#theres probably even more to this but my mind is running at a million miles an hour so i will have to. come back to this. later.

[frenchonionsoop]

!!CHAPTER 109 SPOILERS!!

WHY ARE THESE PANELS SO SIMILAR. WHY ARE THEIR EYES SO SIMILAR.

Fyodor was lying in this scene, putting up a facade, does that mean Dazai is doing the exact same thing? Both scenes are SO INCREDIBLY similar. Sigma shoots Fyodor in the shoulder, Chuuya shoots dazai in the shoulder, Fyodor tries to appeal to Sigma, Dazai tries to appeal to Chuuya.

The difference here is the appeal doesn't work on Dazai's end, because Chuuya knows him.

His expression at the end is almost begrudging, if he really is even at least partially conscious he would almost definitely be showing more emotion than just slight annoyance after SHOOTING DAZAI IN THE GODDAMN SKULL

[suenitos]

stares at u with my big ol eyes. An au you say

its fuckign dire nunki cause i cant/dont write so a full fledged au from me? probably not.. however i did come up with a few ideas

-after joining the spider society each of spider!dteam's philosophies on canon events are a little different. george would probably be a stickler cause he likes rules and structure sapnap is more flexible and dream is on the miles morales-esque approach of having two cakes and saving as many people as possible. these philosophies shift after a multiverse accident resulting in the three of them being stuck together and like learning from each other and shit. later george is more of an anarchist especially after baby and dream and sapnap like a bit more stability but still not totally completely obedient to canon

-they still all grow up in different places: sapnap in texas dream in florida george in london. this makes their swing and fighting styles a lot different than if they were each located in new york but sapnap's style has a cowboy/american western influence with him using his webs more as a lasso and having gun webshooters. i like the idea of him on a horse too but this depends more if hes in the city or in a rural/suburban area. dream's florida is actually a normal US state (still weird nature going on including spiders) in his universe so he's the ONLY florida man which means he can't be super covert but since he grows up without fear of crocodiles alligators etc like everyone else that works to his advantage as spiderman; also he still runs away from the police as a kid in this universe. george's london is kind of the same as ours in that its big and touristy so no one really pays him mind as a dude running around in a spiderman costume and comic con still exists there. maybe he gets famous off of that as the London Spiderman Cosplayer while still fighting crime and villains as Actual spiderman. he probably has a suit that modifies according to if hes actually fighting or "cosplaying". maybe he gets tiktok famous as The london cosplayer

-their aliases are spidernap spiderdream and errorspider. dream comes up with their names after getting to know them through multiverse missions but before that sapnap and george just go by spiderman in their universes prior to them joining spider society. george occasionally calls sapnap "stinker-nap" or stinknap. george wont reveal which earth he's from cause hes weird like that so dream jokes that hes actually an anomaly. generally dream and sapnap call him george cause in george's london he takes advantage of the Cosplayer thing and decides to reveal his name and somehow it works cause theres a million Georges in england lol

-if the baby isnt actually dnf's: she came from a different Earth and stays in the spider society because her parent abandoned her and they take her in or she's babysat by them for more time than her parent has her (single parent?) so they mutually decide dnf (and sapnap) can take her in and raise her as their own. if the baby IS dnf's: george had her in his universe and co parents her with dream after breaking up with her mother or they mutually adopt her from one of their universes (though i guess legally that would be tricky). before getting her they joke that sapnap is their kid a few years into dating until sapnap gets tired and says they actually should be parents and theyre sent down the baby spiral

-gnfAss is still fucking REALLL even more so in the spiderman suit. dream likes it a lot obviously

-dnf chains but george codes it so they work as communicators across verses

-sapnap still studies compsci in his universe and is still a streamer. george still graduates with a degree in compsci and maybe engineering too. dream is a writer but hes still extremely knowledgeable about coding and had a hpfx on multiverse physics cause he needed it for a book. they dont meet in any of their earths even with the internet :(

-dream initially tried to come out as spiderman to his mom cause theyre close like that but she thought his secret was that he was queer and he chickened out and just rolled with it. she turned out to be accepting (florida still conservative) so he decided to not say anything to not ruin the moment. then he discovered he actually was and added the rainbow soles to his suit ^_^ he had to come out as spiderman later because of the george and daughter thing

this turned out way longer than i was intending lol i swear im normal

[carpexiem]

~ 𝐩𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐝.

𝐬𝐲𝐧. meeting enhypen? at school? never in a million years. or just, a one in a million chance. but piquing nishimura riki's interest? probability: one in 7.9 billion.

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫. idol!niki x student!reader

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧. swearing, just some butterfly-in-stomach inducing romance hehe

𝐰𝐜. 1.4k

𝐚𝐧. literally just came up with this plot after eating good ole pizza,,, confined in my *cold* room,,, as a storm rages outside :D if you'd like a part 2, let me know and ill add it to the list of 15+ wips i have abandoned sadly 😞

you definitely did not wake up, on that fine, mediocre, average morning, miss your bus even after running more miles than an olympic cross-country athlete, get to school 15 minutes late, realise that you- in fact- hadn't done your english essay (hence receiving a very shameful one hour detention after school on friday), just to find out that enhypen was visiting your school.

the universe was doing an amazing job at putting your heart at ease. such a great job!!!

this phenomenon was dumped upon you and your classmates with no warning whatsoever, and to say the least, the wind was knocked right out of your chest, and left you begging for air.

"you are lying, miss. absolutely lying," you jokingly chastised, receiving a shrug and a light hearted expression in return.

"if you don't want to believe me, then do just that," she said, looking you dead in the eyes as you crossed your arms, "but when enhypen walks through that door in approximately," she twists her arm to read her watch, "5 minutes, then you won't be reprimanding me, y/n."

it was hard to believe your teacher, despite the blithe warnings she directed towards your way. enhypen were your favourite kpop group ever, and as any fan would logically and realistically think, them coming over to your school seemed so far fetched. extremely, utterly, 100% impossible.

and as these 5 minutes did come and go, the door opens and a cameraman strolls into your room, followed by the 7 ethereal men who you were convinced you would only meet at a concert, 20 metres from the stage as you could only decipher dancing figures, and not even the glistening smiles on their faces.

you stood there in complete shock, sounds of disbelief and excitement dissipated into the air from your classmates. you could feel your best friend shaking your arm vigorously, chanting "no way, no fucking way!" repeatedly.

they looked so gorgeous up close, their skin seemed to have that extra, heavenly glow that tend to disappear after being processed by camera lenses and blatant editing.

all 7 boys gathered at the front of the room, standing in a line as they introduced themselves and bowed. and god, were they tall.

you had completely zoned out after that, your teachers instructions becoming distant mumbles in your conscious. niki had captivated you, enthralled your being so much because he had no right looking that good in real life. he towered over all of his members, and for once, you were glad you weren't the only tall person in the room (the boys in your class were short on a concerning basis).

"okay 11a, please settle down," it took a while before the class did so, and your teacher continued, "theres a bit of time for a small q and a session, so if you'd like to ask the boys anything, please make sure they are respectful and logical, please."

you wanted to ask a mountain of questions, but your mind seemed to close up at the thought of speaking in front of the boy group. you were too socially awkward for that, and your mouth would probably lace your words with stutters anyways.

"miss, why did they come to our school, of all schools?"

chuckles infected eveyone as your teacher gladly responded, "they wanted to interact with fans more. i won't go into all of the nitty gritty details as time belongs to no man, but there's your answer."

you slipped into your reverie once again, and before you knew it, your class was leaving the room and you were almost left behind before a hand tapped your shoulder. your eyes focused and you realised that your bias was standing right in front of you; your cheeks burned intensely as you sheepishly grinned.

"hey, are you going to come?"

his broken english sounded too cute and you were scared your voice would be the death of you, so you just nodded in reply, before scurrying after the rest.

you were led to the auditorium where each student (and enhypen) were given a collar microphone before being separated from the kpop group. you stood right at the back, staring ahead of you as your mind was filled with everything and nothing. your friend was still buried in insane after shock, and you had to tug at their arm before their mind raced back to planet earth.

rules were said to all present in the room, and you still had no idea what was going on. nudging your classmate, you whispered, "what the hell are we doing?"

he chuckled, leaning towards you to reply quietly "we're filming a kpop dance challenge with them, just something light hearted."

it was either coincidence or fate that the right class was chosen for such content; your class was school-renowed kpop fans, and almost everyone learned every dance released by the korean idols, known and unknown.

your thoughts were cut short as you teacher clapped her hands, grabbing the attention of both the class and the 7 idols.

"okay everyone! we are about to begin filming, please be on your best behaviour; you are aware of the rules," she tilted her body towards enhypen (the unfortunate life of kpop idols, you thought), "and you will be introducing yourself individually to the camera," she then turned towards the class," just say your name and age! now, have fun!"

everyone in the room cheered before a countdown from 3 was mutely signaled, before the cameras began rolling.

for the second time in your life, you heard enhypen present themselves, and you felt totally blessed.

after that ordeal, your classmates began their own brief introductions, you being the last.

"hello i am y/n and i'm 16 years old!" you voice was shaking, and you hoped that it was entirely audible on camera. you smiled widely and you glanced toward enhypen noticing how niki eyes locked with yours almost immediately. you looked away abruptly, you were not about to be put under scrutiny by the toxic fans who were to view this video when it releases. nuh uh.

instructions were said again just for the viewers to be aware, and with no time being wasted, the challenge began.

as the song blasted from the speakers, it took you a few seconds to digest the chords before your brain registered the name. dm by fromis_9.

almost everyone rushed to the middle as they all laughed, dancing almost in sync (shockingly) before the song faded out. a scoreboard was placed to the far right side of you, and both your class and enhypen had scored one point. you were competitive and definitely wasn't going to accept defeat, even by your favourite boy group.

next song, super yuppers by wjsn chocome. this time, no one from enhypen walked to the front, and you knew your class would dominate this round. everyone in your class shuffled forward and danced, your teachers grinning from the sidelines.

more and more songs were played, there were instances where enhypen wouldn't walk out at all, and you guys were leading the challenge by 4 points. it was a time of fun and laughter, you felt as if you needed this much enjoyment after the shitty morning you endured.

the last song came, and you hesistantly walked to the front as your head hung low, trying to recount the steps of the dance. you heard footsteps behind you, turning around to see niki smiling at before he began to dance and it was like something in you switched on and suddenly, the moves rushed back into your conscience as you joined niki, cheers from both the enhypen members and your class filling the atmosphere. the song ended, and the both of you panted, hands resting your hips as you grinned, turning around to walk back. niki held out his fist and you bumped it, catching his wink toward you before he walked away.

you couldn't believe it.

your eyes were probably hallucinating from the lack of sleep last night. that's definitely what it was! you weren't on his level at all, and to think that you caught his eye sounded like a youtube comment from an over obsessive fan.

but as the filming came to an end, the scores announced and your class ultimately won the challenge, you side eyed niki, his head facing downwards as he smiled widely, laughing at something said by the producers. and just as you were about to look away, his eyes locked with yours and he winked once again.

you had undeniably piqued the boy's interest. severely.

