#moon-jo update a bit later today

[tawus]

as some of you will know, i've had a tradition every year that i update at least 1 (one) of my fics on my bday. so it's the 15th and therefore drum roll 🥁🥁🥁

[i-am-just-a-kiddo]

fic tag game

thank you so much for tagging me @cortue 💕 it’s always nice to hear about other people’s writing process/thoughts. i am tagging my dear @vishcount of course. anyone else who wants to share about their writing, feel free to do this and tag me in your post! 

Name: iamjustakiddo i just decided to stick with my tumblr username because i’m not really creative with my own nicknames. and honestly, i don’t mind just being kiddo online. 

Fandoms: during 2019-2020 i was most active in The Untamed fandom, though i have been taking a break lately. i still have some stories left that i wish to tell, so i hope some time in the future i can return to this universe. this fandom gave me so much, especially having so much fun with my dear friend vishie. i have a lot of fics for BTS as well, though it’s been a while since i wrote something there. all of them are AUs and i just enjoy drawing inspiration from the boys. last year i also dabbled with YYY The Series, Winter Begonia, Hwarang and Nirvana In Fire - all of these have been very fun, eventhough those were only a smaller projects. I also have an ongoing story for Narnia which i updated recently. Currently I have a WIP for Original Sin and my silly comic for Strangers From Hell - both of those i will never publish. And for the past two-three years I’ve had this idea stuck in my head for ATLA, so i hope i can get this down on paper at some point finally.  it’s interesting that i have dabbled in so many different fandoms recently, which is unusual for me? i link this to my difficulties with writing. sometimes i wonder if i should return at all or just give up. but i miss it too much, so i have not given up hope yet

Tropes: I don’t think i write any particular tropes? i write a lot of angst, a lot of introspection and character studies. i love slow burn, though i never actually manage to write ‘proper’ slowburn so it always feels too short. i love friends to lovers or enemies to friends to lovers. i love writing stories that are bittersweet. i guess recently i have become interested in writing relationships with more problematic sides to them, exploring these kinds of dynamics that feel very heavy? i am not sure why, but it’s interesting.  i guess the one proper trope my friend pointed out for me was Drunk Kissing, because apparently that happens a lot in my fics. 

Fic I spent most time on: Take Me Into Your Skin this is a BTS Mafia AU i wrote back in 2018 and took me half a year (Jan - Aug) to write, excluding the epilogue which i posted a year later. it was the first multichaptered fanfiction i had ever written and i still can’t believe it became more than 160k words in the end. the story feels silly at parts and i would probably change a lot now, but i am still very proud of it

Favorite fic you’ve written: it’s definitely my niemo (Nie Huaisang/Mo Xuanyu) which i wrote march-june 2020 and it left something aching in my heart ever since. it was a very intense process, but i feel proud of it. i did the best i can, poured so much time and energy into giving these two characters a story. it was a sad, heartbreaking journey which made canon only worse for me, but i still enjoyed the process. it will forever stay with me, probably. 

additionally i want to mention my silla taegi AU, because i had ton of fun doing proper historical research for that and creating more historical gay angst. 

Fic I spent least time on: To Wish Impossible Things it’s a taegi 70s-90s AU, about their reunion as adults after breaking up when they were teenagers. i wrote this story in one afternoon and posted it on the same evening? i think that was the only time something like this happened. usually i am not this spontaneous. but i enjoyed writing this so much and the scenario just didn’t leave my mind - writing a meeting between two adults, remembering their youth. it was so nice and i adored making the playlist for it as well. i think today i would go back and check for more historical accuracies because i did not research for this, but i forgive myself.

Longest fic: the previously mentioned Mafia AU with 167.535 words and 20 chapters. 

Shortest fic: my snippet for hwarang’s yeowool/hanseong with 777 words. today i regret that i could only write such a short piece for them, but that was the time my writing slump began showing signs and i truly did not have the capacity to give them what they deserve.

Most hits/kudos/comments/bookmarks: amongst all of these, my mafia AU wins again - the only exception is heart made of glass, my first wangxian post-canon fic i wrote, which has the most kudos. i never really understood why, but i guess i had good timing posting so early while ao3 did not have many fics for the untamed yet. 

Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: precious stone & fine jade - this is a oneshot i wrote for Wen Ning & Song Lan. i list this here because i have actually planned to write more for them, since i realised i need more. i always loved the idea of them befriending each other, sharing the fate of being undead in this world and yet dealing with it so differently? i want to write more about their relationship in my universe. am excited to see where it takes me and in actuality, i just want to see them hug. 

another one would be remedy, surging sea - it’s a oneshot for princess sook myung/ahro from hwarang. i just wish i could give these girls a proper story and make up for the mess hwarang left me with. this oneshot only gives a glimpse of what i have imagined for them and i wish i could expand the story properly. 

Share a bit of a WIP: i have a ton of WIPs but i am writing nothing currently. so i am not sure what to share here? i have shared my halted original sin project last time and now i have a few the untamed wips floating around that i don’t want to share. i have no current writing project but maybe i can talk about my strangers from hell comic? 

it’s a very silly idea, but i am drawing/painting this comic for jongwoo’s revenge arc. i am basically following the same trope as hannibal - jongwoo gaining moon-jo’s trust, becoming his ally and betraying him in the end. i will never finish this project, but that’s what i want to do, theoretically. i have the story and 15 pages outlined, but have actually drawn only 5,5 pages. after jongwoo’s betrayal and moon-jo’s heartbreak, i want these two characters to finally be on equal footing. their third act would be reconciliation and maybe true allyship.  thank you for tagging me again. it makes me miss writing but also makes me proud of things i have already done. 

[boat-dock]

Chapter 3 of my Hosie fic

I got a bit carried away with this one but quarantines got me bored.

The group walked back to the school in silence, everyone was exhausted and a little bit in shock from the last few weeks. Dr. Saltzman was in front still carrying Hope and the twins were surrounded, Kaleb and MG walked on either side of them while Landon was behind, though he with the way he was stumbling it looked like he needed more support than the twins. 

“She’s gone, I can’t believe it, she can’t be really gone,” Landon kept mumbled over and over.

“Will you please shut it Muppet,” Lizzie groaned,” Hope’s going to be just fine,” Hope’s history and abilities were common knowledge around the school these days and Josie found it very strange that Landon didn’t know that Hope was going to come back to life. They were together, why hadn’t Hope explained to him that she couldn’t be killed. The school came into view, everything was unnervingly still, it was always strange during the full moon but this was different. 

“What?” Landon yelled running his hands through his hair. Josie could feel her sister rolling her eyes and she did her best to repress a smile. A small part of her enjoyed knowing more about Hope than Landon did.

“She the tribrid,” Lizzie emphasized,” She dies she comes back as a vampire. Feed her some human blood and she’ll be good as new, everyone knows that.” It was basic vampirism. You turn, you feed and you live forever, but things were different for Hope she wasn’t just a vampire. She was a wolf. 

Josie froze and all her friends turned to her,” you alright Jo?” Mg asked grabbing her arm lightly. 

Josie blinked herself back to reality,” yeah, yeah I’m ok, but I have to go. Lizzie do you have to keys I need the car.” her body started moving without her control while her friends stood stunned.

“No I don’t have to keys we’ve been trapped in the same prison together,” Lizzie joked,” and where exactly are you going?” 

“ I’ll make do without the keys,” Josie mumbled to herself. Who needs keys when you have magic,” and I’ll explain everything later I promise.” then Josie was running leaving her friends behind. It was nice to have a mission, something to focus on besides her own messed up family dynamic. She could help Hope like she helped them.

While Josie left campus everyone else went back to the school, but none of them went to bed. They all piled themselves onto couches, chairs, and pillows sitting in silence waiting for an update on Hope. Lizzie claimed an entire couch for herself while she got the cut on her head cleaned and bandaged. She was acutely aware of her Uncle Matt sitting in the corner with his head in his hands, she wasn’t sure if he felt guilty for killing Hope or worried about what that meant for his chance of survival. Lizzie didn’t really have it in her right now to empathize with him. 

This silence was killing her. She should have gone with Josie, no doubt where ever she was right now it was better than sitting on her ass her. And when her mother came bursting through the doors raving about not being kept in the loop about everything that had been happening, Lizzie would have given anything to be with Josie. 

