#me literally running to work and taking advantage of the 5 minutes late rule

[threadmonster]

I think it's interesting how absolutely amazing it was to watch Yuri on Ice while it aired but then that I have not watched it since. There are just series that make such an impression on you that you don't rewatch it?

[racheloveyunho]

Till Death do us part - 1

Y/N grew up in a wealthy family, she always was seen as a beautiful and smart kid and was most likely to take her father’s place as the CEO of one of the most important companies in South Korea. However, after the death of her mother, Y/N’s family slowly started to break apart. Her father was always working to forget his uncalled pain while his kids were left alone at home.

She was 17 years old when her life took a sudden turn when she met him in a dark alley. He was a bloody mess, bruises everywhere but behind blood and dirt, she could see his beautiful features and his addictive gaze. Maybe she should have walked away, maybe she shouldn’t have helped him, but the moment his gaze locked with hers, she was already his.

Choi San was his name.

Genre: Mafia AU, angst, fluff, stranger to lovers

Words: 2486

 TW: Y/N is described as an OC. Please be aware that this story will contain a lot of triggering content such as smut, blood, death, murder, drug, kidnapping, etc. Do not read if you are under a legal age!

Chapter 1

 I still wonder what would have happened if I didn’t meet him during this gloomy night? We were young and I was way too brave for my own good. Maybe it was my faith or maybe it was a sheer coincidence but now, I know that I will love him till death do us part.

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 5 years ago.

 "Hey Y/N, wake up sleepyhead! It’s time to go to school and I will surely not wait for the princess to wake up" my brother yelled loudly from the first floor, waking me up in the process.

I groaned and shifted uncomfortably in my bed; it was too much noise at such an early time of the day. My long-browned hair was messy from the last night, as always. I was the type of girl to move a lot during my sleep and my morning head was always a funny one, swollen, with small eyes and with some of my lightly curled hair stuck in my mouth. After five minutes of rethinking my life decisions, I found enough motivation to get out of my bed and walked down the stairs.

"Why the hell did I agree to help other students during holidays, huh?” I asked my brother as I lazily rubbed my tummy.

“Maybe because you are too dumb to say no to your teachers?” he answered, his mouth full of food.

“Do you mind keeping your mouth shut while you are eating? It’s disgusting.” I shook my head disapprovingly.

I headed toward the kitchen to get a cup of fresh milk. Jin, my brother, childishly opened his mouth wide to show me the content of it. I let out a long “Ew!” before smashing his arm playfully.

“No, but seriously Y/N. There’s no use to be brilliant at school if that means you have to help your classmates with their studies during holidays” Jin said after taking a sip of his coffee.

“Yeah, but the teacher who asked me this favor told me that he will write a recommendation for me if I agreed to help him” I answered.

“You don’t even need a recommendation, we’re from a rich family” Jin mumbled to himself but it was loud enough for me to hear it.

 He wasn’t totally wrong and I knew it. We were born with a silver spoon in our mouth. We were “cake eater” as the other kids used to call us when we were younger, we never knew what it felt like to run out of money and everyone at school was jealous of me because of that.

But they didn’t know. No one knew how hard it actually was for me and my brother.

My mother passed away 2 years ago, and since then, my father didn’t stay at home with us longer than a week straight. He was always working, working, and working again, his job had literally become his life. He was one of the richest men in Korea and still, he was always eager for more and worked every day and night for it.

He wasn’t a good father for me and Jin. He never made any compliments to us, all he was able to do was to pressure us to be as perfect as possible or at least perfect enough to not ashamed him and his reputation. Unlike my brother, I wanted to hear my father say that he was proud of me, just for once. That’s why I was trying hard to be the perfect daughter, with good grades, good manners, and good appearance but even if I tried my best, it wasn’t enough for him.

 “Do you know why I’m working so hard, Jin?” I asked him, voice as soft as a whisper, almost not daring to tell the truth.

“Why?” Jin put a hand on the top of mine, a sign of comfort since he already knew my upcoming answer.

“I don’t want to follow his rules forever. I’m still a minor so I had to stick at them but when I’ll turn 20, I will leave this house and will never come back” I sadly stated, “I want to marry a man I’m in love with, I want to do a job I like and most of all, I don’t want our father to commend my life.”

 Jin tightened his grip on my hand. He understood me, he understood me too well. We were indeed rich but we were far from being happy. Jin was 6 years older than me which means he was already an adult. He wanted to leave this house as much as me but couldn’t bring himself to do so and leave me behind.

Unlike me, Jin has never been a good student, he always has been considered a failure to our father, and even if he finally was able to run away from here, he stayed there for me. I was really lucky to have a brother like him and I was well aware of that.

 I took my breakfast and came back to my room to take a quick shower and get ready for this day I knew would be exhausting.

My brother was already waiting in his car. Jin took me to school as often as he could. He was working on a supermarket he owned and even if he was pretty busy, he wanted to spend his mornings with his “sweet baby sister” as he liked to call me.

I am indeed lucky to have a brother like him.

 8 pm, it was already late when I heard the bell ring for the last time today. I was the last one to leave the class as I helped my teacher with the preparation of some material for the next day. It didn’t bother me too much, I wasn’t in a hurry to get home since I knew my dad was finally coming back home from his work.

In all honesty, I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t miss him at all, even after all this time. I wandered here and there even though the street was already pitch black.

 “Oh! It’s been a while since I last went to the haunted alley!” I happily exclaimed to myself.

I knew every nook and cranny of Seoul, I grew up there after all. My favorite place was the haunted alley. As its name suggests and according to some beliefs, that path would be haunted.

It was an old story I heard with my friends when I was less than 10 years old. A grandma from our neighborhood scolded us and told us not to stay there because there was a woman who had been murdered in the walkway and that since then, one could hear her cry every night.

A simple way to scare naïve kids you may think, and you are more than right. However, this story is known by everyone, not just by kids. That’s the reason why I love this place, thanks to all of these rumors, no one uses this path except me. It was like my secret place.

 I walked around the alley with heavy steps, thinking about my father and his upcoming lecture about how to be a good girl. My thoughts were suddenly stopped by the voice of two men who seemed to be fighting each other. I stayed still for a moment, trying to figure out where the noises were coming from.

“You piece of shit! And you claim yourself as the Boss” son?” One voice laughed.

I hid in the dark and saw what could have been mistaken with a scene from a horror movie. Between two old houses, a tall man was beating up a boy who seemed to be around my age.

I felt shivers down my spine but before I could even think straight, my body started to move with its own will.

“Hey! Let him go!” I shouted, my voice betraying me by showing how scared I really was.

 I moved closer to the two men, I could now see them more clearly.

The young boy was sitting on the ground, badly bleeding, whereas the tall man was standing in front of him, blood on his hand and his nose broken.

They were watching me. The silence was heavy, the only thing I could hear was the beating of my racing heart and the shake of my knees that were begging me to run away from this place. The silence was soon replaced by an ominous laugh.

“Wow. What a beauty! Is she your girlfriend? Huh?” The tall man laughed and hit the youngest on his stomach before coming closer to me.

He came closer, until he was in front of me. I had a better view of his poor state. He wasn’t less bleeding than the other man, his blood was actually covering his whole face.

I don’t know what had taken into me at this exact moment, the adrenaline was rushing in my veins and even though my feet were stuck on the ground, unable to move, my hand reached the pepper spray I always carried in my bag. Before the man could react, I used my weapon against him.

When the chemical product had reached his eyes, he screamed and placed his hands on his face, trying desperately to soothe the pain. I took advantage of the situation and kicked him as hard as I could on his crotch before he fell loudly on the ground.

I quickly grabbed the boy by his arm and helped him stand up. He was badly injured but followed me without any complaint.

 I was panting when I reached a lighted street. We stopped there, trying to catch our breath.  I turned around to face the man I was still holding and my breath hitched in my throat, not from the run I previously had but because of how beautiful this man looked.

“Are you okay? What is your name?” I asked him but he simply stayed silent, staring at me with his piercing eyes.

I took a better look at his features, he was really handsome with a well-defined face. He wasn't older than me but he hadn't the body of a teenager either. His broad shoulders and his arms muscles could be seen without any effort from him. His dark hair was harmonizing with the dark of his eyes and his dimples were visible as the border of his lips turned upright in an inviting smirk.

How can someone like him be involved in such a fight?

“The sight is at your taste?” he giggled, his smile spreading wider.

I finally took notice of my staring when I heard him laugh. I must say it was the most beautiful laugh I ever heard, slightly high-pitched but almost bewitching.

“I wasn’t staring!” I shouted from embarrassment. Fortunately, the darkness of the night was covering the redness on my cheeks.

“Sure, you weren’t” He added, amused by my reaction “I’m San. Choi San. I didn’t need your help earlier but thank you, I’m glad you rescued me”

He came closer to me and gave me a sincere smile, showing even more his dimples.

My heart was going crazy in my chest. This boy seemed small earlier compared to the other man but he was way taller than me, maybe 7 inches taller.

“You’re welcome”

I was a bit intimidated by him but I dared not to look away. He had something special, an aura that seemed as dangerous as comforting. His gaze was intense and deep, it was like he was looking through me, memorizing every detail of my face.

He didn’t move and didn’t talk for at least 2 minutes and even if I was feeling uncomfortable, I did my best not to let him know.

“Where is your house?” he finally asked after what felt like an eternity.

He startled me with his sudden question, I didn’t expect him to talk this soon. Why did he want to know where I lived? He probably wanted to walk me home and I would have gladly let this handsome guy walk me home if I hadn’t met him in an odd situation.

‘But he is really handsome…’  I thought, sighing softly, making San arch an eyebrow.

“It’s okay, I live near here, no need to walk me home. You can go ahead…” I said “Go ahead to…the hospital, your house or…go murdering someone…whichever comes first” I added, lowering my voice at the end of my sentence.

His face changed into a surprised expression “I wasn’t going to walk you home, don’t worry”

I sighed in relief even if I felt a bit disappointed, maybe he wasn't that bad after all.

“I want to stalk you” he stared at me with his beautiful smile as if it was the most natural thing to say.

‘What the fuck?’

“Sure, stalking me haha, it was obvious, silly me!” I gently hit my head and laughed awkwardly, taking a step back from him.

He laughed sweetly and took my chin between his thumb and his index to lift my face up. His mouth came closer to my ear and he whispered a small “Just joking” before turning his heels back and leaving me, alone, in the dark street.

  I was finally back home. Fortunately for me, my dad hadn’t noticed me since he was already sleeping on the couch.

I quickly went upstairs to my room and collapsed on my bed, my mind still processing what had happened earlier. It was scary to say the least but fascinating at the same time. I was still confused even after showering. This San had a deep effect on me, not only mentally but physically too.

“Choi San…” I muttered before closing my eyes and drifting into a deep sleep.

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This is my first story, it’s bad but I’ll try to improve myself!

This series will be uploaded slowly since I don't have a lot of time.

Thank you for reading!

[thesmokingguns]

24 Hours

Word Count:3454

Request/ Summary: “Can i request one where nicki gets turned down by their makeup artist or like stand in manager and hes upset and he finds out the the manager just doesnt sleep with people she just met”

I tried to write this where she breaks rules for him and turns him down. He understands what her restrictions are but he can see that living by her strict rules she created for herself she is making herself unhappy.

I hope I hit the prompt you wanted!

A/N: This turned out longer than I expected it to be so sorry about that one. I do have three requests I’m writing right now on top of some of the stuff I am writing so you can all still make requests but I'm going to be saying it’s a two week wait for a new request right now. I also want to say I am going to write a third and fourth part to the 3am Duff series because I have no self control. Thank you for everyone being patient with me and all your kind words! If you want to be added to my tallest please message me or go HERE

Tag List: @thenobodies-inc​ , @littlemisscare-all​ , @agroupiewhore , @ayablackwood​

You were having a bad day. Not just a bad day but one of those days where everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. From morning to night it was the literal day from hell for you.

8:12am You woke up, an hour after you had hit snooze on your alarm, twelve minutes after you were supposed to leave your house to get to work.

8:34am After throwing yourself together and rushing out the door, you were running out of the apartment with the cup of coffee you had economically and time consciously thought to make. On the last step before you had escaped into the day you slipped, the hot coffee spilled all down the front of your red dress, because of course it was the one day you weren’t wearing black. Rushing back up the stairs you realized that the keys to get into your apartment were in your apartment, hanging on the hook just out of reach behind the door. So you would be going to work in your coffee dress.

9:01AM You made it to work, only thirty-one minutes late. Your boss wasn’t happy that you were late on a Friday, thinking you had done this on purpose as some slight to them. Which meant they had pulled you in the office and chewed you a new asshole.

They also told you about coming to work in a clean, tidy appearance as if you had wanted to be wearing your coffee.

As you were being yelled at you watched the line back up and couldn’t help but think about how yelling at you was just making the situation worse. You also were also thinking about how next time you’d just call in sick instead of being late.

11:59AM One minute before you were scheduled to take a break, one fucking minute, and the crazy man came in. Throwing his shit smelling money at you and proceeding to vomit all over your window.

Your window, your mess. So instead of having a much needed timeout from the day from hell you were trying to scrub the smell of puke off a counter.

1:47 PM You finally stepped out for lunch. Moving to the payphone to call your roommate. She thankfully answered on the second ring of the apartment phone. At least the door would be unlocked after work, which was one thing you had been worried about.

She was quick to tell you about how she had gotten you a gig for the night. Knowing how you wanted to travel, you two had come up with a plan a few months ago to find work in Hollywood for bands or on film sets. She had been pretty popular making costumes and helping to come up with whole concepts for the upcoming Glam Rock scene. One of her usual bands needed help because their makeup artist had been sick, so you were going to work for her tonight.

This would be considered a good thing but since it was a trial run you were not going to be getting paid for this gig. So your time would be free. The makeup you used on them you needed to provide. And you have to be there at 5PM to set up, which is the exact time that you need to get out of work. Your roommate agreed to help set you up and she was going to bring you a change of clothes to the gig. It would be fine because the band wouldn’t need to be made up until 6 or 7 but it was just another thing on your plate.

So you would be losing money that you needed to pay rent on a bunch of entitled rock stars who would probably not hire you and this whole night would just leave you feeling exhausted and annoyed. Really looking forward to it.

3:49PM Your coworker went home sick with a headache so now you had to do twice the amount of work and there was no hope in hell that you would be making it to the gig in time tonight. That great first impression that you would need to get an actual long job was gone. And you were stuck with a line out the door of people trying to cash their checks all seeming to want to kill you. Happy Friday.

5:02PM You were running down the street, thankful you worked around the corner from the venue. A sigh of relief left your lips seeing your roommate waiting for you. She dragged you inside pushing you towards a bathroom and giving you a bag of clothes to change into. You lined your brown eyes with the kohl liner, winging your eyeliner and adding a deep burgundy lip shade that complimented your darker skin.

“Y/N, hurry up.” you rolled your eyes, repacking the bag and heading out where your friend was waiting for you. “I put your makeup in the dressing room already. It’s not set up yet.” she pulled you down a few hallways. Equipment for the band was more around as they started getting ready to set up everything for the show.

You entered the dressing room, seeing there was a table for food and drinks set up,  a rack of costumes for the band to wear, and finally a vanity where your makeup bag was sitting ready to be unpacked. Your friend handed you a cup, pouring a few fingers worth of vodka into it before splashing in some juice to help the taste.

“Cheers,” you tapped red solo cups drinking heavily. If you weren’t going to get paid for the gig you might as well take advantage of whatever free perks came with it.

6:23PM Sitting on the couch, legs crossed, you were chatting aimlessly with your friend when the door opened and a man walked in looking at you confused.

“Hey, I’m Y/N. I’m the makeup artist for the night.” you were quick to introduce yourself not wanting him to think you were another girl who was just trying to sleep with the band.

“Mick.” he moved to pour himself a full cup of straight vodka, “Can you do my makeup now? The three pretty boys take too much time.” Ushering him into the seat you started out on him, wondering what the hell he meant about the other guys being divas.

7:45PM A blonde burst into the room, seeming surprised that you were standing there. The girl on his arm laughed too loudly and you looked over to your roommate who was handing Mick a belt to wear. She just shrugged, this was normal for her.

“Vince, new makeup artist. You should sit now before the Terror Twins stumble in.” Mick warned him. He pulled away from the girl on his arm headed over to your chair with an easy smile.

“You're going to make me prettier, doll?”

“I’m thinking that you would look with some blue eyeshadow. It would really complete your Malibu Barbie look.” You retorted, watching amused as his mouth dropped open, not used to having someone give it back to him.

You hated cocky assholes who thought that they were God’s gift. There was nothing wrong with a  man who was confident but the way that he was looking at himself in the mirror as you did his makeup you knew he was the type that thought he was above everyone else.

8:21PM  Two men burst into the room as you finished up Vince. Looking at the two taller men you let your eyes wander over them. Vince was a diva but there two were going to be where you had the most trouble. They must be tber terror twins Mick had mentioned.

One of the guys fell into the chair, laughing about something as he sipped the beer he was drinking, rubbing his nose. He lit up a cigarette as he sat back in the chair not seeming to care if it was annoying that he was blowing smoke in your face as you tried to work.

You bit your tongue, annoyed as you tried to work around his cigarette, that he almost burnt you with seven different times. As you worked you could feel a set of eyes on you. Looking up you saw the man he had walked in with, staring at you with these intense olive eyes.

There wasn’t a chance in hell that you would be interested in any of these loudmouth guys, who all seemed to be drunk and hyperactive. It was kind of like you were doing makeup for a bunch of chimps instead of men.

8:55PM Finally the last man was sitting in your chair. His eyes gazing up at you with such intensity you stopped moving around to just look at him.

“Have we met before?” there was something familiar about him and you wondered if you had met him at a bar or at a show before.

“I don’t think so, sweetheart. I’m Nikki.” Usually when a guy used a nickname instead of your given name you chalked it up to them being a douchebag but with him it seemed natural and not derogatory, “Thank you for coming out to do our makeup today. I heard the other artist got sick at the last minute. We appreciate you taking your time to help us out…” he left it blank waiting for you to give him your name.

“Y/N.” You were surprised by how talkative he was. The kindness in his tone is different from the way the other guys have been. Just when you thought he was different you felt a hand on the back of your thigh, “If you don’t get your hand off me I’ll break your fingers so you can’t play tonight.” you warned him, looking into the olive eyes gazing up at you.

He was too good looking. The type of guy you could get into trouble with if you allowed yourself but you wouldn’t be taking home a stranger tonight.

“Do you always talk to your clients like that?” he asked with a coy smile on his face. This was the type of smug you liked. The funny easy going type who could make you laugh if you had not been on your feet for twelve hours.

“Only the ones that don’t pay me.” you replied, swiping his eyeshadow on. You wanted this to be over so you could go home and sleep.

The drummer came over, bumping into the vanity and knocking the eyeshadow off and not seeming to notice as the makeup smashed into a thousand pieces on the ground. You were officially losing a lot of money on this job and didn’t have the funds to replace it.

“Jesus, T-Bone, watch where you’re going.” Nikki commented, watching you start to pack everything up, “Aren’t you sticking around to watch the show?”  You shook your head. “Why don’t you stick around and I’ll take you out after for a late dinner. As an apology for this being a bust for you.” You were sure that the way he smiled and how his eyes were so clear made it easy for him to pick up chicks but you weren’t going to be one of them.

“I had a long day. I’m not going out with you.” You zipped up your bag ready to leave

“Listen, Y/N, just stay until we go on. Maybe I can talk to someone and you can get paid for coming out.” You did need the money. So reluctantly you stayed.

9:57PM You shouldn’t have stayed. Nikki had seemed to think you telling him you were not going out with him was a maybe you’d go out with him.

It had been an hour of him sitting on the couch getting to know you, asking questions and being nice to you. Men weren’t nice to you just for the sake of being nice, they were born without the concept of human decency.

But he had also talked to their manager, pointing at you and saying stuff you didn’t get to hear. Now you were stuck in a weird limbo wondering if you were going to get paid.

11:15pm The band rushed on stage and you were pulled aside by the manager. He handed you and envelope that you knew contained cash.

