#time for another sunday photo dump

[illiana-mystery]

It's Sunday Photo Dump Time!

[yuri-is-online]

Jade would be VERY pleased about finally having another club member. I would be happy to listen to him info dump while we look at mushrooms and neat nature stuff.

I let this sit in my ask box for too long but I've had this idea kicking around in my head for a while and then harveston had to go and drop that one line validating my delusions and you've given me an excuse to post it ha

notes: they/them used for Yuu, violence against animals (a bear), swearing at animals (the same bear), Yuu is unnaturally strong (enough to fight a bear), Yuu is implied to have grown up in a forest/woodsy environment, Jade typical blackmail. Other more serious fic can be found on my masterlist here.

Once upon a time, back when you first arrived in this world, you had been unsure how to feel about NRC. Castles existed back home, sure, but ones like this belonged firmly in illustrations or video games; it felt a but nauseating to walk through your wildest dreams brought to life, even if it was exciting sometimes. It was little wonder to you then that the idea of a Mountain Lover's Club was so appealing.

"Did you hike a lot back home?" Trey has that strange smile on his face that suggests you have made him tense somehow.

"Yes. I practically grew up in the woods." The flow of wind through the branches, the smell of fresh rain on the decomposing earth below, all of it wrapped you in a familiar sense of serenity even if the tree line was completely foreign to you. What are men to rocks and mountains after all? You could make yourself right at home here-

"I still don't think you should join." Trey says with all the air of a man who is certainly not telling you something, but the surprising harsh nod of agreement Riddle gives before injecting himself into the conversation convinces you more than whatever Trey had in mind likely could.

"I'm not entirely certain what they do," Riddle has never forbid you from participating in things since you and his dorm-mates brought him back to his senses," but if you want to hike it might be safer if you did it by yourself, assuming you let one of us know when you are going and when you expect to be back. It wouldn't do to have something that brings you so much joy used against you prefect, none of us want that." But he has always expressed concern when he thinks things to be unsafe, and in this case his argument was something you found yourself agreeing with. Hiking is best done at your own pace anyway, why get a club full of self-centered assholes involved in your me time? Though you did wish now they had been a bit more... specific with their concerns. Maybe outlined some of the club's scheduling, but then they would have needed to ask him and in so doing betrayed your interest.

Which would have been much less embarrassing than how Jade actually found out. Because of course he did, was there ever any doubt he would? ~~~~ There is a creek not far up the mountain path behind your dorm you like to rest at when coming back from your adventures. It's a good place to check over the photos on your camera and enjoy the last few rays of sunlight before returning to whatever mess Grim had made in Ramshackle searching for where you had moved all the tuna cans. Sometimes he joined you, and the two of you would have a little picnic up the path a bit further, but that day had not been one of those days. Nor had the day you met this particular nemesis who is staring you down from just across the creek with such a judgmental glance you would think this was a Sunday brunch and not an afternoon meander through the forest.

"The fuck do you want bitch?" You snarl and the bear indignantly sniffs as if to imply she's better than you. "Oh I'm sorry I didn't realize it was my fault your face is so fucking crooked, thought you were just born that way." She huffs again, making a big show of turning her back on you as you rush to get your equipment off and tucked safely out of reach before the skankiest grizzly you've ever met whips around and charges you shrieking something about "how dare you steal her man!!!!" and blah blah blah "I'll show you, you good for nothing hussy!!!!" as if you could actually understand her and this wasn't a three act play you insisted on writing yourself. You weren't even sure this bear was a girl if you stopped to think about it in between punches, not that you really cared. She huffs and makes a valiant attempt to pin you as you snarl and flash your teeth and beat her right back into the creek laughing at what sounds like pathetic winging about "kids these days!!!" and how rude you are for-

A startled noise pauses your match, as you both turn, harsh glares towards a break in the thicket where a very out of place, very surprised looking man stands, hand infuriatingly poised casually at his chin. His infuriating smirk doesn't unfurl until you growl, deep and low reverberating through your opponent just enough that she decides to leave for the day while you are preoccupied.

"Oya, this is a surprise." Jade doesn't move and you stay firm in the creek, body shaking with unspent adrenaline as he decides to move just a bit closer. "If you were that desperate for a sparring partner, I'm sure Floyd would have obliged, animal abuse is not exactly legal you know?"

"What the fuck are you doing here." You spit before you exit the creek, a flash of something darting through Jade's eyes as his gaze darts between you and your pack on the ground.

"Me? I should be asking that of you. The Mountain Lover's Club had to go through quite an ordeal to get permission to leave the school grounds unsupervised..." His teeth begin to show as you crash down from your high, you hadn't actually thought of whether or not you would need to talk to someone other than a friend about where you were going... surely Riddle would have mentioned something if you did? Or did he not think to ask since he wasn't the adventurous sort? "I can't imagine how the Headmage would react to know his ward had been sneaking out to terrorize the local wildlife."

"Hey Brenda started it!" You snap and Jade looks briefly towards the treeline where a very indignant bear is pursing her lips and inspecting her claws, the very picture of innocence if he does say so himself. "She stole my sandwich while I was taking pictures of the sunset!"

"Maybe you should have had someone there to hold it for you." He laughs, finally moving from his spot towards you and your pack, eyes gleaming with familiarity as he looks over your things. "Perhaps, someone who would be willing to... forget about what he just saw if they accompanied him next time?" It's a threat using what gives you joy against you certainly, and you huff indignantly at it but don't deny his request. Jade is an eel of his word, and his joy at doubling the Mountain Lover's Club membership cannot be contained as he ushers you the rest of the way down the mountain, eager to plan your first expedition together.

Not that he intends to ever delete the pictures he took. Your angry face is just too cute.

[aemiron-main]

I FUCKING KNEW IT! THE LAB WAS TOTALLY INVOLVED WITH THE CREEL MURDERS!

WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHY VICTOR CREEL WAS APPARENTLY FOUND WANDERING ALONG THE HIGHWAY THE MORNING AFTER THE CREEL MURDERS. WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHY HE DOESNT MENTION THAT. THIS HAS BRENNER AND LAB FUCKERY WRITTEN ALL OVER IT!!!!!!!

This part of the article, as far as I can tell, reads:

“The bodies were discovered early Sunday morning, after Creel was found wandering aimlessly along the side of Highway 49, south of Hawkins.  Deputy (name here bc i cant quite read it)  from Hawkins police department intercepted Creel and made the discovery upon returning him home.” 

I’m telling you guys- that shot in Henry’s memories that Nancy sees of “victor” holding Henry the EXACT same way that Brenner holds El WAS BRENNER, Henry’s memories have been messed with. And so have Victor’s.

