#Jokes aside 1.5 looks amazing

[sosos-adventures]

Ha Giang day 2:

Ok so when they tell Germans to be at breakfast at 8am when do you think did we show up? 7:45am obviously.. joke aside. It was exactly 8am.. and well this is how it looked like:

So nobody there. But a few minites later they showed up and askwd us what we wantes for breakfast. We got a "tea" that was probably just the leftover spinach covered in hot water.. I couldnt drink it. And pancakes :) and so our second day of being on a motorbike started. It was again an incredible day. Putting my hands in the hair pretending to fly, soaking in all the sourrunding impressions. The smell of "fresh air", the mountains, the road, the sign at the bike saying 44km/h, the wind blowing into my helmet.. this is how it feels to be free. Until the moment when we stopped and had to pass through a very small path that led us up a tiny road towards a famous viewpoint.. that road was super narrow. And our easyriders just kept driving as if it was the easiest thing ever. I got super dizzy though. And when we arrived we were supposed to climb up a mountain.. we made it up there bit not on the "platform". This was extremely risky so we decided not to do it. And our easyrider probably thought we were scaredy-cats. But the view and the pictures still are amazing. And to be very real a picture of how I "climbed" up and down... it was really scary. I feel a bit ashamed for having grown up in Bavaria and struggling with climbing..

After that climbing session we went on to a more private spot. He dropped us off and said that we were supposed to hike along the mountains for about 1.5 hours and that he would pick us up on the other side, as he couldnt take his motorbike there. It was weird to leave all our belongings with him and just start "hiking". But this trail was totally worth it. We had such an amazing view and it felt a bit like cheazing being up there in the mountains without actually havibg hiked up there. Our part was literally just to follow a small path along the mountains. And the views were just incredible:

It was a bit foggy but still totally worth it. I really wished we ciuld have just stayed there longer and enjoyed the views. It looked like a never ending path of mountains and water and roads. At the end of this path our easyriders were waiting for us and we went on with biking. I felt super unconfortable because there were a lot of other hikers who didnt pay for an easyrider. And they had to walk all of it by themselfes. It rwally felt like we were these super rich tourist who can just pay for anything and get a private motorbiketour in this beautiful natur part where bikers actually shouldnt be 😅 but hey that was really cool and many of the other companies did not offer this part of the ride. So less tourists and way less motorbikes :)

When we finally arrived at our second day acoomodation, they told us that we were gonna check out a waterfall and lagoon where we could swim in. So we dropped of our bags and went back on the bikes. This time without real shoes (they gave us slippers?) And without a helmet. So it was a 15min ride without any protection and when we srrived it was just sooooo overcrowded. So many tourists there and DJs and a bar right next to the waterfall. This was clearly for all the big grouos who enjoy the party. But not if you wanted some chill time to swim and just enjoy the nature. But still an experience.

[rmdrunkenrat]

I am delighted to say that the new driving tweaks sent V hurtling into a group of pedestrians once again

Although this time, a survivor opened fire, which I feel makes us even

[aqvarius]

Top 5 fav hlitf cgs?

thanks for this ask!! ahh it was so hard to narrow it down to 5 but i will try my best (with some bonuses bc... how could i not). i’m not going to include vip room CGs here even tho there are a couple of them that i adore too. also i can’t believe i’m not including the soma coming out of the shower CG that i love enough to have made my icon for a very long time now... but that just goes to show how much i love these ones. 

5. are you bullying my aide?

okay so i’m cheating right off the bat and decided to group these two in one category bc they’re like conceptually the same CG lmao. i made a post before about loving instructors getting furious at people trying to hurt you in the sunset. and the fact that two of my absolute fave LIs of all time get these gorgeous fury CGs makes me infinitely happy alskdfls. the sad thing is that there’s an error in soma’s route so the CG doesn’t actually appear in-game...  anyway you know i love seeing cool love interests get mad so these two CGs are a perfect depiction of that.

