tap Megan for a solid 5 seconds before she also noticed but I was already super content because they had seen my signs three times (LAX, at beauty, and at the concert). Once we gathered together, we all jumped on Alex because Jiheon had taken the sign we all wrote messages on and then took a group picture.
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We were all super shook outside, and I was kinda ready for my KCON experience to end here so even if they wanted to go out to eat, I was ready to Uber back to Cyn's and call it a night. I said my final good-byes to everyone (everyone got a super tight hug) and headed back.
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I can’t believe I got to see fromis_9 twice in a year. I’ve been a pretty big fan of kpop since 2015, but I’ve never materialized this hobby until fromis_9 summoned me to KCON NY a month ago, and there was no way I wasn’t going to LA to see them again. I already had some regrets not going to LA last year and seeing how much fun they had in their behind the scenes videos, so I wanted a story of my own. So I guess my identity as a fan is really as a fromis_9/GFriend ult now, but I still refuse to pick a bias (I was probably asked like thirty times who my fromis_9/GFriend biases were this weekend...). They really are angels, and while it wasn’t perfect (no artist engagement, messed up some recording etc.), I’m still so happy I got to meet them.
On a side note, loona is amazing. They were so sweet in person, their performances were incredible, and that’s really a reminder that I need to go through the rest of their pre-debut tracks I haven’t listened to yet.
I also did some math and I’m pretty sure if you like the groups on both days, platinum is definitely worth it (diamond if your thing is touching all the artists, but it’s hard to get your full money’s worth giving how fast everything goes and how bad KCON is at announcing everything).
Platinum was 1121.48, and if the regular GA is 462.98, the convention ticket is 36, KCON rookies is 45, the random swag they give you is 50, and the hi-touches are around 141.50 on average (use the 9 numbers I quoted above with Chung Ha’s being $50), then that only leaves 294.50 on the cost of the ticket. That buys you a dedicated pit so you don’t have to camp out overnight, getting to cut all the AE/entrance lines, and getting into the convention early (probably more worth it for NY since it’s two days and stuff actually happens Saturday, getting in Friday for LA doesn’t matter much, but then you could just have the staff pass). To be honest, the peace of mind that buys already sounds worth it to me, so if the line up is good enough, I’d definitely go for plat if I could get my hands on it.
We also realized we had been spelling 플로버 and 프로버 the entire time (confused the spelling with 프로미 which doesn’t have the extra ㄹ). I realized what I wrote for fromis_9 in NY has a typo and I made the same typo in LA. I fixed it on the sign before Alex handed it off, but I take that as a humble reminder that I’m still a foreigner and need to study a lot harder. :’) All kpop memes aside, some people are here just to chase after idols, but in addition to being a fan, I’ve been trying to embrace a new culture and language along the way. I’m still working really hard on vocabulary right now, and I still have every intention to pass TOPIK 5 by next year.
I’m also so glad I went to KCON LA with a group. Going alone would have been a terrible idea because you’d have no inside scoop on what’s going on, no one to switch off spots with, and no one to hang out with during all the down time. I’m really thankful to how much the discord group helped me out this weekend. I’m sure we’ll meet again.
To close it off, here are some of my favorite pictures with the friends I went with
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kinetic-elaboration · 5 years ago
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September 1: Vegas Notes
Okay, I’m going to try to write up some notes on my vacation, mostly just the straight events of what I did and when, because I don’t want to forget anything but I also don’t want to spend five hours writing this. Plus I wrote down some emotional impressions yesterday and during the trip itself.
 Wednesday
Mostly a traveling day, but because the time change worked very much in my favor, also sort of a ‘first’ day in Vegas itself. I left my apartment at about 7:30 and flew out of Richmond at about 9:03. The Richmond airport isn’t large and I’ve flown out of it before so that was quite easy. Just had time for a chai tea latte before I headed off. I know it’s weird to be this person but I actually really like air travel, and at this point I’m even inured to stuff going wrong, so I was having a good old time even then. Even though the aisles are very narrow and the seats are small. My flights weren’t too long anyway. And for ONCE everything was even better than on time. Three of my four flights arrived early and so did my mom’s, and even my last flight, which left 20 minutes late, only arrived 5 minutes late, which is to say it was also ‘early’ except for the delay in take-off.
Anyway my first flight was to Charlotte and only about an hour, and then in Charlotte I had, like, NO TIME (from talking to a co-worker who’s also going West through CLT and from looking around online, I’ve gotten the impression American does this a lot, gives people a 45 minute layover in Charlotte), but the two gates weren’t too far from each other—farther than I’d though they would be because I had to go from C to B and my gate at B was all the way at the end—and I got in early. So I rushed but didn’t run, got there with ten minutes to boarding, and still had time to use the restroom and wait around for 10-15 minutes before my group actually boarded. So in fact it worked out well.
My second flight was almost 4 hours, which I didn’t think would be long, but it kind of was. They showed Avengers: Endgame and although at first I was just watching and listening to my own music, after a little bit, I decided to plug in and listen because I thought it would make the time go faster to actually watch a narrative. And luckily that monster is 3 hours long so that was most of the flight. I was also starving by this time, so I did in fact get an expensive sandwich on the plane, the eating of which also took up time.
I got in early, at about 1pm, but I had to wait for my mom to get in a couple hours later. I flew into D gate and it took me about an hour of wandering around just to figure out that D was a little satellite collection of stores, gates, and Starbucks, and I needed to take a shuttle to the gates where my mom would be. Once I did that, I saw her flight was early and I had less than two hours of waiting left. So I found a Starbucks with a seating area (there were only A BILLION of them, a fucking Starbucks in every aisle, more Starbucks than DC even) and had a coffee and a yogurt parfait and wrote a bit, which was fine, even though Starbucks is overrated (literally just sugar ice water after five minutes????? Why??????????????? Why is this $500 I could make this myself?). Then I went to my mom’s gate, which was in a nice place with a good view, and read and listened to music until she arrived.
We found the taxi stand, got one right away, and drove to our hotel. It is SO CLOSE. I guess because you can only carve out so much space in the desert. And literally it’s like desert all around and then Vegas, that’s it, a big entertainment center in the middle of nowhere. The landscape was gorgeous and actually the whole time I was traveling across the country I felt very… moved. And then getting into Vegas itself is bizarre because it’s literally a few very famous, very large building just rising up out of nothing.
Anyway, I agonized a lot about hotels but ended up going with an off-strip, non-resort hotel and this was a very good choice. I was pleased. For the same base price as a resort, and without resort or wi-fi fees, we got a whole fucking suite, almost as big as my apartment, with a living room, kitchen, large closet, bathroom with two doors, etc. Plus a fridge and a microwave and a dishwasher and all that. It felt like being at home right away. We spent a couple hours there, catching up, and then went out to eat at about 7 or so. We’re night people and so this felt, for us, like the sort of ‘late’ dinner we naturally want to have but know we shouldn’t—for us, a 10:30 dinner, but in reality, because of the time difference, a normal person hour dinner. Our hotel was right across from Planet Hollywood, so that was our base. I must say I also liked it right away. The fake buildings and fake sky. Even the mall part spoke to me in a strange way given that usually I find malls very stressful. We ended up eating at an Italian restaurant, which seated us in the fake outside part. The food was great, and the salad was probably the best I’ve ever had in my life. After that, we walked around a little and got our bearings, and then went home, showered, got ready for bed. I was exhausted, which was a great feeling: in my head, it was 1 am, and I’d been up since 6, so obviously I was tired, but the clock only said 10, so I felt very responsible. (It was more like 11 by the time I actually went to sleep but still.)
 Thursday
Got up at 7 all on my own, which also felt great—of course it was 10 am in my brain. Life hack for night owls: travel west! We didn’t actually leave until about 9 though, and then we had a big breakfast/brunch at the Café Hollywood in PH, where our server very nicely let us substitute like half the menu for the breakfast we wanted. They also gave me honey with my tea, which, even though I don’t like honey, was an unexpected gesture that rather tickled me. We wandered the resort some more, looked at stores and so on, then went back to the hotel. We were planning on going to the pool but it was in the sun at the time, so we rested for an hour, and then went out and floated for a time. It felt very surreal to me to be floating in a pool in Las Vegas. Just lovely.
After the pool and quick showers, we went out to dinner, at a Mexican place, which I liked although it was a lot of food—I had an appetizer and it was way more than I could eat. Then back to the hotel to rest a little. By this time, we were starting to feel that fatigue that comes with allowing oneself any time to think while traveling. Then my friend B randomly texted me, and I got into a conversation with him, which was hilarious as he did not know I was in Vegas. Very fun to answer a question “how are you” with “I’m in las vegas.”
After that was the show, from which we crawled home at maybe 11, and I guess I must have been awake for some amount of time after but I have no recollection.
 Friday
We had breakfast at the Café Hollywood again and then did some souvenir shopping. Dropped our stuff off at the hotel, and then went out adventuring. Basically I mean walking down the strip. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Café, where I had the best strawberry basil lemonade ever, and then walked down to NYNY Casino. Walked through the Park, with the metal trees, and into the casino itself, which was absolutely the most surreal thing. Like… the fake buildings do not look or feel like NYC but what do they feel like? A movie set, kinda… a stage… an adult Disney World… so fake and yet so pleasing. Street signs with famous street names just placed next to each other randomly, Greenwich next to Broadway and Broadway does not look like Broadway... and then in the middle of it all, a casino just like BAM out of nowhere. I liked it a lot but I’m not sad I didn’t stay there. I liked having my little home to come back to.
We wanted to see what the Paris one looked like, to compare, plus it was on our way back, but at this point walking back through the hottest part of the day was just…exhausting. We stopped in briefly in the Cosmopolitan just to cool down—it was very black and shiny and full of crystals. Paris itself was underwhelming; it didn’t feel like Paris, obviously, but it also didn’t feel like a Paris replica either. Maybe the comparatively interesting parts were just somewhere else, we seemed to basically be in the casino, but we were tired, so we just left and headed to the hotel at this point. We walked through PH first and I got a maple ice latte, yogurt, and banana muffin, all delicious.
