#just thinking about them trudging thru the snow together

[thedragonagelesbian]

Realized last night at 3am that if i keep the timing from my inq!cyrus au of him arriving in haven with dorian he gets to be there to hear yiseeril rush to sacrifice herself when they realize they're trapped/need a diversion. And she does it with a smile rather than a grim-set jaw, the preacher on the pulpit dreaming of the songs they'll sing of her, the herald of andraste martyred and immortalized like the prophet herself, but it makes cyrus' heart ache nonetheless. To see someone so desperate, like he once was, to be anything other than a person.

[builder051]

It just snowed again here lol so I feel the cold. Could you do a fic where Jason gets locked out of the apartment/apartment building (my apartment building has doors outside that you go through and if you don’t have the key you’re fucked) and Colby finds him? Maybe hypothermia for Jason?

The first day of the new semester is dedicated to working out kinks.  Jason knows that.  He doesn’t expect to receive any homework as he waltzes around campus, every class releasing early after a casual overview of the syllabus.  

One benefit of being a halfway through his junior year is the lighter schedule.  He’s only on campus twice a week now, but, as he’s quickly learning, the aforementioned lightness is subjective.  Tuesdays and Thursdays have him running from seminar to lecture to lab from 8 in the morning to 5 at night.  And those are start times.  It’s well past 7 when he finally trudges back to his car to drive home.  

“Flop day, my ass,” Jason mutters, turning on the radio and scanning until he finds something that isn’t a commercial.  He’d been irrationally proud of himself this morning, learning before the school day even commenced.  When I’m a teacher, he’d written across the top of the first page of a fresh spiral notebook, don’t start coursework on first day.  Set expectations.  Expect schedule changes.  Then he’d missed the professor’s introduction because he was too busy beating himself up over the two iterations of the word “expect” so close together.  

Jason can’t believe how tired he is.  Some of it is misinformation, his brain attempting to process his surroundings and doing it badly.  It’s barely past the dinner hour, but dark enough to be midnight.  He may not have any reading to do when he gets home, but he’s still been gone for more than 8 hours.  Exhaustion is a natural response, even if it isn’t helpful or expected.  

A flutter of panic runs through his stomach as he thinks of what’s in store for him tomorrow.  He’s starting his first run of student teaching, meeting his mentor and the principal of the local high school bright and early tomorrow morning.  Will he be able to get enough sleep?  It’s so late…

No, he reminds himself.  It’s not.  The car clock says it’s 7:26.  Twelve hours before he has to be somewhere again.  Twelve hours, what a relief.  Or should he be thinking only 12 hours?  Is that really enough time?  Does he have a shirt to wear that isn’t horribly wrinkled?  There’s enough time to iron, isn’t there?  Do they even have an iron?

And so it goes.  For almost half an hour.  Traffic is stop-and-go, a mix of late commuters and folks on their way to and from the smattering of restaurants ringing the campus.  Jason thinks about stopping to pick up something to eat, but he lacks the motivation to even pull into a drive-thru.  He’ll have to watch that.  make sure it doesn’t become a habit.

Eventually Jason reaches the parking lot of the apartment complex.  He pulls his Corolla besides Mike’s frosty Rav-4, proof that she’s been home for hours already.  If only he could count on her to cook dinner.  He laughs to himself, wishing Colby was the one who got off mid-afternoon.  But alas, his partner is stuck in the awkward phase of proving himself and working long shifts in between the holiday and regular retail seasons, while his stubborn sister is inside, probably reading with headphones on and oblivious to Jason’s imminent arrival.  Jason shakes his head.  At least Mike doesn’t take up much space.

He slings his bag over his shoulder and runs toward the building, skidding slightly on the ice around the edges of the lot.  He swipes the RFID fob on his keyring across the sensor situated on the other side of the glass door.  Jason doesn’t hear the requisite beep, but he assumes his chattering teeth have just drowned out the soft sound.  He hadn’t thought he’d need gloves and a hat when the only time he’d be spending outside would be spent walking briskly, but he wishes he had them now.  He reaches for the door handle and yanks, but it stays resolutely shut.

“The hell?” Jason mutters.  He swipes his keyring again, listening closely.  Again he hears only silence.  “Hm.”  He cups his hands around his eyes like binoculars and looks through the glass, trying to find the source of the problem.  It’s hard to see in the dark, but the kiosk with the sensor seems to be glowing with its usual pinprick of orange light.  

