#the fact that I was very sleepy all day long may have increased my laziness

[kittkattys]

Espilver Week 2024 day 3: Food

It took me a while today bc I didn't want to make Silver_eating_Dango.png (999) but I also didn't want to make the chili dog from the Silver section of the cookbook (I was lazy) so I went with the good old easy way

[hanuj-tilwani]

3 Years of Working from Home Summed up: The Mess, Planning, and Productivity!

It’s been a few years that I’ve been living on my own. When I say on my own, I mean with my flatmates. It was roughly around the time of my graduation when I decided to be independent in all the ways possible.

When I say all the ways possible, I mean the job too.

I went solo. Being my own boss.

Since I was a recent college graduate, I didn't have much savings to afford an office space which is when I decided to work from my beautiful home. 

I had my own personal space so I thought that it would be easier to manage work from home and in fact I would save a lot by not spending on travel, food and obviously save a lot on travel time.

Being fully pumped about living my dream of having my own startup, I started working with full energy and zeel of doing loads of tasks. But soon after a few days, as my excitement went down, I realized that actually I ended up wasting a lot of time while working from home. This sometimes happened consciously and sometimes unconsciously. Again, that doesn’t mean that I was engaged in other productive activities, rather whatever I did was not necessary at that point of time and usually was for entertainment purposes.

Every day when the day came to end, my guilt kicked in, keeping me awake with the nightmares of pending work. 

This went on and on for a few weeks. I realized that I wasn't productive at all and the biggest kick was when I missed the deadline for submitting a proposal for the first-ever deal that could have been closed if submitted on time. That deal cost me 2 lac which actually could have been a funding source for a couple of other activities I planned to do to grow that business.

This was the time when I introspected my actions and while doing so I adopted a few things:

1. Understanding my own actions

There are 3 types of activities that one engages in: Low Value,  High Value, and No Value. 

Low Value activities are the ones which majorly include things you do for entertainment purposes or maybe something you do as a habit, for example, watching television, using social media, gossiping with friends, etc. These activities may or may not help you in your work but you still do and maybe convince your mind that it's ok as you have worked too much already even when you have a list of pending tasks.

High Value activities are the ones that cannot happen without your involvement at all; say anything that brings you closer to your short term or long term goals or activities that revolve around your physical well being or for that matter reading a book related to your subject of interest or maybe say a training course.

No Value activities are ones that do not do any good to you except waste your time which could rather be utilized more productively.

Having said that, let's talk about how I applied it to my routine. I started writing every small activity that I did each day the whole week and then at the end of the week, I segregated them into above-mentioned categories only to realize that I was investing 30% of my time in No Value activities, 50% in Low-Value activities and only 20% of my time was invested in High-Value activities. This realization was obviously an eye-opener for me and that is when I applied the method which makes the second point of my journey of being productive even while working from home.

2. Planning your work day

Some people after reading this title may say that this is what we always do but you never know you may be missing out on a very crucial aspect of it.  Which is what I am going to talk about in this point.

Let’s say your work hours are: 8 hours/day. Let's plan those 8 hours. So, what you want to do first is list down the tasks that you need to accomplish on a particular day, second arrange them according to priority, third define how much time each task would take and fourth and the most crucial point is to actually allocate each task a starting and ENDING TIME too. 

Yes, you read it right!

Allocating an ending time is very important. Also if you are not able to complete the given task within the given time frame, do not keep working on it, switch to the next task so as to not mess up the whole schedule and this pending task can be done once you get done with scheduled tasks of the day. And if it cannot be deferred to another day, try to do it after you complete the planned tasks. If it can be deferred to the next day, do it and repeat the plan the next morning. This planning is easier said than done. It may take 30-45 mins initially to plan your day as said above with end time as well but once you start doing it, you will for sure be able to improve on your productivity.

Now let's introspect towards the end of the week. Look for the task that you deferred, understand its complexity and then for the coming week learn from those mistakes and then plan your days. Coming from my personal experience, towards the end of a month you will be pro at planning your day and executing tasks in the given time frame making you more productive to achieve any small or big goal.

If you wish to take this practice online then Google Sheets is a good place to start.

3. Some Small changes that you should make in your surroundings:

a. Never work at the place where you sleep.

b. Follow a routine, make your family members understand your working hours and request them to avoid personal conversations with you during those hours.

c. Make some workout a part of the routine. As a sudden change in your workplace,  your body tends to develop laziness which in turn also increases procrastination.

d. Wake up and take a shower/bath if possible and if you are lazy to do that at least hydrate your body properly after waking up. Sit in the open space for a while and wash your face so that you no longer feel dizzy or sleepy while working. 

So, these are some of the ingredients to my secret sauce that I’ve been using for a few years now. Do share your ingredients in the comment section!

Special thanks to Roma Amarnani for helping me edit this blog to spread the message right.

[jincherie]

catsitting | kyungsoo

↼pairing: kyungsoo x reader ↼genre: fluff, slight-but-not-really angst, Hybrid!AU ↼rating: sfw ↼words: 6.6k+

You somehow find yourself ‘catsitting’ for your best friend while he’s on a week-long trip. The only problem? His ‘cat’ hates you.

↼posted; 15.06.2017

↼masterlist

It was on a lazy Friday morning that you were startled awake by your phone and forced to reconsider your choice of ringtone at 7:23AM. “Kim Jongin why are you calling me at seven in the morning?” you answered the incessant ringing blearily, not even halfway to being fully-functioning yet.

“Come to your front door.” He said, only causing you to feel confusion. “And hurry up.” He added.

