#she's only had it for 8 months and they're conveniently in love with the same girl (in my heart ronance is canon

[the-lark-ascending69]

Robin being Will's "queer mentor" this, Robin being a byler wingman that, what about Robin being such an useless wreck that when Will arrives looking for advice he's like damn girl you're even more fucked up by this than I am. What am i supposed to do now

[koririmao]

k so i was thinking about best friend!hao x u doing anatomy homework. imagine hin asking you for some random body part and if you got it right he WOULD KISS THAT PART hwheh

-💌

tiger stripes | zhang hao

pairing| bff!hao x chubbyfem!reader

cw| fluff!, slightly suggestive?, kissing body parts, mentions of abuse, common fem insecurities (you're beautiful and worthy, don't let anyone tell you any different ilysm <3)

wc| 1.1K words

prolouge| ever since the zhang family moved next door, little you and little hao have always been the best of friends, doing anything and everything together being only children and neighbors. your favorite game was pretend doctor where you would take turns being the patient. this ignited a spark, encouraging the both of you to take medical courses in the future. similar as you are, both of you grew up differently as he was raised in a loving an encouraging household, while you were being beaten up by your step father every day until you turned 16 when your mom finally caught him in the act and forced him to move out.

playlist| all of me by john legend "love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections"

ask from 💌 anon| "k so i was thinking about best friend! hao x u doing anatomy homework. imagine hin asking you for some random body part and if you got it right he WOULD KISS THAT PART hwheh"

a/n: the way this ask was so convenient because im a nursing major and were about to learn muscle anatomy next month? ilysm 💌 anon <3

one warm summer evening, as the sun dipped behind the horizon, painting the sky with hues of orange and pink, you and hao found yourselves alone sitting on the floor of your bedroom. it was finals week and you decided to procrastinate the whole two months now you're stressing over how you're gonna do in the exam. you knew how careless you were and you knew you should've had that mindset months ago to scare yourself but we can't turn back time now can we? in complete utter desperation with no other choice, you decided to phone a friend and he arrived at your doorstep in a jiffy — literally, he was just next door.

fifteen minutes after you sent your text, the doorbell rang making you rush down the stairs but your mom got to it first. she opened the door to hao, grinning from ear to ear while holding out a container. even in a casual shirt and baggy pants, he still looked very presentable. "good afternoon, mrs ln! my mother baked these cupcakes earlier, they're still warm!" he handed it to her using both hands. "oh why thank you, hao. come, come in, ill get you something to drink" your mom gestured for him to come in as she made her way to the kitchen. upon entering, he noticed you from the flight of stairs and smiled wider.

and that's how you ended up gossiping and laughing on the floor while eating the cupcakes and drinking milk. you caught a glimpse of your beside clock while trying to catch your breath. "holy fuck it's 8:57 already?!" your eyes widened while wiping away the crumbs and icing from your lips. "guess we spilt too much tea" hao chuckled. you took out the cue cards you had prepared and gave it to him. "okay, no more mucking around. let's get some work done!" you dust the crumbs from your hands together before sitting down in a more comfortable position.

twenty minutes have passed and you made zero progress so far. hao even tried repeating the same question after every other one but you still couldn't get it through your thick skull. "it's hopeless, im never gonna be a nurse. guess you'll have to find someone else to be your assistant" you bent your knees up to your chest as you buried your face in them. "hey, hey, don't say that" hao scooted closer and hugged you while rubbing your back soothingly. "i wouldn't dream of having anyone else helping out dr. zhang, hm?" he lifted your cheeks to make you face him, smiling in reassurance.

"i'll tell you what, for every muscle you get right, i'll kiss you right there" he brushed a strand of hair from your face behind your ear. you felt your face heat up as his words echoed through your ears. "w-what?" he snickered. "well, maybe you're having trouble learning about the body because you're not giving enough love to this one. so, i will be doing it instead" he took her hand and kissed it. at that moment, you came to the realization that you started to see hao differently over the years since puberty so this was all coming to a surprise — but you liked it.

renered speechless, you gave a small nod as a response as he scooted backwards and took out the questionnaires once again. "let's start with an easy one, where are the biceps located?" you flexed your arm and pointed at it with a smug face, making both of you laugh right after. "that's right, good job yn" hao leaned forward and gently pulled your arm towards him before kissing your bicep, fulfilling his promise from earlier. you pouted and puffed your cheeks as you tried reverting the blood rushing to your face. "cutie" hao cooed at you and pinched your cheek before sitting back up.

"next, can you tell me where's the tendinous inscription?" you thought for a few seconds before finally pointing at it, poking your belly in the process. "good job, princess" hao liked giving you those nicknames since neither of you were dating anyone, no one was going to be jealous about it. he lifted your tank top ever so slightly and planted a soft kiss just above the belly button. "that tickles" you giggled in response. you should have kept that to yourself, tho. after saying that, hao kept on kissing, even moving around, painting your belly with his lips. "hao, stop!" you whined in between your laughter while trying to push his head away. hao finally declared defeat and stood back up, drinking some milk to rehydrate his palette.

