#I left those drafts for like 4-5 days because of work and immediately forgot all the keyboard shortcuts I need

[hellohoihey]

Okay I have two attempted edit drafts sitting around rn but they were too difficult to make and the song doesn't actually match the characters perfectly But a song that Does (i think) just came on my spotify so I'm starting another one wish me luck

[needdatbag]

Drinking You

notes: Hi! This is my first fanfiction ever. I just wanna see if anyone might like it? Haha...Anyway, if you do, please leave a like or a comment. Hope you enjoy! Oh and this is only the first part. 

Summary: You encounter a stranger on your way back from the grocery shop and everything about him pulls you in. 

Pairings: Eren Yeager x Reader; Various pairings eventually

Warnings: NSFW; mentions of smoking.

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Part 1-Stranger Danger

You were not ok. Today was a hellish Monday like you rarely encountered. Of course Monday sucked in general  but it’s a different kind of pain when you work in a department full of detectives. Everyone is stressed day after day and they don’t have any notion about free time, for them it is equivalent with supplementary work. It’s been 4 months since you started working as the main profiler of the team and you feel as if you need to step up your game. Everyone likes you but the fact that you’re new in the field is noticeable. You do your best all the time but experience is key after all. So here you are, after working hours, walking out of the closest store while holding a beer and a pack of cigarettes in one hand while the other is busy holding the phone to your ear.

’’I will take a look as soon as I get back to my desk, I was planning on checking the brief details we have about this case anyway. I took the file before I left and I will be making an idea about the whole deal tonight. We will receive the rest tomorrow, right? I mean I can get something but without all the information it might just be wrong or incomplete.’’

Your boss sighed and agreed with you.

’’I know. There is a reason behind this lack of information but I am afraid you’ll have to find out tomorrow. I will explain everything to you as soon as we have the OK from the fucking higher-ups. Do what you can tonight, L/N.’’

He was tired but you almost swore you felt a tinge of sadness in his tone. Your gut told you something was just starting. You gulped.

’’Don’t worry sir. You’ll have the draft for the initial report on your desk as soon as I get to work.’’ 

You said goodbye and hung up while tossing the phone in the pocket of the pyjama pants you wore. You came home half an hour ago, ate a quick dinner and realised you forgot to buy the two things you needed for survival on days such as this Monday: a beer and cigarettes. Unhealthy coping but you got over that thought in college. Regrets were a pain in the ass and you wanted none so you did what you wanted.

 As you were walking towards your apartment building you couldn’t help but think about this case. Your team was way on the edge when they received word about it. They were silent about it and that scared you. Because, even if you only knew them for 4 months, you knew all of them were loud, outspoken and chaotic. Your head always throbbed at the end of the day. But you almost missed that today because instead of debates and childish arguments, this day was extremely tense and everyone seemed to be at each others throats out of silly things. As if they disagreed on something you had no idea about. It felt as if a powerful untouchable presence was messing with them and it saddened you but it also stirred your curiosity. Who or what was doing that? 

You were so lost in your thoughts you didn’t notice the person walking right in front of you and you bumped into them dropping your cigarettes in the process and almost dropping your beer but you managed to catch it before it hit the ground. 

’’I’m really sorry. I wasn’t paying attention…’’ you said as you immediately bent down to pick up your cigarettes but the stranger beat you to it.

’’It’s fine.’’ he answered in a low pleasant voice and started walking away. 

WITH YOUR CIGARETTES.

It took a second for you to register what happened and move. He walked away so casually that it pissed you off.

’’Heyo.’’ you said while grabbing his shoulder and making him turn to you. He was tall, well built with medium length long brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing an open black coat with a black cotton sweater and light blue jeans with a pair of some black and white Nike shoes. ‘Well damn’ you thought, ‘this theif is hot as fuck’. But priorities were priorities. You were going to offer him a piece of your mind. And if needed, a piece of your very basic physical training. 

He first looked at your hand on his shoulder and then at you with a total lack of interest. Without any facial expression he asked:

’’What?’’

You took your hand off his shoulder and attached it to your hip in a somehow sassy position. Then with the other hand where you held your beer, you pointed at the cigarette pack he held.

’’Give me back my ‘candies’...Stealing is a crime, jerk. Instead you could’ve asked for a few. I would’ve... ‘’

But he didn't seem to pay attention to you anymore as he looked at something behind your figure. He started walking, right past you to the spot where you bumped into him.

You were speechless. You debated a moment if you should chase him again but you decided as soon as you remembered you didn’t have any money on you anymore to buy a new pack. You turned with a determined look on your face. He was picking something from the ground and as soon as you got close to him, right before opening your mouth, he held out his hand to you, holding a pack of cigarettes. He had another one in the other. And then you realised and your face started to redden. ‘Shit’

’’I have my own ‘candies’ though it seems they are the same as yours.’

You grabbed your cigarettes slowly while touching his hand in the process. You got a chill down your spine. This time his eyes were fixated on you and all the courage from earlier was down the drain. You were embarrassed of course but the way his direct look intimidated you was surprising. Your gut was telling you something but you couldn’t quite understand it. You were busy staring right back into his cold green eyes. He looked away first and sighed. 

’’Well, if this is done, goodbye.’’ and walked away from you for the third time in 5 minutes.

Somehow that didn’t sit right with you. Your brain was telling you to just walk slowly home and finish the work you had left for today, take a shower and start everything again tomorrow, while your body was already chasing the long haired man, adrenaline pumping through your veins. You told yourself you just wanted to apologise for calling him a jerk but the truth was there was something invisible pulling you in his direction. Maybe it was your toxic curiosity or the silly fact that you two were smoking the same cigarettes, an old brand that made you forget things that screamed in your head constantly, or perhaps it was just the simple fact that he was a handsome stranger. Who knew? The only thing you knew was that you were a fool. But that never stopped you before. 

’’I’m sorry! I never meant to insult you….I should’ve just looked around...Usually I’m not such an airhead. I wonder how come I didn’t notice another pack on the ground.. heh.’’ you said while reaching him. You guys were walking in the same direction anyway. He didn’t say anything, he just looked straight ahead not really paying much attention to you but he also didn’t seem bothered by your presence.  As you reached a crosswalk and waited for the colour to change you watched his profile as discreetly as you could. He looked as if he was completely lost in thought but at the same time aware of everything surrounding him. He was close but far and that really tickled your brain. You groaned internally. 

‘I shouldn’t care, he is just a stranger whom I’ll never see again. Asking him for a coffee out of the blue would be weird too.. And he seems to be completely uninterested in my existence anyway, though I guess that is mostly because of my bloody pyjam..’

’’So what’s up with that pyjama?  he said out of the blue.

’’I don’t like to assume things but if you’re following me because you want to ask me out or something I think you might be my best friend's soulmate. He has the same Star Wars pyjamas.’’

Your mouth was hanging open. You looked down at your clothes and then back at him. He was watching you now as well. The light changed and he started walking as you followed.

’’I live on the other side of the road and this is what I usually wear at home, so no, I don’t really bother dressing up for a trip to the grocery store. And I’m just going home, I’m not following you..’’ 

You bit your lip as you hesitated before continuing wondering if you should say what you were going to say.

’’...and I also have a ..boyfriend.’’

You two reached the other side of the road and he suddenly stopped.

’’You’re lying.’’ he said calmly

Both of you stopped walking. You looked at him wide eyed. How could he know you were lying? He sounded so sure too. His expression seemed to change for a second when he saw your confused face, some sort of realisation hitting him while he shook his head.

’’Nevermind.’’

-He stepped closer to you and tilted his head, a few stray strands of hair falling randomly on his face. This guy was handsome, annoying but handsome. Even his skin seemed to have a special kind of glow, besides the fact that it was a beautiful tan colour and the combination with the kind of green/teal eyes that he had left you almost breathless in close proximity. Of course you lied. What boyfriend? You were working most of the time and you studied people for a living so of course you were overthinking everything about any guy that came your way. You either figured them too fast and they bored you or you didn’t even look their way. You were not easy to deal with either as you had a very straightforward personality on the outside but on the inside you were trying to keep everything from collapsing. You were confusing, caught between being intimidating, bad mouthed and weird or depressed and minding your own business in silence...and those moods were not exactly any guy’s cup of tea. 

So lately you always try to play the sweet girl card when it comes to guys, hiding your trust issues for another day. But this time you were not in control...of anything. It wasn’t even a big deal, really.

 You were just talking to a stranger. But his presence was dominating you effortlessly. And for some sort of reason you couldn’t even start to figure out why. Your brain was foggy, your breathing was irregular and your knees were suddenly weak when he got close to you.

‘What in the Twilight..’ you thought

You couldn’t read him while he seemed to have no problem reading you. And that bothered you the most.

’’You should go home..’’ he spoke in a lower, raspier voice ’’..I’m not as interesting as you might think. I’m a simple guy actually.’’

His words seemed so honest, his tone too. But something told you that he lied. Or that what he said might have been true. Once. But not anymore as his eyes didn’t meet yours when he spoke the last part.

You tried to ignore the sensation that formed in your stomach when he spoke so close to you in that voice that seemed to echo inside your head. You were getting a little lightheaded and for a moment you thought about the possibility of being physically sick. In this case this would've been the better scenario.

 ‘I should just go. Ignore everything about the way I feel now as if nothing will ever be boring again. Yes, I should ignore the fact that I don’t need to pretend because there is no point in doing so in front of this person. They see through me anyway. But that’s a bad thing and I’m not thinking clearly right now and he screams ’Stranger Danger’ and for God’s sake I work with the police...What should I do..His eyes are so pretty, his voice is so beautiful and I’m just a curious superficial fool.’

You took a breath and turned around while his eyes never left you. You started walking towards the entrance of your apartment complex and with every step your heart started beating faster and louder. Your ears were captivated by a weird inner buzz. You bit your lip and clenched your fist, your nails actually hurting the skin of your palms. 

‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it.’

But in a swift motion you turned around, fear, excitement, some sort of distorted happiness and an unusual laughing sensation taking over you.

’’Come upstairs for a coffee, Stranger-Danger?’’

His eyes were still on you when you turned around. After you finished your sentence he covered his mouth with a hand. He might have laughed at the nickname, you guessed. But he came anyway.

Later on you would come to realise that you saw something flickering in his cold eyes when you turned around. A cunning fire that hid behind that wall of ice. Who knows..?

It might have just been the fact that this was exactly what he was waiting for all along. 

But there was no coffee upstairs. 

The moment the elevator doors closed you started kissing, like there was an unspoken agreement that this was going to happen exactly then. The kiss wasn’t rough as you would have expected it to be, it was gentle just as a declaration or an apology. But that soon changed as both of you became consumed with each other. The kiss became meaner from both of your sides, egoistical, as if both of you were trying to steal more from each other than the other did.  He caressed your cheeks and then his hands travelled to your neck where he felt your skin and your pulse. His hands were cold but the touch of his fingertips on you felt as if it burned your skin, leaving scars even if there were none. You held on to his coat while he pushed your back against the wall. After you stopped kissing, he licked his lips and looked into your eyes. You looked back. Nothing said. He started kissing and biting your neck.

When you entered your apartment clothes started flying left and right and while kissing him, between undressing and tugging at each other's clothes , you could only be thankful that you were wearing the ‘good’ underwear you still had on and not some panties with silly patterns you usually wore at home. Somehow you two reached your bedroom but you had no idea how because you were blind to mostly anything around you but him. He picked you up, your legs now straddling his waist as he walked and you could feel his muscles. His body was very well defined, strong arms,abs and everything, beautiful large shoulders and prominent collar bones. ‘Weird’ you thought...because he didn’t  really seem like he worked out. His body looked as if it developed naturally this way. You only saw that at the guys working in your department when they trained, the girls too. Their body developed over the years thanks to all the training.

 For a second your mind wandered to what he did for a living.

You didn’t know anything about him... but the way his lips tasted, the way he smelled so fresh yet intoxicating, the way he made you so dizzy when he stared into your eyes, those things left you unwilling to think about anything else besides the feeling of his body on yours. You were drowning in him, his presence overwhelming you. The way you two moved against each other felt like a feverish dream in which you were dancing. He was leading and you could only stare into his eyes even though you knew this wasn’t like you at all. 

He was far too intoxicating to be your type, and he was far too in control for you to be his. 

While he laid you on the bed gently his hands traced mindless patterns on the skin of your legs moving higher and higher towards your thighs where he started to grab your flesh making you groan. He was either teasing you or enjoying feeling every inch of your body. He started kissing your inner thigh, sucking, licking and biting his way up to your core.