4. i’ll take compensation

who doesn’t love this scene and CG!! and the in-game version as well where his eyes are open bc he was surprised. i love it so much. that entire ending was so good, with the mc being the Best Senpai Ever? and she tries to blow his socks off with a kiss but then he just grabs her butt and goes in deeper? we stan a tie-grabbing mc. i only wish there was a CG for that elevator kiss too in the sequel(?). 

3. it reminded me of ugly cat

honestly i love all of goto’s s3 CGs bc they are all just so pretty and i love the one as well where tsugaru is joking about him and usa being a couple and goto gets pissed. but this one is just so... pure and soft???? it’s so rare to see goto all relaxed and smiley and i just love it soooo much. also does anyone else find that his smile in this CG is so similar to chiba’s smiling sprite? ughhh this is so freaking cute i physically can’t look at it for too long otherwise i get overwhelmed with feelings. oh and also that cat is so weird looking lmao

2. please... let me be with you

one of my favourite moments of all time. look how stunned kaga looks (but also... how pretty is he here... and how pretty is she.... season 3 CGs are so top quality). the fact that she’s hopped up on painkillers but they’re just fading off so she’s already starting to feel pain again and kaga is already kind of angsting over everything that happened on the case and then tsugaru is taking her home while kaga can’t even speak to her bc of office rules. and she just runs back to the office by herself even tho she’s already starting to feel the pain in her gunshot wound and just bursts into the office and yanks his cigarette out of his mouth and kisses him? and says even if you don’t want me, i want to be with you. honestly this whole moment is like freaking kdrama level dramatic and romantic and i love it so much. it’s like... the perfect moment combined with the prettiest CG. kaga’s pov of this scene makes it EVEN BETTER because he’s literally smitten with her, like he wants her so badly and then she just magically appears in front of him and kisses the life out of him, just as he was thinking about how much he needs her. right at the moment when he’s feeling the most empty, the most hollow, like his entire career in public safety amounted to nothing, she comes back to him. and then there’s that line of his, where he talks about love so fierce that he can’t breathe around it filling his chest and honestly it gets me every single time (also bc i can relate to that feeling lmao) but basically kaga/mc is my favourite couple and this moment and CG are just like... exactly what i love the most about them as a pair. ALSO i love her hair and that gold pin hahaha i want it. 

1.5 did i or did i not say you were forbidden from acting rashly?

how could i not include this one as a bonus? i’ve been in love with this CG from the very first time i laid eyes on it back in 2018. no context (at the time i think soma’s graduation hadn’t even come out in l365 so we hadn’t even seen his short hair sprite in the intl app), no idea what was even happening in this scene, and yet i was immediately struck by the dangerous look in his eye and that little smile, and also just like... getting to see him in a tshirt and hoodie is so rare? i’m p certain that outfit is just recycled ayumu sprite’s casual clothes. anyway, knowing the context behind this CG makes it 10000x better for me. i wrote this in my unpublished review of soma’s battlefield route but i genuinely believe we’re seeing this CG from his mc’s eyes and that’s what tokito really looked like in that moment - with soma’s face, his hair, his expressions, his hands, his voice. our poor, sweet mc had been suffering for so long to the point where even toru and ayumu noticed that she hadn’t smiled in forever and were trying to cheer her up (and momose too later!!). for me, this CG represents the absolutely heartbreaking sense of delusion that soma’s mc feels in this route, and the way that she keeps trying so hard to project soma onto tokito because of her grief. i genuinely felt like in that moment, she physically saw soma coming to her rescue, like her desires manifest into a delusion. also, this CG comes at an absolutely amazing time bc we had been deprived of seeing soma for like 60% of the route and then we get this CG and suddenly everything is better for a short moment, and then everything goes back to normal and you really get a sense of how upsetting life has been for his mc.