Caroline’s yelling stopped when her eyes landed on Lizzie and she rushed her daughter, throwing her arms around her and squeezed tight. As much as she missed her mom the last thing she wanted to do was explain everything that just happened, prison world included. 

“Hi mom,” she said her words muffled by Caroline’s hair.

“Lizzie oh baby are you alright,” she spoke quickly pulling back and looking at her daughter. Once she was satisfied that she was fine minus the cut on her head she said,” what about your sister, where is she,” she looked nearly frantic as she searched the crowd. 

“I’m fine mom and so is Josie, she left a little while ago said there was something she had to do. “ Lizzie could tell her mom wasn’t satisfied but she didn’t push. 

“Alright, where’s your father?” that was one question Lizzie wasn’t sure how to answer. Of course, he was upstairs with Hope waiting for her to wake up but how could she tell her mom that Hope died. Her mother had always looked after Hope more than other students, her own daughters excluded, it probably had something to do with her unconventional relationship with Hope’s father. 

Thankfully Mg stepped in to answer before Lizzie had to,” he’s upstairs with Hope Mrs. Forbes,” short, sweet, and polite but not revealing any unnecessary information. She should really thank him for that later. 

However, this was one topic that her mom was definitely going to push,” Why,” she said sweetly,” what happened to Hope, is she ok?” 

Now that the cat was out of the bag Lizzie found that she was able to talk again, deep down she knew that she should talk like Mg, try to be controlled and calm, but that wasn’t Lizzie’s style,” why don’t you ask our trigger happy Mayor over there.” Lizzie spit, jerking her head toward him. Caroline looked at Matt and blinked seemingly unaware of his presence until this moment. 

“ What’s she talking about Matt?” Caroline’s hands were on her hips, and with that tone of voice, someone would have to an idiot to not answer. 

“ It was an accident Care I swear,” that’s all he had to say for himself. 

Lizzie exploded,” Liar!” if this had been a year ago she wouldn’t have cared about Hope, she also wouldn’t have been able to control her magic when she got this worked up, but now things were different. She had genuinely been healing over the summer. 

“Lizzie baby just calm down then we can figure this out,” somehow that just made things worse. Lizzie was calm, she was very calm and she didn’t need her mother telling her otherwise. 

“Don’t you tell me to calm down. I’m fine, he’s the one who murdered one of our students,” alright maybe she wasn’t so calm after all,” not that you seem to care.” 

Her mother to a step back reeling from the words like she got slapped in the face. Lizzie knew she should feel bad and she almost did but all of her pent up anger at her mother for being gone so much was bubbling to the surface. “Elizabeth Jenna, watch your mouth young lady,”

“Why? You’re never here mom. Why would you care about the well being of the school?” with that she left. If Josie had other things to do so did she, there was still a dead uncle in the woods, she could go burry. She just needed to stay away from her mom as long as she could, or at least till everything cools off. 

When Josie got back from mystic falls she was shocked to find mother at the home and noticeably disheveled. She froze and barely kept hold to the mug filled halfway with blood in her hand. “Mom” she gasped and rushed to her. They wrapped their arms around each other, despite everything that was going on it was nice to be in her mother’s arms again. 

“I got a call from Elena,” Caroline murmured while still holding her,” she said that you needed her blood for a spell.” 

Josie pulled back,” I shouldn’t have lied but I didn’t think she would give it if she knew the truth.” 

Her mom put one hand on her cheek and held tight to her other,” that was very smart and sweet of you Josie,”  Josie was never good with praise but she couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. 

“Where did Lizzie go?” she asked noticing her sister’s absence from the room. 

Her mother’s face fell,” she left, we had a fight and she’s cooling off,” of course there was a fight because there hasn’t been enough drama this month. Couldn’t everything just calm down? 

“Kaleb,” Josie said speaking over her mom’s shoulder,” will you bring this up to Hope while I go find Lizzie,” she held out the cup to him and he took it without question and disappeared up the stairs. 