“The boys are going to have a few California gigs. If you can stick it out for a couple weeks I’ll consider hiring you for the tour. I’ll pay you $100 bucks a gig and you need to bring your own supplies to start but if you go on tour you’ll get a contract.” He said. You agreed and he handed you a piece of paper with four dates, the upcoming week, times, and his phone number to call if you couldn’t make it. There was also a chicken scratch handwriting with the name Nikki and a phone number

You were stunned when he walked away. You not only got paid but you have jobs lined up to make even more. It was a dream.

Looking up, you moved towards the stage watching the bassist move around the stage. He was high energy, loving what he was doing. There was this presence about him that drew you in. If you did get the tour position that would be trouble.

11:59PM You had finished packing up and we’re heading out of the venue to head home. You were ready for your bed and a few hours of sleep. The guys were playing tomorrow and you wanted to not be having a bad day.

Trying to sneak out, you almost jumped back when four sweaty men came barreling into the room. Your heart instantly went to your throat seeing Nikki. His smile dancing across his lips, hey black hair stuck to his forehead just oozing self confidence and sex appeal.

“You’re leaving so soon?” You just nodded at his question, wondering if it would be considered rude to tuck his hair out of his face. “Did you call a taxi or need a ride? There’s a lot of unsafe riff raff out this late.” He warned and you almost thought he sounded concerned.

“I’m a grown woman. I can walk myself home. It’s only like 15 minutes from here.” His eyebrow raised as he wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.

“I’ll give you a ride.”

“No you won’t.” You shoe back, “I don’t know you and I don’t leave with strangers I’ve only known for one day.” You responded. It was practical to have rules to keep you from getting hurt.

“Well, Y/N, we’ve known each other for two days now since it’s past midnight.” He was so calm saying this to you, “And I’m trying to cut back on drinking so if they see me leave with you I won’t be harassed so you’ll really be doing me the favor.” Thinking about what he said, your tongue licked your top lip nervously. The way his eyes followed this motion gave you your answer.

“Thank you for the offer. I’m going to say goodbye to my roommate. I’ll see you in 20 minutes outside?” You gave him a smile and  saw the way he was melting under your touch as you moved away from him.

You moved over to your friend letting her know you were leaving and you’d see her at home.

12:22 AM Adjusting the bag over your shoulder you weaved through the crowds pouring in and out of all the clubs. No one ever really bothered you walking home. It was just the cat calling and guys thinking that they had a right to run their mouths

“Y/N.” You frowned hearing your name. The roar of a motorcycle speeding up had your eyes looking out on the street.

Oh Shit. There was Nikki, looking at you with a line where his smile had been, his kind eyes looking annoyed at you. You had left him after saying you’d let him take you home but he was too pushy.

“Get on.” the steely tone of his voice made you stop what you were doing, thinking of what to do next. People were looking at the pair of you, some probably recognizing Nikki from his band. You rolled your eyes, stepping forward.

“Listen to me, I’m not getting on. I don’t know you.” His look softened and it was like for the first time he understood what the issue was.

“I just want to make sure that you make it home safe. I know you don’t want anything happening to you. It would feel like my responsibility if you went missing after doing the band's makeup.” you rolled your eyes. Eyeing him and the bike. It had been a long day and it was onlya  five minute drive. What was the worst that could happen?

1:02AM The worst thing that could happen was happening.

When you got on the back of Nikki’s Harley he had asked where you lived. As he drove, you wrapped around his back you realized for the first time of the night you were smiling a genuine wife smile.

Watching the lights of the Strip and the hustle and bustle fly by when wrapped around his warm body, the noie drowned out by the roar of the bike was nice. It felt good. So when you pulled up on your street and he asked if you wanted to drive around more you didn't say no like you should have.

Weaving around the empty highways with just the pair of you was nice. There was no conversations but it felt like you two were getting to know each other on another level.

3:55AM Nikki pulled the bike into a donut shop on the side of the highway. The smell of fresh baked pastries and coffee brewing awakening you much like the wind whipping your face had been keeping you awake but it had been almost twenty four hours awake.

The pair of your ordered black coffee and a donut, sitting on stools at the counter and eating in a comfortable silence.

“Are you mad at me?” He didn’t have a cheeky grin on his face like you had expected but he was serious. “I know you said you wouldn’t go out with me but it just seemed like you were having a bad day and I have a hero complex.” you snorted when he said this. Surprised he admitted that he had a heroes complex.

“I’m not mad. I got on the back of your bike and stayed out.” you thought for a second, “I think I needed it. I always follow my rules and never break them. I think sometimes I need a break from the rules I create.” you said all this with your heart beating wondering what the hell you were doing with this guy in the middle of nowhere.

5:41AM Nikki had wrapped his leather jacket around you, both your boots abandoned by the motorcycle as you sat with toes in the sand watching the sun rise over the Pacific. You hadn't even seen the sun rising over the ocean before so you were wrapped up in the orange and golds of the sky, how the inky black of the water came alive into blue and purple hues with the light.

It was beautiful.

It felt like something was washing over you as you watchined it. Something was changing as you watched the sun start a new day. A new day that you had this feeling in your bones was going to be a good day.

Wiping a tear away, you took a deep breath remembering that you had moved here to make your dreams come true and for the first time it felt like it was going to happen.

A hand on your back reminded you that you weren’t alone. His olive eyes looking at you, concerned. You wiped a tear away trying to laugh it off.

“I never saw the sunrise over the ocean. It’s beautiful,” It was at that moment, wrapped up in the beauty of everything that you realized that he was going to kiss you. The way his hand was against your check, wiping the tears away.

But you surprised both of you leaning forward to push your lips against his. Making the first move. You were breaking all of your rules for him but it felt good and you could tell you would be breaking more rules with him

6:00AM It was going to be a good day.

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Royal Rumble 2021 - Initial Thoughts

I know I’m late, but employment is still a thing, and I had to prioritize that over an all-nighter, but it’s time for the Royal Rumble, one of the more exciting shows of WWE’s schedule, so let’s get on with it!

Spoilers for Royal Rumble, you have been Warned

I might not invest too much in kickoff matches but the Women’s Tag Match was not a good time

It was fine before the end, but who the hell decided that Charlotte should control 90% of the champions’ offense and have the hot tag!? Asuka is the RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPION, not Charlotte. After the tag Asuka literally had one spot and she was dead, completely taken out of the match for *checks notes* being thrown over the Announcer’s Table...you know that thing several wrestlers come back from easily.

The finish was just too much too, Ric distraction didn’t work, Lacey distraction didn’t work, Kirufuda Clutch didn’t work but then the brass knuckles did. Too much.

And why TF are we putting titles back on Nia!? We should’ve just given the titles to the Riotts, or the winner of the Women’s Dusty Classic. It also cuts me deep that Asuka and Shayna are treated this way, even as champion Asuka is a side character to Charlotte T_T

Main show though and I don’t like the package and interviews between entrances

Drew vs Goldberg was just...meaningless.

It was cringy enough that Cole had to spout drivel to make 60 year old Goldberg seem strong but to have Drew be ‘injured’ by a barricade spear - something much more tired wrestlers have and will get back up from in less time and continue a longer match - was daft. Also saying that Goldberg’s spear or jackhammer is the best move of all WWE is stupid, it was a WCW thing

Thank God Drew Won, but the post-match does remind you of the meaningless circumstances this feud came about. Suddenly Goldberg is okay with Drew’s same manners of respect

I mean, Carmella’s entrance and gear is cool, but do you think it eats at Corey a little that Carmella’s ‘behind the curtain’ bit is a tad...red light district?

Sasha’s promo didn’t hit for me unfortunately

Reginald didn’t deserve to be ejected for that! He caught Sasha and get beaten up for it

Jesus Carmella! Sasha got barely any of that dive

Screeching and faffing aside, Carmella got a good showing...I do hate quick tap outs in title matches though

Sami cuts a good promo, but his content wasn’t exactly the best. New Day are hardly the management’s faves, it’s taken this long for E to get a singles run, Fans literally had to Yes Movement their way into giving Kofi the world title.

New Day’s Brodie gear was good though

Bad Bunny as the ‘Biggest Latin Artist’? Is Cole for real? I didn’t even know who he was before today

If the song is about Booker T then why is he dancing around GI Bro?

Come on Book, you hang on the Sucka! That’d be like if the Rock just went ‘If ya smell what the Rock is cooking’ without the drags or pauses

Ric’s ‘with a tear in my eye’ promo was after the Rumble though...

It’s actually a sad stat that just over half of the Rumble winners win titles

No Morrison segment for the escape spot!? He did it as much as Kofi dammit!

Sorry Greatest Royal Rumble is not canon for me

This Stat Attack has taken far too long

I’m okay with Mike Rome but couldn’t a woman have announced the Women’s Rumble? Where’s Lillian at!?

NAOOOOOOOMIIIIIIIIIIIIII GIRL WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?

That hair is amazing as well

I know you can’t say it, but we all remember that Benoit won the rumble in the first two as well

Was...Bianca wearing earrings on her entrance, she looked like she was taking them off

Billie actually had the right idea, can’t be in the match until you enter the ring, it’s clever stuff

That tank did not look like it was meant to turn that direction XD

It actually surprises me every time how tall Shotzi is, I always imagine her short

Billie no...not with Shayna

The piped boos are highly unrealistic to boo even a heel Toni Storm

Shotzi eliminated and then horrible singer Jillian comes in? Urrrrgh, Bad Singer Jillian was terrible

Wrestling wise she hasn’t missed a beat though

Billie’s surprisingly being a highlight here with actual narra-OHMYSHITITSVICTORIA

Gear was a bit meh but Victoria definitely can still go

Oh Peyton the purple looks good on you, and her Widow’s Peak was not bad at all

Ah, good for Santana, for a moment I thought it said Santina and got a very bad chill

Damn Liv, Speed Machine!

Ooof, the betrayal is real Billie

THIS IS MY BRUTALITY!

Somehow I’m genuinely upset by every elimination so far, good job!

Aaaaaand then they got rid of Victoria and brought on Charlotte to immediately take out Rhea -_-

That was a clever move from Bayley but damn Ruby landed hard

Are we seeing a Bayley/Peyton team? Or is she just eliminating the Riotts for revenge for Billie, but also Liv Nooooo!

Torrie now, eh okay

Ouch for Dana

Lacey...no, this ain’t working

Poor Peyton, her elimination was a side chapter

And we missed Bayley’s elimination!? For Shame

Mickie! Good to see ya! Aaaaand being beaten by Charlotte...

Nikki Cross is back too! Hopefully they find a good story for her

Alicia Fox? I guess she sobered back into the good gra...R-Truth? No

Oh yeah, Humberto is a thing

Jerry shut the fuck up!

The 24/7 stuff was super unnecessary, we did not need to take focus off this match

Lacey eliminating Mickie, rude.

Dakota should’ve gotten more time, she barely lasted a minute

Reginald again deserves better

See Tamina vs Rhea would be exciting...if Tamina was booked better

Naomi’s chemistry with Bianca is really insane right now

Lana *reminded of her feud with Shayna and Nia* Also Lana *goes for Rhea*

That was a hard tackle on Alexa by Rhea...aaaaand she’s eliminated mid ‘transformation’ a bit worthless for me

Road Warrior Ember Moon! And right into the Eclipse that’s the good shit

Baszler probably shouldn’t have eliminated Lacey story-wise

The Betrayal is real for Tamina as well

What’s with the crazy camera cuts!?

Nia eliminating Baszler? Nah...

Hold on Cole, baiting Nia over the ropes isn’t a ‘tremendous elimination’

The betrayal is real for Lana too, Nattie sure shrugged off that double assault

I get that the narrative is that Charlotte has beaten both Bianca and Rhea before, but to hang against both of them after already being in a match and hanging on from two apron attacks was daft. Stop making her super strong, she’s mega talented yes but giving her the Brock Lesnar energy does her no favours

That close call though with Rhea and Bianca was great, need more spots of two wrestlers about to be eliminated at the same time

The final bit of chain wrestling too was great, that’s what you need at the final part of a rumble, the mini-match

I had Rhea as my win prediction but am more than happy for Bianca, who was my second choice. Winning at No. 3 is great and her emotional promo just gets her more over. Bianca vs Sasha’s gonna be wild too

Overall the Women’s Rumble was good, most of the women got shine and there were a few mini stories too, do wish that more time was given to some women and that Sonya was in the rumble but the returns were good and most of the eliminations got me good

Miz talking about guaranteeing a championship run like he didn’t lose the last cash-in and didn’t have a chance to cash in previously this night when Drew was ‘reeling’ from the barricade spear.

I reiterate that I wish Sonya was in the rumble, but do like her endorsement of Bianca

Again, this 24/7 stuff is wrong place and time right now

Last Man StANDing Match for the UniVERSal Championship

Cole, there is Champion’s Advantage. Triple H vs Michaels Last Man Standing, neither men made the 10 so Trips kept the title, 17 years ago. Royal Rumble 2004.

See, this is where a Finisher Spotfest works, because it’s not about pinfalls it’s about keeping people down

The camera switches are not doing good on this portion of the side of the thunderdome

Yes, attacking the knees, this is the Cerebral ‘rope breaks with his pinkie finger’ Owens I like to see

Ooof the Golf Cart, a la Kane and Stadium Stampede

Why is this training area just like a second arena

Lil’ running ref in the background

Right into that conveniently placed mini-ladder

Not the forklift! Think of Judy Bagwell!

Oh that curtain is the thing Becky took a photo of! I mean she was always gonna be backstage

Corey before the match ‘there must be a winner’, Corey after Owens went through the stage LED ‘The ref should consider stopping the match’

Did the Ciampa move there to stand up

I don’t think you’re allowed to use a Ref Bump that way

Then the Second Ref restarts the count and stops at 5!? If this doesn’t come back next SD it’ll be a misstep

It was a physical match, not the best I think the finish brought it down. The problem is that KO has lost 3 times now and the last time is a botch finish, and we can’t have him lose again - the poor guy needs a win

ON THIS DAY, I SEE CLEARLY!

I will say this immediately, revealing Edge and Orton as 1 and 2 beforehand was a terrible idea, just because you don’t have a live crowd doesn’t mean the people watching from home can’t be surprised

‘Number 3 is the worst number to draw on average’ - Belair just won at No. 3

Ali at 4? Then went after Edge and not Orton?

Sami, just don’t get in Orton’s face

Refs what are you doing? No rules in Rumble, where were you with Nia and Shayna with that logic

‘What does Shin need to do to be more successful?’ - for one not face AJ Styles, he is still a tag, US and IC champ as well as a RR winner, that’s quite successful

Carlito finally shows after the Legends Night tease and yes those are some abs

So...Randy’s just sleeping with this knee injury

Big E enters with some snappy camera angles again

I was hoping for more Ali - especially since Ricochet came immediately after - buy angry E was nice to see

Wait is that Elias’ entrance? Where’s the guitar strum?

Priesty, wonder if this is his main roster call

What DJ leaves his equipment on stage anyway?

‘The biggest star in the world in the music business’ - for real?

‘I’ve heard of flying squirrels but flying bunnies!?’ - Corey you need to watch Tokyo Joshi Pro, they got a flying sugar rabbit

To quote Ross Tweddell, MMMmmm Riddle...does not do it for me

Stop with the camera cuts I beg of you!

Mayor of Knox County!?

Ricochet eliminated by Kane, le sigh

The betrayal is real for DBry

Big Elim for Priesty though

‘Now it’s a Royal Rumble’ - reminder that Edge is a KOTR winner too, and that Nakamura is the King of Strong Sty-oh and Corbin eliminated him :/ what was the gauntlet about if you’re gonna Corbin him?

Otis’ new gear is slick

aaaaand Corbin’d again

Big Dom Fuck im Uhhhhhh Spinebuster’d

Damn he got him though

Dang that bounce sound from DBry

Bobby no why you gotta do Dom like that!?

Hurricane back from his Gangrel crossing and disposing Sammy Guevara’s broken body in Elite Deletion to do another rumble

One of these days, he’ll hit that Chokeslam and shit will go wild

Christian! This time getting the more emphatic reaction

Oh that smile, that hits you in the chest cavity...then Riddle ruins it

Rey comes in and WWE made him an advertisement ¬_¬

Edward James Omos what are you doing? well...I know what he’s doing, IC feud between AJ and E

Edward James Omos fuck you for eliminating Rey

The betrayal is real for Shamu

Cole how did you know it was Seth before his entrance hit?

I don’t think we were supposed to pick up Shamu welcoming Christian back but that was sweet

Then finally BWOAR

And Bwoar eliminates Cesaro, what was the point of his push? (it’s because his contract’s nearly up isn’t it?)

Again with the camera switching

Seth No! And where’s the boos pipe music!? DBry was a heavy favourite, that would’ve caused heat

Can’t believe Mmm Riddle lasted ahead of DBry

I didn’t forget about Orton, but the finish was good, that Orton tease got us good

It was a decent rumble, in hindsight you could tell Edge was winning given how they put express focus on Michaels winning at number on in the stat attack, Edge being face in peril for the first 10 entrants and Cole reminding us how long Edge has been in there

I don’t at all hate the end result, though I do question whether it was the best choice in the long run. Edge had his rumble win returning from injury already and throwing more legends at Drew does imply a heavy lack of depth in the current roster. Edge didn’t really need the win, but I’m not disappointed in him winning

The Men’s Rumble itself wasn’t as good as the women’s I don’t think, a lot of favourites of mine were unceremoniously dumped out quickly, any layered storytelling didn’t get enough time and it did feel a little by the numbers, almost a microcosm of modern WWE booking

Overall it was still a decent PPV, happy with the winners of the rumbles and that’s mostly all we need from a Royal Rumble. The Road to Wrestlemania starts here

[acrobaticcatfeline]

Of Books, Brothers, and Broadway (Creativitwins College AU) Chapter Two!!!

Word Count: 3814

TW: Remus, Janus, ocean creatures, I.E. octopus, swearing, I think thats it?

Pairings: pining logince and dukeceit right now, mentioned established moxiety.

Notes: This is pages 4-11 of a current 24. I can like, literally not stop writing this it is a stream of consciousness and I haven’t felt this productive or creative in such a long time. We meet the other 5 in this finally! At this point with 24 pages I think the title should be Of Books, Brothers, Broadway, and Boys. So there’s a little hint. Listen I’m just desperate for soft.

Summary: Roman and Remus are trying to write a musical all while juggling their college courses and jobs. Remus and Roman both inadvertently end up introducing their friend group to their brother and two are pining hard for their brothers best friend. Meanwhile, Remus talks to his boss and gets some news that makes his day.

“Hiya Roman!!! Hey wait up a sec!”

Roman was walking through campus when he heard Patton trying to grab his attention over his headphones. He pulled the headset off his head and turned towards the energetic friend who was racing to catch him.

“Howdy Popstar! I missed you last period, where were you?”

Patton panted softly as he tried to catch his breath. He finally smiled up at Roman.

“Oh yeah, my boyfriend is at home sick and I lost track of time. I didn’t even think about it until his phone alarm went off for his online class, what did I miss?”

“Oh nothing much, another duet skit, lucky for you, you got paired with me!”

“Oh boy, what skit?”

“I’ll give you the packet when we get to class, but it's from midsummer nights”

���Ohhhh I love that play!!!”

Roman was just about to bring up the musical he and Remus had started, being called the magicians notebook, when JJ walked up. He gave a casual peace sign and Patton waved.

“What's up with our favorite preps today?”

“Well actually I was just about to tell Patton about this musical-”

Jay decided to jump in front of them, now walking backwards as he stared at Roman with barely restrained joy.

“Musical you say? What’s it called? Who made it? Do I know about it?”

Roman chuckled.

“It's actually one me and my brother are making”

“YOU'RE MAKING A MUSICAL!?”

Roman couldn't hold back the loud laughter at JJ’s response, he doubled over laughing, still smiling widely as JJ was bouncing on his heels and Patton stared at him in awe.

“Wow, you and your brother are making a musical?”

“Roman I don't think I have to explain to you just how mother fucking rad that is, I think you know that already, but whats it about? Do you have any songs yet? Do you have a name yet? Who's your brother? I have so many questions Roman I can't believe I wasn't the first person you told!!!”

“You were you dork! You and Patton are currently the only ones who know about it!”

“I need answers Roman!”