1. come now, love. tell me what you desire

i love this CG. i love it so so so so so much. firstly, i love the look of it. both soma and his mc just look so attractive?? soma’s muscles?? in his shoulders and back especially?! his mc has commented on his shoulderblades and back muscles before which have been honed through kendo practice so i’m very happy to get to see them. the actual text says that the mc is naked but here she’s still wearing a sundress, but she just looks so pretty and like she’s feeling unbelievably good? anyway i scream bc even soma’s hands look good and they still kept that one piece of hair that he has that sticks up lmao what’s gravity anyway? anyway, beyond the sensuality of the image (and also his tongue... and his sweat...), there’s just so much meaning behind it? like yes, it’s very hot and sensual and the dialogue that goes with this scene is unbelievably sexy, but this scene is just super meaningful bc it’s part of their recovery as a couple. they’re on this secret holiday in okinawa and they’re reconnecting after their trauma and idk it’s just so intimate. we really get to see the mc from soma’s eyes and we get to see how he is the only one who can see her weakness behind that strong face of hers, but also how he sees her strength in recovery? the way he describes that scene where she’s in this gorgeous white swimsuit with a sheer coverup and then picks a brown swim float so she can sit atop it on the waves and say “don’t i look like a doughnut?” despite having a literal near-death experience in the sea not too long before honestly had me falling head over heels in love with her, and it really made me understand exactly what he loves about her, and how much he just adores her. anyway this is me gushing over that special story, but what i mean is that the ending of his battlefield in combination with this special story sets up the beginning of soma and his mc’s healing as a couple, and it culminates in this scene. soma is kind of similar to kaga in the sense that they both actually demonstrate their feelings the most honestly through physical means, and here you can just see how palpable the desperation is. they desire each other so intensely and intimately and having this moment for the two of them to share is so significant for their recovery. you can just see how much soma needs to show her that he’s here, he’s really, physically here with her, and he’ll never leave her alone ever again, and he’s so sorry for all the pain she’s had to go through. you can see the way he’s telling her that with his body and with the way he talks to her and is just so himself in bed. there are really parallels between their first night together and this scene (mostly like... him asking her to tell him what she wants lol) and it just makes me so EMOTIONAL. 

YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS THE END? 

no, that was just my top five solo (or li/mc) CGs. i also need to give my top five fave group/multiple character CGs lmao.

in no particular order:

what can i say? it’s just so beautiful, and every single expression and pose is just so suited for each character i’m in love. 

frankly no real reason for this one aside from the fact that we get to see goto and subaru in yukata and subaru always looks soooo freaking good in hlitf CGs and also goto’s hand is on subaru’s chest and you know we ship gobaru in this house

the third anniversary substory CGs are just amazing (you’ll see the full one in a bit and it’s WILD) but honestly i just need everyone to see this one bc it’s just gorgeous. look at ishigami and kaga and look at how inhuman they look, all sweaty and tired from being in panda mascot costumes. kaga with his sleeves rolled up literally has me salivating. look at PRETTY their faces and muscles are... anyway, this CG has me as thirsty as ishigami guzzling that bottle of water.......... 

i said it was in no particular order but i just need to say that this one is my actual favourite bc it has EVERYONE. and look at how gorgeous they all look.... every single one of them with their hair pushed back ;alskdjfalsk WHO??? WHO LET THIS HAPPEN? NAMBA’S GLOVE? KAGA AND GOTO’S MATCHING SCOWLS? THE ANGLE OF SOMA’S HEAD? TSUGARU’S TONGUE? and also the way his legs are positioned?!?!?! also i love swishy hair ayumu and hide with his leg crossed the other way from kaga and also i’ve never seen toru look this attractive it’s very unfair. 

