#overall very delicious >:D - hope you like these ehe

[maehwajuuuu-chu]

SLAMS IN

Theres not a lot of it but what would my art taste like?

HRMM, when I think of your art, I arrive to flavours that are soothing — something that is light and rests easy on the taste buds. Such includes jasmine tea, rice paper rolls and mul kimchi (water kimchi). Another drink I also think that would taste like your art is Seoklyu-cha (pomegranate tea!).

[utilitycaster]

In honor of that poll, which has apparently been answered by a bunch of loser rogue-fuckers, and was also written by someone who doesn't even have the update that gives you twelve poll options, please have a good ranking of sexiest D&D 5e classes, from me.

This only has the 13 officially published 5e classes so do not ask me about classes that are not that. Also, the existence of a handful of sexy or unsexy characters of that class does not a sexy or unsexy class overall make. I'm sure these two statements will not shut down all annoying people but by god I hope they shut down some.

Paladin. Self-explanatory: if you don't agree, you better explain yourself, unless you think they are outranked by...

Wizard. As Liam O'Brien said, what's sexier than wizards? And I said "paladins, but no one else." I'm also going to fuck up an Octavia Butler quote and say that her journal did not explicitly state that single-minded devotion is sexy but it is, and that's why wizards and paladins are, undisputably, the top two.

Warlock. Would be higher than wizards on the basis of sheer raw charisma but some warlock classes (archfey, hexblade) are extremely sexy and some are...pots in need of very unique lids, shall we say.

Bard. This is for competency and knowledge of mythology and musical instruments. If you're into some kind of memeriffic 20 CHA 7 INT Roll To Seduce bro shit, get the fuck out of here.

Ranger. Their combat abilities are not as great as they could be but this is also without a doubt the class that will invite you over and make a delicious foraged mushroom risotto and have lit candles they made themself. They are good with animals and can identify constellations. Entire package.

Barbarian and Fighter are tied. Do you prefer a flow state and passion or do you prefer dedication and persistence? Axe or sword? Raw power or precision? Equally valid; it's a matter of personal taste.

Cleric. One of the gods thinks they're special; it's hard not to be drawn in by that. Also, healing is the sexiest magical ability. Points off for the possibility of sanctimonious behavior.

Druid. This is just personal taste but I would find it weird if my partner was sometimes a giant scorpion, and I feel rangers are just the far sexier nature-loving option. People for whom druids are #1, I see you, I respect you, I disagree with you, but I do think you're valid.

Monk. Here's the problem. Yes flexible; everything else is kind of a solid "eh" for me. Honestly I think it's because D&D separates out dexterity and strength even though monks technically need both, and so the low-strength monk archetype really doesn't do it for me. It's not unsexy but it never wows me, and honestly in real life martial arts is usually more an aesthetic joy than a sexy one for me.

Sorcerer. Often physically attractive but I do not love a nepo baby, and absolutely the class least able to make you breakfast. Class most likely to attempt to make you breakfast and manage to fuck up scrambled eggs.

Artificer. Love the class but unfortunately I can only think of Belle's father in Beauty and the Beast (1991) when I think of what an artificer looks like. Wizards claimed the hot nerd spot; artificers never had a chance.

Rogue. Anyone can wear black leather. Anyone can twirl a butterfly knife and the ranger is going to be better at using it. You know what rogues are best at? Leaving through the window without waking you up. That's it. Bards have the same skills and then some and they're hotter by design. There are other classes with superior physical skills. Burst damage is already not actually that useful in 5e combat and even less so in the bedroom.

[soveryanon]

Reviewing time for MAG124 /o/

- There was a delicious echo between this statement and MAG021, in the sense that it had been the first statement involving Simon Fairchild (The Vast! ~Distance~!), with its follow-up interrupted because of… Martin popping up:

(MAG021) ARCHIVIST: […] It might just be a coincidence, but I recall the name “Simon Fairchild” was one of the ones used by– [DOOR OPENS, CHAIR TUMBLES] My god! Martin?! [SOMETHING SQUELCHES] What… What the hell is–? What are these things?! [CLICK.]

(MAG124) ARCHIVIST: […] Still no sign of Peter Lukas of course, or Mar– [STATIC] Wait– Wait. [CHAIR SCRAPING] [OPENS DOOR, FAR:] Martin! Martin!

From Martin coming back from his two weeks-long Prentiss siege (where~ he was~ all alone~ and nobody~ had checked~ on him~~~) and forcing himself into Jon’s office, to Jon running out of his own office to finally see Martin again after a week of being back to work (following his six months “coma”). It just… installed, right away, the shift between then and now? It hurts thx I hate it ♥

- *OBLIGATORY LOUD SHRIEKING* since in MAG120:

(MAG120) MARTIN: W… what… What are you doing here, mister Lukas? PETER: Please, call me Peter. MARTIN: N–no. No, I think I’m okay. PETER: As you like. […]

And now:

(MAG124) ARCHIVIST: Wh–where have you been, I–I mean, I–I–I thought– MARTIN: N–no, no, I’ve… I’ve been here, I just, er… Y’know. Been busy. ARCHIVIST: Busy. MARTIN: Yeah. ARCHIVIST: … Right. Working for Lukas. MARTIN: N–no, Pe–Peter’s… eh. It’s complicated. ARCHIVIST: … Right.