“Salutations Remus. I presume you got your portion of the assignment done… 2 minutes ago?”

Remus rushed to his seat as their professor started class. He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously.

“Am I that obvious Shakespeare?”

Logan stared at him emotionlessly. He looked him over then leaned his head on his hand.

“You are barely on time, cluing me in that you were preoccupied with something and lost track of time, your bag is still open, likely due to you shoving your laptop in it hurriedly without double checking the zipper, and of course, you looked sheepish as you sped in, hinting that you were doing something you weren't supposed to be doing slash doing something you were supposed to have done earlier last minute, instead of proud like you do when you were wasting your time on something you felt justified in taking your time on”

Remus shrunk. Logan could always read him like an open book, though it was his fault for befriending the psychology major he supposes. He felt ready to be completely humiliated as Logan smirked and pulled up his phone.

“And of course, the text I got from you an hour ago warning me that you might run late because of the assignment was a nice bonus”

Remus felt his cheeks redden as he remembered messaging him. He probably shouldn't be so surprised and attacked and yet he turned his face towards their professor with a huff as he pulled out his notebook and textbook. He was startled out of his thoughts as he heard the hall door open suddenly. He turned towards the noise and snickered as he saw Virgil clambering towards them as quietly as possible.

“Mr. Storm I would appreciate that if you are late to class you attempt to cause less of a distraction to the rest of your peers”

“Y-yes sir, I’ll keep that in mind”

Remus had to cover his mouth as Virgil squeezed past them and took the spot on the other side of him. He gave him a quick look and went back to the text. A small piece of paper slipped in front of him as Virgil unpacked that asked if he had missed anything. Remus shook his head idly. The three kept quiet until the teacher released them. As they packed up, Logan started a conversation.

“What made you late Virge?”

“Huh? Oh, I'm not feeling great, I woke up feeling like shit. I was originally going to just stay home sick, but I remembered our project so here I am I guess”

“Oh, Vee, you could've texted us, you didn't have to come if you were dying”

“Meh, I spent too much on this class to miss it. Especially since it's one of my prereqs. I’ll survive”

“Well I guess if you're gonna be here we might as well take advantage of it. I don't have any more classes today, you guys want to get some writing done?”

“I suppose that would be amenable”

“Sure, but I need some caffeine first, haven't had any at all today”

“Good god how were you able to drive here?”

“I can function without coffee if I get enough sleep. I also am simply not addicted”

“Well that is ridiculous, you must not be human. But I could go for a soda right now. Want me to take orders and meet you guys at the library?”

“Lit. you know what I want”

“Oh my god, somebody needs to take your flashcards”

“If you like having 5 fingers on each hand I would recommend you not do that”

Remus was getting annoyed with his brother. He was quietly ranting on the phone at him in the study room he had booked with Logan and Virgil.

“Roman, I literally could not give a shit if you told your friends about the musical idea, I was gonna tell mine as well. … so fucking what if its my final? None of your friends are in any of my courses, I'm not scared they're gonna plagiarize me, you trust them, I'm sure that you have half a decent taste in friends. … Listen, I can't deal with all of you right now, I have a collaborative story I'm supposed to be working on, we can deal with this when I get home. Just like, have a glass of your shitty wine and maybe you'll calm down. I gotta go, i’ll see you later”

Logan smirked at him as he hung up. He did the lean again and god Remus could throw him into the wall.

“What's this about a musical I hear? I didn't take you for a song and dance guy”

Remus sighed, brushing his hand through his hair as he sat down in front of his computer.

“I'm not, but my brother is. When we were younger he said that we should make a musical together. And as a man of my word, I've been working on a book for a musical for him. He's already got a couple of songs written up for it and we’re working with it. It's actually not half bad. He may drive me insane, but he's talented at what he does”

Remus had just started typing when his phone alarm went off. His eyes widened and he scrambled to pack up again.

“SHIT!!! I have a meeting with my boss, they're giving me an octopus to care for I can't believe I forgot I'm such an idiot oh shit I'm gonna be late and they won't-”

Logan stopped his hands. He looked him calmly in the eyes with a small smile.

“Hey, we’ll pack for you and drop your stuff off for you, just go and get that octopus Remus”

Remus smiled gratefully and after checking he had his phone and keys, he ran to get home.

“Hello Dr. sanders! Please come in!”

The doctor smiled at him as he stepped inside. He glanced around the area idly with a smile.

“With how energetic and, well, chaotic you are at work I didn't expect your home to be so immaculate!”

“Heheh, yeah I prefer a clean canvas. Sorry not everything is in place, I kinda forgot about this until just a bit ago and had to rush out of a study group. It's usually cleaner than this, well, at least most of it is, my brother is a mess, but he has a completely separate space. Oh boy I’m talking a lot”

“It's fine kid. Mind showing me where you'd be keeping her?”

Remus nodded and led the doctor into his room, and suddenly he felt a little self conscious over all the terrariums in his room. Dr. Sanders paid his full attention to the fish tank.

“This is impressive, it's a nice little ecosystem for all of them, are you sure Cephy won't disrupt them all?”

“Oh! Yes, I did a little research on her breed and none of the fish in there are food for her, nor is she food for. I know she's super friendly and all these guys have been very receptive to new members in the past, my newest one is the angel fish but she doesn't seem to be bothered by bigger creatures. I also have a back up tank for worst case scenarios, and the fish don't bother my brother!”

“Only thing I'd say is, maybe add some driftwood or floating objects for her to lay on”

He then turned to look at the other tanks. He smiled as he saw the lizards scatter a bit. Remus felt like he was about to die.

“These are pretty nice! You have a nice assortment of reptiles here, where'd you get them?”

“Oh, um, just uh, just outside. A good amount of lizard friends come to our patio, and every once in a while they'll like, crawl up to me. My family says I’m the reptile whisperer heh”

“That's intriguing. Most of these species are loner types, were they hurt?”

“Um, some of them were, got beat up by a local cat or something I think”

“Huh. that's even more fascinating. Anyways, back to the point. You know the rules with Cephy right? You aren't in charge of buying her food or medication until we decide whether or not she can be released. If she doesn't cut it, we will likely have you keep her rather than attempt to remove her from familiarity and then she will become your responsibility alone. She may have an attitude the first few days from moving around, but for the most part she will integrate well I think. If any complications arise, you have my personal number, and I think that's it! We will send her home with you tomorrow with a week's supplies. Any questions?”

“No sir! Thank you so much, you won't regret this, I swear!”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you last week! We were asked to lower our number of interns!”

“What? Wait why are you telling me this?”

“Well, due to that we had to make some changes, and i'd like to formally offer you a full time job! And of course, by full time, I don't plan on changing your hours unless it works with your school schedule. We would love to keep you as one of our marine biologists once you graduate!”

“I- sir, thank you so much, I, I am so grateful! Wait, does that mean I can get even more hands on experience with the critters? Oh thank you so much!”

“Heh, you're one of our best workers, I figure it might be helpful to have a proper wage. But on that note, I really should be going, I have an appointment in an hour and it's a 45 minute drive from here”

“Oh, yeah! Yes, of course, here, I’ll show you out!”

When Roman got home he didn't expect to have Remus tackle him.

“Whats up Remus?”

“I PASSED!!! SHE'S COMING TOMORROW!!! AND I GOT A PROMOTION!!! ROMAN I GOT A RAISE, I'M GETTING AN EXTRA 5 DOLLARS AN HOUR I CAN'T BELIEVE MY LUCK!!!”

“Holy shit man, maybe you should be paying all the bills now, you make way fuckin more than I do at the cafe!”

“Oh, wait, fuck, Logan and Virgil are coming by fuck I gotta clean”

Roman just about died laughing as Remus ran around trying to tidy the place. It was only a few minutes before there was a knock on the door. Roman got it as Remus made a pot of coffee.

“Hello!”

“Hello Remus! We came to return your bag and your soda that you left at the library”

“Logan open your eyes, that's not Remus. Remus has a mustache you fool”

Logan opened his eyes to see Remus. But not Remus, Remus was more scruffy, and he was shorter, Remus was only a little taller than him, but the not Remus in front of him towered a good several inches over him. And the biggest difference to Logan, was Remus had auburn eyes, almost red, the not Remus in front of him had bright green eyes. Logan felt his cheeks redden. He looked down sheepishly after having stared.

“My apologies, you must be Remus’ brother. My name is Logan and this is Virgil”

“Well hello there Logan and Virgil, my name is Roman. Please, come in”

“Roman STOP FLIRTING!!!”

The two stepped in and laughed as Roman shouted back.

“I LITERALLY JUST SAID HELLO AND MY NAME OH MY GOD”

Logan and Virgil wandered in, meeting Remus in the living room, greeting them with a smile and cups of coffee. The two took them graciously and sat down at Remus’ request. While Remus stayed in the kitchen as he searched for snacks in the cabinet, Roman leaned against the wall, giving the guests a quick look over. He smiled faintly as he saw the glasses clad one, Logan he reminded himself, turn red at the attention.

“Roman did you ever go to the store and get what I asked you for?”

“Of course not, you didn't give me a list and I prefer to keep our phone calls to twice a month and I was out of calls”

“You're an idiot”

“Yeah I sorta went into the least brainy major I could find. You're supposed to be the brainy one”

Remus sighed as he brought out a plate of fruits and chips and dip. He shot a glare at Roman's smirk.

“What are you smirking about now?”

“Oh nothing, just a little offended that you hid your cute friends from me”

Roman nearly sputtered after the words left his mouth as Logan turned bright red. Virgil just rolled his eyes at him and Remus looked just about ready to smash his glass of coffee over Roman's head, but he stayed resolute.

“Roman, can't you just go flirt with a random tree? Or one of my lizards! Keith would love a boyfriend!”

“I would rather make out with an octopus”

“Well duh! Octopi are great kissers!”

“God you and Jay would get along so well I really need to introduce you two”

“Yeah sure I would, with one of your theatre nerd friends”

Virgil then sat up a bit. He looked between the twins with a grin.

“Oh wait, theatre nerds? You wouldn't happen to be the Roman my boyfriend keeps telling me about?”

“Depends, who is he?”

“Patton Corwyn”

“Oh fuck yeah! He's one of my best friends!”

“Then I agree with him, you would love Jay”

Remus grumbled something into his coffee. He sent another glare towards Roman as he set down his cup.

“Roman I know you don't know anything about courtesy, but you are making my friends uncomfortable, could you go do your messy things in your room or something?”

“Wait we aren't-”

“Lucky for you I've got a shift at the cafe in a bit, I just gotta change. Nice meeting you Logan, Virgil, see you later rem”

Roman gave a finger salute before diving into his room. Logan almost felt sad at his departure. He tried to focus back on his coffee and his computer screen but Virgil nudged him and sent him a knowing smirk. He glared at his screen instead.

“Does our bookworm have a crush?”

“Oh please do not have a crush on him he’ll be so cocky and dumb!”

“I, I don't have a crush, shut up, your apartment is just really warm. Shut up!”

He angrily typed away as the other two giggled at his bright cheeks. A door opened and Logan turned to see, and he really shouldn't have turned to see. Roman was wearing black slacks, a red button up shirt and a black half apron. And who said he was allowed to be so attractive? Roman gave him a quick wink before looking over at Remus.

“Is it my night for dinner?”

“Yes”

“K, I’ll text you when my shift is done and get your order. See you later”

“Cool, k, leave! I'm trying to study!”

“Ok ok!”

Logan wasn’t free of the teasing until he finally left.

“Good afternoon! Welcome to Dream Bean! What can I get for you today?”

“Hiya Roman! Strawberry acai with extra whipped cream large please?”

“Ah, Patton, I see your taste remains a slave to the pink drink, it'll be right up!”

“Don't shame me! It's sweet and healthy!”

“And has no caffeine, but I’ll leave it be, promise”

“Oh, and a blueberry muffin!”

“Alrighty! That'll be 7 dollars!”

Roman loved his job. The dream bean coffee shop had higher prices than the local Starbucks, but they had better drinks and food in his humble opinion. The college students in the town were spoiled, they got discounts at the place and most alumni swore by the little shop. It was a staple of the town, and Roman had been coming to it for as long as he can remember. He paid no attention to the fact that both his friends had decided to nestle in a corner of the little shop far longer than they were technically supposed to. That is, until he clocked out, making himself a cafe mocha before popping over to the booth the two had stolen away to. He raised his eyebrow at them as he took a sip of his drink.

“What brings you two here?”

“Can't we just want some of the best coffee in the world?”

“Considering Patton didn't get coffee, and from the looks of it you got a hot chocolate with a shot of espresso, no, no you can't”

“Ok so we wanted to know more about your musical! Sue us!”

“Hmm, how about I tell you about it on a walk, if Patton tells me why he didn't mention that his boyfriend is friends with my brother. And why you didn't introduce me to Logan”

“Deal!”

Patton giggled as he brought his new cup of coffee to his lips. He and Virgil stood and followed Roman out the door.

“I didn't know your brother and Vee were friends! He must be Remus then right?”

“Mhmm. whole family of mythology names, my uncle's name is Romulus”

“Hmm! I haven't actually met him, Virgil doesn't bring his friends over a lot. But why are you more upset about not knowing about Logan?”

“I mean, hes hot as fuck, would’ve liked to talk t him more but I had to leave for work before I could say much more than hello or goodbye. He looks smart. Wouldn't take him for a creative writing guy”

“Oh he's a psych major, he wants to write scientific journals and studies and stuff. There wasn't a minor choice for journalism, so he figured creative writing would fulfill the same things. He's actually really talented, he writes lots of sci-fi and fantasy things, he's a huge nerd, but he's really sweet”

“He blushed at like anything I said, it was adorable. Remus almost killed me”

“Ok as much as I love hearing your tea on guys, I do not care about this near as much as I care about this musical”

Patton and Roman both devolved into a mess of laughter at JJ’s insistence about the musical. Roman pulled out his phone with a grin and gave Jay a sympathetic look.

“Ok, let me text Remus for his dinner order and then I’ll tell you all about it”

Remus just about groaned when he heard keys jingle in the door. He was sprawled across the couch, legs over the top of it and his head and arms draped on the floor. He was even more tempted as he heard more voices mix with his brothers. He shouted across the apartment when the door opened.

“YOU NEED TO STOP EXISTING, LOGAN WOULDN'T STOP THIRSTING OVER YOU THE WHOLE TIME HE WAS HERE!”

“Too bad, he's kinda cute!”

Remus fell off the couch as Roman and his friends walked in. mostly because one of them was hot as balls. He hoped beyond hope that he was the Jay Roman had mentioned from earlier. Jay had a face full of scars on one side of his face, and wore a pastel yellow shirt with a jean vest covered in pins. He also wore a deep yellow beanie. Remus couldn't look away as he stood up again.

“Oh! Uh hello! Roman’s friends!”

The other one smiled brightly, just about as bright as his pastel blue jumper and white suspenders. He held out one hand, the other filled with bags of food. Remus shook his hand.

“Hiya! I'm Patton! And you're the Remus my boyfriend keeps talking about!”

“Hello! That must mean that you are Jay?”

Jay stuttered after actually getting a good look at him. He nodded and smiled back at him.

“You can um, you can call me Janus! If, if you want that is! Um, Roman told us about the musical you two are writing and it's really cool! I uh, I know it's gonna be great!”

Remus grinned, and let out a giggle as Roman leaned on him. Janus hissed at him and swatted at Roman’s arm.

“Be careful not to corrupt this one, he's a baby”

“I AM 19 YEARS OLD YOU MOTHER FUCKER!!!”

“And a freshman. This makes you babey. Regardless, I know you are also a weirdo who loves reptiles, and my brother has a collection that i'm sure he would be delighted to show you”

“repTILES?!”

At that, Janus started bouncing and god, Roman was right, he is babey. Remus grins and nods excitedly as well.

“I can do that! I'd love to show off my babies! But dinner first, I've been begging Roman to let us have Thai food for weeks!”

Taglist: @fivebyfive-finebyfive @tacohippy56900 @analogical-mess @crookedlyoptimisticdestiny @angels-and-dreams @fandomloverangel @booklover223

Let me know if you want to be tagged in my writing!!!

Thank you for reading I will see you later ladies lords and nonbinary royalty!!!

[carryonsimoncarryonbaz]

Whumptober prompts #5,#6, #7 in one fic

5: Gunpoint

6: Dragged away

7. Isolation

I got bogged down and fell behind on whumptober so here is my fic utilizing three prompts in a vain attempt to catch up. Not my best work for sure but here goes!

Baz

The moment Snow heads to the bathroom for a shower Bunce lunges at me, pulling a brightly coloured piece of paper from her pocket and waving it in my face.

I scoot away, until I’m wedged into the corner of their lumpy sofa.  “What is the meaning of this attack, you fright?”

She flaps the paper at me again. “Read this!”

I pluck it from her fingertips and spread it out on my knees. It’s some sort of flyer. One of those god-awful things they have pinned to the bulletin board at the café on campus.

I roll my eyes at her and she knocks her shoulder into mine. “Read it.”

I’ve learned you don’t cross Bunce when she’s like this—reeking of intensity and too much caffeine.

The black print is stark against the orange paper. “PAINTBALL TOURNAMENT” is emblazoned at the top in 72-point font. Overkill, if you ask me. I skim the rest then turn to her. “Yes? Why are you giving this to me?”

“It’s for Simon.”

“Then why the devil aren’t you giving it to him?”

She crosses her arms and levels a glare at me over her glasses. She’s actually quite terrifying when she’s like this. “I’m giving it to you so you can take him there.”

“Why on earth would I take Snow to a paintball tournament?” I peer at the paper again. “With people we don’t even know?”

“So he can shoot things.”

Oh. I suppose there is some sense to that.

“Yes, fine, I get that, but why do I have to take him?” I can think of far better ways to spend an afternoon than crawling around in the dirt with a horde of chavvy wankers with a gun fetish.

Although crawling around in the dirt with Snow does have a certain appeal.

“So you can shoot things together.” She huffs at me. “You’ve said it yourself, Baz. He doesn’t get enough exercise. He used to train all the time. He used to go on missions, run himself ragged on those ridiculous quests the Mage sent him on.” She flops back against the sofa, all the energy gone out of her. “He doesn’t do any of that anymore.”

She’s right. He doesn’t. He’ll go for a run here and there but it’s not so easy with wings and a tail, even spelled invisible. They throw him off pace.

Snow joined a fencing club a few months back, but there’s no one there who can match him. He got bored after just a few weeks.

Much as it pains me to admit, Bunce has a point.

Simon might actually like this. An activity where he can use the skills he honed for years as the Mage’s Heir but not actually have to kill anyone or anything.

It could be good for him.

I suppose we could take the train. I’d rather not get any stray drips of paint on the Jag.

“Fine, Bunce. I’ll see if he wants to go.”

Snow is literally bouncing.  He’s got his camouflage combat suit on, protective body armor all in place, goggles perched on top of his head. His tail is tucked away.

I’ve done an “out of sight, out of mind” on him and made his wings incorporeal. As long as he doesn’t think about them we should be fine. I debate casting a “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for” as well, for good measure, but decide that it’s not quite sporting. He’s already got an unfair advantage over the chunky tossers populating this place.  

And an unfair advantage over me.

All that’s left to do now is choose our weapons and decide on an ammo package.

We’ve been assigned to a random team, since there are only two of us, and thank magic we’re on the same one.

I strap my ammo belt on. I was planning on the standard issue rifle and ammo package but Snow insists I get some high tech, stealth sniper rifle. “You’ve not done this before, Baz.”

“Neither have you, you nightmare.”

Snow scoffs. “Yeah, but I’ve played video games for years.” He steps closer and zips my suit all the way up, fingers resting on my chest for a moment. “Trust me. You’d rather be behind the line with the long-range weapon.” He leans in, words barely above a whisper. “With your eyesight and reflexes you’ll be fucking lethal with this.”

I do what he says. There is no way I can argue with Snow when he looks at me like that.

He gets the top of the line rifle and enough ammunition to supply a small army. Which I suppose is exactly what he is.

It ends up being far more entertaining than I anticipated. Snow’s right, I prefer a position a bit back from the fray, out of the direct line of fire, so I can pick off my opponents one by one from there.

He thinks I’m being strategic. Only if my strategy is getting as good a look at Simon Snow in action as I can.

