#okay can u bring it to the station on account of either i need my go card to tap on

[closeted-goth]

.

[jiminrings]

BALLOON ANIMAL ARTIST JK I JUST FEEL LIKE HE WOULD BE REALLY GOOD AT IT AND MAKE YOU A FLOWER THEN ASK YOU ON A DATE

baby i love u and your big sexy brain <3 welcome to waikiki meets hospital playlist dynamic ft. balloon artist!jk

“who’s a good baby? is it you? iS IT YOU????”

you’d be the first one to admit that you had an exhausting horrible night

being a nurse sUCKS the life out of you and as much as it’s fulfilling, you almost always feel the urge to admit yourself to the ER for being extremely fatigued

it’s all worth it!! it should be

after all, paying for a mansion in an exclusive village and sharing it with your friends doeS warrant some elbow grease

seokjin works in wall street and sometimes he comes home crying but it’s okay because you do have an expensive fridge that everyone worked overtime for <3

hoseok’s a veterinary assistant and is your trusty friend who always sends in pictures of the animals that come in to cheer you up while at work

namjoon’s a painter by passion and accountant by profession!! he does only come out with a few pieces at a time but mAN does it rake in the money

jimin’s a flight attendant and does everyone the pleasure of securing either free or discounted tickets, and bringing home unused airline towels to dry off the dishes!!

lastly, taehyung’s someone you can call a former trustfund baby or somewhat :O the last big chunk of money he spent from his fund was the downpayment and security deposit for this mansion!!!

it’s a long story and he’s currently all over the place but he’s finding regular jobs!! his latest gig was working at a high-end ice cream place but he immediately quit once he learned that he needed to put his back into it and not just scoop up ice cream like he did in his dreams :((

most importantly, taehyung has a baby :-)

he’s a dad!! a single one at that

it’s truly a LONG story but the bottomline is that he has nabi, his cutest little dumpling!! and he has all of you, his friends who didn’t hesitate to step up as nabi’s parents in a way too even if he didn’t ask any of you

you all love the chunky monkey so much that you’ve all taken the liberty to call him your baby at times and tae doesn’t even mind!! nabi’s so lucky (he hopes) to have him as a dad and his friends as his cool uncles and aunt

nevertheless, you indeed had a bad night working the night shift and came home to nabi’s birthday party just in time!! :D

he turned two years old at midnight and even if you weren’t physically present at the mansion like the guys were (they requested their leaves two months earlier) because of being understaffed, you were able to see him and tae blow out multiple cakes that each one bought him

seeing him giggle at your arms just by doing the bare minimum makes you full already <3

all your exhaustion is melted away because it’s your favorite toddler’s birthday party!! the party that you all insisted on shelling out for that made tae almost cry bc of how much you all love his son

“jimin i am not sewing your forehead up when you end up falling in the wrong angle,” you roll your eyes at him who’s currently doing backflips in the bouncy house that managed to fit in the mansion

“hoseok can!!” he yells back and backflips twice in a row, much to the actual children’s amusement and your worry

“i will NOT stitch you up! the thread i have is for the pregnant dogs only!!!”

everyone’s entertaining guests left and right, including taehyung who’s the dad of the little man of the hour :D

he keeps pointing at nabi who’s currently in your arms every ten seconds and it’s now your job to make him giggle every single time to wave at the people

“what do you want, monkey? do you want some ice cream? i won’t tell your dad,” you eagerly ask the wide-eyed baby in your arms, pointing at the ice cream cart that namjoon probably ordered

“no thank you!” nabi cutely aND politely declines, his head shaking no and his speech and pronunciation getting clearer day by day

most of the time though he says it like tHANK YEWWWW and you would immediately grin every time because it’s the cutest thing ever

“hmm, look at that!! face painting!! do you want some butterflies?”

you point at yet another station that you guess seokjin arranged, knowing that at some point into this party, he’d all drag you in here to get matching marks or something lol

nabi once again declines, his eyes searching around that makes you do the same on what you could do to entertain him

he has the same habit down like taehyung and loudly gASPS, pointing his finger and almost shrieking in excitement

“bawoo — balloon!!! balloon!!!”

:O

it is now your life purpose to walk as fast as you could to this balloon station with nabi bouncing up and down your arm in excitement

jungkook’s having the time of his life here :D

normally he’s mostly called in the holiday season and occasionally at big birthday parties (the one where like two sides of the family share every baby’s first birthday party lmao) throughout the year!!

but he’s never had a client who requested him for a singular birthday party!! let alone at a hOUSE

ok maybe that was an understatement

he means a mansion

if he’s being quite honest, the mr. park jimin he spoke to on the phone sounded too kind that he just mistakened him for a party planner or something

he immediately said yes because he had no on-site bookings for that day, or even the week perhaps, and expected to stroll into a carnival in the middle of an executive village

aha :D jungkook is wrong :D

jimin met him by the front door wherein a lot of people are already crossing paths such as catering and not to mention the bouncy house you cAN’T miss, and just briefly touched in on the situation

“oh no, i’m not the dad, man — but thanks!! i’m his uncle. nabi’s dad is my friend, taehyung. and me and my friends, including taehyung, all live here. we’re all like family, basically.”

jungkook saw the other stations invited and he expected that his would have less children y’know?? bouncy house, ice cream station, facepainting, hotdog cart aND magic show???? yeah <3

but god is he wrong

the children are in a single-file line for hIM and his balloon artistry!!! the requests range from pretzels to pirate hats to chandeliers with the bulbs as smiley faces!!!

he’s managed to do all of them so far and he’s now made a decent dent on the line of children waiting for him

jungkook is a happy and content balloon artist :D

“EXCUSE ME! BIRTHDAY BOY COMING THROUGH!!”