[legoshi-plz]

How about birthday prompts (Like how they celebrate your birthday and how you celebrate theirs)?

Warning: NSFW-ish themes (Riz and Bill’s part),

All Characters are adults, around mid-20s here. So basically a couple years after college. Except for Gouhin, Oguma, and Gosha who are their canon ages.

Reader is Gender Neutral

Louis:

Your Birthday:

- Mr. MoneyBags here is going to go all out as far as expenses go.

- Fancy Dinner at an elegant restaurant, picks you up in his ridiculous sports car which you’ve rode in a million times but it’s still exciting. (Also, Louis drives extremely fast. He’s a good driver but if he’s not going at least 30 miles over the speed limit, he feels like he might as well be parked in the street. Also has a bad habit of running red lights and stop signs just because he can.)

- Buys you a brand new outfit just to wear to dinner and has it delivered to you in the morning in a red velvet box with a silk bow. You’re a little uncomfortable with the whole high society scene but you go along with it anyway for Louis’ sake.

- At dinner, he orders for you. He has a bad habit of doing that, even though you’ve told him multiple times you’re capable of making your own decisions. At least he usually orders you something you end up liking.

- Night concludes back at his place, he pulls out another velvet box similar to one from this morning except this box is much smaller which only meant one thing: jewelry.

- “Louis... Are there diamonds in this?”

- “....”

-“Louis...”

-“.... Maybe...”

- You refuse to accept the overly expensive gift, refuse to even look at it. You give it back to him and you could see he’s a little hurt but you assure him you know he means well but everything was just a little too much and you felt out of place.

- He accepts your criticism gracefully even if he is a little frustrated you wouldn’t accept his gift he spent so much time picking out. He promises to tone it down next year.

His Birthday:

- You actually really hate Louis’ birthday because he almost never spends it with you.

- He always works on his birthday, not seeing it as important enough to halt business.

- You’ve tried everything from bribing his assistant to haggling his bodyguards but nobody can get Louis out of his office in his birthday.

- You’ve learned to let it go, and usually surprise him by doing something special the week before.

Legoshi:

Your Birthday:

- All about being sweet. Values time and effort over anything and hopes that you see it that way too.

- Makes you breakfast in bed, he’s a pretty good cook all things considering (it’s a skill he picked up while being a waiter.)

- Takes you out for lunch, the two of you spend the day doing pretty regular couple stuff but you’re just happy to be there with him.

- Your present is something that’s both useful and to your taste, like along the lines of a sweater or cardigan in your favorite color. He makes sure it’s oversized because he knows how much you love to wear his sweaters and he even has your name embroidered in small cursive letters above the heart.

- You love your gift and how the two of you spent the day.

His Birthday:

- You two spend it almost identically, just with he roles reversed.

-Legoshi is still a little uncomfortable with extra attention so if you want to incorporate his friends into anything then you’ll have to be really stealthy about it.

- No surprise parties please, he literally would melt into the floor with embarrassment. Best to take him somewhere and his friends slowly join in organically (or at least, you hoped it came off as organic but it really didn’t)

- “Hey Legoshi, fancy seeing you two here at this restaurant in this reserved section. Mind if I join ya?” By the tenth time that exact excuse was used, the cat was well out of the bag.

- Legoshi appreciates your efforts though, even if he’s not one for attention. He sort of clings to you the entire night, whether it be holding your hand, gripping your thigh, encircling your waist, etc. as long as he’s touching you, he feels calmer and it helps tone down his anxiety.

- Overall, Legoshi’s the type to be fine with almost any birthday celebration (or even none at all) as long as he can be with you.

Juno:

Your Birthday:

- Makes you do something spontaneous for once, even if you’re hesitant.

- Takes you somewhere like Skydiving, or Paragliding, or Bungee Jumping. If you’re adamant about making it to your next birthday not risking your life then she will settle for something a little more mild like Scuba Diving.

- Can not stop gushing about how hot you look in your wetsuit and flusters you in front of the Scuba instructor (he’s an older Walrus and finds it cute to see young animals in love).

- The two of you end up having a blast and you’re happy you went along with Juno’s plan, even if it tired you out completely.

- Once the two of you get home and shower, you collapse onto the bed and fall asleep almost immediately, the exhaustion from the deep diving really taking it’s toll.

- Juno enters the bedroom holding a cake with lit candles and wearing brand new sexy lingerie she purchased just for you to rip off of her. She’s a little disappointed to find you unconscious but she figures it is your birthday and you can sleep if you want to.

- She blows out the candles for you and puts the cake in the kitchen, then she throws on a robe and snuggles up next your slumbering figure.

Her Birthday:

- She wants to travel for her birthday and she can’t think of anyone she’d rather take a trip with more than you.

- You two go somewhere hot and tropical, probably somewhere near a beach (she loves any excuse to wear a bikini and sunbathe)

- You two probably find a bar near the beach and get drunk, her moreso then you because you start to sober up as the night goes on so you’re able to take care of her.

- You take her back to the hotel and tuck her in after helping her get ready for bed. She a giggling, flirty drunk mess the entire time but it still makes your heart soar because you know she had fun.

- Before she falls asleep, she whispers to you that this was her favorite birthday yet.

Riz:

Your Birthday:

- He’s waking you up with morning head, no way around it. You wake up to him kissing your neck, then your collarbone, down your stomach and he just keeps going down until he has you whimpering and falling apart beneath him.

- Then the two of you take a shower together and he’s making you cum for him in a totally different way.

- But once you finally pry his humongous paws off of you, you think you’ll be able to relax but he has other plans.

- He sends you off to the Spa. He’s not going in with you because he wouldn’t be caught dead in one but buys you the best top of the line experience . You enjoy the peace and relaxation but you’re kind of lonely and just want to be with him.

- When you get home, he presents your gift to you which is probably something big and wooden that he made himself because he’s great with his hands and actually an amazing craftsman. Probably something like a intricate Wooden Gazebo outside so you could sit and enjoy your garden.

- “Riz, how the hell did you get this back here without me knowing?” You ask, your arms still wrapped around his neck from where you squealed in excitement, lavishing him with kisses.

- “Built it off site, just needed a few hours to install it,” Riz winked, cupping your ass with both hands and lifting you up so your legs could wrap around his waist.

- “So that’s why you made me spend my birthday alone?” You pouted.

- “Yeah, m’sorry about that, baby. But I can make it up to you...” Riz growled, carrying you inside to the bedroom.

“Wait, I wasn’t done looking at my gift,” you giggled as he began nipping at the fur at the base of your neck.

“Trust me, it’s not going anywhere,”

His Birthday:

- Riz loves nature and outside in general. So for his birthday you plan a camping trip deep in the forest.

- You don’t tell him anything about it, you just make him request two days off of work, no questions asked.

- You two leave early in the morning, drive deep into the forest and then you spring it on him. You also let him know that if he doesn’t like the idea, theres still time to turn back and spend his birthday in the city.

- Not a chance if that happening though, this man LOVES the outdoors. He’s already halfway out the car before you could even put it in park.

- The two of you have a blast setting up the tent, making the campfire, cooking dinner over said campfire, and communing with nature.

- “There’s a river that runs north of here, it’s about a 15 minute walk from here, I figured we could go fishing there tomorrow morning,” You tell him as you sit in his lap, admiring the fire.

- However, the two of you don’t make it there until we’ll into the afternoon and it was a miracle you made it there at all. Riz had fucked you senseless last night, the atmosphere of nature giving him a newfound surge of energy. It’s a good thing no one was around because the two of you were almost embarrassingly loud.

- Anyways, Riz thoroughly enjoys his weekend of wilderness and fucking you like a wild animal all throughout the forest. You enjoy it as well despite the fact he has you almost limping by the end of the trip.

Bill:

Your Birthday:

- Honestly, he forgets. If you wait on him to remember or ‘surprise you’, then you’ll only end up ruining your own birthday.

- If you remind him on the day of, he takes you out to eat at a nice restaurant but it’s still very last minute.

- If you remind him the day before, he’ll at least get you a gift but it’s last minute.

- Overall, if you want to actually enjoy your birthday with him, you better plan it yourself

His Birthday:

- Plans an entire house party himself and invites everyone, it seems, but you. He wasn’t exactly aiming to exclude you, he just thought it’d be a given that you would be there. However, if you didn’t show up, he wouldn’t really notice either way.

- It’s wild and crazy. A ridiculously huge amount of people show up and there’s alcohol coming from every direction, and Bill is soaking up every ounce of the attention.

- Once you finally had enough of being ignored, you go home. You doubt that Bill will even notice you’ve left.

- You’re at home, showered, and about to head to bed when your phone starts ringing. It’s an unknown number so you let it ring out. But then they call back again, and again, and again. Disturbed, you accept it on the fourth call just in case it’s an emergency.

- “Finally they picked up! Y/N? You there?” It was one of Bill’s friends. Apparently in his drunken state, he went into a rage when he couldn’t find you and had been crying for you to come back for almost an hour. He was inconsolable and his friends knew there was only a matter of time before he started a fight at his own party. You were irritated but you still allowed them to drop him off at your place.

- The second you answered your front door, the giant tiger in question was all over you, squeezing you right and asking why you left him. You helped him inside and laid him in your bed.

- He cuddled with you for maybe 10 minutes tops before he was out like a light. You end up falling asleep next to him, finally enjoying a little peace for once tonight.

- That peace doesn’t last long though, Bill wakes up the next morning horny. Like extremely horny. You wake up to him grinding against your thighs, whimpering and begging to let him fuck you. You give in to the belated birthday boy and he proceeds to give you the sloppiest, most sensual, earth-shattering morning strokes of your life. You’re so mind blown by how good he fucked you, you forget about how angry you were with him.

- After a well needed shower, he takes you out for breakfast to apologize for how much of an ass he was on his birthday. You accept but tell him if he ever pulls something like that again, he can look for a new lover.

Collot:

Your Birthday:

- Surprisingly wants to spoil you on your birthday but unlike Riz, he actually minds being apart from you (he’s hella clingy, he just hates to admit it) so whatever activities he has planned, the two of you are doing it together.

- Takes you to a fancy resort, somewhere in the mountains where it’s cold and there’s snow on the ground even during the summer months.

- The two of you attempt skiing but you’re terrible at it and he ends up laughing at you falling majority of it.

- You two also enjoy the giant jacuzzi the lounge has to offer but Collot can not keep his hands off of you and eventually you two have to run back to your room for a midday quickie.

- His birthday gift to you is something simple, like a necklace with your birthstone in it. You love it and allow him to put it on you.

