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dogboyzen · 5 years ago

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Summer activities w/ the RFA + Saeran & V

Hi hi!! This is my first post here and my first time writing one of these!! Feel free to leave feedback or requests as well :)) I’m super excited to be here and I hope u enjoy!! <3

Yoosung Kim

•you had to drag him off his computer at the start of the summer

•but now he’s LOVES going outside and doing stuff with you

•he comes up with fun little road trips for you 2!!

•definitely loves the amusement park and will drag you on rides all day

•he also really likes the beach but the sun tires him out easily

•but him being tired doesn’t stop the fun!! This boy loves doing anything, anywhere with you

•sometimes you both need some time to recooperate energy, so you watch those coming of age summer movies on the off days

•In fact yoosung loves those movies!! He’s a sucker for clique but happy endings :))

•summer is his favourite season and as long as your with him, he doesn’t care what you 2 do!!

Zen / Hyun Ryu

•lots.of.sefies!!

•no matter where you 2 are, he loves taking photos of your adventures together and he loves to show you off !

•this man is all for the beach

•but if one guy looks at you the wrong way in a bikini he will make sure the guy knows your taken

•zen will definitely bitch about being in the sun too long cause it could ruin his skin

•comes up with super romantic but simple date ideas

•going on picnics together became a regular thing for you 2!!

•he suggested going to the amusement park with you but when he instantly saw how big the rides were he nearly shit himself

•but when he saw how excited you were to go on them, he sucked it up and came with you on them

•he ended up loving them and by the end of the day you both were exhausted from rides

•zen loves being in your company no matter where it is and made the most of the summer with you!!

•by the end of the summer, his storage was nearly filled with photos though

Jaehee Kang

•Jaehee usually would rather stay around town than going out on crazy trips

•but Jaehee loves going on roadtrips with you!!

•going in the car while listening to music and having small conversations was very relaxing for her

•you can bet your summer was filled with baking and trying out crazy recipes

•when you both couldn’t sleep, you’d do some 3am baking while having deep conversations on the kitchen floor

•she loves going hiking with you!!

•so you 2 ended up camping for a few days :))

•it was a bit of a disaster as it was both of your first times camping, but it certainly was super fun!

•Jaehee loved going on cute dates in the park w/ you, where you both would find a quiet place to watch the sunset together

•you both would go to the beach late at night and go swimming at sunset

•it was a very relaxing first summer w/ her and you 2 already had made plans for next summer too!!

Jumin Han

•you can guarantee Jumin would plan something expensive vacation for you both

•it was a blast!! You 2 went to Hawaii and explored the island together

•you decided to take Jumin to an amusement park!!

•when you told him about it, he didn’t understand as he could easily rent out the place for the day for you 2 calm down Jumin not everything needs to be so extra

•when you got there, he didn’t know where to go as he’s never been to a place like this before

•when you took him on a rollarcoaster, he wasn’t too big of a fan, but enjoyed seeing you smile

•so you guys went on a few smaller ones together

•Jumin would find really cute restaurants with an outside patio to go to w/ you!!

•Jumin would take you on dates on his boat since Elizabeth the 3rd could come and you’d end up spending the day there

•you 2 would dance together in front of the moonlight before heading home

•Jumin loves being in your presence so the summer was spent together, doing a variety of things

•it was the best summer of your lives since you spent it together, and you both couldn’t wait for the future summers to come :))

707 / Luciel / Saeyoung Choi

•‘MC wake up, wake up, we need to get ready for the amusement park’

•‘Saeyoung it’s 5 in the morning let me sleep”

•this boy was excited to go anywhere and planned something super fun almost everyday with you!!

•he didn’t get to experience a lot of things during his childhood so the summer was spent living out his childhood fantasies!!

•he LOVED the amusement, like yoosung

•would try to go on every ride with you

•by the end of the day you both were exsuated, arms full of stuffed animals, won from the carnival games which he was literally a pro at

•it was 7am one morning and you woke up to water get splashed on your face, it was a waterballoon.

•you, Vanderwood and Saeran all looked pissed off coming out of your rooms, to see what the hell happened

•it took no less than 10 seconds to realize this was one of Saeyoungs pranks

•and as soon as you realized that, Saeyoung popped up from behind the couch and hit Saeran square in the face with a waterballoon

•if Saeran wasn’t already pissed, now he was, and 30 minutes, 130 waterballoons, and 4 soaked adults later, the waterballoon fight was over

•this was just one of the many pranks Saeyoung pulled this summer, but you eventually started to get in on them with Saeyoung!!

•you both had such an exciting summer together, and Saeyoung was bummed it was over :((

•but that doesn’t mean the fun is over!! Saeyoung had already started to plan next summer to be even crazier with you!!!

V / Jihyun Kim

•if you thought Zen took a lot of photos, wait til you see the amount V took

•he took his camera everywhere so he could capture the fun moments he had with you!!

•he wasn’t a big fan of commercial attractions, but rather more relaxing trips

•you 2 went camping together, by the lake for 2 weeks!!

•you loved to help V by modeling for his photos! So you both would do adorable photoshoots together!!

•you guys were literally a living aesthetic

•this man would work so hard on coming up with the cutest dates for you guys!!

•you 2 would go on a small vacation together to a private beach 3 hours away!!

•you 2 would play in the water and every chance he got, he couldn’t stop telling you how beautiful you looked god this man is literally an angel wtf

•On the days you stayed at home, you 2 would cuddle together while watching movies

•your summer was spent together surrounded by relaxing scenery

•it was the first time since he left Rika, he realized that they were never meant to be together and you were always the one for him

•when he told you this your heart melted someone give this man a hug

Saeran

•it took a few days to convince him to leave the house and do stuff

•Saeyoung convinced him to go to an amusement park and he refused at first but seeing as you seemed excited to go, he caved and went

•he never liked crowds but nothing mattered as long as you were with him! He didn’t want to admit it, but he was having the time of his life there

•he wasn’t the biggest fan of rollarcoasters but enjoyed the smaller ones, and he was surprisingly good at carnival games, much like his brother

•he would watched a kid fall in line and laughed ‘shhh Saeran they are looking please’

•he was determined to try 50 flavours of icecream this summer, and it’s safe to say you guys doubled that goal

•no matter where you went, you would always find an icecream shop and you 2 would try all the new flavours

•your local icecream parlor knew you 2 by name, at the end of the summer

•you guys would go for cute walks in your community garden together and when it got late, you 2 would stargaze together!!

•Saeran loves watching the stars, and being with you made everything better!

•you 2 went on a lot of cute dates!!

•he surprisingly enjoyed the beach a lot but preferred to find a more private one where there was less people

•by the end of the summer he came a lot out of his comfort zone and even though he didn’t admit it, you knew he couldn’t wait to do some of the same things next summer!!

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ohjohnno · 5 years ago

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Outrageous Fortune Reviewcap: S1E07 (”Foul Deeds Will Rise”)

Y’know, I never really appreciated how good some of these episode titles were until this second run-through. Foul deeds in-deed. This episode is really something else, and I’m going to enjoy running through it, but before I do I just gotta quickly clarify one thing.

I mentioned, in the first post, that Loretta had a penchant for blackmail and also that she’d found a way to skip school most of the time. Well, I forgot to mention that those two were one and the same. Jethro’s current girlfriend, Caroline (who I misidentified before as the headmistress - she’s actually only deputy principal) has been fucking him since he was fifteen, and Loretta has pictures. She’s using that to blackmail her into letting her skip just about every day at school. I mention it now because it’s about to become very important.

I’m gonna have to do this episode in much the same way as I did episode four. It’s not nearly as dizzyingly densely-written as that one, but it nonetheless eschews the usual separate-plots format to focus on one fairly distinct throughline. There are, I suppose, technically two plots, but they have pretty much total overlap and are both driven almost entirely by the same character: Loretta West.

She gets this episode all to herself, pretty much, though Ted and Jethro naturally play very important roles. This is our deepest look into her psyche yet, and it happens - not coincidentally - to be another of my favorite ever episodes of the show.

We open with all the Wests, except Jethro, in the kitchen. Ted’s about to go off to play bowls with Margaret, and Loretta’s not any happier than she was last episode. Ted mentions that Margaret is on the local committee for the sport, which will be important. Margaret shows up, and cajoles Ted into admitting that the two of them are planning to move away together, which leaves Cheryl pretty much overjoyed. Loretta, though, looks as if Ted just tore out her heart and shattered it upon the ground.

The two of them leave, and Cheryl reminds the rest of them that Jethro’s bar admittance ceremony is coming up (Van’s not enthused about having to go). Loretta, though, doesn’t give a fuck; she follows Cheryl into her room and immediately sets about trying to convince her to stop Ted from leaving.

