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wayward-dreamer · 4 years ago

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Life’s Lessons - Part 6

Title: Life’s Lessons - A Lesson in Starting Fresh

Pairing: Mechanic!Dean x Female!Teacher!Reader (eventual)

Other Pairings: Dean x Lisa, Female!Reader x OMC – Ethan (past, mentioned), Female!Reader x OMC – Mark

Word Count: 7,712 (messages, thoughts, lyrics in italics).

Part Summary: Y/N and Dean try to distract themselves from what happened the night before, despite the fact that they can’t stop thinking about each other. However, after an incident at school between Ben and another student, Y/N makes a difficult decision. Later, as she meets someone who could help her forget about Dean, he finds out what Lisa’s been hiding from him.

Warnings: Angst, Guilt, Alcohol consumption, Some fluff, Mentions of cheating.

Music: Good as Hell by Lizzo (playing in the background as Y/N gets dressed for girls’ night out), Starting Over by Chris Stapleton (Y/N and Mark scene).

Life’s Lessons Spotify Playlist

A/N: I loved reading all of your responses to Part 5, I’m so happy you guys loved it and were surprised and shocked! That’s what I live for hahaha! I hope you guys continue to enjoy this series as we move forward. It’s a bit of ride, but I promise the result is going to be worth it! Thank you so much for all of your support, it really means a lot. Happy reading and enjoy! :)

Life’s Lessons Masterlist

The next morning brought cloudy skies, a gloom that matched the way Y/N was feeling as her eyes fluttered open. She turned her head and looked out the window, frowning as she saw the clouds in the sky. She loved the summer but now with fall settling in, the hopes for even one more day of warmth were over.

The thoughts of Dean hadn’t left her mind since the night before, as much as she tried to not think about him. The way he felt against her, his hard torso against hers, his calloused hands against her skin, the feeling of his muscles against her hands even through his shirt, his lips against hers… it had all stirred feelings within her that she wished she didn’t have for someone who was taken. She couldn’t do anything about the way she was feeling.

As she stood up from the bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she couldn’t help but think about how much more complicated things had gotten. All because she couldn’t keep away from Dean.

She really was in trouble.

The shower turned on, wetting Dean’s hair as he tilted his head into the spray. The water flowed down his back, seeping into his skin. He closed his eyes and stroked the water through his hair a few times to get it soaked down to the scalp. He opened his eyes and stared at the tiled wall in front of him. He couldn’t stop thinking about what happened last night. The way Y/N felt against him, her smooth skin against his calloused fingers, her soft lips kissing his. He couldn’t get her out of his mind; being that close to her turning him on in ways he hadn’t been in a long time.

As Dean finished up in the shower and got dressed for the day, his mind was still on Y/N. However, guilt washed over him. He felt like he needed another shower. Maybe ten. It had been quite a few months since he and Lisa had been intimate in any way. The last time they even tried to start something up, she stopped him before anything could happen, saying she had lost the urge. He knew there were other ways to be close to someone but having been in a relationship for 3 years, and suddenly lacking a sex life in the last few months meant that he was incredibly frustrated. It had been a lot of time with his hand, in the shower or the bedroom when no one was around. He had never strayed however, and he wouldn’t, even if he had a moment of weakness with Y/N. He had stopped himself and he was going to make an effort with Lisa. Then maybe, just maybe, they could go back to the way things were.

Dean walked into the kitchen, seeing her and Ben laughing about some video on her phone, as they ate breakfast. He smiled as he saw her face light up. She was a beautiful woman, and anyone could see that. He cared very deeply for her, always had. It just never became more than that. He loved her but he wasn’t in love with her, but if they tried again, he knew that he could be.

He walked over and watched her lift her head to see him walking towards her. He leaned in and kissed her slowly on the lips, trying to see what her reaction would be. When she pulled away with a small smile, he tried not to feel too optimistic.

“Looks good” he said, as he sat down and piled several pieces of bacon onto his plate.

“It’s probably going to rain, so we can’t go to the park and swing a few bats” Ben informed him, sadly.

“Damn” Dean muttered as he looked out the windows and saw the grey skies. “That’s a shame.”

“I have to run a few errands, so you’re both welcome to join me” Lisa chimed in.

Ben groaned as he pushed the eggs around in his plate.

Dean snickered as he watched him. “Maybe I can call Sam. He’s not working on a case right now; we can drive into the city and all hang out at the big arcade. How ‘bout that?”

Ben’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah, if it’s cool with your mom” Dean said, looking between him and Lisa.

“Sure” she smiled at her son.

“Yes!” Ben pumped his fist, eating his food properly now.

“Thanks” Lisa said as she looked at Dean, with half a smile.

Dean nodded as he tucked in.

It wasn’t much of a reaction, but he would take what little happiness he could get from her.

“Alright, go nuts” Dean told Ben, and watched the kid dash off into the arcade.

Dean turned to Sam and shook his head with a laugh, taking a sip from his beer. They both sat in the adjoining diner, watching Ben through the windows. While he was going crazy on all the games, Dean got the chance to talk his brother.

“How’s Eileen?” Dean asked, his fingers drumming against the bottle to the beat of the AC/DC song playing overhead.

“She’s good, a little tired, but good” Sam replied, taking a bite of his salad. “The new firm’s kicking her ass but she’s kicking theirs right back, so I’m proud of her.”

Dean smiled, albeit a little sadly as he saw how much his brother loved his wife. “That’s great, man.”

There was a moment of quiet as Dean kept picking at the label on the beer bottle, when Sam spoke up.

“I don’t know if I should ask this, but… how are things with Lisa?” Sam asked, tentatively.

Dean huffed, shaking his head. “Pretty much the same as always. If we’re not ignoring each other, we’re fighting about something. I’m trying to be a little more… I’m trying to get us back to some place closer to how we were but… I don’t know.”

Sam frowned, lines forming on his forehead as he worried over what Dean just said. “You’re sure you don’t want to just… end it before things get worse?”

“No” Dean said, too quickly. He looked out the window to see Ben playing Galaga. “I can’t do that to him.”

“Dean, what you and Lisa are doing is worse for him. This way, at least it’s a clean enough break and everyone can move on without too much damage” Sam explained, pushing his plate to the end of the table, finished with his meal.

“I know” Dean said, quietly.

“So, what’s the problem?” Sam shrugged. “Yeah okay, you had some good years, and that’s great but… you can try all you want to get those years back, it might not do anything. Lisa has been emotionally checked out from this for a long time now, and let’s face it, you are too. You’re both just in this for Ben.”

Dean took a swig of his beer but didn’t say anything.

“Dean, you deserve to be happy with the right woman, not miserable with the one who you thought was the right one” Sam said, leaning his arms on the table as he looked his brother.

“Sam” Dean groaned. “Just stop, okay?”

“But, Dean-” Sam started but Dean cut him off.

“You said what you had to say, alright? You made your point. Let’s move on” Dean said, his tone almost pleading.

“Okay” Sam whispered.

“Good” Dean muttered, picking up a few fries from his plate and shoving them into his mouth.

With his brother’s mind preoccupied with the food in front of him, Sam stared at Dean, seeing the turmoil written on his face. His brother was loyal to a fault, but he had seen for a while now how much this relationship was hurting him. He never listened to anyone, not him, their parents, his friends, about breaking up with Lisa. He always cited that Ben was the reason he needed to stay, but there was also another reason that Dean hated to admit to anyone, even himself. Sam could see it, though. His big brother was afraid of being alone.

Sam knew he couldn’t tell Dean to break up with Lisa any more than he already had. He had to realize that’s what he needed for himself, and maybe, he could find peace after it.

Later in the evening, Y/N laughed as she opened her door and walked into the house, Charlie following in behind her. They had just come back from a slasher movie, which hadn’t turned out to be very good, but you couldn’t expect a lot from a B grade film. That didn’t matter though, as they still got to enjoy lunch before that, and were just going to hang out now that they were at Y/N’s.

“God, that guy couldn’t act!” Charlie complained as she sank into Y/N’s couch. She kicked her converse off and brought her legs up. She had instantly made herself comfortable at her house, and Y/N couldn’t be happier with that.

Y/N continued to laugh, nodding as she agreed. “I know! And what about the scene where the axe went through his head? It totally didn’t connect!”

“Right?” Charlie shook her head, giggling.

“Alright, what are we drinking?” Y/N asked as her laughter died down and she walked into the kitchen.

“Whiskey” Charlie replied, quickly without thinking too much about it.

“Ooh, yes. Perfect for this weather” Y/N said, as she looked out the window at the light drizzle.

Y/N brought the bottle and two tumblers over, sitting next to her redheaded friend. She poured a couple of fingers in each and handed her one, clinking their glasses together. They both took a sip and Y/N sat back, smiling contently. It had been a good day, a nice distraction from her neighbor who she had feelings for. Her face must’ve changed when she thought about him for split second, because Charlie picked up on it.

“You okay?” she asked, curiously.

“Yeah” Y/N huffed with a small laugh. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You just seem like something’s on your mind” Charlie shrugged.

Y/N looked away from her and sighed. She was going to flip when she told her.

“I… went over to Dean’s for dinner last night” she started, waiting to get to the point.

“Nice. I hope Lisa was a bit more open than last time” Charlie commented.

Y/N bit her lip nervously, before letting it go. “She… she wasn’t there.”

One of Charlie’s eyebrows lifted up. “Okay…”

“We, uh… we had a great time. We talked a lot about his family, about mine. I… I told him about Ethan” Y/N told her, staring into her glass at the amber liquid.

“Wow” Charlie breathed out. “How did that go?”

Y/N smiled as she thought back to how he told her she was the strongest person he knew. She didn’t feel like she was, but just knowing that he thought that about her made her feel like she could be.

“It went well. In the moment I thought about against telling him, but he just… he made me feel so safe that I told him a little of it” Y/N said, the soft smile still on her face. “Not everything just yet, but I trust him and maybe I can tell him more, eventually.”

Charlie stared at her, knowing her new friend was falling for one of her old friends was incredible to see, but she didn’t want her heart to get broken by the situation at hand.

“Y/N… I’m glad you felt the confidence to tell him. I’m even more happy that he made you feel safe to open up, but… but you have to tread lightly here” Charlie said, carefully.

“I know” Y/N agreed.

“It’s my fault, really. I told you about Dean and Lisa’s relationship, but that was only because of what you said happened at dinner here-” Charlie said, but cut her off.

“It’s okay, Charlie, really” she reassured her, taking her hand in hers. “I know why you told me that. Believe me, I know. It’s just…”

“What?” Charlie knew there was something she wasn’t telling her.

Y/N sighed in defeat. “We kissed.”

“What?!” Charlie yelled, sitting forward as she stared wide eyed at Y/N.

“We had a great time, we were laughing, and he made dessert, and… fuck, it just happened” Y/N shook her head, saying it out loud made it more real, and made the guilt flood in again.

“Y/N!” Charlie yelled.

“I know!” Y/N yelled, burying her face into the couch cushions. “I’m a shitty person.”

“No, you’re not” Charlie told her, helping her off the couch cushions. “We just can’t let that happen again.”

“And I won’t” Y/N vowed. “I think it’s out of my system in the crappiest way possible, and it’s done now. Even if it was the best kiss of my life… I’m done.”

“Really?” Charlie asked, in awe of the statement she just made. “The best of your life?”

Y/N nodded, sheepishly. “It was like… like I was always meant to be there, with him.”

A silence fell as the two friends looked at each other, before Charlie spoke.

“I hate to say it, but… I think that’s where it has to end” Charlie said, as gently as she could.

“I know” Y/N nodded, firmly.

On those final words, the friends moved away from talking about it. Y/N knew that what happened last night couldn’t happen again. It would be hard to let him go, but she had to. She wasn’t going to break up a family. That’s not the kind of person she was. She had a moment of giving in, but it was done and dusted. Swept under a rug, never to see the light of day again. From that point forward, it would be strictly professional. She was Ben’s teacher and that was it. She may be their friendly neighbor, but she couldn’t be Dean’s friend.

She couldn’t have another moment to give into.

Dean smiled as he sipped his beer while sitting on the couch, watching Ben recall the day’s events to his mom. They had a great time with Sam at the arcade, playing all the games and eating junk food. After a while, Ben retreated to his room and Dean knew he’d been listening to his music before going to bed.

Dean walked into the bedroom after finishing his beer, watching Lisa get changed into her pyjamas. He moved up behind her after she took her top off, wrapping his arms around her waist. He leaned down, placing kisses along her shoulder.

“Dean” she said, a slight laugh bubbling up from her. “Stop.”

“Oh, come on, Lis. Ben’s in his room, probably has his headphones on” he said, between planting kisses on her shoulder. “We haven’t in a while…”

“Dean, please” she said, as she pulled away from him. However, when she turned around, she looked a little annoyed. “Maybe… maybe another time.”

Dean was surprised by that, considering she laughed a little when he came up behind her. “Yeah. Okay.”

She moved away from him, walked into the bathroom and shut the door, locking it.

Dean sighed as he changed into a pair of sweatpants and a black t-shirt. He left the room and into the living room, turning the lights off. He dropped his phone on the coffee table and laid down on the couch. It was a familiar feeling as he had done this a few times over the last year. Considering things didn’t go the way he thought they would tonight, he knew it was better to stay away for now. He pulled the throw blanket over himself and closed his eyes.

After some time, he opened them. He wasn’t going to sleep. He lifted his head and looked at the clock on the wall, the time reading 10.30pm. It wasn’t late for him, as he usually fell asleep in the AM on a weekend. He picked up his phone and started scrolling through different things, before an idea came to him. Hopefully she wasn’t asleep yet.

Y/N sat up in bed, reading, the bedside lamp provided the light she needed as it bathed the room in a warm glow. She pushed her red glasses up the bridge of her nose when she felt them falling, flipping the page. Charlie had left an hour ago, which gave her some time to herself and the ability to lose herself in her latest read. As she read, her phone chimed. She frowned, wondering who could be texting her at this hour. She thought it must be Charlie, wanting to tell her some funny anecdote, but her eyebrows furrowed as she picked up her phone from the bedside table and looked at the screen.

Dean: Any chance you’re free tomorrow? We need to talk.

She sighed as she placed her book down next to her and typed out her response.

Dean frowned as he saw what she had written.

Y/N: I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Dean.

Dean: We can’t just ignore what happened, Y/N.

She shook her head. She couldn’t be pulled into this again. She had no desire to talk about it, choosing instead to forget about it and make sure it never happened again.

Y/N: I think that’s exactly what we need to do. Forget it happened. Goodnight, Dean.

Dean looked down at the message and shook his head. How could he forget when she was constantly on his mind? He was trying, had been trying all day, but the fact was he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He couldn’t deny he had developed feelings for her. He told himself he would try with Lisa, but would it do any good? He just needed to talk to Y/N and see whether they were on the same page or capable of getting there, and then go from there.

He decided to put his phone and sleep on it. Maybe things would be clearer in the morning.

Monday quickly rolled around, and Y/N was thankful. School was a good distraction from the drama in her life, even if Ben was there. She was going to have her 8th graders after lunch, so as she ate, she had enough time to look over what she needed to do for class. She was in the middle of reviewing her lesson plans when she heard someone call out her name. She looked up and saw Chuck walking towards her.

“Hey, Y/N, can we talk for a minute?” he asked, politely.

“Sure” she replied, but slightly nervous as she didn’t know what this is about.

As she followed him into his office, she sat down across him as he sat at his desk.

“Don’t worry, it’s not anything to worry about” he assured her, when he saw her looking like a deer in headlights. “I just wanted to ask you how things have been going.”

She sighed in relief, a smile appearing on her face. “Things have been great. Challenging, but I think I’ve handled it.”

“That’s great to hear” he returned her smile. “I’ve had some calls from parents telling me how much their kids have liked you, so all I can say is keep doing what you’re doing.”

“Thanks, Mr. Shurley” she said.

“Ah” he waved a finger at her.

“Sorry” she laughed, slightly. “Chuck.”

“You’re welcome” he said with a small nod.

She quickly left his office with a smile on her face. Hearing that from Chuck was exactly what she needed today. It was the reassurance she needed that coming to Lawrence was a good decision. It was a reminder of why she came here, for this job and to inspire these kids, not for any unnecessary situations outside of school. She really just had to put her head down and do what she needed to and forget about Dean. Even if he did live across street from her, right now, he couldn’t exist.

As she walked from the staff room to the classroom after lunch, she watched kids file into the rooms, ready for the next period. She smiled as she turned the corner, ready to see her students but it dropped the minute she entered the room.

Ben and another student, Tommy, were roughly pushing each other back and forth, some of the other kids in class yelling for them to stop, while others yelled for them to keep going. She quickly dropped her things on the desk and rushed over, attempting to pull them apart.

“Stop it, stop it right now” she said, her teacher voice louder than usual. “Ben, Tommy – STOP!”

She got in the middle, either hand on the boys’ shoulders, watching them breathe heavily as they glared at each other. She thought about sending them over to Chuck’s office, but they’d probably kill each other on the way over.

“You two, sit down right now. We’re going to Mr. Shurley’s office straight after class” she said, sternly.

The rest of the kids were timid for the rest of the class. She had rearranged some of them so that Ben and Tommy were sitting as far away from each other as possible. Things were tense through the whole period, but she was glad that once it was over, Ben and Tommy stayed in their seats as the other kids filed out.

“So, who wants to tell me what happened before we head over to Mr. Shurley’s office?” she asked, looking between both of the boys.

Tommy stared down at the desk, refusing to speak. Y/N knew he wasn’t going to say anything and looked over at Ben. He looked at her with a mournful yet angry look. Clearly it was something bad.

“Tommy was making fun of me, that Dean’s not my real dad, that I don’t know who my dad is” he told her, side eying Tommy.

Y/N’s heart sank into her stomach. This was worse than she thought.

She nodded, calmly standing up from her desk and walking over to Ben. “Tommy, make your way to the Principal’s office, please. You can explain to him why I sent you, and that Ben and I are on our way.”

Tommy rolled his eyes as he got up from the desk, slinging his backpack over his shoulder as he walked out. She was going to be there soon, so he knew he didn’t have a chance to escape.

Y/N took a chair and placed in front of Ben’s desk, sitting down across from him. After a few seconds of figuring what to say, she clasped her hands as she looked at him.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to hear what Tommy said to you, Ben, but what I do know is that what you and Dean have is special. He cares a lot about you, and he treats you like you’re his, doesn’t he?” she said, pausing after she asked him a question.

