#also sunset colored loop is perfect we need more of them……. so pretty…

[bananacat76]

a few loopy doodles cuz i have a lotta fun coloring them :>

greyscale ver under cut! ^^

bottom one looks a bit wonky without color .. mayb i’ll fix it ><

[snowy-charm]

A Treatise on Charm, Snowy

(TL;DR warning: This post is kinda long. The quick version is that I’m gonna make music now! Next post will be one of said musics. The rest of this post goes over the story of why I’m doing it. Also I use a meme twice and link some rad music three times.)

The year: 2017. October. I was given the name “Snowy Charm” as a fun pony name to facilitate a secret santa exchange online. Even though I’d been a fan of these little horses since ~2012 I’d never delved into the world of having one to call my own. I was more than satisfied bearing witness to the growing cast of canon characters - and of course my hot and heavy courting with the cast of Fallout: Equestria. (Side note to anyone who may be reading this: FoE is pretty dope, but it is also the essence of grimdark. Read at your own risk!)

Suddenly at odds with this new OC acquisition, I quickly came up with a fast and loose backstory! He was a crystal pony from the wintery crystal kingdom (”Snowy”) and was probably an artificer or craftsman of some kind (”Charm”). I joked that the reason behind my name is that I live in a snowy climate (read: the tropics) and I was quite charming (the jury is still out on that one). 

The following year was my first ever convention: BronyCon 2018! An artist friend of mine graciously designed my OC with little to no input on my part and came up with a design that I instantly fell in love with.

(Pictured here subtly in front of a rack-mounted EQ I have never used, but is appropriate for an upcoming revelation.)

Isn’t he ADORABLE?! I will forever wear that badge because it is awesome. The cutie mark has been redone a little since then, and no other artist has remembered his beard yet, but I digress; this story isn’t actually about him.

Of course, BronyCon was a blast! This became my impetus to be more than simply an observer in the fandom, but to be present and belonging with others through our communal enjoyment of My Little Pony. My friends, in general, had a disinterest of the show - which, you know what? That’s fair. I don’t particularly care for Game of Thrones, Desperate Housewives, or the DCU, and it would be hard for me to feign a genuine interest in the developments thereof - but as of BronyCon I was able to play on an even field with others who shared my same passion for these candy colored equines!

Now, another thing to note of me, which will be important in a moment: I’m slightly musical. Not amazingly talented or anything, just.. slightly musical. I was REALLY into marching band (and won the John Philip Sousa award my senior year!!), but stopped refining my craft during college and onwards. Turns out playing a $5000 instrument puts a damper on your ability to own one. (Here’s a second video, and a third; I freakin love marimba.) I picked up the Ukulele for the the occasional “BUT YOU LIKE TO MAKE MUSIC” urges, but more or less ignored actually honing my abilities.

But now that I found myself surrounded by the magic of friendship combined with the magic of ponies, I wanted to CREATE. I suddenly realized that Snowy Charm was to be a MUSIC PONE. I would make FANDOM HITS that nopony had ever HEARD BEFORE (or after - I didn’t/don’t expect to be horse famous [or really even horse known (triple parenthetical asides are super cool, by the way)]).

Aaaaand promptly realized I had the better part of a decade’s worth of rust hanging onto my high-school-level skills. Not to mention that I still didn’t own the only thing I was good at playing.

F

“Okay, okay, it’s fine. Don’t hyperventilate, self. We’ll just make this into a project about growth in music instead.” 

- Me to myself circa the realization I can only really play a single instrument, and not even well.

I decided to make the project about my journey in the music field instead of pumping out dope jams. The goal was to lay out where I was musically and pick a song each week. I’d then practice that song all week and post a recording of my warbly self performing it by week’s end. Pick up a new instrument here, learn a new software there. Maybe I’d do originals now and again, but likely I’d just scream into the void and wait for it to call me back.

Of course, the dope jams would (hopefully) come, but as Jake says:

Long story short on that one: I didn’t.

Be it procrastination or a busy schedule, I can’t really defend my past self’s choice at this point. I made all the social media accounts and sturdied myself to make the first bellow into the abyss --- but then silence rung out. (Of note, I got my twitter anniversary notice today, so it has been exactly a year from my first tentative steps.)

Flash forward a couple months - October once more. My little festive community starts up again! More fun names are given out and lore starts being woven together about these new OCs! The stories start coming quick: There’s a stallion who HATES CRANBERRIES and one who makes bomb smoothies! A diamond dog who wants to celebrate Hearth’s Warming but is the target of seemingly the entire diamond dog population’s scorn! There’s a whole school filled with students, teachers, and a will-they-won’t-they janitor/counselor combo! Snowy now owns a potion shop specializing in musical applications, not to mention somehow he’s now the ambassador to those diamond dogs! But then, unexpectedly, on the day she was supposed to return from the hospital, my mother passed away.

I had recently lost my job and moved into my folk’s home out of town. Unemployed, isolated from friends, and yeeted into the throes of grief; I did all I really could: I picked up my dumb noise stick and sang about life, love, death, and colorful talking horses.

I made my first honest-to-goodness song - Drink In - during that period. It’s about that on-again-off-again pair I introduced earlier, but it was also about my grief and healing. I’ll share some of the lyrics here that, after I wrote them, spoke to me as if I didn’t pen them my damn self:

Take a deep breath Exhale regret Drink in sunsets The best is what’s left

It may not hit you the same way as it did me, music is often subjective, but it was an imperative reminder to let go of the stress I was compounding inside of me. I needed to hear that message badly - and put a pin in that, I’ll loop back to it in a moment.

I started working to better my craft again. I helped mix/master the album that my little festive family put together. I borrowed a bass guitar from a friend and started learning a little. I even got employed to do live mixing at the church I attend! Little by little I was getting better. 

But let’s fast forward again, shall we? This time to August of this year, BronyCon 2019! One of the best times I’ve ever had, but that’s not the point (maybe I’ll go into it in a later post?). I came home invigorated and ready to face the world again after being exhausted for almost five months straight. I felt free from burdens and there was something on my mind that hadn’t been there for a long time: I was ready to CREATE. 

If you were at the con, or if you’ve been on twitter recently, this next refrain may strike you as familiar:

(Patch done by @sew-adorkable)

I knew I had to make a song about it, but I had to make it good enough to be heard by folk. It had to be perfect before I could release it and have guitars and electronic music stuff and all the bells and/or whistles. I have a launchpad, unused, from last year - so I plugged it in with Ableton Live so I could make them funky horse beatz (with a z of course, because that’s 20% cooler).

Aaaaand promptly realized I was way out of my depth. 

I’ve recorded live performances (and myself) with Reaper and Audition before, and I feel like I know at least some of the basics with them. I can put a vocal into compression, mix the instruments okay together, do some EQing, etc. But I was now adrift trying to get the computer to make sounds that I wasn’t able to do myself.

I couldn’t figure out how to put anything other than the default synth into reaper and I opened Ableton because that’s better for electronic music I hear and I want to learn how to do that and they don’t even have a timeline and use clips and what are clips and how do you make them and what are samples and how do you get them and how do I even record a voice in this thing and there’s not a TIMELINE and when you stop the noise the session isn’t stopped and the launchpad won’t work and I went back to reaper and they have a drum sampler and how do you get a sample and how do you install things and is this my personal hell and I understand this is a run on sentence - I was frustrated and I quit.

Remember the pin I told you to put in earlier? Refresh that into memory, here’s where it’s relevant.

About two weeks after this whole debacle I was listening to shuffle all on my phone and Drink In happened to come on. I remembered how the completely unintentional message of my own song really struck me a year prior. This stupid song about a pair of pony OCs with terribly played ukulele and shitty bargain bin percussion recorded with a mic not suited to record anything except vocals... and despite all that, despite all of the technical barriers that were in the way, despite clipping during recording ukulele and hearing the distortion every time I listen to the track, it helped me restore tranquility when my inner world was naught but a maelstrom of grief and tumult. 

...I guess it didn’t have to be perfect to reach folks. Who knew?

And that right there is the moral I’m learning today. I struggle with it a lot, but there’s a problem with perfection: allow yourself only to produce perfection and you’ll produce nothing. I mean it’s a well known quote, right? Nobody’s perfect. 

So, I apologize in advance to all people with ears, but it is now my intention to bring (hopefully) pleasant noises to the grandiose cacophony that is the internet. They won’t be perfect, but I’ll work on it.

Anyway, come to TrotCon.

(Art by Witchtaunter, Flitterfel, and Mentita Kirby)

P.S. Holy bananas you actually read this monster of a post? Give yourself a pat on the back! Future posts likely won’t be as herculean of a read, but no promises. Next time I’ll actually upload “Drink In” so you can hear this song I’ve referenced so much - and then I’ll talk about where I’m at mechanically and the goals I have by doing this whole thing. Oh, and don’t expect all the neat art to happen every post! I went a little YCH/commission crazy after I got back from BronyCon, but I’m also not made out money so it won’t last forever. I don’t expect really anybody to read a huge post ostensibly about someone’s OC, and even the lifetime of this project I expect less or equal to about 10 people, but I hope you find a sense of belonging and participation here! Hello to all 10 of you!

See y’all next time!