Jason swipes a third time, looking and listening this time.  Still nothing.  He gives the door a good smack with the pinky side of his fist.  The warm brightness shakes, and the jagged edges of something papery tremble into existence.  A leaf or a gum wrapper or something, trapped between the glass and the sensor, perfectly positioned to interrupt whatever invisible means the key fob uses to communicate with the kiosk.  

“Ugh.  Fuck.”  Jason smacks the door again, then stupidly pulls on the handle.  Hitting it won’t unlock it, he knows.  But the situation is frustrating.  Jason looses a few more choice words, then slowly pulls in a deep breath.  He blows out a cloud of steam.

There is a simple solution, though it’s mortifying.  Jason digs in his pocket for his phone to call Mike and ask to be let in.  He feels like a dog scratching at the door.  He taps his phone’s dark screen, but nothing happens.  At first he wonders if his mind is playing tricks again, since the door just pulled the same one, but then the realization hits him and his stomach turns to a bucket of ice.  He ran out of battery before stepping into his last class.  

It’s his own fault for leaving his headphones plugged in with Pandora streaming for an entire class period.  Jason tells himself he’ll carry a charger with him at all times from now on, but it does nothing to fix the current problem.  “God fucking dammit, Mike!” he yells, pacing back and forth in front of the door.  “Decide to go check the mail or something!”  

But she won’t.  Jason knows she won’t.  Mike is… lazy is the wrong word, but Jason’s shivering seems to be interrupting his thoughts with sharp spikes like those produced by a seismograph.  Sparing.  That’s more accurate.  If something isn’t her problem, she’ won’t volunteer to make it her problem.  Once she’s safely in the apartment for the night, there’s little chance Mike will step out of her bedroom, let alone the front door.  

They originally chose this complex for its safety features, but now Jason hates them.  The 10-foot brick wall surrounding the grid of row houses is too steep to scale, and if he tries, he’ll only mangle his fingers.  He imagines drops of blood running down his palms and freezing before they hit the ground.  Jason feels faintly nauseated.  If he pukes, that will probably freeze, too.  At least his stomach is empty.  

He wonders vaguely how long it takes to starve to death.  Then how long it takes to die of exposure.  If he gets back in his car, he might be warmer, but he’ll have to run the engine to run the heater.  Jason’s gas tank is rarely over half full, and today topping up was another activity on the list to do later.  Plus, people are more likely to see him up here by the door.  Someone will come in or out soon.  

It’s still early.  Right?  Jason checks his watch.  It’s almost 8.  Time for… what do they watch on Tuesdays?  He’s too cold.  He can’t think.  He bounces on the balls of his feet, vocalizing indistinctly and listening to his pitch change as it bounces off the glass and echoes back at him.

“What the hell are you doing?” a muffled voice asks.

Jason spins around to see a tall, slender figure, almost unrecognizable under a hat, scarf, and shabby parka.

“Ohmygod.” Jason feels faint with relief.  He trips toward Colby, unintentionally tackling him and sending him ass-first onto the pavement.  

“Whoa, ok.”  Colby says, his voice halfway between amused and concerned.  “Good to see you too.”  He clasps Jason’s hands between his mittens.  “What’cha doing out here?  Besides trying to give me a concussion”

“Freezing to death,” Jason breathes, burying his nose in Colby’s shoulder.

“You lose your keys or something?  Did you walk here?”  Colby looks around wildly.

“No,” Jason says, trying to determine if it’s worth it to explain.  His brain gets hung up halfway through.  “Did you walk here?”

“Nah, Gil dropped me off halfway down the block,” Colby says.  He uses his thumb to stroke Jason’s red nose.  “Who are you and what did you do with my boyfriend?  Since when are you worried about me before you’re worried about you?  Not that, like, that’s a bad thing.  It’s just a ‘you’ thing.”

“Sheesh.”  Jason tries to roll his eyes, but he feels faint again.  

“Here, let’s go inside.”  Colby starts to pull him up.

“No, you gotta, um, you gotta…”  Jason can’t stop stuttering.  “You gotta call Mike.”

“Why?”  Colby looks at him like he’s gone nuts.

“Don’t ask.  Long story.”  It’s not actually that long, but Jason shakes his head anyway.  “Just do it.”

“Ok?”  Colby takes off one mitten and pulls his phone out of his coat pocket.  “But I get the full explanation later, right?”

“Yeah,” Jason agrees without thinking.  “But call her fast.  I’m fucking cold.”

“You know, I would have never guessed,” Colby laughs as he dials and holds the device to his ear.

