#░▒ ¦ ╯MATERIAL THINGS MAKE THE WORLD A LITTLE MORE BEARABLE╰ ( aesthetics. )

[tessacxstello]

hello im (F, 24) an idiot and forgot to post tessa’s (F, 22, fictional) intro!

pls bare in mind most of this was written 5+ years ago n i haven’t written tessa since 2015...... but lets get this show (LOCKWOODRP) on the road (DASHBOARD). 

tw school shooting, tw bipolar disorder

art hoe. always covered in paint. why?? she bad at painting

the mark rothko jackson pollock kind of bad tho wher people are like.... omg.... revolutionary..... its a badly drawn vagina

fuckin loves astrology, but cant take it that seriously bcos one of her bfs was a gemini so there’s some lenience there. but she WILL blame her hormones and mood swings on the positon of mars

embodies pure sunshine. 

one of those really annoying people that can go through the most traumatic shit and still find a positive spin. 

cares so much for others but does not really care for herself n it’s meant she just bottles up all this shit n when someone asks her how her day has gone she just falls on the ground like tht bit in midsommar when florence does that loud wheezy noise and sits down 

has never really had much money at all. learns to make-do with what she has. loves upcycling!! her bookshelf is made from cardboard which she’s reinforced by pappering it over with pages ripped out of thrifted books. her sofa is an old car boot which she’s repainted, put on wheels and stuffed w cushions so that it’s actually bearable to sit on.

her knitted cardigan? its made out of wife material.

knits all the time. will crochet you a christmas scarf. if ur lucky you might get a knitted jumper with a penis in a santa hat

still sleeps with cuddly toys n then wonders why ppl dont think she’s mature enough for a serious relationship

very passionate about Sister Doing It For THemselves!! raised by a single mom who worked her ass off so that tessa could do fun activities after school, have lelli kelly shoes, and go to college (not necessarily in tht order of importance)

tessa was born out of wedlock as the result of an affair between her mom (a journalism intern in her early 20s) and a new york times editor. 

the editor offered to pay tessa’s mom off to have an abortion, but she was like fuck u and told the papers he’d done that and used the money to cover the cost of her internship which they refused to pay her for

and because of the scandal, he ended up going through a pretty messy divorce with his wife, and losing custody of his kids. so as a child  tessa was seen as the cause of a divorce and received mutliple letters from the editors wife (to tessa personally!) and his kids saying how she had ruined everything, but her mom moved them to another town so tessa didn’t have to deal with that crap. 

her mom worked 3 jobs to put her through school, so in return tessa pushes herself incredibly hard to succeed. needs a break and a hug and to get laid to be honest. 

an old soul. likes old films, old music, old people. only recently got an iphone 5s so not really with this century yet

very sweet and soft and kind but also a fucking mess and won’t listen to anyone else’s opinion. she’ll take comfort, but not advice. 

feminist buddhist bisexual vegetarian for human rights and animal welfare. standing on a soapbox shouting about the climate in the quad, shoving flyers into your hands. flyers everwhere. she turns up at your grandmas funeral and shoves one into her mouth. she’s stolen the mic from the vicar to talk about pandas.

says “mother of pearl” and “heavens to betsy”.

had an affair with her married piano teacher and he’s now facing a custody battle and his wife is leaving him and tessa has completely internalised that guilt despite her being the victim in the scenario

aesthetics: paint splattered jeans, loose curls spilling from a scrunchie, thrifted blouses in bright yellow, guzzling coffee in the library at three am when a term paper’s due, shoddily illustrated campaign posters to save endangered species, polaroids plastered to your bedroom walls with scribbled dates on the frames, jumping into a stack of autumn leaves, jumping off piers in the summer months and stripping off your wet clothes on the beach, digging your thumbs into peaches to leave a bruise, smoking with the extractor fan on to hide the smell, bath bombs, letting the girls at lush rub samples all over your skin, cacti with knitted bobble hats, decorative pillows and sun and moon blanket throws, basic bitch fairy lights hanging from every single window, painting the name of the boys you’ve loved inside your wardrobe door.

studies fine art and philosophy, and wants to become either a lecturer or the first woman president. vibe wise, very similar to leslie knope, missy from big mouth, and basically the naive everygirl with a high opinion of themselves trope

gets drunk off like one double vodka lemonade because she’s small and she’s a pretty messy wild drunk. it’s when slutty tessa comes out, and the next day she’ll thoroughly regret every choice made and decide she’s never drinking again and cutting out all men and starting daily sudoko

on the cheerleading team and is a flyer, which she sees as a HUGE responsibility and she works really hard to make sure she’s on it for her team. one of those get up at 7am and go to the gym before school types its sickening

she had a really traumatic time at high school because there was a shooting in her school. she was in the next classroom when it happened, and she lost one of her friends in the shooting. she had to take two months off school, was diagnosed with depression and put on anti-depressants because of it. in her 2nd year of uni she was rediagnosed with bipolar disorder and anxiety, which she’s now on medication for. she can be really good for several months at a time and feel super creative and determined (she actually finds manic periods helpful for her creativity n art, n sadly sometimes doesn’t take her meds in these periods to push herself more which is obvs super bad.....). but when the bad periods come they can also last months n she had to take a semester out of school last year because of her mood, so she should be a senior by now but she’s retaking junior year

she attends weekly stress-management sessions prescribed by her doctor which she finds pointless.

very childish in the sense that she can only see her own point of view and kind of views herself as the “protagonist” and thinks her ideas are super important and life changing and she IS Destined for Greatness! despite being pretty much average af

pinterest board.

STATS

age: 22

height: 5'2"

positive traits: kind-hearted, gregarious, selfless, philosophical, open minded, idealistic, courageous, feisty, charismatic, loyal, adventurous.

negative traits: stubborn, hot-headed, reticent, escapist, self-destructive, easily led, naive, troubled, complicated, stepford smiler, envious, overdramatic, explosive.

distinguishing Marks: heart-shaped birthmark on the right of her chest, splattering of freckles across the cheeks during summer months, full lips, large eyes, porcelain features, long wavy hair, tattoo of a bird and a cage on her ankles and a basic bitch arrow tat on her wrist (srry to anyone with an arrow tat).

skills: jack-of-all-trades, talented pianist, perceptive, knows the correct way to throw a punch, good survival instinct, is able to remain calm in stressful situations, endures, artistic, excels in academic studies, hard-working and self-motivated, expert liar and talented actress.

likes: wolves, vintage thrift store fashion, old leather-bound books, left-wing democratic politics, cigarettes, poetry, John Hughes movies, cold coffee, hot tea, the sound of laughter, staying up til 4am having deep conversations, Tchaikovsky, having deep conversations about life, stationary, DC Comics, horoscopes, winged eyeliner, cats, knee-high socks, house music, abandoned buildings, studio ghibli, the smell of the earth after rain, Wes Anderson films, herbal tea, old people, solitude, esoteric things, the smell of freshly baked bread, Charles Bukowski, the moon.

fears: death, oblivion, global warming, losing those she loves, isolation, clowns, guns, enclosed spaces.

nicknames: Tess, T-Dog, Tessie, Socrates, Princess, Sunshine Girl, Florence Nightingale.

alignment: Neutral Good

MBTI type: INFP

BIOGRAPHY

tw school shooting

Her story begins with Cordelia Costello, a twenty-three year old college drop-out, turned beautician, turned columnist, turned intern at a local publishing company. She was a youthful, beautiful, siren of a women, always surrounded by an aura of enigma and an entourage of men. It was no surprise to the gossips in the office that within six months working at the company, Cordelia had added to her list another title – mistress to Franklin Hozier, the Editor of the New York Times. After two blissful months and three hundred and twenty seven orgasms, Cordelia decided she wanted a baby. Franklin laughed in her face. Feeling isolated and used, Cordelia continued her affair with her boss’ boss for another month, before deciding to take matters into her own hands.

