#watching this weeks bachelor and they’re promoting it and literally

[idsb]

Why did I think Wicked was already in theaters ages ago??

[buddiesmutslut]

Honestly, s5 killed any real feelings I had about Madney. Like, idk man, I just really don’t care about them? Obviously I’m not pissed that they’re happy, but if they were to break up & find other people, I’d also be not pissed. I know I’m in the minority for that & that’s totally fine, I hope all the Madney stans get everything they want out of this episode, but as such, I was really mostly excited for the bachelor party scenes? Knowing that the rest of the episode was going to focus on finding Chim & the Madney wedding (as it should be,) but they’ve literally only been using Buddie & hinting & talking about the karaoke scene for weeks to promote this, and now they’re cutting it?? & you can’t tell me they didn’t know they were going to cut it, the episode airs TOMORROW, & they’ve had the people who watch it early watching it, so they’ve been deliberately using that scene & releasing stills to drum up anticipation, all the whole knowing they weren’t going to use it?? That’s just kind of shitty.

[ptergwen]

Could you write a fic where Tom is in an interview and talking about the reader as his current gf and also being his first love/childhood love?

woah i wrote kind of a lot like we got DETAILED here 😭 have fun

tom’s love life has been the topic of many conversations over the years. he’s gotten countless questions about who he’s dating and what he looks for in a partner. you’d think the hype would die down at some point, but no. even more rumors have begun to spiral as he promotes cherry.

thank the nosy interviewers for that. they’re taking all their chances to get up close and personal.

“so, let’s talk about love,” an interviewer prompts tom one afternoon. he sits up straighter in his chair, expression serious. “sure, let’s.” “what do you think about it?” she’s being vague so she’ll get the most clickable answers. “do you mean, like, in this film? or just in life?” tom wears a curious smirk now. he glances off to the side, where you’re sat watching.

you’ve been sitting in on his interviews as of late to keep him entertained. as much as the movie means to him, he gets bored of answering the same questions about it. having you there to snicker at his jokes or blow him kisses really livens things up. it’s been that way since you were little. you’re always cheering tom up even if he doesn’t realize he needs any.

“both,” the woman replies, mirroring his cheeky smile. “right, that’s what i thought.” tom clears his throat and raises an eyebrow. “so i’m not mistaken, love in my own life?” “anything you feel like sharing.” she beams into the camera while he nods to himself. you give tom a little smile of approval, which he catches from the corner of his eye. he chuckles at the gesture.

“easy enough. i’ll start with cherry, then,” he decides, getting back into the movie. the interviewer nods for him to go on. “you know, cherry’s always been kind of unlucky in the relationship department.” tom pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts. “until he meets emily, and things are still a bit complicated with her. i’d say it’s the same way for me.”

you jaw drops off camera, tom doing his best to stifle a laugh. he’s the biggest tease to walk this earth. “oh, that can’t be right,” tom’s interviewer insists with a mischievous grin. “you’re one of the most eligible bachelors out there.” “not exactly eligible, actually,” he mutters and twiddles his thumbs in his lap. a smile creeps onto his face.

she doesn’t miss that. “you do have a special someone after all?” tom squints at her through the screen. “after all? who’s been asking?” he jokes, the woman laughing like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard. “everyone has. the entire world.” you make wide eyes at tom. he’s never given many details about his dating life before, so this is a big step to take.

“well,” he starts, glancing over at you subtly. “yes, i’m a taken man.” “by who?” the interviewer blurts. she’s the first person to get anything out of him. “um,” tom breathes out an awkward laugh. you mouth it’s okay to him, ready to give the people what they’ve been craving.

you’ve had this conversation with tom a couple of times. he’s never wanted to put any pressure on you about going public, so it’s been your call if and when you do. now, you’ve made it.

“my, uh, my best friend. it’s not harrison, for those of you who know him.” tom bites back another smile. you sport one of your own, the tips of his ears turning red. “does this best friend have a name?” the woman questions. he looks to you again for your permission to say it. you think about it for a few seconds, then you give in.

“it’s y/n. you might recognize her,” tom explains, shifting in his chair. “she’s been on my instagram a few times, other stuff like that,” the interviewer makes a mental note to insert his posts of you in the video. “yes, yes. i think i do. you said she’s your best friend?” she clasps her hands. he’s fully blushing now, you giggling quietly at the sight.

“since secondary school, yeah. we met in one of our classes. english, i believe,” tom hums. “i was sitting alone, so she came and sat next to me.” he’s grinning at the fond memory. you feel your face starting to get hot. “how sweet. it seems like you became fast friends,” the woman suggests, throwing more questions out.

“what happened that turned your friendship to a relationship?”

it was when you were two wiser and more experienced adults that you and tom came to understand your connection. there was one moment specifically that turned you from friends to something more, though. tom will share that story with his interviewer, since it seems like she’s into the gossip.

“we didn’t seal the deal until a couple of years ago.” tom breathes out a laugh at what he’s about to say. you’re well aware of it, rolling your eyes playfully. “but, there was a moment when we were kids that i knew i really liked her.” “please, spill,” tom’s interviewer happily requests. he gladly obliges.

“y/n asked me to practice kissing with her because she liked some other bloke.” tom whispers to his camera, “which wasn’t true, by the way. we’ll get to that.” you silently groan and throw your head back on your chair. he shoots you a wink before continuing. “she wanted to go out with him, and said it was a best friend’s job to help her... prepare.”

you press a kiss to your middle finger and stick it up at tom. “precious,” he sarcastically mumbles in response. “what happened next?” the woman reels him back in. tom focuses on the screen again. “right. so, i did some research on how to kiss.” he shakes his head at his former self. “i really should’ve been studying for my A levels or something.”

“when i’m all ready, i invite y/n/n over so we can ‘practice’.” tom makes air quotes around the world, you murmuring, “i hate you,” only for him to hear. “i don’t know what website i used, but it was clearly awful.” he holds a hand up to pretend it’s your face. “i went in, and i just, like, stuck my tongue down her throat. like this.” he’s recreating the moment, you cringing at the vivid image you get.

“oh, no. what did she do?” the interviewer gives tom a pained look. “she nearly vomited, is what she did. ran home right after.” tom puffs air out of his cheeks. you press your lips together in satisfaction. “anyway, we’re reminiscing on it a few years later, and y/n/n tells me something very interesting.” leaning forward, the woman gestures for him to say it.

“i was the bloke she was gonna ask out, but my terrible kissing skills, or lack thereof, scared her off.” he exchanges a knowing look with you. his interviewer gasps. “i was like... are you fucking kidding me?” he only mouths the fucking part even though it’s getting bleeped. that makes you snort. “there’s a turning point, there’s a turning point,” tom reassures everyone.

“i told her i’ve gotten better since then, and we should try again if she wanted.” the interviewer puts a hand on her heart. “did you?” tom lets out a content sigh. “we did, and then we had a long talk about feelings and all that shit.” you make a heart with your fingers for him. he puckers his lips to mime kissing you, without tongue. “we’ve been together ever since.”

“what a lovely story. thank you for sharing that with me,” the woman butters him up more. she gets another idea. “now that you two are official, do we get to meet her?” “you kind of have,” tom retorts, but still checks with you. not expecting anything to come of this, you only shrug.

“i’ve noticed you looking off camera quite a lot. is y/n there?” his interviewer points out, much to both of your surprise. you’ve been at this for weeks, and she’s the only one to say something. “uh, she is,” tom finds himself admitting. he’s a terrible liar, so he almost had to. “tell her to come say hi!” the woman pushes. you look horrified when tom peeks over.

“no, no. i don’t wanna put her on the spot,” he brushes it off. “she’s a bit... camera shy.” “come on, just for a second!” she persists, waving you over like she can see you. this lady is starting to get on your nerves. “you just told me about that steamy kiss of yours. what’s the difference?” tom quirks an eyebrow. “i don’t know if-“

he stops mid sentence when you appear next to him. it’s to shut the interviewer up. although, you might as well reveal yourself before paparazzi do it.

“never mind,” tom grins a toothy grin up at you. “you wanna have a seat, darling?” “happy to,” you hum as he pats his knee. you take your spot on his thigh, an arm slinging around his neck. he wraps his around your middle. the interviewer is so stunned, she’s finally out of things to say. this could quite literally break the internet.

your voice a low whisper, you speak into his ear. “i can’t believe i’m doing this. you should’ve stopped me.” tom squeezes you closer and tilts his head to the side. “what if i didn’t want to?” “my god.” you plant a quick kiss on his cheek, leaving tom’s mouth hanging open.

“there’s your thumbnail.”

[modernlcve]

*  —  stats —   hayden campbell !

* — basics !

full name:   hayden patrick campbell. nickname(s):   none. age:   twenty - nine. date of birth:   september twelfth. place of birth:   carina bay,   north carolina. gender:   male. pronouns:   he / him. sexual orientation:   bisexual. level of education:   high school graduate. recipient of a bachelor’s degree in public relations,   and a master’s in nonprofit management.

* — physical !

tattoos:  none. piercings:  none. notable features:   i think his moles are cute. weakness(es):   none notable. scar(s):  a long scar along the front of his right shin.

* — domestic !

occupation:   currently grant writing and gunning for  a promotion. residence:  i think he and gwen probably have a small house but i cannot confirm this. social class:   middle class. parents: don’t wanna say too much since it’s a Group Discussion but we’ve discussed that in general,   hayden isn’t super into their parents.   he’s nice enough,   and comes around now and again, but is more focused on the rest of the family. siblings:   more generally speaking since Facts about them have already been established i think hayden is invested in being a Good Big Brother to all his siblings and putting forth effort into hanging out with them and stuff.    spouse:   i felt bad not adding her because she’s important family. gwen and hayden have been together since they were in high school and have been married for a few years.   i think we said she’s on good terms with the rest of his family too. extended family:   they have a wacky uncle they like to gang up on?   it’s one of their few truly united fronts.

* — personality !

positive traits:   passionate,   solicitous,   righteous. negative traits:   tense,  doubtful,   isolating. myers-briggs ( x ):   istj;   the logistician. temperament:   melancholic. moral alignment:   neutral good. horoscope:  virgo,   the virgin. hogwarts house:  hufflepuff.

* — favorites !

movie:   forrest gump. tv show:   the office. book:   the great gatsby. drink:   dr pepper. food:   barbeque. animal:   bears. color:   blue. song:   have you ever seen the rain by ccr. artist:   chris stapleton. celebrity crush:   jessica alba.

* — impressions !

first impression:  he’s genuinely just average.   he’s a little boring,  if anything,   upon first impression. he’s a rule follower that can be a little bit of a pushover since he’s trying so hard to be accommodating.   he’s better at  asserting himself with people he knows. self impression:   again,  trying to properly assess himself is something that really freaks him out.   he thinks he’s well intentioned and Trying His Best but he tries not to think abt it all that much. lover impression:   again,   he really tries to be accommodating and Caring,   especially in his relationship.   i can see ways where it could come off as him being like.   idk the kind of person that can’t make a decision on his own or like annoying that he’s insecure but.   he’s trying to be nice.

* — et cetera !

turn ons:   kindness,   sincerity,   integrity.   fucking boring. turn offs:   arrogance,   selfishness,   spontaneity. drink/drugs/smoke:   yes/no/no. dominant hand:   right. clean or messy:   clean. early bird or night owl:   early bird. hobbies or special talents:   he was a boy scout for a Hot and retains a lot of the skills that come with that.   he’s outdoorsy and likes to watch a lot of Discovery Channel

* — QUESTIONNAIRE !

01. where was your character born? what brought them to carina bay? what do they like most about the town?

hayden was born in in carina.   he’s stuck around because it’s homey here.   he likes being close to his family.   he likes the familiarity of knowing the town so well.   he really doesn’t feel like he’s missed out by spending his whole life here,   but is open to maybe moving in the future.

02. who are your character’s friends and family? who do they surround themselves with? who are the people your character is closest to?

his most notable family is his siblings.    there’s something about the age gap between them,   especially him and wyatt,   that could have worked to distance them,   but he instead hayden’s always tried to use it to his advantage and play the cool older sibling with the car that can take them out to eat or like the sibling with their own place if anyone wants to crash overnight.   he’s probably closest to then and of course gwen,   they’re the people he feels most comfortable to be himself around as he’s quicker to try and play nice and normal around strangers/more casual acquaintances.

03. what is your character’s biggest fear? who have they told this to? who would they never tell this to? why?

hayden spends a lot of time worried about like.   what a morally good person is and if he counts as one.   he knows he does a lot of technically good things,   but so do his parents,   and he’s spent a lot of his life on the fence regarding them.   he tries his best to be kind and selfless and work towards some kind of Greater Good,   but does it matter how good what he does is if it’s only to help himself sleep at night?   his biggest fear is that he’s secretly a shitty selfish person.  saying it out loud would make it too real so he’s kept it to himself.

04. has your character ever been in love? had a broken heart?

yes!   he has been and still very much is in love with his wife,   bitch!   again,  he’s,   for some reason,   really fixated on what makes a person good,   and he thinks gwen is just about as good as they come.   i don’t think he’s had a broken heart in the way this question means but it does break his heart that they’re having such a hard time getting pregnant just because.   that blows and he feels like he’s letting her down somehow.

05. your character is doing intense spring cleaning. what is easy for them to throw out? what is difficult for them to part with? why?

he can part with a lot of things,   but he gets weirdly sentimental about the most random stuff.   like no you can’t just get rid of that baggie of sand from the beach we live literally miles from because it’s from his first beach picnic with gwen and that fucking matters??

06. it’s saturday at noon. what is your character doing? give details.

saturdays are for running errands and taking care of whatever chores were neglected during the week,   so something in that vein.   he likes to power through and get as much of it done as possible on saturday so sunday’s are freed up for other things or just being lazy and not having to worry about Shit.

07. what is one strong memory that has stuck with your character since childhood?

i’ve done a lot of positive ones but ig strong can be negative too so i’m gonna take the easy way out and say it’s that he’s the one of the siblings to actually have memory of when their dad left.   he’s never really talked to either of their parents about it,   because he doesn’t remember it as some big traumatic thing,   just something that was weird that always stuck with him,   and he’s considered bringing it up now that things have gone Real South for them and we’re all Adults here.

09. what is something that upsets your character? where do they go when they’re upset?

he gets flustered easy.   hayden is naturally an anxious person,   and tries his best to keep all of that at bay so it doesn’t get to the point that he has a big Upset time.   generally,   he’s a shove it down and ignore it person.   if he gets really worked up,   he’s a long drive just to clear his mind kind of person.

10. when your character thinks of their childhood kitchen, what smell do they associate with it? why?

i feel like this is a Group Decision to Make :)  (got no ideas)

[newstfionline]

Gen Z Is Coming to Your Office

By Janet Adamy, WSJ, Sept. 6, 2018

Sean McKeon was 11 years old when the 2008 financial crisis shot anxiety through his life in Hudson, Ohio. He remembers his father coming home stressed after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over the bank where he worked. A teacher asked classmates if their parents cut back that Christmas. They all said yes.

That unsettling time shaped the job plans he hatched in high school. “I needed to work really hard and find a career that’s recession-proof,” says Mr. McKeon, now 21. He set his sights on a Big Four accounting firm. He interned at EY in Cleveland and will become an auditor there after graduating from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, next year.

About 17 million members of Generation Z are now adults and starting to enter the U.S. workforce, and employers haven’t seen a generation like this since the Great Depression. They came of age during recessions, financial crises, war, terror threats, school shootings and under the constant glare of technology and social media. The broad result is a scarred generation, cautious and hardened by economic and social turbulence.

Gen Z totals about 67 million, including those born roughly beginning in 1997 up until a few years ago. Its members are more eager to get rich than the past three generations but are less interested in owning their own businesses, according to surveys. As teenagers many postponed risk-taking rites of passage such as sex, drinking and getting driver’s licenses. Now they are eschewing student debt, having seen prior generations drive it to records, and trying to forge careers that can withstand economic crisis.

Early signs suggest Gen Z workers are more competitive and pragmatic, but also more anxious and reserved, than millennials, the generation of 72 million born from 1981 to 1996, according to executives, managers, generational consultants and multidecade studies of young people. Gen Zers are also the most racially diverse generation in American history: Almost half are a race other than non-Hispanic white.

With the generation of baby boomers retiring and unemployment at historic lows, Gen Z is filling immense gaps in the workforce. Employers, plagued by worker shortages, are trying to adapt.

LinkedIn Corp. and Intuit Inc. have eased requirements that certain hires hold bachelor’s degrees to reach young adults who couldn’t afford college. At campus recruiting events, EY is raffling off computer tablets because competition for top talent is intense.

Companies are reworking training so it replicates YouTube-style videos that appeal to Gen Z workers reared on smartphones.

“They learn new information much more quickly than their predecessors,” says Ray Blanchette, CEO of Ruby Tuesday Inc., which introduced phone videos to teach young workers to grill burgers and slow-cook ribs. Growing up immersed in mobile technology also means “it’s not natural or comfortable for them necessarily to interact one-on-one,” he says.

Demographers see parallels with the Silent Generation, a parsimonious batch born between 1928 and 1945 that carried the economic scars of the Great Depression and World War II into adulthood while reaping the rewards of a booming postwar economy in the 1950s and 1960s. Gen Z is setting out in the workplace at one of the most opportune times in decades, with an unemployment rate of 4%.