Now Josie stepped around her mom and addressed everyone else sprawled out around the room,” Thank you all for everything you’ve done today, but I really think you can all go to bed now before we all get detention for being out past curfew.” there were a few chuckles as everyone left, Josie wished that she could thank all of them personally but that would have to wait, for now, she had a twin to find. 

Josie knew this would be bad when she found Lizzie sitting on the ground leaning up against a tree staring at their dead uncle. There was absolutely no reason in the world that Lizzie Saltzman would sit on the ground. She would barely leave the room without shoes on. Josie joined her against the tree and they sat in silence. There was a chill in the air that Josie hadn’t noticed earlier, she wrapped her arms around herself and leaned against her sister.

“Everythings going to be alright isn’t it?” Lizzie asked staring ahead with a strange look on her face. No everything most definitely wasn’t all right, they’d spent over a month trapped on an empty earth with their psychopath uncle, Hope had just been killed in front of their eyes by a man that the twins considered family and now Lizzie and her mom were at each others throats. She couldn’t tell Lizzie all this though.

“Yeah, Liz we’re going to be ok.” she dropped her head to her twin’s shoulder and closed her eyes, trying to bloke out the world. 

“Hope will be too. You don’t need to worry about her,” Lizzie whispered the words like she was worried how Josie would react. 

Josie sighed,” She’s just been through so much already, I don’t want her to suffer anymore.” Josie worried about everyone, she couldn’t help it. But Hope was different she worried about Josie too. She always made sure she was ok and paid attention to her when she tried so hard to not be seen. Hope was good at disappearing too that’s how she always saw Josie. 

Lizzie was quiet for a moment contemplating what to say,” I don’t know if she told you this but,” she paused and pursed her lips, Josie almost thought she wasn’t going to continue,     ” back when the Croatoan was attacking and we were confessing secrets and she told me she had a crush on you when we were kids.” 

Josie bolted upright, the news shaking her,” what!” she exclaimed,” why?” Hope liked her? Josie’s world was spinning, of all the bombs she was prepared to handle right now that was not one of them. Hope was her first crush and now her best friend, how was Josie supposed to react to finding out that she used to have a crush on her. When the roles were reversed Hope took the news with grace and did an amazing job of easing Josie’s guilt for the fire, but that was Hope she was good under pressure, Josie not so much.

“That seems like a question for Hope, not me,”  Lizzie laughed bumping her shoulder against Josie’s. She knew that Lizzie was poking fun at her reaction but she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

 “Well then are we going to bury him,” Josie said motioning to the shovel laying on the ground a few feet away,” or are we going to burn him?” 

“Burn definitely,” Lizzie answered. They linked their hands together and murmured the spell. They stood in silence and watched the last of the Gemini witches, the leader of the Gemini coven burn to ash. Then they stood and walked back to school.  

When they got there most of the students had gone to bed but Mg and Kaleb were with their parents and the Mayor, sheriff and her daughter Maya. The conversation halted when they walked in, and they all sat awkwardly for a moment as no one spoke. Until Lizzie broke the silence,” we’re going to check on Hope,” was all she said then turned to walk away pulling her sister with her.

“Hope kicked everyone out of her room when after she turned, Landon’s trying to talk to her now but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to well,” Kaleb called after them. The twins met eyes.

“You shouldn’t eavesdrop, Kaleb,”  Josie said then the twins turned and headed to Hope’s room. 

They were nearly there when they passed Landon in the hallway,” If you’re going to see her it’s no use, she won’t let anyone in.” They stepped around him without a word and walked the last few steps to Hope’s door. Hope had fought tooth and nail to save them and Josie was going to fight twice as hard to make sure she was ok.

Landon was watching them from a distance, obviously waiting for them to be turned away. However, before either of them could make a move to knock the door swung open. 