"now, where were we?" he hummed as he was looking for a harder question. "ah, yes, the sternohyoid!" he gave a cheeky grin. you shifted your gaze to the side, trying your hardest to remember what it could be. giving up, you took the chances and pointed on your forehead. "hmm, are you sure?" hao asked in a teasing manner however he has been using thag to play mind games on you and thought you weren't gonna fall to his tricks again. "positive" you smirked to yourself, almost tasting the sweet victory. "aww, you're wrong, sorry" hao pouted while crossing his arms to form an x for incorrect. "oh, dang! i actually forgot that one, where is it again?" you innocently asked.

hao smirked and took this opportunity to lean towards you and kiss your neck. "here" he looked back at you, smiling feeling proud of himself as you froze in your position. "hey, you said you would only kiss me if i got the answers right" you smacked his arm playfully. "yeah but, i was really hoping you would get that one" he bit his bottom lip and winked at you. you rolled your eyes as he only snickered in response. he shuffled all the cards and pulled a random one from the deck.

"ooh, the gracilis!" hao widened his eyes while reading the question. "ah, i know this one because my step father used to always complain about it - its somewhere here" you encircled your inner thigh. "thats correct!" hao clapped and cheered making you also clap in response. hao carefully spread your legs apart and started lifting up one of the leg openings before you grabbed his fist, stopping him. "hm? what's wrong?" hao looked up at you in between your thighs. "y-you'll see my stretch marks..." you looked away while hiding half of your face with your hand. "so? if tigers can proudly flaunt their stripes in the wild then so can you" he continued exposing your thigh before kissing it. "that's where the gracilis is" you bit your lip as your face flushed pink, looking at where he just kissed you. not only that, that comparison made you feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. maybe hao is right, this body isn't so bad after all. you're just a fluffy cat in this world full of strays — with tiger stripes.

[houseofbrat]

Well, isn't that convenient?

[archive link]

Princess Kate is eyeing up her next public appearance, as she’s keen to head to Paris to watch some of the 2024 Olympic Games. The Princess of Wales has made two major appearances since her shock cancer diagnosis at the start of the year, stepping out at Trooping the Colour in June and the Men’s Singles Final at Wimbledon a month later. Kensington Palace has not set a date for her to return to royal duties, as Kate revealed in June that while she continues to undergo chemotherapy she has “good days and bad days”. But she wants to make the most of feeling well and endeavours to attend events over the coming months if she feels able to. One such event is attending the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as a source close to the princess reveals she is keen to travel across the Channel to watch some of the action. “The Princess would love to go to the Olympics," they said. "She has such fond memories of London 2012 and is keen to go to another Games while it's so close to home.” The newly-wed couple were regular faces at the home Games, as they were jubilant when Chris Hoy secured his sixth Olympic gold at the velodrome and also enjoyed watching the tennis, hockey, swimming, athletics, gymnastics and football. But the insider was keen to stress that no decision has yet been made as Kate’s attendance is conditional on her health and whether her doctors give her the go-ahead. This mirrors the approach taken when the Princess attended the Wimbledon men’s final last month, as aides only confirmed her appearance the day before. Prince William is expected to travel to France to watch some of the Games next week, and as his children are currently enjoying their summer holidays its likely that their two eldest, Prince George, 11, and Princess Charlotte, nine, will join him.

Yes, it's not confirmed at this point (02 August 2024) that Kate will attend the Olympics, and, yes, this is published by a UK tabloid. However, the effects are just the same.

It doesn't matter if it doesn't pan out, and she doesn't attend. The perception of her right now is that she would do something like this, even though she is allegedly being treated for cancer.

Did you know that there is a subreddit called "KateMiddletonMissing"? It has 7,400 members currently, which is undoubtedly a larger number than the surviving Wales "fandom" on tumblr. Numbers that will likely increase over the coming weeks and months while Kate hides from the public. There is a thread discussing this rumor of Kate attending the Paris Olympics, and people aren't buying what Kensington Palace and Kate are selling, even if she has no actual plans to attend.

And what is the top comment in this thread?

"I don’t believe she ever had cancer"

That's the top comment. That's the perception of Kate among people who follow British royals enough to join a subreddit but are not blind followers of the drivel coming out of the Kensington Palace comms team.

And take photos of all the family frolicking on the beach jumping 8 foot over spiky plants. But too ill to partake in any cancer charity work. Hmm 🤔

I'm kind of hoping the French play Gojira's song about Marie Antoinette on the big screen while Kate and/or William is at the Olympics. They're really shameless to claim abdominal surgery in January to skip work until Easter, but then changed it to cancer when things got heated. Now they're playing the cancer card, cherry-picking glamour events, and putting it down as 'work'. Instead of helping cancer patients and creating awareness about testing and getting symptoms checked, Kate has only showed up at the Trooping, the Wimbledon men's final, and now possibly another men's tennis match featuring Andy Murray. These are not decent people.

She's crap like the rest of them. You'll never convince me she ever had cancer.

This is absolutely bonkers. No one cares about the optics of this, which is wild to me. Is the, "They're Diana's boys, such a tragedy," well of sympathy and sycophants ever going to run dry??? Kate being adjacent to this and a direct recipient of it.

Watching tennis on the royal box, sunbathing in mustique and not giving a ficking damn about not working for anything is a well known treatment for cancer.

My opinion only. Kate is totally complicit in all of this. I don't see how she's under duress or in any way being forced to tell the world she has/had cancer. She shows up at two major events looking fully healthy and smiling. Quite a contrast from the "bench video" where she looked pale and spoke in a somber tone. I believe that was also the one and only time that she has said anything about others having cancer. It just doesn't look good at all and seems disrespectful to those struggling with cancer.