“They’re more like children of the 1930s, if children of the 1930s had learned to think, learn and communicate while attached to hand-held supercomputers,” says Bruce Tulgan, a management consultant at RainmakerThinking in Whitneyville, Conn.

Gen Z’s attitudes about work reflect a craving for financial security. The share of college freshmen nationwide who prioritize becoming well off rose to around 82% when Gen Z began entering college a few years ago, according to the University of California, Los Angeles. That is the highest level since the school began surveying the subject in 1966. The lowest point was 36% in 1970.

The oldest Gen Zers also are more interested in making work a central part of their lives and are more willing to work overtime than most millennials, according to the University of Michigan’s annual survey of teens.

“They have a stronger work ethic,” says Jean Twenge, a San Diego State University psychology professor whose book “iGen” analyzes the group. “They’re really scared that they’re not going to get the good job that everybody says they need to make it.”

Just 30% of 12th-graders wanted to be self-employed in 2016, according to the Michigan survey, which has measured teen attitudes and behaviors since the mid-1970s. That is a lower rate than baby boomers, Gen X, the group born between 1965 and 1980, and most millennials when they were high-school seniors. Gen Z’s name follows Gen X and Gen Y, an early moniker for the millennial generation.

College Works Painting, which hires about 1,600 college students a year to run small painting businesses across the country, is having difficulty hiring branch managers because few applicants have entrepreneurial skills, says Matt Stewart, the Irvine, Calif., company’s co-founder.

“Your risk is failure, and I do think people are more afraid of failure than they used to be,” he says.

A few years ago Mr. Stewart noticed that Gen Z hires behaved differently than their predecessors. When the company launched a project to support branch managers, millennials excitedly teamed up and worked together. Gen Z workers wanted individual recognition and extra pay. The company introduced bonuses of up to $3,000 to encourage them to participate.

After seeing their millennial predecessors drown in student debt, Gen Z is trying to avoid that fate. The share of freshmen who used loans to pay for college peaked in 2009 at 53% and has declined almost every year since, falling to 47% in 2016, according to the UCLA survey.

Denise Villa, chief executive of the Center for Generational Kinetics in Austin, says focus groups show some Gen Z members are choosing less-expensive, lower-status colleges to lessen debt loads. Federal Reserve Bank of New York data show that nationwide, overall student loan balances have grown at an average annual rate of 6% in the past four years, down sharply from a 16% annual growth rate in the previous decade.

Lana Demelo, a 20-year-old in San Jose, Calif., saw her older sister take on debt when she became the first person in their family to attend college. “I just watched her go through all those pressures and I felt like me personally, I didn’t want to go through them,” says Ms. Demelo. She enrolled in Year Up, a work training program that places low-income high-school graduates in internships, got hired as a project coordinator at LinkedIn and attends De Anza College in Cupertino part-time.

Gen Z is literally sober. Data from the Michigan survey and federal statistics show they were less likely to have tried alcohol, gotten their driver’s licenses, had sex or gone out regularly without their parents than teens of the previous two or three generations, Ms. Twenge, the San Diego State professor, found.

They grew up trusting adults, and Gen Z employees want managers who will step in to help them handle uncomfortable situations like conflicts with co-workers and provide granular feedback, says Mr. Tulgan, the management consultant.

When Mr. Tulgan’s company surveyed thousands of Gen Z members about what mattered most to them at work, he heard repeatedly that they wanted a “safe environment.” He is advising clients to create small work teams so managers have time to nurture them.

“I was in no rush to get a driver’s license,” says Joshua Berja, a 21-year-old San Francisco resident who waited until he turned 18 to get one. He lives with his parents to save money, runs errands for his mother and picks his father up from work.

Gen Z is reporting higher levels of anxiety and depression as teens and young adults than previous generations. About one in eight college freshmen felt depressed frequently in 2016, the highest level since UCLA began tracking it more than three decades ago.

That is one reason EY three years ago launched a program originally called “are u ok?”--now called “We Care”--a companywide mental health program that includes a hotline for struggling workers.

Mr. Stewart, of College Works Painting, says he wasn’t aware of any depressed employees 15 years ago but now deals frequently with workers battling mental-health issues. He says he has two workers with bipolar disorder that the company wants to promote but can’t “because they’ll disappear for a week at a time on the down cycle.”

Smartphones may be partly to blame. Much of Gen Z’s socializing takes place via text messages and social media platforms--a shift that has eroded natural interactions and allowed bullying to play out in front of wider audiences.

In the small town of Conneaut Lake, Penn., Corrina Del Greco and her friends joined Snapchat and Instagram in middle school. Ms. Del Greco, 19, checked them every hour and fended off requests for prurient photos from boys. She shut down her social media accounts after deciding they “had a little too much power over my self-esteem,” she said.

That has helped her focus on studying at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., to become a software engineer, a career she sees as recession-proof. When the last downturn hit, she remembers cutting back on gas and eating out because her parents’ music-lesson business softened.

“I learned a lot about the value of money,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to have a very secure lifestyle, secure income.”

She says the negative experience with social media made her want a professional LinkedIn page, and she took a seminar at college to learn how to do that.

The flip side of being digital natives is that Gen Z is even more adept with technology than millennials. Natasha Stough, Americas campus recruiting director at EY in Chicago, was wowed by a young hire who created a bot to answer questions on the company’s Facebook careers page.

To lure more Gen Z workers, EY rolled out video technology that allows job candidates to record answers to interview questions and submit them electronically.

Getting employees comfortable with face-to-face interactions takes work, Ms. Stough says. “We do have to coach our interns, ‘If you’re sitting five seats away from the client and they’re around the corner, go talk to them.’”

Mr. McKeon, the Ohio student, sees a silver lining growing up during tumultuous times. He used money from his grandfather and jobs at McDonald’s and a house painting company to build a stock portfolio now worth about $5,000. He took school more seriously knowing that “the world’s gotten a lot more competitive.”

“With any hardship that people endure in life, they either get stronger or it paralyzes them,” Mr. McKeon says. “These hardships have offered a great opportunity for us to get stronger.”

[welllpthisishappening]

Tripping Over the Blue Line (18/45)

It’s a transition. That’s what Emma’s calling it. She’s transitioning from one team to another, from one coast to another and she’s definitely not worried. Nope. She’s fine. Really. She’s promised Mary Margaret ten times already. So she got fired. Whatever. She’s fine, ready to settle into life with the New York Rangers. She’s got a job to do. And she doesn’t care about Killian Jones, captain of the New York Rangers. At all.

He’s done. One more season and he’s a free agent and he’s out. It’s win or nothing for Killian. He’s going to win a Stanley Cup and then he’s going to stop being the face of the franchise and he’s going to go play for some other garbage team where his name won’t be used as puns in New York Post headlines. That’s the plan. And Emma Swan, director of New York Rangers community relations isn’t going to change that. At all.

They are both horrible liars.

Rating: Mature Content Warnings: Swearing, eventual hockey-type violence AN: Killian Jones is an expert trash-talker and absolutely horrible at not being painfully in love with Emma Swan at all times. So, you know, the usual. “Locked In With Locksley” is also based on a real life thing, “Stepan Behind the Mic” and it’s fantastic and you guys should watch it and I’ll never be over the Stepan trade. As always, you guys are the best as are @laurnorder, @distant-rose & @beautiful-swan.  Hanging out on Ao3, FF.net & tag’ed up on Tumblr. 

“You’ve got to do it again,” Ruby sighed, rolling her eyes as she leaned up against the side of the lockers on the far wall of the room.

“What?” Robin balked. “Why? That was great.” “That was horrible.” Killian scoffed, leaning forward to try and lace up his skates. They’d been going on like this for what felt like hours – it might have actually been several days – and he wasn’t really sure where Ruby fit into the entire equation except to drive Robin insane.

“Ruby,” Robin continued, rolling his eyes as he held the team-provided microphone loosely in his hand. “We have a walk-through to get to. We can’t sit around filming this stupid thing all afternoon.” “Several things. First of all, this stupid thing, as you put it, was your guy’s idea and now, because it’s hysterical, the fans want it. So you’re going to give the fans what they want, Locksley. I don’t care how long it takes. Arthur can cut his walk-through short for all I care. Emma’s got to be able to tweet this out and get it on the site at some point in the next twenty-four hours.”

Ruby glanced over her shoulder at Emma, and Killian tried to mask his laughter at the look on her face – far too aware that it hadn’t really worked. Robin glared at him, leaning forward to hit his thigh with the microphone and Ruby groaned dramatically.

“I didn’t even feel that,” Killian muttered. “I am wearing pads.” Robin groaned before looking back up at Ruby. “Your list was one thing, Lucas. That’s not even a list.” “You’re not going to win this argument,” Emma mumbled, taking a step around Ruby to sink onto the bench next to Killian. She glanced around Robin to stare expectantly at Phillip the Rookie, his shoulders sagging just a little bit with the weight of actually not being very good on camera. “C’mon, Rook,” she said. “Just enunciate a bit more when you answer the questions and you guys can get out on the ice and Arthur won’t kill us all.”

As if on cue, Arthur walked into the locker room – already dressed for the game against the Penguins in four hours and Killian was a bit surprised he wasn’t at pre-game media. He held up his hands when he took another step forward, head darting from side to side as he took in a team that wasn’t anywhere close to being ready for walk-throughs.

“What the hell is this?” Arthur asked to no one in particular.

“Your rookie sensation sucks at filming,” Ruby answered, clicking her fingers towards the small camera crew that had taken up residence in the locker room for the last few hours. Or possibly several sunlit days.

“He doesn’t get paid to film your promotional videos. He gets paid to score goals.” “And he can do that. Once he films my promotional videos.” Killian chanced a glance at Emma, who was already shaking her head, doing her best to look encouraging when Phillip the Rookie opened his mouth to try and apologize – again.

He really wasn’t very good.

It was a Rangerstown promotion – something they did a few times a season that inevitably amused the entire fandom and resulted in gif sets on the internet. ‘Locked in with Locksley’ was the dumbest title for a five-minute question and answer video, but this wasn’t exactly high-brow art either.

It was Robin walking around the locker room with a microphone that wasn’t actually hooked up to anything, demanding answers out of his teammates to the most mundane questions imaginable. They hadn’t done one yet this season and Ruby had demanded it had to happen and Arthur didn’t really have a leg to stand on.

No one really did when it came to arguing with Ruby Lucas.

This round of filming was focused entirely on Thanksgiving. Or maybe just holidays in general? Killian had stopped listening when Emma walked in and did that thing where she shifted her weight on her heels and tapped out a slightly impatient rhythm on her hip, as frustrated by Phillip the Rookie’s inability to talk on camera as everyone else, but determined to be as supportive as ever.

He had, after all, agreed to coach her charity game before she’d even got the question out completely.

Three weeks into the season and she’d organized at least half of the event and Killian found himself constantly awed by her – the way her eyes narrowed just a bit when she focused or how she’d rather sit cross-legged on the floor of her office, plans and papers strewn around her, than be stuck behind her desk because, as she put it, it was easier to think that way.

Three weeks into the season and he still hadn’t actually come out and said that she’d flipped the entire world upside down, but no one had suggested another set-up to him either and they seemed to be getting the hang of under the radar.

Emma had come home with him after the Boston game.

And the Rangers were winning – riding a six-game streak with an almost unheard of margin of scoring that had analysts already suggesting that this really was the year.

He was happy.

Arthur groaned again, but Ruby smiled triumphantly when the cameraman moved back in front of Robin. She’d won and the argument hadn’t even lasted that long.

“You’ve got ten minutes, Lucas,” Arthur said, not even bothering to wait for a response before he practically marched into his office.

“Alright,” Ruby said, clearly aware that she had as much time as she wanted. “Rook, listen to me.” Phillip the Rookie’s head snapped up and his eyes were wide when he met her gaze. Emma sighed. “If you mumble over these words again, I’m going to make sure Jones cross-checks you into the boards during walk-throughs, you understand me?” He nodded quickly and Killian was halfway to the locker before he realized his feet were even moving.

“Just answer the questions honestly, kid,” he said, glaring at Ruby. She shrugged. “And maybe, you know, try to actually look like you’re not being led to the guillotine or something.”

Phillip’s laugh wasn’t really a laugh, more a quick exhale of air that was as shaky as his voice had been on camera, but Killian clapped him on the shoulder and even Robin nodded encouragingly.

It took two more takes before he got it right.

“You’re up, Jones,” Ruby said, nodding towards the camera crew as they shifted slightly to their right until he started blinking from the lights.

“I think you’re confusing sports analogies.” “Clichés, right?” “Puns?” “It’s definitely analogies,” Robin argued, knocking against Killian’s side when he sat down.

“I don’t think that’s right.” Killian saw Ruby move her hand again and they were absolutely filming – the red light just out of his eyeline making it almost painfully obvious. Ruby always did that, especially during these very specific type of PR moments.

It was something to do with chemistry or working well together or that way they always seemed to know where the other one was on the ice, but it might have also been because they spent far too much time together.

Fans liked that or something.

“What are you wearing?” Killian asked, nodding towards Robin’s feet.

The camera panned down and Robin made an indignant noise in the back of his throat, hitting Killian with the microphone again. “It doesn’t matter. Hey! Hey! This is my interview. Camera back up to our faces.” “Are those crocs?” “We’re in a locker room!” “Get this on camera,” Killian said, pointing back down to the floor. “Look at them, they’re even blue.” “Everything on this team is blue. There’s, like, a law about it.” “Why do you own those?” “They’re comfortable,” Robin argued. “Not all of us just wear loafers in a locker room. And you’re making this interview very difficult.” “I’m hardly wearing loafers. I’m not even wearing shoes. I am, literally, wearing skates right now. Or I would be if you let me actually lace my skates.” “Whatever. They’re comfortable. You’re obviously not comfortable enough in your own fashion choices since you’ve got to make fun of mine. I know what’s happening here anyway. You’re just trying to show off for the fans, some sort of freewheeling bachelor lifestyle that prohibits you from comfortable footwear.” Killian sat up a bit straighter, eyes darting towards Emma before he could stop himself and she was tugging on the ends of her hair. Ruby grinned even wider.

“Ask me about Thanksgiving, Locksley,” Killian muttered, nudging his shoulder against Robin. “You’re a God awful host.” “I am the best host. Alright, alright, fine. Tell me your most disgustingly adorable Thanksgiving tradition.” “How do you know it’s disgustingly adorable?” “Because I have seen your family on Thanksgiving and, I can promise, it is disgustingly adorable. Now come on, Cap, spill. Fans are clamoring to know or something.” Killian laughed, decidedly ignoring Emma’s gaze. He could feel her eyes on the side of his head – sitting next to Phillip the Rookie now that his own stint on ‘Locked in with Locksley’ was finished.

He wasn’t an idiot. He knew there was something she still wasn’t telling him – something about everyone leaving and a broken heart and how she’d cut herself off when she started talking about growing up.

He hadn’t asked about it, despite the curiosity almost constantly tugging at the back of his mind, but it felt a bit like bragging when he talked about the Vankalds and he could be an ass sometimes, but even Killian knew he was a lucky one.

“You just have that many adorable family moments?” Robin laughed, tapping the microphone against the front of his chest pad. “Can’t pick one off the top of your head?”

“Liam is only allowed to make stuffing,” he said and he didn’t do a very good job of enunciating the words either. “And it’s absolutely boxed stuffing no matter what he tells everyone. He’s not capable of doing anything more.” “How’d he end up with that job?” “He tried to make actual stuffing when were kids. It caught on fire. Seared his eyebrows off when he was fourteen.” Robin nearly fell back into the locker he was leaning against and Killian could hear Will’s laughter as well, camera shifting suddenly as it tried to capture the moment. “What about you, Cap? What’s your designated Jones family job?” “The drinks,” he said. “But that’s only because El refuses to let either one of us near the oven on most national holidays. She’s still concerned about Liam’s eyebrows.” “That’s my job too,” Phillip the Rookie shouted and the entire team groaned as one collective unit.

Robin stared into the camera, a distinct lack of emotion on his face before he narrowed his eyes slightly and muttered something that sounded a bit like he picks out the juice boxes for the kids table. “Leave the kid alone,” Killian muttered, not entirely certain when he became the sole off-ice protector of Phillip the Rookie.

“Captain pushover.” “I’m just not an asshole to the rookie.” “Jones,” Ruby sighed, head falling forward until her chin brushed over the front of her very red jacket. “Now we’ve got to edit that.” “No swearing in front of the kids, Cap,” Will laughed, pushing Killian to the side of his own bench in front of his own locker. “Rol would be scandalized.” He shook his head, but looked up to find Emma smiling at him, fingers completely still against her side. “Oh,” Ruby shouted, clicking her fingers again. Will nearly fell off the bench. “Locksley ask them about your first Thanksgiving in New York. We’ll tie it in with Phillip’s almost properly enunciated comment and then we can cut out Jones’ complete lapse in on-camera judgement.”

Robin did as instructed – far too aware that he didn’t really have a choice – and they talked about that first season and how they’d all gone downtown. Robin and Will had been on their own in New York – traded and called up, respectively – and, as with most things, the Vankalds had taken them in, brownstone doors metaphorically and literally flung open on that first major holiday in the league.

Liam made stuffing.

And it kept happening for the next two years.

Robin met Regina at the brownstone, their third season in the league, just a few months before Liam got hurt.