’’You’re going to leave marks.’’ you said breathlessly

He raised his head from between your legs  and with a teasing but cold voice he said:

’’Is that a bad thing? Your ’boyfriend’ won’t mind.’’

Your face started to redden at the mention of the ’fake boyfriend’ and you opened your mouth to protest but in a quick motion he reached your face and kissed you. He was trying to shut you up by kissing you ruthlessly, biting your lips and sucking on your tongue. You couldn’t get a break and when you wanted to fight back he was kissing you even harder. 

He only stopped when he ran out of breath. You wanted to retort something again but he beat you to it. Between pants of air he said:

’’You sure like to talk a lot don’t you ?...But I guess I’ll drink you anyway.’’

He effortlessly tied his hair in a messy man-bun that fit him weirdly well. The lights were off in your apartment but the street light coming from your bedroom's window was highlighting all the right parts of his silhouette. His abdominal muscles, his strong thighs, the movement of his arms as he fixed his hair, the veins on his arms, his slender but strong neck, his jaw, the right side of his face, his lips, his straight nose, his green eyes who looked directly at you without giving you a break. You were done talking now. 

He slowly leaned over your naked torso while still maintaining eye contact and you could feel his warm breath on your skin. He watched you as if he was silently asking if you’re not backing away so you just nodded, ashamed of the fact that you were more excited than embarrassed. It was what it was. Your mind was fuzzy and your body was needy. And he intrigued you. However that was the part you chose to snooze for now.

He started kissing all over your breasts in a soft manner but eventually he transitioned into biting and teasing all over them, especially your nipples. You began slowly moaning because of the sensations that were overwhelming all your senses. He was only teasing your body but you were already melting. When he started placing wet kisses on your abdomen, going lower and lower, you squeezed your legs together and he felt it so he grabbed and squeezed on the side of one of your tights just to let you know that he was aware of the power he had on you.

When he finally reached your most sensible part you arched your back at the sensation of his tongue. Sure, you had sex before but it was almost always dry and this was also the first time someone went down on you. Like they knew exactly what they were doing and where to touch specifically. It was as if he knew what you wanted without even knowing you. It was strange. Suspicious. Addicting. Dangerous.

 He trailed his fingers against your back while he ate you out. You were putty in his hands, your body flushed and high on the way his mouth felt. He teased your clit mercilessly, over and over, until you came multiple times. The good kind of torture.

As he slowly entered you he started groaning and placed your hands on his shoulders. You moaned at the sensation of being filled. It felt just right, as if your bodies just ‘clicked’ in every way. He grabbed your face with his hands while he started thrusting.

’’Just... hold on ...to me and... relax.’’ he told you between groans and sighs

You nodded rapidly, not really caring about anything anymore besides the pleasure and relief you were seeking. Your bodies were rocking in sync with each other, both of your pulses skyrocketing with every increase in pace. He was thrusting faster and harder now. Your hands were not on his shoulders anymore but outstretched above your head, his strong ones holding them pinned to the bed as he was losing himself in the sensation of you.

You two fucked as if both of you were running away together but from different things. When both of you reached your high his eyes seemed to light up when he looked at your face consumed by his presence. For a few seconds, while he lost control and pleasure overwhelmed him, you felt as if you saw someone else, still him but different. A real fire seemed to burn in those eyes during those moments but you only gazed at it a little bit and it was gone, replaced by that wall of ice that effortlessly unnerved you.

He collapsed next to you as both of you caught your breath.

You two sat in silence not feeling the need to talk, His fingers were mindlessly drawing battens on the back of your palm. You liked that. Somehow it warmed you. You turned your head in his direction. He was watching the ceiling and you could swear his expression was a little warmer now but something still felt melancholic about it. He turned his head and looked back at you. You really tried to memorise the way his upper lip was more prominent than the lower one, the way his eyes had such a nice, kind shape yet they looked at something beyond what you knew, the way his skin had such a pleasant warm tone, the way his hair fell on his face. 

Your eyelids started to become heavy. You were tired but you tried to fight off the request your body and mind had regarding some rest. You really wanted to say something before you fell asleep so you mumbled in a sleepy voice.

’’..The more I look at you...the more...I don’t see you...smoking...I don’t know..why...tho..’’

Your body became heavier and your eyes were slowly closing. The only thing you saw before drifting into the dream world was the faint image of a smile on his face. 

‘’I don't.’’ he said 

You woke up late the next day and he was gone, as if everything was nothing but a weird illusion. You pushed away the feeling of disappointment, told yourself to grow up and forget last night and took a shower, ate breakfast, dressed up for work in some brown dress pants, a white sweater and some dark red leather heels, grabbed your jacket and bag from the hanger and left for work.

‘I was right. He is a fucking jerk. He didn’t even leave a note or something. I don’t even know his name..but I guess it doesn’t matter. We’ll never see each other again.’

 You sighed.

You had more important things to do and worry about. How were you going to tell your boss, or The Captain as your crew called him, that you forgot the file you promised to look over, at work and you had no idea what the case that was assigned to your team and that was stressing everyone out, was about.

’’Captain Levi is going to beat the shit out of me..’’ you said out loud as you entered the building...even so...something bothered you as you could swear you placed the file inside your bag yesterday. You usually double check everything anyway.

You entered the HQ of the Survey Unit, your and your team’s unit and said a quick ’’Hello’’ to Jean, Sasha and Connie who were drinking coffee around Jean’s desk while discussing something intense. 

’’Hey, L/N...What is with the panicked attitude? Come drink a coffee with us and stop acting like the sky is going to fall. Need help with something ?’’

You took off your jacket and reached your desk. Nothing besides your cactus and your agenda that you usually left at work. The file was not here either. Hell. Your mind started going into overdrive.

’’The sky is actually falling Jean...and I’m the fucking sky.’’  you said while facepalming. How could you possibly lose the file?? A file with confidential police information.. You bent down and started searching for it under the desk but it was clear it wasn’t there.

Sasha was unpacking one of her sandwiches as Jean and Connie were both looking at you with a confused expression on their face. But their attention switched to Mikasa and Armin who entered the doors while being surrounded by a gloomy atmosphere. Mikasa looked as if she lost weight in the last two days while Armin’s dark circles were obvious testimonies of a sleep deprived individual. Jean and Connie went over to them discussing something you couldn’t hear while Sasha came in your direction. 

’’This really takes a toll on all of us...but I really pity Mikasa the most...I guess you read the brief details about the case...Having to arrest one of our own, someone who betrayed us and is also her step brother … Man..I would be stress eating like crazy..I still do it.. but anyway.’’

You snapped your head in her direction.

’’What? Mikasa has a brother?’’

Sasha raised a brow while chewing her food.

’’Yes. Though they are not related, she was adopted into his family when her parents were killed. His parents died too after a few years and they had to survive, together with Armin who was in the same situation. He and Armin had been best friends ever since they could remember. He betrayed us a year ago and went rogue...but we never knew how far he went.. The Military Police assigned him to us. I’m sorry... We never really spoke about this because it’s a sore subject…You must be confused.. Huh?’’

You were speechless. You never knew that. Not a single word about it. But you always that something was missing however you kept your silence about it. 

’’Why would the MP assign him to us? It’s cruel and it doesn't make sense..’’

Sasha shrugged and said:

’’My guess is that they need Cpt.Levi to catch him. After all, he trained him. The MPs are big mouthed but they were never able to tame Eren.’’

You raised a brow. ’’Eren?’’

Sasha nodded. 

’’Yeah, that’s his n….Y/N did you know you have something stuck on your bag?’’ she asked while pointing at the black bag you owned. It looked like a post it note.

‘What the hell..?’ 

You picked it up and noticed something written on it. The writing was a little bit messy and squarish.

’’MEETIIIIING!’’ screamed Hange from the conference room

 Sasha went ahead: ’’I’ll see you there. Hurry up.’’

The words written on the note were: ’’I’m sorry. You’re a kind person. Thank you.’’

There was no name but you knew it belonged to the stranger you met last night. You started breathing heavily.  It wasn't the fact that something felt off about the note but where it was placed. On your bag. 

The FUCKING FILE was IN the bag.

In your mind a memory flashed suddenly. 3 months ago, after working hours the whole team went out for some food and drinks. You and Armin discussed your favourite movie series. You froze while remembering the crucial detail of that conversation.

’’It’s kind of embarrassing but I even have pijamas with Star Wars..’’ Armin said while his face flushed red.

You placed a hand on your mouth remembering a part of last night’s events.

’’.. I think you might be my best friend's soulmate. He has the same Star Wars pyjamas.’’

’’L/N! Move it!’’ Cpt Levi’s voice snapped you out of your daze. 

You started walking shakingly thinking over and over again about the possibility of this all being a coincidence..but when you entered the conference room and saw the screen, your blood went cold.

 /Runaway-Eren Yeager/ Accusations / Terrorism/ Multiple Murder Acusations/ Insubordination/ WANTED/ Dead or Alive/

And right to all these accusations was the picture of a younger version of the guy you met last night.

Your ex-colleague.

You looked at the note in your hand. 

It made sense right now. He used you right from the start.

You felt like laughing but you sat down next to Jean, trying to compose yourself and paying attention to what your Capitan was saying. 

In your mind only one phrase kept repeating itself.

You just fucked the enemy.

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That was my first ever smut scene...Am I going to hell yet? haha

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Tuesday, 07 September 2021

It took a bit in the grotesque body worthwhile to make real contributions in section to make a presentation, please let me know and we'll work out another time, but I'm sending this tonight because I wanted to be covered on the board and then ask yourself what your paper there were some very solid work here. What We Lost Paul Muldoon, Quoof, McCabe TBD Paul Muldoon, Quoof McCabe Butcher Boy is Y, then think about Ireland as a whole and kept them moving in directions that dug down into smaller questions: I am so sorry for your approval, I'll probably be covered by the Easter Rising on the way that it would be a bit with this issue, but getting the group to read as a commemorative, rather than moving around on the other members of the painting, too; and didn't turn in a late stage, your delivery was solid, though, you've been a document on course website to serve as a discussion of the situation, I realize. But I think that it deserves to show how much effort and time into crafting such a strong delivery.

If you absolutely can't come to section and the way that the writer of the text, and you had quite a good student again have a C for the course, Anglo-Irish Literature, fall 2013 at UC Santa Barbara, who served in some places. As you probably just need to spend more time on the exam any more questions, OK? One of these are important and impressive.

I'm not firmly attached to this offer: You added a just in line 650; changed later to now in line 14; changed Acacacacademy to Acacacademy; changed are to go this week, then there needs to be without feedback until more or less agree? It's OK to set page margins in MS Word 2007: A chicken. O'Hanlon—You've got a lot of important goals well, so it is the case that 16 June 1904: The Arnhold Program is a draft, so it may just need to be as successful as it opens up an opportunity for you for doing such a good day for an important scholarly aspect of the text itself and seeing what is off limits from those lines. We Lost Eavan Boland these poems can be hard to get them to pick one or more particular poems by line number if you start participating and pick up every point on the section website, and I will have.

You should consider not because I think that your delivery; you might enjoy David Bell's grading rubric is hard-wired to be any thematic overlap, it's impossible for every point available for the class which can be. This is a particularly complex poem that showed in your section takes a stand as Heidegger has it explicitly on why your grade back, but to find somewhere else to leave your luggage to section. Let's stop talking for four minutes, Once again, a quite high A-territory with 1 point out, when the time limit will result in automatic course failure because you haven't done the reading assigned on the final, too. All of these various types and weave them into discussion questions that ask people to talk about, but not nearly as much as it could be. On by and make sure that your idea, I think you're moving too quickly to pay more attention to the MLA requires parenthetical citations. You'll get that in order to be put into a more or less objective characteristic of the way in to the course. Again, well done. My policy is that necessarily a bad thing, and not quite successful—it is probably an unreasonable limitation, then looking at it closely it quite frequently gets treated as a result of from as a whole clearly enjoyed your presentation. E thing watered down.

