#kathi roll hashtags

[raindoecoates]

An Unsettling Occurrence

11/11/2022. Western Maryland, just after dark.

Something you need to know for this to make sense; I get words, phrases, and random lines from books or movies stuck in my head the way a person can get a song stuck in their head. Some of them are kind of always in there somewhere, and I enjoy saying them from time to time, in my head or out loud. "I'm Laxmi Singh," or "The trick, Mr. Potter, is not minding that it hurts." One of my favorites and one of the longest, "Bob Wah, your modern rock morning pal, was on the 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock news on channel 13 in Baltimore tonight uh defending the um er broadcast of uh this particular here tune. From MC 900 Foot Jesus, from the CD, 'Welcome to My Dream,' 'As the City Sleeps.' Now, I don't think anyone out there is going to go out and become an arsonist but, I don't wanna stop you! You know, it could happen. It could happen! Everybody's got to do something. Everybody needs a hobby. Anyway, the top 11 at 11, number one! 99 1 HFS!"  I do the voice and everything. I known that sound byte like I know my own name because a young woman I was in love with once (Hi, Kathy-with-a-K) caught it on a mixed tape she made for me, from captures off the radio, mostly. So, the other night, I was coming home from Oakland just after dark, taking the long way down 219 to I-68 because it's a little safer. (The shorter way, through New Germany state park, has deep woods much closer to the edge of the road and no cell service. The long way gives you a wider margin, therefore, more time to see trouble coming. ) As I'm driving through Accident (that's the town's real name) a turn of phrase pops into my head with unusual force and persistence. It's a phrase that old men in Stephen King novels sometimes use, in that Maine accent, and I find it unpleasant on a number of levels. The phrase is, "by a whore's hair," as in, "he missed it by a whore's hair." Stephen King has used it more than a couple of times and it annoys me every time I read it. Anyway, it started repeating in my head so forcefully and so persistently I started saying it out loud, trying to exorcise it, I guess. Sometimes that works the way that playing a song that's stuck in my head a few times will often get rid of it. But, in just the space of driving the last few blocks in town, I went from thinking it repetitively to being distracted by it. I started to notice the unusual forcefulness of the thought and was growing a little alarmed. A phrase has never appeared in my thoughts so suddenly and with such "volume," before. "By a whore's hair... by a whore's hair." As I drove out of town, saying the ugly phrase out loud and thinking about things like exhaustion and migraines and Tourette's syndrome, I accelerated up to the posted 40 mph and, just as I passed 40, a fucking deer jump the guard rail and hit the road at a dead run, like this was a planned suicide! I slammed on the brakes and, knowing it's better to hit one, even a big one like this buck, than to roll the car or hit a tree, steered just enough to improve both our chances. And, by god, if there were water droplets on my driver side headlight shield, the hairs on his ass brushed them off. I braced for an impact that never came. He ran off and that stupid phrase ran with him. I take the position that it was just a coincidence. I believe intellectually that psychic phenomena do not exist. But, I have to be honest, I was completely spooked for the rest of that drive home. I still am, in fact, now two weeks later. It was certainly one hell of a coincidence.

PS: Please, don't judge me by the hashtags. I picked them to direct those who may be interested in this story. Not because I believe in them.

[marvelous-harry]

Brother H - h n sister are out just walking round some town while on her tour visit , fans finding them and swarming , some being rude to her bc they assume she’s just ignoring them by not responding, harry telling them straight? X

California Walks Older brother Harry - Mute!Fem!Reader Words: 1.7K Summary: You and Harry are having a lovely little stroll around town until you bump into some not-so-friendly fans.

#words typed in between hashtag signs means it's signs/ in makaton or her text to talk app#

-

"Smile!" Harry instructed as he turned his phone sideways and crouched down.

Gesturing at my mask, I just gave him a strange look.

"Smile with your eyes!" Harry grinned. "Imagine you're with the best brother in the world, you're seeing the sights, you're..."

#when he coming?# I signed before looking around.

"Who?" Harry asked confused, still taking pictures.

#Best brother. When he coming?# I asked.

Harry put his phone down and stared at me blankly. "Right, that's it," he said before taking off running straight for me.

Letting out a shriek of fear, I took off running as well as quickly as I could down the little side street we had been on that only had a few people on it. It didn't take long for him to catch up with me though and he dug his fingers into my sides and started tickling me.

Giggling as I tried to push his hands off me, I stiffened as I heard a gasp.

Immediately noticing the change, Harry stopped tickling me and looked around. A girl holding a Love on Tour tote bag and wearing a tour t-shirt was staring right at us.

"Oh my god!" She said and quickly tapped her closest friend on the shoulder. "Hi! Oh my god, it's actually you!" she said excitedly.

I looked down at the ground and just hoped this would be a quick little chat.

Harry gave them a little wave. "Hi," he said. "I'm sorry, I can't do any photos. Are you guys coming to the show?" he asked.

Everyone in the group nodded and started speaking.

"Is that Harry Styles?" someone to the side of me asked. Taking a little step back, I glanced at them quickly before going back to staring at the ground.

"It is! And his sister! Y/N! Hi!" They said excitedly as they moved closer.

Harry gave the new group a little wave as well.

"A bunch of us are going to be in section 222, it's our first concert with you so we're so excited!" The girl who had first spotted us said.

"Oh, that's so cool. I hope you'll enjoy the show. What are your names?" Harry asked.

"I'm Isla, this is Katie, Josh, Trevor, Emily, Kathy, and Georgia!" Isla smiled as she introduced everyone.

"We're Leah and Amber. We're also coming to the show, we have pit tickets," Leah spoke up.

Harry looked over, nodded, and was about to speak.

"Can we have a picture?" she asked, already raising her phone.

"I can't, I'm sorry. We were just leaving," He said and glanced back at me.

"Just a quick one, please! Or could you guys say happy birthday to our other friend? She's turning 23 in a few days," Leah asked and hitting record.

I stuffed my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie and pressed my nails harshly into my skin as I tried to keep breathing properly.

"Happy 23rd birthday," Harry said shortly and did a little wave before looking around.

"Y/N? You too! We love you so much!" Leah grinned and aimed the camera at me.