Her father knew Mr. Vankald – something about business that Killian had never listened to and Robin had never cared about, far too concerned with impressing the woman sitting at the dinner table with tales of his on-ice exploits. She wasn’t impressed.

At least not at first.

It didn’t matter to Robin. He asked for her number that night and she gave him her card – a move that was so Regina, it somehow still managed to make Killian smile – and she showed up at the arena for the first game in December, seats in the team suite next to a barely one-year-old Roland and the nanny.

They didn’t say any of that on camera.

“Are you done yet, Lucas?” Arthur shouted a few minutes later, leaning out of the door of his office at the other end of the locker room.

“Yeah, we’re done,” she answered, smiling at the three of them for the first time all afternoon. “You think we’re good, Emma?” She nodded, hands still on her side and a smile tugging on the corners of her mouth. “Absolutely.”

Arthur must have sprinted down the hall, chest heaving just a bit when he skidded to a stop next to the still-present camera crew. He paused for half a moment to readjust his tie and then he turned on Ruby, eyes flashing with a frustration that he usually saved for practice and breakaway goal competitions.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Lucas,” Arthur said slowly, “but get the hell out of my locker room.” Ruby didn’t blink, smile inching across her face slow enough that it almost looked like a threat and Killian was on his feet a moment later, walking back down towards the training room. His eyes landed on Emma and he barely even had to move his head before she muttered something to Ruby about letting them get ready for the Pens and the camera crew started to shuffle back towards the offices and a few hours of pre-game editing.

“You are painfully obvious, you know,” Emma muttered, stopping next to him and bumping her shoulder against his.

“Ah, well, tell that to you smiling at me the entire time we were filming. I think it’s you who’s making things painfully obvious, love.” “Whatever,” she mumbled, fingers moving against the fabric of her dress. He caught her hand in his, thumb swiping across her palm until her fingers stilled and he could feel her looking up at him. “You’ll be careful, right? Tonight?” Killian squeezed her hand once, nodding. “He can’t afford to hit me,” he said, ignoring Emma’s quiet scoff. “He can’t, Swan. They’re already six points behind us. They need a win. If he fucks it up by making this some sort of vendetta to upper-body me, then they’re going to lose and he’ll get sent back down.” She made a noise that sounded as if she wasn’t entirely convinced that Hans Soyer wouldn’t turn this game into some sort of vendetta to upper-body him, but she didn’t pull her hand out of his either. Instead she twisted around, gaze serious and the toes of her shoes hit up against the front of his skates.

“He said stuff,” Emma continued. “In the Pittsburgh papers, A showed me yesterday.” “I don’t care about that.” And he didn’t. He didn’t need bulletin board material when he had a win streak to maintain and a breakaway-goal promise he still hadn’t fulfilled. Soyer could say he was the worst player to ever lace up skates and Killian would still go out there anyway.

He had a game to win.

And he might be the most competitive person in the entire world.

“Henry will be here too,” Emma said. “He’s coming with Reese’s and David.”

“Seats in the suite?” “With Regina and Rol.” “Rol will be thrilled,” he promised, free hand coming up to rest on the back of her neck. “Bring them uptown with you later.” “What?” “You were going to come uptown later weren’t you?” “Well, yeah, but that’s like a team thing.” “And you’re part of the team, Swan. Bring your friends with you. Henry too. He’ll go nuts.” He’d done it mostly to see her reaction and she didn’t disappoint, all bright eyes and wide smile as if she couldn’t quite believe what he’d said.

He meant it.

“That’s probably true,” she admitted.

“See, perfect plan.”

“Yeah only because you came up with it.”

“I’m well aware that wasn’t a compliment, but I’m going to take it as one anyway,” Killian laughed, leaning forward to kiss the top of her hair.

Emma swatted at him, mumbling under her breath and he somehow managed to smile even more. Jeez. He was an over-emotional mess, barely treading water in whatever pool of feelings he’d found himself in.

“You’re really not going to say anything stupid to him tonight, right?” Emma asked, voice falling back into serious quickly.

“Why do you think that I would?” “Because that’s exactly what you did the last time.” The last time she wasn’t sitting in the team suite with a GD kid who seemed to idolize him or Roland Locksley and Emma hadn’t been there and, somehow, that seemed to make all the difference. Killian didn’t say that out loud.

“I promise, Swan,” he said and she shifted a bit when his fingers moved across her neck.

“Don’t think I’m taking my eyes off you for a second,” she whispered, words cutting into him and across him until they seemed to settle in that black hole just under his left rib that he was certain would always remain empty.

Emma’s hand fell on the front of his jersey, fingers gripping the lettering that ran across it just a bit tighter than normal and he could hear when she took a deep breath.

It was a balancing act of sorts – and there was a bigger meaning there that Killian wasn’t entirely interested in thinking about a few minutes before walkthroughs and warmups and the anthem and skating against Soyer on Garden ice – back pressed up against the hallway wall and weight resting on the edge of his skates.

His hand fell on top of hers, pulling her fingers away from the RANGERS emblazoned across his chest and he made sure to hit every one of her fingers with his lips before he looked back up at her. Her eyes were wide.

“I would despair if you did.”

He kept his promise.

It was, however, not particularly easy.

Soyer, it seemed, was determined to get him to drop gloves again – a goal made all the more difficult by the fact that he wasn’t actually a very good skater and, since the season started, had found a home for himself on the Pens fourth line.

He wasn’t on the ice at the same time as Killian much, but he made sure to seize his opportunities whenever he could, knocking into him during line changes and shouting things from the bench and connecting on a pretty powerful slash during a penalty kill that sent him to the box and gave the Rangers a 5-on-3.

Phillip the Rookie scored easily.

And the Pens coach might have actually had an aneurysm on the bench.

Killian didn’t say anything, didn’t hit him back or even lift his head when he heard something that sounded like it’s your fault again – he needed to come up with new insults. And they were winning.

At least for now.

Six minutes left in the third, up by one and Killian groaned when he heard the whistle blow, head rolling back as he saw the referee move to center ice and announce Phillip the Rookie had drawn an interference.

He tried not to actually glare at the kid as he skated towards the box, shoulders hung just a bit lower than usual, and moved back towards the zone, knees bent just outside the faceoff circle. The crowd started chanting and he could feel his blood pulsing in his ears – and it far too early in the season for this.

It wasn’t even more than a few games into the schedule, but they were on this streak and Emma was sitting in the suite just above section 111 and he’d shown off before. He wanted to show off a bit now.

Robin won the faceoff, puck cleared out of the zone with ease and the crowd cheered again as Killian retreated into his PK spot, stick moving quickly in front of him when one of the Penguins skated back up the ice. He dumped it off to Soyer and, of course, of course he was their point man, because he might have been the worst skater on the ice, but he had a hell of a shot and he could probably hit Jefferson’s facemask off if he really wanted to.

They couldn’t clear it.

And his legs actually felt like they were on fire, each movement sending a shockwave of pain up his thighs and the Penguins just kept passing it.

Forty-five seconds into the power play and they hadn’t taken a single goddamn shot. The cheers had turned to jeers quickly, blue-shirted fans wholly unimpressed with the lack of effort and Killian probably would have joined them if he could find any energy.

Will finally got his stick down in between a passing lane, arms barely moving enough to send the puck down to the other end of the rink and they had just enough time to make a change and get the second unit out.

Killian heard him with perfect clarity when he climbed over the boards – Soyer’s voice sounding as if he was just sitting next to him on the bench. “Looking a little slow to the puck out there, Jones,” he shouted. “Not a good look in an FA season.” “And what would you know about FA seasons?” Killian called back. “You’ve never been on a team long enough to get more than year-long deal.”

“Fuck you, Jones.” “Eloquent as always, Soyer.”

Arthur yelled something and they’d managed to clear the puck again, Killian’s legs moving before his mind caught up, swinging over the boards and back on the ice as the Penguins dumped the puck in the zone.

And he’d found some extra energy somewhere in between the shouting and the argument that wasn’t anything more than Soyer trying to get under his skin. He moved to the edge of the blue line, Will pressed against the boards in the corner as he tried to work the puck free and Killian nearly snapped his stick in half when he hit it against the ice.

Will heard him – or maybe heard Robin yell up and short – backhanding out of the zone and Killian was already moving by the time the puck hit the blade, Soyer nothing more than a shadow behind him.

He’d always been fast – quicker on skates than even Liam – but the problem with being fast on skates was making sure you didn’t fall over and when he first started playing, Killian had a tendency to fall over.

His legs, as Liam would say, worked faster than the rest of his brain. He was always half a step ahead of himself, thinking about the goal before he’d even taken the shot. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it absolutely didn’t.

And he’d gotten better at it – older and more experienced and he could skate as well as ever now, that deep-rooted desire to prove himself taking control of his life as soon as he’d lost everything else – but there was always that other voice in the back of his mind, the one that remembered cut up knees and lost edges and skating faster than everyone else was just as terrifying as it was exciting.

Killian could hear the crowd, the cheers and the noise and something that sounded like Robin yelling shoot, but he didn’t have the angle and there was a Pens player closing in on his left, a blur just on the edge of his vision.

It all played out in front of him before it actually happened, the move so obvious he nearly groaned that he hadn’t taken it already, and there was half an inch of space on the right side of the net. His legs hurt and his feet hurt and hadn’t skated that fast all season, but he moved anyway, backhand to forehand and he took the shot.

He’d stumbled a bit when he pulled the stick back, momentum pulling him forward until his knee was almost dragging across the ice, but he saw the puck hit the back of the net and the light went off and the crowd was louder than they’d been all night.

Killian spun out, back colliding with the glass and he was dimly aware of fans hitting up against the boards behind him when he started shouting, Robin and Will racing towards him until they both ran into his side.

“Shit, Cap,” Will muttered, voice barely audible over the goal song and the always impressively coordinated cheers that followed. “What a move.” “You are a child,” Robin laughed as they moved back towards the bench and the cheers didn’t stop even after the song ended. Soyer was already off the ice, no stick in his hand and a two-goal lead with just a few minutes on the clock was enough to keep the win streak alive.

“Fast enough for you?” Killian asked, nodding up towards the enormous screen over center ice and the replay of the goal.

Soyer didn’t say anything.

And, somehow, that was better than fighting.

They named him first star again and there were people actually standing when he skated back, hand in the air and Killian didn’t even grumble when they gave him the hat and forced him to pose for social media photos in front of his locker.

“You coming up later?” Robin asked, tossing his jersey into the laundry bin behind him.

Killian nodded, scrolling through his regularly-scheduled, post-game messages and he laughed softly when he found Liam’s visual exclamation of LOOK AT THAT SPEED. He’d sent it during the game.

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Is there a GD kid coming?” “Eh, I don’t know that he’s really much of a GD kid anymore,” Killian said, typing out a quick response to Liam. That’s just years of practice from skating circles around you.

“Have you and Emma adopted a GD kid?” Robin asked and the smile on his face was proof positive he was joking, but something in Killian’s stomach flipped at the question. It was Henry’s third game of the season already – they’d gotten him tickets to the Bruins game for his birthday – and he wasn’t really lying, he wasn’t some charity case.

That sounded worse than Killian wanted it to.

But Henry’s story hit a bit too close to home for any actual comfort and somewhere in the last few weeks, Killian and Emma had seemed to come to some unspoken agreement that they were going to do whatever they could to make this kid happy.

He’d nearly fallen over when they told him about the charity game.

“Rol was excited to have another kid up there,” Robin said, voice taking on a very particular tone and Killian felt that same overwhelming sense of being protected or something equally absurd. “So he’s coming, then?” Killian nodded again, glancing down when his phone vibrated in his hand again. “Yeah, we’re not going to just kick him out,” he muttered, drawing a laugh out of Robin as he hitched his bag up his shoulder. “And Swan’s friends are coming too. They were in the suite with Gina and Rol.”

Killian swiped his thumb across his phone screen, barely even glancing at the name. He probably should have.

The first Pittsburgh Penguins jersey ever retired was number 21 and team has had an impressive 11 players inducted into the Hall of Fame. They were probably all embarrassed by how badly you beat the PK.

He nearly choked on the air in his lungs, shoulders heaving forward when he tried to keep his face even. Robin did his best not to notice. “You want to split a cab?” “No,” Killian said quickly, far too quickly not to draw suspicion. “Um...I just...my hand and Red wanted to make sure it was fine after the game.” It was a lie.

It wasn’t even a very good lie.

And Robin knew it. He didn’t say anything, just glanced down at the phone in Killian’s hand and stuck his lower lip out thoughtfully.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll see you up there.”

Killian nodded again – his neck was going to cramp up at some point, he was sure of it – and waited until he couldn’t hear the squeak of Robin’s sneakers before he moved, grabbing his own bag out of his locker and making his way out of the room.

He moved on half a chance and the hope that, maybe, she didn’t care about under the radar as much as he didn’t anymore and he almost sighed when he was three quarters down the hallway and didn’t see her.

He stuffed his phone back in his pocket and tugged the strap of his bag up, muttering under his breath when he realized he’d have to find a cab on his own.

“Sharp shooting, sailor.” Killian spun on the spot, bag sliding back down his arm until it landed on the floor and, for what must have been the sixth time that night, his legs were moving before they’d even caught up with his mind, the only thought Emma as soon as he saw the smile on her face.

“I think you’ve got that analogy confused, love,” he muttered, pushing her back against the wall until her hips pressed against his and heard her sigh softly. “I hardly think sailors are doing a lot of shooting. And I don’t think I’d make much of a sailor.” “Pirate, then?” “Probably something like that,” he said, ducking his head until she made that noise again when his teeth skimmed across her neck. “What are you doing here?” “Not happy to see me?” Emma asked and he appreciated the way her voice caught just a bit more than he probably should for a relationship that was, still, decidedly under the radar. Except for the two people they’d told.

And probably Robin. Robin totally knew.

That meant David probably knew too. Mary Margaret wouldn’t be able to lie to David.

“That’s not even close to what I was asking,” Killian said. “I just figured you would have gone uptown already.” “I told them I needed to do some post-game stuff, get that Rangerstown video out.” “Did you?” “Nah, I told Mer to do it before the third period even started.” “That’s deceptive, Swan.” “What are you doing here? Robin left on his own.” “I told him Ariel wanted to double check on my hand.” “Look who’s being deceptive now. At least my lie checks out.” “I was kind of thinking on my feet.”

“Ah, well, then I guess you can have a pass,” Emma laughed, one of her fingers twisting through the loop of his pants. He was the one who groaned that time, eyes squeezing shut when she moved up on tiptoes, lips just half an inch away from her ear. “And, after all, you did follow through on my breakaway promise.”

“Short-handed.” “That ego,” she said, kissing against his neck as he dug his teeth into his lip. “It was a nice move though. Henry and Rol nearly lost their collective minds.” “I wasn’t really doing it for them.” “No? Who for then?”

“You, Swan,” Killian answered and he wasn’t even surprised at how easy it was to say the words.

She didn’t sink back on her feet, just pulled her hand forward and he braced himself above her, palms flat on the wall on either side of her head. One of them must have moved first, but they’d both come up with lies on the off chance that the other one was, somehow, still in the Garden, so it seemed almost possible that they moved at the same time as well, lips crashing against each other and hips moving of their own volition.

He pulled one hand down, palm wrapping around Emma’s waist as he pushed underneath the jacket she had on and maybe they didn’t have to go uptown.

They were expert liars anyway.

Robin totally knew.

“You want to split a cab?” Emma asked, mumbling the words against his mouth. He didn’t even try to mask his laugh, pulling back to find her smiling at him again and doing anything except kissing her seemed like some sort of absurd idea.

He kissed her first.

“Doesn’t that kind of fly in the face of our under the radar, Swan?”

“We’re fantastic at lying.” “You’re a horrible liar.” “You want to make out in the back of the cab or not?” “Let’s go,” Killian said, slinging his arm over her shoulder and walking them towards the team exit.

“So you two just ran into each other?” Regina asked for the fourth time, clicking her tongue as Roland crashed into Killian’s leg.

“Yup,” he answered easily. He bent over to grab Roland by the waist, twisting him around until he was horizontal over his shoulders. “Weird, huh?” “The weirdest.” Killian couldn’t really shrug with a six-year-old draped over his back, but the sentiment was obvious and Regina lifted one eyebrow. He glanced to the far corner of the restaurant where Emma was sitting at the end of the bar, Henry next to her as she talked to David and Mary Margaret. Ruby moved in her direction, Ariel close on her heels as they both started shouting about the game t-shirts, trying to pull Mulan into the conversation to talk about the possibility of making Killian and Phillip the Rookie pose for brand new shots so they could tout the shirts as limited edition.

“You went really fast today, Hook,” Roland mumbled, laughing when Killian shook his shoulders.

“It was a good move,” Regina conceded.

Killian gasped dramatically, working another laugh out of Roland, and Regina rolled her eyes, taking a particularly long sip of the drink in her hand. “Was that actually a compliment, Gina? I’m stunned.” “You’re an ass, that’s what you are.” “Gina,” he cried, not quite able to keep the laughter out of his voice. “The children!” She rolled her eyes again and made a face that didn’t particularly match up with the position on her business card and the very sensible pant suit she had on. “I’m just saying, it’s a good kind of game for this season. If you want to stick to your plan and you’re still determined to go, then this kind of showing is good for that.” Killian tensed at her words and she obviously didn’t realize what she’d said, face as impassive as ever when it came to discussing the dumbest decision in the history of dumb decisions. They hadn’t talked about it in weeks, not since the preseason and, well, a lot of things had happened since the preseason.