1°) *weeps loudly* Martin, what the heck happened for you to get on first name basis with “Peter”, now… (Answer: “Relationship Status: It’s Complicated”.) 2°) By contrast, I don’t think we've ever heard Jon ooze quite so much disrespect towards someone. I mean, calling Peter by his last name like this? Jon? Jon??? Even in the previous episode, he was still using first+last names (MAG123: “Working for Peter Lukas.” and it was exactly the same phrasing!!), he tends to use honorifics or mention people through first+last names or first name only, even for monsters… So by contrast, this makes it sound like he’s Out For Blood. Someone is reaaaally not enjoying the idea of Martin working for someone else, uh. 3°) … Martin literally denied working for “Lukas”…?? Is it a matter of “this is not what he’s doing right now”, is it a matter of Martin actually doing something for the Institute/something that is technically not Lukas-related, is it a matter of making a distinction between “Peter” / “Lukas”, is it a matter of a third party being involved? Or… Well. I have Questions And Ponderings about where Martin is (presumably in the Lonely dimension?) and what control he has over his comings and goings… but I also do wonder, since Martin slipped and almost said something when Jon spat Peter’s name, while Martin had been apparently very cautious not to tell Jon anything about his current whereabouts all through the exchange… what if. actually. Peter was there in the room right now and Martin knew it? MAG120 had demonstrated that characters not seeing Peter doesn't indicate that he isn’t actually witnessing events himself, since… he knew how Elias had behaved before revealing himself to Martin:

(MAG120) ELIAS: G– goodbye, Martin. Be seeing you. [DOOR CLOSES] [SILENCE] MARTIN: [LONG EXHALES] [VERY SHARP SQUEAL OF DISTORTION] PETER: Must be a relief. MARTIN: H– uh– PETER: Honestly, I thought there’d be more of a scene, but… he always surprises me.

… So, given that Jon is not hiding his annoyance about the mere concept of Peter (and given Jonathan “Bad Decisions” Sims’s luck overall), I… wonder… if this wasn’t Martin almost slipping up to say that Peter was there too, before remembering to not say anything about it? (But even if it wasn’t that during that scene, overall: I’m still wondering if Peter mightn’t be just roaming the Institute and having the time of his life listening to Jon’s complains about him and just. Not showing himself to him. Best way to avoid compulsion and to get on Jon’s nerves.)

- Curiously, the tape recorder got into static mode when Jon spotted Martin – not the distorted screeching sounds from Peter’s appearances (MAG100, MAG108, MAG120): usually, with Peter, there is a “peak” of it during his arrival/departure (well, departure in MAG100; the tape stopped while he was still there in MAG120, and he left through the door in MAG108), and a constant screeching as long as he’s there. Here, there was only a peak of static when Jon spotted Martin and, I think, nothing afterwards? Can’t 100% guarantee it, but I think it was the same static from Jon’s compulsion, which… could mean that it was Jon’s powers which allowed him to See Martin, because he was thinking of him?

(MAG124) ARCHIVIST: […] Still no sign of Peter Lukas of course, or Mar– [STATIC] Wait– Wait. [CHAIR SCRAPING] [OPENS DOOR, FAR:] Martin! Martin! MARTIN: Oh. … Hi, Jon. ARCHIVIST: Martin, i–i–it’s… I, I–I haven’t seen you– MARTIN: Yeah. S–sorry.

Or was that Jon’s… “Insight”, like when he knew Tim when would be there in MAG114? He was waiting for Tim, back then, so it was something he already knew; maybe the static here was Jon Knowing right now about Martin’s presence? There was something akin to a ruffling noise, back in MAG099, too, when he mentioned Gerry in relation to Gertrude (something he had never learned prior to that), and I’m not able to tell if it was Jon’s clothes ruffling or actual static… It could be the same thing in all cases, perhaps? … aaaand now that I think about it, the fact that he knew/felt that Basira had a statement in her bag in MAG122 could also be not because he Can Feel Statements Overall Since He Is Tied To Them (smells like food.), but due, also, to that ~Insight~, since same static. Don’t know! Jon, what the eff are your powers, what the eff are you, what the eff do you know about them, etc. But the static in MAG124 could also be unrelated to Jon: Peter’s appearance (with the huge screeching) had been preceded by static in MAG108, while Martin was deciding to ask Basira about Melanie and calling for her to no avail (implying that he was already getting isolated at this point, since Basira heard him call for her afterwards). Static might be showing up when people are getting Isolated/released from isolation, while the sharp distortions are Peter’s sounds specifically? We’re lacking data so far, since we don’t know much about what is happening exactly with Peter’s appearances and that other dimension overall? For example, were Peter’s three appearances in season 3 him sneaking his way into reality (and the tape recorder reacting to the intrusion and his presence because he’s a spook), or Peter swallowing a piece of reality into the Lonely (and the tape recorder reacting because it’s not in the right space anymore)? I wonder, more and more, if there isn't something about time being involved with the Lonely, rather than only space: Peter had made a lot of references to time in season 3, and there was the fact that Basira came in to see Martin as if he had just called her name (despite the fact that the whole Peter-Martin exchange had happened in the meantime)… *squints, once again, at Elias’s clock*