After some rest, we went out again for dinner, even though we weren’t really hungry, but neither were we not hungry. For me at least, I felt like I should eat, more than that I wanted to eat. If/when I do Vegas again, I’ll do two meals a day—it works out much better. Mostly what I wanted was a huge bowl of berries tbh. I ended up with a spinach and berry salad, which was almost the same. We went outside to watch the Bellagio fountain show from the steps of PH. I kind of wanted to be closer but the streets in Vegas are so wide and we would have had to cross two to get there, and we didn’t know if we would make it. But our view was okay regardless. We also saw several groups of showgirls walking across the street, some of them in sparkly sneakers, which was adorable.
We got back to the hotel just past 9, when most people’s Friday night was just beginning. We went back to the pool, to experience it after dark, which was weird but also very relaxing. At some points, we were the only ones there. I floated for a bit with my eyes closed and felt the most peaceful I have felt in years.
At quarter to ten, we went back upstairs to shower and pack. It was sort of a let down but also I just couldn’t think about it. I didn’t want to leave and there were things I hadn’t done that I had wanted to do but I also felt like I would need at least 2 more days to do them, because if I stayed another day I wouldn’t leave the hotel except possibly to float in the pool, I was just too exhausted. We had to get up at 4:30 for my flight, and we both got to sleep fairly late, and I at least did not sleep well at all. I kept having nightmares, none of which I can remember, and randomly waking up.
 Saturday
My memories of the morning are very hazy… I had to get dressed, pack a few last minute things, stuff a granola bar in my mouth to say that I had eaten. Our taxi came up very fast after the hotel called it—literally, I was still rolling my suitcase down the incline when it was parking at the steps. And the drive to the airport was short. My mom and I said goodbye outside of security, and then I had to take a shuttle to my gates because I was, again, leaving at D. But I found everything okay and had plenty of time.
On the way back, I had a not-quite-three hour flight to Dallas first, and then a not-quite-three-hour trip to Richmond, with a 2.5 hour layover in between. So I lost two hours, and then another hour. The flights were both fine, and the layover was quite easy because the Dallas airport is very nice. A lot of signs and gigantic touchscreen information kiosk things, which told me where all the food was. So I knew right away that if I headed toward my gate, I would run into a French café first (where I had a delicious pesto pasta and chicken dish) and then a Dunkin Donuts (for some a GOOD latte and a donut, to go), and then to my gate, where I settled down with my magazine and coffee. By the time I was done it was almost time to board. We ended up sitting around for a while longer than I had wanted, and the plane got quite hot and stuffy, but once we were in the air, it was fine. I listened to music and read my magazine, and finished the article just as we were landing. My co-worker picked me up outside and drove me home, and I got back around 7 I think.
Today I have truly just been sleeping and thinking about the trip. I haven’t event unpacked yet. I’m so glad I have tomorrow off, too, because I truly couldn’t stand to go to work tomorrow, but I do think, perhaps too optimistically, that I will feel normal, or mostly normal, tomorrow.
I already miss this vacation so much but I’m so glad I went, it was honestly just about perfect, and I do feel refreshed, as a vacation should make one feel.
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secondscratch17 · 5 years ago
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weird asks that say a lot
1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans? All of them. I drink tea in coffee mugs and teacups. I love drinking wine. I like that I can recycle soda cans
2. chocolate bars or lollipops? chocolate
3. bubblegum or cotton candy? bubblegum if the flavor lasts long
4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you? the stereotypical quiet, obedient, smart, goody-two-shoes kid
5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups? somehow I like the aesthetic from soda bottles
6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear? hONESTLY I can dO ALL OF THE ABOVE in the span of days. Went to work one day wearing beach-y clothes for spirit day. Returned to pick up a friend to go see a metal concert in VERY metal concert attire. I own short, sweet summery floral dresses and gothic dresses, too
7. earbuds or headphones? Earbuds, they allow me to be more mobile
8. movies or tv shows? movies
9. favorite smell in the summer? Fresh cut grass. The smell of the ocean. Churros at the fair
10. game you were best at in p.e.? Soccer, obvs. Somehow would always last until the end of the game in dodgeball tho because I was small and no one could hit me
11. what you have for breakfast on an average day? Cereal
12. name of your favorite playlist? Don’t have one. 
13. lanyard or key ring?  Key ring
14. favorite non-chocolate candy? Smarties!
15. favorite book you read as a school assignment? I remember re-reading Holes over and over just to make my book reports easier since I knew the boo so well. The Kite Runner was phenomenal and unforgettable
16. most comfortable position to sit in? idk?? I really can’t sit still in one position for too long
17. most frequently worn pair of shoes? Currently my hiking/outdoorsy shoes. Also my black Nikes that I play pickup in and wear to the gym
18. ideal weather? Sunny and 65. Maybe one or two clouds. The tiniest of faint breezes to cool me down. 
19. sleeping position? Any I can get into and fall asleep in quickly
20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)? Laptop. I can edit easier.
21. obsession from childhood? Probably any cheesy show on Animal Planet. The Most Extreme, Meerkat Manor, Big Cat Diary, etc
22. role model? I have a lot of different ones. Role models for athletics, role models for career and ambition choices, artistic role models...can’t pick just one
23. strange habits? Spelling words with the tips of my fingers
24. favorite crystal? Aquamarine
25. first song you remember hearing? how in the FUCK am I supposed to remember that. I do remember my parents playing The Beatles for me when I was a toddler
26. favorite activity to do in warm weather? Soccer! (futbol) 
27. favorite activity to do in cold weather? Sledding, making hot chocolate, or playing indoor soccer haha
28. five songs to describe you? Who I am Hates Who I’ve Been by Relient K, Proud by the Icarus Account, Land of the Dead by Voltaire, Always Leaving by Mayday Parade, Wavin’ Flag by K’naan
29. best way to bond with you? Listening to my favorite music with me or watching the US Women’s national soccer team with me
30. places that you find sacred? Belfast, Maine. Gold Camp Road. Newport Beach
31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? Tight jeans with holes in them, fishnets, and a crop top
32. top five favorite vines? Vines still exist?
33. most used phrase in your phone? “tbh”
34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? O O O O REILLYYYYYY’S autoparts
35. average time you fall asleep? around 9
36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing? I don’t remember
37. suitcase or duffel bag? suitcase
38. lemonade or tea? Is it warm outside? Lemonade. Is it cold outside? tea
39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie? PIE!
40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school? Zombie hunting or my professor cutting lab a half an hour short to go look at some Cedar waxwings
41. last person you texted? I think it was Robert
42. jacket pockets or pants pockets? Pants pockets
43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket? Jean jacket
44. favorite scent for soap? Anything fruity
45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero? Fantasy. It depends on how good the sci-fi movie is
46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in? as little as possible lmao
47. favorite type of cheese? Parmesan
48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be? A raspberry
49. what saying or quote do you live by? A great amount of good is always evened out by a great amount of bad
50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? Honestly Daniel knew how to make me laugh better than anyone. There are a couple of memories with him that I don’t remember entirely but I know that I ended up cry-laughing so hard that my head hurt. There was a time during my orientation camping trip when a bunch of us were playing ultimate Frisbee, and Jesse went to catch the frisbee in the most perfectly lateral horizontal position and the expression of focus just frozen on his face had me laughing so hard that I couldn’t see
51. current stresses? Sam. Jobs that I can apply for starting in May of 2020. Sam. STUDENT LOANS. Bills. Car payments. Wondering how fucked up my car has gotten since I’ve lived here on this ranch. Sam. 
52. favorite font? Anything that looks fancy and sarcastic
53. what is the current state of your hands? Need to be washed. 
54. what did you learn from your first job? The world is cruel and bad things happen without warning
55. favorite fairy tale? Uh....the Pied Piper?
56. favorite tradition? when my family visits for Christmas, eating lots of traditional Chinese food with them
57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome? Heartbreak. Staggering rejection from the field I majored in. Probably a lot of body image struggles in there as well
58. four talents you’re proud of having? Writing, futbol, adaptability, flexibility. I think the last two are just traits but I don’t have a lot of talents I can invest in
59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be? Let’s make like a baby and head out
60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be? No idea
61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.? Though we are far apart, our spirits share the same earth and the same sky
62. seven characters you relate to? Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, Data from The Goonies, Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter, Eliza Thornberry from The Wild Thornberries, Raven from Teen Titans, Isaac from Teen Wolf
63. five songs that would play in your club? ANYTHING by Within Temptation. I wouldn’t be a good club owner. The catchy and pump-up songs from Hamilton.
64. favorite website from your childhood? Wasn’t allowed much computer time. I was allowed to visit educational sites and occasionally the Disney site
65. any permanent scars? some self-harm scars. Probably the one on my right leg that I got from CO parks and wildlife. I stepped on a barbed wire fence that had been plastered to the ground, but the metal sprang up when I stepped on it and ripped through my skin
66. favorite flower(s)? Plumerias
67. good luck charms? I’m not sure if I have any. 
68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried? earthworm flavor from Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans
69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned? uh...Something about not being able to spray silly string on Halloween in Hollywood
70. left or right handed? Right handed
71. least favorite pattern? wtf
72. worst subject? anything math related, I really struggled in GIS.
73. favorite weird flavor combo? I...have no idea
74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen? 2. I’m a baby
75. when did you lose your first tooth? I was 6
76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)? chips and fries
77. best plant to grow on a windowsill? a succulent
78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store? sushi from a grocery store, the quality can surprise you
79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo? Both are terrible
80. earth tones or jewel tones? Jewel tones
81. fireflies or lightning bugs? I hate bugs
82. pc or console? PC
83. writing or drawing? Writing, I’m terrible at drawing
84. podcasts or talk radio? Not into either
84. barbie or polly pocket? I had both
85. fairy tales or mythology? God!!!! Like hearing about both but mythology I guess
86. cookies or cupcakes? Cookies
87. your greatest fear? Being forgotten. I also have a terrible, horrible fear of drowning
88. your greatest wish? In the times I’ve struggled I often find myself wishing for peace. Not only for myself, but for others to easily feel peace with everyone else
89. who would you put before everyone else? Sierra
90. luckiest mistake? Mistake? There’s been lucky accidents but I don’t think any of my mistakes have been lucky
91. boxes or bags? It depends on what I’m packing and where I’m going
92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights? Sunlight
93. nicknames? T, Tear, Tear-tear, T-Dog, Miss T..a few of my recent favorites from soccer: Ronaldinha and Thierry Chun
94. favorite season? Fall! Shit, especially in New England
95. favorite app on your phone? I don’t know
96. desktop background? A picture of a simple dock leading out to sea
97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized? My parents’ and brother’s
98. favorite historical era? Victorian era, for sure
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steve0discusses · 6 years ago
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Yugioh S2 Ep 41: It’s Mai’s Turn to Get Electrocuted
Hey guys, welcome to the Christmas Break.