It started with a turkey baster.

Soon the infant cries of a baby girl graced the world, her wrinkled skin puckered and pink as her mother held her in her arms, glancing upon the most beautiful thing in her life. Once Tessa, named after Cordelia’s favourite literary heroine, entered the world, Franklin left her life and things took a turn for the better. Despite living in a rented one-bedroom apartment in Staten Island, on what little money Cordelia had saved, Tessa’s childhood years were filled with nothing but the happiest of memories. Times were tough, but what they lacked in money, the Costello’s made up in love. While Tessa was at school, Cordelia did odd jobs cleaning, child-minding, working in local nurseries, in order to save up enough money to give her daughter the best start in life.

Despite what she had been led to believe by television shows and teen movies, the first few years of High School were some of the best years of her life. Tessa threw herself into a multitude of activities that High School offered her, including the drama club, the orchestra, choir, badminton and the school newspaper. While she certainly wasn’t considered ‘popular’ at school, Tess had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. In fact, High School was a place where she made some of the greatest memories of her life, but come her final year, it was also a place where she was haunted by some of her worst.

On the January 17th of Tessa’s senior year of high school, a shooting took place in Westville High School. For two hours Tessa locked herself in a supply cupboard, her head between her knees as she tried to stay silent despite the screams of horror from the corridor. Eighteen students were caught in the crossfire, two of which were Tessa’s best friends. Bouquets of flowers, laminated photographs, Teddy Bears in cling-film bags attached to balloons littered the streets as families and friends came to pay tribute to the eighteen students withered before they had a chance to bloom.

It took two months of therapy before Tessa could return to school. Some of the survivors could never return due to the horrors that their eyes had laid witness to. Sometimes Tessa felt like a part of her had died with the friends that were stolen from her too soon, but one thought kept her going through: she had survived, she was alive and breathing, and she could not afford to loose a second of the precious time she had been granted on this earth. Despite the nightmares that continued to haunt her each night, Tessa found in the aftermath of the disaster a new sense of motivation. She began applying for scholarships for colleges without her mother’s knowledge, in the hope that her academic success would be enough to carry her through further education. Thankfully, it was, and after three torturous months of waiting Tess was offered an arts scholarship to her dream school, Lockwood University, where she hoped she could finally start to rebuild her life.

THE PRESENT:

Life at university was like a separate world. Students came and went like moths among the whisperings and the tequila and the stars. In this new world, Tessa was exposed for the first time in her life to alcohol, drugs, and the sexual appetites of other students her age – though she politely declined all three. Instead, Tessa threw herself into the vast array of activities in the hope that by distracting herself she could escape the terrible flashbacks that continued to haunt her. Tessa joined the lacrosse team, despite never having played before, and took up cheerleading discovering a new talent; she joined the musical theatre group, and the film club, and even set up her own acapella singing society. But despite how much she tried to throw herself into student life, her past hung around her like a bad smell, and with the added pressure of the Sinking Ships zine, Tess began to feel the weight of her secret tying her down like a pair of shackles around her wrists.

PERSONALITY:

If someone was to describe Tessa in a single word, it would most likely be ‘bubbly’, ‘open-minded’ or ‘sweet’. But they would be wrong – Tessa is not bubbly, or sweet, or stubborn, or hotheaded, or fiesty, or infectious, or any of the things the world see her as, but merely a numb and lonely echo of the gregarious, halcyon girl she once was. Tessa Costello was one of life’s enigmas. No one knew who she was, for to each person she met she wore a different mask – she dripped confidence, or was painfully shy; she was an exhibitionist, or a brooding wallflower; she took things too seriously, or not seriously at all. She was an actress and the world was her stage, each person she met a different member of the audience in the performance of her life. In truth, Tessa no longer even recognised herself. Insecure, and self-destructive, she tried to hang on to the extroverted, mischievous pieces of herself that everyone had once loved, but day by day it got harder to know what lay in the vacant holes blown through her mind. While she was stubborn and hot-headed, Tessa always saw the best in people, which meant that she was easily led astray. While she had grown up learning to be street smart and astute, she was idealistic and allowed silly fantasies to cloud her mind. By nature, she was passionate, which lead her to misimagine and romanticise those she met. Despite the hell she had witnessed, and the anxiety that feasted upon her, she believed that people were innately good and that to have courage and be kind could cure anyone of their sadness – yet she was unable to cure herself.

TWITTER:

@500daysoftessa: i blame disney films and musicals for my high expectations of men

@500daysoftessa: i am in love with the boy who works at starbucks. today i asked for a double latte and he gave me a tripple, which i think is proof that my love is requited. our children will be smart and talented and beautiful.

@500daysoftessa: little known historical fact: pharaohs were burried with their hands crossed over their chests because it was a popular belief there would be countless water slides in the after life.

[thefudge]

scattered thoughts on sanditon so far 

this is a fun romp from andrew davies and there’s a lot to like and be invested in

but i do have some observations/ gripes

obviously davies is going for a modern/sexed up adaptation of austen and i have mixed thoughts on that, cuz there’s a lot of interesting stuff you can do with that, but you can also botch it up big time (i’m glad he didn’t do this to p&p back in 1995...i wonder what that adaptation would’ve looked like today. probably full monty darcy, lol). so i think some elements verge on the ridiculous, for instance having almost every dude in this show strip naked in front of a crowded beach several times in a row. ditto for theo james. i don’t mind the view (hehe) but i think it’s inserted awkwardly at times. like okay, we get it, it’s a beach resort and we’re trying to make austen edgy in 2019.... just maybe indulge a little less and literally keep it in your pants. 