- Anyway, if it wasn’t a coincidence nor Martin’s decision to pop up, and if Peter was behind it: hey Peter, remember about that? :w

(MAG108) PETER: […] And what’s Elias like to work for? Aside from orchestrating unsettling encounters? MARTIN: That’s… that’s a lot of it, to be honest. PETER: And that’s not something you look for in an employer, I assume? MARTIN: Well, he’s… I mean, you just… you’ve just said he’s watching us.

(Jon, if you still can’t meet Peter: blame Martin, it was probably because of this that “unsettling encounters” don’t happen anymore around here.) (Martin had asked for less murder, too!! I still hope that the researchers from 3rd floor are okay >:()

- Yyyyeaaaaah, so Martin basically confirmed that, even though he is unreachable (MAG122: “We don’t see him around the Archives much these days. Best I can figure, he’s working on something with Lukas. […] he comes and goes. He’s busy. Well, he seems it.” / MAG123: “Martin is working very closely with The Lonely, who is, predictably enough, isolating him”), he’s basically here, though in the Lonely dimension/space/whatever?

(MAG124) ARCHIVIST: Wh–where have you been, I–I mean, I–I–I thought– MARTIN: N–no, no, I’ve… I’ve been here, I just, er… Y’know. Been busy. ARCHIVIST: Busy.

Is it the exact same place of reality as in Barnabas Bennett’s letter (MAG092), since Barnabas has… ended up as bones? If it is the same one: *screams* about what Martin is risking and/or the implications behind the fact that Martin is still alive so far D: Is it because the Institute/Archives are Beholding’s territory that both spaces are still able to interact a bit? Barnabas had felt the difference (“I know that what is done by those I cannot see might be felt here – I have found glasses broken and pages torn that were not so the night before. It is my hope that if I leave a letter here, in your institute, you might find it, you might be able to save me.”) and Elias had confirmed that his letter had reached Jonah Magnus, so it indeed looks like the Institute/Beholding can pierce through it or act as a bridge or diminish the Lonely’s influence…

- Okay, so regarding Martin himself: it was abundantly clear that he doesn’t want to tell Jon anything about what he’s doing, but also… He was shit at giving Jon reasons not to worry, and we have had ample proof that Martin can be very good at lying (he’d lied to everyone about going to uni for at least seven years before Jon extracted a confession out of him, and gave a stellar performance of getting surprised and hurt and offended when Jon asked him to stay behind in MAG116 in order to lower Elias’s guard, before suddenly turning steel-cold and in control as soon as Elias had left). So. How come Martin Blackwood wasn’t able to convincingly deceive Jon here? Was it because Jon spotting him was a surprise? Was it because Peter had suddenly dropped him back in the Archives as a ~little joke~ (Jon had mentioned Peter right before mentioning Martin)? Is it because Martin is still too weak to Jon / was very tense because he feared that Jon would compulse the hell out of him? Was it because he’s really really uncomfortable with what he’s doing, and fearing Jon’s reaction? Was it because he didn’t even care about being convincing? ;; He wasn’t surprised about Jon being awake and back, so either he had been able to see Jon even though Jon couldn’t see him, either Peter told him about Jon’s return. So… definitely, Martin is doing his thing and it’s ;; worrisome. I don’t think it’s worth hoping that the six past months (and Martin’s current… work…) haven’t messed him up, but I’m not sure that his exchange with Jon was indicative of his current state? It was mostly Martin trying to slip like water between Jon’s fingers, and trying to say the least possible (that part was obvious). So whatever he’s doing, it’s… probably not pretty, or could easily be interpreted as very bad without the full picture… (Martin is not stupid; he agreed to something in the trailer; he probably felt like he didn’t have much of a choice, or that he could get something valuable in exchange, and it clearly sounded like a sacrifice. That doesn’t mean that it’s not probably meant to backfire, but at the same time… he’s not currently being a victim?)

