#this was supposed to arrive on the 27th but it got delayed

[seamonument]

I finally got a kindle

[he-who-needs-to-be-silenced]

Was gonna get the 2nd plaeostream book for Christmas but it got lost in delivery so sad moment :(

[emisonme]

PR time line.............

Some can't seem to understand, how Shmila could have helped Camila get out of the PR with the con man. Let's explore the time line and maybe you'll have a better understanding of where I'm coming from.

Camila's debut album, had an original release date, of September 2017. She would have signed a PR contract with Ew, probably late August. These PR contracts are usually for a period of time, but the start and end dates, are flexible, because of the release dates of the Artists music being flexible.

Camila probably found out, sometime in late August, that her release date was being pushed, to November. That's why she followed the con man on SM, in October. They were preparing to unleash the PR, after the release of her album, in probably early December. Just in time for the holidays.

But, her album got pushed, yet again. The new date was January 12, 2018. She does the Elvis Duran radio show, on January 11. That is the first time we hear her or anyone else, utter that fuckers name.

The next morning, she does GMA. They schedule Con to appear on the same show. Why? To give us a PUBLIC reason for them meeting and the ensuing "relationship".

Three days later, Camila does Beats 1, with Zane Lowe. That's when we got the "maybe" when asked if she had a special someone in her life. Also, the whole, "I can't say your name without smiling" bullshit.

Then on February 9. 2018, we got the E-News exclusive Mexico beach photo-shoot. That's the day the actual PR began. They had signed the actual contract, MONTHS before, but because the album kept getting pushed, so did the start date for the PR.

That being said, I'm almost certain, they only signed a 1 year contract. I'll explain. We got their one year of public bullshit, but it really got laid on thick towards the end. If you notice, they did the same thing with Lauren and Tyrone. (It stayed pretty much SM until closer to the end, when they started doing red carpets and showing up to Industry events together.)

They did the "family" holiday thing, with both families, in December and January. Then on February 1, we got the pap pics of them leaving the movies, where Camila looks upset, and Con looks pissed. We also get turfers and "fans" taking to SM saying they had been arguing and Camila had been crying. That was the start of the "trouble in paradise" narrative.

The 10th was the Grammy's. After that, they both left for Dubai, and Camila's performance at Red Fest. They spent a few days hobnobbing around the Arabian Desert, taking lots of pics. Supposedly all happy. Then on February 25, Camila took his ass to that Vanity Fair shin-dig. That was their supposed public coming out, together. Camila had zero desire to be there with that fucker, and it showed.

Then, we got Camila's birthday post, on March 3. The things she learned when she was 21. A very interesting post, indeed. Number three, on that list, was talking about how complicated life and relationships are. How the right opportunity comes at the wrong time, and having to do something hard and uncomfortable, to be happy. (yeah, like PR)

Then she talks about how falling in love is the best thing ever. That leads us to number 8. There she says, life is to short, to hang with people you don't like, be in relationships with people that don't make you happy, or do things you hate. (yeah, like PR with an asshole)

Then MFP was released on March 25. In a song, with a video dedicated to people in relationships, Camila tells the world, she dedicated MFP to her favorite person, her little sister. (that's so sweet...but also very telling)

Why are those two things important? Because I firmly believe, the "split" announcement, and the official end to her PR, was supposed to happen in March.

So, what happened? Just like there is no official start date in a PR contract, there isn't an official end date, either. It's just a suggested time frame, of 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc. There are no hard dates built in, because in the Music Industry, everything is about timing.

Here's how I think it was supposed to go down. I think the announcement was supposed to come, just before the release of MFP. That would have explained the dedication to her sister, and would have given that song more promo.

But probably more importantly, It would have been perfect timing for FYA, if things had played out the way they were supposed to play out. She recorded that song with Mark, back in January. I think FYA was the song Mark was planning to release, with the pre-order link, which was on April 12. It would have been the best song to release with the link, and a public "split" would have been perfect timing for the release with the pre-order link. It would have gotten a shit load of media attention.

Instead, Epic got pissed, because Camila wasn't doing what they wanted her to do. It wasn't a damn song with Canada, Camila didn't want to do. She's game to collab with Canada, and just about anyone else who wants to collab with her. It was a PR relationship with him, they wanted her to agree to, but she didn't want to do.

When are some of you going to open your eyes and realize that. Her and Canada are real life friends. She'd probably agree to release a collab a year with him, if that's what he wanted. It's just music. A PR relationship, on the other hand, is a completely different story.

Epic, Island, and maybe Andrew, didn't JUST want a song. They wanted that song, to come with the bullshit we are getting now. Camila agreed to the song, but not the PR. So, what did Epic do? They delayed the official "split" with the dickhead.

Camila bought her house in April. They delayed the announcement of the purchase, until May 13, and had his name inserted into the damn article. Making it sound like she was going to be sharing her house with his ass. Did he ever step foot in her house?

Camila went to Italy in early May. They made it look like he went with her. He may have been there, but he didn't go "with" Camila. He was there to promote one of his books. She was there to get away from all the bullshit. They did have her walk through the airport with him, when they arrived back to LA, on May 12. The 13th, we got the article about the house. May 14, was the last pics we got of the two together.

On May 20, Camila posted one of the saddest pics, I've seen. You could tell, she was anything but happy. That's the day they want us to believe Ewmila "broke up". So, what could have happened between their supposed happy romantic trip to Italy, and the 20th? Absolutely nothing...with Ewmila. They were nothing to each other. Camila just wanted that motherfucker out of her life.

On May 24, we got the post saying, "the calm before the storm, with the 6 tornado emoji's. 4 days, after that very sad looking pic, she warned us this shitshow was coming.

On May 27, we got the pics of Camila and Canada eating outside, and the first media hits, asking "are they dating". Publicist planted that shit. May 30, FYA was released. June 8, Camila went to perform on stage with Alejandro Sanz, with no con artist in sight. June 18, she went to have her little chat at Cannes. She posted a pic, with the caption, "looks put together on the outside, but a mess on the inside". (or something close to it) That's also the day we got the first teasers of Senorita. The song and video was released on the 21st. Nothing but PR bullshit after that.

That's the time line, of how all this shit went down. That sad emotional pic, on the 20th, was a genuine sadness. She was an emotional mess, and NOT because of a "break-up". I think, that is the day, she gave in to the pressure, and made the decision to do the PR with Canada.

She wanted out of that PR shitshow with dickhead. The Label could have kept it going, as long as the dickhead agreed to keep it going, and why wouldn't he. It was getting him the attention he wanted. He didn't give a shit, it was causing her anxiety and emotional distress. (Matthew Hussey is a NARCISSISTIC PRICK, that's all about himself. The Label didn't give a shit, either. They just wanted their artist to do what they wanted her to do. IN MY OPINION!!!)

It really doesn't take that long to record and master a single. By the time they were seen eating together, on the 27th, they had probably already recorded the song, and were discussing the visuals for the video. They filmed it the first week of June or so.

I'm pretty sure, in my thoughts, that Camila only agreed to do this shit, if it was the song of her choice, the video visuals of her choice, and her team doing it. The song she chose, was HER song, Señorita. It wasn't difficult to figure out who that song was about. That's why Epic wouldn't allow her to release it, on her own. But, in a duet with Canada, they were fine with it.

This was all decided on, and done very quickly. That's how they were able to keep it a "secret". From agreement to roll out, it was all done in a months time.

So yeah, that's how I came to my conclusion, that Canada actually "helped" her get out of her PR shitshow with the Con man. How it was her song that was chosen. Her Label was pressuring her, to do this PR stunt with Canada, since 2018. Island and Epic, both wanted it. The song was just the pathway to get the PR started.

Camila is getting shit on, for something BOTH sides were pressuring and down right manipulating/coercing her to do. SHE DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT!!! Canada didn't really want to do it, either. But he's so damn scared of getting publicly outed, and it ruining his career, that he was willing to do anything to keep that from happening.

The only BAD GUYS, in all this shit, is Epic, Island, Andrew, and Roger. THEY are the ones so hell bent on keeping their clients "straight", and making a shit load of money off them, while they are being locked in their glass closet.

Roger should have put his foot down, and told Epic to make the public announcement, of the "split" back in May. Hell, he should have "leaked" the shit himself, on the 20th, when Camila posted that pic, if nothing else. That's why I place blame on him, for the way Camila is being portrayed by others.

The Sun, had the information for a while. They were told to sit on that information, until Epic was ready for the public announcement to be made. That's why the report started with, "I can reveal ...". Not, "this just in", or "Sources have confirmed", but "I can reveal".

The definition of reveal, for those who aren't sure...reveal: make (previously unknown or secret information) known to others....Yep, they sat on the info, until they were told to "reveal" it.

Agree or not, believe or not, that's my take on all this shit. This is how my mind connected all the fucked up dots.

[soggywarmpockets]

So i don’t usually do this, but I am a little bit upset, so I am going to vent a bit.

I thought it would be fun to start a new tradition this year and get @theredberin and I matching advent calendars for the holiday season. I like supporting artists and small businesses, so Etsy was of course my go-to. I found a pre-order for a really neat, kind of fandom related advent calendar filled with stuff Erin and I both love. Being handmade, the calendars weren’t cheap, but shipping was free and they said they would ship the last week of November or sooner, so I splurged and went for it. I placed my order on November 12th, when the pre-order was still live and with plenty of time for my order to be packaged and shipped. A week went by and I hadn’t heard anything from the shop so I checked my invoice and their shop page to see if they had a shipping estimate ready or a note about when the calendars would ship. Nothing. I saw that they had a Facebook page so I clicked on it and the most recent post on November 19th was advertising the calendars and promising that if you ordered by November 25th, the calendars would get to you before December 1st. Nice, I thought, nothing to worry about, my stuff will be here on time.The 25th came and went with no shipping update. Then the 26th. On the 27th I started to get a little worried that we were cutting it close with the holiday, but I figured the seller knew what they were doing. Thanksgiving came and I didn’t expect any updates then, seeing as everything was closed. And then it was Friday and I thought “Okay, they’re going to send it today and overnight it.” No shipping notification. And then I thought “Well maybe they’ve already sent it and just didn’t upload the tracking number into Etsy because they had so many to go out and it’ll arrive tomorrow.” I waited until I had to go to work today for a truck to arrive with my package, but it didn’t. I told myself I’d wait until I got home and if nothing had arrived I’d message the seller and if they truly hadn’t been shipped, I’d ask about cancelling the order. at 4:02 PM I got two emails from Etsy saying that the shipping labels for my packages had been created. Estimated arrival is December 3rd. For an advent calendar that you’re supposed to open a box of every day of the month up until the 25th.

I don’t know whether to leave a negative review or not. I usually don’t. I usually try to be patient and understanding but the seller posting nothing about shipping delays on any of their pages or sent any emails warning of this. I feel I ordered with more than enough notice and the seller had done a pre-order to ensure that orders would be placed with enough time to package and ship everything before December 1st and they were prepared to make up to 100 of these calendars and this isn’t the first year they’ve done an advent box so I felt like everything would be good. And I feel like I wouldn’t be nearly as upset if this weren’t supposed to be a gift. Now Erin won’t be getting hers until at least the 5th, and she won’t be able to really use any of the things inside until she’s home on the 7th or so, and I think I will feel guilty if I am enjoying the things while she isn’t.

I’m not going to name the shop or post on their Facebook page or anything, but I feel like I should mention it in my Etsy product review. Or is that too mean?

I’m just really disappointed, that’s all.

[jsmnutami]

Kyoto: day 01

We were going to Japan agaiiiin, yay!

After went back and forth between many places, we decided to step on our feet one more time in Japan, a country that we all know and love. On our previous trip (https://mydiaryofthemoon.wordpress.com/2018/12/06/tokyo-day-0-and-1/), we only got a chance to visit Tokyo, so this time we were planning on going to Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara.

Wed, Feb 26th 2020

We headed to Jakarta since our flight was from Soetta airport at 8.20 pm. On those days, Jakarta was facing a flood issue. We were so concern about the access thru the airport and decided to took a train and crossed our fingers. It turned out just fine, we arrived safely, just on time at Gambir, took a damri bus and 1 hour later we were on the airport safe and sound.

The ‘freshly baked’ issue here is the Corona Virus or COVID-19. It pictured on the less crowded airport and almost everyone here wore a mask. Honestly, my parents once considered to cancelled our trip regarding this issue (we bought the tickets on December, how could we know this would happen) but I said to them not to worry and be cautious instead (eat properly, exercise more, sleep well, take a vitamin, and step up your hygiene level). By the way, despite the issue, the immigration and health check here were not quite detailed i supposed. They were just checking your temp by using thermal scanner and that was it.

Anyhow back to the topic. We flew with SQ this time, so we’ll be having 9 hours layover time in Changi Airport before departed to Osaka. 9 hours at midnight must be a pain in the ass right? well. we’ll see.....

1,5 hours later we were arriving at Changi, well being the 7th straight year voted as the best airport in the world, I’m sure they must be having the best spot to sleep and rest well, and I’m not even lying. If you’re having a long midnight layover at Changi airport, esp Terminal 2, you have to go to their snooze lounge near gate E4, thank me later. Later around 2 am, some of the airport’s employee gave us free travel kit (towel, brush, toothbrush, pouch). Changi is really something, right?

Thu, Feb 27th 2020

Our flight scheduled at 8.20 am, without any delayed we flew to Kansai Int Airport or KIX and arrived at 3.40 pm later that day. As usual, the immigration was smooth and fast, again, no detailed health check here, just another thermal check camera. One thing I noticed about Japan’s airport was how fast the baggage claim is. Once we cleared with immigration, our baggage was already appeared in front of our eyes (compare to airport in Indo which could take ages).

Next quest: Get out and find a train to Kyoto.

A little information, Osaka has 2 airport; Itami Airport and Kansai Int Airport. If you’re planning on flying to Osaka, you’re most likely arrived in KIX since Itami is for domestic only. 

The central train station at KIX is located on 2F. There are so many trains (or buses) you could take from here. Since we were heading to Kyoto first, we decided to took JR Limited Express ‘Haruka’ which costed us 2900 yen (400.000) per person for 90 minutes ride. The train was comfortable and warm. Oh, I forget to mention it was 8 degree celcius in KIX when we arrived. It was a nice 90 min rode to Kyoto station. I did like the view which was vary from seaside Osaka bay, Kansai residential area, to a small farmland. 

Once we arrived at Kyoto station (huge station with a modern architecture which i like), we were heading to our airbnb’s reception office nearby station. It was around 6 pm, light rain, 7 degree celcius (I wore clothes that only suitable in indo’s weather) and 4 big luggage. about 500 m, we arrived at the office thanks to google maps (my loyal servant here in Japan).