oh my god what was that

you’re walking at full-speed and holler out, making sure to emphasize birthday boy because nuh-uh you and nabi will nOT line up for his own party <3 thank you very much

the children coo and the older kids coax the other ones to make way for the both of you to the front of the line, immediately plopping to a mini chair in front of the guy

“hiiii!!”

nabi drawls politely and waves his hand, making you do the same

“what a cute little thing,” the guy in front of you coos and it’s his voice that perhaps makes you melt a little, just seeing the top of his hair for now because he’s crouching down to be eye-level with nabi, “what can i do for you, little buddy?”

he toothily grins and straightens his posture, raising his eyes to look at who’s holding nabi in place and-

???????????????????

jungkook literally stops breathing for a second

“h-hi!! what can i do for you today?” jungkook squeaks, his eyes even more wide and curious to look at the prettiest girl he’s ever seen in his life

you’re sure that you were gonna stammer once you open your mouth so you don’t at all, instead focusing on nabi who’s on your lap

“what do you want, monkey?”

“nabi please! i want nABI!!! nabi nabi nabiiiiiiiiii-“

“yes. he wants nabi, please.”

jungkook nods fervently, his hands about to pluck ballons from his kit before he realizes to ask

“does he want his face? or like, his name? what colors do you want, bud?”

he’s not the least bit bothered at the choices in his head because you’re widening your eyes on what could this guy dO with just balloons, knowing to yourself that even pumping one is difficult work already

“oh! he wants nabi,” you clarify and jungkook tilts his head, mouth slightly agape at to what you’re trying to get at, “butterfly, i mean. nabi knows that his name means butterfly and he likes them a lot! don’t you, monkey?”

nabi nods so hard that it almost gives him a headache and jungkook wants to facepalm himself to the grave

“r-right! why didn’t i think of that?? because nabi means.... nabi....... right!! sorry, oh my god. o-oh! i meant oh my gosh. i uhm-...”

he’s a mess and he knows it, letting his hands take over and grab the same theme colors of blue and lavender from his bag to start on his work

kook tries not to lift his head up ever so often because you’d find him out instantly that he’s looking at you

so what he does instead is peer and coo at nabi every few seconds and tHEN look up at you because you also giggle whenever he giggles

he’s probably feeling pressure with the way your eyes are set on him too and what he’s doing that he pOPS a balloon right with his hands

“sorry, sorry! did i spook you?”

jungkook’s worried because he heard a collective gasp from the kids around him but his main priority is the birthday boy AND you

nabi’s shoulders rose and that’s about it

he shakes his head to himself, looking at you who’s carrying a curious gaze on your face that looks amused

“sorry. i-it’s just you’re so pretty and-“

he’s embarrassed himself in front of a pretty girl and her son and-

wait a second

the color just dRAINS from his face and he’s about to quit at the second

“oh my god i am so sorry. y-you must be nabi’s mother. you’re mr. taehyung’s-“

“friend!! i’m y/n, i’m just taehyung’s friend,” you interject quickly because you cannot believe that pretty boy called you pretty, and at the next breath thought you were taehyung’s wife, “and nabi’s my nephew. we’re all just friends who live together!! i have no boyfriend, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

...

....

yeah maybe you embarrassed yourself this time

you may have said too much information to the balloon artist but jungkook’s just staring at you fondly

and nabi’s switching his gaze between the two of you and claps his hands to snap the two of you out of it lmao

kook chuckles to himself and he cannot stop smiling, even when he’s tying the last balloon to nabi’s butterfly

“there you go, cutie. happy birthday!!” he hands nabi the hUGE butterfly he just made but the sheer difference of how big it is makes the toddler even more happy, hugging it to his chest

jungkook watches you pepper kisses on nabi’s cheeks and that launches him into quickly pulling out balloons while your eyes are deviated from him, hands twisting and turning like his wHOLE LIFE depended on it

“my name’s jungkook, by the way,” he calls you when you’re just about to stand up, smiling giddily at you, “thought you should know.”

cute :-)

before you could thank him, he extends his arm and your mind recognizes the familiar shape which makes you smile instantly

jungkook made you a flower balloon <3

“i think i’ll remember you, jungkook.”

you laugh as the only thing you can smell from it is latex, the huge flower staring at you right in the face

jungkook sheepishly blushes, pursing his lips in happiness

“i’m free whenever you’re free — f-for a date, y’know? just so you could remember me more.”

.

.

.

bonus: dilf taehyung has his own drabble!!

bonus bonus: bestie anon brought my attention to these tiktoks below and gAWD i’m so happy <3

first, second

[xseamus]

⧼  jordan fisher, cismale, he/him   /   KODACHROME by PAUL SIMON + that part of your left eyebrow that never quite grew back after you-know-what, and that singed corner in your apartment that you swore you would clean up but still haven’t gotten around to, and the scorching memories of times you’d rather forget, but still they stay, just like the scar on your brow and the burn in your home. hugging your friends so tight it’s almost too hard to breathe, and even then only letting go when they ask you over and over again. singing and dancing and drinking and causing a ruckus, until the night grows old and there’s hardly anyone left, so you’re left chatting with a warm drink in your hand until finally, finally, you need to sleep.   ⧽   ━━   hey, isn’t that SEAMUS FINNIGAN? i read a daily prophet article on them, once ; the 24 year old [ half blood ] WIZARD is a [ GRYFFINDOR alumnus who has gone on to be a QUIDDITCH COMMENTATOR. ]. i’ve heard they can be quite LIVELY & DETERMINED, but i don’t know… they came off very IMMATURE & HEADSTRONG in that interview. it really is hard to know what to believe these days though, isn’t it?   

