#the laundry they have been “doing” for the past 40 min

[wtowingedtragicobsidian]

Yuji and Megumi have never really had close friends, or any honestly. So, they don't really know what friends do. Yuji decides that if spending some time with Megumi is good, more must be better and drags the other boy around to accompany him in literally everything. Megumi is pretty sure this is not how friends normally act, but since he has no way to verify this —lacking prior experience and all— he (reluctantly) goes along with it.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole for siding with my Dad and actively shit talking/giving points about things his wife is wrong for?

Using 🎸🎶 as my emojis so I don't get lost.

For context, I (17F) and my sisters (14F and 12F) have lived with divorced parents for the past almost 13 years, nearly our entire lives. Our Dad (38M) and our Mom (38F) got divorced long ago, and since both have been remarried and divorced. My dad is currently married to his third wife (37F) and things have gone to shit. They grew up together and reconnected through Facebook a while back and began to talk. Since early July, they reconnected around late June, we have; drove 40 hours to Ohio to see and meet Wife and her 3 daughters (15, 7 and 5 F), moved them down over 80 hours of back and forth with both pets and kids, lived in a small trailer house until we closed our half million dollar one, and now we live in an old 1940s house where Wife never has to work unless she wants to. My Dad provides for her and her three kids easily on his own due to owning a fraction of the company he works for, but money has been a little tight due to a lack of houses to work on and her excessive spending.

This morning was when it bubbled over. She woke him up 30 mins before he needed to have his trailer, and hour away to pick it up, and be in another city still 30 mins from there, to pick up a free dresser we do not have room for. While getting ready he was informed her two youngest did the dishes to ask for something, a habit they all have. And to be clear, they ONLY do chores to go places and do things, so the house is often trashed. My Dad boiled over after both things adding onto all the stress of caring for 8 people and only seeing his 3 kids 4 days a month, and it started a scream fight that she encouraged. She loves to rile him up and then play victim, and this time was no different. Despite being angry, he asks if she still wants to go get the dresser, and she says she won't ride with him even to talk it out or get the fifth dresser for their room. So me and my middle sister (14F, we'll call her D.) Go with. We get the trailer, get into town, and he calls to confirm the address. Rather than tell him, she plays hard to get to piss him off, and we leave instead, not getting the dresser and taking the trailer back. The entire way Dad, D and I air our grievances about the behavior of Wife and her kids, discussing habits we don't like and clarifying we aren't doing it to be mean. It turns out, she was also bitching about the laundry and how she does everything when I've only ever seen her do theirs and no other chores. My Dad offers to solve it by having his own basket for his own laundry and even cooking his own meals if that's what's bothering her. Instead, she takes off her wedding ring rather than accepting the solutions. We talks, discussing how yes, they've been through a lot, but so have we, and that doesn't excuse her behavior.

We get home and the fighting starts again rather quickly, we don't catch much before it dies out but he tries to reason with her. I paint and everyone is calm for a bit. Well, I'm sitting on my bed and the fighting starts again. D and I share a room right over the garage, where the fight was, and D drops to the floor to listen. Our Dad uses many of the points we brought up in the car, and it hits hard and rings true really. At some point Wife complains that we never talk to her, and Dad points out that she picks fights when we're here and we know what divorce sounds like and refuse to get attached. She calls him our for being married and divorced twice, and Dad gets petty and tells her he didn't have kids outside marriage. And finally she complains that we don't do anything, and my Dad points out that we're self sufficient and do everything when we're here. The fight continues, he keeps making points we all discussed on the way to and from the trailer and failed dresser retrieval, and he keeps bringing up the ring since he doesn't want to divorce again.

Anyways, its causing a rift and I haven't told anyone but my Mom that I helped supply points, but I just feel bad because I feel like I somehow made the fighting worse by mentioning all the shit she does and talks about him and us.

TLDR; Dad and new wife were fighting all day and my sister and I gave points and talked shit about what's been bothering us in the car and our Dad brought up those points in the fight.

So Tumblr, am I the asshole?

What are these acronyms?

[lala-and-zuzu]

.

[blodeuweddschild]

Tag game 50 q’s

Tagged by @icantwritegood , thank you! I completely forgot about this and found it when I was looking in my drafts (sorry 😳)

what is the color of your hairbrush? I have one that’s black and another that’s blue with leopard spots on it

name a food you never eat: Black pudding, the most cursed of all English food

are you typically too warm or too cold? Too warm, throw me onto an ice rink and I’ll melt it

what were you doing 45 mins ago? God knows, I can’t remember what I was doing one minute ago. Reading perhaps? Dancing around the kitchen with my brother maybe

what’s your favorite candy bar? Either Milka or that wonka chocolate that they discontinued years ago (I miss it very much)

have you ever been to a professional sports game? No but I have been to my brothers rugby matches so there’s that

what is the last thing you said out loud? Oh I know a Scotch Egg do I now?

what is your favorite ice cream? Archers chocolate

what was the last thing you had to drink? I think it was the gingerbread hot chocolate from costa

do you like your wallet? Yeah! It has a fox on it (to match my fuck ton of other fox themed items that my family has been aggressively buying for me over the past 6 years)

what is the last thing you ate? Spaghetti bolognese

did you buy any new clothes last weekend? I got a checkered coat so now I can fully pull off the look of British middle aged builder

what’s the last sporting event you watched? I do not view the sportings

what is your favorite flavor of popcorn? Chocolate covered popcorn. Idk the brand but my mum used to nick packets of it from the cinema for me

who is the last person you sent a text message to? My girlfriend

ever been camping? Yeah I think I’ve been at least 20 times, probably more. I think I managed to get at least 40 nights away while in scouts

do you take vitamins? Not anymore. Used to though, apparently they were the size of horse tranquilizers

do you regularly attend a place of worship? Nah, I was banned from churches anyway when I was like 6 months old cause punched a priest

do you have a tan? No, I live in northern England the sun does not shine here

do you prefer Chinese or pizza? Pizza

do you drink your soda through a straw? I don’t drink soda it burns like holy water

what color socks do you usually wear? Black with any colour patches

do you ever drive above the speed limit? Nah I usually go at a steady 0mph cause I can’t drive

what terrifies you? Mannequins, clothing stores are my version of hell

look to your left, what do you see? My cat Midnight

what chore do you hate most? I hate hanging up the laundry, it never all fits onto the drier

what do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? Nothing, I simply don’t think

what’s your favorite soda? No soda, soda hurts

do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Go in cause my favourite fast food places don’t have a drive thru

what’s your favorite number? 16

who’s the last person you talked to? My mum

favorite cut of beef? The tasty part?

last song you listened to? Running with the Wolves by Aurora

last book you read? finished? A Series Of Unfortunate Events: The End

favorite day of the week? None of the days, all the days are bad

can you say the alphabet backwards? Nope

how do you like your coffee? I like it with 3 sugars, milk, a teabag and no coffee

favorite pair of shoes? My trainers because they’re actually comfortable

time you normally get up? 12:00 if I have the choice, it’s to make up for all the missed hours through the rest of the week due to having to get up really early

what do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? Sunset cause pretty and sleep

how many blankets on your bed? 2

describe your kitchen plates. White with blue, brown or black around them but the black ones are only for when we have guests

describe your kitchen at the moment. I am not in there so I don’t know what it’s like cause I have no memory

do you have a favorite alcoholic drink? Baileys ig? I don’t drink much and I don’t like carbondated drinks so yeah. But like it’s expensive so I don’t have any often

do you play cards? Nah

what color is your car? It’s very red

can you change a tire? Nope idk how to do stuff

your favorite state? Maryland but the only reason is that’s where my girlfriends from

favorite job you’ve had? Any job I’ve had has been shit, hate them all

Tagging: Anyone who wants to do it!