Half-asleep and dressed only in the Star Wars boxers you wore as pyjama pants and a singlet, you rolled out of bed and onto the floor, the resulting bang and abrupt pain enough to jolt you reasonably awake. “OW! Fuc—“

“Don’t swear there are children nearby!” Kai scolded, and there was what sounded like someone being hit on the other side of the line and some muffled protests.

“You don’t own me.” You grumbled as you dragged yourself to your feet and started your trek to the front door. You yanked it open unceremoniously, glaring at the person before you. Kai hung up on you, grinning with a cheerfulness that did not belong on the face of someone who was about to die.

“Good morning!” he greeted. “I have a favour to ask of you!”

“Go away.” You tried shutting the door but his movements were quicker than yours.

“That’s so rude y/n!” he whined, pouting. “Anyway, I need you to do something for me.”

Begrudging and acknowledging the fact that you weren’t going to be able to leave without at least hearing what he wanted, you sighed. “What do you want?”

Kai beamed, delighted, and looped his arm around someone who had until then been just out of sight, bringing him to his side. “I need you to look after Kyungsoo for me while I go on a business trip for two weeks.”

Kyungsoo, Kai’s beloved cat hybrid, was giving you a blank look that although was not outright disdainful, was on its way there. You winced. Kyungsoo hated you, and you didn’t even know why. From the day Kai had brought him home from the shelter and excitedly called you over to show him to you he had taken a clear disliking to you. You wouldn’t lie to yourself, it was hurtful, especially since he was warm and friendly to Kai but preferred to ignore you. Every other cat in the world would love you, or at the very least tolerate you, but Kyungsoo? He didn’t care much for you at all.

It took a moment for his words to catch up to you. “What?” you blinked, running a hand through your hair. You gave the hybrid a wary glance. Last time you had been this close you had been reaching for the TV remote at Kai’s and he had scratched you, clearly displeased. “Why me? Don’t you have friends that he actually likes that you can ask? Oh, wait, that requires having other friends.” You snickered. You may be half asleep but an opportunity to burn your best friend was still an opportunity.

“They’re all busy, either with work or school or their own hybrids. You’re the only one who literally has nothing going on in their life.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong, but you still felt like you should be insulted. Your hand came to rest over your heart in a movement of feigned hurt. “Rude,” you said. “And how would you know? I might have something going on this week, and the next. I’m a busy girl you know, I have a lot going on. Fish to fry, irons in the fire. My time is very sought after these days.”

Kai snorted and Kyungsoo made a face. Wow. Why hadn’t you shut the door on them again?

“Anyway, my plane leaves in an hour so if you could hurry and come to a decision—“

“Kai!” you cried. “Are you kidding me?! Give me some more warning next time! Why am I even friends with you?!”

“So is that a yes?” Kai looked hopeful, ridiculously so, and his cat looked the very opposite of pleased at this new development.

You groaned. “Yes, fine. But you owe me, and I will not accept McDonald’s this time! I want smoothies, and frappes!”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he gushed, letting go of Kyungsoo to rush forward and envelop you in a hug before retreating and pushing the hybrid towards you. Kyungsoo yowled, knocking into you and hissing before leaping back. Oh, god, this was a terrible idea.

Kai grinned. “See you in two weeks! I’ll text you a list of things you need to know later!” he called, making his leave and quickly closing the door behind him.

You and Kyungsoo stood in shock a few moments after the door shut.

“Incredible.” You muttered to yourself. “The urge to beat him increases every day.”

You then turned— you needed a shower.

“Make yourself comfortable, Kyungsoo. The loungeroom is over there, and you can have the spare bedroom. It’s the first door on the right. I’m going to shower,” you said, before you then abruptly left, not wanting to see the displeased look the adorable hybrid was probably sending you by now.

Oh boy were you in for a long ride.

. . . . . .

Four days had passed and Kyungsoo was clearly trying his best to pretend you didn’t exist, with varying degrees of success (he had to eat with you sometimes), and for the most part you let him. It hurt a little, especially since you had an intense urge to pet him and scratch behind his adorable little ears, but if he didn’t want anything to do with you then you would leave him alone. For the most part he did his own thing, but you could swear you caught him looking at you every now and then.

Over the days you had work you had gradually been forced to stay back longer and longer, and this time you had to stay back until 6 when you normally left at 4. Needless to say when you got home you were tired as all hell and surprised beyond belief when you opened the door and heard footsteps come scampering towards you. Kyungsoo rounded the corner, doe eyes wide as he took in the sight of you in the doorway, startled and holding a takeaway bag. An indescribable emotion passed across his face before his eyes narrowed at you and his ears flicked in annoyance, long, dark tail following suit behind him.

“Where were you?” he demanded, looking grumpy. “Why did you take so long?”

Naturally you felt the urge to snap back but honestly you were too tired and didn’t want to be mean to Kyungsoo (even if he was being a total meanie himself). This was the most he’d spoken to you in four days, and you were a little salty that it was only to demand where you had been with his food.

He really must hate you a lot more than you thought.

Suddenly overcome with a wave of sadness at the prospect that the hybrid before you hated you that much and you still didn’t even know what you’d done to warrant it, you sighed. You felt completely sapped of energy.

“Sorry,” you muttered an apology. “I got kept back again at work and they took a while making the food.”

Not looking at him you finished entering the house and after locking the front door you moved to drop the food on the table. Hesitating only for a moment, you continued down the hall to your room.

“I’m not hungry, but you can eat. I’m going to bed. Goodnight Kyungsoo.”

You didn’t fall asleep for a long time that night.

. . . . .