Even in the much larger RoyalsGossip subreddit, which forbids any speculation on Kate's "health condition," has comments in disbelief about Kate's "cancer diagnosis."

Impressive that her medical team is okay with her attending crowded sporting events during treatment but recording a short Zoom video for a patronage is too much to handle

And especially now that there’s a spike in Covid cases. I know sick people who are not allowed to go to crowded places.

Interesting that's she is well enough to travel to Paris but not to do zoom calls eith her patronages? Or support her charitable endeavors? What about the First Five Years?

They don't call her "Duchess Do Little" for nothing

So she still can’t do any real work but can attend men’s sporting events. We see you Kate

It's really only the Wales fandom who buys the "health condition" excuse about Kate coming out of Kensington Palace.

Oh, yes Charles and Camilla "are wearing down the monarchy." LOL!

Charles and Camilla are doing their actual jobs while William is on vacation all the time.

Just more proof that the Wales fandom lives in their own Disney-esque Puritan bubble where Charles & Camilla are terrible because their first marriages didn't work out. Except even Camilla has done more work than William ever has as a working royal.

Except actual Brits (instead of fawning twenty-somethings in Latin America) believe William is the one "wearing down the monarchy."

Because more and more people are not buying the story Will & Kate have been telling people about themselves.

Most people with functioning brains outside the Wales fandom can see through Will & Kate's problematic behavior.

Looks like the shit is going to hit the fan regarding Will & Kate's reputations later this month.

Can't wait.

[latenightswaudiobooks]

With You Forever

Book 4 In Bergman Brothers Series

What it’s about: After a kiss with her crush (a grumpy self proclaimed recluse) during his family game of charades our heroine tries to distance herself from the Bergman family, but months later needing a get away she takes up her best friends offer on her family's "empty" cabin surprise surprise it's not empty and our hero is between a rock and a hard place. After a night of our hero being a graceful host his friends show up to help solve the problem. They unfortunately unknowingly divulge to our heroine. Now the two characters who are "in lust" with each other are in a fake marriage and living together for the next month while trying to stay as friends and keep it all a secret from his family.

Pages or Run Time: 10 Hours 47 Minutes

⭐ Overall Rating: 7/10 (Not particularly for me but it's still a good book)

🌶️ Spice Rating: 8/10 (More Spice then Book 2!)

Trigger warning for this one! Check the triggers listed in the book! (I never want to list them just in case I miss or forget one!)

Why to Read/Listen: Accurate representation of chronic illness and disabilities (Which I'm starting to think is Chloe's specialty!), sunshine x grumpy (Another one of her specialties! (and one of my favorites)), marriage of convenience (but is that the only reason 👀), the hero and heroine playing house, everyone knows they're in love besides them, and it's another romantic comedy with great banter between almost all the characters!

‼️ Beyond Here Contains Spoilers ‼️

My Thoughts: This one drove me insane, but kind of in a good way? They were just both so clueless towards each others obvious feelings even when others would spell it out for them. Which I guess in retrospect is cute I just was begging for them the whole time to just talk to each other about it. That was because A: They would get so close to doing it and then would stop themselves every time (which I guess could be intentional because one of them did have a thing for edging/depriving themselves which must of been beyond the sexual kind.) Finally though FINALLY they confess and then Axel misunderstands a situation and then has a bad reaction? (I wouldn't count it as a autistic meltdown necessarily at least if I had done it. I would say more of an overstimulation snap? (Not that I can blame him because honestly I would of done the same) Then Rooney just packs up and leaves? Like leaves the state. All I could think was "What the fuck" how did that play out so bad? I went into it thinking she was gonna ask him to let her stay permanently. Welp that is not how it went at all. It had the cutest redemption at the end so it was worth it. The journey that got me there though had me questioning it there. It did have the cutest fluff scenes, some great steamy scenes, and some deep and honest scenes about their illness and disability. There was one scene in particular that saved the whole book for me. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this book it just wasn't my favorite because I'm so impatient. I loved the characters though even if they did frustrate the hell out of me. Again that was just my impatience.

Favorite Character: Skyler, she for sure would beat me at candy land. That kid could rule the world if she wanted to.

Least Favorite Character: Skugga, that audiobook meow will haunt me for the rest of my life

Favorite Part: When Rooney asks to hug him and he basically says that he normally doesn't like hugs but he feels safe enough to hug her and he actually enjoys the hug. It melted my heart and saved the book for me.

Least Favorite Part: When Rooney just up and leaves because she did not follow Axel's boundaries and he had a valid and typical autism reaction to being put in a situation like that. She did not even give him a chance to explain just shut him out. I was livid. (I may prefer Axel 😅)

Favorite Quote: “I gave him a romance novel because they’re a safe place to step deeper into our emotions, the happy ones and the hard ones. To recognize and process complex, sometimes difficult feelings within ourselves that the world tells men, in all its gendered, toxic bullshit, we have no obligation to face and feel, when we really do. As humans, we owe it to ourselves to know our hearts.”

I will read more in the series! I'm actually working my way through one currently. Any guesses on which one?

[libertyreads]

Book Review #8 of 2024--

The Exiled Fleet by J.S. Dewes. Rating: 3.25 stars.

Read from February 4th to 6th.

Man, can books stop getting printed with such absolutely TINY font? I ended up checking the ebook out from my local library to read this one because I was getting a headache from reading the small print. I know publishers want to save money by using fewer pages per book or whatever, but I'm getting older and my eyes cannot take the abuse. It doesn't help that I read two different books back to back that had such small font. Complaint over.