hello everyone!!! i’m cas, i’m so excited to be here and write with you all! for the RECORD, this is my first ever golden-trio rp, and therefore my first everrrrr time writing dear seamus, so this is gonna be a fun journey!!!!! pls bear with me while i figure him out <3 (also, i guarantee u i’m gonna forget about the irish accent constantly while i write, so pls use ur imaginations djgkdjgfksdg)

i’ll set y’all up with the classic: “me dad’s a muggle, mam’s a witch. bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out.”

so yup, he’s a half-blood! from good ol’ kenmare, ireland, where his father lived most his life - he met seamus’ mother in america on a business trip, and they quickly fell in love. she moved to ireland to live with him, and the rest, as they say, is history. 

she did forget to mention she was a witch until long after they were married and seamus was born, when he first started showing signs of magic by accidentally turning the cat pink, crying, and turning half the carpet the same ugly shade of pink - in that order. 

seamus was is hm.... how 2 say this simply..... a chaotic child. finally turning 11 and getting his hogwarts letter was a big sigh of relief for his parents, who loved him very much but were very excited to finally have some peace and quiet in the household!!!

seamus was equally as excited - the muggle school he was enrolled in was boring, and while he had a decent amount of friends from taking up the title of “class clown,” this paired with the occasional bout of accidental magic got him into a decent amount of trouble. 

some of his favorite things about his time at hogwarts, in no particular order: DADA classes, hogsmeade trips, dean thomas, quidditch games, the rest of his friends, gryffindor parties, great hall feasts.

some of his least favorite things about his time at hogwarts, in no particular order: realizing that he wasn’t that special because now everybody else could do magic too (and many of them were better than him at it), potions classes, quidditch tryouts, most slytherins (he’s a biased lad, what can he say). 

when shit got real, to put it lightly, seamus didn’t want to believe any of it. he was kind of a brat at first (i say as if he still isn’t a big brat constantly), refusing to believe that you-know-who was back and that war was at their doorstep. he argued with his classmates about it constantly, until finally the truth was undeniable and he allowed himself to be dragged (see: he asked if he could come) to the dumbledore’s army meetings. 

and then seventh year, his mom almost didn’t allow him to return to hogwarts because of how bad everything had gotten. she reminded him that he was still just a half blood, and even if things were okay for them at the time, there was no guarantee it would stay that way.

seamus did a lot of growing up that year (better late than never), fully investing in dumbledore’s army and helping the younger students deal with everything going on, all of it culminating with the battle of hogwarts 

the battle of hogwarts was chaotic, hard to place any specific thing - a cacophony of flashing lights and shouting and people falling around him. he remembers three things: 1) blowing up the bridge (while the battle itself could obviously not be described as anything close to fun..... come on, that was pretty great), 2) learning his corporeal patronus was a fox (nice), and 3) watching a curse come at him straight from you-know-who’s wand, only to be blocked by harry potter. 

after all of that, well, it was just a matter of picking up the pieces, wasn’t it? he helped fix up hogwarts where he could, spent some time at home with his parents, and sorted things out. he didn’t ever really give himself time to think about the events of his last year at hogwarts, because he didn’t want to think about it. he still doesn’t ever really talk about it; we love repression, babey! 

after a bit of time at home he decided to move to a very cheap apartment in london bc he wanted to experience the Big City:tm:, where he quickly got a job as a quidditch commentator with [insert generic news station here, cas is tired] which he absolutely fell in love with. he gets to travel to quidditch games all over europe - and the globe during world cup season - and he’s quick to tell people he’s famous in the sports world (hardly true, but some people recognizing his name has gone to his head). in the quidditch off-season (and during some messy overlap), he’s a muggle sports commentator, mostly sticking to tennis. 

he’s a bit of a mess but he’s got a heart of gold, sometimes he just needs a lil shoving in the right direction. he loves his friends & his family more than life itSELF and he’ll do anything (see: anything) for ‘em. unless they do something to piss him off, then they get approx. 1-2 weeks of The Seamus-Free Zone before he drops his grudge and all returns to normal

i’m getting out of control so i’m ending it here but pls plot with me and vibe with seamus thank u the end <3

potential connections:

FIRST OFF i’m down for L I T E R A L L Y anything so if you think lil seamus over here might fit a wanted connection you have PLEASE lmk bc i’d love to do anythingggggg

an ex or two, spicy spicy (seamus is bi so the possibilities are endless, as the kids say)

a roommate (oh my god they were roommates; seamus does like hosting get togethers at their place so they’ll either be chill w/ it and enjoy the parties orrrrr they think seamus is the worst roommate ever)

friendsssss gimme friends of all types for this lad 

enemiessss, seamus is v hotheaded & it’s easy for people to get on his nerves, but it’s also very easy for him to get on other people’s nerves

fellow quidditch fans, he does give out his spare press tickets like candy, feel free to take him up on that offer 

and more! endless possibilities 

lil fun things:

he’s a big mama’s boy, 10,000%, loves his mom so frickin’ much 

in the world of sports commentary, he’s quite popular among younger fans because he’s extremely biased in quite a comedic way, and he’s gathered quite a decent following for being “that funny sports reporter” (which is, yes, his full instagram bio). he’s always put on for a bit of lighthearted fun, it’s rare that he does any extremely serious commentating, but that’s the way he likes it. 

his favorite local team is the Kenmare Kestrals and he’ll never say a bad word about them during games, no matter how bad they play, and during world cup season he obviously always supports ireland. if they don’t make it to the final he nonstop makes quips along the lines of “ireland could’ve done that play better, but we’ll let it slide”

has a french bulldog named gregory, gregory also has an instagram account and has more followers than seamus, don’t bring it up

hosts "small get togethers” (see: parties) in his apartment quite often, thank U silencing charms

good god he’s so very clumsy and is constantly hurting himself (and accidentally setting things ablaze, he doesn’t know how it still happens but it ALWAYS HAPPENS) pls help him