It doesn’t take one of Loretta’s intellect to work out that Cheryl is just happy she won’t have to look after Ted anymore, and she doesn’t bother trying to deny it. So Loretta turns to her next tactic: she immediately, and without a moment’s hesitation, outs Margaret as transgender to Cheryl, and in the most primally transphobic way she can conjure. “You know she’s a man, right?”, she seethes, making various horrible gestures as she explains it all to Cheryl. And Cheryl is certainly shocked, but it’s the neutral, just-plain-amazed kinda shock, free from any judgement and remarkably lacking in any real prejudice. She has no idea which pronouns to use, but ultimately just doesn’t really care. “Look, Margaret is a very nice woman who used to be a very nice man,” she says, very satisfyingly, and the disgusted Loretta is forced to her last resort: revealing that Margaret is a wanted criminal on the run from the law. But she must have known, on some level, that a woman as seasoned in the criminal world as Cheryl wouldn’t care about that either, and it all ends up with Loretta storming angrily out of the room as Cheryl continues to vocally give no shits about any of it.

Meanwhile, Jethro is preparing for his barring ceremony in the most appropriate way he can imagine.

Loretta’s still present, though, living rent-free in Caroline’s head, constantly grating between her and Jethro as the sandpapery wall that prevents them from living as a regular, out couple. Caroline fantasizes, mildly, about just straight-up killing her; Jethro doesn’t seem to object.

Loretta’s conduct the next day doesn’t help any. A teacher called Smail (poor guy) reminds her that she’s gotta do a speech about her favorite family member soon, a concept that bores her enough that she goes right to Caroline and demands that she call the man off. Caroline points out, really quite reasonably, that she literally can’t do this, which doesn’t faze Loretta one bit. She makes her ultimatum clear: Smail leaves her alone, or she reveals to the world that Caroline fucked a student.

Let’s pause and review for a second. Loretta, less than seven minutes into this episode, has just done two things that are both kind of awful in different ways. Firstly, she outed a trans woman without a moment’s second thought in order to try and serve her own ends, and this becomes more awful when you remember that she fully understands - indeed, is maybe the only member of the cast who does - how much prejudice they face. Indeed, that exact knowledge is what drove her to do it; she was trying to manipulate the prejudice she assumed she’d find in her own mother in order to achieve her own ends. The second is more complicated; threatening to destroy the life of a statutory rapist isn’t really all that objectionable in itself, one might think, and Caroline surely does not deserve much of our sympathy. But Loretta doesn’t give a toss about the morality here, of course. She just views it as a nice, efficient way to realize her aggressive laziness, and we can rest assured that Caroline’s own moral failings are no more important to Loretta than those of any fly she might swat.

We cut to Ted and Margaret enjoying their bowls tournament, all the while surreptitiously taking photos of the place. It is revealed, in a conversation between them, that they’ve gone back to their old ways; the two of them are constructing a meticulous plan to rob the club blind, and they seem to be having great fun doing it. Again, I want to stress this: there is never any suggestion of anything untoward in Ted and Margaret’s relationship, and there’s no evidence of dishonesty, manipulation or anything else. The two really do love each other, and it’s honestly very wholesome. I mean, aside from the whole conspiracy to rob a bunch of their fellow old folks, I guess.

Cut to Ted back in the house, talking to Loretta. She doesn’t want him to go, and she says so. What follows is a conversation that quickly goes down the drain.

It starts out innocently enough; Loretta reminds us all, in case we’ve forgotten, that she’s a teenage girl, and tells Ted that he’s “the only one in this fucked-up family who actually understands me”. But when the various garden-variety guilt trips and whatnot fail to move him, Loretta goes for the jugular: she mentions Rita. Well, I say “mentions”, but it’s really more like she wields her name as a bludgeon, suddenly abandoning all her sweet softness and just straight up wailing on Ted’s weakest point, implying that he’s selfish and the moral equivalent of an adulterer for finding someone new. Ted’s furious, and not a little upset; you can tell it got to him, and it may indeed have accomplished Loretta’s goal of giving him second thoughts. This wasn’t as calculated as Loretta’s usual cruelty, though; you can tell it came from a place of genuine hurt. She really is upset about the thought of her favorite family member leaving, and the truth is that this sort of reaction to the prospect of (perceived) abandonment isn’t actually too out of the ordinary for teenagers. Does that mean we should let it slide? Not really, but this time, I do understand. Anyway, Jethro and Caroline show up before Ted can respond, and they have a private conversation with Loretta in her room.

Jethro tries to convince Loretta to “just do what the nice teacher says”, for once. Loretta is unmoved. She’s generously come up with a solution for her Smail woes, too: she’s gonna accuse him of sexual assault, and Caroline’s gonna get him fired. Even Jethro is a little shocked at the newfound depths of the moral void present in the teenage girl sitting before him, and it’s true that it really is an absolutely awful thing to contemplate, let alone propose as a genuine plan. Blackmailing a teacher who really did commit sexual assault is one thing, but annihilating the life and career of a perfectly innocent one by falsely accusing him of that same thing (except, arguably, worse) just to avoid having to do one fucking speech is something entirely different. It also serves the nicely revealing function of letting us know for certain what we had already guessed: that Loretta doesn’t give a flying shit about the fact that what Caroline did was actually wrong. To her, it’s just another weapon she can use.

Meanwhile, Judd is trying as hard as he can to think of a reason to write a letter recommending that Jethro be denied entry to the bar. We cut, ominously, to Ted and Margaret planning their job. Ted is still thinking about Loretta’s words, and starts getting sentimental; “I swore there’d never be another woman,” he says, and Margaret says something about getting out of that on a technicality which I’m pretty sure no actual trans person would ever actually say, and which does make me wince a little. Ted mentions that Loretta loved Rita, which isn’t the last time that’ll come up.

Jethro is trying to console a very upset Caroline, who is just about at breaking point. Loretta, in her youthful inexperience, has dared to push it too far; Caroline is so distraught by the whole affair that she’s actually pretty much willing to commit career suicide and just let her send the photos, feeling that death (so to speak) would be a better fate than the abominable constant torture of living at the beck and call of a lazy, smug fifteen-year-old girl. So Jethro comes to Loretta in the middle of the night (prompting a very strange quip about incest from her) and leaves her an ultimatum: either she uses the photos now, or the blackmail stops. Loretta tries, in vain, to convince him otherwise, reminding him of the consequences, but he turns it round on her, asking if she’s considered how, exactly, Cheryl will react when she finds out what Loretta’s been doing. Loretta turns it back round against him, threatening to reveal his Maori fraud (and as far as I can tell, she’s the first white person in the show to pronounce the word “Maori” like the Maori do); Jethro simply points out that this would just straight-up break Cheryl’s heart, and has to trust that there’s at least something other than pure void in the girl’s soul that’ll restrain her. He leaves her with that, presumably nervous as anything. After all, he's Loretta’s family, and he knows perhaps even better than Caroline just how low she can go. So this is a tremendously big gamble for him to take.

Cut to the video hut next day. Loretta’s on the verge of tears in the office she commandeered from the real owner, and she’s particularly snappy with Kurt, even by her standards. “Why can’t I just live the way I say? Me getting what I want, is that too much to ask?” It’s not my favorite dialogue in the show - it’s a bit too on-the-nose, honestly - but it’s not exactly out of character. It turns out Loretta doesn’t have the photos; she had stashed them in Ted’s unit, and when it burned down, they went with it. She’s been bluffing ever since, and up until now, it had worked. But she’d done that thing young geniuses like her so often do: she’d overestimated her own intelligence, overplayed her hand. If she hadn’t been so lazy this once, she might’ve been able to keep the charade going until the end, but now everything’s fallen apart and she’s managed to sweep her own legs out from underneath her. She’s going to have to start going to school now. She thinks that’s tragic. And in a way it is. What’s that classic friendlyshark review on Letterboxd? “TRAGIC DRAMA. SHARK DESTROYED BY OWN HUBRIS. MASTERFUL.”

Things don’t get any better for her anytime soon. Margaret shows up when Loretta’s on her way into school, and she’s correctly divined that Loretta is trying to prevent Ted from leaving. She’s not having that at all; she tells her to stay out of the two of their business or she’ll, and I quote here, “rip your fucking tongue out”. And she does it all with a big smile on her face! She also tells Loretta that she’s the spitting image of Rita, which is - again - not the last time we’ll hear that.

What’s shaping up here is a remarkably unusual kind of plot for TV shows outside of the sitcom realm. Loretta sure is the protagonist here, and her challenges, goals, and cast of villains is now all laid out before us. But “villains” here feels weird, because there’s nothing villainous about what Margaret is doing. She’s just protecting a relationship she cares deeply about from ruination at the hands of a selfish, frighteningly intelligent young girl, and there’s still no suggestion that her love for Ted isn’t genuine. If it wasn’t clear before, it’s becoming clear now: this is a plot with a villain protagonist, and Margaret is playing with something dangerous here.