[artificialqueens]

Cause I give you all -Pt2- (Trixya) - Pichitinha

A/N: part two is up and even though it’s faster it should’ve been faster but I missed last queue :( anyway things develop a bit further on this part and set the floor for the wrap-up on the next (and last) part! Hope you enjoy, as you usual it’s on AO3 and I’m here as @pichitinha

It’s been six days since their night together - which lasted well into the following afternoon due to brunch -, Trixie’s already been in two different cities and is heading for the third, and she and Katya have exchanged messages everyday. It’s not obsessive or a lot at all, Katya’s work days are usually from early morning to mid afternoon and Trixie’s are the opposite, so they’re never quite free at the same time and their texting consists of blocks of text from Trixie at noon, and then blocks of response from Katya at sunset.

They’re also slowly heading towards the opposite coasts, they’d met in the middle with Katya having left from Boston and Trixie from LA and now Trixie’s going east and Katya’s going west. They’d been a perfect star alignment, Trixie thinks, right in the middle of the country, never to meet again.

Except they keep talking. And it’s easy, so easy to talk to Katya. It’s easy to talk about things she didn’t even think bothered her anymore because they’d happen so long ago and she’d never talked them through. And she likes listening to Katya too, her weird habits and ideas, how she talks about the places she’s at with such admiration. Trixie’s taken it upon herself to notice at least one nice thing about where she is so she can tell Katya about it, be it how yellow the trees are or how the birds sing louder. Katya seems to love it.

Trixie doesn’t do one night stands because she gets attached too easily. Sex and feelings are too mixed for her to be able to fully separate and enjoy them apart. She thinks that having spent more than half - much more than half, actually - of their time together effectively talking and not fucking had done nothing more than aggravate things. Trixie likes her, she thinks. Not like like, there hadn’t been enough time, but she likes her, as a person, as a friend, as someone she slept with and enjoyed it very much.

And they are absolutely in no position to have that. Not with their lives the way they are. Not while literally heading to opposite sides of the country

Trixie wakes up in the middle of the night when they are halfway through to their next stop when the bus comes to a halt to quickly learn that it broke down. They are in the middle of nowhere and will have to wait until morning to call for rescue. This will limit their time getting ready, so the instruction is to go back to sleep now because the following day is gonna be busy.

She’s too alert, though, needs time for her brain to settle down again, so she picks up her phone.

Katya is online.

She’s already replied to all of Trixie’s messages and added several things of her own and Trixie marvels at how early she wakes up - she does yoga every morning, she’d said, and that explains a lot of things Trixie learned while in her bed and also increases Trixie’s curiosity.

She skims through the texts, too tired to actually read them through and strike a conversation by replying, but she’s curious as to what she said. Her last messages started in reply to something Trixie had said about Dolly Parton and guitar playing.

Katya: hey you’re the country gal not me

Katya: i mean sure i like dolly parton but who doesn’t like dolly parton

Katya: that’s like not liking abba

Katya: wait you like abba right

Katya: you gotta like abba or we can no longer be friends

At first Trixie laughs, tries to be quiet in her bunk because she knows everyone else must be sleeping again already, but soon her eyes focus on the last bit. We can no longer be friends. They are friends, right? They talk more than Trixie talks to most of her friends apart from the very best ones like Kim or Shea, and Katya does know a lot about her, if she thinks about it.

But they’ve slept together. And Trixie doesn’t sleep with her friends. She definitely doesn’t think about sleeping with them, like she does with Katya.

Trixie sighs and locks her phone, turns to the side so she can try to sleep. Her brain is still wide awake and she knows she’ll be up for at least half an hour. She picks up her headphones and plugs into her phone, hits shuffle on all of her songs and hopes that the god of music will send a calming one her way.

She falls asleep minutes after, It’s All Wrong But It’s All Right by Dolly Parton playing quietly in her right ear.

*

Trixie loves music. She studied it in college, she sings for a living, she’s bought the phone with the biggest storage because she wanted to download every single song she could think of. College had taught her to appreciate all sorts of music, even the ones she used to turn her nose up at. Now she knows way more songs than she thinks a regular person should, and she can pretty much always choose one to associate with how she’s feeling.

So Trixie loves making playlists. Some days she’ll just create “random playlist #223” and add songs through the day as things happen and end up with over thirty. She shares them with her friends, sometimes, makes them special ones for their birthdays and they all love it - or they say they do, anyway. Trixie loves using music to communicate, loves expressing how much someone means to her or what she’s feeling through the chords and the voices she knows so well.

The week following the bus breakdown is a busy one that has Trixie really tired while she also thinks she’s getting a cold. She gets frustrated with her runny nose and gets scared about losing her voice so she spends the whole day worrying and trying not to think of Katya - she shouldn’t be thinking about her this much, in fact, maybe they should cut contact altogether so Trixie can go back to normal.

But she doesn’t because she likes it, at the end of the day, and suddenly she finds herself with a playlist titled “Katya” on her phone. The first two songs she put there were I Put A Spell On You and It’s All Wrong But It’s All Right, but since then she’s also added Smile by Avril Lavigne because she thinks that’s the kind of music Katya would laugh at while secretly dancing to when she’s by herself.

She thinks she knows Katya a bit too much for such a short time. She also thinks she thinks about her too much.

She’s back to her bunk bed after a particularly tiring show and she plans on replying to Katya’s messages from the previous night before going to sleep. It’s the first she’d looked at her phone that day and is surprised when there’s only one text waiting for her. Her stomach plummets a bit, worries about what happened, but when she opens their chat the text says “text me when you’re free, i want to call you. don’t worry about the time”.

A rush runs through her entire body at the words. What does she want? What could that mean? Is she gonna tell Trixie they can’t talk anymore? Is she gonna try to have phone-sex? Is she in jail?

No, of course not. The last one is stupid.

Instead of texting, she just calls. It rings once, twice, then three times. Trixie’s nervous and worried she might wake her up.

Katya picks up on the fifth ring and greets her by saying, “Pat Benatar!”

“What?” Katya is weird, sure, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t surprise Trixie constantly still.

“My favorite singer, you asked who my favorite singer is. It’s Pat Benatar.”

“That’s why you wanted to call?” Trixie laughs, amazed by Katya once again. “Also I’d sort of established in my head that it was Annie Lennox, now I feel betrayed.”

“Holy fuck, Annie! Yeah, no, it’s definitely Annie.”

“You forgot your favorite singer?”

“Not all of us walk around cosplaying our favorite artist, Miss Parton.”

Trixie shouts a laugh and then immediately covers her mouth, remembers it’s late and they just came back from a show and everyone wants to sleep.

“I don’t imitate Dolly Parton, I was just very lucky to be born with similar genes.”

Katya snorts and Trixie feels a soft smile setting on her lips. She’s tired and her whole body is sagging against her pillows, but she feels nice.

“Where are you right now?”

“Somewhere in Missouri? I think? I’m not too sure.”

Katya sighs audibly. “I’m in Colorado.”

Trixie gulps at the information, understands immediately what Katya’s saying. They’d met in Kansas. Now they’re each one state over. They’re three states apart.

It isn’t much, if Trixie logically thinks about it. Shea is in LA, several states away. Pearl is in New York, also several states away. But those facts don’t leave a sour taste in her mouth like Katya being in Colorado does.

“That sucks. For Colorado, I mean.”

Katya laughs her breathless laughter and it tugs somewhere deep into Trixie’s chest. They’ve known each other for less than a month, they’ve only seen each other once. This is their first phone call.

Trixie likes her.

“Tell me other bands you like,” Trixie asks, her mind on her playlist. She wants to connect with who Katya is and there’s no better way for Trixie than through music. She wants to add songs to it that match both of them. She shouldn’t, it’s too far and she’s too deep into it, but she knows there’s no stopping now.

So Katya lists several artists, talks about Lana Del Rey and Madonna and T.a.T.u. And Cindy Lauper all of which she claims to be her actual favorite now that she thinks about it. And also a bunch of others that Trixie makes a mental note about and they discuss lesbian singers for longer than Trixie should have allowed herself to stay awake.

Her tiredness defeats her, eventually, and she tells Katya she needs to sleep. They bid each other goodnight and the line goes silent and Trixie is still not sure why Katya wanted to call tonight.

She falls asleep with True Colors looping in her head, and she makes a mental note to add it to her playlist the following day.

*

Trixie’s having a really bad day. They’re changing the show a little bit to better fit the audiences they’re approaching and it involves a new song with a part Trixie has to carry by herself as the lead singer holds a fermata.

And Trixie simply can’t hit the fucking note they need her to. They’re all supportive and trying their best to help but she’s immensely frustrated and she can see that they are worried. She won’t be invited back if she can’t carry the tunes they need her to carry.

Could they fire her mid tour?

She’s overreacting, maybe, but her heart’s racing and her stomach is uncomfortably tight as they wrap rehearsals for the day with a promise that tomorrow will be better, comforting hands on Trixie’s shoulders. She nods and tries to force a smile, but then immediately goes back to her bunk, closes her curtain and urges herself not to cry.

She can’t lose this opportunity. Another one like this is never going to come by - especially if she fucks it up.

She grabs her phone and opens her contacts. Usually she’d search for Shea or Kim or Trannika, but instead she goes straight to her last calls and hits dial again on Katya’s name. Her stomach churns a bit, but she doesn’t have time to mull over what that means, what immediately going to Katya means. She’s on the verge of breaking and she needs someone to calm her down.

Katya always calms her down.

“Trixie! I’m glad you called, I saw a tree that looked just like Britney Spe- Trixie? Trixie, are you okay?”

Trixie hadn’t even noticed she was crying, trying to hold in her sobs, until Katya asked.