And so, let’s go back to that scene of Victor supposedly getting arrested that night- those “cops” weren’t cops at all. Those were Brenner’s lab employees. Victor was then taken, likely had his memories tampered with, and was released onto the side of the highway. I thought maybe this scene was Victor getting arrested the next morning but a.) it’s dark outside and b.) the newspaper article specifies that a HAWKINS POLICE DEPT officer intercepted Victor- but in the show, we see STATE TROOPERS arresting Victor- “state troopers” who then took him, messed with his memories, and dumped him on the side of the road, where he was later picked up by the cops. And need I remind you of the state troopers who kept interfering with Will’s fake body in S1? The state troopers who are shown here ARRESTING VICTOR? 

Not only that, but the same article states that both children were found eyeless- which doesn’t make any sense because as we know, Henry didn’t lose his eyes. It was a FAKE BODY found by the Hawkins Police Dept officer the next morning, planted by the lab.  And is it not strange that Victor makes no mention of his arrest- almost as if it’s missing from his memories? And is it not fucking STRANGE that, like I’ve been SAYING, so many shots that play during Victor’s retelling are from HENRY’S POV, through HIS EYES, whereas many shots in Henry’s memory sequence are through VICTOR’S EYES?  It’s almost like their memories got swapped around- swapping places, and all that.  And what’s really weird about this is that Victor claims that Henry slipped into a coma and then died a week later- and yet, Victor was being charged with THREE murders, not two murders and an attempted murder, THREE murders, and again, the article claims that BOTH childrens’ bodies were found eyeless.  How the hell did Victor know about the coma? Well yknow who DID know about the coma? Henry. But then “a week later, he died.” Victor seems to have been under the impression that Henry was alive, and then accepted that he had died- which would explain the fact that the article kept caling Victor “defiant,” and acting as if they weren’t dead. Why would the lab tell Victor that Henry was in a coma and then that Henry died? Because they wanted to sell the idea that Victor was insane. They wanted him to keep denying the murders, even though Henry’s “eyeless body” had already been found, even though somehow, miraculously, evidence photos of a “bloodbath” at the Creel house had been shown. A bloodbath that was staged by Hawkins Lab. 

It’s almost like Henry was put into a medically induced coma by Brenner, like i’ve been saying, but that’s a topic for another time. Brenner was there that night. The lab was involved. The lab planted Henry’s fake body, Brenner killed Virginia and staged her death, just like Benny, Virginia and Henry were fighting with their powers at the table. Alice was killed by Virginia.  This ties into another massive analysis I’m working on, so I have a bunch of proof specifically for the idea of Brenner pushing the Creels around via subtle manipulation, but long story short, but Brenner was pushing the Creels around like pawns on a chessboard too- Virginia was an abusive mother, but this tension between her and Henry was exacerbated by Brenner. 

And is it not interesting that the lab hides behind “Hawkins Power and Light,” which is the vans they use in S1? 

Yknow. Lights. Like the flickering ones in the Creel house. The exact sort of thing that would be needed to cause tension between Henry and Virginia, wondering who was causing the lights to flicker- the exact sort of thing that would make Virignia “somehow know’/suspect that Henry had powers? 

[virtie333]

Sunday Photo Dump

There's a Winter Storm Watch for the Hills Tuesday night into Wednesday. While it's for the mountains, we may see some of the white stuff down here. I work Tuesday night AND Wednesday morning. Normally, I would be feeling panic about now. But I don't work out of town anymore. 🥳🎉😌

Also... I came up with ANOTHER short story idea for Damerey. I think I'm through my burnout. Too bad I don't have time to write! ARGH!

[majaloveschris]

Like many, I would love for this to turn out to be a pr stunt; however, I find it difficult to believe that would be the case with so many major entertainment outlets picking up the story even if they are attributing to Page Six. It seems like they would not report unless they were confident further confirmation was forthcoming. So far, TMZ is the only outlet questioning the reports.

As for the venue discrepancy, I believe the Daily Mail was the second one to report the story, and they were the first to allude to the wedding taking place on Cape Cod. Remember a few months ago they reported a summer wedding would take place with the Cape listed as a possible destination. I think whoever wrote yesterday's story pulled the location from the previous story instead of copying it from Page Six. Even though People and other outlets cited Page Six, it is clear they took the Cape location from Daily Mail. It is unlikely a wedding took place on the Cape given CE was seen in Concord on Saturday morning, and his friend Brian had posted from CE's Concord home early Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday morning; the Cape is ~2 hr drive from Concord so it would have been a time crunch to get down there and ready for an evening wedding. Not to mention the celebrity guests appeared to be staying in Boston.

Imo I think this latest development is tough to swallow because everyone tended to apply her own lens to the situation instead of looking at things from both sides and considering the people involved manipulated information. People have been equating real relationship and marriage with love; I personally believe love should be involved in a real, healthy rs and for marriage, but many people marry for other reasons. Others continue to say things like "they hardly were ever together" or "people weren't there". Everyone involved in the mess (Chris, Alba, Tara, Chelsea, Justin) showed us what they wanted to us to see. We were not with them 24/7. We have no idea what was going on behind the scenes. For example, we have no idea exactly when CE & AB started talking; we believe we know because we go by follows and assume she was exclusive with LB, but we have no idea if what we saw was accurate. Another example is we know JA purposely kept CE out of the NYE 2.0 photos, but know CE was there based on the VD dump. For me, I grew uneasy the more people celebrated JA's supposed outing of AB not being engaged by posting a pic of her not wearing a ring; based upon his past behavior, I thought it was too convenient that he would "confirm" the ring question for us like that. Every stop of the way the crew clearly fed info that could play into both sides to keep everyone guessing.

I have seen people on various pr blogs over the past day question about why was there never any sightings of the CE & AB. I know of at least four sightings that were reported to these blogs. The issue was that there were no pics to go along due to various reasons (e.g. driving, seeing them unexpectedly not in a stationary situation). Understandably, the information was disregarded; however, it is inaccurate to say sightings never occurred. The people who reported were polite and never said that they thought these sightings indicated real relationship. For all anyone knows, AB could have been around to film pr content. Yet, people simply chose to ignore the information and attack (not politely question) the people who brought forth the info; therefore, it discouraged people from bringing forth further info including pics.

To wrap up, the most disappointing and frustrating aspect about the past year for me is that CE straight faced told the public during the SMA interview how much he HATES manipulation; yet, that's exactly what he, his now (alleged) wife and her cronies did for this past year. It's also disappointing that what he said he wanted in a partner was not what it appears he ended up with, but things change and that is easier to accept imo. It's the fact that he specifically discussed his hatred of manipulation when he clearly knew that was what he was about to do to fans as of a few days later and for the long haul.

You're so right about her being everything he's said he doesn't want. I feel like in this situation, everybody is manipulating everybody (including us, fans), and that's one of the reasons why this whole thing is so unhealthy and toxic.