We cut to Van, delicately polishing his toenails before scrambling to hide all the gear when Jethro comes in. He mostly ignores him and makes his way to Loretta’s room, looking for the photos. Loretta tells him she isn’t gonna use them because she “can’t do it to mum”, but Jethro knows her better than that; I don’t think he really expected that gambit he pulled to actually work, and he’s suspicious now that it did. Loretta tries hard not to spill the beans, but Jethro works it out anyway, and leaves gleefully secure in the knowledge that the photos are long gone.

Kia kaha!

This pisses her right off. And sheer rage is what seems to motivate her next move: flagrantly ignoring the old West no-snitching code and putting together an anonymous report about who Margaret really is, posting it to the police. We don’t see the effects of that right away, though - we cut, instead, to Jethro telling the overwhelmingly relieved Caroline that the photos don’t exist anymore. She’s giddily excited at the prospect of her and Jethro becoming a regular couple. Jethro... well, he’s not as excited. You can see the enormity of it washing over him all at once, actually; it hits him, as Caroline is exploding with excitement before him, that he’s actually going to have to be seen out in public with her, and that now their relationship will involve more than just sex. Instantly, in that moment, you can tell this thing is doomed. But he invites her to his barring ceremony anyway.

It’s later, and Loretta and Ted are playing chess. It’s not clear who’s winning. Loretta eventually gives up anyway and tells Ted she’s going to give her speech about him. It’s a tender little scene, actually; Antonia Prebble really brings her A-game to this episode, capturing a very wide range of emotions in young Loretta, and it’s clear she really does love and care about her grandfather very dearly.

He reappears the next morning, as Cheryl is making clear she will attend Loretta’s speech and drag Pascalle along with her (Van declares he isn’t going, and nobody seems to have any objection). Ted expresses an interest in it, too, in his usual feigned-dementia way. The good vibes are interrupted, though, by the demons Loretta herself conjured up earlier; Judd and Hickey turn up talking about “Mark”, making it clear that they’re onto Margaret, even if they don’t actually know where she lives or even really who she is (apparently she’s been savvy enough to keep her real name off any records). Judd not-so-subtly implies that he might use this as a reason to get Jethro denied admission to the bar.

Now Cheryl cares.

She still doesn’t care enough to stop any of their plans, but she does make it clear, as non-maliciously as possible, that Margaret isn’t welcome in the West house anymore. Ted and Margaret, later, have some discussion about whether to continue with the job at all; Ted wants to call it off, but Margaret insists that they continue. The one concession she makes is that they move the job forward and do it tonight. Ted is conflicted, since that means missing Loretta’s speech, but ultimately his love for Margaret wins out.

The Wests, minus only Ted and Van, show up at the school, reminiscing about bygone days. Jethro reveals to the family that he’s dating Caroline, which seems to have Pascalle equal parts disgusted and amused. Cheryl is a bit nonplussed, too, but they’re all interrupted by Loretta, anxious and nervous that Ted hasn’t showed up yet. That’s because Ted is, at that very moment, getting ready to break into the club. He won’t be showing, and poor Loretta is waiting in vain, standing next to the man she would have completely destroyed without a second’s hesitation to get out of doing this very speech.

Loretta has to give her speech anyway, and the stage doesn’t suit her. But she finds her stride anyway, with the help of a jab at lawyers (Jethro very much included). What follows is a nicely efficient mix of character exploration, setting exposition, and plot development.

Loretta’s speech is, as promised, about Ted (”Theodore Francis West”), and she doesn’t pull any punches. The audience is shocked when she proudly mentions that he was once known as “the finest safe-cracker of his generation”, but this only seems to spur her on; offending the polite society with which she feels no connection is clearly instinctively pleasurable to her. We learn a bit about Ted’s early life; he married and had children young, he had a code of ethics he followed almost without fail, he was superstitious, and he was meticulous. This, then, is the origin of the West family profession, and Loretta seems to find it as romantic as anybody else might. But as she speaks - specifically, as she mentions that Ted’s targets always used to include sports clubs - she reaches a sudden, overwhelming moment of epiphany, and we know well what it is, because the whole thing has been intercut with scenes of Ted and Margaret expertly breaking into and robbing the bowls club.

She really is the smartest West. She’s also inherited both her mother’s drive and her father’s clarity of vision; the moment she finishes her speech, she fucks right off, failing to convince Jethro to lend her his car (she “drives like a maniac”, apparently, which isn’t surprising considering she’s fifteen) and thus instead just stealing and hotwiring a random unlocked one she finds in the parking lot. She drives off, coincidentally passing Judd and Hickey (surveiling Margaret’s house, I think, and very much not enjoying each other’s company) while, back at the school, Cheryl fails to get used to the fact that Jethro is dating his old teacher, and Jethro’s blood runs cold when he hears mention of a car stolen from just outside.

She drives quite well, actually, and Judd and Hickey don’t recognise her. Cut to Ted and Margaret, jubilant with excitement at the success of their job. Ted opts to walk home, leaving the money with Margaret, who promises to pick him up tomorrow morning. But as she drives off, she encounters Loretta, and the two have a confrontation in the dark.

Loretta makes it clear: Margaret is to leave, and she’s not to take Ted with her. Margaret, of course, doesn’t see why she should - she loves Ted, after all, and what could be more important than that?

What Loretta says next is important.

“Do you love him enough to go back inside?” she asks. And that’s a threat that confused me at first, because what she’s threatening is basically to snitch, and hasn’t she already done that? But it’s different now, of course, because Loretta knows more. She’s at the scene of the crime; she’s a credible witness who can place her there and identify her car. Her prior act of snitching was limited, being entirely anonymous and based only off a decades-old cold case about a prison runaway; this time, she has real dirt, and the police will be far more motivated to pursue this one. And there’s another implication here, one that makes it all so much more horrible: if she tells the police about this, she’ll be putting Ted in the line of fire too. Is that what Loretta’s implying here? Does she really realise that’s what she’s doing? The dialogue leaves it open to interpretation, which may be intentional. Personally, though? I think she knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s forcing Margaret into a horrible choice: either risk the both of them getting caught and, one way or the other, separated, or just leave now and leave them both separated but, at least, still free. Either way, they won’t be together.

Loretta justifies this to herself as concern for Ted, who, she tells Margaret, is just too old for this sort of thing. Maybe she’s right - I dunno, he still seemed pretty spry when he broke into that safe. But are those really her reasons? Somehow, I’m skeptical. And that doesn’t jive very well with the veiled threat to put him in danger of prison, does it?

Cut to the West home. Loretta’s home already when the others all get back. She says she walked home; Cheryl believes her. Jethro knows better. He’s furious, since Loretta’s little stunt put him in danger; if she’d gotten caught, that might’ve endangered his admittance to the bar. Loretta’s response is as quintessentially teenage-girl as it gets. “I had my reasons, okay? And you wouldn’t understand.”

Next morning, Cheryl hears news of the break-in on the radio. Loretta lies as expertly as ever and reassures her that Ted wouldn’t be capable of such a thing. Ted pops his head out of his room, asking if the phone had gone for him; Loretta says the phone didn’t go. And that is such a quietly, horribly tragic moment - Ted facing up to the horrible beginnings of building, dreadful feelings of betrayal and abandonment; it being mistaken, by anyone present, for just his regular demented-old-man rambling, taken seriously by nobody; Loretta playing along with it, cold and sharp as ice, knowing the enormity of what she’s hiding from him and seeing what it’s doing to him and still displaying absolutely no response to it - that it rips me up inside a little bit every time I see it.

Cheryl doesn’t want him coming to Jethro’s barring ceremony; Loretta offers to stay and look after him. And if, at this point, you feel a sudden cresting wave of appalled, horrified disgust at that little thing, sitting there innocent and contented as a lamb as she awaits the full detonation of that abominable time-bomb of trauma and grief she just planted for her own grandfather, ready to be there with first-aid when it goes - well, that’s only natural.

We cut now to the only part of this episode that really doesn’t concern Loretta at all: Jethro’s barring ceremony. In its own way, that’s kind of horrible in itself, after all, but really Judd had it right earlier in the episode: “have you ever met a lawyer that wasn’t a ratbag?” Jethro’s general scummery ain’t exactly out of the ordinary for his profession, and one expects that he’ll fit right in. The ceremony itself is as big a moment for Cheryl as it is for Jethro, but alas, it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

The afterparty contains a couple of pretty great jokes - the head of Jethro’s law firm hesitantly trying to tread the line between admitting and not admitting that he’s seen Pascalle stripping; him also mistaking Van for Jethro and being absolutely baffled by his behavior - but one plot-important thing does take place: Tracy Hong shows up, for unimportant reasons, and promptly and immediately realises that the man she had sex with that one time was definitely Jethro and not Van. That will be important, though not perhaps in the way I’d like.

Judd and Hickey call off their surveillance, though not before Hickey creeps out Judd some more. Elsewhere, Caroline tells Jethro she loves him before they sleep; Jethro doesn’t say it back, and he dreams about Tracy. Uh oh.