[theblondegoesabroad]

Update from New Zealand 11

Saturday 28th December 2019

Miss Organisation and Planning has been surprised. I am so organised that I had packed my bags for Belgium. Written a list of the few extra things I need to add in there. Said my goodbyes to everyone I won’t see again. And planned everything else down to a tee. I had even started writing my end of New Zealand holiday blog. I then did a very spontaneous unlike me thing to do and changed the plans. On myself! And I do not like plan changes! I shall explain. A few days ago I got an email from Eloy saying I can’t start work when expected and seeing as my visa application is still not complete etc they have moved my start date to some time in March. I had planned my trip to come home in time so I would have a week of jetlag recovery and then be ready to start work in the new year. Which I was looking forward to. I love my life just doing art and relaxing but I was keen to have something to do! When mum heard this she asked if maybe I could change my flight. I hadn’t thought about it but once the seed was planted I had some things to consider. I was faced with the dilemma. Actually multiple dilemmas. But the main one was extend my trip in New Zealand and continue kiwi summer with the family or head back home to Belgium and slip back into my wonderful Belgian life which I am starting to miss dearly. Especially the people I have left behind in Belgium. There were pros and cons to both sides and as much as I wanted to head home (to Belgium) I knew I would miss nz as soon as I stepped on the plane. So after a lot (and I don’t exaggerate when I mean a lot) of milling over my decision and a much quicker call to Thai airways - which were great to deal with - I managed to change my flights and spend another month here in nz. My family, needless to say, are over the moon. I am happy but I don’t really like it when plans change and this is so out of my control with the bloody visa stuff so I am struggling to come to terms with what is happening but I am truly looking forward to spending more of the summer holiday with the family. Everyone is off work until the 20th so it’s going to be a good time. So with mixed emotions, I let you know that I won’t be coming home for my first new year in Belgium, but a month later in January - with a cracker tan and hopefully a job to come to! Now onto some news. I have been at the lake for the last few days. Friday Gran and Deeda and I headed down together to make the most of the lake for the little time that I thought I was there for. I put the pressure on mum and dad to get organised and come down on Saturday to spend time with me too. So my Saturday we were all here - minus Jamie and the long awaited Chloe! We have been blessed with the weather. In true Robinson family fashion we have spent a lot of time lazing about, reading, getting suntans, slowly crossing off the ever present list of jobs (which is also a very Robinson thing to have) and drinking delicious cocktails. I have added in a few Henry family activités and dragged mum off for a few decent walks in the mornings. Which has been good fun. I am also scouting out the best place for the hammock. I have been for a few skis which have been a treat. The water is warm and nice and flat. We have been making the lake as Christmasy as possible which included a few trips to Mitre10 to buy lights. Dad initially was not a fan of our newly decorated Bach but the next day he was off to Mitre10 to buy some more to decorate the bunk room too so even he has been persuaded into enjoying the Christmasy feel at the lake!

Christmas day came and so did the bad weather! I guess the summery New Zealand Christmas that Chloe was hoping for didn't come and all we got was a rather grey and rainy day! We had a lovely day though, I really enjoyed giving my gifts. I have been looking forward to Christmas for a long time - pretty much as soon as I got home as I could not wait to give my gifts! I honestly love thinking of what to do, and the act of giving gifts so much. It is a real treat to watch peoples reactions! We all really enjoyed our family Christmas and although the weather wasn’t the best, our Christmas lights on the lake and the decent amount of alcohol made for a lovely day! 

On boxing day Jo and Jasper arrived at the lake to stay for a few days which will be a bit of fun! Jasper was so enthusiastic about coming down and was excited to try everything! We had him out on the biscuit, swimming, paddle boarding - it was all go! It was fun to see his enjoyment, we went on the biscuit together, and after a few minutes of Jasper being white with fear he really started enjoying it and had a ball, it was so funny to watch! Took me back to my childhood and made me realise - once again - how lucky we have been to have this place at our fingertips, it truly is a paradise. 

I went home with Gran and Deeda on the 27th as I had planned a final catch up with the girls for our annual Christmas drinks - we are all super busy so it was important to get home for this as rescheduling would be hard. These are my school friends that I have known for 10 years so it was pretty important that I make it up to see them! Plus Nicole has just gotten engaged! So I was super excited to hear the engagement story and all the details, which did not disappoint! We spent the evening catching up, drinking cocktails and eating way too much! It was such a lovely catch up and I am so blessed that after all this time we got to catch up and are still really good friends, they are all beautiful girls and I loved hearing their news. I was in a bit of a pickle though as my flight was supposed to be the next day and so with everything planned I didn’t think I would need to go back to the lake, but now since I have changed my flight, I didn’t know how to get back to the lake. Luckily, Nicole and Carl are heading down to Taupo today so I have managed to get a ride with them! So my stay in Pukekohe is not even going to last 48hours! Perfect! Just enough time to get my jobs done, feed the animals and head back to enjoy the lake! 