[sheonvinyl]

the snl standby line ~experience~

um. wow.....

so i’m making this post mostly for myself and to have a documentation of these memories while its all still pretty fresh in my brain, but i figured i would share it on here too just in case anyone wanted to read it or chat about it all w me. (side note: if u were in the line too PLS hit me up we MUST discuss)

basically, long story short is my friend and i slept on the streets of nyc for three nights in below freezing degree weather, got standby tickets for the live show and were able to get in......like i was THERE. for the snl LIVE taping. 

feel free to keep reading below the break if you want an extremely detailed description of the whole ordeal and my personal experience that no one asked for dsjkhfksdjh

to be frank our journey did not start out as we had originally planned lmao. when harry announced that he was doing double duty my friend and i immediately were like. let’s start planning bc we’re 100% going. that resulted in a lot of amazon prime orders and reading up on blogs about tips and tricks in order to plan. we were trying to gauge how far in advance we were going to have to get in line in order to have a good chance. we got a lot of our info from a twitter account/blog run by these three women who have been to every show this season and been in the standby line every week so we trusted their advice. they have been so many times that they apparently have a relationship with the security ppl and are in contact with them. and obviously since it was harry this week, there was a lot more buzz about it and higher stakes of actually getting a ticket. people had been tweeting about lining up on MONDAY in order to be in the front of the line. this account reached out to people and nbc and said that security didn’t want anyone lining up before thursday and if people did, they would be asked to leave and not allowed to get back in line again. finding this out made us panic a bit bc we didn’t want to get thrown out for breaking the rules or anything like that. we originally decided to finish up our days at our internships on wednesday, head back to our apartment, gather up all our supplies and head to 30 roc around 10 so that we could be ready to get in line at midnight aka when it would officially be thursday. 

however, when i woke up wedensday morning amidst all the news about harry’s tour dates etc. there was an update that there were ~20ish people in line already. and that set us into a panic. we were confused if they were going to be thrown out or not bc they lined up before thursday, but periodically as we checked throughout the day security didn’t seem to be doing anything about it. so we made the decision to get to the line as quickly as possible after work. not sure i’ve ever moved faster in my life than i did when i got home and immediately threw anything i thought would be remotely useful into my duffle bag. the state of my room right now? despicable.

we make it to the line a little bit after 8 pm and after an initial assessment, we were around #70-80 in line. and based on that, we decided to stay and set up camp bc we thought our chances were pretty good. (for reference: when the standby tickets were handed out on saturday morning, we were 86th and 87th in line so the number definitely fluctuated based on when people counted us and people maybe being in the bathroom during the count etc.)

everyone around us in line was super super super nice and the ppl we met thru it will def be homies for life. we went through too much together not to be bonded for life ksjdhfksdh. shout out to aisha @teafull​ specifically !!!! we really did that luv......miss u and kristina already babes xoxoxox

wednesday night was definitely the worst sleeping-wise. our set up originally was a waterproof tarp on the ground and then a yoga mat that my friend used as a bed and then our two camping chairs next to the yoga mat. for the first night, i slept in the camping chairs using one to sit in and having my legs propped up on the other one. we each had two blankets and were wearing more layers than i could ever count. we bought a shitton of feet warmers, toe warmers and hand warmers in preparation, but we didn’t really get the hang of using them until the second and third night lol. i woke up probably every hour and a half on wednesday night bc i was either uncomfortable or just so unbearably cold. every time i woke up i made sure to move my toes around bc i was so paranoid i was going to get frostbite lmao. 

thursday was better. we actually got the hang of the hand and feet warmers!! we figured out that if we were wearing shoes they didn’t really work because they were being suffocated and they needed to be in open air to work properly. they worked exponentially better if we didn't wear shoes bc they were exposed to the cold air and heated up really well so that’s a useful piece of information out of this i guess?? sdjhkds. at this point i think there were about 150 people in line. the line wrapped from the back of the nbc building on 6th ave/avenue of the americas around to w 48th street as far as the nintendo store which ends right at the today show plaza (and it got even longer over the next two days). 

one of the worst things about the whole experience would probably have to be the incessant comments from passerbys on the street. they would look at us and speak about us as if we weren’t there. they would also film or take photos of us in the LEAST discreet ways possible which was very irritating. and made me feel like a literal zoo animal on display. i heard comments like “they know the show is on SATURDAY right?”, “they’re doing all of this for that one guy from one direction?”, “do your parents know you’re doing this?”, “you’ve got to be kidding me”, “they’re going to freeze to death for not even a guaranteed ticket to see this guy” and by far the absolute worst one and most offensive thing i heard, “they’re like the modern day homeless”. i could go on a whole separate tangent about this because it makes me so FUCKING angry, but i was very close to confronting some people because of the impeccably inconsiderate, insensitive and blatantly classist comments people were making straight to our faces. additionally some people in line were being harassed by people from radio stations (or people posing as employees of radio stations) that clearly had the agenda of making it seem like fans of harry are dumb and unaware of world issues etc. you can read a more well-written and detailed account about it all on aj’s blog here. but i’ll reiterate that they definitely chose the wrong group to mess with!! the issue was dealt with in record time and i’m proud of and thankful for all the people who stood up to that asshole and put him in his place. he deserved it.

i slept the best on thursday night into friday. probably because i finally had the common sense to buy GLOVES (someone lmk why i thought it was okay to come without them ??? ) as well as buy an extra blanket at a barnes and noble nearby. one of my roommates was also kind enough to bring me her yoga mat and two extra pairs of pants to add to my layers. those two extra layers 100% made a difference. not much happened in the line on friday besides a little bit of drama between a couple of girls at the front of the line who apparently left for 10+ hours that day and (to my knowledge) weren’t kicked out of the line. i don’t want to speak too much on it because i wasn’t directly involved in any of it and only heard it by word of mouth. however, i will say i think there was definitely some suspicious activity from some people that were in line who were for example, using lawn chairs (which are specifically prohibited on the snl webpage) and abusing their break times. 