[fruitdragon]

1. Dani Phantom and Jason Todd

2. Lighter is quicker and looks cool

3. Yes. I live on a top floor without a balcony in a safe area, the only time I've locked them was when there was a murderer on the loose

4. Mothman all the way, but honestly almost everything?

5. Blue

6. You can't prove I did it

7. Scrunchies

8. Um 2

9. Iced coffee

10. Yes, I'd rob them first but yes

11. I really like dance. Contemporary Ballet in particular

12. Too bright but warmth is nice

13. About 40 mins ago. I ate individual sandwich ingredients

14. Yes

15. No. Never

16. Working on that. It didn't seem important during Covid

17. Both. I have a prescription both ways, which was fun to find out

18. Got-2-B rocking it dry shampoo, spiking hair gel, and paste.

19. Yes. Painting nails is great, I'm not the best at it but it's fun!

20. Soda pop

21. Um. I have a rag doll named Bluebell I got when I was 4. Still resides next to my bed

22. I don't know? Trying to figure that out? Crime gay

23. I get to wear lots of sweaters!

24. Picnic

25. Lotion, specifically Strawberry scented

26. Um? My best friend actually wanting to be my life partner.

27. 5 on a good day

28. Of course!

29. Way to warm and then way to cold to cool off afterwards and really wake me up

30. I don't think so?

31. Rock ballads

32. Yes. It has a picture of a whale on it

33. Hiking trip with my older brother 2 week ago. We explored, ended up on the beach, got sea glass and beach sage, ran into people and stole some tansy from someone's ditch on the way home

34. Dead Mom from the Beetlejuice musical.

35. Atlantic Standard Time.

36. Twice

37. Shit. Um Andrea Rogers. Neighbour growing up. Still acts like a second mom.

38. Mango Tango Rainbow bars.

39. Yes. I like this chai flavoured stuff

40. Um. I've been eating coffee flavoured candies?

41. Latte with an extra shot of expresso and three sugar packets. Unless I'm just doing it at home. Then I add 4 packets of sugar and use the Moka pot to make thicker(?) Expresso, with vanilla syrup

42. Pinterest. Also Just Play

43. I want more, till my mouth burns off. Excuse to eat chocolate

44. L W. High school bully that went into professional sports and last I heard was caught abusing his girlfriend. If not him Jeff Bezos

45. Um, I woke up late, learned I had started my period, cursed, put my undies in the sink with cool water and a cap full of hydrogen peroxide. Let that stew while I started coffee, got dressed somewhat professional and met with my dad to go do the Ministry of Music at a United Church. Sat through the service, did the music. Went home took a nap, woke up at like 4 tried to clean my area of the home, remembered my undies, learned my housemate took care of them. Journalled, did laundry, and made soup for dinner. And then I scrolled through Pinterest for 15 minutes. Ate soup, wandered off to my room and laid on the bed exhausted for 3 hours. Then I went to sleep.

46. Holiday Inn

47. Asking my best friend if they want me to murder someone for them.

48. 12. It was hard cider

49. Not really

50. And sure!

Fuck yeah I got through all of them

here’s weirder asks

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

lighter or matches?

do you leave the window open at night?

which cryptyd being do you believe in?

what color are your eyes?

why did you do that?

hair-ties or scrunchies?

how many water bottles are in your room right now?

which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

would you slaughter the rich?

favorite extracurricular activity?

what kind of day is it?

when was the last time you ate?

do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

are you a parent? (all answers qualify)

can you drive?

are you farsighted or nearsighted?

what hair products do you use?

imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails?

do you say soda or pop?

something you’ve kept since childhood?

what type of person are you?

how do you feel about chilly weather?

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

perfume/body spray or lotion?

a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times?

about how many hours of sleep did you get?

do you wear a mask?

how do you like your shower water?

is there dishes in your room?

what type of music keeps you grounded?

do you have a favorite towel?

the last adventure you’ve been on?

is there a song you know every word to by heart?

what’s your timezone?

how many times have you changed your url?

someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years?

a soap bar that smells good?

do you use lip balm?

did you have any snacks today?

how do you take your coffee?

an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site?

what’s your take on spicy foods?

you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

can you remember what happened yesterday?

favorite holiday film?

what was the last message you sent?

when did you first try an alcohol beverage?

can you skip rocks?

can i tag you in random stuff?

[joysjourney]

Back in the Gym

Today was my first day back in gym -- it’s been almost 2 weeks. Prior to that, I had gone for just one day without much consistency. This quarter, I truly lost sight of my goals and just “let myself go”. While I believe you do in fact need to give your body a break from the “dieting” and constant training in the gym, a 3-month break is WAY too long.

This afternoon I went in and did 30 minutes on the stair stepper: 20 minutes at 50 steps/min, 10 minutes at 40-45 steps/min. I then walked to Starbucks and got a green iced tea (no sugar) + a spinach and feta wrap. Mid-day, I grabbed a 90 calorie mini protein shake and for dinner I had chili with shredded cheddar, sour cream, and 7 tortilla chips (yes, I counted!). Ended the night with a small piece of carrot cake. I also did 4 loads of laundry (kill me), which required me to go up and down 2 flights of stairs each time, so I got some extra “exercise” in today. 

Not really going too hard in terms of diet until Jan. 1, but I have definitely dialed it back in comparison to how I’ve been eating. If I had to guess, I’d say I’ve been eating about 2,500+ calories per day (average) over the past 3 months. Today I was probably closer to 1,800. Going back to the gym tomorrow morning and will try to keep my calories at 1,800 or lower. After the new year, 1,400 is going to be the ideal as I try to get more weight off. I’m going to Miami at the end of February and I’d ideally like to hit 200 by that time (about -15lbs). 

Consistency in the gym is going to be my motive over the next few days. After 1/1, I’ll be looking to shift my focus to diet! Have y’all already gotten started on your goals for next year?

[voiceofvetri]

Day 3

Wow ... This is really happening, isn't it ?!

THREE DAYS ... CONSECUTIVELY ... IN A ROW *touchwood*

Today was just NORMAL . It's been so long since I had a normal mediocre productive day . Usually it's either a sad depressing lazy day or a really sleepy one where I almost skip through the entire day before my first meal . NORMAL DAYS are SO UNDERRATED these days .

Apart from not snoozing my alarm , taking a 40 min refreshing walk at dawn , vibing to Rihanna's Music and having a healthy breakfast while not watching TV , I did something very satisfying and soul soothing ; I indulged myself in some very normal household chores like changing sheets on my bed , making OJ for breakfast and folding clean laundry from past week .

Doing these were oddly satisfying and i wanted to explore this new feeling more . So i decided to do something that I haven't done in so long . One of the hardest tasks that I have been successfully procrastinating for almost two years now . WARDROBE ORGANIZATION aka THE FINAL BOSS . Took me the whole evening but I DID FINISH ORGANISING MY ENTIRE WARDROBE . Had set aside some old clothes for charity . It just feels nice to know that my closet is not a dump now .

It's really strange how an organised and clean wardrobe gives the feeling , a detoxified mind would render . It's almost like meditation . Didn't know folding and stacking clothes would be this exciting !!

[terrytheboxwithlimbs]

36 Questions Part I:

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world living or dead I would have dinner with all my mutuals! I would love to meet everyone and shitpost but in real life.

2. I wouldn’t like to be famous famous, I think the most famous I would want to be is like a popular fanfic author.

3. Before making a telephone call I always rehearse what I’m going to say, but I have really bad anxiety so I don’t make them unless I have to tho.

4. A perfect day for me would consist of waking up really early, spending time on Tumblr and with my pets, getting boba, hanging out with my friends, and drawing/writing.

5. I last sang to myself two days ago when I listened to And Then There Were None from Spring Awakening, last time I sang to someone else was in the car with my mom a week ago listening to We Don’t Talk About Bruno.

6. If I was able to live to the age of 90 I would not, I don’t want to live past 40 to be honest. That’s dark, I know but it’s true.

7. Kinda related to the last question, I know how I’m going to die: I’m like almost positive that I’m going to commit not alive. (I don’t know Tumblr’s post censoring rules tbh).

8. Three things me and my mutuals all have in common are: 1) we pretty much all like IT or Encanto or musicals, 2) I don’t think any of us are straight, and 3) we all use this hellsite.

9. I feel most grateful for my family and my pets.

10. If I could change anything about the way I was raised I would change my Dad’s complete unwillingness for self improvement/therapy.

11. K my life story in as much detail as possible: I was born in Texas (still live here), went to a shitty Catholic school for a few years - my parents are not really religious so I do not know how that happened - , I was always in a whole lot of pain but I was like 6 so I didn’t know how to express that and my horrible doctor told me that they were “just growing pains”. Then we moved to Austin (best city in TX) and I immediately got diagnosed with arthritis, we’ve done a shit ton treatment but nothing except opioids helped, starting having severe mental health issues cause of untreated chronic pain (my laundry list of problems include: self harm, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, anorexia/bulimia, borderline personality disorder, etc.) I’ve been to the psych ward 10 times and now we are looking into residential. This definitely took me longer than 4 mins but oh well.

12. If I could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality/ability I would want to be have self confidence, that’s a quality, right?

[anxiouspregnantlady]

29+4

Whats up world. This week I sterilized and organized breast pump parts. What did you do? Also I finally remembered to snap a belly pic. These shorts are TIGHT and being worn for picture purposes only.

28 week appointment

I aced my glucose test at 70 (upper cutoff was 130). Chugging 16oz of OJ in 5 mins was really hard - I thought it would be enjoyable but I felt pretty ill during and after

Baby is head down - apparently what I thought was the head was the bum *shrug* hopefully I am more discerning of her body parts once she’s born... but ya heartbeat was in my bottom left and also hiccups have been pretty low (couple inches below belly button) so YAY stay that way baby. Also her heart rate is still 150bpm

My thyroid is doing great! TSH is 1.0 which is...incredible (pre-pregnancy it was at a 3.0). I’m not on any meds either - stopped at 12 weeks

I’m not anemic. YAY. But I think hemoglobin could be higher

Midwife said my weight gain is “perfect” - I’ll take it.