this being a more modern adaptation i don’t mind hair and make-up anachronisms, but i DO mind the fact that rose williams sports this really weird shade of fuchsia lipstick in almost every single scene. stop iiiit

speaking of which, rose williams is a cutie and i loved her on reign, but i don’t understand what she’s doing with her face in this series. don’t get me wrong, she does a good job of making charlotte very likable, but the only way she can express...anything, really, is by making these confused faces, like a child practicing frowning in the mirror. it’s...really awkward. and she does this all the time, whether she’s happy or sulky or nervous, she just always looks like she’s trying to figure out the fibonacci sequence.  i mean it’s hilarious when u have theo james going all gruff to her about his feelings and rose williams is that gif of the blond lady doing math in her head. her acting is pretty good otherwise, but those faceeeees.

esther denham is my goddamn FAVE, gosh i love a Disappointed Queen and i’m glad she’s getting away from that boring skeevy brother. for once the incestuous siblings didn’t do it for me at all (which is pretty much the point lol). there’s nary a dude more uninteresting than edward whatshisface, my gaaaawd (also, davies trying to ramp up the sexiness with those scenes of edward brushing her hair or doing her stays...lol, sir, this rly isn’t your strength i’m sorry)

but i have to say that i thought esther and clara would be a thing. because my gosh, the chemistry during their scenes! the way they’d glide past each other with utmost contempt, while being disquieted by each other @___@. i mean it’s an austen adaptation, so i guess they’d never go there but!!! i need fic (would’ve made clara more bearable at least. i appreciate her character objectively cuz she’s an interesting pseudo-antagonist and you don’t get many of those, but blerghh. she was insufferable)

i was kinda (actually very) disappointed that the relationship between sidney and his ward, georgiana, wasn’t really developed. like there’s one more episode to go (as far as i know?) and they’ve barely scratched the surface with them. i mean he’s halfway decent to her now.... but ehh. i feel like this was a missed opportunity. after all, this was austen’s unfinished novel, so andrew davies & co could have added more material between these two. this, to me, should have been the real heart of the series. 

i like otis as a character, but georgiana/otis was zzzzzz. i suppose that they’ll end up together? zzzzzzzzzz (i frankly ship her way more with arthur! she finds him infuriating! he’s a sweetheart! the shenanigans!)

that German doctor is the real MVP, i feel like he should be sanditon’s no. 1 bachelor. i mean the shower rod??? providing pleasure to all the ladies in town, what a hero 

the soundtrack is rly rad! and the cinematography

i love how the show captures austen’s growing interest in the industrialized modern world which was emerging in the twilight years of the regency and i feel like maybe the show should’ve invested more time in that modern aesthetic (steampunk!) rather the awkward sexual shenanigans 

so....i can’t delay the inevitable anymore, can i? sigghh okay here i go

sidney/charlotte...annoys me. 

HEAR ME OUT.

 u know that i love LOVE “enemies to lovers” and hate/love stories, i LIVE FOR THIS SHIT. 

and i was ready to gorge on this dynamic because it looked delish 

 but i felt like michael bluth finding the dead pigeon in the paper bag. 

from what i can gather, sidney is supposed to be a mixture of darcy and capt wentworth, “haughty” and proud, with a history of romantic disappointment, a brooding sexy hero with a heart of gold. but to me this dude just comes off as weird. 

there’s legit no reason for him to be THIS mean to this young girl he just met. he is not just an asshole, he is ridiculously over the top about it, to the point where he makes a fool of himself. i am FINE with a man telling a woman off, believe me, but it has to have some kind of motivation, some kind of reasoning behind it. here, it just feels like the plot needs him to be utterly shitty to charlotte so that “sparks will fly”. that first ep convo on the balcony??? wtf???? it was genuinely bizarre. i got weird incel vibes. and every time he lashes out at charlotte (at least in the first 4 episodes) it’s fucking silly, because it’s not like he lashes out because she’s scratching the surface of his innermost painful memories. no!!! many of their arguments revolve around basic things that he could easily clarify!!! which he does eventually, so like whyyyyyyyyyy. charlotte keeps telling him he’s being vague for no good reason and he still does it. it doesn’t make sense he’d be this guarded and outspoken at the same time. like, fine, keep that shit to yourself, don’t tell ppl, but don’t also get pissed at them when they don’t guess your mind. again, i love an antagonist dynamic when it’s done right, but here many times it’s just pointless bullying, it’s not sexy or fun or challenging. the writers keep making charlotte apologize to him about how “wrong” she got him and how he makes her doubt her judgement but it sounds fake to me. like a) this dude went out of his way to be a total assface to you from day one, b) none of that bullying was him trying to coax you into having a more complicated view of the world. when darcy rebukes elizabeth, he is hinting at her limited point of view. he’s not blatantly negging her or calling her stupid as this dude does. AND U KNO WHAT.

i’d be absolutely fine with him calling her stupid IF IT MADE SENSE WITHIN THE STORY 

like if charlotte had truly done smth stupid during the first episode, sure, fine, it’s somewhat warranted 

but for him to decide she’s an idiot for no other reason than her making some honestly super nice remarks about his brothers when he asked for her opinion is THE HEIGHT OF NONSENSE 

it’s even more nonsense when 2 episodes later he decides maybe she’s not that dumb after all FUCK U MR. EDGELORD

and it makes me pity charlotte cuz she’ll probably marry this dude and have to deal with him in his old age when he’ll be even more insufferable. 

and i totally get the appeal. i do! i mean their scenes are manufactured to make you want more of them, i see the chemistry, it’s there (and we’re already at a point in the series where he’s trying to make amends) but at the same time i’m put off by this dude’s intensity, cuz it’s not the hot kind of intensity...it’s more like he’s a giant dumb baby who breaks things. meh. theo james is very pretty tho, and he is doing the most with his character (that voice def helps!). but i wish this antagonistic relationship had been written better, because it could’ve been glorious

this is why i think sidney/georgiana should’ve been so much more present. just like darcy has his georgiana we need the humanizing element, we need to see more variety from this dude than just “guy who clearly needs anger management classes”. 

i’m pretty sure i’m in the minority or possibly one of two ppl not won over by this romance, and i can’t lie and say i don’t root for them. too much of this show is predicated on their clashes for them not to work it out and get together, but boyyyy do i wish they’d done it a bit better

i almost feel like a reylo anti lol, but at least kylo ren doesn’t neg rey every single time they talk 

also, i go back to rose williams’ faces because they just rly enhance how clumsy this dynamic is. theo james is doing byronic asshole 2.0 and charlotte looks at him like he’s developed a smell lmao. i mean the scene where she catches him naked? she turns around and FROWNS in this rly bizarre way, almost like she noticed a growth on his dick lmao it’s that bad 

anyway i totally get the appeal, but i also know what i want from this kind of dynamic and...this ain’t quite it 

honestly i think i prefer charlotte/cute architect guy whose name i don’t remember right now! 

that being said, my fave moments of this show are the most austen-esque, where ppl don’t take themselves so seriously. i mean the adventures of the perennially-ailing parker siblings (arthur & diana)? deeeelightful. the pineapple scene? glorious

also it makes me sad that sanditon was left unfinished because to see austen tackling georgiana’s character in depth would have been so, so interesting 

in conclusion, the show’s a lot of fun but also frustrating in many ways

i hope davies doesn’t set his eyes on re-adapting p&p or other austen classics because ermmm i know i’m trash but i am kind of tired of these sexed-up “look how scandalous we are behind closed doors” adaptations. you can make the regency era feel modern and relatable without “shocking hand job in the estate park” pls and thank u. sure, the regency era was the inheritor of the sexually relaxed 18th-century, but it wasn’t that relaxed yall. ppl still kept their wits and bonnets about them.

still, i’m glad this show exists and that it tries to take risks, i just wish it took different kinds of risks, if that makes sense. like i am SO bummed i didn’t get into sidney/charlotte, u have no idea 

[centralparkpawsblog]

The 9 Best End Table Dog Crates & Furniture-Style Kennels

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Top Pick: Crown Pet Products Wood End Table Dog Crate

Made from sustainable rubberwood, this end table dog kennel by Crown Pet Products is good for the environment, your dog, and your wallet.