I still stand by my take on sightings. I don't believe them unless there is proof; I don't care how people word it. Just because someone nice says they saw somebody somewhere (like how people said he was also in Bermuda, and surprise surprise he wasn't), it won't make it real. Until I don't see an actual photo of someone being somewhere, it doesn't happen for me.

I don't really understand why it was good for them that people were guessing about them and their relationship, especially since most people don't like them being together. But I agree that Justin's behavior maybe should've been more alarming, but I think most of us thought that this whole thing might be over and he'd just had enough of people attacking him and her, but we were wrong.

I also stand by my view that this is not a healthy relationship; it never was and never will be. Too often, people who love each other don't behave or act the way they should. Almost everything that has happened since Alba came into his life is out of character for him, and yeah, I know we don't know him, but I think his words somewhat matched his actions up until Alba.

[possumsinpeoplesuits]

Holy shit I was working on this since late October, and I'm the most proud I've ever been of a picture I've drawn?

Details and graffiti transcriptions below the cut! 'Cause I worked on that shit for like three entire days, and I'll be damned if I don't show off some environmental storytelling word crimes.

So, first we have a couple closer looks of Sasha! Their outfit was pretty fun. I haven't done modern outfits in... probably ever, and it was nice having a lot more references to work off of.

Their sefirot necklace was fun to draw because I have one almost exactly like it. The flannel was the first time trying to do plaid by hand with a new little technique (Base colors+Multiply layer for dark stripes+Overlay layer for light stripes) but it went way faster than the god damn quilt?

All in all, my favorite detail was doing cosmetics, because I got to do little chips missing in the nail polish, and that's probably the first time I've drawn eyeshadow and willingly shown the result! : D

Next we have the little rat family in the background, with the wall-dwelling Rat King peeking through the wall, which is where I did dipped into tracing a couple photos instead of just looking at references.

Generally my process has been doing anatomy lines over a reference, then working off of those for about... three to four layers for body->clothes->hair->Full sketch, then another with whatever brush I wanna do the lineart with (usually a watercolor detail brush from one of two sets on Krita), but I'll note where I skipped that process and committed some art crimes.

The two background rats (Pestis and Mortar) are from a pair of stock photos from Getty, while the one in the foreground (Yersinia) is a mix of a pic that pops up in meme dumps from time to time of a smoking rat and a few bits that weren't in the original image. (Jewelry, the legs that were covered by an ash tray in the original pics, the "Buns and Roses" lighter she clearly stole from Sasha.)

Time for some graffiti transcriptions! Most of the variation in the graffiti came from switching the size of my brush and trying to mix up my handwriting, but there's a few segments where I use a font, then outlined the font with a 2px across brush to make it fit more into the art. Mostly, this was through screenshotting google docs, but some of the fancier fonts are from cooltext.com.

Top:

This is really high

No it's not?

Top Right:

A drawing of a clown that clearly used to be titties

"What's wrong with Bipo's eyes?" (Referring to the tape over the nipples)

"Their titties, bro"

"What about them?"

Top Left going down:

"Hail Satin" written next to a six pointed star

"Rong star, dumass"

A sticker reading "Apologize to your English teacher"

"Yeah, get a brian, morans!"

"You're just as bad as the other two!"

<The URL for the Wikipedia page on sarcasm>

Bottom Left:

Gazebos ate my ass

Bottom center:

"My sister turned into a bird but no one believes me."

"That's rough, buddy."

Bottom right:

A sticker of a possum with "Live Weird" written on it.

A sticker of a more poorly drawn character wrapped in blankets with "Seep eeps" written on it.

...So I made up a fake BDSM club for this one and named the majority of the bands dirty jokes, but I will die on the hill that there should be an all-trans metal band called "The Book of Dead Names."

CHOKE POINT

PRESENTS

LIVE MUSIC

THIS SUNDAY

CUNT MUNCHIES

THE BOOK OF DEAD NAMES

SOME GUY NAMED STEVE

FIST FUCK DUMP TRUCK

WOLFGANGBANG

THE PENIS MIGHTIER

A sticker with a set of vampire fangs that says "Got Blood?"

"Parasitic fucks"

"U got beef w/ Count Chocula?"

"Bro, vamps suck."

"Duh"

"So does your mum.

A sticker of a cross made out of a bunch of interlocking parts with some mirrored Hebrew in the middle. (I'm really proud of making this shape up on the spot. I had an idea for a religious monster hunter group named after the Watchers from Enoch, but I've got no idea if this story will ever happen.)

"Your Hebrew is backwards, you twatwaffle"

A sticker reading "Deus Vult"

"I fucking love Powerwolf"

"VULT DEUS NUTS, GOTTEM!

A cut off poster telling people to vote for, I presume, their favorite chainsmoking rat, clearly.

A sticker of the Autism Creature

"Rizz 'em w' the Tism" with the last S being the one everyone draws in school, but also backwards.

"It's like if Kirby was a centaur"

"I will never unsee that."

"It looks nothing like my vaccuum"

A paper with "Missing Printer" and a cut off phone number written in sharpie.

A meme of a bear in a suit (Partially a trace of the actual meme template) with "You have seasonal affective disorder because you need Vitamin D. I have seasonal affective disorder because one of my ancestors fucked a bear. We are not the same"

"Is that how it happens?"

"Oh, sure, this dude's ancestor fucks a bear, he gets a meme, BUT WHEN I-"

"Going insane by yourself, handsome?"

Three pieces of paper with "Yes" "Yup" and "Yass" written on them, two stuck on with tape, while the third is stuck to a wad of chewing gum.

"You guys seriously pay to print out memes just to vandalize shit?"

"No, I stole the printer, too."

"YOU"

"Paulie never died"

A sticker of the Mothman

"TAX FRAUD"

A large printout with a dramatic portrait of Mitch McConnell with "ARE YA BREEDING YET?" written below it. Several tear off strips are missing, but the remainder all say different variations of "Yes"

A cut off sticker of a smiley face

A sticker of a machete

"BURGLE TURTS"

A sticker of a crying laughing emoji.

A sticker of a pot leaf

A sticker with a picture of bigfoot with pasties on her boobs walking up to a stripper pole with "I want to believe" written in the X-Files font

"Whoever gave Bigfoot tits will never enter the Kingdom of God"

Three notes pointing to the previous message with "Noticed the tits first" "Weirdo" and "Your preoccupation with cryptid mammaries betrays your discomfort with your own sexuality. Consider meditation, therapy, or possibly fucking yourself!"

"Weirdo" pointing to the previous paragraph before being crossed out and replaced with "BASED"

"K, but y tho?"

"No one insults the Bigfoot big naturals on my watch"

(She has them in the Patterson-Gimli footage, too)

"BIGFOOT BIG NATURALS" "NOW LORE ACCURATE"

A swastika being covered up by a peace sign

"Degenerates should be purged" "AMEN" "U FIRST."