Better go and get organised! See you at a later date Belgium!

Love Kate xxxxx

[ntrending]

How to print giant wall-worthy images yourself

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/how-to-print-giant-wall-worthy-images-yourself/

How to print giant wall-worthy images yourself

We spiced the PopSci offices up a bit in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. (John Kennedy/)

Today, I’m going to show you how to blow up the moon. Ok, wow, wait, let’s rephrase. I’m going to show you how to enlarge the moon. A topographic map of the moon. And put it on your wall. Gosh, I almost oversold that one, didn’t I?

It doesn’t have to be a moon map, either—the following steps work with pretty much any image, whether it’s a historical photo, a map of your favorite city, or even your most glamorous selfie. Crank that creativity dial up to 11.

Right now at Popular Science, though, we’re focused on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that put two men on the moon. Sticking with that theme, I tracked down a high-resolution map of the far side of the moon and spent some time figuring out how to add a bit of lunar flair to an otherwise bland office wall.

What you’ll need:

Paper

Printer

Scissors or a paper cutter

Tape (preferably double-sided)

Coloring and writing implements (optional)

Poster board (optional)

Time: At least an hour, depending on the size of your project.

Get your image ready to print

Get that toner ready: we’re going to blow this thing up. (tookapic via Pixabay/)

Unless you’re going for a pixelated look, make sure the file you want to print is large enough for your plans. The rule is simple: the bigger, the better. Look for images with height and width in the thousands of pixels. The topographic map I chose, for example, was 1277 by 1000 pixels—a bit on the small side. That means the pixels-per-inch count ultimately ended up far below the printing industry standard of 300 PPI, but you really can’t tell from more than a few feet away.

Once you’ve selected your image, you’ll have to format it correctly. Unless you’ve got a specialized printer, you’re not going to be able to produce a poster-sized piece of wall art on one sheet of paper. A typical 8.5-by-11-inch printout slapped in the middle of a vast expanse of drywall is simply not the look we’re going for here.

That means if you want to measure the dimensions of your final product in feet, not inches, you’re going to have to chop it up. You can do so with various image-editing programs like Adobe Photoshop and the open-source GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), but I chose a program called The Rasterbator. After all, I was doing it myself.

The Rasterbator is not only free to use, it’s the easiest way I found to slice my moon map into a grid for tiled printing.

From the web app’s home page, upload a file, then choose the size of paper you want to print with. I selected standard A4 paper (210 by 297 millimeters) in portrait orientation. I kept the default 10-millimeter margins on all printed sheets to give myself some white space to work with while I put the map together.

Next, choose how big you want your poster to be. Given the wallspace available to me, I opted to enlarge my image to eight sheets wide (about 60 by 49 inches when trimmed).

As you play with the dimensions, The Rasterbator displays, in real time, how the final version will look next to a nearly 6-foot-tall person. It also shows how the tile grid will crisscross your project.

Imagine epic music playing in the background. (Nicolas Thomas via Unsplash/)

When you’ve settled on a size, you can add some effects to your image. Make it any color you like. I wanted to keep the original, so I chose not to use any. Before you finish, you may want to include crop marks and page position numbers. Crop marks make trimming easier, and I found them helpful. Page numbers help you keep track of which sheet goes where, but I chose not to use them, as they could have overlapped with parts of the image I wanted to display.

With that, you’re done, and all you need to do is download the finished, multi-page PDF, make sure your printer is ready to go (and not craving magenta ink), and print it out.

It’s worth noting that the web app will not let you print more than 1,000 pages, so if you’re looking to create something truly massive (in excess of 500 square feet), you can download the standalone Rasterbator, which has no size restriction. Just know that the program is old, may lack some features of the online version, and there are no plans for future updates.

Cut and paste

Tools ready for lift off? (Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash/)

This is where the real work begins. Grab your stack of freshly printed pages and either sit down with some scissors or head over to a paper cutter. Maybe grab a friend to save some time. I enlisted Sandra Gutierrez, our assistant DIY editor.