First, I want to talk about our Airbnb in Kyoto. I booked an apartment thru airbnb called RESI STAY and turned out this was a self-service hotel not an apartment per se. So we have to take out key at the office before actually check in to our room. I must said I’m very satisfied by their services. The friendly and responsive staff, and most importantly, they provide free shuttle to our building. What a service, right? and its fairly cheap! What a worth it purchase. 

Our room was a large 1 bedroom apartment consist of 1 bathroom with its own dresser room, 1 separate toilet, 1 kitchen, 1 common room, and 1 bedroom with 2 large bunk beds. The flooring was carpet which was nice on cold winter days and most importantly, the room has 3 heater. 3 heater, i mean, it was more than enough! Our building located in Gojozaka street, a quiet neighborhood in Kyoto. But, its only 7 min to nearest station (Kiyomizu-gojo st), 1,5 km to Kiyomizu-dera, and 1,5 km to Gion district. Told you, so convenient right?

After a brief rest, we decided to grab some food at convenient store nearby which is a must whenever you visited Japan. Its around 9 pm, 4 degree celcius, We were heading to nearest 7 eleven. I must said Kyoto was less crowded than Tokyo, I barely saw people at that hour there. And another thing, I felt like there was more cars in Kyoto than Tokyo for some reason? idk for sure. 

7 eleven time, did bought some beverages (lemon coca cola and royal king milk tea as usual), couple onigiri, some snacks, and yakitori. Strolling around randomly while traveling was my fav part of travel. Seeing other culture, different people with different habit fascinating me. And those night was one night I enjoyed for sure.

We still had 6 more days to explore and we were more than thrilled!

(to be continued)

[loquaciousquark]

4th Solace. I’ve just realized I’ve missed the worst of the summer heat thanks to the Arishok’s oversized toothpick. If I’m being honest, not a bad trade

Odd thing happened today. Gamlen was here visiting again--which, that has been odd enough, for all that I've been glad to see him (even if his concern throughout my whole recovery has been markedly acidic). We were in the library, three layers deep into Bodahn’s date buns, when all of a sudden Orana knocked and announced Lady Audrey and her son, Stinton Forrester, were here to visit. They live about seven estates down the way with the extravagantly bitter Lord Willem Forrester and his unkinder mother, and I don’t think we’ve ever spoken to each other in our lives.

Anyway, in they came. She was in purple silk and he had a suit with puffier sleeves than my entire wardrobe; Gamlen was in his workcloth shirt with the seam I mended in pink thread two years ago, and I had a grease stain on my pants the shape of Antiva from that time we stumbled into the raider tripwires in Darktown.

I will say the shower of crumbs as I stood to greet them was remarkable, as was Toby’s alacrity in removing them from the carpet. After that scintillating beginning, though, I wasn’t sure what to do, so we ended up perching on the chairs and staring at each other for a good bit. Eventually someone ventured a remark on the weather and someone else responded in kind, and then we were making the small insipid talk I’ve heard at every one of Mother’s parties, and even Gamlen restricted himself to quiet snorts and rolled eyes instead of his usual biting commentary.

To be honest, that worried me more than anything else. Lady Audrey was never a great friend of Mother’s so far as I knew, but for the solicitousness of her concern over my injuries I might have thought she and Mother were the closest sisters in Thedas. Endless questions about my comfort, my recovery, endless advice on salves and creams to reduce scarring. Stinton just sat there and stared at me. I don’t think he said ten words.

They stayed just long enough to make the room thoroughly uncomfortable, then sailed out in a silk cloud. Stinton smiled at me when Orana came to walk them out. I’d forgotten two of his bottom teeth are turned sideways.

I haven’t the faintest idea what just happened.

Later

Gamlen says Stinton intends to court me. I say Gamlen needs to stop drinking the moonshine Jo Mallen makes with goose dung.

11th Solace. Steaming hot. Suppose I haven’t missed the summer after all

Stinton’s been back to visit twice. As have Orwen, Pelarie, Derrick, Braeden, Sage, and every single one of their mothers.

Shit.

19th Solace. Stormed hard but cleared up by midmorning. Everything marvelously dank, just like it should be

They’ve set the ceremony to make me the city’s champion for the last day of Solace. Stinton’s hinted three times he’d like to arrive on my arm. Or--me on his, as I suspect he’d prefer. He’s stopped coming with his mother. I wish he’d stop coming at all. He has the most abominable habit of saying my name every few words, as if he wants me to be absolutely certain I have his full attention. Feels more like he’s trying to piss dominance over a prize bitch.

No one’s called me that name since Mother died, and even then it was only when I’d been caught making trouble. It’s not for you, you pompous prick.

23rd Solace. Hot again. Foundry smoke’s been drifting over all day. Wish the smell would be kind enough to blow elsewhere, tired of nightmarish memories

Pelarie Ashbridge is entirely too shy to be caught up in this mess. She barely comes up to my shoulder for all that she’s over twenty, and no matter how her maid dresses her in cashmere and taffeta she still seems like a girl forced too far too soon. The only time I’ve ever really seen her smile was when I told her about the time Carver and I stole a sackful of unripe pears from Barlin and were sick for three days afterwards. Of course, that only lasted until her mother The Most Dour Woman In Thedas pinched out a smile and said something about how all children must learn to be ladies eventually, and Pelarie’s smile fell off her face like an anchor’d been tied to it.

Joke’s on her, though. I was nineteen when we did it.

(She certainly didn’t care for my pointing that out, especially given my glee in the doing. Pelarie smiled again, though, so I suppose it was worth the spite.)

Flames, but I wish these idiots would stop using their children as leverage. For all Mother’s faults, she never once tried to sell me for profit.

27th Solace. If I imagine hard enough, I can almost convince myself the city’s beginning to cool

If the hand is shakier than usual, it’s because I’m laughing hard enough I can barely breathe.

We came home--Andraste’s glorious girdle! I’ve got to get through the setup before the punchline, but the delay might very well kill me. We were out on the Coast today for Aveline, rooting out some smugglers who’ve been peddling qunari detritus at a tidy profit. First real fight since the Arishok--did fairly well, all things considered! Mana’s still a trifle weak, so some of the firestorms were more like fire trickles, but the battle ended with them dead and me with only a cracked shin, so all in all a resounding victory so far as I’m concerned.

Invited everyone over to celebrate, naturally, but Sebastian was already pushing late for Chantry services and Aveline had dinner plans with Donnic, so in the end it was just Fenris and me walking back to Hightown together.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this, but I told him about these fool visits at Wicked Grace last week. He hadn’t laughed like I’d thought, just gone...quiet, I suppose, is the best word for it. Frowned at his cards for three hands and lost every coin he came with, then excused himself early. I hadn’t meant to go after him--Maker knows his running wouldn’t thank me for the chase--but I saw him fiddling with that damned red band on his way out and knew right where his mind had gone.

Caught up to him right outside the door. It was cool for Solace, I remember, because his northern arms had gone to gooseflesh in the chill, and he’d actually shivered when I’d touched his shoulder to turn him. Wouldn’t meet my eyes, either, for all he stayed put, and it wasn’t until I reached down and tucked my fingers around his wrist (the wrapped one) that he came back to a little life.

I don’t remember exactly what I said. More than I should have--I’m fairly certain I offered to start hanging paint buckets above doors at his druthers--but it only garnered the slightest smile until I stepped a hair too near and he moved just a bit too close and--all at once--I had nothing to say.

All this time, and that was all it took. The slightest lean in instead of away, and my heart leapt so high in my throat I could hardly breathe.

I told him I wasn’t going anywhere.

I didn’t say anything else. I didn’t know what else to say, but he looked up when I said it, and that uncertain smile shifted into something a little deeper, and then he closed his eyes and his forehead came up against mine for just a moment or two, just long enough for a breath that took a thousand years with it on the exhale.

He left after that, and I didn’t try to keep him.

Funny, I don’t feel like finishing this now. I’ll come back to it another time.

Later.

All right. I’m three shots of Antivan liquor and most of a rotisserie chicken in, so let’s get on with this.

We came home from the Coast, is the short of it. It was easy enough between us after that conversation so I wasn’t thinking about much, just enjoying the walk, and then we came in and who should be sitting in one of those overtall embroidered chairs in my library but Lord Stinton Fucking Forrester in orange and ivory silk and slashed sleeves.

His face. Oh, Maker and his Bride, I’m crying at the thought of it. That pristine little suit, and in we come covered in blood and mud and sand with Fenris picking sinew out of his cuirass. I might as well have struck him upside the head with a frying pan.

Gaping isn’t a strong enough word. I started laughing the moment I saw him--couldn’t help it, too absurd--and managed to struggle through an introduction while shaking bone bits out of my hair. Stinton barely got out a stuttering hello, looking at me the whole time like I was quite alien, but Fenris--Fenris! that insufferable magnificent ass! gave such a deliberate flourish of his sword before sheathing it and setting the whole massive thing one-handed against the wall. Then he gave Stinton the most Tevinter half-bow that managed to signify more disrespect than a formal Kirkwall snubbing ever could, and I had to bite down on my tongue to check the giddiness.

Even that would have been enough. But then Orana--and Maker bless every bone in her body, for I think she dislikes Stinton as much as I do--came in with a bowl and a handful of rags the way she always does when we come home covered in gore, and kept a gloriously bland smile on her face the whole time we wiped off the worst of the blood. She even asked how many we’d killed this afternoon (which she hardly ever does), and pretended it was a perfectly normal thing when Fenris answered her with “sixteen.”

It was possibly the most Tevinter-esque conversation they’ve ever had in front of me, and my heart’s still singing for it.

Anyway. This continued on in the same vein for several minutes, Stinton looking nervously between the two of us, until there was an unfortunate lull, whereupon Stinton took it upon himself to ask how long Fenris had been serving in my household.

Oh, journal, but I bristled. Fenris hardly seemed concerned--resigned only, which I hated just as much--but I kept my temper enough to inform him quite frostily that he was a dear friend and had been so for years, and I had been honored to fight in his company today.

Which was all true, though I haven’t the faintest idea who was more surprised between the two of them.

Stinton didn’t stay much longer after that. He looked as though he still wanted to speak to me privately, but the Void would have to tear open my library before I’d ask Fenris to leave it for Stinton’s sake, and he left within a few minutes of Orana carrying away the bloodied bowl. I wasn’t sorry to see him go.

Then it was just Fenris and me left, and a silence that ought to have been awkward but wasn’t. Instead it was just comfortable, the both of us tired after the fight and that fool and willing to forget them as fast as we could.

I asked him if he’d come with me to the ceremony. As a friend, if he wanted, but I said I’d like to have him there.

He didn’t answer for a long time. Then he said no, which didn’t surprise me, but he looked sorry to say it, which did. He said he’d make a poor showing in dented, stained armor and he hadn’t time to get new things. I said I wouldn’t care in the least--it was him I wanted there, not his clothes--which made him laugh even if it didn’t change his mind. He said it would be a bad idea to draw attention to himself given both Danarius and the fact that he’s still squatting in that rotting mansion.

I couldn’t argue with that. So. He left, and I’m left to Varric and Sebastian as my only acceptable escorts. Not that I don’t--but--well. I knew it was a long shot.

Well. Nothing to be done about it now. It was still a wonderful thing to see Stinton slinking out like the weasel he is.

29th Solace. The day before my doom is fittingly dreary

Felt bad all morning over mocking Stinton to his face yesterday. Sent a note to him this afternoon asking him to come by for a few minutes so I could apologize.

He accepted it, ungraciously as it was given, which made me feel even worse--right up until the point where he told me he’d be happy to continue his attentions towards me only if:

a) I stop “trouncing about with Kirkwall unsavories”

b) I tone down my use of magic--so difficult to overlook when I keep throwing it in people’s faces

c) I dismiss the elf from my service (not certain if he means Fenris or Orana, though given his sneer I suspect the former)

d) I stop permitting Lady Ashbridge to bring Pelarie to visit, and Orwen and Braeden and the rest, no matter how gentle Pelarie is when her mother’s not crushing her under her heel.

I’m not often stunned speechless, and I’m pleased to say this was no exception. I’ve forgotten exactly what I said, but I know at one point I used the phrase “barbaric bollocking boor” and was fairly pleased with myself. His face turned all sorts of colors but ended a mottled red, and when I was finished he turned and walked right out the door without waiting for Orana.

Burned that bridge right to the ground, I suppose. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

30th Solace. Cold. Grey. Blustery. Pfeh

Orana has been at me for hours with more perfumes and salts than a magister’s bathhouse.

Just put me in the damned dress and let me go. No one who likes me will be there except Aveline anyway, and she’s seen me naked and covered in mud. That was one memorable trip up Sundermount, I’ll tell you that.

She’s coming with a fistful of gold pins for my hair. Maker save me

Later

The carriage is at the door; I can hear its squeaking wheels and Sebastian’s just come in the foyer. I can hear his voice from here. I asked Orana if I could pretend to be dead and she said she didn’t think the ruse would take. Damn her

Snuck the journal in my useless clutch. Serves her right. I’m drowning in poorly-scented sweat and Stinton keeps sneering at me across the floor. Pelarie’s here, though, and I’m determined to dance with her at least once to get her mother off her back. Sebastian’s been a darling to take my temper and he looks marvelous in russet and white and gold. Plus he knows the dances, which makes me look a good deal better. He’s dancing with the oldest Allencourt girl now. I foisted him off to spare him from me awhile--she’s sweet, if a bit dim, and guaranteed not to snap when he offers her a canapé.

Music’s changing again. How much longer?

Ceremony’s done but I can’t leave yet. Snuck off to some fainting room and locked the door--Cullen of the templary curls offered to escort me to get some cooler air but I said I’d rather avoid any surreptitious branding, which I think genuinely shocked him. Meredith didn’t seem to hear for all she’s been staring at me all evening, so I suppose I should count myself lucky and shut my mouth.

Aveline’s here. She’s in uniform, but it might as well be a golden gown for how adoringly Donnic’s watching her. Lucky thing.

Too many people altogether, all looking at me. Orsino, Meredith, Cullen, Elthina--even Bran showed up and brought me a champagne flute. I asked if it was poisoned. He looked at me sourly and said if he’d meant to poison me, he’d have done it when I was still the vagabond refugee fumbling with a wineglass in the Viscount’s office. 

People keep knocking. Told them to go away but I guess I can’t have fainted then

Sebastian says I can leave in half an hour. The Champion of Kirkwall gets an iron circlet and a medal and a piece of paper in the mail. The medal’s in the clutch, but there’s not much to do for this damned circlet. My forehead’s going to be dented for weeks

Later

It’s almost three in the morning, but I’m finally home. The candle’s nearly out so I’ll keep this brief as I can, but--

Fenris came.