A drawing of a penis that's been turned into a weasel in a familiar pose with "Dick weasel" and "Had to do it to 'em" written next to it

A sticker of a stalk of corn labeled "CORN"

"See? Iowa is with us!"

And, finally, "Does reading this hurt your back, too?" which was the last thing I added because I literally spent two days just doing graffiti for this shit.

So, the map behind Sasha is made up on the spot, with some inspiration from a map of the Seattle Bay. Kinda proud of just how dirty this fucking place is, but the final, and greatest achievment in making this picture look grimy...

THE RUST

I didn't exactly nail the perspective on some of these (The sketchy layer for the floor grating was done once, then dragged into place and warped with the perspective... and then completely fucked that up) but god DAMN do I love texturing the fuck out of things!

There's like six Multiply layers scattered about because it turned out it's a phenomenal way to make the shading of multiple textures make sense without losing that texture, and I feel so god damn powerful!

Oh, right, the posters.

Not much to say about them. The righthand one was 95% traced from a mafia stock photo, while the hands in the left came from another stock photo.

Honestly, I drew the frames, then had no idea what to put in them. There was briefly gonna be a pic referencing a cosplay photo I have of myself, but eh...

The rats and the guy in the wall were originally referencing a Vampire the Masquerade character I had named Pretty Paulie, who was a mafioso turned nosferatu who dubbed his crew the Rat Pack. I figured if there was some kind of dramatic, Scarface-esque movie about him, he'd definitely find a way to keep the poster nearby, and I wanted to slap in one of those "Give blood!" posters from the Red Cross except... not from the red cross.

I don't really feel like I put in much effort into these (compared to the Graffiti-a-thon with several subplots), but hey... they covered the tile, which before shading was boring and very flat, so they did their job.

I'll leave you with some zoomed in textures, because I do feel proud about those! I make them via a combo of oil paint and watercolor brushes, usually with a whole lot of different coats of varying opacity until it looks like the thing it's supposed to be. :)

I've only just started drawing again this year (I've been editing a looooot longer) so there's a lot of spaces where I have hiccups, but I'm figuring out the areas I do well in.

...Also sweet Jesus this started as me trying to figure out what a character looked like. It says 3 full days worth of editing was done in Krita on this file, and I don't think it's counting the idle time.

[themirokai]

I did my at-least-annual tradition of making my family’s chicken soup recipe on Sunday, and I took process photos, so I thought I’d share. Here’s what I have written down but for all its vagueness it’s still not accurate.

I think every generation has modified some stuff about the process and tweaked it for their particular tastes.

Instead of using a whole chicken, I use a split chicken breast (2 halves) plus a pack of chicken thighs (4). I like this better because the ratio of meat to fiddly bits is better and Surfski likes CHICKEN soup (lots of chicken per bowl). You could easily use half a breast or one or two fewer thighs, but I think the mix of white and dark meat is important for flavor.

Next is something I added to the recipe after reading Salt Fat Acid Heat. I salt my raw chicken and let it sit out for at least half an hour before I put it in the water. I think this helps the chicken hold flavor through the cooking.

While the chicken is sitting (so a change from the order of the recipe) I chop a large sweet onion plus the carrots, celery, and parsnips. I think I used 5 skinny stalks of celery, 4 carrots and 5 parsnips, but especially given the size variability you’ve got to judge this based on vibes. How much of each vegetable does your heart tell you that you need in your soup? The one exception to this is if you are not familiar with parsnips and you are considering skimping on them or leaving them out. That is not your heart. That is the devil and you must resist. Trust me on this and use about as many parsnips as carrots.

The next step was added by my great aunt who was a genius in the kitchen (also very good at refurbishing antiques but that’s less relevant). You heat up some butter and olive oil and sautee your vegetables in it. Yes it makes another pan to clean but it’s completely worth it. You don’t cook it for long! Just until the carrots and celery get bright and the onion is just starting to get translucent and everything is a tiny bit soft.

Ok, set the veg aside but I highly recommend snacking on some of the parsnips at this point. Every time I make chicken soup it always makes me want to make roast parsnips and I always forget when I’m meal planning.

Next it’s chicken time! Load your chicken into a big heavy pot and cover it with water. I just barely cover it because I’m going to need room for lots of veg.

Put that on your biggest burner and boil it. It will take a while to come up to a good boil. Once it’s boiling it will start to foam. This stuff.

Ick. Skim that off and throw it away.

Now, when the foaming is done, turn down the heat and dump in your veg. Mix it all in there then put your bunch of dill on top. Make sure you take off the twist tie or anything else holding the dill together.

My mom added this next step which she got from a friend of hers. It’s this shit called Better Than Bouillon.

You can use the plain chicken variety. Roast chicken is just what my grocery store had. I’m not 100% sure what it is but it really does add gorgeous flavor to the soup. I put one big spoonful in a big pot. This is what it looks like out of the jar.

Now you let everything cook together until the chicken is cooked. How long will that take? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Depends on the size of your chicken pieces and how high you have the heat, etc. When you think it might be done, pull out your biggest piece of chicken and poke it. It should be white and firm. If it is, pull the rest of the chicken out too and turn the heat way down but leave the veg and the dill in to simmer.

Now you walk away. Go scroll tumblr. Read a chapter of a book. Draw something. But you gotta let the chicken cool down.

Why? Because you’re going to shred that with your fingers and you don’t want to burn your fingerprints off. Or maybe you do. I don’t know your life.

Anyway, this is a good spot for me to stop and hit post because I’m on mobile and I’ll run up against the 10 image limit.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this so far! The rest of the recipe and the end product will be in a reblog.

[nattyluvs]

CAFE CUTIE - chapter 4

you approached the all-so familiar spot on the corner of the street. the drawings on the window of the menu items for the week visible.

unfortunately, it was basically rush hour for the cafe, even though it was later in the day on a weekend. beomgyu, the barista that was pretty much there every single time you visited, happened to not be there today.

it was weird, now it was rush time and there wasnt anybody to make slow conversation with behind the counter. you quickly ordered something from the unfamiliar barista, and sat down at the last table empty.

you reached into your bag, about to pull out your notebook, just to vent, jot down ideas, write literally anything. you just needed something to get your mind off everything going on.

"um, is it okay if i sit here? there isnt any more tables open" you heard a voice mumble

you looked up from your urgent writing in the notebook, a young guy appeared, though apperance barely shown. he was wearing a mask and a hoodie, hard to figure out why he looked so familar.

"yeah, its fine dont worry." you smiled, continuing to write. you only got a auick glance at him, but he was definitely cute. his eyes were an obvious giveaway.

but, he just looked so familar, you couldnt quite put your finger on it. deciding to speak up, you asked,

"do we know eachother? sorry if this is weird, you just seem familar, like ive seen you before."