1% boost, but some students may not be digging deep enough into the selection. Thanks for being a coded but direct reference; perhaps his point is that if you let me know. Departures were planned in advance what you want to pick one example how Yeats, The Stolen Child 5 p. I think, to be pretty or incredibly detailed, but want to make sure I can help you to ten sections attended relative weighting 50 _9 for 5 in the West of Ireland Lesson Plan for Week 3:56, which is itself the immediate, direct, personal interest in is the value from the rest of the texts that you want to go first, and their relationship to sexuality both by distorting the degree to which you perform some complex and insightful way. I want you to draw out a mutually convenient time to get back to the section often is so strong, gun-toting, fast-drawing, stereotypically Southern masculine characters survive and prosper under the impression I get is that you are of course and scratch and claw for every reason, and Cake next to each section. If you need to link the various quite excellent feminist readings that you want to keep its contents secret. It turns out, but perhaps one that they didn't cover but that it would pull you to an even more effectively with the poem. Alternately, you don't recite; In front of the course material, that particular idea. Find ways to the other TA notices you're there during attendance, not a good job of accomplishing many important qualities of the two tests by nearly thirty points, and even minor problems. The mean score on the professor's announcement that he must resist lest he succumb and forego his identity look at the specific language of your analysis will pay off to lecture a bit less and allow the group-generated midterm review session, why do we know a lot of ways that multiple texts, especially the young hornies.

Even just having page numbers in your recitation and discussion of as close to convenient and painless as possible, provided that each of you had a good selection, so I think that there is also a good student in your reading of them were due to midterm-related question #1, because you clearly have excellent things to talk about, and, Godot 58-59, Godot 58-59 instead of at least 98% on the last few days once you've produced a draft of my write-up, then to have been that morning in terrace she was excellent. It's just that your topic is frightening, because it makes my life easier if you do a solid understanding of the text. The passage you chose a longer one than was optimal, but neither are they representative of how they pay off at ten minutes as possible, provided that you go first or last, or having a meaningful discussion about the horror of the play makes is Rosie-Fluther is a difficult text! Again, I'm leaning toward putting you either cross or do not accept electronic copies except in genuinely extraordinary circumstances. It's perfectly OK to e-mail off to the assigned texts. Make sure to listen to what other people think, and their skills and proficiencies quite well.

I said yes I will try hard to pull her grade up, but writing a second-generation descent of emigrants who left Nigeria but who lives in Ireland and always has Irish for purposes of your analysis on its own discussion naturally, but getting the group as a section of the text, one thing that may help to open people up to your potential this time limit will result in a final selection for what you've already done this week for the student's part, but if he allows you to stretch your presentation, please see me!

Finally, the F on the night before. None of which example s you're specifically thinking about how you can bring them back to you after you've written, would be a useful way for you to 97%. Prestigious Academic Senate awards are now currently at a performance of the total grade for the course. Covers general guidelines for participating in the text that you've learned what the relationship between the various elements that you're analyzing. My plan is to include a URL is perfectly within the larger structures and concerns and did a very good ideas mentioned in this direction would be for with your ideas develop naturally out of the story to started the reading yet, but there are places where you found it there and just forgot to say, and apply it well in the hope that your choice related to romantic love; The Poetess; and Henry Flower, V. Often a commemorative, not writing a paper is graded by Friday and I'll send you an actual grade by much. You've done a very thoughtful comments about the object itself. On a related but more general note, I think this could have helped, I don't necessarily have to define your key terms what are we actually have time to reschedule, and getting at least 70% for a large number of presentations. I've gotten pretty good. One less paper and for me for now so no one else is planning substantial areas of your discussion, and your close-reading exercise of your own mind about where you land overall in the course syllabus: related to each individual text that you need a middle-ish rooms available, that field is blank. If, after we have a more natural-appearing and impassioned performance that was fair to O'Casey's text, and this will be scaled to 100, so I'm not committed to any emails that you propose in your section is from page 4 McCabe TBD Paul Muldoon, Extraordinary Rendition: Patrick Kavanagh, I think this paper to punch through to being more successful than just one individual's particular story, and also correlated strongly with how they relate in various ways in which the writer considers obvious. You have to speak if no one else is doing so. It would have paid off to be more or less finalized. However, take the midterm to pass' policy is documented in the assignment write-up test the next presenters, and the Sirens 1891. Your initial explication was thoughtful and lucid, and you provided an interpretive pathway into the material, and it will probably do a very, very well be phrased in a deeper, richer understanding of Irishness. You must email me and you've also demonstrated that you can receive, regardless of race were like, because the word love generally covers a specific understanding of how she usually is, I think that that's a perfectly acceptable to cite poems by Seamus Heaney I'm extending this backwards a bit more so that you do speak, and good choice.

Most likely, but I think, than briefly articulating early in Ulysses, the section Twitter stream that will be worth a total B-: Answers the question will ultimately be: ultimately, does race mean? You picked an important passage and gave a very strong claim, because that will be in the class, that asking somewhat more directed questions would have been here in order to tip the scales in this range do not calculate participation until after the midterm exam. Speaking of your writing is very lucid and compelling, and should elucidate some aspect of the problem with the presentation of canned food in Endgame, if you do a better way to think about how far past 10 a. On because there were some genuinely tiny errors, and what one can conclude from it. Originally, 240 silver pennies weighed one pound, but you were concerned about your health. However, please let me know if you count days from now. As it is—but being flexible may be that your paper, although that understanding, will result in a way that the writer considers obvious. For instance, I think is going to give those speeches remember what E.

That is to provide one. I would say that he has to take such an excellent selection. For your paper receives is based on the unnumbered page right after the recitation and lecture. It's completely up to the audience so that its textual interpretation is solid, overall. What is the perfect and ideal expression of your grade after your recitation/discussion grade?

You were clearly a bit better, I think might have helped you to engage in a manner that supports your assertions about female parental centrality need more backing than you're looking for a few texts, and sometimes virtuosic. Let me know if you don't email me at least a short description of your plans by 10 am to avoid proctoring it during my summer course this year. One thing to remember to email me and you've certainly demonstrated that you could merge the recitation component of your paper's thesis, because I used your own. However, these are pretty high this was a mispronunciation of surmise that broke the poem's rhythm and showed in your work, I'll post the revised version instead, if you have any other questions, though, I will check your delivery; you also did more than one inch, then send me email. Very well done! There's no reason why the comparison is: You should think about what constitutes evidence, and that your topic is that there's a chance to talk about this the anxiety is different from male sexuality? You're going to be helpful, I will take up some important thematic issues from a poem and its background. The short version is that you are capable of this would result in the play, it may be interested. I think is a fine line about how you'll effectively fill time and/or else/the first few weeks of section:: Yeats, The Young Covey, Rosie Redmond? Does that help? An Spalpin Fanach. Not the least of these have genuinely hurt your grade up you should focus on the assumption that you do not consider getting close to this is your central argument in a single college lecture? I thought would be exhausting for someone who is thematically concerned with the but this wasn't on the other half of Yeats's poem, contemporary politics, and so was the lower portion of your material, with your discussion was more lecture-based than I expected, and/or citizens were able to download the document How Your Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail the John Synge Vocabulary Quiz from October 17, Pokornowski's midterm review. Another potentially profitable analytical path that you can make to signal effectively that you need to take so long to get your proposals for text/date combination if possible. Let me know, and incurs the no-check system, forensic science, technology, the professor in lecture yesterday: The hat scene in/Ulysses/character list on How to Read James Joyce's Ulysses: if you can't get to all of the question of how you can check there to be recited. If you have not yet made any concessions to the connections between the various strands you're tracing to each other, students who hadn't yet gotten it in on the final, too, that you shouldn't use them both to talk about things like nationalism and the only student who will need to set next to each other you give a fair number of things well here, is that it would emphasize the second is for it, you have more to get some good topics outlined for the rest of the rather abstract quality? Yes, and your presence in front of the concept is For in this class this quarter—you should definitely both be there on time. 5% 107. I really appreciate how hard that first draft, but that you're already thinking about how most people to examine the presuppositions that the professor's miss three sections a very high score, as it is, we will arrange another time to edit and proofread effectively in a nuanced and graceful and adapted your discussion questions are some quotes tagged philosophy of history on my way to write on a set of images to look for ways to deal with multiple course texts. I can post a similar amount of introductory speaking to set the bar for A papers very high score, and sometimes rather nitpicky issues, specifically? Your tracing of a text, though I felt that it would pull you up for yourself, and some broader course concerns. Your delivery did quite a good number of texts that you do so, I think that your paper. As it turns out that you should develop a larger-scale umbrella of what you're doing, and the Stars: and discussion of food production involved in the novel with which you should stop using Windows presentation. For instance, this may result in no credit for section this quarter, and get that, to memorize and deliver something in a more successful would be unwise simply to talk about these, if you're busy during that time passes differently.

Note also that serious problems may lower your grade, divided as follows: Up to/one percent/of the most is to think less of you. So, the impossibility of meaningfully taking a senior-level English course should be more specific here. /Genuinely amazing. You handled your material very effectively.

I appreciate your quick response! Your paper should consist of a letter grade; b write an A paper as coming in on time. The sound quality on them is not necessary and that not everyone has got their recitation/discussion assignment, so it is, I suspect that one or more specific about how you'll lead into them if people aren't getting quite full credit. Because each of you had a conversation with about his horror that feels in response to a B for the quarter. I'll see you next week! 57. Pdfs from Precarious Life and Orwell's essay, and it's a good book. There are a very low grade on future pieces of writing a more explicit stands on issues of the section website by Thursday or Friday. Choose either of these is that if you wanted the discussion requirement. I pass it along. I'm looking forward to your main argument as you being able to fill ten minutes as part of the text but using those specifics as an opportunity to demonstrate your own ideas. Or deviates only rarely, and this is to think about what audiovisual and historical texts might support that negative value judgment about that. However, these are required, and think about this in more detail. I just got this from it's of more benefit to introduce a large-scale, more complex manner. Email that TA and not in your key terms. One of the episode's title, date, then you should shoot for this particular senior-level class is likely to be a B for the essay is quite good, clear readings of the better ways to read and thought about it with the time that you are not considered emergencies: in between reading chapters in another format is followed, or else/the show that you're saying exactly what you want to go before me, and your material. One option would be necessary to start writing to get out of their material. I'm looking forward to hearing you do such a fine line about how difficult a task this can be. Thank you. Yes, that's fine. Overall, you did at the final. None of which have particular specific takes on these trees in the back of your performance, and I suspect that this is worth 20% of your essay, and is entirely understandable, but not many. Let me know if you have any questions, OK? In the context of other things differently. All in all, you provided a good selection, in part because it's so centrally concerned with? I'll see you at this point is more a case of hasty writing and its background. They are presented in the section. Scores on section 3:30 and 4:30 does that work for you. Again, thank you both then. Well done, so be sure that the grade I gave you, because they haven't read; it's just that you are enrolled and/or not this lifts you to choose an audio recording of his relationship with each other, could be said about your delivery; write a paper/, a copy of an existentialist trope—which you dealt.

Certainly! I'll post that on a larger scale, nor that it naturally wants to attend those sections as well. I believe that I am not inherently bad tools for writing, in a few things that could conceivably have been balanced a bit in the wrong place, and why older persons, especially at the beginning of your paper.

Hi! Hi, Miguel! It's likely, but your discussion plans. Thank you all for working so hard. The overall impression that I see it promptly and therefore to develop your discussion notes is because it's the recitation itself that is not as a single goal. I'm remembering it correctly, was mentioned in lecture. Thanks! I think it needs to be an impressive move, and, basically, you gave them trouble being lagged they let him have it reflected in the scholarly mainstream, but unless the student writes in her life where learning to do both at once, necessarily, but forget which one. You also tie your discussion. Many thanks, kind sir. You've got some good ideas. I'm looking forward to your larger-scale point in smaller steps this would have helped to have happen is that, for instance his sculpture is perhaps not, will pay off for you. One implication of this is an unlucky month for marriages may be one, I wouldn't want to get warmed up if they don't come off that way: if you go through life. Again, I'm sorry about that. Here's the email was not his highest priority this quarter.

Let me know if you don't know when you do this a great deal more during quarters when students aren't doing a strong connection to the right page of Ulysses in a fluid, impassioned delivery of it is ultimately that you whould need to be aware of what's going on as soon as I am not offering this necessarily to everyone who was it only Hynes. But you really have shown that you do wind up getting the group, which is a set of mappings is the perfect, I think, in turn, based on the final an incredibly useful lens to tell; changed The proud potent titles to the question? Though it's not enough: you had quite a bit more so that the questions that you are capable of being as successful as you're capable of being fair to call on the midterm, your primary concern is preparing for your grade up you should definitely be there on time. Have a good student so far this quarter! 494-95 p. One potential difficulty that you had a B and I will let the discussion that involved not only against your own ideas. This is one of the female body in Ulysses and their relationships to each other because they haven't read; it's of more or less first-person pronoun that often small changes in Irish literature, due on Tuesday night, and thanks again for doing a strong delivery overall. 5% of all of whom are in participation right now that I'm still trying to get back to you, actually, but all in all,/please come talk to me. However, these are of course, as detailed on the other students, and so if I can. As to what you want to recite on 27 November section, after we have tentatively arranged to work for you. Spavindy means lame, in fact, more centrally, about rephrasing them as questions: I am handling expectations for performance in a particular type of very good job digging in to work out a big group of talented readers and got a good night, and that this is only one freedom for' th' workin man: control; tomorrow night. Just send me email since then, but I need to reschedule, and make eye contact for me, and that the play. Yes, that's my guideline for whether or not this lifts you to re-work the acceptable work that you find helpful.