“Trixie? Hey, talk to me. Are you hurt?”

She tries to take deep breaths and feels herself whispering, “No.”

“Ok, good. So now take a deep breath. Then another. And then another one. Ok?”

Trixie nods, knows Katya can’t see it but can’t find her voice to reply vocally. She breathes as deep as she can, slower and slower as Katya instructs her to. Her voice is soothing and warm and Trixie wonders briefly, in the middle of her turmoil, how Katya feels about her.

“Ok, good, you stopped crying. You okay, mama?”

Trixie snorts a bit at the question, the answer being more than obvious, and the sound actually mixes with a sob in such a funny way that Katya bursts into giggles for a few seconds. It pulls a smile over Trixie’s lips - she feels like she hasn’t smiled in forever.

“I have never been better,” Trixie deadpans, finally, and it sets Katya off again. This time she doesn’t force herself to stop though, she knows that if Trixie is throwing jokes, then she’s feeling better.

“Ok, serious now. What happened?”

Trixie sighs, cleans a few paths of tears on her face as she thinks of what to say.

She wishes Katya was there.

“I’m fucking it up. They want me to sing this song and I just- I just can’t. They’re gonna let me go, I’m sure.”

It’s funny but Trixie thinks she can hear Katya rolling her eyes.

“They’re not gonna fire you over one song after half of the tour, Trixie.”

“You didn’t hear me singing it. I’ve butchered the song.” She’s being irrational, she knows - she may not have sang it the way she knew the song was supposed to be sung but she has a good voice and she knows how to use it. But this isn’t a high school choir, this is real life, real performances by a really famous singer in front of an audience of thousands. Any mistake is an issue.

“Right. Ok. I want you to listen to this, but I need to really listen, ok? Full attention.”

Trixie gulps, Katya is rarely this serious. “Ok.”

And Trixie almost drops her phone when Katya bursts into a very melodramatic Lana song, the sound a lot more similar to a black board being scratched by nails than an actual human voice, and Trixie tries really hard not to laugh, but it’s difficult.

Katya sings bad. Like, really really bad.

“Oh my god.”

Katya stops singing then, laughs alongside Trixie and waits in silence for both their laughter to die down.

“Did you butcher it like that? ‘Cause if so you’re right, you’re screwed.”

Trixie still has a few laughs dying down in her throat, simply can’t stop smiling as she snuggles back into her comforter.

She really likes Katya.

“I mean, not that badly.”

Katya is smiling. Trixie’s sure. “Then you’ll be fine.”

Yeah, she thinks. She’ll be fine.

*

It’s been almost a month and a half since she got that one night off in Kansas and she’s getting another one now.

There’s nothing actually holding her back, keeping her from going out again and getting drunk and finding someone. Except there is. She feels wrong, doing that to Katya. Not that she owes Katya anything. Not that Katya would even care.

Not that there even is anything for Katya to be in any way part of her decision process.

But she is. Trixie doesn’t want to be this involved with someone she’s literally only seen once, but since when does she get to decide on that and also since when does her heart make good decisions?

Since never, that’s when.

So she’s in a hotel room, has time off to herself to do whatever she wants, and she settles for the relaxing night she’d forgone last time. She considers if things would be too different had she decided to relax last time and go out now. She wouldn’t have met Katya, and part of her wonders if that’d been easier.

She has a bathtub in her room so she fills it with warm water and some oils that she always carries with her for skin care and sinks into it, her phone playing quiet country music from where it sits on the sink, far away from her reach so she won’t be tempted to go over social media. This is supposed to be a relaxing time and being on her phone would mean the opposite of that.

When she steps out, hours later, her whole body is sagging and she feels ready to sleep for at least 24 hours. Her mind is hazy and she thinks she might have fallen into a quick nap a few times. Her extremities are wrinkled and the playlist she had on has ended already.

And then she sees that Katya texted her, and it’s like her mind is awake again.

Katya: ok ok ok ok! you win!

Katya: show me your country singers or whatever

Katya: but like give me the best songs only

Katya: i’ll try not to hate them

Katya: and if i do i’ll lie

Trixie smiles, feels a warm feeling spreading at the notion that Katya is genuinely interested in learning what she likes. Even if they’re just friends and have never discussed this, Trixie doesn’t invest herself like that in all of her friends, just some, the closest, the ones she cares about the most.

She doesn’t even reply, moves to the bed in only the robe she’d been wearing, set on making a perfect playlist. She overthinks it, of course, doesn’t want it to be a romantic declaration but doesn’t want to avoid romantic songs either because that might look suspicious. It’s like every song she chooses brings in a connotation and she’s worried about how Katya will read this.

But Katya is a friend. Apart from that night when they met, that’s all they’d been. They never even discussed the fact that it happened, they never acknowledged that they had slept together. And maybe it means a lot more to Trixie than it does to Katya, maybe to Katya they really are just good friends, maybe Katya doesn’t have a policy about sleeping with friends like Trixie does.

And Trixie doesn’t want to make things awkward, especially not with a country playlist, so she thinks about the songs that her friends like and mixes all types of voices and topics and maybe she spends over an hour in it, but at the end she’s satisfied with the result and doesn’t feel nervous as she copies the spotify link and pastes it into a text to Katya.

She goes to sleep soon after that, Silver Lining from Kacey Musgraves which she’d added at the last minute running through her mind, and she feels good.

*

Katya: i quite like slow burn

This is the message Trixie wakes up to the next day, feeling well-rested and light and good. It’s the only message from Katya, received around three hours after Trixie went to sleep, which wasn’t as late for Katya as it was for her, but still late nonetheless.

Trixie: what?

She can’t figure out what Katya means by that, finds it very vague without a context - she likes slow burn in regards to what? - but she’s not gonna focus on that because being cryptic is just something that Katya does and Trixie is used to it - Trixie likes it.

So she gets up, gets dressed in a comfortable yet cute pink dress that she doesn’t get to wear a lot when they’re always on the shaky bus, and heads down to have breakfast. She leaves her phone in her room, tells herself it’ll do her good to not be glued to it all the time, and uses the time she has to catch up with a few of the band members having breakfast with her, people she sees every day but feels like she hasn’t properly spoken to in forever.

When she gets back to her room, Katya has replied.

Katya: the song slow burn. it’s good

Trixie is glad she likes it, but she isn’t sure where Katya heard it. Had she searched for Kacey songs late in the night?

Trixie: where’d you hear it?

Trixie: i’m glad though, good song

Katya: your playlist

Trixie is confused, she’d added three Kacey songs to the country playlist she made for Katya, but slow burn isn’t one of them. She opens her spotify to check, is absolutely positive she hadn’t added any songs from her new album, and when she opens her playlists her heart drops to her stomach.

The last playlist before the country one is the one named Katya. And it has slow burn in it. And it’s public.

Katya must have decided to snoop around on her profile after she got the playlist and Trixie is an idiot because she never even thought about Katya finding this playlist. This playlist has all sorts of songs with the feelings she has about Katya all the time. There’re songs about falling in love, there’re songs about chemistry, there’re songs about wanting what you can’t have.

This might as well be Trixie declaring herself to Katya, and she isn’t sure what to do with herself now.

She goes back to her messages, stares at the empty typing box for minutes on end. She starts typing. Oh, deletes it. Katya, deletes it. I’m sorry, deletes it. I love you.

Definitely deletes it.

And then there’s an incoming facetime call from Katya. Trixie wants to throw her phone into a fire.

“Katya-”

“You have a very eclectic taste, huh?”

Trixie goes silent, analyses Katya’s voice tone and her face, even if the video quality isn’t great. She seems… okay? It’s like she’s having fun. Trixie’s a bit offended, actually. But she takes it, finds it better than Katya closing off or cutting her out of her life. Even if Katya thinks it’s funny, even if she’s gonna laugh at her for being in love, Trixie supposes she can deal. It seems better than the alternative.

“I- yeah.” She gulps. “Yeah, I do.”

She searches her brain for a joke, for a way to make this situation funny or light, but she can’t. Her chest is heavy still, even with Katya reacting better than she’d have expected. She just wants to erase this from history. She wants to go back to normal, to pining on her own on the other side of the country.

“Trixie, hey,” Katya says with a quiet voice, calming even, and Trixie realizes she hadn’t been looking at the camera, but rather had her eyes unfocused on the wall behind her. She focuses back on Katya, her eyes are earnest and open. “It’s okay.”

She stares at Katya, tries to figure what okay means. She sighs audibly.

“I’m sorry.”

Her whisper is so low she isn’t sure Katya will hear over the crappy connection, but she does because her eyebrows raise.

“For what?”

“For… this mess. This whole mess.”

Katya actually chuckles and Trixie is still lost as to how this will end.

“Trixie, there’s no mess. It’s a really good playlist. You obviously know how to handle music.”

For a moment Trixie considers that maybe Katya didn’t necessarily get it, but she knows Katya isn’t stupid. Right?

“It isn’t.. It isn’t just-”

“Trixie, oh my god, I know.” She blinks, smiles softly. “How do you think I feel about you?”

Trixie licks her lips, takes a deep breath. She doesn’t know how to answer.

Katya rolls her eyes. “I made you a playlist, actually.”

“Oh?”

“I made it after listening to yours so it’s smaller and rushed, but yeah. Let me send you the link, hold on.”

She exits the facetime app, her voice still there but her image now gone. Her phone beeps a few seconds later and her heart is hammering as she opens it and her eyes go through the songs, tries to figure out what Katya wants to say.