Plus, it’s available in both Espresso and Mahogany!

Check Price

I love sharing my home with my dogs.

However, I have always tried to keep my house looking like the dogs haven’t completely taken it over.

Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I fail.

There have been numerous occasions over the years that I have had to set up a crate in the house, and quite honestly, I hate the look of them.

Usually, I will use a crate cover to soften the appearance, but at the end of the day, we still have a giant wire box sitting in our room. 

My dogs love resting in crates; it’s their safe place[1].

So, when I take down the unneeded kennel, my dogs are generally disappointed.

My solution to the problem was to invest in three end table crates. Though this was a fair investment, it met my needs of being functional and looking good.

Most people don’t even realize the tables are crates until they look closer at them. 

Because my dogs have free run of the house, we took the doors off of two of the crates.

We left one door on for Ginger as she has some behavioral issues that require her to take some time to self soothe, but that’s a long story for a different article.

Also, if you are wondering why I have a gate across the staircase rungs, it’s because Sophie likes to eat cat food and is wonderfully tenacious about getting what she wants.

I know it detracts from the décor, but as I said earlier, sometimes I fail.

What are End Table Dog Crates?

The best invention in the dog crate world!

Simply put, they are dog crates that are also functional furniture.

They make having a dog crate in any living space far more bearable and aesthetically pleasing. 

There is a fair variety of furniture-style dog crates to choose from, ranging in style, size, and color.

Dog crate furniture can be an investment, but when you combine the costs of an end table and crate, it’s usually the better deal.

Why You Should Buy an End Table Dog Crate

Furniture style dog crates are the perfect solution for having a dog crate and retaining the décor of any room.

I recommend this style table to all my friends and family that crate their dogs.

They blend well into any home and meet the needs of the dogs.

They say (please don’t ask me who they are) a picture is worth a thousand words. Below is visual proof of why you should buy an end table crate:

Unfortunately, we do have the big wire crate set up in the living room.

It is far more bearable than the X-Pen we had up before.

We are currently using this wire crate as a temporary training tool for Miss Ginger (I can’t wait to tear it down and put my end table crate back in its place!).

Looking for a soft-sided crate for temporary or travel use? Click here for the best!

What to Look for when Buying a Furniture Style Dog Crate

Like with all buying situations, different factors need to be taken into consideration.

For the end table crate, here’s a pretty comprehensive list to ponder:

Color/Style

There is a multitude of colors and styles to choose from.

Since you’re making this investment, you will want to find one that matches your room perfectly.

Material

These crates come in a variety of materials from different wood types to recycled polymers

You want to choose one that will both match your interior decorating preferences as well as the wear and tear from your dog.

Ease of Use

Depending on the space you plan on putting the crate, you will want to be sure the door is oriented to open easily.

Some crates have multiple entrances.

Size

This comes down to two factors: the size of your dog and the size of the space.

Be sure to consider height when looking for a crate as you don’t want it to sit too high or low.

Another item of note is there are two sets of measurements: One set is for the inside of the crate, and the other is for the overall table size.

For example, my crate has a 4-inch difference in the length and depth of the crate interior versus table exterior.

Sturdiness

The sturdiness of a crate is vital.

You don’t want the table collapsing on your dog, and you don’t want a flimsy crate your dog can easily escape.

As much as I love furniture crates, the reality is if you have a dog with separation anxiety or barrier anxiety, these crates won’t hold up against a dog that desperately wants out.

Price

These furniture style crates range in price from a little under $100 to over $1000!

The price usually depends on the material and size of the crate.

The Best Furniture-Style Dog Crates

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ModelMaterialColorsRatingPrice Crown Pet Products Wood End Table Dog CrateSustainable RubberwoodEspresso, Mahogany4.5$$$ Check Price Casual Home Dog Crate End TableSustainable WoodBlack, Espresso, Taupe, White4.0$$ Check Price Omlet Fido Studio Luxury Dog Crate with WardrobeWood and WireWalnutN/A$$$ Check Price Boomer and George Wooden Dog Crate End TableEngineered Wood & MetalEspresso3.9$$$ Check Price Zoovilla Dog Crate End TableMDFBlack, White3.6$$ Check Price Polar Bear's Pet Shop Double Door Extra Large CrateWood & MDFEspressoN/A$$$ Check Price Pinnacle Woodcraft Amish Dog Crate Entertainment CenterMaple & OakNatural or Stained4.7$$$$ Check Price Merry Products Dog Crate and TableWood VeneerBlack, White4.0$$$ Check Price Southern Crafted Furniture Custom Indoor KennelWalnut & MetalCustomN/A$$$$$ Check Price

Top Pick

Crown Pet Products Wood End Table Dog Crate

Click the image for more info

Why It’s the Best Choice

The overall style of Crown Pet Products’ Wood End Table Dog Crate is nonintrusive and would easily match most homes’ décor.

The Crown Pet Table is a solid wood crate that comes in two colors and two sizes. 

Also, the door to the crate can swing in or out, making it easy to keep the door out of the way when not being used.

Another excellent feature on this crate is the base

It is made of waterproof melamine, making it a breeze to clean in the case of an accident.

The overall crate allows for excellent airflow, to better keep your pup comfortable.

Pros

Made from rubberwood, a hardwood from rubber plantations[2]

Waterproof floor

Swing through door

Cons

Only comes in two sizes

Only comes in two colors

Price

Check Price

Read Reviews

Budget Pick

Casual Home Dog Crate End Table

Click the image for more info

Why It’s the Best Choice

What first caught my eye was the conservative style of Casual Home’s Dog Crate End Table.

This mission-style crate would fit in with a variety of interior decorating styles. 

The second thing I noticed was that this crate comes in five different sizes and four different colors.

The smallest crate will fit dogs under 25 pounds, and the largest can hold dogs up to 90 pounds.

The color options available vary on crate sizes.