It’s TV watching season, so lets watch some TV and over-analyze a 20 yo kid’s show, you in?
Odion, after suffering from a lightning strike and getting impaled by many pieces of that fake millennium rod he was holding gets dropped off in the only room on this blimp that has sheets. He also had the added shock of witnessing his brother morph into a somewhat evil-er dude with saiyan hair, which I dunno, I’d want to take a nap too, that’s a lot to deal with.
(And thanks to some reader input, turns out this Marik isn’t so much a ghost situation so much. I mean, I guess it’s more of a Season Zero --this is your deep down scary personality taking over-- type thing but it’s not like I really finished Season Zero so...We’re just rolling with it.)
Glad we have an actual hospital wing--confused as to why Bakura isn’t here.
But I guess lightning strike is slightly worse than having a bleeding stab wound for 12 hours. I mean I’m no doctor, maybe it is? Anyway, Odion is hooked up to all sorts of computers and life support although there aren’t any cords attached to him anywhere on his body. Not even one piss-yellow IV bag.
Check out the size of that IBM. This is what a widescreen used to look like.
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The rest of the Yuge Crew are here although I’m pretty sure that’s not how hospitals work. Pretty sure you have to be related to drop on in directly after being put in intensive care but like, they are on a blimp so I guess it’s different up there. But also, this guy has abducted them once already and just tried to kill Joey for the second time, and now they are like “We’re basically on BFF family terms with this Odion guy, lets visit that bedside.”
Although, mind you, his real family is Marik and Ishizu, both of which have never said aloud that Odion is their brother. This family is sort of bad at life, TBH.
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Since we’re barrelling right into a Mai arc we have to confront one of her 2 big Mai character conflicts--which is either “this is why I don’t get married” or “OMG I am going to die forever alone.” Which is interesting, because last time we hung out with her, we did whatever we could to keep her independent, while in this episode Mai mourns that being independent is the ultimate curse. Girl wants whatever she doesn’t have, pretty much.
Ah, Miss independent, never thought I’d get that song stuck in my head again. Thanks, Mai. Except in this version, instead of falling in love, Mai just makes weird friendships with jail bait teenagers. Why can’t she make friends with like, Roland? He’s her age. Or maybe this nice doctor? But whatever, age is meaningless on this show.
(read more under the cut)
Anyway, Joey has decided to tell us all about that dream he had but leaves out the parts where he dropped everything he owns, and then knocked himself over a desk onto his face, and then in the same dream Kaiba kinda walked in from off screen, dunked on him, and then walked directly off screen again.
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Mai is deeply touched.
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And then, because she is Mai, gets extremely offended immediately afterward.
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I can keep hoping it’ll be Duke Devlin but like...as much as I want him to do more on this show, I really think the only people who remember Duke Devlin at this point are all the animators who were like “HOW many people are in this shot?! Why did we make a season where every scene is a freakin crowd scene!?”
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*I know the shading on her ass was supposed to be attractive but it looks like nasty sweat stains*
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(Also what the hell computer-machinery is supposed to be behind them in this scene?)
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This one time where Joey doth protest too much is the first time we have ever, ever on this show seen Joey act less than vague towards Mai. During the dream episode he blushed, but I thought that was because of Serenity being there for her brother in his dream. I didn’t at all think that was over Mai at the time.
But I guess this is happening now? I mean people kept saying “yes, Joey and Mai will be a thing” and I was like “they better start building up to that because like...nothing is happening.” but this show’s version of building up to that was by just not being vague one single time.
Which in this show is a big deal, I guess. Because shortly after this event, Tea remembers that her character description sheet says “Is bossy AF” with red underline and was like “OMG I totally forgot and it’s been like 20 episodes since I did anything, I gotta hurry” and she just lost her lid.
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I’m regretting more and more that joke I made that TeaxKaiba was way more reasonable than TeaxYugi, because sometimes when Tea goes ham she may as well be wearing a long spiky coat with boots leggings. Tea had two very different personalities way before she ever got possessed by Bakura. Like, Tea is kind of a monster actually, but we rarely get to see it because she gets completely distracted and cries a lot when it just feels like...the other half of her, the half that bit a guy once--like she legit bit a guy on this show--that side of Tea would just never cry over cards. Or cry, period. She sure wasn’t crying when she bit that guy!
This is mostly because I think the writers didn’t know how to write a girl like Tea since she’s a mix of a Season Zero Tea and this more old fashioned-’feminine’ version I think they were trying to turn her into for this series. It’s weird. It’s weird that this group of friends have nothing to say about these very abrupt changes in her behavior. Then again, it took them a while to notice the abrupt changes in Yugi.
Anyway, Joey isn’t done getting harassed by everyone he knows yet.
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We have Marik trapped in a blimp in the sky and the entire Kaiba security force, why are we dueling him anymore? I mean I know why, we are contractually obligated to show lots of card content in this show to sell cards, but at this point I feel like maybe they should drive the blimp over international waters and resort to maritime law. Give Kaiba a gun.
Actually don’t do that, it would be bad. Don’t give Kaiba a gun. Give it to Duke or something, he seems stable enough. He seems like he’d be able to shoot somebody but not everybody, if you know what I mean.
And because it’s the Mai arc, we gotta have Mai duel next. There’s only 3 people left to go against: Ishizu, Kaiba, and Marik. I think. There’s so many people on this show. Tea isn’t playing, right? I mean I really do feel like like I’ve forgotten someone--maybe Shadi? Miho? So many people are on this blimp.
Whatever, I’ll just roll with it, if I forgot someone I’m sure they’ll show up at some point.
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Mai sure is that girlfriend.
Anyway, lets see what Marik’s up to. Ah, he really is visiting his older brother after all.
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That’s right--Marik has to play twice. I mean obvi the first Marik was Odion, but still, it just feels like it’s Marik playing twice.
Also can we please talk about Marik’s cargo pants obsession for a little bit? This arch villain is in CARGO PANTS. Like, they have puffy pockets. He figured out that the hoodie was a bad look, but then he was like “I’ll just cover my tum-tum, and then put on my khaki cargo pants with a sensible belt.”
It just sort of insinuates that Marik only owns cultist robes and cargo pants. Just those two things. Imagine if every pant in your closet was cargo pants. Just imagine with me. You’d go mad, too. Imagine you packed for a trip, a nice vacay on a blimp, and then you opened your luggage and you were like “oops! all cargo pants!” you’d fly home.
Marik looks like he’s going to Casual Khaki’s Friday at the office from about the stomach down, and then stomach up up he’s ready to join piccolo and fuse brains or whatever the hell goes on in Dragonball Z.
And Yugi and his friends are late to Mai’s duel because they are teenagers and also of course they would. This whole season was introduced with Yugi being chronically late to stuff.
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The bathroom joke in this episode is canon, PS. I skipped a Season Zero episode where Tristan went to the loo and so Yugi held his spot in line and it took like 30 minutes before Tristan finally got back. Tristan’s epic poops have apparently been Yugioh canon since the very beginning.
I’m learning so much about the lore.
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Now that Marik no longer has to hide who he is, he has decided that he’ll just use the Shadow Realm willy-nilly now. Although Marik did this without playing any cards at all, it doesn’t seem to register to Seto Kaiba that this is not a hologram. Maybe Kaiba sneezed when Marik summoned it and just assumed he missed a card play or something.
So now, for our gimmick!
Every time we fight in the Shadow Realm it feels like the rules are a little bit different, and Marik decided to make this duel a memory fight.
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The Shadow Realm seems to eat on your greatest insecurities, and for Mai it’s feeling all alone. Not sure how that works once the duel is over--her friends will still be there, so like...she can just get a heads up on the one day they went camping that one time and then boom, friendship rekindled, I think. But for now, this is very scary for everyone involved.
But I mean at least she isn’t a playing card, or being thrown into a graveyard by being played as a card, or being devoured by gloopy blobs, or rapidly dying because of the exposure to the shadow zone. As far as Shadow Realms go this one seems kind of tame.
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But I guess we shall see if somehow losing Tea will effect her story in any way.
Depends on which Tea, in my opinion, but if we’re going for the normal boring one that only cries wellllllll I wouldn’t notice if she were gone, just saying. Now, if it’s the fun Tea that bites people and yanks their ears off their face, well being forced to lose my memories of her is what the writers do to me basically every episode of this show. Let Tea bite more people in the arm. Let that girl rage.
But all that will be for another recap where we can all watch Mai get Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-ed as if a memory wipe hasn’t happened at least once to every single person on this show with the exception of Mokuba. And Mokuba was a paper card for like I want to say about 10 episodes, so...
Anyways, if you just got here I do have these in chrono order from s1 ep1, here is a link.
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aharris00britney · 6 years ago
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ASKS 10
‘less weird hairs,’ pics of me, real life questions, seasons thoughts, kpop stuff, ‘are you a boy’ erhdfnv, tutorial questions, edits, ‘safe’ cc, and umm yeah never go camping in the actual woods ok
Anonymous said: Can you do Less weird hair? I Like how good Mesh You make but all styles look Really Weird I never Would use them. I just want Usual hair? Thanks you            
Firstly, thank you for the meshing compliment, but tbh I think I make pretty simple hair styles? Like I don’t do many crazy things especially recently? Idk, I hope you like some of my hairs and can find something that fits in your liking :/
Anonymous said: Hi I really love you content and I was wondering if you’d ever do a “goddess locs” hairstyle?            