the sheer amount of chaotic energy in this one is just wonderful and i love all the details. you all know namba is DAY DRUNK. goto and toru in that signature headlock position, ayumu being a lil shit and putting wasabi in all the cupcakes and ISHIGAMI AND KAGA FALLING FOR IT AND SUFFERING??? LOOK AT THEIR SUFFERING FACES JUST LOOK. and you just KNOW that soma is going to suffer the same fate oh sweet mercy this is like “famous last pictures” level of good. also they’re all wearing new clothes which i love sooooo much. i wanna see ayumu in that orange sweater more often and also army green shirt kaga with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms with that look on his face. have i ever been more in love? no. 

finally, here’s my ultimate favourite favourite group image of all time! not a CG but it’s the header that i use on the mobile version of my blog:

they’re all looking so happily/fondly over at YOU (hlitf mc who fell asleep) and wondering what you’re dreaming about/saying that you’re dreaming about them. and they all just love and adore you so much. the amount of affection in this one image is unreal and also momose is in it ialskfjsd i just.............. am the SOFTEST for this one. 

anyway sorry that (1) it took so long for me to answer this, bc i had to spend ages thinking about it alongside being busy with life stuff and (2) that i went on for so long and did not pick 5 CGs but rather... 12....... but these are my faves!! thank you so much for the ask! 

[justamomwithacomputer]

You think wedding planning is hard? Try doing it in the middle of a world pandemic, and an old fashion family feud.

Going to the chapel, and going to get married.

My daughter is getting married.  Her Fiancé and her have been engaged since summer of 2018.  They are a smart young couple who have all their ducks in a row.  Both have good jobs, dept. free (less a small amount of School loans) and have a nice little nest egg of savings to buy a house. They have traveled, had many adventures across the globe.  They were engaged in Barcelona, and this doesn’t even touch the list of places they have traveled together.  The love life and live it to the fullest each and every day. Even if it’s a walk on the boardwalk, or down to the local coffee shop, a nice lunch or bar for a cocktail.  They enjoy staying in and cooking new things, try new recipes and live a very healthy lifestyle. They love the Lakers, and very rarely miss watching a game. Even if not televised on their network of stations, they find a place to go watch. (when they are playing)

Better to vent on paper, than react with killing people.

Now to bring you to the reason I am writing this all out on paper.  My daughter is so excited to be part of this big wonderful Family, and we are so happy to welcome her Fiancé’ into our family. This young couple have been together for over 5 years, and have been planning their wedding for over a year and a half.  So Covid-19 has really set the Bride/Groom (everyone involved really) into a whirlwind of emotions, uncertainties and sometimes anger!  They asked themselves, are we going to be able to get married, do we have to postpone, cancel, move venues…. Nightmare Right!?  Some might think….. just postpone?  Well as you can tell a little about them by the beginning of this, they have a plan. The plan does not include postponing the wedding.  So as if a world Pandemic wasn’t enough, we have two dueling Mothers…. Hold on, not the Mother of the Bride, but the Mother (MOG) and Step Mother of the Groom (SMOG) acting like complete selfish, hateful and rude bitches! (sorry, I didn’t mention groom is from a split family). The two between each other don’t have a lot of communications, aside from a couple late night drunk text messages (from what MOG/SMOG have both shared), and just nasty words transmitted through other parties involved.  My daughter has tried to remain neutral and have relationships with both, as they will soon be her family.  She has a stronger relationship with one than the other, but that is based on the relationship her soon to be husband has with each.  Oh boy… to put it in a nutshell… these women have found a way to feud and put my daughter in the middle, along with many other victims.  My daughter has been used in a tug of war game between the two.  Mostly with assumption about how much one or the other is involved in the planning of the wedding, and even their assumption of my involvement has been miscued.  My daughter and soon to be son in law are very non-traditional and know their own vibe.  My daughter is very lucky to have a hands of fiancé that has helped plan and make decisions of what their wedding will look like.  So in all they have planned their entire wedding. (Keep in mind throughout this writing, that the parents of the Bride are paying the majority of the bill, with exceptions of a small cost of some rental furniture the FOG agreed to pay. The Bride and Groom have also taken on the complete Bar, and many other small things as well).  So to continue, there have been so many snarling comments from both MOG and SMOG that have been said to my daughter, things that are so unbelievably petty. As petty as they are at times, its abuse and becomes quite hurtful. I just ask myself why?  Why do these grown women treat my daughter so poorly?  My daughter is educated, has a BA, earned her teaching credentials and is working on her Masters. She holds a full time job earning a good salary.  She is beautiful, kind and generous with her time and sometimes goes above to keep the peace. Some might even be thinking; why would she still want to be part of this family.  Aside from the fact there are so many more amazing people in the family other than the MOG & SMOG, and of course the love she has for her soon to be husband, and the fact that he has stood by her side, one would of “taken the high road” (inside joke).  