- The rest of the evening, it’s just you and your man, walking along the Snow filled grounds, sipping warm apple cider, and enjoying the break from the rest of the world.

Gouhin:

His Birthday:

- This man wants REST. No need to go all out, his life is crazy enough the other 365 days of the year. Just give him some peace and relaxation and he’s good to go.

- He also loves your cooking and wouldn’t be opposed to you cooking him a huge meal.

- Also loves your body and wouldn’t be opposed to you doing that thing that he really likes in bed ;)

- Your gift to him would be something he can use but also is a little unnecessary. Something like a ridiculously fancy, golden calligraphy pen for his office or a brand new crossbow with genuine leather straps. He’s pretty hard to shop for so it’s always best to go with something he already has, just a newer model.

- Honestly just wants to spend his birthday with his baby (you) as if it’s any other day.

Gosha:

Your Birthday:

- Gosha is so lovable, he’s probably more excited it’s your birthday than you are.

- He’s picked up quite a few skills over the years and baking is one of them. Bakes you a giant birthday cake in your favorite flavor. You’re grateful he was so thoughtful and made such an extravagant cake but there’s no way you’re going to finish this entire thing.

- You end up inviting over friends just to get rid of some of the cake, which they’re more than happy to do since it’s absolutely delicious.

- A few of your friends bring group dishes and fancy wine and soon it’s a whole party underway. The small gathering is actually a blast and you can’t think of a better way to spend your birthday other than surrounded by the people you love.

Oguma:

Your Birthday:

- Mr. Moneybags 2.0

- Gets you a crazy expensive gift like a brand new car and calls it a day.

- Not really much for spending time or celebrating traditionally. But to compensate, he’ll buy you the world (even after you’ve repeatedly told him you don’t need all that.)

- Probably won’t even see you on your birthday because his schedule is so overbooked but sends you plenty of gifts to remind you that he loves you.

- It stings not seeing him on your birthday but at this point in the relationship, you don’t really expect anything else from him.

[dear-space-cadet]

al horford sleeper agent

—————

anyway by now ive told basically everyone i care about but i had a life changing experience over the weekend. n it sounds dumb as shit but i met a real life dude who was basically a clone of nick from franz. weird hours. guess this is a thread

before we start i want to say i havent thought about franz in weeks. theyve gone away on their own finally but really i think my old obsessions just get replaced every few years and maybe it was my hard work in therapy or my new obsession with rap or

maybe it was just a realization or me growing up and maturing or something but i dont even want to work on my favorite fanfics anymore or anything. it’s just odd. i think im changing

and i don’t think about how my former favorite band members are doing or worry about them or check their socials n it feels really good. but i know there probably is or probably will be a replacement

ok that was a tangent. if they were replaced by anything they were replaced by new friends and the NBA. so there’s the exposition of this story sorted

anyway back to the weekend. the sleeper agent invited me to lunch. and that was the catalyst. god people are being so loud in here let me go to the art library

anyway i just kind of realized "huh i guess there's more out there." i went to lunch n shit. WE went to lunch n shit. stopped caring so much about my math homework. let myself be dumb and in love

that’s a very human thing. lunch. he spilled his stupid chipotle burrito all over his stupid bright green celtics jacket

he’s from italy. never even stepped foot in a chipotle. immediately clowned himself. some world we live in

we hung out all weekend. we went to lunch like two more times and we went to dinner. there was this big threat of leaving looming over my head the whole time. i made him walk like a mile on crutches and i feel very bad about it

i don’t know what’s wrong with him. it’s somewhere between a basketball injury and a chronic disability. either way that just made me feel even more emotionally attached to him. i never saw him without the celtics jacket

it was so cold that weekend. or maybe i just didn’t bring the right jacket. if he were a gentleman he would have offered me the celtics jacket. i didnt even hug him goodbye

and then of course he went back home. theres a million girls all over his instagram comments all the time. theres nothing special about me. he doesn't want to talk. i wrote my ap psych notes in green yesterday bc i was so in love with that stupid celtics jacket

im a sixers fan. the sixers and the celtics have been rivals forever. it was about to be war, except i want to move to boston. but really i want to move to dc. i wish the whole world was philly. things would be less complicated

im in love with a celtics jacket. a celtics jacket. of all teams. and i cant even talk to my basketball friends about it because they think im dumb shit for falling for some celtics fan with a million girls all over his instagram comments all the time

im not like those girls. i don’t think im like those girls. but i definitely exactly am

i have an economics test in fifteen minutes. i think one day ill drown in the atlantic ocean.

the test wasnt that bad. i thought about writing this the entire time. i would just zone out and stare and think about the phrase ‘al horford sleeper agent’

because he has to be. why else would someone put a diehard sixers fan right in front of a diehard celtics fan who looks exactly like the guitarist of their middle school favorite band

in reality i should be calling him a celtics sleeper agent because the whole point is that al horford is a sleeper agent for the celtics. but i hate al horford so i guess it’s more funny to include him in the title

i mean how can one player change so drastically like that? al horford was benched for the first time since his rookie season, like, two weeks ago after being traded to the sixers. how does that happen? why *wouldn’t* he be playing badly so his old friends win the title?

al horford’s gotta be retiring in like, three years, tops. he’s working for the celtics, i know it. and my sleeper agent is trying to convert me to a celtics fan

i understand why people make jokes, though. it’s a very human thing to want to go home. al horford just wants to go home. he lived in boston for however many years let me look it up

god whatever it was only three years i thought it was like eleven that just ruined my point

back to the matter at hand though that’s all we’re trying to do. we all just want to feel at home. we’re all just these little things trying to connect somehow. sometimes we are more desperate than others

i think im pretty desperate right now. sometimes i sit in my bedroom and im like damn when do i get to go home? but im home

i didn’t even want to leave dc. it was all star break and there wasn’t even basketball on. so there i was, in basketball purgatory, wizards territory for some god forsaken reason, losing sleep over a celtics fan and not wanting to go home

and when i say i was losing sleep you better believe me. i was so excited to wake up in the morning that i didn’t want to fall asleep. i wanted to be awake forever, endless, running through the city

i’ll get there soon enough. it’ll be with different people. college, yknow. all that. but sometimes i feel like certain things can’t be replaced.

and im acting like a different person lately. im using my phone at red lights just so i can check for a message from the sleeper agent. it’s always one word responses

yes. ok. maybe. some shit like that. a haha every once in a while. he’s not interested and i should stop trying

and then, INEVITABLY, i send something stupid back, a photo of my hand on the wheel or something, and i get left on read

and i know im stupid for it. everyone i know is screaming at me “disco, you’re dumb shit” but i just want to believe for a minute that im loved, im special

I want to feel like someone out there cares about me that isn’t obligated to, yknow? my mom can say she loves me all she wants but it doesn’t feel as good as some italian celtics fan saying it

some hot italian celtics fan mind you

even if he wasn’t hot or italian it would be nice. and actually it would be better if he liked like, ANY other basketball team

except maybe the knicks

but whatever. main point: i know im dumb shit and should stop trying. but it feels good to feel like if i keep trying maybe i’ll be wanted

sleeper agent is just one of those people tho. he’s magnetic and everyone always wants to be around him. dumb as hell in the most charming way ever. my friends are still all making fun of me

i started crying in a pizza place the other night because even the CONCEPT of italy sent me over the edge. i need to stop before i

wait what’s the word

i need to stop before i immortalize him? no, no

i need to stop before i deify him. soon enough he’s going to be a new canonical character in my head and i’ll start making up legends and stories to myself

we barely knew each other. if i deify him i’ll start telling people he offered me the celtics jacket when it was cold out. he’ll become a perfect gentleman. and he wasnt. he was just some stupid hot italian boy in a bright green jacket

im not going to deify him. it won’t happen. but i love the color green. i always say i love yellow more but i think that’s passed. i wear a green ring on my right ring finger every day. im not going to deify him and i still hate the celtics

overall, the celtics are winning the rivalry. i don’t think the sixers have ever truly been “great,” at least outside of philly. maybe allen iverson. wilt chamberlain. dr j? theyve never had like, a dynasty. idk. i don’t think you’d be able to get a sixers jacket in italy.

it’s his birthday today. i should probably text him. i should probably stop thinking about him. that’s just dumb shit, disco youre better than this what happened to a little self confidence every now and again

sure lets say external validation isnt necessary but also i think that’s something the mindfulness crowd made up to sell more planners and tote bags in 2011. it feels good to be wanted

never waste all your time on it sure. know youre still worth it even when you have no friends and there are a million girls all over his instagram comments. but it does feel good to hear “goodness disco i like how much you like the philadelphia 76ers”

my friends are all making fun of me for being on some romeo and juliet shit because he’s literally from verona and he’s a celtics fan and im a sixers fan god damn it disco why does this always happen

i never even read romeo and juliet but i saw the dreamworks adaptation so i guess ive got the story relatively right i know they die in the end. the gnomes shatter into little pieces i think

anyway tangents aside the sixers won tonight. philly is lit up green. why the hell is philly lit up green? the eagles were done like three months ago and the flyers are orange. why is philly lit up green

oh god, he just snapped me. a zoomed in photo of himself with caption that says “76ers” with like five exclamation points

here we go again, everybody

wish me luck

[fan-dumb-trash]

For your consideration: Remile Friends-to-Lovers featuring highschool theater shenanigans and self growth

Part Two Sis Part Three Part Four

Remy and Emile are friends, best friends in fact, but fate has a couple tricks up her sleeve to tear them apart, only to bring them back again. 

This got longer than expected but theres more to the story after this oh yes indeed so buckle up cause part two is gonna be typed tomorrow when it isnt one in the morning so HERE YA GO @happiness-is-regret

Warnings: Divorce, parents fighting, mild panic attack, self depreciation, if there's more let me know!

So its seventh grade aka awkward central because puberty and acne and awkwardness and it's just awful all around and theres lil Remy who is NOT confident at all by anyone's standards

His parents argue a lot and he learned staying quiet is the best way not to get involved or yelled at in the crossfire so yeah

And then you got Emilie who kinda knows what's goin on but not really. He wears tie dye shirts and aviator glasses sometimes until he had to get actual frames over the summer but it was no big cause he was used to glasses anyways

But Emilie is wiser than the other kids and thinks cliques are stupid and he just loves cartoons and english okay stop teasing him for being a lil bit awkward okay STOp

But yeah he doesn't get friends easy and he tries to squirm in other friend groups but it doesn't feel right. Until Remy. Who is incredibly shy believe it or not! They have no classes together but somehow Remy mustered the courage to compliment Emilies pink hair and BOOM FRIENDSHIP

They eat lunch together. Some days it's in comfortable silence and other times its complaining about teachers or PE miles or this brat kid who vandalized a bathroom stall

And Remy starts warming up and realizing maybe the whole world isn't against him. Just because his home is a literal war zone doesn't mean being friends with Emile is doomed.