Digging my nails harder in, I opened my mouth and tried my best to say anything at all but nothing came out and I could feel myself heating up as I blushed hard.

"She has selective mutism, you should know that if you love her so much," Isla spoke up while scoffing.

"Yeah, selective. She can just choose to speak," Leah rolled her eyes but put her phone down.

"Okay. That's not how it works, we're leaving now. Isla, everyone. Hope you guys enjoy the show," Harry said while looking just at their friend group as he put his hand around my waist and started leading me across the street.

"Nu-uh. You're not following them," Isla said as she and her group of friends stepped in front of Leah and Amber.

Harry looked back and made sure they weren't following us before stopping a taxi. "You alright?" he asked as he opened the door for me.

Getting in, I sat down and stared down at my legs as I could feel the tears in my eyes welling over and running down my cheeks.

Harry told the taxi driver the name of the hotel before rubbing my arm. "Talk to me, how you feeling?" he asked concerned before muttering under his breath. "A bit rude that one,"

I whimpered before quickly holding my breath so I wouldn't cry.

"You've got to breathe, okay?" Harry said quietly as he unhooked my mask, letting it hang from one ear. "Oh, kiddo, your lip's bleeding. Were you biting on it?" Harry reached into his pockets and grabbed a tissue from the little pack he had on him before pressing it down on my lip.

Taking a shaky breath, I pulled my hands out from the front pocket and grabbed onto the tissue myself.

Harry looked at my hand and gave me a sad smile before grasping it gently and stroked his fingers over the nail marks on the inside of my hand.

#sorry# I signed and sniffled as I felt tears run down my cheek.

"You don't have to be sorry. That girl wasn't very nice, you're allowed to be upset," he said as he wiped away some of the tears before hooking my mask back up. "Let's go inside and get you cleaned up,"

Glancing up, I saw we were at the hotel. I reached for my bag but Harry already had his card out and was paying before I'd even gotten to my wallet.

Once we'd stepped out of the taxi, Harry slung his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close.

Sighing, I put my hand around his waist. #Nap# I signed as we headed to the elevators.

"I'll bring my computer into your room and get some work done while you sleep okay?" Harry suggested as we headed upstairs.

#Don't need to# I signed and pulled away. #Go. Have fun# I told him.

"I know I don't need to. I want to plus I need to do some work so I'd rather sit next to you than sit in my room all alone," Harry replied as we arrived at our floor.

#Okay# I took off my mask and grabbed the room key and opened the door before handing it over to Harry.

"I'll be right back," he smiled as he took the key and walked to his room while I walk inside. Kicking off my shoes, I pulled back the blankets on the bed and got comfortable. Closing my eyes, I quickly fell asleep.

-

"Oh my god!! I'm so excited! I can't believe this is happening We're actually going to be seeing him live!" Isla said excitedly as the line started moving, everyone holding their ticket in their hand, along with their vaccination cards and negative test results.

"Still can't believe we ran into him and y/n! I'll never forget the sound of them both giggling - sounded like angels" Emily said as she glanced at the queue ahead.

"God, I know right?" Josh agreed.

Isla stepped forward and showed her ticket. The security man scanned her ticket before looking at his device as it beeped. "I'm sorry, your ticket has been flagged. Could you step aside please?" he said and waved someone over.

"Wait what?" Isla asked shocked. "I bought it from Ticketmaster so it can't be fake. I bought everyone's tickets," she said as she looked at the guy coming over before glancing worriedly back at her friends.

The security guard showed the other man his scanner. "It's flagged her ticket. Well her purchase is flagged which is for seven tickets it says,"

The man took her ticket and looked it over. "Isla Valentine is you? Do you have an ID?" he asked.

"Yeah," Isla replied as she got out her ID and showed it to them. "Wonderful, thank you. And who are the other people you bought tickets for?"

"These six," Isla pointed at everyone.

"Great! If you could just follow me, please" the man said and started walking.

"Emmm okay," Isla answered and grabbed onto Emily's hand. "Sir, what's going on? Was there something wrong with the tickets?"

"No, nothing wrong. They've just been upgraded," the man smiled and pushed the button for the elevator.

"Upgraded? I didn't pay for that," Isla said confused as they all got in.

"Oh, Mr. Styles requested it," the man replied.

"Excuse me?" Isla stuttered out.

"Ahh, here we are," the man said as the elevator stopped moving. He stepped outside and headed down the hallway before stopping outside a door. "This is your private suite for the show," he unlocked the door.

"Oh my god," Isla whispered as they stepped inside.

"This is Eddie and Brett. They'll be your bartender and waiter for the night. This is for you," the man pulled out a note from his suit pocket and handed it over.

Isla took the note and opened it as everyone huddled around her.

"Nov 2021. Dearest Isla and her friends! I hope you'll enjoy the show. Please help yourself to drinks and food, it'll be my treat. Thank you for having my back and being a good friend. <3 Love H xxx"

"This is not fucking happening!" Emily gasped before letting out an excited squeal.

-

Harry held his hand above his eyes to shield them from the bright lights before grinning and waving as he finally spotted them. He brought the microphone up to his mouth. "My friends! There's my friends!" he said and waved again.

"Are you enjoying the show?" he asked and grinned as he saw Isla and everyone waving and screaming while nodding their heads.

"Yes!" He cheered as he celebratory air punch. "They're enjoying the show!" he glanced over at y/n before looking back at them.

"Wonderful. Treat people with kindness and all that. Thank you," he said and blew them a kiss and a thumbs up before signaling for the next song. As the intro for Treat People with Kindness started he raised his hands and started dancing while glancing over at y/n again, grinning as he saw she was swaying a little too.