For a few moments she is confused, finds the music disconnected and isn’t sure what the song Dumb by Nirvana means in the context at all, and then she realizes. The titles form a sentence.

You are really dumb, I haven’t stopped thinking about you since that first time.

“Oh,” she says again, her vocabulary apparently consisting only of that now.

“You’re halfway across the country, Trixie. But I really like you.”

Trixie swallows down the lump in her throat, goes back to the facetime app and meets Katya’s eyes once again.

“I really like you, too.”

*

Trixie’s sleeping schedule is a mess, now. She’s always liked her sleep and sleeping in and all that, but now she makes an active effort to be awake at certain hours she knows Katya will be free so they can talk. It’s alright because Katya does the same for her - more, even, because Katya is too restless to sleep much anyway.

They are not… anything, per se. They never addressed the issue further than the few lines of conversation in that hotel room. But they’ve shifted. Trixie is still too afraid to ask, too afraid to try to label this in whichever way just to find out she’s asking for too much, wants too much. The reality hasn’t changed that their lives don’t align in any way at all. They’re still set to travel for months, each to their side. They’re not in Kansas anymore.

Or least she thinks so, until one day she comes back from a show and there are seven missed calls from Katya and several texts, lots of them saying “i’m fine but CALL ME”.

She’s fumbling with the screen, doesn’t trust Katya’s “i’m fine” all that well - she could have a broken leg, nose and hips sitting on an old police station behind bars and Trixie truly thinks she’d claim to be fine - and walks outside to get some privacy from the tour members that were already on the bus. They should have half an hour before leaving, that gives her enough time to figure out what’s happening with Katya, what the fuck is going on.

“Trixie!! Trixie, listen. Oh my god. Trixie!”

She sounds positively gleeful and it calms Trixie instantly but it also increases her curiosity by a thousand percent.

“Oh my god, what Katya? What is it, tell me?!”

“I have the best news. Like, the best. Or for me at least, they’re the best. I think you’ll find them the best, too. Or I hop-”

“Katya!” She tries to reign her back, can feel her getting lost already. Katya just laughs and it warms Trixie down to her core. “What?”

“I’m going to Indiana.”

“What?” Trixie isn’t sure she heard her properly.

“Indiana! I’m going to Indiana! Like, I’m on my way to the airport right now.”

“Oh my- why? How?”

“It’s a long story that involves a model with a bruised eye and another with a broken toe which I’ll be happy to stage to you once I see you in person in Indiana!”

Trixie’s heart is hammering on her chest, she’s still not sure she isn’t imagining this conversation. They’re just about to cross the border, a two hour drive and she’d be there, in Indiana. Her mind is a bit hazy, Katya is supposed to be in Arizona right now. But she’s going to Indiana. She’s coming towards Trixie.

“I- Katya, Indiana is small but not that small-”

“I have a day off. It was my day off anyway and we’ll be there and I’ll go anywhere. Tell me where you’ll be and I’m going to see you. Just- I know it’s not easy but if you could get the day off, too. Spend it with me, I’ll make it worthwhile.”

Trixie doesn’t need her to promise anything, there’s nothing she wants more than that, so much so that it scares her a bit. But it also thrills her in a way that nothing has in a long time, she’s excited, happy, anxious.

She feels all the words bubbling inside her chest, she wants to tell Katya how happy she is and how she can’t wait and how happy it makes her that Katya seems so happy about it. Instead she takes a deep breath, listens to how rapidly she’s been breathing, and nods once before opening her mouth. “Yeah. Yes, of course. I can’t wait.”

She really can’t.

*

She couldn’t get the night off. She figures that if she really begged she would’ve, but when she tells Katya that, she’s told not to do it. Your job has to be a priority, Trixie, don’t jeopardize it over me. The words sting, a little, because Trixie has been thinking about what would happen to them once both their tours are over - maybe she’d say no to a next one, if they asked. If Katya was willing to stay too. Somewhere, anywhere.

But it’s okay, because Katya will actually be in the same city as her for two days, not only her day off. It’s fate once again working with them and maybe they weren’t star crossed lovers destined to be together for one night only. Maybe they are destined for more.

Or maybe they’re not destined for anything but Trixie’s in love. That’s a very plausible possibility.

Trixie’s jittery every hour, every minute leading to the moment when she’ll see Katya again. She’s rented a car, apparently, and she’ll pick up Trixie and her bag of clothes and make-up from the venue where she’s performing and they’ll drive around and Katya will let her stay in her hotel for the night and take her to her next location the following day before heading to her own work. She has to go to the shows, but she’s gotten off rehearsals, just for one day, and it’s more than she could have expected.

She’s in the dressing room with the band after the show, she’s finished changing and packing her things and she’s ready, buzzing in her seat as she unlocks her phone every ten seconds waiting for it to vibrate with a new message from Katya that’ll hopefully say I’m here.

Trixie remembers it all so well, the sparkle of her eyes, the smoothness of her skin, the sharpness of her bones, the whiteness of her teeth. They’d really only seen each other once and sometimes Trixie can’t fully believe that, it doesn’t make sense to her that they’d known each other for such a short period of time and that Katya already matters so much.

But she does and Trixie’s certainty about it is what clears her head on the days of doubt or worry. She can’t predict what will happen at the end of their tours and she doesn’t know the intensity of Katya’s feelings, her reciprocating doesn’t mean she reciprocates just as much, but none of this matters because Trixie knows what she wants. She’s so sure of it and the hammering of her heart at the thought of seeing Katya in mere minutes only grounds her further.

She’s gonna talk about it and she’s praying that Katya will want the same but if she doesn’t it’s good she knows now. She wants this too much to lead herself on.

Katya: your uber driver (katya) is here (ASS666)

She snorts loudly at how ridiculous Katya is and her stomach gives a full somersault at the notion that she’ll step outside and be met with her sparkling green eyes. The thought is the impulse she needs to grab her bag and dash out as she mutters a half-hearted bye to everyone. She doesn’t even reply to the text, just leaves in search of Katya.

She’s easy to spot, has the car parked in the back where Trixie told her to go, and she’s leaning against it, some old vehicle that is dark blue but looks black in the night sky. She has her hands in the pockets of her jeans, she’s dressed casually and as her jeans are a bit down with the weight of her hand Trixie can see the corner of the bright red kiss tattoo she has on her left hip bone.

Her feet speed up against her own will. She’s not running but she’s walking fast and as she gets closer and closer she wonders what the protocol is here. Should she kiss her? Should they hug tightly? How much is too much?

She doesn’t have to worry, though, because when she’s a few steps away Katya pulls away from the car and strides towards her. Her arms wrap around her entire figure, one hand up to her neck and the other down to her waist and the last thing Trixie sees before she’s kissed - or before she kisses Katya, she can’t tell who did what - is how bright Katya’s face is, from her eyes to her smile.

Their lips meet and if there was even a tiny bit of doubt left in Trixie’s mind, it’s gone. This is it. This is right.

Finally.

[europeantravel1]

Cinque Terre Vacation and Other Italian Gems

Cinque Terre Vacation and Other Italian Gems

Cinque Terre 4 day Romantic Vacation

Located along the Liguarian coast of northwest Italy, Cinque Terre is one of the most beautiful places in Europe. It’s easy to see why: multi-colored historical houses cling onto craggy cliffs, with steep green terraced vineyards carved into them.

Translating to mean “five lands”, Cinque Terre is actually made up of five fishing villages built into the foot of mountains along the coast. While they are no longer the isolated hamlets they once were, but there’s still a feeling of authenticity, with perfectly preserved architecture and a network of stunning trails. The Cinque Terre area is a popular tourist destination. Over the centuries, people have built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the Ligurian Sea. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages as cars can reach them from the outside only via narrow and precarious mountain roads with great difficulty. To help you plan your journey, I am sharing our 4-day Cinque Terre itinerary, along with things to do in Cinque Terre and where to eat and stay in each village. This itinerary will allow you to maximize your time in Cinque Terre. For more detailed info on visiting Cinque Terre, check out my Cinque Terre travel guide.

Cinque Terre 4 day Itinerary

Best Time to Visit Cinque Terre

I recommend visiting Cinque Terre in early spring (April) or late autumn (November). With the vaccines being rolled out late Autumn in 2021 is what I would target if you want to go this year. Late Autumn and early Spring are also when it is the least crowded and prices are not too high. The weather can be unpredictable though. We visited at the middle of May I'm 2019 and Cinque Terre was already pretty crowded. There were long lines at the train stations and restaurants. Even the hiking trails were packed with throngs of tourists. Cinque Terre gets extremely crowded in summer, peak travel season in Europe. It’s also really hot (temperatures rising to 86°F or 30°C) and not ideal for hiking if you intend to do that. Winter is cool and uncrowded but heavy rainfall can result in landslides and unsafe hiking conditions. Restaurants and hiking trails close around end of November and open on 1st April.

How Many Days Should You Spend in Cinque Terre?

Cinque Terre is extremely popular with day-trippers — there are many day tours to Cinque Terre from Florence, Pisa and La Spezia. However, we definitely don’t recommend doing a day trip here as Cinque Terre definitely merits more time than that. It is however easy to add on days at other Italian gems before or after which you can read about below. We spent 4 days in Cinque Terre and still wished we had more time. If you are visiting Cinque Terre with kids, then I suggest spending a week here as kids need to travel at a slower pace and will like lots of beach time. If you do want to hike the Cinque Terre trails, then I suggest having 1 week in Cinque Terre to slowly explore the area on foot. More details below on hiking in Cinque Terre.