 ‘…He gets lonely at night so you have to let him sleep in the same room as you, at least! I usually let him sleep in my bed. And he enjoys cuddles, he’s a cuddly person, so make sure you cuddle him at least once a day.’

You snorted to yourself as you read the list Kai had sent you a day or so ago, dressed and laying on top of your bed. That was certainly not going to happen, not while Kyungsoo had such an aversion to your presence.

‘…You should also make sure he bathes. Tongue baths don’t count!! He doesn’t like water much at all, so you might have to go in there and make sure he actually—‘

Alright, you’d read enough for now.

Sighing, you lay there and closed your eyes, trying to postpone the inevitable: leaving your bedroom. You honestly shouldn’t be taking some cat hybrid’s rejection so much to heart, but you couldn’t help it. At the very least, you wanted to be friends with Kyungsoo.

You had just about resigned yourself to laying on your mattress until you died when your doorbell rung. You froze, mentally checking what day it was; you didn’t think you were expecting visitors. Unless…

Crap. Today was Wednesday and you had completely forgotten that you had promised to watch your friend Luhan’s cat, Sehun, for the night. You groaned in a sickening moment of realisation. Was this what your life had come to? Catsitting for every owner under the sun?

You rolled from your bed and hurried to the door, passing a confused and sleepy looking Kyungsoo on the way. Kyungsoo was friendly to everyone but you, right? Surely he would get along with Sehun. Sehun was only a little bratty sometimes.

You nearly tore the door of its hinges in your rush. “Good morning!” you chirped, trying to make it seem like you’d been awake a lot longer than an hour. You’d only showered and dressed twenty minutes ago.

“Morning!” Luhan greeted cheerfully, Sehun doing the same where he stood towering over his owner. Holy shit had he grown since you’d last seen him?

You squinted at Sehun playfully. “Do you ever stop growing?”

He cracked a smile, playfully swaying a little where he stood. Luhan answered for him. “No, he doesn’t. Technically he’s still a kitten so he’s not really meant to stop growing but he just shot up, right? I need something that gives me a warning so I know when I need to buy new clothes.”

Sehun seemed amused but stayed silent. Luhan continued. “Anyway, thank you so much for doing this. I figured it would be better for him to stay with someone rather than alone at home, and he likes you so… I’ll be back for him at 12 tomorrow. No brainstorming ways to make my life more difficult, okay?!”

Sehun giggled and Luhan leant up to kiss his forehead goodbye, before he waved at you and left.

“What a weirdo. Anyway, Sehun, come on in. I have someone else staying with me right now, but he’s pretty chill so I think you’ll get along.”

You were right, the two hybrids hit it off pretty well, but Kyungsoo had given you a strange look when you had brought the other hybrid into the room. When Kyungsoo left an hour later after playing with his new friend, most likely to go read something, Sehun sidled up to you, seeking affection. You grinned and allowed yourself to be guided to the loungeroom. Sehun was usually pretty quiet when not in a playful mood and simply enjoyed your pets and scratches. He wasn’t like this with just anyone, which was undoubtedly part of the reason Luhan had dropped him off with you in particular. You’d looked after Sehun before and knew he enjoyed the comfort of having someone next to him, even while he slept.

You sat on the couch, turning the TV on and putting on a movie because you knew when Sehun settled down for a cuddle it was until he was ready to get up, and attempting to leave before then got you a tight grip and a whining catboy. So you settled on a movie and allowed Sehun to curl his larger frame around you. Kyungsoo was the tiniest bit shorter than you but Sehun was a fair bit taller. A satisfied hum started in Sehun’s throat when you ran your fingers through his hair and began scratching behind his ear, and he nuzzled his nose against your neck a little. You could feel his ear flicking against your cheek and his tail resting over your thigh. He was warm, and you both felt relaxed. At one point Sehun began to purr softly.

At some point in the movie Kyungsoo had wandered back into the loungeroom, and froze upon seeing you and Sehun. You glanced over in time to see the look he shot you, a mixture of hurt and frustration, before he sat on the other couch, angling his body away from you and reading. You were confused and also a little hurt yourself. What had you done this time?

Kyungsoo left soon after, presumably to go to his room, and you hadn’t even realised Sehun was still awake until you heard him speak against your neck.

“Why are you sad?” he asked softly, clutching you a little tighter.

You contemplated lying before dismissing the idea. For such a whiny, needy catboy Sehun was alarmingly perceptive. He would know you were lying.

“Because he hates me,” you sighed. “And I don’t even know what I did to upset him so much.”

Sehun simply hummed against your neck, staying silent. Whether it was because he didn’t know why himself or for another reason, you didn’t know.

. . . .

That night you had slept with Sehun cuddled up to your side, a pleasant warmth in the cool of your house. You saw nothing wrong with it, of course; you’d done it many times before. Sehun simply enjoyed human contact and being cuddled.

Kyungsoo, however, seemed to possess opposite views on the matter, scowling at you as you shuffled into the kitchen the next morning, Sehun gripping your shirt and lagging behind you. You pretended not to see the look, instead turning to the cupboard and asking what they both wanted for breakfast. After eating Sehun and Kyungsoo played in the loungeroom a bit while you cleaned the house a little.

As 12 o’clock rolled around and Luhan arrived to pick up Sehun, you were about to wave goodbye to them at the door when the tall hybrid rushed over and leaned down whisper into your ear.

“He doesn’t hate you,” Sehun whispered hurriedly, his cute little lisp making an appearance. “He’s just hurt.”

He then pulled away with a smile like that was meant to explain everything and waved, running off to where Luhan stood waiting in your front yard. They went, and contrary to what Sehun had probably intended you were left even more confused than before. Hurt? Why was he hurt? What had you done?