At the end of seventh grade the duos lunchtime friendship is going great! Emile is starting to get into cartoons and their convos are “OMG OKAY SO VOLTRON SEASON 2 IS OUT AND IM SCARED REMY I WANT TO CRY FOR MY SPACE CHILDREN ZARKON CAN YEET HIMSELF OFF A CLIFF AND-” “Woah their Em, slow it down sis”

As Remy gets more comfortable there is more teasing and nicknames and laughing but they dont hug and Emile isn't super affectionate but hugs are a thing for friends right???

One day on a weekend it's pretty bad for Remy at home. His parents are yelling and its loud and his breathings picking up and his eyes are shut and he's crying because is it his fault??? Why can't they stop stop stop STOP!

And he has to get out because he cant take it hearing they two people who he loves most fight with each other when they are supposed to love each other and his little brother Janus is sleeping thank god but he needs OUT right fucking now

So he hops out his window and runs. Two houses down and around the corner there's an open field that should probably have a house or a park but low income neighborhoods be like that sometimes ya know?

He runs in the field but then there's trees and a little path but wheres the end and the sun is setting now so he sits and looks at the sky and cries

Emile likes his peace and quiet. Hes and only child but his house gets cluttered with his parents (DOT AND LARRY FITE ME) and their thespian friends on the weekends especially around showtime and tec week so he walks in the field.

So when he comes across Remy he screeches and cusses and they're both apologizing and it's a mess but wait was Remy crying?!?!

So Emile is concerned and sits him back down and they talk. Remy says his parents are probably going to get a divorce and how they've been fighting and all that and Emile starts to understand why he's so sheltered

Remy's crying again so Emile asks “Hey, You can say no but can i hug you?” And Remy nods so they hug and they melt right into itm and they stay there for a while and watch the sunset.

From then on they are attached to the hip. Nothing can separate them. Emile invites Remy over for dinner and out to see his parents shows at the community theater and its fun! Remy kinda gets to be a kid and he has sas now! He sees its okay to be a bit absurd with Larry and how jokes are fine with Dot.

The boys are in the field again after dinner and Emile is talking about Dot and Larry, and Remy cant help but be envious. They're all so happy and perfect and he’ll never get that. He goes home and the glitter fades and he sleeps with music to drown out the shouting but its still there.

Remy says “I wish my parents were like yours. I wish I had that. It's not fucking fair Em”

Emile says “I wish I knew how to help… but I can't. All I can do is offer you a slice of normal and hope you aren't allergic” To which they both laugh. But the insecurity sticks. Remy wonders if he's just going to mess things up later or if him and Emile stop being friends what will happen

And it haunts him. Its summer and his parents get a divorce, but the yelling in person is replaced with battles in court and over text. He has to go to mediation a couple times and Emile is there the next day with icecream and steven universe

Emile starts to notice things. The way Remy's eyes are filled with fire as he banters with Larry or when he rants about things he's passionate about. The way he runs so fast in field like nothing can catch him not even the wind itself. The way his whole face glows when he laughs or how when it's silent with them and the sky, he closes his eyes and hums a song he doesn't know.

And he realizes he's in love and he's so scared because Remy doesn't need romance he needs stability. His world is crumbling and he needs his best friend. And Emilie hides it and surprises himself. Remy doesn't notice the way Emiles hugs last longer or the way he sighs as he walks away. He doesn't notice the stars. His mind is on other things. Remy doesn't have time to feel the same or explore feelings so he doesn't.

Eighth grade things go as normal. Emile is still hopelessly in love. Some nights he cries and some nights he thinks his feelings are finally gone. Some nights Remy sleeps over and they sneak into his moms room and but on stage makeup.

Emile almost kissed him when Remy made him a Jake and Finn card for his birthday. And it was hella cute and cheesy and had “love u babe” on the inside and “happy birthday, bitch” on it and it was classic.

But yeah he totally wasn't disappointed it wasn't Bubbline on the card what???

But then things just… stopped.

Remy stopped going to the field on weekends. He was busy when Emilie wanted to hang out. Em was worried at first that something was wrong at home and that he was lying until he saw Remy around at school with other kids. He was growing his hair out and had a leather jacket and when Emile said hi Remy smiled tight, nodded, and continued to talk to his new friends.

Then he noticed how they were the kids who liked sports or girls or always laughed loud in the cafeteria. He noticed how Remy's sass grew into straight up ego and how his confidence wasn't just with Emile it was with EVERYONE

People waved to him as he walked by. Everyone was “babe” “hun” “sweetie” and “sister” and Emilie felt less special.

And not Eighth Grade was nearly over and Emilie had lost his best friend to the rest of the world. Yes he was happy that Remy was confident and Yes he was happy he made new friends.

But back when Remy needed him, back when they dazzling smile was meant for him, back when the problems were so big you needed two people not just yourself- Emilie could hang on to Remy

But now that Remy didn't need him, he was left for trash. Emilie was heartbroken. He swore to himself he wouldn't let another boy break his heart to the point where cartoons couldn't even cheer him up. He cried when Ruby and Sapphire got married and when Bubbline kicked ass and he prayed for the day when he would have that.

Summer was torture and he never saw Remy in the field. Little did he know Remy was there, just in the trees or wandering at nights when his mom came home yelling and cussing. Emile thought the pain of the divorce was over when Remy was going to court once every 6 months and to family counseling weekly but did it help? No.

Highschool came and Remy climbed to social ladder. He hid the bags under his eyes with sunglasses and kept his pep and sass with starbucks coffee. Combat boots to make him taller.

And Emilie was still alone until Patton came along with Roman. They sat together and then Logan and Virgil joined. Sloane and Corbin who are juniors swung on by. Kai and Elliot would join them the next year and together they became the theatre troupe.

Emilie felt whole with this diverse group of many passions and interests and he couldn't help but smile more. He didn't feel so alone. But part of him still longed for that old friendship he has lost- but there was enough going on to forget it.

Emilie didn't notice Remy staring at him with his fiery eyes when his own friend group were so loud they didn't pay him mind. Remy started to see how the tie die pink haired boy grew up and moved his children with dignity and didn't take their tomfoolery. He saw how he would catch conflicts and mediate them. He saw his goofiness shine through all his actions. And he started to care for this new Emile, but also remember when it was just the two of them. New thoughts lead Remy to think it was him holding Emile back from this all along.

He began to think Emilie was better off without him dragging him down with his million problems. So he too began to embrace to noise and forget.

Next it was Sophomore year when the universe threw them back at each other...

[cnc-hoebayb]

Zoo lights w/ Erick

Day 2 of this little marathon, so have some Erick fluff

I mention a song in this so if you wanna listen to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” like halfway through it should match up with the ending ❤️

.

“Erick, espera!!” You chase after him, slamming the car door behind you. The sidewalks are slick with a clean cover of snow, and at this point you’re basically following his footprints.

He’s already out of sight and you trace his steps with yours. As you turn the corner, the same busy crowd you expected stops you. And at the gate alone with a childish apologetic look stands Erick.

“Tienes los boletos...” he admits and you laugh at his attempt to ditch you. “Lo siento, I’m just excited”

You grab his hand and interlock it with yours as payback, but he doesn’t mind. “Me too,” you admit and start speed walking towards the ticket counter, “so hurry let’s go,”

.

Beyond the gate of the building, you’re met with an endless string of lights and displays. The sidewalks are lined with small lantern like bulbs, and every tree is draped with twinkling orbs.

In the snowy night, it seems like a glistening paradise. You look at Erick and he’s in just as much awe as you are. He’s staring with his mouth wide open and taking it all in. You take your phone sneakily out of your pocket and snap a quick picture of him before he can see.

You glance at it before you put it back into your pocket and, yup, new wallpaper material for sure.

“Es maravilloso,” he says out loud and you can’t help but smile. The two of you come every year and he still reacts the same no matter what. He loved this damn place.

You tug at his hand in yours and point towards the path, “Pa’ alla,” he follows you to the arched walkway tunnel covered in multicolored lights.

The zoo that did this event every year was probably the biggest one you’ve ever been to. Every year there was always something new to see and more to explore of the huge lot.

So when the scenic trail had ended and left you guys to make a decision where to wander, you’d almost break out in a sprint, needing to cover as much ground as you could.

He always let you pick first, so this time you opted for the hot cocoa stand by the penguin habitats. You zoom to make it before the line got too long and wait excitedly for your drink.

“Im so cold,” Erick hops in place to keep himself warm, “Baila conmigo.” He demands and you laugh at him, “Erick, what the hell?? Por que?”

He shivers like a chihuahua and blows warm air into his hands, “Because i can’t wait for this hot cocoa and i need to be warm right n Ow....So please dance with me.” You want to protest but he always had a way of making you feel like you needed to protect him, so you take his hand and start to twirl around with him.

You both spin back and forth, the small movements already making it feel a little warmer. He holds you close and it’s a little mix of bachata and something else you can’t quite explain. His shivering stops and starts to make up a random tune for you to dance to, humming and singing nonsense words out loud.

You bump into each other after a spin and almost knock into the people behind you. They give an angry look and you guys try not to laugh at the situation. You decide to stop dancing and instead quickly step up next in line at the stand.

With warm drinks in hand, and an energetic start to the night, you’re ready to roam.

You make way from the lion enclosure, all the way to the sea otters, stopping in between to see the pandas. Each exhibit had an array of lights and decorations surrounding the outside of the animals’ walls, all even with cute light up cartoons.

“Toma un foto,” you heard Erick say from behind you. You turn to see him squatting down in front of the lit up monkey characters, making a million different faces and constantly changing poses.

“I’m sending these to the boys,” you snap some good ones and start running in the opposite direction. “T/N doNT-“ he starts chasing you into the distance.

You make way to where a little local band is playing Christmas music by a carousel. Kids are running around playing in the snow and everyone else is dancing around having fun. Erick catches up to you and takes in the scene.

“Have they always had a carousel??” You look at the structure in shock, not knowing if you were hallucinating things. “I feel like it’s oddly familiar but i have no idea,” you finish and Erick chimes in with a “wooooww”

You look at him confused, “what?” You say as he crosses his arms. “Tú no recuerdes, dont you?” His tone is defensive and you laugh at him. “Noo, why’s it such a big deal?”

“Woooowww,” he continues and starts walking in a big circle, making a damn scene. “Erick stop iT” you get embarassed and jump on his back to quiet him down. He grabs on to your legs to hold you up on him and piggy backs you to the carousel.

He plops you down next to a giraffe and a purple dragon. “See now this looks familiar for some reason,” you touch the dragon with a playful smile and he rolls his eyes. “Bro stop doing that if you’re not gonna tell me what’s going on,” you jump onto the giraffe and wait for him to talk.