Ok I am gonna be super straight forward about this, making hairstyles like this is really challenging for me. I have tried a ton of times and I just can’t get the meshes to work out the way I like. UV mapping is a pain in the ass, making the hairline match well, and making sure none of the mesh strands are broken is next to impossible for me. Most creators that make hairstyles like this do them from scratch or spend a long time working on them for them to look right. I’m not saying ‘no’ because I am going to try to play around with some seasons meshes (I have hair ideas) but no promises :(
Anonymous said: BLACKPINK COMEBACK
i know omg jennie snapped, I wasn’t planning on buying the physical album but I ended up caving in and getting the pink versions ;-; I hope I get Jennie or Lisa photocards
Anonymous said: i know your theme is by gukthemes, but what is it called?            
PAPILLON by GUKTHEMES
Anonymous said: Are you ever gonna do a face reveal?
I have posted a pic of myself before in one of these ask posts, here are three more from the past few months :P
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Anonymous said: Fav kpop group(s)???            
1). LOONA (bias Kim Lip) 2). BLACKPINK (bias Jennie) 3). RED VELVET (bias Joy) 4). CLC (bias Yeeun) 5). DREAMCATCHER (idk their names but the rapper)
Anonymous said: You play pokemon go still?
Yes! I collected cards/figures growing up and watched the show before school every morning. I’m not a ‘game’ fan but the mobile app is fun. Actually I played the Wii U Pokemon tournament game but it was boring so :/
Anonymous said: are you going to buy seasons? do you think it is worth it?
I got it from CDkeys for $25 lmao, so yes :P I can’t run the live mode so I kind of am just getting it for the new CAS assets :/ but I think the pack looks really good. Everyone always says ‘it looks like the best EP so far’ every time something new comes out so I’m not gonna say that but we will see :D
Anonymous said: whats ur skin blend called?            
Fruitpunch! You can get it here
Anonymous said: when are you going to be done camping?
I am back home now lmao I assume you sent this when I posted about not having service there :P but I was camping for 3 days? I know it was 2 nights at least refdbv also omg some camping stories:
► I didn’t have my voice for the entire trip bc I got sick with laryngitis, and now koby (the guy i shared a tent with) has it too erfdbvc
► It was blazing hot like omg I was dying, there werent showers, bathrooms, anything with AC. The tents were boiling hot, the ground fucking hurt, and it was just hell ok this isnt even a story I just need to complain.
► There was a racoon family outside the tents the first night, and we thought it was a bear bc we were literally in the middle of the woods, like it wasn’t a campsite with other people, it was the forest ;-; anyways we were legit so freaked out and up for 2 hours just listening to them walk around the tents and god it was so scary rfbdv
► As I said, I had no service so I missed the larvitar community day in pokemon go -_-
► I suck at cornhole so I was the cheer leader for a team UwU
► A deer jumped out right in front of the fucking car like RIGHT IN FRONT OF IT omg we were so close to hitting it like... it was fucking scary
► We went walking on a trail that was down a mountain and once we got down we discovered that the chairlift up was CLOSED so we had to walk back up and it was a nightmare bc we had all just drove like 30 minutes to shower in crappy no pressure no heat showers and we were all sweaty again by the time we got back to the top ;-;
dont go camping
Anonymous said: Your last edit creeps me out.
LMAO why? It isnt meant to be sexual or scary?  
@achinghearts88 said: I really love Sims 4 cc but I constantly struggle with finding safe sites and have accidentally downloaded a virus trying to get cc before so I'm kinda frightened now. What advice do you have for getting safe cc? Thanks!
Hello! I use an adfly skipper + adblock, and if both of those don’t work then I just don’t download the cc. For some creators (nolan-sims, simduction, isjao, ivo-sims, and others) I will turn them off because I know these creators aren’t ones that use the sketchy adfly stuff, but for others that I don’t know well I leave it on. I use: U Block origin and adfly skipper (both on firefox)
Anonymous said: I couldn't find a "contact me" thing but your AHarris00Britney has a broken mesh I think.            
??? idk what this means im sorry ;-; what hair are you referring to?
Anonymous said: an amazing creator and a loona fan???? i stan            
My mind... your mind... our mind..
@chocooosims said: hey, I love your cc, you are such a good creator! :) I'm not sure if someone already ask you that, but have you ever considered making a tutorial where you show us how you create maxis match hair? I mean, I know that I can already find on Internet  tutorials about frankenmeshing hair. But the thing is that you are one of the only creator who do more than simply merge 2 EA's hair together. So, I would really love to see a tutorial of how you are creating your cc! :) Thx for your time!! 
I am making a BIG tutorial right now of me making a hair from start-finish and it is around 3 hours not speed up. My guardian angel is going to edit it for me tonight and then I will try to have it posted next week sometime
Anonymous said: what university are you going to?
Radford :D it is in Virginia
Anonymous said: Just wanted to let you know you're a king           
thank you lmao I wish it were true, stan loona or be beheaded
Anonymous said: r u a guy or girl or non binary etc. also are you lgbtq+ at all? not to judge, just wondering :)
uuh, I’m a gay guy lmao idk about all the other terms like cis/bianary ;-; i like the anatomy exclusive to the male body
edit: rip so someone messaged me asking what I meant by “anatomy exclusive to the male body” and I was like ?? bc I meant i like d**k, and i explained that i didn't like using cuss words on my blog bc my account got shut down/deleted/reported last year and was completely gone for two days while I emailed my butt off to get it back. Also, I was trying to be funny by sounding proper and using big terms like anatomy/exclusive instead of just saying “i like penis” bc that just isnt as fun to say imo. My anatomy teacher never used words like v*gina/p*nis and would say stuff like that, and I always found it funny and I guess that was another reason I worded it that way. Anyways if you think I was being transphobic, I apologize. I hope you don’t think that I am transphobic bc of that? If you want to message me and talk to me about how I can word stuff better then I am around 24/7 mostly, but I’m not going to fight with anyone who is just looking to argue because that is childish. I am sorry to those that got offended but I got one message about this so if something like this happens, message me like this person and ask what I meant so that it isn’t blown out of proportion. Again, I did not think that it would be taken that way and I am sorry if you felt that I was making fun of a trans person. <3
Anonymous said: What do you see in the corner of your room when you get sleep paralysis  (;            
James Charles with breasts on the beach and im not sharing this photo anymore it is demonic OK
Anonymous said: hi! i installed your non-default eye recolors but i'm having a glitch with them. my female sims lose their face in cas and it's just like an empty spot where the face should be. i have the default eyes installed too so i know it's not an issue with a missing mesh but i'm not sure how to fix it.            
Hello!! I don’t think this is my eyes because I’m not experiencing this glitch? Did you run a S4S batch fix over everything? I think that causes this glitch sometimes but I am unsure. Try repairing your game and if you have the “no EA eyelash” mod then redownload that and replace the old file.
@sephirajo said: I found your sims 4 mods and I love the hairs! They're so amazing and pretty.            
thank you so much!
Anonymous said: In your collab with wildpixel, I F**KING love the Ivy hair; do you have any recolours of it or any of the other hairs in the collab?
all the hairs in that pack are recolored in the anathema and sacharinne palette :) and I reblog all recolors of my cc over on @aharris00britneyrecolors
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siodium · 2 years ago
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DAY ONE: 22 SEP, BANGKOK, CLOUDY
took the BTS to our hotel and checked in early
had a shrimpy omelette at the siam paragon food court
enjoyed a lychee yoghurt frappe from Fire Tiger
explored the malls and shophouses around the siam area
took a break at Everyday I love My Life cafe
snacked on a thick, buttery toast at MIL Toast House
struck by a sudden heavy downpour in the evening
ended the day with a relaxing thai massage
MISSION CLEARED!
NOW CALCULATING REWARDS...
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aaa it’s been a week since i returned from my trip and i’ve been so busy with other things i haven’t had time to sort out the pics (there are a lot!!)
anyway i’ve mostly got my shit together now (kinda??) so i decided that it was about time to start writing about my bangkok adventures before the memory loss hits me
honestly i wasn’t expecting to travel this year bc of covid restrictions and all but the opportunity came and i took it!! may have grabbed it a bit too aggressively bc i booked the flight tickets without telling my parents that i was going and they were not happy about it but what can they do about it?? nag at me about how unsafe bangkok is?? yeah well that’s exactly what they did ://
now that i’m safely back home i can just say this: the most unsafe thing about bangkok is prob those electrical wires that dangle above ground bc electrocution hazard yo (ok but even though i say this, it’s always good to observe your surroundings and trust your intuition!! and ofc avoid sketchy places and staying out too late at night i guess??)
i did experience some Troubles during my trip thanks to my insomnia (what is sleep...) and uncooperative stomach (prob got worse bc i wasn’t eating at my usual timings) i couldn’t rly eat much ))-:
as such i think my physical condition visibly deteriorated day after day lmao
even so!! i had fun and 10/10 would want to go again
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DAY ZERO: 21 SEP, PRE-DEPARTURE
for this trip i decided to pack minimally!! was it a good idea?? maybe,, i mean it was nice not having to lug around a heavy luggage
and we were all sharing a 40 kg weight limit for checked bags
i tried to one-bag with my 16L kanken (excluding toiletries which i was planning to yeet into someone’s luggage bc ~liquids~) but i failed miserably lmaooo overestimated my packing abilities
it was good attempt anyway since the estimated weight of all my belongings was about 5 to 6 kg in total?? not too bad
i actually wanna share my packing list somewhere for my own reference in the future (and for anyone else who wants to know??) tbh i could’ve done without some items like my heavy powerbank especially since i wasn’t tasked with navigating
the flight there was at 6:30 am so we decided to take the last train to the airport the night before and stay overnight until the check-in time
prob not a good idea bc there was no proper rest spot at the airport??? i couldn’t even nap in the afternoon :///
i met up with alfur at her place so i could unload stuff into her luggage before heading off to the airport togetherrr
also i was fomo-ing bc everyone else was in long pants and sneakers and i was in shorts and sandals ㅜㅜ i didn’t bring any long pants or sneakers bc (1) had to conserve space for other more essential items and (2) i was afraid of heavy rain/floods?? it’s the rainy season in bangkok after all
it was not the best decision bc the airport was so cold at night :O having to wait for hours there without a jacket was not very fun
strangely it wasn’t that cold on the plane?? hmmm
in the end none of us caught any good quality snooze time rip
the 2.5 hours on the plane was prob the best rest i got aND IT WAS MOST DEFINITELY NOT ENOUGH
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DAY ONE: 22 SEP, ARRIVAL IN BANGKOK
glad we landed safely bc the plane was shaking so hard from turbulence (seems to be a smol plane problem??) much scare
the airport was nice and empty when we arrived~~~
we ordered BTS (the bangkok equivalent of MRT) cards online via klook and were supposed to collect them when we reached the airport but they moved their counter somewhere else without putting up a notice or update?? luckily there were newer reviews on the site and they directed us to the correct klook kiosk. phew almost got scammed!!