You puzzled over it for the rest of the day, hardly having to worry about bumping into Kyungsoo since he avoided you like the black plague anyway. What could you have possibly done?

You didn’t have a clue as to the answer until after dinner when you were curled on the couch, playing a videogame on your Xbox. Kyungsoo shuffled into the room, glancing at you momentarily before moving to the spot he had claimed as his on the other couch. He had adjusted the cushions there so that they sat almost like another person as he curled into them.

You figured he was going to pretend you didn’t exist like he had been for the past week, and so were surprised when he spoke to you, sounding annoyed and upset. “Is anyone else coming over for you to cuddle and be affectionate to, or was Sehun the only one? Why did you even say yes to watching me? Why did you cuddle with him when you refuse to touch me?”

Your gaze had fallen on him when he first started speaking and you were alarmed at his words to say the least. You hadn’t expected them at all. His tail had begun twitching agitatedly as he spoke, thumping against the couch faster and faster until he was finished and he sat a moment before leaping up and rushing away, head bent down.

The sounds of your character dying in the background greeted your ears as you watched him leave. Absentmindedly you saved and turned off the console and TV, no longer in the mood for playing. You went to bed but didn’t sleep, mind whirling a mile a minute trying to figure out what he meant and why he was upset until it clicked.

Did he think… that you didn’t like him? And didn’t want to pet him? But what could have given him this impression? You thought back. When Kai had first brought him home and summoned you over you hadn’t petted him at all, but that was because you were trying to respect him and give him personal space. Kai had told you how literally everyone else who had seen him hadn’t been able to resist giving him a pet or a scratch and so you thought he might appreciate a break from being manhandled.

But maybe, from his perspective… you winced. It probably looked like you disliked him. Everyone else had shown him affection but you had kept your distance and refused to touch him. Oh boy were you an idiot. Why were you like this?

You couldn’t tell for sure, but you had a feeling this was what had been causing such problems between you. You rolled over, eyes finally growing heavy, and resolved yourself to testing this theory tomorrow.

. . . . . . .

“Hey, Kyungsoo, wake up, I have something for you.”

The hybrid’s ears, the only visible part of him beneath the covers he had bundled around himself, twitched at the sound of your voice. Slowly he rolled over, blinking blearily. You grinned. “I brought you breakfast, since I have to leave early today. I’ll leave it here for you.” You set the tray down as you spoke, dusting your hands once you were done. As your eyes fell back on him you noticed a downy feather caught slightly in his hair near his ear.

This was the perfect opportunity. Taking advantage of the fact that he was still half asleep and therefore couldn’t scratch you, you shuffled closer and leaned to gently pluck it off. You allowed your hand to pet the hair down after you were done, brushing his ear a bit. It twitched, and he was looking at you in slight shock as you leaned back, shooting him a smile. “See you later, Kyungsoo.”

And then you left before he could come to his senses and chew you out.

When you returned after work it was to the sound of the TV softly playing in the loungeroom and you saw Kyungsoo on the couch, watching it determinedly (most likely because he’d just heard you come home).

“Hello, Kyungsoo.” You greeted warmly, ruffling his hair gently as you walked past. You caught a startled look from the corner of your eye but didn’t hear anything else. Grinning at the success so far of operation Let-Kyungsoo-Know-You-Don’t-Hate-Him, you went to your room, changing before returning and going to the kitchen to start dinner. Kyungsoo walked past several times, sending a confused and slightly curious look your way with each round he made. Eventually dinner was ready and you both sat down to eat it, the meal spent in silence. After dinner you washed up and left for bed, however this time, unlike all the previous nights, you left your door open. It had occurred to you throughout the day that maybe Kyungsoo did want to sleep in your bed with you at night and the only reason he hadn’t might be because he took your closed door as a sign of rejection. So this night, you left it open.

You had work the next day and it was spent much in the same fashion as the previous, except when you came home it was to the smell of an already cooked meal. Slightly alarmed, you rushed to the kitchen to find Kyungsoo serving your two meals. You felt pretty guilty, you had come home a bit later than usual.

“Sorry,” you said with a sheepish smile. “You didn’t have to, but I really appreciate it.”

Kyungsoo shrugged, averting his eyes. “I was hungry.” He mumbled.

Dinner was delicious (you had a feeling it also had a lot to do with the fact that someone other than you had cooked it for once), and after you finished you had the urge to turn and speak to Kyungsoo. He was still at the table, lost in thought as he pushed the last bit of food around his plate.

“Kyungsoo,” you started. He nearly jumped in surprise, large doe eyes finding yours. You smiled. “I want you to know, I don’t hate you. I don’t dislike you either. I like you and I’ll always cuddle with you if you want, but only if you want. I don’t want to force you to do anything.”

The hybrid was more than startled, wide eyes following you in shock even as you placed your plates in the sink and moved to your bedroom. You left the door to your room open once more.

The real difference came the next day. It was after work and dinner once more that you settled down in the loungeroom, putting a movie on, and simply enjoying it for now. Around ten minutes later the couch you were on dipped from a light weight and you turned, surprised, to see Kyungsoo. He wasn’t looking at you, but everywhere else his eyes could reach, his hands clutching the material of his pants.

He simply sat there for a while, and you smiled to yourself, turning back to the movie you had chosen. Gradually, over an excruciatingly long period of time, Kyungsoo crept closer, shuffling and shifting until he was just a hair’s width away. You smiled, lifting your arm, and he slowly cuddled into your offered side, still slightly stiff. Any tension that was in his form left as you started petting him gently, and he finally relaxed completely into your side, tail flicking in a way that for once didn’t indicate irritation.