[roxy206]

The SVU/OC live tweet roundup that no one asked for & I'm sure is a total mess

DUN DUN BITCHES

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhbb

I am not okayyyyyyy

I Can't believe they're making me think about (the hug in) Paternity #SVUxOC #SVU #OrganizedCrime

FEELINGSDSSSSDD #SVUxOC #SVU #OrganizedCrime

I AM FLAILING El asking Liv to interrogate the suspecttttt #SVU #SVUxOC #OrganizedCrime

"everything the same, everything different" STOP IT MARISKA

Roll those sleeves up El 👀 #SVUxOC #SVU #OrganizedCrime

THIS IS......... #SVUxOC #SVU #OrganizedCrime

Goddamnnnn

HOW ARE WE HOLDING UP OMFG #SVUxOC #SVU #OrganizedCrime

Jesus I forgot there's THE OC EPISODE AFTER THIS TOO

ROOFTOP

"It's like the old days, the two of you together" 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Lmao Kathy not believing that El hadn't talked to. Liv in ten years

"liv I'm sorry"

Eeeeeeeeeeee

Omfg

Oh my God

NO SYOP

Stopppppp

Suinbdddgnlkhsach

ICANNOT

Rip my heart outtttt

Lowkey how fucking emotional must that scene have been to film for Mariska & Chris

Lmao Fin giving El the personal info on Liv is fantastic #SVUxOC #SVU #OrganizedCrime

My entire timeline saying they need to rewatch the episode already SAME

"Stabler had a... pretty big presence" okaaaaay

Nobody looked out for me the way he did 😭

Mothrrfickrrrrrrf

AHHHHHHHHHH

THE FUCKING PATERNITY VIBES OHMYGODDDDDD

I'M

AHAHAHAIMFINE

In a weirdly delayed reaction I'm crying?? (like over El & Liv hugging not Kathy)

I just... wow

Okay well tbh I am a little sad about Kathy & fucking heartbroken for El

Oh fuck well crying over Elliot & (some of) his kids

AND LIV THERE

FUCK MEEEE

{OC started}

Excuse me hi Elliot Stabler speaking a foreign language hi

ELLIOT STABLER IS AS HOT AS EVER #SVUxOC #SVU #OrganizedCrime

HE SMILED AT HERRRRR

Elliot take Olivia to Rome as an apology challenge

Fuck me is Elliot going to read Liv a speech?????

A two hour block of EO fanfic that's what tonight is #SVUxOC #SVU #OrganizedCrime

the Meloni forearms hiiiii

he's so hot

How am I supposed to be a functioning human tomorrow?

Omg

El, you turn to Liv for comfort, go right ahead

Listen I'm glad the shows are trending because I'm not coherent enough to hashtag all of my tweets

I got an Instagram notification & I was like istg if it's Mariska DURING THE EPISODE 😂 (it wasn't)

We're all just freaking the fuck out about EO - we're all rewatching these episodes over again anyway 😂

"I checked your record & your psych evals" well

Have I mentioned how hot Elliot is? #SVU #SVUxOC #OrganizedCrime

Shit there's going to be a cliffhanger isn't there

I'm a little lost* but OC is good

* if it isn't EO idk what's happening can't process anything else

SHEREADHISLETTETANDWANTSTOTALKABOIYYIT

SHE READ HIS LETTER AND SHE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IT SHE READ HIS LETTER AND WANTS TO TALK ABOUT ITTTTTTT

I feel drunk. I have not had anything to drink. I'm fucking drunk on EO in the year of 2021

[utexaspress]

Chat with Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go’s!

Want to chat on the phone with a member of The Go-Go’s? Kathy Valentine will be making phone calls to readers who purchase a copy of her book ALL I EVER WANTED: A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir! Here’s how to get a call:

♥️🎸♥️🎸♥️🎸

Order a copy of #AllIEverWanted by Kathy Valentine from your local bookseller.

Post proof of purchase on social media, tagging @UTexasPress with the hashtag #ChatWithKathy.

Submit your information on bit.ly/AllIEverWantedTour. Share your book and submit your phone number through Monday, April 6!

[heavymetalhall]

HALL OF HEAVY METAL HISTORY Official Trailer

This is the Hall of Heavy Metal History — Heavy Metal & Hard Rock Music's Official Hall of Fame. Tons of footage from our archives, including red carpet interviews, awards ceremony acceptance speeches, & more featuring your favorite metal legends will be rolling out regularly!

SUBSCRIBE and hit the bell to turn on notifications for new HoHMH videos over on our brand new Hall of Heavy Metal History YouTube Channel!

2017 Hall of Heavy Metal History Inductees:

Eddie Trunk (Host)

Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio) (accepted by Wendy Dio)

Sabian Cymbals (accepted by Andy Zildjian)

Brian Slagel (Metal Blade Records) (introduction by @Kerry King of Slayer)

Rainbow Bar and Grill, Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, California (accepted by @Todd Singerman)

Lemmy Kilmister Motörhead (Motörhead) (accepted by Mikkey Dee of Scorpions)

Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osboure, Whitesnake)

Vinny Appice (Dio, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell)

Scorpions (hard rock / heavy metal band)

Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot, W.A.S.P.)

Ross Friedman aka "Ross the Boss" (Manowar, Ross The Boss, The Dictators)

Quiet Riot (heavy metal / hard rock band)

Don Airey (Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Deep Purple)

Randy Rhoads (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osboure) (accepted by Kelly Rhoads & Kathy Rhoads)

Music by Phil Arnone (@ChromeCelica00, @Deadtide / @deadtidemetal): "In Jesper We Trust: Melodic Death Metal Instrumental Dedicated to Jesper Strömblad"

Follow the Hall of Heavy Metal History:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

YouTube

Pinterest

Tumblr

 Explore and Share your experiences using the hashtags: #HallofHeavyMetalHistory #HoHMH

[predict-it]

Predictable Insights - 8.21.20

Here are the real-money, prediction markets trending on PredictIt, the stock market for politics. This week we hosted VICE News' Liz Landers for another great happy hour chat. Landers gave traders the skinny on the Democratic National Convention and her take on this fall's big showdown between Biden and Trump.

Market prices updated as of 11 a.m. ET on Friday, August 21.

2020 US Presidential Race Update

Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Photo: Official Photos - White House and Senate

Democratic National Convention: It was an unusual Democratic National Convention. Perhaps a better descriptor than convention would have been a the Democratic National Livestream. But regardless of the circumstances, Democrats rolled out the heavy hitters of their party, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) appearing to quell the fears of the left, and former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama serving to go after President Donald Trump, and highlight their “friend” and “brother,” former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden spoke last night, and the reviews were good, even from seemingly unlikely sources.