can’t believe they have lawsons in bangkok :O bought an orange bread snack to get some smaller change so we can buy train tickets and stuff
bread snack review: nice, mild orange flavour but kinda dense/hard?? dunno if it was bc i kept it all the way til i returned home to eat it and if so then it’s my bad
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took the airport railway to phaya thai station and switched to the BTS for another four stops to phloen chit where our hotel was located
i think the whole experience was pretty pleasant!! there was no early morning rush hour crowd and the weather was nice and cooling
the only problem was trying to lug heavy suitcases up the stairs bc we didn’t know where the elevators were (or if there were even any)
the hotel let us to check-in early!! rly needed a nice hot shower bc i felt so gross after rolling around random places in the airport while trying to find a comfy nap spot
had lunch at the siam paragon food court which looked just like sg’s food courts?? wow
i took a video to show my family bc they gave me the idea that sg was the only place in the world with food courts and now that i’m looking at the footage i can see why i’m not a vlogger ://
let me sidetrack a little: i actually wanted to bring my camera along but i changed my mind after seeing the weather situation (my camera is not rain-proof) and i’m glad i made that decision bc #spoiler it rained EVERY SINGLE DAY while we were there!! not for the whole day of course, but it was still a significant chunk of the day. anyway when i decided to leave my camera at home, i thought that i’d try vlogging as a replacement?? guess who completely forgot about that plan lol
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ordered a prawn omelette with rice!! the portion was a little underwhelming but it tasted not bad... kinda got that homely feel to it
luwi got a curry omelette from the same stall and it looked kinda sus (a bit like mapo tofu?? but brown??) but it tasted so good!! super flavourful and salty and not spicy at all
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visited a supermarket!! chi found the cheese section
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did a lot of window shopping around the area!! i decided not to buy anything (or to shelf my temptations) bc i wanted to save my money for the weekend markets lol
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got a lychee yoghurt frappe from Fire Tiger (seems to be a popular bbt chain that’s popular for their brown sugar drinks??) it was nice!! the yoghurt made it less sweet (idk why but a 0% sugar bbt over there has the sweetness of a 50% sugar bbt in sg?? what?? i hope it’s stevia??) and the lychee was very fragrant~ there were even lychee fruits at the bottom of the drink but before i got around to eating them some water from the ceiling fell into my almost-finished drink and i decided that it was not worth the risk of food poisoning ://
OH i almost forgot to mention this but when the staff gave me my drink they put it through the tiger’s mouth!!! niCE
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first time visiting a prop(?) shop overseas!! tbh i have no idea what a prop shop actually is but by my definition it's a shop that’s very aesthetic and sells pretty but useless things
the one we went to was called Everyday I Love My Life lmao so cute and it mainly sells room fragrances?? there’s a cafe at the topmost floor and we took a break there
we all shared one(1) chocolate chip walnut cookie!! it was tasty oqo
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(spot shoron heheh)
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we chanced upon MIL toast house which was something i put in the itinerary!! bruh i thought it was walking distance from our hotel but it’s actually two stations away?? wat
waaa the toasts looked so yummy so we decided to get one (the combo butter + souffle french toast with vanilla ice cream and) to share
it did not disappoint!! can’t go wrong with a buttery thicc toast paired with maple syrup and ice cream!!
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they were also selling merch???
i thought the milk bottles were super cute but my lactose intolerance said no
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chi and cha are judging the sus bunnies that luwi got from a gacha machine (they’re cute tho)
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after that we went to a mall to grab dinner but i decided to skip bc my stomach was acting up
went back to the hotel for a bit to rest before heading out for our massage!! the massage parlor was a walking distance away from our hotel so we were expecting a quick and smooth journey bUT!! it started drizzling all of a sudden
and within a few seconds it just started pouring
that was the shortest rain warning i’ve ever experienced
anyway we were drenched when we reached the massage place (One More Thai Massage and Spa) ;; the full body thai massage was gr8!!! i was surprisingly not crunchy for this one??? it felt like i was being choked at some points (particularly when my masseuse was pressing down on my upper back) but the service was great (we got tea and snacks before and after the massage!!) and the massage rly relieved my stiff neck and shoulders and achy legs
felt a little bad about them having to touch my soggy feet tho i thought they’d at least ask us to go wash our feet first or something but they didn’t
alfur and luwi opted for the aromatherapy massage and they got oiled lmaooo i was expecting to get oiled myself bc i’ve had a thai massage in sg before and that was part of the massage
well the place was kinda cold so i guess i’m glad i didn’t have to strip down :x i wore the pajamas looking outfit they gave me and omg every time my pants would ride up my leg my masseuse would pull them back down!!! so nice of her
it’s too bad we didn’t have that much time with how packed our itinerary was otherwise i’d have liked to go again before we returned to sg
when we got back to the hotel rinrin ordered mac delivery for supper aND the mcnuggies came with the option of either plum sauce or barbecue sauce (i think?? it was something pretty standard)!! ofc i had to try the plum sauce!! it was sweet and quite addictive... and a great dipping sauce for the fruits that shoron bought from the supermarket
i also tried a bit of the ramune strong zero that we found in the supermarket. luwi was very hyped about this new flavour but it tasted like cough syrup!! the pink one!!! not sure if i’d recommend
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oh yeah we also drew lots to decide which bed/room we’ll be using and i got the “sofa” in the living room lmaoo the hotel did set up an extra bed in the living room with no extra charge so i didn’t actually have to sleep on the sofa
bUT THERE WAS A SPOODER ON IT
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i had to check the bed every single day for spooders bc i don’t trust it anymore......
also the bed was actually facing the dresser mirror and my initial plan was to just cover up the mirror before i went to bed but rinrin helped me move the bed so that it was sideways along the window~
i think the bed was alright in terms of comfiness?? i didn’t rly try the other beds to compare tho
and that’s about it for the first day
i rly did end up producing a wall of text wew
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bibliophilicwitch · 6 years ago
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Alright, enough of you would like to see my likely long rambly post about my 3-day weekend away so let’s do this.
About a month ago a friend of mine connected with me and asked if I would be interested in a girls’ weekend because there’s a loud music festival that happens practically in her backyard every year and she didn’t want to be in town for it. This friend lives in Appleton nearly 2 hours away from me and we rarely have reasons to be in each others’ neck of the woods anymore so I don’t really visit with her much anymore. So when she asked I really wanted to say yes, but she just so happened to be suggesting a 3-day trip the same month as my 6-day vacation to travel to North Dakota to see family and attend my cousin’s wedding. We planned a budget accordingly and I just gotta be conscious of money the next couple of weeks.
The music started on Thursday and ideally we would’ve left town that evening, but I ended up being scheduled to work until 9 PM closing time at the pharmacy that night… of course. We had plans already scheduled for midday on Friday, so I had to pack everything before work and then left immediately from work for my nearly 2 hour drive and arrived at her house at about 11 PM. I listened to some of the first campaign of Critical Role - time well spent.
So our Friday morning was spent running a few errands and finishing prep to leave Appleton before heading out to Milwaukee including running her pup to a friends’ house, getting groceries, and picking up coffee to fortify ourselves. We headed out around 11 AM I think and arrived early for our massage in a Milwaukee suburb with time to spare. It was my first massage and it was pretty good other than too much on my neck which led to a light headache. I really should’ve said that it was hurting too much, but I wasn’t sure if it would or would not be beneficial as I had never had a professional massage before.
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Our hotel was in Wauwautosa and we arrived a good two hours before check in so we went and got food at Dave and Busters which, for those that don’t know, is an arcade for adults - meaning there is a bar. It was fun, but 3 of the 5 games we played didn’t work correctly or at all and then it was time to head out. Kinda wish we had had the opportunity to go back for another hour since I had plenty of credits still and would’ve really liked to play Mario Kart and check out one or two more games. I did play a Star Wars game with the wrap around screen which was pretty wicked cool.
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That evening, after we checked into our hotel and washed off our oils from the massage, we went to a suburb to participate in a Paint and Sip class - this one was a paint your pet class and they even had little gift bags with goodies for you pet. I picked a picture of Binx that was low lighting which they oversaturated so you could see both his eyes, but since they oversaturated the picture he no longer looked like a true black and white tuxedo but like he had shades of grey and black all over which would not have been my kitty. Since I was not following the picture exactly it was proving impossible to distinguish his features, so I gave up and just used my time to fill in the areas I knew I could and plan to ask another of my friends, who works with me for the library Paint & Sip classes, to help me finish it some time. No idea when that may actually happen since she is super busy, but I have plans that meant I was okay with my experience. Not thrilled since it was a $35 class not including our wine, but eh. Meanwhile my friend was frustrated because even though she asked a few times for help with colors she never got close enough to be happy with her picture. On top of that she had chosen a picture of her goofy dog with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, but they CUT OFF HIS TONGUE and then didn’t make the picture as large as they could’ve so she had a lot of negative space. She was unimpressed to say the least. At least our wine was good. Really the class should’ve had prerequisites such as having participated in their other classes to be sure customers would get the best out of their experience. They did see that I had not finished and were offering a free session to join their free paint classes for help finishing… which we couldn’t do since we both live too far away (in my case a good 4 hours). I do really wish it had been a more standard paint class with the fast blended background and straightforward foreground. Ah well.
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We finished day one at the Cheesecake Factory, a first for me! My friend commented that she was never very impressed by their food and she wasn’t surprised do be unimpressed yet again (though I didn’t mind my food at all), but we finished off with cheesecake, obviously, and that was delicious. Unfortunately I forgot my leftover cheesecake at her house in Appleton.