Unlike Bunce, I’ve rarely gotten to see Snow in his element, when he’s relying on the pure power of his body and the instincts that have been honed in him. He’s powerful. He’s lethal.

He’s fucking breathtaking.

And I will take down every arsehole that even tries to take a shot at him.

My ammunition is soon running low and I belatedly curse myself for not listening to Snow. No matter. I wedge myself behind a bunker and peer through a crack, rifle at ready. I can watch Snow to my heart’s content like this. No one’s going to make an effort to ferret me out here. I’ve got the drop on them from my vantage point.

Snow is mesmerizing. He’s halfway across the battle ground now, yelling as he advances on the enemy forces, spraying them liberally with yellow paint. Kill shot after kill shot.

He’s a one-man platoon, on berserker mode.

It’s brilliant.

There are two enemy combatants advancing on him now, left and right, using the meagre hedges and undulations of the ground to cover their progress. I wonder why they haven’t sent a volley of paint at him yet.

I pick off the one on the left first, since he’s closer to Snow, and then turn my sights on the bloke on the right. I hit him too. Kill shots both.

But they don’t stop advancing.

According to rules they both should be out of play now. I reload and hit them again for good measure.

They don’t stop.

There’s something sinister in their stalking of Snow, even if he has decimated their ranks single-handedly. They should be shooting at him, not tracking him in this way.

I’m leaping over the bunker and racing across the no man’s land in an instant, eyes on Snow.

They tackle him from behind, which is clearly a violation of rule number three.

I’m not going to get to him in time. I don’t know what’s going on, but these two are a different sort than the regular paintball denizens we’ve run into so far.

They’re tall, lithe, faster than I would expect as they lunge forward and tackle Snow to the ground.

He’s not going down easy. Snow lands punches on them both, feet flailing as he kicks the legs out from under one of them and knocks his head into the other’s chest.

I’m almost to him when I feel a thud against my back. Some sodding git has nailed me with a paintball. And then another hits me. The abruptness of it catches me off guard and I stumble on a rock, going down in a heap. I’m back on my feet in an instant but I’m already too late.

The two blokes have a hold of Snow and they are dragging him into a forbidding two story structure with no windows on the far edge of the field. He’s not fighting back.

They’re moving far faster than any Normal should.

One looks back at me and gives me a smirk. A blood-red grin from a green-cast face.

Fuck.

Goblins.

Simon

My head’s throbbing when my eyes blink open. Fuck, it hurts. I try to reach up to rub my head but my hands are tied behind my back.

It all comes back to me. My mad rush across the field, the ambush.

Fucking Goblins. I don’t know why they can’t have an election or a hereditary monarchy or a parliamentary procedure instead of this fucking arbitrary method of choosing a king centered on who kills me.

That’s no basis for a system of government.

These two are grinning at me from across the room, smooth green skin, blood red lips. Fit and feral, the bastards. They finally figured out that it would take more than one of them to bring me down.

Took them long enough.

I wonder where Baz is. I’m sure he’s gone completely feral himself, if he witnessed them ambushing me.

It’s Penny and Baz’s biggest fear, that I’d be waylaid by murderous magical creatures someday when I was alone.

Well I wasn’t alone, it was in broad fucking daylight, and in a public place, for Merlin’s sake.  A damn paintball venue, of all things. Proves my point, really. Baz and Penny can’t protect me every minute of every day, even if they’re right there with me. I have to be able to fend for myself. Like I always did before.

Just without magic this time.

The taller of the two saunters across the room. “Finally got you, Mage’s Heir.”

“Yeah, well, hope you two have it figured out which one of you gets the crown.”

Goblins may be fit and fast but they aren’t the smartest, not as far as thinking things through. They’d have had me years ago if they’d been savvy enough to stop trying to get me one on one.

If I can keep them talking, stall for time, that should give Baz a chance to find his way to me.

If anyone can hunt me down it’s him.

I doubt they’d kill me here, anyway. I’m sure they have to do it in front of some formal tribunal, to prove it’s actually me and that I’m actually dead. I mean, that’s what would make sense, from a political standpoint, but who knows with this lot.

Seems to be working, from the frowns on their faces. “Hadn’t thought of that, had you?” I say, bold enough to rub it in a bit, now that I know I’ve got them thinking.

That earns me a kick from the shorter goblin. “Shut your mouth, Chosen One.”

They retreat to a corner of the room and start bickering. Maybe they’ll kill each other off and do Baz’s work for him.

I’d not mind.

I think this is the structure at the far end of the battle field. I’d seen it and assumed it was a storage facility of some kind.

It is.

There are two lawnmowers and a small tractor. Rolled up fencing. A stack of wood in the far corner. Field maintenance it seems. I take stock, to see what might be useful as a weapon. The shovels and rakes appear to be the most promising.

The building is about two stories high but there’s only the one floor and then a little loft on the far side, with a ladder leading up to it. I can’t see if there’s anything up there from here. It’s dark and dim, just a few lights shining weakly high up in the rafters.

There are no windows. Just a door. A solid one.

The Goblins seem to have reached some sort of agreement. One leans against the wall and the other comes my way. “Get up.”

I don’t.

I’m not going to make it easy on them. I may be tied up but that doesn’t mean I have to be obedient. They’ll have to carry me if they want to take me anywhere. I’m not tall but I’m solid. I can make it difficult if I choose.

I do choose.

It takes both of them to get me across the space to the ladder. I’m kicking and flailing, shouting at them too, just in case Baz is near enough to hear me. He won’t even have to be that close, with his hearing, but I roar at them anyway. Makes me feel better, it does.

I’m not going to lie, I’m right furious these two got the drop on me. I let my guard down, thinking it was just Normals here.

Won’t be making that mistake again.

They finally drag me up the ladder, thumping me on every step as they take me up. I’m going to have bruises all over by then end of this.

It’s a small space, filled with boxes of paint balls, labeled by size and color. They shift two of the boxes and wedge me between them, tightening the ropes on my hands again and tying my feet now for good measure.

They have gotten smarter.

Arseholes.

One leans down, all gleaming red smile  again. “We’ll be back, Mageling. Can’t drag you out the front gate of this place in broad daylight but it’ll be dark soon enough.” His grin is all sharp teeth and cherry red lips. “Once they’re all gone Nigel will bring the car around and we’ll have you right where we want you.”

The other one chimes in. “You’ve had a good run. And now you’re running days are over.” They’re giving me matching smiles now, all cocky, thinking they’ve got me cornered.

They do but I’m not going down without a fight. They’ve given me their plan, so now I know what to expect. No subtlety at all.

The short one—Nigel, I suppose—checks his watch. It looks like a fucking Rolex. I don’t understand goblins, I really don’t.

“Come along, Terry,” he says. “We’ve got to get out of here before they do a sweep of the property for the night and put the gear back in here.” He smirks at me. “We’ll be back after sundown for you.”

They go down the ladder. I hear a door click and then I’m alone.

I scoot forward as far as I can, without getting too close to the edge. I wonder why they store the paint up here, rather than down of the main level. I’ll probably never know.

I give my hands an experimental wiggle but the ropes are tight. I try to twist my fingers to find the knots but I’ll give the goblins this—they know how to truss you up good and proper. I won’t be getting myself out of these rope shackles anytime soon.

I end up thinking about the spells I could have used when I had magic.

“Cutting the Gordian knot” is tricky—Alexander the Great may have cut an actual knot but most people use that spell for solving a conundrum, not an actual knot in a rope.  

“Gotta help our Cinderelly,” would have brought out every rat and field mouse in the place, although I’m not sure I could have had them gnaw the ropes willingly.

Who am I kidding? Those spells would have never worked for me. Too complicated.

I’d have just called the Sword of Mages and sawed the ropes against the blade until I could break the strands.

Or I would have just gone off. Reduced the whole building to splinters.

I miss magic. I miss it with my heart and soul. I miss it so much I can taste it—the smoke and burning that used to come over me when I’d use it.

But I was never any good at it, was I?

I can’t let myself think about that. Not right now.

Not when I’m stuck here, with no way out and no idea where Baz is.

Fuck. I wonder if this is what Agatha used to feel like?

Bloody useless. I hate it.

Bet she did too.

Baz

I’ve been circling the building, trying to find a way in. There’s only the one door.  I pull on the knob, rattle the hinges but I can’t rip it away, even with my vampire strength. I don’t know what they’ve done to it, the bastards, but it won’t budge. Goblins don’t have much magic but they do fucking have the market on making doorways do their bidding.

Even “open sesame” fails me.  Fucking hell.

There’s not a window, not a crack in the foundations. Nothing.

I’m losing my mind. I heard Simon shout. I heard his voice through the solid walls of this god-forsaken structure. Why the fuck do you need an impenetrable fortress at a sodding paintball club?

My fangs have popped, my fists are clenched. I’m going to rip these bastards limb from limb.

Simon has to still be alive. There’s no way they’d go to their tribunal or whatever the fuck they call it without proof they’d captured him. Without proof they’d killed him.

I’m circling around again, looking for anything I might have missed my first time around when the goblins come out the fucking door a few feet away from me, all glamoured to look like members of fucking Duran Duran instead of their disgusting green selves—all big hair and frosted waves, eyeliner on point. It’s not a good look with the camouflage jumpsuits.

I’m on them before they even see me, silent and deadly. I knock into the taller one—he looks just like John Taylor—shifting him off balance. He bumps into the shorter one—more of a Nick Rhodes look on him—and then turns on me with a snarl.

I’m ready for him.

I snap his neck before he can even take a step.

The Nick Rhodes look-alike takes a step back, looks like he’s ready to run for it but I’m on him before he has the chance.

“Where is he?”

“Where’s who?”

“Don’t fuck with me. Where’s Simon?”

He tries to claw at me. Goblins have long, elegantly manicured nails but you’ll get a nasty rash if they scratch you. My hand goes up lightning fast and I catch his wrist. I bend it back until the bone snaps and he howls. 

I mutter a “Silence is golden.” No good having anyone hear us. I can handle one goblin on my own and I don’t want an audience.

I’m not well versed in the memory spells the Coven uses on Normals that inadvertently witness displays of magic. Or the one my father uses on Vera from time to time.

Less seen the better then.

I make quick work of this goblin too, snapping his head with a twist. He goes limp and falls to the ground. I cast a “into thin air” on the corpses and rush to the door. “Open sesame” works this time, since they’re both dead and their magic has died with them.

I rush inside, scanning around the room for Simon. I hear a shout from above and I spot him, trussed up but grinning at the sight of me, on some sort of landing up a ladder.  

I’m up it in an instant, casting “like a knife through butter” to shear through his bonds with my wand.

I’ve got my arms around him an instant later. “You bloody bastard. You courageous fuck. I told you it would be the bloody goblins, I told you those arseholes would never rest.”

Snow leans into me, head on my shoulder. It takes me a minute to realize he’s laughing. “Are you all right, Simon?” I catch his face between my hands and stare into his eyes.

He’s still smiling. “What are you laughing about, you nightmare? You could have been killed.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that spell,” Snow says. “I was sitting here, waiting for you to finally show up, you jammy bastard, trying to remember what spells would work to cut ropes. ’Like a knife through butter.’ You’d think, of all the spells, I’d remember that one.”

I rub my thumb on his cheekbone and shake my head. “You’d think.” I press a kiss to his forehead and then stand up, pulling him up with me.

Last time I listen to Bunce. Take him for paintball, she said. It’ll be good for him, she said. Bloody hell.

But when I look at Simon I know she was right, fucking Goblins and all.

He’s sweaty and bruised, with a lump on the side of his head, but his smile is wide, wider than it’s been in weeks.

[sevenpeaches]

About Me Tag

Tagged by the ahga-wife @riceeater22 💜

The rules are:

Tag the person who tagged you

Answer the questions.

Tag 10 people

How tall are you?

5′7 (170 cm)

What color and style is your hair?

Brown with natural highlights that look... copper-ish? in the sun. I dunno, boring old brown. Right now, it’s about shoulder length and messy wavy unless I straighten it.

What color are your eyes?

Hazel?

Do you wear glasses?

Rarely. I wear contacts primarily and only wear my glasses if I’m being lazy and don’t want to put contacts in. I need new glasses tbh, the ones I have are from middle school and look quite dumb on me.

Do you wear braces?

No, my bottom row of teeth could use them though

What is your fashion style?

Ah, how to answer this.. Most of what I currently wear doesn’t reflect my actual style, because I’m too broke to afford what I want (rip). My fashion style depends on the day/my mood. It ranges from cutesy/girly, to athletic wear, rocker chick vibe, chic and preppy, and straight up comfortable hobo. So I suppose my fashion sense is versatile

Full name?

Mina Peaches, Princess of Contradictions, Mother of Cats, Breaker of Hearts, etc etc I’m not giving my full name.

When were you born?

February 24th, 1995

Where are you from and where do you live now?

The US -- New England (any got7 fans around me? No one likes kpop here, come be my friend)

What school do you go to?

I don’t anymore~ all graduated

What kind of student are you?

The one that never shows up to class, yet aces it. Don’t hate me, I put a lot more stress on myself than necessary this way. I procrastinate too much, but absolutely can’t stand not doing well in school. So, I study last minute, write papers last minute, stay up all night the night before something is due. And then I’m all Squidward meme of him looking like hell handing in his work. I used to be the student that wouldn’t study at all, but would still get straight A’s -- until I started going to my last Uni, where classes were actually difficult and I needed to learn how to study properly asap.

Do you like school?

I love learning new things, but I don’t really like the way our education system goes about teaching us. They take out all of the curiosity and fun and just make it so stressful and expensive.

Favorite subject?

Hmm... science and english

Favorite TV show?

Ah so many? Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy, Naruto, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo, Dream Knight (had to), Real Got7, Real Thai, literally any show with Got7 or Got7 members in it (Mafia, He is Psychometric), The 100, and many more I can’t think of right now...

Favourite movie?

Just one? Since I can never pick favorites, here’s another list. Almost any Disney movie (specifically The Lion King, Mulan, The Aristocats, Atlantis, so much more). Your Name, The Princess Bride, The Money Pit, LOTR series and The Hobbit, Harry Potter movies, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and more

Favorite books?

Let’s see... Honestly I read the hell out of the Warrior cats series when I was younger, judge me all you want -- I love that universe. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls was the first book to break my little heart, Winterdance by Gary Paulsen, The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley, Night World series by L.J. Smith, Halo by Alexandra Adornetto. A lot of young adult romance books from middle and highschool as well.

Favorite pastime?

Anything pertaining to Got7 (reading fics, watching content, writing fics, editing pics, gushing about them with others, loving them at all times), watching youtubers like Markiplier and Jacksepticeye. Reading, writing, video games sometimes, finding pretty places to explore in nature

Do you have any regrets?

I regret allowing others take advantage of me and my kindness, and of not putting myself first from the beginning. I regret some of my choices on who I let into my life.

Dream job?

A writer who lives somewhere surrounded by nature, forest or sea idk. Maybe a travel writer. I feel like I would’ve made a good youtuber or streamer, if I had started earlier, like right from the beginning of youtube with all the big name gamers.

Would you like to get married?

If it’s with the right person

Would you like to have kids?

Again, if it’s with the right person

How many?

2? Or maybe just cats. In which case, I’m not limiting how many

Do you like shopping?

Yes, but I’d like it more if I had money~

What countries have you visited?

I’ve never been out of my country. Help, I want to travel so bad

Scariest nightmare you have ever had?

Hm, I’ve had plenty of freaky ones... the most recent I can think of -- It was nighttime and I was in an unfamiliar house. The feeling of dread, tension, and terror was suffocating. I was hiding from... something. Some.. beast, was stalking me. It was like a weird hybrid of a werewolf, one of those deer skull creatures, and a human of some sort. And it was huge. I was sneaking around the house as quiet as I could, but since I didn’t know the house well... I turned a corner, and there it was. Thank goodness I can sometimes take control and lucid dream/wake myself up, because it was leaping for me and my subconscious was like NOPE and woke me tf up.

One that I had when I was a kid stuck with me forever. I was at a birthday party at this old mansion. There were so many kids there, my parents were there too, along with the parents of some of the other kids. We were all playing games and enjoying ourselves, and then we were gathered together while my dad brought the cake out. When I looked at the cake, I realized it was actually the head of some monster. I stepped back in shock, but as I looked around, I noticed that no one was fazed by this. Everyone was acting like it was a normal cake, like they couldn’t see what it really was. The  moment my dad started to slice the ‘cake’ I had to get out of there.

So I started running through the halls, trying to find a way out. It became dark and impossible to know where I was. I rounded a corner and saw the silhouette of a woman. Her back was to me. I started to ask if she could help me, but as the words were leaving my mouth, she slowly turned around and severed her own head off. Her head bounced to my feet, eyes stuck open. Blood was spurting out of both her head and the neck of the body that was still standing for a moment too long before crashing to the floor, covering my poor traumatized ass in so much blood. I don’t remember after that, I think I woke up.

Since I’m already on a rant, I’ll just finish with saying that, as a kid, I used to get nightmares about tornadoes all the time. Even though I had never seen one in real life at the time, and I live in a relatively safe place from that kind of weather. And it was always in those dreams that I could not run fast to save my life. I hate those dreams, where your in dream body is as physically useless as your current sleeping body, you can’t move fast, your punches are weak as hell, sometimes you can’t open your eyes or stand. Lots of fun. Okay, rant over. Ask me about my dreams sometimes, they can be pretty cool.

Any enemies?

Honestly, I don’t think so. There’s a lot of people I don’t like, but people don’t tend to have a problem with me. Wanna be my arch nemesis?

Any significant others?

Nah

Do you believe in miracles?

Yes~ life is a miracle, Got7 is a miracle, Ahgase are miracles, the world shows us little miracles each day, even if we don’t recognize them.

How are you?

I’m better than I was earlier today. But now it’s late, and I can’t sleep. What else is new?

I’ll tag: @maddiekira @madeitwang @screechingaussie (only if you want~ 💌)

[audere-noctu]

Surviving High School

Hello everyone, hope you're doing well. Now, this isn't really common knowledge but I am going to be graduating from high school in the next few months and I thought with the new semester on the horizon it would be a good idea to share some of top tips for surviving the next four years of your life. And I suppose these tips can really be applied to any educational environment, but I only have high school experience, so that’s what you're gonna get.

1. Be in class

Sounds really simple right? But this one is super important. I get it, things happen, you get sick or you gotta go to that cousin’s wedding, whatever. But if you can, be in class as much as possible. Taking a few days off here and there is perfectly fine but don’t make a habit of skipping out on school, because I can guarantee that you'll end up paying for it like I did. When I was in my junior year, my health really took a turn for the worst and I was barely in school that year. As a result, I fell behind and by the end of it I was grabbing at straws trying to make sure I passed all of courses. It’s not fun, and my absenteeism only added to all the stress. Being in class guarantees a better understanding of the course material, plus attendance actually does affect your grade, I learned this the hard way so really it’s in your best interest to be in class as much as you're able to.

2. Try to stay away from drama

Now high school isn't the social rollercoaster it’s made out to be in the media, that's a given. But there’s always going to be drama going on around, and the best thing you can do is to keep out of it if you can. Because with drama, comes unnecessary stress and it takes your focus away from your academics which are more important in the long run. So keep clear of drama and people who like to cause it. Surround yourself with people who are calm and relaxed and can be a positive influence on you, it'll keep your mind at ease and give you a sort of safety net to turn to if things get rough and you need to lean on someone.

3. There’s no need to be self conscious

No one cares that you’ve worn that shirt two days in a row, or that you have a pink panda pencil case. Don’t worry or pay attention to what others think, chances are they probably didn't even notice whatever is making you self conscious. People are too caught up in their own worlds, focusing on their work and their day; so much so that they didn't just see you walk into that door. People literally do not pay attention, and while it’s easier said than done, you really don’t need to be so self conscious, because no one really cares about the small details. This is especially for freshman, I remember I was literally terrified of messing up my first year of high school, but as I got older I realized that all the little stuff I focus on daily literally means nothing to the person who just saw me trip on my way out of class. It’s okay to be nervous and a little self conscious, but don’t let that rule your life. This is really cheesy but just be yourself and it'll be alright.