“3 years ago,” he starts, waiting for you like he wanted you to finish his sentence. “Yes....?” You question and he grunts frustratedly again. There’s nothing left for you to do but laugh because you’re so confused and he’s being so annoying like this. He won’t let it go.

He jumps onto the dragon next to you and leans on the pole on his side. “We were here 3 years ago with all of our friends,” he explains and you nod “ya i remember.”

“Good, so you remember that was when we first started going out, right?” A lightbulb flashes in your head and it rushes back to you. “YES! It was like our first date with our friends with us i think,” he claps his hands and sighs with relief. “Sí sí, so you at least remember that,”

You look around the carousel and it’s surroundings to piece together more of the memory. Every thing around you makes it feel like deja vu, and it pours back when the band starts playing the next song.

“Have yourself,

A merry little Christmas..”

Your eyes light up and you look up at Erick across from you. “I remember, this song that night-“ he stops to listen and his cheeks blush.

“I almost forgot this song was playing,” he says and the carousel starts up out of nowhere, lights flashing on and the floor begins to spin. You start to retell the story as you remember more and more.

“It was the end of the night and it was about to close,” the animals you’re seated on start moving up and down so you’re talking to him from different angles. “And we came here for one last ride before we left,”

“You basically ran to this giraffe,” he added to your story, “you didn’t want any kids to steal it.” You laugh as you recollect the thought. “I remember being so nervous for some reason,” you admit on the past. “You held my hand in front of everyone and it made me sooo nervous,”

He gives you the *What can i say* shoulder shrug and you glare at him. “So i didn’t say a word to you the whole carousel ride, i just listened to this song until we stopped.” You point at the band as the keep playing.

“From now on,

Our troubles will be miles away,”

They sing sweetly and it makes your heart glow to remember it all so perfectly now.

“And when it stopped your giraffe was too high off the ground for you,” Erick finished for you. “You wouldn’t admit you were too afraid to jump down so i helped lift you off.” The carousel stops and everyone around you hops off.

“And then my jacket zipper got stuck onto yours and i was so afraid to be that close,” you add and jump down off your giraffe, Erick from his purple dragon. He encloses your hands in his and stops you in the middle of the aisle. “And when i finally untangled us, i remember wanting to touch you so bad that i pretended you had a snowflake stuck on your face,”

He reaches up to recreate how he did it, pushing a piece of hair behind your ear and running his thumb across your cheek. You blush and feel exactly how you did 3 years ago.

“I was afraid to kiss you. I didn’t know if you wanted to or not,” he explains. “But the music was so perfect and so were you, i just had to take the chance.”

“So hang a shining star

Upon the highest bough,”

You see the twinkle in his eye and agree, “the song was pretty perfect wasn’t it?”

You lean in to meet his glance, his finger still tracing the lining of your face. “I was really glad you did that that night,” you wrap your arms around the back of his neck, “i would have never had the guts to do it first.” The band dies down slowly and the carousel lights dim once again.

“So have yourself,”

You plant your mouth to his, feeling the smile on his lips against yours. He sways you side to side to the music and snow falls onto your cheeks. It feels like the first time all over again.

“A merry little Christmas now....”

[kpurereactions]

When Stars Align | Part 1

A/N alrighty, after writing something new, not liking it, fixing it and writing it again i present to you my second fic. Im really excited about this one and I hope you guys will be too, theres gonna be a lot of drama I'm winking  So, without further ado, When Stars Align. 

Pairing: Kim Namjoon x Reader

Rating: Drama, Angst, Fluff, Smut

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4

You felt like it had been hours since you last touched ground, and it had been. It was your official first day of summer break and you spent it flying from your home to your best friends. The two of you had been extremely close since freshman year when you were thrown into a random roommate draw, and you definitely got lucky. She was your other half, and like promised that first night of your freshman year, if you had made it this far the two of you would vacation together the summer before your senior year. 

The flight to Chicago went easier that you thought it would. No stops along the way and you got the window seat. You had only been away from your best friend for maybe 48 hours, but still it felt like a life time and a half and there was nothing more you wanted at that point in time than to touch down and run into her arms. You weren't usually one to get excited over small things, especially things like seeing someone after a short period of time, your childhood proved that none stays forever, but she was able to pull that out of you. 

You couldn't walk fast enough once off the plane, your backpack slung haphazardly over one shoulder and your hands quickly rolling up your headphones. The moment your phone was turned on you started to respond to your friends texts, typing just as fast as you were walking and only looking up to make sure you were still heading in the right direction. You could see it, the exit to baggage claim right in front of you. Your step quickened and your eyes looked back down, typing quickly and in all caps to count down the seconds till you were reunited. 

And then your shoulder hit someone. Your bag hitting the floor you grunted, your eyes not even looking up as you apologized and reached for your bag. You stumbled down only to have it snatched up before you could reach it. 

“Im sorry, I should probably look at where I'm going.” You said, your eyes only leaving your bag after finishing your sentence. 

“Don't worry about it, we've all done it.” 

Your eyes trailed up to the boy in front of you you with a kiddish grin and tick sunglasses covering half his face. Your heart lurched causing you to cough and reach out for your bag. There was something different about that boy. Not different in the way he was strange, but different in the way that he didnt seem like a stranger. You pressed your lips together and looked up at him, nodding your head once before taking your bag from his grip, your fingers brushing slightly making you're spine tingle. You coughed again fully taking the bag from his hands and turned to walk even faster out of the closed off section you were in, your heart now beating a million miles per hour.

You could hardly breath as you were engulfed in the arms of your best friend your mind instantly snapped in one direction. You rocked back and fourth, squealing and not caring who heard you, or which eyes were sent your way. As you pulled away from her your eyes caught his again, slightly peeking out from behind the frosted sliding doors. He retracted the moment you noticed him and  you couldn't help the feeling in your kneecaps that seemed to ache when you saw him. It was strange, but before you could truly think about it you were being pulled away by your best friend. 

You sat there with your head in your tiny hands, kids around you laughing, kicking dirt in your direction and calling you names. It had been like that every day since you had moved to South Korea and every day you cried to your dad to take you home, take you back to where your life started. You were too different for the kids of South Korea. Your face was too thin, your eyes too round and your hair? Well don't get them started on how different your hair was. 

It was one day in particular you remember the most about being in South Korea, the day that changed the way you saw that city and the reason why you never wanted to leave. 

You were on the ground, your knee bleeding as one of the usual girls who was mean to you pushed you over. You could hardly understand what she was saying as she teased and taunted you in Korean, the only thing you could focus on was the trickle of blood running down your leg and meeting the top of your sock. You kept your eyes down, but could still see her loafers walk up to you and her hand reach down to grab your backpack, still talking to fast for you to understand. You jumped slightly as your books pens and your lunchbox hit the ground in front of you. 

You choked back a tear as the girl and her friends laughed when she pushed you on your back, you just wanted to go home. The tears started just as a voice was called out and you opened your eyes to see a young boy running towards you. He was dorky, running like something out of a comic book, but still running your way. You sat up instantly as he got in the girls face and started yell, growling noises coming as he talked quickly. The girls scoffed at him once before looking at you, one kicking a book before they walked away. 

He helped you up and looked at you with sad eyes before holding his hand straight out, waiting for you to take it.

‘What are you? A monster?’ You whispered half in english as you wiped your hands and shirt free of dirt. 

‘Im Namjoon.’ He said slowly, waiting as you nodded to indicate that you understood what he was he had said. 

‘Y/n.’ You said softly. ‘You have a funny name.’ You said after trying to say his name in your head a few times and not being able to. 

He looked down to your knee and pressed his lips together before throwing his small arm over your shoulder and making you walk forward. 

‘Well were friends know so you're going to have to use my name.’ He said still looking at your knee. 

You nodded and stopped, bending down wipe the dirt out of your bleeding knee and trying not to cry at the sting that erupted at your touch. His knees where soon bending with yours as he started pushing a tissue to your leg. You watched as he concentrated on cleaning up your leg, mumbling things about the girls who had pushed you, growling in a way once again when you asked him why he was acting that way.

‘Those girls are so mean. Well, don't worry. There not going to be mean to you any more. Im going to make sure of that.’

You were so lost in thought as your friend rambled on about this and that you hadn't even realized you were puling up outside her house. Shaking your head you got excited again, grabbing your bags out of the back seat and linking your arm with hers as she pulled you towards the front door. You were welcomed excitedly by her parents and was immediately sat down to eat. Something you expected from her mother, but was always surprised by. 

“Okay, y/n. I have a surprise.” Your friend said tapping the table a few quick times as her mother started to clear the table.

“Ooo I love surprises.” You said leaning on your elbows. 

A chuckle came from you as she stood quickly, holding a finger for you to wait as she dashed out of the kitchen. Sitting there awkwardly you didn't know what to do since your friends mom refused your help with the dishes. But thankfully the sound of your friends running made you perk back up as she quickly sat across from you again, now clutching onto a white envelope. 

“So I figured since you know, were here for a few weeks before we run off to vacation that we would need something to do, right?” She started, placing the envelope on the table and running her excited fingers over it. “So. That one band you know I love so much is coming to Chicago in a few days so I thought you and I could go together.” 

“Are you asking me on a date?” You asked smiling, getting excited to be able to do something so fun with her. 

“Yes, yes this is a date, were going to see Bts for our date!” She squealed reaching for your hands.

You were excited, even if you knew next to nothing about these boys you did enjoy their music, and you always loved to tease your friend on just how excited she got about the boys. As the two of you crawled into bed that night and cuddled close she started flipping threw pictures, telling you thinks about each boy in turn. You smiled at Jimin, snorted at Taehyung and awed at Jin. She continued to flip until she landed on a familiar face. You took her phone from her and stared at his face, his dimples making you feel like you knew him. 

“Why is he so familiar?” You said zooming in the picture. 

“Hes familiar because he's a god damn Rap Monster.” She said chuckling and flipping through more pictures. 

You chuckled and shook your head rolling to your back, your eyes getting heavy  as you listened to her softly continue to talk about the boys, but as you fell asleep you started to think about the boy you ran into at the airport and how he also seemed to hold this same presence about him.

[kathryncalls]

springboarding out of the friend zone

Yes, terrible title I know, but theres something I need to type out, something I need to air. Now I write this, it’s so horrendously typical but I’m still typing so lets see whether I can answer my own questions by writing it out. I feel like everyone else on the internet writes stuff that no one ever reads and it helps, so now its my turn.