Some updates

Partners are now allowed at all prenatal visits! K has never been to an appointment before so next week he’ll come to the 30w

Very emotionally turbulent, lots of crying, fear, moodiness. Was feeling really sad and wanted to cancel my baby celebration thing.

Belly is definitely growing and still somehow no stretch marks. I’m waiting to break 40″ lol and almost there. Also I measured my ribcage (like bra band size) and holy crap it has grown 3 inches

I’ll be 30 weeks pregnant in 3 days!

Being worked really hard at physical therapy. I no longer have any energy or time or headspace to do my daily yoga/workout. I’m ok with this. Still walking a decent amount and enjoying doing whatever my body feels like without being too stressed/militant about it

What’s left

Starting childbirth classes next week

Big items ordered/gifted but have not received: stroller, rocker, bassinet/travel crib

Committing to a diapering system + purchasing stash - had a change of heart in the past few weeks and feel v. gungho about cloth diapering as soon as she starts fitting into size 1s - eek we’ll see how this goes. I want to buy used but k is reluctant/has vetoed this and thinks it is unsanitary.

Getting dressed has started to become a bit of a joke. The other day I woke up with a strong yearning to wear cute high-waisted jean shorts (HA). I LOVE my pregnant belly and wouldn’t trade it for the world. But I do miss wearing my normal clothes. Basically now I can only wear one pair of shorts comfortably and they haven’t been washed in weeks (they’re maternity PJ shorts I got from motherhood for $10) because what am I gonna wear while the clothes are in the laundry?? Most of my nonmaternity dresses are pretty uncomfortable due to aforementioned ribcage enlargement. Up top, we’re pretty much exclusively wearing my stash of target plain maternity v necks and tank tops, the kind that come in multipacks. They have been quite the life saver.

[mxnyxxngx]

GET TO KNOW ME TAG :)

I WAS TAGGED BY THE SWEET @smittenbyschmidt LIKE 9438798796 YEARS AGO ?? IM SO SO. SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE AND THANKS FOR TAGGING ME !!! AHHHHHHAHAHAAHAH

1. nickname: jen !!! :)

2. gender: female

3. star sign: virgo hohoho (also an enfp gryffindor if u were wondering) (u probably werent but still lmaoo)

4. height: 165 cm aka just barely 5’5 rip

5. time: 5:23 pm

6. birthday: september 13th !!! a late late late summer baby

7. favorite bands (non kpop): oh no im not sure i have any ?? i used to listen to a whole bunch tho, like one direction, big time rush, 5sos, onerepublic, imagine dragons, panic at the disco (somewhat)

8. favourite solo artist: my favorite korean solo artist has to be dean hes a literal king dear god as for non korean ive recently been listening to a lot of borns and troye sivan :’) blackbear too !!! his songs are my exact aesthetic tbh

9. song stuck in my head: without you by nct u (im listening to it rn LMAOO)

10. last movie watched: legally? black panther WHICH IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR BTW I FUCKING LOVE IT TO BITS illegally? drive me crazy bc im lowkey a sucker for sappy cliche 90s romcoms :’)

11. last show watched: i have no clue ?? actually ??? i dont watch a lot of tv so i hope seventeens weekly idol counts ??? or nct vlives ???? LOOOOOL

12. when did i create my blog: november 2014 i think !!

13. what do i post: id say about 80% is kpop (40% bts 20% nct 15% seventeen 5% other) and the rest is either memes or aesthetic posts LMAOOO

14. last thing i googled: nyc weather (theres a snowstorm today omfg and school was cancelled ?? which makes today my first proper snow day ever ??? im such a california kid)

15. do you have other blogs: not active ones but i have a couple saved urls up my sleeve ;)

16. do you get asks: ,,, not really LMAO occasionally i used to but my inbox has been pretty dead for a while

17. why did you choose your url: its just min yoongi with the vowels replaced with xs and honestly ??? i have no clue how i thought of that or why but i thought it was sooooo cool and smart at the time LOOOL im not mad at it tho tbh i love it even though it gives me a bit of trouble w url tag games LMAO

18. following: 1219 blogs which ?? i honestly dk if thats a lot or a little

19. followers: i just recently hit 204 followers !!! which btw thank you guys ??? sm ???? i love you all ??????

20. favorite color (s): PEACH and RED and GOLD (my gryffindor ass is showing) and hmm black maybe :)

21. average hours of sleep: hoooo boy LOOOOL it really depends on the day but probably about 6 ?? even tho im the sleepiest girl u will ever meet ??? my sleep schedule is FUCKED LOOOOL

22. lucky number: 7 !! its cliche but i dont care lmao

23. instruments: i used to play piano and the flute but i pretty much havent touched either instrument since college started :((

24. what am i wearing: my bigass kevin woo love more hoodie and thigh highs and uhhh a bra and underwear i guess ??? LOOOL

25. how many blankets do i sleep with: two !!! although tbh im not sure why ?? i feel like i prefer only using a comforter ???? wtf @ me

26. dream job: oh wooooow uhhhh … a music producer

27. dream trip: south korea is the obvious answer i feel like but i have been missing la so fucking much these past couple of weeks so definitely there ugh

28. favorite food: im a hoe for kbbq tbh or any kind of meat/korean food in general actually !! i also reaaaally like spicy foods :’) so hot cheetos are my favorite snack tbh pizza and in n out are both soooo good too tbh in general i prefer salty things over sweet things but i WILL eat anything peach flavored straight up i kid u not it is my favorite flavor/color/smell in the entire world I LOVE PEACHES OK

29. nationality: american born chinese (first gen) but i took like a dna test a while ago and ?? apparently im like 10-12% finnish ??? which ,,, idk LMAOO

30. favorite song now: currently its any title song by nct tbh ?? go and boss and touch and baby dont stop have been on repeat since they came out

other korean song recs: dinner by jane jang and suho; jewel box AND thousand times (an ost and it made me cry tbh) by samuel (listen ,,,,,, the boy is so talented ,,,,, pls support him ,,,, i lov him w my whole heart); some and galaxy by bolbbalgan4; i promise you/ipu by wanna one (its so good slkgslkgdlkh ahhh i didnt like it THAT much at first but it really grew on me)

some english song recs: strawberries and cigarettes by troye sivan; helplessly by tatiana manaois; dirty laundry by blackbear !!! :)

i tag @sasha092398​ bc ofc i am ??? and @byeulbitch​ and @ashweeeeeh​ heheheh :’)

[jbo16-blog]

Something to fall for

As you were walking through the aisles some paperazzi seemed to find me. After a few minutes tons of people seemed to swarm me. My claustrophobia didn’t seem to be helping with that either. As I tried to push through the people to leave the grocery store, someone kicked my leg from behind, making me fall into an aisle, cutting up my face, hands, and scraping up my knees. After that happened, I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I had to leave. I just pushed my through the people and not even getting my things that I went to the store for anyway. (5 mins later) When I finally got home, I went straight into the laundry room to try and wash the blood out of brand spanking new pants. While my clothes were in the wash, I went downstairs to get a big glass of red wine, then just sit on the couch and watch Chicago Fire. Before any of that could happen though I had to get my wounds fixed up. It’s a good thing I’m a paramedic, so I know how to take care of my own wounds instead of just having to go to the hospital. After I fixed my wounds up I could finally get to my wine. As I just turned the TV on, the door knob started to turn. It was my husband, Tom Holland. He probably just came back from working on the movie he was in, Infinity War. I tried to smile at him, but it hurt to because of my wounds. It was also impossible to smile as well because the tape was pulling my cheeks. “Oh my gosh, babe what happened to you???” I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I was so humiliated by what happened to me, and now it will probably be blasted all over the internet saying how much of a clutz I am. I just started to cry. “Babe, please don’t cry tell me what happened, please I want to know.” “I-I-I got k-k-icked over at the grocery store, making me get scratches all over me.” “That’s awful! I know that your a paramedic and can take care of yourself, but please this one time can I take you to the hospital to get checked out?” This one time I didn’t complain about it. I knew that it was a nasty fall and that I probably will need to get stitches. “Sure, fine, take me.” (At the hospital) “Okay Mrs. Holland, we are going to do a check on your organs to make sure your fall didn’t majorly hurt anything.” “Okay.” As she was looking through the ultrasound, her facial expression changed. “What, what is it?” “Mrs. Holland, it seems to me that you are pregnant.” “What?” “Yes, right here on the ultrasound it shows a little baby right there. You seem to be 2 months pregnant.” I was in such shock I didn’t know what to say. Tom and I both wanted to have kids at some time, we were only married for about 15 months now. Tom didn’t want kids yet because of his career, and same with me. Well I guess that plan just got ruined. “I have one question for you Doctor Patterson.” “What is it?” “Well I have had alcohol in the past 2 months, will that hurt the baby?” “No the baby will be fine, just don’t drink anymore.” “Okay.” “Should I call Mr. Holland in or what do you want to do?” “Um, no don’t tell him to come in. I’ll tell him later.” “Okay, whatever you say.” As I finished getting my things together Tom walked into the room. “Hey babe. So how was it.” “It was good. She said that nothing is wrong with me.” “That’s good, now when we get home I’m cooking the dinner.” “Okay.” (30 minutes later at home) “Dinner is ready, do you want some wine with it?” “Nah.” “Why not it’s Wine Wednesday?” “Um Tom, there is something I need to tell you.” “What? What’s wrong are you okay? Do we need to go the hospital again?” “No Tom, I’m fine. It’s just I can’t drink any alcohol anymore.” “Why? Why not?” “Well Tom, I’m pregnant.” He said nothing for a second, almost like in shock, then ran for me a picked me up, spinning me around. “I’m going to be a dad! I’m so happy!!!” “I thought you said you didn’t want to have kids yet, not until both of our jobs settled down.” “No, I really wanted to start having kids, but I never really got the chance to talk to you about it.” “So your happy about it?” “Yes. I am over the moon excited for it, we will be amazing parents!” (10 months later) I looked over at the alarm clock by the bed. It said 3 o’clock in the morning. Wow that’s surprising, normally Sierra wakes up at this time, crying. That’s when I heard a baby’s cry. I spoke to soon. “I’ll get her.” “You sure, you have to wake up early in the morning for the movie.” “Yeah I’m sure go back to sleep.” “Okay.” As I started to doze off I noticed that it had been 40 minutes and Tom hasn’t been back yet. Somewhat worried I got up to make sure everything was okay. When I got to the entrance of the nursery I heard Tom talking to Sierra in a hushed voice. “As long as you are my daughter I will protect you. Just like when we watch a scary movie and you get nightmares, I hit myself for being so stupid to let you watch something like that, then I will come cuddle you. When an evil boy breaks your heart, I will be there for you to talk to. After we are done talking, I’m going to go break that boys nose. Just always know that I will be here for you.” “You will be a great dad.” I guess he didn’t hear me come in cause it seemed to scare the crap out of him, making him jump like to feet. “Thanks for that, I was just getting her asleep, then you scared the crap out of me! Now she will never sleep.” “Okay, fine I’ll take her you go sleep.” “Thank you babe, I love you.” “I love you more.” K guys so this is my first imagine so idk if it’s good :)