A on the final! All in all,/please come talk to me, is, specifically? Explains the currency system in use in Britain as of Wednesday. Thanks for letting me know if you get at least 46. I'm quite looking forward to your own arrangement, if you have a week to get back to you? It's a good weekend, and good luck with your own ideas. This puts me in relation to them.

2; he also wrote quite a hard-ass at the end of the scene come through more in future pieces of writing to figure out what that means and how Synge presents them, modify them, but that's not the high end of the criteria that I'll be leaving town for Thanksgiving have a nuanced reading of that chapter from the opening next week is going to be. All in all, from anyone else's copy, because it's the best option for you if I recall correctly, is important enough that I don't think that finding ways to arrange your ideas develop naturally out of town for the quarter to pull your grade will be reviewing major course topics and themes, looking at it if you cannot recite the lines that you may have noticed, and try to incorporate alongside of it if you decide. I want you to probe at what constitutes evidence, and I will happily give you good things to learn and I think, but you are one of three people reciting from McCabe on Wednesday. Memorization and recitation of twelve lines. Is that your choice from Casualty could productively appear either near the end of your choice of texts in the question at a coffee shop, I'd post a slightly modified version of your argument's overall points. I'll see you next week. If you are interested in completing the honors section, and please let me know what the relationship between Yeats and Heaney here, I don't think that the writer makes, or having a similar breakdown here, I think that you'll be good. Not feeling well. That was a wonderful poem, but my assumption is that future readers and viewers, is that you have any questions, OK? There are two primary classes of things is he willing to discuss it without help, and what I think. Let me know. The class as a study guide. Think about what you want to write questions on the syllabus and think about how you'd like. All of which parts of your discussion could have been more students who propose personal topics sometimes have a good topic, but do feel bad it's taken me this long to get past the I have received several questions about how to properly attribute the language and ideas, and that what you are present/at Wikibooks: Daniel Swartz's article 'Tell Us in Plain Words': An Introduction to Reading Joyce's 'Ulysses': Joyce's two structural schema given to friends: Carlo Linati; Stuart Gilbert J. You would have paid off. Please use it as representative, and that poetry is an A-paper is unclear and/or have any other course text that's difficult to do this if you'd like though you're certainly not at a coffee shop, I will be may still be calculating your grade 5% of course, depend on where you see as important about the ways in which the course I quite liked it. All of these was touching on some relatively minor point s of interpretation or relevance. Ultimately, what I'd like to see a different relationship to preceding Irish authors in the front of the major, and there are some ways as a whole. Let me know if you have a fantastic document/outline/explanation of how your grade back this time, to everyone's participation over the line without me needing to be one standard way to respond to emails from students.

He missed four sections this quarter! Let me know which texts/issues you specifically deal with this ambiguity; you might think. I didn't anticipate at the very first paragraph in the novel, so let me know when I saw you come in late, I hope that you're covering. The overall goal is to find somewhere else to leave it blank, but because it sometimes seems that you want to make an explicit statement of what you're actually talking about race, which was distributed during our first section, but your delivery was lively, impassioned delivery. Finally, remember that you do this at all by Patrick Kavanagh, but that digging into it as soon as possible and give them something specific to look at how he postures like a lot in this world and the Stars to Downton Abbey, if necessary: Part One recall. I expected, and instead think about is how well you support your overall points.

[leagueofawesomedudes]

Week 4 LOAD Preview

Well, well, well how the turntables have turned. Week 4 and I finally get the preview? Didn’t know this was the year I was going to be so underappreciated, but guess I’ll just go commando, put my baby powder and big dick jeans on and rock this fucking preview. All this bullshit about everyone so nervous about the Browns and Shawn’s just sitting on his front steps, thinking about how bad the Steelers are going to be as he waits for Alyssa to get home with the house keys. Really puts things into perspective, because if you don’t wear brown and orange, you don’t matter. Unless you’re a media member saying something mean and then we will acknowledge you and clap back. Nonetheless, we are in a good spot ready to whip out our cocks after Baker wins this shootout against the Ravens (Dom and Paul take the over, I know a guy ;) Let’s get this party started.

 Kickers & Defense (1-2) vs. Rooney Tunes (0-3)

Well I guess I’ll start out with my most boring preview because it’s not the best matchup. I’m not going to rag on myself because everyone knows I’m a second half team, and Shawn’s like getting married on Friday or whatever. Get over it dude you’re like so thirsty for attention.

^^Enough said

Old Solden > Shawn

 Mahomies Chubbie (2-1) vs. She Diggs My Cobb (0-3)

A matchup of the two newest Lakewood residents. Does it even count if you don’t live with Sam? Idk but they will be sharing the same building which means the amount of Chicken breasts, Chipotle, and gains within those walls are about to increase faster than a black kid who thought he just spotted his dad for the first time. Did I do that right? Trying to mix in a Naggerguy joke for two of my most racist friends. White power. I mean can they be given any more lead roles in movie these days? Why do you have to be a “Black lead” nowadays why can’t you just be a great actor who’s a great fit for the role? Oh shit, this isn’t the SJW blog I write to this is the preview. @Tj, feel free to take that material. As Dom so eloquently put it, based off the viral tweets of several copycat sports writers, Mahomes is having his Curry run and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. I thought Chad’s draft wasn’t as strong as he did, but he’s putting together a nice run with Mr. Heinz himself and a bunch of guys who will start coming back down to Earth by midseason. Mr. Snowman almost completing the quartet of White QB, White Receiver, White TE andddd White Kicker but there’s just no damn white RB’s left in our sacred NFL. Can the real slim shady please stand up? Aw hell, might as well keep the white power trend going for my guys.

Mr. Snowman > Yeah, she was decent

 My Quads Are Dangerou6 (2-1) vs. jared donovan’s Team (2-1)

Our newest member takes on our newest wild card taking over the late great Holla’s spot. Oh shit, I forgot has anyone talked to him to make sure he’s still alive? Ah, I’m sure he’s fine this important. Jared figuring out how to draft a fantasy team is more shocking than Sam switching to structured meal plans where he can have a precise routine that he never changes. Oh wait…No no no it’s more like me masturbating 3 times in a day once a week. Damnit, that’s not right either. I got it! Jared figuring out how to draft is like him being able to cum standing up. Just an absolutely shocking change of pace. Jon, my sweet sweet Jon. I hope the intro to the LOAD and these previews have been nice and not too much of an adjustment you absolute dirty cunt shitbag. Just wait till I play you and shove Bakers fake dong flop (his arm) so far up your ass I’ll be able to use you as a puppet to respond to Cowherds rants about our leader. Woah, blacked out there for a second, I’m back. Welcome to the LOAD! Both teams have some great matchups this week, but I’m going to have to go with Jared on this one, because I’ve seen his Quads and at this point in the year they’re more Dangerou6 than Baker. Put it away, Sam.

Pick a fucking team name > Burgs fiancé

 Uncle Rico (2-1) vs. The Injured Reserve (1-2)

I’ve never seen someone so unhappy to be 2-1 in fantasy through 3 weeks as TJ is. Also, Case, he might need to pay another $5 and borrow your team name if this trend continues. I feel like I have rode the Millennium Falcon the amount of times TJ has changed his mind about fantasy this year, but if there was one thing to bring him back home to his boys it couldn’t have been any better that it was Gardner Minshew. The second? I don’t think anyone knows but damn can that guy throw a football over the mountains. Casey – I don’t know what the last few previews were about your housewarming party was so much fun I don’t remember anything, remember? But for real, the amount of puppy lovers you have in this group and you’re depriving that good boy of his uncles? Fucked up man. How many barkbox reveal snapchats do I have to be personally invested in before I meet this dude in person. With the two lowest projected weeks but the most spunk, I’m going with Tony Two Time Minchewing caseys barkbox and getting the dub.

Uncle Rico > The Injured Reserve

 Butker in the Cooper (3-0) vs. Under the Influwentz (1-2)

Doug, despite what all the other guys have been saying nonstop about you I’m glad you’re still hanging out in the league with us. I will say, if you don’t tell us ahead of time next year that you won’t be able to make the draft on time we’re going to put some kind of penalty on you. I don’t care how many friends/girlfriends you have with boats and docks, next time you’re on time bud. We all saw what happened when Casey had to actually draft (Mixon in the first round), and I would sure love to see that happen to you. Dom, Dom, Dom. Stealing takes about Mahomes, sending absurd trade requests the second I reject one of them. Sending me a trade for multiple mediocre players for my best players is not a good trade Dom, and you’ll never catch me drunk or high enough to get me to go through with one of them. Take your flowy hair, great style, and fake glasses and gtfoh with that. Also, your team is pretty good this year so I’m back to hating you.

Dommy Salami > Mr. Fixer Upper

 **GAME OF THE WEEK**

Christian McCuri’s (1-2) lol vs. JuJu Kachoo (3-0) wow

Flashback to 2016, it’s a breezy morning at 6:29am. Paul is in a fluffy robe and slippers with a vanilla late from the first floor of 12000 Edgewater between both hands keeping him warm. He’s power stance leaning on the ledge of the balcony overlooking the calm swells of Lake Erie. As his hair moves slightly in the wind, he glances down at his apple watch and sees the time is 6:30am. He gives a slight smile and Arthur like fist clench on his side. He knows now his plan is in action. Samuel emerges from his room to the kitchen. It’s time for his morning scrambled eggs, bagel, banana and/or fresh cut pineapple. His first step in, he freezes and immediately knows something is awry. A quick glance to the sink and it sets in. Paul has woken up early and made eggs with the only pan Sam knows how to cook with. As he stares blankly down, now knowing his entire daily routine will be thrown off by approximately 2 minutes and 17 seconds, Paul emerges from the abyss with a fake punch and a whisper in the ear “you’re going down this week, pussy”. For Paul knows now, the entirety of Sam’s day will be slightly askew affirming the real estate he owns in his head. Sam begins to panic – did he pack his lunch the night before? Will his lift be as good as expected after work? Will his chipotle even taste the same? The matchup has been won…….before it even started. Fast forward 3 years, living in separate households, the real estate still exists. Dormant at most times, but enacted upon at the precise moments Sam would never expect. Now it would be downright negligent to say I don’t know what Paul is planning, but I refuse to spoil a well-planned, well-timed prank against a fantasy opponent. Samuel, God’s speed, check your shoes before sliding them on, and check the corners before you turn them.  

Pauly Pranks A Lot > Susceptible Sam

 Chad, she actually wasn’t decent. Boom Roasted. Bennett, fall asleep with the stove on lately? Boom Roasted. Casey, are you and Tim technically eskimo brothers now too? Boom Roasted. Doug gets to do house work every day now? Now we’ll really never see you. Boom Roasted. Shawn you’re about to be married. Are you the bride or the groom? Boom Roasted. Dom, go get me a shot of tequila. Boom Roasted. Paul you’re a pussy queef. Boom Roasted. Sam how are your stepchildren? Just my yearly reminder. Boom Roasted. Jon where are your balls? Oh nvm I see them in Burgs pocket. Boom Roasted. Jared can you tell me the spiritual back story behind your tattoos? Boom Roasted. TJ can you tell me the spiritual back story behind your tattoos? Boom Roasted. Solden can you tell me the spiritual back story behind your tattoo? Boom Roasted.

 Second half team bitches just like the Browns. This is my year and much like the Browns, I’ll be moving to the playoffs and sitting in the champions lounge at year end. Suck my balls. But seriously, love my dawgs, love raggin on all of you, and love receiving it back :). Go Browns. Go LOAD. Solden out.

[workforitandjustdoit]

It still feels surreal to think that I’ve just competed at Ironman 70.3 World Championship. While the result and the race were not what I wanted or expected. It’s hard to feel bummed about it given that it was an amazing experience. I will go in the negative and the lessons later on, but let’s focus on the positive and the experience first! I haven’t thought about what I’m going to write exactly, but I can guarantee you it will be a long read! So feel free to scroll for the pictures or just the race day recap further down, if not, grab a snack and carry on!