Pros

Open slats on all four sides, allowing for sufficient airflow to keep your pup comfortable

Made from sustainably-sourced solid wood 

Moderately priced

Cons

It is not made for chewers, so if your dog chews on wood or their crate, this will not be the right choice

It is not scratch-resistant

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Upgrade Pick

Omlet Fido Studio Luxury Dog Crate with Wardrobe

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Why It’s the Best Choice

Omlet’s Fido Studio crate comes in a walnut color, giving any room a warmer feel.

What makes this crate unique is that it comes with a wardrobe to keep all of your pup’s stuff neatly tucked away.

The crate features two doors allowing for easier access to get your dog in and out.

While the wires aren’t disguised, this crate may be a better choice for dogs who like to chew on their crate.

Pros

Multiple entries

Wardrobe 

Easy wipe down finish

Cons

It isn’t made from solid wood

The wire sides don’t disguise the overall appearance

Limited sizes

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Best End Table Crate for Small Dogs

Boomer and George Wooden Dog Crate End Table

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Why It’s the Best Choice

The Boomer and George crate has a dark espresso finish and metal accents, giving the crate a luxurious look.

The overall design would fit great in most homes and would easily tuck in nicely next to a sofa.

The metal bars give it a sturdier feel, and though it’s far from indestructible, it would hold up well against mild chewers.

The crate sits well off the floor, allowing airflow around the entire crate, ensuring the greatest amount of comfort for your dog. 

The wood veneer makes it easy to wipe down and keep clean.

Pros

Unique design

Well vented for natural airflow

Easy wipe down finish

Cons

Made from wood veneer

Limited size and color

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Best End Table Crate for Medium Dogs

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 Zoovilla Dog Crate End Table

Why It’s the Best Choice

The Zoovilla dog kennel is a nicely sized medium crate.

It has a beautiful design that is aesthetically pleasing and easy to fit in any home.

This crate has a couple of unique features:

First is that this is a multi-door crate; it opens from the end and the side.

The second feature is the removable tray to make cleaning a lot easier.

This crate comes in multiple sizes and colors.

Unlike many of the crate end tables, this one comes in white or black instead of natural wood.

Pros

Stylish design

Multiple entries

Removable bottom tray

Cons

Made from MDF, which has certain disadvantages compared with solid wood[3]

The latch is not as sturdy as other models

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Best End Table Crate for Big Dogs

Polar Bear’s Pet Shop Double Door Extra Large Crate

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Why It’s the Best Choice

This espresso colored crate by Polar Bear’s Pet Shop is quite spacious and would comfortably fit most large dogs.

This crate is solid wood and features a double door front to allow even the chonkiest doggers to get into the crate.

The wide-set slats allow for airflow and light to keep the crate cozy.

Pros

Double door front

Exceptionally wide and deep

Classic rich design

Cons

Only available in one color

Not sturdy enough to use for crate training

Price

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Best Nightstand Dog Crate

Pinnacle Woodcraft Amish Dog Crate Entertainment Center

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Why It’s the Best Choice

The Amish dog crate entertainment center by Pinnacle Woodcraft is perfect for any bedroom.

It stands slightly taller than most crates.

This nightstand is solidly built from hardwood.

Additionally, this crate has the option of a flip-up top allowing for a storage area under the tabletop.

Pros

Can be customized

Chew and scratch-resistant

Multiple color options

Solid wood

Cons

Only one size

Price

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Best Coffee Table Dog Crate

Merry Products Dog Crate and Table

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Why It’s the Best Choice

Though the Merry Products dog crate would make a slightly taller than classic coffee table, it would still easily work.

It has a slide away door, so it won’t be in the way when the door is open.

This table comes in two different colors and has a classic clean line style, allowing it to blend well in most rooms.

Pros

Slide away door

Moderately priced

The tabletop crate can hold up to 300 lbs

Durable

Cons

Made with solid wood veneer

Comes in only one size

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Best Multi-Dog Crate

Southern Crafted Furniture Custom Indoor Kennel

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Why It’s the Best Choice

This rustic handmade crate can also double as a side or sofa table.

Southern Crafted Furniture’s indoor kennel is custom made and can hold two medium-sized dogs. 

There is an option to have a divider in the middle to keep your pups separate, or it can be left open so they can mingle.

Pros

Handmade pine crate side table

Can be customized in size and color

Allows for multiple dogs

Durable

Cons

Price

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Conclusion

If you are ready to ditch the metal or plastic crate for something more useful and aesthetically pleasing, then choosing a furniture style crate is your best bet.

Just because you share your home with dogs doesn’t mean you have to live in a dog house.

The dog crate furniture is an excellent compromise between pleasant décor and functionality.

I have had my crate end tables for a few years; they have held up magnificently and work perfectly.

I love the way these crates look and blend into the main room. My dogs love them and spend hours snoozing away in their crates.

In truth, the only thing negative I can say about these is that they are not made as durable as traditional crates, so wouldn’t be the best choice for dogs who are not fully crate trained.

 Resources

https://sarahwilsondogexpert.com/creating-safe-place/

https://www.wood-database.com/rubberwood/

https://www.paradeofhomes.org/blog/mdf-solid-wood-furniture-advantages-disadvantages/

The post The 9 Best End Table Dog Crates & Furniture-Style Kennels appeared first on Central Park Paws.

from https://www.centralparkpaws.net/dog-crates/best-end-table-dog-crates/

[zydrateacademy]

Review: Conan Exiles

Quick disclaimer; I’ve only played single player with some interest in coop. I’ve yet to attempt open servers. As a result, I probably haven’t run into the more annoying stock of communities like purges and raids. I’ve played alone, modded, and at my own speed; that may color how I see this game. I’m okay with this. Let’s talk about Skyrim for a moment. Yes, it’s relevant. Do you all remember the first five to ten hours you played it? You were still weak, dealing with iron and steel swords and slashing your way through new caverns and dungeons while scrounging every bit of material you could for your smithing skill. Everything was new and different, and every new playthrough with a different race or weapon type. Then something happens. Several hours in, your smithing and sneak is 75+, you’re level 40 on Expert Difficulty one-shotting every bandit in every dungeon because you took a couple of very specific perks that make the entire game a cakewalk. Or you used alchemy to hilariously boost your stats in the several hundreds or thousands and now your armor rating is at a complete maximum and you’re doing sixty times melee damage on sneak attacks. At a certain point, Skyrim gameplay becomes less about mechanics and just about exploration. However, Exiles basically takes those first few hours and expands them across the entire experience. I get a bit of a Skyrim meets ARK and a lesser used comparison is that I’m honestly getting an Assassin’s Creed: Origins vibe, if nothing else certainly the aesthetics. Large sandy dunes and mountains with spotty greenery and oases, and I’m pretty sure I have an identical screenshot of climbing up a red mountain. My exile and Bayek would probably get along.