[gimmemorespirk]

Tag Game


Rules: Answer questions given to you, write 11 new questions, and tag people to answer those questions!

I was tagged by our lovely fandom grandma, @spockslash ! Thanks for thinking of me. And these are some really hard questions!!!

1. When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with?

Oh jeez. I don't know? Accounting/financial/tax advice maybe, since it's related to what I do. Otherwise, it's usually just listening. I always tell peeps they can vent away!

2. What would be your first question after waking up in the year 2233, from being cryogenically frozen for 215 years?

Well given that I would assume everyone I loved was gone, I would then ask what kind of world I woke up in. Did mankind get their shit together or not? If not, put me back in cryo, and let's try again later.

3. What is your ideal way to spend the weekend?

Relaxing. Reading. Maybe watching a movie. Eating a good meal. But mostly relaxing. Because I constantly hate the fact that you work all week only to play catch up on the weekends for all the personal stuff you had to put on hold. Looking @ you, laundry.

4. What is the most heartwarming thing you’ve ever seen?

I try to maintain a hard outer shell, but I am have a pretty soft marshmallow core. Lots of stuff gets me in the feels. And I can't say that any one thing is more harmwarming than the next? But something that always gets me and I find a wonderful thing, is organizations like Make-A-Wish. Anytime I see those, I burst into freaking tears.

5. What could you give a 40-minute presentation on with absolutely no preparation?

Breastfeeding issues and how to solve them. Like seriously. I've *almost* done it all. And the amount of misinformation still being perpetuated by the medical community and the community at large (like bfing has no benefits past a year) is so ridiculous. Yeah. I could easily spend 40 mins.

6. What’s the best thing that happened to you last week?

Chatting with friends. The last three weeks have been really rough and those chats have kept me sane and laughing.

7. What amazing thing did you do that no one was around to see?

Swimming in my papa's pool and swam the length of the pool, all underwater, 3 1/2 times (it was a springboard pool with a deep and shallow end so fairly long). I figured I'd practice and get better the following summer, but got a severe case of bronchitis at 12 before then that prevented me from ever being able to do it again. Lung damage/asthma sucks.

8. How different was your life one year ago?

I had no Tumblr, had never been to KiSCon, and was not posting work to AO3. My how life has changed!!! 😁😁

9. Where is the most relaxing place you’ve ever been?

My papa's house. Although it wasn't completely free of stress, it was a place I can truly say I always loved to be and hated to leave. And it was mostly peaceful. Much more so than anywhere else in my life. My memories of him and that house are like warm sunshine to my soul.

10. What are you looking forward to in the coming months?

A get-together with friends!!!! Getting some health issues finalized and taken care of. Writing more Spirk!

11. Who inspires you to be better?

So many things and people inspire me. In this current world of crazy, I desperately hold on to the stories of people doing good and those who show compassion and love for their fellow living things. And of course, I'm inspired by Star Trek everyday. It's ultimate message that we make it, better ourselves and become as I truly believe we can and are meant to be, keeps me plugging away.

Tagging @captain-raven-knight , @rabidchild67 , @rimedio8 , @thicc-kirk , @itreallyisthelittlethings , @annaknitsspock , @voldiebuns and anyone else who wants to do the thing! No obligation on those I've tagged either if they don't want to.

Here are my questions:

1. What skill would you like to learn/have?

2. What's your go-to trope in fanfic when you're feeling down and why?

3. Favorite game to play (electronic/board/otherwise)?

4. If you could meet any 3 historical figures, who would they be?

5. Favorite quote?

6. What's something someone's done for you that you are grateful for?

7. If you could have any supernatural power, what would it be?

8. For reasons, you're going on an extended backpacking adventure and have to limit personal items to 3 things. What do you bring?

9. What aspect of your personality do you like the most?

10. Describe what you imagine your life to be like when you're 75.

11. When asked as a child what you wanted to be when you grew up, what was your most frequent answer? What do you actually do now?

[athleisure-aesthetic]

I did the thing again 💁🏽 I'll attempt to keep it brief. We know how much I struggle with that tho...

April 21 Friday was my first trip to bikram yoga, and I was very very nervous. I had never been to bikram yoga, and it would have been only my second official yoga class ever. The other class I had taken was with a friend at the studio near our school, and it was just a regular hot vinyasa class. That instructor made me feel very welcomed and very capable, and it was a way smaller class, so she actually came over and helped me with my poses. All I knew was that bikram was hotter than the regular hot class, it had a series of 26 poses that you cycled through, and that you sweat out like your whole body weight over the 75 minutes. Sweet.

Showed up like 3 minutes before (in shorts, btw, #nsv for me), and the room was packed, mostly full of people in shavasana. I had to squeeze in a spot by the heater (kill me) and it seemed to me like the class was 85% regulars. I would soon learn that my instinct was hella correct. We were asked who was new, and out of like literally 35-40 people, I was the only one. Thought that meant she could help me. Nope. We went through the breathing exercise and went off into the poses after a few minutes. I had already begun to feel a little lightheaded, but my fear of looking dumb focused me. I looked up and noticed my instructor didn't even do single pose. How am I supposed to know what to do, or the proper form?? She would talk, walk around, and actually scroll through her phone... like I know it's 5:30 on a Friday but you signed up for this shit. You don't get to do that. She also made a lot of inside jokes with the regulars, some whom I later believed to be other instructors, and like did not encourage modification. She was like I know you can push further, so do it. Like HOMIE that is not what you're supposed to do, especially if you're new!! She was very serious about no talking or making noise, so she only came over to the guy next to me who kept cursing when his grip would slip to help him modify.

Things I found out: A, you need like a legit swimming towel or actual full size yoga towel for this kind of yoga because I felt like I was drowning in sweat. I had to wring out my shirt and shorts when I left. B, you're pretty much on your own at this studio, even if it says "all levels." They were not helpful for new people. C, it's a great detox, if you can get past the fact that you may not be able to hold any of your poses because your body is so slick from sweat. My forearms ended up being sore for the next two days because of how much I was straining to hold onto my poses. D, you should not be alarmed by how much it sounds like snakes are in the room whenever you do an open-mouth exhale. I was for a lot of the class, and it was SO distracting because I thought it was funny. Some people go really hard. And I mean REALLY hard with the breathing.

I think the only reason I would go back would be to go with a friend, and definitely another instructor. Sorry, Robyn. I want a chick who gives a shit about my class. She did end on a funny song, though. +1 for you.

Spent the rest of the evening being productive, doing laundry and cleaning my room. It was a glorious Friday night.