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Saturday was our busiest day. We started at the Milwaukee Public Museum which was excellent though it really is a whole day affair not the two hour filler we planned for it. About halfway through my friend started to get anxious about her car and concerned it had a ticket or had been towed and I think she was also just getting tired of being on her feet. I think I was overall more interested in the exhibits too and she seemed to only be truly interested in specific things. I’m also a reader and wanted to actually read some of the shit while she just breezed through exhibit after exhibit. Like I said, we really didn’t have the time, but it was disappointing to be rushed so much.
Then we went downtown to The Safe House which she had wanted to check out. She did not realize it was literally right downtown and there was some anxiety, but we made it! For those that have not heard of Safe House, it’s a restaurant where the servers are in-character as secret agents and guests are also secret agents. There is a password to get in and if you don’t know it you have to prove you aren’t a spy by acting out some silliness. The interior is a wild and zany pieced together hodgepodge with references to spies in popular culture. Guests are given a list of missions (clues) to wander about and try to figure out the password. If you figure it out you are able to get a discount on their merchandise.
It was more confusing than my friend was expecting and not as engaging as she had expected either. She was pretty sure she figured it out, but neither of us were really worried about the merchandise, so we just didn’t even bother. They had a pen listed that we both kinda wanted, but they didn’t have any in stock.
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After that we went to the North Point Lighthouse which is a lighthouse museum and I really enjoyed that little attraction. After that we finally headed back to the hotel for a short break and to get bandages because she wore strappy shoes that were trying to eat her feet. We discovered there was some sort of convention going on so the hotel was packed and TOO busy for only two slow elevators.
Next we went to Water2Wine, a winery in a suburb that imports their grapes and then makes their own wines in house. It was cute and pretty decent, but we weren’t overly impressed tbh. Next door to the winery was a Half Priced Books which my friend suggested instead of going to Barnes and Noble in the mall. So we wandered around, which was the first time I’d been to a Half Priced Books, but she got bored relatively quickly and dragged me out well before I would’ve like saying I could go to Barnes and Noble instead and then if she got bored she could wander the mall. So then we ended up at the mall and I was ready to settle into browsing for nearly an hour before wandering around the rest of the mall until close, but again she dragged me out likely because it isn’t that fun to wander by yourself. I did pick up a book at both places, Of Fire and Stars and Spinning Silver. I could’ve stayed in the bookstore all evening and likely only bought the one book, but nooooo, I ended up in the game store and bought an expensive gorgeous metal dice set. Pft. I also bought macarons which I had never been able to try and the ones I got were disappointingly too sweet for me to enjoy. We were both ready to be done, so we grabbed Chipotle, another first for me, and just curled up with a little TV before bed.
Sunday we got brunch at the ludicrously hipstery Cafe Hollanders. Very good and excellent atmosphere, but I couldn’t get over how chique it was being. The cafe was located in this ritzy area filled with high end stores that neither of us could afford, but we wandered around and gawped at insane prices before heading out to the Milwaukee County Zoo which I have WAAAY too many picture of to share here, so just check out my Instagram. I mentioned a few times, because I was seeing merchandise, that we hadn’t seen the red panda and my friend said she thought it might be a seasonal exhibit. After I was home I checked… it wasn’t. We literally missed it and I kinda wanna cry tbh.
We left Milwaukee around 4 and I ended up home around 7:30, but I tossed some gas in my car, washed it, and ran to the grocery store first so idk exactly how long my drive was. Though not everything was amazing I still had a pretty damn good time, my friend on the other hand seemed to get bored and/or impatient and/or disappointed/frustrated on a regular basis and I swear she didn’t enjoy the trip nearly as well as I did which just makes me sad. I also realized that since the last time we had really hung out we have both changed. Whereas I am online a lot and am fairly socially conscious she was not and she made a few borderline racist jokes (okay, not really borderline at all). Nothing nasty, just those ingrained stereotype jokes that are just not funny when you recognize how hurtful they can be. It also became more apparent that our interests do not overlap much at all. Which is another post to ramble about later. I loved the lighthouse and the zoo and wish I could’ve had just a bit more bookstore time and arcade time. It was nice to get out of town and not think about work while getting to catch up with an old friend though.
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kanon-mendi · 6 years ago
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Anime Expo 2018 Story
GOOD DAY EVERYONE!!!
I am finally back from Los Angeles and HOHOHO DO I HAVE A STORY FOR YOU!!!!! This year was the absolute BEST year from the last 3 that I’ve gone and I literally could not top any other year from now on. (7/11/18: it is 11:47 PM and i JUST finished this... :’D)
LETS START SHALL WE!!! OKAY!!!!! :D
Day 0: Arrival and Pre-Show Night
This day was pretty long. The night before, I was confirming orders and receiving payments that pretty much kept me up for a while. Also, my mom’s friend who’s a priest was in town for the week to relax a little. I needed to stay up-to-date with everything. ANYWAYS, so that morning I woke up around 8 to finish packing. Now, sadly my Tokiya LS cosplay never arrived so I had to abandon my wig that I worked tirelessly for. I just brought with me the Camus cosplay that I had. My best friend had my contacts and I asked someone to make me the wig since I didn’t know if that was also gonna arrive on-time. I finished packing, and my mom took me to the airport. I realized that my flight was later than what I predicted so we waited there for maybe 20 minutes before I had to leave. Now, because of my Cafe experience last year, I was scared and told her to please pray for me since I didn’t want that experience to ruin my year. I boarded my flight and arrived to LA. Best part about it was that I got to sit in the near front (flying with Southwest) and got out of there super quick. Upon getting to LAX, I grabbed my bag and met with Aria and out friend Sally, who was a volunteer this week. Sally was going to take a shuttle to her hotel and we took a Lyft to our AirBnB. When we got to the place, it kinda didn’t look like the pics that we saw, but we sucked it up since it was close to the convention center. Now, I was VERY hungry since I didn’t have breakfast. Aria and I arranged so we could go to Curry House for our lunch. We had plenty of food before heading to our destination, the Los Angeles Convention Center. When we got there, we went to the premier lounge to pick up our swag and then to charge my phone because I forgot my portable charger at the AirBnB. I forget how long we stayed there, but after wards we went to the Entertainment Hall to look at what they had to show. Well.... it was only me that went first because Aria was somewhere else, I forget. Anyways, while I was down there, I saw the World Cosplay Summit costumes from 2003 and after and they look so. Damn. Cool. Like, if I had the right amount of patience for cosplaying, I would definitely do it, but I got frustrated just making a badge. Can’t imagine myself doing more. Then I went to the Wacom booth because I wanted to see their amazing tablets. I also wanted to know prices because I want a new tablet since I broke the stylus and charger out of yet another frustrated episode. Tbh, I’ve been wanting a Wacom tablet for years. However, I only tried them that night because of what you’re about to read later. So, because of that problem last year at the Cafe, Aria decided that it was best for her to go alone (please remember this for later in my story) to make sure that those involved weren’t there. While she was at the Cafe, I chilled out somewhere for about an hour and for the next hour or so, I waited for her to get out. While I was out there, I kept hearing things that really made me uneasy and I was starting to freak out like ‘should I really go there tomorrow’ but I kept myself distracted with Reiji’s current event so I won’t think about the anxiety I had. So when Ari was to get her picture taken, the doors had opened so anyone on the outside could see in because the show had ended. I saw Aria and told her to please hurry because it was almost midnight and I needed to sleep. I didn’t look inside very well, which was good for me in a way because I didn’t want to see what else was in there. As me and Aria were going back and forth, lo and behold the MC, who remembered who I was and was standing AT THE DAMN DOORWAY was all like “Come inside” and I said “No!!” and he was like “Why not?” and I said “Because no!!” and that’s where that little thing ended. When Aria came out of the Cafe, she told me that the people involved in my incident from last year aren’t there this year. Meaning that my celebratory dance from the week before kept going and when we went outside, I literally yelled “FREEDOM!!!!!!!” because I was so relieved that I was going to be fine this year. I was going to enjoy this con SO MUCH because of that news that I won’t have to hide my emotions. I am free of the curse I was going through for a year. I am safe.
Day 1: 20 Hours Awake
This was the day of the Boku no Hero Academia panel with Daiki Yamashita and others (Melissa and Dave Ifgorgettheirlastname VA’s were there). As a Premier Fan badge user, I could reserve my wristband for the panel days before online to just pick it up the day of the panel. However, because Aria didn’t reserve hers on-time, we had to literally arrive at the convention center around 4-5 am. At that time, there were already about 200 people lined up for the panel wristbands. I made line for priority entrance since I had nothing better to do. Anime Jungle didn’t bring anyone cool this year, so I just had more time to look around the place before going to the premier lounge and picking up my wristband. Aria was lucky enough to get hers so that way we could go together. As I was waiting at the priority entrance, staff took us all around the place WHERE because they didn’t know where exactly the first entrance was. Maybe 3 turns around the convention center to just get us back to our original line up place WHERE WE STARTED. I was borderline tired since I’ve been up since 4 and to be taken in circles was really hitting me in my ticked of spot. So, after we were in, I was talking to a few people in line and, let’s just say I made new friends. Aria met up with me later after she had gotten her wristband. So at first, we spent some time in the exhibition hall. I went to the KLab booth to play some Shining Live. It is actually kind of hard to play on a large screen, but I had fun trying all songs (except Mirai Chizu) and it was also very hard to get the S score with the cards they had, expecially with QN songs since there’s only 4 UR instead of 7 like Starish. I tried Poison Kiss and Force Live. Still couldn’t get the S score. At around 10 I headed to the premier lounge to get my wrist band. Now, one cool thing I found that was a great addition to the Expo, it was that badge scanner feature. Meaning, if you don’t have a badge, there’s almost no way for you to be let in. It was great. That also included the Premier badge entrance. After getting the wristbands, we headed down to the west hall cafeteria tp grab something to eat before lining up for the BnHA panel. After eating, we went to line up and curse me for waiting.