He hadn’t really considered Colorado since the opener...since Emma came home with him and for the first time in as long as he could remember it actually felt like home.

“Where are you going, Hook?” Roland asked.

“Nowhere mate,” Killian said quickly and Regina did react to that, eyebrows moving up her forehead so quickly he was certain there should have been a trail of smoke behind them. “I’m not going anywhere.” “What?” Regina snapped. “What the hell are you talking about?” “Gina.” She widened her eyes and dragged her hand through the air, but didn’t ask anymore questions, just downed the rest of her drink. “Come on, Rol,” she said, tugging on the back of his jersey. “Let’s go see if we can find your dad.” Roland’s head snapped up at that, twisting around until he nearly kicked Killian in the head. “Henry said we could get onion rings before.” Regina hummed and it wasn’t exactly an agreement, but it wasn’t a disagreement either and Killian saw his in. “If the kid was promised onion rings, it seems just wrong to deprive him of that, Gina.”

She laughed softly, shaking her head. “Yeah, yeah, that’s totally why you want to go get onion rings.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “You need to get better at lying.” “What are you lying about, Hook?” Roland asked, tapping on the back of his shirt.

“Nothing, mate,” he promised. His stomach clenched uncomfortably at the lie and if Regina didn’t actually blink soon he was going to scream. “So you liked Henry, huh?” “Thick as thieves,” Regina muttered, pushing through the crowd towards the far end of the bar. People seemed to just spring backwards whenever she looked in their general direction. “They’re very excited for the charity game.” “Henry said we could go out on the ice,” Roland said quickly, shaking against Killian’s back. “And you’re going to coach and you should pick dad for your team.”

Will groaned, dragging a stool with him despite Ariel’s rather pointed glare, slumping down in the middle of the group with a plate held tightly in his hand. “Come on, Rol,” he said. “You can’t abandon me now too. First they told me I can’t coach and now Cap’s not even going to pick me for his team?” “No one said that,” Killian muttered, rolling his shoulders as Robin pulled his kid back down towards the ground. He glanced towards Emma, back pressed up against the wall of the restaurant with a smile on her face. “Isn’t that right, Swan? You’re picking teams anyway, aren’t you?” “Oh, no, no,” she laughed. “Don’t put this on me. You guys are the hockey players you decide.” “Maybe we’ll let Bobby Flay decide.” “Is Bobby Flay official?” Mary Margaret asked and it would have been impossible to miss the pride in her voice.

Emma nodded, the ends of her mouth twisting up as Mary Margaret and Ruby screamed at the same time and the exact same pitch. “Jeez,” Will muttered, but Robin smacked the side of his shoulder and he didn’t say anything else.

“Em,” Ruby cried, practically jumping up and down on her absurdly high heels. “That’s incredible. When did you find out?” “This afternoon. His people called my people or whatever. His assistant’s assistant called Mer a few hours before we shot Rangerstown.” “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“We had a video to shoot,” Emma shrugged, drawing an immediate groan out of the half a dozen people around her. “And he’s still got to sign the contract and we’ve got to get the insurance to get him out on the ice or something. Don’t actually cross-check Bobby Flay when he plays, ok Scarlet?” Will made a soft noise of indignation, but he nodded anyway and Emma smiled even wider. “If we’re nice to him,” she continued, “maybe he’ll even agree to cater Reese’s and David’s wedding.”

“See, now, that makes sense,” David agreed.

“Hey,” Ariel shouted, leaning back against the curve of the bar when Eric handed her a fresh plate of onion rings. She passed them to Roland without a word – he grabbed one in each hand. “I thought we decided we were going to do it.” “Well, to be fair, you’re not going to do it. Your husband is.” “And I’m not married to Bobby Flay.” “He’s going to play in Emma’s charity game though.” “David you are literally surrounded by the Rangers first line,” Emma laughed as Mary Margaret shook her head fondly. “I don’t think you need Bobby Flay to get an in.” “How’s the view from the suite anyway?” Killian asked. David’s head snapped towards him as if he was surprised by the question and his eyes darted towards Emma before he responded.

“Awesome, actually,” he said. “I mean we’re kind of behind the net, but you can see the whole ice. It was a perfect view for your goal.” “Don’t tell him things like that,” Regina muttered. She pulled one of the five onion rings Roland had in his hands away from him, smiling at him when he grumbled. “It’s just going to do dangerous things to his ego.” “It was a really good goal.” “Thanks,” Killian said softly, a glass pushed into his hands. He took it without question – another rule broken. They’d all have to lie to Arthur.

“We should probably toast or something, huh?” David asked, glancing around at the group as Ariel continued to pass out alcohol. “Well, we did completely screw over Soyer,” Robin said, grabbing his own shot glass and ignoring Killian when he pointed towards Roland. The six-year-old was far too preoccupied with onion rings and Henry to notice. “Did he say anything this time?” “Grizzled veteran,” Robin chuckled. “What exactly are we toasting then? Just the win?”

“The goal obviously,” David said, seemingly forgetting any sense of fandom as he took over control of the after-game event. “It was a ridiculous move. Who normally toasts for you guys?” “Your move.” David blinked once and Killian could feel the heat creep up the back of his neck, the room feeling a bit too crowded and a bit too overwhelming and his eyes drifted back towards Emma as her surrogate brother toasted the breakaway goal he’d absolutely scored for her. She scrunched her nose slightly when they clinked glasses.

He downed his drink in one gulp and he was half convinced the tiny fire he felt in the pit of his stomach had absolutely nothing to do with the alcohol.

They stayed in that corner for hours – planning for the charity game and making promises to both Roland and Henry and even setting up an entire menu for David and Mary Margaret’s post-Cup run wedding.

He didn’t move, far too aware of where his hand would land if he was actually standing next to Emma, but he could feel her gaze on the side of his head throughout the night and Killian would have been lying, again, if he said his eyes didn’t dart her direction every few seconds.

She kept smiling. And laughing. And she was talking to Ariel and even Regina and Will kept making jokes about how he was going to take down Phillip the Rookie during the charity game, even if it was a charity game.

Henry left before Roland fell asleep, muttering when the woman from the house downtown pushed her way into the restaurant and he only smiled when Killian promised updates from the road swing they had ahead of them.

And when Roland finally did fall asleep, curled up against Killian’s side when he’d crawled onto his legs, the crowd in the restaurant started to disperse, yawning and cracking bones and they had a flight to DC the next afternoon.

“Come on mate,” Killian said, lifting his leg off the bottom rung of the stool when Robin approached him. “You’ve got to go home.” He saw Emma out of the corner of his eye, smile soft and eyes just a bit more tired than usual as Robin hauled his son off Killian’s legs. “See you tomorrow,” Robin muttered, shifting Roland so his head was in the crook of his neck and Killian nodded, not quite able to quell that rush of jealous he felt in his toes.

“Bye Hook,” Roland mumbled.

“Bye mate.”

She waited until Robin was out the door, one arm wrapped around Roland and the other wrapped around Regina and it all felt a bit deja vu. Killian tried not to sigh, but he knew it didn’t work as soon as Emma tilted her head, eyebrows raised slightly.

Under the radar.

They had to stay under the radar.

He was a selfish, sentimental ass.

“You ok?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“You’re absurdly good with Roland,” she said, taking a step into his space until her thighs hit his knees and she rested her hands on his shoulders. “Henry too, but Rol is just like...obsessed with you.” And for as bad as Emma was whenever someone complimented her, Killian might have been even worse – rolling his eyes to try and mask the flush he was certain had creeped up his cheeks. “That’s just experience, Swan. And the twins are young too, so I’ve got a fairly jam-packed resume.” “How old are they?” “Four.” “That sounds exhausting.” “El and Liam are ridiculously good at it. Those kids want for nothing, I swear.” “Probably because their uncle’s so impressive on the ice.”

He quirked one eyebrow and her grip on his shoulders tightened. “Another compliment, love? That’s some kind of record.” “Were you keeping track?” “Maybe.” Emma laughed softly and her fingers found their way into the bottom of his hair, tugging just a bit until he had to lean forward. He didn’t argue, particularly when she kissed him quickly, hardly enough, but they were still in the restaurant and Mary Margaret was waiting expectantly for Emma at the door.

“She was distracting David,” Emma explained, grinning in Mary Margaret’s direction. “He’s out there talking to Will.” “You’re some kind of actual saint, Mary Margaret,” Killian said, just loud enough that he was certain she could hear it.

“It’s only because your goal was so impressive,” she answered. Emma laughed, forehead falling forward against his shoulder and his arm found its way around her waist.

And it might have felt the most normal it ever had, easy and comfortable and he should probably say something meaningful at some point before he did something stupid like screamed he loved her right in her face.

“I’ve got to go,” Emma mumbled against his shirt.

“I should probably sleep before our flight tomorrow.” “Let me know when you land?” “Of course, Swan.” She pulled up – eyes still tired, but she was smiling at him and she hadn’t actually pulled away from his arm. “It was a really good goal.”

Killian knew they were still whatever, under the radar and Mary Margaret was playing some sort of scout at the restaurant door and he’d probably have to lie about who he was texting the next day and Emma still had walls and there was that whole pesky Gold connection in Los Angeles, but he absolutely loved her and he couldn’t just not say anything.

“It was for you, Swan,” he said softly. “For whatever that’s worth.” “A lot,” Emma answered. “It’s worth a lot.” She kissed him once before she left, rushing across the restaurant and Mary Margaret smiled in his direction before the door closed behind them.

He was happy.

[jonwongton]

06/30/20

The end of today marks halfway through the year!

These past few months have been such a blur and I’m pretty over it now. I really wish things would just go back to normal but I’m pretty sure the quarantine and social distancing are going to last until the end of the year given the recent outbreaks.

I just have no motivation these days. The projects at work have been pretty tedious and having to do everything remotely isn’t that glorious either. I really miss the work/home separation; it’s so weird sitting here doing work for half the way and then sitting in the same spot enjoying the rest of my evening. It doesn’t help that my leg is still injured and still hasn’t gotten better after months. Throughout February and March I was so fit running and learning to lift but I haven’t been able to do any of that in ages. I have appointments for PT and orthopedics this week and next but I really wish they’d just do an MRI on my leg instead of speculating what’s wrong.

Late April my older cousin asked me and Sam if we wanted to play league with her and I actually ended up installing the game. It’s been pretty nice playing with Sam and Kevin to help the days go by. I quit right before I started working so this is the first time I’ve been playing games while not being in school. I think I’m smarter now and I have a much stronger mental so in the next month or so I’ll try hitting diamond again playing tf and diana (thank goodness my two best champs are still meta).

Amazingly enough, my younger brother got a full time job offer at my company. It’s funny how we were all so worried about his post-grad plans for so long and then out of the blue, my good buddy (his boss) calls me on Zoom and asks me if I think he’d be interested in a full time position. It makes me happy enough that they warmed up to hiring bachelors students after they hired me. I hope this makes up for whatever pressure I (in)directly put on you because of how we did in high school and which college we went to.

But my real world mental has been so broken recently. I don’t even think it’s the post grad-school lull but I just don’t have that passion to read programming books and drill Korean vocabulary right now. I had such high hopes this year to go travel and meet new people but now we’re already halfway through 2020 and essentially nothings happened. I feel like a combination of not being able to walk properly plus getting back into league are holding me back too.

Regardless, I’ve still been able to keep up with all the fromis_9/GFriend content that’s been coming out. I was super behind on fromis_9 vlives (like a month’s worth) but after I went home home for a week, I was able to catch up on everything. It’s been over a year since Fun was released and we still haven’t gotten our comeback yet. It’s pretty hard on us flovers but honestly, I don’t even think it’s comparable to how they’re feeling. Like imagine being an artist and training all these years but the company doesn’t give you the chance to promote. However long it takes, we’ll still be here waiting.

And speaking of it being July tomorrow, KCON NY was literally a year ago. It’s already been a year since Sam was living with me and I was nervous flying across the country to see fromis_9. Now I’m all nostalgic and listening to last year’s summer bops just to drown in the feels.

In other news, kpop has really been picking up this past month. I didn’t like the izone album that much, but WJSN, Baekhyun, Park Jihoon, Seventeen, and Weki Meki all put out amazing songs (I still need to listen to Stray Kids’ album). Gfriend coming back mid-July is going to keep me super busy too. I watched their Pepsi performance and after hearing crossroads performed post-promotions, I realized I still haven’t heard a buddy fanchant for the song :(.

Anyway, hopefully things pick up in the second half of the year. I feel like I just need something to work toward to keep myself busy/happy. Step 1 will be to fix my leg and maybe I can figure it out from there.

[anulstermanabroad]

Money Money Money, Must be Funny, In a Chinese World - Part 2: Money v Education

Welcome back! In my last article on this topic, I looked at the difference between private and public education in China and some of the advantages and disadvantages regarding both. As previously mentioned, the focus on money in education is heavily prominent and this can lead to many problems from an East vs. West perspective. When I moved to China, I went with the idea that I could be an inspirational teacher. Someone that kids would love to learn English from. This was shattered for multiple reasons.

When I started out, I'd had absolutely no teacher training. I was under the impression, after hearing Chinese kids would be mannerly, shy and eager to learn, that I would simply be able to walk into a classroom, hold up some flashcards and the kids would simply learn how to speak English. How wrong I was. I was awful. The training I received was basic, to be generous and after ten days I was thrown into my own classroom, not really any better off than ten days previously. My employers knew this, however, and at this point, I probably should have been left to my own devices in the classroom to find my feet and actually develop as a teacher. This wasn't the case and instead, I was thrown into numerous publicity events, designed to exploit China’s rising middle classes desire to have their child educated by a native English speaking teacher. Looking back, in the long run, taking part in these events perhaps brought me out of my shell. Though, I hadn't yet mastered teaching 15 four year olds I was expected to delightfully woo 50 kids, their parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents, second cousins and every other passing customer at the local shopping mall. 

These events continued for months and depending on whoever the principal was at the time (of which there were many), there could of been as many as one a week, during which time, all kindergarten activities were essentially suspended and centred around publicity events. I should also point out that changes in management were always made for monetary reasons, not educational benefit. As a result, every time the principal was replaced,a new wave of publicity would always follow. Decorations would change, events would be planned and and I would basically end up doing everything but actually teaching - the job I had moved across the world to do. Educational activity was centred around money; not education. Chinese teachers’ would essentially cancel their own classes to decorate or prepare the kindergarten for whatever activity was coming up, but a double standard existed, as any such action from myself, or the other English teachers was treated as a ‘serious work incident’. Often, there would be no time to prepare classes, however, and some mornings you would literally be turning up with nothing. 

No matter who was in charge, these kind of issues kept coming up and eventually came to a climax six weeks before I left that job. I inherited a new class and six weeks into the new term, some parents started to complain that their kids’ English wasn’t progressing. Only one parent in the class spoke any English, so how they worked that out, I don’t know. So for the first time in a year, an open class was organised for me to demonstrate my abilities. In the end the parents were satisfied with how I taught the class and left, not even bothering to stay for the Chinese teachers open classes. I’d only been teaching between 2-4 twenty minute classes a week compared to the ten which I was meant to take and by that stage, my ability as a teacher was actually quite good. It left me feeling angry at actually having been put in that position, where people began to doubt my ability, mainly because money was deemed more important than the education of the existing pupils or ‘customers’ which we had. At times, I wanted to tell some of the parents what was really happening but I had a clause in my contract which essentially prevented me from talking about my true feelings and opinions. I had been in China long enough by that point that I knew my opinions wouldn’t change anything in the short term, never mind the long term. 

Publicity often went as far as endangering the children’s safety as the kids were brought to exercise in the community rather than on the soft astro-turf in the playground where they could play safely. Despite there being injuries and accidents every morning, the bosses wanted others in the community to see the kids routine when passing and hopefully entice new customers. It was quite frankly sickening to watch as other educators would freely allow it. It only seemed to be the foreign staff who noticed the dangers it caused and this both worried and disgusted me, as unlike the Chinese staff, my bachelors degree had practically nothing to do with education. It was all a bit too much to handle on a daily basis, as every day there seemed to be some sort of ludicrous suggestion to make more money. I decided it was best to move on and try and apply my skills in a more focused, teaching environment.

I then moved to a language school, which, to be honest, made me a very rich man. For the first few months, the time was very relaxed. I had a very open schedule, plenty of time for planning/training and not many classes. This left time for promotional work and due to my relatively relaxed schedule, it was pretty painless, better structured and easy to accommodate. Training was constantly provided, meaning you were constantly able to improve as a teacher and there was also a greater focus on cross-cultural communication. In theory, this made each working day a little easier as there was a more specific focus on what people should or shouldn’t be doing or what was expected/not. For three months, this system worked perfectly, and I had managed to find what I was looking for - a role more focused on teaching. At which point, I went on holiday. When I came back after two weeks, every other teacher at the school had either left/decided to leave in the imminent future and mayhem ensued. All of the teaching responsibility fell on me, as well as all sales and promotional activity. 