"no, i dont think we do...sorry" the guy mumbled again. you thought, maybe hes shy? or maybe his voice is soft? but its not. he has a sort of deep voice, its just barely spoken, almost not even audible.

"i see... do you perhaps go to decelis?"

"umm...no i go to jyp...the other school in town"

"ohh i see, our schools are rivals huh" you smiled again, hopefully getting some more words out of him.

"yeah, haha" he laughed a bit, "also...not to be nosy but whats the eyepatch for?" he quietly spoke

you scoffed, followed by a sigh, "at school we had our rally, and during the senior game i got hit by a dodgeball by this popular dude named jake or something. the worst part is, he didnt even apologize! or acknowledge that he hit me!" you explained, hint of anger in your voice.

"i see...he's kind of an asshole for that, he shouldve apologized." he whispered, but just loud enough so you could hear."

"right! now i have to wear an eyepatch for my homecoming photos, and nobody is going to ask to go with me..."

"dont say that, im sure somebody would take you, your pretty and you have a nice personality, dont doubt yourself."

"thats alot of compliments for someone you just met." you questioned, but also embarassed at the sudden praise.

"anyways, i didnt mean to dump all my problems onto a stranger, whats your name?"

"umm...my name is..ethan"

"okay...ethan. you seem interesting, give me ur phone."

without hestitation, he quickly handed over his phone, no seccond thoughts.

"ive got to go now, but i'll see you another time, yeah?" you gathered your things, flashing another smile before walking out the door.

the boy sat in silence for awhile, drowning in his own thoughts until he checked his phone, seeing the new contact added as "yn"

previous masterlist next

a/n: sorry for not updating i came back from my trip on sunday and then i had a fever !!!

taglist

@16luver @junebug032 @zuyairus @bluxjun @iadorethemskz

click here or send a note to be added

[thebanaltongue]

I have been so busy I have not had a chance to breath!

On Thursday night TJ and I went to go see my favorite musical artist - Ian McConnell!

It was a just a little dive bar show, but he put on an an incredible performance! After TJ and I parked and were walking along sidestreets to the venue we actually came across him sitting on a wall a few streets over. I said hi and he asked if we were coming to see him (I must have looked a little star struck) and I said yes. Eventually got up my nerve to ask for a picture and he said he was sorry but he couldn't right then, but to stay after the show because he would be doing pictures and autographs then.

He put on the MOST AMAZING SHOW holy cow.

There were only maybe 50 people in the bar, so I got to be right up front dancing and singing along with everyone else.

After the show he autographed my shirt and A SETLIST for me, and we took a picture. He apologized for not taking a picture before hand - and I was like no dude don't apologize boundaries are important I'm not mad - but he was dealing with some stuff and so glad to see I'd stuck around after because he felt bad about it. He's such a genuinely kind and funny person.

"So I'm selfishly choosing to be kind because I want to live in a world where people are happy to see me, it's a nicer experience." Is something he said during the show that really stuck with me.

His merch this year was super creative - he designed shirts with blank faces on them and if you buy one and stay after the show he draws a face on your shirt as well the autograph- it was a super cool exerpeiemce.

Then Friday and Saturday were spent at Scioto Festival with Odds and Friends selling our wares. Friday was absolutely incredible - I started a new line of leaf paintings that have bugs sitting on the leaves themselves and I literally could not keep them on the table. I was painting them on site and as soon as I'd finish one and put it out it would sell. I've never seen anything like it - it was wild.

Saturday was slower, but it was a free event, so we did especially well! And of course it is always an amazing, delightful time hanging out with C^2!

Sunday was another day at the Reniassance Festival with my friends! Had a great time, but it was SO HOT!

This week I am marathon painting for the Cleveland Gaming Classic - a big ttrpg and video game convention that Midnight Games is selling at! Super excited and also terrified!

I'll have to do more photo/video dumps because I'm at the cap for this post

[krsive-writes]

Speedrun

Title: Speedrun

Author: krsive

Rating: T

Tags: Empty Calories, Fluff

They called him Super Rick Fan, which Morty had to admit was a fair assessment. He just couldn’t help it. Ricks were just so cool. They were tall and handsome, with those sapphire eyes and cocky grins. And Ricks could do anything, anything in the world. They made portal guns and drove space ships and captured teams of Mortys to grace them with their godly presence. Super Rick Fan would have been the best Morty a Rick could ever have if only he got the chance, but for some reason they always fled him. Even his own grandpa had pronounced him crazy and dumped him on the Citadel one day, never to return.

On a normal Sunday afternoon, Morty sat in his claustrophobic living room working on his new hat. He had designed it himself, and now he was lovingly rendering the peaks of a classic Rick hairdo in blue felt. In wandered his roommate, Mixologist Morty, late rising after a closing shift at the bar. Morty barely looked up until Mixy came to hover over him, casually holding a bowl and spoon.

"Ok, d-don't start," Morty said, watching Mixy chew on a bite of his cereal.

"This is so cringe," Mixy replied, his mouth full.

"M-Maybe I'm cringe but at least I know what I want."

"There's no 'maybe' about it.” Mixy sat on the other end of the couch.

"I can't help it. Every time I think about a big strong Rick h-holding me close, I just..." He sighed, feeling sappy.

"You're a h-hopeless case," Mixy agreed.

"I want my own Rick so bad. Is that too much to ask? I-I'd be a good Morty. No, the best Morty if a Rick would just give me a chance."

The corner of Mixy's mouth twitched upwards. "Bet you'd do anything to get a date with a Rick."

"To have a Rick pay attention to me a-a-and kiss me and..." He trailed off into private, erotic thoughts, face warming.

"So, say I had a Rick's number right here," said Mixy, holding up a folded piece of paper between his fingers.

"Gimme!" said Morty, making a lunge.

Mixy snatched the paper away. "Ah, ah, ah! What's it worth to you?"

"Anything."

"Like cleaning the food trap in the dishwasher?"

Morty's stomach soured just thinking about it. "The one we haven't cleaned in two years?"

"The one and only."

"Is it a real Rick's real number? And d-don't lie."

"It really is. Last night this guy came to the bar, and..."

The previous night...

"He was such a cute li’l shit, look," Rick slurred, waving the wallet-sized photo in the bartender's face. In it, a 6 year old Morty smiled expansively at the camera, his face smeared with blue from his melting popsicle.

"Uh huh." The bartender spared the picture a glance, which Rick appreciated. He was already planning to tip big because the 'tender was a Morty—probably exploited, poor thing—but he mentally added to the total for the kind gesture. "Tell him I said cute pic."

"He's dead." Rick's melancholy was mellowed by the haze of alcohol.

"Geez. I'm sorry. Another?" The bartender held up the bottle of run he'd been serving Rick from.

Rick nodded and nudged his empty glass towards the boy, who mixed him a new rum and coke. "I never got to meet him in person. He was 8. Car accident."