It was just for a few minutes, so quick I might have blinked and missed it. I’d stepped out for the last time--the Viscount’s gardens back right up to the great hall, and there was a wonderful shrubbery thing in a great brown pot that hid me marvelously in the shadows, even with the crimson satin. Only this time I stepped out and--there was someone already behind it.

I will say I repressed the scream admirably. I can’t say I didn’t stumble back with the most ignominious trip into the gravel I’ve ever had, except the shadow reached out and caught me.

Maker. I even write besotted.

Knew him as soon as I felt his hand. Knew the calluses well enough, certainly, but the lyrium I’d recognize blind and deaf and dying. He stood me on my feet, and I looked at him, and...

Sometimes, in Lothering, Bethany and I would go out to the creek that ran behind our fields. There was a wild hydrangea bush there, taller than the two of us together, and in the last days of spring we’d find the little buds and Bethany would coax them with her magic to see if she could get them to bloom. She was much better than I was at it--I tended to get impatient and wither them instead--and most of the time they’d only open a bit, only slivers of brilliant purple peeping out between waxy green sheaths.

Sometimes, though--sometimes, if everything was perfect--she’d thread her magic into the leaves and I could see it take, could see the leaves growing and greening and beginning to furl away, and the bud would swell and swell and swell until all at once the bloom would burst open--in perfect silence--and a glorious purple blossom larger than my head sat in her curled fingers.

They were beautiful. And I...

That happened in my heart, when I saw him. Silent and sudden and beautiful and overwhelming, and there was no going back after it opened.

He wasn’t in his armor. He’d found a dress tunic--Tevinter in style, high-collared, but with long sleeves that gathered snug at his wrists, and black trousers that fit him beautifully, and I’d never felt so near crying from gladness in my life. I don’t know where he found them. I don’t care.

He said he couldn’t stay, that the guards would only ignore so much, even well on their way to drunk, but he misliked the idea that his fear of Danarius might control him even now. He said he knew I needed no protection from fools (like Stinton, implied), but if I needed refuge from their mothers...

I shouldn’t have hugged him, but I did, and I don’t regret it. He held me back, so he couldn’t have hated it that much.

I told him he was the best thing I’d ever seen. He told me I was beautiful, and he didn’t let go of me until I’d pulled away first.

Lady Everlyn came out only a few seconds later with Braeden at her heels, so there wasn’t much more to the moment, but he was still watching me when I stepped away to keep him hidden. I told him he’d be standing up with me next time, not hiding behind a bush. He said, “Hm,” but he was smiling when he did.

The candle’s long out and I’ve been writing by magelight for twenty minutes. I’d better stop before Orana ties me down with my own bedsheets.

(I’m determined there will be a next time. If nothing else, I need to see him in those trousers in proper light, not in the shadow of a shrubbery.)

(He came for no other reason than I wished him to and he’s kind, even if he doesn’t want anyone to know. If he’s trying to make me forget him, he’s gone the wrong way about it.)

(My face is so flushed the damned iron circlet feels like ice.)

(He said I was beautiful.)

[womenofcolor15]

Kanye West Delays ‘Jesus Is King’ Album Again To 'Finish Mixing', Makes Surprise Visit On ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

Kanye West's Jesus Is King album gets delayed again. Deets on why the LP was pushed back for a third time, plus what he said about turning his life over to God during his surprise appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” inside…

Welp.

It’s October 25th and Kanye West still hasn’t delivered his ninth studio album, Jesus Is King. At this point him announcing a release date just seems to be a publicity stunt in itself.

The highly anticipated religious-themed LP has been pushed back at least three times since he announced he was coming out with a new album. The project was originally set to drop on September 27th. Then, it was changed to September 29th. The album never came and there was no explanation as to why at that time. 

After the delays, Ye announced the album would be dropping on October 25th, along with an accompanying IMAX film.

His cultish fans were excited to hear the album, which was supposed to drop at midnight, however, it’s STILL not here. Ye hopped on Twitter last night to explain that he’s still working on production on a few tracks and that’s why the album still hasn’t been released:

    To my fans

Thank you for being loyal & patient

We are specifically fixing mixes on “Everything We Need” “Follow God” & “Water”

We not going to sleep until this album is out!

— ye (@kanyewest) October 25, 2019

    No word when Jesus Is King will actually drop.

We know what else he was doing last night.

  The Chi-town native made a surprise appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" - which was filmed in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The show normally tapes in Los Angeles but moved to Jimmy's native BK for the week. Ye stopped by the show to promote his new album hours before a premiere party for his album and accompanying film.

Kimmel shared a clip of Kanye's 6-year-old daughter North West dancing in front of a screen that was showing clips from his IMAX film. Ye said he loves how his daughter is excited about going to church thanks to his Sunday Services.

“I love the fact that my daughter wants to go to church,” he said. ”She has such a positive thought association going to church because it’s outside of the traditional four walls and outside of the pews."

We guess folks can define church however they want to these days.  Even if it's basically a for-profit concert with merch and indirect sales.

The PABLO rapper - who said he's no longer doing secular music - talked about giving his life over to Christ and being a vessel for the Lord.

“And now that God has called me and I now have given my life to Jesus Christ and I work for God,” he said. “Now, we have Christian innovation in our time.”

He said the Lord is using him, his choir and his family to "show off" the service to God.

When asked if he feels born again, he responded, "I'm just a Christian everything."

"It feels like God is using me, and using the choir, and my family to show off," he continues. "We're in complete service to God, and the business is thriving."

He later talked about how black people need to start teaching one another how to handle our finances and more. Peep his interview above.

In the World Trade Center's brand new PATH station called Oculus, Ye was seemingly setting something up for his album's release:

  walking through Oculus to get the Path train home and 98% sure Kanye is doing something for his new album here?.. whole production crew, subways blocked off, playing Kanye music, “no one knows” what’s going on? #JesusIsKing pic.twitter.com/mG8iaZiliu

— kev (@kevtaddei) October 25, 2019

    WTC pic.twitter.com/lXxagv5Hjd

— YEEZY MAFIA (@theyeezymafia) October 25, 2019

    Kimmel said Kanye will have a special performance “tomorrow night”.. guessing they’re filming it overnight in Oculus which is what all of that production crew/security was for

— kev (@kevtaddei) October 25, 2019

    They just did a walkthrough to make sure they have the right camera angles...shits about to get real #Kanye #kanyewest #JesusIsBorn #Oculus pic.twitter.com/HxGIZVNimw

— Orlando Castaneda (@lando924) October 25, 2019

    The choir is in the building! #KanyeWest #KanyeWestSundayService #teamkanye #kanye #Oculus #WTC pic.twitter.com/IpcEskoJ2G

— Kiem (@Princ3_Akiem) October 25, 2019

  Around 2AM, Yeezy made his arrival:

  Kanye just got here #JesusIsKing #WTC #Kanye #SundayService #YE pic.twitter.com/GeApBK6No7

— Joshua C. (@Jcamacho228) October 25, 2019

  Looks like his appearance was pre-taped during the least populated hours.

Also, it's reported megachurch pastor Joel Osteen invited Kanye West to attend his church in Houston. TMZ reports: 

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, Kanye and Joel speak from time to time on the phone ... as recently as 2 weeks ago. We're told Joel has invited Kanye to take a trip to Houston and experience his megachurch, Lakewood, where 45,000 people show up to pray every week. The Sunday service reaches 100 MILLION homes in America and tens of millions more around the world.

We're told Ye told Joel he'd love to attend a service, and he wouldn't be the first celeb to do so. Oprah, Tyler Perry, the Clintons and many others have attended.

Interesting.

Photo: Liam Goodner / Shutterstock.com

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2019/10/25/kanye-west-delays-%E2%80%98jesus-is-king%E2%80%99-album-again-to-finish-mixing-makes-surprise-visit-on-%E2%80%98j

[icesis]

A Trip of a Life Time

It has always been a life long dream of mine to visit Japan. This year, that finally happened. From March 23-April 2nd, I had made my way to and through Japan.

So I would like to walk you through my trip and what happened!

On March 23rd 2017, we left our house around 2:15am to arrive at the air port around 3am. The weather was terrible, we were having snow and ice at the time. Our travelling companion arrived around 3:45 am. We checked his bag, and headed through security around 4am.

Funnily enough, my great aunt was travelling on the same plane as us to Toronto, and we met up for a few minutes before boarding the plane.

We boarded our flight around 6:10am (on time!) for our departure at 6:50am. We were all seated and getting ready to go. Waiting to get de-iced, the maintenance folk thought they saw a leak. This caused a delay of over 2 hours, and we left after 9am when they determined it was just melting snow. During this delay, my spouse and I watched Doctor Strange in its entirety. Finally de-iced, we took flight.

We arrived in the Toronto Pearson Airport around 10am EST (2hours after our flight left Halifax). Many of those on our flight had missed connections and there was a lot of chaos from the delay. Thankfully, it just made our layover shorter. 

We were supposed to meet up with my great aunt and her friend for food, however, they were told they had a chance to make their layover and tried to get there. However, once all was done they sadly missed it and couldn’t get out of their section of the airport.

So we ate Pad Thai at Thai Express, and then made our way through security again, and to our terminal. It was pretty uneventful after this, and we boarded our flight to Japan at 1:50pm. Since our flight boarded quickly, we ended up leaving a little bit early at 2:20pm.

During the flight (which was 13 hours), I tried to sleep and watched movies. After awhile, you do get very uncomfortable, but don’t want to move and disturb those around you.I was excited, as the plane had Your Name which I had been wanting to see but hadn’t come out in North America yet. I also watched some episodes of the Big Bang Theory with my spouse. I don’t remember exactly what I ate on this flight, but I do remember really enjoying the chicken meal I had, and of course the best part of my flight was my Cup Noodle! I also watched most of Moana but fell asleep towards the end.

Since my spouse and I only took carry on bags, our moving through the airport and security was very fast and we were ready to go immediately. However, our friend had brought a checked in bag, which caused us a lot of delays with leaving. At the airport, we obtained our pocket wifi from Wifi Ninja and our Suica cards for the train.

We boarded to Monorail, and we were listening for our stop. A kind older Japanese man boarded the train and spent some time talking to us. It was really pleasant experience. We did, however, miss our train stop and had to get off and get back on the train on the other side.

We took in what we could as we boarded our next train towards our apartment we were renting. Once we found our way, we dropped off our goodies and went out to see what we could find.

We grabbed some drinks out of the vending machine, and headed to Lawsons and 7-Eleven to see what we could find. We then headed back to the apartment for the night.

For our second day, we got an early start and headed out. We stopped at McDonalds and decided to try a Mega Muffin (two sausages, cheese, egg, and bacon) which was a delicious greasy mistake. 

We walked around Akihabara and Shinjuku. Sadly, we didn’t realize most things didn’t open until later. So we didn’t do too much during this time.

We found our way to pick up our Japan Rail Passes while were out though!

We found tons of vending machines while we were out.

And we found a Square Enix Cafe! Sadly you can’t see how long the line was, but it was definitely a few blocks long.

We later made our way over to Ueno Park and Zoo. Where we saw a lot of animals and cherry blossoms starting to bloom.

We also got to see some great signs!

After this, I was exhausted and we headed home. I slept a long time this night!

The next day, we were just wondering around and taking in the sights. We checked out Taito Games and the Mega Tokyo Pokemon Center. I also tried some various foods, but notably it was some store bought dango!

Because of being so sore, we didn’t do too much else this day. However, we did eat at McDonald’s again and had a Big Mac! It was the most beautiful Big Mac I have ever had. 

That brings us to the 27th. This was Disney Day! We visited Tokyo Disneyland which was way more emotional than I thought it would be. I was stunned when I got there. I hadn’t ever been big into going to Disneyland or World, but since it was near us I wanted to go. 

I’m not one to be super corny, but it definitely felt magical. It also helped that it always smelled like candy in the park.

Once we left Disneyland, there was a crepe shop outside called Bell’s Crepes... and I knew I had to try one! I even ordered in Japanese! 

While we were in Tokyo, I got to meet up with one of the lovely girls I met when she was here in Halifax studying English. She took us to a great restaurant and we had a really good time! I can’t wait until I can see her next. :)

Then it was time to move on. We made our way to Kyoto to meet up with my close friend Yuuka, who I met while she was studying in Halifax. We visited the Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine, which was beautiful. Those gorgeous torii will stick with me forever.

We ate at some of the vendors outside. We tried a mochi skewer, yakiniku and nikumaki! I think Nikumaki was my favorite. I ate it so fast I forgot to take a picture.

After this, we headed back to Osaka and ate at the restaurant Kappa Zushi.

We then headed to our capsule hotel in Dotonbori. The capsule hotel was beautiful, and outside of a bit of a language barrier, we got checked in and stayed the night.

My friend was busy the next day, so we made our way around to see what we could find. We visited an internet cafe, which was an amazing experience! I wish we had them here. It had a vending machine for hot food, and machine that dispensed free drinks for patrons! 

We also played in an Arcade. We played a Dungeon’s and Dragons game together. We then met up with a friend I had made on the app Hello Talk. He took us to this wonderful Tuna restaurant. We ate delicious fried tuna ribs, we tried sushi, and sashimi.

He gave us a beautiful gift each. They were chopsticks with our names and lucky animals. 

The next day, we met up with Yuuka again, and she took us to visit Himeji Castle. It was a rainy day, but it was still a lot of fun! We stopped at ate food on the way too!

After this, we did some shopping, and ate at Cafe de Miki. Which is a Hello Kitty themed Cafe!

We then met up with Yuuka’s mother, whom I had the pleasure of meeting. We exchanged gifts and they saw us off on our train to head back to Tokyo.

One of these gifts was this delicious unagi bento box that Himeji is known for.

The next day, we went out on our last adventure for the day. We visited Super Potato where we picked up some games and our traveling companion picked up a Super Famicom.

After this, it was time to get ready to leave. We packed our bags that night and headed to the airport early the next day. Everything went smoothly for us, and we got through quickly. It was sad to come home. I would definitely love to live in Japan one day!

Here is a bit more of Japan that I didn’t know where to squeeze in else where! I met a toilet I hate, and toilets I love while I was there. You have regular toilets, squat toilets and what I like to call super toilets. I love these fully loaded toilets. They have bidets, some have things to dry you, heated seats, and some make noise so others can’t hear what you’re doing!

I also took pictures when I found stores I recognized from home. Some won’t be surprising. However, I was totally surprised to find out Kumon was from Japan! I only ever knew it  from here.

That’s all I have for now! I hope you enjoyed my trip through Japan!

[asuitcaseofmemories]

Bad Luck Happens in... 65s if You’re Me.

I’m going to tell you a little a story. To be frank, it’ll probably definitely be long because it’s a nightmare and nightmares are never short. Only this isn’t just a nightmare, this is a true story; my true story of traveling from NY to Hefei after my home leave.