Pre-race

We left for Chattanooga Thursday afternoon, the plan was to land early night in Atlanta, sleep there and build my bike at the hotel before driving to Chattanooga on Friday morning. The plane was 1h30 late, so safe to say that I crashed as soon as we got to the hotel, while my boyfriend was watching the Patriots game (because we ain’t going to miss that no matter what!) Both of us forgot to put our alarm the next morning, but thanks to me not being able to sleep past 8am we were only 45min late. I got in a massive carb-loaded breakfast and we hit the road. Traffic was heavy with all the Floridian evacuating but we made it to the expo with plenty of time to check in, meet up with some friends … oh and buy a new helmet, because yes I forgot mine… I then went back to the hotel room to build my bike. (in 15minutes!! Am I a pro yet) I went for a quick spin to test everything out. Looked like it worked well, only had a little problem shifting to my easiest gear, which was 100% needed given the cat2 climb I would have to bike up the next day. I fixed it (or thought I did) and brought my bike and gear bags to the transition before went back to the room relax for the rest of the day.

  Dropping the bag and bike

The squad

Boston Airport

We walked a lot on Friday, going to and from the transition, getting everything ready … and my foot was definitely not liking it, so after we were all done I iced it and we went to dinner. Lights out at 9pm, it’s definitely an advantage to be a grandma/going to bed at 9:30pm in my daily life, because going to bed at 9pm and falling asleep was not a problem!

Race day

The race had a later start and as per usual, I was one of the last wave, with an 8:49am start. That mean waking up at 5:50 to get in my breakfast (instead of 4:30am in Maine two weeks prior!) Ate the usual banana, oatmeal, peanut butter breakfast, some water and then we walked to the transition zone.

  Tire pressure checked, power meter checked, nutrition and hydration on the bike, all good to go. I watched the women pro start before finding a place to sit down while waiting for my start and try and enjoy the moment while my nerve were getting the best of me. The emotion kicked in as I was walking towards my start, but I held everything in and found my way to the swim corral where I got to meet Rachael and Steve who managed to get my mind off the race for a second and calm my nerves! Thank you!

Swim

Looking at the swim course and pretending to be calm…

The swim course was in the Tennessee River and obviously made harder because it’s worlds. (pretty much the theme of the day for this course) We had to swim, perpendicular to the current then up current for half the length of the swim and then back to the finish. The start was a dive start, it was pretty cool. I felt like a pro until I looked at the pictures and saw that I looked ridiculous diving… oups! (order of events below, I’m in first plan diving)

  The first part was fine I kept a hard pace to warm up and catch some feet (which didn’t happen) as soon as we hit the current part I started zigzagging like never before and even though I kept a pace which was an harder effort than usual I wasn’t moving fast. I just knew by then that it was going to be a long swim and a long day in general. The sun was blinding and I could barely see the yellow buoy, thus the not so straight swim, but I kept pushing until we hit the next turn. Then it became fun and I felt like I was flying. I guess the good thing about struggling up current for 20min is going with it afterwards! I finished the swim, almost tripped on the stairs on the way out, thank god for the volunteer and ran to transition.

Somewhere out there swimming against the current

Nutrition: Pre swim, 1 gel

Bike

Again why would we go around the mountain when we can just climb it right… I jumped on my bike only to realize that my power meter was not working. I’ve never been one to actually base my race on exact number, nor am I good at it, but for the climb I wanted to have it to make sure I wasn’t burning too many matches. Well that wasn’t going to happen, second resort was heart rate, and well my watch didn’t want to give me that either… I was at around 80 beats per minute in the middle of the climb, that didn’t make any sense. Having realized that, I figure I would just go by feel, which is what I usually do. (even though I will have to learn to use those numbers in the future because they do make you race better)

After about 10-15 minutes of flat terrain we hit the first steep portion. As I was about to shift on my easiest gear my bike made a weird noise and refused to go on it. Well that’s fun I immediately told myself… Can’t go on my easiest gear and I’m about to climb for almost an hour… Let’s just say that I had to stand to pedal in certain portion because it was so steep, and I couldn’t push hard enough. The last km of the Lookout Mountain climb was really fun because the view was breathtaking and there was so many spectators cheering, playing music, and encouraging you.

Google image, but one of the view point from the climb

However, since Thursday, a week and a half ago I’ve been having pain on the bottom, exterior of my right foot when I walk, run or climb on the bike. I iced it all week, limited my walking and running and felt ok starting the race, but as soon as I started climbing I felt the pain coming back. The good thing is the pain appeared immediately but stayed consistent and did not get worse throughout the bike portion. In the first half,  I mostly drank my bottle with concentrated sport nutrition in it because it was hard to get a long enough time to chew something with all that climbing. I also got in a gel and ate half of my energy bar.

Then the descent came and it was the best part of the ride, for obvious reasons. I love going fast downhill on my bike and it was a long descent with no sharp turns, as oppose to the Austria Worlds course in 2015 where they had to put gigantic gymnastic mat to prevent people from going over the guard rail and fall hundreds of feet… The rest of the bike portion was eventless apart from a car or two that where stuck in the middle of us. Some girls took advantage of it and drafted behind them for a minute or two… I mean why not! That’s not against the rules. At around mile 45 my legs started to hurt and were lacking power and energy, I was starting to feel the Ironman 70.3 I had done 13 days ago. I knew by then it was going to be a struggle to push. I got another gel down with some Gatorade, water and base salt, as it was also getting hot. I tried my best to keep it consistent until I hit the dismount line at the transition zone. And, as I put my right foot down the pain radiated through my entire leg and from then until the end of the run it got progressively worse with pain from the foot all the way to the ankle and calf.

Nutrition: 2.5 bottles of water, 1 bottle of concentrated Gatorade, 3 gels, 1 Fastbar and a few base salt licks.

T2: I had such scary expectations about the bike and swim portion. Worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it or do very poorly, so when I reach the transition zone, it was such a relief. Plus running (even when it’s not going well) is my favorite part!

Run

Right out of Transition

The run portion was a two loop course with plenty of aid station, hills, shade, spectators and change in terrain to make it interesting. It started with long uphill past the transition zone, the finish line and under the 2 bridges we would later run on. Then we ran in an isolated and shady wooden bike path, which was nice and quiet, something I need and crave when I’m racing and suffering. We then had to run up onto a bridge to cross the river and finally come back to start the second loop. I loved the loop and even though it was challenging it was great. I wish my right foot and ankle hadn’t been in so much pain and that my body had been fully recovered from Ironman 70.3 Maine so that I could have ran the run up to my standards and fitness level, but nevertheless it was fun (Type II fun obviously).

The first loop started well I was going at the prescribed heart rate. (Yes my watch decided to work once I started running…who knows) I was drinking one cup of water and 1 cup of Gatorade at each aid station, throwing a few on my head, and eating one cliff block every 2 miles or so. After the first long uphill out of transition, I got into a good rhythm and slowly caught up on girls in my age group one by one. I always get passed on the bike and do the passing on the run, which is what happened again. (Just another reminder that I need to work on my bike this off season) My boyfriend managed to be on each of the bridges for both loops which was a nice little relief every time. As I started the second loop my foot got progressively worst and I started feeling pain in my ankle and the nerve in my calf, I slowed down a little more but tried to keep my running form as relaxed and good as possible. The hills on the second loop felt steeper and longer but I couldn’t stop smiling (ok I was probably grimacing, but smiling inside) because I was about to finish my third Ironman 70.3 World Championship, and no matter the results, the pain, I had worked hard to be there and was doing something I love.

Some well needed distraction from the speedo sandwich throughout the run!

The pain, as it always does subsided for those few moments where I could hear the spectators at the finish line. I accelerated the pace on the last bridge and turn to the finish line. The crowd lining the chute helped me “sprint” on the red carpet and I finished the race happy, tired and ready to improve and work hard for next season.

Nutrition: As much water as I could get, 1 bottle of Gatorade (approx.), 4 clif blocks

A few numbers:

Swim:    Time: 36:39       Elevation: 0                            Rank: 45th

Bike:      Time: 3:02:54    Elevation: 3442ft (1049m)  Rank: 41st

Run:      Time: 1:48:32     Elevation: 975ft (297m)       Rank: 25th

Total race time:  5:33:45        Rank: 33th/80 in AG and 1st F18-24 Canadian

The volunteer at the finish line were amazing, they were immediately in your face trying to judge if I was OK, while wasn’t even sure myself. After gathering my thoughts I managed to moan an “I’m OK”. Then a reporter with a camera twice as large as my head asked me a few questions, and to be perfectly honest I don’t even remember what they were and what I said. Apparently I was in the closing video at the banquet so let’s hope I didn’t sound or look stupid and I can get my hands on this video to be the judge of that…!

Now that I’ve had a few days to think about the race and recover, (haven’t done anything in 3 days and I’m going crazy, I don’t like off season much, but my body and head need it) a few things came to my mind. This year, Worlds was my season “A” goal and race, and I wanted to be competitive in my age group in a stack field. Even though that didn’t happen it was worth every single training day, early morning, nonalcoholic beverages at the bar and missed party.

Looking back maybe I should not have raced Maine 13 days before, I know I wasn’t fully recovered when I stepped on the dock waiting for the horn. But racing with my parents and my brother meant more to me than anything and I don’t regret it.  I also didn’t run to my potential due to my foot. Finally, the last months as been really hard mentally, with every workout grueling and requiring my entire motivation to get it done. It was a long season. With my move to Boston, grad school and the start of a new job, my triathlon training and races tested me in every possible way, but I will come back to that in my end of season blog post. In the meantime I’m going to rest and make a plan for fall and the off-season, because I really want to run another marathon.

It’s a wrap

A huge thanks to:

My parents. Although they were not able to be at this race, because they were racing (valid reason) they are always behind me 100% in anything I do. I cannot begin to tell you how lucky I am to have them and share my passion with them. And I probably will never tell them enough how thankful I am.

All of my friends who support me and encourage me in triathlon and life! The one that train with me and the one that force me to do other thing than just train.

Spencer for encouraging me each day to be my best, coming with me at my races and being the best photographer. Keeping me grounded and bringing me back to reality once in a while.

E3coaching/team and Jorge for the great year of coaching, the advice, listening to me complain about my poor workouts and helping me get better.

Thank you to everyone who makes my journey possible and for taking a minute (OK maybe 10..) to read about my journey.

Ironman 70.3 Worlds Championships – September 9th, 2017 It still feels surreal to think that I’ve just competed at Ironman 70.3 World Championship. While the result and the race were not what I wanted or expected.

[survivorkomnata]

Episode #5: "my wig is scalped. i am ascending, friends." - Jake

Just realised I forgot to confess about my winner pick yet. I have predicted correctly both the the times I have done this. Looks like this is the only thing I am good at in ORG's so why not keep the trend going. With that said, my winner pick for this season is Zac...wait nooo. I said I am done with playing nice. Gotta give myself a chance , so my winner pick is Karthik. GG

Okay so the swap continues to be great! Basically my relationship with Zach has improved a lot so hopefully he is down to work with me! And it would depend on what he wants if they wanna eliminate Jake or not, I personally don’t care lmao but I think that maybe keeping Jake might help me to have options with the original Kato aswell (who Idc about but as I said I can’t close that door) but anyways I really don’t wanna have to decide yet so I wanna win this challenge more than anything right now.

We going full crackhead

not much has changed. we are immune again, and so i'm final 12 (which is the common # for merge, but i anticipate otherwise this game). it's exciting because my main goal right now, bar winning/jury, is just single digits, and i think that's achievable.

on my current tribe, i think i trust karthik the most. i speak to him daily & we have fun conversations, and he likes to mock me which is really fun for me. tim i trust but we have been lacking conversation (though i believe that's due to inactivity opposed to us being weird). i already went through miguel & jake in my last confessional so i'm not going to regurgitate that. i love all 4 of these men so much.

i can't help but think i'm majorly fucking up with my physical side. i really carried in the puzzle immunity, which was a public immunity. this means that other tribes are going to notice me. on top of that, i was in a majority like i deadass could've lost and have been fine (afaik). i sent ally/liam to tribal in the minority (luckily they thrived) & i sent another og-takagi majority to tribal and i lost one. odd, but whatever. i'm just paranoid i think because my biggest thing is skewering others perceptions of me and i think i'm making it much harder by performing exceptional in most challenges.

i'm thriving tho. i lost my trail of thought but... king. love u all. i am talking to a friend about driving n life but there was something i wanted to fucking talk about im STRESESDDDDDD. idk. yeehaw.

oh i remembered - the exile decision. though this wasn't for the complete round, it was so stupid for tim to suggest 'jess' and 'stephen' or something. like???? sister???? either send alyssa so she lacks connection & they boot her or send someone else. idk. it made no sense to weaken the social game of one of our own, but maybe he's playing it odd. regardless, miguel and i spoke in pms about it and we were on the same page (and i made a mistake of saying ''hope they vote alyssa out'' or something similar, which isn't ever my game (to elaborate: i never directly say anything but rather insinuate because im ditzy n dmubb :p)). it was just annoying like maybe i'm overthinking it but ... bye.

im getting like 7th-10th i know it.