- BUT HAVING JON AWKWARDLY TRYING TO REACH WAS SO PAINFUL AND ~*IRONIC*~, rfdjfvjnfd I’m crying but I’m laughing and I love and I hate it. Jon not used to Martin trying his Best to not talk to him, Jon being the one who is trying to make small talk, Jon asking Martin about his poetry………………………. the stuttering, the long pauses, Martin perpetually trying to announce his departure………….. (And it also highlighted how… Jon doesn’t know much about Martin? He knows that he likes spiders, he discovered (creepily.) that Martin writes poetry (progress!! Jon didn’t say anything mean about it this time around, focusing on the activity rather than the result. Careful, Jon, next time, if Martin Gets Better, he’ll probably ask for your honest opinion about a piece and you’ll be screwed.), he knows that Martin makes tea, he knows that Martin used to write letters to his mother… that doesn’t make a lot of topics to try to grab his attention.) There is still something comforting in the fact that Jon is now trying, though? That he’s aware of what he has lost, and is trying to change, to reach, to inquire about others? Of course, it’s heart-wrenching that it’s not currently working, that the situation has changed, that it doesn’t evolve into communication, that… it might be too late. I don’t feel like it’s getting depressing, though (… not yet maybe.), because there are still efforts coming from Jon, and he seems to be following his decision from MAG117 about trusting and trying even when things don’t come to him naturally anymore. Season1!Jon wouldn’t have bothered. Season4!Jon might be too late for this, but he’s trying, and there is still hope (… for now) that it will matter in the end? (Or, precisely: it will fail, again and again, and the new tragedy will be that Jon and the others never managed to reach out at the same time.) Even with Martin’s departure, I wonder if Jon wasn’t still aiming for something:

(MAG124) MARTIN: … Look, Jon, I, I’ve really got to go, so… ARCHIVIST: Oh, er, okay… MARTIN: I’m, I’m sorry that you– ARCHIVIST: Wowowow, it was… good t–, it was good to see you. MARTIN: … Yeah. [STEPS LEAVING] ARCHIVIST: … yeah… [CLICK.]

The fact that Jon stopped Martin’s reflex to apologize and that “It was good to see you” meant that he wasn’t shutting Martin off, and maybe… throwing out an awkward attempt to give him something to fight off the Lonely? Those words are especially nice, especially caring (like Jon wasn’t asking anything out of Martin but giving something?), and it’s not a sentence that you would have expected coming from Jon’s mouth.

- There is currently a Thing about Jon coming back to his roots as Head Archivist (the statements from MAG122 and MAG123 were at the end of Gertrude’s direction/the beginning of Jon’s) and here, we kinda had a nod towards Jon’s first steps in the Institute… given that “Simon Fairchild” was one of the first cases Jon had studied as a researcher!

(MAG051) ARCHIVIST: […] One of my first cases as a researcher for the Institute in 2012 was looking into the history of a jeweller in Hackney, that had reported cases becoming cracked in the night. Nothing was ever taken but, each morning it would be like a heavy weight had been dropped upon them. Looking into it, it turned out that the jewels had, in the 1930s, belonged to a con artist and fence, who had attracted the displeasure of the local population. When one particularly irate customer threw him out of a fourth-floor window into a crowded street at midday… no one claimed to have seen anything. A minor possible haunting with a decidedly pedestrian backstory, but notable because while I was never able to discover the original name of the con artist, one of his many, many aliases was Simon Fairchild, and it appeared on several business listings around the time. Whether it’s a coincidence or not is something of a moot point at this stage, however.

(YEEEET) So, Simon again. I had stupidly assumed that he might have died in MAG051 (August 2006, expedition to retrieve antiques from a 19th century steam yacht, “The Maria Fairchild”), because there had been no trace of him after the events and the statement-giver had been told by the Captain, when inquiring about him, that “The sea is a dangerous place”. But nop, he was still active in 2012 and it looks like it’s his Thing to just… come and go (after taking someone in the process). Woopsies. But since he’s someone who is tied to Jon’s first steps in the Institute, and that Jon said that:

(MAG124) ARCHIVIST: Simon Fairchild is one of the… recurrent figures that I think disquiets me the most. Not simply for what he does, the endless spaces of highs or depths to which he’s so quick to condemn his victims, but… the joy he seems to take in doing so. And I don’t think there is much to this tale beyond that: an evil man tormenting and killing simply for his own pleasure, and to feed the power that sustains him. […] I do not think I ever wish to meet him.

1°) Oh My Gods, Jon, Don’t Bring It On Yourself. (10 episodes later (probably): Jon Meets Simon Fairchild.) (I mean. You know your luck, Jon. Don’t tempt fate.) 2°) The casual shade towards (other) monsters, Jon, please… Hey, old man! Jon finds you stereotypical and too random for his taste. I’m really reassured that Jon is using a few keywords such as “victims”, “evil”, “tormenting”, and that he’s… looking down on him. That’s also good. The less neutral Jon will be about Avatars hurting people, the betteeerrrr ;; (I’m afraid of him getting… used to that dynamic, insensitive to it? Perceiving it as something normal, and mostly concerned about the ~creativity~ displayed?) (Simon had been compared to a “vulture” back in MAG051, and we also had the case of Mike Crew preying on the acrophobic brother back in MAG075… it’s not even specifically a Vast thing (since we’ve also had Elias swooping in as soon as Melanie mentioning being desperate in MAG084, or Peter around Martin) but I’m still nervously laughing that they just. Go nnyYYYOOOOOOOOOOMM as soon as someone vulnerable to their Patron is feeling things.)