4. Be nice to your teachers

This one’s simple but it goes a long way. Your teachers are stressed too; they have hundreds of students to take care of, and hundreds of papers and assignments to mark and deadlines to meet too. So be nice to them, greet them and say goodbye on your way out, ask how their day is going, trust me they’ll appreciate the sentiment because a little goes a long way.

5. Hand in assignments on time

Try to be as punctual as possible, and try not to miss assignments or fall behind on work. Not only does this help to minimize your stress, but it also builds rapport with your teachers because they’ll remember you as the good student so if you ever need to hand in assignment late, they’ll be more open to accommodating you.

6. Don’t study for tests or do big assignments the night before

Another obvious one, but its ignored really often. But seriously do not leave large tasks to the last minute, it doesn’t end well. You'll be swamped in work, exhausted and stressed like hell, it s just not worth it. You don’t have to do everything in one day, but try to work on or study for upcoming assessments a little at a time, so that when it’s time to wrap everything up and hand it in a good chunk of the work’s already done and you don’t have to put in much effort then.

 7. Set your priorities and don’t be afraid to say no

Figure out the things that are important to you and prioritize what has to be done. Relaxing and going out with friends is important too but if you know you have to study for a test that's happening the next day but already made plans to go shopping with friends don’t be afraid to skip out on the outing. It’s okay to say no sometimes, it might not make everyone happy but you have to do what’s best for you and if not going to the arcade on the day a big assignment is due is perfectly okay. Make sure the people you hang out with understand your side of things and go on from there.

8. Have fun!

High school isn't all school work and planning for the future. While your studies are important, be sure to take time for yourself. Spend time with yourself and enjoy your life. This is a great time for self exploration, and just generally figuring out who you are so take advantage of it. Have fun, enjoy yourself, try out new things and just have an all around good time.

9. Take Mental Health days

These are super important. Mental health days are basically days where you take a break from everything. Feel free to take time off of school, stay in bed all day, do whatever but try to relax and unwind. These mini vacations are to help you get grounded in a hectic world, so use them to recharge so that you're ready to tackle the world again. This is designated me time, so use it to keep your sanity while you're navigating through your next few years.

10. It’s going to be alright

High school is crazy and stressful, but it’s not impossible. It is alright to be nervous or worried but really it isn't as bad as it sounds so you will be okay, I promise. All you have to do is try your best, keep up and things will work out. It’s okay to have setbacks but remember that there will always be a solution to the problem, even if it seems hopeless. So do your best and work hard, but remember to take breaks and have fun too. It’ll be okay, seriously.

[jungkookieluv97]

Rant

So obviously, the last time I posted I said I moving to South Korea. Funny thing, I left after a week and only one day of teaching. 

And here is most of my reasoning: 

1. My apartment was small, which honestly I was expecting. There was a bedroom, a bathroom, and a main area where the kitchen was. I had a "balcony" but it was more-so a laundry room, there was a washer and drying racks. The bedroom was fine, really. My issue was with the bed. The mattress was like sleeping on a rock and and the bed frame was literally plastic. The main area was spacious for the apartment and the kitchen was what I expected so I really didn't have an issue there. My biggest problem was the bathroom. I knew going in that the bathroom itself doubled as the shower - the shower head was attached to the sink. But here lies the problem - the shower had black mold and mildew, which to me is a pretty big health concern. There was also a distinct smell that would not go away despite me buying air fresheners and keeping most of my windows open. There was also the fact that there a full door/window in my bedroom that didn’t have a lock, which like - if anyone were to break in (which I feel is a more common thing in the US but still), it would be super easy to do because my window didn’t lock...

2. The school, for all intents and purposes, looked fine. It was clean and the employees were very nice. But it wasn't a "school." Yes, there were classes and everything but it was more of a glorified daycare. The morning students were all 5/6 but when you take into consideration that international age is different, they were really 4/5. I actually think there might have been a 3 year old as well?  Classes ran for an half hour and you were lucky if you taught for 15 of those minutes because students were often late or being rowdy. Some of my co-teachers said their classes lasted 10 minutes some days. Despite that, the morning wasn't bad because you got breaks in between. After maybe an hour and a half break, the afternoon students came in and they ranged anywhere from 10 - 15 (9 - 14). There were 3 beginner classes, 2 intermediate, and 1 advanced. Again, not really "school" since I considered it more an after school cram school thing. But it followed the same rules as the morning, about a half hour for the entire class but you're lucky to get that much when students are running late or won't calm down. The smallest class was 3 and it was the advanced. The beginners have the most students and therefore the class sizes were slightly bigger. But some students don't show up to the first class so they come to the second, meaning that the second beginner class can have anywhere from 12 - 25 students. You got a set curriculum - of which you used for the kindergarten students and the afternoon classes - but the books only lasted maybe 2 weeks at a time and you were expected to make those books last over 2 months. Which, yeah, I’m totally cool with repetition and shit, but after a while it just seems like the students would rebel? From what I observed, it was obvious they had been doing the same lessons for a while and that was part of their unruliness. Highly stressful. 

3. You can't discipline or raise your voice. Disciplining I understand, I wouldn't really do that anyway? I’m not a terribly strict person and I do believe having fun in the classroom is crucial. I think corporal punishment is a thing in Korean schools (correct me if I’m wrong though, please) but foreign teachers aren't allowed to capitalize on that - which is totally understandable imo. But raising your voice is a thing, especially if you're dealing with an unruly class. This was something that was vehemently discouraged at F****e (I’m honestly not writing the full name just so the school stays anonymous). N*** (I’m abbreviating my co-workers name for the same reason as the school) - the other foreign teacher there - raised his voice to "reprimand" a disobedient student and the student complained to their mother who went to the school and had him investigated. I'm not the type to raise my voice anyway, but if I have no way of getting across that the student needs to stop or anything like that, I felt like I was giving them permission to walk all over me and take advantage which would lead to more unruly behavior because they can. It was something I had a hard time with.

4. The address for the school and my apartment don't exist. Sure, they're real addresses and I'm sure people in Korea can find them, but every navigation site I tried, nothing popped up - they don't exist. This was stressful for me and my mom because it meant she couldn't find me from the hotel and I had no way of knowing how to get to and from work. My mom drove while we were in Korea and even the navigation in the car couldn’t find either address. 

5. The roads were dangerous at night and more often than not I would have been leaving after dark. The roads were dirt roads - I actually fell on the day I had to go in and tell them why I had to come home - and were essentially dump sites. I kid you not, all of the roads leading to my school were covered in trash. They weren't lit at night so you were walking in the dark with no way of knowing where you were going - see above for why this was a struggle for me especially.

6. I wasn't mentally prepared for this. I know this is what I want to do, it's what I went to school for. But I think I jumped into this too quickly and should have paid more attention to the reviews of the school that I did find. I wasn't ready to be so far from friends and family and all the reasons above made this reason much clearer for me.

[12setsofchopsticks]

White Day 2019

Alrightty folks, it’s that time of the year again for my favorite holiday, WHITE DAY. Yes, again this year I have worked hard. I have spent the past several months meticulously crafting relationships, exceeding expectations, and perfecting my winged eyeliner and TODAY is the day that it all pays off. I made heart-shaped cookies for Valentine’s day again this year and coupled them with a personalized, hand-o-made-o heart-shaped cards of about the same size. As is the tradition, I will log the events of the day in real time as they happen. I am absolutely buzzing because I have high expectations and a good feeling about them.

Speaking of expectations, here is the forecast for White Day 2019:

Low chance of gifts from the English teachers as Vancouver sensei tends to forget and EPS tends to not care, BUT I WOULDN’T MIND BEING PLEASANTLY SURPRISED.

Will this be the third year in a row that I don’t receive a gift from my friend Dekashita sensei? PROBABLY.

Big hype for the third year teachers since we’re all buddies.

As a general rule, I think it is safe to expect gifts from all the teachers who have their Valentine on display.

Feeling confident that I will get gifts from a few teachers, like sumo sensei and softball sensei, since they have been consistent the past two years. Let’s see if this trend keeps up.

Shimichan is a bit of a wildcard this year, and I feel like he could go either way. What will happen? No one knows!

I was thinking to myself yesterday, “Lolen, what if your expectations are too high? What if, god forbid, you don’t receive ANY gifts?” The thought gave me a chuckle. There is no way. I am Lolen, the Beloved. I am a goddamn gaijin goddess and gifts WILL BE bestowed upon me on this day.

Wednesday, March 13th, 2019 – THE DAY BEFORE WHITE DAY

1:45 pm –I was caught off-guard while eating my lunch when a teacher has come over to give me my first white day gift! How delightful, I think, as I try to thank the teacher with a mouthful of salad. This is not my cutest moment.

Thursday, March 14th, 2019 – WHITE DAY 2019

8:25 am – I have arrived at school at precisely the time I am expected to. 

What they see: a beautiful blonde waltzing in to the teacher’s room. My hair looks good, eyeliner is looking sharp and, oh, could it be? Yes…! Her outfit even matches her nails! 

What they don’t know: ya girl stayed up too late watching Netflix the night before so she’s running off 5 hours of sleep and literally ran to catch the bus this morning. She is beauty, she is grace, she is out of breath. 

8:27 am – I reach my desk and sit down. There are four additional gifts that weren’t here before. This brings the total so far to five, before the bell has even rung! I have confidence that this will be a bountiful harvest.

8:35 am – There is a shuffle as teachers begin to get up and go to their first period homeroom class. Within the chaos, I feel a tap on my back. I turn around and, heavens to Betsy, can it be?? I can hardly believe my eyes that it is actually Dekashita sensei giving me a bag of chocolate! The two year curse has been lifted and my soul can finally be at peace.

8:45 am – Sumo sensei has just come over and dropped a literal handful of chocolate on to my desk. I will award an A for intent, but I have to give a C for execution because come on, my dude, at least put them in a lil baggy or something. Regardless, choco is choco and I will accept your offering graciously.

9:01 am – I have just received two more gifts within a few moments from each other; one from the teacher who sits behind me and the other from softball sensei. So far my predictions have been accurate…will EPS and Vancouver sensei defy my expectations and come through with gifts?? It’s the question on everyone’s mind!

9:07 am – In an interesting turn of events, one of the female P.E. teachers has just given me a gift! This sets a precedent for the women here at school, I am now expecting chocolate tokens of friendship from everyone.

9:50 am – My lovely supervisor came over to give me a little baggie of white day treats! A+ execution from an A+ supervisor, 10/10.

10:32 am – The morning is swiftly passing by. Currently, I have eleven gifts but I haven’t received any more in some time now and I am wondering if this may be it for me this year. There are a few teachers that I have been lowkey watching all morning to see if they will make their move. Like a cat in the shadows, I wait.

10:39 am – JUST as I was about to abandon hope, I am approached by the cute married teacher (he’s cute, he’s married, alas) and handed a nicely boxed gift. Extra bonus points since he spoke to me in English. I didn’t even know he spoke English, today is full of surprises.

10:50 am – I am rereading my post from last year. Boy, what a wild time 2018 was! But, I am noticing that amount of gifts I am receiving and the time at which I am receiving them is REMARKABLY SIMILAR. At 10:35 am last year, I also had 12 gifts. Everything is going according to plan.

10:55 am – Bobsled sensei has just given me a gift! As an interesting note, he has opted to give cookies as opposed to a more traditional chocolate confection. On second thought, this really isn’t all that interesting.

11:04 am – One of the female English teachers just came over to give me a very cute heart-shaped cake sort of thing. I have decided that this will be the first item I eat when the time comes.

11:25 am – I have fourteen gifts now. I am wondering if, out of all the teachers, I have the most gifts. I know it *shouldn’t* be a competition but I am absolutely *treating* it like one in the deepest narcissistic pit of my heart. I think I will walk around the teacher’s room later and take some cheeky peeks at the other teachers’ desks.

11:40 am – Another female P.E. teacher just gave me a nice gift, complete with an English note of appreciation! I seem to have made some new friends in the P.E. department with my cookies this year. Exciting times!

11:45 am – Oh, these are exciting times, indeed! Just now, I have received a gift from Kocho sensei, also known as the principal. Based on his status as principal-sama, I expect that these chocolates must be of the highest kocho quality. This brings my total now to 16. At this point, I am projected to top my number from last year.

11:55 am – I have not seen EPS all day, despite him being here today. Should I call the police? Send out a search party? I’m worried that he is lost or dead. Actually, he is dead. Dead to me until he gives me white day chocolates.

12:30 pm – Another gift from another P.E. teacher! It’s quite a large box as well. I seem to be popular with the P.E. department this year, with about 60% of the teachers reciprocating chocos. My hard work is paying off and my ROI is looking great.

12:35 pm – It’s time for lunch but I’m afraid to leave my desk in case someone steals one of my precious chocos. I feel a strange attachment to them, like a dragon jealously guarding her hoard. But alas—I must go, for I am hungry. Is it strange to go out and buy lunch when I probably have over $100 worth of gourmet chocolate on my desk? I make a mental note of exactly how many chocolates there are; I will not tolerate thieves!

1:45 pm – I’m back from lunch. All seems in order. I also used this opportunity to check out some other desks. I am the clear winner in this battle royale.

2:30 pm – It’s been quiet for a while now. BUT ACTUALLY, as I was typing this, another teacher came over to deliver a gift! CONFIRMED: I am a psychic.

3:30 pm – I was just beginning to think that the gift-getting might be finished, but to my surprise I have received another! It’s getting exhausting trying to keep track of all these gifts. Interesting note: despite all NINETEEN of the gifts that I have received today, I have yet to receive one from any of the male English teachers. Just so we are clear, there are FOUR of them. This must be what the sharp knife of betrayal feels like.

4:10 pm – I couldn’t wait any longer and I ate the heart-shaped cake sort of thing. It was a delicious choice. I also made the executive decision to put all of my snacks in my desk since 1.) I was running out of space on my desk and 2.) At this point it just looks like I’m bragging (I am). Furthermore, as I mentioned above, I have a zero tolerance theft policy and these are my loss-prevention measures.

4:12 pm – I ran out of space in my designated “snack drawer” so I had to take advantage of the space in my lesser-used “lesson plans” drawer.

4:15 pm – O shit waddup, ya girl is officially at TWENTY GIFTS!! My boi Shimichan pulled through in the homestretch. If I can get my-age amount gifts does that mean that this will be my golden year?

4:17 pm – Time is precious and there are only about 45 minutes left in the day. The guy in the office must have felt the minutes squeezing by, because he just came up and gave me gift number 21. There is still time for you, EPS!!

5:01 pm  – Well, it’s time to call it a day and head home. Overall, I have to say I am very pleased with the way this year turned out. Many of my predictions turned out to be true (LOOKING AT YOU, EPS), with the notable exception of Dekashita sensei who actually pulled through this year. Now all that’s left to do is to enjoy my snacks...all TWENTY ONE OF THEM!

5:30 pm – Just got home. Can’t wait to see what my real white date has in store for me tonight <3 

[alliebruns-blog]

The Namibia/Panama Crossings - Panama Coast to Coast, Days 16-17 - Extraction from the Jungle 

The Jungle - Day 16 

Amazingly (or not) I slept the whole way through the night. When I woke up at 5am, the butterfly was still hanging onto my tarp. I could go into a beautiful paragraph about how I felt the butterfly had protected me through the night, but in all honesty, I was just a bit surprised it was still there. I got up, checked my boots, put them on and started the routine of taking down the tarps and hammock in the pitch black. James had gone - his hammock and tarps were packed away and his bag hidden in a bush. He had gone back up the mountain at 4am. He had gone to get his drone. 

The mood in camp was still by no means rosy. For some reason I had hung up my wet muddy kit overnight in the hope it would dry (???) Things don’t dry in 90% humidity. They just don’t. And when it rains, they get even wetter and colder. And it had definitely rained. Pulling on wet compression tights is an endurance challenge in itself. The only warm, dry kit I had were the leggings I was sleeping in. I was guarding them with my life. I now hadn’t changed my underwear or tops for around 4 days. I was washing in rivers and streams, but there was literally no point in the faff of attempting to get changed. As much as I hated myself, I also didn’t care how disgusting I was. I tried to brush my hair with my fingers and three small spiders fell out. Oh well. 

I sat and ate my breakfast and jungle coffee on Ant Rock, staring at the rickety zipline. Whilst the sensible part of me knew it had been there for years, trusted by locals and used time and time again without issue, the catastrophising side of me would not let up. I wondered if Panamanian health and safety ever checked it. Possibly not. Would I want Panamanian Health and Safety checking it? Possibly not. I didn’t want to go over on it, but the river was very deep and fast flowing so there was no choice. I had a little quiet cry. The boys were, of course, loving it. I’m not sure that they understood how scared I was - I actually think they may have found it quite funny, and in a way I was ashamed and embarrassed of the fear of something so basic. Darren goes over taking selfies and having the best time, I go over head down gripping onto the rope like a child with my eyes shut. When I get off on the other side I feel like I might be sick and have to sit down. What a fucking hero. 

The plan for today is to try and get the hell out of the jungle. Again there is a plan A and a plan B.  Plan A is to smash out a 20km march - apparently it’s ‘not as hilly today’ and it COULD be possible to make it to the extraction point. plan B is go as far as we can today, camp and then get to extraction at lunchtime the following day. We are all hopeful of plan A. However, there’s something about the word ‘elevation’ that is lost in translation with Moises and Elvin. Their idea of hills and our idea of hills are VERY different. They have lived here their whole lives. They run up and down these ascents in wellies. They are tiny monsters. Possibly the fittest men I have ever seen. Later, James and I decide to take them back to the UK and manage them as trail runners. We’d make a fucking KILLING. The thought of them whizzing round the Bob Graham Round in record time in wellies was almost too amazing. Anyway, the point is that the trails that day were not flat. They were steep as fuck. Again. 

Once everyone is over on the zipline, we set off. We have agreed to leave James to follow on - he's fast and fit, and he is with Elvin. We have no idea if or when he will come back, but Elvin knows the route, so on we go. There is talk of another village on the way up the valley. Rick thinks that there is a possibility we can ask some of the villagers to help us with the packs in exchange for some money. 

We are all bang up for this - even an hour is some relief. Just a few kilos out of the pack helps. On the crest of a hill, we find ourselves in the middle of the tiniest village - it literally has 2 small mud shacks. The shacks have no walls, and browning dry palm leaves for roofs. In the shacks live families of 16-20 people. Around them are pigs, dogs and chickens, all thin and munching on anything they can find on the floor. One girl even has the smallest kitten I have ever seen in her hands. I want to take pictures of everything, but it’s disrespectful and the whole village was looking at us like we had just come down from space.

After a few minutes negotiation, we are instructed to thrown the heavy parts of our kit in a pile on the floor - some of the villagers would hoof it up the next hill with our bags. This was AMAZING news. I took out my hammock and my wet kit , kept my bladder and pretty much everything else - my bag was so much lighter - this was dreamy. My mood was immediately lifted.  We pretty much emptied Robs pack on the floor - he still wasn’t right. Throughout the trip I had been feeding him salt tabs and making him drink, but he would go through these really low patches where he had no energy at all. I think he was constantly leaving it too late to do anything about being hungry and thirsty - the rule in these environments is, if you have a hotspot or a twinge deal with it immediately - same with eating and drinking. If you even feel a tiny bit low, deal with it immediately or it will come back and bite you on the arse. 

I was almost totally out of snacks now - I know right? Me. Out. Of. Snacks. All I had was a bag of fruit pastilles. I was being so careful with them. I had said to everyone that the opening of the fruit pastilles would mark the beginning of the end. They were for emergencies and sad times. I could see that the team, although overjoyed about the fact our bags were lighter, were hungry and tired. So I opened the fruit pastilles and gave one to everyone. They were the best thing I had ever tasted. I tucked them away for later. 

We left the village and started off up yet another hill. The mud and elevation were similar to before, but the jungle was different. There were more tiny farms and even some “fields”.  The vegetation started to change. It became greener and more cartoon like. It was getting to be quite pleasent. Maybe it was the fact that we knew we only had one more day maximum in here, maybe it was the different setting, with lighter bags, or maybe it was the one fruit pastille. Whatever it was, we had all perked up. Rob was still at the back, but we were trying our best to push him on without annoying him. There is a fine line between encouragement and pissing someone off in these environments. A very fine line. 