For whatever reason, I find Exiles to be a bit more accessible than ARK ever was. I think it’s perhaps the single player admin menu which if ARK has I have never found. Through it you’re able to manipulate things to an insane degree, like ten times the amount of experience and resource gain, as well as modifying how much damage you do and enemies take. I went through a largely unaffected run (though I did bump my experience up to 2X) the first time around and that sucked me in for several hours. In future games, I made it a little easier on myself with quality of life workshop mods including upping armor durability and reducing boss health pools. That last one might sound like a cheat, but when they have up to 30,000 health and I’m alone in the world, lowering it down to 10,000 or something makes the experience a LOT more bearable. I’m not saying ARK does not have these features (it does have workshop support) but it just wasn’t nearly as compelling as Exiles, which does in fact have a story contrary to what some reviews claim.

You start the game creating your character and get a randomized set of “crimes” which can include anything from punching a camel to lewd acts with corpses. It ranged wildly and there’s quite a list that can be quite comical, though the game itself is largely void of humor. Conan himself shows up to remove you from the cross and the game dumps you in a desert road, entirely naked and scrounging for fibers, rocks, and branches; all the things you’ll need to quickly craft a set of clothes and basic tools. The story doesn’t really hold your hand, nor does it tell you what to do. There are runestones dotted around the land that give you snippets and clues. The idea is that you have a magical slave bracelet that’s holding you in what is literally called “The Exiled Lands”, which is the whole area of the map you’re in. Go too far, and you’ll find a green shield that will automatically kill you. What’s involved in this is finding a large variety of bosses and McGuffins that will eventually remove the curse of the bracelet and allow your exile to leave.

That’s the basis of your presence in this strange world. What happens after that point is really up to you. Since you can hardly take on an undead dragon right out of the gate, you pretty much engage in the usual ARK/Minecraft flare. Build a house, hunt animals for hide, and generally spend a lot of time working your way up.

Eventually I found that I had the most fun when I had a decent set of medium armor and a good stock of weapons that I could repair on the fly and that allowed me to make various expeditions outside the comfort zone of what people call the “newbie river”, the southern-most landscape that offer you the most resources within a reasonable travel time. I eventually made it to the Hinterlands where I was able to harvest heavier leathers for better armors, which in turn allowed me to travel farther and take on more intimidating enemies. As you’d expect, you have to manage some resources including hunger, thirst, heat and weight. Thirst can be fairly easy to manage if you’re hanging around the southern portions of the map. Hunger isn’t too bad, and weight I’ve modded out entirely, which I’ll justify shortly. Beyond that there’s a full listing of RPG elements with various perks and stats you can acquire as you level up. In an unmodded game you can only max out a couple so in multiplayer or co-op games you may want to split roles between survivors, gatherers, and combatants. The most fun I’ve had in this game is just the unrestrained exploring, which for me has only been with the help of some workshop mods. I got an insane encumbrance mod early in my career because once I acquired a legit “decent” set of armor, my weight was at 70% regardless of how much stuff I tried to store away. Even in my most purist playthroughs, that mod will always remain. I am less irritated with weight in the likes of Skyrim because I typically have fast travel and stores to sell my crap to, but here I do not have that convenience. Fast travel in Exiles is possible but more of a mid- to end-game perk once you explore enough of the map. There’s a bunch of obelisks you can purify and then travel to through a map room, of which I haven’t done a lot of research and I’m not sure where to find that. As it stands, everything you need you have to get on foot. No horses, no mounts, just hauling all the ass.

The lack of fast travel is indeed a late-game annoyance. Alongside that are a variety of bugs that you’ll come across for a post Early-Access game. I’ve found that engaging in combat within certain variables will have me and the NPC I’m fighting just... sorta flail at each other for a bit. Neither of us take damage, and I noticed that it is because we had some buildings and terrain above us. I lured them out and now we both took damage again. Speaking of, the combat leaves a lot to be desired. It gives me Origins vibes again with some blocking, dodging and health bars. However there’s absolutely no lock-on and hit detection is very wonky when I try to do some light attacks right next to a crocodile only for them to miss entirely. I had to back up and try again and it would work. This happens about twenty percent of the time, depending on my attack. Conversely, a heavy spear attack always hits my enemy.

Some enemies also have knockback effects. I’d be fighting basic bird type enemies and they’d reel in, walk towards me and I’d be knocked over. Apparently they’re “charging” but they don’t go faster than walk speed and thus are difficult to detect. Maybe that’s my fault but it’s just a bit annoying. I also find base building to be vaguely irritating and I find myself doing the ol’ Fallout 4 thing of turning on god mode (in this game, admin mode), getting unlimited resources and at least starting with the basic shape of the building that I want. I’ve only resorted to that once in my ~5 playthroughs and my next semi-purist play will try to be a little more conservative and patient. Patience is really the key here if you want to get the most out of the game. I’ve tried rushing towards the revered “Star Metal” for the endgame gear but found myself perfectly content with some normally crafted heavy stuff, or light armor if I want to dodge enemies more often. Exiles is kind of a slow burn at first but once you find an established area with decent walking distance to most forms of resource, you’re probably in good shape. My experience shined when I was in expedition mode, treating every corner as a new experience. Maybe in a few hundred hours nothing in this game will be new to me, but for now all I can do is stare wide-eyed at the world before me.

[podcake]

Audio Drama December: Neon Nights: The Arcane Files of Jack Tracer Review

A week has already passed and here I am again on a Sunday morning trying to justify my sudden yearning to peal back the monochrome layers of the noir genre. Noir in audio drama is an interesting little specimen that I might not be able to go into much detail about in the upcoming year, though the constructs of genre, narrative, and aesthetic choices truly do flourish in this particular style and covering it was inevitable given this line of journalism.

I’ve already offered my thoughts on the topic a few weeks ago and what I thought of The Penumbra mere days from now, so let’s spare the introduction and get to the second part of a very much anticipated dual review month. Today’s case to crack is Neon Nights: The Arcane Files of Jack Tracer, a supernatural mystery series brought to you by Evil Kitten Productions. 

It tells the story of Jack Tracer, a cop gone private investigator, who spends his days keeping track of the strange and eerie events of Neon City where he encounters some strange people and even stranger events surrounding them. It’s the broader lens of the whole plot but makes room for some innovative individual stories nonetheless. 

Neon Nights adheres to a sort of supernatural edge that I found strangely lacking in a lot of noir podcasts I’ve come across. Though The Penumbra certain has its moments, the more bizarre elements were almost always on behalf of smoke and mirrors and some sci-fi technology that makes sense within the world’s universe while Neon Nights has a more distinct air of the occult in play which can be both a strength and a weakness depending on the stakes-more on that later. 

There’s creepy cults and mystical items and just something that implies there’s a bigger, badder thing on the surface that the series hasn’t quite admitted to yet. Episodes are often divided up into ten to fifteen minute shorts that boil down to a four part complete product when put together. It manages to pack quite a bit of lore and intrigue in just a few short moments and the individual pieces flow together nicely into a pretty gripping series of events.