Ben responded with only a nod.

“Then that’s all that matters. You know your relationship with Dean better than anyone, and what others have to say about it, doesn’t change the fact that you’re a family. That Dean’s your family” she explained, with a small smile at the end.

There was a brief pause before Ben finally spoke.

“I’m sorry that I’ve been quiet in class. It’s just weird seeing you around the neighborhood and our street, and then here, too” he said, looking up at her.

She was shocked. That wasn’t what she expected him to say.

She smiled, softly. “It’s okay, Ben. I’m sure it’s strange for me to be friends with Dean and your mom.”

She added Lisa in only for Ben, because she knew they were far from friends.

Ben shook his head. “No, not really.”

Y/N nodded. She was almost hoping he said it was strange, so that not being around Dean would be a bit easier.

“Alright” she said, standing up. “We better get over there.”

“Am I gonna get into trouble for pushing Tommy?” he asked, as he stood up and followed her.

She frowned, not sure what would happen. “Maybe an after-school detention at most, considering neither of you are seriously hurt.”

“Great” he said, rolling his eyes.

Sure enough, as they discussed everything in Chuck’s office, both Tommy and Ben were going to have to do after-school detention, which Y/N was meant to be supervising that day, coincidentally. Tommy apologized to Ben and then both of the boys were off to their next class, albeit slightly late, but Chuck had already informed the next teachers’ of why they would be late. Chuck told her that he’d call the parents as she left his office. She had literally been there a couple of hours ago, for some good feedback and now this happened. Talk about two ends of the spectrum. Though she had to be thankful nothing worse happened to either of the boys.

The length of time seemed to stretch on forever as Y/N waited for after-school detention to be over. There were couple of other kids in there with Ben and Tommy, who looked like he was ready to run as soon as the time was up.

All of them bolted as soon as she opened her mouth to tell them they could go. Ben gave her a small smile as he walked out of the room, which she returned. He was a good kid and didn’t deserve to be talked about the way he was, no kid did. She hoped it wouldn’t weigh heavily on him after this experience. She quickly packed her own things, putting on her dark grey coat over her dark grey A-line dress, with a deep red belt and collar. She was more than ready to go home herself.

Dean leaned against the Impala, waiting for Ben to come out of the school. He clocked off early to come and get him after he was done with detention, as Lisa was working late. She had called him and told him what happened, and now here was. He smiled as he watched Ben walk out and over to him.

“Hey” he said, putting an arm around him. “You okay?”

“Yeah” Ben nodded.

“Alright, well, you can fill me in on why you had to go to detention on the way home” Dean said, as he opened the car door.

As he was about to get in, he saw Y/N leaving the school, pulling her coat tight around her, protecting herself from the wind. His eyes followed the lines of her legs in her stockings and black heels, shaking his head of the thoughts that flashed through his mind.

“Hey, just wait here, okay?” he said to Ben.

“Sure” Ben replied, not really looking up at where Dean was heading off to, as he got into the passenger side.

Dean jogged up to Y/N, quickly catching up to her. “Y/N!” he called out and watched her turn around.

Y/N was shocked to hear his familiar voice call out to her. She didn’t expect to see him there and swallowed nervously. “Dean, hi.”

“Listen, I know you said that we shouldn’t talk about what happened, but I just… I have to know-” he started but she cut him off, shaking her head.

“You don’t have to say anything, Dean” she said, quietly, her emotions getting the better of her. She didn’t want to do what she was about to, but she had to. “It was a lapse in judgement for both of us. A moment of weakness that won’t ever happen again.”

Dean knew there was truth to her words but hearing them made his heart feel heavy. As much as he was trying in the last couple of days with Lisa, it hadn’t done much for his hopes that they would be fine again. He wanted to talk to Y/N and see if they could work something out.

“I just think-” he started but she cut him off again.

“No, Dean. Just don’t. You have a family. They’re the ones you should be thinking about, not me. That kid over there” she said and pointed to the car where Ben was. “He considers you his family, and I know you feel the same. I won’t break up a family, Dean. I just won’t.”

He looked between the car and her. She was right. He cared about Ben, and he was only in this relationship for him now. To be in his life. Did that mean he had to be miserable with Lisa forever, though? He didn’t know what to do.

“Do you regret it?” he needed to know if she felt the same way as him. He wished he hadn’t done it while he was with Lisa, but it happened. However, remembering how she felt against him… it felt right.

She shook her head, feeling tears prick her eyes. “No. And that’s the problem.”

She should’ve felt regret. She should’ve hated what she did. She felt guilty for it happening but at the same time, she couldn’t regret kissing him. She had never felt a connection like that with anyone she had been with.

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel guilty” she said, before pressing her lips together to keep them from quivering. “Ben’s a great kid. At the end of the day… I have to look out for him as much as you do. I’m not his parent but I am his teacher. I have a sense of responsibility to him.”

He felt a pang in his heart as she looked at him, tears threatening to fall.

“I know you have your issues with Lisa, and I want… more than anything, to say forget it all and take me in your arms, but I can’t. I shouldn’t be thinking about you in the ways that I do. I shouldn’t be thinking about what life would be like with you” she shook her head, everything just spilling out in a ramble of emotions.

“Y/N…” he whispered, slowly putting his hand on her shoulder. He wanted to tell her that he thought the same things.

She gasped, feeling the warmth of his hand radiate through her. She gulped and breathed in deep. She looked at him with a stony expression. She had to put her walls up and walk away. It was the only way to save herself from heartbreak and for him to not feel like crap for what happened.

“I’m… going to step back for a while. You’ll see me around, I know, but we have to pretend like nothing happened. You have to think of me as your neighbor, as Ben’s teacher, and that’s it. We can’t be friends anymore, Dean” she said, as a tear finally escaped and rolled down her cheek.

Dean’s eyes widened as he shook his head. “What? No. Screw that-”

She shook her head when he tried take her hand in his. “It’s too hard to be around you and not be with you, Dean.”

“Y/N” he said, finally getting close enough to her that he could take her hand in his and she couldn’t stop him. “Don’t do this.”

“I’m sorry, Dean. I have to. They’re your family and you care about them; I can see that. And I can also see that you care about Ben. So much so, that you’re willing to stay in this relationship for him” she said, smiling sadly. “You’re a good man, Dean. You’re loyal and you’re trustworthy, kind and loving… but at some point, you have to decide whether what you’re staying in this for is a good enough reason.”

Dean stared at her but didn’t say anything.

“It’s a big decision to make… but I can’t make it for you by continuing the way we have been. It isn’t fair to anyone.” Her voice cracked, slightly shaky but she managed to keep the rest of her tears at bay.

Dean shook his head as he looked at her. Everything she said made sense. Despite it, he couldn’t help but feel his heart sink at her words. Not being friends would feel weird, especially if he saw her around and couldn’t say anything to her. Maybe… maybe they needed this, though. He needed to give Lisa a chance without Y/N being a constant in his life. He told himself he would try, and now he had a proper chance to do so.

“It’s gonna be weird… not talking to you” he said, honestly.

She nodded, looking into his eyes. His beautiful eyes that she always lost herself in. “I know.”

“Take care of yourself, Y/N” he muttered, his jaw clenched, eyebrows furrowed.

“You too, Dean” she whispered. “Whatever you decide… just make sure you’re doing the right thing. For everyone.”

She looked at him one last time, and even though she probably shouldn’t have, she leaned in and softly kissed his stubbled cheek. It would probably be a mixed signal, but she couldn’t leave him there looking so sad.

As she walked away, Dean could feel a tingle on his cheek where she had imprinted her kiss, much like she had on his lips, previously. Watching her walk away made his stomach uneasy, feeling it churn as she got into her car. She would be right there across the street, and he wouldn’t be able to talk to her. He didn’t know how to process that as he walked back to the car where Ben was waiting for him.

When Y/N got into her car, she watched as Dean got into the Impala and drove off, the rumbling of the engine reaching her ears, even from this distance.

As she drove home, she knew she had to make peace with her decision. As much as she wanted to take it back, she had to let him go.

Once and for all.

2 weeks later…

Y/N sipped the last of her vodka martini, bopping her head in time to the music. Next to her, Charlie was doing the same. She was glad when Meg suggested they come out to the city for a night on the town, on Saturday night. She needed a night of good drinks, good music, and maybe even a little flirting.

It had been two weeks since she had talked to Dean in the school parking lot. In that time, she had barely seen him. Just once or twice as she left for work in the morning and so did he, and once when she was coming back from the grocery store. She had seen him with Lisa one night, coming back from what looked like date night. She was glad that things were going a bit better for them, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt seeing them together.

Which is why when Meg had suggested they drive up to Kansas City to go to a bar she liked; Y/N jumped at the chance. As Lizzo serenaded her from her “Badass Women” playlist, she put on a black lace bodysuit and mini leather skirt that came to her mid-thigh, her black lace up heeled ankle boots, gave herself a smokey eye with lots of mascara look and a plum colored lip. She put a bit of wave in her hair, smiling at the way she looked. Charlie had whistled when she opened the door as shrugged on her long black coat, and she had laughed a little nervously when Meg told her she was “totally gonna get laid tonight.” It was her first time meeting the dark-haired woman in person, and she liked her instantly. She had like her even as they chatted over the phone, but it was different now. She seemed like a take-no-shit type of person, and Y/N liked that.

While she wasn’t expecting anything tonight, Y/N felt confident in the way she looked, having caught a few eyes on her already. Being here had given her a confidence she had been lacking back home, because of all the emotional and mental abuse Ethan had put her through. When Dean told her he admired her strength, that she was beautiful and an incredible person, it awoke something in her. She felt different. She didn’t need validation from anyone, but at the same time knowing that she was appreciated and loved by these amazing people she had met, gave her a new sense of belonging. She finally felt like she was exactly where she needed to be.

Meg pushed her way through the crowd of people, a tray of drinks in her hand. She handed her and Charlie their respective drinks, taking the Shirley Temple for herself, as she had made herself the designated driver.

“Y/N, there’s a group of guys over there, and I swore the blonde one is totally looking at you” she said, pointing discreetly over her left shoulder.

Y/N frowned and looked around, sure enough seeing 4 guys around a table like the girls were, the blonde one looking in their direction.

“He could be looking at you, you know. Or Charlie. I mean he doesn’t know you’re both taken” Y/N shot down the idea.

Charlie scoffed. “Yeah, right. All eyes have been on you tonight.”

“Go over there” Meg told her, her eyes lighting up.

“No” Y/N said, shaking her head.

“Do it or I will” Meg threatened, smiling wickedly.

“You wouldn’t, Masters” Y/N glared at her.

“Watch me, Y/L/N” she laughed as she quickly dashed off.

“Meg!” Y/N called out but she wouldn’t be heard over the music.

Charlie laughed as she took a sip of her drink.

Y/N shook her head at her and took a sip of her martini.

Y/N watched as Meg talked to the blonde guy and then pointed over at her. Y/N gulped nervously when she saw him nod. He was looking at her. Shit. Meg quickly walked back over.

“Girl, he’s so interested! Come on, please go over there” Meg was practically shaking with excitement.

Y/N sighed nervously. Was she ready for this?

It had been a year since she and Ethan had broken up. In that time, she had hooked up twice on two different occasions, back home. It had felt good to just have sex for the release she had needed, but it had been a while since she let herself feel something more for a man. Dean was the first one she had felt a strong connection to since Ethan, back when things were still okay with him. Even then, the pull she felt towards Dean was unlike anything she had ever felt. Not with Ethan, or any other boyfriends from the past.

What she felt for Dean… it still hadn’t fizzled out, as much as she tried to ignore it. Maybe this is what she needed though. To get over him.

She rolled her shoulders back and fixed her hair. “How do I look?”

“Sinful” Meg replied, simply.

She laughed, shaking her head at her new friend. “Okay. I’m going.”

Charlie grinned. “Go get him.”

Y/N hopped off the high-top stool and moved through the crowd. As she did, her Y/E/C eyes connected with his, and he flashed her a smile. She smiled back as she reached the table, his friends quickly excusing themselves. As she got closer and could see him properly in the dim lighting of the room, she saw that he had blue eyes. He was only a few inches taller than her because of her heels, unlike Dean who would tower over her no matter her footwear.

“Hey, I’m Mark” he said, offering his hand.

“Y/N” she took his hand and shook it. She didn’t feel a spark just yet from his touch like she had with Dean so instantly, but that was okay.

“I’ll be honest, I couldn’t stop looking at you all night” he laughed, sounding a little nervous.

She felt the heat rise in her cheeks, and it wasn’t from the alcohol. “Well, you’re not so bad yourself.”

“Let me get you a drink” he said, flagging down a waiter. “What’ll you have?”

“Vodka martini” she said, and watched the waiter walk away to get her a drink. She could’ve just gotten hers from her table, but he had offered to buy her one. She couldn’t say no.

“Thanks” she said, smiling at him.

“You’re welcome” he smirked.

“Do you live here in the city?” she asked, as the song overhead changed to something slower, making it easier to talk.

“Yeah. You?” he asked in return.

“Lawrence” she replied.

“So, what do you do, in Lawrence?” he wondered, smiling at her.

“I’m a teacher, 8th grade English” she smiled back.

“Wow, that’s great” he nodded, approvingly.

“What do you do?” she asked.

“I’m a copywriter, for an ad agency” he replied, handing her the glass as the waiter came back to them. He passed the waiter a few bills before he walked away.

She nodded, approvingly, too. “That’s amazing.”

“Not as glamorous as you would think, though” he laughed, slightly.

“Ah, so nothing like a modern version of Mad Men?” she joked.

He laughed loudly, shaking his head. “Definitely not.”

With a break in conversation, Y/N drifted off as the song that started while they were talking, continued. The words hit her as she thought about her life back home, and the life she was making for herself now, starting over in Lawrence. The song spoke of a person to start over with, and while she longed for that someone to be Dean, she knew it couldn’t be.

It don’t matter to me

Wherever we are is where I wanna be

And, honey, for once in our life

Let’s take our chances and roll the dice

I can be your lucky penny

You can be my four-leaf clover

Starting over

“Hey” Mark’s voice bringing her back to reality. “You alright?”

She smiled, nodding quickly. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Just feeling the song, huh?” he asked, laughing.

“I guess” she shrugged.

They talked for a few more minutes before his friends came over and told him they were going to head out.

“I should probably go, too” he said, regretfully. He took out his phone and handed it to her. “Here, put your number in and we can talk some time. Maybe… maybe I can take you out some time?”

She smiled as she typed her number in. A flashback of doing the same thing with Dean’s phone passed through her mind, but she pushed it away. “Yeah.”

“It was nice to meet you, Y/N” he said, smiling.

“You too, Mark” she smiled back, biting her lip.

As he left, she sighed. He was nothing at all like Dean, as she had discovered through their initial conversation. They were completely different in their features, the way they dressed, and the way they talked. Maybe that was a good thing, though. Giving Mark a shot would be the best way to detach herself from Dean. He was adorably cute, and she liked their banter already.

Maybe Mark was what she needed to truly forget about her feelings for Dean.

Dean popped the last bite of his burger into his mouth, humming as the flavors exploded on his tastebuds. He leaned back and took a sip of his beer from the bottle, glancing around the diner. It was a favorite spot for him, Ben and Lisa and they used to come here quite often before things started going sour. Funnily enough, it was Lisa who had suggested they go out for dinner and go there.

Things had been slightly better with her these last couple of weeks. They had managed to have proper conversations without things getting out of hand, and he had even made her laugh a few times. There was still no dice in terms of sex, but he was hoping that would change tonight when they got back home.

Dean looked over at Lisa and Ben sitting across from him, currently having a slight disagreement over him playing games on his phone while they were out and eating dinner.

“Hey” Dean said, interrupting them. “Listen to your mom.”

“Fine” Ben said, rolling his eyes as he put his phone away. “Can I at least get a refill?” He shook his empty glass.

“Yes” Lisa said, smiling slightly.

Ben got up from the table and went and stood in line at the self-serve refill station.

“Thanks” Lisa said as she turned to look at Dean.

“No problem” he said, winking at her.

He smirked when he got a small smile out of her. He couldn’t believe how things were suddenly looking up for them, but he was relieved to not be fighting with her for a change.

Her phone chiming once, then twice got his attention as well as hers. She looked at her phone, but quickly pushed it aside.

“Something wrong?” he asked, frowning.

“No, just my sister. I’ll talk to her later” she replied, shaking her head.

“Lis, it’s your sister. Talk to her, I don’t care” he shrugged, not minding if she took a call.

“No, it’s really okay” she said, her voice shaking a little.

“Lisa, what’s going on?” he asked, starting to suspicious that something was up.

“Nothing” she bit out through gritted teeth.

Dean sighed, annoyed when the phone chimed again. Having spoken to her sister a few times, he figured he’d talk to her and see if everything was okay. He reached across the table and picked up Lisa’s phone.

“Dean!” she protested.

“If you won’t talk to her then let me” he said, looking down at the screen. He glared at the screen as he read the messages. They weren’t from her sister.

Call me when you’re done with dinner.

I can’t stop thinking about you.

I wish you were here with me.

Dean saw that there was no name, just a heart emoji instead. He read the ones on the lock screen, and that was enough for him to get the picture. That was enough for him to know that she was still lying to him. That she had been for more than a year now.

Dean looked at her and saw her face change into fear.

“Something you wanna tell me?” he asked, glaring at her.

-x-

Tags: @flamencodiva @deanwanddamons @winchest09 @katehuntington @akshi8278 @hobby27 @michellethetvaddict @spngirl05 @kyjey @halesandy @440mxs-wife @stoneyggirl @deanswaywardgirl @wonder-cole @that-one-gay-girl @redbarn1995 @marianita195 @babypink224221 @deans-baby-momma @parinarain @thoughts-and-funnies @mandalou29 @castiels-a-winchester @ellewritesfix05 @jerkbitchidjitassbutt @supraveng

#Life's Lessons #Dean x Female!Reader #Dean x Female!Reader Series #Dean x Female!Reader Fanfiction #Female!Reader Insert #Mechanic!Dean #Teacher!Reader #Dean x Reader Fanfiction #Dean Winchester Series #Dean Winchester Fanfiction #Dean Winchester Fanfic #Supernatural Fanfiction

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themonsterblog · 4 years ago

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Sasquatch of the Sierra Nevada

The Shoshone tell of a Jarbidge, or hairy devil; a large hairy, man-eating beast that was thought to prey on those who wandered away from the tribe. Large foot prints have shown up in Shoshone petroglyphs along side deer and other wildlife tracks on rocks along the Sierra Nevada range.