And then we’re back in the West household, populated only by Ted and Loretta.

And this one hurts.

This show doesn’t pull any punches, and Frank Whitten (R.I.P) throws into it with all his might. Ted is in two. He’s ripped apart, torn up, absolutely shattered, utterly distraught with a truly awful concoction of grief, confusion, betrayal and pain. It was never in any doubt, and it’s even less in doubt now: Ted loved Margaret. He loved her deeply and truly. And right now, he is in overwhelming agony.

And then there’s Loretta.

A lot of people will talk about fictional characters they hate. Not hate in the sense of critiquing the quality of their writing, but hate in the sense that they just loathe them. Dolores Umbridge and Joffrey Baratheon are the most common names mentioned. But let me tell you that in this moment, when I’m watching this brief, minute-long scene, I have never hated either of them with even a cinder’s worth of the hate that I feel for Loretta in this moment. She’s sitting there, tender and soft, gently caressing Ted with needles concealed within cushions. “She’s not coming, Grandpa;” “Maybe she didn’t really love you.” She leans in close to him and whispers: “but I’m still here.” She looks the desolation and annihilation she has wrought square in his trembling, tear-stained eyes, reaches into his shattered soul, and reconstructs it with threads that all lead back to her. She weaponizes the agony she conjured in him to root him even firmer to the spot, building the moss-encrusted walls of grief that were erected with Rita’s death even higher up round him, constructing a fortress of pain in which the only exit leads to her.

She didn’t do this because “he’s old”, or any other altruistic concern. She did it because she loves her grandpa. She loved him so much, in fact, that she didn’t want him to ever leave her side; he is, as she said in her speech, her oldest and best friend. And she has precious few friends, as we know. She has little to cling to in this world. So when she faces the prospect of losing one of those rocks, she moves heaven and Earth to keep it locked firmly where it is.

“Sometimes you’re so like your grandmother,” says Ted. “So I’ve been told,” says Loretta, hugging him, satisfied that she achieved her goal. She’s not losing Ted. She’s had to shatter him into a million pieces and make him live through the worst pain imaginable once again, but that’s okay with her. If anything, it’s strengthened his bond with her. Things have turned out better than she could possibly have imagined.

I hate Loretta West. I hate her with every fiber of my being. She is, truly and deeply and utterly to her core, a monster. All her excuses, all her alienation, all her teenage rage - all of that just makes it worse. She’s a complex, three-dimensional human being, one of the best-written characters I have ever encountered, laden with layers and depth and commentary on levels I’ve never seen before. And she is, far and away, the blackest, most evil, most hateful and horrible soul I have ever seen on television. Sure, she hasn’t got a body count like Joffrey or Hannibal, but that’s just setting and context, and by that metric the worst monster in television history is some Cylon from BSG. This is a show set in the suburbs in a well-developed country, and it’s not about murderers or wars. It’s about a little suburban family of screw-ups and misfits, and at their core, sitting at the dinner table alongside them every night, is a child whose heart is as black as obsidian, whose capacity for evil is deep as a black hole. And the thing she does in this episode is evil, make no mistake. It’s so evil it’s honestly kind of nauseating. It gets worse the more you think about it, fractally awful, a kaleidescope of blackness.

And she’ll do it again.

Anyway, erm... I don’t really remember what happens in the next episode. It’ll be fun to remind myself. Until next time, I suppose.

#Antonia Prebble #Siobhan Marshall #antony starr #Robyn Malcolm #grant bowler #television #outrageous fortune #Frank Whitten #rachel lang #Gutter Black #nz

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stormbear · 6 years ago

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A Guide To Getting An A&P

My work experience prior to Baker’s

My father had a unique way to get me to learn about cars. He wouldn’t let me get my driver’s license until I learned how to work on cars. And what better way to achieve that than buy a Triumph TR7 that didn’t run. I remember the day it was TOWED to the house. There was to be no driving in my future until that car was fully repaired. Six months later, after a teardown of the engine to replace the head gasket, replacement of the transmission, the rear end, and the drive shaft. Keeping the Zenith Stromberg updraft crabs synced was an ongoing nightmare and DO NOT get me started on Lucas electrical system, which must have been conceived during a Welsh Demon Summoning ritual that went awry.

At the time all of that turmoil was going on, I was working for the local FBO, getting all of my civil time in for when I go get my A&P. At the same time I earned a 2 year degree in electronics and that helped greatly when it came to take the writtens, oral and practical.

But.... life happened. Those halcyon days of working on airplanes ended 25 years ago. I had my time in but I had forgotten a lot of what I had learned via on-the-job training.

When 2018 rolled around, I wanted to go back and finally get my A&P. I saw two ads for A&P prep schools in Trade-A-Plane. I always grab a copy of TAP whenever I can and one ad was always there; Baker’s School Of Aeronautics. I cut it out and saved it. I remember seeing this ad for YEARS in TAP. When I started asking around, Baker’s kept getting highly recommended, especially by a very good friend of mine that got his A&P from there. For me, his recommendation and the ARMY of other graduates that swear by Baker’s, my decision was finalized - Baker’s it is!

My Baker’s Prep

Since it was such a long time since I have wrenched on a certified aircraft, I went whole hog on training materials. I used the King Schools video course which was excellent for me because it actually shows what the questions are pertaining to visually. I get a lot out of visual presentation.

I also used the test prep apps from Dauntless Aviation. The flash card feature is excellent. The apps have excellent descriptions for those of use that need that visual of “how it works.”

For the King Schools video, I didn’t bother with the sample tests, I only watched the videos. Same with the apps, I only used the flash card feature. As the instructors at Baker’s will tell you, ONLY consume the correct answers. Recognize the correct answers and ignore the wrong ones.

List Of Things Not To Do Before You Arrive At Baker’s

Don’t take sample tests or random tests.

Don’t use the time before Baker’s to slack off - you study.

Don’t think this will be easy, it won’t be.

List Of Things Not To Do After You Arrive At Baker’s

Don’t go to Nashville - you study.

Don’t take weekends off - you study.

Don’t fart around after classes - you study.

The staff is there to help you succeed. They are a great bunch of people who are actually dedicated to getting you an A&P certification (don’t call it a license ffs). Don’t fear the DME’s they are very helpful and are not there to make you fail.

Study Groups

Once you are into the oral and practical portion of the course, have your ass in a study group every night. EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. The act of asking each other questions is VITAL to succeeding with your orals. Nothing, no other study method can replace it. If you want to be the loner and study on your own, make sure you have the time off of work and the cash to stay a few extra weeks in Lebanon.

Money

No matter what you spend getting your certs, it will still be waaaay cheaper than a semester of college. That said, there are loads of ways to lower your costs before you get to Lebanon and while you are there.

Some hotels are more expensive than others. I stayed in both the Hampton Inn and the Holiday Inn Express and they both have their pros and cons. I can only speak about the other ones via word-of-mouth from my fellow students.

Hampton Inn

Pros

Nice accommodations

Big lobby to host study groups

Good breakfast

Free snack pack during the week (bottle of tea, granola bar, coffee cake and a piece of fruit.

Literally next door to the school so you might be able to do away with having a car.

Cons

It is the most expensive choice of the school’s recommended hotels.

Holiday Inn Express

Pros

Nice accommodations

Big lobby to host study groups

GREAT breakfast options - it has a CINNABON bar!

It is very affordable

Cons

You will probably need to rent a car or budget for a lot of Uber rides.

Love Your Walmart

It will cost you a lot if you eat out for every meal. Go to Walmart and buy food that is easy to prepare with just a small refrigerator and microwave. One of my fellow students ate baloney sandwiches for his entire time there.

Aviation Museums

If you are fortunate to live near an aviation museum, do yourself a favor and get a season pass. I went damn near every week for three months to learn all I could about turbine engines. I took hundreds of reference photos and studied them for hours when I would get home. I never worked on one and had a lot to learn to get through the powerplant written test as well as the oral and practical.

My Tips

If you don’t have any knowledge about electricity or electronics, I suggest getting this, an electronic education kit (Amazon Link). It has 130 different experiments that will teach you everything you will need to know about the fundamentals that you will face on the writtens, the orals and the practicals. For only $35, it is a great deal.

If you are a turbine guy and are unfamiliar with the archaic technology called a carburetor, consider this Army educational film on YouTube. Here are some other helpful videos...

FADEC

Carbon Pile Voltage Regulator

Vibrating Point Voltage Regulator

Welding 101

Above and beyond all of the above, there was one thing that made me successful and that was flash cards. Not the flash cards from a software app, but actual notecards.

When I got the Oral and Practical book from Baker’s, I took each question, copied it by hand on the front of a notecard and put the answer in my own words on the back. I did this for most of the book for the questions I didn’t know like the back of my hand. When I wasn’t in group, I was going through this stack of cards, read each card and tried to answer. Once I did, I flipped it over to see if I got it or not. I would then place the card in a pile and move on to the card.