Before you start slicing or snipping away, take a few minutes to plan. I hadn’t printed page numbers on each sheet, so Gutierrez numbered the back of each one. This helped us keep things in order and gave us a way to identify which pages to reprint if we damaged any of them. She also drew up a quick grid in Google Sheets so we could see where each tile would fit. As with any puzzle, knowing which pieces are corners and which form the borders can help a great deal.

We also opted to overlap as much of the white space on the edges of the sheets as possible. Doing so makes building the final poster much easier, allows you to assemble the pieces in bulk off the wall, and gives the project strength. Plus, it means less cutting.

Each sheet had white margins on all four sides, and for the most part, we sliced off the top and left ones. Not always, though, as we had to account for the positioning of the other corner and edge tiles and how they would overlap the pieces next to them.

Planning and trimming the borders on all 40 pieces took us 20-30 minutes.

With our prepared sheets in hand, we assembled the poster in groups of four pages. This let us put multiple sheets up on the wall at once, which was far easier than going one at a time. Accuracy was key.

We didn’t use it, but double-sided tape would work best, as it lies flat and provides more room to maneuver the tiles. Rolled-up cylinders of single-sided tape worked well enough, but we had to be much more precise with our page placement.

Once you’ve securely taped a group of sheets together, you may begin assembling your wall art. If you have poster board, you can put your project together on any flat surface and simply hang the full thing later. If, like us, you’re putting it straight on the wall, go slow and be careful; you may want to lightly pencil some guidelines on the wall to ensure the finished product isn’t disastrously tilted up or down.

You might also have to do some touch-up work, like taping down any loose edges, or coloring in visible slivers of white.

After two hours, at last, our work was done. We sat down; no need to make another one. I warmed up my lunch and admired our art. And with the moon map in my eye, chowing down on last night’s pizza pie, ah, it was amore.

Written By John Kennedy

[joshuazev]

On R&R:

I don’t even know where to start.  

I’ve been fortunate enough to have so many teachers in my life that have made such a huge impact that I carry their lessons with me to this day and will continue to carry for the rest of my life.  Then there are others who don’t necessarily have that formal title, but when you look back at it all and you examine and revel in the memories, you realize—sometimes too late—that they had taught you as well.  

My friend Rodney Rabanal passed away today.  It’s not for me to share how.  It’s only the sickening reality, like so many other deaths before him, that he is no longer with us.  I hadn’t seen Rodney in years.  I had really hoped to see him at the Hamilton Reunion last winter, but he was sick and wasn’t able to make it.  I had hoped to do another reunion soon and looked forward to seeing him there.  He was a wonderful human being.  He had told me on Facebook to “let everyone know I said wassup and wish I could be there” and I’m sure everyone wishes they could have seen him there too.

Rodney was a heavy part of my life from elementary school to the end of middle school.  Off the top of my head I can’t remember which years I had class with him—for sure in fourth grade in Ms. Sawyer’s class.  He had all the energy in the world, knew everyone, and was a friend to all.  In retrospect, I don’t think anyone could have gotten away with wearing a rat-tail, but he could.  It was one of his signatures in those early years.  He had a vibrant personality and it was absolutely contagious.  You wanted to be around him.  Wanted to be enveloped in that energy.  It must have been in those last couple years, fourth or fifth grade, when I really started to hang out with him.  I can remember his house on Corliss Ave. vividly and his wonderful grandparents, whose names I can’t remember, but who had this wonderfully warm, sweet energy that emanated from them as well.  

Rodney taught me how to rock a mustache.  His mustache, like his rat-tail was also one of his signatures and earned him a certain popularity among us youngins.  I know I, for one, wondered how the hell it could be so full and thick when I hadn’t sprouted so much as a whisker.  He was a man amongst boys in that regard.  

Around that time, probably fifth grade or so, my mom, sister, and I went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  It was one of those really fancy resorts with a bajillion rooms and a wide open middle area for the great big pool, equipped with slides and all that jazz.  When I went down to jump in the water I ran into Rodney and his little sister.  It was such a great surprise.  I remember being so happy to see him even though he wasn’t going to be staying there for much longer.  There were  a few photos that were taken; one of which was of me and him at the top of the slide happy as could be and the other was one of him headfirst at the base of the slide right before he was about to dive in.  