You were absolutely ecstatic at the new development in how Kyungsoo regarded you. He was letting you pet him!! And he had come to you!!! Just wait until Kai heard about this when he returned in a week. You were grinning stupidly to yourself, thankful the hybrid in question couldn’t see the dumb look on your face.

That night you went to bed alone, but a few hours after you had both departed for bed you woke to see a timid figure in your doorway. Blinking blearily, you shuffled over so there was space and lifted the duvet for him, a beckoning gesture. Kyungsoo scampered over in the minimal lighting (you were thankful he could see pretty well in the dark) and climbed quickly in, like he was afraid you’d come to your senses at any second and take back your offer, kicking him out. What a strange cat.

You were facing each other but even with your eyes closed you could almost sense his tension and silent anxiety. Wordlessly you moved and grasped his hand comfortingly. You heard a soft gasp and for a second he remained tense but moments later it began to bleed from his form and he shuffled closer, tangling his legs with yours. You could feel his tail tickling your thigh where your pyjama shorts ended. Smiling to yourself, you fell asleep quickly thanks to the giddy glee you’d felt at Kyungsoo’s actions and the warmth he radiated.

. . . . .

The next morning when you woke Kyungsoo had worked his way over the space between you and had managed to entangle every limb you had with his own, his tail wrapped around your waist securely and an arm joining it, holding you close. You never would have guessed he was this kind of snuggler. His head was nestled in your neck and your own arm had fallen over him during the night as well. Unable to resist you moved your free hand and petted his head a bit, running your fingers through hair that admittedly was getting a bit close to its use-by date (a shower or bath was in order, you were thinking— Kai had said he was prone to avoiding them because of the water and you hadn’t seen him go into the bathroom to bathe at all) but still soft nonetheless, and you rubbed behind his ears. The reaction was instantaneous— Kyungsoo jolted the slightest bit and his breath hitched into a purr in his throat, the sound like music to your ears. Now this was progress!

You lay like that for a while, simply holding him close. He seemed pleased, satisfied, and the thought made you happy. You did know, however, that you needed to get Kyungsoo to bathe at some point lest Kai found out you’d let him go two weeks without so much as touching soap and water.

“I have something to say and you’re probably not going to like it,” you warned, feeling the cat tense in your arms. “You should probably shower before Kai kills me.”

Kyungsoo huffed, clutching you tightly as you tried to sit up. “No.” he refused bluntly. “I don’t want to. I don’t like water.”

You sat up with much effort, Kyungsoo clinging to you even as you swung your legs over the edge. “You gotta,” you attempted to persuade him, forcing yourself up. Kyungsoo was like a koala in the way he gripped onto you, refusing to let go.

“No.”

“Kyungsoo,” you whined, shuffling towards the bathroom. He had a ridiculously strong grip, it was honestly incredible, but he was also heavier than he looked so the trip to the bathroom took much longer than you thought it would.

As you got closer he seemed to realise that clinging to you was, in fact, doing the opposite of what he had originally intended and instead was bringing him much closer to the exact situation he was trying to avoid. He hissed as you crossed the threshold onto tiles and instead of gripping began attempting to push off you. You looped your arms around his middle, grinning.

“Bath time! Please don’t scratch me I don’t know where my bandaids are!”

Kyungsoo yowled, trying furiously to get out of your grip, his position making it difficult for him to get enough leverage to break free. He hissed and whined the entire time you filled the bathtub, only pausing in curiosity as you threw a bath bomb in there for his sake. Maybe he’d enjoy it more if it was special.

Then the tap was off and he was back to refuting the experience with all his might. He wriggled and squirmed, looking like he was about to bite you. You were reaching for something along the bathtub when he gave a particularly strong movement, knocking you (and therefore consequently him) off balance and causing you to fall backwards into the tub. There was a loud splash and Kyungsoo squawking as he was submerged all of a sudden in the very substance he had been avoiding for a week. You laughed at the situation, keeping your arms around him even as he freaked out a little and frantically tried to escape even more. Your pyjamas were soaked but at least your hair was still dry.

“Kyungsoo!” you said, bringing him close to you so he wouldn’t freak out so much. “Kyungsoo, its alright! Look, you’re fine, I’m here, you’re okay I’ve got you. Look at the water, isn’t it pretty? Look at all these bubbles.”

Your attempts to distract him seemed to work and you watched as he gradually stilled and brought his hand to cup some bubbles that were floating on top of the water. “See? This isn’t so bad.” You murmured, rubbing Kyungsoo’s side gently before reaching for the shampoo. His hair had gotten pretty soaked in his flailing, but his ears being pressed against his head had stopped any excess water getting inside them.

From that point the bath went pretty smoothly, you managed to get Kyungsoo pretty clean (you had made Kyungsoo wash himself with soap, too embarrassed to do it yourself but after washing his hair and massaging his scalp he seemed a lot more cooperative and mellow). He had protested and clung onto you when you tried to exit the bath without him though, so you had sat there while he finished up and waited for him to be done.

You wrapped him in a towel once you both climbed out, water sloshing everywhere and you winced at the thought that you’d have to clean that up at some point. You grabbed another towel and gently dried his hair, being mindful of his ears.

“Well, that isn’t exactly how I planned for that to go but at least you’re clean now.” You said, rubbing his scalp gently. The sensation must have been nice because a low purr began to rumble in the back of Kyungsoo’s throat and he leaned into your touch. His resentment of a bath and the fact that you’d forced him into one seemed forgotten.