I did this over and over and over. Once I knew the card by heart, I would place it in a different pile and then continue on with the pile that I still didn’t know. I repeated this until I was left with no cards in my hands. I then repeated this up until the day I took my orals.

DO NOT QUIT

Of my class, only three zipped through everything on the first try. Most failed something; a written, part of the oral or the practical - me included. The powerplant written was a particular struggle due to my unfamiliarity of turbine engines.

Doing the prep work that I have suggested BEFORE you get to Baker’s will help you find success. If you don’t do the prep work and don’t put in the insane hours required to succeed, you can’t blame Baker’s. You have to do your job before they can do their’s.

Conclusion

Baker’s has a damn fine program to get you your certificate - best in the nation. Listen to your instructors. Work your ass off and you will get there.

#aviation #A&P #airframe and powerplant #baker's school of aeronautics #review #faa

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asterinjapan · 8 years ago

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Of lakes and volcanoes: visiting Hakone

First things first: getting up early. I am so giddy and excited about being in Japan that I kinda stayed up – too late last night, so getting up by 6 AM was challenging to say the least, oops. I made it, though! My friend and I had agreed to meet at Shinjuku station by 7 AM, giving us enough time for the special limited train going to Hakone. One thing I forgot to keep in mind: Shinjuku station is big. Like, big-big, like, pretty-sure-it’s-one-o-the-biggest-if-not-the-biggest-station-in-the-world big. Oops. I made it to our agreed meeting place juuuust in time, but luckily we still had some time to grab a bite (breakfast starts at 7 AM at my hotel, so I didn’t have anything to eat yet). And after that, to the Romance Car!

That, uh, is the name of the special limited express train directly to Hakone-Yumoto station, haha. I asked my friend: apparently they call it Romance because riding a train like this should make you feel special, like a romance would. Alright. (Japanese trains often have names, by the way. See also: the Yamanote-line and all the bullet trains.) Anyway! We had some catching up to do, so time flew by and before we knew it, we’d made it to Hakone-Yumoto station.

After that, it’s still quite a trip. You see, Hakone is a national park, situated in the mountain area outside of Tokyo. Hakone-Yumoto is the first main station, and here you transfer to the next train, the Hakone Tozan (mountain climbing) train. Predictably, this train leads you up the mountains, and it has lovely views! The road is littered with hydrangea bushes. Sadly they’re out of season now, but since they bloom in June, there were still some left. Absolutely gorgeous. The mountains are steep and the train zigzags through the mountains, turning in some places to track back a little before taking the tracks further upwards.

And after that, another transfer! Okay, to be honest, you can do the whole trip by bus, but where’s the fun in that when you’re early and able to take the scenic route? We had Hakone Free Passes anyway, which allow free travel within the Hakone area with all modes of transport. So next up, the cable car! Unlike the one on Mount Koya last year, this one actually has quite some stops. We definitely weren’t the only ones today going into the mountains, so the cable car was pretty cramped, but we made it up just fine. Once again, lovely views, though less opportunities to take good pictures this time, haha.

The cable car goes from Goura to Sounzan station, and at Sounzan station, we had the scariest transfer: onto the ropeway! I was expecting to be internally screaming the whole way, but to be honest, it wasn’t that bad at all! The only scary bit was the fact that it went quite a bit faster than I was expecting, and the slight bumps along the way as it hit a strengthened point.

But all that trouble was quickly forgotten once the scenery came into view that we spent all this scenic traveling so far for. The ropeway leads you directly over Owakudani, a volcanic valley. This was my first time ever seeing a real live volcano, and wow, the sight was impressive! All these fumes and the barren landscape right in the middle of those green mountains around us. Actually, there was a volcanic explosion back in 2015, which made it impossible for about a year to take the ropeway. Things are a bit calmer now, although you’re still advised to stay away if you’re not in good health.

It’s really impressive to see the full forces of mother Nature, even though things are relatively calm now. The entire area reeks of sulfur for obvious reasons, and there’s a permanent fog from the fumes. It’s a stark reminder of how dangerous this country can actually be, with active volcanoes and earthquakes. It can be easy to forget in the middle of Tokyo.

But hey, there’s not all downsides to this! The area also provides plenty of hot springs, and it’s also used to boil eggs to the point of blackness. Pitch black! Naturally they’re a favourite souvenir, so we picked up a bag of 5 eggs and waited for them to cool down a bit so we could peel them. (Seriously, they were so hot I could barely hold one for longer than half a second, like they’ve literally just been lifted from the fiery pits of volcano.) The black eggs are said to provide longivity, and eating one should expand your life for 7 years. I had 3, so I guess I’ll live to be 121 years now then?Haha. Anyway, they mostly just taste like normal eggs, and once you peel off the black shell, there’s just a white egg with yellow yolk inside. Although to be honest, I would not have trusted it if the egg itself had been black too, pff.

After a small snack for lunch (since 3 eggs are. Quite a bit), we went on the ropeway again that led down the mountain hills. It was time for another impressive sight: Lake Ashi! (Ashinoko in Japanese. Some plates say ‘Lake Ashi’, but Ashi-no-ko already means ‘lake of Ashi’, so that’s redundant.) Ashi is a crater lake, formed when the volcano last erupted around 3000 years ago. It’s a popular spot for sightseeing, especially in clear weather when you can see Mount Fuji.

You might have guessed by my lack of ecxlamation marks, but not exactly a clear day today, haha. I wasn’t expecting to see Fuji at all during my trip, since the skies get hazy in summer, but it was still a slight disappointment, since most of the area tries to hype you up for Mount Fuji. Oh well. The mountain area is still lovely for sightseeing, so that’s what we did! Lake Ashi has numerous sightseeing cruises, that look like pirate ships because why not. (You can also rent one of those peddle boats shaped like swans, because once again, why not. But the Free Pass covers the pirate ships, so a pirate ship it is!) The ship makes its way across the lake in slightly over half an hour, hitting two stops before turning back. We got off at the second stop, Moto-Hakone-Ko, from where we had a nice sight of one of the red gates of the nearby Hakone shrine, right below the mountains where eh, Fuji should be somewhere. You know that one picture of Mount Fuji towering above a lake when you google Hakone? Yeah, that sight. If you squint your eyes and wish really, really hard, I’m sure you could have pretended to have seen Mount Fuji today, but there wasn’t a trace of it, not even a faint outline. Dang, that mountain (sleeping volcano, technically) sure is elusive.

Anyway, not to matter, because we had other impressive sights to take in! My friend wanted to visit a nearby art museum, the Narukawa Art Museum, which is probably not a place I would have visited for myself, but I’m glad we did. Although my legs were getting pretty tired at this point, the museum houses an impressive lection of traditional Japanese art paintings, most of them featuring sights from Europe. That was really a unusual sight: these familiar sights in a style that really reflects traditional Japanese paintings. Taking pictures was actually allowed, but ‘only for private use’, so I won’t put them on my blog just in case.

The museum prides itself on being situated riiiight across from Mount Fuji, so there’s this huge panorama window from where you can sip tea (or have an ice cream, which is what we did) and enjoy the lovely sight. Sigh. As I was saying, I hadn’t actually counted on seeing Mount Fuji, but they really rub it in everywhere, haha.

The museum was starting to close, so we rushed out and made it to our last visit for today: the aforementioned Hakone Shrine. It was a quick walk from the museum and led slightly uphill through a small forest trail, which made the red gates and lanterns stand out even more.

Quite some pictures later, we went back to the museum, since that was where the bus station is situated. We were in luck and caught the last express bus straight to Odawara station, just outside of Hakone. From Odawara, you can take a direct train back to Shinjuku. So that was neat!

We went out for a bite in Odawara, looked up where to find the castle for my visit later this trip (it’s like a 10 minute walk from the station, so that should be doable even for me, haha), and then headed towards the train.

So here I am, back in my hotel some some 14+ hours after leaving it this morning, whoa. I’ll hop in the shower after updating my blog – luckily today wasn’t super hot, a nice 24 C I think? It probably helped we went uphill. Tomorrow morning will be cloudy, but it should clear up in the afternoon. I’d revisit the Imperial Gardens if they weren’t closed on Fridays, yay. I have some other Tokyo sights to see though, so I’ll probably opt for those and keep it calm tomorrow.

Photos will be up in a few minutes, see you tomorrow!

#report #report: japan 2017 #japan 2017 #places: hakone

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jyotikathapa · 8 years ago

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After an Anonymous plan to travel together with my girlfriends we chose Bali. It wasn’t my first choice but the flights are cheap from Aus and food and hotels too; for sure then why not!!! And literally, it was ok! didn’t cost me much. So we planning started 3 months before. Just a plan! PLAN!!! (which doesn’t work really work out most of the time)

Anyways in April, we should have been three of us in the tour but one of my girlfriends couldn’t make it due to passport delay in the embassy. However, two of us were on a gooooo….