October 1985 in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, 19 year old marine, Butch Young was training at the Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center near Mono Lake, California. His squad was sent into the mountains one night for a training exercise. Butch remarks that that night was cold, there was snow on the ground, and they were patrolling at an elevation around 7,000 to 8,000 ft. The full moon illuminated 2 figures in the trees that, at first, was assumed to be the enemy squad. Upon further observation, Young noted that the figures were acting contrary to how a trained marine would act, giving no effort to conceal themselves, nor could he see evidence of a weapon or uniform. Young’s squad continued to watch the figures from a distance of 25-35 yards. Young states that from that distance he could clearly make out individual fingers of the hand of one of the figures in the moonlight. After a quiet stand off, the figures disappeared into the woods. The next morning, the squad reported to the center, only to find out that the aggressor squad was no where in the vicinity of Young’s squad. They were in fact 2 clicks away. Young said in an interview with the Ohio Bigfoot Hunters: “I saw something that haunted me for over 20 years. After doing some research and after talking to Bigfoot Researchers and some soul searching, I could only deduce and come to the conclusion that what I saw were 2 Sasquatches during a Mountain Warfare Training Operation with the USMC.”

Jaime Avalos is a man who has claimed to have tracked a family unit of the same 3 Sasquatch for over 2 years and across 400 miles. His story began in June of 2006 while driving about 30 miles southwest of Mono Lake in California. He claims that a creature that stood about 7 foot tall crossed the road in front of him. Avalos stated that his first thought was “What the heck is a guy in a gorilla suit doing up at this elevation?” The creature continued into the brush line out of sight and Avalos began to pull forward again when the creature doubled back across the road blocking his path once again. Avalos said then that he could see the details of muscle moving underneath the creature’s dark fur. Avalos felt that had the creature wanted to, it could have easily ripped him from his vehicle and Jaime would be helpless to do anything to prevent it from doing so. Since then, Avalos has found tracks consistently measuring 11, 10, and 8 inches on both the east and west side of the Sierras. In an episode of History Channel’s Monster Quest, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology at Idaho State University and Bigfoot Authority, compared his own extensive collection of supposed Sasquatch track castings to those that Avalos had collected over the 2 1/2 years he had been tracking the group. Meldrum noted the much smaller size of Avalos’ prints, as the average Bigfoot track measures around 16 inches and is relatively flat, unlike Avalos’ prints that have a pronounced arch, similar to human foot prints. Despite the arch and smaller proportions, Avalos maintained that these could not be the prints of a human based on the terrain and circumstances they were found. Dr. Meldrum suggested that since there are almost no records of juvenile Sasquatch tracks, that it is very possible that when young, Sasquatch exhibit more human foot features that flatten and broaden as they mature.

October 2005 in Brown Cone, Sierra National Forest, Joe Walls was deer hunting around 8:30am. After hiking for a few hours he stopped to rest before heading back to his camp. At approximately 11:15, he stood up from his resting spot and picked up his rifle. At that time, a large fur-covered creature with red eyes walked out from behind a tree, they had a moment of prolonged eye contact before the creature swiftly disappeared further into the forest. As he watched the creature run off, he caught sight of movement to his left, he turned to see another two creatures, one large and one small, possibly an adult and a juvenile, quickly follow the first creature into the woods. Walls defends the claim that they were not humans dressed in costumes stating that it was hunting season and would be far too dangerous to be dressed like that in the woods at that time.

Mono Lake 1991, a man records his wife and children playing on the lakeside, as he pans across the horizon, something can be seen walking between rock formations on the beach. The figure wasn’t noticed until 17 years later when another family member watched the film. Stutchman Forensics Lab in Napa Valley, California took the film back to Mono Lake, and despite the shoreline rising 7 feet since 1991, managed to match the site of the film to the current horizon. After taking measurements and further analysis of the film, Video Forensics Analysts Steve Buller and Gregg Stutchmen determined the figure to be under the current waterline and measuring at a height of 6-8 feet.

Despite evidence inconsistent with other Bigfoot research across the country, Biologist John Mionczynski, although a skeptic, does state that the environment of the Sierra Nevadas would be able to sustain a large primate due to sufficient sources of protein with lake trout, deer, and pine nuts as well as proper cover and foliage. The smaller size could be explained as a regional difference and the corridors of movement discovered by Jaime Avalos could be evidence of a omnivorous primate following the ripening of pine cones.

Is there a small breeding family unit of Sasquatch in the Sierra Nevada Mountains? People have been seeing something in the mountains bordering California and Nevada for centuries, but definitive evidence to support their claims has yet to be found. Unfortunately eye witness testimony and physical evidence seem to contradict one another. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization or BFRO continues to record sightings in the Sierras, the most recent being in July of 2020 at Mono Lake. After all of the craziness this year in 2020, there is no telling if 2021 could bring solid evidence of Sasquatch in the Sierras.

#sierra nevada #Sasquatch #jeff Meldrum #monster quest #s4 ep9 #Ohio Bigfoot hunters #bigfoot #bfro #Bigfoot field research organization #cryptozoolologist #cryptid #cryptids #cryptozoology #california #north American cryptid

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lindoig8 · 4 years ago

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A rest and some exploring

Saturday-Wednesday, 1-5 May

After our stint in the desert, we decided we needed to take it easy for a few days to let Heather (and me) recover completely – and to catch up on a few things we wanted to do.

We had to go to the supermarket and pharmacy one day and whenever we are out, we take the opportunity to stock up on wine because it is quite hard to buy wine in quantity in the Northern Territory. We also needed to arrange the repairs to our caravan so called in at a recommended place and booked it in for the day we leave Alice Springs for Gemtree. That was scheduled for a Sunday so we extended our stay here for an extra day and booked the van in for the Monday. The husband-and-wife team at the workshop were a bit strange �� customer relations is definitely not high on their agenda, despite friendliness and pleasant people being mentioned several times in the testimonials on their website – maybe they wrote them themselves. They openly ridiculed us for breaking their cardinal ‘15/25’ rule. They say the roads are so bad around here that nobody should drive with tyre pressures above 15 psi or speeds exceeding 25 kph. Had we complied with their ‘rule’ I suspect we would still be on the road to Alice Springs and would have missed our camel trek entirely. Despite them verging on the offensive, we are told they do good work and do it quickly, so we made our booking and are certainly hoping that the advice is correct.

We also bought a few bolts (so we had some spares) in order to restore our towball and trailer hitch to its correct state. We had lost one of the two bolts holding it in place on our way here and the hitch was hanging at 45 degrees instead of horizontal as it should be. It was quite a ticklish job, but I eventually repositioned everything and inserted new bolts, but tightening them sufficiently was another challenge. In the end, I had Heather holding one wrench to stop the bolt turning while I swung on another one turning the nut until I thought it was tight enough. We will know once we reconnect the caravan and do a few clicks (at 25 kph???) on the rough roads out here.

Thursday, 6 May

Having rested up a bit and caught up (a little bit) with our blogging and email, etc., we had a day out in the West MacDonnells. We called in to Simpson’s Gap for a start. We have been there before, but there were many fewer people there this time and we enjoyed wandering around looking at birds and plants, and we even found some rock wallabies. It is a dramatic cleft in the mountain range and has a wonderful stream and small lake – effectively preventing us from walking through to the other side. The rocks are simply amazing, rugged and beautifully coloured – my photos don’t even hint at how majestic it is.

We called in at Standley’s Chasm next: expensive and so crowded that many of the visitors’ vehicles rimmed the road well outside the huge parking area. It was even worse than last time we visited – and we chose not to stay last time. The same this time! Although people say it is wonderful, we are not into lining up and paying to fight with the hordes that jostle along a path in the hope of seeing something more special that the free, peaceful wonders in the wilderness outside the gates. We just did a quick loop around the carpark to the exit and kept driving.

We drove a short way off the road to eat our lunch and we were surrounded by hundreds of budgies, maybe thousands. They were everywhere – far more than we have seen on other trips – but they are too small and too flighty to get a decent photo of them.

We went on to Hermannsburg but just drove around for a few minutes and out again. We have booked a tour for next Wednesday that will take us back there – and we have seen the area around the mission a couple of times before. The aboriginal settlement looked a lot bigger than I recall but nothing looked new so maybe it is my memory that is fading rather than the settlement growing.

Perhaps the most spectacular thing we saw on the day was Gosses Bluff.

I don’t recall much about it from our previous visit, but it is fantastic. There was one couple having lunch when we arrived, but they left soon after and we had the entire place to ourselves. It is the remains of a massive crater created millions of years ago when an asteroid/meteorite (or comet) a kilometre across crashed into the area with a force greater than a million Hiroshimas. (I have since read that it was a comet rather than a meteorite - that is one big iceblock! - as big as many of the icebergs we saw in the Arctic and Antarctic. And how much bigger it would have been if such a lot of it hadn't melted and evaporated as it tore through our atmosphere.) It created a crater more than 20 kilometres across, but that has now completely eroded. What is left is just the central blip that formed in the same way that a droplet forms when you drop a stone into a pond – a mere 5 kilometres across. It is a circle of hills with some smaller hills inside, but you drive a few kilometres between more hills on the way into the residual crater. I will post some photos as well as two videos I took from the top of one of the hills – yes, I climbed to the very top. Each video covers about 180 degrees, but I couldn’t get into position to make a 360-degree sweep. I will also post another photo taken from a lookout about 10 clicks away that shows what is left of this gargantuan asteroidal phenomenon. We walked around a longish loop path meandering around the base of one corner of the crater and back to the carpark. It really was spectacular.

We called in very briefly at a few other places along the road, but it was getting late and it was after dark when we arrived back at the caravan at about 7.30.

Friday, 7 May

We spent almost all day in the caravan. I had decided to attempt to claim some of the cost of our abbreviated camel trek against our travel insurance and spent virtually the entire day on the claim form. Obviously, insurers go out of their way to make it as cumbersome and difficult for anyone to lodge a claim and NIB is no exception. They would not accept a long email I wrote containing all the relevant details and said I had to fill in their 11-page claim form – helpfully attached. But it is in pdf format and can’t be completed without printing it – and we don’t travel with our printer. More emails back and forth to discover that there is an online claim form that they hadn't told me about. Alas, after spending an hour or two online, frequently having to find 2-year-old emails for irrelevant details, I reached a point where I had to specify what our actual loss was. The only choice you get is to start by detailing the airline you flew with and a raft of information about that – and until you complete that, remembering that we didn’t fly anywhere, you can’t get any further with your claim. More emails to be told that I had no choice but to complete the hardcopy form. I eventually paid the caravan park to print the form for us and more hours went into handwriting all the information in my original email to them – all 11 pages of it! And despite the incident or our claim having absolutely nothing to do with our normal GP (or any other GP for that matter), it is obligatory to have him complete another page and a half of details covering (inter alia) decades of Heather’s medical history. Fortunately, we have a great GP and he agreed to do it so I bundled everything up and posted it to him with a stamped/addressed envelope for him to submit the claim when completed. There was yet another raft of (entirely irrelevant) stuff they require to ‘substantiate’ the claim, but fortunately, I had all of that in electronic form so I have compiled that into a document and will send it all off to the insurer to attach to the claim when Justin posts it to them. That was virtually a full day’s work – and I have zero expectation of seeing a cent as a result. Not that I think all insurers are dishonest rogues, but I am sure they are!!!

We did sneak out of the van for a few minutes to check out the restaurant in the brewery next door to the caravan park – and booked for dinner on Sunday: Mother’s Day and my birthday. We also booked for lunch at a the Ooraminna station in the East MacDonnells for Sunday lunch when we were in the office arranging to have the claim form printed. We love the eastern ranges and there is a lot we want to see out there again – perhaps some of it from Gemtree in a couple of weeks’ time.

While I was swearing at our travel insurer, Heather did some washing and cleaning as well as sorting photos and posting to Facebook and her blog. We seem to fill in every minute even when we are supposed to be resting and recovering from our adventures – or planning and arranging more.

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rainbowgazes-archive · 4 years ago

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i uploaded my own album to youtube today, an album i produced in 2014. it was my first album, it’s not very good, but that’s not what i want to talk about

within seconds the video was monetized by a third party twice. this left me dumbstruck as i, unless someone implanted a memory in my brain without my knowledge, know for a fact i sat down and wrote all 9 goddamn songs on that album. however i knew the reason it happened and it’s because each song uses samples from an open domain library of samples that comes free with mixcraft, a DAW i’ve been using for 4 different versions now for 6 years.

so i loaded up the first song. surprise! it was a single sample that happens halfway into the song. this is frustrating because in their song it’s in the background and in mine it’s basically the lead through most of the song. even then, not only do they sound nothing alike beyond that, the sample i used is going at a different tempo and in the key of B as opposed to the claimant’s song which is much faster paced and in the key of C

the second song literally took me 20 minutes of scouring to find. the only place i could find it and actually listen to it without either being a part of a predatory youtube MCN or getting past a paywall was a video with 70 views using the song. sure enough, it starts with the same sample that one of my songs does. but once again, the songs sound nothing alike beyond that. in this case it’s almost the exact opposite of the previous case: their song is slower and more ambient and uses it as the hook, while mine uses it as just the intro and is a lot faster and heavier.

now i know: sampling is a huge gray area in copyright (as if copyright law isn’t just entirely gray area at this point) and i’m willing to accept that this will probably happen quite a bit with any future sample-heavy projects i may produce, but here’s the kicker: both songs came out in 2017. 3 fucking years after mine.

don’t get me wrong: im not mad because i’m not making money. i have this album up for free on my bandcamp because it’s old and not very good. im mad because its a reminder of how ridiculous it is that we have wasted so much time, energy, and resources on something as sophisticated as a bot that can pick up on audio that’s the same even when the key and tempo are different. im mad because, while this is technically lying about copyright ownership, a company will never get in trouble for filing a false positive and stealing from independent creators. meanwhile, if an independent creator does this, they go to fucking jail. im mad because copyright law has remained largely the same for decades despite the fact that the dissemination of media is so much more fragmented and these giant megacorporations are trying to keep a stranglehold on the market so they can keep pulling in ungoldy amounts of money they don’t need while paying the artists who got them to where they are fucking dirt.

making money myself is hardly a thought in my mind. there’s no money in music unless you get really fucking lucky. but the principle of it is what really drives me nuts. since i released my first album and two other things after i’ve made a grand total of $95 and that’s not a complaint. i am genuinely happy i made over a single dollar. but both companies that claimed my album are owned by parent companies that pulled in over a billion dollars last year alone in revenue. And yet they’re so greedy that they develop technology that steals pennies from independent artists and creators either through “legitimate” claims (i don’t care if it’s technically not legal, 20 seconds of song in a self produced 15 minute video is not worth the entirety of that video’s revenue) or false positives, and we’re just supposed to deal with that. that’s just how life is.

#long post #sorry im just really blown away by how fucking stupid this all is #i didnt link anything because i dont want to seem like im promoing myself

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watch-the-sun-burn-bright · 5 years ago

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The Lightning Thief last show

I had the luck to get tickets to see The Lightning Thief’s last performance on Broadway. Here were some highlights. Spoiler warning.

We had the highest balcony in partially obscured view, but we could see everything, including the band.

Before the show there was seagulls and wave crashing and storms playing in the background.

THE THUNDER OH MY GODS. (Hehe pun)

I knew that it came but it never failed to surprise me.

When each chapter came out for their little solo in Prologue everyone cheered.

The YANK the curtain away and Chris nyooms our and sits like a French babe. The audience goes. BALLASTIC.

He sits there and looked around.

Holy shit was that guy Percy Jackson.

He sits there for around two minutes, meanwhile the audience is still cheering wildly.

He’s almost laughing when he goes “Look...........I didn’t wanna be a half-blood.

Kristen (Annabeth) I think was Nancy Bobofit, I’m not sure, but she and James (Luke) were cuddling the ENTIRE show.

Ryan Knowles Chiron was SO GOOD.

“Their father Kronos-“ “KROOOOONOOOOS!” “Ah. Thank you... Mrs. Dodd’s.”

“He tricked Kronos-“ “KROOONOOOS!” “...into eating a rock. So what did Kronos do?” Mrs. Doods gets real close to his face. “Anyone?...Any student?”

Grover baas. Amazing. Incredible. Inspiring.

Percy sounds so heartbroken when he gets kicked out. Like I’m 6 minutes into the show and I almost start crying. It’s insane.

James as Gabe was amazing.

“Hey Percy how was school?”

“Oh it was great, I went on a field trip, fought a monster, got expelled-Ooh lunch was pretty good.”

Percy throughout the entire show plays with the end of his sweatshirt

(He’s drinking blue Gatorade)

Strong was so pretty. Jayleen was amazing.

Percy cries in the Minotaur were heartbreaking.

“Percy was that a fury?!” “YOURE THE FURRY!”

Poseidon. That’s all.

Annabeth gets wheeled in.

“You drool when you sleep.”

“Augh what happened?” (I don’t remember exactly what she says but it’s something like this:) “you passed out and your friend Grover carried you back to camp and I gave you nectar and ambrosia , but not to much or else you’ll die.” She says that very fast.

You can tell thatLuke is poisoning percys mind from the beginning.

Grover runs on in the middle of Thier Sign half sobbing going “Percy I’m so sorry I’m so sorry”

“Are you ever gonna wear pants again?” “Nope.”

“Heyyyy I’m the smartest girl you know.” Annabeth is play fighting with Luke. “You’re also the toughest girl I know.” “You think I’m tough?”

“Sexist much?” “No, I love girls-.......uh within reason.”

“Wow she’s intense.” “You think she’s intese?” “AAAAAAAAAUGH!” Clairrise bolts on stage.

Toilet paper as the toilet water.

“My dad is Poseidon?...SWEEEEEEEEEEET!”

“Luke. Hermes kids are fast-“ “actually that’s a stereotype... flibergate got it.”

The battle sequences are amazing.

“THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LINE FROM A CLOSING BROADWAY MUSICAL!”

“Not... turning him into a dolphin!”

The Campfire Song is really sweet they’re all just playing around like friends.

The Oracle is AMAZING.

Annabeth sounds so angry when Percy gets a quest.