After an hour or two we started to hear voices behind us. It was the guys from the village, carrying our stuff up the hill. Now, I expected the guys doing this to be a bunch of 18 year old badass farmers, but as they came into view, I realised this was not the case at all. The group was made up of 5 or 6 children, boys and girls. I say children - none of them were more than 15 years old. The youngest was maybe 8. All of them had our shit strapped to their backs with shawls and makeshift bags. All of them had wellies on. None of them broke a sweat. They swaggered past us, silently. I couldn’t even hear their breath. We were huffing and puffing and these kids seemed to glide up the hill with most of our gear. Mental. I felt terrible. I felt like we were in some way taking huge advantage of these people. I didn't expect to see young girls carrying my stuff! They kids stormed up the hill and disappeared from sight. It started to rain. It started to rain a lot - proper jungle shower time. I put my jacket on and put my head down. Onwards. We walked on for another 2 or 3 hours. I was getting really hungry, and was so sad about the lack of snacks. The environment really felt different now - less threatening. There were occasional hard packed trails with beautiful views, and fields of long, green grass. The mud was still there but it was manageable now, the ascents easier with less on our backs. The views took my breath away. The rain was on and off and the end was in sight. We rounded a corner and saw the kids from the village sitting on a grassy mound with our stuff all around them. Time to put it back in our packs again then…

Jim and Rick were about five minutes behind us, but we had lost Rob - he was still behind us but the gap between us was getting bigger. We sat down on the grass and started sorting our stuff. Jim and Rick caught up, so we were just waiting for Rob and Moises now. The kids looked at us with silent, stony stares. I decided I was going to have a precious pastille, so got them out. I gave one each to Rick, Jim, Merlin and Darren and then offered them to the villagers. They took them with trepidation, and I watched as they put them in their mouths. Their eyes lit up as they chewed them. I realised they had probably never had anything like this to eat before. I felt both massive love and gratitude for them, what they had done for us and their badassery getting up those hills, and then massive guilt that I had just introduced them to the world of sugar and E numbers. After about 25 mins, Rob and Moises appeared. All of us stood up and cheered. Rob seemed in good spirits and waved at us. He sat down on the grass for a little rest. We still didn’t have James with us. We were all slightly nervous about where he was. It was now about 2pm and we had been on the move since 7am. We started trying to do ultra maths in our head - trying to work out how long it would have taken him to run up that hill, get back down, get his pack and catch us up. It was futile though - we had no idea. For all we knew he may be lost to the jungle forever.

We decided, once again, to split Robs stuff up between us so he could go on with a lighter load. He seemed totally cool with this, so we set about repacking, with each person taking a few kilos extra. I still had the stinking bin bag, and now it was starting to rip. I attached it to the back of my pack with bungy chords and hoped for the best. Then I heard a shout. James was back, We could see him and Elvin bouncing towards us, sweaty and soaking wet. I didn’t want to ask the question. Nobody did. We were so over the moon to see him. 

He didn’t find it. They had left at 4am and RUN (YES RUN) up that hill to the spot where they lost the drone. They used head torches until first light, when they continued the search, deciding to call it off at 8am and head back down to the river crossing. James was gutted, really gutted. Alvin on the other hand, swore that he would return and find the drone at a later date. I for one 100% believe he will do that. James and Moises had managed to catch us up, even though we’d had at least a 2 hour head start and they’d been carrying their full packs. They were monsters. So, so fit. I had so much respect for them. Total legends. I gave them both a precious pastille. In fact I think I gave them two each because they were special.

So the band was back together. We looked at the GPS, and Rick and Jim had a chat. We wouldn’t make it out today. We would have to spend one more night in the jungle, and get out the following day. Although this news made my heart sink slightly, I knew that tonight was finally the last night in the jungle.  Any longer and we would miss our flight home. If we could keep going for another 3 or so hours, we could set up camp and then have about 10km the following day to the extraction point. And that would be it. 

We hurriedly ate lunch and said goodbye to the villagers. Packs back on and we were marching again - happy to be together, Moises and Elvin had promised that there would be no more steep ascents. Why the fuck do I trust these guys? 

This section was undulating, up and down and up up up, then down. It was a bit like being in a REALLY hilly New Forest. The trails were easier to follow - they were trails the locals used to get to and from market. They weren’t as boggy, and the trees became more spread out. I would describe the flora and fauna as like being shrunk and put into a forest in the UK. Things looked familiar - ferns and trees and flowers but everything was a thousand times bigger. We were like tiny borrower people. 

I was mega hungry now. Like proper hungry for sweets. I had given out the last of the pastilles to Elvin and Moises, and was desperate for something sugary. I went a bit quiet. Surely we had to be stopping to camp soon. I climbed yet another hill and saw James standing at the top taking pictures. He asked me if I was OK. He was always checking other people were OK. I whinged about how hungry I was and the lack of snacks. He then opened his bag and produced half a snickers. He may as well have got out a million quid. He gave me the squashed chocolate and I starred at him. He told me to enjoy it, so I nibbled tiny bits off it, sharing it with Merlin. It was totally delicious. One of the best things I had ever tasted. He reminded me I had carried his red bull for him and he hadn’t forgotten. This is human kindness. It’s something I will always treasure. I was so grateful, and that tiny bit of chocolate kept me going for another half an hour until we stopped to set up camp. 

Rules of a good campsite generally include having a running water source. We were at the top of a hill and there was no water to be seen or heard. Never the less, Moises and Elvin pick up the water filter and dart off to find some. They said they thought there was a well near by. We all set about hacking away and putting up hammocks and tarps. This spot was so much better than yesterdays - it’s more forest than Jungle. The mood was uplifted and bright. This was it - the final time we would have to do this. We were all feeling really positive - tomorrow we just had 10km and then we would be out, on a boat, on our way to Boco Del Torres - we would get there in the dark and leave there in the dark, but we WOULD be able to have a shower and proper food and a fucking beer. And we would be on our way home. The thought of all of this was just the best thing ever. 

I had, by this point, become a bit of a pro at putting my hammock up. Or so I thought. I spent an hour or so sorting my stuff out, helped the boys with their feet and ate my dinner. Darren came over to my hammock with a travel size Jack Daniels he had been saving and let me have a cheeky sip. It was delicious. For the first time I noticed that Moises and Elvin don't sleep in hammocks - they sleep on the floor under a tarp. They were laying there, laughing and joking on the floor of the jungle. What a couple of fucking badasses. 

I got my warm leggings on, hung my stuff up and got in my hammock. And then it started to rain. It was such a lovely sound, and I was soon asleep. 

That night I wake up at about 2am. It’s pitch black. I am on the floor. Turns out, I’m not yet a pro when it come to putting a hammock up. The rain has made the trees wet, and it’s slipped down onto the floor. I can hear something walking around - not a human, something with 4 legs. It shuffles past me. I don't feel scared. I just lay there. I wriggle a bit. Yes, I am definitely on the floor. I think of Moises and Elvin on the floor too. I turn my face a bit and feel something on it, poking its legs through the mosquito net, and crawling towards the top of my head. I keep my eyes shut and breathe. To this day I don't know if it was a spider or a stick insect or a massive fucking ant. All I know is that I was too tired to be scared or to panic. I went back to sleep on the floor. 

The Jungle - Day 17 - Extraction 

5am alarm. My first thoughts are “this is it - this is the end.” I am both excited and kind of sad. The sort of sadness you have as a kid on Christmas morning when you realise you have waited all year for this day to come, and waking up means ultimately it will end. It felt like I wanted the day to last forever, because it ending would mean the whole adventure was over. 

I had got used to the early mornings, the routines and the lack of food. I liked knowing all I had to do was run/walk/trek. I loved not having distractions. I loved my team mates. I loved the silence and the noises. I loved the rain. I loved feeling like the only people on earth. Of course, there were things I HATED. Wet feet all the time, being disgusting, not being able to get clean. Having hair that was now one massive dreadlock. I missed my boyfriend, family and my dogs (mostly my dogs). I did not miss any other part of my life back home at all. 

After packing away my hammock for the final time, I helped Merlin and Darren with their feet (I am now out for hire as a chiropodist). I was sat on a street stump rubbing lube all over my trotters, when Rick came over. His feet were killing him - they were sore, blistered and were starting to rot. He asked me what I was doing to mine. I had made sure, without fail, that every single night I took my socks off and poured rubbing alcohol on my feet. I had then let them dry out all night in the open and, in the morning, I would cover them with lube and fresh socks. Not any old lube. Ann Summers Silicon Lube, as recommended by my friend Lee. Sexy lube. It’s better than the water based stuff, because it forms a waterproof barrier between your feet and your wet socks and boots. It’s like another skin. My feet were battered and bruised, but they were not blistered and were not rotting. Rick looked at me like I was mental, then grabbed the lube and rubbed it all over his feet. I had a feeling it may already be too late…..

Everyone was pretty chirpy that morning. Rob especially. He had suffered the most during this trip, and I knew he was desperate to get out and go home. He had suffered but fuck me, does that man have grit. He had pushed and pushed himself to his very limits and not given in. I’d seen him laughing and I’d seen him crying. Probably crying more than laughing (jokes Rob). He had a steely determination to get this done, even when I could see he was in real mental and physical pain. Of everyone we had with us, it was Rob I admired most. Darren, Merlin and James are famously fit, agile, young men. Jim is a bulldozer. He shuts down and gets on with it. This was Robs first attempt at something of this level, and he was giving it everything he had. I’m not saying that anyone had it easier than anyone else. I’m saying this was a group of mixed ability - as it should be - and to me, Robs effort and stubbornness stood out as something to be admired. 

Rob has a funny way of doing stuff. He's VERY methodical, and every night, when we set up camp, I would watch him getting jobs done in a very rigid way - he had his routine, his way of laying his kit out and putting his tarp and hammock up. He would get well and truly in the zone, and wouldn’t stop until everything was in it’s right place and sorted. He was like king boy scout. I think this was his way of regaining some kind of control in an environment where he felt he had none. Merlin and Darren were the same. Military precision with stuff. I felt like although I had the admin down, I would kind of float about doing this and that. Have a fag, put a hammock up, sit down, look at an ant, get a sleeping bag out, sing a song to a stick insect, stare at nothing. That sort of thing. I had my things that I did EVERY day and night - feet, contact lenses etc. but those boys could faff for hours with ropes and tarps and hanging stuff. Granted my camp looked like shit. The boys had made shelves out of machetes and bits of bamboo. Merlin had a machete shelf for his jungle formula. He later fashioned it into a bog roll holder. I always found it interesting to watch them.

After our final jungle coffee, it was packs on our backs and onwards to extraction. No more big climbs, just down, down, down towards some unnamed village where we would have a taxi boat to take us off to the mainland. The plan was get there by 1 or 2 ish, get out and get the boat taxi to Bocas Del Torres in time for cocktails and sunset. There was some talk of us going to film the pack raft segment, but I kind of ignored that. Having never pack rafted before, I wasn't planning to start now. TODAY I WAS GOING TO GET A COLD BEER AND A SHOWER. That, my friend, is motivation. 

The slow downhill soon turned back into a steep uphill. The views were frankly astonishing. I felt like I was in a holiday brochure. Even the photos I took on my phone were out of this world amazing. We didn’t really know how far we had to too go - again it was all estimates and guess work, but we knew that every step we took was a step closer to home. The sun came out and we stopped at the top of a hill for a rest. It was fucking BOILING, the hottest it had been and there was no real shade that wasn't in knee deep cow shit. We realised we had all run out of water - we had been up high all day, with only a slight downhill and so hadn't seen any rivers to get water filtered. James took the opportunity to do some filming and I chatted with Merlin and Darren. Rob was behind us. Rick pointed to a lake in the distance. That lake was the extraction point. Beyond the lake was the sea and the island. We were almost there. 

When Rob got to the stop, he was very red and very hot. He wasn’t talking much - but that wasn’t unusual - Rob always went quiet when he was hurting. He stood to the side of the group, leaning on his poles to recover, and then he took his shirt off. I kind of thought this was weird behaviour and I should have questioned it at the time. Looking back on it, this was a very clear sign that all was not well with him. Darren and James often had their shirts off (obvs, they're the posterboys) but Rob not so much. Merlin never did - he was, as I said, cursed with being ginger. It would have been suicide for Merlin to even thing of such a thing. 

Rob didn’t look great, no not because he had his shirt off, but because his face was almost totally drained of colour. We pooled together some old bits of pit stop bar, a few skittles and the last of our water for him . He’ll be OK I thought - he just needs ten minutes. Ten minutes came and went, and we pressed on, down a hill towards a water source. We got to the bottom after about an hour and found a small, dirty stream. We sat there and got our lunch out, while Rick filtered water and we all topped up.

We sat and ate our lunch in silence. Rob still didn’t look great, but we were so close to the end now. I was sure he could get through the next hour or so. We all grabbed some water and picked up our packs. Rob was carrying his full pack again, he’d insisted on doing so that morning. This was it - the final stretch. 

As we were at the base of a valley, we decided to follow the river bed - this meant slogging it through some pretty deep water for about a mile before we started the climb back up. Once up we were headed across farmland - long grasses and easy to walk trails - we were only a couple of miles from the extraction point. The thought of this gave me a huge boost. Darren, Merlin and I got a march on - Jim and Rob weren’t far behind. James was between us taking photos, going back and forth. Every corner that we turned I willed to be the last one, every field that we crossed I hoped to see the lake that marked the extraction point. My mind started playing tricks on me - tricks like thinking I could hear running water, thinking I could see the lake. I was at the front now, I could hear Darren and Merlin close behind. We came to the top of a ridge and below us was a small stream. We were about 800m from the end now. We decided to wait for the rest of the crew. I sat down, washed my gators and filled my water bottle. We chatted and chilled, talked about what beer we were going to have when we got out. Fifteen minutes passed, then thirty.  Jim and Rick appeared over the top of the ridge and sat down. There was no sign of Rob and Moises. Forty minutes passed and no sign of Rob and Moises. Alvin started shouting up the ridge, something he often did to try and work out where Moises was. Nothing. Forty five minutes passed and nothing. We were really starting to worry. Then we heard Moises shouting. He was saying he needed help. James jumped up and sprinted up the ridge to try and find him. We were all silent. I felt sick with worry. I think we all did. British awkwardness set in. Keep calm and carry on mentality - something that should actually be chucked in the bin. 

After another ten minutes, we start to hear voices. It was James shouting that he needs water. We look up and see James holding Rob. Rob is grey. His eyes are sunken and rolling in his head.  James is holding him up as he stumbles and slips down the mud towards us. His feet aren’t moving properly. His lips are almost blue. He is sweating, swaying and shaking, leaning all his bodyweight on James. He looks like he’s crying, but no tears are coming out. He is mumbling and making no sense. Moises is carrying Robs pack on top of his own. He has been carrying both for at least a mile. 

I don’t know what to do. I stand there, horrified. The boys sprint into action with Jim and Merlin grabbing him and trying to make him sit down. Rob is saying he can’t feel his legs. He’s moaning and it looks like he’s hyperventilating. He keeps saying he’s cold but he’s obviously very hot. Jim is very calm and is trying to lean him against a tree. Merlin is talking to him, telling him to breathe. Darren is helping Jim support him. We eventually get him on his knees and start taking his top off. We need to cool him down, but he doesn’t want to lay down in the stream, and is fighting against Jim and Darren. James is holding his shoulders and telling him to keep calm. I stand there like a useless sack of shit, unable to work out what to do. My instinct is to run away. I feel like a terrible person. I busy myself filtering water and trying to get Rob to drink it. I search bags for bits of food. And I watch as the rest of the crew battle to get Rob to come round. 

Robs body has given up. It becomes apparent that he is severely dehydrated. Dangerously dehydrated. He isn’t making sense. Between moments of hyperventilating silence, he yells and shouts that he is hot or cold, and that he cant feel his legs. He’s crying. Sometimes he apologises. Sometimes he just cries out. Eventually the team get him to lay down in the water. He doesn’t want to put his head in it. James calms him down and coaxes him into the water by cupping his head and holding it. All the boys are working as a team and I am just stood there staring at them. It’s fucking horrible. 

This goes on for a while, and eventually Rob starts to calm down. We give him the bits of food we have found and make him drink water. I think we get some more salt tabs down him. After another half an hour, he starts to come round, and we can understand what he is saying. I don't remember much about what happened at this point. I know Merlin distracted me by finding a tiny crab to play with. 

This was one of the defining moments of the trip. We had all pushed ourselves so hard, and we were so near the end. Maybe we had been too distracted by finishing to notice Rob deteriorating. We should have picked up on his behaviour when we stopped earlier. But what matters, is at the point where disaster struck, everyone pulled together. Without a plan in place, the crew just got on with it and managed to turn around a situation that could have been so much worse. I will never forget what happened that day. It was a real fucking wake up call. I felt useless, and since that day, I have read up on pretty much everything to do with dehydration and what to do about it. I wish I could have been more helpful. I am only grateful for the expertise and precise care that Jim, James, Merlin and Darren were able to provide. There is a breaking point, and Rob had reached it. We were all immensely lucky that it happened this way. If Rob had been alone without Moises, it could have had a far more tragic outcome. 

After another twenty minutes, we decide to press on. We distribute Robs stuff between us, and get him some new poles - his are totally bent. We attempt some lame humour on the hike up, and tell Rob we love him. We are now keeping a close eye on him. When we get to the top of the ridge, we see the village. We’ve done it. We have reached the extraction point. 

We are overjoyed. We stumble down into the village where the taxi boat will pick us up. There is a tiny school, houses, loads of animals and a shop. We slump outside the shop. It’s over. There are baby chickens and tiny puppies and even kittens. No really, there were! And in the shop there is ice cold fizzy orange and crisps. Jim buys us all a bottle and it tastes like rainbows. 

I feel weird. Elated, exhausted and empty. The whole village stares at us. The tiny puppies nibble my fingers and try and eat the bin bag (I still have the fucking bin bag - now it has maggots in it). 

We are escorted down to the lakes edge and put in a dodgy looking boat. It’s over. Jim wants to head out to the pack rafts to do some filming this afternoon - just so we have that in the bag for the promo video. We all agree to go. Merlin and Jim will pack raft and Darren and I will sit in the dugout. Like I said before - I have never pack rafted before, and I wasn’t about to start now. 

When we get off the taxi boat we sit and wait for our lift at a bus stop. Rob is still not well. I try and make him eat some pudding I’ve found in a bag. He’s like a petulant child, and keeps refusing, but I eventually get it down him.  We have to wait and hour and a half to be picked up. Darren falls asleep on a bench. Jim phones home and talks to Dani - he comes back to tell me my boyfriend has been freaking out because our trackers stopped working in the jungle and he thinks that we are all dead. It seems like he's about 3 hours away from calling in a full search party. I text him to let him know we are OK. I feel empty. 

Looking back on this time, at the end of the crossing, is weird. We behaved like we had just finished a normal, slightly tiring day. In reality, we had just crossed a country for the second time in a week. We had faced some of the most hostile conditions on earth. We had cried, ached, screamed, slogged, and dug down to the last of our energy supplies. We had snipped at each other, cuddled each other, supported and at times and for brief moments, hated each other. We had helped each other, shared food, jokes, snacks and vital medical supplies. We had slept in the jungle for 4 nights with only each other for protection and company. We had seen the darkest sides of each other. We had seen the kindness in each other. We had, each of us, given our everything to the team, the terrain and the adventure. We’d had only had each other. And now it was over. It felt impossible that it was over. But it was. None of us would be able to process our true feelings until many weeks after we had got home. So for now, we pretended everything was OK. 

Eventually our lift arrived to take us to where we would film the pack raft scenes for the video. We were all exhausted. We arrived at the gate of a huge hydroelectric power station. We left Rob in the car to sleep, and made our way down to the enormous and raging river. When the event is done with the public, this will be the final stretch - you will pack raft your way down to the coast and be taken to the island. I kind of wish I’d given it a go now, but to be quite honest I was physically done, and as much as I love doing new stuff, I didn’t think this was the time or the place for me to be learning how not to drown.