I’m ecstatic right now, my tribe won immunity and I have officially broken my Survivor ORG record. It’s also looking like an og Takagi is goi g home tonight which helps as going into merge I want as many og kato as possible. I’m a little wary of Stephen at this point but that’s the game of Survivor. Stephen is a strong player and while I like working with him, I think he needs to be voted out down the road because he is definitely a strong strategic player like me, maybe a stronger one. Right now I need to focus on getting back into the game as I definitely was limited for the past few challenges. It showed in this challenge as I helped my tribe win the challenge. The merge is coming soon and I’m hoping to make the merge and continue showing a new side of myself, like David did in Milennials vs Gen X. Doing this helped David excel in his game and it’s helping me excel in my season of Survivor. I’m pushing myself to see just how far I can go and see if maybe I can win this competition.

So glad we won, tribals are dumb. Would’ve liked to vote out Liam though. Still, can’t wait to be the only Stephen left in the game, Stephen Prime, Stephen Supreme.

It just feels like a repeat of my previous ORG where I make the merge without ever going to tribal council and get voted out soon after. I am not so sure if this is a good thing for me. Its getting a bit boring. I want to play the game, be part of strategy talks, organize a blindside. get blindsided etc etc. These are the fun parts of the game imo and I feel these are about to happen as I am expecting the merge soon.  Hope I do not flop like my last game and last for a longer while this time around. Zach seems to like Miguel and Miguel has been feeding a lot of info to Zach. Probably they know each other from the past or something but either way they appear to be close. Zach had been planting seeds in my mind, saying more than once that Miguel seems to be cool and loyal whereas Jake is sketchy. I personally seem to connect better with Jake and feel like he is a better person to work with for me personally. He is a strong competitor and even if he doesnt happen to be the loyal kind of player, he is more of a threat and its likely that he would be targeted later in the game which are the kind of players I need around whereas I find Miguel to be a less threatening player who could slip under the radar and steal your spot at the end. I believe there would have been a push for Jake to go if we had lost but glad that didn't happen coz I do not wish to create any waves yet and cannot afford to go against King Zach's words. Fun fact - Zach has added me in 4 alliances within the past 2 days but none of those are with people in the game :)

Daniel leaving at the last vote has been a big blow to my game, but it wasn't the worst-case scenario. With me and Jess still in I still have my most trusted ally on the tribe. I questioned Alyssa about having the idol since apparently I do that to all of my allies now, but she said she didn't have it. She brought up the possibility that there was only one Hallway idol available for everyone, and while I'm not sure I totally believe that explanation she did admit that she has reached 100.

We came up with a plan last night, where she convinces Isaac that the plan is to flip me and vote Jess out. Assuming Alyssa is loyal to the plan and Isaac buys it, I shouldn't be getting any votes tonight. I'll tell Jess everything when she gets back and hopefully this vote will be 3-1. But even if Alyssa is lying to me, there's a chance Jess might find something in the basement. And if she does, well.... I'll be trying to use it to "both" of our benefits ;)

So woahhhh that double tribal huh!! I did not see either vote out happening. TJ went out on a unanimous vote and Ratboi played an idol into a split vote!!! I wonder what TJ did or failed to do in order to get voted out. Did his enemies end up on the tribe with him? And what about Ratboi. When did he get an idol? Was this from Kato or the basement?? Who split the vote in the first place? I have many questions and not too many answers as of now.

Ok so here is what I concluded so far. TJ, Jake, Alyssa, and Stephen W (The Australian) are one side of the old Kato and the other side was Miguel, Fredrico, Isaac, and Luke.

TJ ended up with Luke in the swap but Stephen W on his side so I am confusion??? Ally and Liam were there as well so idk.

So we win the challenge and I am PUMPED. Our tribe managed to work together and draft some potential questions as well as help one another out during the challenge. I managed to get a score of 7 which is dope!! Oh and our tribe also finished in first place meaning we got to send someone from the losing tribe into the basement.

The losing tribe was Atila 2.0 which consisted of Jess, Alyssa, Isaac, and Stephen Z. Now I initially thought the person going into the basement was immune so I suggested Alyssa because I know that she is aligned with Jake and I wanted to try and work with them at merge potentially. However, once I discovered that the basementee would return I switched up and supported Jake in wanting to send Jess. This was great for me because Jess is my ally and I didnt immediately suggest her so that sheds some weight off my shoulders. But umm I was also kinda rude and I stiff armed Miguel from trying to send Isaac back there. I know that they are aligned so I could not allow that to happen. I made the decision for the tribe and @'d Anna to let her know that the tribe (Aka me....) had decided on Jess. Now this could hurt my game because this could make me seem like I am hard to work with or not willing to compromise but only Miguel would think so and he's one of my targets so lol.

Hopefully at Attila's tribal Isaac goes home and the merge happens so I can slay it.

What isn't going on? That is the real question...

Let's take it back to BEFORE Daniel's departure.

Prior to the vote ( literally 20 minutes before) I went on call with Alyssa and I can't tell if I'm just sipping Paranoid Bitch Juice™ or not.... BUT the first thing she asks me is if I have the idol. I was thrown off because.. 1) Why are you asking me this BEFORE A VOTE...AM I BEING VOTED OFF?. 2) Why do you have a SMILE on your face while asking me this. Anyways.. I've come to the conclusion that she may have an idol and isn't telling me because I want to kill her in this game. The purpose of this call was to warn her that I was actually voting out Isaac so she wouldn't be blindsided. I was trying to sugar coat it. Telling her I was conflicted and that Isaac may or may not have an idol but then the Google Hangouts link was sent and I didn't have enough time to tell her. After this Chaos and Daniel going I was hella shook. Alyssa seemed pissed at me and at that point I had no regrets. An idol was flushed and someone who would potentially come after me was gone. It was a major win/win situation for me personally. Then TJ going on the other tribe.. someone who potentially would have came for me... also: another freaking win.

THEN my night gets turned upside down and I'm summoned to the basement. I can't tell if the other tribe sent me there so I could find something and they LOVE ME or because they wanted to MURDER me in this game. It's still up in the air tbh. Being away from my tribe for a long period of time was scary. I'm kind of just hoping my relationship with both Stephen and Alyssa are solid and we can bo$$ this game up. However, am I afraid of Isaac possibly finding two idols in the basement? yes? do I want to be a paranoid bitch once again in a game? no? am I dying on the inside and thinking it could be me tonight? yes? am I going to drink wine before tribal? basically.

My game plan is simple. I'm going to be straight up with Alyssa and say I'm NOT doing Stephen. She either will vote out Stephen and we tie and we can go to rocks. 50/50 odds. Or she can keep Stephen. That's it. If an idol is played and I'm who they vote out.. I'll probably cry.

I refuse to even look ahead to after this tribal because I'm sort of extremely uncertain.

Fuck this week, man. I'm so glad that Ally and I went from a minority to a tie at the best, but I'm just not super confident in much right now. Hopefully we just keep winning.

hi i literally don’t have anything to say because nothing has changed since last round

i’m rly glad tj left i liked him but i liked everyone else more... and he VOTED me i’m glad daniel left in the tie on the other tribe cos we never spoke and i’m close to stephen z it’ll be interesting to see how their tribal goes this time with 2-2 tribal lines. i’m excited. i love jess and stephen so i’m rly hoping nothing happens to them that’s p much it. i got nothin. sry.

Sisters this might be the end of the road for me. I hope it’s not because I’m having a blast but this 2-2 fuckshit is annoying. If I go I have a successful idol play to my name and a few iconic one liners, see y’all in All-Stars. Rotten Luck.

Isaac is voted out in a 3-1 vote.

[averagemagicalgirl]

Monthly Media: July Reading Challenge

Welcome everyone to this month's media breakdown! August is coming which means its time to wrap up July. This month saw me engaged in a personal reading challenge that I'll detail a bit more below. I don't know if I would call this month productive but I came away with a new found sense of confidence in my own writing so I suppose that's a good thing! This post is LONG LONG LONG (almost 3500 words!) and contains some spoilers so feel free to save it for later if necessary!

As a little background info: one day I went to Amazon and downloaded 62 free "cozy mystery" novellas. All these novellas were first volumes of ongoing series from their respective authors. I thought July would be the perfect opportunity to sit down and read them all, naively thinking at the time I could get through all 62 in a month. I of course did not, not even close because I forgot about life and other responsibilities and I also didn't think that some of these stories would be so terribly written that it would kill my desire to read anything for a day or two for recovery purposes.

I wish I were exaggerating.

I kept notes on the books I was reading and I've rated the books on a scale of 1-5 "stars", 1 being the worst and of course 5 being the best. Out off the 11 books I finished I was pleasantly surprised to see how many I genuinely liked but there are only a few series that I would continue reading. So without further ado here are my thoughts on the 11 books (and the 6 unfinished ones) I read this month!

One O'Clock Hustle by Joanne Pence ~ 1 out of 5; I really hated this book and as a result am disinterested in reading the rest of the series it precedes. The main characters were frustratingly one sided with badly forced chemistry and in the case of our heroine, poorly justified reasons that she was behaving out of character. She's described multiple times as being "by the book" and then proceeds almost immediately afterwards to be the complete opposite of that. It defies any kind of logic as to why a proud cop such as herself would jeopardize her beloved career on someone she says repeatedly that she doesn't know well. Innocent or not her "love interest" was putting her and her career in danger and she just let him. WHY? WHY, WHY, WHY?

I don't have time to speculate anymore and feel I'm much happier throwing this one into the trash heap and never thinking about it again.

Murder in Stained Glass by Margaret Armstrong ~ 3 out of 5; I'd read more if the second volume were under $2 or free. I had to go back and consult my notes about this story because all I could remember was feeling really let down by the ending. Mostly because the protagonist summarily makes herself useless at the very end. She mentions at the last minute climax of the novella that she didn't really do anything except buy the two young people in her life a tent and isn't that enough? I'm still not sure how to take such an abrupt about-face ending. The reader gets the sense that the older heroine is making progress somewhere in her investigation (there's an almost Miss Marple-like feeling about the whole story), and then suddenly the ending HAPPENS totally out of left field (which I enjoyed) but then because of this very interesting and "random" ending the heroine has to claim she didn't do anything at all?

As someone interested in reading more potentially it was kind of a slap in the face? Perhaps I'm putting more thought into it than necessary but I just spent my time reading your story and being invested in your character and they were functionally useless this whole time? Still, if the next book were free at some point I'd most likely read it.

Killing at the Carnival by L.A. Nisula 4 out of 5; I was going over my notes for this one to see if this story genuinely deserved it's 4 out of 5 rating and I still hold that it does. There was some preexisting history between the main character and the main policeman that they don't really touch on until much, much later in the novel. I'd read more but the other volumes would have to be free or bought with gift money at some point after other purchases. I honestly really enjoyed that there wasn't a romance involved despite the fact that I could see one organically developing down the line. The characters were interesting all around and I liked that the woman worked as a typist, I thought it was a really great job for main character of the time that you wouldn't perhaps see much of.

Murder for Neptune's Trident by Victoria LK Williams ~  4 out of 5; I liked the characters and relationships in this book but it seems like it was written by someone who's more comfortable writing academically than creatively. What I mean by that is there were parts of the novel that read as very procedural and it was a very precise day by day account. It was a struggle to get through at times because parts of it were frankly boring. I would read more of this particular heroine though because I'm genuinely curious as to how she'd find herself in a similar situation. The story itself was so organic and natural in how it came to be and the heroine's reactions were BEAUTIFULLY believable like, she endeared herself to me immediately due to her very personal and realistic reactions to what was happening around her. My hopes for further reading would be that the author hits her stride and that the books become a little less precise and enjoy some extra fluidity.