The date was June 26th... or 27th, because when you’re time traveling, details like that get hazy. My lovely friend dropped me off at the tiny Elmira airport and I had no issues checking in. I did internally begin losing my shit when the couple next to me was asked if they’d be willing to give up their seats due to them overbooking the flight by two. *Cue the anxiety* .... I mean we’ve all seen the dragging video by now. Save me.

We boarded in Elmira on time, I skipped the coffee and went for the complimentary red wine, because HELP, and because wine. The flight was uneventful, which was great. My friend and I spent our layover walking around the terminal, which I was thankful for because I was still losing it a little... and also because of the wine. If you can’t tell my travel anxiety is through the roof bad.

Our flight was boarded (from Detroit to Shanghai) with no issues, and the attendants graciously were loading me up on champagne. We left on time, and more champagne and food arrived. Did I say more champagne? I tried to sleep but the turbulence was pretty bad the last part of the flight... so I only slept 2.5 hours. (Side note: being hangry and a lack of sleep are two states you don’t want to see me in). Apparently attendance make it their duty to get you drunk if you can’t sleep, which is something I agree with on a spiritual level.

Upon landing we were told that the gate we were supposed to use was “not available” so we had to wait a bit. They decided to have us exit the plane on the tarmac and take the shuttle to the building. Which was great except the down pouring rain pelting us in between the two. I looked like a worthless drunk soggy noodle. I should’ve taken that as an omen, but I didn’t.

We arrived at customs and it was a strange scene as there was a huge line for foreigners and virtually no locals (opposite of what I’ve previously experienced). So it took a bit longer than usual, but we had no hiccups going through. The custom worker was actually the nicest custom worker I’d ever met and I think we could actually be friends now.

We then picked up our luggage to recheck it. Our bags were the last off the plane, despite having Sky Priority (meaning ours should come off first)-No biggie. When we went to recheck our bags, all hell broke loose.

I was told by a frantic worker after she weighed my first bag (I had two), that I’m only allowed to take 20kg on the plane.... mind you combined my bags were 48kg. I asked several questions about what people do in that situation, why I’ve never had this happen on previous flights, why there wasn’t a disclaimer sent when booking the flight, etc. The worker was not answering any of my questions, or offering alternate solutions. I think she just doesn’t like drunk soggy noodles.

I think the Holy Spirit inhabited my body at this moment, because my patience was  non-existent at this point. After about 15 mins of “what am I going to do” ... and thinking of alternate solutions like staying in Shanghai and booking a train the next day to get home... throwing out a bag- fuck that... she FINALLY says that I can pay a fee. BITCH YOU START WITH THAT. Why you wasting my time fucking asshole bitch nice lady???

This bitch lady gave me a piece of paper that I was intended to show at another counter to pay my fee. She had no idea how much it was at DID NOT tell me how to get to this next person. She also took my boarding pass and said they’d print a new one. She said “Next” when I asked for clarification, ugh no you didn’t. Thankfully my friend who was having the same issue, but was given better directions on how to get there by the kind lady waiting on her.

We were told we had to go to the 3rd floor, so we followed domestic departure signs for awhile... awhile... until we literally came to a dead end. WTF.... so we backtracked to our original spot, and we saw this other way,, so we followed that, and got to the 2F but still couldn’t get to 3F. I’m not kidding all the escalators were barricaded closed.

Clearly being two blonde idiots, looking lost as shit, this young man who spoke English asked if we are looking for the 3F too... hallelujah, we say yes.... he had just asked too, so we followed him to this elevator (which we would’ve never found because it was hid like the entrance of Narnia). UGH, this airport is stupid.

Oh but that’s not all. We get to the 3rd floor, go to the counter we were directed to go to and they say, oh no, you have to go over thereeeee. So we go there and we pay. Thankfully they took Visa (FYI- they don’t take US credit cards ANYWHERE in China so this is a miracle), and I paid my fine of $67USD. We asked about the reprinted tickets and she told us “oh no, you have to go in THAT line over there....” I’m thinking we should be going in the Sky Priority line as that’s what we always use, but she insisted it was the long line *Cue internal screaming*. So we waited and waited for our turn and they told us oh nooooo you go to the Sky Priority line, they have your tickets. Well I’d had about enough of this nonsense, so I nicely talked to the sympathetic woman who printed our boarding passes there. Thank you sweet angel!

Oh, but the story is just getting started. We went through security and they were double checking our carry ons... okay. Well they took child scissors from my friend’s bag then sent us on our way. We FINALLY head to gate 201. I look at the sign and see something in red. OMG. They changed our Gate to 9.... even though they JUST printed our passes... okay. We hustled over to Gate 9. It said we were in the right place YES. We went for a bathroom break, returned and they’d changed it to Gate 3... no big deal it was close but that’s annoying as hell.

We went to Gate 3 where we waited for an eternity. It got to the departure time and it didn’t say delayed and I was thinking... “did we miss the announcement?“ So I asked and the worker stated we would now depart at 11:30pm (original time was 10:15pm). A few moments later they declared the flight was delayed and that “the boarding time would be announced later.”

Well at this time I began to panic as we were supposed to have a driver pick us up at the airport at 11:30pm and I didn’t have anyway to call him and say we would be late. I don’t have a working phone number (in China or US), so I also do not have service to message Corey and let him know. So I had to buy internet for an hour just to Facetime him to figure out the ride situation. He assured me the driver would wait, and I was glad he knew we would be late.

So I went to get water and literally this airport is shut down almost completely. I saw this guy looking at a vending machine confused and two chicks giggling at him as he walked away. Stupid me tried two times to get a drink out of that thing, and it ate my money. God damn it. We finally found a place open so I got some water dinner (2 chocolate bars if I’m going to be completely honest here) and tried to chill out. We get back to terminal 3 and WHAT they changed our gate AGAIN to 202. At this point I’m externally about to scream, as this nice Chinese man asked if we were also going to Hefei. We said yes. He told us that he asked what was going on and the plane we were taking wouldn’t be there until about 11:30pm... so at this point we knew it would be awhile, but at least we knew something!

We thanked him for the info and ventured our asses back to Gate 202 area, and finally about 12:15am they announced we were boarding. The whole gate let out a cheer. I’m pretty sure I yelled “FUCK YEAH”, but 6 one way a half dozen the other right? We boarded and no sooner do they said that they had no idea when we would be leaving but they’d “update soon.” Well, the are lying liar heads. In an hour they repeated the same announcement. Since they are lying liar heads, and I was exhausted of their lies, I briefly passed out. I awoke at 2am when they finally said we were leaving. YAHOO!

I tried to finally get shut eye... mind you we’ve traveled over a day so far and I’ve only slept 2.5 hours (1.5 according to fit bit). Well the turbulence was so bad they the attendant woke me up and made me put my seat up... So that was a no go.

We finally arrived in Hefei, and and played the baggage game all over again. Our poor driver had been waiting since 11:30pm (it’s now 3:30am)... and helped us pack our bags into the car. He’s the real MVP in this story.

We safely arrived at the hotel at 4:17am.... Where we ended our travel fun with a broken trolley to haul our luggage upstairs. The concierge asked me where I was coming from and I said NY, and he asked “Is that why you’re wearing slippers.” ... they were flip flops haha.

It is tough feeling out of control and having such a language barrier with those who know what’s happening. Looking back, this is all hilarious and truthfully just a string of bad luck and weather. I was thankful to have someone with me to laugh with and keep me sane. We also met a few people along the way who were kind when we needed it most.

I’ll keep these memories to look back on when I think I’m having a “bad day.” I’m thankful I won’t be making that journey for another 6 months. Needless to say I slept 13 hours straight when I got home. I DID NOT MOVE my position at all or wake up once.

[m-a-cpoetry]

Mad World

Sometimes bad things happen to good people. That’s what we say to keep ourselves sane, well mostly sane… hopefully sane. Crazy is a word that flies around more often than not. How do you know if you’re crazy? If I’m crazy, how would I know that I’m crazy? I couldn’t know… because I’d be crazy. Crazy’s a harsh word. I think I would prefer “mentally ill”, maybe “unstable”. That is, of course, if I was any of those things, which I’m not. I think some might take one look at me, with my cuts, bruises, matted hair, bloodshot eyes, ripped hospital dress, and think “Someone call the crazy police, she’s clearly just escaped from an institution”. Which, I guess, is technically true.

My story started off pretty normal, I suppose. I lived in New York City, which was my first mistake (just too darn expensive), and worked as a writer for a small newspaper company, my second mistake. I lived in an apartment that was too small and cost way too much. I barely had enough money to pay the water bill, let alone feed myself. But there’s something special about the first place you can really call your own home. The chipping paint on the wall, the creaky floorboards, the loud neighbors. It soon became endearing, charming little flaws. It wasn’t hard to fall in love with it. My job was… arduous, to say the least. It seemed as though it was a breeding ground for incompetence. All of the stupid in the world was gathered up here and distributed evenly between the higher-ups. But dreams are dreams, and I wanted to be a journalist in NYC, so I did what I had to do. On the very special day of November 27th, I was given an assignment that would change my life forever… and not in the good kind of way. My boss, Mr. James (the most sinfully boring man I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. I’m not even sure he had a brain), told me I was to write a piece on the North Shore Wellness Facility in some backwater hick town in Montana. I was to dig up dirt by “any means necessary” (punctuated by spittle flying from Mr. James’ mouth). Montana? Really? I accepted, of course. How could I not? Rent was due in less than a week and if I remember correctly, I had maybe $4. I really had no other choice. My airfare and hotel were to be taken care of. It was supposed to be a nice little relaxing trip. I get to stay in a nice hotel and do a little investigating. What could possibly go wrong?

Apparently, a lot could go wrong. Everything could go wrong. Everything did go wrong. The day I arrived in Montana was disastrous. Well, not disastrous. Looking back at it now, I realize how small my problems were. I have much bigger problems now. First, my plane was delayed. Something about the weather or the engine, truth be told I wasn’t paying attention. A big problem of mine, actually. I should pay more attention, maybe that could have helped. Anyways, my plane was delayed. I put up a big fuss about it too, in a very “let me speak to the manager soccer mom” type way. I explained in the rudest of tones to the airline lady that I was a big important writer (false) and I was having a very important meeting (not true) and my boss was going to have her head (just a blatant lie). She tried her best to get me onto another flight, but this was the only one. Eventually, I boarded and was on my way to Sweet Home Montana. I don’t remember the flight too much. I don’t remember who I was sitting next to. I don’t remember what the flight attendant looked like. However, I do remember someone giving out free drinks. I only had… 5? No, 10. At most, 15. Needless to say, I really wasn’t paying attention now. I arrived at my hotel at around 2:30 PM, only to find no reservation under my name. No reservation under the company’s name. In fact, no reservation made in the past 2 days. The entire hotel, except for the most expensive suite, was filled. I put up less of a fuss this time, truthfully there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t afford the most expensive suite, Mr. James wasn’t picking up, and wait, get this, I left my wallet on the plane. Not only did I not have enough money for the hotel room, now I had no money at all! And if that just doesn’t just butter your biscuit, the “wellness facility” I was investigating was a 7 mile walk away. Being the hardy woman I am, I hiked up my skirt and began my trek. I only complained maybe 1 thousand times. I’m sure God has a good sense of humor, but this next part was just cruel. When I was about 4 miles in, it began to rain. Rain! It was raining. For 3 miles I walked in that rain. When I finally arrived at my destination, I was drenched in cold water and shivering. My make up was streaming down my face and my hair was in disarray. Overall, I looked very well prepared for my meeting.

The building wasn’t quite extraordinary on the outside. It was a large brick building surrounded by a high chain link fence. The fence in particular was something I wish I had payed attention to. If I had taken the time, I would’ve notice the bits of hospital gown stuck in the barbed wire adorning the top, I would’ve notice the scratch marks along the chains, I would’ve noticed the many man-made holes that had to be repaired, I would’ve noticed. Maybe if I had noticed, things would be different, better. But I didn’t notice. Instead, I sauntered up the steps to that lovely brick hell-house and knocked on the door. And I knocked again. And a third time. Finally, the sound of deadbolts being unlocked filled my ears. A very unhappy looking middle aged nurse peaked her head out and grumbled something at me. It was probably a “Go away”. Wish I had. I explained that I had an appointment with the head of the facility, a Dr. Carson. The nurse gave an affirmative grumble and opened up the door up wide. I got a look into the long hallway before me. I saw the dingy yellow walls, I saw the old checkered floor, I saw the flickering fluorescent lights, I saw the rows and rows of steel doors. I saw all of this, but I wasn’t looking. I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t see the scratch marks leading down the hall, I didn’t see the suspicious looking red stain, I didn’t see. I didn’t even think, I just walked right in. I sealed my fate in less than 3 seconds. I changed my life forever in the blink of an eye.

My lovely little nurse companion led me down the hall with a gruff “Don’t touch anything!”. As we walked, inmates (I mean patients) glanced at us through the small, barred window on their doors. I couldn’t help but notice the emotion in their eyes. They reminded me much of the old dogs at the pound. They’re tired and sad. They’re beaten and broken. It’s almost as if they know their time is limited. The clock is running out. This might’ve been the first thing I truly took notice of, but it was too late to get myself out of this mess. I was led to Dr. Carson’s office. It was a quaint looking place, very orderly. Dr. Carson resembled this as well. She was an older looking woman. Her slightly graying hair was pulled back into a tight bun. She wore high collared, neutral colored clothing. Her thin lips were pulled into an almost too big smile. A type of smile that affects the entire face. It should’ve put me at peace, but a glance into her eyes told a different story. Her eyes were blank, void of life, void of cheer. I don’t know how someone could look so warm, yet so cold. She greeted me with a kind, over-enthusiastic voice. Talked about how happy she was to have me. How much I was going to learn. I was slightly confused, but whatever, she seemed nice. I was going to get a fat paycheck from this, so if I have to sit through weird small talk, I’ll do it. I just nodded along and let the woman talk. It wasn’t until I heard a “We’re so happy you’re going to be staying with us” that I started paying attention. When I questioned what in the world she might be talking about, she replied in a clear and calm voice.

“Well you’re our newest patient and we’re just so excited to have you!”

I was confused, obviously. I went on to tell her that I was actually a reporter. A mistake was made. I am not insane. She replied that I was obviously a reporter, hmm of course. She simply forgot. Her response made me squint my eyes. Why would she suddenly change her story?