GoodKid HOLY SHIT. He sounded so angry and sad and malcontented. It was incredible.

More Luke poison.

Killer quest was so upbeat.

She says “Six long years stuck at camp!” Instead of five because that’s how long she’s been playing Annabeth and 😭

“I’ve got mad battle strategy, my mom’ll be impressed. I’m comin on your killer QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEST!!!”

Out of context they’re speeding down the freeway getting attacked by fury’s and then BOOSH!! Red confetti rains down. I was too high up to get any.

Annabeth goddamn loses it at the nuts joke i don’t even know if it was on purpose.

Katie Garder plays The SquirrelTM.

Medusa was so cool.

“What Interesting eyes you have dear... would you mind if I took your picture?”

Annabeth fixes her hair in her knife

Meanwhile Grover keeps poking Uncle Ferdinand.

The staues hold maracas

“Well Athens got mad at Medusa so she tsudncnwkkwlslrkk.” (She starts drinking from her water bottle)

The little scene before my grand plan is so sweet.

“Since you hate me-“ “I...don’t hate you?” “Well...” Percy turned away stubbornly. “You seem to criticize me a lot.”

“Here hold it this way.” “I don’t need a new way to-oh no this is much better.”

MY GRAND PLAN OH SWEET CEREAL IT WAS AMAZING. AND YES I WILL SPEAK IN ALL CAPS TO EMPHASIZE HOW AMAZING IT WAS. HER VOCALS WERE AMAZING. GOLDEN LIGHT GLITTERS DOWN ON HER AND THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE F L I P P E D. THERE WAS APPLAUSE FOR AROUND FIVE MINUTES. IT PUT THE SHOW ON PAUSE.

“To... Mount Olympus...courtesy of Percy Jackson... and Annabeth Chase-“ “no!! The god’ll think we’re impertinent!”

“Oh. We are impertinent.”

Drive was nice.

Bianca diAngalo’s little cameo was awesome.

The voice in The Weirdest dream reprise was so goddamn incredible.

“You do drool when you sleep!”

The Tree On The Hill was so SO heartbreaking. Jorrel Javier was sobbing.

Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth Re-enacted the battle, and Luke and Annabeth had to pull each other back and then Annabethstarted crying in Luke’s shoulder.

“You know, I dabble in music myself. You wanna hear a demo?” “Not really” “No” “Not at all-“ “IM SORRY I CANT HEAR YOU OVER MY SWEET ASS RIFFS”

And holy shit were her riffs sweet ass.

They controlled them like puppets it was amazing.

Cerberus.

When she says “You ain’t never gonna be remembered” Annabeth shouts “no!”

HADES HAD ON A GLITTER JACKET.

“He thinks he’s so cooool with his trident and his Hawaiian shirt and how hE nEVeR ViSIts HiS bRotHeR...”

Percy almost getting dragged into Taturus.

Mmm foreshadowing

Now normally Son of Posiden is my least favorite song but this was really uplifting.

Again. Battle sequence. Cool as hell.

When Percy sees his mom he throws his arm around her.

Then Poseidon comes.

“My my Sally, you look just as gorgeous as the day we met on that beach.” “And you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Oooookay.”

“That’s my dad?”

“That’s your dad!”

“Here mom something for your first sculpture!” She begins to open the box-“Ooohhh you see its uh, Medusa’s head.”

During The Last Day of Summer like sounds so ANGRY and it’s so sad.

Annabeth really did trick luke. (Sorry man no spoilers here)

Percy gets s t a b b e d, no scorpion just plain ol stabbed.

He wakes up

“Wise Girl?...” “Seaweed brain.” I think she cried and hugs him but from my point on view it looked like they kissed.

They were all sobbing in Bring on the Monsters, especially Jorrel Javier.

Like seriously he was going “DRivE jUst DriIiiIiVE”

Rob Rokicki came out oh my god I was crying it was amazing.

I met a good half of the cast, Kristen signed my playbill twice, oops.

If you want a video of the bows, DM me!

#the lightning thief #percy jackon and the olympians #tlt musical #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #many more that i dont feel like putting in

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journeytothenewme-blog · 4 years ago

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So... I had a blog then decided since I wasn't able to update it enough that I was just going to shut it down. Only had 4 posts do whatever. However, I couldn't let them disappeared so I copy and pasted them here

Week One Down

6/17/20

I had my weigh in the other day, yeah, I know, I am a few days late in posting this. That is OK though, I am here now. I did an amazing job my first week back at it. I am down to 276.4 which is a loss of 6.6 pounds for the week. That is freaking amazing, in my opinion. I am aware that a lot of that is probably water weight, but I will take it. Even if it is mostly water it is still a nice feeling to see those numbers go down. It really helps boost the self esteem and lets me know that I am on the right track.

I am part of a lot of WW groups on Facebook to help give me motivation and ideas for my journey. My problem is that I keep seeing a lot of members complaining about not loosing weight or only losing a pound or less on their first week. It makes me wonder why. I have used WW multiple times and have always had success with it. I am wondering if they are going over their points or eating too much fruit (or other zero point foods)? I wonder if they are consuming too much sodium and are retaining too much water? I have no idea but it kind of irritates me that they aren't doing it right, seems odd, I know. Another possibility is that they are working out too much and losing fat but gaining muscle? There are just too many variables and it is driving me nuts. I feel like if I knew what they were doing wrong then I wouldn't make the same mistake. At the same time, I feel like I should just focus on my own journey and forget about everyone else.

My yo-yo weight loss is getting out of hand but at least now I am on a downward trend and moving towards healthy. The hope is that I will be able to continue going down.

Last Day of Week 1

6/14/2020

It is Sunday afternoon. It is the last day of my first week back on Weight Watchers (WW). I am on the Green plan and I feel like it is going great so far. I always do pretty well the first week or two though and then fizzle out. The key is keeping up the momentum and pushing through. I will find out tomorrow though how well I did or did not do this week. Monday mornings are weigh in days and they will show me if my work is paying off or not.

I haven't done much this week in the way of working out. The gyms are just now starting to open back up thanks to COVID-19. I haven't been back yet though. I don't know what is going on with my membership, if it is still active or if I have to renew it. I will take care of all that later, I am content not going for now.

I did by some at home workout things to mess around with. I have some light dumbbell weights as well as a kettle bell. I am going to purchase some more items, like resistance bands and whatnot. It is nice to have access to a ton of workout videos thanks to YouTube so I can do any kind of workout I want from the comfort of my own home. It is nice that the husband works evenings so I can workout in peace on days that he isn't around.

I have been going for walks at night when the weather is cool, giving myself a little exercise. It is better than nothing I suppose.

Tomorrow morning will come soon enough as we will see how well this week went for me.

A couple of days in...

6/12/2020

So I have been at it for a few days now. I started about five days ago. I feel like things are going OK. I have been eating some pretty tasty meals that are healthy too. I haven't gone over my points at all thus far *knock on wood*

I have had the opportunity to hit up the grocery store and load up on some staples like chicken, rice, and eggs. I also loaded up on some fresh produce. That is where I have to try to be careful. I tend to get too much at a time and end up throwing so much away. I am trying to prevent that from happening in the future but I am sure that there will be a learning curve. I prefer getting my produce from Aldi because, well, it's far cheaper. The only issue is that it goes bad rather quickly. Since I work right by our local Aldi I can make frequent trips so that isn't a problem. I will just have to buy a little at a time.

Something that I have found that works for me, that I will be doing, is keeping snacks on hand. I buy fruit and veggies and cut them up, storing them in a bowl in the fridge. This is nice for when I want to just grab something to much on. I can just pop the lid off the bowl, grab a couple bites, and throw it back in. Easy as pie.

Additionally, I found that keeping Greek yogurt is a must have. The flavored stuff is low on points and is great for dipping the fruit in. Also, it's pretty tasty as a stand alone snack. On the other hand, making a rand dip/dressing out of non-fat plain Greek yogurt is a must have when it comes to this have. It's perfect for dipping veggies or pretzels, and makes an excellent salad dressing.

All and all things have been going great so far so I have high hopes. An acquaintance of mine joined WW a couple of days after me so I am able to share ideas with her. That is, of course, assuming she sticks with it. I am also aiming to get a buddy of mine in the program as well. He says he's game but has to wait two weeks until his next payday. If he joins then we can both get a free month so that is a bonus. I want to start a weight loss competition for more motivation. I need people to keep me accountable!!

Weigh in is on Monday, so I have a few days before I step on the scale. We will see what happens then.

Day One... Again...

6/8/2020

I decided to start up again today, for many reasons. Of course, I want to loose weight. I am sick of being and feeling fat. I know that I am, and I probably always will be. However, when the people who are close to me start to tell me I need to change my habits then I should probably start to listen. I need to lose some pounds so I can feel better in my daily life. I am tired of not being able to walk down the stairs. I am sick of my knees and feet bothering me. I am over the stomach aches and fowl smelling gas. I hate that I cannot shop at most stores due to a lack of sizing. I am just ready to to be thinner and feel better.

This go around I am doing Weight Watchers... again. I have had loads of success with the program in the past. The first time around, which was about 9 years ago, I lost almost 50 pounds in just three months. I was able to get down into the 220s which is the lowest I have been since before my son was born (he is 15 now). Unfortunately, that weight didn't stay off. I met my husband and just got comfortable. Over years I gained so much weight. A little over a year ago I hit my highest weight ever. I was weighing in at 303 pounds. I saw that on the scale and I knew that something had to be done. Two summers ago I started Weight Watchers, again, and succeeded. I was down to the 250s and feeling great. Then, again, life happened and I got comfortable and stopped dieting. I have since gained a lot of that back. I have dabbled with other weight loss strategies since then. I have used MyFitnessPal and tracked CICO with some success. However, none of that ever lasted more than a couple of weeks.

So, here I am again today, starting over on WW. I was put on the green plan, which from what I understand has less 0 point foods but you get more points to work with throughout the day. At first I was a little worried, mostly since I cannot have chicken and eggs for no points anymore, like I could before. However, the more I have talked to people and thought about it, this might be for the best. I may have to track chicken and eggs, but I can eat way more points than I could before. Additionally, I can use those points for other foods, giving myself more of a variety.

I am excited to see where this journey takes me this time.

Jess Jess

Follow me on my path to the new, healthier me. Watch my ups and downs, my successes and failures, and everything in between. I have started this journey many times before, but I am determined to make this the last time I start. I will accomplish what I am here to do, and that is to get healthy!

#weight watchers #healthy #lose weight #journeytothenewme #healthy living #healthy eating #journey #health #delicious #winning

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forever-rogue · 6 years ago

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Fatherhood with Joe

Here’s some pure fluff of our fave dino boy on becoming a dad! I just think he’ll be the best dad ever!

PS - this is my first actual headcanon, so hopefully it’s okay?!? It’s a little long, so you’re forewarned!

- You weren’t sure if you ever wanted to actually be a mother. It had never really been something you thought about. You could have taken it or left it.

- Then again, you also said you’‘d never get married. But after a few years of dating, Joe, in the most romantic way possible, had popped the question. The whole backyard was illuminated with lanterns and fairy lights, and Joe had gotten down on one knee and gave you the most beautiful speech, and you ended up leaping into his arms, repeatedly saying yes as you kissed him and he slipped a gorgeous ring your finger. So here you were - Mrs. Mazzello.

- You knew Joe wanted a family, and that it was important to him, and you had early on expressed your feelings to him that you weren’t particularly one way or the other on it, and Joe, like the absolute sweetheart he is, agreed and said you’d both play it by ear and see how things felt a little further down the road.

- After being married for nearly a year, you weren’t actively trying to get pregnant, but you had stopped using birth control, and decided to see how things played out. If it was meant to be, it would be.

- Several months after stopping birth control, you were cleaning out your bathroom cabinet and found an old box of tampons. It hit you - you had missed your period for the month, and once you thought more about it, you had missed your previous month’s period as well. How you hadn’t noticed baffled you.

- You went out to the store while Joe was out for the day and bought a test from each brand, stuffing the small haul in your purse and rushing home to take them. You hadn’t told or texted Joe or anything so he didn’t get his hopes up, or in case you weren’t pregnant.

- You took out the tests and peed on all 6 of them (you wanted to be really sure), and set them all out on the counter, setting a timer on your phone as you waited for the results, scrolling through IG impatiently.

- Once your time went off, you bounded into the bathroom, eyes scanning the little sticks for a pregnant or not pregnant readout. Your felt your eyes start to sting as you saw that they each said the same thing pregnant.

- You didn’t hold back your tears as your emotions overwhelmed you with happiness and excitement. Joe was going to be over the moon.

- Once Joe texted you to let you know he would be home with takeout in a few minutes, you gathered all the tests and put them on his bedside table, inside the drawer.

- He arrived home and pulled you into one of his signature bone crushing hugs as he peppered your face with gentle kisses, whispering to you just how much he loved you.

- You sat down and took out the food, getting some plates. You pretended you needed something from the bedroom and asked Joe to fetch it. He gave you another kiss and quickly went to grab what you had asked for.

- You listened intently, hearing him walk into the bedroom and open the drawer. There were a few moments of silence before he walked back out, tests in hand, padding slowly down the hallway.

- You could see that there were tears in his eyes as he held them up silently, looking to you for confirmation, and you just nodded, a smile spreading on your face, as you started crying again. He ran over to you, wrapping you up in his arms, his tears spilling onto your shoulder.

- “Are you sure you want this?” was all he quietly asked as he pulled back and you wiped away his tears, nodding fervently, softly stroking his cheek.

- “This is exactly what I want. I want you, I want this baby. It’ll be our own little family. This is everything I ever wanted. I didn’t even know I wanted it until I met you, and then everything just made sense,” you reassured him before he crashed his lips onto yours, the kiss sweet and salty from your combined tears.

- “I am so in love with you,” he whispered as he rested his forehead against yours, “you’re the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me.”

- Throughout your pregnancy, Joe was by your side every step of the way, almost more attentive to your needs than you were. He went to all the classes with you, read all the books, loving prepared the nursery himself, and always made sure you came first.

- You didn’t have to ask for anything; if you wanted a glass of water, Joe had it for you before you could even say it out loud. You wanted your jalapeno bagels with nutella at 2 in the morning? You only had to get out jala before he grabbed his keys and headed to the store to get everything for you. You wanted a quickie when you visited him on set? He had no problem pulling you into his trailer and getting to it and making you moan his name, even if he had be back withing a few minutes.

- That man was so whipped for you.

- He loved holding you whenever he could, his hand always ending up on your bump, tracing all kinds of patterns over it. He loved kissing your belly; everything about it.

- The first time he felt the baby move, he was in tears, claiming it was the most amazing thing he had ever experienced.

- He loved singing to your baby, and telling it all kinds of stories, and making sure the baby knew how much he loved you, the baby, and how he excited he was to become a dad.

- Joe always made sure he told you how much he loved your new figure, and that pregnancy suited you. You were self conscious about the weight you had gained, fearing it was more than necessary, and were worried about how your body was going to look after you gave birth. But Joe made sure you never doubted that he loved you and your body before, during, and after pregnancy. That man was nuts about you, and nothing would ever change that. And that fact your body was creating another life? It amazed him everyday.

- He loved sharing your pregnancy with this family, friends, and fans, keeping them regularly updated with pictures and videos. He loved letting the world know how much he loved you.

- He always insisted on picking out things for the nursery and baby, and you can bet your butts that the nursery was filled with small dino stuffies, dino decorations, and the baby already had an arsenal of dino onesies. You just laughed and kissed him, you loved your dino boy more than anything.

- You two had decided not find out what you were having, but as your due date neared, your curiosity was too high and you asked the doctor what it was. A girl!

- About 3 weeks before your due date, you and Joe had gotten in a senseless little argument, and he claimed that you two should stop, lest the baby heard the two of you argue.

- “It won’t affect her at all!” you rolled her eyes at him as you stuck our her tongue, any annoyance you had with him melting away.

- “Her?” oops - you had it let it slip. You gave him an apologetic smile as you told you found out last week, you couldn’t wait any longer. He just ran a hand through his hair, tears appearing in his eyes as he repeated we’re having a little girl out loud. You just nodded, as you hugged him and he rocked you back and forth, his happiness beyond words. He couldn’t believe it - you two had made a little girl.

- After the long wait for the arrival of your baby girl, lovingly named Gemma Victoria Mazzello, Joe easily transitioned into the best dad ever. Everything came naturally to him.

- He was so good about making sure you shared equally in the responsibility of taking care of Gemma, getting up at all hours of the night, holding her for what seemed like hours until she stopped being fussy. It brought tears to your eyes to see him like that.

- He loved showing her off to the world, making sure everyone knew about the beautiful baby you two had created. He always told everyone her good looks were all due to you, although you reassured him, he was just as handsome and he definitely contributed his Mazzello genes to her.

- Dad jokes for days. He claimed it was his duty to use them now that he was a “certified” dad.

- One day you came home after running some errands and getting a little bit of time to yourself. When you walked in, the house was silent, but as you headed down the hall, heard gentle singing coming from the nursery. You leaned against the door, silently watching as Joe sat with Gemma in the rocking chair, going slowly back and forth as he sang to her.

- He looked up when he felt your presence, mouthing a silent hello as he smiled at you. Checking to make sure she was asleep, he stood up and put her in the crib.

- “Hello, my love,” he whispered as he kissed you. You grabbed him by his shirt collar, crashing your lips fiercely against his.

- The two of you were always handsy with each other and got around to having sex whenever you could before your pregnancy. During your pregnancy your sex drive was through the roof, something Joe didn’t have a problem with, and even after having Gemma, that drive never settled down.

- “Come with me,” you whispered in his ear, pulling him down the hall towards your bedroom. Joe knew what you were up to, and he wasn’t about to stop you. Having sex with a young baby was hard; you never knew when she’d need one of you.

- “Are you already ready for another baby?” he asked cheekily and you just rolled your eyes at your husband, but the smirk never left his face.

- “Shut up, Joey. Just take me,” you said as you kissed him again, hands moving to start unbuttoning his shirt. Luckily for the two of you, Gemma slept through the afternoon and gave you plenty of time to yourselves. Maybe she knew she already wanted a sibling?

- “I love you, Joey,”

- “God knows how much I love you. You are perfect - you are my everything.”