- (Simon was fairly recognizable, it wasn’t especially “!!” that Jon went straight to the… meat during the post-statement, and highlighted right away that it was him although he hadn’t been named. It just makes it even more surprising that he didn’t even mention the possibilty of the girl being Annabelle Cane in MAG123. Jon, are you hiding something again? Or are the spiders encouraging you to not think too much about her…?)

- (I’m not mentioning the statement much in itself but: that was dreadful, really loved it, really resenting the fact that the episode just happened to be released when we got snow in Paris, really reassured that I could avoid the tramway during a few days and that I don’t go to the mountains anymore =D)

- nervouslaughter.wav that the statement had a son and his mother (and no father anymore) being close and then drifting away => poof! Martin invoked in the adjacent room. (mARTIN……)

- “It’s been a week and… Melanie’s attitude towards me hasn’t softened” => It sounds like Jon is back to the ~casual~ rhythm of one statement a week, which was more or less his cruising speed excepting for awful accumulations due to Circumstances. That’s a kind of normalcy he can have some control over and it’s a bit reassuring that the statement dependency doesn’t seem to have escalated, what’s with his new… status.

- Still no reference to MAG118 and MAG120’s tapes but That Means Nothing given that Jon tends to overall hide things and to reveal them much later. (He didn’t ask Martin about his mother, at least.)

- (Also: who is currently in possession of the Web lighter right now? And has Jon... stopped smoking, since he woke up.)

- Okay so if they don’t leave the Institute much and kind of live in the Archives nowadays, what are they all doing with all this free time, since…

(MAG122) ARCHIVIST: […] No notes or follow-up in the statement, and obviously no research done by myself or… my team. (MAG123) ARCHIVIST: […] The investigation is tricky, I don’t want to impose on Basira and, obviously, Melanie and… Martin… aren’t available, but I did do some light searching myself on Gregory Cox. (MAG124) ARCHIVIST: […] In other cases, I might think for locations noteworthy, might to try to piece together some wider plan. But Fairchild seems to travel far and wide for his victims, with no motivation other than… variety. I do not think I ever wish to meet him. … Of course, even if I did want to do research into the statement, I wouldn’t have any help doing so.

… they’ve never been this bad at doing the follow-ups, holy heck. But ;; Sasha was the one who could hack, Tim was the one flirting his way into records, and they’re both gone. Martin sometimes went to talk to people (and have them weep on him) and he’s unavailable. Melanie is, uh, not keen on helping. Which leaves Basira, who had connections in the police, so mmm. Indeed, if she’s not helping Jon with follow-ups, what is she doing…

- So !!! regarding Basira!!

(MAG124) ARCHIVIST: […] And Basira, though she is very willing to talk, still doesn’t seem to trust me enough to let me in on whatever plans she might have – if she has any plans at all, of course. I could… make her tell me, I know that, but… I can’t afford to burn any more bridges.

1°) =D Yeah, Basira said she was “more of a talker” in her first appearance (MAG043). I wonder (due to that “very willing to talk” which sounded like… Jon.) if she’s trying to keep Jon updated with the Institute’s mundane gossip. 2°) I had somehow not considered that Basira could be planning something, and I feel so stupid about it… she’s Basira! Aaaaaaaaaand. I wonder if she’s been researching The Watcher’s Crown by herself? She picked up that their ritual was still a possibility (MAG123), she had been the one to notice the regularity surrounding The Dark’s (MAG108): she’s very good at drawing connections between data to understand patterns. And it would also explain why she’s so cautious around Jon: as long as she has no way to be sure that Jon is against their ritual, as long as she doesn’t know what state Jon currently is in, it wouldn’t be a good idea to share what she has found. Jon by himself hasn’t done much to be reassuring, since he… Knew that she had a statement on her as soon as he woke up, and asked for it even before asking for water. From an external point of view, his awakening made him look more inhuman than human, even though he’s also been quite good behaviour-wise since then… 3°) Jon’s argument for not compulsing her is a tiny (TINY) bit creepy, since he’s thinking about the strategic consequences more than uuuuuuuh, Basira’s feelings on the matter??? But it’s also… typical Jon. The fact he’s aware of consequences is even an improvement compared to season 1? But it’s also highlighting that either the need to know, either the stress of people hiding things from him, is taking its toll on him, and I don’t know how long it will last before he snaps ;;

… I do wonder if that won’t be Jon’s dilemma pretty soon: trying to trust the assistants like he had decided to at the end of season 3, not probing them too much, waiting for them to open up to him when they feel it’s Right, not compulsing the truth out of them (and accepting that they’re taking risks and could get harmed in their own involvements), or… compulsing them hard and extorting what is actually happening (losing what remains of their trust in the process, directing their disgust/hate towards him maybe, but also ensuring that he would be able to save their lives)? I mean, for Jon, Tim just happened. He chose to trust Tim, to give Tim the opportunity Tim sought, and Tim didn’t come back from that. That could change his perspective a bit about his way to try and save the assistants.