at 7 pm on friday, the line was shifted so that the beginning of it started at the doors to the nbc studio. i think they do this mainly so that the pages who hand out the standby tickets have easier access to the line? but i’m not positive. our new area was now on 6th ave, smack dab in front of the rear end of 30 roc, basically where the line had originally started. with the amount of people in line (probably around 200 or so at this point on friday) it STILL wrapped around to west 48th even after the shift. and then not even 20 minutes after they moved us was when snl interns came down with CARTS of slices of WATERMELON and CHERRIES !!!!!!! when i tell you i lost it.....

i didn’t get a good picture of the cherries but you get the idea. one of the interns giving us info about what was going on said that harry “was very specific about giving you guys cherries and watermelon” sjkdfhksdjh. and because of his previous behavior w the kiwis i was like....well he’s not playing watermelon sugar then we’re just going to have to prepare for something else. and let me tell you, i have never been more happy to be wrong in my entire LIFE. 

additionally, a couple of men, who i believe worked for snl or nbc, came around with carts of soup for all of us. they didn't confirm or deny that harry sent them (which makes me think he probably didn’t), but the two options were either chicken and sausage or split pea. yes, that’s correct. SPLIT. PEA. when they told me that, i shrieked in their faces, “YOU’VE GOT TO BE JOKING” and they just looked at me so weirdly and go, “......no? like which one do you want......” skdjhfkjsdh. they definitely thought i was absolutely off my rocker (which i certainly was, but that’s besides the point). i’m pescatarian so i chose split pea, and if there’s one thing to know about me it’s that i absolutely ABHOR peas, but i ate it anyway. i had to use all of the oyster crackers as well as some pretzel crisps that i brought with me as a snack in order to make it bearable LMAO. however, regardless of if harry sent it himself, it was a really nice gesture and i’m thankful that they were kind enough to provide us with some food. the snl staff also sent down hot chocolate and coffee and pizza over the course of the three days which was very much appreciated as well!

we were a lot less separated in our new spot on 6th ave so everyone in line was able to hang out with each other a lot more which as really fun!! a girl near us had brought cards against humanity and a group of 7 of us played for what felt like over an hour or so which was really good time. aisha won and no, i am not salty about it at all !!!!!1!1!11!11!!!! 

it was really difficult to sleep that night as well because we were on a much busier road with a lot more lights. it also felt colder and windier despite windscreens that staff put up around our barricades (see the poor quality pic of my friend and i with one of them below LOL). i think everyone was really on edge for the next morning so i’m sure that didn’t help with sleeping either. we settled down to go to bed a little past midnight and i woke up at least three times throughout the night to readjust my blankets and sleeping position or check the time.

finally saturday morning came. my friend had to shake me awake at 6:30 am bc i was finally able to doze off again, but the panic in me immediately activated and i was UP and ready to go. we still hadn't come to a full decision on if we were going to choose dress rehearsal or live yet so we were definitely on edge. we basically wanted to wait until the pages came to us and ask them how many people chose live vs. dress so that we could choose the show we were more likely to get into. however, deep inside i know that we both desperately wanted tickets to the live show. we had been keeping track of other people who were farther up in the line via their socials and seeing what they were choosing too. surprisingly (at least to me), a lot of people ahead of us decided to choose dress rehearsal rather than live. in theory, it makes sense because you’d hopefully get to see more sketches that might get cut for time as well as “spend more time” w harry. my friend and i (who is probably the biggest snl fan on the planet, no lie) would’ve been happy with either, but we both definitely wanted to witness the show that everyone else was going to watch on tv. 

when the pages got to us we found out that it was basically split 50/50. an equal amount of people decided to do live vs. dress. for either show we chose, we would’ve been in the 40s for our standby ticket number. and because of that, we decided to SEND IT and sign up for tickets for the live show (and partly because all our friends in line were also sending it w the live show too!!!). we were tickets #41 and #42 and we honestly felt really really good about it, but we didn’t want to discuss it too much or get our hopes up in the event that it didn’t end up working out. 

after that, the actual standby line experience was basically over. we IMMEDIATELY grabbed all our stuff and ubered back to our apartment. our roommates were already up and they greeted us with lights up blasting through our alexa akjhfkdfh. saturday was also conveniently my university’s homecoming weekend, and as seniors in college, my friend and i felt that it was important for us to go. i won’t go into too much detail about it bc that’s not really the point of this whole post, but my friend and i REALLY had ourselves a DAY on saturday. i actually don’t know how we pulled this off. we ended up showering for probably 40 minutes each to scrub the grime off our body and then day drank from 11:30 to maybe 5 pm........like??? whomst???? luckily, i was able to squeeze in a nap before we had to start getting ready for check in at 10 pm back at 30 roc, but i was 110% hungover when i woke up. 

we got to 30 roc at around 9:30 and were told to go to the nbc store to check in. from there they cross-checked the name on your ID and name on your ticket and then lined you up in order based on your ticket number. i don’t think i realized how many people actually ended up lining up for the standby line until we were there....people had ticket numbers all the way up #267 or something. that’s CRAZY!! after a bit of waiting (maybe half an hour?) a security guy came out and told us that they were going to starting bringing the group up into the corridor and get the process moving. he made it clear that this wasn’t a guarantee to get in. the first 40 were taken and then after about 5 minutes they sent probably the next 40 or so (including us in the front of that second group). from there, we did a security check and waited in the hallway outside the peacock lounge (anyone who’s been to a taping of snl, jimmy fallon or seth meyers might know what i’m talking about). while waiting there we saw a few people trickle in and go through a security check as well. those people included zoey deutch (!!!!!!) - who was rocking this INSANE red plaid suit combo as well as the cutest bob i’ve ever seen - as well as GLENNE aka jeff’s wife who was also serving looks™️ with her outfit. 