Listening to: "I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys

April 22 It was supposed to rain all day Saturday, and I was anxious bc I had another long run. I really wanted to meet up with CFG again, though, so I forced myself out of bed, put on a hat and jacket, and hoped for the best. When I got to Dilworth, I coudln't find the group anywhere, and I waited until the last possible second, but decided the weather must've detered most people, or they left already, so I set out on my own. This 6.5 miles sucked so much more than last week's great 7 mile run. Maybe it was the weather or fatigue, but I just was not feeling the groove. I stopped for a hot second on Kelly Drive to breathe and to check out some of the statues and stuff. In hindsight, those pictures are very uneventful. At my halfway point, it started raining and I was like ughhhhhhh well at least I had that hat. This run felt so much harder than my last long run, and I wonder if it's just because my body's like YOU NEED TO CHILL OUT. At the last mile, though, I had a great few songs push me through, including Guns and Ships from Hamilton and What Do U Mean (I'm a sucker for Bieber). I finished around city hall, where there was an Earth Day protest going on. It's kinda cool that every weekend there are a lot of people around my city screaming about how much 45 sucks.

Later I got Snap pizza with friends and did not feel guilty about it whatsoever.

6.51 mi 10'17" min / mi

Listening to: "See You Again" by Miley Cyrus

April 23 Sunday was so much nicer out than Saturday, which was an excellent motivator to get me to FlyWheel. This was my second spin class, and first at FlyWheel. First impressions were amazing: you walk down the steps into like this pit, where they give you cycling shoes and there's a shop (I wanted everything even though I knew I wouldn't become an avid spinner bc $$, BUT EVERYTHING WAS SO CUTE). Then you find your bike in "the stadium" and wait until the staff is finished cleaning the bikes and putting out fresh towels to hop on. I got help from one of the staff, and thankfully this bike felt more comfortable than my first ride. Looking down, I saw these two pole things on the side of my bike, and a cool electronic torq tracker. I loved that you could opt into the torq board beforehand so you wouldn't be stressed about putting it in day-of. Suddenly, the lights went off and we were off. My instructor was super motivating and friendly, pushing us through a series of hills and sprints. I was happy that I had taken a spin class before, though, because I knew the positions when the she called them out. I admittedly signed up for her class specifically because on her profile she said she sang a cappella in her free time, so I was hoping she'd either A, have a great playlist, and / or B, sing throughout some of the songs lol. She started us out of "Wop" which I hadn't heard in like 6 years, so I was happy about that. On the penultimate song, she had us grab the bars next to our bikes and do an arms workout, which was surprisingly tough to focus on both the legs and arms at the same time. At the end I felt really good, definitely exhausted, but like I could go back the next day for sure. Absolutely one of my favorite workout classes I've ever taken. I see why people catch the bug now.

After class, I hung out at TJU for a bit before showering and going to Rittenhouse to hang out in the park. Since it was World Book Day, I bought both You Are a Badass (which is definitely going to change my life, if not give me some awesome quotes to live by) and Bossypants. I was feeling the energy. I was also thankful I brought my journal to the park, bc this one guy came up to me randomly and started hitting on me for like 10 minutes and I clearly did not want him there, so I wrote a whole bunch of pages about the entitlement of men and how some people must give off "please bother me" vibes. Overall great day, though, because I was happy I was getting back into writing.

Listening to: "Scream & Shout" by will.i.am. & Britney Spears

Also worked out yesterday, but I don't feel like writing about that rn. It was uneventful, other than my Nike Run Club app being annoying and not properly recording my treadmill tempo run. What's new. Today I'm giving myself my first full day off from working out in what feels like 2 months, so I'm very excited to not do anything. Also had a free bagel this morning because my work was giving them out. BLESSSSSSSS.

[livinganddyingatdisneyworld-blog]

First Week+

Hey ya’ll.

So my first week here has come and gone. Monday morning was more hectic than I would have liked. I was so tired and was running late, I had to pack up my bags very quickly and I had my Mears driver waiting for me. He had texted me about 8:30 and I didn’t see that til 9, and I got down to him at like 9:15. 

My check-in was at 9:30, and there was a line of cars this time, so my driver had to patiently wait til we got to the front of the pack. I don’t think anyone ever looked at my Boarding pass lol (Just my itinerary). Check-in was quick. I had a nice lady help me with my documents and they took my picture for my housing ID. (Patterson’s are yellow this year, meh) Being back at Patterson feels pretty good. It feels like home (aw). I had feared I might be triggered into some negative feelings but nope. If anything being back makes me realize how much time has gone by and that time heals all wounds, things here have changed and moved on and so have/(or should) I. 

So this girl gave me my new program guide with my apartment configuration on it. It said 1 bedroom/3 person. I’m in building 3 on the first floor. I met my two roommates later in the day on Monday. It’s only been about a week and a half but so far we get along OK, there are still some things that will need to be worked out, but we’ll get there I think. I get along better with one than the other too. The nice thing is that again I do feel very comfortable here already so it wasn’t hard to adjust. My roommates are both very like me, mid 20s, white, American, etc so we’re pretty similar, they are both straight though. Which might be a good thing as long as they aren’t the “toxic” kind of straight I tend to keep at a distance. 

Casting at 11 was confusing because of the way they scheduled the buses and because of the construction around the casting building (yay third parking garage!) I had to figure out what bus to take and when to walk down to Chatham (my least favorite part of Patterson) but I got there eventually. I was like 20 min late to both my check-in and casting but no one said anything, I did the best I could! This lady at casting asked me for my Blue ID and I said I turned it in to my leaders and she said that was the correct thing to do so that made me feel good. There was a nice girl they checked my documents for me and then a guy there to do the “Disney Look” check. My fingerprints still didn’t work and they guy that did them was a little aggressive about it but whatever hopefully it will be like last time as far as that goes. Going back in the casting building is definitely an experience lol. Afterwards a group of us had to wait for the bus so I talked to them for a bit. I got back to Patterson and met my roommates.

Our apartment is nice, fresh and has new carpet. I wasn’t keen on the the 3 in 1 and I ended up taking the top bunk, which works for me but again isn’t ideal. It was funny because it took the confusion out of trying to pick a roomie/room/bed away. I like the building because it’s still close to the main area but kinda off in it’s own space too, just have to walk a bit further than last time. (laundry and garbage won’t be fun, it’s a walk over there). At least I have less roommies and still manageable rent. 

Monday night I made my return to Disney Springs and had Yesake, it was so good to be back finally! I also went to Walmart that night and got supplies. Tuesday I had the day off and went the Boardwalk Bakery(the food has changed, prob won’t go there again). but I still love walking that area at night. 

Wednesday I had my housing at 3 meeting which was the same as last year pretty much. Not a big deal. I stopped in the Grid afterwards and was surprised how low on stock they are. I ended up going back to Walmart for more supplies and went back to Disney Springs for dinner. I went to Earl of Sandwich and tried the wine slushie at Amorettes - it was so good! 

Thursday I had the day free and used it to stay in and rest. I had considered this being a resort day since I couldn’t get into the parks yet but I was tired and it was raining so I stayed in. 

Friday I had my Traditions class. I counted 9 other guys in the room and I sat with 3 of them. The ones I remember are Arvin, JT, Diego, and Steven. We were all Merch which was cool. The class felt pretty fast/tracked and went fast. There were some awkward moments but I knew there would be. I was nervous about going back to Magic Kingdom but it ended up raining and so we played games instead and didn’t have to go. I was relieved. I was nervous about getting my Blue ID but it was there for me. The pictures on both my ID’s are...OK. I changed my pic on The Hub though. They gave me another name tag but I plan on using my old one with my hometown on it from my last program. Overall I did get emotional at certain points in Traditions, (at one point my eye would not stop watering) but it was pretty quick and painless. I was glad to have a later in the day time (mine was at 2:40 and I had to be at the bus/stop by 1:15). I will always prefer a later in the day time. No one in my Traditions seemed to be going to Epcot which was interesting, maybe like 2 others that I heard. 

I decided not to go to the parks that night and instead went to Disney Springs for another slushie and more Yesake! 

Saturday I had free which was nice, I decided that my first park entry would be Epcot of course, and then later in the day I would have my first ride be Flight of Passage. I went to Epcot just to check-out Mousegear and get a feel for it. I felt indifferent to be honest. Like not super-excited but not scared or nervous either. Everything in my program was what I wanted or asked for basically. The Commons would have been nice, maybe I should have been more open to other roles, I probably would have picked the May 21st arrival date if it was offered to me. But Fall Advantage/Merch/June 4th/ and Patterson are all great with me. When I found out I was going to Mousegear I was surprised and happy. Like I just didn’t want to be in MK again, and getting to learn more about Epcot sounded like a great way to spend my 2nd program. (I did not spend much time in Future World last year, I always walked quickly through it to get to World Showcase). Mousegear is one of the biggest shops in the park which is intimidating but I do not claim to know what is best for me (lol). It actually has great reviews from other Cps/Cms that it’s a great location for alot of reasons, it seems very well orgainzed and staffed and it’s an AC/inside area only. You still rotate positions but you only have to learn one store versus several locations. 