(Overall: AHAHAHAHAHA, SOBBING ABOUT MARTIN, WOW THAT WAS SO RUDE. SO, SO RUDE. At this point, only Elias will to be happy to ~see~ that Jon has woken up, uh.)

[opepin]

may: week three

15: i stayed in bed until i had to get up. i was so tired. kevin made me a breakfast sandwich and then headed to work. i ate it and then did some work and then at around 12 pm i decided to fit in my work out. it felt pretty good. there was sweat and only one rash appeared on my forehead. it wasn’t itchy or anything though. then i showered, worked a bit more, and hopped on stand up. oh, i also picked up our travel adapters and i got my medium-sized bombas gripper socks. they fit better than the small ones :) yay! thank you for awesome customer service! it was a pretty productive work day at home. i managed to get through a part of the work but i need some feedback before moving on. i did the second half of my exercise, showered, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, and made rice with steamed egg. kevin came back from climbing and cooked himself some cabbage stir fry and finished off the steamed egg with oil and soy sauce. the steamed egg just tasted like the chinese broccoli that kevin has been making... lol this cookbook.

we ate and talked about random things. then we made time to cuddle and spend some time with each other -- it was nice :) then i played some bravely default to end the night. i ended up dying and i didn’t save so i lost all of my grinding progress -___- so i stayed up and got it back to about the same spot and then i slept at like 1:15 am. oops. i was gonna work form home tomorrow but i did want to get macarons and just enjoy the weather without being holed up at home or in the office.

16: it was a nice morning. i got up and did a hiit workout. then i showered while kevin ate breakfast. i took it easy this morning and commuted to south station with kevin (: he went to work and i walked over to tous le jour to get some macarons. the macarons were like $2.50 each but i i bought a few anyway. i got the pistachio, green tea, and grapefruit flavored ones. then i got a milk bread bun and a curry croquette for kevin. i realized that i’ve been to this store before in santa monica with toby, chris, and jeanne...and i got he same exact bun LOL. the bun is still good though. i walked back to south station and bought brioche buns for burgers and our favorite focaccia bread from a local bakery stand in dewey square (right outside of south station). then i got meimei’s for lunch. i got their chorizard market bowl without cheese. i was going to drop off the treats with kevin, but it was around lunch time so i just took the train home.

the chorizard bowl is interesting; i think kevin would like it tbh. it had an apple-ly vinegar dressing and it had pickled carrots in it too. you could smell the vinegar when you took off the lid. it contained chorizo and beans with leafy greens too. i couldn’t finish all of it because it was so filling. i finished the bun and the two macarons. they were delicious. then i worked on my project and just soaked in the nice weather. what a nice sunny day. i love it. i also ordered rothy’s flats because my size was back in stock and i didn’t know when they would restock again so i asked my mom to get it for me for my birthday and she did! haha. thanks, momma. <3 i worked until a little past 5:30 pm and then did my back exercises, showered, and washed the dishes. then i cut up half of the sweet potatoes, seasoned them, and popped them into the oven. with the three leftover ones, i poked holes into them and then put them into the oven as well.

i made one successful poached egg and melted cheese on top of the sweet potato discs and topped it with scallions. i made myself a non-cheese version of this with the separate poached yolk failure LOL. it was pretty good! then i took out the whole potatoes and halved one of them, scooped out the sweet potato, and then kevin and i put eggs in the holes, topped them off with cheese, and baked those. with the last two sweet potatoes, i took out all of the “meat”, mashed it, and froze it -- hoping to make sweet potato and banana ice cream tomorrow! so, i made sweet potato like 3-4 ways today for dinner and i completely forgot that i needed to save some for lunch tomorrow so i guess i’m going to get food from food trucks tomorrow. then i cleaned up a bit, kevin read, we cuddled, and then i washed the dishes while kevin showered. then i got into bed and went to sleep at like 11:45 am.

17: i was tired when i got up and during exercise but i felt pretty good when i got on the train. it was such a nice day! it was only me, mathew, and jim in the office today and it was pretty nice. i had a busy morning but i got through it and everything went swimmingly. then i waited in line for like 20 minutes for the moyzilla food truck. i got their pork dumpling plate and chose to garlic noodles, added on a spring roll, and got their oolong mango iced tea. i didn’t see the small text until after i paid with credit card but they added on a 7% tax for use of credit cards T___T i am pretty disappointed by the food too. the noodles just tasted like lo mein -- it wasn’t as garlicky as shaking crab, the spring roll was a damn egg roll (it was fried), and the slaw had a good dressing but it was just ok overall. the tea was nice and refreshing though. eh, wouldn’t come back here. the rest of the afternoon, i worked with mathew and phil and then got on stand up and continued working on creating icons ;D yassss. i stayed until around 5:15 pm taking damn surveys -- the site kept crashing. i also wanted to wait for kevin to get off work so we could train home together.