[golfwi52]

Round 50 –Snow Day For Jughead

Riverdale Country Club, Sheboygan, WI 53081 Par 36 (Back Nine) White Tees, 3,165 yards, 67.7 rating / 118 slope,  $0 Friday, December 15th, 2017, 9:30am, 23 degrees, 15-17 mph winds, cloudy

I had to push back this week’s round until Friday because I had a major food poisoning incident the prior weekend.  After losing around 4 pounds in 24 hours to that “creature” last Friday, there was no way I was going to tempt fate by heading out by myself on Sunday to a snowy, isolated golf course with a depleted energy level and no porcelain throne within sprint range.   So I waited until Friday for this week’s round, which provided time for me to regain my energy and for a little more snow to fall to officially start my second winter rules season of the year.    As I get closer to the end of my 52 week quest, I’m getting much more nervous about delaying weekly rounds until a Saturday.   Because if something goes haywire on that final day of my official golf week then my whole journey would abruptly fail.  I didn’t want a sudden illness or flat tire or family tragedy to derail my quest.   So I took a morning off from work on Friday to play a “quick” winter round.  The good thing about winter rules golf is that I only play 9 holes.  Trudging in the snow for 90+ minutes is more than enough for this old man.

I chose the Riverdale Golf Club in nearby Sheboygan as this week’s course.  I had checked it out alongside the more prestigious Sheboygan area courses (e.g. Whistling Straits, The Bull) earlier in the year, but I relegated it to the winter season schedule due to its simpler, less interesting course layout.   Of course, 99% of the courses in Wisconsin would fall into that category when compared against Sheboygan’s finest.  I scouted Riverdale on Thursday via Google Maps and determined that the back nine would be the more private of the nines and one that I would be less likely to get caught on.  I do have a bit of an irrational fear of being busted for playing on a closed course.  Outside of the disc golf mercenaries I ran into in round 3, I don’t think anyone has really cared that I’ve been hiking and hitting thru closed golf courses.  Scouting a new course layout also helps me navigate the course when I play, in case the tee box signs have been removed for the winter or the greens are hidden by snow.   Nothing worse than getting lost on a new course in the middle of a freezing cold round.

Snowshoes, tied rubber tees, and 3 inches of snow.  Priceless.

I decided to try a little snow golf this time with the “aide” of snowshoes.  I didn’t get a chance to wear them even outside of golf during the last winter season so it was about time to bust them out – and a first for golfing with them.  The snow evenly blanketed the course at about 2-3 inches so in theory it would be perfect for snowshoeing.  For this winter round I tied my long and short rubber tees together with heavy string to make it harder to lose a flying tee after taking my patented violent swing.   But losing my rubber tees would be the least of my worries today.   I never had this much snow in all of my earlier winter rounds so it was going to be interesting to see how quickly I went thru my 9 colored golf balls.  For clubs, I carried an old backup driver and a 6 iron I found earlier in the year.  I’d only use my 6 iron near the green (I mean white) when I wanted to get a bit more height on my shot.  I didn’t construct a clever holster or carry a bag for just two clubs.  I just carried them freestyle.  Old School.  Caveman style.  With snowshoes and rubber tees.  OK, Dork style.

I drove my opening drive from the 10th tee “box” off to the right of the fairway around 100 yards.  Fortunately it landed at the of a small group of trees that provided a good landmark for ball finding.   I teed up my second shot with the long tee and used my driver again.   I popped up my second shot and immediately lost sight of it.  I listened for it as I thought it was heading towards trees farther up the rough on the right side of the fairway.   But no sound so maybe it didn’t hit the trees.  Rule #1 in snow golf – avoid hitting your ball into trees because you easily lose track of it and it may ricochet off a tree towards any direction.   I spent around 10 minutes looking for my second shot and finally threw out another ball and took a penalty stroke.   Nothing like losing a ball on your second shot of the round.  Good thing I brought nine of these colored puppies.  

Looking back on 10th fairway from the "green”.  Crazy white-out.

I hit a decent fourth shot 100 yards back onto the fairway, but into a wide blanket of snow.  So who knows if I was going to find that one as well.  On my way to that shot I stumbled across some entry holes in the right side of the fairway and uncovered my real second shot.  It looked like my shots were going to produce two holes – a larger entry hole where the ball landed and then skipped about a foot to a second hole where it came to rest under the snow.   So I had hit two shots into the snow and had found both.  All while wearing snowshoes.  Incredible.  My third shot from 100 yards out plugged in the snow before the green.   I hacked up a couple of other chips and finally ended up on the green in 6 and took the winter rules auto-2-putt for an opening snowman - quadruple bogey 8.   How appropriate to shoot a snowman in these conditions.   Good thing this was virgin snow – hardly any animal or human footprints obstructing views of the golf ball entry holes.  Seemed like I was on a cable winter hunting show rather than a playing a round of golf.  Cool.