security then moved us farther down the hallway closer to the elevators and this is where we all started getting really nervous. i had no concept of time bc my phone was running out of battery and i turned it off bc i was paranoid if they saw it they would ask me to leave skdjhfs. it was only a matter of minutes before we knew if we were going to make it in or not. the staff had us line up two by two and kept counting and recounting us. then one of them grabbed a stack of wristbands and counted us one last time before he stopped at ticket #30 and said “congratulations all of you have a seat in the show”. the energy in the room was SO CHARGED. he was handing out their tickets and was urging them to put them on as quickly as possible and then they were ushered into the elevators. side note: there’s rumors that lorne michaels (creator and head of snl) reserves 30 seats specifically for the standby line. so that might be why he originally stopped at ticket #30.

my friend and i were holding each others hands as if our lives depended on it bc it was really make it or break it at this point. a couple minutes later he goes down the line again while counting us and stops after maybe 15-20 people behind us and again goes “congratulations, you have a seat in the show”. my legs literally almost gave out. my friend couldn’t speak to me bc she was trying so hard to hold in her sobs. i had to put on her wristband for her bc her hands were shaking so much LMAO. they quickly usher us into the elevator and as soon as the doors close all of us in the elevator start screaming and cheering bc WE MADE IT!!! but we quickly quiet down because we had been told beforehand that if we were excessively screaming during the show that we would be removed. i’m pretty sure that during dress rehearsal the staff said someone was shouting distracting comments at harry during the pauses and they were kicked out. someone else was also kicked out for drinking which......blows my mind. but anyway.

when they elevator doors open we are ushered SO FAST into the studio and into seats. i almost got split up from my friend bc the page tried to sit me in a single seat and i was like “no no no, i’m with her”. luckily they were able to sit us together on the back wall of the section that was facing front. they weren’t actual seats, but rather a large cushioned bench. most of our standby line peeps were sat in the right-most section of the studio which was sad that we couldn’t sit next to everyone, but also glad that my friend and i were sat together. 

the taping started no more than 10 minutes after we got there. it all happened so quick and i don’t think i’ve really fully processed everything that happened. i won’t talk too much about the sketches because you can all just watch them yourself but i’ll talk a little bit about some of the behind the scenes things that we witnessed. 

1. the way in which harry RAN between scenes and sketches was INSANE sdkfjhsdkjfh. right after the monologue he basically LUNGED off stage. a staff member (i think its a woman who does wigs for the snl cast) was moving so fast past the main stage after the cameras cut that from what i saw, the way harry had moved so quickly made her TRIP and harry IMMEDIATELY scooped her up basically DRAGGED her backstage skjdfhksjdhfdjkshk. it all happened so fast i still can’t tell if i imagined it happening or not but it was crazy. either way, harry was on the MOVE. 

2. one of my fav sketches by far was the lamaze class one. harry did SUCH A GOOD JOB SFKHSKJDHFSD especially w the accent????? (he actually did so many accents throughout the show i’m so proud of him). he broke a little bit during the lamaze one but as far as i remember that’s the only time he broke?? which??? that’s honestly impressive, especially for the sketches/jokes they were doing (don’t even get me started on the Sara Lee sketch....). also i wasn’t openly jealous of heidi gardiner because of how harry was holding her and caressing her but i was jealous. i will not speak more on this topic.

3. the slow/ballad version of lights up.............BREATHTAKING. there was not a sound in that studio literally everyone was so mesmerized by it. it was honestly gorgeously performed and the back up vocalists did SUCH and amazing job!! the music stage wasn’t really near us but we still had a good view of harry himself and THAT OUTFIT. it was......chefs kiss.

4. when the ballerina photos came up on the screen there was an audible GASP that ran through the audience. i shrieked. i almost grabbed the woman’s hand whom was sitting next to me and i did not know. that is all. 

5. WATERMELON SUGAR !!!!!!?!?!?!??!?!!!!!!!! y’all. have i got a story for you. when the drums hit right before the first “high” my friend and i went FERAL. we were on the edges of our seat the WHOLE song. i had such the urge to stand up and dance but we couldn’t out of fear of getting kicked out ksjhdfkjhs. the entire song we had our hands in the air grooving to it, i was flailing my limbs as MUCH AS I POSSIBLY COULD to jam out to it. additionally, if you watch the performance back you can actually see that harry’s hands are shaking and he’s fiddling with his soundbox on his back during the beginning of the song. we’re pretty sure that his earpiece wasn’t working so he was freaking out a bit. he started to dance a little, but you can kind of tell that he was a bit stiff, maybe because of nerves. then at one point, he looks to someone off stage to his right and he smiles at them and laughs a bit to himself. after that, he starts looking around at the audience up above and there are times that harry looks over to his left EXACTLY in the direction of where my friend and i were sitting/dancing. my friend who has literally ANALYZED this performance from watching it so many times claims that 2:15 is the exact moment that he looks over sees us flailing our entire bodies. and right after he looks over is when he really starts moving and grooving himself and appearing to look a bit more comfortable. while we don’t know FOR SURE if he really did see us or started dancing bc he saw us jamming out, i do want to mention that we were literally the ONLY people in the studio moving like that. we were in the back corner by the sound guy and one of the exits and sitting next to a middle aged married couple who were looking at us like we were certifiably crazy. we had a view of almost everyone in the audience because we were in the last row and as far as we could tell, we were the only ones that were jamming out as hard as we were. so take with that what you will. but from this time forward, i will go on with my life believing that my uncontrollable bodily reactions to hearing watermelon sugar LIVE perhaps made dear harold feel a little less nervous and more comfortable to do his thang :-)))))