The company in question offered a very personalised education service meaning there was quite a lot of pressure that came with the job. I was largely in control of how I taught the lessons, meaning it could be very fun and interesting but at the end of the day, the pupils’s success was heavily influenced by whatever way I decided to teach my classes. Once my schedule was full, it was hard to detach yourself from trying to deliver this success and to put it simply, sales and promotional work only distracted from the benefit of the students which I’d already signed. Rules were established to avoid confrontation and arguments. However, I found some of my colleagues/bosses were so money driven, that the rules were constantly broken and stretched to the very limits on a daily basis. Despite the personal rewards I got from teaching my students, they always seemed to be placed second in comparison to new customers/students. As a teacher, I wanted my students to have the best possible experience and education but the desire for money constantly got in the way of that. There were dedicated sales staff whose responsibility it should’ve solely been to gather new students, however, sales targets began to be given to the supporting English teachers who should have been focused on helping with educational matters. This meant that money and sales were ingrained at every level and it often felt like it was foreign teachers vs. the rest of the world, in terms of actually trying to deliver a decent and successful education service.

Some examples of money and education combining would be kids with totally different English abilities being placed together in classes in order to fulfil quotas and meet targets. Lunch breaks would be scheduled as ‘sales’ time for prospective new students, usually on a Saturday or Sunday where you would teach solidly for about 7-8 hours...except lunch. Two year old kids were also targeted for forty minute English classes which is in no way realistic. At one stage I did a demonstration class with a 15 month year old baby. I don’t need to tell you how that went. My colleagues found it extremely funny. As the one teaching, I absolutely did not. By the end, my Chinese ability was borderline acceptable and I would hear sales’ staff asking the support staff to disregard my opinion regarding kids’ English and placement levels in order to make sales at all costs. By the end, if I and China were in a marriage, I would’ve driven their Ferrari into the ocean, taking all the watches and expensive suits with me before selling the house on Ebay for a packet of condoms and a tin whistle, just to teach them a lesson.

It’s been three months, however, since I thought about driving the Ferrari to the bottom of the sea and my anger at the greed and selfishness has largely subsided and I remember mainly the good things. The good food. The friendly people. The amazing scenery. The cheap beer. The list goes on...

I’ll leave you with the words of a Chinese acquaintance I have:

‘These English schools aren’t good, they’re only setup to make money. Chinese people are so smart but they don’t use their brains for the correct purposes. Only to make money, money and more money.’

That person now owns his own English school...

[lifescominguproses]

TJLC Thoughts

Ok so..... I know I’m not a TJLC blog (even though the only reason I come on tumblr nowadays is to look at the tag ha) but I need to vent and process...... because I literally feel like I’m going insane. So bear with me lovelies, (this shit’s gonna be long and probably full of grammatical errors).

I absolutely love Sherlock, have done for awhile, even though I didn’t get into it as soon as it came out. I knew about Johnlock and TJLC way before I started watching, and didn’t really think much of it at the time. Then.... (there’s always a but) it became everything. I was obsessed. I not only loved the show because of its mystery and brilliant writing/plot lines, but also because of the obvious, heart-wrenching, all-consuming love between Sherlock and John.

Of course I saw it. Of course I thought “how can these two brilliant characters not be totally and utterly in love with each other?” I’ll admit, sadly, that I was the only one in my family who saw it that way. Does that make me smarter than them in the context of watching the show? I have absolutely no idea. Because right now, in the lead up to TFP, I’ve never been so nervous, so unsure, and so disappointed.

Because, I’m now 99% convinced that the way we all saw it, was not the way the writers intended it to be seen at all. To us, it was obvious, they (JxS) were *in* love. Does anything else need to be said? Yes, yes it does. Although its a very ‘base - level’ example, I feel like I should point to the picture (randomly found, but felt extremely relevant to my poor obsessed brain).

Maybe this whole time we were looking *too* deep; reading into subtext when there really wasn’t any (although I’ll get to this in a minute, Moftiss you fucks.) This is essentially my first ‘meta’ so I’m just going to go ahead and ramble. Yes Johnlock is about friendship, and yes its even a romance. But in the context of the show, does it really matter which one prevails? Can’t a relationship feel like both without the need for sex? Could John and Sherlock really be ‘soulmates’ and ‘life partners’ that don’t feel the need to “have sex or make out on the couch” every night? Because I feel like that's what Moftiss was trying to tell us all along; that we were being too ‘pedestrian’ (can’t think of another word so eh) when we should have been using ‘higher - level thinking’. (I have a feeling the whole “it is what it is” comes into it here, but im way too tired to go into that ahah).

Now, as much as this is what I believe is truly going on, I absolutely fucking hate it. Of course as Johnlock shippers we want them to be explicit in their love. And for some of us this means said “making out on the couch” scenes need to be shown. But after reading practically everything to do with TJLC, Moftiss and TFP spoilers, I really don’t think that’s ever going to happen. What I think WILL happen, is that we’ll keep seeing exactly what we have been seeing, which to us appears spectacularly obvious yet annoyingly ambiguous at the same time. That is, we’ll keep seeing them pining over each other when they’re apart (even because it’s their own choice *cough* John Watson *cough*), we’ll keep seeing them saving each other from the danger that is their lives, we’ll keep seeing them spiral into depression without the other one around to help, we’ll keep seeing declarations of love masked by words like “mate”, we’ll keep seeing them choose each other again and again. Because that’s just the way it is between them, they know it, the writers know it, and even we know it. We just wanted *it* to be different. We just wanted *it* to be shown in a different, more explicit, way. To the writers it doesn’t even need explaining.

Now onto my brief (hahah yea right) “fuck you moftiss rant.”

WHY THE EVER-LOVING FUCK CAN’T IT BE SHOWN THE WAY WE WANT?! Every single adaption of Sherlock Holmes has the same relationship aesthetic. The “John and Sherlock against the rest of the world” type thing is literally fucking everywhere. It’s even in the fucking video games. I mean, I get it. I get that you guys wanted to keep this part of the story alive, its great, it’s beautiful and it warms our hearts. But it is supposed to be a modern adaption after all. And you know what one of the biggest fucking modern issues is? Yeah you guessed it, LGBTIQ rights. Now, I should probably point out here that I am completely 100% straight. I’m a girl that likes guys and all that shit. But I live in a country where where same-sex marriage isn’t a reality (my hatred for that fact is a whole other point) and where same sex couples get treated differently to those in hetero-sexual relationships (seriously, fuck you Australia).

Now I know it’s highly unlikely that moftiss were to ever intentionally queer bait us, being the type of people I think that they are, but man they didn’t think some things through. I know in the first season/s the constant questioning and subtext over John and Sherlock’s sexuality (”confirmed bachelor”, “will you be needing two bedrooms”, “isn’t really my area,” “I’m not actually gay”..... ffs moftiss really?!) was meant to be both an outlet for humor and a throw-back to TPLOSH. But come on! Like seriously! At some point a repeated joke stops being funny! If they didn’t intend for it to mean anything in the grand scheme of the show, why continue to use it as a plot device? Obviously to some people (like my parents) it was just a joke; a running gag if you will, that wasn’t meant to be read into (I’m not sure whether I pity or envy you lot). Why would moftiss put all this effort into making us question John and Sherlock’s sexuality (ahem Irene fucking Adler) just to disregard it in the end? I seriously don’t even know. Maybe just to show that Sherlock really is human after all? Yeah I got no clue. 

Now, onto TFP.

To me, going along this whole “we’re being too pedestrian” theory, the “love conquers all” thing is actually pretty simple. Love will conquer all, but we’re not talking love in any sort of specific sense here. We’re talking in pretty general terms. I feel like the massive climax to this episode (and apparently the whole show) will be to explain Sherlock. That is, we’ll see his past and his (probably) traumatic childhood where some shit happened with the siblings and Sherlock became an emotionally repressed drug addict because of that. We’ll essentially be seeing the reason as to why Sherlock is the way that he is. Of course love’s going to come into that. My bet is that ‘love’ in whatever sense of the term, will be the thing to save Sherlock and everyone else in the end. He’s finally going to allow himself to love (in whatever way) after being an emotionally repressed idiot for so long. Therefore, I’m betting the iconic “I Love You” is damn important, just not in the way we want it to be.

Now, I don’t know exactly how any of that will make ‘lets make television history’, ‘insane wish-fulfillment’, etc make any sense. I mean sure, Mycroft or Molly or John or even Sherlock could die, Moriarty could come back from the dead, he could even be related to Sherlock and have been playing a ‘long game’ since their childhood (although Moriarty and Sherlock related would actually be really freaking cool in terms of the story). I’ve got these thoughts and more going through my head as to what could possibly be the “plot reason” for all of moftiss’s promotional spiel. It’s going to be different for everyone as to what ‘makes television history’. So lets be honest, moftiss are probs just laying it on too thick ahah.

I mean, I’d love Johnlock to happen in the way that we want it to. I’d die if he said “I love you” to John, I’d probably explode if they kissed. But its just not going to happen that way. Honestly, even if it did, wouldn’t it just take away from every other single aspect of the episode? Wouldn’t the most important part of this episode be the mystery? (aka, Sherlock’s backstory arc etc)? If Johnlock happened in this episode, it would be the only thing every single viewer (shipper or not) would be thinking about. Shippers would be going nuts, non-shippers would just be confused as hell for the rest of the show.

Yes, they could do Johnlock at the end in the “apparently missing 4 minutes” (credits, people) after everything’s resolved, but again it would be the only thing people remember. Is that what moftiss want’s the audience to remember more than anything else? I don’t think that it is.

I know they’re giant freaking liars and we shouldn’t trust absolutely anything that they say, but going on the countless times where they basically shut us all down (they could have done that in a nicer way tbh and I’m frankly pissed off about that), I’m not betting on explicit Johnlock at all. I mean, to them, its already been done.

I could be completely wrong.God, I hope I’m completely wrong. I just don’t want to be disappointed. Because I already feel soul-crushingly disappointed and it sucks. The whole show is doing my head in and I just want some bloody answers. So yeah, this is my way of trying to make sense of everything’s that been stuck in my head for the past few weeks, and it may not make any sense to you guys at all. Just thought I’d put it out there.

By the way if anyone out there has anything to add I’d love to hear, I’d love to discuss..... I Haven’t really actively gotten into the fandom until now but I’ve observed from the outside and I must say, I freaking love you guys, and I live off fanart and fanfiction! :D xoxo

[fantasysuiteleague]

Week 2: XOXO, Gossip Girl

With so many dumb girls milling around the Bachelor mansion, still drunk from the night before and starving for carbs and attention, I'm sure it's difficult to not make the first few episodes of the show feel over-produced. Jk. We're in Season 21 and Nick is our Bachelor: everything is over-produced. That being said, this week felt particularly cringe-worthy. We kick things off with our sleep-deprived divas trying to convince us that the only thing they've been able to think about since arriving 12 hours ago is Nick. Not their phones, their families, their jobs, the presidential election. Only NICK VIALL. Right.

Enter Chris Harrison, who reminds the women that they only way they're going to stand out with this many girls in the house is to be memorable slutty. This piece of unsolicited and sexist advice triggers Manchurian Candidate Corinne, and it's all downhill from here.

Something Old. Something New. Something Topless. Something Rude.

The first group date of the episode is ultimate Bachelor irony. Actually, it feels like a storyline cooked up by Quinn and Rachel on UnREAL. The girls gleefully drive three Buick convertibles down the street to a mansion usually used to shoot adult films. Once parked, they're made to jog into the backyard where they meet up with a heavily spray-tanned man named Franco who is almost definitely an actor and/or one of the producer's friends. There, the producers dangle the possibility of marriage in front of them while simultaneously cheapening the entire experience. What's more? They've all been drinking since they arrived, and have to watch each other pose and make out with Nick. This is Bachelor 101. An incredibly basic premise that is guaranteed to spawn all sorts of jealousy, desperation, and insecurity.

The pawn at the center of this whole *experiment* is none other than that girl you wished you hadn't started a conversation with at a party: Corinne. To absolutely no one's surprise, this bitch has never been a bridesmaid. But keep in mind she's 24 and probably only hangs out with older club promoters, so this warrants no more than an eyeroll. Photog Franco, who is probably shooting a porn after this group date, *coincidentally* makes Corinne a bikini bride, and like the Manchurian Candidate that she is, all she can talk about is how sexy she looks and how it makes sense that she would be the nearly naked bride. Enter Brittany (who?), who is actually topless and actually looks very pretty. Corinne is, of course, very uncomfortable because she was programmed to be the star.

And A STAR SHE WILL BE. Left with no other options, Corinne takes her top off and *forces* Nick to hold her boobs in front of the other girls. It's pretty obvious that they made Corinne go last so everyone would be drunk enough to get pissed, and it works. Adding insult to injury, Franco picks Corinne as the "winner" of the group date, because, as she puts it, she was actually daring enough to have clothes and then take them off. Later that night Corinne continues to "project her sexuality" on Nick, stealing him first and immediately going in for the make out. Hilariously, Nick says that he's been "really impressed with Corinne so far." Yeah, having absolutely no shame is truly impressive. And she continues to impress me by interrupting other girls not once, but twice after her original make out session.

Now naturally this pisses everyone off, but NO ONE says or DOES anything about it! Ladies, I hate to repeat Corinne's advice here, but like, fucking go interrupt her and take your time. You came here "for Nick" or at least to be on TV, so fucking take what is yours! But they won't, because they're all fucking idiots. This is underscored by the repeated in-camera interviews were girls like Taylor try to convince themselves that Corinne "isn't what Nick wants" and that Nick is "better than Corinne." Taylor: get a clue. Or a job. Or watch a single episode of Andi or Kaitlyn's season. Or just like, go to a bar in River North. Then maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't sit here thinking that a guy like Nick isn't going to go for a girl like Corinne. Because he is. And sure enough, he proves it by giving Corinne the group date rose.

In between flashes of Corinne we see Raven getting some quality time in with Nick, but is any time with Nick actually quality time? For example, Raven let's Nick know she was cheated on before, and Nick's response was to direct the conversation to him and talk about how he's been cheated on. Everything he says feels so disingenuous, but that's because he always finds a way to make things about himself. So if we're being real, him and Corinne are actually perfect for each other. But we're not being real, because this is reality TV. There was, however, a perfect moment of reality TV after Taylor re-interrupts Corinne and Corinne confronts her. Corinne is pissed because "that's not the way to go about things." The way to go about things is to be "classy" [take your top off] and not direct your disrespect "towards any one person" ... just the entire group. Taylor handles the confusing assault incredibly well. Then again, anyone with an IQ over 70 shouldn't have much difficulty defending themselves against a drunk clown. Corinne quickly forgets about Taylor, gushing with pride for herself for stepping out of her comfort zone "in many different times and angles."

Playa Say What?

The second half of the episode was dedicated to the history between Liz and Nick. I can't decide if Liz is this dumb, or just starving for Instagram fame. On the one hand, I can see how a producer could convince her that Nick would love to see her again, they already have an established connection, and she'll probably go far. On the other hand, she seems pretty dumb. Sitting around the mansion all day with nothing to do but drink, tan, and get in her own head, Liz confides in Gretchen Wieners that she is Jade's best friend, didn't memorize her maid of honor speech at the wedding, and also slept with Nick. She emphasizes how wasted she was when it happened, and also how awkward it was. "Like, super awkward."

She mentions intermittent sex and talking, which is something we've heard before. This all but confirms my suspicion that Nick is actually terrible in bed. That's why it didn't work out with Andi. And sure, he fucked Kaitlyn and still made it to the final two, but that sneaky fuck sesh probably didn't give him tons of time to talk while inside of her.

The Nice Girl 

It's pretty easy to forget that Nick went on a 1-on-1 date this episode, but there's a reason for that. Danielle M. doesn't make good TV because she's not terrible like the rest of the girls. She seems like a very sweet girl and has a real job. Does she pack a lot of personality? No. But not everyone can be Alexis or Corinne or the Genie from Aladdin. There can't be complex hoes without basic bitches, and Danielle M. is that nice basic bitch. She'll stick around awhile because she's probably one of the only "real" women who, despite being pretty bland, is one of the only realistic choices in terms of actual marriage and not just Hollywood Instagram-fame. This is probably why she gets the first 1-on-1 date. She's got the hometown Wisconsin vibe and they need to get her tragedy out and on camera because she's going to fade to the back for the next 7 weeks before ultimately getting cut. During dinner, Nick goes on and on about himself and being on the Bachelorette twice and heartbreak, and Danielle M. just keeps nodding, looking bored. This whole Bachelorette story sounds like Hillary repeatedly listing her years of accomplishments during the debates while contrasting Donald's years of housing discrimination and golden showers. We get it. You get it. You're here. We're listening. Can we please talk about something else? Anything.

We Need to Talk . . .

The theme of this date -- breakups -- is comically opposite to the first in every way. The first stop is the "Museum of Broken Relationships,"  which cannot possibly be a thing that existed prior to the filming of this episode. This "museum" houses an uncomfortable amount of random shit that people have "left behind" from their broken relationships. Umm, what? Left behind from where? No one can convince me that people come to museums to break up, or that they send objects from their failed relationships to be put on display for other weirdoes to look at. First of all, where are all the dildos? Second, USPS is incredibly unreliable. Sure enough, at least one loser has donated to this museum: Nick. After a rehearsed speech about himself and how Andi and Kaitlyn led him to be the Bachelor, the women are given the task of preparing breakup monologues for Nick. Everything is funny and light-hearted, especially when loose cannon Josephine smacks Nick across the face. Until, that is, it's Liz's turn. Upset and insecure, she pulls out a NOTEPAD to start her breakup. Immediately, Nick diverts his eyes like the pussy that he is.