#joe mazzello #joe mazzello x reader #queen #borhap #headcanons #hc #dad!joe #bohemian rhapsody #reader insert

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amoebo-id · 5 years ago

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a o t d !!!

no more than 1 release per artist to keep it interesting. selection and ranking is arbitrary and would prob be wildly different if i did this tomorrow. also i only went down to #42 cause everything after that didn’t feel like real aotd status - at least as far as the specific relationships i built over the past 10 yrs with the music i was listening to

#1 laurel halo quarantine

nobody did machine-body dialectic like laurel halo in 2012. i loved everything else from her this decade too but every time i listened to Carcass it made me leave my body physically. absolutely unreal album art too

https://laurelhalo.bandcamp.com/track/carcass-2

#2 e+e the light that you gave me to see you

2012 was a good year. pop/ambient/noise/radio-dj-tag sound collage ascended to spiritual intensity. makes you feel like a child experiencing awe. also fire-gut used to have probably my favorite music video ever but i think it’s gone now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p-SSuwW9cw

#3 ilovemakonnen 5

not to be confused with Drink More Water 5, this one’s from 2010 during his mostly-forgotten diy outsider-pop phase. off-key singing and amateur beats and the sheer absolute joy of making cool songs. all 5 are perfect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORKpg_-z0Mk

#4 macintosh plus floral shoppe

would’ve made top 10 on album art alone. music, aesthetics, and cultural impact are inseparable here but going back to the album reminded me just how engaging its 2010s-updated chopped-and-screwed sound is, musically not just conceptually

https://vektroid.bandcamp.com/track/420

#5 jason lescalleet this is what i do 17

hard to pick a favorite from jason lescalleet’s semi-monthly document of his electroacoustic / field recording / tape loop practice but i’ve cried to multiple tracks on tiwid 17 so it gets the nod. couldn’t find any of them online so here’s something else of his

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t33x8OOm68E

#6 barrio sur बड़ा शोक (heart break)

dedekind cut guy’s weird one-off side project ended up being my favorite thing to come out of the last few years’ obsession w cowboy/western/country music/aesthetics. pure mystery

https://soundcloud.com/user-366783613/redemption-7inch

#7 cities aviv come to life

i think maybe people thought cities aviv was just another no-flow pseudo-”conscious rap” type rapper in 2014 but actually this album is nuts. hyper-energetic vaporwave rap? what if death grips were happy? idk

https://citiesaviv.bandcamp.com/track/url-irl-2

#8 beach boys the smile sessions

this cool fresh 1960s rock myth arrived fully formed and way more fun than the other ones. brian wilson’s concepts and songwriting got so unwieldy we had to wait 50 years to hear the sessions. i don’t care about conversations about his genius or whatever these songs kick ass

https://oldmasterpainter.bandcamp.com/track/surfs-up

#9 mindspring memories & intl. debris international memories

did this really only come out in 2017? i feel like i’ve been listening to it since i was born. tangential lateral kind of wormhole out of vaporwave into two meditative spiritual infinite-feeling loops that perfectly complement each other

https://noproblematapes.bandcamp.com/track/sad-horizons

#10 nyege nyege tapes sounds of sisso

absolutely obnoxiously insanely high energy high pitch high bpm dance music. i can’t believe this isn’t what people mean when they say future bass. set me down the path of historical and contemporary non-”global north” ideas about dance/rhythm/bass which i’m still on

https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/track/mshamba-video-mster

#11 blithe field face always toward the sun

the most gorgeous implementation of the sorta-ambient guitar-looping vignette aesthetic. is this a real trope or did i listen to this album so much i convinced myself it was a thing? for me this is the sound of what its like to feel completely content with life and at ease in the moment

https://blithefield.bandcamp.com/track/zen-den

#12 anohni hopelessness

listening to this album and singing along while driving my car made me feel absolutely disgusting. unbelievable hooks, grossly hi fi sound design, and overblown drama add up to imo a scary effective type of explicitly political or ‘protest’ music

https://anohni.bandcamp.com/track/drone-bomb-me

#13 21 savage, offset, & metro boomin without warning

why is these 3 pop stars’ vaguely halloween-themed one-off collab my favorite trap album? 21 savage, offset, and metro boomin were all wildly corny in different ways but everything was perfectly balanced. i hope metro boomin makes like one seriously ambient album next decade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWv-bR_X-VM&list=PLC1uUM4twa8i6zsD_Sn1LRUq4vhl_PLCx&index=11&t=0s

#14 laura les big summer jams 2018

‘crying in the club’ type bangers with no fear of ugliness and no fear of beauty and no fear of wildly unfashionable tropes like skrillex-y dubstep and guitar solos. so much input from other trans/queer artists it felt like a big t4t party

https://osno1.bandcamp.com/track/the-river-feat-scum-yung-skrrt-and-99jakes

#15 triad god nxb

the other triad god tape from 7 years later is just as good. what was this man doing in the intervening time? i just imagine him riding london public transit while it rains or something. i love knowing that most of his cantonese spoken-word/rap parts are insults and jokes rather than like, melancholy observations

https://soundcloud.com/hipposintanks/triad-god-remand

#16 dj koze knock knock

what if pop music sounded like this? somehow every song on here is wildly danceable, wildly sing-alongable, and also wildly detail-oriented. feels like a transmission from an alternate present where things are okay

https://djkoze.bandcamp.com/track/club-der-ewigkeiten

#17 ocora world of traditional music

box set of “world music” recordings from the label that french electronic composer pierre schaeffer started in the 1950s as a project to teach people in rural west africa how to dj. ethnography can be a fucked up idea but afaik ocora is one of the good ones and if you can sorta try to disengage from the tropes/cliches that get imposed on it, the music is phenomenal. hard to find a track specific to this box set but here’s another from the label

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJm8rn6gW5I

#18 oneohtrix point never replica

opn feels like an artist i’ve ‘grown out of’ i guess but samples never felt more alive or more dead than they did on replica. set a template for the kind of melancholy ‘soundscape’-y vibe that i spent years trying to find more of after

https://oneohtrixpointnever1.bandcamp.com/track/power-of-persuasion

#19 rihanna anti

the most perfect imaginable pop album. i keep trying to move it higher up. i almost put club chai vol 1 on this list purely cause of the Woo remix but then i remembered the original is better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dDCUKElEwk

#20 colleen a flame my love a frequency

colleen’s ultra deadpan singing and wriggly rhythmic synth put me in a trance. everything sounded dry as hell even though it was covered in reverb. i think maybe some people were put off by the corny song names and lyrics

https://colleencolleen.bandcamp.com/track/separating

#21 dj paypal drake edits

back when drake seemed like a sorta-shitty dude rather than seriously creepy, dj paypal used the power of footwork to expose both the melancholy-ambient modality and the serious-bass-music modality latent in his voice and beats

https://mallmusicinc.com/track/brand-new

#22 huerco s. for those of you who have never (and also those who have)

not really as ambient as it first seems imo, but rather like a really intense focus on what we mean when we describe things as ‘static’ or ‘dynamic’. i know it’s corny but i wanna say these tracks are fully both and fully neither

https://brianleeds.bandcamp.com/track/promises-of-fertility

#23 girls rituals reddishness

for a track so deliberately shitty-sounding I Know had no right to be so fucking danceable. persona and production synthesized into the only ‘singer-songwriter’ music i could really get into

https://temporaryenjoyment.bandcamp.com/track/i-know

#24 chromatics kill for love

fakeass 80s retro melancholia digitized and pushed so far past pastiche it turned into pure slime. the phone call in There’s A Light Out On The Horizon came straight from the void

https://soundcloud.com/johnnyjewel/chromatics-kill-for-love-album

#25 actress ghettoville

the only genuinely post-apocalyptic music. specifically the postapocalypse in wall-e but if there was no wall-e to clean it up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcCPdfUFq6k

#26 playboi carti die lit

every beat on this album was reducible to a 4-second loop that perpetually demanded its own repetition and playboi carti somehow knew exactly what to do with them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2pjiKmhlAI

#27 charli xcx vroom vroom

the charli xcx that came after this was fun, but there was black hole levels of power compacted into when she said vroom vroom on Vroom Vroom

https://soundcloud.com/vroomvroomrecordings/charli-xcx-vroom-vroom

#28 pacific breeze: japanese city pop, aor & boogie 1976-1986

it’s kind of amazing to think that this compilation only exists because vaporwave aesthetics made ‘japanese grocery-store kitsch from the 80s’ a marketable thing in the us. anyway every single one of these is an absolute bop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl91bvEKj20

#29 young thug barter 6

i can’t get enough of listening to young thug’s voice. i’ve seen his rhythmic-melodic-textural sensibility described as virtuosic and i don’t know really if that term means anything but it feels right to me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg9ZxQKSDuw

#30 magic eye babylon

smeared dreamy lo-fi guitar music w wistful buried melodies pushed to an extreme. every song sounded the same and i wish there was more than the one cassette

https://magiceye.bandcamp.com/track/flame

#31 tirzah devotion

you could say this was ‘stripped down’ r&b but i think more accurately what separated it was that every sound stood exactly and only for itself

https://tirzah.bandcamp.com/track/basic-need

#32 mount eerie clear moon

it’s amazing how well mount eerie navigated the move from a lo-fi sound/mode/affect to a hi-fi sound/mode/affect. clear moon wasn’t his first attempt but it was the one that most embodied the feeling of the new possilibities that had been opened up

https://pwelverumandsun.bandcamp.com/track/through-the-trees-pt-2

#33 kelela aquaphoria

this mix was such a good idea it immediately seemed shocking nobody else had tried afaik. and kelela executed it so well you forgot the tracks already existed in other contexts

https://soundcloud.com/kelelam/aquaphoria

#34 james ferraro skid row

not sure what it means that the only james ferraro i really love is also the one i think of as the least abstract/conceptual. his recited lyrics had a rare spoken-word-poetic power

https://breakworldrecords.bandcamp.com/track/to-live-and-die-in-la

#35 salyu x salyu s(o)un(d)beams

absolutely unbounded sense of joy and creativity and possibility hovering between bangers-lite and ‘soundscape’-y electronic manipulation

https://soundcloud.com/snouu/salyu-x-salyu-s-o-un-d-beams

#36 dj rashad just a taste vol 1

double cup got all the press but it was so smoothed-over it could never have done something as absurdly beautiful as Ghost or even Go Crazy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZuHPAbte9U

#37 yves tumor serpent music

i’m sorta put off by the high-gloss sheen of music like this but serpent music somehow had the right combination of total cohesion and a ridiculous density of impactful moments

https://soundcloud.com/pan_hq/yves-tumor-the-feeling-when-you-walk-away-pan-73?in=pan_hq/sets/yves-tumor-serpent-music-pan

#38 maral mahur club

lo-fi beat collage elevated to something that could actually genuinely be called world music

https://astralplanerecordings.bandcamp.com/track/avesta-khani-reggaeton

#39 lucki ecks watch my back

did not expect this super low-stakes sadboy trap to end up on this list but i love his min-effort flow and somehow every beat is exactly the vibe even when the tracks aren’t volume balanced

https://soundcloud.com/boob7/leave-wit-you-prod-plu2o-nash-clams-casino?in=boob7/sets/watch-my-back

#40 arca stretch 2

not sure why i get more out of arca’s nonsense broken-beat non-rap than any of her later projects

https://unonyc.bandcamp.com/track/tapped-in

#41 klein only

a new way to do fucked up noise w pop leanings. ‘audacitycore’

https://klein1997.bandcamp.com/track/pretty-black-2

#42 city arcadia

another mysterious transmission, this time w lots of harp

https://soundcloud.com/halcyon-veil/city-arcadia

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himbosims · 6 years ago

Photo

The Simself Challenge? Is that what this is called? I have no idea. . .

The challenge is basically to make a simself then answer a fuck ton of question so here we are. Thanks @willowbomb and @sim-borg for tagging me. I’ll tag: whoever wants to do this because idk who hasn't done this yet

1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Taylor

2. WHAT IS YOUR NICKNAME? My childhood nickname was Tot. My friends call me d*ke and slut though so hey

3. BIRTHDAY? July 23, 2001

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK SERIES? Series definitely The Mortal Instruments or the Infernal Artifacts by Cassandra Clare

5. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ALIENS OR GHOSTS? Both i think, definitely aliens. I don't fuck with ghosts and all that because I don't want to die

6. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR? Right now my favs are Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli

7. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RADIO STATION? Where I live we have five stations, one that plays music from the 30’s all the time, three country, and one that says it plays pop but ends up playing country anyways. So, none.

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ANYTHING? Idk man, thats a loaded question. Probably vanilla

9. WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE OFTEN TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING GREAT OR WONDERFUL? ??? lit… idk dude I was trying to think of something that's weird but I can't think of anything

10. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT FAVORITE SONG? Be My Mistake by The 1975 or Not Warriors by Waterparks

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WORD? Serious answer, lunacy (there's a reason its my username) not as serious, I just heard someone outside yell for the chillin’s and I started laughing because that word is great

12. WHAT WAS THE LAST SONG YOU LISTENED TO? I’m currently listening to From Eden by Hozier

13. WHAT TV SHOW WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR EVERYBODY TO WATCH? Shameless, Glee, Shadowhunters, Grey’s. I could go on.

14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE TO WATCH WHEN YOU’RE FEELING DOWN?Love, Simon, Call Me By Your Name, or The Perks of Being a Wallflower

15. DO YOU PLAY VIDEO GAMES? Obviously

16. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? Spiders and needles

17. WHAT IS YOUR BEST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? nothing

18. WHAT IS YOUR WORST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? Everything, in seriousness, my selfishness or narcissism,

19. DO YOU LIKE CATS OR DOGS BETTER? Cats are my favorites but dogs are cool

20. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? fall

21. ARE YOU IN A RELATIONSHIP? Never have been

22. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU MISS FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD? NOT AS MUCH STRESS

23. WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? Irl- my friend EJ. Online- @hallowiamshebsims

24. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR? Green

25. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR? brown

26. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU LOVE? Read 23

27. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU TRUST? Read 23

28. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN? Read 23

29. ARE YOU CURRENTLY EXCITED ABOUT/FOR SOMETHING? I don't remember the last time I was excited for something

30. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST OBSESSION? Writing I think

31. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW AS A CHILD? Hannah Montana, Ned Declassified, Drake and Josh, Flapjack, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Chowder, Rugrats. I'm a true early Gen Z kid

32. WHO OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER CAN YOU TELL ANYTHING TO, IF ANYONE? My girl best friend, I dont tell him everything because i'm a secretive bitch

33. ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS? Nah

34. DO YOU HAVE ANY UNUSUAL PHOBIAS? Read 16

35. DO YOU PREFER TO BE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA OR BEHIND IT? Both

36. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HOBBY? Writing, reading, creating imaginary worlds to live in

37. WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? I am almost done with History Is All You Left me by Adam Silvera and oh boy that book

38. WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Paranorman: “You’re gonna love my boyfriend, he’s like a total chick flick nut.”

39. WHAT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? N/A

40. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? Cats

41. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 5 FAVORITE TUMBLR BLOGS THAT YOU FOLLOW? @hallowiamshebsims @simmerberlin @willowbomb @pollinationqueen @gunthermnch

42. WHAT SUPERPOWER DO YOU WISH YOU HAD? The ability to always have the money to pay for things

43. WHEN AND WHERE DO YOU FEEL MOST AT PEACE? My room probably

44. WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE? People falling down, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJq4jWSQNd

45. WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? That’s cute

46. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DRINK? Coffee

47. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WROTE A HAND-WRITTEN LETTER OR NOTE TO SOMEBODY? I have two teachers that are really weird about phones and talking in class so we pass notes instead

48. ARE YOU AFRAID OF HEIGHTS? Nah

49. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE? LOUD EATERS

50. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A CONCERT? I went to a christian concert when I was like 5 so there's that

51. ARE YOU VEGAN/VEGETARIAN? Nope, I live in the south how do you expect me to not eat meat

52. WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? Teacher since I live in the south and that's the only jobs beside retail or waitress in my town

53. WHAT FICTIONAL WORLD WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN? The Shadow World, but I wanna be a warlock, not a dumb shadowhunter lol

54. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WORRY ABOUT? Everything

55. ARE YOU SCARED OF THE DARK? I’m afraid of what's in the dark, which is a hard ass way to say yes

56. DO YOU LIKE TO SING? All the time but im tone deaf so its bad

57. HAVE YOU EVER SKIPPED SCHOOL? If I was sick, yeah. Other than that, I did twice. Once because I had a really bad panic attack right before the bus got to my house and I called my mom claiming I was really sick, and once a few weeks ago because my dog got sprayed by a skunk therefore making me smell like a skunk

58. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE ON THE PLANET? uhhhhhhh

59. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? New York City, LA, San Francisco, Toronto, Portland, London. Any big city to be honest

60. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? A dog and three cats

61. ARE YOU MORE OF AN EARLY BIRD OR A NIGHT OWL? Both. I sometimes stay up super late and sometimes i'm up really early. And if I can actually force myself out of bed I can get a lot done in either of those times

62. DO YOU LIKE SUNRISES OR SUNSETS BETTER? Sunrises

63. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE? Yeah but im gay so its not good driving l

64. DO YOU PREFER EARBUDS OR HEADPHONES? Everything that wont break in a week

65. HAVE YOU EVER HAD BRACES? Nah

66. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC? I don't really have a favorite, I listen to all kinds of stuff

67. WHO IS YOUR HERO? Uhhhhh, Deadpool, or Spiderman

68. DO YOU READ COMIC BOOKS? Nope

69. WHAT MAKES YOU THE MOST ANGRY? It takes a lot to make me angry but when im angry it's bad and I forget what i do when i was angry so i don't really know

70. DO YOU PREFER TO READ ON AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE OR WITH A REAL BOOK? Real

71. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL? English and Creative Writing

72. DO YOU HAVE ANY SIBLINGS? Younger sister, younger step brother

73. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? A starbucks coffee last night

74. HOW TALL ARE YOU? 5’7 or something

75. CAN YOU COOK? Depends on what i'm cooking

76. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU LOVE? Books, music, friends

77. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU HATE? Racists, homophobes, sexists- so basically most the people in my town (hell what am i kidding, this side of the Mason-Dixon line)

78. DO YOU HAVE MORE FEMALE FRIENDS OR MORE MALE FRIENDS? One of each

79. WHAT IS YOUR SEXUAL ORIENTATION? I am on the ace spectrum and I am panromantic

80. WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY LIVE? ‘Merica the brave

81. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TEXTED? Sheb

82. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Like, yesterday

83. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE YOUTUBER? CallMeKevin RTGame The Shane Dawson squad