A little to help you understand, or it will just seem unreal?

Back story…. Well, I won’t claim to know all the details, and don’t want to tell another women’s story.  Besides I have heard a little of both sides, and they don’t coincide.  Anyhow, I digress. MOG was married to Father of Groom (FOG)…. And one day she found out FOG was having a baby with the now SMOG. Now to clarify, the MOG and FOG were not divorce, but MOG thought (from how her story goes) she was a happily married with two young boys. (like 6 and 1.5 young). Fast forward 28 or more years later, the son is getting married to my daughter.  I’m sure it didn’t seem fast forward for all parties involved, but I wasn’t there.  I have heard stories from both women, and some a little crazy and neither paint a pretty picture of each other.  Hi I’m the Mother of the Bride… I’ve stayed neutral, stayed out of the drama and allowed my daughter to guide herself throw these rocky waters.  After all, she is the one marrying into this family.  Don’t get me wrong, I am 100% here for my daughter, I support her, give her advice and sometimes just hold her while she cries. Believe me when I say there have been times when I want to get in my car with a bat (and go play softball) or pick up phone and tell one of these ladies off.  However, my daughter is strong, smart and can handle herself.

This is where most of the fun begins.

These past two weeks have been a complete nightmare and a tale no one would believe unless it was in writing.  In the middle of a pandemic, we have riots and protest that engulf our lives. Police buildings being burnt down, looting, fighting and complete KAOS has taken over the world. Don’t get me wrong, changes need to be made and I am not saying the protesting is wrong, it just added a little more stress to a world that is already upside down with this COVID-19.   Not to even mention that USA is in the middle of an Election year.  This is just KAOS on top of KAOS, On top of KAOS…. And then you add the MOG & SMOG and it all seems a little un-real!

From the Start of the current storm.

Rewind about two weeks, and started with a little squabble between family (FOG side). SMOG went deep and attacked Brother of Groom, and then attacked a cousin and then continued to drag MOG through the mud with accounts that took place 25+ years ago?  I mean, my personal opinion, you sleep with another women’s husband, and wreck a household, you may have some consequences throughout your time.  Anyhow it came down to SMOG texting (not even a decent in person or very least pick up the phone) an apology.  My daughter let her know she accepts apology, but included how hurt she was that she was acting so hateful to the people she loves, and how it really has effected so many.  She added that she should get some help.  Well holy moly did that go off wrong!!!  SMOG came back with the a nasty, hateful Crazy effing text back!  Asking what help was she recommending.  Well my daughter is young, maybe a little naive to recognizing when a bomb is about to explode replied “you need to ask yourself that question”. After all anyone that would be so hateful, nasty and treat other people the way she had the previous couple days needs some kind of help.  POW POW…. Did that set off whatever unbalanced brain we are working with. SMOG came back asking my daughter where she got her Dr. degree and how she shouldn’t be giving advice she wasn’t qualified to give.  She added how wonderful of a SMOG she had been, and listed all her accolades of being a mother.  Most of which as mothers we all do.  I’m talking PTA, Volunteer positions at kid’s schools, taking to routine dr. and dentist along with toting them to all the extra activities kids participate in. So really just a bunch of noise, in addition to the continued bashing of the MOG. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the last comment she made attacking my daughter. She said that the only thig my daughter was worried about was this wedding, and to quote her “you don’t seem to care about much outside your white privileged wedding”.   Now that hit home a little funny because this wedding is not your Country club, spare no expense kind of wedding.  We have had to create a strict budget, and cut corners and find ways to have the dream wedding.  Yes, we are fortunate not to have run to Las Vegas or have a courthouse wedding, but definitely not a “White Privileged wedding”.   With all going on, we had to ask ourselves if SMOG learned a new saying amongst all the protest and riots. (ha ha).  Anyhow… that was funny, but incredible mean and hateful.  Some can already guess where this is going with upcoming wedding, if not let me illiterate. This was quickly finding SMOG on the un-invited list.  My daughters’ Fiancé got on phone and called his dad to find out what the heck was going on.  Not to share confidential information, the outcome was she would not come to the upcoming Bridal Shower and they would work day to day to see if she would be an invited guest at wedding.