Fox News’ Chris Wallace said, "Remember, Donald Trump has been talking for months about Joe Biden as [being] mentally shot, a captive of the left," Wallace said during Fox News special coverage of the Democratic National Convention. "And yes, Biden was reading from the teleprompter and a prepared speech, but I thought that he blew a hole, a big hole, in that characterization."

Will the markets move today based on this reaction? Stay tuned to find out.

ICYMI, Don’t Worry, We Taped It: We hosted Liz Landers, VICE News’ DC correspondent, on our virtual happy hour series this week. Liz discussed some reporting nuggets that might be very helpful in making your decisions on key markets. Click here to see the discussion in full.

Swamp News: No, we're not talking about Washington, DC this time. Head a little farther south and, in Florida, there's a ballot measure that could enfranchise 1.4 million felons. VICE has followed this story over the past year and chatted with us about it. With market odds getting closer and closer, how the court decides could swing the election in this very important swing state.

Market: Which party will win Florida in the 2020 presidential election?

Election Overtime: Anxieties amongst Americans across the political spectrum are understandably high, as many begin to navigate life beyond lockdowns, again. While it's still more than two months away, the election and logistics of voting loom large, too. As Congress returns to session tomorrow for a fight over the future of the United States Postal Service, some even wonder if enough votes will be cast and counted in time to declare a winner on Election Night. We spoke about the issue with Landers (who shared a similar forecast).

Next week: PredictIt will ask its crowd when they expect to know the 46th president.

Groundhog's Day 2020? Landers recently visited Wisconsin to talk to voters about Biden’s vice presidential pick in Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). But as far as reporters in the field go, she's not in the majority. Reporters across the country have been grounded in the wake of COVID-19. Could this alter the way news organizations understand the electorate? Could it create a repeat of 2016? Democrats are holding strong in the market for which party will win the presidency, but as we close in on Nov. 3, what information is being missed? We talked to Landers about whether a Trump win is possible.

Market: Which party will win the 2020 US presidential election?

Next PredictIt Happy Hour: Next week, join us for a PredictIt Virtual Happy Hour with CNN commentators Maria Cardona and Alice Stewart as they look back at the DNC and discuss the happenings of the RNC. We’re very excited to have this duo on considering their very busy schedules. They just launched a new podcast, "Hot Mics from Left to Right," where they discuss what they didn’t have time to get to air, but is a much-needed conversation at an unprecedented time of partisanship and politics. Alice and Maria have a unique ability to bring hot topics of conversation to the fore, with respect, civility and intellectual honesty. Register here.

Other Market Commentary from the PredictIt Community

To kick off the Democratic National Convention this week, Election Whisperer Rachel Bitecofer hosted an all-star lineup of campaign strategists, operatives and activists. Guests included Jessica Post (president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee), Ezra Levin (co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible), Shannon Watts (founder of Moms Demand Action) and Guy Cecil (chair of Priorities USA). Check out the full show here.

The Political Trade dropped a new episode titled "Mark Vargas: Breaking Blago & Presidential Pardons." Mark Vargas has more than earned his political insider credentials as the so-called “mystery man” who achieved the impossible: nearly single-handedly brokering Trump’s commutation of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence. But that’s not all. Vargas also assisted in securing Roger Stone’s recent commutation. He tells the full story, as well as sharing his insights on Jared Kushner, Kanye West, Mark Cuban, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort that you don’t want to miss!

The Art of the Possible invited Kathy Peach, the head of the Centre for Collective Intelligence Design at Nesta (UK), on the show to discuss, among other things, why people are either good or bad at predicting, why women don’t bet more and why prediction markets could replace insurance one day.

We recently mentioned a new newsletter that’s dedicated to trading in political prediction markets joining the fray — The Voting Odds. If you have enjoyed the tips in the newsletter, you’ll love the podcast, too!

State of the 2020 Elections in Two Graphics:

Source: PredictIt.org

Source: http://electiondice.com/

Crowdsourced

Crowds are information-aggregation machines. Here are some disparate nuggets of wisdom we found informative from the PredictIt crowd this week:

Old Man Wisdom — “The usual touchstone, whether that which someone asserts is merely his persuasion — or at least his subjective conviction, that is, his firm belief — is betting. It often happens that someone propounds his views with such positive and uncompromising assurance that he seems to have entirely set aside all thought of possible error. A bet disconcerts him. Sometimes it turns out that he has a conviction which can be estimated at a value of one ducat, but not of ten. For he is very willing to venture one ducat, but when it is a question of ten he becomes aware, as he had not previously been, that it may very well be that he is in error. If, in a given case, we represent ourselves as staking the happiness of our whole life, the triumphant tone of our judgment is greatly abated; we become extremely diffident, and discover for the first time that our belief does not reach so far. Thus pragmatic belief always exists in some specific degree, which, according to differences in the interests at stake, may be large or may be small.��� — Immanuel Kant, former PredictIt trader

A Defense of Election Forecasting Models — "Critical thinking and analysis of information is as important as learning how to read or do basic arithmetic. It is especially important in the context of elections where pre-existing biases are deeply embedded in what information we expose to ourselves, how that information is presented to us, and how receptive we are to it. All modelers strive to be right, but ultimately, we hope the public will interpret our data with a skeptical eye and use it to refine — not define — their own viewpoints." — Scott Tranter, UVA Center for Politics

Prediction of the Week — Some political forecasters, as early as Dec. 2018, raised the contrarian proposition that the online fundraising campaign “We Build The Wall,” which was spearheaded by Steve Bannon, President Trump’s former 2016 campaign manager, could ultimately end up in a criminal lawsuit. That bold prediction appears to have paid off this week.

Submit your comments and links for this section via Twitter by tagging @PredictIt and the hashtag #crowdsourced with your submission. If we select your comment for the newsletter, you get a $10 credit!

In Case You Missed It!

PHOTO: THE EPOCH TIMES/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

PredictIt markets were mentioned often in the news this week, including by: CNN Business, National Review, MarketWatch, DraftKings (1 and 2), Reason Magazine, FintechZoom, Casino.org (1 and 2) and EconoTimes.