After you’d both gotten dry and changed, and you emerged from your room Kyungsoo was at your side in the blink of an eye, his own wide eyes looking up at you. His hand found purchase in your shirt and you smiled at him, reaching up to pet his ears. Purrs erupted in his throat and he looked embarrassed before you laughed and began to move towards the kitchen.

You could hardly believe he was actually warming up to you.

. . . . .

The next few days were pleasant and spent more amicably than you could have hoped. He really had warmed up to you, putting your fears that maybe his responsiveness was just a fluke to rest. He’d grown to be almost as clingy as Sehun, except from time to time his pride caught up to him and he pretended he wasn’t as needy as he was acting.

The previous day he had come up and wound his arms around your waist as you were cooking, pressing his face into your neck and purring softly. You’d blushed but felt over the moon.

However, before you even knew it your week with the hybrid had come to an end, and as you heard the sound of your doorbell ring out you realised belatedly that the time had come for you to bid him farewell for now. Kyungsoo had run to the door as soon as he heard the sound of his owner arriving, waiting eagerly as you opened it to see a grinning Kai on the other side.

“Kai!!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, leaping at him and wrapping his arms around him tightly. Your friend staggered from the sheer force of the affectionate hug, but nonetheless returned it, laughing.

“Hey ‘Soo!!” he spun the hybrid around a bit. “I missed you! And oh my god I see you’ve showered?? You got him to bathe???” he seemed more shocked than anything towards the end as he looked at you, bewildered.

You grinned, pushing your misplaced sadness to the back of your mind for now. “Yep. What can I say, I think bath bombs really do the trick.”

Kyungsoo hugged Kai a little tighter before running off to gather his bags. You watched him go, before turning back to see your friend looking at you smugly. You had a sudden urge to hit that look off his face.

“What?” you asked, already knowing the direction the conversation was about to take.

“I see you’re still in one piece, alive and well and, oh, happy, in the company of a certain lovely feline no less!!” he exclaimed, extremely smug and looking beyond pleased with himself.

“Shut up Kai.” You ignored the slight flush that came to your cheeks. “We’re good now. He doesn’t hate me anymore, and honestly I’m kinda sad he has to go.”

Kai seemed taken aback. “Wow, what happened while I was gone?” he joked, poking you playfully. “Are you even the y/n I know and love?”

You batted at him. “Be quiet, you still owe me. I’m expecting those frappes.”

Kyungsoo returned before Kai could respond, carrying his bags with him and looking at both of you happily. “I’m all ready.” He said, smiling at his owner.

“Excellent.” Kai said, taking one of the hybrid’s bags. “Well, we should probably be off. I went for groceries before coming here and can’t really leave the milk in the car very long. Thank you again so much, y/n, I really appreciate it.  I’ll be sure to deliver on those frappes sometime.”

You smiled, a little sad. “It was my pleasure.” You spoke, looking at Kyungsoo. “I’d love to have you around again. You’re welcome anytime.”

Kyungsoo beamed at you, dropping his bag to throw his arms around you tightly. You were a little surprised but laughed, wrapping your arms around him too. He nuzzled your neck before retreating and grabbing his bag once more, ears flicking happily. “Thank you.” He said happily, with the cutest smile you had ever seen on his face.

“You’re welcome.” You smiled, before laughing at the pleased expression on Kai’s face. He had been trying for God knows how long to make you and his hybrid get along and now it was finally happening he seemed very pleased with himself.

“Well, bye y/n! We’ll see you around!” he bid you farewell, looping his arm through Kyungsoo’s. They both waved as they left, and you returned the gesture, a little sad, but overall sated.

You knew as you watched their car disappear in the distance that you’d be seeing them both soon again anyway, and next time you were going to spend the whole time with Kyungsoo.

Yeah, you thought to yourself as you closed your door with a small smile. That sounded great.

[kelpieking]

New Year same resolution

I obviously keep my blog going as much as I ever kept my diary. I am quite keen to give this blogging thing a go. So with my time on Easdale now limited I thought what better way than maybe just starting to share what island life is like. 

When I started writing this apparently it was Friday though really days of the week have little meaning apart from purely titles. As I am self-employed, work days are whenever there is work on and with my trying to develop my seaweed company, nearly every day can be a work day. There is a memory, an echo of what weekends are and I am reminded of them because there are occasions when I can enjoy them with my wife, who lives and works in Glasgow and who is coming up by train this evening. Back to today, Friday 26th of January, I am providing crew cover on the Easdale ferry, a 7am start and 11pm finish, it is a fair long day, though not really that trying in the winter. Yes the days may be short on daylight and indeed often wet, windy or cold or a mixture of all three, but when it is sunny, then it is all worth it. Plus there is such thing as a winter timetable, so through-out the day from 10:15, the ferry runs every 30 minutes and from 19:30 again every 30 minutes until 21:00 with a 23:00 available on a Friday and Saturday. The ferry journey is only 5 minutes, depending on the weather of course. The wind direction is key during strong winds and gales. Easdale Sound runs on an almost direct north-south axis (something like 350-170 degrees axis), so anything from the north and especially the north west means the wind blows right down the sound and into the harbour at Ellenabeich where the ferry pulls into. Any westerly winds usually means big swells and these can run through the sound, and with an incoming tide creating wind-over-tide conditions, big waves and rollers with wash through and crash upon the shores and of course into Ellenabeich pier. 