Bridal Shower planning

My daughter has a large squad of friends who are amazing, and she has very special friendships with so many young ladies who she has met throughout her adolescent years, throughout her college and now profession life.  Many live out of state, and one even out of the country.  None local to host a bridal shower, so as the MOB I of course wanted my daughter to have an amazing shower, where we could come together and celebrate my girl.  Her Maid of Honor (MOH) who lives just a couple states away co-host with me and we worked together to have a “Garden” themed Bridal Shower at my house.

The Upcoming is here, enter the “Garden” with caution.

All is well, aside from FOG calling to have my daughter and his son reconsider having the SMOG at the shower.  Now, I was angry about her treatment of my daughter, it wasn’t about me banning her from the event.  It was the Bride & Groom who felt strong about not having her amongst MOG, mothers of others she had bashed and Grandmothers who also saw all the text, and hate messages she had rocket launched into the world wide world of text messages.   They thought it just might be best not to mix them, and not add fuel to the fire. In many ways they made the right call, because your soon to find out that with the MOG, and many family members from FOG side mixed was enough toxic energy to blow up a city block.  In all fairness, I must add that the FOG guest were on best behavior and I do not have any complaints.  Also I can understand how having to be in a space with ex-family would be stressful, but honestly after 28 years?  Well the MOG had her group of ladies rallied around, this group included friends and some aunts.  MOG brought tons of Champagne, and wine and they all sat and pretty much got hammered. It got raunchy and the group acted like it was a bachelorette party.  They disengaged during games and acted like school aged brats. While my daughter was opening up Shower gifts and trying to be graceful, they were in the back laughing, talking very loud. Taking pictures and totally oblivious to the fact they were indeed at a “Garden”/My daughter Bridal Shower.  I applaud my daughter for keeping her composure, and keeping it classy. She even called her soon to be Mother in Law (MIL) over when she was opening her gift to break up the frenzy that was taking place.  This was not a success; she went back to her own personal party within my daughter’s shower. Soon the presents were open, and this pretty much meant the end of event.  ALAJUELA ONE MIGHT BE THINGKING AT THIS POINT!  Even though this is supposed to be a joyous event.  Some quest had left, and some remained to just sit and talk. Well like a light switch, MOB was louder, flashing her legs up in air signally somehow towards the table that included some of the FOG family.  My daughter walked over and asked her future MIL to sit down, and maybe drink some water. I guess at this point you can guess my daughter is pretty good at lighting the bomb!  MOG went from crazy, to hysteria, slamming, pouring of wine on tables, crying to wanting to get behind the wheel and drive away.  Couple of her squad joined in, added to the madness…. It was basically an effing shit show!  

Back paddle for just a minute

Towards end of the shower, three of the most important men came home from golfing. The shower was a good excuse to get out of dodge, but they didn’t stay gone long enough.  My husband, my son and soon to be SIL arrived on time to witness the behavior of grown women acting like Sorority girls gone bad.  It was good and bad they came back a little early. Good because they would not have believed it unless seen for themselves. Bad because my SIL is so embarrassed by the poor behavior of his Mother and her friends/Aunts.