    Our Cinque Terre Itinerary

Most of the Cinque Terre villages (except Monterosso) are tiny, so you can see each of them in 1 day. If you are wondering what to do in Cinque Terre, refer to my detailed itinerary below to get an idea. Which is the best Cinque Terre town? Check out my guide on where to stay in Cinque Terre. Your starting point depends on where you’re staying. This Cinque Terre itinerary is designed for those staying in Riomaggiore or La Spezia (outside of Cinque Terre). Day 1: Riomaggiore Day 2: Manarola Day 3: Corniglia and Vernazza Day 4: Monterosso al Mare If you are staying in Monterosso or Levanto (outside of Cinque Terre), just reverse the Cinque Terre itinerary. Day 1: Monterosso al Mare Day 2: Corniglia and Vernazza Day 3: Manarola Day 4: Riomaggiore

Cinque Terre Itinerary: Things to Do in Cinque Terre

Itinerary Day 1: Riomaggiore The first stop on our Cinque Terre itinerary is Riomaggiore, the first village you’ll find if you’re coming from La Spezia. You can choose to hike or take the Cinque Terre Express train to get around Cinque Terre: it only takes 4-6 minutes to get from one village to another. Scroll to the end of this Cinque Terre itinerary for more details on how to get around Cinque Terre.

Best Things to Do in Riomaggiore In my opinion, Riomaggiore has the most romantic setting. Despite having the biggest population, it feels surprisingly tiny. After you leave the train station, head straight to the waterfront as that is the most picturesque part of Riomaggiore. Snap photos of the pastel-colored buildings, sit on the steps with a gelato in hand, or meander all the way up the slopes to the left of the harbor (when facing the sea) for the best views. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also cliff jump from here. Then walk all the way up to the higher end of Riomaggiore where the beautiful Church of San Giovanni Battista stands and enjoy the panoramic views. Alternatively, sign up for this 3-hour food and wine tour in Riomaggiore to delve deep into the culinary scene here.

Where to Eat in Riomaggiore A Pie’ de Ma’ — Simple and traditional, this rustic restaurant has a romantic ambiance. You can also enjoy aperitifs and wine while you watch the sunset behind the cliffs. Dau Cila —Dishing up Liguarian classics, this Michelin-starred restaurant is one of the most respected places in Cinque Terre. We had the best meal on this trip here. Definitely book a table in advance! Trattoria La Grotta — This family-run restaurant serves fresh-from-the-sea dishes and high quality local produce. Don’t miss the anchovies and steak tartare.

Itinerary Day 2: Manarola  For me, this is hands down the most beautiful town in Cinque Terre. If you’ve seen a photo from Cinque Terre, it was probably taken here. The colorful historical buildings slide down all the way to the rocky harbor, which can be admired from an easily walkable loop along the coast. I recommend staying in Manarola, so you can spend your evenings sitting on one of the benches overlooking the waterfront. You’ll have the whole place to yourself!

Best Things to Do in Manarola The town’s train station is located on the flat part of town, surrounded by shops, gelato stalls, and restaurants. Take your time to admire the narrow alleys and piazza before continuing towards the waterfront. Follow the coastal loop that brings you up to Nessun Dorma, the most famous restaurant/bar in Cinque Terre, before ending at Punta Bonfiglio. It’s a short uphill hike, with fabulous views and a playground. In the evenings, many locals and tourists gather here to catch sunset. Manarola is most famous for wine production. You can even hike up to the grapevines on the slopes above the town. Sign up for this wine tasting tour to sample wine made in Manarola and visit its vineyards.

  Where to Eat in Manarola Il Porticciolo — A hot favorite in Cinque Terre, this seafood restaurant has a great selection of pasta dishes and to-die-for desserts. Highly recommend the tagliatelle frutti di mare! Ristorante Marina Piccola — This is my favorite restaurant on this list, with perfect views of the sunset and flavorful wine wine mussels. Nessun Dorma — Perched on the waterfront hills above Manarola, this cafe is probably the most famous in Cinque Terre. It has an open terrace with literally the best views in Manarola. Sadly they don’t take reservations and lines to dine here are long.

  Itinerary Day 3: Corniglia and Vernazza Sitting atop a 100m-high rocky promontory surrounded by vineyards, Corniglia is the only village that lacks direct access to the sea. You’ll need to climb 382 steps of Scalinata Lardarina to get there from the train station. There’s also a free bus that will bring you up, but it’s often crowded. For most, Corniglia lacks the coastal appeal that draws so many to Cinque Terre. But that also means it is the most authentic and least crowded of them all, and prices of hotels are the most reasonable here.

Best Things to Do in Corniglia Corniglia is the smallest of the Cinque Terre towns, characterized by tangled alleys, hilly terraces and bohemian cafes. This is the most authentic town with the least tourists. Have an Aperol Spritz at one of its many outdoor bars, scour the vintages stores or visit the Oratorio dei Disciplinati di Santa Caterina church. For the best views, hike up to Santa Maria panoramic terrace and see the whole town from above.

    Best Things to Do in Vernazza From Corniglia, catch the train over to Vernazza, centrally located in Cinque Terre. The main square is located right by the harbor, flanked by multi-hued buildings and dome-roofed chapels. I found this town to be the most crowded as it’s the hot favorite among travelers. The town has a marina and a small beach where you can catch a boat or take a dip in. Visit Santa Margherita di Antiochia Church by the beach before climbing up the steps to the watch tower of Doria Castle for panoramic views of Vernazza. Read the full article

[emilysn2019-blog]

Kōmyō-in is a sub-temple of Tofuku-ji located near Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan. It’s a hidden gem best known for its traditional Chinese dry landscape garden. In this post, we’ll share further thoughts, tips, photos, and anecdotes from Komyoin Temple.

While Komyoin ranks as on our list of the Top 100 Temples & Shrines in Kyoto, Japan, that’s our attempt at objectivity and represents a “conservative” number. At the same time, Komyoin Temple makes our 1-Day Brickers’ Perfect Kyoto, Japan Itinerary of things we’d do with only a single day in the city. It’s so far under-the-radar that you’re unlikely to see anyone else here when you visit, and it’s such a hidden gem that you might literally have difficulty finding it, as the temple blends in with other structures from the street.

To give some context, Komyoin Temple currently has 62 reviews on TripAdvisor with a 4.5 rating and 132 reviews on Google with a 4.6 rating. Both of those scores are very good, even by temple standards, but that’s not the point. The low number of reviews is the key here. Compare those with Kiyomizudera, which has 14,000 Google reviews, or nearby Fushimi Inari, which has 20,000. Pretty stark contrast!

Our first visit to Komyoin Temple solidified its position as one of Kyoto’s truly magical experiences. We started with an early morning at Fushimi Inari Shrine, setting out for our favorite spot in Kyoto right around sunrise. That visit entailed heading up the Senbon Torii path like normal, until arriving at the Yotsusuji Crossroads, which is the popular viewpoint before the Summit Loop Trail.

We then found the trailhead for the Higashiyama Course of Kyoto Isshu Circuit Trail, which leads down to Tofukuji. We took that path down through a series of interesting sub-shrines, including separate ones featuring horses, mossy foxes, and serpentines.

This dumped us out right near Komyoin, where our “adventure” continued. If you’re interested in this hike, our Hiking Kyoto Trail: Fushimi Inari Shrine to Tofukuji Temple post covers everything you need to know, and the steps for taking this easy route. It’s a great experience that we highly recommend.

Komyoin Temple was practically right in front of us at this point, but it did take us a couple of passes by to “discover” it. For what it’s worth, the Google Maps location is accurate, and Komyoin Temple does more closely resemble a traditional Japanese machiya townhouse than it does a temple.

Upon arriving at the entrance to the temple, we encountered no one. Literally. Apparently, Komyoin Temple is so unpopular (I really hate using that term, as the review consensus is that those who visit love it) that they can’t justify the cost of staffing it.

Instead, the entry fee is paid into a bamboo slot via the honor system. Only in Japan. 

Inside, there are a series of interconnected rooms, each of which offers a different perspective into the karesansui, or dry landscape garden for which Komyoin Temple is known.

These rooms are all simple and straightforward, and exist to highlight the garden. There’s also a teahouse known as Ragetsu (or “Mossy Moon”) that overlooks the garden.

Komyoin Temple’s dry landscape garden is named Hashin-no-Niwa and consists of rocks, water, moss, pruned trees, shrubs, plus white sand and moss to achieve its design. Hashin-no-Niwa features 3 sets of rocks arranged in circles, and the arrangement of the stones makes them appear to radiate light.

There are satsuki and azaleas that bloom in early summer along with bellflowers, which is said to give Komyoin Temple a kaleidoscope of color. (We’ve yet to see this.) As a result, Hashin-no-Niwa is sometimes informally referred to as the Niji no Kokedera (or “Rainbow Moss Temple”).

The autumn foliage that forms the backdrop of Komyoin Temple is also said to be famous. This would seem to check out. On the interior walls, Komyoin Temple proudly displays some of the ad campaigns featuring the garden, and almost all of them showcase the fall colors.

One is even a nationwide Japan Rail poster, which makes me question how is Komyoin still under the radar?!