"That sucks."

"I just want my very own Morty to love." Rick gazed despondently at the photo before putting it away.

"Aren't there tons of Mortys up for adoption?"

"The agencies, uh..." Embarrassed, Rick bought himself a moment by taking a drink. "They all rejected me. Too ‘enthusiastic.’"

"How about catching one?"

"I couldn't do that to a sweet little Morty! Those manipulator chips are barbaric.” He sighed. "I would never hurt a Morty. I just want to hold one close and count his tiny fingers and smell his hair..."

"You're a real Super Fan, aren't you?"

"I'm the number one Morty fan of all time," Rick agreed

"So, actually, I kind of know a guy you m-might like."

"A Morty?" Rick couldn't hide his excitement.

"Yeah. He's really into Ricks. I can give him your number if—“

Rick was already scribbling it down on his receipt.

And now back to the present...

Morty was shaking in his shoes, pacing while the phone rang. What if Rick didn't answer? What if he didn't want to go out? So many things could go wrong. Maybe he should just hang—

''Hello?" a Rickish voice said, flattened a bit by the phone line.

"Rick?"

"Morty?"

"Is this the Rick who wants to go on a date with Mixy's—th-th-the bartender's roommate?''

"You’re the bartender's roommate?"

"Yeah. I'm..." Morty's mouth felt so dry. "I’m F-68—“

"Can I just call you Morty?"

Morty's smile was so big it made his cheeks hurt. "Yeah! I mean y-yeah. I'd like that. What's your—“

"I'd like it if you just call me Rick, too."

"I'd really like that."

"I know it's super fast, but..." Rick took a shaky breath. "Are you doing anything tomorrow?”

"Nope! I-I'm all free," said Morty, now planning to tell his manager he was sick. This was far more important.

''The Gaflorpian cherry trees are blooming. We could have a picnic.”

"I'll pack it! I-I'm a good cook," said Morty, though he had never really tried before. How hard could it be?

"We could meet at the 12th Residential District City Park at noon.”

"Sounds great, Rick."

"Yeah. Sounds great." Morty could hear the sappy smile in Rick's voice.

Cooking went very, very poorly, so Morty waited the next day at the park gate with a backpack stuffed with cheese, fruit, and crackers instead. He was wearing his new Rick-hair hat despite Mixy's efforts to make him leave it behind. It was only ll:41, but he was already crying from the stress, fearing that he would be stood up.

Then a special Rick rounded the corner, headed for the park. He was wearing a homemade felt hat shaped like a Morty's hair, As soon as they saw each other, something sparked between them. The air was electric, fizzing like champagne with barely contained energy as they made introductions. But they were both shy and relatively quiet on their way to a private spot beneath the trees.

Petals fell like rosy snow every time the wind shifted. They made bashful small talk and nibbled the charcuterie (it turned out that Morty wasn't a fan of most of the fancy cheeses, but he pretended anyway), both blushing and giggly. Soon their shoulders began to relax and their words flowed more smoothly.

"Ok, ok. Me next. favorite." color. One, two, three—“

Both answered at the same time.

"Blue!" shouted Morty.

"Yellow!" shouted Rick.

Morty fell into a fit of giggles. "We should both start liking green, then." His eyes flicked up to Rick's. The warmth he saw there gave him palpitations.

"We could live in a little green house," said Rick, though then he seemed to catch himself. "I mean if we—“

"We should!" Morty put his fingers to his lips. "I-I mean..."

Rick reached out, silent, taking Morty's hand tenderly. Morty's eyes welled with tears. This felt like a dream come true. He gazed longingly at Rick, hoping against hope.

"If you let me love you, I'll love you forever," said Rick. Morty could hear a tremble in his voice.

''Oh, Rick..."

"I feel like I've waited for you for so long. I..."

"Me, too. I love you already." Morty moved forward on his knees, and Rick held him close. "Will you be m-my Rick?"

"Of course I will, Morty. And I’ll protect you, I’ll make you smile. I'll be so good to you, Morty. And we'll run around all over the place doing Rick and Morty things, just every day, Rick and Morty stuff. Forever and ever, Rick and Morty, in the green house Rick and—“

Morty couldn't wait any longer. He threw his arms around Rick and crashed their mouths together in an inelegant kiss. Rick pushed his hat off to tangle his fingers in Morty's curls, pulling him in to deepen the kiss. Rick's tongue was so nice against his own, warm and strong and assertive. Morty let himself be kissed, let himself be lowered to the grass on his back. Rick's strong body held him down. Morty's nerves stood on end, and when Rick asked his permission to touch him all he had to say was yes, yes, yes!

Two months later, after the honeymoon, Rick and Morty sat together in a slowly cooling bath in their little green house. Rick's magical fingers were kneading the ache out of Morty's back. They had never been so happy before, neither of them.

"My Morty," Rick sighed, as he sometimes did. It was like he couldn't believe how lucky he was.

"You make me feel s-so special."

"You are special." Rick kissed the tip of his ear. "You're my Morty. The best Morty."

"My Rick. The best Rick." Morty craned around to catch Rick’s lips. They kissed, lingering, heat beginning to build.

"'You’re all..." Rick whispered.

"…I've ever wanted," Morty finished.

[saintkeaton]

L u n a t i c H e r o 💀

(overstimulated)

we really are just one big organism 

my kids & me & the cats & the trees

there’s very few rules to follow

it only looks like a million paths 



but it’s one big road man 

& there’s no yesterday & there’s no tomorrow 

in the present moment with Alan Watts 

what a lunatic hero 

read a few Kerouac books & now I think I’m a scholar

thank Christ for another lazy Sunday 

I’m nervous & have the typewriter blues 

can you run out of things to say? 

I’m thinking maybe you can’t 

now there’s splinters in my feet 

& I’m looking through the neighbors window 

borderline copyright infringement 

daydreams of a bear in a 10 gallon hat 

my mind goes to goofy places 

looking through old vacation photos 

that early 90s brown filter 

feeling mortal & aged in my skin 

placing sentence over sentence 

in an attempt to clean house 

in an attempt to stay alive 

the cars drive too fast on this road 

nightmare thoughts of Pet Sematary 

I remember every movie I’ve ever seen 

wrote them all down in a list 

you don’t need a rhyme or reason 

freedom is the key component here 

could go on for days in the same fashion

as my mind turns like a wheel 

a broken splintery wheel mind you 

my sons plastic sword lay in the yard 

& 100 cans of cat food 

& the homemade wreath my mother made 

how do you stop thinking about death? 

how do you pretend life is normal? 

there’s nothing here but the ticking clock 

a few game shows to watch 

the beer & weed always run out 

& you’re secretly mad at me

as I dump my thoughts on Tumblr like a therapist 

a blind injection of no love 

maybe this will get a few likes & keep me hanging on 

I’m thinking of a new poem 

called “JESUS IN THE TRASH CAN”