But he knows what's coming. And it's AWFUL. More cringe worthy than Corinne's nipples, Liz goes on and on--in detail--about meeting him in a hallway, at a wedding, and essentially blames him for not chasing after her, even though she wasn't ready to let him in. Or at least, in farther than just the tip. The audience is silent and all of the girls but Gretchen Wieners look confused. Gretchen tries to play it cool and pretend that she has no idea what's going on,

but it's not very convincing. Liz's breakup is followed by more awkward silence and her finally saying "okay we can be done." Thank fucking god. For some reason, after this, NOT A SINGLE GIRL asks what the fuck that was all about. They mention it was detailed and weird and awkward, but don't say anything to Liz or Nick. Literally no girl, after hearing the hallway comment, and the wedding comment, was like -- umm, I have a few follow up questions? Nick spends the rest of the date stressing out about Liz, but it's pretty easy to see through his feigned concern for the other women. In a voiceover he tries to sell that he's concerned because he doesn't want the girls to think he's been lying to them (which he has), but in reality, he's concerned about what she actually said and how much of "her side" has been leaked. So while Jaimi reveals she's dated girls, and Kristina talks about growing up in a country that may or may not be controlling the United States, all Nick can think about is who knows what. It's smarmy and pathetic and incredible on brand. Finally, Gretchen Wieners spills the beans to him and he's able to tell his side of the story. At this point, he knows he has to get rid of Liz before she tells more people about how terrible he is in bed, so pulls her away for 1-on-1 time. They're gone for a long time which eventually leads the girls to wonder what's going on between them after her awkward-ass breakup speech. Gretchen Wieners refuses to rat Liz out,

but making it pretty clear there's something going on. And sure enough, it is. Nick confronts Liz with the whole "right reasons" question, and Liz's answer is just awful. She didn't ask for his number because she didn't know him. But then didn't want to ask for it and give him the wrong impression because she knew he was in Paradise. And even though he was only in Paradise for a month, she knew he had "other things" going on and just wasn't the type of person who liked to talk on the phone. We don't need Nick to point out to us that the more she talks, the less sense she makes, but it's the nail in her coffin. Finally Nick tells Liz that, while he admires her lack of shame courage for coming on this show and putting herself and her sexual history out there, she's milked this situation for all it's worth and it's time to go.

Now that he's gotten rid of Liz, he has to do the hardest thing of all: tell the women. Come clean. Be honest. Of course this is going to be difficult, because being a decent person isn't easy. Especially for a selfish little bitch like Nick. Before dropping the bomb he expresses concern that it's not the right time. But when is it ever a good time to tell your 26 girlfriends that you slept with one of them already? That you've been lying to them since Day 1? That you actually have no dick? I guess we'll find out next week. You know you love me.

XOXO,

Gossip Girl.

Corinne's Corner

There were too many good quotes to incorporate or ignore coming from this girl's articitially plumped up mouth, so here are my favorites:

I just want to be with him. Be with him. And hopefully, I will."

"I was daring enough to have clothes, and take them off."

"Brittany is half naked, and that should be me."

"Like he held my boobs, okay. No one has ever held my boobs like that. Or ever will."

"I really like Nick. When I was talking to him, he was listening."

"Today was just a dream come true. I stepped out of my comfort zone in many different times and angles. Dad would be so proud. Even though I was naked. HE would be proud."

"As long as there's no situation about the situation, we're okay."

"I just put myself out there and I just was myself. That's it. That's all I did, guys. Literally. I was just Corinne."  Yeah, we saw...

Did you notice ...

"I'm ready for the women to see me as me, instead of the guy they've seen on TV."  - Nick....but wait...

Alexis looks like Jade. But she's much cooler. From dolphin/shark to pregnant wife. She's definitely my favorite. Especially when she was resting her drink on her fake pregnant belly.

The girls on the first group date want to give Brittany the benefit of the doubt. They’re jealous of her, but they don’t mind because she didn’t choose to be topless. She was born that way.

The girls complained about being a bridesmaids, but Liz could have told them that's not a bad thing when it comes to Nick.

Did you notice that Liz's big reveal to Gretchen Wieners actually happened over three different scenes? I'm guessing this is because Liz wasn't giving enough detail the first two times and the producers really wanted to get the whole sex thing out there.

On the boat during their 1-on-1 date, Nick makes Danielle M. face the sun after snagging some cheese and then the better spot. SMH.

After hearing they were going to act out breakup scenes, Nick turns to Josephine and says "I'm most worried about you" as she says "violence."

Minority Report: No rose ceremony this week so nothing to report. But noticeably we didn't really see any of our chocolate ladies this week. That's probably a good thing since we were so focused on crazy white girls, but still, can we get more camera time for the lesbian with the nose ring? 

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Ben Higgins Says He's Discussed Being 'The Bachelor' Again (Exclusive)

Ben Higgins is having his busiest year yet.

The 29-year-old Generous Coffee co-founder caught up with ET on a trip to Los Angeles this week. He’s been traveling nonstop to promote his new company and causes close to his heart. Here, the former Bachelor dishes on his current projects and if he'll return to the franchise.

You're so busy with Generous Coffee, things seems to be skyrocketing! 

Things are really moving quickly! ... Now we're really starting to solidify our product line, so we have coffee ... we have jewelry, [T-shirts] made out of plastic bottles; they're made in Haiti by single mothers ... Generous is set up to supply products that have stories behind them and that are investing in people from the start to the beginning. We're donating the profits back, the idea's catching on ... People living in the world today ... want to see a change when it comes to business and want to see something that gives back. 

This has been a very busy year, what does the next year look like? 

We want to expand to travel. I want to invite people to Haiti, Rwanda, places we're currently working in, and also, I hope to expand our coffee program to something recognizable in the coffee world. 

And you have another project. Your new podcast is Ladybosses With Ben Higgins and Jesse Draper. 

It's about interviewing women in leadership in whatever arena they're operating in! ... We want to highlight them, show them off, let their stories be told.

You're a guy who is really OK talking about women's stories, not every guy is -- do you ever get teased about that?

Yeah, definitely teased about it ...  where I find my confidence is not in other people's opinions but in my faith, myself, the people around me. When there's injustice in the world in whatever capacity, if i can enter into that arena and combat it at any level ... that's what gets me fired up. If my job could be about highlight injustices and seeing ways to solve them, I can't think of a better job. ... There's problems out there, issues out there, and I'd rather go to bed at night knowing I tried to combat it rather than adding to it.

Did The Bachelor help you understand women better? 

I think so. You get off The Bachelor and people are like, 'I can't believe you'd do that! Isn't that degrading to women?' You hear that all the time. For me, it was the opposite. I had 26 beautiful people in one room and got to hear their stories, backgrounds .. I left that show having a lot more respect for people in general and going, 'I need to start listening to stories if I want to build successful relationships. I need to invest in the person.'

A lot of fans are calling for it, so let's be real. Have conversations happened about you being The Bachelor again? 

Well, I mean, I think it was always going to be a discussion. I have a great relationship with the show. They’ve been good to me ... What I like about where my relationship is with The Bachelor now is they know where my life’s at. They understand where I’m at as a person. And if they were ever to want me to go back on the show – I don’t know if they would or not – but they would know that, hey, this is a better relationship than the last time. It’s not me coming into it blind scenario where I don’t know anything. It’s a conversation of, 'Is this really right for you right now?' And we haven’t had those conversations yet but we always stay in touch. They know when I’m ready and when I’m not. And I think if they were to ever propose it to me, they would be very open to me saying, ‘I’m just not ready yet.’ And they would say, ‘I get it.’ 

If you did do it again, what would you do differently the second time around? 

I don’t know if I’d do anything. Honestly, I was so happy with how The Bachelor went for me this time. I could not feel more confident in how it ended and how the process went. There was obviously tough scenarios and that’s going to happen no matter what. Breakups are going to happen on that show. I would probably have held back at the end from being so open and honest. 

...Does that mean saying ‘I love you’ the second time? 

Yeah. I probably wouldn’t have said it so many times! I would have kind of pulled back a bit. But, outside of that, I don’t have any regrets from that show. I had an amazing relationship with somebody that I still care a ton about. I can’t picture a better outcome other than maybe a marriage. But, for me I would hope I’d treat it the same way.

Earlier this year you wrote on your blog, The Mahogany Workplace, that you feel lonely. Do you think work is filling a void? 

I wonder if one of the reasons why [my job with Generous] has picked up speed, picked pace up for me in my life and I am so busy, is because it is replacing maybe a [relationship] void that I have. Which isn’t exactly a bad thing. Luckily, this is a really good thing in my life. So, instead of replacing it with some vice that is bad, I replace it with something good and that pumps me up a lot. But, yeah, I still feel lonely at times. You know, it’s weird to sit around a group of friends and have a big friends' dinner, or to go out somewhere, and you’re literally the only single person. You know, that’s an odd feeling! There are moments in time where I do feel lonely. Where I do look around and wonder, ‘Why not me? What’s going on here?’ But I know that I am in this season of life for a reason and I’m here for a purpose. 

Well what are three things you're looking for in a woman right now?

Honesty, vulnerability and a ton of love.

And what about three reasons people should buy a bag of Generous Coffee right now? 

It truly is the highest quality coffee out there! ... All coffee or any products purchased, the profits are going back to causes that are fighting some type of injustice in the world. Right now we’re focusing on developing jobs for women in Honduras. ... Let’s start purchasing products that are giving back, that are the highest quality and join back into a community of people of the highest quality -- and you’re supporting causes that are doing something great in the world.

For more on Higgins, watch the video below.

RELATED CONTENT:

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Why 'Bachelor' Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell Have Had to Talk Post-Breakup (Exclusive)

Ben Higgins Says 'Bachelor' Arie Luyendyk Jr. Should Have Broken Up With Becca Kufrin Off Camera (Exclusive)

[likefusion]

How I Knew When Saying “Yes” Was Hurting My Productivity (And Worse): Years ago I got divorced and went from married suburbanite to urban bachelor in the span of a few weeks. Talk about a bumpy landing. I didn't have any friends, family, or social support downtown, so it took me time to develop a new two-word philosophy to rattle myself out of the wallowing. That two-word philosophy was simply “Say yes!”—to anything, anytime, with anyone. And I don't regret it. It's brought lots of opportunities my way that I'd never have encountered otherwise. But for everything I gained in new opportunities, I paid the price on productivity. The more you're given a chance to do, and then actually do, the less time you have to do it all. Here's how I knew it was time to rein it in, and the method I use to keep everything in balance today. The (Limited) Virtues Of “Yes” Defaulting to yes actually worked well for me in those first few years. I went to charity events for organizations I'd never heard of before, I was the guy at the concert who doesn't know the songs but buys the album anyway, and I always had some internet friend crashing on my couch. I also had lots of nights that didn't end well. Stutter stops, missed connections, cold lonely walks home from some get-together that didn't go anywhere. But I also said yes to doing a TED Talk that was ranked one of the most inspiring, and said yes to writing blog posts that turned into The Book of Awesome and sold a million copies. And then, over time, something happened. I suddenly had more options, more choices, and more invitations than I had time to take advantage of. This transition happens to many of us. You go from parent of one kid to parent of three. You inherit a team of 10 people after a new promotion. You look back and realize that you said yes to more—more meetings, more opportunities, more family members. Life accelerated. Your career jumped forward. And then it hit a point where you suddenly have too much to do. Now what? Related: Six Reasons To Say “Yes” When You Really Want To Say “No” “Hell Yes!” Versus Everything Else My friend Derek Sivers has a great philosophy that I've adopted as well. It's called, “No or hell yeah!” and it's really quite simple. Here's how it works: You receive an invitation to do something (a date, a job, a social event, whatever), then take a minute to observe your authentic reaction—which is invariably either one of two things: A super emphatic, fist-pumping, “Hell yeah!” where you're just shaking with excitement to do it—in which case you do it; or, Literally anything else at all—in which case you don't. The beauty of this model is that it filters every other positive reaction into a no: “Um, sounds good!”, “Lemme check my calendar, I think I'm open,” or the dreaded, “Can I get back to you?” No, no, all no! Those are lukewarm reactions that remain positive until just before you get to the commitment and realize you wish you'd said no instead. Maybe you even bail last-minute, which destroys trust and hurts your reputation. It's much easier to simply filter your options through Sivers's model up front, to make sure you're only committing to things you really want to do. “Great” Is The Enemy Of “Life Changing” What's the benefit? You don't kill those invisible opportunities you haven't dreamt up yet—those big projects you need time to dive into, and all the downtime your mind needs to create space for what matters. I knew it was time to switch from “say yes” to “no or hell yeah!” when I looked at my calendar and realized I was swamped, morning to night, on things I really enjoyed doing but—and here's the crucial part—only some of which I loved so much as to call life changing. If “good” is the enemy of great, then “great” is the enemy of “life changing.” Why does it need to be life changing? Because, trite as it unavoidably sounds, life is short. There are already loads of different options and obligations you simply can't say no to because they're part of your work or family responsibilities. And that's fine. But that often leaves precious little room for your personal and social commitments, which makes it all the more important to set a really high bar for those. When you do, you'll free up time to focus on what you care deeply about. And the benefit of doing that will start leaking into your work and family life, too. Personally, making this transition wasn't easy. In fact, it was downright painful. And it continues to be. It's not just saying no to a podcast so you can write a book chapter. It's also missing a family dinner because you're flying to interview someone. These hurt—deeply. It's hard to say no to friends, fun projects, and fly-away ideas. You sometimes have to stare in horror as a brand-new relationship you know could take off if you only had the time to put into it, then watch it sputter and die. There's nothing pleasant about that. But the alternative? Well, those giant regrets haunting you later in life—that maybe you could've tackled your dream job, that perhaps you should've done something that felt more meaningful—those are harder to brush away than the obligations cluttering your calendar next week or next month. Because plotted on a long enough timeline (your lifespan, for instance), saying yes to everything doesn't just tank your productivity, it also eats away at your sense of purpose. That's a prospect it's actually easy to say no to, don't you think? http://bit.ly/2q3NO2M

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/nick-viall-bachelor-vanessa-fantasy-suite/