i don’t think i’ve clapped harder for anything in my life than i did when he finished performing watermelon sugar and when he signed off the show. i teared up watching him go around to his band and all the cast members giving them the BIGGEST hugs. you can clearly tell that every single person on that cast had the best time with him this week. heidi and cecily both mentioned in their instagram posts about how agreeable he was to everything and how he has to come back to host again. it was clear that he had SUCH a fun experience and he did SO WELL!!!!! i have no doubt in my mind that he is going to host (or do double duty) again at some point in the future. so to those who were in the standby line and didn’t make it in to the taping for live or dress, don’t lose faith. there will for SURE be another opportunity to do this whole thing again. i am so so proud of everyone who was brave enough to face the elements for even a chance to get a standby ticket over these past couple days. you’re all so strong and such warriors. this is certainly not the last time he’ll be doing this. 

as grueling and testing as the whole camping out on the streets and standby ticket experience was, i would do it all over again in a heartbeat. i’m a senior in college and was privileged enough to be able to skip some classes and call out of work in order to do this. i figured that this time in my life is probably one of the only chances where i’ll be able to actually drop everything and sleep on the streets for three days to see one of my favorite people in the world. and in the end, it was all worth it. i couldn’t be prouder of harry and what an amazing job he did last night. this journey is something that i will cherish forever (and will definitely be telling my kids about in the future).

feel free to message me or drop in my inbox if you have questions or want to come chat about it all ! thanks to anyone who actually had the patience to read this whole thing. i’m so sorry for how unbearably long this was dkjfhsdkjhsdk. much love to you all. treat people with kindness :-)

[lil-crossing]

What I want to see in the next Animal Crossing!

        Okay, so ever since the talk of the switch I have been ever so hopeful of an Animal Crossing title for it, and not just a crappy spinoff, either. Especially after the release of the switch I feel like this is something very likely to happen, given the villager icons you can choose from on the switch profiles and other hints. Anyways, here are what I feel like would be some entertaining additions to the next Animal Crossing title. This is a looooong list so pls bear with me.

Way way WAYYYYYY more slots to hold patterns like in HHD, like I am so amazed HHD was the first AC title to have this.

The ability to place PWPs wherever they will fit, also like the placement used in HHD.

Get a notification from Isabelle when you start the game that informs you of a new villager wanting to move in, you can then choose the location of their house so it doesn’t interfere with paths or anything.

I think it would be really cool to be able to edit the layout of our town as an alternate option to filtering through random ones. Similar to the acnl editor, but in the initial startup of the game. Choosing where streams, ponds, beaches, buildings, etc. are instead of having to settle on one.

Be able to choose your native fruit.

Similar to HHD, you can unlock special items from encountering certain villagers and they can be placed in your catalogue. Like how some have the sloppy series, etc.

A bigger campsite, like the RV one that was introduced in Welcome Amiibo, but has tents as well as more RVs that are not just specials. Like, have 2 RVs there that rotate everyday, one being a special character and the other just a normal villager, and of course spaces available for use with amiibo cards.

MORE THAN 1 PWP A DAY. I get SO MAD having to time travel just because I want more than one streetlight in my town.

Also, NO MORE RANDOM PWPS!!!!!! I played for YEARS with only a couple of suggestions from my villagers, I never was even suggested the police station!!!!!!! If we have to unlock them based on time played or town status or pay bells to unlock them, sure, that’s cool, BUT NO MORE RELYING ON SUGGESTIONS!!!!

Shops have way more items available to purchase, and on top of a bigger in-store selection, I think it would be cool to have kind of like a revolving catalogue where you can order things (like maybe have whole series in there or something) that also changes everyday along with the store’s inventory.

LARGER MAIN STREET!!!! I thought the town in HHD was a really good size for a main street for the next AC title. Also, the ability to choose the exteriors of the buildings on main street like in HHD.

More specialization of the shops on main street. Like, instead of just having the typical ones we have had for AGES maybe introduce some new ones, like a pet store (more on this later) or a restaurant like what there is to choose from in HHD

Possibly link your HHD catalogue with the new AC title? That way you have items unlocked and it gives you a little head start on items you can choose from.

BE ABLE TO DESIGN PANTS!!!!! Maybe there is a reason this isn’t a thing yet that I am completely ignorant about, but I WANT TO DESIGN SOME DAMN PANTS!!!! There are hardly any to choose from in the game so I am blown away that this hasn’t become a feature yet in all of the AC titles. Also, being able to design shoes and socks would be cool, too. But if anything, pls just let us design some pants.

Ability to have pets!!! So we can have some uninvited cockroaches roaming around but lord forbid I have a cute lil kitten or puppy??? You have no idea how much I loved the little hamster cage, but it can only do so much. I think it would be neat to get rid of the cockroaches and be able to purchase animals from a pet store on main street that can roam around in one (or all) room(s) and if you leave the game unattended for a length of time, you would come back to PEE in your FLOOR and you would have to clean it instead of stomping on cockroaches.

Either pick from different sets or create your own set of beginning villagers with amiibo cards for when you start up a new town. More often than not, my villagers starting out are all uggos.

Be able to automatically access your bank account without having to go to an ABD. Like maybe we have a device similar to our TPC that acts kinda like a smartphone or something and we have an “app” for our bank that we can use.

This device could also let us talk to villagers like the HHD phone or order items or talk to other players online if we have their FCs.