Neon Nights has some authentically noir inspired tropes to its design from its acting, to music, to use of old-timey sound effects that almost make you feel like you’re listening to it in black and white. The opening track is wonderfully rustic with some bass and piano over some soothing vinyl crackling and even without any background music, you still get this sort of jazzy vibe from the whole ting.  

As far as audio editing goes, it certainly knows how to make use of the most subtle of sound effects to improvise an idea of space and can seamlessly flow between narration and conversations with little stumbling. 

The presentation is certainly Neon Nights’ strong point, seeming to know all the best ways to make a scene feel as exciting or tense as it needs to be. Even through the most subtle of music selection and rain effects, it brings many of the moments to life and leaves a lot to drink up even with the short run times of individual episodes. 

If there was anything here that I really found myself liking it was the unsettling mood it was able to pass off in only a few seconds of an opening scene. This especially goes for episode four of “Case of Shady Grove”  that gave me some strong Psycho vibes and the entirety of “House of Joy” that not only had one of my favorite antagonists but a nice perspective switch between the two leads and what had me rooting for Red immediately. And with that in mind, we can nicely segue into some complaints.

I’m sorry to say that the lead character Jack Tracer doesn’t have the most pleasant of voices. Though I admit the rasp and aggression of his performance has its charm here and there, it’s often just a touch too absurd to take seriously. It gets just a little more bearable in later episodes, though it just wasn’t as easy on the ears as it could have been for our returning protagonist.

As I said, I honestly found myself most enamored by Red, the troubled but equally competent leading lady whose got some nice bite to her performance and a presence you quickly get comfortable with. I always looked forward to her returns and saw her as more protagonist material in the long run.

The dialogue is luckily, at least most of the time, in Jack and the supporting cast’s favor as even if Jack isn’t someone I enjoyed listening to more than a few seconds of, at least his words carried some weight. Now this is only a majority of the writing that can be credited as such as Neon Nights’ tends to fluctuate between some generally solid bits of dialogue and narration and, dare I say, laughable one liners that sound like something straight out of a early sixties comic strip.

So you might just be taken out of the moment when a character drops a cliche phrase into your lap with a straight face and the scene doesn’t pause itself for a laugh track. If this is intentional or not is always a struggle to figure out with noir shows given the hammy nature of their origins and it’s not like Neon Nights is fully exempt from a certain degree of theatrics. A given for a show of this brand, though it would be nice if Neon Nights could decide if it wanted to go full camp or not-giving me the same tone problems I had with The Adventures of MechaBetty.

Neon Nights isn’t exactly the most original of noir shows out there and lacks a certain element of surprise and critical thinking that I often found in my listening of The Penumbra. The supernatural edge can often leave mysteries a little hollow with the villains made apparent in just a few minutes of screen time and the explanations and build up being boiled down to “because magic”. 

Despite this, I can’t say I wasn’t entertained and that the show didn’t have me interested in what new mystery might bubble to the surface. I’m more intrigued by the bigger picture being painted here and I certainly didn’t leave behind the feed feeling unsatisfied. The cases are just creative enough to get you interested in the conclusion and you certainly don’t mind the characters you get to go on the journey with.

Listening to Neon Nights is just fulfilling enough to keep you coming back if not out of curiosity then at least some fun world building and a nice supernatural twinge to the noir formula. It’s an easy and digestible listen that may not be trying to reinvent the wheel but at least has all the pieces to be turning in the first place.

[vroombroomzoom]

Comprehensive review of the Ducati Monster 620 (2002 and thereabouts)

Over recent years I have been a very lucky motorcyclist, having ridden a number of very different bikes from across many different categories and amongst this wonderful mix of crotch-rockets, I have owned three Ducati Monster 620IE/620SIE Italian masterpieces. 

How I came to love this particular model is explained in one of my previous posts so I won’t bore you with the details, but in summary, I fell in love with the beauty and pagentry of this little air-cooled naked.

I’m going to attempt to cover all aspects of this bike as best I can in the following ramblings and musings as I recollect my time with the Ducati Monster 620SIE. 

RIDING IT (because really, that’s where it’s at)

If you speak to any honest Monster owners, they will tell you that these particular bikes are a bit of a love/hate relationship. If they tell you they love riding these things, they are lying. They might like THE THOUGHT of being on top of these Italian pieces of artwork, but there is plenty to dislike (and some things to like) about the ride. 

To start with, the 620 has an excellent seating position. A slightly agressive reach to the bars is “just right” and of all the porridge I’ve sampled, this one is an excellent overall compromise. Some like to take things a little futher and put on clip-ons, but then again, they probably aren’t riding more than 50km at a time. 

Wind buffering is shit, and especially shit if you decide to get rid of that tiny fairing that you get on the S models. But of course this bike isn’t a tourer and it reminds you of that fact every time you sit on it. The seat is absolutely attrotious. It’s hard and although it doesn’t push your nuts underneath you like the newer ones (which I will write about at a later time), it scores about a 4/10 for comfort. It’s bearable in small bursts under an hour or so, but the padding is too firm for anything longer. Event to this day the foam hasn’t softened and the extra padding I have involuntarily put onto my arse over the years hasn’t improved it enough either. 

Riding it in the hills, the Monster is at home. The uniqueness of that off-throttle compression means you can sometimes go for quite a few twisty kilometres without even using the brakes. It feels nimble enough with the right tyre, but it’s only when you hop off a newer bike that the deficiencies in the dynamics becomes more evident. Still, it’s responsive, but in an early 2000s kind-of-way. Riding it back-to-back with my next gen Monster 796, the two are on completely different planets in terms of weight distribution, turning circle, rake and responsiveness. Is it bad? Well no, but it’s not the type of bike you’d turn into a track weapon. 

Riding it in the city, which is what it’s supposedly made for, the 620 actually struggles a little. That low rev putt putt putting around that you end up often doing becomes painful and you end up riding the clutch to be smooth. Once you’re used to this, it’s not a problem, but it’s definitely no Ninja 300. To add to the annoyance is the air cooled engine, which, after sitting at the lights, becomes rather hot and starts to splutter and pop, which I actually didn’t mind, but must not have been too nice for the combustion chamber. 

When I felt my arse was up to the task, I took these bikes on 500km+ rides a few times. As you’ve read above, this is not a tourer and I was ready to kick the bike over at the end of each of these rides. My arse was sore. My hands were so numb and fatigued, I actually experienced cramps following the rides, but that could have been partially down to me death gripping the bloody useless grips. There is a significant amount of vibration in the 620, especially with any pipes outside of the restrictive factory offering, but it’s a compromise we make for that wonderful sound eminating from the desmo.

Oh yes, that sound. There is not much else out there that comes close to the thunder-god Harley/sportsbike mix that you get with a Desmo, especially with the right pipes. With factory, there is a little gurrgle, but with a new set of less-restrictive pipes, your machine becomes a fire breathing dragon faster than you can say “I will pay anything, just give me those god damned cans”. 