It was a bit breezy so my hands were getting cold with just my cold weather golf gloves on.  Halfway thru the first hole I switched to my mittens and decided to take them off for each shot so that I got a decent grip with my swings.  The mittens were golden.  Good to keep my hands warm 90% of the time and just expose them for a few seconds with each shot.  Sometimes I can get by with just regular golf gloves during a winter round but not today with the chilly and windy conditions.  Also, looking for my ball in the white blanket snow for a few minutes would cause me to start getting a bit dizzy and worrying about blacking out.  A lovely way to possibly end my round of life way too early.  No worries.  I just had to look up to the gray sky every once in a while to keep me from passing out.   Cable channel survivor dude.  Haha.

Par 3 11th.  Lost drive in trees to the right.  Argh.

The second hole was a short par 3 that provided a decent shot to hit the green on the drive.  Of course I shanked my drive right into another set of trees.  I must swing too quickly in the cold weather, getting my hands out to far and forcing my drives to slice to the right.  I spent another 10 minutes looking for entry holes around the trees but to no avail.   After my lost ball penalty shot, I pitched up a shot to the green to finish with a decent 5.  Things were getting a bit better it seemed.   But then I threw down a whopping 10 on the next hole, a long par 4 that I ended up navigating thru the driving range to the right of the fairway and then losing an approach shot into another set of trees.   Argh.  I may be challenged to break 80 on 9 holes today.  I had to keep reminding myself that I was playing in showshoes and there was a good 2-3 inches of snow on the ground.  Just finishing without losing 9 balls will be a big achievement.

Ball entry crater followed by usually buried resting ball

After the tiring third hole, I dropped off the snowshoes and my 6 iron under a group of trees that would provide cover until I picked these items up later coming back on the 18th fairway.  The great snowshoe experiment was over and I really didn’t need 2 clubs on this round.   It was a hell of a lot easier walking thru the snow in just my boots, so I “flew” thru the remaining 6 holes.   I surprisingly only lost one more ball, on the 17th tee when I sliced my drive into tall grass.   I thought I was going to lose more balls on the 17th fairway since a very large gaggle of geese had just trampled thru the fairway.  30+ geese walking thru a fairway can create a lot of little webbed footprints making it very tough to spot my ball entry mini-craters.   I carded a couple more snowman scores and finished with an abominable 61.    But a very different and entertaining golf experience.   I was also able to light up an Absolut cigar on the 17th hole to help warm me up thru the end of the round.  But I really need to invest in a nice humidor as my Absolut was very dried out and quickly disintegrating on me.  And I couldn’t put it down in the snow so I ended up choking down a few smokes while hitting my shots.   I really gotta work on my Parejo game in the offseason.

Contrast adjusted to show geese prints and my ball on 17th fairway

Final Score:  61.  0 pars, 3 lost balls.  The Riverdale course was nicely situated in the middle of a mildly upscale neighborhood and it had a nice combo of tree-lined fairways with a few strategically placed creeks mixed in.   The hole layouts weren’t too challenging so I could see this as a good course to take a run at breaking 80 in the future.   I stopped into the clubhouse for a tasty little burger and a pleasant chat with the lady bartender.  I explained that I just played a little snow golf on her course, but I don’t think that really sunk in with her.  Like my clubs in the winter, this snow golf thing is really hard to grasp for most folks.  And I didn’t even mention the snowshoes angle.  Crazy stuff.  And just 2 rounds to go…

[enrcses]

do all the even numbers!

shit fam okay.

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?

it depends !! if i have to trudge through the cold and i’m walking somewhere, it’s not as fun. but if i’m running outside for something, yes.

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?

coffee,,,, i like to flavour it up with so much stuff you can’t taste the coffee anymore. and my tea i usually just drink straight up. or i add honey.

6: do you keep plants?

i used to have a cactus !! but he got knocked over during a party and he’s dying so my grandma’s taking care of him.

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?

usually writing or sometimes photoshop.

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?

my stomach. i like to bury my face in the bed.

12: what's your favorite planet?

venus, probably.

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

brick walls, very open, off white curtains that flow with open windows that are made of real glass. lots of plants and paintings. it’ll smell like sandalwood and egyptian cotton.

16: what's your favorite pasta dish?

all of them.

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

oh god. i once got pegged for calling this girl at my middle school a “dumpster slut” and it’s just been this big insult that everyone around me uses now. i never said it, but i’ll take credit for it.