As some might know, I've been missing The Expanse a lot over the past several months. So, when a booktuber recommended this series I jumped on it so fast. I've been craving some Sci-Fi in my life. And I did enjoy book number one in this series. I read it last month and rated it 3.75 stars. This one doesn't live up to that first one for a couple of reasons. 1) It uses a lot of the same tricks or conveniences from the first book to make everything work out for our main characters. 2) When we weren't running into the same tricks over and over, we were running up against problem after problem for what felt like no reason. There's a specific moment in the book that I'm thinking of where they have to travel pretty far in order to get something to help with their task...but then they don't get it...and technically don't need it? Which felt weird. I know this was probably only there to move a certain aspect of the plot forward but it felt so clunky.

And maybe I need to put some of the blame on myself for not giving this book a fair enough shot. It isn't fair for me to want the first series from an author to live up to my love for The Expanse series. I heard someone say a while back that we need to meet books where they are in order to give them a fair chance and I think that's what I really should have done with this series as a whole.

Don't get me wrong though, there are aspects of this world that I love. Adequin Rake and Cavalon Mercer are such a wonderful set of characters. These are the two point of view characters we get throughout the novel and they're so absolutely different but there's something about their personalities that really make them play off each other really well. The side characters are also really great and deserving of so much love. There's also such a great moment in this one where Adequin, who has been away from any real society outside of the crews of the ships out at The Divide for over 5 years at this point, ends up on a station with a lot of civilians wondering around and we see her having to reign in her feelings about being around other humans she's not in charge of. And we get a moment like this again when she ends up planetside for the first time in that long and she has a weird sort of culture shock. Those moments really made me feel something about her and her life since arriving at The Divide. It was so good.

I do plan on reading the next book when it comes out at the end of the year. Maybe a little time away from these characters, this plot, these settings will make the heart grow fonder. And hopefully I can meet that book where it is when it does come out.

[drowning-inmysleep]

Product Review: Fixed Persona

“Well… How do you think you know that person you were a second ago is the same person you are now? A continuous stream of memories. Given only that, we all create illusions within ourselves, saying that we each have only one fixed persona.”

Ever since I was child my main aspiration was to become a musician. I would be lying if I said I didn't also dream of fame - having my name on flyers, posters, billboards, whatever.

At this point of my life I can confidently say that I have achieved said aspiration. I've spoke on this in my previous writings so I will do my best not to repeat myself. I'm currently in a new relationship, we met eachother not longer than a month ago. Before we go to sleep we take turns asking questions about one another. One night, she asked me

"Would you ever want to be famous?"

I replied, "No, I lowkey already am and I hate it."

I said this because it's true. I meant it. It's a strange and invasive feeling to have people think they know you without ever having any meaningful conversation with them. Everyone knows me, knows my name, MANAPOOL.

Though they don't know me, they don't know my name, Alexandra.

It's hard for me to talk about, I fear I'll sound full of myself - like a rich person complaining about how sad they are regardless of the convenience of their life. I fear people will hear me talk about it and roll their eyes, it's practically my job to be full of myself and to sell that to people. I don't like it.

Everywhere I go people will stop me to talk to me about myself or the shows I put on, it's not always a negative thing. As it continues I start to feel myself losing grip of my persona. The perception of me that others hold is starting to taint me.

I suffer from severe - dissociative disorder. I have since I was 15, it came back to me after a therapist reawakened childhood trauma of mine. I'll tell you that story now.

[/] I was 8 years old and at a friends house, his sister was watching us though she was only 12. Their parents were at work. She called us into the parents room, which had a big window facing the intersection in front of the house. "Look! That cars been stopped there for SO long!" The car was indeed stopped in the middle of the intersection, to then have the driver get out, come around and open the passenger door. He pulled a drunk man out of the car and started beating him with a bottle. We were too young to process what was going on but we didn't stop watching. After minutes of the beating, the man stopped moving. The assailant got back in the car and drove off, leaving the mans body in the street. I called my mom and went home after that, I told my friends I felt sick. I didn't tell my mom what happened. The next day my mom was watching the news and as I walked past I saw a news story about the man from yesterday, he died from head trauma. [/]

I forgot about this until as I said above, I was 15. Once I remembered I didn't really think about it that much, but when I did I could feel myself losing grip of whatever was happening around me. I went into a 4 year long period that I barely remember now because it's a dissociative haze.

A friend of mine told me that sometimes when they look in my eyes they can see that i'm not really there, like I'm within myself. No longer present. I didn't think it was noticeable.

I mention all of this here to bring it back to where we started. Fame and the concept of others creating your persona. I used to love when people would celebrate me, but more often than not now whenever it happens I feel myself doing what my friend clocked me on. I repeat the phrase "Thank you so much".

A lot of the time they're not really talking with me, but at me, and their intention is not to get to know me but to acquire me as a person on their team. To be continued.

[beevean]

In that case, have you done ratings for Metroid Prime 3? If not, could you please do so?

Obligatory disclaimer that I played it once months ago...

Story: 9/10. Quite the plot heavy game, much like Fusion - if you're cool with the latter, you'll probably be cool with Prime 3, otherwise you might find it annoying. What I love the most about this plot is how much you worry for Samus - yes of course she can't die, but watching her vomit pure Phazon... is not a pretty sight. Also good job turning Dark Samus from a mindless foe to a cunning sadistic bitch.