I am so confused but so happy but so worried about getting my hopes up. Earlier I said that I’m so excited that I’m almost scared, and I know it’s because it’s too good to be true! You’re you and I still don’t know what that means. But you’ve been this ideal thing that I’ve always pushed aside in my mind, wanted to text because I just love speaking to you but have forced myself not to because we’re too good friends. Never in my life have I suppressed feelings because I genuinely couldn’t lose someone. If this weekend would never have happened then I don’t think I would’ve ever said anything. I know I’ve said 100 times that I don’t like her, but at the end of the day, if she was making you happy then I’m ok with that. It made me happy to hear you say that you were cutting the strings with her, I feel like you really do want me, which is so cool, honestly, it’s so surreal, and it’s stupid to say it’s surreal because surely surreal is going into freaking space, I don’t know it feels stupid to call it that either way. You told me how attractive you found me last night, which was adorable, I like that side of you, and I want to see more of it, but I’m still finding it weird. I want you be with you so much, and its something that Ive known would make me happy for a long time but it’s truly something that I’ve suppressed for years which feels weird to say, but I think that’s why I’m finding it weird to call you something less personal and stuff like that, and also to tell you how attractive I find you and what exactly I love about you. Ok, another thing, this is weird because at this point, we should be finding out about each other and getting to know one another, not telling you what I love about you, but because I’ve classed you as my friend for at least 18 months, I feel like we’ve jumped ahead 3 months… Its weird, I want you to take me on a date, but I don’t because its you, its us, but our first date would be so funny, so much fun, you make me laugh, you bring out the worst in me and your bring out the best, you make me happy to be me which is quite something. With him I felt like I was being someone that I was telling myself I wanted to be a little bit. He didn’t treat me like I wanted to be, but I held on and Im not sure why to be honest. I like to be treated like a princess, lets not lie, but I don’t like to be pandered too, I like to be strong in myself, I don’t want to be a house wife (that wasn’t a proposal, hypothetically) but at the same time, I want to cook you a nice meal for when you finish work, or iron your uniform whilst youre in the shower so you don’t have too. Im not a chocolates and flowers girl, Im a leave a note somewhere kind of girl, send me something that reminds me of us. I like to be a real unit with whoever I dedicate myself too, and I really do, when I dedicate myself to someone, now I know that you don’t do clingy, and I might end up coming across that way, its linked to the whole, me sounding pessimistic thing. I’m really really not feeling negative about any of this. I just do not want to screw it up, I can’t, for so many reasons! I can’t lose you as a friend regardless of what happens romantically between so I need to be careful how I tread here because I’m not prepared to lose you. See as I write that and think about it, maybe this is a bad idea because youre not as worried about our friendship as I am, you don’t seem to have these worries which could be such a bad sign, but at the same time, maybe its because you know exactly what you want? Another thing, you’ve told me multiple times that you’ve cheated before, never anything too serious but still, I cant cope with anyone doing that to me, let alone you, how am I supposed to maintain a friendship post breakup if you do that to me, I almost don’t want to give you the chance too…

Another thing. Distance. Realistically, we’ve both done long distance, and you say that the reason you cheated on her was because she wasn’t right, but you didn’t know that to start with, but now youre so sure, which is amazing, and I love that you think I’m right and that this is right, I agree so much, but again, I don’t want to ruin our friendship. ah shit I hate this feeling. And I keep having this argument with myself about whether its perfect or awful timing so here, pros and cons.

Great timing: You’re about to come home from spending 18 months in Spain, you’re not gonna be living at home, you’re probably going to be in London, you’ve got a job, you’re basically set

Awful timing: youre about to start your career, I’m about to move away from London, I’m about to go back into training, you might be miles away from London, our timetables might not match up

If you haven’t already got the jist, I am not letting this end sourly.

ah shit.

Anyway, finally, why I think you’re great: very intelligent, mature but immature, sociable, lovable, loved by mother, confident, amazing sense of humour, understands my love for the arts, cheeky, emotional, genuine, incredible gentleman and so so sexy, I don’t care how cringe it is, no ones gonna read this

we’re apart for valentines day too, which is weird because thatd be a great first date for us.. so do I send a card as a cute little joke, a serious card, or do I not even mention it? You know how much I want you to make all the first moves, I want to be asked out on date, I wanted to be kissed first, I want to be told I’m loved first ( a long way down the line)

Basically I just want to be excited about this and not have a million reasons why we cant do this cross my mind

we can do this,

no one is stopping us

theres no one to look over our shoulders when its just us, we live in the same town so visiting family together and Christmas wouldn’t be an issue

ahh stop taking everything so seriously, I try and run before I can walk, I think that’s where all the making the first move thing comes from, I don’t know

right now the best thing I could think to be doing is just isolating ourselves, running off to a city somewhere and submerging ourselves, without people watching, like you said, without people wondering why we look so happy, why I laugh at everything you say, why we lock eyes and pause for a little too long, (that’s another thing, when we went for lunch that time at Christmas, we kept locking eyes for just a few seconds too long, and please, I put a fucking dress on for you, you wore a suit, could’ve been taken as signs but I genuinely think we both, well I know for me this is the case, but I reckon we’ve deeply suppressed stuff for so long)

Ok ok, you wanna know when it really hit me that I wanted you for real… when you told me about A. Honestly. You’ve always been the one I’ve thought about when I felt shit in a relationship or when I’m alone, I mean please, ask K, he was sick of hearing about you no doubt, but I did love being with K before things got really hard, but that night when you told me about A in the pub, you know me so well, that ive no idea how you didn’t literally hear my heart sink. but again, supressed to and opted for ‘tell me more’.

I wish I could talk to you about all this, but its been a week since we kissed, that’s all, and 2 weeks ago you wanted to be single for a few years and now you want to be with me, easy for you to say when youre alone in a room in spain, homesick, will you say that when you move in with the boys and meet all the air hostesses, why the fuck do I think I can trust you? do I really think I can change you? like really? I want to think that youll dedicate yourself to me but I CANT LOSE YOU, I hope you understand how much this is paining me

you really don’t know this side of me, ive kept it from you on purpose

if I lose you I have no one

look who I turned too when I split up with H, and again with J and with K. you.

Who do I turn to when its you I split up with? Also, a huge part of my just wants a nice house out of the city where we can live together, with a puppy just us, but that's in the future...

Just come home Ben

(if anyone is still reading this, please, do share your thoughts - a very confused 20yo)

[theconservativebrief]

The beauty of the internet is that if you are into something, there is someone else who is into it, too. Instagram is full of accounts with relatively small but devoted followings: not the Kim Kardashian Wests of the world, with hundreds of millions of followers, but people with tens of thousands of followers who are specifically interested in whatever they are posting about: Design. Puppies. Pictures of themselves.

For Maggie Michalczyk, the thing is pumpkins. Michalczyk runs the blog Once Upon a Pumpkin and has 26,400 followers on her Instagram account of the same name. This year, she wrote a pumpkin cookbook, which is filled with pumpkin recipes. Her dog, a cavalier King Charles spaniel, is named Pumpkin.

Last fall, she left her full-time corporate job as a dietitian in Chicago to focus on what had been her side hustle. “I felt like if I just had a little bit more time to dedicate to this, I could do some really cool things that would allow me to partner with brands and really showcase pumpkin in different ways,” she says. “I just really wanted to explore how much more I could push the pumpkin envelope.” A year in, she still works one on one with clients and takes on nutrition consulting projects. The rest of the time, she is all about pumpkins. She is officially a pumpkin micro-influencer.

Confused and intrigued — I have never talked to a pumpkin influencer before, and also aren’t pumpkins seasonal? — I reached out to Michalczyk to talk about pumpkins, as a food, a flavor, and a calling. Our conversation has been edited and condensed.

Rachel Sugar

I haven’t counted, but you have more than 2,000 posts on Instagram, and the vast, vast majority of them seem pumpkin-related. How did you realize there was even an opportunity here? It’s not an obvious job, like doctor, lawyer, firefighter, pumpkin influencer.

Maggie Michalczyk

The first time I can really remember being like, “Pumpkin is my thing,” was in high school or college, in one of those get-to-know-you icebreakers. I think the question was “What’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever eaten?” I was like, “Well, my name is Maggie and my favorite thing that I ever ate was pumpkin.” I forgot what the thing was, exactly. It may have been pumpkin ice cream — just something really standard at the time. But then for the whole rest of the year, everyone just remembered that I liked pumpkin-whatever-it-was, and they remembered me that way.

And then as the first wave of major pumpkin products were hitting Trader Joe’s, I just remember being so excited to go there and then post about all that stuff on Instagram. I think pumpkin yogurts were really big when the first pumpkin craze started happening and it was like, “Let’s put pumpkin in everything!”

Rachel Sugar

When do you locate the first wave of the pumpkin craze?

Maggie Michalczyk

This was 2015. At the beginning, [my Instagram feed] was really, really simple, just me posting products I saw, mainly stuff at Trader Joe’s. But then it became — I don’t want to say a game, because that’s not the right word — but it was really fun to go pumpkin-hunting for things. And it still is. I have seen, in the last two years, people are willing to go miles to find the pumpkin things that they see out there or see on my page.

It’s a really fun conversation on a product level — “Oh, my god, have you seen this new pumpkin product?” — but from a more nutrition-oriented recipe perspective, when I put pumpkin into something unique, I love it when people say, “Oh, my god, I did not know you could do that!” Or if I say, “It’s good for dogs too!” I just love having those conversations with people sharing what they’ve done with pumpkin, how else they’ve used it, and then me experimenting in my own kitchen as a dietitian so I can say, “Hey, it adds texture, flavor, and nutrition to X, Y, and Z.”

Rachel Sugar

So what should I be doing with pumpkin that I don’t know I should be doing with pumpkin?

Maggie Michalczyk

One thing I’ve been doing a lot lately is a pumpkin green smoothie. For a while, cauliflower was definitely having this moment where people were like, “We need to put frozen cauliflower into smoothies to get ’em really thick!” But I could still taste the cauliflower, and while I like it roasted, maybe I don’t want cauliflower in a smoothie. But pumpkin has a similar effect. It’ll really thicken up your smoothies, and if you mix it with spinach, banana, almond milk, you get that thickness.

I also really like exploring savory dishes with it. I’m actually doing a pumpkin risotto today. I think using it in chili or in a savory pasta is always really good and unexpected.

On the sweet side, I think you can’t go wrong with pumpkin cookies. I just feel like those taste like fall. I think pumpkin bread is quintessential. It just brings up a lot of nostalgia for the season, too. A lot of cozy vibes.

Rachel Sugar

One thing you brought up earlier is this idea that people think of pumpkin as being “basic.” Pumpkin as a category — maybe actual pumpkins, definitely pumpkin spice flavoring — is, in the US, associated with girlish women, usually white ones, who have “unsophisticated” taste. They’re the Ugg boots of seasonal gourds. What’s going on there?

Maggie Michalczyk

I think it was born out of the pumpkin spice latte. Going to Starbucks at any other time is not really associated with being basic, but now you think in the fall, “I’m going to Starbucks to get my latte and maybe I’m wearing yoga pants and Ugg boots.” That idea was a lot more prominent maybe two years ago, but it’s one of those things that sticks. Now every fall, people are like, “it’s basic season again.”