& she promised to make breakfast this morning 

I smell no bacon cooking 

& there’s nothing wrong with how I feel 

I got too stoned______early in the day 

now it’s the motor mind salsa 

& I probably don’t need this hoodie anymore 

& I feel like jerking off 

all the trash is piled up in the spare room 

& the cats ate some raw chicken 

people keep recommending that I read Dostoyevsky 

man, I’m reading the Goosebumps books 

I’m reading the backs of cereal boxes 

my brain has stopped developing 

my brain is set in concrete 

just one big organism really 

time time time time 

glorious feelings

knowing there’s nothing to do today

I crave boredom 

I crave numbness 

so sick of the ultra meta-thinking 

folding the universe into a cube 

don’t be so depressing dude 

there’ll always be forest fires and mud floods & bullshit to watch on TV 

having entertainment is not the problem 

overstimulation to the fucking max 

so I return to my throne of shame

poisoning my soul through my eyes

my heart beating out my chest

my god! I can’t even make it one day

most of what I feel happens on accident

tired of the human race  

tired of the rat race 

but I really shouldn’t be complaining 

there’s breath in my lungs 

(choked out cigarette lungs)

it doesn’t matter what medium I have to use

I’ll get my point across one way or the other 

my own little psychological torment 

alpha beta delta gamma sigma omega 

what hides outside the spectrum for us? 

what curses have we not uncovered? 

I bet your mommy still gives you milk money 

I bet your mommy still tells you “good night”

I bet your mommy still loves your daddy

fuck all the rules that you think are rules 

& lay out the mind dump 

in an orderly fashion of course 

I bet your mommy follows the rules

for most of my life, I didn’t apply myself. the kid sitting in the back of the classroom, trying not to fall asleep. I couldn’t comprehend math, but I could fill a sketchbook up in a couple of days.

I never drink water

I only drink Mountain Dew 



I’m going to write a bunch of poems & bury them under the house 

I’m gonna turn myself into a lunatic hero for nobody 

eyelids keep closing

losing my consciousness 

in full bloom of 10,000 onlookers

& a bathtub full of nickels & dimes

I’m burnt out

I’m landing the plane

still, just one organism sitting here, waiting on breakfast 

10/29/2023 1:29 pm

————————————



[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

PART 2 OF 2 -- A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN EXPAT -- LONDON BRANCH.

NOTE:^Part 2 of a previous photo-dump of the same photosession I posted a few months back. Been lagging it on these!

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on the second set of massive photo-session of the late, great Sharon Tate in her London, England apartment c. September 18, 1965. 📸: George Elam.

"For the time being, Sharon isn't giving movies a thought. She left recently for London to continue her romance with Poland's famed, shaggy-haired director, Roman Polanski. "I've known him for nine months," says Sharon. "We have a wonderful relationship. I don't know if I'll marry him. He hasn't asked me yet." If Sharon does wed, her film career and Ransohoff's half a million dollar investment in her will go down the drain. "I'll give up acting the second I'm married," says Sharon, which leads many observers to believe it won't happen for some time."

-- NEW YORK SUNDAY NEWS, c. December 18, 1966

Sources: http://sensationalsharontate.blogspot.com/2009/11/another-interview-with-sharon-at.html and Flickr.

[talisidekick]

Tali Life Update 05/12/2023

Alright, sorry I've been a bit inactive, much has happened. I did a bit of polling around on a few private discords this last week and a bit, and got some people to look at my previous streams to give me some unbiased feedback. What I was told kinda just ... made me a bit upset for the oddest reason. I kind of knew the answers that were coming because I can see the watch metrics on my streams/videos. I just hated hearing it because I put work in to make a gaming channel but that's evidently not where my talent for entertainment lies.

The upsetting consensus is that any time I stream or make videos, me playing videogames is the part people enjoy the least. I started the YouTube channel and Twitch streams (when I did them) to get through the videogames I have but haven't played through yet as a way to doccument my HRT progress on a weekly basis. It should have set in sooner, but I was being stubborn: the Tumblr blog (here) with my autism fueled rants, info dumps, etc is more popular than my YouTube channel. As in:

YouTube:

Tumblr:

And my YouTube metrics mirror this with the most activity on any stream being when my face is front-and-center and without the Avatar. People don't come to my channel to watch me play videogames, they come to see me talk, rant, and share my opinions. I'm better at entertaining an audience by direct communication than I am through the co-experience of other media. In fact, I seem to have a degree of excellence at it.

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE talking about the topics I do rant on. I enjoy spreading positivity and encouraging the acceptance of trans people. I love sharing what I've found and learned, and what I know. It's just frustrating that my other passion, that is gaming, is something I've tried hard at making entertaining but is so effortlessly beat out by the other passion I put no struggle into at all.

Part of what I want to do is make a safe communal space for trans people of all expressions, allies, and fellow queers of all identifications. I know there are many out there, but I want to add to that. That means consistent content creation. That means making enjoyable content. And if my playing through games isn't entertaining to the majority of viewers then I need to make more entertaining content to achieve that overarching goal of another safe space online.

I'd like to foster the same supportive community I've managed to create here on Tumblr over on YouTube. I've decided to bring my more popular content and the style of rants I know people on here enjoy from me to YouTube to do just that. That doesn't mean less action here, that just means my intent to schedule streams for Sunday might become a lot more relaxed and less game heavy. I've been working on one such video but I figured that rather than just change up the channel without notice I'd say something here because it's very possible the YouTube side of the whole "Tali Sidekick" name may get closer to the Tumblr side. In fact, I'm planning for that. So at least there will ve a bit of history to explain that.

Additionally, aside from all this, as you all know I've been accepting donations for my official name change through Ko-fi. I'd like to thank the 4 donors so far:

Wanpasu,

Em,

mihyo,

and Rhedyn.

Your combined efforts have raised enough to get the $50 CAD I need to get the photo copies of my identity doccuments (drivers license) notarized. This gets the ball rolling on the process, there's a $127~ filing fee and an $80 RCMP fingerprinting fee that I hopefully should just barely be able to cover. Getting reprints on my Birth Certificate, Marriage License, and my Drivers License updated will just be somethkng for down the road unless I'm lucky. So thank you so much for your support so far. And thank you to everyone who reblogged the donation post so far, and thank you to anyone who does. I'll update the goal once I submit the forms which hopefully should be tomorrow.

Thank you for reading all of this, and I hope you have a good day. Stay safe out there, I know for some of you the holidays are rough times, so here's me wishing you get all the small joys you need to get through it.

[virtie333]

Sunday Photo Dump

Migraine today, but very, very mild. Annoying, but not enough to keep me from having a good day. I did just take another Excedrin; I know it won't really help my head, but my legs hurt, too. Blustery day, but the temps stayed in the 50s, so it was acceptable. We're almost to the point where anything above freezing is acceptable.