Graphics: 9/10. Now this, this is a pretty Wii game <3 I know I've said plenty of times that I can't believe it's as old as Sonic and the Secret Rings, but really, SkyTown is still gorgeous! I'm a bit torn on the high fantasy art direction, but it's just one game so it's no big deal. And Retro Studio finally nailed Samus' look, I like her grumpy anime face.

Music: 7/10. Very atmospheric, with heavy use of choirs and orchestra rather than the characteristic Prime beats, which hurts the general soundtrack a little. Months later, I only remember a handful of tracks: Bryyo, Bryyo Ice, SkyTown, Gandrayda and Omega Ridley - but man, they're all so good... Oh, and the GFS Valhalla theme, but not because it's catchy :')

Controls: 9/10. Using a keyboard to do all those fancy motion control tricks was a pain, but I can't fault the game for that :P I bet that on an actual Wii it felt fantastic. I fell in love with the Grapple Beam and how creatively you use it here, and of course, no wonder the Prime Trilogy borrowed this game's control scheme.

Difficulty: 7/10. Dumb easy. Even if you try your best to not use Hypermode (and believe me I tried), I can't remember a section where I got stuck for more than a few minutes, and even then mostly due to me not knowing what to do. I have no problem with easier games, of course, but going from the mean Prime 2 to this, you can really feel the difference.

Navigation: 7/10. Everything I've said about Fusion and Prime 1 applies here.

Backtracking: 6.5/10. I honestly struggle to remember how much I backtracked here, but at least there weren't any dumb road blocks like in Fusion. I do remember having to visit SkyTown many times, at least... In any case, backtracking here is much easier than in other games due to it's mostly a matter of reaching your ship (or calling it in the right areas) and then clicking to your new destination, as you visit multiple planets this time. I don't know if some find it annoying, but I find it convenient.

Length: 8/10. Feels good enough for me, although due to its low difficulty it might feel a little on the short side.

Bosses: 8/10. Some of them were a drag (Mogenar, Helios), but the majority was really fun (Meta Ridley, Dark Samus). I wish I cared more about the corrupted bounty hunters, but they offered a good challenge and had good strategies.

Replayability value: 7/10. I can't really say I feel the same drive to try it again as other games. Item hunting is as fun as usual, with some memorable puzzles, but as with other plot-heavy games, exploration and speedrunning aren't big priorities, and while SkyTown is still a lovely zone, the rest of the game doesn't have quite the same appeal as Zebes or Tallon IV.

GFS Valhalla: mom come pick me up i'm scared/10

[neijayah]

Seoul, day 1 - Arrival

So to make this journey possible, I had to save up most of my years vacation days plus apply for educational vacation at my company, which was thankfully approved. A lot of preparation had to be made. Not just communication with the company that organized this educational travel, but also making sure my cats are cared for. But I admit, they're like my children. 😅😇

As I would be staying for about a month, I had to pack quite a bit, as I didn't know, where exactly I would be staying until 2 weeks before arriving, and if the residence has a laundry or not. Thankfully the hotel I'm staying at, has both a washing machine and a dryer, though in the cellar, for every resident to use. So it meant I could at least keep clothing limited.

EF offers to arrange flights from Germany to Korea. Unfortunately, only from two airports in Germany, and non of them near my parents. So it would have meant either traveling by plane, train or rental car to these airports, or organizing the flights myself. The advantage was, that I could decide which flight company I would take and how long stay-overs would be. Taking into account, that most flights - at least in Europe - nowadays are delayed, I didn't want to risk getting stuck somewhere due to the incompetence of others.

I decided for Turkish Airways. Though the German-Turkish relationship is a bit strained right now, Turkish Airways has a good reputation and statistics in crashes. This shouldn't be your concern, but I just watched "Mayday - Air Desaster" way to often. 😅 I could have taken a connection flight with a stay over for 1,5 h. But, as I wasn't sure, if the plane would start on time and how big/complicated the Istanbul airport is, I decided for a 6 h stay-over. Enough time for delays and finding your gate and even eat something valuable.

Only negative point using Turkish Airways and therefore having to use Istanbul as transfer airport is, I have to say, the security check in Turkey. It was hasty and not really thorough. In today's time, not the best decision.

Both flights were eventless. It bit shaky from time to time, that eating your meals and drinking was a bit challenging. My seating neighbor even spilled her water over me. Thankfully, it wasn't the red wine she also had ordered. Unfortunately, Turkish Airways didn't offer any food from the destination country. Usually, flight companies offer two menus, one of the company's origin country and one for the destination. Same for the entertainment. Though I was lucky to even listen to BTS' latest Japanese album.

Immigration in Korea is pretty easy, like most things in Korea. Thanks to Korean technology, when your passport was scanned, they tell you to put your fingers on the scanner in your own language. On the plane they hand out the registration cards for immigration and for "importing goods" if you have packed anything, that isn't allowed in Korea. You don't need to fill these out on the plane right away. There are several points on the way to the immigration desks to fill them out, or get new ones. Pens are provided at these desks as well. Everything worked pretty fine, until I took my suitcase from the treadmill. My lock has been opened and not properly closed again. So I was running around with a extra bag for the commute, that I actually wanted to store in that suit case. Not so nice for a 1h 45 min. travel with some changing and trying to find your hotel. The latter one being the bigger problem. I will come to this problem and how to solve it a bit later.