So the winter is the time everyone pays particular attention to the weather forecast. The weather today, well so far living up to forecast: cold, clear, sunny and crisp up until lunchtime (13:00) and then clouding over with the chance of some rain or drizzle. Well the rain did arrive by 19:30 with a south easterly breeze has picking up slightly, probably due to swing to the west over night. It’s been a cool day, not very cold but a distinct chill in the air. Certainly cold enough first thing for a slight frost to hit the island, making some of the grass (and mud) crunch underfoot and any slate on the paths pretty slippy. My cottage is a actually pretty cold, the nature of building regulations for Easdale (a heritage conservation area) seeming to mean houses vary in their degree of heat retention and whether insulation can be put in. Mine doesn’t have such luxury, with no mains gas, there is no central heating just two storage heaters (though one is not working at the moment, I suspect a fuse has blown). At the moment every morning involves lighting the fire. As romantic as fires are, I mean nothing is visually warming to the mind and heart as a roaring fire and of course it literally does warm one up, I don’t think it is something many folk across the UK think about having to do. And to get at least part of the cottage warm, I have to light my fire (or if feeling lazy turn the oven on). The fire has been lit all day and so my living room was duly toasty, then again I am also quite well wrapped up for spending the day out on the ferry. 

For some reason I was a wee bit sleepy all day, luckily my skipper is as fond of coffee as I am so we were operating on freshly ground strong coffee for much of the day. It is a good thing of being on the ferry, one does get time on occasion to do other things between ferry runs. At lunchtime I managed to make bread. I had the option of asking someone who was in town to bring a loaf back (I am about to run out) but figured just as easy to bake some. 

Yes that it is the thing about being on the ferry for a few days, and generally living on an island or any remote place: planning ahead with meals and making do if you have forgotten to pick up something in town. Because Oban is 16 miles up the road, so 32 mile round trips do generally have to encompass more than just getting a pint of milk. 

Back the day, well the island is home to a very healthy population of voles, you can see their wee run routes through the grass. Two of them took up residence in my cottage and despite a few capture and releases, they have come back in. I have narrowed down where they live, in the built in cupboard where the fuse boxes are and the washing machine is. In fact I think they live beneath the washing machine, which sits upon a small pallet. Well of course the previous week it was stormy and snowy and cold, so I couldn’t capture and release them into that now! Realising that actually the reason why they roam around the cottage so much is because they are hungry, I have decided to start some feeding experiments. Currently they are eating between 12g and 14g of bird seed a day, with some indication that they really like sunflower seeds, and given the option of pine nuts, will eat the bird seed first. The reason I decided to start feeding my voles is the night I realised that one was climbing over my bed and ran along the top of my pillow. I could hear them trying to gnaw through something underneath my bed, discovered it was forgotten chocolate in a present bag that had been knocked under the bed and promptly got rid of it. I then put out some bird feed, watched it nibble some then start scrabbling at the bedroom door to get out and back to its mate. The feeding started after that night of little sleep. Since then, no more voley experiences, though I can hear them in the little cupboard. So today I separated out the sunflower seeds within the 16g of bird feed I put out for them, 2g of sunflower seeds and 14g of generic seeds. I predict the sunflower seed will be gone first. 

Friday wasn’t a bad wildlife day I suppose, saw the kestrel hovering over the island and on the otherside, two buzzards soaring above the cliffs overlooking Ellenabeich and the otter was sighted in the sound.

A student arrived in the afternoon, someone who is going to develop on-line registration for the World Stone Skimming Championships, thanks to a successful Interface application by the Stone Skimming committee. The student seems very nice and eager to get working. 

The day closed with having to run up to Oban to collect my wife, Dr B, and an ever stiffening breeze. I did manage to bake some bread and tidy the cottage up a bit, so felt quite productive.

The last ferry was for the darts teams, with the returning Easdale team having been victorious and the departing Oyster team also having been victorious against the second Easdale team.

So this is going up after the weekend which is a bit silly, I might as well make note of what else happened on the island on Saturday.

Saturday the first ferry is at 7:45 so still feels early. The morning started off wet and a wee bit windy. However as the day wore on, the wind picked up in strength and despite the forecast being for cloud, the sun and blue sky did breakthrough. The wind started off from the south and as the day wore on brought in squally heavy showers. Needless to say one of the first things I did after the 7:45 was to light the fire. Dr B had marking to do and so spent the day working through her students dissertations. 

And the wind just slowly increased in speed and with an inevitability swung round to the west, blasting right down Easdale sound. When the tide is on the ebb, generally the sound is calmer when the wind is from the west as it is wind with tide. However, there seemed to be plenty of wave action getting through, so much so we were a bit concerned about when the tide would turn. For this reason Mellon took the web design student off the island and back up to Oban to catch his train. 

I was treated to lunch in the Puffer by Dr B, which was delightful along with a much needed coffee. We discussed aspects of the dissertation she was marking. Young Fin and Laura were in as well, so we were all duly distracted by Fin and reading some of his books, especially the bird one which made noises! Ok Fin is like 15 months old so they are baby books, but very cool books. Now I quite like to take a walk at lunchtime if I am on the ferry just to have a bit of exercise. Of course I never made it all the way round the island, the sound of crashing waves on the back shore meant I ended up just standing and watching, considering the importance of wave action on the distribution of seaweeds on the shoreline and then considering the sea foam and what might be contained within. I scurried back to my cottage (Dr B was still in the Puffer) to grab a petri dish and headed back to the backshore to scoop up some foam. My intention was to have a look at it using my USB microscope, though this did not in the end prove very successful, so I will try again. 