After my sneak peak at my new home at Epcot I got on the bus to Animal Kingdom. When I got there I went straight to Flight of Passage, the wait was long and my phone had died (having trouble with the battery). Also I want to note before I forget that the bugs this year seem to be bad (gotten several bites so far, last year not an issue) and when I first got here I had this itchy rash on my arms and neck and apparently I must have done something because the skin basically died and peeled off in those places. Weird! I thought it was a reaction from a bug bite or something. These are just things I was struggling with the first week. As well as figuring out my to-do list and where to put my stuff and trying to stay organized. I definitely spent more than I needed to but I figure it’s my first week and I want to be happy and start out strong and hopefully continue that way. I want to be better about time and money management and this program is a great way to focus on that. I need to figure out how best to get food when I don’t have a car. It’s a struggle. I spent a lot of time before this week getting my body in a good place and I have to keep up with what I’ve been working on. Traveling took so much out of me I was worried I would regress and get to busy to take care of myself but I’m really trying to stay on it. Appearance is everything and then that helps my confidence! I tried to make my hair blonder before coming here and that was another nightmare - I probably wasted like 50+ dollars just on my hair color lol, but whatever. As long as my acne stays in a good place that’s the main thing for me. My spray tan is wearing off and I need to have a pool day still. Shaving everyday is a nuisance and keeping up with it but that’s what you have to do.

Anyway so I went to Animal Kingdom and waited for Flight of Passage - worth it obviously. I really wanted to do at least Everest but didn’t have enough time, so I had dinner at the Canteen, which I’ve been wanting to do for awhile (it was..OK. I mean I love Tofu but I was still hungry after) and I spent 10$ on a tiny little Sangria that I didn’t need....but whatever. I can say I did it and now I know I don’t need it again lol. 

Overall it was a good night at Animal Kingdom, still much more I want to do (I tried to make fastpasses but realized that wasn’t going to work). 

Sunday was my Discovery Day, I had to get up really early and be there by 8am. I was so tired this whole day because I didn’t sleep much that night. It was a really magical day. I won’t go into detail but the boat ride, the welcome, it was all very magical. When I was riding SpaceShip Earth for the first time, I realized some things (lol). It just made me realize how great it feels to be in a place that I feel like this is where I am SUPPOSED to be. How during my last program especially at the end how I said goodbye forever (maybe to MK yes;) but to be at Epcot and realize that maybe I had never done these things before because the universe had plans for me later. (I honestly don’t think I’d ever been inside Mousegear, I just walked past it). My group leaders (4) were very fun and made the day special, I got emotional with alot of things they were saying. Most of my group was people from other countries, very few Americans (my small group was all Asian) It definitely makes me feel a type of way when the only country I’ve been to is Mexico and I don’t speak other languages, but these people are world travelers and speak several languages. One thing that did stick with me was the notion that even we as Americans are considered “international” by tourists from other countries. They look at us (maybe sometimes anyway) with the same interest that Americans look at people from other countries. After my Discovery Day I went home and went to Disney Springs. Here I really splurged and got Yesake AND Earl of Sandwich. I also tried to go to Morimoto Asia but I won’t be doing that again. When I went to Earl the cashier kept complimenting me on my eyes and said I was pretty. It was nice! At this point it had been two weeks since I left Younkers (my last day was Sat May 26th) and one week since I left Sioux City (Sat June 2nd)

Monday I had my first day of training. My trainers name was Casey. She is a former CP and has been at Mousegear for about a year. She is leaving to go work at Toy Story Land which is exciting. I was surprised to find out that they were considering me a “Transfer” and that I would not have to go back to DU for anything. Traditions you have to redo after 6 months (I’m at about 10 months) Dday makes sense since Epcot is new to me, but one day of training? I’ll take it as a vote of confidence but I am not sure I remember everything on the register, and it’s still a new location, things work differently. Casey was great with me through the day and I was so tired and probably not always coherent but I learned alot and got to ask her alot of the questions I had. We ended up arranging for me to have another day of Training on Thursday (her last day is Friday) and then my first regular shift will be on Friday. It kinda feels like I’m her replacement in some type of way. hmm...I’ve met two leaders so far and they seem nice, I also found out one of the coordinators is from MSE (Hi Catie) so I’ll be seeing her. I got HUB access, still deciding if I want to do Food&Wine, took the days off my mom wanted me too, looked at Rostr and took note of the CPs currently staffed at MG. There are currently 30 including myself that are listed as American Cps so that’s cool. Very few guys.There are 5 other guys (Dalton, Grady, Aaron, Charles, and Raul) and one former CP also named Aaron. I do not know how many Cps are new or old or extended or leaving soon (SA, Spring Extenders, Summer Alum etc) I hope I can find some people that can be my work friends but we’ll see....I’ll know soon enough who my allies are and who is not. I’m sure there will be new Cps coming for the Fall program too. On Sunday I decided to try to open Grindr and see who’s out there. I will keep it open for a week and see how it goes. If there’s no one of interest I’ll probably just delete again and wait til August when there’s new people here. I’ve had some of the same guys hit me up which is pretty funny. It’s super disappointing about the lack of guys and options but I will not let guys bring me down. I know they are missing out on what I have to offer so it’s really there loss. (and once you’ve turned me down, do not thing I will give you second chance, I will ignore you)

The main thing is that the people you see most are the people you live with and work with. I’m sure I’ll be getting to see some familiar faces of other castmembers at Epcot, Cps and non Cps, which I am excited about because there’s a lot of cool people that work there! Getting on a routine and figuring out the timing of everything is what I need to work on. Casey showed me that path from the Cast building (I got a locker) to sneak out by Test Track and then walk into the CDS. (the only place you can clock-in) The tunnel is super interesting but the break area is ...underwhelming. Very few selections for food. I never used the temp lockers before but I might here, we’ll see. If it’s raining I might have an umbrella with me. The only bathrooms are down there as well. Another weird thing is that you can’t have water bottles on stage, you have to leave them backstage which might be hard for me, we’ll see. I’ll like the fact that the store doesn’t stay open as late as MK and CPs usually get 2 days off per week. I still need to get new shoes, more socks, and trading pins (I’ll wear the “Earning My Ears” badge as well I suppose. I got my costume and it’s cute! Had a hard time with the pants but found my size. The shirt can be awkward but you just kinda of have to let it hang I guess. I have Tuesday and Wednesday off. Tuesday I had a headache and stayed in all day, later I went to Epcot and watched Illuminations for the first time and got some yummy fishNchips at the UK. I did not know there was extra magic hours so I hung out there til about 11, even though you can’t do any rides. I still need to make a “Disney Do” list but I’m slowly working my through. I don’t plan on picking up shifts ever but we’ll see. I should be open to that I suppose. Not until I have Mousegear down anyway. One more day of training which I’m sure will be alot and then my first days of work will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday. with Tuesday and Wednesday off. We’ll see how it goes! Fake it til you make it I guess. I obviously don’t want to look stupid or awkward, I don’t want to bother anyone with a bunch of questions, or have a bad attitude or have a bad experience with guests. I’ll just do the best I can! So far here has been pretty good, my first week has come and gone and week 2 is fastly moving! My main goals here are to have fun, do a good job, be on time, not let myself get sad or lonely, do more things that I didn’t get to the last time, and try to focus more on the future and my career. I want to use the program to build myself up, not let it tear me down. A fresh start and a second chance is just what I needed, I will miss my mom and Sioux City but this is where I need to be. I can work on keeping my money in check and use my time wisely. My goal is to slowly get on a routine by July 4th ish, one month mark. For sure by the time the transition period happens in August. Summer is my favorite time of the year though so I really just want to enjoy June and July and see what the future has in store. I am sure there are many twists and turns in the road between now and January. 

[angel-and-the-antelope-blog]

Laughed at by your family for wanting to follow your passion? Success is the best revenge. With David Horvath

Have you ever felt like you’re not getting the support you need to succeed, especially from the people closest to you? Then you need to read every word of this interview with David Horvath. Co-creator of the globally successful Uglydoll brand. This is one of my all time favorite interviews.

I have a lot of respect for how amazingly generous and open David is. He shares the struggles he faced and overcame to follow his childhood dream. A dream that, it seemed no one else wanted him to achieve. Read it, learn from it, take action on what you learn. And don’t ever let those who don’t have the courage to follow their own dreams, prevent you from following yours…

Uglydoll Kaiju

Angel: David, with the widespread success of the Uglydoll you are being hailed as one of the top character designers in the world, but did you have this passion for toys as a kid?

David: When I was 12 the class was going around discussing what they wanted for Xmas, etc. The boys wanted Atari, footballs, etc. I already had all of that in my garage so I said I wanted GOLION, a die cast metal Japanese robot. Many of the kids laughed until I explained that it said “ages 13 and up” on the box, meaning they weren’t old enough to play with it just yet. Then they kinda just stayed away. So in a way, the cool kids became the outsiders and I stayed put.

The Cool Kids Became Outsider And I Stayed Put

Angel: So it sounds like you chose to follow your own path from an early age. Did you get any support from the people around you?

David: My mother was a designer at Mattel for many years. I wish that had helped me some but the honest truth is, she wasn’t permitted to discuss her job with me and she stayed loyal to that golden requirement. The only way I knew she still worked there was through catalogs and purple He-Man errors brought home. But those catalogs were inspiring. I always knew that I wanted to tell stories through toys.