This Week's Quotable — from the EconoTimes’ article: “Will Trump or Biden win the US election? This could be a better predictor than the polls”:

"We know that prediction market prices match the underlying probabilities because empirical and lab research has looked at thousands of such market predictions, grouped all with a price of $0.4 together, and found that the predicted event underlying the asset, for example, the election of a particular candidate, did indeed occur in 40 percent of these cases. Similarly, for prices of $0.5, the underlying event occurred in 50 percent of cases, and so on. The prices are well-calibrated as probability forecasts."

We are always crowdsourcing new market ideas from traders. Send ideas to markets@predictit.org. Be sure and include a legitimate resolution source.

Thanks for following the markets!

Team @PredictIt

[artificialqueens]

It's all about Barbie - Chapter 3 (Trixya)- Djoodi

A/N: Hey guys! I’m back back back again :) And I’m sorry that it took some time for me to get this one done, but school is back so I don’t really have a lot of time to write! But I’m so happy to see that people left some really positive feedback! <3 

If you haven’t read chapters 1 and 2 they are here: chapter 1; chapter 2! And I created a sideblog (but I suck so bad at using tumblr so I’m already sorry for my mistakes lol)! 

Also, VicThirteen was the nicest person™ and helped me as a beta! Thank you so much <3 

Hope you guys enjoy it! :)

Katya had a hard time deciding what to wear on her date with Trixie. She knew that it was a simple date, since they would meet for lunch at the mall. However, she also knew that, whatever she chose to wear, it would end up looking, not really neutral, but… Different. Unless she wore one of her yoga outfits, which didn’t seem appropriate. After spending 30 minutes siting on her bed in nothing but her underwear, staring at her closet, she decided to wear a dress.

It was actually pretty simple, but she liked it. It was a long-sleeved black dress with blue and white stripes all over it, and she chose to wear black leggings with it. Katya went to the bathroom, still only in her underwear, just to put some makeup on and try to do something with her hair. After a couple of regrettable decisions, she ended up with Ariana Grande’s signature hairstyle and with the one and only Katya Zamolodchikova’s signature makeup. Raccoon eyes? Check. Red lips? Check. And, along with some concealer to hide her dark circles, that was basically it.

She looked at the wall clock: still 10 am. Ginger was already working and Melanie was already at school, which meant she was alone for 2 and a half hours until her date with Trixie. Katya went to the kitchen to eat something, but ended up on the couch, smoking a cigarette while watching “What Not to Wear” - still not wearing anything other than panties and a bra. 

“Why would someone give up on their entire wardrobe for… this?” she shook her head at the TV. And, instead of being productive, she just didn’t move at all for the next two hours.

Three shows and two cigarettes later, she had 30 minutes until Trixie’s lunch break. So she brushed her teeth and put her clothes on, including some platform jelly sandals to complement the outfit. She also chose to accessorize with her eye-balls necklace, which actually matched her clothes, but she called Ginger before doing it. 

“Do you think it is too much if I wear that eye-ball necklace that I really like for my first date with her?” Katya asked her friend.

“I can’t believe you called me to ask this” Ginger snorted.

“I’m not joking, bitch! At all!” the Russian screamed, walking in circles. “Please answer, or else I’m gonna die.”

“No, you’re not” the woman giggled. “But I don’t know, bitch, go for it. If she thinks you are weird for wearing it, then she’s not the right person for you.”

“You… You are actually right, thanks Danny DeVito!” Katya smiled to herself. “And always remember that I love your work.”

“Go fuck yourself” the older woman answered. “Goodbye, Kathy.”

“Bye, bitch” the blonde hung up.

So she grabbed the necklace and put it on herself. Trixie wouldn’t mind it, would she? Given the fact that Katya had already made a joke about being naked in front of her, and she still accepted the lunch invitation, the Russian thought that the necklace shouldn’t be a problem. And, also, Trixie was an interesting figure herself.

Of course Katya had only seen her in her uniform and a pink coat, but, after stalking her Facebook, the older blonde saw that Trixie’s style wasn’t the most common. Yeah, it was definitely way more ordinary than hers, but still. Her wardrobe was very ‘Barbie-like’, and she wore a lot of makeup, which made her really look like a doll. And Katya liked that very much.

Plus, Trixie was so beautiful. She had thick thighs, big breasts and an hour-glass silhouette, so she was basically a thick Barbie. And she was a hard-working woman who took care of her daughter by herself, or at least that’s what Katya understood from their conversation. She seemed perfect.

She grabbed her little sparkly purse and her phone and she was good to go.

***

While Trixie was finishing the makeup on one of the clients at the back side of the counter, Violet was reorganizing the lipsticks. The girls working at the Yves Saint Laurent counter, in front of the MAC one, kept giggling and looking at Violet’s direction, which was making the purple haired girl get pissed.

“Why are this bitches laughing so much?” she thought, and rolled her eyes.

It was only after she almost had a heart attack by someone poking her back that she realized what the girls were laughing about. A small blonde woman with jelly sandals and eye-themed jewelry was trying to get her attention off the two other girls.

“Sorry, uh, my name is Violet, do you need help with anything?” she asked, a smile on her face when she saw the other woman’s big bright teeth. “You have a beautiful smile, by the way.”

“Thank you! I’m Katya. I’m just here looking for a human-sized Barbie doll who happens to be named Trixie” she sighed. “She works here, right?" 

"Yeah, she’s just finishing a girl’s makeup before her lunch break. Literally on the other side of this mirror” Violet pointed at the place where Trixie was painting someone. “Anyways, you can take a look at our products if you want to. And if you need something you can ask me. I’ll just tell her that you’re here." 

The blonde woman nodded, still smiling. Violet was definitely intrigued by her, and even more intrigued by the fact that she was looking for Trixie. The girl was almost done with a client when Violet approached her.

"Bitch, there’s a girl with jelly sandals looking for you” the girl whispered on Trixie’s ear. “Her name is Kathy or something." 

"Oh, Katya” the blond woman giggled, while applying some liquid lipstick on the girl in front of her. “Tell her I’m almost done here, and that I’ll be there in a minute." 

"Who is this person, though?” Violet asked, spying at the woman who was smelling one of the lipsticks that were in the showcase.

“I’ll explain it to you later, okay?” Trixie licked her upper lip, concentrating on the makeup. “Just… Let me finish here.”