Before I arrived in Korea I had to think about how to stay in contact with my home country, family and friends. If it was wiser to get a second SIM card or just make sure that I have cheap internet connection. I decided for the internet connection. I don't take phone calls when I'm home. Sure as hell, won't do it in Korea. Several Korean telecommunication companies offer so called Wifi eggs, a mobil internet router. Perfect for shorter vacations. If you're staying longer, like for a few months, and love to talk with home, a second SIM card might be smarter. The SIM card can be obtained at the airport directly. Sources say, it's cheaper there, than in Seoul itself. So inform yourself, where to get everything. SK Telecom offers rented mobil phones, SIM cards and Wifi eggs. Ordering/renting can be done online beforehand, either on their website or on distributors like trazy.com. The pick-up was very easy as well and the prices reasonable. KT Telecom offers the same service. It can also be ordered and found on the trazy website. SK and KT Telecom both have Wifi router in every metro train, as far as I know. So if you buy/rent a SIM or even mobile phone, you're save with these two companies.

EF offers their students to take a taxi with the help of an EF employee. But as I was fine with traveling with public transportation, I chose to take the metro. Pretty easy progress, if you know where you have to go to. Taking public transportation tickets are a necessity. When staying more than a few days, the T-Money card is the best choice. Offering diverse pictures on the front, they all work the same. At the clerks desk at any convenient store (like CS), where you buy the card, you can load it right away with an amount of your choice. 20,000 Won (approx. $20) is a good start. If you don't use all of it, it stays on the card for several years. I used my one about 4 years ago. Nothing got lost.

If you're just staying for a day or two, there a special tourist T-Money cards, with benefits for sightseeing entrances. I had one at my first travel, but it didn't work for the N Seoul Tower. So you might have to be prepared, that it isn't always excepted.

You have several options getting into the city: either taxi, bus, by express train or underground. Train takes less time, but might take you further into the city than needed and may cost more. The underground/metro takes longer, as it is an all-stop train, but you can get off, when needed. Be careful with taxis, as you better have the address written down, preferably in Korean or speak clear Korean without an accent. They might take you to the other side of town, to where you actually wanted to be. And you might get stuck in traffic like every car. The bus is a good option as well, depending on your time of arrival and how strong your stomach is. Be aware, that rush hour times here are around 5 to 8 p.m. You don't want to get stuck in traffic there. Don't know about the early rush hour times. Though, in some areas of town, buses have their own lane. With these airport busses you'll have to name your exit station, so the bus driver can insert the right charge into the T-Money card reader. Baggage is stored in special compartments at the busses belly. You'll get a receipt for your luggage, so you get the right one out at your arrival. If you choose the metro, follow the signs stating "all-stop".

Commuting with the underground is pretty easy, as everything is signed out. Even if you are actually on the right track, before you even step into the metro. Just know the next station for your direction. But it's wiser to know beforehand which bigger metro station is on that track, as most of the times, while changing from one line to another, they only show bigger transfer stations, that might connect you to another line. So better you have a plan at hand to look after which stop are on your direction.

After getting your T-Money card and have it charged with your money, just follow the signs with trains stated. It takes a bit of walking but nothing compared to finding the right bus or getting the taxi driver to understand clearly where you want to go. Before getting to the tracks you will have to scan your T-Money card to get in. Always be sure to scan them again, when leaving the train station (and bus) and sometimes even when changing the trains. This way the right amount of money will be discounted.

You will find that there are glass fronts all along the train track at the station. A way to prevent suicides or like in Germany getting pushed onto the tracks by some stranger.

Something you should prepare in advance as well, is to figure out, where exactly you have to leave your train station. Not just the right station but also the right exit. There are usually around 6 to 8 exits and more, which can be quite far away from each other as whole shopping areas are located at those stations. Your hotel or bigger sightseeing attractions will usually tell you which exit is the best to leave the station. And by the way, you actually don't need to speak/read Korean when visiting Seoul. Almost everyone speaks at least a little bit of English, more so the younger generations. And every street, metro or other signs are written in Latin/Roman writings. Just smaller shops go with Korean writing. But some necessary words are easy to learn beforehand.

It took me quite long, though to find my hotel. It was a little hidden in a side road. And Google Maps isn't really helpful, as you cannot just give in the address. Naver or Kakao Maps might give you better options and fresher cards. Both also help you taking the right train.

The hotel I'm staying at offers breakfast for an extra charge, which is pretty good. But I decided to get the food for myself. You find most stuff, somewhere around. Still have to find a decent supermarket, though, that isn't into luxury. But basic food, snacks and ready made food can be bought in nearly all convenient stores. And you usually find like 3 and more right around the next corner. And the choice in Ramyeon is beyond expectation.

I stayed at the Urban Place, a nice hotel with good equipments. There are other possibilities to stay, which are usually not more than a few square meters with a toilet/shower cabin, if at all. So if you don't want to spend a huge amount of money, don't expect luxury in all four corners. My room is equipped with a small fridge (really small), a small cooking area with the minimum of kitchen equipment. Shower and toilet are separated and TV and Wifi are included. TV also offers a few British programs and Arirang, a Korean TV station in English.

This was probably more than enough information on arriving and what to do, to get around.