84. DO YOU LIKE TO TAKE SELFIES? sometimes

85. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE APP?I guess this hell site

86. WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR PARENT(S) LIKE?My mom and I are kinda close, i don't really talk to my dad much (even though I live with him half the week)

87. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOREIGN ACCENT? Aussie, British, Scottish, Irish… all of them

88. WHAT IS A PLACE THAT YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO, BUT YOU WANT TO VISIT? Everywhere that’s not my state and the ones touching it

89. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? 23

90. CAN YOU JUGGLE? notta

91. ARE YOU RELIGIOUS? Yes, but not crazy religious. I just believe in fate and that there is some type of higher power

92. DO YOU FIND OUTER SPACE OF THE DEEP OCEAN TO BE MORE INTERESTING? Nasa bitch

93. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE A DAREDEVIL? I have an issue with adrenaline. As in, although i am an anxious person with too much adrenaline anyways I like to do things that give me a rush of adrenaline

94. ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING? I can't have my eyes pierced because I'm allergic to metal in the sense of having it in my body

95. CAN YOU CURL YOUR TONGUE? Yep

96. CAN YOU WIGGLE YOUR EARS? Nope

97. HOW OFTEN DO YOU ADMIT THAT YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT SOMETHING? Next question

98. DO YOU PREFER THE FOREST OR THE BEACH? I mean netiehr, but i'm not a huge fan of sand

99. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF ADVICE THAT ANYONE HAS EVER GIVEN YOU? You’ve made it through your worst day before, you can do it again

100. ARE YOU A GOOD LIAR? I think so

101. WHAT IS YOUR HOGWARTS HOUSE? Sytherlin, not surprise

102. DO YOU TALK TO YOURSELF? I’m talking to myself right now

103. ARE YOU AN INTROVERT OR AN EXTROVERT? Introvert

104. DO YOU KEEP A JOURNAL/DIARY? Nah, my writing is kind alike my diary

105. DO YOU BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES? I give people too many chances

106. IF YOU FOUND A WALLET FULL OF MONEY ON THE GROUND, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Check the ID, maybe take the money and leave it in a bush or something. I don’t know

107. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF CHANGE? For sure

108. ARE YOU TICKLISH? Please don’t tickle me

109. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A PLANE? Nope

110. DO YOU HAVE ANY PIERCINGS? Read question 94

111. WHAT FICTIONAL CHARACTER DO YOU WISH WAS REAL? Alec Lightwood or Magnus Bane, but young Alec because I can't be friends with 27 year old Alec

112. DO YOU HAVE ANY TATTOOS? Scared of needles, remember?

113. WHAT IS THE BEST DECISION THAT YOU’VE MADE IN YOUR LIFE SO FAR? Doing things for me

114. DO YOU BELIEVE IN KARMA? YES

115. DO YOU WEAR GLASSES OR CONTACTS? Both

116. DO YOU WANT CHILDREN? Not really but if my future partner wants some i’d be open to talk about it

117. WHO IS THE SMARTEST PERSON YOU KNOW? My ex-best friend. I used to hate how she never had to try to get good grades or be good at things, she just was

118. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MEMORY? All my memories are embarrassing if you look close enough

119. HAVE YOU EVER PULLED AN ALL-NIGHTER? At least twice a month

120. WHAT COLOR ARE MOST OF YOU CLOTHES? Nutruels and black

121. DO YOU LIKE ADVENTURES? Sure

122. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON TV? I think I wa son the news once

123. HOW OLD ARE YOU? 17

124. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE? I have a lot, “Words have the power to change us.” “perhaps it is because of time that we suffer.” “I remain a work in progress until I die.” “The thing you are most afraid to write, write that.” I could go on

125. DO YOU PREFER SWEET OR SAVORY FOODS? Sweet

#long post #simself #ts4 edit #sims 4 edit #ls:edit #tagged

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classic-rock-roller · 6 years ago

Text

1. You and Axl have made peace with each other since he showed you kindness after your accident. One day, you hang up the phone from a call with him as Bonham gets home. She asks who it is, and when you tell her she says, “Ah, Axl. How is he, that bitch?” How do you respond?

He’s doing good. At least better than before. He’s on meds now so he’s no longer a psycho bitch.

2. You get to your band’s hotel room one day to hear uncontrollable laughter coming from Sean and Linus. You get there and hear Bonham say into a phone in a very bad and exaggerated Eastern European accent, “Hello! You have reached Svertik, the famous cheese maker. What can I do for you this evening?” You ask what’s going on, and Erik says, “They bought a burner phone and posted the number online with the title, “War Angel hotline” and now she’s answering it and doing this crap.” How do you respond, and what does everyone say once the ‘hotline calls’ end?

“Seriously? You could at least answer burning questions.”

They don’t stop they keep coming at all hours of the night. One day I’ve had enough of hearing it ring so I take it, lower the window in the bus, and chuck it out the window while screaming, “By War Angel Hotline. Don’t fucking come back!”

Linus: You realize we can get another one right?

Sean: Jesus! Psycho much

Bons: Jesus Christ! You could have at least answered it

Erik: That was unnecessary.

They buy another one at the next stop and it starts over again but now we place a do not disturb function on it between the times we sleep.

3. Bonham has been quiet lately, and one day she comes to you and the rest of the band and says, “I want to expand my artistic horizons, I want to cover that album So There by Ben Folds. Before you say anything, I know it’s nothing like our direction. I know that, and that’s why I want to do it by myself. This is going to be a 100% solo effort, and all I ask for is your blessing.” She wants to do something entirely on her own, which will translate into her taking at least a 2-year hiatus from the band. What do you all say and what is the final decision?

We agree because we have been touring non-stop and it will give us plenty of time to relax and come up with new material. Erik goes back to Germany to spend time with his family, Linus ends up using those two years to release a solo instrumental guitar project, Sean comes and lives with me and Kevin since his parents kicked him out after he joined our band, and this gives me and Kevin enough time to spend with Mal (and ends up with Eddie coming along right before we get back together) and then after the two years are up we get back together and bang out a kicking new album.

4. Your band and NSP are collaborating on an album, and you need one more song. You’re struggling to include everyone until Bonham one day suggests that you get together with QR as well and do a big group cover of Rick Wakeman’s Buried Alive (available on request). How does everyone react to the suggestion and what do you all do?

We all think its a great idea. The only problem is Kevin and Danny keep fighting and singing over each other for the lead vocals part until I tell the two of them to stop acting like children.

5. You’re at work one day when you get a call from Danny and Arin. “Yeah, we got a call from YouTube the other day. That Q&A we did with your band got taken down because of Bonham’s little mini-rant on that Waco incident from the 90s, and she was just arrested for conspiring against the government and disturbing the peace. She used a phone call to call Dan cause she said that you didn’t answer your phone and neither did Kevin, so we’re telling you.” How do you respond and what do you do?

“Ah fuck. I’m in work a the moment. Is Dan still on with her?”

I hear Dan scream yes through the phone.

“Tell her school’ll be finished in an hour and then I’ll drive down to pick her up after I drop Mal and Eddie off at a sitter’s.”

“I mean we could watch them for you.”

Arin and Dan end up watching Mal and Eddie (and making a power hour out of it) while I go to bail Bons and get this whole mess settled. After some legal disputes (that bring us publicity) she is given a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again.

6. Bonham went with Chuck to a party for one of their dad’s friends one evening, and when they get back you hear them arguing. “I don’t care what he was doing, you shouldn’t have hit him!” she says. You ask what happened, and Chuck says, “They had a male stripper there, and fucking Anita paid him to grind on me. I told him to quit and he didn’t so I punched him. And then they all got mad at me. I didn’t do anything wrong.” What does Bonham say and how do you respond?

Bons: You did do something wrong. He was paid to do that. You don’t just fucking punch him!

Me: Yeah, not cool dude. You should be lucky if he doesn’t press charges.

7. Your band is all making guest appearances in an NSP video, and as a result, you’re all wearing spandex pants. At one point, Sean says to Bonham, “Hey, uh, I just wanted to say that, uh, you guys (meaning you and her) look nice in your costumes.” You can see he’s a bit flustered but before you can say anything, Bonham says, “Thanks, these pants really do have a nice ASS-thetic.” How does Sean react, what do you say, and how do Erik, Linus, and Danny respond?

He blushes and runs out of the room while wrapping his cape around him.

Erik: Do you have to go take care of something buddy!

Linus: Yeah, just don’t be too long.

Danny: I didn’t know those pants would have THAT effect on him.

Me: I could see these pants having that effect on Kevin, not Sean. Linus could you go check on him, please.

Bons *gag*: I really don’t need to think about Kevin being turned on by you in a spandex outfit. Do you seriously think us in spandex pants did that to him?

8. Your band is filming a video one day, and at lunch, Sean is munching on an uncrustable. Bonham, who likes giving him shit, asks him, “How does it feel to be a grown ass man eating an uncrustable?” He looks at her and says, “Well right now it doesn’t feel so good.” He takes a bite, and says, “But now…” and smiles with a full mouth. How do you, Bonham, Erik, and Linus respond?

Me: I hate Uncrustables and PB & J sandwiches.

Erik: How?! It's heaven in a sandwich!

Linus: I wouln't go that far.

Sean *Though his full mouth*: I would

Bons: Ok, I get the point. Don’t talk with your mouth full of food. We can’t understand you.

9. Bonham is being overly critical in the studio one day, and at one point Sean has had enough. “I’m gonna need some ketchup for all those HARSH-browns you’re serving up.” How does she react and how do you and the boys respond?

Bons: ...That one was actually pretty good.

Me: Bons, I think you have a run for your money in the pun department.

Erik: Hah! Harsh-browns! Hah!

Linus: You all are idiots.

10. You get a call one day saying that there’s a new fantasy game in development and they want you, Bonham, your band, Kevin, and a few others to do the voice acting. They want you to be the princess, Sean to be a child, Erik to be a traveling merchant, Linus to be the bard, Bonham to be a siren, and Kevin to be a priest. Soon, you learn that Arin and Dan are there too. They voice a wizard and the game’s deity, respectively. How do you all react to your assigned roles, and how does recording go?

I think its cool and we all have a good time. With a few hiccups here and there (Kevin and Danny seem to butt heads a lot)

11. You, Kevin, and Bonham are at an award show when Kevin sees Blackie Lawless, someone who he’s a fan of. You all go up to meet him and Kevin says how much he appreciates his work. Blackie is beyond wasted, and he says to Kevin, “I’m gonna kick you in the nuts.” Before any of you can process what he said, he cocks back and punched Kevin in the dick, really hard. He groans and falls to his knees. How do you all respond?

Me: What the fuck?!

Bons: Why did you do that dude?!

Kevin is writhing in pain on the floor and just groaning in agony.

____________________

1) You and your singer are making Christmas cookies in your kitchen when she turns to you and goes, “Hey, Bons.” You turn and ask her, “What?” She takes her flour-covered hand and smears it down your nose and arm before running away. What do you do?

2) You, Rudy, and your singer are carving pumpkins. Rudy puts his hand in his pumpkin and goes, “Ewww, it’s so gross.” Your singer rolls her eyes at him and goes, “Oh stop being a big baby.” Before she puts both her hands in the pumpkin and pulls out a bunch of seeds and slaps them on the newspaper covering the table. How do you and Rudy respond?

3) You take Mal, Will, Eddie, Jeremy, and Roxanne to the mall to visit Santa. While in line, you see Santa get up from his chair after listening to a little girl’s wish and he goes over to an older man with four elves. The next thing you know, he’s whamming on him and screaming, “Ho! Ho! Ho! Motherfucker!” Someone whispers in line that the guy he’s beating on is a child molester. How do you and your singer respond and how do you explain this to your kids who are between the ages of eight and two years old?

4) Your band is working on a new album and you and the boys go off to get lunch while your singer stays behind. When you get back, you find she has earbuds in and her head is cocked oddly to the side. Her finger is flicking oddly almost as if she’s following an invisible line. Sean leans over to you and goes, “What the fuck is she doing? Has she gone insane?” Your singer answers, “No, I’m trying to pick out the individual instruments from this song. Now shush.” How do you, Erik, Linus, and Sean respond?

5) You and your singer are at her work’s Christmas party with Kevin and Randy. She’s talking to a guy and she goes, “Ugh, I hate this music.” He looks at her and goes, “How can you hate it?” “I like metal.” “Oh, you’re one of THOSE girls.” You whip around at this point and go, “What is that supposed to mean?” “You know...you’d rather bang your head than be banged.” Your singer pulls Kevin over and kisses him deeply before pointing at the guy and saying, “Kevin, would you like to explain in painstaking detail our sex life?” How do you, Kevin, and the guy respond?

6) You and your singer are celebrating Christmas in your apartment but your old roommate, Stephen, has come over to spend the holidays and brought along a drunk Robbin. They’ve been at your apartment a bit when your singer goes to Stephen, “Can I refill your eggnog? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere, leave you for dead?” How do you, Stephen, and Robbin respond?

7) Your singer goes with you when you’re supposed to be the guest on The Ten Minute Power Hour with Dan and Arin. She refuses to go on the show though o she sits on the side. About halfway through the show, Dan gets up and starts to pull her into the shot, “Come on, people need to see you.” “No.” “Millions of people stare at you every day. How is this different?” He loses his grip on her and goes flying back through the shot. Your singer gasps and goes, “Oh my god are you ok?!” Before going to help him with the cut on his head. All he says is, “Hah! I got you in the shot!” She rolls her eyes before going, “I’m leaving after this. And you better cut this out.” How do you and Arin respond to this?

8) Your singer is still with you while you’re doing the show. Arin asks her something and she says, “Do you want to see something cool?” Dan shrugs a sure and your singer pulls out a switchblade. Both Dan and Arin jump back once she tosses it and it embeds itself in their table. Dan all but screams, “What the fuck?!” Your singer shrugs and goes, “I get bored. Also, Tommy taught me that so you can thank him.” How do you, Dan, and Arin respond?

9) While you are on the show, Dan and Arin ask you to tell some crazy stories of the bands you’ve hung out with. Your singer pipes up from the side, “Oh, I could tell you stories. There was that one time Tommy and I got super drunk and I kissed some random chick in the middle of the bar. Or the time I got in an all-out brawl with Nikki over the last bottle of Guinness. Or the time Kevin, Bons, and I had to disguise ourselves to get out of a crazy hoard of fans. Or...” How do you, Arin, and Dan respond?

10) When you’re wrapping up the show to leave, Dan and Arin say goodbye to you and Dan goes, “I’m a little afraid of your singer. Is she always like that?” Your singer pipes up next to him, “I hear everything you know.” How do you respond to Dan ‘s question and how does he react to your singer?

11) You are working on your album with Crüe and Nikki had brought a pack of Guinness with him. Your singer and Nikki have been drinking them throughout the day and there’s only one left. They both look at it and then dive for it. After a bit of tussling, your singer grabs the bottle and goes, “What have I told you, Niks? I always come out on top.” Before she pops the cap and chugs the beer while sitting on him. How do you, Tommy, Nikki, Vince, and Mick react to this?

12) You are over at your singer and Kevin’s when you hear your singer yell, “You are not taking a fucking knife in the shower. Lay the fuck down.” And the next thing you hear is Kevin screaming. You run to their room to find your singer straddling a shirtless Kevin and ripping these heart monitor pads off his chest. “Stop pushing them in. It’ll make it worse. This is what you get for doing too much cocaine.” What do you say and how so the two of them respond?

13) You know that your singer is dating Rudy’s brother, Robert, (after Kevin broke up with her so that he could get himself clean) but Rudy doesn’t know. You invite the two of them out to dinner on a double date with you and Rudy. How does Rudy respond to your singer dating Robert and what do you, your singer, and Robert say?

14) You and Randy are helping your singer set up for her and Kevin’s wedding. She places a sign by the bar that says, “Our wedding will have an open bar. It will also be heavily photographed. So any drunken shenanigans will be well documented and thoroughly mocked for years to come. Proceed with Caution.” You say, “Did you add this because of Nikki and Tommy and the other heavy drinkers being here?” “Yup.” Randy goes, “You know this won’t stop Kevin right?” Your singer says, “Oh yes it will. Because he also has the threat of no sex for three weeks.” Kevin walks in right as she says this. How do you, Randy, and Kevin respond?

@osbournebemydaddy your turn Bons :)

#tag game #tag war

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self-shipping-angel · 6 years ago

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Lemme hear more about your platonic marvel faves? Like what your favorite things to do are? What kind of trouble you guys get into? Anything that you get in trouble with me with Tony? I wanna hear all of it that you got XD

Ok so I've got a few thoughts I've been bouncing around. Solet's sort this by fave! Not gonna cover everyone cause then this post would beeven longer than it already is XDD

Peter Parker (and by extension May):

I met Peter while out shopping one day, some jackass triedto steal my purse and he happened to be right there (not as Spiderman). Iinsisted on buying him lunch to thank him for returning it.

We kept running into each other after that. I was always inmy civilian clothes and he usually was too, but occasionally I saw him swingingaround the city as Spiderman. I pieced it together almost instantly due torecognizing his scent, but he doesn't figure out that I'm Razorclaw until CivilWar.

Once we grow close, I come over often to visit, though Iusually end up helping out in some way. I help May cook dinner and I try tohelp Peter with his homework.

I like to take Peter to the movies or arcade, wherever hewants really. I know it's not easy for him to keep up with school while fightingcrime so I want to give him an opportunity to just hang out/relax. You know, achance to just be a teenager without the weight of the world on his shoulders.

After Civil War, I still visit Peter and May when I can slipinto New York unnoticed. Tony probably knows I'm in the city, but he's notabout to stop me from seeing them. Peter and I are a lot closer now that therearen't secrets between us, of course now I'm not safe from him making cat jokesaround me all the time. Eventually I decide that I should let May in on thesecret as well, she was very shocked and a bit confused even. "How is itthat just never seeing your ears or tail no one ever figures out who you reallyare??? You even have purple eyes and it never even crossed my mind!!!"

May meeting Steve was absolutely hilarious. He joined me incoming over for dinner one day and she was instantly starstruck. "CaptainAmerica is in my apartment. CAPTAIN AMERICA IS IN MY APARTMENT." And thesecond she and I are alone: "So you two are dating? Wow, he is even hotterin person. Get it girl!" Cue Peter walking in right then, "Oh god,Aunt May. Please. Please don't."