Chester was not impressed with the stupid human time change. He was mad breakfast was late! He tried to eat me!

More hay than I usually have at once, but since it's cool now and not in danger of molding, it works. My hay guy is going on vacation later this week, so I had to get hay a week early. This will last through Thanksgiving, which is a very weird thought. Summer literally just ended for us less than two weeks ago!

See! He's eating me! (my sleeve is literally in his mouth in this picture)

The sun came out for most of our walk, but it's back under clouds again now.

[thespectrespecss]

SALT AIR...

Happy August 1st. Anybody screaming, “back when we were changing for the better....” the whole afternoon? No? Just me? Awright. HAHA It was quite a productive day at work. My Team Leader, who is actually a friend, coached me on more things I needed to learn in handling brands. I was able to cater to all the brands I needed to work on and even developed a storyline for an AVP we’re working on. One of my prayers last night was for God to just drop an idea to me but I know that ain’t going to teach me anything. In an attempt to formulate my own storyline, I found out I can work in collaboration with my team leader. Him telling me what the client likes, what our boss would like, and what the usual flow should look like. I was a little embarassed of the mistakes I’ve made but I got convicted, telling myself that he’s been in the industry for 7 years and I have onlye be here for almost 3 months. I stopped myself from going anxious about the mistakes and focused more on how to improve with the new knowledge acquired as my team leader guides me. So glad to also be talk to him about my intimidation with our design team. Personally, I just really feel like I am in no place to speak on whatever they’re doing coz, well that’s their thing. I don’t want to be that person that makes them lose their love for something. But it’s not like that. We’re catering to a spefici audience with everything we do, and we can’t just dump in our own flavor, style, and design. So I learned today to be a representative of the client in telling the design team of what I want to see.  Gosh. Representing. It’s been ringing in my ear since one of our leaders shared it in our kids team huddle last Sunday. I feel so critical of myself as a Christian. I give myself a hard time trying to live “perfectly” when even God knows I couldn’t actually do that. I think what I’m also trying not be is a representative of a group, a church, or even a household name. I want to represent Jesus and in representing him, I surely have to know what he wants to see so I could tell people about his goodness and his grace and how much love he’s willing to give. Just like how I should represent the client to the design team as I tell them what the output should look like, I should also learn what the client really is asking. And that’s not going to happen without me actually engaging with them and find out what they are about. Much like trying to tell people about the JEsus I’m representing. I can’t represent someone I don’t even know. And so I really have to fight for my moments with Jesus. To really know his heart and how he sees all the people. I mean, he died for EVERYONE. It’s not like he died only for a specific few. HE diesd for ALL our sins. ALL. No exeptions. He was that obedient to the father, and that loving to us. Gosh. How undeserving are we? Anyway, another thing I was able to stand firm to was not reading kids ministry group chats until after my shift. I’m so bad with notification, I don’t like seeing them so I have to open messages! But yeah, I think it helped with the focus. I got to set my priorities with work today and it was good.  Here’s a photo for reference:

Oh, and I also finally bought Wendy, the Squishmallow frog from the Mcdonald’s happy meal. Look how cute! 

Just also want to share that I applied for a specialized leadership program that we have in church. It’s a 12-month program where I get to somehow be like a trainee church staff (?), just to badly explain it but yeah, there’s that. And happy to say I got accepted! Was stoked and scared [more scared, tbh] to step into this new season in this program, but just also thankign God for ow everything have been so aligned with this. Somebody actually offered to pay for my term and whoever that is, coz I literally don’t know who it is, I just pray that person gets blessed hundredfolds.  And yeah, my “batchmates” already made a GC and we’ll be meeting for an orientation on the 29th. Hooray, I have work that day. Praying God just aligns my meetings on that week.  Oh, and here’s the GC:

Love the people in this GC already. Some of them were my batchments in the first year of this program. Love to get to do this with them again. Coz I kinda regret not trying to build relationship with them during our year 1... still had a lot of issues going on that time. HAHA Hmmm. What else? Oh yeah. I finally took a bath after 3 days.  It’s been too cold! As a lamigin person. [pero nakaiced coffee pa din lagi] I think that’s all I could share today. I still don’t know if I could keep on doing this everyday. I really want to practice my writing more. Let’s see. No need to overthink what’s still not here. wuw Anyway, here’s a selfie to cap this post. 

[goodgirlsam-and-fam]

Weekend Walks #1

Old entry: April 29th, 2022

Happy Friday! As we’re heading in to a new weekend, I wanted to make sure to post a photo dump of our previous weekend. We’ve had some amazing walks with one happy pup. I can’t tell you how much joy our 30 ft lead brings us! Not to mention the warmer weather and all the greenery around us!

SATURDAY

I had to work on Saturday, it’s rare but it happens. I barely remember working though because our afternoon hike was so sweet! We drove to the Langley/Surrey border and found a trail that suited us perfectly.

In parts the trail was completely empty. We occasionally met a biker or jogger, but other than that Sam was free to roam on her 30ft lead.

Of course we had time for a little photo session! If it means getting a break and lay down for a while, she doesn’t mind.

This puddle was hard to cross without getting out feet wet, but Sam loved it! On our way back she went absolutely bananas here and had some great zoomies getting herself dirty as can be.

The trail came to a little pond where people were having lovely evening strolls. Sam did great and didn’t react to a single duck or dog that she saw!

One proud and happy girl!

Below is proof of how dirty she got after the puddle bath. Zero regrets.

SUNDAY

Sunday was another sunny, warm day! We had a vet visit scheduled in for the afternoon, so we decided to go to a trail close by in Richmond.

The trail was pretty empty! We didn’t know it was an off leash trail until we got there. Since it seemed pretty empty, and we had the long lead, we decided to walk anyway. Sam is very reactive on leash if there are off leash dogs around. We started walking with the expectation that if there were off leash dogs, she would be allowed to greet them and we would drop the leash.

We didn’t meet many dogs at all, and the dogs we did meet all leashed up when they saw us, so we kept Sam close too! Her engagement was amazing, she wanted to be close. She seemed really happy with just walking around sniffing everything. We used her long lead as a dragline and let her wander on her own which she LOVED.

It was such a nice perfect little walk. Really hot though, I do regret not bringing water for her. She did find some puddles and ditches to play in so she did alright!

On the way to the vet we stopped and got lunch, and Sam got a frozen goat milk yoghurt from the pet store.

The vet visit went great. I was allowed in for the first time since getting her! She absolutely loves the staff, and they love her. Pretty simple visit, she was given her cytopoint injection and got an ear cleaner and a refill of her shampoo, then we headed home for a bath!

All in all, despite working we had a super nice weekend.