Well, I booked my ticket with the transit in Singapore for 12hrs which let me go in free Singapore tour by the Chiang Mai airport (This is another story will share it soon)

Arrival in the Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar, aka BALI! Reached there around 8 pm and lucky Nepalese travellers!!! you don’t need a visa. YeaH!!! (Nepalese don’t need visa if u stay less than 30days ). Fuzz start when u are a tourist and need a ride to Hotel after touchdown to the island. So, people you better take a blue taxi if u want to save your budget and run taxi in meters :D. Reached hotel meet my friend after a year. Had local dinner nearby the restaurant and off to bed.

Day 1 Haha! Woke up late. Then we hired a scooter from the hotel then off to ride (renting a bike is quite cheap there IDR 50000- 70000 per 24 hrs/day). Then we got ourselves sim cards and off to the road… Thank God there is GPS. We passed through Kuta street and man! It was vibrant in all possible terms. Uluwatu Temple was the first destination cause it was on the edge of the map lol! Well, its looked far away in a drive and city is crowded as every other city. We came to see a beautiful couple taking their photo nearby the cliff and it was spectacular.

lady by the cliff

Uluwatu Temple

couple tring to capture panoramic view of uluwatu temple

relax, see, enjoy, rest

Couples near the cliff for wedding photo

lovely couples, capturing their wedding

Tip: Beware of the monkeys they will snatch everything possible. Carry a candy bar in your pockets to batter your belongings. Well, there are locals who will save you for sure.

Next destination after there was the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK), a cultural park. Have you experienced a disastrous moment well it was the first one when we were there? Scooter stopped and didn’t start at all. NOT my Fault (fault in our star damn!) but the generous staff in the GWK helped us start the bike. And we were there first thing first we enjoyed the ice cream mad on the cold slab.

It was great then the view of GWK well it was architectural delineation for sure. The Indra log was amazing well it was a place for famous events in Bali for music concerts and parties.

GWK

dancing away

artist from the theater dacing

Wishnu God

villan

garauda story

forever young heart

orchestra

Well, you can spend whole day over there watching various theatre shows done for the visitors and we were able to witness few of them as the Vishnu (wishanu dance/ art); taaktaktaktak dance and the beautiful music until the end.

On our way back to the hotel we went to the beach nearby called double six beaches no wonder why! Grab the beer and enjoy the view! Not really it was dark ! man! Lol though the music was good and the atmosphere was chilled. Bintang the Indonesian beer…

Day 2 So no hangover, but still not an early bird, so on the second day we changed the scooter and we head to Ubud the monkey forest. This day was amazing first we encounter the notorious and mischievous monkeys. Rule 1 do not try to be friendly with them. Rule 2 don’t look in the eye or you will fall in love not but trouble (guides said it meant war if you stare at them lol).

After all that we escape the monkeys and headed to the famous tergalalang rice field. The view was great as it is seen in Instagram and Bali lookout but a bit crowded. Lots of people and lots of ways to be there. However, we were there and no need for tickets but there were kids that were trying to sell souvenir and stuff and local who maintained the field were collecting generosity ($) for themselves. Recommended to visit this area. Enjoy the view with coconut water for sure and that the exact place where we planned our next stop..

Tegallalang Rice Terraces in Bali

On the way to tegenungan waterfall sukawati we stopped by the Luwak coffee farm to taste the local famous coffee which is literally a shit of an animal named PLAM Civet (Luwak). The coffee was great and as a bonus we were given around 12 kinds of tea for testing which were amazing. About tea testing, you will be seeing a video soon.

Coffee testing

Luwak with its kids

Luwak poop ! the coffee beans

Special Luwak coffee

Must say it was a lovely day, now that we were close to the waterfall, we didn’t have spare clothes to change but then you only get one chance in a lifetime, therefore, take a dip and live. So I bought lungi like pyjama there for IDR 100,000 which is a nice gift too for later. Well, you need to buy a ticket for the entry though. So we were there and lots of other people too.

the red flag in left bottom side. do not go i repeat do not go

Tegenungan Waterfall

I would say this is the part where I came back from death, thanks to lifeguards there. There are unusual timing in life when you wanna be a rebel but there is devil waiting for you to end. So, what happened was I went to the water to take a photo but somehow I wanted to feel that one of life time moment and swim in the waterfall. So, as you can guess the whirlpool pulled me and my friend was taking a video thinking I was swimming like a pro but not. However, those lifeguards on standby saved me with the rubber tube well I lost my words and sense for some time but must say was one of the LIFETIME MOMENT!!!! Hence, guess be safe. Under the waterfall, there is sign which is marked with a flag for danger so avoid those areas. Sad thing photo didn’t come out well…

Well that was the day end of story for so far for which I get teased by my friends DIVE = DIE Day 3 This day weather was gloomy when we started to head out. So this day we went to Tanah Lot temple, the temple on the sea; next to the sea! Well, that place was amazing but I wonder what it would look like during sunset cause it popular for that.

temple

vendor with paper bird

flying paper ship

Well, there were parts of temple one being across the sea or shall say it was 100meter away from the mainland! You need to cross the gap between the lands via walk. And holy God, there were water snakes! Or some kind of snakes which is suppose to be gods relative or god themselves. One thing I am most afraid of is a snake and holy cra* Lord there they were but no harm. So I took blessing form the priest there and rushed back.

oh weather!!! It started to rain a lot but still then we ended up going out and soaking in the rain. As per my friend’s request, we went to blue lagoon which is supposed to be the best beach in Bali for snorkelling and beach time. Damn! It was beach day for us like b*tc$ day. It never stopped. We stopped by several stops to escape the rain but rain was all over us (rain on me!!!!! ) Somehow we reached there at the end. While we were there it stopped for a while and when we went to hotel it was raining again.

blue lagoon was really blue

Weather forecast for the next day seemed tragic so we rented the van and driver for next day.

while we wait for the rain to stop

Day 4 So on this day, we were supposed to go to 3 places as per our booking cause they were long distanced and off hills. First of all, we went to view Mt. Kintamani Volcano which took us more than 2 hours reach that viewpoint next we went to Pura Besakih temple which is known to be the biggest Hindu temple in Bali. It was a festival season so it was crowded by the devotees and tourist. We had an epic story here with the guide in the temple too. Bust the place was mesmerising.

Day 5 Coming to end of our tour, last day for us in Bali(supposed to be) hence I want to go all around Bali before I go back to place where I come from. cause we had been too limited areas only. There for DAY 5 was 270+ km tour for us in the bike.

First Stop: Pura Ulun Danu Bratan

Second stop: famous pancasari door (Got to get one of those shot)

Third stop: Gitgit waterfall

kid trying to sell her hand made craft

Fourth stop: Kubu beach for lunch and relax in the swimming pool which also is a great place for diving for starters

this place is famous for snorkelling and underwater diving

relax by the sea and pool with few cocktails always relaxing

Fifth stop: Tirta Ganga

lets take selfie for one and then there they are

family picture with their character

After that as for the finishing touch, we went to Candi Dasa beach where the sunset was beautiful.

Sunset in the Candidasa beach or horizon…..

more stories to share… it will continue to another blog… (solo travel; beach relax day, food, turtles, food, rest…)

any enquiries email in [email protected] ready to help

you get more than you know in Bali. Nature is amazing, when you add luxury its heaven After an Anonymous plan to travel together with my girlfriends we chose Bali. It wasn’t my first choice but the flights are cheap from Aus and food and hotels too; for sure then why not!!!

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thoughtsgarden35 · 6 years ago

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2018.

2018 has ended and I want to at least write something about it before I totally forget what this amazing year made me or gave me, whatsoever.

I remember I welcomed 2018 with JB’s family at their home. I was assigned at NPMC during that time and I was on New Year’s duty. I brought two gallons of ice cream and my very timid face. I was of course happy that I would not be welcoming the year in the office, but in a household full of smiles. This is actually the first time that I welcomed a new year in another family’s household. Nevertheless, I was super overwhelmed to be there during that time. The very second that 2017 left and 2018 entered, I was standing right beside JB. Thank you Lord for that.

1st Alumni Homecoming- Sir Bolanos is a member of the host class for alumni homecoming 2018, thus we were all encouraged to attend the event. Coming back to my beloved Alma matter gave me this one of a kind feeling of happiness and excitement. Marching in the hallowed grounds of Borromeo along with the cavaliers and being the last class in the long gray line made me prouder that I was able to surpass the rigors of cadetship. Another thing is that I was able to hang around with my classmates who I spent the best four years of my life with. I realized how much I missed them. We are now on our own ways, own BOS and own paths. However with God’s grace, our class will always stand and be resilient as one SALAKNIB.

On my 22nd birthday, JB gave me this little book of encouragement and inspirational quotes. It is tiny but the motivation that it can give you is enormous. I hosted a dinner at Yakimix with the close friends from NPMC and some classmates. A week later, JB flew to his first deployment in the south. It was his first trip via plane and our first time to be really on LDR. I remember accompanying him to the airport, seeing him walk through the gates and going back to BNS alone with water in my eyes. This is the profession that we chose, this is the career that we got ourselves into and this will be the setup of our relationship and of our lives for the next 20 or so years.