“Fine, boo” flicking her hair, Violet went back to the kooky lady who was still smelling the lipsticks. “Tracy is almost done. She’ll probably just take a picture of it and grab her jacket.” She watched the woman put the product down. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here.”

“Oh, it’s my first time in this area of Macy’s. I don’t usually come here, but when I do is just at the kids area.” Violet frowned at the statement. “No, it’s not for me! Although I do like some of the clothes there.”

“That's… Something.” Who the hell is this woman?, Violet thought, and saw that Trixie was walking towards them with her pink jacket and a wallet. “Here comes the sunshine.”

“Hey, Kat!” when they hugged, Katya noticed that she smelled like bubblegum. “This is my friend Violet. She’s a bitch, but a nice one.”

“Fuck off, Tracy” Violet answered, a bored expression on her face. “Do you know where’s Jaydinn?”

Jaydinn was one of the other girls that worked with them. She was working at the MAC counter for two or three months since Manila, the girl who worked there before, moved to Los Angeles. She wasn’t really close with Violet and Trixie, since they were working together for almost four years, but she sure made them laugh with her obsession over reality shows and some hilarious catchphrases such as “Hashtag Too Much!”. 

There were some other girls that worked there too, like Laila McQueen, a gothy short girl who was one of the horniest girls Trixie met in her life, and Jujubee, an asian woman who was there even before Trixie. A lot of other people worked at the main MAC store at the mall, but Trixie didn’t know a lot of them. 

“Probably coming back from her break” Trixie shrugged and turned to the Russian woman, whilst Violet left them to help a customer. “Let’s get lunch, shall we?”

“Sure!” Katya smiled, turning around before the younger blonde grabbed her by the wrist.

“Wait! There's…” Trixie lifted the other’s head by the chin, gently, “There’s some lipstick on your nose”. Katya tried to clean it up with her finger. “You made it worse! Gimme a second, I’ll clean that for you.”

The taller girl went to grab a makeup wipe that was there for clients to use. While Trixie cleaned her nose, Katya couldn’t help but smell her bubblegum scent, and stare at her bright blue eyes and the way she bit her lower lip when she concentrated. She grabbed Katya’s finger and cleaned it too.

“Done!” the blonde smiled, throwing the wipe away and turning back to Katya. “Red is a great color for your lips, but not for your nose.”  

“You smell like bubblegum”, the Russian looked deep inside her eyes, “And have really blue eyes. They are beautiful”. 

“Well, thank you!” Trixie could feel her skin getting red under all the makeup she was wearing. “I think we should- we should go” they started walking towards Macy’s entrance so they could get out. “Do you like Chipotle?" 

"Bitch, are you kidding me? Of course I like Chipotle” Katya cackled, like it was the most obvious thing. “They charge extra for guacamole, though, and I’m not the one” she stated, making Trixie laugh and agree.

Somewhere between Macy’s entrance and the Food Court, Katya decided it would be a good idea to hold the other girl’s hand, and Trixie wasn’t mad about it. The only girl she was used to hold hands with was her six-year-old daughter, so it felt good to be doing it romantically. Also, there was this thing about holding hands that felt so innocent and pure for Trixie, and she liked it. 

They went straight to Chipotle, where the brunette cashier - who Katya noticed to have a cool tattoo on her arm - recognized Trixie, and already knew what the blonde was ordering. The two women found themselves a nice table and sat down. The Food Court wasn’t full, what was very nice.

“So, did you date the girl with the cool tattoo?” Katya asked, right before Trixie took a bite of her food and looked at her, confused. “The Chipotle cashier.”

“Oh, no! She just knows me because I go to Chipotle very often. And she asked me for drugstore makeup tips once. Her tattoo is very cool, though. My friend Adore has a studio, she’s the one that tattooed her” she added, and Katya asked her if she had any. “Tattoos? Oh no, I’m so scared of the pain and regretting it.”

“You say that, but you’ve already experienced labor, which is like 100% worse”, the Russian giggled, “I have a small one on my lower back. It’s the black half of the yin yang symbol, Ginger has the other part. We did it, like, when I was sixteen or something”.

“So you guys are really close, yeah?” Trixie took a sip of her drink, and Katya nodded.

“She is my fucking ride-or-die. I don’t know what the hell I would be without this fucker, I wouldn’t even be living here, actually” the woman had a sparkle in her eyes while talking about her best friend. Trixie felt the same way about the relationship between Kim and herself. “She’s amazing.”

“Yeah, on the few times we’ve met, mostly at parent-teacher meetings, she was nothing but lovely to me!” she smiled. “But, hey, tell me how did you guys meet.”

“Bitch, that’s a long story.” The younger blonde nodded, indicating that Katya should continue talking. “Well, we met when I was a freshman and she was already a junior. We started talking because we were the ones who skipped classes just to smoke cigarettes. She was the first person who I told I was lesbian. After she graduated, she used to sneak me into her college parties, where I hooked up with girls, and it was an amazing part of my life. Then I graduated, and my family and I went back to Russia.”

“Where did you live before?” Trixie interrupted her. 

“Florida. I was born in Russia, moved to Orlando when I was 4, went back to Russia after I finished high school, and now I’m here”, the woman gesticulated while explaining. “Speaking of Russia, they are fucked up with gay people. Anyways, no one in my family knew I was gay. But one day my sister found out and told my parents. Before I could say a word about it, they had already packed all my bags. So I called Ginger and told her everything and she offered me to stay with her. And now I live here in Boston.”

“Wow” the younger blonde girl didn’t know how to respond to the story, and was quite embarrassed for not saying anything “That's… Sad”.

“I’m happier now, so it’s all cool! How about you?” Katya saw the woman was confused with the question. “What’s your story?”

“Oh” Trixie paused for a second before continuing. “Okay. I am from Wisconsin and grew up with three siblings: two sisters and a brother. I moved here when my mom married my step dad - or should I say ex-step dad? They got divorced later. And he was a complete dick. My life was kind of normal, I guess. I was a good student, and I used to be part of the drama club, and also a choir girl.”

“And then you got pregnant and things turned upside down?” the Russian woman asked.