It was on the tour of the facility that things went a little haywire. After showing me around, we stopped at a door. Me, thinking it was some sort of special door or something important she was trying to show me, waited for her to open it. She did open it and made a gesture for me to go in. Now, I have done many stupid things in my life, but this one was pretty bad. I knew this woman thought I was insane and now she’s ushering me into a cell, yes, definitely go on in. I walked into this dark dank hole, like a fool, and was subsequently locked in. Of course. Of course. It’s like in the movie when the character says “things couldn’t possibly get worse” and then they’re hit by a bus. I rushed to the door of my own personal prison and peaked through the small barred window. I watched Dr. Carson’s retreating form. As I yelled and begged for her to return and free me, she looked at me over her shoulder and smirked. They couldn’t really keep me in here, could they? They would never lock a sane person in here. And yet... they did. I’m locked in a cage. Would they even believe me if I told them I wasn’t crazy? Crazy people always say they're not crazy. It was then that I felt as though my life was ending. It was then that I realized things were not okay. It was then that I sat on the cold floor of my cell and cried. I cried for myself. I cried for my life that was ending. I cried for my future that was canceled. I cried for my crappy little apartment. I cried for my horrible coworkers. I even cried for terrible Mr. James.

I was locked in that cage for days, weeks, maybe months. I was lucky to get food during that time. I was even luckier if the food wasn’t terribly rotten. I spent my days staring at the door, waiting for it to open (it rarely did). The only times I was permitted to leave me cell was for a “shower” and outdoor time. They would forcibly strip us down and pile all the patients in one big shower room. We were then blasted with scalding hot water. Once a month, we were taken into the courtyard. I feel as though they only did this to break our spirits. During this time, we could see how trapped we were. We could see the gate surrounding the building. We could see the vast wilderness surrounding us. We could see how utterly alone we were, how no one was coming for us. Many attempted to escape over the fence, they never made it. The next month, those who tried to escape would not return for outdoor time. I’m not quite sure what happened to them, but sometimes in the night, screams could be heard. Heart-wrenching screams, screams of pure pain. I didn’t know what was happening to these people, but I couldn’t imagine it was pleasant. I lost track of night and day while I was in that hole. I lost track of time. I just waited, waited for someone to come and save me. No one came. No one came for months, years maybe. I’m not sure how much time I lost. The thought of escape was never in my head. I heard how they tortured those who tried. My last outdoor time is something that I will never forget. It started off normally, we were all herded out into the chilly morning air. It was winter, I suppose. I stood in the back, trying to stay close to the warm building. Suddenly, shouts erupted. A patient, a young looking man, was scaling the wall. Attached to his foot was an orderly (a fancy term for crazy police). The orderly was frantically pulling him back to the ground. The young man struggled valiantly. At moments, I thought he might escape. I hoped he might escape. But he was weak, we all were. He never had a chance, it wasn’t a fair fight. He was thrown to the ground. The orderly’s large foot connected with his rib cage. The sounds of bone breaking filled the courtyard. The hits continued to land. The orderly was on a rampage, he was possessed by anger. He just kept hitting, and hitting, and hitting, and hitting, even after the young man stopped struggling. He kept hitting until the young man stopped breathing. Blood was all around, it coated the ground in a thick red blanket. It covered the guard's hands and feet, it was splattered on his face. There are few words that describe the terror I felt at this moment. There are no words that can convey my dread. It was in that moment, after seeing someone brutally murdered, that I realized what my end looked like. No one was coming for me, if I try to escape I will be killed, if I don’t escape I’m going to die. I’m going to die. This is when my escape plot began. There were only two options here, death or freedom. If they’re going to kill me anyway, what do I have to lose?  I mean being tortured doesn’t sound fun, but I’m ignoring that.

My plan was well thought out, I suppose. I timed the orderly’s patrolling the halls, I found a way to get out of my cell, I consulted other patients during outdoor time, I tried my best. I did the best I could. My escape went well, until the end. That night I waited until the orderly’s had passed to sneak out of my cell. The latch that closes the slot at the bottom of my door was loose. A few swift kicks had it flying open. Through sheer force of will, I managed to push myself out of that small opening. This is where things got tricky. It had been a while since I saw the whole of the building, so I had to do some guessing. I had originally planned to run out the front door because it was the least guarded from the outside. The fence did not surround the front, so if I made it out that door, all I had to do was run. I made my way to the front door, where almost 7 orderlies stood. They immediately spotted me. I turned on my heel and booked it in the other direction. I ran frantically looking for any escape. I saw a door slightly opened and immediately ran towards it. It turned out to be a staircase and I started climbing. I ran up the stair as quickly as I could with orderlies right on my tail. I continued to run until I made it to the roof. I was cornered like a frightened animal and they stalked me like predators. I backed up until I hit the edge of the roof. I looked down. The fall would certainly kill me. It could be a quick death. Suddenly, an orderly made a grab at me. I jerked back on instinct. The heel of my foot slipped off the edge of the building. In an instant I was falling. The fall was quick, the feeling of weightlessness surrounded me. The wind whipped my hair, my clothes. And I hit the ground with a loud thud. In my last moments, I looked at what surrounded me, I had landed in the courtyard. The body of the young man sat near me. His flesh was rotten and slipping off his bones. Maggots ate away at what little was left. But his eyes. His eyes were still there. They were open and looking at me. His intense stare was focused on me. With a grunt, I hauled my broken body off the ground. I dragged myself over to him and collapsed by his side. I covered his eyes with my hand and put him to an eternal rest. I laid beside him and let sleep overtake me. As I drifted off, I realized, we were free.

-M.A.C.

[matthewwilliamcharles]

Europe Tour Journal

It’s been over a month and a half since I got back from my European tour.  Once I returned I had to jump right back into my life here in Philadelphia.  I’ve finally found some time where I can actually sit down and revisit and document my trip.   It took a while to get everything out and edit it, but here it is finally ready to share!

And I did edit out a lot of information.  Describing every band and venue and every interesting interaction I had starts to take up a lot of writing time and makes this a pretty lengthy read.  I decided to simplify.  I think even now it is still kind of long.  I listed all of the band names so people can check them out.  Everybody who helped me with a show, a ride, a place to stay or a meal was amazing, and I wasn’t able to name every single one.  

I had a lot of my friends ask me questions about booking this tour, especially my musician friends who want to book a European tour of their own.  I did book 95% of this tour myself.  This was my second time over there and I had learned a lot from the first adventure and made some contacts.  Even with that being said it took a tremendous amount of work.  Hours spent at the computer, reaching out to different musicians and promoters, negotiating dates, and on top of that arranging travel and finding places to stay. Many bands and musicians pay booking and promotion companies/agents to book their overseas tours for them, and if you have a contact with a good reputation I’d say that’s worth it. But you can book a European tour DIY, and I will follow up with a more comprehensive post on how I actually put it all together.

Thursday September 27th - Philadelphia, PA - Stewart Airport, NY I started the day off at work in Philly, trying to get some last minute tasks completed and make sure all loose ends were tied before I left.   I took and an Uber to the Mega Bus stop, took the Mega Bus from Philly to NYC.  Walked to Port Authority Station to catch a shuttle bus that took me to Stewart Airport (2 hours north of NYC).  My plane left at 8 pm, I was there a good 2 1/2 hours early.  I opted to not take my guitar.  Musicians who plan to tour abroad are supposed to apply for work visas if they are to enter the UK and Europe.  The UK has a reputation for being extra strict and I didn’t want to risk not being allowed in the country so I played it safe and tried to look as “non musician” as possible.  I had one small book bag which stored a few changes of clothes and some of my smaller musical gear; harmonicas, capo, tuner and percussion pieces.  My checked luggage, which was one of those typical  suitcases with rollers and a handle which was full to the brim with merch; t-shirts, CD’s, patches, buttons and stickers.  My flight left on schedule at 8 pm. from New York to Dublin.

Friday September 28th - Doncastor, UK  @ Woolpack Live w/ Hi-Fi Stacy, Heartsink, High Visions  Originally I had planned to play some shows in Ireland which is why I bought round trip tickets in and out of Dublin. Sadly the promoters that promised me shows early in the year failed to come through and I had to skip Ireland all together.  So once I landed in Dublin I caught an early morning flight to Manchester.  My flight to Manchester was delayed a hour and a half, which made my day a little more complicated.  My original plan was to head to downtown Manchester and buy a guitar, I had already researched the area and there were plenty of instrument shops within walking distance from the central train station.  Though with the delay I had no time to spare and had to head straight to Piccadilly Station in Manchester and catch my train to Doncastor.  Arriving in Doncastor I tapped into the wifi at their central station and searched for instrument shops.  The only place I could find was a guitar repair shop, so I mapped out the directions and started walking.  It was only a 10-15 minute walk from the station, the shop looked close but I saw a button on the front door that said “GUITAR” so I pressed it.  Several seconds later I was greeted by a jolly old Englishman wearing a dusty old apron.  He only fixed guitars and gave lessons but called up the one shop in town that sold guitars and put me on the phone with guy and he gave me walking directions to his shop.  I walked over to the shop which was called “Fret Don’t Fret”.  They had only been open for a month, and they were filling a much needed gap in the town.  I told them I was going to buy a guitar, gave them my budget and they made me some coffee and started showing me different guitars.  I settled on the first one he showed me, a black Tanglewood guitar with a marble red pick guard.  The owner was an old time busker, now teacher and shop owner, and had traveled most of Europe playing street music and finding residencies at varies places over the years.  After sharing some stories he gave me his number and said if I was ever in a jam on my travels or couldn’t find a place to stay to give him a call.  I found the venue, another short walk, and then met up with the guys from High Visions, the band who helped me jump on the gig.  I opened this show up, I played good considering I had a day and a half of travel under me belt with little sleep and some heavy jet lag.   After the show I made some friends who were trying to convince me to head to another pub after the show.  Ultimately the problem was I needed a place to stay, and they couldn’t provide that.  I also was carrying around all of my belongings, which now consisted of a suitcase, guitar and a backpack.  I pulled out the phone number from the guy at the guitar shop from earlier, and one of my new friends let me use their phone to call him up.  To my relief he offered to come and scoop me up from the venue.  My new friends waited with me outside the venue and helped me load my gear into his car.  Once we go back to his house we stayed up for a while drinking coffee and sharing travelling stories and he gave me some good tips for my upcoming journey.

Saturday September 29th - London, UK - The Hand In Hand w/ Plague UK, Proud City Fathers, Slow Faction, Stone Heroes  The following morning my friend dropped me off at the Doncastor bus terminal as he headed out to give his daily music lessons.  I had a few hours until my bus departed so I tried my hand at busking at the Doncastor market.  Made a few tips, more cash than I had made at the gig the prior night!   I caught my bus, which included a transfer to a train that dropped me off at St Pancras station in London.  I mapped out directions to the show, hopped on the London underground and landed in South London.  From there I decided to walk to the show, which took about an hour or so but I was able to check out the city and stroll through some different street markets on the way.  I arrived at The Hand in Hand in Brixton about an hour before show time.  This lineup, besides myself was all South London punk rock, and I was not sure how an American acoustic punk guy would go over.  The show exceeded expectations, most people showed up early and I had a good crowd for my set.  After buying my first beer I didn’t pay for another the whole night, usually one would end up in my hand before I could finish the one I was drinking.  As the evening progressed so did the pints, which were followed up by shots of tequila.  The promoter of the show, John, also the guitar player and singer of Slow Faction offered to put me up for the night, and thankfully he only lived a block from the bar so it was a short stumble back after last call with no issues.

Sunday September 30th - London, UK - The Birds Nest w/ Junko Fuse, Lewis Mckale, Bucha Effect  The next morning I had to fight a pretty heavy hangover.  I was impressed by John’s ability to wake up first thing in the morning to run errands and act like he hand’t ran the bar dry the night before.  I was fed, got a shower and coffee and I was able to leave his apartment in the early afternoon almost fully recovered.  Make next show was again in London, but was in Deptford.  Still took me 45 minutes to an hour to get there.  I wandered around the neighborhood for a little while, but eventually settled on a cafe close to the gig to wait out the rest of the evening until the show.  The Birds Nest was a small  pub with a nice little stage behind the bar.  I headlined this show, and it was probably the best set I had played the whole tour.  The Birds Nest also had a hostel upstairs and they were able to arrange a bed for me.  The hostile rooms were different than I had ever seen, the beds were referred to as “pods” and were basically little human sized cabinets stacked against the wall with sliding doors for privacy.  If I was a taller guy I imagine they would not have been very comfortable at all.  

Monday October 1st - Sheffield, UK - West Street Live w/ Ruth Owens, Tinalien, Brandon Neal  I woke up at the Hostile by 9-10 am.  I had a bus to catch at Victoria Station on the other side of the city by 1:30 pm. There was plenty of time to make this all happen.  The only thing was I was supposed to wait at the bar for the bar owner and the promoter from the night before to meet me and give me my cut from the show.  Usually if there is a cut they pay you the night of, so I thought it was kind of odd, but I waited at the bar like they had asked.  Long story short they never showed, I waited until I couldn’t wait any longer.  I missed my bus, my ticket was non-refundable so I had to buy another ticket that was twice as much as the first one I bought.  That being said the second ticket was only £25, the first one was under £10, but still a major bummer for a low budget trip.  Sheffield was not close, and no surprise that my bus was delayed.  I would certainly be late for load in, but messaged the venue and everything was understood.  Once the bus finally arrived in Sheffield I took a tram to the city center, which dropped me off right down the street from the venue.  I suppose if there was a show I could have missed it would have been this one.  Not being negative, just the cost of the bus tickets and the rush to get there was brutal.  The show was free and people came in off the street to grab a beer here and there but none stuck around for longer than that.  The sound was great though, and I played pretty well.  It was just a college party scene and nobody really buying merch or donating to the bands.  There was one more band after me which I stuck around for, but after that the bar was dead and finding a place to stay was looking slim.  I decided I would try and make it back to the bus station and catch the next bus to London, I could sleep on the bus and once I got back to London I could find a connecting bus for my next show in Brighton.  

Tuesday October 2nd - Brighton, UK - Cowley Club w/ Boy In The Cupboard, Filthy Pedro   I found my way to the bus station around 12am.  I waited an hour before a bus pulled up headed for London Heathrow airport.  I asked the guy for a ticket but he told me to wait for the next bus.  He said that bus would head straight to London Victoria Station and would be better for me.  I waited for the next bus, another hour or so, which when it arrived the driver informed me I would not be able to buy a ticket because the bus was full, and that that particular bus was always full and tickets had to be purchased prior online if you wanted a seat.    So I was fucked, it was around 2:30 am at this point, and since we were in Sheffield, further north it was pretty cold.  I was able to tap into the bus station wifi and I looked up the next bus to London. There was another Mega Bus leaving in about 2 hours, but at a different bus depot on the other side of town.  I looked up directions on how to walk there and headed out on my way.  There was a cabby waiting at the bus depot who started talking to me.  He explained how far and difficult it was to get to the other bus station.  He made a good sale and I hired him to give me a ride, although his cab ride was about the same price as my bus would be.  Still worth it though, looking at how long and complicated the walk was I think I may have not made it in time.  Once at the bus station I fought off sleep until the bus came.  I slept the majority of that ride, arrived a Victoria Station in London and caught a bus to Brighton.  I tried to sleep on that bus as well but not much luck.  Brighton was a nice city on the southern cost of the UK.  Small and compact, easy to get around.  Hostels were cheap in Brighton and I set up shop at The Knights Inn.  I busked for a while in Brighton, made some tips and met some interesting folks.  After I made my way to The Cowley Club, an all volunteer run space.  The band Pog cancelled day of because they were sick, which was disappointing for obvious reasons, but also because Paul from Pog was the guy who knew how to setup and run the PA.  It wasn’t a basic setup, but all the bands worked together and we figured it out and got the show rolling.  The show was good, not many people out but that was expected for a show that had only been confirmed about a week before.  I helped close the place down, put all the chairs and tables back.  The volunteers were awesome and very thankful for my help and gave me some parting gifts as I left.  