On the 12th of April, I found myself reporting at OCNS as ADC. Yes, it happened very quickly. I think I wrote an article about my gloom about the idea of me being an ADC to whoever. When I was interviewed for the position, I, of course, answered enthusiastically. I corresponded as if I really wanted it. Maybe because I was taught to accept whatever is given to me. Thus, the issuance of orders hastened. It turned out, I am one lucky fucking ens to be of assistance to this well respected, outstanding and highly professional officer. I did not knew then, but I am blessed to be where I am now.

One of the highlights of 2018 is when I got this schooling in Australia. This course was not originally for me, but who am I to refuse such incredible opportunity. My processing of the requirements became a lot easier because I am at the OCNS. After going through the procedure, I finally boarded Qantas airplane and flew for eight hours to Sydney. Their craft-superb; the airport-majestic and their English-very different (as expected). We waited for a couple of hours in Sydney before landing another craft for our flight to Melbourne. Again, one fancy flight to the number 1 most liveable city in the world. I spent a week at DITC for familiarization and orientation program. For five days, after every class, I went out to the city to not miss a chance to explore the wonderful place. Melbourne star, federation square, Flinders street station, Melbourne trams, Uni’s, I forgot the name of the river, their gigantic park, etc. I literally forgot their names and I am lazy to find it out in Google. After my 5 days, we flew back to Sydney for my course proper. That was in HMAS Creswell, Jervis Bay, New South Wales. During my 3 weeks stay there, I was able to explore the wonderful city of Wollongong, Sydney and Canberra. Thanks to the Jovin, my highschool friend who is a cadet at ADFA, Crystal, Teban’s college friend who is a resident nurse at Wollongong, Mr and Mrs Palenzuela and other PMMA graduates who became our foster family in Sydney. After a month of vacation (because NOLC was not really a course for someone like me), I went home with a thankful heart.

Being an ADC kind of made my year gone so fast. I go to sleep every night equipping myself with everything that needs to know for tomorrow’s schedule and I wake up every morning making sure everything is ready for the day. I survived every single day carrying my bag on my left hand and with my two phones on the right. Every day, I see my boss everywhere. Every event, I make sure to get a nice photo and document it on his files. I get schedules of the navy’s top 3 from time to time and every changes in the schedules freaks me out. Every Saturday, I do my laundry and have my uniform ironed every Sunday. That is basically what I can recall from most of the mid 2018.

Moreover, our travel to Cebu, Zamboanga and Davao became as easy as a travel from HPN to GHQ. I experienced staying for several times in various hotels and FOIC’s cottages. One of the good things on it is that I was able to pay a visit to my classmates who are assigned in these areas.

One ordinary day in August, I received a call from JB and I was beyond happy. I actually get that kind of feeling every time I see his name popping in my phone. However, during this call, I sensed sorrow in his voice. He called to tell me that his nanay came to rest. I was a thousand miles away from him but I can feel right in that moment the sadness in his aura. It is one of the rare moments. A week after, he came for his emergency leave and we went straight to their house- the same house where we welcomed 2018. It was horrible. His mom was there and so were other of his family members. The scene was heart breaking. I hope every one of them were not miserable because their nanay was gone, but happy because she is now up above with God. As for me, I am very fortunate to have the pleasing opportunity to meet her. I know nothing about anything because I am just somebody, but with the little time that I got to have known her, I can say she is an amazing person.

October 2018, we travelled to China for the first ever ACMEX. Another first for me, another reason to thank God for a very astonishing year. We stayed for over a week in that gigantic nation. Together with Maam Myla and some senior officers, we boarded South China Planes going to Guangzhou. We stayed in a very beautiful 5 star hotel in the province- the White Swan hotel. I enjoyed the bath tub and the Jacuzzi in my room, thank you very much to our Chinese counterparts. At the night of our first day, we traverse the mighty Pearl River overlooking the vast buildings and colourful lights of the city. By the way I also enjoyed talking to my PLA counterpart who like me is not very fluent in English. After a couple of days, we flew to Zhanjiang via their PLA airforce craft. We checked in at Sheraton hotel and again, thank you for the huge tub! Our trip to China made us see how technologically progressive is this country. Imagine a hundred drones can be controlled by a single person in a single computer with them forming any letters or image in the sky. Some of them can even deliver your food right to your footstep. They have big ones that can be used for transportation and many other features that of course were not showcased to us, because they are who they are. They also have advanced ships, planes and weapons that are nothing compared to what we have. From a personal view, however, these innovations cannot ever surpass a nation that has compassion and people who are mindful of others.

Yuletide season came in quickly. I had no idea how the holidays would be for me, but I knew then that I would be delighted with the days to come, undoubtedly, I did. Christmas party at OCNS was simply amazing. My boss wanted it to be for the children of the men and women of our office. Magicians, singers, dancers and other entertainers were rented to grace the party. Our gathering ended at night with the parents happy because their children were happy. The next day, I was the OIC of the Support Group for the Christmas party of the Hinirang Class. After all the stress, I was delighted for the appreciation we received from my upper class men. The HPN Christmas party was my last day for 2018 at the office (of which, I am so thankful for).

Before heading home for the much awaited break, my fortune never ended for I had a couple of days free to spend with JB. We went strolling to the mall, watched movies, bought stuff and had our picture taken at a photo booth. This is how our dates are like. Simple things but each other’s presence makes it extraordinary. We also had lunch with his mom and a cousin at their favourite restaurant. Simply great.

Like the famous catch line from our local network, family is love. Indeed, family is what makes Christmas special. I realized lucky I am to have been able to spend it with my family. Nothing can ever compare to the joy that the completeness of my family brings. We went hiking on the 25th and enjoyed each other’s company to the fullest. On the 26th, we went to a photo studio and our happiness was captured in frames. Afterwards, we had a sumptuous lunch at Hill Station. Mom and dad went to North Haven for their three and a half hour relaxation time and the four of us went to try our thinking skills at Locked-In (for the record though, we did not made our way out of the room, sad but fun).

We spent the remaining days of 2018 watching movies of varying genre in Netflix, cleaning the house, doing laundry, making fun of Lynette and attending masses (in compliance to mother dear). We travelled to buguias on the 29th for Buansi reunion. I realized that my generation is no longer the one that runs around the house or builds blanket houses. We sit by the oldies and talk serious matters now. Yes, adulting realizations. I and mom went back to Trinidad first hour the next day because my dad was not feeling well. Forever thank God, my father was born stronger than the carabao.

We waived goodbye to 2018 and greeted 2019 lying in the couch and hugging our pillows. No fireworks nor loud noises were made inside our house. We just thanked God for we are complete, safe and sound were able to be there.

So this was my 2018- full of things to be grateful for. I do not know how to convey my thankfulness for just everything. I realized that I owe it to myself and to everyone to spend the coming years working in every manner that I can to repay the every goodness that I have received.

And I, thank You!

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beedujourblog · 7 years ago

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I finally did the Korean hanbok experience! I put it on my Korean list to-do when I arrived. When I first came to Korea it wasn’t really a major attraction nor were there many places advertising this service, but over the last 3 years it has become a popular activity with tourists. I personally thought it was a great idea and opportunity to experience a new fun side of Korean tradition. So one Summer afternoon in June, I headed out to Jongno 2-ga to rent a hanbok.

What is a Korean Hanbok?

The Hanbok’s design is influenced by many other earlier designs of the nomadic tribes of Northern Asia. The first common style to the Hanbok can be traced back to Mongolia and the designs can be seen on ancient Mural Walls of the Gogoryeo Dynasty era (what Korea was first called). The intricate design and patterns are influenced by trade by way of Mongolia from Persia and the middle-east.

The hanbok literally mean Korean Clothes, but over the years like most attire it changes and comes to represent class and status within society. The basic design of the hanbok has seen many foreign influence on its design. The main contribution to it was during the Mongolian treaty between Korea and Mongolia in the 13th century. During this time many Mongolian princesses were married in royal Korean houses and their changes to the hanbok has had an everlasting effect on the attire since.

In return Gogoreyo (Korea) has influenced Mongolia’s traditional dress in making the royals and wealthy ladies of the court wear hanboks too.

What makes up a ladies hanbok?

Jeogori-this is the outer top that is worn by both men and women. It is usually worn with a colourful ribbon along the collar and chest.

Chima- means skirt and is the most decorative part of the dress.

Baji- for men this is the baggy pants.