The big boofy white elephant in the room is the power produced by the 618cc fuel injected engine. It was a very simple update from the 600 and a quite early version of injection that gave you 57 HP when the bike was new. This puts it into a no-mans land in terms of modern bikes, since it’s not quite learner power and it definitely will not set the world on fire either. So you’re stuck in an in-between place of useful but somewhat lacking ponnies. It’s good for hitting 180kph, but it does not really like being there. There is plenty of torque for take offs but it starts losing out very quickly once the first gear change occurs. The Monster was my first bike and I found it excellent to learn on, but, in Australia anyway, it doesn’t meet current LAMS requirements so no one will be learning on these bikes anymore.   

MAINTAINING IT/BUILD QUALITY

My first Monster was immaculate. My second one I didn’t do enough kms on to have to worry about maintenance. The third one, I dropped the oil, replaced the filter and troubleshooted a few items along the way. 

You’re probably aware of the reputation of older Ducatis and service intervals. This particular series was the first to employ slightly updated internals from the first series 600s, which meant the intervals were pushed out a little further, but still a pain. The desmo valve adjustment still requires the sale of a kidney. 

In terms of build quality, the frame and plastic fairings/cowls were of a very high finish. However, there continue to be some deterioration in the use of cheaper plastics in the indicators and their design on a vibratory motorcycle means they often break/disintegrate. Unless the owner is meticulous in their upkeep, there will be some rusting on chrome bits and most bolts, as well as the instrument cluster on SOME of these having the dreaded moisture entry which is annoying. The seat material can be worn quite easily with a somewhat slippery vinyl material being used that doesn’t stand up to the harsh Australian climate. On one of my bikes I also had a cracked rear hugger. 

These bikes are getting somewhat aged now. As such, there are a number of gremlins. The main one I came across is sub-par wiring which lead to other problems. Unfortunately, to get that sexy design to work, a lot of the wiring had to go near the cylinders and after years and years of functioning in that hot environment, I think the wires finally just pack it in. I have made a comprehensive video here about how I ended up troubleshooting a somewhat complex issue (finding a workaround). They do cook rec/regs as a result of this poor wiring, but apart from these little niggly issues, they are quite easy to maintain. Note that aftermarket OEM parts are starting to be hard to come by and tend to be on the expensive side. The Chinese have made little effort to re-create identical/close to identical replacements, and unfortunately you won’t find indicators that are a straight fit for the 620. For this reason, the obligatory tail-chop (which involves actually hacking into the frame) is almost a must-do.

DROOLING OVER THE DESIGN

Where this bike shines, even today, is the aesthetic design. That tank. The exposed trellis. The retro round headlight. The way it sounds.....OMG. An annoyance though is the shitty zip-tie job on the frame which is just kind of bizzare. I can see the design meeting now, “So, team, we just spent countless hours on the design of this motorcycle. HANG ON A SECOND! WE FORGOT THE ELECTRICS!!! FUCK! Never mind, just zip tie it to the frame.” Seriously Ducati....WTF??? But yes, she is typically Italian with plenty of thought to make this bike look a bit like a charging bull with that humped tank, as well as keeping it retro with the simple round headlight. Well done Ducati. 

So iconic is this design that may have copied it. In fact, if you squint your eyes a little, the Honda VTR250 is basically a smaller version of this design. The Hyosung GT650, Cagiva Raptor, older Suzuki SV650, the Gladius, MV Augusta Brutale and some of the Honda CB series bikes all owe their design cues to the Monster.

IN CONCLUSION

In all my years of riding bikes I have only ever seen a handful of 620IE in the wilderness. I don’t think they sold too many here in Australia but I would assume that a large number of these are down in Melbourne and Sydney where they’re home to collectors. The world, and Ducati, and I, have definitely moved past these bikes but I dare say there are still a few hundred proud owners out there, grumbling about the valve clearance costs, but passionately loving their little Monsters none-the-less. 

[404fmdhaon]

headcanon & aesthetic — mics

summary: performances require the inevitable, and in his case — mics, ear pieces, etc. are all included. minimalism isn’t known in gyujeong’s world as he splurges on these little things to make somethings about being on stage a bit more bearable. over the years, it’s a collection of colorful mics, and custom ear-pieces that have become his little keepsakes. headcanon on specifics of this. warnings: none wc: 658

if there’s one thing about gyujeong, it’s the emphasis he places on having a hand-held mic rather than one around his ear. 

in the beginning, he was always given a head-mic as with rest of knight — performance based synchrony in dances, and he suspects it’s only to make the focal point be the performance since having a mic at hand detracts from the cohesiveness of it all

in recent years, he’s been given the luxury of having a hand held mic after sharing his own small grievances over the matter. he prefers the hand-held mics because it seems more realistic / honest to him. aka, if you want to be considered a real rapper, then you should have a mic. you shouldn’t have a head-set since that’s what idols are (gyujeong trying to convince himself that he’s a “real” rapper while being in an idol group)

hence why, he’s made the splurge on his own personal mic collection, all of which isn’t pictured in the aesthetic. he likes to splurge on different colors, different patterns and different materials for it gives some fun / personality to what he decides is complete shit on stage

most times in knight shows, he’s not allowed his own personal mic because it would detract. instead, he takes what bc gives him which tends to just be a plain black mic. in other words, they don’t want to let him stick out with a lime green mic — after all, why would they when he’s done nothing to deserve their good graces?

still, he takes what he can get. you see him having far more stage presence whenever he has that mic because for whatever many seconds he has in the center during his verse, he makes the most use out of a mic and knows how to play along.

speaking of his mics, he has a lot. perhaps, one to match each one of his hair colors — sometimes, he purchases mics for shits and giggles, and other times he just changes his hair color moreorless bc tells him to, and he retaliates with some retail therapy

the mics never get any use though, most of the time they just cloud up jumbled inside his apartment since he didn’t get to use it on knight stages. however, when he was finally promoting his solo album, gyujeong made use of all his mics by bringing a new mic for each new stage.

even though the song had no choreography, there was a significant more emphasis he had on stage with his subtle movements, and rapping along to the song where he was able to showcase himself rather than who he was in knight — more personality = more enjoyment written on his face

with his mics comes his in-ear pieces. these are customizable and something that he’s allowed to wear during knight promotions — he has his two favorites, this chrome because he likes the cool tone color set gradation, and one is his one-piece anime inspired one. most times you catch him using the latter just because they’re more ‘used’ and thus feel more natural in his ear

he purchases mics more frequently than in-ears because of the hassle it takes to get it fitted, and then figure out the reiterations. yes, he can just do one mold and make it from that — but each time he gets new in ears, he wants to get a new mold in case of any slight changes / modifications to his ears each time

as a result, he tends to just keep to the in-ears he has. and even though he has quite a few, he doesn’t rotate that around much compared to the mics. 

in reality, this is just a shopping addiction that gyujeong has as well as clothes? he does a lot of retail therapy on things, unexpected of him. still, it makes him happy whether he gets to use it or not.