Be able to choose the town hall and train station exteriors during the startup of the game instead of having to wait and get a perfect town rating in order to do so.

MORE CUTE FURNITURE SETS!!! Idk about you but I loved the sloppy series and alpine series and I wish there were more cute pale series to choose from, like maybe have a whole pastel series that goes with the pastel table introduced in HHD.

More expensive home expansions, but they also expand faster. This doesn’t have to be the replacement for the current situation, but just to have as an option I think would be cool.

Be able to design furniture with Cyrus not just remodel it. Like we could start with a base item, but redesign it using something similar to what we use to design clothes and patterns. AND we could create QR codes for these like we would be able to for outfits and stuff.

A “global store” where people could post items they don’t want anymore kind of like an online flea market that we could access by either going to Re-Tail or on the TPC device. People could also sell their designed items on here if they didn’t want to do QR codes.

Train Station allows you to travel to ANY town with gates open and accepting random visitors. Kind of like how club tortimer pairs you up with random people on the island, you could go to a random town. No FCs necessary and it would be a fun way to make more friends to play with in the future!

Also, with having people visit your town, you should be able to select the level of access they have to it. You should have a little menu while there are people visiting that shows  who all is in the town and also what level of access they have. This can be adjusted at any time and there would be about 3 levels:

Restricted: Can only WALK around and talk to villagers and observe the items in your town. (how each visitor would start out)

Intermediate: Can buy, pick up, do anything in your town, but a notification will pop up on your screen anytime they want to do something and you will have to approve their action.

Unrestricted: Can do anything (like how it is now) without needing approval.

When having visitors in your town, you can also see them on your town map in real time like you see yourself. Instead of little people icons, though, they should be like numbers based on who got there first, #1, and so on. I feel like they would make it easier to tell who is who. But who even knows if we will have a map like the one we’re used to with the switch. I feel like the Wii-U might have been better in the whole dual screen aspect of the game.

We can also choose to see villagers on the map in real time.

Have other parts of town that we can access. Like maybe there is a little hill that leads up to the neighborhood where all the “special” characters live and stuff like that.

Ability to work at more shops than just the cafe. Have the jobs be more like mini games though.

Ability to demolish or move home without destroying your town.

When selecting “give me something” from an amiibo villager, their catalogue should pop up so you can choose what item you want.

MORE SANRIO ITEMS!!!!!!! The sanrio sets are so dang cute I love them!!!! Either collab with sanrio some more or make some more items that going along with the cutesy themes they have! Or maybe some san-x related items, like bring in rilakkuma etc.

A music shop!!! I think KK should have his own little record store where he performs during the day and it closes at night when he goes to the club B)

GIVE CELESTE BACK HER OBSERVATORY!!!! I cannot STRESS this ENOUGH!!!!! Not only was it such a cool idea, I MISS MAKING INAPPROPRIATELY SHAPED CONSTELLATIONS!!!!

Able Sisters have a section in their shop for QR codes from all over the world via internet. If not connected, then it could just be empty or maybe you could only access it by talking to mabel or sabel or smth.

A Hotel!! This could be where people who are visiting your dream address start out, they could go to sleep there too and start a new day or something.

Possibly upload your HHD buildings to your town to replace the ones on main street.

This whole “smartphone”/TPC replacement thing:

Cell phone: call and talk to your own villagers and amiibo villagers

Email?: maybe. Could replace mailbox for letters only, not deliveries.

Initiatives can still be viewed on this

Timmy and Tommy “online” catalogue

Online Flea Market from players all over.

Bank Account: can access everything you’d be able to at an ABD

Music: could change background music to a KK song if one so chose

Can contract out Leif for a sum of bells to landscape your town. Select from some different colors, themes, flowers, if you are not very talented in the ways of landscaping.

Can get paths from Nook’s homes! It would be cool if Nintendo made some paths that actually matched up with the grass and stuff that you could purchase from Nook.

Where multiple face items like glasses, bandages, binkie so long as they don’t interfere with each others’ placements.

Be able to wear accessories over “makeup” I think our miis would look really cute with some of the accessories in the game!

Be able to hold more than one mii mask at a time.

Be able to start the game by choosing the villager’s appearance like in HHD, no more random appearances based on weird questions

Instead of just a couple exterior house choices, there should be more in a catalogue at Nook’s, but some are only available after you have upgraded your house x amount of times.

Furniture collections with more items. Rooms that are upgraded are really big and it kinda sucks when some series only have like 10 items in them.

Be able to see what an item is while it’s in our pockets!!!! I hate having to go home and display it in my home to see what it is and whether or not I want to keep it.

ALPACA VILLAGERS!!!!!!! So many of the special characters are so cute I wish we could have regular villagers that are that cute who are able to move into our town. Also walruses like wendell would be really cute.

Ability to access the time from within the game, maybe with like a special clock or something similar to the way we can have a fortunes told to us through the lovely phone, but only that phone.

Access to our storage room and regular inventory when we are in the “room editing” mode. It would save so much time if we didn't have to exit out of it every time we needed a new item.

More villagers in the town!!! Like maybe 14 or 15

Kick out unwanted villagers at the town hall and accept requests of certain ones wanting to move in. Like see which villager it is and either accept them and pick a spot for their house or deny them.

Able to change camera angle for more diverse screenshots like HHD

PLEASE BE HD LIKE THE COURSES IN MARIO KART PLEEEEEASSSSEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A town hall with a room that is able to be reserved for events that you can set up, like harvest festival dinners, toy day party, bday parties, etc. And with these events all the villagers have to show up. You can also decorate the room with items from your catalogue or choose from different pre-made themes.

So as you can see this list is long as heck. Feel free to add to it and let me know what you think,  I always love seeing ideas and talking about Animal Crossing with people!!!!!!!!!!