i made the decision to walk over to his workplace anyway and then i picked him up for work. my flats started killing my heels on the way there so i wore them like flip flops during the walk to south station. it was hot and both of us were thirsty and our eyes and noses were kinda dry hahaha. we got back home and ate delicious bread. i got real upset over my medical bill because i went in for a check up and then it turned into a physical and then i got blood work done and i got charged for that. my bill was $1000 without insurance, wtf. it was around $65 after but wth? i went into this hole of why america’s healthcare sucks and how patients are supposed to know how much each blood test costs and what is in their coverage and out of their coverage. wtf is this bullshit? anyway, kevin and i made sweet potato banana ice cream and it tasted like cold pumpkin pie filling haha. he liked it! then kevin fell asleep on me while we were on the couch and this is when i looked up all this stuff on healthcare. i got real upset and stressed about finances again and kevin calmed me down very patiently and gently <3 thanks, kevin :<<<< then he cooked while i did my workout. we had a very late dinner and then i showered and stayed up waiting for my hair to dry. i talked with jeanne for a bit and then slept at around 1 am?

18: it felt a bit humid in the apartment and i was tired because i slept late LOL, but i carried on and exercised, made some rice for dinner (we would be out he entire day), showered, curled my hair, and ate breakfast. i knew i was going to be later than usual (probably get to work at 9:30 am) but at that point, there was no point in rushing x__x; i got to work and the office was still pretty empty except most of the dev guys were there. i think not having haowei, dave, and the marketing crew makes the place feel a lot emptier? idk. well, i talked with cole for a bit and then started working on icons again~ it was a pretty quiet day and i was tired from not getting enough sleep. i worked on another project when i was done with the icons and then the guys had tech time so i microwaved my food and ate. then i got a craving for something sweet and looked to see if the zinnekin’s waffle food truck was nearby... AND IT WAS! so i asked cole if he wanted to go with me after tech time and away we went! it was pretty hot outside but there was no line and i was just so excited. cole got the chocolate banana liege waffle and i got speculoos, chocolate, and strawberries on mine.

we ate them when we got back and boy, they were so delicious. it was hands down the most delicious waffle i’ve ever eaten. i went on a tangent from work and started looking up the best food truck cities and stuff like that. i would definitely get this again. i’m a fan. the rest of the day was hard because i kept dozing off (weather + waffle + lack of sleep baby). i got pulled into a meeting that was a bit confusing, but it happened and we’ll figure everything out tomorrow. then i did some outlining work and called it a day at around 4:45 pm. cole and i walked over to cvs and he got himself some sour patch kids gum??? and a drink LOL. then i walked over to fitbit because i was meeting up with kevin and matt to go to the rock climbing gym to do yoga! so apparently we were walking there and by the time i got to the office, my back was hella sweaty. i just took off my cardigan and we walked! i met mv, their other climbing buddy, and then we talked about random things like cat shows and our work day on the 30 minute walk there haha. kevin kind of regretted walking after realizing he could get a sunburn and it was super hot.

good thing the place has a/c! kevin paid $12 for me to attend the yoga class (wasn’t included in the bring someone here free for the first time promo that we thought i could use) and then we changed and cooled off and got in there. it was a different experience... it was definitely not as calming as the other times we’ve went. it was harder and more strength-based i would say. i almost hurt my wrists by doing a pose i knew i could not do but tried doing it anyway with the block...gg. the isntructor was rowdier than i’m used to but at the end of it all, it was a good yoga session with kevin <3 thanks for bringing me~ kevin did some problems after and both mv and matt had left already. we stopped by the doughnut store nearby and got a coconut doughnut and a cinnamon raisin crueller. they were pretty heavy doughnuts with subtle flavoring. we took the train home and then i went straight into doing my leg workout and then we showered and chilled for the rest of the night. i caught up on youtube videos while kevin read fanfic haha. we finished the loaf of bread and ate leftovers for a really late dinner. then i got on the phone with hillary and then me and kevin knocked out at like 1 am. zzz. what a long hot day.

19: i talked with hillary in the morning and then got up and made breakfast. then i did some internet errands and talked to phil and got a new project to work on. after that, i called cigna and asked about my medical bill and it cleared up a good amount of things. i called tufts to double-check and i figured out what i was actually billed for LOL. then i exercised a bit and worked on the new project. i felt bloated in the morning and realized i got my monthly gift today ahah. i spent the rest of the day working. then i talked with hillary on the phone for a bit and then did my 30 minute back workout for today while kevin made ketchup spaghetti for dinner. after i showered, we put on supernatural and then ate and watched. today was a crazy day @_@; i ended up falling asleep while waiting for kevin to shower and come back to watch the other new episode of supernatural. i think i just fell back asleep with him next to me while he read his fanfic. i woke up semi-grumpily and then brushed and moved to bed where i again fell asleep next to kevin while he read fanfic and/or watched a dota game (tournament is going on right now). i was exhausted.