Wednesday October 3rd - Bristol, UK - Cafe Kino w/ Invincible Pigs & June Apples  I woke up at bright and early from the Knights Inn in Brighton, UK and headed to the National Express bus station, which was a small parking lot by the shore.  I grabbed a coffee and stood in the sun, watching the English Channel while I waited for the bus.  To my disappointment my bus to Bristol was not direct, and we had a small layover at Victoria station in London before I got on my connecting bus to Bristol.  So pretty much the same scenery as the day before.  Bristol seemed like a nice city, the sun was out and a good day to walk around.  I thought about busking but all of the good spots were occupied by local buskers hooked up with amplifiers, so I didn’t feel like competing.  I got to Cafe Kino early and met the staff and the folks from Invincible Pigs.  There was a long pre-show sound check, which I guess was necessary, I’m just used to the short sound checks that we like to do in the states.  It was a good crowd for a Wednesday, and most people stayed for the whole show.  The Cafe Kino staff was awesome, realizing I was on tour from the States they let me keep a higher percentage of the door than what the agreement stated.  My departing bus from Bristol was leaving at 2 am, so I had several hours to kill.  Olly from Invincible Pigs let me come over to his apartment and we drank beers and hung out until it was time to for me to leave. .  

Thursday October 4th - Hanover, Germany - Nordstadtbraut   I was scheduled to get off at Queen Victoria Station in London, but I noticed that the next bus stop was Gatwick Airport, which was my final destination, so I jumped off the bus early and snagged my bags from under the bus before the bus driver could say anything (They are not allowed to let you off at a different stop other than the one you booked, even if it’s earlier in the schedule) .  So the stress of finding my way from London back to the airport was gone.  My flight departed at 8:30 am via Eurowings, destination Hamburg.  Customs was a piece of cake, which is par for the course in mainland Europe.  I caught a bus from Hamburg airport to Hanover and I got to town around 3-4pm.  I walked from the bus station towards Nordstadtbraut which was about a 30 min walk.  At this point I was pretty hungry and as I was reading the menu for a kabob restaurant when somebody walked out from inside the place and asked,”are you Matthew Charles?” I was taken a little by surprise but quickly realized it was Sven, the owner of Monster Records who helped me line up the show.  We ate together and he walked me down the street to Nordstadtbraut where I met Renate, the amazing barkeep, artists and owner of the pub.  I drank beer until it was time to set up the PA, which I did myself, it was a DIY affair and I was the only one on the bill. Then we waited until people showed up.  Once we got a little crowd I played for about an hour.

Friday October 5th - Hamburg, Germany There is no legal closing time for bars in Germany, so eventually Renate offered to take a break at the bar and walk me down the street to her flat so I could sleep.  I woke up that morning and made myself at home, making some instant coffee and taking a shower.  Renate woke up and bought us some delicious bagels for breakfast.  After that it was time for me to walk back down to the central station and catch my Flix bus (Flix Bus is a dirt cheap bus service, the mega bus of mainland Europe) back to Hamburg.  I didn’t have a show this day, but I had a plan to attempt to jump on a show that was happening at Menschenzoo, a venue that I had played in Hamburg years ago.  Problem was my bus was late getting to Hamburg.  The Flix bus drop off was outside the city center, so I had to take local trains in.  I got a little turned around and it was late before I got to  Reeperbahn, the neighborhood where Menschenzoo was located. Reeperbahn is a famous neighborhood in Hamburg, crowded 24/7, tourist central and is packed full of bars, cafe’s, strip joints, hookers, beggars, buskers and everything in between.  So not so easy to navigate, and by the time I made it to Menschenzoo it was already 7-8pm, and I wasn’t going to try and make my pitch for hopping on a show at that point.  Bands had already started loading in and setting up, and that would be bad form on my part.  I still figured I’d pop in and grab a few beers, maybe try and make some friends before I made my next move.  Cancel that as they booted me from the bar, only bands were allowed in until the show started.  My next plan was to find a cafe or a bar where I could hang out and charge my phone. In America, it’s hard to find a cafe that doesn’t have multiple outlets for you to charge your device while you hangout for an hour or so.  Not the case in Germany, I would walk into a cafe, with all my luggage which was slightly obnoxious for everybody, and search the place for a open outlet, and find none.  So I walked the streets for a good while, trying to pick out the perfect bar instead.  Every bar and pub would be a tourist trap for sure, but I could probably find one that was a bit smaller and had a local feel.  I found one with space at the bar, and it had a small room in the back where I could put my stuff and keep an eye on it from where I sat.  The bartender was helpful,  she had a spot behind the bar where I could charge my phone.  People at the bar were friendly, beer was cheap and my spirits rose a little thinking I might be able to find something interesting to get into.  In the meantime I had mapped out where the cheapest hostel was in that part of the city, it wasn’t very cheap but at least I had a backup plan.  A young guy from Manchester rolled up to the bar and started a conversation with me.  He seemed pretty cool at first but was poorly hitting on one of the bartenders, which was embarrassing me.  He was also making me take a couple shots with him, not really twisting my arm but I started looking for a way out. I struck up a conversation with some other American speakers, one from England and one from Australia.  We all hit it off, the guy from Manchester somehow squeezed his way into our group, but it was alright.  We ended up taking our party outside where the dude from England and I were trading off songs on my guitar.  We got a little crowd, people were taking pictures and videos.  Eventually interest teetered off and but we continued drinking outside.  The Aussie and the Englishman had to take off, I thought to try and tag along with them and try and get a place to crash but I didn’t feel right about that so I parted ways as well.  The evening was a success so far and I decided I would just bite the bullet and grab a bed at the hostel, maybe there would be a cheaper deal if I just walked in, maybe try a little haggling.  It was a good half hour walk, but I did a much better job of finding my way this time.  I was about a block away from the hostile when two German ladies started talking to me.  I said “sorry no Deutsche, only English”.  Then they started talking to me in very good English and explained to me that my suitcase was slightly open and I was dragging some clothes behind me.  Luckily the suitcase was only partly open and it was just one shirt, one really dirty shirt at this point but just one.  I tucked the shirt away and zipped up my bag, but a lengthy conversation ensued with these two.  One question lead to another and next thing you know I was telling my life story, there on a residential Hamburg street corner, sometime between 11 pm. and 12 am. if I were to guess.  I really felt like the conversation was not going to end, but I at least knew it needed to.  I was hoping to find some lodging at this hostel, and didn’t want to wait too long and have everything get booked up.  On the other hand I had a feeling that one of them was thinking about offering me a place to crash for the night.  It can be a weird thing, inviting a stranger inside your house, but certain people are open to that sort of thing, and I lived much of my life this way and I have pretty good intuition when it comes to feeling out willing hosts.  In the end I knew it would be something they would need to decide in private, and I certainly was not going to outright ask, maybe I could attempt to steer the conversation in that direction?  In retrospect I would have just carried the conversation on as long as I could to see if I could get some hospitality.  But I ended the conversation because I needed to explore this hostel down the street, which was closed by the time I got there.  By the time I realized it was closed the girls were long gone, I had nowhere to stay and had to pee really bad.  Earlier the girls had pointed me in the direction of some bars they recommended, so I walked that way.  I few blocks down there was a square with bars and restaurants, a park across the road and the street was full of people.  I was not about to try and enter any of these bars with all of my gear on me, but there were lines of folks using the park as a bathroom so I was able to relieve myself.  I logged onto some free wifi and decided I would find directions across the city towards the bus station, and see what happens on the way there.  My friend from Germany, who was now in the United state had messaged me, asked how I was doing and if I had found a place to stay in Hamburg.  I said I was doing great but had nowhere to stay, he seemed more distraught than I was about my status and said he would message some people and see what he could find.  In the meantime I started on my journey.  I made it back to the center of the Reeperbahn, met a busker that was playing cool music and we decided to jam together.  That didn’t last very long because he got in a major shouting match with a bum about the use of that particular corner of the street.  Just as quickly as I made a new friend we departed.  After that I got the gumption to find myself a street corned and try some busking.  Right when I was starting to setup my friend Tim got back to me and said he found a friend that could help me out with a place to crash for the night.  He told me to meet Julian at Jupi Bar, another 2 km walk from where I was.  

Saturday October 6th - Kiel, Germany - hansa48 w/ NOWAR, Rotten Mind, Russe, Eaten By Snakes  I made it to Jupi Bar, small punk rock bar that was fairly packed out.  I started asking around for Julian, eventually I found him.  He was extremely drunk, and English not being his first language I was having trouble understanding him.  He was the guy though, and he got the bar help take my bags into the back room so I would not have to worry about things getting stolen.  He introduced me to people at the bar, which were all very friendly, but I had the feeling that he wasn’t going to put me up for the night, and that I was just getting a place to hangout for a few hours.  I nursed some beers, some people bought me shots and the bar closed up around 4 am.  As I expected he didn’t have a place for me to crash and didn’t help me find one.  I said my goodbyes and started walking back towards the main drag.  I got directions back to the bus station, but took the wrong train.  I tried to head back on the same line but that train had stopped until further notice.  I walked in circles for a while trying to find my way.  Eventually I was able to catch a bus, but it wasn’t until 9 am. and I was doing everything I could to not fall asleep while standing up. I was so exited to get on the bus for warmth and so I could sleep.  The ride to Kiel was only a couple hours, the sleep was not so good and I got off the bus disoriented and otherwise spent.  The sun was out, which was a huge help.  I had pretty much all day to spend killing time in Kiel.  I spent some money at a local outdoor market, treating myself to a beer and German street food.  Other than that my day was spent walking around the city, trying to find places to charge my phone.  I was nice and early to hansa48.  They were still setting up and getting ready for the show when I arrived.  They had a green room though with pretty comfy chairs where I was able to take off my shoes and doze off for a few minutes.  Soon the other bands started coming in so I decided to wake up. There was a delicious pre-show dinner for the bands alongside an (almost) unlimited stock of beer and Yerba mate’.  I played second on the small stage.  The show was incredible, great turnout, great sound and really good bands.  Somehow I was still functioning after minimal sleep and all the beer I could drink, but opted to skip the after party and returned to my hosts apartment to get some much needed rest.

Sunday October 7th - Copenhagen, Denmark - CPH Listening room w/ various artists  We woke up around 10 am and made our way back to hansa48 for breakfast.  All of the bands that stayed in Kiel were at the breakfast, we enjoyed variety of breads, spreads, cheeses, coffee and tea.  I had made friends with Dan, the driver for Rotten Mind from Sweden.  He offered me a ride with the band to Copenhagen on their way to back to Sweden, which I gladly accepted.  It was nice to be in a van with people I knew, listening to cool music, much of which I had never heard before.  Our route took us across the Baltic Sea via ferry, fist stopping at the border shop so they all could stock up on cheap beer (similar to duty free shops on the Canadian/US border).  They dropped me off at a train stop on the outskirts of Copenhagen.  I caught a train into the city.  Once I got my bearings I made my way to the CPH Listening Room which thankfully was only a short hike from the central train station.  This was an open stage, slightly different from the typical open mic nights that I’m used to in the states in the fact that it was more of an organized production.  They had two international featured acts and the rest of the night was given to sign ups.  The host, English in origin was lively and witty.  It was called the listening room for a reason, for every act it was standard to not speak or make any noise during the performances.  Basically every artist is given full attention.  Unfortunately this was my worst set of the whole tour, worst set I’ve played in a long time, thankfully it was only 10 minutes!  I hung out for a while, watched one of the featured artists but then said thanks for the opportunity and departed.  I got a room at a hostel not too far from where I played. 

Monday October 8th - Halmstad, Sweden I actually sort of slept in at the Downtown Hostel in Copenhagen, but was up before 11 am.  I hung around the hostel for a few hours using their wifi and planning out the next parts of my trip.  I walked down to the Copenhagen bus terminal, which was just a long city block and joined the group of confused people waiting for their buses, wondering which end of the street their bus would stop and what time it would actually come.  I sat outside and played guitar while I waited for my bus and somebody tipped my 50 Danish Kroners, which was my largest single tip of the tour, and I wasn’t even trying to busk this time!  My Flix bus came an hour or so late, luckily I was in no real hurry because there was no show that night.  I did have a place to crash though.  My friend Travis; who I knew from playing in bands back in Upstate New York lives in Halmstad.  He greeted me at the bus station when I finally arrived in the early evening.  I helped Travis drink the rest of his wine, drank his last beer and he made us pizza.  A much needed chill night.

Tuesday October 9th - Gothenburg, Sweden - Pustervik w/ various artists  In the morning I said goodbye to my friends, Travis’s wife gave me a ride to the train station and I caught a train heading to Gothenburg.  I had the afternoon to explore, the weather was brisk but still not too cold.  I gave a pretty good shot at busking near a main square, got a little bit of attention, but probably the least lucrative session of the trip.  I headed to Pustervik about an hour before the open stage started.  I ordered a beer and asked the bartender when the open stage started, and where it was in the building.  Another guy at the bar chimed in and gave me the details and invited me to go sit with him at his table.  His name was Boye, friendly guy with an epic mustache/beard combo who played uke.  He seemed to know everybody and I started meeting a good amount of people as the crowd started to migrate in.  I had lined this gig up through this guy named Jonas Selander that I met through a online European Folk Punk message board.  I was trying to fill in some dates on my way to Stockholm, and Jonas happened to be helping host an open stage on Tuesday.  Again a little different than a lot of open mics I’ve been to in the US, there was a pre-online signup, which Jonas got me on.  They still saved some spots for walk-ins but they were limited and there was a rush at 7 pm.  The rush was pretty significant as everybody headed upstairs once they opened the door.  I met Jonas, who was helping setup and run sound and I grabbed a seat at his table right up front.  The place packed out pretty quick, there were people sitting on the floor due to lack of seats and it was a chore to leave your seat and order a drink.  I don’t know why I get nervous at open stages, but I do, and I was really nervous for this one.  I don’t know what the difference is between this and a normal show, but there is a big difference for me.  The host of the night gave me the grandest introduction too, which didn’t help my nerves any.  I think it’s the fact that you only get a couple songs, I like having a whole set, you can gauge how the audience is feeling and adjust your set appropriately, and if you blow something early on you have several songs to bury your mistakes.  In the end I just let myself get exited and played songs I knew I could ace.  Once the open stage was over Jonas and I grabbed some food and took the local trolley's back to his apartment.  I got the lay of the land which I would need to know to catch my early morning bus to Stockholm. 