20: what's your favorite eye color?

blue or green !!

22: are you a morning person?

it depends !! if i get enough sleep, i’m really bubbly in the morning. but i also get really affectionate and just cling to everyone.

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

not every one of them, but most of them yeah sure !!

26: what are the shoes you've had for forever and wear with every single outfit?

i have these brown boots that are so cute and i have to wear them all the time.

28: sunrise or sunset?

both. i’m a sucker for pretty colored skies.

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

uhm. i’ve had men catcall me while walking down the street at night and i thought they were gonna try and follow me home. i was really scared then. ive also had a total stranger make sexual advances towards me and i freaked out and went up to my room. i made my girlfriend at the time stay on skype with me because i was too scared to sleep alone.

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends.

everything that happens after 3am when im with my friends usually involves us being drunk so,,,, the usual drunken stories.

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

i do !! i keep my white teddy bear from when i got my tonsils out. his name is gilbert and i love him.

36: which band's sound would fit your mood right now?

i’m not sure ! maybe seafret.

38: tell us about your pet peeves!

i have so many but i really can’t stand people who lie. and i can’t handle people who are so snobbish they think it’ll ruin their aesthetic to be nice to people. just be nice.

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what's it's story? does it have any meaning to you?

i have this necklace that i wear quite often and i bought it one day at the mall with my friend. she bought one as well. so now we both have matching necklaces.

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it!

i don’t. i don’t really go to coffee shops. but the froyo place next door to my work has some decent coffee !!

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?

uhm. it was the last time i did yoga. afterwards i felt so relaxed and mellow it was incredible.

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of.

i always use this one on my coworkers and i swear they want to hit me every time. what do the french call a really horrible thursday ??? a trajeudi.

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today?

all my fears are pretty much the same. spiders, crocodiles / alligators, open water, abandonment, etc.

50: what's an odd thing you collect?

i have a bunch of glass soda bottles ??

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far?

I LIKE THE ONES OF PEOPLE LIKE DANCING THRU SPACE TO THAT MUSIC

54: who's the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face?

i’m not actually sure ?? i mean my friend was pretty sad today when i went to give a high five and then dabbed instead.

56: what are some things you find endearing in people?

endearing ?? i don’t know. i love people who are kind. people who believe that this world can still turn itself around and believe that there are good people still. idk.

58: who's the wine mom and who's the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why?

i’m probably the wine mom. i’m such a Mom Friend and i always want wine. maybe my friend kylie would be vodka aunt ?? i’m not sure. none of them really drink a whole lot of vodka.

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves?

i honestly,,, i’m so indifferent to poetry. but it’s for my own reasons.

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind?

i like orange juice !! apple juice too !!

64: what color is the sky where you are right now?

its blue !!

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like?

lots of purple and browns.

68: what's winter like where you live?

it used to be brutal. i live up north so we’ve gotten like 3 feet of snow before. but anymore, it’s just dead and cold.

70: have you ever used a ouija board?

NO. DONT FUCK WITH OUIJA BOARDS MAN.

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you'll forget it?

yes. my notes on my phone are just full of random crap.

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns.

absolutely stellar. they’ve been with me through so much and are always there if i need a shoulder to cry on. they understand me on levels that not a whole lot of people do and we’ve grown so much together, they’re family.

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren't?

nope !! i’m completely task free for the rest of the day !!

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub?

i hate minions. god. they annoy the shit out of me.

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?

they’re like a greenish color. like eggshell green. but no, it was like that when i moved in and i’ve never been allowed to change it bc we’re renting the house.

82: are/were you good in school?

no, i wasn’t. not public school. homeschool, yes. i just hated homework. it had nothing to do with my intelligence.

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?

i want to get “etre en harmonie avec votre vie” tattooed on my arm somewhere.

86: do you like concept albums? which ones?

i’m not sure tbh.

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy?

uh again, not sure.

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities.

one of my favorite cities omg,,,, either paris or marseille or aix-en provence. i just am so in love with the art, the culture, the food, the architecture. all of it.

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch?

i’m kinda a happy medium. not too much, but enough to actually taste it.

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday?

my friend, aaron.

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot?

i’m a big computer geek. i like to make sure my baby is all up to date on software and usually just do them at night before bed.

98: when's the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it?

i don’t know !! it’s been so long !! but my mom invited me a couple days ago !!

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why?

5 years into the future. i wasn’t happy in the past. 14 year old me was miserable and i wouldn’t ever want to go back to that.