20: i woke up at around 10 am and then bummed around in bed with kevin until he woke up. then i ate breakfast and watched some ‘jane the virgin’ and gamed a bit. i also threw in a good amount of youtube videos. kevin read fanfic and gamed for the day. we didn’t have anything planned except to relax and do nothing ahha. i ended up falling asleep on the couch two times. i woke up to pee and checked the time and i had enough time to sleep again. i thought kevin was going to wash the dishes at 5:30 pm but he didn’t so my body woke me up at 5:45 pm or something like that and i rushed to get up because i still needed to curl my hair and get ready for dinner. i held us up this time because i didn’t wake up in time T_T and then we had to take a shuttle to jfk/umass because the trains weren’t running today at our station. poop. i was grumpy from waking up from my nap and rushing into getting ready. i was liek half asleep awake and grumpy.

i called the restaurant to let them know we’d be around 20-30 minutes late but i got sent straight to voicemail every time. they did call me and i informed them and they said they’d do their best to get us seated asap but there was a line. it was no worry by then. the train ride was shorter than i expected but there were a lot of talkative groups of people and babies @_@; so i just put my earphones in and listened to music to zone them out. we got there and had to wait for a bit. kevin went into a grocery store that was selling cheap cuts of meat and seafood and i just waited outside. when we got our seats, kevin’s eyes went straight to the drink menu LOL. he got a lemon drink with bourbon in it and i got the summer melody which was raspberry wine with all these other fruity flavors. it was super light and refreshing! we ordered three appetizers: chili pork belly, scallion pancakes, and pumpkin croquettes. they were all pretty good. my favorites were the pancakes (so crispy) and the croquettes because of its sauces and just the subtle floral taste. 

i got the beef bibimbap and kevin got the steak ddukboki for our entrees. i think our server forgot about entering it in because we waited about 20 minutes until asking our server where our food was and she kind of freaked out and apologized. we waited another 10-15 minutes or so to get our food and they were just aiight. my bibimbap was bland af (because it was rushed?) and kevin’s dish was too saucy and needed rice. we weren’t really hangry or anything because we ordered another round of drinks in between. he got a fruity syrupy soju drink and i got a very nice cider. we obviously tipped less and then commuted home. my stomach hurt a lot the rest of the night ;( periods and alcohol don’t mix well -- it was a great date night with kevin though. <3 i think i ko’d again and got up and brushed my teeth and then went back to sleep after grumpily dealing with kevin reading fanfic and all the damn lights on in the room. he turned off all the lights and then left me alone in the room. still, i slept at around 3 am because the lights and everything just woke me up again.

21: merp. i woke up at 9 am and then went back to sleep and woke up at like 12:30 pm. x__x; then i got up and bothered kevin for a bit. i ate leftovers from yesterday and i made sure to put some salt and pepper on it lol. then i chilled by playing bravely default and watching some youtube videos while kevin read his fanfic... it’s been annoying me recently because kevin ends up just reading the entire day and ignoring the hell out of me and being unresponsive most of the time. i just don’t want to talk to him when he’s like that, but i do it anyway because it’s the weekend and i want to talk and spend more time with him. idk, ugh. we meal planned and then i ended up waiting for kevin to finish up his chapter of fanfic before we left to grocery shop. at this point i was annoyed af. we stopped by kam man and then roche bros. we bought three different types of jams at roche bros... and some pasta chips... LOL we always get snacks and stuff from there x_x; we got a cinnamon apple jam, tangerine cranberry marmalade, and a good old solid blackberry one. the pasta chips are aiight -- would not get again.

we got back, unpacked, and then kevin went straight to reading again and ignored me again when i was talking to him. so i just went off and cleaned angrily. then he finally got up and prepped to go grilling outside. he asked me if i was mad and i didn’t respond at first because it was super obvious and then i told him i was. i changed and left to the yoga studio to exercise, which i wasn’t planning on doing but i needed a release. i did 15 minutes or so of cardio and then came back to the apartment to do 15 minutes more (kevin was still outside grilling). i was planning on going out there but kevin came back and i was still waiting for the clothes to finish washing before transferring them to the dryer. i wanted go outside and lay on the hammock but a bunch of bros were sitting out there. oh well. i ate dinner with kevin and then we made up. he said sorry and i also apologized for being kind of needy and pms-y this week. x__X; i think it might have to do with not drinking the pms tea i bought (first week not drinking it since i got it). i just didn’t want to drink it this week because i felt nauseous just thinking about it. i wanted to drink fruity teas.

the rest of the night, i folded laundry and then showered and washed my hair~ i played some bravely default before going to sleep and i was right about who to the antagonist is LOL. i actually went to sleep at like 11:30 pm... i was super tired.