Darren and I sat in the dugout looking after the equipment while James, Jim and Merlin negotiated the rapids in what were basically blow up rubber dingies. All was going pretty well until James went over on a particularly ferocious corner, tipping him and his five grand camera into the water. We managed to get the camera back, but it was “quite wet”. Once again James was devastated. These things happen but twice in a week?! James spent the next two hours beating himself up about it and I didn’t blame him. 

Scenes filmed, we made our way back up to the car. Rob had slept and felt a little better. That was it. It was time to go to the island. On the way we stop in a town, and all rush to the corner shop to buy beer and crisps. The beer was magnificent. We sat outside the car and drank and laughed and ate crisps. I felt like we were pretending it wasn’t over.

We got to the water ferry terminal and said our goodbyes to Moises and Elvin. Those two, as much as I hated them for taking us the wrong way and telling out-right lies about how there were “no more hills” had been such legends. Some days, I wonder what they are up to. We get onto a small boat and speed off towards the island. It was dark at this point, and as we flew across the waves, the ocean lit up with bioluminescence in the most beautiful and magical way. It was over, and tomorrow we would be going home.

Here is where our story ends for now. I could go into how I had a meltdown on the island because I couldn’t have a shower before dinner, and how the boys calmed me down. I could go into how we had to get up at 5am to film James’ final beach scenes, clinking glasses of fake wine. I could go into how that night I cried myself to sleep, wondering what the point of it all was. But I won’t. 

If I am completely honest with myself, I still haven’t processed those last few days or where they have left me mentally. Am I scarred or reborn? I don’t know. Have I lost my purpose? Definitely. Did that trip make me or break me? I honestly can’t say. Would I do it all again? FUCK YES. 

I hope that this blog has given you some insight into what it’s  REALLY like to take on a challenge like this. It’s been an endurance challenge in itself writing it - so I imagine reading it has been the same. I hope it inspires you to want to see the world, to want to travel, achieve insane world firsts and visit places that are totally off the grid. I hope it fills you with hope, and the knowledge that humans can be the most wonderful of creatures when all they have is each other.  There will be a final word on all this, a kind of epilogue I guess, when I can pick myself up enough to write it, and when I have worked out the real effect this journey had, and continues to have on me. For now, I want to say thank you to my team mates - James Appleton, Darren Grigas, Merlin Duff, Jim Mee and Rob Atkin. Without any one of those people, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we did.  A huge thanks to our guide Rick Moreno and to Moises and Elvin the superhuman Panamanians. And a thank you to every person that reads this blog. I am not the best writer but I am trying. I am not the best runner, but I am trying and I am not the best person, but experiences like this will force me to keep on trying.

I don’t know what the next adventure will be. My life is changing in every way at the moment. I am moving out of London to the countryside, and taking stock of the world and where my place is in it. This trip has given me that. It has forced me to take stock. I am just grateful that I got the opportunity to share it with so many brilliant people. 

[andyousaidtruelovedidntexsist]

I have a question. I work retail. I have maybe less of a month of doing cashiering under my belt. And so I still have a lot to learn. 

So when I turned off my station light, I only had two customers in line. Which is fine because they were there when they light was on, and so I needed to take care of them and go to take my lunch. My boss has set times for when we go take lunch. Today I asked if it would be okay to take my lunch at 11:30 today. He agreed. Other employees also take lunches at 12pm, 12:30pm and 1pm and so on and so forth. The boss likes it when there is a certain amount of employees on the floor ie at least 2 cashiers in case the lines get bad, and at least one employee doing merchandising while the others are on lunch. The boss isn’t too pleased when everyone is going to lunch at the same time=a lack of people on the floor. Which makes a lot of sense. And so when one person is late in going to lunch, then the others are too.

A fellow employee, who wasn’t working--just shopping, comes up a couple of minutes after I turned off the light. I sincerely apologized, told her that I was closed, and that I just had a couple of minutes left before I needed to take my lunch. (And this transaction with my last customer was taking up those couple of minutes, but that was fine. Because he had been there while the light was on. He had waited. There had been several customers before him. And he had been really patient. There had been a few customers before him who had a load of stuff--which is totally fine because due to those lovely customers who buy things, I have work and all in all, that is really magnificent. But there are some customers who find that irritating and it tries their patience. But my last customer before lunch was a saint. He even apologized when I found out that I only had a couple of minutes before I needed to go to lunch, and he definitely really didn’t need to do that. He was there when the light was on. Retail isn’t my cup of tea. But I love having steady work and a job.)

There were several other cashiers, the cashier behind me was nearly done with her customer, and there were no customers after that one. We didn’t have a lack of cashiers. I explained that so and so was open and that she was almost done with this one customer, that there wasn’t a wait time, nor was there a line of people.

This... colleague of mine was less than happy with me. She immediately started giving me guff. And again, the cashier behind me was nearly done with her only customer.  I apologized again, told her that I would be late for my lunch (and that I would be making the other employees late for their lunch too. I explained that the cashier behind me was nearly done with her customer, and that there was no one else left in that line.) This colleague didn’t care. Apparently she’s gone to lunch fifteen minutes late before.

I will admit that there’s a precedent. If the lines are long, even if if you have 2-4 cashiers working at the registers at the SAME TIME and the lines aren’t getting smaller, then you gotta stay until things slow down and the lines are nearly nonexistent. Which makes you late for lunch but that doesn’t matter because 1) your boss understands (I got this confirmation from him) and 2) your fellow employees understand, and will appreciate that you stayed because when the lines are long, customers get testy which = emotionally battered cashiers. 

But that wasn’t the case today.

There was one customer being serviced at the one station with its light on. That customer was nearly done (they were just paying for their stuff.)

Now maybe I would have taken care of this fellow employee if she had been running late. Never mind that there was none-to tiny wait time for the other cash register stations. I can understand the panic of being like ‘oh no, I have 5 minutes, and I need to get signed in for work and there are 3 people ahead of me.’ I can understand that. But just because I was in that situation didn’t give my any right to demean my fellow workers. 

But there was no mention of her being late. Just a bunch of guff. Stuff that was the equivalent of ‘back in my day, we had to walk miles to school in the snow up and done that hill both ways.’

Also, when you take a customer when they walk up after the light on your station if off, other customers assume that you forgot to turn on your light, and so they’ll come over to your station. I did that once, three minutes later I had four other customers. 

So my colleague walks off in a huff. She goes to the cashier behind me and she’s literally the next person in line.

I have to wait for my cash register to time out before I leave, and so I move behind the barrier of my cash register (that way no one will assume that I am open.) We have to wait for the computer to time out. Its a must! Otherwise someone could take advantage of the situation and raid the cash drawer or worse. We have a lovely Administrative Assistant who keeps track of these things. A mess up like leaving your cash register before it times out can have VERY big consequences.

And so I waited.

And so this colleague continued to give me guff. That because I was just standing there, I could have checked her stuff out. This lady is also a cashier at this work place. She knows how it is. She knows that we have to wait until the machine times out on us--and that only then are we allowed to leave our station.

If I had served her, I would have been even more late. I tried to explain that. I tried to explain that it was policy to wait for the machine to time out.

She still didn’t care.

_________

All in all, I think that I am in the right concerning this incident. I followed the rules that my boss laid out for me. My light had been off before she even got to my station. There was a cash register open where the wait time was very minimal/nonexistent. I did get a bit snippy with her towards the end (so at one point my tone was annoyed polite.) (And I could have done better with that. It doesn’t happen often, nearly nonexistent at work. But I can always do better. ) 

The thing is... this lady is also a fellow cashier. She works retail. Retail can be a soul sucking job, but we have really awesome bosses and so that evens things out a bit. The thing about retail--at least for me--is that it opens your mind up to ways of being a considerate shopper. I learned about stuff that I had to take care of as a retail employee (such as recovery of store items and putting it back where things belong.) And its always a constant thing. There’s stuff on the floor. Stuff on the clothing rounders. Its a race against time because customers can be really messy and a lot of them like hanging up their discarded clothes (that didn’t fit or whatever) on the rounders of scrubs/casual pants/lingerie just because they are right by the women’s fitting room. Not that was ever me. But I have been guilty of deciding that I didn’t want this particular loaf of bread/candy bar and living it on the patio section while going grocery shopping. I learned (that in my mind) its far better to get to the cash register and tell them that you changed your mind on buying item a, and b. 

I think that my coworker was being unreasonable. I think that she was being a difficult customer (who wasn’t right. Not that I told her any of that)

My Mom thinks that its good to do such favors for fellow employees. (Never mind the fact that if I checked her out when my light was off, other customers would see, and assume that I had forgotten to turn my light on. And then when I would apologize and tell them that I was closed then they would get snippy with me because ‘how where they supposed to know’ and ‘what bad business that is’ and how ‘I really am not a good cashier/employee.’

My Mom thinks that fellow employees should get favoritism. That how else will my fellow employees know that I appreciate them? That because of my mental health that I am generally snippy/not nice. Which isn’t true. Isn’t true at all.

My boss has no complaints with me. My Job Development Specialist has no concerns about me work wise. She has said that my mental health is my one and only major stumbling block to getting and keeping steady employment. And she seemed to be mostly referring to my anxiety--which definitely has interfered with work. 

I greet the customers in a friendly upbeat manner. I thank them for their patience while they are in line, and then tell them that I will be with them in a little bit. When they leave I say something along the lines of how I hope that they have a lovely day. I also greet the elderly customers and gently listen to them chatter at me about their day while I am working. (I learn the best things that way. Side note, visit your elder relatives please. Maybe write them letters because their hearing is failing. They’ll appreciate it. Most of my elderly customers are soo delighted at being greeted by a friendly upbeat employee--sometimes I really get the feeling that they are feeling lonely.)

I say hi to fellow coworkers. I don’t get to all of them, but I try. Its kind of hard to keep saying high to a person when they don’t say anything back. I let my fellow employees know how happy I am to see them. I let them know that I enjoy working with them. That they are such hard workers--that a lot of them seem to work magic with how much they get done. I say stuff about how awesome they are. That I am really glad that they are there. That they are such a great help and I really don’t know what I would do without them. Today I gushed at the employee who had been working the collectibles cabinet--I hadn’t even called him over the radio yet, I had been kind of panicking because I was having a hard time reading the handwriting on the collectibles tickets. And this employee just walked up with all of the customer’s desired items from the collectible cabinet. Not exactly sure what I had gushed at this employee but I am fairly certain that I had said stuff about how wonderful he is...and I might have even thrown in stuff like “miracle worker” and “I really adore you, thank you so much.”

I do good at work. My Mom doesn’t see that. I am kind. I can now greet customers enthusiastically when before I was too scared to do so. Sometimes I do have lower numbers when it comes to greeting customers. But I am improving. Those lower numbers are often on my poor mental health days. 

Sure I struggle a bit at home. Mom picks and pulls at every faulty interaction (if I am walking out of the store and don’t say hi to the 2 employees who are busy working or on a break, and talking to each other.) Or that all the bullying in high school was my fault and that I just should have known that they had ill intentions. That it was my fault that my brother in law had lost his job (my Job Development Specialist had scoffed at that, and explained to me why that wasn’t so.)  That if I let my Mom into how I am in a whole anxiety/depression spin of ‘I hate people, why does there have to be people (not that I hate all people, I just really hate feeling uncomfortable around people and no matter what I do there are always going to be a lot of people’ or ‘I really don’t feel comfortable with people because of all the crap that has happened.’ She’ll hold that against me. She sees a few interactions where I mess up and so therefore, I am a total mess up due to my mental health issues. That I don’t succeed. I don’t think that she understands how her words sound. I don’t think she even chews her words before she speaks.

_____________________

Sorry, I got off track. My point is that I would love any feedback concerning how to be a better retail worker. I would like to hear whether I did okay today--or if there is room for improvement.

[kennethherrerablog]

13 Tips to Crack Down on Impulse Shopping. Your Budget Will Thank You

Your day starts innocently enough.

You normally brew a cup of coffee at home, but you’re running late. So you swing by Starbucks for a $5 morning pick-me-up.

After a tiresome day at work, you stop by a store to get a replacement for your cell phone, which has been on the fritz for weeks now. The new phone is an anticipated purchase you budgeted for, but you weren’t planning on the $40 stylish case you just had to have.

On the way to your car, you run into a group of Girl Scouts selling cookies. Their cute, persuasive ways have you digging in your wallet to buy a $4 box of Thin Mints.

You hit a block of traffic on the way home, doubling your 20-minute commute. At this point, you’re tired and hungry, and the three fast food restaurants you passed are calling your name. You have groceries at home but no energy to cook, and eating Thin Mints for dinner won’t cut it. You steer into the next drive-through and order a $7 meal.

Without realizing it, you’ve spent $56 over the course of the day on impulse buys.

Impulse buys are those random, unplanned, unnecessary purchases that eat into your potential savings. You engage in this spending behavior without thinking, which is why you can’t seem to recall what happened to that $20 bill in your wallet or how your budget got so off balance.

It happens to the best of us.

Retail marketers are trained in sneaky tactics that influence our urge to buy. Our personalities and moods can also lead to impulse shopping. In an article in Psychology Today, psychologist Ian Zimmerman said impulse buying is often connected to anxiety, unhappiness and the desire for social acceptance.

No matter your trigger, it’s important to become more conscious of your spending habits. Imagine how much better off your finances would be if you saved every penny you mindlessly spent on stuff you don’t really need.

How to Stop Impulse Buying

Find yourself getting sucked into frivolous spending? Here is some practical advice you can put into action to keep more money in your wallet.

Change Your Mindset About Spending

Shifting your way of thinking can snap you out of the habit of mindlessly buying stuff you don’t need. Take a moment to consider what you’re spending money on and why.

1. Avoid Shopping for Fun

Many people treat shopping like a hobby or something to do to pass time on the weekends. Others use shopping as a cure for a bad mood. But turning to shopping to bring you joy makes you more vulnerable to impulse spending.

Instead, find activities to fill that void. Have a picnic in the park. Take a walk. Call a friend. Work out or meditate. You don’t have to spend money to feel good.

2. Ask Yourself If It’s Worth It

Before you reach for your debit card (or hit the purchase button if you’re shopping online), ask yourself a little question: Is this worth it? You can even attach a sticky note attached to your credit card with that question.

If it’s a $3 magazine that’ll keep you from being bored to death on a flight, then maybe that answer is yes. If it’s a pair of shoes that cost the equivalent of an entire day’s pay and you’re already stressed about debt, then take a hard pass.

3. Keep Your Goals on the Forefront

Staying aware of your goals can steer you away from unnecessary purchases. If you’ve got it on your mind that you want to get out of debt in 12 months, you may not be as inclined to buy that $15 graphic T-shirt.

Avoid Impulse Buying at Your Favorite Store

Those shops you frequent have entire teams working to entice you to buy through marketing, product placement and other clever strategies. If you’re trying to save money, fight against the temptation.

1. Shop With Your Financial Accountability Buddy

A friend or family member who’s aware of your financial struggles and goals is the perfect person to bring along on shopping trips. Your accountability buddy can reign in your tendency to overspend on the unnecessary. Just make sure it’s someone who’s not afraid to speak up on your budget’s behalf.

2. Only Carry a Limited Amount of Cash

Using the cash envelope system is great, but carrying around a big wad of cash in lieu of using plastic won’t prevent you from giving into the impulse to buy whatever catches your eye. If you’re sticking with cash only, plan your purchases in advance and just take the amount of money you’ll need for that one shopping trip.

3. Keep Credit Cards Out of Reach

Using your credit card for impulse purchases only adds extra cost — in the form of interest — to something you didn’t need to buy in the first place. You could literally freeze your cards in a block of ice, shred them to pieces or simply keep them hidden away at home. Don’t shop with credit cards in your wallet to avoid easy access to impulse buying.

Nix Online Impulse Purchases

Don’t let the convenience of online shopping get the best of you. Ignore the allure.

1. Take Your Ordering Info Off Retail Websites

Online retailers want buying to be as simple as the click of a button. They offer to save your debit or credit card information so you don’t have to pull out your card and type in a bunch of numbers each time.

If you’re trying to fight impulse shopping, however, having to take that additional step gives you more time to reconsider your purchases. Remove your financial information from online sites to prevent making impulse buying so effortless.

2. Set Parental Controls on Your Devices

You don’t have to have kids to find the benefit in parental control settings. Block your favorite retail sites or set up purchase restrictions for the App Store or Google Play. Sure, you’ll know the code to circumvent the parental controls, but having that extra layer to get around might deter you from buying on impulse.

3. Unsubscribe From Emails or Text Alerts

Oh, the temptation of all the deals. That email for 30% off all footwear that just popped up in your inbox has your dreaming about getting new sandals, even though you already own several pairs. Did someone tell them shoes are your weakness?

Avoid the trap by unsubscribing from the email lists or text alerts from shops, restaurants or businesses you know will be hard to resist. There will always be another sale.

Pro Tip

Take advantage of deals when the purchase makes sense for your budget, not just due to fear of missing out.

Additional Tips to Curb Impulse Spending

When you spend your money intentionally and not impulsively, you’ll likely have more money left over to save. Here’s more help to avoid impulse purchases.

1. Give Yourself Time Before Deciding to Buy

That gotta-have-it-now feeling is what leads so many of us to buy things on impulse. But pressing pause on buying is often all it takes to realize what we’re craving isn’t something we really have to have. Some people implement a 30-day rule — delaying a purchase for about a month — but you can really give yourself any length of time.

Pro Tip

When shopping online, use the Google Chrome extension Icebox, which prevents you from making immediate online purchases, giving you time to reconsider how you’re spending your money.

2. Track Your Daily Spending

Don’t wait until the end of the month to analyze your spending and see if everything matches up to how much you said you’d spend in your budget. When you take note of what you spend each day, those unnecessary impulse purchases stick out like a sore thumb.

3. Don’t Make Your Budget Too Restrictive

Unless you have the self-discipline of a monk, there are going to be times when you want to indulge just a little bit. A budget that only covers basic life essentials? Not fun.

Add room in your budget for discretionary spending. That way you can make those random purchases without feeling guilty.

4. Take Inventory of What You Have

You know that coffee mug with the witty saying you just had to buy? It’ll end up in the kitchen cabinet along with a dozen similar ones you already own. Coffee is life, but when you can fill up an entire dishwasher with mugs alone, you gotta start saying “no” to more.

Taking stock of what you already own at home — whether it’s clothes, shoes, books or dishware — can help you put things in the right perspective when something attractive catches your eye while shopping.

When Impulsive Buying Become A Bigger Issue

As Penny Hoarders, we hate losing potential savings to frivolous impulse spending, but a few spur-of-the-moment purchases every now and then aren’t the end of the world.

If poor shopping habits, however, seem beyond your control or are becoming detrimental to your financial life, relationships or general feeling of well being, then you should seek professional help.

A licensed therapist could help you manage impulsive behavior. Debtors Anonymous also offers support to those whose shopping habits lead them to unmanageable debt.

Nicole Dow is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She no longer buys candy at the grocery store registers.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

13 Tips to Crack Down on Impulse Shopping. Your Budget Will Thank You published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

[itismetheperson]

10 Easy Ways To Be Healthier In Your Everyday Life

Everyone probably wants to be healthier. You want to be that super healthy person who goes to the gym every day and and just eats green juice and smoothie bowls. But well. You're not that person. And it's not like you can just become that person overnight. That's totally cool. In this post I'm just going to be showing you 10 ways you can be healthier in your everyday life. They're not hard but will make a difference in the long run. Let's get started!! *This post is sponsored by Sixspokes but all opinions are of course my own :)

1. Healthy Snacks 

Instead of reaching for those hot chips or fritos maybe reach for a just as tasty, but healthier, alternative. The key is finding something that you like and always having it on hand. For me I usually either eat frozen grapes, veggie chips, or nuts. 

2. Use A Water Bottle

Awesome for the environment and youuu. I've noticed when I'm using a water bottle I literally drink more. Maybe this is because It's easier to carry around or because it just carries more water. Either way it works. And there are so so many benefits of drinking more water. 

3. No Bun Or Just One

The next time you're eating a burger or literally anything with a bun/bread, think about it. Does it reallllllly add that much? Lately I've been only using one bun or just none and most of the time the bread to stuff ratio is too much anyway.