Dr B made a very tasty veg lasagne for tea. By 18:15 (the last ferry before tea) the wind was coming fully from the west and was bringing big gusts making it difficult to get back out of Ellenabeich. By 19:30 it was bad enough for the ferry to be called off. I used the time to prepare for travelling down to London for A Taste of Argyll at the House of Commons that I am partaking in. We did no further ferry runs, for in the dark with unknown ferocious squalls blasting through, it is a risky challenge to take the wee ferry into Ellenabeich and then turn it around to get back to Easdale. It’s not the most manoeuvrable of vessels and the engine has been known to cut out on occasion. So by 21:00 we secured the ferry and called it a night. Dr B and I then went to the Puffer for a cheeky drink (just the one, ok maybe two pints of Aurora by Windswept). Then we called it a night at 10pm. We were both pretty sleepy, though we did squeeze in one episode of Black Mirror before going to bed. 

And that was two days on the island during January, the dark month.  

[medicalmarijuana-news]

Stoner Sex: Trimming Together, Experimentation, Stress & Dry Spells

Dear Hyapatia, I read a letter you answered from a guy who wanted his girl to trim things up down below. I am a girl with a boyfriend who needs the same thing! It seems there is a lot of talk about woman shaving their pubes and trimming but not much about manscaping below the waist. My guy is very hairy and that is cool; I love his hairy chest, but there is just too much down there. I have read that guys in the business shave their balls to make themselves look bigger. If my boyfriend would just trim a little, I bet he would look like a horse! How can I suggest this? I am afraid he is going to think I want to turn him into a gay guy. He is very manly and would never consider this on his own. — Maggie

Dear Maggie, Most guys love the idea of having a bigger dick. You might suggest that if you trimmed his pubes for him a bit, his dick would look bigger. If you do it, he will find it exciting and be more likely to go through with it. Once he sees how much bigger he looks and how you appreciate it, he may surprise you by doing it himself the next time when it grows back. 

Dear Hyapatia, My girlfriend has been kinda lazy in bed over the last few months. She doesn’t seem to want to give me head for very long and says she really isn’t into a bunch of different positions. She calls it acrobatics. At first, I took it personally, but then I thought it might be the weed. We have been getting high before bed. I thought it would help to put her in the mood. How can I get her to not be so lazy in bed? Do we need to cut back on the weed? — Jake 

Dear Jake, It could be that she is just tired and worn out from a long day. Of course, smoking a pure indica strain will make her more sleepy and physically laid back, while a sativa would have a more energizing effect. Does she work a full eight hour day and then fix dinner, take care of kids and clean the house like a lot of women? If so, that is why she doesn’t have the energy for an active sex life, and anything you could do to lighten her load would leave her with more energy for lovemaking. If that is not the case, try initiating sex earlier in the evening and add some sativa to your mix.

Dear Hyapatia, My lady and I have always wanted to move to California, and now that pot is legal for everyone out there, we have decided there is no better time to go. We don’t have much money saved up and will be needing jobs as soon as we hit town. This has my girl all stressed out, and we have not had sex in almost two weeks. I have tried to tell her that this is a leap of faith and something will turn up. It always does. But she just can’t stop being worried about it. She keeps bringing up all the negative things and saying we should wait. How can I get her to relax about everything and have sex with me again? — Michael

Dear Michael, Her lack of sexual desire may have more to do with disappointment in you, rather than stress over what will happen when you get to California. She may have thought you were more practical than what you appear to be now. She may be frustrated that you are not taking her fears seriously. Homelessness is very common in California, and many of the people on the streets came to the West Coast hoping for a better life. The state is just beginning to work out all of the details of recreational pot, and it may be better to wait until they have recreational shops and grows up and running. Until then, there is not a big demand for staff. If you feel as though you must move to a recreationally legal state right now, may I suggest Colorado or Washington? They have their systems well in place. You might be wise to listen to your girlfriend and make sure you have more resources available. There are many times when we women do not feel sexual because we know things aren’t right. The timing may not be right for your move. This has nothing to do with how much love she has for you. In fact, it is her love for you that makes her care about moving the right way at the right time. Work with her on this. Be a couple and plan it out a bit more. 

Dear Hyapatia, Lately, my boyfriend has been in an experimental mood. He wants to try all different kinds of positions, anal sex, tit-fucking, B & D, all of it. I am certainly not a prude, I like to experiment now and then, too, but every night is a new adventure. It wasn’t always like this. I don’t know what started it or why he can’t be satisfied with some good old fashioned love. I know what I need to do to get off, and when we experiment like that, sometimes it isn’t so easy for me to come. For some reason, he seems to think that if I just get high enough, I will be wilder in bed. It really doesn’t matter if I am high or not, I still know what I want to do, and while I am not against doing something different now and then, I don’t like the constant bedroom surprises. Is he just bored or what? — Natasha 

Dear Natasha, A guy who has never been with a sexually open minded woman before can sometimes get a bit ahead of himself. He may want to try it all as soon as possible. If he has never done these things before and has been shut down when he suggested them in the past, your willingness to try new things may have opened a floodgate of ideas. He will need to learn to pace himself. Have an intimate conversation over a few choice buds. When you have gotten high and he has relaxed a bit, bring up sex. Explain that while you like to experiment now and then, you find the kind of sex you used to have to be very fulfilling. Let him know that you miss the natural intimacy of your lovemaking and your desire to experiment cannot be increased by simply smoking more weed. Set up some rules and boundaries. Decide how often you are willing to try a new or unusual sexual position or practice. This will let him know you are not shutting his experimentation down completely, you just want to enjoy him the way you first did. He will have something to look forward to and you can both enjoy your sex life.

Ask Hyapatia all of your questions regarding stoner sexuality. Email her at hya@hightimes.com Last Week’s Stoner Sex: Sperm Count, Slippery Sheets, ED & Anti-Pot Sentiments

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