Nick Viall on 'The Bachelor' Vanessa Fantasy Suite

So the unlucky in love while making a nice chunk of money "Bachelor," Nick Viall has cut a swath through 30 women and is now down to two promising ones. There's 25-year-old fashion boutique owner, Raven Gates, who has come all the way from Arkansas for her shot at love, fame or some great promotion for her shop courtesy of ABC. Then there's Vanessa Grimaldi, a special education teacher from Canada who's closer to Nick Viall's age by four years. Speculation online has been that Vanessa will be the recipient of the rose from Viall, but you know how "The Bachelor" loves surprise endings so Nick could go home empty handed, although he could find his next match on "Dancing with the Stars" as he's got his next paycheck already lined up. The finale has Nick bringing Raven and Vanessa home to meet his family hoping that they'll be able to make his choice easier. Naturally, this is a ruse to add more drama to the mix as the two women are made to feel uncomfortable knowing their fate is in the hands of Viall, his family and the producers at ABC. Vanessa's caution makes Nick's family wonder if she'll turn him down for a proposal, but of course, he wants more 'private time' with them to see which one is the winner. Nothing like being a kid in a candy store with plenty of PREP. Nick’s final date with Vanessa starts as a hike to a special secret destination: the snow-covered cottage of Santa Claus. Santa’s workshop even has a special gift for Vanessa. But the evening portion is dominated by what compromises they will need to make on where to live and family traditions. Her lingering questions and the fact that she may not be ready to accept a proposal leave Nick with a haunting apprehension of his past. Would he be left at the altar again if he asks Vanessa to marry him? Raven’s kind heart and easy-going manner scores points with Nick. They spend their final day together ice skating hand-in-hand on a frozen lake. Later, over an intimate dinner, she reminds Nick why he is falling in love with her. She is ready to take the next step in their future together. Nick's latest blog posting about his Fantasy Suite date with Vanessa has many thinking she'll be the winner, but I personally still think he'll choose Raven. We'll see in a few hours, but in the meantime, read what Nick had to say about his date. Finland had been better than imagined. My date with Raven last week moved our relationship forward in a huge way. I anticipated two other great dates with Rachel and Vanessa. My last date with Rachel was pretty amazing. Facts about Finland: There are more reindeer then people in all of Finland. I remember when driving and traveling through Lapland, every road is surrounded by huge beautiful trees. Eight out of 10 times I would see a family of reindeer run beside the road or even through the highway holding up traffic. They’re huge and unbelievable to see in person. To have the chance to get up close and pet them was pretty cool. It was really great to open up with Rachel over the fire. I also have to admit, the salmon that was slow roasting in the corner of the pit, was literally THE BEST salmon I’ve had in my life. Rachel and I started nibbling on it politely and then after a few minutes just went to town and ate the entire fish with our hands. It stands as one of the best meals of my life. I want to again say how excited I am about Rachel becoming the next Bachelorette. It was a little bittersweet watching our date back. I think it’s obvious how much charisma, intelligence and charm Rachel embodies. I was lucky to have had her in my life, and I wish her nothing but the best in the crazy and exciting journey she’s about to take. Heading into my date with Vanessa, I couldn’t have been more excited about spending more quality time with her.  It had been quite a while since seeing her back in Montreal. Meeting her family and experiencing her amazing Italian heritage firsthand was so great, but it also raised good questions for both of us that needed to be addressed. In an effort to first break the ice, so to speak, I thought it’d be pretty fun to fully embrace the Finnish culture with some authentic Arctic ice plunging. As I’m sure you guys all watched, that is where you basically drop quickly into nearly frozen water and then run even more quickly into a well-heated sauna. Okay, the running part is probably not as traditional, but we’d never been to the Arctic circle before! A lot of our date was spent building on our connection, we were able to really communicate on what could happen in our future. Vanessa and I always seemed to be able to air out our questions and concerns and that gave me a lot of confidence about our ability to work through things together. When Vanessa told me she was in love with me, it was an incredible feeling and in that moment with her, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. The rose ceremony that week was an incredibly difficult evening. Making the decision to let Rachel go was extremely emotional and so hard to do. But my relationships with Raven and Vanessa felt stronger. Looking back now and knowing she’s the next Bachelorette, I realize how important it was that I was clear about my feelings for her. I wouldn’t have wanted her to not know how I felt. Now, not to jump in time, but let us talk about Women Tell All!  Seeing Rachel again at Women Tell All was really wonderful. It was the first time seeing or speaking since saying goodbye in Finland. I was excited to catch up with her but of course a little nervous. I’m so happy we’re in a good place though, and I couldn’t be more supportive for the amazing journey that lay ahead for her. Okay, so let’s talk about the rest of Women Tell All.  You may or may not know but pretty much all the excitement and show happens without the Bachelor or Bachelorette in the room. So watching this back, I was just as curious to see what the girls had to say about me and each other. All I can say is drama, drama, drama. I hope you all found it as interesting as I did! I totally know how hard it is to go through this journey, so of course tensions rise and frustrations come out. I will say, the one thing I still don’t understand is what Liz had to say. When I watched her speak with Chris Harrison, I found that she still didn’t make much sense to me. I’m not aware of any attempt she made at connecting with me before we met again that first night at the mansion. So watching back, I have no idea what she is talking about. If this was something she was so adamant about, I wish she had said something to me when I came onto the floor so we could clear things up. I guess Liz and I will just remain in a state of misunderstanding. When I finally came out to the floor myself and got a chance to face the women, I have to admit I was incredibly nervous! I mean who wouldn’t be, right? With that many exes in one place it’s impossible to forecast the tone of the room you’re about to enter. Throughout the journey, I tried my best to show empathy and respect to all the women while I made decisions along the way. I just know that I always tried to follow my heart and I can truly say I am confident in all my decisions. With that said, it was still so great to see the women. Everyone looked stunning, and I was really appreciative for the warm greetings from everyone. Women Tell All was certainly entertaining — from cheese pasta (which I still have yet to try, by the way) to seeing how loved Kristina is and catching up with everyone else, it was a really fun evening to be a part of. As we all wish Rachel luck on her journey, I hope you’re excited to see how my own comes to an end next week. I promise there are a few surprises and it might not end the way you expect. So get ready for the most dramatic finale in television history! (Sorry, had to have my own attempt at Chris Harrison’s line.) Hopefully, fourth time’s a charm! Thanks for reading, Nick Check out "The Bachelor" finally tonight on ABC.

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Think 'Bachelor' Arie Luyendyk Jr. Is Boring? ABC Exec Responds to Critics (Exclusive)

Arie Luyendyk Jr. started his journey as The Bachelor on uncertain ground. Much of it wasn't his fault. Peter Kraus, runner-up from the previous season of The Bachelorette and the clear Bachelor frontrunner, had been in discussions to be the lead that ultimately fell through. Ravenous Peter fans were abundant, and the nickname 'Not Peter' took hold for Arie. 

When you order something online vs. when it arrives in the mail #TheBachelorpic.twitter.com/z2wKZvDu2v

— Dana Weiss (@Possessionista) September 7, 2017

The Arizona resident admirably laughed off the moniker, but Kraus comparisons aside, he also hadn't been on fans' screens in five years. When he got the Bachelor call, the 36-year-old literally grabbed a suit and jumped on a plane, and after his Good Morning America appearance the next morning, fans on Twitter let out a resounding, "WHO?!" and side-by-sides of his original Bachelorette headshot from 2012 and the new GMA appearance went viral. 

shoutout to ABC for providing a pair of #TheBachelor promo shots that manage to make Arie look like his own son pic.twitter.com/egfYWYVrXm

— Molly Fitzpatrick (@mollyfitz) September 7, 2017

Then the chatter died down, and Bachelor Nation seemed ready and excited for a new season. But since season 22 began, many have dubbed the race car driver's episodes too slow (including alumni of the franchise like Corinne Olympios, Raven Gates, Tanner Tolbert and more). We spoke with Robert Mills, ABC Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials and Late-Night Programming, who's a Bachelor fan (and, frankly, historian) himself, about his takeaways from this season and the ending ahead that host Chris Harrison has promised is "a phenomenal finish."

ET: You usually cast the lead from a more recent season. Do you wish Arie had gotten more media training before filming, or been on camera more recently?

Robert Mills: We’ve had, for lack of a better term, growing pains. … He was having a hard time [with] some of the stuff [he had] to do for TV; shooting things over and over again, even just something like an entrance into a room because you’ve got to get the right angle. It was hard because he was trying to be as authentic and organic as possible … He really had to get back into it. ... It also happened very quickly, too, so I think there just wasn’t a lot of time.

Is there anything you would've done differently in terms of bringing him on?

You need different types of seasons and he was what we needed now. We had certainly an entertaining season with Nick Viall, but it was a little bit crazier and sometimes you need one with a Bachelor like this who’s just very sincere and kind of a regular guy. ... Every season we always do a debrief ... It's like having an NFL team. Whether it’s a Super Bowl-winning season or a season where you just miss the playoffs, whatever it is, you say, "Here’s what we really liked. Here’s what didn’t work. Here’s what people responded to," and you make adjustments for the next season.

What are your thoughts about some of the women (Bekah, Krystal) now saying they went on the show for Peter?

Well, that happens all the time. ... Lesley [Murphy, of Sean Lowe's season] has said she went on The Bachelor for Arie! That is not a new phenomenon. I think it's more magnified because Arie doesn't come from the previous season, but it happens all the time. 

But ratings are down a bit, why do you think that is?

I will say it's fascinating to me to see how much shorter people’s memories are now. I think because there is just so much stuff, certainly entertainment-wise, so many options, there’s much more short-term memory. It’s like we live in a time-lapse world now. [With] Arie, I was shocked by how many people said, “I don’t know who this guy is,” or “I don’t remember this guy.” That was kind of difficult and people needed to sort of get back into the swing of him. We came off a down season with [Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay] too. ... We’ve won the time period every week, so it’s still a high-class problem to have, but why was Nick’s season higher rated than Arie’s? ... I think that this one is rooted in more sincerity, although sometimes that reads as boredom to some people.

Considering that has been a criticism of this season -- that it's "boring" -- do you feel pressure to properly tease the ending? We've heard it's jaw-dropping.

Yes, it is important for us to sort of sound the drumbeat. Honestly, if you’ve never even watched The Bachelor before, you should watch this! We’re working on and have had several phone calls of, "How do we really promote this so we don’t leave anything on the table?" ... This finale is really unlike anything we’ve seen.

How did you react when you found out how the season ends?

Obviously, when you look at it as a TV executive, you think, "Oh, anything promotable is always great. This is fantastic." But this show more so than some others, you have to remember these are real people with real feelings. It’s a really fine line and you have to debate everything really closely, like how much you’re going to show, because, on the one hand, everyone has made a contract with the audience that you’re going to show how everything plays out over the season. On the other hand, you want to be, like I said, respectful to feelings. So it’s hard, but I am happy.

You've done Bachelor and Bachelor Winter Games since the Bachelor in Paradise scandal last summer. How do you think the new safety rules that the team implemented after that affected the shows?

They haven’t affected them that much. If anyone says this season seems boring, that really had less to do with not as much drinking and more to do with that Arie is a guy from Scottsdale who wants to get up with the sun, be with his wife, go sell houses and come home to her. He’s looking for something more grounded. ... Like I said, with every season we will look at it at the end and say, did this affect it at all? Did it affect it where we need to kind of adjust things a bit? And we’ll look at that going forward.

On Winter Games, one international cast member noted the women around her were thinner than her. You're a proponent of diversifying casting. Have you talked about diversifying the body types?

Absolutely. We’d [cast for more body-type diversity.] A lot of it does revolve around who the lead is and who the lead wants to date. What you don’t want to do is say, "We’re going to put on somebody who’s more curvy," and then they’re gone the first night. … It’s hard, but we’re all for as much diversity as possible.

From the start, much of this season has been about what fans think of Arie. What will fans think of him after the finale?

I don’t know because so much of it is live, and [depends on] how Arie handles himself there. Sometimes there is the tendency to jump to kind of a mob mentality and like someone or dislike someone. The one thing about Arie that we’ve always gotten is he’s totally authentic and that, like I said, might be read as boring by some people. At the very least, Arie is going to be true to himself. ... This is a really nice, decent guy. ... I hope audiences kind of give him the benefit of the doubt.

Arie has sometimes had a hard time with his feelings, especially for Lauren B. He's said he can't explain why he likes her so much. What are you wishing he'd say there?

I, like everyone else, wish he would explain why! But I do think, honest to God, he can’t explain it. I think that connection is what leads him to do bizarre things like get up and walk around the room and come back and give her a rose!

Yes, he walked away from their dinner! What happened there? Why didn't we see that footage?

Really, not much happened. He’s just in his head. Lauren B., that’s the one where it’s a very, very bizarre connection. I think if Arie didn’t believe in past lives, he probably would here and say, "We must have been married in a past life or something." There’s a connection he can’t even put his finger on. I do think he’s better at talking about it with somebody like, say, Kendall, where there’s a million different things he likes about her.

We also did not see Krystal freaking out on that bus after the bowling date. Will you now install cameras in the vehicles?

Yes, absolutely! Anytime a trip is taken anywhere with one or more people in the cast, we will make sure cameras are there at all times.

There's a lot to keep track of. How do you feel when spoilers get out?

Certainly it’s fine to tease things, but I like when we control how it’s being teased, where it’s being teased and what is being teased. So I’m not thrilled about it. You do realize at some point you have to throw up your hands. With social media now too, nothing is private for anyone, so it’s hard to keep anything secret. It does frustrate me; I’ll be honest with you.

Have you thought about putting social media clauses in cast contracts? Sean Lowe mentioned to me he thought he had one.

It's a fine line. Obviously you run the risk of like a few years ago, with Kaitlyn [Bristowe] blowing the whole season and we had to do triage. So it’s hard, but for the most part we’ve identified social media as something that’s really much more of a helper.

There was a report about a trio wedding for Kaitlyn, JoJo Fletcher and Rachel Lindsay. Could we see more televised weddings in the future?

I think Rachel and Bryan are absolutely going to get married, and that would be a dream for us to do a Bachelor multiple wedding. We’d love it, we’re here for it, but these are real people and it’s their real life. If we could find a way to make [a trio wedding] seem appealing to them, we’d absolutely do it! I also understand a person’s wedding day is very personal and their own. But God knows, we’d love to do it.

There was a one-season spinoff that focused on Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell. Any other spinoffs you'd consider?

I think it’s very difficult to document a couple who’s together. A lot of it is not very compelling, or if you try to make it compelling it can lead to cracks in the facade. … I don’t know that one character sustains an entire spinoff, I think you need a group of people, which is what is done so great on Paradise and Winter Games.

After this season, where's your head in terms of how you want to cast the next Bachelorette?

The beauty of things like Paradise and Winter Games is that they’ve widened the pool a lot. Also, Arie’s group of women is phenomenal. … We have a lot of fantastic choices. ... The people who produce the show are the fans, honestly. It's not us. It's monitoring what they like. Nick [Viall] was such a great left turn, but that was because you saw the reaction to him on Paradise. ... That was the reason for that.

The #TimesUp movement has been such a topic of conversation. What have you thought about how it plays into the show considering your female audience?

No matter what show you're doing or what walk of life you're in, you can't be blind to this movement. ... [We do have] such a powerful female audience and presence, so I think we're looking at it, but it's not going to lead what the show is or what it becomes. 

This many seasons in, would you ever go outside the Bachelor world entirely for a lead?

When [the show] first started, the thesis was about a guy who nobody would ever get to date under any other circumstances. Harvard-educated, wealthy, and you sort of find that those guys don’t necessarily need a TV show not only to date one woman, but even multiple women. To me it really worked with somebody who’s just sort of a regular guy, and you need the previous season to establish that. When this show really worked was with Jason Mesnick, who was just sort of a single dad from Seattle, but because we spent 10 weeks with him and were so invested in his story, that’s why everybody wanted to see him as The Bachelor. So I think it’s really difficult to not do it like that now. … Even with someone like Juan Pablo Galavis, who didn’t have much screen time, he’d still made an impression. It has to be somebody who’s at least tangential in the Bachelor world.

The Bachelor world is one we love living in, so watch The Bachelor: Women Tell All Sunday night on ABC, followed by another episode Monday featuring fantasy suites. (Mills promises excitement from the 'Kissing Bandit': "[Arie] is certainly not a born-again virgin.") As for the finale in early March, we'll have to wait and see what happens ... maybe this really will be the most dramatic one yet. 

RELATED CONTENT: 

'The Bachelor: Women Tell All' Sneak Peek -- Caroline Confronts Arie Over Finale: 'I Know What You Did!'

Will 'Bachelor in Paradise' Get an International Cast After ‘Winter Games’? It Was Supposed to Last Summer!

'Bachelor Winter Games' Produces 4 Couples: Why Was the Series So Successful?

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Think 'Bachelor' Arie Luyendyk Jr. Is Boring? ABC Exec Responds to Critics (Exclusive)

Arie Luyendyk Jr. started his journey as The Bachelor on uncertain ground. Much of it wasn't his fault. Peter Kraus, runner-up from the previous season of The Bachelorette and the clear Bachelor frontrunner, had been in discussions to be the lead that ultimately fell through. Ravenous Peter fans were abundant, and the nickname 'Not Peter' took hold for Arie. 

When you order something online vs. when it arrives in the mail #TheBachelorpic.twitter.com/z2wKZvDu2v

— Dana Weiss (@Possessionista) September 7, 2017

The Arizona resident admirably laughed off the moniker, but Kraus comparisons aside, he also hadn't been on fans' screens in five years. When he got the Bachelor call, the 36-year-old literally grabbed a suit and jumped on a plane, and after his Good Morning America appearance the next morning, fans on Twitter let out a resounding, "WHO?!" and side-by-sides of his original Bachelorette headshot from 2012 and the new GMA appearance went viral. 

shoutout to ABC for providing a pair of #TheBachelor promo shots that manage to make Arie look like his own son pic.twitter.com/egfYWYVrXm

— Molly Fitzpatrick (@mollyfitz) September 7, 2017

Then the chatter died down, and Bachelor Nation seemed ready and excited for a new season. After all, a throwback choice for the lead was surprising, and surprises are exciting (who wasn't screaming in their seat when Nick Viall was announced as Bachelor after BiP?) For those who remembered Arie, he was a nice guy, and for those who didn't, he had a clean slate.

But since season 22 began, many have dubbed the race car driver's episodes too slow (including alumni of the franchise like Corinne Olympios, Raven Gates, Tanner Tolbert and more). We spoke with Robert Mills, ABC Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials and Late-Night Programming, who's a Bachelor fan (and, frankly, historian) himself, about his takeaways from this season and the ending ahead that host Chris Harrison has promised is "a phenomenal finish."

ET: You usually cast the lead from a more recent season. Do you wish Arie had gotten more media training before filming, or been on camera more recently?

Robert Mills: We’ve had, for lack of a better term, growing pains. … He was having a hard time [with] some of the stuff [he had] to do for TV; shooting things over and over again, even just something like an entrance into a room because you’ve got to get the right angle. It was hard because he was trying to be as authentic and organic as possible … He really had to get back into it. ... It also happened very quickly, too, so I think there just wasn’t a lot of time.

Is there anything you would've done differently in terms of bringing him on?

You need different types of seasons and he was what we needed now. We had certainly an entertaining season with Nick Viall, but it was a little bit crazier and sometimes you need one with a Bachelor like this who’s just very sincere and kind of a regular guy. ... Every season we always do a debrief ... It's like having an NFL team. Whether it’s a Super Bowl-winning season or a season where you just miss the playoffs, whatever it is, you say, "Here’s what we really liked. Here’s what didn’t work. Here’s what people responded to," and you make adjustments for the next season.

What are your thoughts about some of the women (Bekah, Krystal) now saying they went on the show for Peter?

Well, that happens all the time. ... Lesley [Murphy, of Sean Lowe's season] has said she went on The Bachelor for Arie! That is not a new phenomenon. I think it's more magnified because Arie doesn't come from the previous season, but it happens all the time. 

But ratings are down a bit, why do you think that is?