Wednesday October 10th - Stockholm - Cyklopen w/ About Hen   I woke up early enough and was able follow my directions back to the bus station.  Another Flix bus, departing for Stockholm.  The ride was pretty uneventful, I got to take in a lot of scenery which reminded me much of Central New York State.  I did some cheap sightseeing once I arrived in Stockholm, basically walking around and getting lost a couple times before I made my way to Cyklopen.  The venue was not in the city center, and it was located off last stop of the rail that I took from the central station.  From there I walked on a small local highway, took a right onto a walking trail and found a brightly colored building made out of plastic. I later found that they constructed the building themselves out of this particular plastic material so no one could burn it down, because that’s what happened to their old building.  More info on the space and their history here https://cyklopen.se/.  Cyklopen is a volunteer run space, but very well organized.  They had made a Swedish dinner including vegan Swedish meatballs, potatoes and some cream sauce that is apparently common there. I opened up the show and was followed by a rock band called About Hen.  After the show was over I made friends with locals and chatted them up until the staff finished closing up shop.  The sound guy Tobias was nice enough to offer me a place to stay at his apartment closer to the city center.

Thursday October 11th - Uppsala, Sweden -  Kulturhuset Femman w/  Weathered Statues, Kuudes Silmä   When we arrived back at Tobias’s place in the wee hours he brought out the beer and good liquor and we stayed up for while. I got to try Gammel Dansk, a famous Danish liquor, I think he would have let me finish it if I had wanted, but I knew I needed to get some sleep and this was one of the few opportunities where there was no pressure to wake up early in the morning.  I walked around Stockholm some more but eventually made my way to the central station and got a regional train to Uppsala.  Uppsala was a quick hour and a half train ride.  The town is somewhat reminiscent of a small US college town but still very European.  I landed this show with the help of my new found friends from Rotten Mind, the guys who gave me a lift to Copenhagen. Only several days before I didn’t have shows scheduled before and after my show at Cyklopen.  Thanks to Dan from Uppsala and Jonas in Gothenburg I had filled those dates up.  I was welcomed by Dan and his friends and relaxed and drank beer until things got under way.  Weathered Statues was from Denver, the only musicians I came across from the states on the whole trip.  Kuudes Silmä was on tour with Weathered Statues from Iceland, both bands were great.  I have to mention the food too, they had a cook who made some spicy Ethiopian dish for everybody which was amazing.  There were accommodations upstairs, enough to give all the touring bands a place to sleep and plenty of food in the fridge to give everybody a late night snack and a breakfast.

Friday October 12th - Manchester, UK - Gullivers NQ w/ Vanilla Pod, Neiman,  Haha Sick, The Deadites   All bands were up bright and early in Uppsala.  I made myself a quick sandwich, said my goodbyes and headed out.  I had to walk to the train station, get a train to Arlanda Airport, just south of Uppsala and fly to Manchester.  This whole Swedish part of the tour was patched together last minute on the fly, so I didn’t have an exit strategy to get back to the UK until the day before.  Originally I was supposed to play a date or two in Holland, but that fell through and hence I rearranged my schedule.  I had a show in Manchester Saturday night, so I thought to stay another day in Sweden but the only cheap flight back to Manchester was that Friday morning.  So I made it to the train station on time and bought my ticket to the airport.  I had managed to ride free on public transport through most of the Scandinavian countries, so I decided I wouldn’t test fate and bought my ticket to the airport.  Once you get to the airport you have to pay another fee just to enter the airport from the train station. I protested some but they didn’t budge, so I folded and payed the fee. When people say the Scandinavian countries are expensive they aren’t kidding!  The flight was no problem, and I sat next to a couple of sweet older Swedish ladies who asked me tons of questions about my trip and shared their lunch with me.  The landing in Manchester airport was the most precarious of the trip, and when we asked the crew what happened on our way out of the plane they replied with, “We almost crashed”.  I had nothing planned before I got to Manchester, so I tried searching for a show.  Like I said I was originally supposed to be in Holland, which would have been a much easier trip back to the UK.  But here I was, before I got on the plane I found a couple of shows online in Manchester that looked like I might be able to fit on, if for some reason there was any availability.  I messaged the promoters for those shows and after we landed I got a couple responses, one was for a potential show in the North Quarter of Manchester.  The promoter Tree from A.U. bookings told me to stop by the show early, and if there was time at the beginning I could play a couple songs.  The guys from A.U. Booking were nice and organized, so everything was running on time and I got to squeeze a few songs in at the beginning of the show.  Many people started coming in after my set, but I got to play for the early birds and actually sold a decent amount of merch considering, and got a good amount of tips.  The show was awesome, I felt very fortunate, it was Vanilla Pod’s last Manchester show, VP was a band that was reminiscent of early 90′s West Coast Punk.  They drew a really good crowd and were a good bunch of guys to hang out with.  The folks from A.U. let me hang out in the green room and drink the band beer and threw me £20 at the end of the night to help pay for my hostel. 

Saturday October 13th - Manchester, UK - Fuel Cafe w/ Dog Coffee, Sophie Blackwell, The Northern Rambler,  Cloughster  I was able to get some sleep in the hostel, but didn’t sleep in because all my room mates were coughing and sounded sick, so I kept my distance.  The good news was I made it down to the free breakfast in time, which was very reminiscent of a cheap continental breakfast in the United States, so not so good but I was glad it was there.  I then lounged around the hostel after checkout and made the most of the free wifi until I decided it was time to leave.  The venue, Fuel Cafe, was about 4 miles from where I was.  I had all day to kill, so I decided to walk.  It was a fairly straight walk across the city, I saw a good variety of neighborhoods and I made pretty good time. Fuel Cafe was pretty busy when I arrived, and since me and my luggage took up the space of about 3 people I decided to wait until it calmed down a little bit until I entered.  This was the last show of the tour, but one of the first ones booked.  Somehow I got a good bunch of songwriters to join the bill and it was a really fun show.  One of the audience members struck up a conversation with me after my set.  I told him that my plan was to take a bus straight to the airport and sleep there until my flight.  He offered me a place to crash, which was somewhat surprising because I wasn’t even trying to find anything that night.  I was very thankful and took his offer.  We took a cab back to his place.  He set his alarm and bought me a cab a 5 am. so I could make my flight.  Really wish I could remember that guys name or had his contact so I could thank him again for going out of his way and lending a hand.  

Sunday October 14th - Manchester - Dublin - NY  The last amazing feat of my tour was getting an over sized suitcase, backpack and an acoustic guitar onto a Ryanair flight without paying any extra fees. Ryanair, for those of you who don’t know is the budget airlines of Europe, and has stringent rules on what you can take aboard, but I talked my way out of it.  That was my flight to Dublin, I had a layover and decided I might as well check out the city.  I had planned to find a pub on a Sunday morning where I could order a bowl of Irish Stew and slam down a few pints, but I was surprised to learn that Ireland has laws banning the sale of alcohol until noon on Sunday.  No stew was ready so I settled for an Irish breakfast, which was almost identical to a American breakfast.  I walked up and down downtown Dublin for a half an hour before I caught my bus back to the airport.  Good thing I decided to get back extra early because there were multiple holdups with check in, and then unexpected US customs after the regular airport security soaked up a lot of time.  By the time I got out of the last checkpoint I had 15 minutes to find my terminal gate and make my flight home.

Thanks for reading.  Any specific things you want to know about my trip? Feel free to drop me a line at doitnowpromotions@gmail.com.

[markdickinsonphotography]

Buying DJI Drones, Phantom Inspire think again – My experience was simple but horrible and regretful

Welcome; I am not much of a complainer towards companies and I don’t leave bad reviews, negative comments or request compensation typically but, this company tops the scale for bad customer service. Granted they’re a big company now and this review or story may not affect your purchase of their drones such as the phantom, phantom 3 professional, standard and phantom 4. Drones are upwards in the 2 million plus in 2016 and according to Fortune, 4.4 million by 2020. Between now and then there will be a lot of drone companies competing. So, research thoroughly when you are finding a particular company to purchase your drone from. I’d personally stay away from DJI. Let;s explore why.

I was having trouble with a phantom 2 I purchased with flight times and battery issues. If my memory recalls me correctly I had about 25 discharge/recharges and lost about 5 minutes of flight time, then 10 or so after recharge. I log all of my batteries with dates and any noticeable flight issues and write the time/date on the battery with a fine sharpie. It was clearly failing or about to so, I stopped using it and sent it in to DJI.  Sometime in early 2015 I checked in a unit to DJI, a Phantom 2 Drone batteries that I had purchased. The 5200mah 11.1 volt ones. When sending them in I knew they had just been purchased and were under warranty. They acknowledged receipt of them on April 20th, 2015 from sending them in on April 12th priority mail. I then didn’t receive any response response until May 12th 2015. A whole month just to check in a battery.  E.T. With DJI Responds as follows

Dear Mark,

Unfortunately your batteries are outside of the warranty period. We are unable to cover them under the warranty. I do apologize for the inconvenient news. Due to the hazardous condition of the batteries HazMat prohibits us from sending them back as they are. We will be disposing them for you. As a courtesy we are able to offer you used battery with very little discharges at no cost. Please let us know how to proceed.

DJI North America

I thought it was suspicious, but maybe they were trying to be nice. However my batteries were NOT out of warranty. Well they were now, with the delay in shipping 2 days, plus the time to check in, plus the time to send a response they were now out of warranty. On April 20th, 2015 I stated:

“Really? It was sent in what two weeks ago? Sent from my iPhone”

Dji Responded back nicely with

Dear Mark,

I do apologize for the mistake, your batteries are definitely covered under warranty. I’ll make sure we send them out to the address you provided. Thank you for choosing DJI to fly!

DJI North America

Throughout the communication the tech was friendly and apologized for the mistake which was not needed, but I am sure things happen when you buy from Amazon, a hobby store etc., they look at the born on date and estimate the warranty date I suppose. Well I did receive the new batteries in hand and charged up and began flying again. After acknowledging the warranty, I requested any update on the status which I did not get any. On 5/26/2015 I emailed in asking if they shipped. I didn’t get a response. 39 minutes on a phone call on the 27th yielded info that they were shipping. Sometime around June 3rd I received the batteries. This isn’t my gripe with the company. Well it is but, the issue is what happens next with the batteries.

On 11/5/2015 in Florida the temperature was approximately 82 degrees in Daytona Beach and I was out flying in a new subdivision. On the battery that I was flying with I got about 10 minutes into flight and I noticed the battery was around 60 percent or so and everything seemed normal. I flew out approximately 200 yards from where I was, came back and started noticing climbing issues. I was around 100 feet in the air and heading back home. I pulled down on the stick and started to descend and watched my battery go from 60 to 40 to 32 to 20 within a matter of 20-30 seconds.  By that time I was hoofing it back to where I was going to land and the copter stopped responding to turns and climbing all together and headed straight for a small retention pond. The Phantom seemed to almost autorotate down on its on or it was trying to auto land but I was not in control anymore due to the battery failure (this is one of the replacements I just got a few months back). I ran over to grab it hoping it just had a tumble but it was unfortunately in about 4 feet of water about 2 feet off the bank. Attached was all of the electronics, a gopro, a gimbal, gps etc… I was kinda hoping that I could salvage it but I couldn’t get into the water for fear of not being able to get back out. Everything was steep and no way to climb out. I had to run home and get a cast net to grab it. The unit was still powered on when I arrived but the gopro and gimbal were glitching out.

After the first response of the tech, I am wondering if they sent me used replacement batteries that were previously used. The reason why I think this is that there were some scuff marks on the battery near the lights when I received them. I noticed that a few days later and wrote it off as I thought I might have caused it from the case or transporting. With this crash, since I have 3 batteries I only had about 10 flights in them and the firmware was updated as well as everything was fine with the other batteries the day before. I can only assume it either failed or a cell had dropped out. I don’t know.

Aftermath:

I immediately put all my resources together to try to salvage what I had. I ordered silica beads, dismantled and dried all the parts putting it in a heat bake at around 100 degrees to get off any residual moisture. Nothing seemed to work. I knew the battery was shot and I marked a big X through it. The gopro powered on but the lens is cloudy. I tried the GPS and it seems to power on but gets hot. The gimbal is done. So this is how my Phantom 2 Drone with all the added purchased before they included cameras and GPS sits. I have not touched these batteries, or drone since the crash and you can see that even one of the batteries they sent as replacements still has a charge. According to the website the batteries self discharge; however, only one of them has. The battery with the X is the one that submerged in the lake on this crash. It still shows power to it but wont charge.

I emailed into DJI and asked for some assistance and demanded they let me send these batteries in. I didn’t get a word of response. Chat was in the 50 minutes to hour wait to get a hold of and phone was over 50 minutes. This is good for them but evident that they are having trouble with their products because only people who are having trouble call in and ask for help. I tried the email again and got no response after 10 days even though their zendesk said they received my message and someone would be with me shortly. I tried calling again but their phone system is always backed up. I guess I’m glad I didn’t because I would have been hung up on for how angry I was.

During this time I was pretty heated and put everything in a cabinet. This is my first RC crash other than when I first started flying in 1999.

Fast forward to 2017, January 2nd. A few friends have received drones for christmas presents. So I started looking again. Welcome back DJI. I know I shouldn’t have but I decided to find the Phantom 4 at Best Buy. I picked it up for $999.99 and since they were low on batteries I only received the one that the copter came with. I got home and checked over the included paperwork to see what has changed in two versions. Not much; same battery, same powerup but, different connection to upgrade firmware. Everything was through the app. I started to charge the battery, it flashed a few times without charging so I consulted the good old internet. Some forums posted about bad batteries and they wouldn’t charge. So I headed right back to Best Buy and attempted to do a return just 2 hours after I purchased it. I got grilled on crashing it and then finally one employee came up and said, “Some are having bad batteries. I blame it on their attempt to push so many out for the holidays.” I thought to myself yeah, makes sense. They exchanged it and I went on to fly. About 20 minute drive home and I was up and charging.