I always try to say, “Hold up. Pumpkin pie spice is not basic. It’s actually a blend of a bunch of different spices that all have good nutritional properties. Look at how complex this is.” Ginger is great for digestion; cinnamon has been studied for lowering blood pressure; nutmeg is a good source of certain vitamins and minerals that are really not easy to come by all the time, so even that little sprinkle that you’re adding helps.

Rachel Sugar

I want to talk about the logistics of pumpkin Instagram for a minute. Are there other pumpkin influencers? I’m not an expert, but from what I can tell, there are a lot of people who have “pumpkin” in their handle, but very few of them are actually posting about pumpkins, as in, the raw material for jack-o’-lanterns.

Maggie Michalczyk

Yeah, I’ve seen that too. If people like my photos and they have pumpkin in their handle, I’ll look because I’m curious, but I’ve only ever seen one other account that had pumpkin things, and it definitely was not showing how to use it in recipes. It was just about products, or it would be sharing memes or basic and pumpkin spice things. It was more like a let’s make fun of it-type thing.

For a good pumpkin Instagram, there’s gotta be that element of — I wanna call it “the pumpkin factor,” or “the pumpkin spice factor.” Let’s use Cheerios as an example. I feel like when people see a pumpkin version of a brand they recognize, they flip out because they’re like, “Oh, my gosh, I love Cheerios, I can’t believe they’re making a pumpkin spice flavor. I need to go find these and try these.”

Or maybe it’s a product just coming out, or maybe it’s new for the season. If a lot of people have not seen the pumpkin product, I kind of have an inkling that the photo is going to do really well, and there’s gonna be a lot of conversation around finding it.

And I think the more unique I can be with putting pumpkin into something, the better. For example, I recently did a pumpkin quesadilla and that, I think, was really successful because people were like, “What? Oh my gosh! I would never have thought of that, I can’t even believe you did that.”

It’s also worth mentioning that any new pumpkin or squash stuff Trader Joe’s puts out is very sought after. They recently put out a butternut squash pizza crust and for that, I saw a ton of engagement.

Rachel Sugar

So you’ll post other squash beyond pumpkins?

Maggie Michalczyk

Yeah. As we head into Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and the winter months, I do talk about winter squash. I definitely incorporate recipes for spaghetti squash, acorn squash, butternut, delicata squash, because I’ve sort of found over the years that a lot of people don’t know what to do with them or how to eat them, or if they’re even good. So while pumpkin is my main priority and my focus, I do think it makes a lot of sense to touch on the other squashes throughout the year, especially in the winter months when they’re in season.

Rachel Sugar

Speaking of seasons, it seems like the big obstacle with building a brand on pumpkins is that, you know, they’re seasonal. And maybe part of that is us, and we should just open our minds, but part of that seems like it’s just nature. How do you keep up a pumpkin account in April?

Maggie Michalczyk

That’s a question I get a lot. My following is really receptive to pumpkin stuff year-round because they are thinking about pumpkin year-round. Even in the summertime, people will say, “I’m starting to think about fall and pumpkin.” In July, they’ll say, “I’m so over summer. I just want to bake with pumpkin.”

I’ll talk about other seasonal vegetables, but I do think what keeps me relevant is that I’ll always have an underlying pumpkin tone or make a reference back to pumpkins. I do think people are looking for them more than we think throughout the year, which is crazy.

Rachel Sugar

How much of your income is coming from pumpkin influencing?

Maggie Michalczyk

In addition to Instagram and the blog stuff, I also frequently go on TV here in Chicago for food things, and in some instances, I also partner with brands for that. So I think, looking at the pie chart of things I do, I would probably say that collaboration for recipes and social media exposure would be maybe half to a little more than half of my income.

Rachel Sugar

So that’s Instagram, the blog, and the TV stuff?

Maggie Michalczyk

Correct. And then the rest … a little bit is from private [nutrition] clients, obviously. Some is just from passive income streams on the blog, like affiliate programs. But I would say the bulk is coming from blog partnerships, Instagram partnerships, and TV segment partnerships.

Being a dietitian, I was lucky enough to have experience interacting with different food brands, so I kind of knew what these companies are looking for in terms of partnering with somebody to get their message across. Brands are obviously looking on Instagram, so it’s nice this season to be considered that type of expert. If a company has a pumpkin product that’s coming out, I think they want to work with me because they know my audience is just as excited about that pumpkin product and they know it’s the right people to speak to.

Rachel Sugar

So let’s say a brand approaches you. What are they asking for?

Maggie Michalczyk

A couple of things, the main one being an Instagram feature on my page of their product if it is a new and novelty pumpkin item that’s just come out. Another really popular way that I partner with brands in the fall is for a giveaway — I know that my followers are extremely excited for the chance to win that pumpkin product sent directly to them. So I will do a feature of the product, I’ll talk about it in my Instagram stories, and then perhaps we’ll do a giveaway of it too. And then recipe collaboration is probably the second most popular project.

Rachel Sugar

This is kind of a weird question, but do you feel … influential?

Maggie Michalczyk

Yeah, it is kind of like a weird thought. I didn’t realize how much of an impact this was having I guess, until I would get messages that were like, “I was just in Europe and I had pumpkin soup and I thought of you!” Honestly, that’s the most common comment I get when someone meets me in real life: I was at the store and I saw all this pumpkin stuff and I thought of you. People will message me different pumpkin things they find, share their pumpkin finds with me, tag me. I do see that it is catching on and that [I’ve developed that] sphere of influence.

Rachel Sugar

And who are you influencing?

Maggie Michalczyk

I think it’s people who love fall in general — the scary movies, the pumpkin picking, the leaves, the baking, the cooking, the holidays. I really do think that’s the bread and butter of it. They love that so much, and when they can see a picture of all of my pumpkins, or a picture of all this pumpkin bread baking, then that resonates with them. It creates a connection: “We all love it so much, let’s celebrate it together.” I think it’s people who are interested in food and nutrition, and who love fall.

Original Source -> On Instagram, there’s an influencer for everything. Even pumpkins.

via The Conservative Brief

[samanthasroberts]

Are smart cities just a utopian fantasy?

Tyler Edell Crunch Network Contributor

Tyler Edell is a technical marketing manager at Oppkey, a developer relations company in San Francisco. He holds degrees in writing and literature from Emerson College and San Francisco State University.

How to join the network

Songdo, South Korea began its life as tidal marshland. Now its leading the charge into the future of smart cities. Once home to small-scale fishing operations, Songdo comprises massive, LEED-certified buildings, an efficient garbage collection system and even an island for rabbits.

The project began in 2000, when 500 tons of sand were poured into the marshland, laying the foundation for architectural achievements like the Northeast Asian Trade Tower, a 68-story building that is now the tallest in South Korea.

While Songdo is nearing completion and the flashy, meticulously designed buildings certainly suggest an eye on the future, much of what makes Songdo impressive lies under the surface. For example, the entire city is connected by an underground network of pipes that serve to funnel garbage directly from residents apartments into the highly automated waste collection plant. The garbage is automatically sorted and then recycled, buried or burned for fuel. This might be Songdos most avant-garde integration, and only seven employees are needed to handle the entire citys garbage.

Songdo has the benefit of being a greenfield deployment, meaning that the citys infrastructure could be designed beforehand, based on the predicted needs of the architecture and residents, instead of being integrated reactively, as is the case with most smart city deployments. Integrating Songdos garbage collection system with cities like San Francisco or New York would take years of legislation and astronomical amounts of money.

Not all of Songdos future-focused initiatives are out of reach for established cities, though. Songdo has sensors everywhere to monitor temperature, energy use, traffic flow and the salt water canal that runs through the city. Sensor prices have dropped drastically over the past few years, allowing an unprecedented degree of connection even to established cities. Still, most cities have been reluctant to roll out full-fledged initiatives for smart city deployments. Theres great optimism surrounding the smart city discussion, but that optimism seems to wilt whenever someone asks Whos going to fund this?

The city certainly isnt going to, at least in the case of San Francisco. While SF does have an outrageous $9.6 billion budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, most of that will be funneled toward the mismanagement of the citys disastrous infrastructure. Its a fair question to ask why they cant dedicate a portion of that budget to smart city initiatives, but maybe they were relying on the $50 million Smart City Challenge award from the federal government, for which they were a contender. If they had won the award, private contributions would have been added to the federal award, bringing the total for the initiative to $200 million.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure.

The federal government has dedicated $80 million in new investments toward its smart city program, but that money will be spread out over 70+ cities, bringing the average to a whopping $1.1 million per city. That might sound like a lot of money (it is), but when you compare it to, for example, the average price of repaving one mile of a four-lane road ($1.25 million), it isnt exactly breathtaking. And even if you think the SF municipal government could do great things with more money, keep in mind that its the same government that allows somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people to sleep on the streets, while dedicating $224 million to keeping them off of them.

Current funding for smart city initiatives is only good enough for proof-of-concept trials, which would lead, at best, to a piecemeal approach to smart city construction. The reluctance is understandable Songdo cost roughly $35 billion to build from scratch but without genuine investment in changing the infrastructure of a city to fit smart city needs, widespread deployment will be riddled with integration and adoption issues. Maybe the biggest obstacle to its full deployment is one question: Are smart cities profitable?

There have been compelling waste-reduction efforts based on smart city sensor technology, like using sensors in the water supply to mitigate waste. While these efforts have resulted in corking budget leaks, they havent appeared to bleed over into other aspects of smart city deployments. Cities can use smart meters to make street parking easier, but that might actually work against them. If a driver finds a spot, they pay $2. If they get a ticket, they pay $72. Thats why some companies are offering cities analytics to optimize a police officers ability to hand out tickets its all about profit.

Another example: Lets say a city opens its streets to autonomous vehicle rideshares, and that those rideshares catch on. And that they catch on to the point that it eats into the Department of Transportations revenue, so they have to slash public transportation frequency to a point where its no longer viable to maintain a robust public transportation system. They end up having to subsidize rides for low-income commuters, as well as lay off a slew of public transportation workers. In this scenario, the government not only doesnt make a profit, but it has to deal with the headache of transitioning its transportation system and the social upheaval that comes with massive layoffs.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure or engage with, which is probably why we havent heard very much about them. Smart cities seem abstracted from the cities themselves, as evidenced by the unwanted consequences of LinkNYCs free Wi-Fi program. If you arent familiar with LinkNYC, the goal is to replace payphones around NYC with free Wi-Fi kiosks. These kiosks come equipped with tablet-like touchscreens that allow anyone to browse the web. At least they used to.