In middle school, Rodney elevated his game to another level, connecting with what seemed like everyone and immersing himself as one of the more well known kids in the school.  After school one day later in sixth grade Rodney, another eighth grader and I gathered in the back of the school and Rodney taught me how to smoke some weed.  It was my first time.  At first I didn’t think anything was happening, but after a while of sitting around and giggling I started to trip a little bit.  Rodney sensed that I was reacting a little stronger than normal and we all walked to Durn Good Grocery together to sit down, eat and chill out.  Even though I was high as hell it seemed like he went out of his way to make sure I was OK.  By eighth grade, Rodney assumed his throne as the president of the school and everyone loved it.  He was cool with teachers, especially with Mr. Davis, which garnered him even more respect.  Mustache in full effect, hair long and wavy, the perpetual pair of sunglasses covering his eyes; Rodney was that guy.  Just like in elementary when he seemed groomed for middle school, this was a guy who in middle school was already grooming himself for adulthood.  

Had it not been for baseball I would have probably disconnected with him after eighth grade, but the following year he and I were both selected to be on Sam Stokes juniors North Central squad.  It was an awesome team.  Tyler Johnson, Kyler Korsmo, Max Holmberg, and Matt Stokes among others.  I’m fairly certain Rodney was the fastest player on the team.  I don’t think it was up for debate.  The dude could fly and it was so entertaining watching his feet blaze like the road runner and his long hair kick up behind his hat like a male Flo-Jo.  We used to always do sprints after the games, win or lose.  Rodney loved it.  We’d have to cheat in order to beat him.

Some of the funnier memories I have can be encapsulated into one birthday that occurred around that time.  From the series of pictures I can remember Alex, Jackson, Nathan, Morgan, Ryan, and Rodney.  It was just after we had all returned from the first part of the party in which we went to the pool next to Ballard High School.  It was one of the best places to go swimming because it had a massive rope that hung down that allowed all of us to swing in the middle and drop.  There was a slide too, but it paled in comparison to the rope.  After we got back from the pool we headed home for pizza and Thomas Kemper.  In the midst of drinking our Root Beers and Cream Sodas there were a couple of photos taken on my couch where we all posed for the camera, but one in particular where we all had our backs to the camera and exposed our boxers.  I’ll have to find it.  It was a great idea for a photo.  Shit, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was Rodney’s idea!  That night he wore a fedora.  I didn’t even know what a fedora was.  Rodney was rockin fedoras in middle school.  Rodney was trying to teach me how to be stylish, but I was too dumb to take notes.  As the night went on and we got closer to sleeping hours, shenanigans ensued.  My brother Jackson told me that at one point Rodney tickled Morgan to the point of tears.  Rodney was the principal spokesperson.  At that age, we’d spend the night at birthdays and never go to bed.  At Morgan’s we’d spend all night playing video games.  At Ryan’s we spend all night getting mayonnaise put in our hair and dicks drawn all over our body.  They were great times.  If you didn’t invite Rodney to a sleepover it didn’t have any potential.  At mine, I think there was a point where my mom, who was sleeping upstairs, had to tell us to be quiet.  I lament her not being able to sleep on behalf of us being blitzed out of our minds on testosterone, Thomas Kemper, and chocolate cake.  

That’s one of the last times I remember being with Rodney.  Through high school and early college I’d see him around every once in a while.  I think there was a time where he worked at Pudge Bros. pizza and during that time I’d see him more often.

Rodney could not be contained.  He was a man long before I ever was.  That energy of his comes around once a blue moon and last time I checked, I haven’t seen any blue moons.  I already miss him.  I selfishly wish on behalf of all of us that that reunion last year was bigger and that we all could have enjoyed him being in attendance.  Laughing with him.  Talking to him.  Seeing how he was doing.  Updating us on his life.  

I remember the time I spent with him in so much detail.  That’s a testament to he was.  Gone, but never ever forgotten.

Rest easy, Rodney.