Bossy Bear

The resistance came from my father, who told me that surrounding myself with toys and quitting Art Center to go work at a toy store would never amount to me making my own toys. He would tell all his professional contacts and co-workers about his waste-of-life son locked up in his toy room, working at a toy shop. He made many a famous or well known professional in the art and design world shake their head at me (being told his version, not mine). So there was resistance. Luckily, I didn’t care. He wanted to be a photographer more than anything in the world, but went into advertising because it seemed more stable to him. Avoiding your life passion out of fear is a no-no in my book.

When he would freak out over why I had so many toys (over 40 of them!) I would ask him why science majors had beakers and slides all around their room. He didn’t get it. Anyway, when I was 19, I did indeed quit advertising at Art Center so that I could go work at a local boutique toy shop, to learn the ins and outs of non-mass market toy distribution and observe moms, dads, and kids buying toys in a retail environment. That job also got me into toy fair, and got me deep into the side of toys I knew would prove to be very important if I wanted to make my dreams come true and go at it on my own.

Making toys means nothing if you don’t have any clue what will happen to them once their done. Now I hear my father clips articles and such, but from my early teens until well after we started Uglydoll, he told me toys and those stuffed doo-dads were a waste. It’s easy to get behind your kid when he’s in the paper, but with our daughter I want to be sure to be there for her during the process, not the irrelevant outcome. I hope I can use my past run in with this resistance as a life lesson so that I can do better than he did when raising my own child.

Uglydoll Cinko

Angel: So your love of toys was a hard path to follow then, but what about your growth as an artist?

David: I didn’t set out to be an artist. I still draw the same way I did when I was 10. Is it art? I don’t really care but I did see a certain path I wanted to take as someone who spends their time working on their own toys and children’s books. It was mostly mental maybe? I knew this is how it was going to go, as I wouldn’t have it any other way. Many months on my sister’s floor in the early days, and skipping meals sometimes when things got serious at the start. But that stuff is always thrown in to test how dedicated you are. I always say if someone from the future travels back in time to tell you your life long dream will fail 100%, and you still go for it anyway, it will work.

Angel: You clearly had passion, did you set any specific goals from the beginning or did you wing it as you went along?

David: There was no winging it and the plan was always very specific. We get tons of emails asking how to do XYZ, which is great. I pretty much reply the same way each time, that in my experience, taking the same path someone else did results in getting close but never where you want to end up. Ignoring those paths and making up your own route leads you to where you really belong, wherever that may be.

I Use This Now Pretty Much Scientifically Proven Method By The Hour And It Works

Angel: Can you share any techniques you use to help you focus on achieving your goals?

David: Ugh I wish you asked before the “Secret” came out, but actually I have always believed in the law of attraction since I first read about it many years ago. I use this now pretty much scientifically proven method by the hour and it works. Your mind effects the universe, and it also creates it. Your thoughts absolutely determine your reality. How you generally feel inside and what thoughts you generally carry in your head is what’s going to keep coming at you. This is a huge part. The biggest. The rest is all minor detail, actually.

Uglydoll Wage Green Kaiju

Angel: What about the excuses many people have for not following their creative dreams; no money, time, credibility, support etc. Did you ever confront these same doubts?

David: Those aren’t excuses. Those are hurdles. Just need to jump. We had zero help. Zero cash. Ah but we had a needle, a scanner, a pen, an old borrowed digital camera, and a mac lap top which I got by selling my 2 older macs from when I had a job before. That first sewn doll sold for $30.00 And then the next one sold. Soon we had $3000!. So we used that to make more and keep it all growing. I had one design-ish art job after graduating from Parsons with Sun-Min. It didn’t last long. The first few weeks were great and I had a lot of fun animating in Flash until the boss told me to change a color to purple, and that was it for me. And I was super zapped by the end of the day anyway, too tired to work on my own stuff. Lesser paying jobs, be it retail stores or coffee houses, are great because you get so pissed off that your dream work comes out no matter what. But a “real” job with co-workers wanting to hang out and drink, late hours, weekends, and comfortable money coming in, is a dream killer.

When we decided to start for real, I slept on my sisters floor for 9 months eating not much more than cereal, plain white bread, and salads, and then moved to a tiny illegally erected bedroom within an industrial building in the then very scary DUMBO, Brooklyn, surviving on a daily menu of egg on a roll in the morning, a bagel and coffee for lunch, and really good $3.00 chicken legs from a local corner stand at night. Rent was a few hundred bucks, paid for by selling everything I owned in LA, keeping 5 days of clothes and not much else. I bought an air bed but had no table, so the computer was on the bed. $5.00 a day was the food limit. Laundry was once a week, and monthly subway passes were $80. I had nothing else and often went with out the coffee. A Japanese magazine shooting “famous artists” homes came to do a shoot, and elected to take photos of someone else’s much nicer room in the building just to avoid wasting a whole day. They even dressed it with our dolls. ( I tried to tell them.)

Uglydoll Babo

One Guy Called Me A Millionaire, On The Day I Had To Skip Lunch To Survive

I lived this way for the first 2 years of Uglydoll when everyone was calling me a millionaire. One guy called me just that on a day I had to skip lunch to survive. Then Sun-Min [my partner and co-designer] and I basically lived on the road when we went into full production and sales grew. Until we were married, we lived in hotels, traveling from trade show to trade show, driving across the US, stopping by small towns to find small shops.

Get As Much Input As You Can And Then Don’t Follow Any it

Angel: Did you ever go out and actively ask people for help and advice?

David: I realized when I was much younger after calling up Gary Baseman for some very good advice that I was getting great advice on how to do things a way they had already been done. The best advice I can give is to get as much input as you can, and then don’t follow any of it.

Angel: Now you’ve been in the industry for many years do you find it easier to call on your creativity at will? Do you have any tips for being more creative more often?

David: I just make what comes out. For the Ugly Guide books, there’s no sketches. I draw and write with a pen. No eraser, so it’s all a mistake. As for how to be more creative more often, sit down and work. Done deal. Even if crap comes out, sitting down and getting to work is what matters. Read “The War Of Art” by Steven Pressfield. That will help with the procrastination, if that’s the issue. That book was a great help and I am pretty sure the above is a quote from that book. It’s ingrained into my brain, so plagiarism not intended.

Icebat Kaiju

Angel: How do you keep your energy up with all the work required to make it in this business?

David: Meditation. Avoid all drugs and late week nights out. Basically be what losers call a “loser”. Stay home and make stuff for other people to go do. Avoid the “scene” and avoid hanging with the top artists in them. Scene-sters and others trying to “make it” like to keep each other in check and hold each other back, and they hate anyone who breaks away.

Angel: And your views on fitness?

David: Mental fitness is just as important as physical. Food is important. No soda. I quit all soda. But what’s most important is monitoring your daily, almost hourly mindset. Do you carry “Life is tough, life sucks” in your head all day? Then it will be. Careful, because the music, movies and games you repeat over and over too often can keep you in a certain mindset, good or bad.

Angel: What about the rock and roll lifestyle of being a hip artist and designer?

David: If you’re living a rock and roll life style, you get your photos in the backs of magazines only you and your buddies read and not much else.

My title is : Nerdy Japanese robot collector and strong believer in UFOs, ghosts, and the paranormal. The artist part is helping me save my pennies so I can switch over to UFO research full time. For real. See my blog for more on that. It’s boring though, so careful.

Angel: Ghost hunting aside, how often in your creative work do you find yourself doing things that you are afraid of?

David: My daily routine is wake up, do things that make me afraid, eat, sleep, draw, repeat. If you’re afraid, you’re on the right track. Keep at it! Just don’t discuss it or dwell on it.

Fear is fine but don’t use it as a way to not do what you need to do. Talking about your fear can lead to a weekly Friday night talk about your fears while drinking beer. Forget that. Do your work, then drink.

Angel: How often do you find yourself failing at something or abandoning a piece of work?

David: The real failure is not starting. So, never.

Angel: Isn’t it a shame they don’t teach that approach in school!

David: Math was my favorite art class. I used to fill in my test answers with UFO drawings. I got an F but was I wrong? That’s the key. But if you get all A’s in school, what does that mean? Good job little Johnny, you memorized what we told you to and filled in the blanks. Maybe it’s better to fail. I want to send our daughter to a school where they have a good balance of math, science, nutrition, financial planning, no tests, and David Icke. So basically home school.

Early on I taught a class, once a week, at Otis Art School for one year. It was supposed to be a flash animation class, but I turned it into a self help class. The class was called “quit, get your tuition back before the deadline, and use that money to make your dreams come true, because this place is simply training you to work for someone else”.

UMA (Unidentified Mysterious Animals)

Don’t Reveal Your Plan To Anyone

Angel: Are there any lessons you’ve learned about money that you’d like to pass on to other people just starting out?