A few weeks after the program went live, LinkNYC had to disable web browsing on all of its public tablets, for obvious reasons. If it doesnt seem obvious to you, let me list some of the ingredients in this debacle: homeless people, substance abuse, free video streaming and a public space. One of my favorite headlines about this misuse of the project is, Wi-Fi kiosks have become living rooms for vagrants, which was in the NY Post. My favorite excerpt, though, is from the Chicago Tribune: Its free. Thats the best part about it, said a tall man drinking a beer out of a paper bag as he watched an R. Kelly video at a terminal in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood.

That pretty much says it all. The unintended social consequences of smart city projects are a real concern, and a technological imbalance is at the heart of it. Smart cities are clearly not intended for the homeless, but homeless people are a reality of cities you cant just ignore them. Smart cities seem to be taking hold most effectively in areas where theres significantly less income inequality and crime. For example, the United States ranks 63rd on a list of nations by largest income inequalities, while South Korea, where Songdo is located, ranks 129th. The United States intentional homicide rate is also more than five times greater than South Koreas.

Every smart city deployment affects different groups of people in different ways. While some drivers might appreciate the traffic flow optimization that comes with cameras on traffic lights, others will bemoan the surveillance state. A major question to grapple with is how to assuage (usually reasonable) fears while improving efficiency and standard of living. When the Songdo project broke ground, plenty of fishermen lost their way of life, but instead of giving them a bus ticket and wishing them good luck, the South Korean government handed them urban farm plots as a way to keep them going. This is the level of understanding and foresight thats needed for successful deployments.

A common complaint about greenfield smart city deployments is that theyre antiseptic they lack character. When cities are designed and deployed as a single unit, they dont carry the cultural vibrancy of a city built organically in response to the needs and desires of its denizens.

As someone who moved to San Francisco because of its cultural fabric, the piecemeal approach to integrating smart city technology is more appealing than the built-from-scratch approach, even though its less efficient and more expensive. Its the only way to preserve the character of the city. We just have to hope the people who compose the city arent forgotten.

Source: http://allofbeer.com/are-smart-cities-just-a-utopian-fantasy/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2018/04/22/are-smart-cities-just-a-utopian-fantasy/

[allofbeercom]

Are smart cities just a utopian fantasy?

Tyler Edell Crunch Network Contributor

Tyler Edell is a technical marketing manager at Oppkey, a developer relations company in San Francisco. He holds degrees in writing and literature from Emerson College and San Francisco State University.

How to join the network

Songdo, South Korea began its life as tidal marshland. Now its leading the charge into the future of smart cities. Once home to small-scale fishing operations, Songdo comprises massive, LEED-certified buildings, an efficient garbage collection system and even an island for rabbits.

The project began in 2000, when 500 tons of sand were poured into the marshland, laying the foundation for architectural achievements like the Northeast Asian Trade Tower, a 68-story building that is now the tallest in South Korea.

While Songdo is nearing completion and the flashy, meticulously designed buildings certainly suggest an eye on the future, much of what makes Songdo impressive lies under the surface. For example, the entire city is connected by an underground network of pipes that serve to funnel garbage directly from residents apartments into the highly automated waste collection plant. The garbage is automatically sorted and then recycled, buried or burned for fuel. This might be Songdos most avant-garde integration, and only seven employees are needed to handle the entire citys garbage.

Songdo has the benefit of being a greenfield deployment, meaning that the citys infrastructure could be designed beforehand, based on the predicted needs of the architecture and residents, instead of being integrated reactively, as is the case with most smart city deployments. Integrating Songdos garbage collection system with cities like San Francisco or New York would take years of legislation and astronomical amounts of money.

Not all of Songdos future-focused initiatives are out of reach for established cities, though. Songdo has sensors everywhere to monitor temperature, energy use, traffic flow and the salt water canal that runs through the city. Sensor prices have dropped drastically over the past few years, allowing an unprecedented degree of connection even to established cities. Still, most cities have been reluctant to roll out full-fledged initiatives for smart city deployments. Theres great optimism surrounding the smart city discussion, but that optimism seems to wilt whenever someone asks Whos going to fund this?

The city certainly isnt going to, at least in the case of San Francisco. While SF does have an outrageous $9.6 billion budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, most of that will be funneled toward the mismanagement of the citys disastrous infrastructure. Its a fair question to ask why they cant dedicate a portion of that budget to smart city initiatives, but maybe they were relying on the $50 million Smart City Challenge award from the federal government, for which they were a contender. If they had won the award, private contributions would have been added to the federal award, bringing the total for the initiative to $200 million.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure.

The federal government has dedicated $80 million in new investments toward its smart city program, but that money will be spread out over 70+ cities, bringing the average to a whopping $1.1 million per city. That might sound like a lot of money (it is), but when you compare it to, for example, the average price of repaving one mile of a four-lane road ($1.25 million), it isnt exactly breathtaking. And even if you think the SF municipal government could do great things with more money, keep in mind that its the same government that allows somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 people to sleep on the streets, while dedicating $224 million to keeping them off of them.

Current funding for smart city initiatives is only good enough for proof-of-concept trials, which would lead, at best, to a piecemeal approach to smart city construction. The reluctance is understandable Songdo cost roughly $35 billion to build from scratch but without genuine investment in changing the infrastructure of a city to fit smart city needs, widespread deployment will be riddled with integration and adoption issues. Maybe the biggest obstacle to its full deployment is one question: Are smart cities profitable?

There have been compelling waste-reduction efforts based on smart city sensor technology, like using sensors in the water supply to mitigate waste. While these efforts have resulted in corking budget leaks, they havent appeared to bleed over into other aspects of smart city deployments. Cities can use smart meters to make street parking easier, but that might actually work against them. If a driver finds a spot, they pay $2. If they get a ticket, they pay $72. Thats why some companies are offering cities analytics to optimize a police officers ability to hand out tickets its all about profit.

Another example: Lets say a city opens its streets to autonomous vehicle rideshares, and that those rideshares catch on. And that they catch on to the point that it eats into the Department of Transportations revenue, so they have to slash public transportation frequency to a point where its no longer viable to maintain a robust public transportation system. They end up having to subsidize rides for low-income commuters, as well as lay off a slew of public transportation workers. In this scenario, the government not only doesnt make a profit, but it has to deal with the headache of transitioning its transportation system and the social upheaval that comes with massive layoffs.

The social factors of smart cities might be the most difficult to measure or engage with, which is probably why we havent heard very much about them. Smart cities seem abstracted from the cities themselves, as evidenced by the unwanted consequences of LinkNYCs free Wi-Fi program. If you arent familiar with LinkNYC, the goal is to replace payphones around NYC with free Wi-Fi kiosks. These kiosks come equipped with tablet-like touchscreens that allow anyone to browse the web. At least they used to.

A few weeks after the program went live, LinkNYC had to disable web browsing on all of its public tablets, for obvious reasons. If it doesnt seem obvious to you, let me list some of the ingredients in this debacle: homeless people, substance abuse, free video streaming and a public space. One of my favorite headlines about this misuse of the project is, Wi-Fi kiosks have become living rooms for vagrants, which was in the NY Post. My favorite excerpt, though, is from the Chicago Tribune: Its free. Thats the best part about it, said a tall man drinking a beer out of a paper bag as he watched an R. Kelly video at a terminal in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood.

That pretty much says it all. The unintended social consequences of smart city projects are a real concern, and a technological imbalance is at the heart of it. Smart cities are clearly not intended for the homeless, but homeless people are a reality of cities you cant just ignore them. Smart cities seem to be taking hold most effectively in areas where theres significantly less income inequality and crime. For example, the United States ranks 63rd on a list of nations by largest income inequalities, while South Korea, where Songdo is located, ranks 129th. The United States intentional homicide rate is also more than five times greater than South Koreas.

Every smart city deployment affects different groups of people in different ways. While some drivers might appreciate the traffic flow optimization that comes with cameras on traffic lights, others will bemoan the surveillance state. A major question to grapple with is how to assuage (usually reasonable) fears while improving efficiency and standard of living. When the Songdo project broke ground, plenty of fishermen lost their way of life, but instead of giving them a bus ticket and wishing them good luck, the South Korean government handed them urban farm plots as a way to keep them going. This is the level of understanding and foresight thats needed for successful deployments.

A common complaint about greenfield smart city deployments is that theyre antiseptic they lack character. When cities are designed and deployed as a single unit, they dont carry the cultural vibrancy of a city built organically in response to the needs and desires of its denizens.

As someone who moved to San Francisco because of its cultural fabric, the piecemeal approach to integrating smart city technology is more appealing than the built-from-scratch approach, even though its less efficient and more expensive. Its the only way to preserve the character of the city. We just have to hope the people who compose the city arent forgotten.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/are-smart-cities-just-a-utopian-fantasy/

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13th transcriptions

1 n/a

2 n/a 

3 (selective)

I tell you what, you know, if you were an attacking army looking at that bloody thing, it must cross your mind how the bloody hell you’re going to take that lot, like, isn’t it you know? But I think it was more to protect the country from those bloody viking and all the nordsman and what not coming off the sea, like. 

Does anybody live in it, then? 

I expect it’s got a caretaker, caretaking staff I would think. I mean it belongs to the national trust, I would say it’s a listed building wouldn’t you, ey? 

4 (selective)

This is where you turn off for holy island, here. Something seems very familiar about this. Yeah it’s down there, it’s not far down there either. 

5 miles to holy island.

Sorry?

5 mile to holy island.

yeah aye, it’s not far down there. 

5 (selective)

Now then, I doubt we’ll have time to go totally round it, but Berwick is a walled city, as you’ve probably seen on the sign. The wall runs right round it. We park opposite a big part of the wall.

Loads of people driving into Carlisle, it says, ‘Carlisle, a historic city’. And I think, whats historic about it? Is berwick in england or scotland?

Its in england. Yes it’s in england. 

6 n/a

7 

If you look over here, and it goes round in a cirlce, that is where a volcano was, in there. That was the caldera, long gone, many millions of years ago. But that’s where it was. You can now, you see the limestone’s all gone here, it’s all eroded away, but you see how thick it was on the cliffs there? but that’s only the top of it as well, it goes way down. That’s lindisfarne, lindisfarne, it looks small but it’s closer to us than bamburgh, it’s way over there. but my god, could they see some bloody distance from that bugger. This is the black sand, lavarial sand, volcanic. 

8

What this was, is it’s obviously been a harbour, but for what i dont know. It’s either that or it’s been put there to break the force of the water against the cliffs to stop them eroding, they do that a lot. Becuase really i see one ring there s nowehere to tie a boat up is there, I mean you’re going to need a fair few fishing boats here. 

as you’re going through the ages, Limestone, sandstone, limestone, sandstone, and it carries on with the limestone up there, theres just like a crease of sandstone and its gone on, but you can see where the pressure came from cant you? to make the sandstone, theres an even better one up there, but the begining of time is here, like.