Renting a hanbok

There are several hanbok rental shops along Insadong and in Jongno nearby Gyeongbokgung Palace. Insadong is a popular tourist area so prices will be higher, and so are the rental shops that are easily visible by the Palace. Usually, you will get 2 options for type of hanbok to rent. The basic and plain coloured fabric hanboks are about KRW 15 000 to KRW 20 000 for 2 hours, thereafter you pay extra. For the “character” fabric designed hanboks, or ones with intricate patterns and embroidery on you will pay between KRW 30-50 000 for 2 hours. You will pay about KRW 5, 000 extra for hair accessories.

Luckily for me, I had found a street in Samcheondong far to the back when I was exploring the area last summer on Gwangbeokjeol day. Besides little cafes and boutiques, there were also smaller hanbok rental shops. There weren’t many but they were much cheaper.

I found an accessory store and hanbok rental shop called ANGEL 524 (CONTACT NO. 02 720 3359)! They had a small, yet really beautiful collection of hanboks for only KRW 10 000 for 2 hours, and it didn’t matter what design or style you took! Plus, the accessories came at no extra charge.

Choosing a hanbok

I’ve had this on my to-do list since returning to Korea. I had blue on my mind for some reason. So along with my friend Steph, we picked out a deep blue chima with gold embroidery, while I opted for a white jeogori.

The shop assistant helped me in the changing room and I put my belongings in the locker. As the accessories were for free, I decided to go bold and choose the big fancy red hat. Why not?

So fully adorned along with my sneakers, we made our way down to Gyeongbokgung Palace for a fun photo session.

Your hanbok. Your Palace

Having lived in Seoul for a few years, I have already been twice to the Gyeongbokgung palace. Therefore, I already knew where I wanted to take photos and get some cool shots of the architecture as a backdrop to compliment the hanbok.

It was a Saturday so I expected the Palace to be full, but I decided to go really early at around 11 and it pleasantly quiet. We took some photos of other hanbok wearing tourists too for fun.

Tips for great hanbok pictures at Gyeongbokgung

Assuming you will be renting one in Seoul and getting your experience here, I put together some tips for getting the best pics at the palace.

On a previous occasion I had seen a girl in a hanbok walking down one of the corridors long the entrance. I knew it would make an amazing photo and ran to catch the opportunity. Since seeing it planned to take my own hanbok pictures in the same corridor. The corridors are a rich beautiful red, contrasted with green in perfect alliance. They can be found all along the main entrance.

Go early! Oh my goodness I cannot express how important this is. Any time before lunch will be key to getting crowd free photos, and even just looking for a hanbok. Seoul is a late night city. Shops and places usually open around 10-11 am, so be the early bird.

Get some outdoor pictures along the lake during the Spring, Autumn and Summer seasons. As you can see I did my hanbok season last month in June in summer. It’s not Korea’s hottest period, but the outdoors gardens are in full bloom which creates beautiful scenery.

Take photos in unconventional areas is you can, you never know when you can capture something special.

Eat thy vegetables…..

From my experience, get a bit of blue sky in. it creates a great contrast with the deep red s and greens of the architecture.

Have fun! Be silly and capture the candid moments in your pretty hanbok. Sometimes these shots add more personality to the photos.

The Korean Folk museum has some great outdoor facilities showing the progression of Korea’s development from its historical period to modernisation over the years. They have an original tram, traditional Korean cottage and some other cool structures displayed outside the premises.

What a day

We finished everything in just 1 hour. I think it’s because it was neither me nor my friend’s first time at the palace and we knew the place well. I literally just went for the photos.

After the hanbok fun, we had some refreshing lunch at Again Fresh in Samcheongdong 5-ga gil. It was just across the road from Angel 524 Hanbok Rental.

The hanbok experience was super fun. The dress itself is rather light and not uncomfortable, although I wish I had worn cuter shoes. I’m glad I got to do it seeing as I did the kimono experience in Tokyo, Japan, I felt I had to do this in Korea. I would definitely recommend this for anyone stopping over in Seoul or expats living in Korea. Trust me, this is FUN!

A special thanks to darling Steph for helping me take these pics.

Anyeonghaseyo,

Bee

Pin for later!

The Korean Hanbok Experience I finally did the Korean hanbok experience! I put it on my Korean list to-do when I arrived.

#culture #fashion #gyeingbokgung #hanbok #hanbok rental #korean culture #Seoul #south korea #travel #travel blogger

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jyotikathapa · 8 years ago

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Anyways in April, we should be three of us in the tour but one of my girlfriends couldn’t make it due to passport delay in the embassy. However, two of us were on a gooooo…. Well, I booked my ticket with the transit in Singapore for 12hrs which let me go in free Singapore tour by the Chiang Mai airport (This is another story will share it soon)

Day 1 Haha! Woke up late. Then we hired a scooter from the hotel then off to ride (renting a bike is quite cheap there IDR 50000- 70000 per 24 hrs/day). Then we got ourselves sim cards and off to the road… Thank God there is GPS. We passed through Kuta street and man! It was vibrant in all possible terms. Uluwatu Temple was the first destination cause it was on the edge of the map lol! Well, it looked far away in a drive and city is crowded as every other city. We came to see a beautiful couple taking their photo nearby the cliff and it was spectacular.

lady by the cliff

Uluwatu Temple

couple tring to capture panoramic view of uluwatu temple

relax, see, enjoy, rest

Couples near the cliff for wedding photo

lovely couples, capturing their wedding

Tip: Beware of the monkeys they will snatch everything possible. Carry a candy bar in your pockets to batter your belongings. Well, there are locals who will save you for sure.

Next destination after there was the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK), a cultural park. Have you experienced a disastrous moment well it was the first one when we were there? Scooter stopped and didn’t start at all. NOT my Fault (fault in our star damn!) but the generous staff in the GWK helped us start the bike.And we were there first thing first we enjoyed the ice cream mad on the cold slab.

It was great then the view of GWK well it was architectural delineation for sure. The Indra log was amazing well it was a place for famous events in Bali for music concerts and parties.

GWK

dancing away

artist from the theater dacing

Wishnu God

villan

garauda story

forever young heart

orchestra

Well, you can spend whole day over there watching various theatre shows done for the visitors and we were able to witness few of them as the Vishnu (Vishnu dance/ art); taaktaktaktak dance and the beautiful music until the end.

Day 2 So no hangover, but still not an early bird, so on the second day we changed the scooter and we head to Ubud the monkey forest. This day was amazing first we encounter the notorious and mischievous monkeys. Rule 1. Do not try to be friendly with them. Rule 2 don’t look in the eye or you will fall in love not but trouble (guides said it meant war if you stare at them lol).

After all that we escape the monkeys and headed to the famous tergalalang rice field. The view was great as it is seen in Instagram and Bali lookout but a bit crowded. Lots of people and lots of ways to be there. However, we were there and no need for tickets but there were kids that were trying to sell souvenir and stuff and local who maintained the field were collecting generosity ($) for themselves. Recommended visiting this area. Enjoy the view with coconut water for sure and that the exact place where we planned our next stop.

Tegallalang Rice Terraces in Bali

On the way to tegenungan waterfall sukawati, we stopped by the Luwak coffee farm to taste the local famous coffee which is literally a shit of an animal named PLAM Civet (Luwak). The coffee was great and as a bonus, we were given around 12 kinds of tea for testing which were amazing. About tea testing, you will be seeing a video soon.

Coffee testing

Luwak with its kids

Luwak poop ! the coffee beans

Special Luwak coffee

the red flag in left bottom side. do not go i repeat do not go

Tegenungan Waterfall

I would say this is the part where I came back from death, thanks to lifeguards there. There are unusual timing in life when you wanna be a rebel but there is devil waiting for you to end. So, what happened was I went to the water to take a photo but somehow I wanted to feel that one of life time moment and swim in the waterfall. So, as you can guess the whirlpool pulled me and my friend was taking a video thinking I was swimming like a pro but not. However, those lifeguards on standby saved me with the rubber tube well I lost my words and sense for some time but must say was one of the LIFETIME MOMENT!!!! Hence, guess be safe. Under the waterfall, there is a sign which is marked with a flag for danger so avoid those areas. Sad thing photo didn’t come out well…

temple

vendor with paper bird

flying paper ship

oh, weather!!! It started to rain a lot but still, then we ended up going out and soaking in the rain. As per my friend’s request, we went to blue lagoon which is supposed to be the best beach in Bali for snorkelling and beach time. Damn! It was a beach day for us like a b*tc$ day. It never stopped. We stopped by several stops to escape the rain but rain was all over us (rain on me!!!!! ) Somehow we reached there at the end. While we were there it stopped for a while and when we went to the hotel it was raining again.

blue lagoon was really blue

Weather forecast for the next day seemed tragic so we rented the van and driver for next day.

while we wait for the rain to stop

Mount Kintamani viewpoint

Volcanic mountain Kintamani

Pura Besakih temple

First Stop: Pura Ulun Danu Bratan

Share an adventure/ epic long story short After an Anonymous plan to travel together with my girlfriends we chose Bali. It wasn’t my first choice but the flights are cheap from Aus and food and hotels too; for sure then why not!!!

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