Whatever the explanation, we’re glad that tourists don’t flock to Komyoin. For one, the small space couldn’t handle colossal crowds. We love sitting inside, soaking up the serenity and being alone with the mesmerizing Hashin-no-Niwa garden.

You don’t need much time to see everything here (10 minutes would probably do), but we love sitting here. We could do just that (and have) for an hour.

If you don’t access Komyoin Temple via the aforementioned hike, the easiest way to find it is from Tofukuji Station along the JR Keihan Line; it’s a 10 minute walk from there. Other nearby train, subway, and bus routes are also available–just consult Google Maps.

Admission to Komyoin Temple is 0 yen and it’s open from 8 a.m. until sunset.

Ultimately, a big thing that makes Komyoin Temple so special is that it’s usually deserted. The garden itself is stunning, but it wouldn’t be as impactful if it were crammed with people. Accordingly, it’s pretty much a requirement that word doesn’t spread too far and wide about Komyoin.

The upside is that this article is unlikely to ruin anything. There are already a surprising number of blog posts elsewhere about this hidden gem, and those haven’t had an impact. Even many of you who do read this advice imploring you to visit Komyoin Temple are likely to ignore it (no offense taken), as it’s on exactly 0 Kyoto top 10 lists and few other resources recommend it. That’s good news for the few of you who do heed our recommendation…and for us as we make return visits to our newest “must-see” temple in Kyoto.

If you’re planning a trip to Japan that includes Kyoto, we recommend that you start by consulting our Ultimate Guide to Kyoto, Japan to plan all aspects of our vacation. You should also check out our other posts about Japan for ideas on other places to visit! 

Your Thoughts

Have you visited Komyoin Temple? What did you think of the experience? Would you recommend it to a first-timer visiting Japan? Any thoughts or tips of your own to add? Any questions about what we’ve covered here? Does visiting this spot in Kyoto interest you? Hearing about your experiences—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

The post Komyoin Temple Tips: Kyoto, Japan Info appeared first on Travel Caffeine.

[gatorfruit-moved]

hey! do all the cute questions you want to do 💙

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk?

More cereal than milk, I don’t like drinking the cereal milk afterwards

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?

Hell yeah it makes me feel alive

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books?

Hall passes

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?

Black or with raw honey for tea, sometimes a bit of sugar or creamer with coffee but I refuse to put milk in my tea

5: are you self-conscious of your smile?

Eh, I kinda like it tbh. I got the stupid crooked smile, it just looks bad in pics

6: do you keep plants?

I try but Ohio is the worst. I want to keep some succulents and cacti.

7: do you name your plants?

Occasionally, I had three succulents and one had a name, I think it was Via or something else with a v

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?

Mostly drawing but sometimes writing. If I’m feelin “free” I play really distorted guitar or bass and if I’m sad I can play a mean flute

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself?

I love singing in general man

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?

Equal between side and back even if I am restless, I cannot do stomach

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends?

Nobody speaks Italian dipshit

12: what’s your favorite planet?

Uranus, no not because of anus jokes, it’s my dominant planet and it’s also just neat. I like saturn too.

13: what’s something that made you smile today?

Playing donkey with a few people at GSA

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

Lots of animals, 100% we would have two sphinxes and a snake, art and instruments everywhere

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!

I don’t need to google it lmao, I took astronomy last semester. It’s a pretty basic one but Uranus is on its side

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish?

Ravioli boiiiiiiiiiii

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair?

I wanna try real dark blue

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

I mean Nick likes to quote me, “I drown my sorrows in latin pop”

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it?

I keep a really inconsistent journal. It’s mostly writing but like three sketches are in it.

20: what’s your favorite eye color?

Brown, needs more love

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces.

My marching band sling bag which is fucked up and has been almost everywhere with me since the summer of 2016, its been covered in mud, burnt, almost shredded with a pocket knife, almost fell into the middle of a lake

22: are you a morning person?

Not at all

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?

Play video games in the morning and wander around with Mack when he’s up for it

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

Mack

25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into?

I’ve broken into kiddie pools in the middle of the night multiple times

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit?

My grey street style converse

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor?

Cinnamon bby

28: sunrise or sunset?

Sunset

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?

He’ll say something rude then immediately say “Sorry I love you”

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

God yeah, I don’t really remember the situation but I remember the feeling

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks.

I don’t like socks but I refuse to wear tennis or dress shoes without them cuz of my nail phobia. The colors don’t matter unless I’m going to something formal. I cannot sleep with socks unless I’m freezing my ass off

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends.

Mack and I couldn’t sleep during my birthday party and we decided to go check the pool times and got locked out of the room and the other two were asleep so we sat in the hall for about an hour

33: what’s your fave pastry?

Macarons, I love poffertjes but they aren’t really a pastry

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

I still have Purple Kitty from when I was little, the fabric on him is tough af like why is he made of that

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often?

I like a nice pen and stationary set with a wax seal too but I don’t use them often enough to own anything

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now?

I’m really neutral rn but I’m listening to blackbear

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean?

It’s not a matter of liking it but my room is really messy

38: tell us about your pet peeves!

Misophonia a bitch man. I’m also really aggressive about it being zo-ology not zoo-ology, venomous not poisonous, saying snakes are slimy, shit like that

39: what color do you wear the most?

Pfft black

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you?

I have Opa’s dog tags and the ring I got on Kelley’s Island

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving?

When the Moon Was Ours

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it!

I don’t, I’ve only really been to Starbucks

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?

It wasn’t stargazing but I did comment on the stars the other night with Audra, Nick, and Mack while they talked about how fucking cursed Falls is. The last real stargazing I did was with Kennedy this summer.

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?

The other day, it only lasted a little bit before Carson ruined it. Dove sounds are calming.

45: do you trust your instincts a lot?

No, I overanalyze everything

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of.

I’m really bad at puns oops. I don’t think it counts as a pun but one of my favorite jokes is people who don’t understand the difference between etymology and entomology bug me in ways that I cannot put into words.

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

Fucking green beans

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today?

I mean I’ve always been afraid of chickens and had a nail phobia

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought?

I like it but I haven’t for awhile. I honestly can’t remember it.

50: what’s an odd thing you collect?

Disney funkos but it isn’t that odd, I like the bat stuffed animals with the loops on the back

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them?

Brown Eyed Girl and Crazy Little Thing Called Love for a girl that people I know irl will immediately recognize

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far?

Finally some good fucking food is a good one, absolute unit, Mine, sKINNY LEGEND

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them?

I haven’t seen Heathers or Pulp Fiction but the others are Quality

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face?

Mack

55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point?

I’ve chewed up a leaf to prove it wasn’t plastic, drank a cup of sweet and sour sauce, shoved a cucumber down my throat, a lot of weird shit

56: what are some things you find endearing in people?

I like listening to people get excited over things

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics?

It makes me sad because of grief I’m not listening to it

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why?

Nick is wine mom for all his tea. Mack is vodka aunt because we’re dumbasses together, we’re gonna be each others’ kids’ cool uncle.

59: what’s your favorite myth?

Honestly I have no fucking clue, Caeneus is neat

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves?

I’m not a huge fan of poetry but I can appreciate it, Poe is a main mans

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received?

I like to give people bad sketches. I got a leaf once.

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind?

I don’t usually have juice but if I do it’s orange

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be?

Oof I’m a huge mess

64: what color is the sky where you are right now?

Blue I think but I can’t get to a window rn

65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with?

Micah or Uzii and Abbas

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like?

I like natural ones, I made a daisy and wild clover one that was almost perfect, it needed some kinda bigger flower

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel?

I like them a lot

68: what’s winter like where you live?

Freezing and comes out of nowhere, once I wore shorts and a tank top one day and my winter coat the next

69: what are your favorite board games?

I don’t really play board games but I like donkey, a card game

70: have you ever used a ouija board?

No, I usually watch my friends when they use one and laugh at them when they freak out

71: what’s your favorite kind of tea?

I like english breakfast and green, especially the kind they have at hibachi but it’s only available for restaurants

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it?

God yeah but I don’t do it.

73: what are some of your worst habits?

Biting my nails, retelling stories, there’s a lot more

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns.

A pseudo-skater, loved more than they think, supportive like nobody else, knows just how to make me feel better, possum kid, rat parent, this ungendered thing is difficult, angry, accidentally yells shit they shouldn’t

75: tell us about your pets!

I’ve got Petey, an anxious boston that’s going grey too early, Pete aka Little Bear, a frenchie that licks too much and looks like your stereotypical black french bulldog, Petunia aka Bug, a nutcase boston with a white face and black ears with a little bit of white on the ends, and Pig, a frenchie that likes biting noses with one floppy ear and bug eyes that doesn’t look like a dog. There’s also Dabb our uromastyx. I call him a scaly puppy because he is.

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t?

Finishing a final

77: pink or yellow lemonade?

Pink

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub?

HATE

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?

It’s not really the kind of cute this means but I was upset, leaned on Mack, said I felt like shit, and he made me let him hug me normally without saying a word. I got a lot of good hugs during the cast dinner bc when I cry I don’t stop and everyone who looks at me cries. Damian prob was the cutest cuz he’s usually more reserved emotionally and was really wild but then he was quiet and sad.

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?

Pink, teal, and purple. I hate it.

81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of.

Oof I forget what his eyes look like oops. I knew someone with eyes the color of deep tunnels in that dark wet clay earth with flecks of gold and stripes like tree bark

82: are/were you good in school?