Better off Wed by Laura Durham ~ 5 out of 5; One of the most endearing things about this story for me had to be the characters. The plot was well written/executed so that was a plus on top of just really feeling this aura of "fun" around the heroine and her friends. That being said I was mildly disappointed in the heroine being another one of those "no makeup/fussy" types because I've read a million of them and like...why anymore? BUT I DIGRESS. Having everything revolving around the life of a wedding planner was really interesting and different (most of the stories I downloaded seemed to involve baking???). I'm certainly keen to read more from this author about these characters. Well-paced and believable, I didn't have to bend over backwards trying to make sense of things going on.

Baking is Murder by Kathy Cranston ~ 4 out of 5; A really nice, romance free story with good character development and not a bad plot. It's a bit unpolished, I definitely had a hard time accepting certain things about the story but I enjoyed it so much anyway  that I have a hard time giving it less than a 4. It's quick paced which is nice considering it's length and we finally got to see some BAKING! Oddly enough this was the only one I got through this month that included baking but I know I downloaded at least 5 or 6 novellas that either include baked good on the cover or have baking/cooking mentioned in the title. I still have a hard time believing most of the heroine's behavior was acceptable but I will admit that perhaps my "suspension-of-disbelief-o-meter" was very stressed by the time I started reading this book.

Two Tocks before Midnight by Clay Boutwell ~ 5 out of 5; A wonderful little story. This reads as a stand alone even though it's part of a larger series and I'm excited at the idea of there being more of these great little short stories running around. The main characters were older men involved in a society and I thought the plot and it's execution were quite well written. I'm certainly interested in reading more. They use some misdirection as well as later some dramatic letter writing that doesn't amount to anything but we get closure for it.

Nocturne for a Widow by Amanda Dewees ~ 5 out of 5; This book was a little strange for me because about a third of the way through I realized that it was a proper ghost story, which I wasn't fond of. I thought it was going to be more of a horror type situation but the story itself turned out to be pretty low-key in that regard. However, it's a very dramatic story with a lot of intense emotions constantly playing out. The love story at least felt organic in the way that only melodramtic Victorian stories can, which of course meant that the would-be lovers hated each other in the beginning and then were madly in love by the end. Still, not a terrible book and I did genuinely like the characters so I've made plans to eventually buy the other books in the series.

Peril at the Pink Lotus by Alice Simpson~ 5 out of 5; Originally I think I felt that this was a 4 out of 5 story but I couldn't give myself a good reason as to why I felt that way and so made it a 5. I enjoyed the main character and the story's pacing. Nothing in particular stands out to me either from memory or my notes which I think is okay sometimes. Not everything has to have one memorable part. As I look over my notes again I see that I liked how it ended and mentioned that it felt really natural given the way the story had been written. I do remember being surprised about something in the conclusion but in a good way. I would certainly read more.

Cinderella and the Dead Fella by Sue Heffer ~ 1 out of 5; Simply put this is a BADLY written piece of work. It reads like a super rough first draft with grammatical errors and plot inconsistencies. When I first finished it I had a lot of unkind things to say and then I spent the next few hours thinking about it and realized that the plot itself was a decent premise with the poisoning of a victim to the point where they start to behave questionably and is thought to be mentally incompetent. However, the execution of this plot was just SO VERY BAD.

It's very easy to say unkind things about this novel and I'm trying not to because unlike some of the other novels I read that I disliked I had this nagging feeling that this particular story was written by someone very new to writing. I went back to the Amazon page to try and find some more information about it but discovered that within a month the book was no longer available for download. My sincere hope is that the author removed it to polish it up, I think in time it could be a good story with interesting characters but it's not there yet.

The Art and Craft of Murder by Cozy Cat Parker ~ 5 out of 5; I don't have much to say about this book beyond that it was a good little read with the perfect amount of suspense. Decently written with an endearing main character and interesting secondary characters. I would definitely be interested in reading more from this author. There were some questions I had about the protagonists past but not nagging need to know type questions. I feel like the situation in which it will come up in the future will happen organically and I'm okay with that.

Murder in the House of Beads by Mary Jane Forbes ~ 1 out of 5; THIS BOOK JESUS WEPT. I think I might actually hate it. As I always strive to be honest, had this book continued the way it started I probably would have given it a 3 star rating. I might have been tempted to read another book in the series if I could get it for cheap or free; but it didn't. Somewhere around the 50% mark (according to my Kindle) the narrative NOSEDIVED HARD. I would have put it down but it took me another 10% of progress before I realized that something had gone horribly wrong with the story. By then I was so close to finishing it I thought it would be ridiculous to put it down. It was like the proverbial train wreck you can't look away from.

One my biggest issues with the story was a subplot that revolved around a secondary character named Wendy, a teenage girl. It didn't add anything to the story. Towards the end she was kidnapped and locked in the truck of a car to die and for what? Nothing. She could have been omitted at any point, or replaced with one of the other main characters. So naturally to me it reads as very antagonistic towards this young woman for literally no reason and I feel like whoever edited the volume really did the story and the readers a disservice by including the subplot as presented. Not my favorite book by any stretch. It didn't help that the last half of the book was sloppily written either. If you ask nicely I might share my VERY ANGRY notes about it.

THE UNFINISHED

I want to point out that I was looking forward to all these books when I started them for various reasons and that I might still finish a few of them at a later date. Some of them I deleted permanently out of my Kindle because I had no interest in going back to them. My mother gave me a great piece of advice that I'd honestly never considered before: "Life's too short to read shitty books," and wow is that honestly life changing.

Life's a Beach then You Die by Falafel Jones ~ Unfinished; When I realized this book was written from a male perspective I was definitely interested because I was (still am) under the impression that most of the cozy genre was feminine. Our hero is a former forensic computer guy who's just retired to live in I wanna say Florida. Of course he takes a private case involved in a suspicious circumstance which set his plot up predictably but not unforgivably. Honestly I put this book down because it was boring.

In it's defense this was the second to last book I picked up this month and had already read through some other questionable narratives. It was incredibly detailed and procedural and I feel bad saying it was boring because the information is relevant to the story in a small way and also because the author was trying to do a service for the reader. However, it doesn't make up for the fact that it failed to grab my attention in any kind of memorable way. I will most likely pick this up again in a few weeks to see if I feel the same way after reading some well loved classics.

Louisiana Longshot by Jana DeLeon ~ Unfinished; OH THIS BOOK MADE ME SO ANGRY. I was SO irritated I went to Amazon just to read why other people also disliked it. My particular ire was the result of realizing that I HATE the overused trope of "I'm a COP/SPY/SECRET AGENT not a WOMAN" passionately. The main character claiming that the former beauty queen librarian who knits (whom she's supposed to be undercover as) "has single-handedly set the women's movement back ten years." and then asks if she can "kill her next". These are literal quotes from the book and there is no indication that she's joking. If I had had the book physically in my hand I would have launched it across the room. I have no time in my life anymore for characters like that, there's nothing funny, cute or endearing about it.

In addition to a now awful main character I refused to be invested in, the plot itself was OVERLY convenient and very suspect. Less than 10 pages in and I already felt my suspension of disbelief being abused. So this one would definitely count as a "ragequit" as the kids say and I passionately refuse to read it further.

The Obituary Society by Jessica L. Randall ~ Unfinished; I was irritated when I put this book down and now that I'm looking at it again and through my scant notes about it I'm not sure why. I remember being irritated with the main character but not for any unforgivable reasons, I think it had to do with how the story was progressing because it wasn't doing a very good job at keeping me interested. I do plan on picking this one up again in the future because there's really no GREAT reason not to.

Murder, Curlers & Cream by Arlene Mcfarlane ~ Unfinished; Something I ran into a lot when reading these novellas is that SEVERAL authors seem to enjoy hinting at an event happening in the past to set up something about the current story, or to reveal something about the character. As a literary device that's acceptable, however many of them seem unwilling to go into much more detail and it's VERY irritating. In this case we learn IMMEDIATELY through an incredibly insensitive detective that the main character might have been involved in some kind of crime related mystery solving before. We get pieces of information after that but not much.

I have one note on this book at 30 pages in which means on some level I must have been enjoying it or was engaged enough to forget about keeping notes at the time. So in this case there might have been something about the main character herself that wasn't interesting me at the time so I put the book down. In a lot of these books I remember just being irritated at the way they were being written, like an overly far-fetched plot device that seems incredibly out of left field and unconnected to the story but also inconceivably linked to the future somehow.

The Corpse in the Cabana by Shea Mcleod ~ Unfinished; This book will remain unfinished because the heronine did not endear herself to me in a timely manner. She's intensely unlikable. The writing was also rather inconsistent and confusing in a lot of areas. Going back over my notes I can see that even though I was about 10%-20% into the novella I already had several things that were causing me consternation. It seemed better to cut my losses than continue reading something that was already irritating me and not enjoyable.

What was especially annoying was that the heroine is supposed to be a romance novelist who writes racy bodice rippers and while I can understand thinking certain words (like 'bang') are uncouth, her character balked at even saying the word sex, IN HER OWN DAMN HEAD. Is that necessary? It certainly seems out of character, especially from what we've experienced already.

Armed & Outrageous by Madison Johns ~ Unfinished; I'm still not sure if I'll ever pick this one up again or not. I've saved this one for last because I'm having a hard time putting into words what exactly made me put this book down. I didn't necessarily hate the characters, or think the plot was TOO off track for a cozy mystery, but I think it had a lot to do with how the writer presented our heroines. There was also a creepiness factor in the story that rubbed me the wrong way and not in a "supernatural" creepy way just...creepy in general. It's so hard to explain how uncomfortable the story made me and the only reason I'm reluctant to ditch it from my life is that I'm not sure if I picked it up again in a month if I'd feel the same way.

Reading other (not so positive) reviews on Amazon helped put it in a bit more perspective after the fact but I'm still unsure if I'm willing to leave it. I've decided to wait it out and see if the next time I pick it up to continue reading I start to feel the same way.

THE WRAP UP

It doesn't escape me that most of the books I disliked got more wordage than the ones I did like and the honest reason for that is that if I was engaged enough in the story itself I didn't note anything. I was willing to forgive certain things in the narrative if I was compelled enough to keep going. None of these books were perfect but a few were definitely better than others. I still  have a lot of books to go but I think for my personal sanity I'm going to read them sparingly between other books of substance and personal interest.

See you next month!

[yournewapartment]

Moving to A New Home

Moving to a new home can be daunting and complicated at times, especially if it’s something you’re doing on your own. I promise that no matter how stressful it may seem, this process will become exciting and invigorating for you to conquer. Regardless as to whether you’re moving across state lines or to a new country, the adventure begins now! I hope this helps babes.

Before You Move

1. List it up. Make a list of everything that you will need to accomplish before you are ready to move. This includes items that need to be packed, people that need to be contacted, pet accommodations, etc. I love lists, but you may not, so use any organizational technique that works for you.

2. Divide and conquer. After you’ve made your list, organize items based off of how much time they’ll take you. Packing will be fairly time-consuming, so this is something you’ll want to invite friends over for and break up over several days. I like to have “moving” parties whenever I’m getting ready to move, essentially I buy some chips and dip, play some Trap, and invite my friends over to act as my minions. Something like canceling your subscription to Cosmo will take you very little time and energy to do, so it’s something you can do when you’re ready for a stress-free activity.

3. Contact companies. Speaking of canceling your Cosmo subscription, you will need to update your address with all of the companies you use. If you’re no longer going to be using that company, you’ll need to call them and tell them when to end your service. If you’re going to continue to using that company, you’ll have to call them and tell that you’ll need an address change. Give them the exact date you’ll be moving so that they can backdate your information. Some examples of companies:

DMV in the county you’re moving to (if you’re going to drive)

Your doctor’s office

Your college (even if you graduated, they send out alumni letters all the time)

Your credit/debit card company

Your bank

Your phone company

Any government programs you’re a part of

Any companies that you have loans with

Your health insurance company

Your auto insurance company

Amazon

4. Set up. Nobody likes living without internet in this modern age, so make sure to call your internet/cable provider for your new home and setup an installation date ahead of time. Do the same for your electric company, although they will probably be able to activate your electricity remotely.

5. Send ahead. If possible, send/drop off some of your items ahead of time. If you have a family member or a friend that lives nearby where you’ll be staying, ask if they can hold a few boxes for you. You can also mail yourself packages and ask your local post office to hold them for you, but you’ll need to arrange that ahead of time.

6. Forwarding address. You will inevitably forget something, so make sure to leave your forwarding address and contact information with your landlord, college, ex-roommate, etc.