“Kind of. Well, nobody knew I had a thing for girls, except Naomi and Kim. One day, Naomi basically obligated me and Kim to go to this party that she was invited to - because she was popular and we were not - and then this boy Kyle, who was popular too, started hitting on me and stuff…” she looked away, unsure if she should continue, “You know the rest. The next day I felt super shitty and guilty. But I ended up coming out to my mom, and she was such a lovely parent." 

"Really?”

“Yeah, she was so nice and I’m so thankful for her. Long story short: later, I discovered I was pregnant. My step dad wanted me to die because I was such a whore, so my mom divorced him and only god knows where he is now”, Katya noticed the sad tone in Trixie’s voice. “I had my baby, and I got into the college I wanted in New York. But I had to stay here, and now this is my life”, the girl snorted. “I’m not complaining, by the way, I love my life. I love my daughter, my job and my friends, but sometimes I think about how things could have been different.”

“Why did you stay?” Trixie bit the inside of her mouth and the Russian realized she didn’t want to talk about it, felling really bad. “You- you don’t need to tell me. I’m so sorry for being invasive, and I’m sorry that we talked about uncomfortable subjects on our first date.” Katya apologized, not looking Trixie in the eyes.

“Hey, that’s okay, you don’t need to be sorry” the younger blonde put her hand on top of the other’s. “We will have other dates, right?" 

Katya opened a large smile, grabbing Trixie’s hand. "Totally. We could have dinner tomorrow, maybe?”

“Sorry, tomorrow I can’t. My friend’s birthday party is tomorrow night”, the girl massaged her temples, “And I still need to find Barbie a babysitter. Fuck”.

The Russian thought for a second, and an idea came in her mind, “Why don’t you leave her with me at Ginger’s house? I can babysit her and Melanie. Plus, they are best friends, right?”

“What? I don’t know, what if Ginger doesn’t want to?” Trixie sighed, “Also, there’s this girl who was her babysitter before and…”

“Trixie, Ginger thinks you are very nice and sweet. And she thinks your daughter is adorable. This wouldn’t be a problem at all for her” Katya told her.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be inconvenient or something. When I go out I usually leave her with Kim or with my other friends. But all of my friends are going to this party, so, you know, I don’t have anyone to ask to watch her.”

“Now you have, bitch! And it will be so much fun!”, the woman smiled. “So, now that we got this out of the way, can we get dinner on Saturday then?”

“That seems like a good idea” Trixie returned the smile, before looking at the time on her phone. “Shit, my break ends in a minute. We should go." 

The pair got up and started making their way back to Macy’s. Suddenly, Trixie remembered what Violet had said earlier and started to laugh.

"What?” Katya asked.

“You do have poor taste in shoes, don’t you?” Trixie pointed to the other woman’s feet.

“Oh, come on!” the Russian rolled her eyes. “Even the Kardashians wish they could rock jelly platforms and Crocs like I do." 

"If you showed up wearing toe shoes on Saturday, I wouldn’t be surprised” Trixie joked. “Sure, I wouldn’t ever want to see you again, but I wouldn’t be surprised." 

"Ew, toe shoes are too much, even for me”, the older woman wrinkled her nose. “I’ll wear high-heels on our next date, sweetie, you don’t need to worry." 

"Oh, so it’s going to be a fancy dinner?”

“I can wear heels to go to McDonald’s if I want to, Trix. But I thought that a fancy dinner was a better idea.”

Before entering the Macy’s store, Trixie stood in front of Katya. “So, what are you doing after I go back to work?”

“I’m going home and do some yoga while watching Netflix, and then I’m gonna get Melanie at school. And, if I’m lucky, I’ll even meet you at the park.” Katya was smaller than Trixie, which meant she had to look up when talking to the younger blonde, and Trixie found it adorable.

“Well, I’m sorry to rain on your parade and say that this is not your lucky day”, the taller woman giggled. “Today my friend Kim will be waiting for Barbie, because she’s taking her to ballet class, and my shift ends a bit later than usual. So I think I’ll see you tomorrow night." 

"Fine,” Katya pretended to be upset, “but I will text you”.

“Of course you will. Now, let me go back to work.” Trixie hugged the Russian, and felt the woman’s hands on her back, before they pulled away. “Bye, Kat." 

"See you later, alligator”, the Russian winked, leaving her at the store’s entrance.

Trixie walked back to the MAC counter, where Violet seemed to be waiting impatiently for her.

“Shit, you are this hungry?” the girl laughed, going towards the lockers.

“Hurry up, bitch, I want to know everything!” Violet answered. Trixie rushed to put her stuff inside the locker and come back. “Who the hell is the girl who smells liquid lipstick, wears jelly platforms and eye-ball jewelry? Since when are you seeing her?”

“Calm down, Beyoncé! She’s just the babysitter of one of Barbie’s friends who I met that other day when Kyle left her alone.” Trixie tied her makeup apron on, “We are dating, I guess? I don’t know, we ate Chipotle today and we’re going out on Saturday. She’s also babysitting Barbie tomorrow night”.

“Damn, so you are back on the game, aren’t you?” Violet smirked.

“What do you mean?" 

"You know, you haven’t dated someone since… Pearl? And Pearl wasn’t even a date”, Violet replied. “Plus, you said it yourself that you don’t hook up with someone since high school." 

  "Yeah, I know. It’s pretty nice to be back on the game, then.”

“And you got yourself a pretty one, actually! I mean, she seems 100% Teletubbies crazy, but she has a nice smile.” Violet came closer to Trixie’s ear just so she could whisper, “And a great ass too”.

“Go to your fucking break, bitch." 

***

Friday night

"I’m going to leave Barbie with the babysitter first, are you sure you don’t want to take an Uber?” Trixie searched for her earring on the small box of jewelry, while  talking on the phone. “Alright, then, but if Naomi takes 3 hours to get ready, I’m leaving without you guys. Fine, just come here when you two finish, I’m almost done. Bye, Kim." 

Trixie was wearing her fanciest dress - the one she wore at her sister’s wedding - and it looked phenomenal on her. It was this sparkly silver cabaret dress that accentuated her curves very beautifully, and really contrasted with her skin color. But, for some reason, she couldn’t find the pair of the earring she was looking for.

"Barbie?” the woman screamed from her room, “Do you know where’s my earring?”