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ALL THESE PEOPLE WERE JUST FOR PREMIER ENTRANCE!!!!! It was absolutely crazy. Staff was great for getting us lined up and getting us in. Once we got inside, we were lucky to get seats near the front. I think we were on the 4th row. Anyways, when the panel started, they reminded us of no photo or video, which makes sense since there’s a lot of spoilers. The movie itself was AMAZING and the cast was so nice. I felt so cool amongst the thousands of fans. There were approximately 3000 fans IN THAT ROOM so y’all have an idea of how packed it was. Though what was weird is that there was an extra seat right next to me. so there could’ve been more that could go in. Anyways, getting out was much tougher because of the many people that packed up the place. We went back to the exhibition hall because we needed to pick up colored contacts for our cosplays. I have some blue ones that could work for both Camus and Tokiya. But here’s a big downer. I ordered my Tokiya SL costume June 5th. I put on the website that I needed it by July 2nd,  July 3rd at the most. On their website it said 7-12 days to make and 4-7 days for shipping. In total, it shouldve taken no more than 25 days to make and ship. BOI WAS I WRONG!!! June 25th is when I sent my first email to them saying if my costume was ready. They tell me not.
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Then by June 28th, I tell them again if my costume is ready to be shipped because typically when a customer says they need it at a certain day, that should put a little pressure. Ho no. They tell me that the costume is not yet ready and they will tell me when it’s shipped out. JULY 2ND I TELL THEM I NEED TO CHANGE THE ADDRESS BECAUSE IT NEVER ARRIVED IN MY HOMETOWN IN NEVADA and they tell me it’s possible to change and I did. JULY 4TH!!! THE DAMN DAY OF MY FUCKING TRIP IS WHEN THEY TELL ME THAT MY COSTUME IS ON THE WAY!!!!! HOE, I AINT WAITING THAT LONG!!!
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When I recieved that DHL email, I IMMEDIATELY changed the shipping so it arrives at the Reno office so I could pick it up because I was that done with the fucking company. BACK TO ANIME EXPO!!!!! After the Exhibition hall, we went to the Premier lounge just to relax and Aria wanted to go to Cybird’s panel. While she was there, I relaxed and went down to the Entertainment hall once more. After that, I forget what else we did and then we lined up to go to the Butler Cafe at 9:30. That was our original plan to go because I remember from previous years that they like inviting fans onstage for their birthday and I was to yell out that Aria’s birthday was in 6 months and if that counted. So we get there, and while we’re in line, Aria tells me “Hey, get a picture with Akashi. He was the host at my table and is a ton of fun.” I was like alright, a replacement!! We get inside and the guys at our table were Jiro and Takkan (?). They were the definition of fun. They literally gave us a fun time and I really wanted them at least to host my table one more time. Yes, it was that fun. Highlight of the night was when the butler dancers danced “DNA” by BTS with the original choreography and “Talk Dirty” by Jason Derulo. Now, please take in mind that “Talk Dirty” was used in the first AMV I saw of Voltage CGs. I literally died inside because I didn’t expect them to take it that far. It was fun tho!! I got the FB batch of orders, took my picture with Akashi, who was super cool cuz we talked about BnHA and was really kind. Good person.
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Then I went to take my picture with the cosplayer Voltage used (insta: https://www.instagram.com/th3lazyn1nja/)
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Weird part of that Voltage experience was that there were these girls WHO WERE LITERALLY FLIRTING WITH HIM AND I WAS SHOOK LIKE never in my years in life would I go that far with a stranger, HAHA NOPE. Aria tried to do a reverse kabe-don on him but failed miserably. Also remember this for later in the story. We left the Cafe and once outside, I again screamed FREEDOM because that experience was better than the last 2 years.
Day 2: Meeting Maeno
This was a blessed day for me. Tomoaki Maeno is probably the longest-running celebrity crush I’ve had. Now, I usually am not 100% open with these things because I respect their work and I respect their space, which is why I buy their stuff and watch their works to express my love for them. The day I heard that he was coming to Anime Expo, I flipped out and actually cried. Luckily I had no make-up on yet (it was my bro’s graduation) so I BLASTED Aurora and other Maeno songs I have on my computer. I called Aria so we could cry together. BACK TO AX We got up around 4 again to prepare for Maeno’s appearance that day. I did my efforts to look like Camus but I was so scared to put on the contacts. I would do it eventually, but at the moment, I just couldn’t because I hate things in my eyes and I’m super sensible to that stuff. I woke up a little earlier than Aria so I could shower, put my corset on, do my make-up and help Aria style her wig to make her look like a female version of Lupin from Code: Realize. I told her to keep her hair up since she planned on going original for the other half of the day. Before I forget, as I was getting ready and Aria was in the shower, I was watching Shunsuke Takeuchi go live on Instagram. He was promoting his new song with the unit AMADEUS. I left one comment that said, “Hello from America!!” and he replied with “Hello!! (waves) From Japan!!” which honestly made my morning and told me that I was gonna have a good day. Anyways, after we were both ready, I headed down to the convention center to start making the premier line for the Cells at Work panel, which is where Maeno was to appear. I also had to meet up with a lovely person that I asked if they could custom make my wig. I paid them for the wig order and for the design so all I had to do was pick it up and put it on. I waited inside the whole time because that day it reached around 104* outside. No way in hell would I stand outside in that weather. So anyways, it was about an hour waiting inside for the wig to come. I didn’t mind because that whole time, I was writing Maeno’s letter. I literally spilled everything I had to tell him because I really felt it was finally my time to confess to someone. I literally didn’t tell him I loved him and wish to be with him. Again, I respect an artists’ space and wouldn’t want them to know that since they’re told that same thing by many other obsessed fans. To shorten it up, I told him that I’ve been a fan for years and will always support him in his work. After getting my wig, I just played a couple rounds of Reiji’s event in Shining Live. I was top 100 this whole time and really wanted to keep my ranking. Here’s where things get a little meh. The panel was supposed to start at 11, meaning they needed to let us in around 10:30-10:45. I was getting worried because Aria was taking forever at the post office since she needed to pick up some CDs she ordered in case Maeno signed our own items. I kept telling her that it would be a little late for the panel since the staff kept saying it was capped and that no one else was allowed to get in line. The premier line kept getting bigger and general entrance was shortening. Men and women alike were filling the LP4 line area. It wasn’t until 11:45 when Aria FINALLY arrived and I said “We’re gonna be in there when it’s supposed to end.”
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It was about 12:15 when we could FINALLY go inside the panel and they were STILL having technical difficulties. I was VERY patient because I REALLY needed to see Maeno. Panel didn’t start till about 12:30 ish. So the MC was really cool and made us feel like we weren’t abandoned. After she got us all warmed up, the moment of truth came. I really didn’t expect it to go so fast and, pretty much at an instant is when Maeno was invited onto the floor. When she said to give the warmest welcome to Tomoaki Maeno, I. Lost it. I had tears in my eyes, they just didn’t drip down because my body was conscious that I had make-up on and didn’t want to ruin it for that perfect person. He was literally so relaxed and so sweet to us. I honestly couldn’t find a better day to be alive. After his little intro, he got us hype for the “Cells at Work” episode. It was so funny and every time White Cell came on the screen, the audience would lose it. That included myself, which I think was the loudest of all. After the episode ended, Maeno was invited back and 3 different producers were also invited on the stage. They talked about the show and how much effort they put on it and wanted to bring as much authenticity to the series. I’m so glad I understood a lot of it or else I would’ve cheered at the wrong time. Now, most of the time I was super distracted cuz I was staring at Maeno the whole time. I just didn’t want to take my eyes of him for a single second. He’s just so beautiful in person.
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Towards the end of the panel, 3 lucky people would receive a huge posted SIGNED AND DELIVERED BY MAENO HIMSELF!!!! I was a little hopeful that they would call my number, but considering my super bad luck in any raffle of any kind, I didn’t win. I was happy though that Maeno came close every time. Which just seeing him made me happy. When the panel finished, I sped out of there to the signing because 1, my friend dropped her gloves to her Cardia cosplay (not Aria, she was Lupin) and 2, I needed a good spot for Maeno’s signing. We waited there less than 40 minutes. In that time, Aria tried again to go to the post office to get her things, though I kept telling her it was no use since Aniplex had given us posters to have signed. She left either way. While in line, I was talking to the people around me and made some really good friends and got to see some old friends. BEFORE I FORGET TO MENTION!!!!!! So, in order to get a ticket to Maeno’s signing, you would’ve had to attend the talk show at the Aniplex booth in the Exhibition Hall. When I attended, they briefly talked about what we were expecting and how to get the tickets. I was near the stage and I was lucky enough to be one of the first to get that ticket.
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BACK TO DAY 2 So we’re waiting in line and we’re going on and on about Maeno and all of a sudden, the girls I was talking to say “Look!!” and I turn around and there he is. Majestic as Camus was Tomoaki Maeno himself on his way to the table. I let out a little scream and waved at him. No one else but us turned around to see him. I let Aria know that Maeno was now at the tables and that he would be signing soon. No more than 3 minutes later, Aria arrived to meet us in line and prepare herself for Maeno. There’s a friend I met back in 2016 that had her 5th Stage book with Suwabe’s signature from when he came. She was WAITING for the right moment to get another UtaPri seiyuu to get it signed. Sadly, they only let us have the Cells at Work posters signed. To me, it was okay because I didn’t care what he signed, as long as I had a memoir of meeting him. The line was moving fast as some didn’t have much to say to Maeno. As it was coming to my turn, I had girls tell me to calm down and breathe cuz I was almost in tears. Then it was my turn. I gathered all my courage from my fat little self and went up to Maeno. He gave me a little chuckle cuz I think he enjoyed my little Camus cos that I put together. I told him hello and he replied with the cutest voice ever. I REMEMBER IT SO WELL!!!! I gave him my poster and he went to sign it. He told me that the ink was still wet, to be careful if I touch it. I told him okay and thank you. He told me thank you and I gathered more courage to tell him that I loved him very much. BLESS ME MORE THAT DAY BECAUSE HE TOLD ME THAT HE LOVED ME TOO!!!!!! I know that’s something he would only tell a fan, but it made me so happy inside that when Aria came back, I cried on her shoulder, I wad that happy. I am feeling emotional now as I’m writing this. Aria stayed in line to talk to a few others that had awesome UtaPri merch, who I got to interact with as well. There was one girl who had the whole Prince Team itabag and parka. She literally traveled to Los Angeles that day just to meet Maeno. Kudos to her. I got to hug her Aqua (she let me) because before the signing, I could not calm down. We left the signing and stayed at the premier lounge the whole night. This is my autograph from Maeno.