Thor:

I didn't meet Thor until Steve and I had been dating for about6 months or so. Steve wanted to wait to start introducing me to people till hewas certain our relationship was serious. He brought me as his date to one ofTony's parties, I was a bit intimidated at the idea of meeting everyone likefor lunch or something as I didn't want a spotlight on me so to speak. Steve gotpulled away for a while during the party and Bruce ended up introducing me toThor while he was gone. Somehow what started as a simple chat turned into Thorand I having a drinking contest (my insert's metabolism is too high to getdrunk unless I drink a lot or drink something very strong, like Asgardian alcohol).Steve was pretty surprised when he came back mid contest, though not as surprisedas everyone else was when I drunkenly threw down my hat at something Thor said.Thor though, omg Thor was so excited, jumping to his feet, "YOU'RE ADEMON!! NO WONDER YOU CAN KEEP UP WITH ME! Oh you are very good, I actuallythought you were human."

Thor and I enjoy training together, he's like the ultimatework out buddy. Any time I beat one of my personal bests, he gets so excitedfor me! We're always cheering each other on and pushing to be better.

He also likes to join Steve and I for movie nights! There'sa lot to catch Steve up on and since Thor hasn't been on Earth long, he loves watchingmovies or shows with us.

Nick Fury:

(Pre-Steve)

Randomly shows up at my apartment with Chinese takeout formovie nights. Says he did it because he wanted to make sure I actually atesomething that day, but we both know he's lying.

Insists on throwing me a birthday party every year cause Ishould at least be social on my birthday. Proceeds to crack jokes about gettingthe number candles cause the store didn't have enough regular ones.

After the first time he took me to the movies in '91, hemade it a tradition to set up a private show of each new Disney movie for us.

(Post-Steve)

Nick goes full dad mode on Steve, interrogation andeverything. Promises to make his life a living hell if he hurts me.

Came out of hiding for Steve and I’s wedding so he could walk me down the aisle.

Once Jamie is older, he will absolutely go behind our backs and give her candy or just spoil her in general. We can’t leave her with him overnight or he will give her cookies for breakfast. His basic rule is if we said no, Gramps says yes. Wanna stay up late but your parents said bedtime is 8? Nah, Gramps says we’re staying up.

Sam:

Sam and I's friendship can be summed up very simply: birdand cat jokes. We are constantly giving each other hell.

As for you and I? We’re always driving your old man nuts! You stay the night at the compound and he gets mad when we’re up at like 3am watching stupid videos in the living room. Or he’ll catch me sneaking into the kitchen in cat form to get us snacks in the middle of the night. And you know I will totally cover for you if he tries to ground you so you can’t go on a date with Stephen. XDD

#my avengers family #otp: Shield and Claws #my ashie #titans-on-motorcycles #the angel answers

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timmyrx2000 · 7 years ago

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Dipper Steps Up: Chapter 4

Chapter Index: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)

Chapter 4

From the Journals of Dipper Pines: January 3, 2014: Well, here we are, back in Piedmont. It was nice to spend the week after Christmas in Gravity Falls with Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Ford, Soos, and Melody.

OK, OK, and Wendy. ESPECIALLY Wendy. She's been teasing me in her texts ever since she saw that awful picture of me on Peoplebook, but a couple days ago she said she wanted to have a serious talk with me: Was I sure I wanted to play baseball? Could I handle it if we didn't do so well? If I didn't get to play much would I be upset? Was I going to focus too much on the game and not enough on school?

I told her she was talking like an adult, and she said, "Well, ya know, I'm getting' there, dude!" But we exchanged gifts (sorry, Mabel, but what we gave each other is still our secret. Yes, I know you sneak in and read this journal sometimes!), and I asked, "Are you still looking forward to us coming back next summer?" And she gave me a little shove and said, "Don't be a dork! You know I am!"

So. . . . I guess we're still just friends, but I realized again, being there with her—and I finally got the courage to tell her this—I can't turn off the way I feel about her. She thinks that's sweet. But she brushed back my hair, smiled at me, and said, "I love your birthmark." Then she leaned close and whispered, "I'm still kinda old for you, dude."

My heart beat a little faster, just because this time she said "kinda." Not "I'm too old for you. You know that," but KINDA! I know, I know, I'll hang my hope on anything. It's probably not realistic.

But maybe not totally unrealistic, because from what Wendy told us, Robbie's still tight with Tambry, and Wendy herself has no boyfriend, no serious one, anyway, and she hinted she might sort of be willing to wait for me to catch up. "Never dated a sports star," she teased me. "Might be fun to try if I got a chance. So—you guys win the pennant or you get to be like the most valuable player or whatever, and we just might go together to a dance or some junk when I see you again."

So . . . now I have to learn to dance?

I'll do it! Man, if I need to win a game single-handed, somehow I'll do that, too, and in the meantime I'll even get Mabel to teach me some dance moves—because NOW I'm motivated!

It was easy to be motivated, coming right off a week with his friends (especially the red-headed one), but the next day when school started again, Dipper didn't feel so sure of himself.

In Piedmont, January is the rainiest month of the year, and that Monday was a dismal, wet one with low, ragged gray skies and cold rain drifting down either in showers or in wind-rippled sheets. The team couldn't practice on the swamped baseball field, so they went to a gym classroom and on a big flat screen they watched video of last season's Pico Padres in action.

Just seeing the footage intimidated Dipper. The Padres all looked taller, longer of leg and arm, and more muscular than almost anyone on the Piedmont team—Chuck Taylor and Wiley Casen were the only two Panthers that looked like they'd be even close to an even footing. Coach Waylund kept identifying Padres players from last year who were still on this year's team.

Dipper could see how good they were—a couple of power hitters, some fast runners, some agile and accurate fielders. "Oh, man," someone groaned when they saw a video of one of Piedmont's games against the Padres. It ended in the fifth inning—the Padres were ahead twelve to one, and if a team led by more than ten, the game was over at the end of the fifth, rather than going to the standard-for-JV seven innings.

"We are so dead," someone else moaned, thunking his head down on the desk.

"With that attitude, you may be," Coach said as he flicked on the lights. "Start noticing their weaknesses, not their strengths! Look at their guy Manello—power hitter, but a sucker for a low inside pitch! And Grobbert—yell at him as you run the bases, and he gets confused! In the game against Pemberton, a player got caught between second and third, so he rushed Pemberton and screamed "Look out!" and Pemberton flinched and missed catching the throw and the runner hit third standing up. Watch for things like that!"

It would have helped if they'd had more practice time, but gallons of rain fell that month, and they got in only one day on the field per week. They got back to two or three days in February, but when Saturday, the fifteenth, rolled around, Dipper didn't feel ready—and he was afraid the team wasn't, either. In fact, he secretly hoped for rain that day, but—just their luck—the day after Valentine's dawned bright and clear.

As they suited up in the locker room, the guys talked about girlfriends and Valentines. Taylor said, "I'm out of luck there. The girl I really liked moved to freakin' Florida! How about you, Dipper? Have a date yesterday?"

Dipper was putting on his cleats. "Uh, not exactly," he said. "I video-chatted with this girl I like a lot, but—not the same."

"She from around here?" Chuck asked.

"No. Remember Mabel told you we spend summers in Gravity Falls, up in Oregon? I met her there."

"Bummer. Gravity Falls. Weird name. Yeah, Mabel talks about it a lot, and, something funny, I happened to mention the place at dinner one night. Guess what? My great-great-something-granddad on my mother's side lived in that crazy town, like, more than a hundred and fifty years ago! In fact, Mom says he founded it."

Oh, no. No, it can't be.

"He had a weird name, too," Chuck went on, not noticing that Dipper had frozen in position with only one shoe on. "Nicholas Northwest? Something like that."

"Nathaniel?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah, that's it! One of his daughters moved to California and became my mom's great-great grandmother, I think. I mean, Mom doesn't even know for sure, but something like that. Anyhow, the Northwests supposedly got rich, but I guess they didn't want to have anything to do with us poor relations. The Gravity Falls Northwests still around?"

"I think so. That's a wild coincidence," Dipper said numbly, wondering why his mystery sense was tingling.

For a while he didn't have time to worry about it. When they went out to warm up, he saw Mabel. In a short blue skirt, a white top with the Panthers logo on it in gold and blue, knee-high white-and-blue socks, white sneakers, and—not one, but two pony tails, one on each side of her head, tied with blue-and-white ribbons. And pompons. There had to be pompons. One big, fluffy, and gold, and the other one big, fluffy, and blue. And Mabel was doing high kicks, somersaults, even splits.

The bleachers looked about half full of laughing spectators. Chuck whistled. "Man! I know this is the home field and all, but we never drew a crowd this big last year!" He slapped Dipper's shoulder. "Your sis is OK, dude! I think she'll bring us good luck!"

As the game started, Dipper warmed the bench and hoped that if they really were in for some luck, it would start soon.

But it didn't, not right away. Piedmont won the coin toss, and Chuck decided they'd take the field in the top of the first, so the guys who were playing trotted out to their positions. Dipper hunkered down on the bench, his glove in his lap, and tried not to hear Mabel shrieking, "Padres, Padres, gonna flop! Panthers, Panthers, we're the top! Gimme a Panther roar, people!" What she got was mostly a sustained laugh and some scattered cheers, but that didn't even slow her down.

Dipper glanced sideways and saw that Coach was grinning down at him. Dipper knew he must look sheepish.

But Coach just shrugged and said, "Don't worry, Pines. Mabel's brought in a crowd. Nice to have some spectators!"

Chuck's arm was in good shape. He struck out the first batter with four pitches—two strikes, a ball, and then a strike—and the next man in the batter's box popped out on his first pitch, the shortstop taking two quick steps to field the little looper. Then, seeming to gain confidence, Chuck fanned the next man, the big hitter Ricky Manello—though Manello protested the last low inside pitch, which he claimed missed the strike zone by an inch. The umpire politely disagreed, suggesting if Manello thought a pitch was too low, he probably shouldn't swing at it, and the Padres took the field.

At first it looked as if the bottom half would fly by just like the top: Mike Monohan took a good cut at a fast pitch and launched a pretty fair line drive, but the Padres shortstop, already tall, made a leap and snagged it. One out. Then Petey DeFoy, who had started out nearly as bad as Dipper at the plate but who had been hard at work on his batting all fall, took two strikes and two balls, but to the crowd's excitement, on the next pitch he made a solid connection. The left fielder misjudged it, it flew over the tip of his glove by a couple of inches, and by the time he'd scrambled around to grab the ball and fire it in, Petey was sliding into second, and Mabel was going nuts, like an AAA-cell battery-operated toy that had accidentally been plugged directly into a wall socket.

Chuck stepped up. The pitcher shook off a couple of suggestions from the catcher and pitched an outside ball. Then another. It looked as if he meant to walk Chuck, but then the pitcher threw one that would have just clipped the outside edge of the strike zone if Chuck hadn't swung on it and sent it past the first baseman and skipping along the first-base line. He made it to first while the right fielder fielded it and threw to second for the relay to home, holding Petey at third.

Now the bench guys all leaned forward, chanting, "Go! Go! Go!"

Jayden Dufresne, like Dipper a freshman, was a muscular, above-average cleanup man, and Mabel chanted, "One, two, one-two-three! Hit a homer now, JD!"

He grinned at her and gave her a salute before stepping into the box. The pitcher looked grumpy as he went into a windup. He drilled in an excellent fastball—and JD, the heavy hitter, bunted!

That was all Petey needed. He slid into home plate, though the catcher, a fraction of a second too late to tag him, turned and fired the ball to first, just barely putting J.D. out. And then, unfortunately David Barbour—"Barb"—struck out after two strikes, two balls, and two fouls.

The second inning was fast and scoreless for both teams. Dipper kept looking back at the scoreboard, as if the Panthers' 1 would suddenly evaporate. He began to hope that he might have a chance on the field this game. It was early in the season, they were ahead—well, just barely ahead—and maybe things would fall right for him.

And they did in the next inning. Coach looked thoughtful as the Padres' seventh and eighth batters both reached base on singles. He signaled Chuck to call for a change and said, "Pines, take second. Renaldo, you're in at first. Don't get shook up just because this is your first game, guys. Remember your practice!"

Dipper took over second from X-Man, who in passing said, "Luck, Dip!" and Tom-Tom Renaldo replaced Monohan at first. Dipper got into position and tried to concentrate over Mabel's glass-shattering "Dipper! Dipper! There's no doubt! He's the man to put them out!"

He tried to gulp back some butterflies that seemed to be trying hard to flutter out of his stomach and pass up his gullet and escape from his mouth. It wasn't a hot day, but suddenly the sun seemed glaring and he felt a little dizzy. Get a grip, get a grip, be in the game.

The next batter whiffed the first pitch, took the second for a called strike, and then swung on the third, getting a piece of it—it was going to come down a few feet behind second! Dipper backpedaled, jumped, caught the ball—and it stayed in the pocket of his glove!—and was running in mid-air before his feet hit ground again. The runner on second had bolted for third, realized what happened, reversed, and made a dash back to the base—but Dipper's monster-running practice got him there a heartbeat faster, and he tagged the Padres player out—an unassisted double play!

And the crowd went crazy! Well, be fair, Mabel, mainly, went crazy. But Dipper felt a couple of feet taller. Unfortunately, the next man up blasted a double, and the runner on base scored. But Chuck bore down hard and struck the next batter out, retiring the side with the score tied 1-1.

From there, for Dipper, it was downhill. He got to bat in the bottom of the inning, but though ahead of him Bobby Adamski had reached first and Dub Wilson had made a clean hit through the gap, the base coach unwisely motioned Dub to stretch his hit to a double—and Dub wasn't as fast as Dipper. He was put out, the throw to third was in time, and suddenly the Panthers had two outs, no one on base, and it was up to Dipper.

Who clenched up. A good pitch went right past him. He swung uselessly at one outside the strike zone. And he broke too soon and went down swinging on the third pitch, which, to be fair, he should have hit.

He took the field again, feeling, as Grunkle Stan might say, like ten cents worth of nothing.

The fourth inning brought a personal improvement, but unfortunately, it looked like the Padres had caught fire. They led off with a double; then the next man struck out; and then the biggest guy on the team with the unfortunate name Frank Farder hit a sweet home run, and suddenly the Padres were ahead, three to one. The next Padre got to first, and the next one after him smashed a blazing line drive to far left field. Dipper saw JD dive, catch it a foot off the ground, roll and leap to his feet, and fire it to him. He caught it—it stung like a hard-hit ball—and Dipper spun, realizing that the runner on first had overrun on his way to second but at the last moment had reversed direction. Putting on his best speed, Dipper caught him almost at first base and tagged him out.

The coach met him as he came in. "Good double play back there earlier," he said. "But Pines, throw to first when a man's running back. You're lucky you got the speed."

Dipper hung his head and admitted, "I know that was a dumb move. I got too anxious and lost track."

"You're coming along. Just remember next time."

Dipper rested in the dugout, but not for long—the next three Panthers struck out, one after the other. The Padres pitcher, Norm Chernky, was even better than Chuck, and he seemed to have hit the top of his game.

In the fifth, as if in revenge, Chuck in turn struck out three Padres in a row. And as if inspired, the other guys stood up to Chernky when they came up to bat: Stevie Prenelli, not a great hitter, got a single on a fielder's error. Kenneth Keeler, who had a good eye, then sacrificed to put Stevie on second. Mike managed a double, Petey went down swinging, and then Chuck, facing a Padres pitcher who now was getting a little tired and wild, also smacked a double, tying the score. That was great. Even better was JD's heroic homer, which pushed Piedmont to a 5-3 lead. Mabel didn't calm down even after the next batter, David Barbour, made a ground out.

Following league rules, which limited a pitcher to under 95 pitches per game, Coach retired Chuck at the top of the sixth and sent in Jon J as pitcher. After his warm-up, Jon J first pitched into a line drive, but the shortstop nabbed it for the out. The next Padres batter hit a fast grounder, and Dipper hustled to pick it up—but he glanced to first base at the wrong moment and overran it, letting it shoot through the gap, and the opposing player got a single.

Coach called for substitutions, and—not to Dipper's surprise—he was called in to the bench, while X-man took his place. "Sorry, Coach," Dipper mumbled. "That was a bad error."

"Not so bad if you learn from it," Waylund insisted. He also sent Big W in as catcher, and from that point to the end of the game, Dipper was a spectator. The Padres went down without managing to score another run, leaving it 5-3, Piedmont's favor, before they were retired. In the bottom of the sixth, the Panthers just couldn't get anything going. Two men got to base, but the others were caught out or struck out.

"If we can hold 'em," Coach muttered, "we've won a big one."

And—

Well, no need for false suspense. They did win it in the seventh. True, thanks to a double and a grounder single, the Padres got another man home and brought the score to 5-4, but between some good pitching and some better fielding, the Pico Padres were retired without managing to tie or beat Piedmont. The game ended with the score still five to four, Piedmont, and they'd squeaked out a win for their first game of the season.

And—funny thing—only when his mom and dad came down from the bleachers did Dipper even realize they'd come to the game. "We are so proud!" Mom said, beaming with joy. "You were absolutely wonderful! Everyone loved it! That was so great—Mabel!"

But Dad at least glanced at him and said in a mild voice, "Nice double-play, Dipper."

Mabel was jumping up and down in her lone-cheerleader get-up and excitedly suggesting that they should treat Chuck to an early dinner at a fancy restaurant when, behind them, a commotion broke out. Dipper turned.

One of the Piedmont men lay on his face in the grass just to the right of the third-base line, as if he'd fallen.

The number on his back was 3.

Chuck Taylor's number.

And Coach, who had hunkered over him, stood up with an expression of urgent concern and yelled as loud as he could, "Is there a doctor here?"

To be continued

Note from the Authors: This was just an idea I had but the one who really worked his magic and wrote almost all of this is none other than BillEase. He’s an amazing author who usually hangs out at fanfiction.net. Don’t pass up on a chance to check out his stuff. This guy is AMAZING. He wrote the story, I just gave the plot.

#gravity falls #au #baseball #gf #dipper pines #mabel pines #mabel and dipper #dipper and mabel #sports #fanfic #pines twins #dipper steps up #Chapter 4

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ridleykemp · 4 years ago

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Battlebots Season 5 Episode 3: A Little Controversy To Go With The Carnage

Hey, you! You like spoilers? Good! Read on! If not, then scram! I’m literally going to spoil the entire show starting with the next paragraph, so if you don’t want to know what happened, get outta here!