“The one Naomi gave you last Christmas?”, she heard her daughter’s voice coming from the living room.

“Yes!”

“I think I saw one of them on your nightstand”, Trixie turned around just to see that it was, in fact, on the nightstand. 

After putting the earring on, she made her way to the living room just to face her daughter sitting on the “dad’s chair” she had right next to the couch. “I found it, thanks sweetie." 

"You’re welcome”, Barbie put her dolls down so she could look at her mom. “You’re looking very pretty, mommy! Where are you going?”

“Thank you! Well, I’m going to Pearl’s birthday party���, Trixie sat on the couch, her shoes in her hands. “Oh, and I’m leaving you with the babysitter, do you need to grab anything?”

The little girl whined, “Is it Cynthia again? I like her, but I can’t understand half the things she says”. 

"No honey, I’m leaving you with Katya at Melanie’s house, she’ll babysit you two”, the woman answered, watching her child get off the chair.

“Oh. That’s fun!”, the kid walked towards her room. “I’ll just get my teddy bear and we can go." 

Trixie sighed in relief. So Barbie likes Katya, that was a good sign. If she was going to date someone, the person needed to be approved by her daughter. She didn’t want Barbie to go through the same thing she went as a kid with her step dad - although she was pretty sure that Katya wasn’t an abusive fucker who want’s people to screw themselves if they don’t act in a certain way. But if her daughter doesn’t approve someone, Trixie wouldn’t know how to live with this person knowing that her kid doesn’t want her to be with them.

"Open the door, bitch!”, the blonde heard Kim shouting, and got off the couch to answer.

When she opened it, she saw Kim wearing a short white flowing dress with some sparkles on the top that really matched her pastel pink hair. And Naomi was wearing a hot pink jumpsuit that just emphasized the fact that she was, indeed, a 90’s supermodel.

“You are vision in pink, aren’t you?”, Trixie asked the tall girl, who just laughed as a response. “I’m surprised it didn’t take you 14 hours to get ready." 

"Fuck off, Tracy”, Naomi answered, and the three girls spent some time just staring ate each other. “Let’s go, then! Where’s Barbie?”  

[jasminelowerson-blog]

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[navigatingnica-blog]

Day 41

6/ 15/ 17

Late post: So I wrote this on Tuesday, but then got too busy to post. Awk. “When it rains, it pours.” Literally speaking, I suppose. I felt so bad for the nugs today because it was literally pouring this morning right when we were supposed to leave for school. unfortunately, when it pours here, most schools get cancelled. Our school, in particular, is so far out in the barrios that there aren’t paved roads for at least a mile. That means most kids live on dirt roads. When dirt and rain mix, a lot of mud happens. The kids slip and fall in the mud, then their only uniform (or one of their only sets of clothes) gets dirty. Once their clothes gets dirty, their mothers have to hand- scrub the clothes to get them clean, and dry them out in the sun. So today school was cancelled, and the kids had to stay at home and inside. 

I had a very relaxing day, however. I relaxed all morning, listening to music and browsing Pinterest looking for new lesson plan ideas. I’ve been into this group called Shane and Shane after Lydia introduced them to me. They’re so good! Anyway, once I got bored, I decided to treat myself to brunch, so I went to Kathy’s waffle house. I should’ve taken a pic of my food because it was so hashtag Nica. I had gallo pinto, eggs, bacon, and a thick piece of toast. I also had coffee… the good Nica coffee, not the yucky American stuff. As I casually ate brunch, I played catch up with El Internado. I’m so close to finishing the series and it’s really helping me with my Spanish!

After brunch, I went to Spanish class. The walk there was surprisingly nice because it was cool since it had just rained. Class went really well today. I was able to talk a lot and understand almost everything, so I really feel like I’m improving. Who knows, maybe I’ll be basically fluent by the time I return home *she said with a glimmer of hope in her voice*.

After Spanish and before the Tuesday meeting for La Esperanza volunteers, there was an awkward time gap, so I decided to re- listen to a podcast I listened to yesterday. I listened to a Hillsong podcast called #LEVELS and it was SO good, but I was listening for enjoyment. I miss hearing my normal 3- point messages with a clearly defined outline and goal. Yesterday’s message was so good that I want to listen again and take notes, because I really think it totally applies to my life right now. 

The meeting was of course, pointless. I truly don’t understand why we have them. We make the new volunteers say their name (even though we send an email to everyone saying who the people are) and we make the old volunteers say goodbye. At least it was quick, so that was good.  Afterwards, I was able to hang out with the interns. We had good talks and lots of laughs.

The past two days have been great at school, except for one hiccup. We had to have a kid physically removed and carried to the principal’s office because he wouldn’t stop fighting the other students, teachers, and volunteers. So that was sad. Luckily, he was able to regain his composure and come back to class. So we finally released my “big” idea with the kids. It didn’t exactly work out as planned because hashtag Nica probs (ex. canceled class, not knowing which classes will show up, lack of materials, etc.), but it’s okay because the kids loved it and we made do with what we had. We had a… Fashion Show! In most of the classes, we moved the desks to the sides of the room to create a runway and then had a chair for the kids to stand on when they got to the end of the runway. When they got on the chair, they were able to announce what they were wearing. We’ve been learning how to describe things (ex. green shirt, or black shoes). One class even got to use the stage in the front of the school and the other kids got to stand in front of the stage clapping and cheering. It was so much fun and so exciting to see the kids strutting down the runway. 

After school today, I went to Spanish class. Even though I was completely exhausted, I pushed through and I learned a lot and remembered even more than I thought I would. I was pretty proud of myself. 

Tonight I’m going to worship night with the interns and the mission team that’s here this week, and after that I’m going to celebrate Jada (the middle child in the Sandino dam… se previous posts)! It’s her birthday so we’re going to Wok in Roll, which is literally the best Asian restaurant in Nicaragua. 

So overall, everything is going really well. Please pray for a great planning period tomorrow. It will be the last planning period with Lucas, the only boy on our English team, because he’s going home this weekend. On that note, please pray that we either get another strong male figure, or that the team and I can step up in incredible ways to really get these kids under control (mostly concerned with the fist fights). 

Stay Salty & Shine Bright, Heather