4. Make Breakfast 

Don't just eat cereal. That is of course ok. But on those days when you have more time, take advantage of it. Remember, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Make a smoothie or make yourself some scrambled eggs. Both super easy, not time consuming, will make you happy, and is so much healthier than cereal. If you're feeling more like pancakes or french toast than fruit!!You can always add fruit. It's tasty, easy, and of course healthyyyyy. 

5. Bike Places

I mean like how cool do I look in that photo? I want to bike more just to look that cool. Once again shoutout to Six Spokes for sponsoring this post! They sent me the jacket and the colorful socks which I both love soooo much. 

Ok so back to the actual health benefits haha. If you're going somewhere pretty close but that is maybe too long of a distance to walk or you just want to get there fast, think about biking instead of using the car. Soooo much better for both you and the environment. Plus biking can be super relaxing. It's a nice way to escape from the world for even just a couple of minutes.

6. Set Alarms To Wake Up + Go To Bed

It has been proven that if you wake up and go to bed at the same time every day than you will be happier and more rested and healthier. Plus when you go to bed earlier and wake up earlier you have so much more time to be productive and get things done.

7. Hang Out With People Who Make You Happy 

You might be confused, or if you're of an introvert, rolling your eyes, but you're mental health seriously affects your physical health. Just surround yourself with other humans who relate and understand you. Also tryyyy. These amazing humans will probs not come to you. Making friends and keeping those friendships take work. 

8. Go Outside 

If you're doing something that could be done outside, then go outside! Maybe you're reading a book or working on your computer or doing homework. It's always good to get more vitamin D and this will boost your energy. If you happen to have a patio with a cover and a fan that is pretty much the ideal haha. If not though umbrellas!! And hand held fans!! And water! Great items. 

9. Wash Your Hands And Carry Around Hand Sanitizer 

Just about everyone seems to be sick right now (currently flu season) and one way to make sure you don't get sick is to wash your hands as much as you can!! I'm sure you've forgotten to wash your hand before meals a couple times. Just try not to. There are some places where you can't really wash your hands, say school, but you can use hand sanitizer!! 

10. Don't Get On Your Phone In The Morning 

Whenever I get on my phone directly in the morning it basically delays my day. I just want to stay in bed and scroll through insta instead of getting up. A good rule and one that I use is that I have to get ready for the day (clothes and brush teeth and all that) before I get on my phone. A nice little time of just peace. 

I really hope you guys enjoyed that and that it helped you. I would lovvvve to do a part two so if you want one, make sure to share this post with all of your friends and comment down below your tips for being healthier. Once again thank you to Six Spokes for sponsoring this post and for sending me the super cute jacket and socks. :) 

via Blogger https://ift.tt/2U6mUXp

[lorrainecparker]

Combating Computer Vision Syndrome

More than anything, editors and motion graphic designers have one tool that more important than anything, and that is their eyes.  You eyes are probably the most important tool you have, and eye strain can be an absolutely debilitating problem if you’re not paying close enough attention to what your eyes are telling you.  In this article, I thought I would look at a few different issues when it comes to your eyes, and eye strain and more specifically Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), to try help you keep your eyes (and you) as healthy as possible.  

SYMPTOMS OF EYE STRAIN

Chances are you’ve already experienced symptoms of eye strain, and don’t even know it.  The first, and most obvious sign is sore, tired and/or itchy eyes.  Most people immediately think that with a couple of eye drops, this will go away.  And in most cases it will….temporarily.  The next symptom, and one that I run into all the time is headaches.  There are days where I get headaches that can be the equivalent to a migraine, but as editors, we just have to plow through, and get the job done.  Other symptoms of eye strain can be general eye discomfort, difficulty focusing, watery or dry eyes, blurred or double vision, and one that I’ve noticed lately is an increased sensitivity to light.  Now, as an editor, i’m working with at least two monitors and in many cases, up to four monitors.  I work with dual monitors for my editing system, a client monitor, to see what everyone’s going to see when the piece i’m editing “goes to air”, and lastly, I have another monitor that has all my external VU meters, as well as Waveform/Vector Scopes as well.  That’s a lot of light coming from different sources a few feet from my/your face.  So that does beg the question.  Is it a simple matter of turning down the brightness on the monitors to help solve the problem.  Unfortunately, the answer is no.  So, what’s really going on here.  Well, let’s dig a little deeper.

CAUSES OF EYE STRAIN

Eye Strain and, more specifically, Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) is becoming more and more of an issue every day.  I’m not going to go into a huge scientific explanation about the light spectrum, and where all the colors fall into it, but needless to say, Blue Light (also known as HEV light) is bad.  If you take a look at the image below (from allaboutvision.com), you can see that Blue Light, and UV light fall towards the bottom of the spectrum

So, you’re probably thinking “Well, what the big deal?  Who cares about Blue Light and UltraViolet light.  I’m not out getting burnt in the sun!”.  While that may be true, Blue and UV light create two bigger problems, especially for us in the television/film industry.  What you need to know, again, in a non-scientific way from allaboutvision.com, is that:

There is an inverse relationship between the wavelength of light rays and the amount of energy they contain. Light rays that have relatively long wavelengths contain less energy, and those with short wavelengths have more energy.

So, looking at that image above, all the light that falls into the 500-700 nm range are considered long, weaker energy wavelengths.  Anything that falls into the 100-500 nm range are considered shorter, stronger wavelengths.  As you can see that is the range for both UV and BL.  So what does that mean for us?  Well, the first big issue is that our eyes have a problem filtering out Blue Light (BL).  No big deal, right?  WRONG!  All our devices, televisions, computer screens, iPads, iPhones, etc, emit BL.  That means that BL is going directly into the Macula of your eyes.  You’ve hearn of Macular Degeneration, no?  Well, that’s what’s the over exposure to BL is doing.  The UV light, on the other hand, is doing something slightly different.  We all know that the UV in light is what we wear sunscreen to protect our skin from, to try to avoid skin cancer.  Well, it’s the same with our eyes…..sort of.  The UV light, that is going into our eyes can cause another condition called photokeratitis or, basically, sunburnt eyes.  One other thing that’s exceptionally important to mention about BL is the negative effect it has on your sleep patterns.  Have you noticed that Apple has added a “Night Shift” feature to iOS that changes the color of your screen from a very blue color, to a more orangey look?  That’s because of the negative effect of blue light on sleep patterns.  What is very interesting about this is that if you were to look up apps that you can buy that do a better job of filtering out blue light, you’ll notice that there aren’t any.  Currently iOS doesn’t allow developers to access the Private API’s that developers need to make these types of apps work on iOS.  I don’t want to say that I’m not surprised, but I’m not surprised.  Now, we’re looking at the worse case scenario in these cases.  Think long term.  We’re talking more specifically in this article about short term problems, specifically, eye strain, which causes most of the health problems I listed above.  Solve the short term problem, solve potential long term problems.  So, how do we go about doing that.  Well, let’s take a look.

HELP ALLEVIATE THAT EYE STRAIN (CVS)

GET YOUR EYES CHECKED

This sounds like a funny one, but when trying to narrow down the cause of your vision problems, your might just be getting old (sorry, someone had to say it), and what you’re experiencing is just the natural course of your eyes getting old.  Rule out any issues with your eyes before moving onto dealing with CVS symptoms.  Sometimes it’s something as simple as needing reading glasses that can help with a lot of eye strain.

LAY OFF THE DEVICES

I know that this might seem like an easy thing to say, but every little bit helps when battling Computer Vision Syndrome.  When you’re done your 9-5 (yeah right.  Find me an editor or motion graphic designer that works these hours….but you get what I mean), try to lay off the iPhone, iPad, TV, etc, and give your eyes a break.  If you have multiple displays for when you’re working (client monitor, Waveform/Vector Scope), turn those monitors off until you need them, and then toggle them on/off as necessary to give your eyes as much of a break as possible.

FOLLOW THE 20-20-20 RULE

Now, as much as you might not be able to lay off the devices, there are other things you can do to help your eyes out.  On thing is the 20-20-20 rule.  Every 20 minutes, focus on something 20 feet away for 20 seconds (Thank you Canadian Association of Optometrists!).  I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but giving your yes one minute of a break each hour is something you can easily commit to!

GLARE REDUCTION SCREENS

If you are an editor/designer that works in one room all the time, this one is relatively easy to implement, but there are a ton of options, so bear with me here.  First, don’t get confused between Privacy screens and Glare Reduction Screens.  Although some Privacy Screens offer Glare Reduction, they are not the same thing.  These days, the most common type of Glare Reduction “Screens” are ones that are link an actual film that goes on overtop of your actual computer screen, much like the image you see below.

These ones go on your computer screen, much like a screen protector for an iPhone.  As you can see from the image, this one is about $80 Canadian (at Staples), but you will need to make sure that you choose the correct sizing, or you’re going to be in for a bit of a headache, literally, getting it to work properly.  The big advantage to these is that if used properly, they will fit on your screen, and you won’t even notice them.  The bad side is that it doesn’t reduce the amount of Blue/UV Light going into your eyes.  So is there another alternative?

COMPUTER GLASSES

These are really the best alternative, when it comes to reducing that Blue/UV Light that’s going into your eyes, and battling Computer Vision Syndrome.  Computer Glasses, and in this particular case, Gunnar Glasses, do just that.  They not only reduce glare, but also tackle that pesky Blue/UV light issue that is at the root of many people’s problems.  BUT, and there’s a big but, you’ll notice by the below image, that the glasses have a yellow tint to them, to handle the Blue/UV light issues.  

Obviously, this is not ideal for color grading, and even after effects work, but you can work with these types of glasses by alternating between using them when doing something like just editing or audio mixing, and then remove them when you’re ready to do color grading or After Effects work.  To be honest, in many cases (other than color grading), you can just keep the glasses on for 90% of your graphics workflow, and only remove or lower the glasses, when you need to see a specific color, or a specific animation you’ve created.

In the end, many editors who wear glasses could very well already have glare and UV blockers included in their lenses, so they’ve already fixed 90% of their problems when it comes to Computer Vision Syndrome, but keep in mind that it’s really that pesky blue light that’s coming at us from all directions, that needs addressing, so you can keep your most valuable post production tool, your eyes, as healthy and happy as possible.  For more information about Glare Reduction Screens, you can check them out at your local Staples or Business Depot.  For more information about Gunnar Glasses for both computer screens and gamers, you can check them out at www.gunnar.com, and finally, for more information on Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), you can check it out here!

The post Combating Computer Vision Syndrome appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

First Found At: Combating Computer Vision Syndrome

[junker-town]

The Top Whatever: The season’s 6 days old, and I’m already tired of Alabama

It’s time to rank only the exact number of teams you feel like ranking.

1. Alabama. America’s unfunniest program did have one funny moment in an otherwise dismal, anticlimactic, sludge-slow, 24-7 processing of Florida State. At one point during the broadcast, the production switched to the standard in-booth shot of “the Alabama offensive braintrust,” the coaches watching from the booth upstairs. It looked like your standard group of tense men wearing dry-fit golf shirts, chewing stuff, wearing headsets, and looking down at the field like someone they loved was about to die. Standard coaches, really.

The funny part: the next shot was of the adjacent box, stacked full of Alabama’s bank of “analysts,” including Chris Weinke, the former Florida State quarterback and Heisman winner, and Dan Werner, the quarterbacks coach for Miami’s NFL farms of the early 2000s. It looked like an entire other coaching staff, all with heads down, taking notes and watching intently.

I don't think Alabama has enough assistant coaches http://pic.twitter.com/FwEueWjloO

— Don Juanson (@donjuanson34) September 3, 2017

At no point did they show Alabama’s actual offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll. He’s down on the sidelines, and maybe hard to find in all the traffic (at a glance, you could spot him by saying “the dude who looks like Hodor’s younger brother”). He might not matter; it’s really hard to tell who does what at Alabama, so it’s hard to blame him for the offense. Daboll might be a paid actor meant to hide Alabama’s real offensive coordinator behind a character called “Brian Daboll.” Nick Saban is a step ahead at all times, so don’t rule it out.

The point is that Alabama’s vast, corporate, overfed, overstaffed, organizationally bloated, overfunded, hopelessly paranoid, and utterly successful football company only gained 269 yards against Florida State, struggled to move the ball for long stretches of the game and had to rely on special teams to generate field position and points. I’m sure Saban will get it fixed, probably by calling in at least three different consultancies to evaluate weaknesses over the next couple of weeks. The Rand Corporation ain’t cheap, but when you need to figure out why your blocking schemes ain’t working, it takes a village to put together that PowerPoint. (A very expensive village.)

The defense is basically perfect already, so much so that it made me feel bad for Florida State. Do you know, in this day and age, how bad that had to be, to make anyone feel bad for Florida State? Deondre Francois didn’t deserve anything that happened to him Saturday night, and the FSU defense played really well, and they still lost by 17 points.

That’s a land speed record. It’s Week 1, and I’m already tired of Alabama.

2. Ohio State. Who knew J.T. Barrett would ever throw for 300 yards against a Power 5 opponent again? Turns out that if you throw short passes to fast people, those fast people run past slower people for touchdowns, as Parris Campbell did against Indiana, a team with a solid defense and enough offense to keep Ohio State engaged for the better part of three quarters.

A 49-21 win over the Hoosiers does sort of leave out that Ohio State got off to a crap start and let Indiana lead. Still: of all the teams in the first week and a half, Ohio State seems to have come the farthest in terms of what it needed to fix, i.e., an offense that scored exactly zero points against Clemson in the Playoff, looked sluggish all season, and struggled to put players in a position to succeed.

THE BAND HAS MEMES http://pic.twitter.com/76CA3QyU6y

— Shakin the Southland (@STSouthland) September 2, 2017

It helps to have a massive war chest of talent, like freshman J.K. Dobbins at running back and an offensive line that looks alive for the first time in a year.

The secondary might be an issue, since Indiana tallied 410 yards through the air, but you’re an adult, and it’s time we told you the truth: Indiana’s offense might be good when it lets Richard Lagow pass 65 times.

There’s another truth here you’re big enough to handle. The Buckeyes aren’t done improving, has at least two gamebreaking pieces for Barrett to get the ball to, and finally has an offensive coordinator who knows how to do that. They’re officially scary again and fun to watch, and we could all be forgiven for plotting out just what this team vs. Alabama for the title could look like in January, both because these might be the two best teams in college football already, and because there are really only like eight or 10 teams capable of winning the title anyway.

Oh, and this, which was called back because it was not a fumble, but was breathtaking in more than one sense of the word.

Robert “B.B.” Landers, that glory counts in our hearts, if not on the scoreboard.

3. USC. Beat Western Michigan, 49-31, and didn’t really lock the game up until late.

Ways in which this is good: Western Michigan is the reigning MAC champion, and unlike some teams, USC actually scheduled a real team in week one. If you’re gonna throw up a clanker, let it be in Week 1.

Ways in which this is bad: You struggled against Western Michigan and need to work on your rush defense, which allowed 263 yards on the ground to a non-option MAC team.

Ways in which this is about Ronald Jones II being a violent, awesome runner: Ronald Jones II is a violent, awesome runner, somehow underrated despite being a running back at USC.

P.S. Should be below Michigan, were it not for Michigan playing a team with no offense.

4. Michigan. Honestly, the only thing Michigan earns a demerit for after a dominant, 33-17 defeat of Florida is that it played Florida’s offense. The results might be misleading, given the Gators having one of the worst offenses in college football

Handing Florida two pick-sixes was only sportsmanlike, really. Without them, this is a 41-3 game or so, a complete wash, an elimination. Michigan’s chief concerns coming into the year were finding playmakers down the field. Tarik Black and Nick Eubanks did that serviceably enough, particularly so when you consider that Wilton Speight didn’t really have a great game and that the run game took a minute to lock in a stranglehold.

In sum, this Michigan team has great bones, is a handful along the defensive line, has two running backs capable of following an mean offensive line down the field, and has a quarterback who needs help from all that. But really, who doesn’t need a team? And who, among Michgan fans, will ever question the team? The team, the team, the team?

P.S. Should be above USC, but played a team with no offense.

5. LSU. Beat down a punchless BYU, 27-0. BYU’s offense might be Florida bad, but give LSU ample credit for holding it to under 100 yards of offense, being efficient on offense itself, and running the clock so that the audience had to watch as little of BYU’s offense as possible. Coach O is a giver like that.

Ooh! Bonus points for this completely unnecessary dickery on the part of offensive coordinator Matt Canada.

test http://pic.twitter.com/uj6c5FedST

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) September 4, 2017

That’s exactly what we like offenses to do: aggravate and confuse for no reason whatsoever, then run the hell out of the ball until you cry.

6. Clemson. Taking down Kent State, 56-3, doesn’t mean much, but the Tigers did it as emphatically as possible, and that’s all you can do when you have Kent State on the schedule. See “next week against Auburn” for better data, particularly on new starter Kelly Bryant at quarterback.

Fun fact! You had exactly one less passing yard than Kent State did on Saturday, even if you didn’t play a down of football.

7. Wisconsin. Struggled early against Utah State in a 59-10 win, but Wisconsin is the fat man of college football, and talented fat men don’t wake up quickly. When they do, it’s over, because they are hungry and prone to rampages.

It’s so reassuring to watch this Badgers team. They will start slow. They will, when cornered, begin headbutting out of anger. They will, at the end of all that headbutting, do something like score 59 unanswered points and go destroy three plates of food afterwards before settling in for a 16-hour nap.

8. Oklahoma State. Tulsa’s no joke, so putting them away in a 59-24 blowout is solid, if not particularly revealing. Cowboys QB Mason Rudolph had a nearly perfect day, throwing for 303 yards, completing 20 of 24 passes, and accounting for three TDs through the air.

Rudolph had the advantage in almost every way over Tulsa’s QB, save one: His name is not “Chad President.”

Screencap from University of Tulsa Athletics

nothing but respect for my chad president

9. Oklahoma. It’s no insult to UTEP to say that a 56-7 win by Oklahoma felt like a scrimmage. Baker Mayfield went 19-of-20 and appeared to be throwing against air, and the Sooners had 35 first downs, and yeah, this was a glorified scrimmage. Still: Blowout scheduled, blowout delivered, and all in time to face Ohio State this coming week in Columbus.

10. Penn State. 52-0 over Akron. See category of “blowout scheduled, blowout delivered.” Saquon Barkley had 172 yards and two TDs on just 14 carries. This is a bold statement, but it has to be said, if Barkley continues to average over 10 yards a carry, that might be a problem for opposing defenses. This is expert analysis, provided for free.

11. Auburn. See “Clemson, but with a different team to blow out as effectively as possible.” In a 41-7 win over Georgia Southern, the Tigers only allowed 78 yards and handed Georgia Southern its only points via a fumble returned for a TD. Bad opponent or not, something good is happening when the only chance the opponent has is the one you literally hand them.

12. Stanford. Didn’t even play this week, which is good, because they’re all still probably sleeping off a 14-hour plane flight to Australia in Week 0. Burly, smart, and popped out of the gate ready to fight, even if they’ve only beat Rice so far.

ALSO RECEIVING CONSIDERATION, BUT WITH SOME TERRIFYING WARNINGS ATTACHED

Washington. Pro: Won 30-14 over Rutgers. Con: Could not block Rutgers, which is a horrifying thing.

Georgia. Lost longhaired QB Jacob Eason in a 31-10 win over Appalachian State and replaced him with a shorthaired guy named Jake Fromm. We don’t know if this win has any analytical value other than giving us an opportunity to float the conspiracy theory that Georgia is trying to mess with opposing defenses by sending in its old quarterback with a fake name and a new haircut.

Louisville. Purdue might be a lot better, but when Purdue takes the Cardinals to the wire in a 35-28 nailbiter, Louisville fans have to have some concerns about the defense and life as a whole.

Virginia Tech. Who knows what beating West Virginia 31-24 is, considering no one’s exactly sure what’s up with the Mountaineers. Hokies QB Josh Jackson is going to be a PROBLEM for the rest of the ACC, though.

Maryland. Just kidding ahahahaa they only beat Texas.

Trash can. Very iffy on Tennessee. Very bullish on the Trash Can, though.

Now that the game's over, let's kill that trash can. #Vols #GTvsTENN http://pic.twitter.com/iuh357Hsnx

— 3HL4LIFE (@3HL4LIFE) September 5, 2017