Alrighty, welcome to fight night 3 of season 5! The first two shows were heavy on brutal action and light on judges decisions. That’s not the case the time. Will it be “Duck was robbed” redux? You’ll just have to read on and find out.

Fight 1: Copperhead v. Gigabyte

Zach Goff’s Copperhead is probably the closest thing the fans will get to seeing Minotaur this year. It’s a 2-wheel drum spinner that hits hard enough to, well, we’ll get to that. John Mladenik’s Gigabyte is the Mother of All Full Body Spinners, a big, inverted wok with lots of bits mounted on the sides to smack you with. The only prediction I made for this one was that it wasn’t going to the judges.

It didn’t go to the judges.

Copperhead looks much the same, but the motor is definitely more impressive even if it doesn’t make the hornet-swarm buzz of Minotaur. The two bots spun up quickly and met in the middle of the arena. The self-righting bar on Gigabyte popped off almost immediately, apparently affecting their driving and allowing Copperhead to back them into a corner. A full-body spinner does not want to be backed into a corner.

The next few seconds were marked primarily by Gigabyte bouncing off the sides of the arena. Copperhead had some time to spin up and hit Gigabyte hard enough to remote the shell from the body. My guess is that the self-righting bar was probably structurally important because that really shouldn’t have happened. The Copperhead folks were nice enough not to clobber Gigabytes exposed innards ad the judge counted the decapitated bot out.

Winner: Copperhead (Knockout)

Fight 2: SubZero v. JackPot

Logan Davis is at the helm of Team SubZero this year. It’s a flipper that is best known for being able to take absurd amounts of damage as opposed to dealing it out. JackPot, driven by Jeff Waters, is a four wheel vertical spinner with two unusually large bars making it a sort of mini-HUGE. Interesting.

The bots came out and met head on, with SubZero getting under JackPot and driving it around the arena. It seemed like a good time to use that flipper, but it never fired for some reason. JackPot was struggling to move in any meaningful way and couldn’t do a lot with the weapon except when it was riding on top of SubZero and whacking the top of the bot.

It would have been interesting to see this one go three minutes to see how the judges would have called it, as SubZero was in complete control of the match but the primary weapon wasn’t work (note: this is foreshadowing). Eventually, SubZero’s motor gave out or it got hung up on an obstacle (it was hard to tell which) and it just stopped moving, giving JackPot the win in its first fight.

Winner: JackPot (Knockout)

Fight 3: Gemini v. Uppercut

Oh, Gemini. Ace Shelander’s multi-bot, a pair of 125 lb. bar spinners, looks good on paper but it’s had serious problems in the arena. Alex Hattori’s Uppercut debuted last year and had a shockingly good run for a new bot. It’s an unusual vertical spinner, with a single “fist” and a counterweight, so there’s only one “side” to the weapon and, of course, it hits up instead of down.

There’s no way I can make this recap a longer one. Gemini split to try to flank Uppercut, but Uppercut just went after the left bot and punted it twenty feet across the arena and over the wall. It turned, faced the other bot, and split it in two with one hit. Game over. After the match, Chris Rose asked Hattori about the fight and he just grinned and said “My bot is fun.” Yeah, it sure is.

Winner: Uppercut (Knockout)

Fight 4: Rotator v. BETA

Victor Soto’s Rotator is a contender for the Giant Nut. It’s a well-armored bot that can mount weapons on either end and Victor is a fantastic driver, as he showed when he dismantled Tombstone last year. This is the time we’ve seen John Reid’s BETA in a while. It’s the apex hammer bot, really hard to hurt, and it can actually cause a little damage with the hammer (which, for a hammer bot, is really impressive).

The bots came out of the gate quickly and BETA just started pushing Rotator around. BETA had a huge armored wedge on it and Rotator couldn’t do a thing about. BETA just drove around shoving Rotator into the wall over and over. On the other hand, Rotator had a top-mounted disc spinner and the idea was that if the hammer hit it, the hammer would take more damage than their bot. The BETA folks agreed, and never fired the weapon.

So, it was essentially a wedge bot pushing around a spinner that couldn’t do anything about it. Eventually, BETA shoved Rotator into a corner and the the spinner bot bounced off the wall and into BETA’s hammer, knocking the head of the hammer off. That was literally the only big “hit” of the fight and BETA immediately resumed shoving Rotator around.

This one went to the judges and it was…not a popular decision. The judges split 2-1 in favor of BETA. I won’t get too deeply into Battlebots lore here, but, in order to discourage wedge bots, the scoring rules are heavily weighted in favor of bots that use their primary weapon. You can get 5 points for doing damage with your weapon, 3 points for aggression (and aggression with the weapon is favored), and 3 points for control of the match.

Was this the correct decision? I think so, but it was tight. The only damage that was done was one hit by Rotator when it was bouncing around and on one wheel, and the rules state that the only damage that counts is damage inflicted by “…deliberate, controlled action,” and it would be a real stretch to say that was the case. On the other hand, BETA absolutely dominated the other two categories. Rotator might as well have been immobile for how easily BETA pushed it around. This wasn’t DUCK v. Bombshell part 2: Bombshell landed some massive hits with its weapon.

The result also passes the eyeball test: Watching that fight, there was only one bot in it. Team Rotator reacted to their one hit like that hit would guarantee a judges decision and a lot of people agreed with that take. Is getting knocked around for three minutes but getting in one hit enough to win the fight? Should it be enough to win the fight? I don’t know. But, to my eyes, the better bot won.

This video will probably be taken down, but it’s a good watch if you can still see it.

Winner: BETA (Split decision)

Fight 5: Tantrum v. Valkyrie

I was rooting for both of these bots. Aren Hill’s Tantrum has made huge strides from the days when it was a cute, but utterly ineffective flipper bot. The “punch spinner” idea, where they launch a spinning drum into the opponent, is really interesting and I hope they continue to refine it. Leanne Cushing’s Valkyrie looks like it should be a top-ten bot: It’s a low, horizontal spinner that can hit really hard, and the low, armored body is tough to damage. It just hasn’t been as reliable as it need to be up to this point.

This one turned out to be a pretty good fight. Valkyrie was well on top early on, getting in several blows with their 65 lb. disc. But, as is often the case for this bot, the spinner stopped working and Tantrum went on the attack. Every now and again, the little puncher bot was able to get under Valkyrie and sparks flew. Actually, there were a lot of sparks in this match, even if there weren’t too many big hits.

Valkyrie was dazed and it looked as though Tantrum might take the W, but the drive stopped working and an it wouldn’t move anymore. I’m glad to see Valkyrie get off to a good start, but sad to see Tantrum take the loss when they were this close to a win.

Winner: Valkyrie (Knockout)

Fight 6: Big Dill v. Atom #94

Two rookies facing off in this one !mmanuel Carrillo’s Big Dill, which just invites all kinds of terrible puns and Kenny Rose tried to use them all, is a lifter with unusually long forks. Atom #94 (Plutonium, for those of you who don’t want to look it up), captained by Yash Deshmukh, is a vertical disc spinner of the Hypershock/Witch Doctor body type, so it looked like it could do some damage.

Unfortunately Atom #94 struggled with movement right out of the box. It just sort of wiggled around without any speed or direction, which is catnip to a lifter bot. Big Dill was able to pick the exact spot to make contact and just started carrying Atom #94 around the arena like a cat that was presenting a captured bird to its owner.

Big Dill wasn’t able to get Atom #94 out of the arena, and eventually, the forks got caught in the other bot’s weapon belt and the fight had to be stopped and sent to the judges. This was an easy one for them.

Winner: Big Dill (Unanimous decision)

Fight 7: Hypershock v. Gruff

What a fantastic matchup for the headliner, although I did comment to Nicole that the matchup was kind of unfavorable for both bots. Will Bales’ Hypershock is one of the fastest, most powerful, and best-driven bots in the tournament although it has had serious trouble finishing fights. Sam McAmis’ Gruff is the polar opposite: It may be the most rugged, reliable bot out there, but as a lifter (albeit a lifter with a scary torch, too), it’s not the biggest offensive threat.

It turns out the immovable object has the advantage over the unstoppable force, or at least it did last night. Hypershock dashed out of the box and tried to find somewhere to hit Gruff that wasn’t armored, but, failing that, just smacked it a couple of times. Gruff was able to function primarily as a ram, but it did manage to lift Hypershock and turn on the heaters and after that? Hypershock was cooked.

Winner: Gruff (Knockout)

For me, the quality of the fights wasn’t quite as high as it had been over the first two episodes, but we got a lot of drama, and that was certainly interesting. With a lot of rookie bots this year, you’re always going to get a mixed bag. Any time there’s a new bot, my thought is that the best you can hope for is that it will work. Not win, not even compete, but just do the things it’s supposed to do: move, attack, dodge, etc. If you can do that, you’re doing it right.

That’s it for episode 3. It occurs to me that the bot I’m not interested in seeing, Chomp, hasn’t fought yet. Surely next week, right?

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idthellyeah-blog · 4 years ago

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A totally timely and significant review of Rancid’s “...And Out Come The Wolves”

(I honestly don’t remember when I wrote this, maybe 2015. Definitely just got jacked up on something and decided that I needed to write a track by track review of an album I loved when I was a cool punk teen. It has just been sitting in my Google Drive patiently waiting to be posted.)

I remember the first time I ever heard/saw Rancid was when the video for “Salvation” off of their second album “Let’s Go” premiered on MTV. Such an 80’s/90’s kid thing to do, discovering a new band by seeing a music video on TV, ugh. I thought the leather clad mohawked bad boys were amazing and perfect and so cool...that I immediately tried to spike my hair using gelatin (tru punx only) and got a leather jacket (did not look that cool and was very sweaty). When “...And Out Come The Wolves” came out the next year (1995, I’m old AF) I was totally enamored and had found my #1 favorite album of all time (that lasted for like a year until music got better). I was supposed to go see Rancid at a big show in Omaha, I lived in a small town called Columbus that was roughly 90 minutes away from the big city...but the day of my mom didn’t let me go because I had bad math grades. I reacted the way any entitled white teen did, by laying in the garage and crying and playing their album. That show wound up being a huge to-do when fans tore up seats in the venue and threw cushions at the band leading to Rancid not playing Omaha for a long time. I missed out on some cool bad-ass punk rock shit, first world problems. Fast forward to today when I decided that I, Ian Douglas Terry, needed to write out a song-by-song review of this quintessential punk album. I’m a real music nut, and obviously very good at structured writing...so here we go! (Rock on)

1. Maxwell Murder - Oh boy, this one starts with like a subway train sound and then the beginning of a killer/complicated Matt Freeman bass line. That dude SHREDS the bass, and even has a wild solo in this song. That’s tight. Why did they stop letting him sing? He sounded like a fun Muppet on their first album and I loved his songs. Maybe he wanted to focus on just shredding the bass and using tons of pomade.

2. The 11th Hour - This song is great. It is poppy and upbeat and about a woman having dreams and demanding answers. Hell yeah. I love good punk music that supports women and feminism and figuring out where the power lies (spoiler alert, it starts and ends with you). Remember how Brody from The Distillers left Tim Armstrong for the dude from Queens of the Stone Age? And then he got all fat and got a beard? I can completely relate to that, and have been there sans beard.

3. Roots Radicals - This song RULES. I had to look up what “Moonstompers” were and who “Desmond Dekker” was. I remember trying to relate to this like it could somehow compare to living in a town with 20,000 people and the nicest Wal-Mart in the tri-county area. Remember how there was that Spanish language cover of this on one of those “Give Em The Boot” comps that Hellcat put out? That was real tight.

4. Time Bomb - Hit single baby! This had a huge hand in getting punk kids into reggae/ska for sure. Killer organ solo, lots of rude boy shit going, I loved it so much. Tim Armstrong totally re-used lyrics from the song “Motorcycle Ride” from the previous album...which is hilarious. Like c’mon dawg...you should know your own lyrics. I learned how to do the solo from this and felt like a guitar god (it is a very easy solo, like almost too easy).

5. Olympia, WA - I love songs like this that are about cities that the band isn’t from...so you have to fire up your imagination (or just read the lyrics) and be like, “What went down in Olympia, Washington????”. Turns out it was mostly hanging out on different streets in New York and playing pinball with Puerto Ricans while wishing you were with a person who you were sleeping with in Washington. Hell yeah, just like Shakespeare.

6. Lock, Step & Gone - Songs about docks were HUGE in my youth. Dropkick Murphy’s had like eight songs about boys on them, and this Rancid song alludes to them. I loved all of the blue collar, working class ideology that had nothing to remotely do with my comfortable upper middle class (not sure if that’s accurate because my parents were teachers, and like is there even a middle class any more?) life. This song definitely sums itself up at then end when it says “There’s a whole lot of nothin”.

7. Junky Man - Another theme that I could definitely relate to in a town of 20,000 people with like ten people who did meth...Junkies! This song is pretty great because the dude from the Basketball Diaries does some sick poetry in it...that movie was nuts. I like that song that he later wrote/sang about all the people he knew who died. The only way poetry can be cool is if the person is an insane drug addict with cool/sad stories to tell. Otherwise it is just loud diary reading.

8. Listed MIA - At this point I wholeheartedly agree with this song, “I’m checking out”. I don’t know if I ever really liked this song or if this was just part of the “I accidentally left it playing after the first four songs that I liked were over”. Lars says the derogatory f-word for homosexuals in it, because people called him that word...that doesn’t seem cool man. I get that it rhymes with “maggots”, but maybe give white dudes in the Midwest less reasons to sing that word out loud.

9. Ruby Soho - This is one of the best songs ever, hands down. It is beautiful and you can barely understand what Tim Armstrong is saying but it is wonderful. I feel like deciphering his lyrics led me to be able to understand most speech impediments, so hell yeah. This song is about loving someone a lot but having to leave them because it isn’t working out. This song was the blueprint for every romantic relationship I’ve ever had in my entire life so it might be a gypsy curse.

10. Daly City Train - Oh hell yeah, fun Reggae drums! Through punk and ska I grew to appreciate Reggae, but through being bummed out about that culture’s deep seated homophobia and the fact that most of it is super repetitive and boring and for dad’s on vacation. I’m just glad that 311 taught me to love those smooth Caribbean sounds again (oh god am I joking or am I serious, I can’t tell any more please save me).

11. Journey to the End of the Easy Bay - I can still play this bass line and was very proud of myself the first time I half-way pulled it off. It doesn’t sound as smooth and nuanced as the way Matt Freeman plays it, but goddamn it I think that was the height of my skill as a musician. This song rules themes about needing to belong and finding a place with people who thought and felt the same as you...and then losing it as everyone grows out of it. This was most of my early 20’s. I grew up in a scene with similarly minded people, it eventually ended and I still have contact with some of those people but that point in my life will never be replicated. I finally belonged somewhere and was part of something bigger than me. Now I do comedy and it is bleak, entitled, and sad and mostly alcoholics talking about their dicks. Please take me back.

12. She’s Automatic - This is not a bad song but a very confusing way to describe a woman. I get that it means she is effortless in “the way that she moves” but maybe I’m not giving Lars any poetic license because he looks like a guy who punched books. This woman sounds great though, and I’m sure they dated for three months. Revisiting this and that era reminds me that I almost had sex with a girl at the first X-men movie...man, being punk ruled.

13. Old Friend - Back to the Raggae! This song is pretty great, but they really missed an opportunity of selling this to a heartburn medicine company. “Good morning heartache, you’re like an old friend come and see me again”...that would be perfect for a commercial of a guy eating a giant plate of lasagna and making a “Oh boy, I did it again!” face. The Transplants sold a song to that fruit shampoo, maybe this is something I can retroactively help negotiate.

14. Disorder and Disarray - I love when punk bands have songs about “business men” being evil and the industry being bad. Like when Against Me were part of an Anarchist collective and then on a major label putting out really bad music. Rancid was at least on Epitaph, which while arguably not “cool” it was at least run by a kind of punk dude who is responsible for the biggest/shittiest corporate garbage of a festival, The Warped Tour. This song has a part towards the end where they talk to each other like David Lee Roth would do in Van Halen songs, that rules.

15. The Wars End - I get that this is a song about little Sammy being a punk rocker but at this point I think they should have admitted this album was fine with 10-12 songs and maybe some of these were super repetitive and unnecessary. It's like you’re forcing it. I can’t imagine the dude who recorded it had a lot of fun and he probably fell asleep and was startled awake and had to pretend like he’d been paying attention the whole time.

16. You Don’t Care Nothin - This starts out with the exact chord progression from Journey To The End Of The East Bay….c’mon guys. You Don’t Care Nothin about being succinct and making your songs individual expressions of art! The themes even seem like something they’ve already gone over. I’m going to eat some soup, brb.

17. As Wicked - Is this a different song or a weird breakdown? Oh, it’s a different song. Well...this soup is pretty good. Chicken Noodle, but the chunky kind. It isn’t amazing but it is good. I should really cook more. Maybe I’ll order Chinese later.

18. Avenues & Alleyways - I don’t really have a problem with this song because it has the “Oi oi oi” chant that the bands I was in during High School would do and we had no idea why other than popular bands doing it. It is very catchy. It sounds like the other two songs were just building up to finally getting your attention back. Plus it has a breakdown with people clapping, that is always fun. This has to be the last song right? It is the perfect last song on an album!

19. The Way I Feel - FUUUUUUUCK! What? Really should have ended the album on that last song, it had a good “anthem” vibe and at least wrapped this up into a somewhat sensible endeavor. This song could have been stuck in the middle somewhere, or maybe just not recorded with about seven others? The Way I Feel about this album is that there are some parts that hold up and are still fun to listen to, but the rest of it just seems like I’m being forced to read my own teenage diary and it is boring and sad. Nostalgia is a bummer, I can’t imagine having Rancid still be my favorite band. I’d probably still wear a chain wallet and spiky bracelet and be one of those obnoxious old drunk weirdos I see at shows that stick out like crazy sore thumbs. Bummer dude.

Oh wow, what a journey (to the end of the east bay, am I right?)...I’m glad I was finally able to get this review out so people could finally know what this album means to me and my generation of lazy weirdos. This took me six months to write and I should be congratulated for being a journalist with tons of integrity and great taste. True punks never die, they just eventually chill out and shop at Kohl’s.

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