Ehhhh, I’m not good at turning things in

83: what’s some of your favorite album art?

I like a lot of blackbear’s stuff

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?

I have a lot of plans like the cadmium symbol, a cosmo, a calavera, a snake diagram, a hyena, a testosterone molecule

85: do you read comics? what are your faves?

I read some stuff on webtoon like Darbi, Lackadaisy, and Lil Char and the Gang

86: do you like concept albums? which ones?

I didn’t know that was a like a thing, I thought that was just how some albums are

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives?

Coco damnit, also Stand By Me

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy?

I really love pop art

89: are you close to your parents?

I guess? They’ve just got personalities I don’t really like

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities.

Pittsburgh babey!!!!! I love the hills and the style of houses and the energy of those people that bleed black and gold and the yinzers I can understand perfectly and the mountains that are so easy to get to and the art scene and the zoo and primantis and aaaaaaaaaah I love Pittsburgh.

91: where do you plan on traveling this year?

Pittsburgh and L.A. like always. Going to Disneyworld for a band trip spring break.

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch?

Only a tiny bit

93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most?

Pompadour mohawk

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday?

Oof most recent I think was my art teacher Miss Harry

95: what are your plans for this weekend?

Prom

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot?

I procrastinate so bad dude

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?

ENTP, aquarius sun, gryffindor

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it?

A couple months ago I did the gorge for the first time. I haven’t gone on a good hike for awhile and it upsetting. I love hiking so much.

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them.

Blackbird, Here Comes the Sun, For Forever, This Is Home, there’s a fair amount

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? Why?

Go back five years and tell myself to not talk to A and to just accept myself earlier, it’ll life better, to join wrestling, to ask her out, to just do shit, stop hesitating. To talk to Mack, he’ll be one of the greatest people you’ll ever meet. Give Cadmium all the love you can. Tell Opa you love him and spend more time with him.

[alwaysrunning-never-lookingback]

MONDAY GEAR GOBBLE! Garmin vivoactive smartwatch

Let’s talk about some running gear, shall we? Today, its the Garmin vivoactive smartwatch. 

Allow me to begin in this fashion- I LOVE THIS WATCH. Truthfully my favorite thing about this watch is the size. It looks like a regular watch, but can do so much more. Maybe I am so enamored because I’m coming from the Garmin Forerunner 305, which is a lead brick in comparison, both in size and functionality. 

                                   Look at the SIZE of that thing!!

The F305 served its purpose well, and like all technology, was stellar in its peak. But the F305 is to GPS-enabled watches what digital cameras are to smartphones- It’s not impossible to find people still holding on to the romance of the old technology (Like my grandfather with his Nokia flip phone and velcro-style belt loop phone case. It doesn’t even have an address book in it), but the newer counterparts can do so much more, and do it so much better!

Here’s everything that I really enjoy about this thing:

1. Sleep tracker. It’s not perfect,  but unless you attach electric nodes to my head, how could it be? I am a big fan of data in any capacity, and this does an awesome job at collecting data on your sleep patters and putting it in nice charts and graphs for you. It tracks ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ sleep and even will tell you when you wake up and walk around during the night. In the app, you set approximate sleep and wake times and it will try to guess when you’ve gone to sleep based on those approximations. But as long as you stay moving, even if you’re well past your preset sleep time, it will recognize that you’re awake.

Above, an option to start Sleep Mode. This blocks all notifications from bothering you through the night, which is awesome. I don’t care that Costa Vida sent me an email at 2:47am, and I don’t want to know about it at least until I wake up. (But please don’t misunderstand, I love Costa Vida will all my whole soul and I’m very happy they emailed me. Go read this post for proof)

Above, just one bit of Sleep Data provided by the app. This is part of something that I’ll have to cover more in-depth in a forthcoming review

2. Bluetooth phone connection. It transfers your workout data to your phone each time you open the Garmin Connect app, giving you the ability to analyze it on more than just a tiny watch face. If I wanted to track my GPS data on the F305, I had to upload the info to my computer and overlay it onto a map. Not impossible, but Garmin is all about removing hurdles, and here they’ve done a great job. This provides a detailed history of everything ever logged on your device. Again, more big data! You can also see hourly and daily weather snapshots on your phone, though it doesn’t go into much more detail. Another great feature is the music controls. You can connect Connect (see what I did there? Don’t worry I hate myself too.) with a music app like Google Play Music, Spotify, Pandora, etc and control play/pause, volume, and track selection from your watch. I’ve found this to be particularly useful when I’m on a bike: If a song comes on I don’t want to listen to but I can’t get to my phone in my pocket or bag, a few swipes on my watch and voila! problem solved. Getting app notifications is pretty awesome too! I have Gmail, text messages, NYT articles, even an app called Randomly RemindMe set up to send notifications to my watch, and it has changed my life. Sometimes there are too many notifications coming in (like a group chat from hell) and I have to temporarily disable Bluetooth, but seeing who exactly sent me a text or an email will let me know if its urgent and whether I ought to go through the trouble of getting out my phone at work or in class or with friends, etc.

3. Find my phone. A saving grace that should have been invented with the first cell phones to hit mainstream use. As long as your watch is connected to your phone and within Bluetooth range, this function will cause your phone to rapidly flash the camera light, vibrate, and make noise; even if your phone is totally silenced, this will temporarily override these settings until you locate your lost phone. Great for middle-console car traps, falling between the bed and the wall, or heaven forbid, someone hides your phone from you.

4. Sunlight readable touchscreen. Very impressive, if nothing else. Screens are often so hard to see in sunlight, but the Garmin tech geniuses have overcome this on the vivoactive. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, the screen is always as readable as a regular watch face. Never have I had any issue with reading it.

5. Customizable bands. A great feature to make your watch all your own. Nearly any color or design is available, and they come at very reasonable prices. With tiny screw heads, you need to make sure you have the proper tools to remove the watch bands, but it’s pretty simple. Be warned that durability of the wrist bands may become an issue depending on the seller, so whether you do it online or in person, only buy from a reputable vendor you trust.

                   ***NOTE: I am not endorsing Amazon or this seller ***

6. CONNECT app. This is so expansive and incredible I’ll have to do a standalone review for the app in the very near future. Stay tuned!

7. Fast charging and awesome battery. It’s truly wonderful how quickly this battery charges. The charging station has a magnet that holds your watch in place, and is USB-compatible so it can charge nearly everywhere. Additionally, this watch has a great battery life. Without using the GPS and activities, the battery lasts around 2 weeks on a full charge, with variability depending on backlight use, etc. I can get about 6 days of workouts before it needs a charge, and though I’ve yet to run this far in one go, I can roughly estimate it has 8 or 10 hours of battery with constant GPS use (for example, using the run or bike function without stopping). Great for daily and weekly training, but may not hold up so well for those of you running 50- or 100-mile races!

8. All the old Garmin stuff you know and love. Pace notification and customizable data screens for all compatible activities, which include running, biking, swimming, golf, walking, and indoor biking, walking, running. This is so fun! During activities, you are required to have at least one data screen (duh), but can have up to three, with 2 or 3 data fields on each screen AND you can set them however you like. I have three data screens for running set up this way: 

   1. Distance, Timer, Pace 

   2.Lap distance, Average pace, Lap pace

   3. Elevation, Time of day. 

Again, these screens are not permanent. Not everyone is interested in the same things I am during a run, and that’s what makes it so great! You can do whatever you want!! The list of things you can add to these data screens and the combinations you can come up with is incredible! Take a look–

Timer Fields

Timer

Lap Time

Last Lap Time

Average Lap Time

Elapsed Time

Distance Fields

Distance

Lap Distance

Last Lap Distance

Pace Fields

Pace

Average Pace

Lap Pace

Speed Fields

Speed

Average Speed

Lap Speed

Last Lap Speed

Maximum Speed

30 sec Avg. Vertical Speed

Heart Rate Fields

Heart Rate

Average Heart Rate

Heart Rate Zone

Hear Rate %Max

%HRR

Avg HR %Max

Avg %HRR

Lap Heart Rate

Lap %HRR

Lap HR %Max

Cadence Fields

Cadence

Average Cadence

Lap Cadence

Last Lap Cadence

Temperature Fields

Temperature

24-hr Max

24-hr Min

Elevation Fields

Elevation

Other Fields

Calories

Heading

Laps

Sunrise

Sunset

Time of Day

Steps

Lap Steps

***You can purchase separately a HR monitor to sync with your watch. I don’t have one, and therefore anything in field #5 I know very little about. As you can see, the watch offers a plethora of options for you to see exactly what kind of data (there’s that buzzword again) you’re interested as you run/bike/swim/golf/walk. Way more options than the F-305, that’s for sure!

9. Waterproof. This made me nervous at first; I swam a few laps with it and was worried that it would short out, get waterlogged, or some other issue would arise. But to my great surprise it held up just fine! The swim function allows you to set pool lap distance, and it will do its best (which is pretty dang accurate, I might add) to vibrate when it senses you’ve reached the end of the pool and its time to turn around before you sustain some head trauma. 

10. Vibrating alarm. This is a feature that I like, but again it’s not perfect. You can set up to three alarms to go off at any time, and your watch will vibrate for 1 min or until you snooze/ turn off the alarm. I do appreciate that it wakes me up without making noise, and in every situation I’ve found myself it is impossible to sleep through but it’s just so darn easy to deactivate! A quick tap with my finger and it’s back to Snooze City.