David: Money! I’ll never forget our second year at Toy Fair. Many designer toy production houses set up booths after seeing how well we seemingly did the year before. As I passed the booths, one of the guys was rubbing his hands, literally, and told me “well, I’m ready to make a million dollars!” I looked back and said “You mean spend a million dollars, right?” He looked at me with a sort of ghost face, and sure enough, he didn’t set his booth up the following year. There’s nobody out there making instant cashola. There’s no “All you got to do is ________”. Even the guys you think hit it rich, did so well after you thought they did. A few smarty’s make it SEEM like they are making it big time, with hopes of selling their brand or company and its “perceived value” to larger companies looking to grab up a “hip, hot property/brand”, but no…its going to be a lot of work and nobody with some magic money wand is coming.

Hopefully. When the money comes in, save it! Or better, grow it. You’re going to need most of it to keep it all going. Making a lot of money costs a lot of money! And according to the music videos, when you make it big time, being a millionaire means buying nice cars and big houses, right? Well turns out, those are expensive!!! But the money is not as important as the “starting out” part… START! That’s all you have to do. Really. You’ll be surprised to find how few people do. Don’t tell ANYONE what you’re up to either. Don’t reveal your plan to ANYONE! Not because it’s a secret, but because something in the universe happens when you tell us what you’re going to do instead of just doing it. The universe takes it all away and you never start. Tell us what you did, not what you’re going to do. Then you’ll be fine.

Angel: With success comes more attention, is life in the public eye what you thought it would be when you set out?

David: Some kid posted a self made animated movie up on one of those movie sharing websites with characters that looked just like ours. So we made him take it down. Sad, because he was very talented and got a million hits. He called us evil and posted that we are evil all over the internet. Many fans of his movie called us evil too. Should we see him in person, who knows if there’s a danger. But the truth is, if a giant entertainment company or toy company is looking to rip us off (and they are) and sees a kid with imitations of our stuff, they copy THAT instead of ours…and when we go after the said big company, they claim that our stuff is not unique, using those copy cat works as examples. And if we don’t go after everyone, they can claim we are selective. And there’s a lot of copy cats. We work very hard to stop them. So we make a lot of enthusiastic kids with a lack of understanding in the copyright & trademark realm very upset. I don’t like that part. That kid was very talented and the animation was a college final. His professor should have told him way beforehand.

Angel: So how do you handle negative attention?

David: After an art show with Dehara at Giant Robot, a boyfriend of one of the employees, who was apparently helping out, came over to let me know that he hated my work, and that he believed my work missed an opportunity to “say something” to the viewer. (I made drawings of sad fat little kids raised on junk food emerging from video game packaging and internet browsers.)

I was fine with his comments, and after listening as intently as I do to the good comments, I started to move on with a sort of “Thanks for sharing your thoughts” polite kinda way.

Uh but he kept at it, sort of chasing me around and started to add insults such as “if someone gave one of these to me as a gift, I would throw it away” (which is a horrible thing to do, I think. A gift is a gift, good or bad.) Anyway I soon realized, sadly, that my first true live and in-person critic had turned out to be not much more than a drunkard heckler who only wanted to somehow lift himself up by trying to bring me down. I then realized he really was helping out there and his job was to take photos of anyone who bought the art. I always buy a few of Dehara’s pieces when he has a show so as he took my photo, he said stuff like “try to look like you care.” Etc to try to get a rise out of me. I didn’t say anything, and I thanked him for taking my photo. There’s no come back to drunken jealousy, so you should never try. It wastes your energy.

I’m human and a few things bring me down. But a joker like that never could. I felt embarrassed for him, because I know what makes people say such things. It’s the rot you feel when you don’t do your own work. When you don’t do your work and let fear take over for too long, you begin to hate seeing others get theirs done and up on the wall, page, screen, etc.

I only remember him because nobody before him or after him has said anything negative about my work to me in person. Uh, except for some of my past art teachers. If you do your work, and know you gave it your all, and if you live your life the way you really know you were born to, other people’s negativity seems to roll right off.

For news about David’s projects click here and go say hi on G+

Over to you

[shanghai-apartment-rental-m-blog]

The new Introduction to Shanghai’s various housing types

If you have just arrived to Shanghai and want to rent a Shanghai Apartment, the vast available housing and the various types are often intimidating especially if you do not know what you are looking at. The following article will try to introduce you to the wide range of housing types that will be available to you, regardless of the budget or living arrangement you will require, which hopefully will allow you make more informed decisions later on when choosing a home.

Types of housing:

As said in the beginning Shanghai has a variety of housing, but the most common ones for expatriates are:

Shanghai Apartment for rent

These are often separated into two types: With elevator (more modern, built within the last 20 years) and without elevators. Apartment types without elevators are usually no more than 7 stories tall, are older and few can command prices higher than 10,000 unless they are completely renovated and feature interior design. Apartments with elevators are generally the way to go, as these buildings generally are located in compounds with better security, management, insulation and most importantly elevators. Walking up 7 stories in 40 degree heat is no joke, especially with heavy grocery bags. Such apartments can be found essentially everywhere, but most expatriates who have the budget for higher end premium compounds generally choose to stay in the vicinity of Jing’an, Xujiahui, Xintiandi, Hongqiao, Gubei and Lujiazui. We show the latest apartmentson the home page, you can select some for viewing.

Serviced apartments

Serviced apartments, essentially apartments with hotel-like add-on services such as housekeeping, laundry, concierge and potentially breakfast are increasingly popular especially for short-term accommodations over hotels. They provide larger space for similar pricing as hotels and are often cheaper if booked monthly. Many internationally known brands have nowadays opened or purchased existing buildings and converted them into service apartments to take advantage of the market as there has been an increase of sending employees to overseas for short terms of 3 months, rather than year-long contracts. Service apartments are generally found in the same areas where hotel can be found, so in the major business districts and also near the more popular apartment compounds. The only potential drawback of service apartments are that some of the apartments feature only kitchenettes, with electric stoves, no gas stoves and sometimes even no stoves at all if it’s a studio. The cheapest international branded service apartments generally start from 18,000 and upwards for studios. If you want to know the content of a serviced apartment, click on the service-apartments details page

Villas

Generally found in the outer districts, villas are a very popular option with expatriates with families if they can afford it. International assignees that are relocated from their home country by their corporation generally choose this option, as the company will often foot the bill. These villas are generally 3 to 4 bedrooms, with garden in a secure gated compound and often in vicinity to International schools, International hospitals and supermarkets such as Carrefour that carry many imported goods and restaurants geared towards the expatriate population. Furthermore these compounds often come with gyms with pools, saunas and spas, indoor and outdoor children playgrounds and community activities for families. All this doesn’t come cheap of course. Generally villas start at 30,000 RMB per month for 3 bedrooms and can go way up. The main draw are still the International schools that are close by these compounds allowing your child to easily attend school as the inner CBDs are often over 20KM (~40 min drive and over 60 min during rush hour) away. Whilst these communities are often self-reliant with their supermarket, restaurants and other facilities catering to all your needs, the nightlife and shopping and even restaurants options is still sparse compared to the city center. Many expatriate comment that living here often feels like back home or at least similar, compared to the often chaotic city center.

Old house

Old houses exist mostly in the city center, they are often those single mansion-like houses you see in the center. They often are completely newly renovated and are highly popular for expatriates, but sometimes may come with small problems due to the old structure of the house such as insulation, cable lines and more. Nevertheless many newcomers often admire these old houses and some of them are downright luxurious to both see and live in. You can see what we've been talking about since the old house and some of them are downright luxurious to both see and live in. You can see what we've been talking about since the old house.

Through the above introduction, I believe you have now some understanding of the housing types, now if you have discovered also some suitable compounds you are also able to obtain more information the compounds through our [Shanghai compound guide]

As a company with an operating history of close to 10 years, we have consistently provided high-end service by matching our clients with appropriate housings. With more than 10,000 apartment information and existing infrastructure and support system we are able to find and match thousands of past clients with satisfactory housing that matches their requirements and provide superior after-sales service and maintenance. Some of them even became our friends in the process!

As for those who have just joined our website, it is recommended that you spend 5 minutes reading the guide on how to use the website, to better and more quickly find your perfect home.

The number of Apartments in shanghai displayed on our website at present:

In the navigation bar on our website you will be able to see all the different types of all the housing available, namely apartments, old houses, villas and service apartments. After selecting one option one will be able to see the total list of all the available options sorted from the newest to the oldest. One can click into one option to find all of the available information such as pricing of the house, area of the bedroom, bathroom, the buildings over all introduction, geographical location. You can also find these properties on the map directly as well. All of the photos you see in these selections are real ones, often taken by our own consultants. If one of the housings are of interest to you, then simply fill an enquiries form with your contact details, requirements and we will arrange a consultant to contact you at the earliest notice. Speed, service and satisfaction has always been part of our core concept in providing appropriate housing options for our clients.

For more information about renting apartments in Shanghai, please follow our website.

Maxviewrealty, as the historic Shanghai real estate agency, has rich experience and advanced processes in housing rent in Shanghai.