First flight, pretty awesome I thought until I noticed after landing that I received a low battery warning with 98 percent battery left. Again back to the forums and internet. I thought it was time to consult the actual company now about this. However this really stirred up some old ghosts with me with bad batteries. Not 1 day into it and I am getting all kinds of fears from flying. I hadn’t looked in the cabinet where I stuffed the Phantom but finally I did to bring it out to take pics to write in to DJI. I attempted the phones again. Guess what? A year later and still 40 minute wait, chat, 40+ minutes, Facebook 1hr response time but ultimately they told me facebook chat is not a good medium for sending in issues like I am having. I told them I had tried the others and no one responds. What do I want from DJI? While I know they will not buy me a new go-pro, gimbal, GPS, batteries, nearly $1800.00 in losses, I’m sure they have an equivalent drone sitting around. It’s not solely because of the crash that I couldn’t predict nor prevent, it’s the lack of customer service, avoidance, blow offs and wasted time that their support staff has provided. I usually am a passionate customer with businesses I love and those business that I disagree with I just silently move on. This has bugged me for some time from the initial responses. My photography company here that I am posting this on owns up to any issues that I come up with. Replace products if there are issues and this year being a small business I’ve had to replace products that didn’t hold up to continued use even though I have no warranty and some would be outside of any typical warranty.

What I do I recommend? Any one of these drones:

The Yuneec Typhoon

Hubsan H109S X4 Pro.

Hubsan H501S X4.

Autel Drones

Others

So anything but DJI is my recommendation! I am planning on returning the Phantom 4 this week if I don’t hear a response back from them. Until then, this being one of my first negative reviews, I just don’t feel that they are listening to us as consumers when we have problems. Problems that seem to arise from their faulty equipment that was replaced for a defect.  The 20+ groups that I am in on facebook are having reports of issues after firmware updates as well. I really hope for a resolution on both of these batteries and the previous copter.

  Chat with Robert

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  Hello! Thank you for Contacting DJI Technical Support, This is Robby. How may I help you?

22:52

Hi, I can probably tell you by my first few sentences that this chat may not last long. I am stirred up by some old ghosts in a phantom 2 that were never addressed. 1. I was told my batteries were out of warranty, then they were replaced. About 10 runs into those new batteries that were replaced my p2 took a crash towards water. I watched the battery dropping from 60,50,40,30 in a period of 20-40 seconds as I was trying to get it back home but it kept on flying. So I emailed into customer support letting them know pretty much everything I purchased, from gopro, TX, card, GPS etc. was now in a lake just about 1 foot off the edge of the shore line. I never got a response. Now I have just decided to purchase a Phantom 4 for whatever reason. I swore off dji after lack of response and even any help. SO when I did, I went to best buy. and purchased one, seemed good, on sale. Then I get home the battery was faulty. Good 30 min there and back for a brand new defective product. The employee said he blames it on the holiday rush I guess you guys had a deal with BB, with the Black and keeping all the stock going. So I took that one back and replaced it with a new one. Not to mention getting drilled about why im returning it and accused of crashing it…. The new one now was surging all 4 props alternatively when landing. Thankfully I was able to recover it before it crashed. I’m thinking of returning this one as well and trying a new one. I’m however more emailing you in regards to a very deep anger problem I’ve had with your company. I’m sure you wont care, and since your growth you can afford to lose people like me. What would you recommend?

Sorry in advance Robby,

Robert

haha no worries

Robert

Let me read this

Dear customer, the chat will be ended in 5 minutes if we don’t receive a response from you.

22:56

I reached out to FB chat after sending a brief email in with no reply.

Robert

Okay

Robert

What was the zendesk ticket

We use zendesk for our company and it usually will send an acknowledgement.

22:57

126305

Robert

Please wait

22:58

That’s the one I was referring to with the battery issue. I requested shipment back. but figured after I was initially blown off with “out of warranty” for batteries that still had warranty when I came back in to give my feelings I might have been closed out.

Robert

Ye schecking

22:59

I guess the main concern now is that this p4 I decided to buy had some issues with the 1st purchase battery. Are there any known issues that I can protect myself with? The BB employyee said a lot of them were doing the no charge or false charged.

I also included photos for the guy on FB chat. I was doing settings props off and it showed a critical battery warning with 90+ percent left.

Robert

Yes

23:00

Also when does chat support end? I can always pick up another day.

Just realized it was 11p

Robert

24 hours hahah

23:02

Ok great I thank you for working. Guess it’s a given with the growth.

Robert

Hahah yeah

23:03

Mark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>11/5/15to DJI Whatever you guys sent me was ridiculous. 10 flights and at 40 percent copter lost lift power and battery was struggling. In a lake now with GoPro on it. Thanks

Sent from my iPhone

23:05

This was part of the previous conversation. Then I asked to send these in to be destroyed. Kinda heated. I have been flying RC airplanes for over 20 years. I think I have a total of 4 crashes in my entire life. 1 being this drone.

Robert

Yes digging deeper into this

23:06

Regarding the p4, with this being the second one I’ve had in two days. batteries giving issues, what to do.

23:09

I can forward all of my communication to you that I sent in after the fact. but I think that’s a moot point. This new one just struck up a lot of emotions for a 1800 loss (everything on p2 was separate and add ons 3rd party). Thanks again for listening. I’ll take whatever advice I can get.

Robert

Yes please

23:10

Whats the best way? Copy paste here seems kinda ugly?

Robert

Yes that’s fine

Mdp <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>5/12/15to DJIThanks for the update, yes one of the three was still functional but lost about 5 minutes from new capacity Can you help me understand why these batteries have lost so much capacity they are pretty much automated in charging discharging and storage. I was also under the impression it was a 3 month warranty?

Thanks Our mailing address is Let me know if I need to pay for shipping Mark

Sent from my iPhoneDJI Technology <support@djitechnology.zendesk.com>5/13/15to me##- Please type your reply above this line -##Your request (126305) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email. E. T. (DJI Technology )May 13, 08:24Dear Mark,I do apologize for the mistake, your batteries are definitely covered under warranty. I’ll make sure we send them out to the address you provided. Thank you for choosing DJI to fly!DJI North AmericaMark DickinsonMay 12, 09:41Thanks for the update, yes one of the three was still functional but lost about 5 minutes from new capacityCan you help me understand why these batteries have lost so much capacity they are pretty much automated in charging discharging and storage. I was also under the impression it was a 3 month warranty? ThanksOur mailing address is. Let me know if I need to pay for shippingMarkSent from my iPhoneE. T. (DJI Technology )May 12, 09:00Dear Mark,Unfortunately your batteries are outside of the warranty period. We are unable to cover them under the warranty. I do apologize for the inconvenient news. Due to the hazardous condition of the batteries HazMat prohibits us from sending them back as they are. We will be disposing them for you. As a courtesy we are able to offer you used battery with very little discharges at no cost. Please let us know how to proceed.DJI North AmericaMark DickinsonApr 20, 07:55Really? It was sent in what two weeks ago?Sent from my iPhoneJ. S. (DJI Technology )Apr 20, 07:53Dear Mark Dickinson,We have checked your unit into Zendesk, our customer support database.Congratulations! This is the first step in the repair process once we received your product. Next, your unit will be documented in our Repair Software, which the repair technicians use to track their work. This process typically happens the same day your unit is checked in Zendesk. Once that process is done, your product will be placed in line with other repairs, and continually move up until a repair technician services it at a work bench.We appreciate your patience and thank you for your support of the DJI Product Line.DJI Service Center North AmericaDJI North AmericaThis email is a service from DJI Technology . Delivered by Zendesk.Message-Id:M0GSY58X_55536cc7a55d_3df23fc54c2cd32c994085_sprutMdp <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>5/26/15to DJIShipped yet??????!

Sent from my iPhoneMdp <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>5/27/15to DJIHello, I haven’t head back today was 39 minutes for a call but have the batteries sent out. So do I need to do anything?

Thanks!

Sent from my iPhoneMark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>11/5/15to DJIWhatever you guys sent me was ridiculous. 10 flights and at 40 percent copter lost lift power and battery was struggling. In a lake now with GoPro on it. Thanks

Sent from my iPhoneDJI Technology <support@djitechnology.zendesk.com>11/5/15to me##- Please type your reply above this line -##Your request (194449) has been received and is being reviewed by our support staff.To add additional comments, reply to this email.

Mark DickinsonNov 5, 14:09This is a follow-up to your previous request #126305 “DJI Shipping Confirmation”Whatever you guys sent me was ridiculous. 10 flights and at 40 percent copter lost lift power and battery was struggling. In a lake now with GoPro on it. ThanksSent from my iPhone> On May 27, 2015, at 9:21 PM, Mdp <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com> wrote: > > Hello, > > I haven’t head back today was 39 minutes for a call but have the batteries sent out. So do I need to do anything? > > > Thanks! > > > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On May 13, 2015, at 11:24 AM, DJI Technology <support@djitechnology.zendesk.com> wrote: >> >>This email is a service from DJI Technology . Delivered by Zendesk.Message-Id:JP2635MEVJ_563bd3ace878d_56903fdd7becd3382159b5_sprutMark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>11/5/15to DJIPlease send me a return label to send these replacement batteries in for destruction

Sent from my iPhoneMark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>10:28 PM (41 minutes ago)to DJII still have never received a response from this. Mark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>10:29 PM (40 minutes ago)to DJIDid you ever receive the emails from before?

23:11

ET was the one who initially said on those that I am out of warranty. Then they were replaced.

Mdp <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>5/12/15to DJIThanks for the update, yes one of the three was still functional but lost about 5 minutes from new capacity Can you help me understand why these batteries have lost so much capacity they are pretty much automated in charging discharging and storage. I was also under the impression it was a 3 month warranty?

Thanks Our mailing address is Let me know if I need to pay for shipping Mark

Sent from my iPhoneDJI Technology <support@djitechnology.zendesk.com>5/13/15to me##- Please type your reply above this line -##Your request (126305) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email. E. T. (DJI Technology )May 13, 08:24Dear Mark,I do apologize for the mistake, your batteries are definitely covered under warranty. I’ll make sure we send them out to the address you provided. Thank you for choosing DJI to fly!DJI North AmericaMark DickinsonMay 12, 09:41Thanks for the update, yes one of the three was still functional but lost about 5 minutes from new capacityCan you help me understand why these batteries have lost so much capacity they are pretty much automated in charging discharging and storage. I was also under the impression it was a 3 month warranty? ThanksOur mailing address is Let me know if I need to pay for shippingMarkSent from my iPhoneE. T. (DJI Technology )May 12, 09:00Dear Mark,Unfortunately your batteries are outside of the warranty period. We are unable to cover them under the warranty. I do apologize for the inconvenient news. Due to the hazardous condition of the batteries HazMat prohibits us from sending them back as they are. We will be disposing them for you. As a courtesy we are able to offer you used battery with very little discharges at no cost. Please let us know how to proceed.DJI North AmericaMark DickinsonApr 20, 07:55Really? It was sent in what two weeks ago?Sent from my iPhoneJ. S. (DJI Technology )Apr 20, 07:53Dear Mark Dickinson,We have checked your unit into Zendesk, our customer support database.Congratulations! This is the first step in the repair process once we received your product. Next, your unit will be documented in our Repair Software, which the repair technicians use to track their work. This process typically happens the same day your unit is checked in Zendesk. Once that process is done, your product will be placed in line with other repairs, and continually move up until a repair technician services it at a work bench.We appreciate your patience and thank you for your support of the DJI Product Line.DJI Service Center North AmericaDJI North AmericaThis email is a service from DJI Technology . Delivered by Zendesk.Message-Id:M0GSY58X_55536cc7a55d_3df23fc54c2cd32c994085_sprutMdp <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>5/26/15to DJIShipped yet??????!

Sent from my iPhoneMdp <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>5/27/15to DJIHello, I haven’t head back today was 39 minutes for a call but have the batteries sent out. So do I need to do anything?

Thanks!

Sent from my iPhoneMark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>11/5/15to DJIWhatever you guys sent me was ridiculous. 10 flights and at 40 percent copter lost lift power and battery was struggling. In a lake now with GoPro on it. Thanks

Sent from my iPhoneDJI Technology <support@djitechnology.zendesk.com>11/5/15to me##- Please type your reply above this line -##Your request (194449) has been received and is being reviewed by our support staff.To add additional comments, reply to this email.

Mark DickinsonNov 5, 14:09This is a follow-up to your previous request #126305 “DJI Shipping Confirmation”Whatever you guys sent me was ridiculous. 10 flights and at 40 percent copter lost lift power and battery was struggling. In a lake now with GoPro on it. ThanksSent from my iPhone> On May 27, 2015, at 9:21 PM, Mdp <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com> wrote: > > Hello, > > I haven’t head back today was 39 minutes for a call but have the batteries sent out. So do I need to do anything? > > > Thanks! > > > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On May 13, 2015, at 11:24 AM, DJI Technology <support@djitechnology.zendesk.com> wrote: >> >>This email is a service from DJI Technology . Delivered by Zendesk.Message-Id:JP2635MEVJ_563bd3ace878d_56903fdd7becd3382159b5_sprutMark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>11/5/15to DJIPlease send me a return label to send these replacement batteries in for destruction

Sent from my iPhoneMark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>10:28 PM (41 minutes ago)to DJII still have never received a response from this. Mark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>10:29 PM (40 minutes ago)to DJIDid you ever receive the emails from before?

23:12

This email is a service from DJI Technology . Delivered by Zendesk.Message-Id:JP2635MEVJ_563bd3ace878d_56903fdd7becd3382159b5_sprutMark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>11/5/15to DJIPlease send me a return label to send these replacement batteries in for destruction

Sent from my iPhoneMark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>10:28 PM (43 minutes ago)to DJII still have never received a response from this. Mark Dickinson <mark@markdickinsonphotography.com>10:29 PM (42 minutes ago)to DJIDid you ever receive the emails from before?

Robert

Okay please wait

My apologies for the double copy paste.

Robert

No worries

Dear customer, the chat will be ended in 5 minutes if we don’t receive a response from you.

23:16

still here

Robert

Yes

(got the auto message)

23:18

Robert

Sorry

Robert

Reading

23:19

Not a problem. Im working at the moment too. Ill keep the chat alive periodically.

23:22

Robert

Sure

Dear customer, the chat will be ended in 5 minutes if we don’t receive a response from you.

23:25

mic check 1 2

Robert

Okay

23:26

Robert

Did you fill up a repair request already?

no, like I said this was a while ago. The repair request for the p4?

23:28

I mean I’d prefer not to do that since best buy will just take it back. But if that’s the best option I suppose I could.

Robert

Yes thats actually the best course

23:29

Ok.

Robert

Yep\

Thanks for the help.

Robert

Anytime

Send

00:00/00:00

  The post Buying DJI Drones, Phantom Inspire think again – My experience was simple but horrible and regretful appeared first on Mark Dickinson | Central Florida Photographer Serving Daytona Beach, Orlando, Lake Mary areas.

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