I will say it's fascinating to me to see how much shorter people’s memories are now. I think because there is just so much stuff, certainly entertainment-wise, so many options, there’s much more short-term memory. It’s like we live in a time-lapse world now. [With] Arie, I was shocked by how many people said, “I don’t know who this guy is,” or “I don’t remember this guy.” That was kind of difficult and people needed to sort of get back into the swing of him. We came off a down season with [Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay] too. ... We’ve won the time period every week, so it’s still a high-class problem to have, but why was Nick’s season higher rated than Arie’s? ... I think that this one is rooted in more sincerity, although sometimes that reads as boredom to some people.

Considering that has been a criticism of this season -- that it's "boring" -- do you feel pressure to properly tease the ending? We've heard it's jaw-dropping.

Yes, it is important for us to sort of sound the drumbeat. Honestly, if you’ve never even watched The Bachelor before, you should watch this! We’re working on and have had several phone calls of, "How do we really promote this so we don’t leave anything on the table?" ... This finale is really unlike anything we’ve seen.

How did you react when you found out how the season ends?

Obviously, when you look at it as a TV executive, you think, "Oh, anything promotable is always great. This is fantastic." But this show more so than some others, you have to remember these are real people with real feelings. It’s a really fine line and you have to debate everything really closely, like how much you’re going to show, because, on the one hand, everyone has made a contract with the audience that you’re going to show how everything plays out over the season. On the other hand, you want to be, like I said, respectful to feelings. So it’s hard, but I am happy.

You've done Bachelor and Bachelor Winter Games since the Bachelor in Paradise scandal last summer. How do you think the new safety rules that the team implemented after that affected the shows?

They haven’t affected them that much. If anyone says this season seems boring, that really had less to do with not as much drinking and more to do with that Arie is a guy from Scottsdale who wants to get up with the sun, be with his wife, go sell houses and come home to her. He’s looking for something more grounded. ... Like I said, with every season we will look at it at the end and say, did this affect it at all? Did it affect it where we need to kind of adjust things a bit? And we’ll look at that going forward.

On Winter Games, one international cast member noted the women around her were thinner than her. You're a proponent of diversifying casting. Have you talked about diversifying the body types?

Absolutely. We’d [cast for more body-type diversity.] A lot of it does revolve around who the lead is and who the lead wants to date. What you don’t want to do is say, "We’re going to put on somebody who’s more curvy," and then they’re gone the first night. … It’s hard, but we’re all for as much diversity as possible.

From the start, much of this season has been about what fans think of Arie. What will fans think of him after the finale?

I don’t know because so much of it is live, and [depends on] how Arie handles himself there. Sometimes there is the tendency to jump to kind of a mob mentality and like someone or dislike someone. The one thing about Arie that we’ve always gotten is he’s totally authentic and that, like I said, might be read as boring by some people. At the very least, Arie is going to be true to himself. ... This is a really nice, decent guy. ... I hope audiences kind of give him the benefit of the doubt.

Arie has sometimes had a hard time with his feelings, especially for Lauren B. He's said he can't explain why he likes her so much. What are you wishing he'd say there?

I, like everyone else, wish he would explain why! But I do think, honest to God, he can’t explain it. I think that connection is what leads him to do bizarre things like get up and walk around the room and come back and give her a rose!

Yes, he walked away from their dinner! What happened there? Why didn't we see that footage?

Really, not much happened. He’s just in his head. Lauren B., that’s the one where it’s a very, very bizarre connection. I think if Arie didn’t believe in past lives, he probably would here and say, "We must have been married in a past life or something." There’s a connection he can’t even put his finger on. I do think he’s better at talking about it with somebody like, say, Kendall, where there’s a million different things he likes about her.

We also did not see Krystal freaking out on that bus after the bowling date. Will you now install cameras in the vehicles?

Yes, absolutely! Anytime a trip is taken anywhere with one or more people in the cast, we will make sure cameras are there at all times.

There's a lot to keep track of. How do you feel when spoilers get out?

Certainly it’s fine to tease things, but I like when we control how it’s being teased, where it’s being teased and what is being teased. So I’m not thrilled about it. You do realize at some point you have to throw up your hands. With social media now too, nothing is private for anyone, so it’s hard to keep anything secret. It does frustrate me; I’ll be honest with you.

Have you thought about putting social media clauses in cast contracts? Sean Lowe mentioned to me he thought he had one.

It's a fine line. Obviously you run the risk of like a few years ago, with Kaitlyn [Bristowe] blowing the whole season and we had to do triage. So it’s hard, but for the most part we’ve identified social media as something that’s really much more of a helper.

There was a report about a trio wedding for Kaitlyn, JoJo Fletcher and Rachel Lindsay. Could we see more televised weddings in the future?

I think Rachel and Bryan are absolutely going to get married, and that would be a dream for us to do a Bachelor multiple wedding. We’d love it, we’re here for it, but these are real people and it’s their real life. If we could find a way to make [a trio wedding] seem appealing to them, we’d absolutely do it! I also understand a person’s wedding day is very personal and their own. But God knows, we’d love to do it.

There was a one-season spinoff that focused on Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell. Any other spinoffs you'd consider?

I think it’s very difficult to document a couple who’s together. A lot of it is not very compelling, or if you try to make it compelling it can lead to cracks in the facade. … I don’t know that one character sustains an entire spinoff, I think you need a group of people, which is what is done so great on Paradise and Winter Games.

After this season, where's your head in terms of how you want to cast the next Bachelorette?

The beauty of things like Paradise and Winter Games is that they’ve widened the pool a lot. Also, Arie’s group of women is phenomenal. … We have a lot of fantastic choices. ... The people who produce the show are the fans, honestly. It's not us. It's monitoring what they like. Nick [Viall] was such a great left turn, but that was because you saw the reaction to him on Paradise. ... That was the reason for that.

The #TimesUp movement has been such a topic of conversation. What have you thought about how it plays into the show considering your female audience?

No matter what show you're doing or what walk of life you're in, you can't be blind to this movement. ... [We do have] such a powerful female audience and presence, so I think we're looking at it, but it's not going to lead what the show is or what it becomes. 

This many seasons in, would you ever go outside the Bachelor world entirely for a lead?

When [the show] first started, the thesis was about a guy who nobody would ever get to date under any other circumstances. Harvard-educated, wealthy, and you sort of find that those guys don’t necessarily need a TV show not only to date one woman, but even multiple women. To me it really worked with somebody who’s just sort of a regular guy, and you need the previous season to establish that. When this show really worked was with Jason Mesnick, who was just sort of a single dad from Seattle, but because we spent 10 weeks with him and were so invested in his story, that’s why everybody wanted to see him as the Bachelor. So I think it’s really difficult to not do it like that now. … Even with someone like Juan Pablo Galavis, who didn’t have much screen time, he’d still made an impression. It has to be somebody who’s at least tangential in the Bachelor world.

The Bachelor world is one we love living in, so watch The Bachelor: Women Tell All Sunday night on ABC, followed by another episode Monday featuring fantasy suites. (Mills promises excitement from the 'Kissing Bandit': "[Arie] is certainly not a born-again virgin.") As for the finale in early March, we'll have to wait and see what happens ... maybe this really will be the most dramatic one yet. 

RELATED CONTENT: 

'The Bachelor: Women Tell All' Sneak Peek -- Caroline Confronts Arie Over Finale: 'I Know What You Did!'

Will 'Bachelor in Paradise' Get an International Cast After ‘Winter Games’? It Was Supposed to Last Summer!

'Bachelor Winter Games' Produces 4 Couples: Why Was the Series So Successful?

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Think 'Bachelor' Arie Luyendyk Jr. Is Boring? ABC Exec Responds to Critics (Exclusive)

Arie Luyendyk Jr. started his journey as The Bachelor on uncertain ground. Much of it wasn't his fault. Peter Kraus, runner-up from the previous season of The Bachelorette and the clear Bachelor frontrunner, had been in discussions to be the lead that ultimately fell through. Ravenous Peter fans were abundant, and the nickname 'Not Peter' took hold for Arie. 

When you order something online vs. when it arrives in the mail #TheBachelorpic.twitter.com/z2wKZvDu2v

— Dana Weiss (@Possessionista) September 7, 2017

The Arizona resident admirably laughed off the moniker, but Kraus comparisons aside, he also hadn't been on fans' screens in five years. When he got the Bachelor call, the 36-year-old literally grabbed a suit and jumped on a plane, and after his Good Morning America appearance the next morning, fans on Twitter let out a resounding, "WHO?!" and side-by-sides of his original Bachelorette headshot from 2012 and the new GMA appearance went viral. 

shoutout to ABC for providing a pair of #TheBachelor promo shots that manage to make Arie look like his own son pic.twitter.com/egfYWYVrXm

— Molly Fitzpatrick (@mollyfitz) September 7, 2017

Then the chatter died down, and Bachelor Nation seemed ready and excited for a new season. But since season 22 began, many have dubbed the race car driver's episodes too slow (including alumni of the franchise like Corinne Olympios, Raven Gates, Tanner Tolbert and more). We spoke with Robert Mills, ABC Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials and Late-Night Programming, who's a Bachelor fan (and, frankly, historian) himself, about his takeaways from this season and the ending ahead that host Chris Harrison has promised is "a phenomenal finish."

ET: You usually cast the lead from a more recent season. Do you wish Arie had gotten more media training before filming, or been on camera more recently?

Robert Mills: We’ve had, for lack of a better term, growing pains. … He was having a hard time [with] some of the stuff [he had] to do for TV; shooting things over and over again, even just something like an entrance into a room because you’ve got to get the right angle. It was hard because he was trying to be as authentic and organic as possible … He really had to get back into it. ... It also happened very quickly, too, so I think there just wasn’t a lot of time.

Is there anything you would've done differently in terms of bringing him on?

You need different types of seasons and he was what we needed now. We had certainly an entertaining season with Nick Viall, but it was a little bit crazier and sometimes you need one with a Bachelor like this who’s just very sincere and kind of a regular guy. ... Every season we always do a debrief ... It's like having an NFL team. Whether it’s a Super Bowl-winning season or a season where you just miss the playoffs, whatever it is, you say, "Here’s what we really liked. Here’s what didn’t work. Here’s what people responded to," and you make adjustments for the next season.

What are your thoughts about some of the women (Bekah, Krystal) now saying they went on the show for Peter?

Well, that happens all the time. ... Lesley [Murphy, of Sean Lowe's season] has said she went on The Bachelor for Arie! That is not a new phenomenon. I think it's more magnified because Arie doesn't come from the previous season, but it happens all the time. 

But ratings are down a bit, why do you think that is?

I will say it's fascinating to me to see how much shorter people’s memories are now. I think because there is just so much stuff, certainly entertainment-wise, so many options, there’s much more short-term memory. It’s like we live in a time-lapse world now. [With] Arie, I was shocked by how many people said, “I don’t know who this guy is,” or “I don’t remember this guy.” That was kind of difficult and people needed to sort of get back into the swing of him. We came off a down season with [Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay] too. ... We’ve won the time period every week, so it’s still a high-class problem to have, but why was Nick’s season higher rated than Arie’s? ... I think that this one is rooted in more sincerity, although sometimes that reads as boredom to some people.

Considering that has been a criticism of this season -- that it's "boring" -- do you feel pressure to properly tease the ending? We've heard it's jaw-dropping.

Yes, it is important for us to sort of sound the drumbeat. Honestly, if you’ve never even watched The Bachelor before, you should watch this! We’re working on and have had several phone calls of, "How do we really promote this so we don’t leave anything on the table?" ... This finale is really unlike anything we’ve seen.

How did you react when you found out how the season ends?

Obviously, when you look at it as a TV executive, you think, "Oh, anything promotable is always great. This is fantastic." But this show more so than some others, you have to remember these are real people with real feelings. It’s a really fine line and you have to debate everything really closely, like how much you’re going to show, because, on the one hand, everyone has made a contract with the audience that you’re going to show how everything plays out over the season. On the other hand, you want to be, like I said, respectful to feelings. So it’s hard, but I am happy.

You've done Bachelor and Bachelor Winter Games since the Bachelor in Paradise scandal last summer. How do you think the new safety rules that the team implemented after that affected the shows?

They haven’t affected them that much. If anyone says this season seems boring, that really had less to do with not as much drinking and more to do with that Arie is a guy from Scottsdale who wants to get up with the sun, be with his wife, go sell houses and come home to her. He’s looking for something more grounded. ... Like I said, with every season we will look at it at the end and say, did this affect it at all? Did it affect it where we need to kind of adjust things a bit? And we’ll look at that going forward.

On Winter Games, one international cast member noted the women around her were thinner than her. You're a proponent of diversifying casting. Have you talked about diversifying the body types?

Absolutely. We’d [cast for more body-type diversity.] A lot of it does revolve around who the lead is and who the lead wants to date. What you don’t want to do is say, "We’re going to put on somebody who’s more curvy," and then they’re gone the first night. … It’s hard, but we’re all for as much diversity as possible.

From the start, much of this season has been about what fans think of Arie. What will fans think of him after the finale?

I don’t know because so much of it is live, and [depends on] how Arie handles himself there. Sometimes there is the tendency to jump to kind of a mob mentality and like someone or dislike someone. The one thing about Arie that we’ve always gotten is he’s totally authentic and that, like I said, might be read as boring by some people. At the very least, Arie is going to be true to himself. ... This is a really nice, decent guy. ... I hope audiences kind of give him the benefit of the doubt.

Arie has sometimes had a hard time with his feelings, especially for Lauren B. He's said he can't explain why he likes her so much. What are you wishing he'd say there?

I, like everyone else, wish he would explain why! But I do think, honest to God, he can’t explain it. I think that connection is what leads him to do bizarre things like get up and walk around the room and come back and give her a rose!

Yes, he walked away from their dinner! What happened there? Why didn't we see that footage?

Really, not much happened. He’s just in his head. Lauren B., that’s the one where it’s a very, very bizarre connection. I think if Arie didn’t believe in past lives, he probably would here and say, "We must have been married in a past life or something." There’s a connection he can’t even put his finger on. I do think he’s better at talking about it with somebody like, say, Kendall, where there’s a million different things he likes about her.

We also did not see Krystal freaking out on that bus after the bowling date. Will you now install cameras in the vehicles?

Yes, absolutely! Anytime a trip is taken anywhere with one or more people in the cast, we will make sure cameras are there at all times.

There's a lot to keep track of. How do you feel when spoilers get out?

Certainly it’s fine to tease things, but I like when we control how it’s being teased, where it’s being teased and what is being teased. So I’m not thrilled about it. You do realize at some point you have to throw up your hands. With social media now too, nothing is private for anyone, so it’s hard to keep anything secret. It does frustrate me; I’ll be honest with you.

Have you thought about putting social media clauses in cast contracts? Sean Lowe mentioned to me he thought he had one.

It's a fine line. Obviously you run the risk of like a few years ago, with Kaitlyn [Bristowe] blowing the whole season and we had to do triage. So it’s hard, but for the most part we’ve identified social media as something that’s really much more of a helper.

There was a report about a trio wedding for Kaitlyn, JoJo Fletcher and Rachel Lindsay. Could we see more televised weddings in the future?

I think Rachel and Bryan are absolutely going to get married, and that would be a dream for us to do a Bachelor multiple wedding. We’d love it, we’re here for it, but these are real people and it’s their real life. If we could find a way to make [a trio wedding] seem appealing to them, we’d absolutely do it! I also understand a person’s wedding day is very personal and their own. But God knows, we’d love to do it.

There was a one-season spinoff that focused on Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell. Any other spinoffs you'd consider?

I think it’s very difficult to document a couple who’s together. A lot of it is not very compelling, or if you try to make it compelling it can lead to cracks in the facade. … I don’t know that one character sustains an entire spinoff, I think you need a group of people, which is what is done so great on Paradise and Winter Games.

After this season, where's your head in terms of how you want to cast the next Bachelorette?

The beauty of things like Paradise and Winter Games is that they’ve widened the pool a lot. Also, Arie’s group of women is phenomenal. … We have a lot of fantastic choices. ... The people who produce the show are the fans, honestly. It's not us. It's monitoring what they like. Nick [Viall] was such a great left turn, but that was because you saw the reaction to him on Paradise. ... That was the reason for that.

The #TimesUp movement has been such a topic of conversation. What have you thought about how it plays into the show considering your female audience?

No matter what show you're doing or what walk of life you're in, you can't be blind to this movement. ... [We do have] such a powerful female audience and presence, so I think we're looking at it, but it's not going to lead what the show is or what it becomes. 

This many seasons in, would you ever go outside the Bachelor world entirely for a lead?

When [the show] first started, the thesis was about a guy who nobody would ever get to date under any other circumstances. Harvard-educated, wealthy, and you sort of find that those guys don’t necessarily need a TV show not only to date one woman, but even multiple women. To me it really worked with somebody who’s just sort of a regular guy, and you need the previous season to establish that. When this show really worked was with Jason Mesnick, who was just sort of a single dad from Seattle, but because we spent 10 weeks with him and were so invested in his story, that’s why everybody wanted to see him as The Bachelor. So I think it’s really difficult to not do it like that now. … Even with someone like Juan Pablo Galavis, who didn’t have much screen time, he’d still made an impression. It has to be somebody who’s at least tangential in the Bachelor world.

The Bachelor world is one we love living in, so watch The Bachelor: Women Tell All Sunday night on ABC, followed by another episode Monday featuring fantasy suites. (Mills promises excitement from the 'Kissing Bandit': "[Arie] is certainly not a born-again virgin.") As for the finale in early March, we'll have to wait and see what happens ... maybe this really will be the most dramatic one yet. 

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