[whimsically-ominously-auspice]

Y'all in the village that have seen me recently

I apologize, y'all will just have to bless this sweet darling heart

My eyes have become super sensitive to the sun and I have to wear sunglasses (i got $250 worth of contacts with my stimulus check -- 12 boxes including one free sample due to the brand i purchased being discontinued suddenly and my prescription being out of stock - contact lens.com, i highly recommend. I did send inal a photo of my valid prescription) Usually I'm extremely picky and don't buy the lightly tinted lenses. But Wal-Mart had them on sale and usually that's all they sell. Usually i get mine from eBay and spend hours if not days searching for them cute and dark, zooming in the photos to see how the tint is reflected, refracted and if i can see through it. Usually sunglasses are very honestly shown for some reason.

Anyway so these are so thin I forget I am wearing them!

So, I'm all parading in Wal-Mart in purple sunglasses and all in the drive thru like an I don't care diva!

I don't know the origin, yet. Or where it came from... If it was just an agreed upon practice by international law or if it's just me. Idk.

But i think its rude to hide your eyes when speaking to someone. Like its not something conscious. I didn't sit around deciding it was a pet peeve or some law, but when i was a waitress tossing pizzas out the drive through pick up line or just a casual shopper -- people in sunglasses and not lifting them or removing them always bugged at me and irked me suspicious.

So I've been all parading around completely unaware because I've had to wear regular prescription clear lenses for so long that I'm used to the weight of glasses, especially in public because that's the only time I wore them. They just became part of me

And the tint is just see through light -- like the same color of my regular daytime light in my bedroom that every one says is dark. And a light bulb does illuminate. I'm very vampire dungeon darkness.

So I just wanted to apologize that i been all looking like Miss Princess don't care.

I always refused to buy light lenses because i thought they didn't work or weren't worth it. The sun here is so strong. But they do definitely help and are so comfortable i don't know they're in place.

So I care but my eyes hurt a lot. And the contacts kind of made it worse. Like when I take my non insulin diabetic shot, after 10 to 20 minutes I can feel it go into the back of my eyeballs and it feels so good!!

Its not a super pain or uncomfortable and its more when I don't sleep or am upset. I guess my pupils dilate weird

Which my eye doctor before the last, I was on Percocet and well the same 13 prescriptions as well as a few more for pain and so on. And he told me to be cautious as my pupils don't dilate proper due to "being so heavily drugged"

So who knows. I just try to avoid light.

And these sunglasses help and I don't know I'm wearing them. So I'm not hiding behind a mask and cute tinted sun glasses. I'm just protecting my eyes and preventing pain.

Like i say. The pain is from the brain to indicate a problem. So there's a problem Idk how to diagnose and verify or solve. So.

Its not intense just pressure and an auto response to avoid light. Like my kid turns on the lightbulb and I'm all its so fucking bright!!!! Although now the florescent burnt out thank God because that gave me migraines. And I got an LED. But the choices ar the dollar tree were limited to be 60 watt equivalent when I prefer a 40 watt or 30 even.

So I notice the intensity in my eyeballs changing in response to the light

When we lived in Alabama and we were about to move to NYC and my parents had always said Florida would be our next stop.

And i developed an allergy to the sun. A real allergy to the sun. It's a rare condition. My skin would marblize a red color and I would begin to feel faint and/or throw up if I was in direct sun.

It was right after Denise had become Zulululu.

And so I still have remenents of the non contagious disease. Although I was kept from school for 6 weeks... Like my legs if get hot then they get itchy and the sun irritates my eyeballs.

So I always buy sunglasses but I don't always wear them but have them available.

My daughter has the blue light blocker AND the progressive lens so that in the sun they turn to a light see through sun glasses. Zinnie.com I think I spelled it wrong m allong with a basic pair of clear glasses with a anti reflective coat for like $5 I paid about $70 for both. Never had any problems with Zinnie and even leaving them in a hot car was no problems. But a pair from firmoo I paid extra for the anti reflective coat and the lens coating melted in the car. So I'll never ever buy from them unless its a keep in the house pair. Wearing contacts and losing one on the beginning of a road trip where i was expected to drive -- it fell out my eye and ripped - it was old. And I didn't know or think about it and i had no back ups!! So i had to suffer the whole week. Migraines and all.

So in my luggage I keep a pair of contacts or glasses even when it's in storage. I keep a pair of glasses in my car in case of emergency. And firmoo completely failed me.

I've bought half a dozen or so from Zinnie. I call it Zin-knee-uh although it's probably just Zin-knee.

And noooo problems. Even with the advanced lenses which do work and are great.

Because I wear contacts, I don't want to invest in a good pair of glasses but my daughter solely wears glasses so I find it important to protect her eyes.

I get the anti-reflective coating -- the mid level due to at night lights. Without corrective lenses, lights look like Ferris wheels.

I literally can't see shit but 6 feet in front of me. I guess other people are not much different so. Like can y'all see a person 100 yards away? Like no? Right? I can see shadows and shit but I can't recognize people with my eyeballs until they're all up on me.

My uncle always says I'm gonna need a scope to shoot at night. -.-

I'm not quite Mr Magoo but I'm lucky as he is. Thankfully. (He's a cartoon, check him out. He's in YouTube)

And so my drastic apology for blatantly running around in sunglasses all rude and shit. Is done.

Also, while I'm talking about companies -- avoid PANTENE FOR COLOR TREATED HAIR. It strips rhe color out and is complete crap and the worst ever.

Herbal Essence and Loreal Elive are both fantastic to keep color treatments in.

I thought it was just our hair but ive been using PANTENE and my kid Herbal Essence and I see the difference.