11. Connect IQ. This has some features that go with the CONNECT app, a review for this will be up soon! Customizable watch faces (not the bands I already talked about, but the touchscreen interface) is a considerable achievement. As I understand it, those with more design and programming savvy than the rest of us common folk can design any number of widgets and put them online through a place called Garmin Express, where you choose what you want your watch interface to look like. Garmin Express is available as a free download, click here to get a copy for yourself.

However, this watch isn’t flawless, and I don’t love EVERYTHING about it. Here’s what to take note of when it comes to negative things about the watch:

1. Buttons on side occasionally unresponsive. It comes with two physical buttons, one on each side. On the left, you’ll find the power button. Hold it down a few seconds, and it will ask for confirmation that you want to power off the watch. The button on the right will bring up your activity menus. These buttons work okay, but on rare occasion they won’t react right away, or I need to press harder, etc. No serious issues, but sometimes it’s a slight annoyance

2. Touch screen not uber-sensitive. Sometimes, probably due to the build up from my gross, oily hands, the watch screen doesn’t respond well to touch, and as an aside the easy-to-see smudges don’t add to the aesthetic value. This issue also arises when the watch is wet. I know I said its waterproof capabilities were great, but if there is a drop of water on-screen, this messes up functionality until it’s dried off. Not a big deal during a run, I just dry it on my shirt or shorts. This only becomes a problem when one is, say, swimming laps in a pool!

3. GPS mode sucks battery. As I mentioned before, using the watch during activity mode really sucks the battery. So I never use it to track a bike ride to/from campus or work or a friends house, and I don’t turn it on when I’m walking around. The GPS/activity tracking mode is only used for actual running or other designated workouts.

4. Disconnect/connect issues? I put a question mark after this one because I’m not sure if its a common thing or mine was just an isolated event. For the first three weeks I had the watch, there would be periods of a few hours when my watch would disconnect and connect again about every 30 seconds. Not anything life-changing or awful, but my watch vibrated with every change in connection, which I hated. Since then, I’ve had no problems, and the Garmin website was super helpful in resolving the issue

5. Inactivity timer. I had a really hard time adding this to the dislikes. I don’t love it, but think it belongs in some middle category because I certainly see the merits of it. As part of tracking your steps it will alert you if you’ve been inactive for too long (I suspect the timer to be 60 minutes, but that’s purely anecdotal). This is a great reminder to stay active and get up from your chair during the day, but it certainly has its downsides:

In my line of work, I am often up and moving, but it may be for only a few steps at a time and often not very far. If I walk too slowly to trigger the movement sensor or I’m back and forth in the same 8x8 area, it will remind me that I ought to be moving. At the very least, its a mild distraction. But it has gotten me into some awkward situations during exams. No professor wants to hear a vibrate during a test, and more than once I’ve had to explain away what happened.

After a long run, sometimes I feel justified in lying around for awhile. I mean really, if you’ve hit 10 or 15 or 20 or 25 miles today, you’re probably okay to take a little break. But your vivoactive doesn’t care, it’ll tell you to move regardless! And maybe you should. Maybe its beneficial to walk a bit after a long run so you don’t get too stiff or anything. Or maybe you’d be better off melting into the couch, and I wish the watch would let you do that if you so choose.

Overall, I would strongly recommend this watch to anyone. I think it is a great blend of function & form, though I do wish a few small things could be changed. Keep an eye out for my review on the CONNECT app and the IQ portion, which will be paired with info on the Garmin Express program as well. Do you have this watch? Do you have a different Garmin watch that you think is better/worse than the vivoactive? Is there a glaring misstep in my evaluation of the watch? Let’s talk about it, and tell all your friends!

In the meantime, let’s talk! I’m always interested in finding new people to share this passion and trade ideas & philosophies with. But more importantly, I want to hear YOUR stories. Find me on Twitter  @KoltonGWilliams and we can talk about running. Or check out my videos on YouTube here. Heck, email me at williamskolton@gmail.com if you feel so inclined. And then, share your stuff with me! Drop me a message, comment, whatever. Let’s connect! I would love to read your blog and watch your videos and follow all your activities, running or otherwise.  Teach me about your running gear and training, ask me a question, or tell me what you ate today. I want to hear it all! Run as fast or as slow as you need to have a good time, but get out there and run! 

[flourishedandsunkissed]

My Heart Captured

A little while ago on Twitter I did a thread of pictures I liked from 2016 that I never posted. Only a select few can make it Instagram, ya know. But since this blog is about what I love, I’m posting them here too.

January 11th

The view from the third floor landing in the house/dorm I lived in freshman year. I think this is a perfect picture of a Californian winter.

January 23rd

Idyllwild. Thanks to a work retreat I got to experience this beautiful view.

February 6th

The other window from the third floor landing. I was always fascinated with the colors of the sunsets every evening and how these windows would frame them.

February 15th

Huntington Beach. My love for the beach is unmatched. I’m always overwhelmed with love for the beauty of God’s creation here. And I think the people in the frame make it even more interesting and that much more wonderful.

March 18th

A perfect spring day around campus. I took these working on a campaign for my job and was in awe of everything I found. I used to hate spring because of the bugs and allergens, but this wonderful walk and photoshoot around campus changed my mind.

May 31st

This rose garden welcomes me every morning and I’m always happy to see it. Right now most of the bushes are bare, but some of my friends are beginning to bloom again.

June 4th

Los Angeles. The city of chaos I used to fear that now has my heart. It’s not the glimmering spectacle it used to be, we all know, but it still has its gems and its history.

June 9th

Everyone loves a good dog picture. This is my sister-in-law’s dog and I’ll be honest, I’m pretty sure she’s the one that took this but it was too cute not to include.

June 10th

I love flowers; what other reason do I need?

June 15th

Urth Caffé, Pasadena. My best friend is on the other side. I eat so much junk while I’m in school it’s always great to get a healthy meal in. And when my best friend gets back from Australia, we’ll get tattoos and go back to Urth.

July 24th

China Beach, San Francisco. This place is stunning. Also in the neighborhood of what I like to call the Beverly Hills of SF (of course where my favorite houses are). Those are my parents at the top. I don’t know who those people are at the bottom, but I’d like to thank them for making that shot worth taking.

August 5th

Mammoth. My freshman year of high school I went to Mammoth for the first time with my parents, tagging along on my dad’s business trip. I fell so deeply in love, it stuck with me the way Catcher in the Rye did the following year. I wanted to carry it with me everywhere and I remembered the details. I was eager to get back as soon as we drove off. Unfortunately, it took 5 years to get back. But fortunately, I got to go back. And experience it in a different season. And this time my whole family was there. I’ll always miss this place. I know I said my love for the beach was unmatched, but the mountains are my other happy place. And out of all the mountain towns I’ve been to, I love this one the most, by far.

August 7th

Groveland. A small mountain town we stopped in on the way back north from Mammoth. Stopping here really made me understand small towns. And taught me not to expect good pasta from a small town saloon.

August 21st

San Francisco. I hate my parents being so far away but I love being able to see my friends in both Northern and Southern California. This was a fun day. My friend and I did have a plan, but it sort of fell through. And for once, I wasn’t even upset. Only one other time had I ever had that much fun getting lost in a big city. This time was different though. In LA we got lost while we were driving and there are so many areas that are mazes of their own. This time I wasn’t in the car and San Francisco always seems to let you find your way back. We thought we understood the bus system, we thought we had enough time for this, we thought that was closer. We were wrong and it was fantastic.

September 20th

Sunset again. My eyes will forever be infatuated.

October 25th

I was one of the lucky people that got to see Kanye on the Saint Pablo Tour before the rants and irate disruptions made their familiar comeback. I saw a bit of an unfamiliar Kanye. I’ll always remember how he said, “I would say, ‘THIS IS THE BEST F***ING SHOW YOU’VE EVER BEEN TO,’ but [someone] taught me how to be polite. So I just want to thank y’all for coming out, and I hope you’re enjoying the show.” He said it not ironically, but in genuine humility and gratefulness. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t the best show I’ve ever been to and it wasn’t what I was expecting, but I did enjoy the show. I had a ton of fun. And I’ll always be convinced that we shared a moment. So thank you, Kanye.

November 11th

The Grove, Hollywood, Los Angeles. A place I sort of grew up going to. I’m sure that can be attributed to the addition of the American Girl Place. My friends and I can’t really shop here, but we keep going because well, we love LA and pretty sights.

December 8th

California Adventure, Anaheim. My favorite pretentious thing to say is that I grew up at Disneyland. But that’s because it’s true. I remember when Mickey’s silhouette sat in the loop of California Screamin’ and the sun was the face of the ferris wheel. I remember when they announced World of Color and Midway Mania. I actually remember seeing coverage of that ride on Disney 365. I remember when a worker explained that they were going to Dis-nify California Adventure. I remember when I told one of my best friends I would never ride California Screamin’ and she heartily agreed and apologizing to her years later because I did and it was awesome. There’s so much more, that’s just what’s in frame. If I have any other happy place, it’s here.

December 15th

The Sky. I didn’t want to fly out on a cloudy day because turbulence gives me anxiety. But then somehow I ended up on that plane in between the clouds. I marveled. Whenever I fly I think about how I shouldn’t be able to. I think about how on the ground, a cloudy day takes over everything. Our schedules, plans, and moods. Not even thinking that the sun is still shining above them. On Earth too, not just in space. I think that’s something I need to remember: clouds don’t replace the sun.