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Aria went to the Sword Art Online that night and I didn’t want to go because I was so exhausted. We made jokes that day that Maeno took all my positive energy to go about his day. Tbh, if that was true, I wouldn’t mind it at all because he needed that energy to feel all the love we fans have for him. So, according to Aria, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka was very nice and cute to. **This photo was apparently okay to take since they never specified the “No Photo/Video” rule according to Aria.
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I don’t know the details on that panel so please ask her (@sweetaria98) for those details for that panel. After that panel, we went outside and bOI WAS IT A MISTAKE!!!!! It was 94 outside and I was DYING of the heat. Aria had a few things to do with a friend (which i never really understood why) but I was sweating from the heat and I personally thought it was the parking garage since I felt it cooler walking away from there BUT NO!! While waiting for the Lyft to come, I WAS DYING!!!! We got back to the AirBnB and Aria went for food a little after that and we ate dinner around midnight. I was sweaty.
Day 3: Loosen Up
So we weren’t really worried too much that day since all I had to do that day was shop for the remaining items from the orders. I did, however, also happen to buy an afternoon Butler Cafe with the $50 discount code that I never used since Anime Expo never sent me that information. Aria cosplayed Otoya from Legend Star that day.
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I just love how she looked that day and I’m VERY proud on how the make up and wig turned out. I bought the wig 2 months ago while I was still living in LA and I styled it once I got here. Though I couldn’t do much to the wig since the power in our room didn’t work that night or day. ANYWAYS So after buying 3 orders from tumblr, it was time to head to the Cafe. The plan was for me and Aria to go since it was the only time we could since Day 4 we had the AoT panel with Yuki Kaji. Aria was sadly late to buy her ticket and blamed me for not telling her but I also blamed her for not getting it while she could ONLINE. So I went to that Cafe alone (remember this for later). I actually had a blast that day. I went in with a bunch of people who were young and old alike and it was their first time. For me, it was my second time going in the afternoon, but if y’all remember last year, it was a shit year the first time. So it was good that I went alone and in the afternoon. I was punished like 2 or 3 times because of I forget what game. The guys at my table REALLY made it enjoyable and I had fun with their company. My first punishment that I got was that I had to do a Dragonball scream to the crowd and the second punishment was that I had to give a candle to another butler and tell him “You are the light in my life.” and the actor in me tried to make it so believable that everyone could enjoy that little show. Best part of that afternoon was when the emcee was asking for those who would like to be taken onstage for a special performance. Now, I silently (but made sure some heard) said that it’s been 3 years since I’ve been to their show and was never invited onstage. THAT COMMENT ALONE BEAT OUT A BIRTHDAY GIRL AND I FELT TERRIBLE!!!!!! In fact, I still feel terrible. After their little performance I came off the stage and they finished their act with I forget which songs. At the end of the Cafe, I took pictures with the guys at my table which were Shinomiya and Ryoga. Now, Ryoga left me with a little bug since he kept saying he remembered me from somewhere. I said that it’s my 3rd year at the cafe and if that’s where he knew me. For some reason, I got the impression that we might’ve known each other from somewhere else. I let it slide since I didn’t want to ask more details. Here’s my picture.
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Wee. MOVING ON!! So after the Cafe, we go shopping for a little more at the Exhibition Hall and I went to this booth by KLab that had ALL the UtaPri games for Vita and PSP. I only bought Amazing Aria/Sweet Serenade and Music 3 with a Camus towel and charm. That there was about $150 and I didn’t want to buy Repeat Love since I was running out of money and I needed to buy the last order. So, Exhibition Hall closes and we head to the premier lounge to literally rest because we’ve been walking almost everywhere. Before I forget, so before we headed to the premier lounge, Aria ALMOST lost her premier badge. It is a $125 replacement if she actually did lose it. She didn’t really go anywhere except for one booth with I7 stuff and the Cybird booth. She was lucky enough that someone had put it on the edge of the stage at the booth and it was confirmed that it was actually her badge. Back to the story. So Aria changed out of her cosplay into something a little more comfy for her while I put on a sweater since I was FREEZING in that lounge. We waited until 8:30 so she can accompany me to the 18+ one where I was going alone. Now, remember how I said to pay attention tho those “alone” in bold, here’s why. So our friend Sally is a volunteer at Anime Expo. She pretty much has access to ANY panel she wants as long as it fits her schedule. She had just finished that day and I asked if she could hold this HUGE bag of things from the orders I got. She said she would put it in HQ in West Hall, which was in front of the Premier Lounge. I thank her so much for that favor because it was a HUGE bag and I couldn’t bring it with me to the Cafe. Alright. As I’m in line for the cafe, I’m getting nervous because it was the last night of the cafe and I thought I was alone. BOI WAS I WRONG!!!! Now, I’m not gonna say what happened that night because of how crazy it got (ask me for details later) but right before the performances, I see Sally out of the corner of my eye. My thoughts went from “YAS BEST NIGHT EVER” to “WTF HOW DID SHE GET IN?!?!?!?!” in 3 seconds. I ignored that little bit because I thought “Alright, it’s just sally, how bad can it get.” HOHOHOHOHOHOHO WAS I WRONG!!!!! At the end of the Cafe when I’m going for my 2018 worthy Cafe picture, ARIANNA WAS AT THE DAMN TABLE TOO AND I LOST MY TEMPER!!!!! I WAS LIVID BECAUSE I SPECIFICALLY TOLD HER THAT I NEEDED THAT NIGHT ALONE TO SEE IF I COULD FIND CLOSURE TO MY CURSE THAT’S BEEN AT ME FOR 368 DAYS AND IT WOULD NOT LEAVE ME ALONE AND SHE DECIDED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SALLY’S PASS AND LET HER LITTLE ASS IN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Y’know, I’m still livid with it. I calmed myself down, took my picture, and left.
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Yes, I was that shook at the moment of my picture. Not from Ari, but the performance in general. Anyways, as we’re getting out, I tell Sally to give me my stuff back please so we could leave. We left the convention center and I did not want to speak to Ari for not respecting my space when I SPECIFICALLY TOLD HER to please leave me alone that night. We just said small talk and she got the Uber for us to go home that night. It was midnight.
Day 4: Last Day and Kaji
This day, I wanted to arrive at the hour that the Exhibition Hall opened because I needed to pick up my wristband for the AoT panel and also to buy that last order of merch that I needed to get. We headed straight to the premier lounge and then headed straight for the exhibition hall so I could buy that stuff. It was around 10 that we got there so I was in a hurry. This is when I realized something that worried me Voltage charged me almost 30% tax in every purchase. When I wanted to buy that last bit of things, I had less than $200 on my bank account. The total for something that was only supposed to be $150? They charged me $195. The person payed I think $160 (I don’t have my notebook at the moment to clarify) for the stuff and my service and HOHOHO BOI WAS I LIVID!!!! I realized that I didn’t have money now for my Lyft to the hotel for Aria and Sally and for my ride to the airport. What ended up happening is that I used what was my last $100 in cash to pay half of that payment and the rest on my card and didn’t buy anything else for the rest of the con. That also included food since it’s SUPER expensive at the convention center. I only bought some chips that morning with $2 in cash that I had from previous food purchases. Aria got them for me from a vending machine. So, we lined up for the AoT panel around 10. I was again playing Shining Live to catch up on the event to stay top 100. I hadn’t spent a single dime on the event during AX which was great. I only purchased $20 in prisms and that was at the beginning of the event. Aria went to this auction where they were selling things up to $2k probably. We don’t know cuz we didn’t stay there. We started going in around 11:30 I think since the panel started at 12. We go in and had a good seat at the front. As we were going in, they were giving out Levi and Eren pins to us. I got Levi, Aria got Eren. The panel was great, season 3 is gonna be quite a thriller for fans and I bet y’all that the OP is gonna be AMAZING if X-Japan is involved. Btw, the thing that’s pissing me off so much is that someone had the downright NERVE to take a picture of the panel when it was STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND THEY EVEN TOLD US THAT IT WAS TO BE THAT WAY!!!!!!!! Luckily they respected the BnHA but not with Yuki Kaji in that room. Anyways, Kaji was so cute and he seemed to really get along with Bryce and they both have a lot in common which is great. So after the panel, we realize that we have time to make it to the very last butler cafe show. Aria didn’t want to go since she thought it was too late and I also wanted to see if just in case that booth still had Repeat Love, which they didn’t. So at the Exhibition Hall, I wandered around a lot since I needed a new portable charger and saw that NO BODY had any to sell and the Cheero place wasn’t there this year. TTnTT So, I got bored and then decided to meet up with Aria at the Cybird booth to see what they were doing. At the booth, they were saying so many announcements and Hiroto was really nice to the fans, however time was running out. Most of you know the announcements so I’m not gonna say, but congrats to those girls who won the cut-outs of the boys from their Ikemen series. One more giveaway was done and that was to get a special picture of Hiroto as Isaac Newton (?) from Ikemen Vampire, which I’m VERY excited for because I have a thing for Vampire stories (thanks a lot DiaLovers). We played a huge group round of Rock Paper Scissors and a lot of us beat Hiroto. It was less than 50 which was great. Because time was running out, I didn’t get my photo with him this year. I mean, it’s okay since like, it was about 5 minutes from closing. After i got my prize signed by Hiroto, we left the exhibition hall and headed to the closing ceremony. We waited there for a little bit. I bought some chicken strips with my last little bit of cash and me and aria shared the tater tots. The closing ceremony was great, but I liked last years better. This one I felt too brief and just wasn’t enough. It was still fun though. After the closing ceremony, we left to the AriBnB and called it yet another year in the books.
SO THAT WAS MY ANIME EXPO 2018 STORY!!! I hope you all enjoyed it!! I tried to make it as interesting as possible with as much memory as I have from it because I felt it all go so fast. Honestly, this year was such a blessing that I don’t think any year will top this. VIDEOS BY ARIA WILL BE POSTED IN A FEW WEEKS/MONTHS!! :D I’ll be contacting the people who ordered from me soon... :’D
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