Also I like my hair curly. And lantern curly didn't do shit. But Herbal Essence Twisted always has worked great. Not my personal favorite scent but tolerable.

Y'all what i need is a curly and color treated hair shampoo and conditioner at an affordable price. I've searched African American products and haven't found any with those labels. So Idk.

My scalp and hair is ultra dry due to scalp psoriasis and i can go a total 3 months of no washing without looking oily.

So i love African American products and buy them proudly in secret for myself! But i notice their bottles are smaller and more costly.

Except i found a leave in oil for only $3 which i use when i don't dye.

Foreign oils can strip hair color quite well as well as dandruff shampoo.

So I'm always cautious about leave in oils and lotions.

But PANTENE is a FAILURE.

Its my main switch. I use herbal essence and PANTENE and Loreal. Its a fact using the same conditioner and shampoo leaves a certain coating on the hair to cause it to be limp and flat and dull.

So it's always been recommended to use a clarifying shampoo and conditioner for a week then go back to the reg.

The same effect or nearly the same effecf is done by switching brands. So that's what I do.

PANTENE is now out of the equation.

Tio Nacho is a fantastic shampoo and conditioner. My daughter's hair was always unruly. Curly and just wild no matter what. And tio nacho is the only brand,to tame her to look like a human and not a wild lion. But I haven't found color protecting and it's $8 for only 12 ounces and so I find that expensive.

I buy the huge 27 ounces for $7. So.

But I would buy it for her. It helped calm the oily and wild mane.

My friend brushed her hair once and she was so surprised m she said that was like warm butter, lol. Because she always had wild corkscrew curls and some random straight ones she looked a wreck 24/7.

Truly I didn't mind I knew the truth. But tio Nacho has some miracle up in it. Swear.

PANTENE doesn't even have ordinary skills it claims to have m

So we may put Aussie in our loopm we use Tressemme when the cash flow is low.

I used to do live advertising and did the 3 minute Aussie miracle conditioner and that was always nice. The formula changed and it's not as wonderful as it used to be but its average. So i haven't had them in our loop.

Dove we don't like. Hers gets oily and crazy and i don't like the oil stimulation it causes. Idk maybe it's good but ... It makes me feel ick. Which is sad because I really wanted Dove to work.

PANTENE was my first "luxury" shampoo and conditioner i bought myself because i was raised on V05 and if I was lucky and Denise was nice, Suave. She literally bought the cheapest. And never bought extra conditioner and So i had to ration it. So my first self purchase on my own was PANTENE. But it is now a failure. -.- and lives are ruined and especially hair dos.

So now i used to buy my ex V05 ha!

And i have an emergency bottle of Tressemme 32 ounce under my bed for color treated. Conditioner.

We buy conditioner 4x more than shampoo. Because we coat it all --scalp to ends -- brush it. Then i rinse the heavy coat i soaked in while watching tv and smoking then I give it a light coat on the ends again and rinse.

Shampoo we just use one handful and not two or three and it foams up and so we don't need as much.

Like i use 2 - 3 pumps on my scalp of shampoo then one maybe two on the ends. The scalp i scrub the ends I rub.

Like now i have to dye again so I'll use a dandruff shampoo and I'll end up scrubbing all of my hair and use like 1/4 a 12 oz bottle. To get any deposits and leftover film and so on off all the hairs so they absorb the dye better. Then no conditioner. Or a light coat to detanglr and comb and rinse quickly without a deep soak. Then sometimes i gently apply shampoo again without a good scrub. Just run it through to remove the conditioner. But not to allow tangles.

Im not an expert or anything but hair care is serious around here and Idk why PANTENE is trying to destroy mine and succeeding.

I spend $50 every 2 months on just hair. For two.

One girl with a Mohawk and my long to the waist hair.

Two sides of her head are shaved every 6 weeks and she gets the same bottles as i do and then she's all "i need more" 0.o. Honestly she washes hers more often than i do.

We have our own buckets of shampoo and conditioner. Nathaniel either uses it or poisones it so we have our own large Easter buckets. And we store our towels in my room too. Then we have a 3rd bucket in case i buy in advance or like now give up on a bottle we were trying out. Save it. For days of emergency. Running out or so on

But we do borrow from each other if one or the other is low we take from each other to use.

We have different body soaps and different hair needs sometimes. Like i want curly and she's all nah. Or she has Tio Nacho.

We come from a 3 bathroom house so we're used to having our own product. Let me say it that way. But we always are good about sharing if necessary.

But she actually has more demands for bath stuff than I. So like her loofah and her body wash and all that isn't used by me and she knows its only all her Because I have my own bucket.

I cater to my kid. I Like it seperate too because her stuff is more expensive. $7 body wash and mine is $3 if i buy it. Otherwise i use shampoo. I do have hair in my armpits after all. And so i see hers and im all hmmm let me try this and yeah... "Idk how i used half a bottle in one bath" so it is more expensive!! So

While I'm buying 2x the shampoo and conditioner to supply 2 buckets -- in fact i am not spending more. If we shared the bottles as a person would expect, then we would go through them faster.

2 people in one bottle

Vs 2 people in 2 bottles.

So I have to purchase less often than if we shared but I have to purchase more bottles.

So in reality i pay the same price but the schedule and cost load is different.

Like if im out of conditioner, i know she will be at some point so i buy two bottles. And it waits until she needs it. Unless i need shampoo, too.

Then if she if she needs the shampoos then we buy all over again.

The cycle of life told in shampoo and conditioner.