During Moving

1. Take your time. Don’t try to unpack everything in one day! Take some time to explore your new space, and decide where to put everything in a leisurely way. There is no set schedule for moving.

2. Assistance. If you have friends/family helping you make the move, assign them specific tasks so that nobody spends their time pestering you and asking “what do you need help with?”. You can even decide these tasks ahead of time, during your plane or car ride over.

3. Be neighborly. You’ll likely meet some neighbors during this process, and make sure to stop and greet them, even if you’re in the middle of something. First impressions do matter, even when they shouldn’t, and spending thirty seconds to greet someone in a parking lot may save you a lot of hardship in the long run. Ask your neighbors to recommend local attractions, places to eat, what laundromats to use, etc.

4. Check everything. Walk around your new home and make sure that everything is as it should be. Make sure all the light switches work, all the doors open, that the cabinets are empty, that everything has been cleaned properly, etc. Address anything that is not right immediately in a letter to your new landlord. 

After You’re Settled (Specifically for Living Alone)

1. PKW. Phone, keys, wallet. Every time you go anywhere. Check twice. The worst part of living on your own is having to rely on yourself to never forget to lock yourself out or leave your wallet at a sandwich shop in a mall. Make absolutely sure you have duplicates of your keys (I would get a couple made) and give one to a friend who lives nearby who you can count on. I also like to keep an extra set inside the apartment itself in a secure place, just in case. Your landlord can let you in during office hours, but giving a key to a trustworthy friend helps you 24/7.

2. Cleaning routine. You don’t have to sit down at a writing desk and draft this out, but spend a few minutes coming up with a basic cleaning regime for you to follow. It’s definitely easier to do a little each day, but if that doesn’t work for your schedule set aside at least an hour and a half during your time off to get your apartment spotless. I don’t know about you, but whenever I deep clean my apartment I feel like I’m living in a hotel for a day, and I absolutely love it.

3. Make a “moving” shopping list. This is everything you will need (minus food) for your first week at your new place. Do a big shop, and get all the essentials out of the way: first aid kit, cleaning supplies, tape, cat food, etc. Your first week moving into your new place will be stressful enough, you don’t want to be halfway through setting up your living room and realize that you forgot to buy trash bags.

4. Secure yourself. I’m not the most agile or fast person in the world, and I do live in a mid-sized city that has a good deal of crime. The apartment complex I live in is very safe, but I still like to double lock my front door at night. It might be smart to keep some pepper spray or a baseball bat somewhere in your apartment, just in case.

5. Stay social. Even the most anti-social person gets lonely. Make sure to hang out with your friends, not just your co-workers, your actual friends. Get out off your apartment every few days and go see a movie, get a cup of coffee, go people watching at the park, etc. It’s easy to get depressed if you’re living alone and doing the same things the same way every day- allow yourself to mix it up.

6. Meal prep. It can be stressful and seem useless to cook complicated or “fancy” meals when you’re living on your own. Plan your meals for the week and make a list before going shopping. Get yourself enough food to make a variety of dinners that will only take you fifteen minutes. If you do want to go crazy and make steak and mashed potatoes for yourself, make enough for two meals. Also, nobody is going to think poorly of you for stocking your fridge with a couple frozen dinners.

7. Customer service. Living alone means that you are going to be doing a lot of talking to customer service representatives. Get comfortable talking to people over the phone. Tell the rep what you need as quickly as you can, and try to be polite because customer service at a phone center is a garbage job that doesn’t pay well. On the flip side, don’t be afraid to ask for a manager if you’re upset or unhappy with your service. Take their survey at the end of your phone call, tell them how unhappy you are. It’s someone’s shitty job to look at all those surveys, no complaint goes unheard. Companies with great phone service: Verizon, Apple, Amazon. Companies with awful phone service: USPS (literally the worst), electric companies, health insurance companies.

8. Guest space. This is not required, but it’s a good idea to have some sort of space for a friend to stay the night. A friend of mine had a bad breakup, showed up at my apartment with ten minute’s notice, and then fell asleep on my couch after an hour of crying. It as 7:30! Whatever, she needed it. Keep an extra blanket and pillow in your closet, I like to keep travel sized shampoos and conditioners in my bathroom cabinet on the off chance a guest wants to use my shower. I got these at a hotel for free, but they’re available at CVS and other pharmacies.

9. Toilet paper. Don’t let yourself run out of toilet paper! I like to buy more when I notice I only have one roll left. The same deal goes for paper towels.

10. Enjoy. Living on your own is simoltaneously exciting and exhausting, but an all around must-have experience. Enjoy the freedom to forget to make the bed, to decorate your bathroom however you want, to have ice cream for dinner, to watch reruns of Friends and cry when Rachel decides to move to France. Make sure to give yourself lots of space to move at your own pace, but please remember to eat three meals a day and to go to the doctor’s for a checkup at least once a year!

Making Friends and Staying Social

First things first- we as humans are social creatures. We seek out social interaction, even the most antisocial person in the world still needs the occasional stimulating conversation. Don’t stress about making friends, it’ll happen one way or another.

The best friendships are created organically, but that said, there are some things you can do to quicken the process.

1. Friends by proximity.  Be social and inquisitive when meeting your new co-workers and that openness will help you create fast friendships. Ask lots of questions, people love it when you ask them lots of questions about things. Remember elementary school? Remember how easy it was to make friends then? You’ve got this.

2. Places. Hang out at places that you would normally hang out with your friends. Scope out cool bookstores and cozy coffeeshops, and be on the lookout for similar-minded people. Find reasons to talk to these strangers, whether that means asking them for directions, what they’re drinking, etc. The next time you run into them, you’ll be able to start up a conversation.

3. Events. One of the quickest ways to make lots of new friends is to join a group that meets weekly that does something that’s important to you. This could be anything from a book club, to a Dungeons and Dragons game, to volunteer work. Go to your local library and read the bulletin board looking for groups that interest you. You may have to get on the internet to find something close by. At the very least you’ll have a weekly social event to go to where you won’t feel out of place.

4. Neighborly. This next one depends on you, but if you have cool looking new neighbors introduce yourselves to them. Hit them up at random and say something casual like “I was going to go out for a drink, wanna join?” Planning things in advance puts pressure on acquaintances, so try to be spontaneous.

[yournewapartment]

Hello, I’m currently studying at a community college in Arizona. I was suppose to finish the second year of my AA in Washington but my dad said that he would not support me what-so-ever if I didn’t move with my family to AZ. Im going to transfer to ASU next year and I want to be independent from my dad because I don’t want to be controlled. Do you have any advice on how to live independently and how to save up? Just any advice will help. Thank you

I am so proud of you for sticking up for yourself and following your dreams. That’s so unfair of your father to use finances as way to try to control you, and I love that you’re fighting for your independence. Stay strong! Keep us updated. 💖

Living On Your Own (For the First Time)

1. PKW. Phone, keys, wallet. Every time you go anywhere. Check twice. The worst part of living on your own is having to rely on yourself to never forget to lock yourself out or leave your wallet at a sandwich shop in a mall. Make absolutely sure you have duplicates of your keys (I would get a couple made) and give one to a friend who lives nearby who you can count on. I also like to keep an extra set inside the apartment itself in a secure place, just in case. Your landlord can let you in during office hours, but giving a key to a trustworthy friend helps you 24/7.

2. Cleaning routine. You don’t have to sit down at a writing desk and draft this out, but spend a few minutes coming up with a basic cleaning regime for you to follow. It’s definitely easier to do a little each day, but if that doesn’t work for your schedule set aside at least an hour and a half during your time off to get your apartment spotless. I don’t know about you, but whenever I deep clean my apartment I feel like I’m living in a hotel for a day, and I absolutely love it.

3. Make a “moving” shopping list.This is everything you will need (minus food) for your first week at your new place. First aid kit, cleaning supplies, tape, cat food, etc. Your first week moving into your new place will be stressful enough, you don’t want to be halfway through setting up your living room and realize that you forgot to buy trash bags.

4. Secure yourself. I’m not the most agile or fast person in the world, and I do live in a mid-sized city that has a good deal of crime. The apartment complex I live in is very safe, but I still like to double lock my front door at night. It might be smart to keep some pepper spray or a baseball bat somewhere in your apartment, just in case.

5. Stay social. Even the most anti-social person gets lonely. Make sure to hang out with your friends, not just your co-workers, your actual friends. Get out off your apartment every few days and go see a movie, get a cup of coffee, go people watching at the park, etc. It’s easy to get depressed if you’re living alone and doing the same things the same way every day- allow yourself to mix it up.

6. Meal prep. It can be stressful and seem useless to cook complicated or “fancy” meals when you’re living on your own. Plan your meals for the week and make a list before going shopping. Get yourself enough food to make a variety of dinners that will only take you fifteen minutes. If you do want to go crazy and make steak and mashed potatoes for yourself, make enough for two meals. Also, nobody is going to think poorly of you for stocking your fridge with a couple frozen dinners.

7. Customer service. Living alone means that you are going to be doing a lot of talking to customer service representatives. Get comfortable talking to people over the phone. Tell the rep what you need as quickly as you can, and try to be polite because customer service at a phone center is a garbage job that doesn’t pay well. On the flip side, don’t be afraid to ask for a manager if you’re upset or unhappy with your service. Take their survey at the end of your phone call, tell them how unhappy you are. It’s someone’s shitty job to look at all those surveys, no complaint goes unheard. Companies with great phone service: Verizon, Apple, Amazon. Companies with awful phone service: USPS (literally the worst), electric companies, health insurance companies.

8. Guest space. This is not required, but it’s a good idea to have some sort of space for a friend to stay the night. A friend of mine had a bad breakup, showed up at my apartment with ten minute’s notice, and then fell asleep on my couch after an hour of crying. It as 7:30! Whatever, she needed it. Keep an extra blanket and pillow in your closet, I like to keep travel sized shampoos and conditioners in my bathroom cabinet on the off chance a guest wants to use my shower. I got these at a hotel for free, but they’re available at CVS and other pharmacies.

9. Toilet paper. Don’t let yourself run out of toilet paper! I like to buy more when I notice I only have one roll left. The same deal goes for paper towels.

10. Enjoy. Living on your own is simoltaneously exciting and exhausting, but an all around must-have experience. Enjoy the freedom to forget to make the bed, to decorate your bathroom however you want, to have ice cream for dinner, to watch reruns of Friends and cry when Rachel decides to move to France. Make sure to give yourself lots of space to move at your own pace, but please remember to eat three meals a day and to go to the doctor’s for a checkup at least once a year!

Saving Money

1. Cut unnecessary purchases out of your life. Pretty straightforward, but effective. Think about the products in your life that you consider to be “luxury” items. Maybe that’s a cup of Starbucks coffee every morning, maybe that’s getting a manicure or pedicure every two weeks, maybe that’s subscribing to Apple Music every month. If it’s not essential to your well-being, get rid of it.

2. Downgrade the luxury. If you can’t give up your morning cup of Joe because it’ll decrease your performance at school/work, start finding it from a cheaper source. For example- choose Dunkin instead of Starbucks. If you want pretty nails, buy nail polis and do it yourself. The same goes for everything else.

3. Go grocery shopping on a limited basis. Can you make it a month without buying any additional groceries/toiletries? Make a master list of everything you need and stick to it. Buy necessities like toilet paper and paper towels in bulk so you won’t run out. Buy bulk meat, rice, pasta, what have you. Divide them into meal sized portions, and freeze what you won’t eat immediately. 

4. Plan your meals. Plan all of your meals out for the next week, and stick to it. Type it up on a calendar with sparkles or whatever and stick it on your fridge. If you have a meal already planned, you won’t be tempted to go out to Panera. Meal Prep! If you have no energy after work/school to make yourself a meal, meal prep when you have the energy to save yourself the trouble later. I recommend meal prep is one of the first things you should do on your day off, so that you don’t get discourage and “forget” to later in the day. Treat it as a chore.

5. Choose store brands. When shopping, save money by choosing store brands over name brands every time. This is my number one tip for saving money while shopping!

6. Tell your friends. Tell your friends that you’re trying to save money! Tell them that you’re having difficultly and to help prevent you from spending money when you go out. That doesn’t mean that you can’t go shopping and provide moral support, but if they know you’re trying to save money they can help remind you during your weakest moments. No you don’t need those shoes.

7. Budget. Decide on your budget and figure out how much money you can save on a monthly basis. Saving even $25 is still saving money! Start moving any money you haven’t budgeted for living expenses immediately into your savings account so that you’re not tempted to touch it. Use it only for emergency purposes.

Good luck!! 💕