Back to the Garden

During MOG tyrant of throwing ice buckets and stomping out while giving the bird, she insisted she was going to drive home.  Many others (I stayed clear) tried to calm her down, and talk sense into MOG. She tried shoving another guest and continued to yell and scream.  My stern husband finally put his foot down and made MOG get into back seat and my husband ended up having to drive the MOG, her Trashy friend and poor sweet Grandma home.  My husband is good at deescalating a situation, and defiantly shows who the bigger person is to put himself in that situation.  In addition to the entire cost of Bridal Shower being on the Bride’s family, now my husband had to add additional expense to get home via Uber.

Was that all real?

Unbelievable right?  I left so much out.. but this is only a short blog to vent and get this all out of my head! After all was calm, we started cleaning up.  We stacked all the beautiful flower on one table, picked up trash, glasses. You know, all the regular stuff.  Small group of mostly my family and some of my girlfriends remained, and we indulged in a couple more drinks and ate some of the leftover food from shower.  We basically were kicking back having some relax time, played some corn hole, lit a small fire for one spoiled niece to make s’mores over.   Over all just a nice, change it up a little relax time.  Ended up picking up a couple pizzas and then ended the evening early. We were all so exhausted, it was time to call it.

Little did we know

Little did we all know, the entire evening and after my daughter and her fiancé left the madness continued. My soon to be SIL was getting rage texts from his mother.  I guess they were pretty bad, mean and hateful.  I don’t even want to know the details, because it would hurt my heart.

Hmmm…. What are you thinking about the Bride & Groom?

So maybe you’re thinking what kind of people the Bride and Groom are to be treated so poorly by these women in their lives?  The Groom grew up in a split home, going back and forth between Mom and Dads.  Again I only know what I have been told by conflicting people, but been around long enough to know that this young man is strong, determined, independent, kind and is always doing the right thing.  I mean doing right thing as always wishing his Step mom happy mother’s day, making sure he’s dividing his time between families, basically showing up to be part of a family regardless of circumstances.  As for his older brother, he checked out long ago.  Older brother shows up when he can’t get out of it, like Christmas dinner etc.   It appears both boys have a better relationship with their own mom, and that tells a tale all in itself.  I’m sure older brother who was about 6-7 years old when the home was split, must be a little angrier towards the Step Mom.  Older brother is successful, independent and lives further away than my daughter and fiancé.  My daughter in which I described earlier is a very loving and kind young lady. As her parent, she has never given us any grief.  Her fiancé and herself are ones who would rather avoid drama or any kind of atomicity and often pacify to keep everyone happy.  So bottom line, they are good people who do not deserve what they have been given during this already difficult time planning wedding during Covid19, protests, riots, looting and election year.

It started off romantic

In the Summer of 2019 my then daughter’s boyfriend asked my husband and I if he could ask our daughter to marry him. We were ecstatic, and absolutely gave our blessing. He had purchased a beautiful, sparkly and a fair size diamond ring. As I mentioned before they had a trip, to Barcelona. This is where he popped the question. The planning began, they had their vision and it was coming along great.  I didn’t have to do much, as they were doing it all.  It was kind of a relief, and knew that my daughter was being smart and planning a with a budget that met what we could afford. It was going to be in a beautiful Garden venue close to the Ocean. They had lined up all the vendors for the food, lighting, the rustic wood tables, DJ, Dessert bar, Bar tender, flowers, it was a beautifully planned wedding. Then along came COVID-19.

Four Months until wedding

So four months out, we had a lot of hope and were optimistic that COVID-19 wouldn’t cancel their dream wedding.  COVID-19 peaked, and was appearing to ease.  Stores, we’re opening and it appeared we were progressing. Stage 1, then stage two and then 1 month before wedding we were entering stage 3 in additional stages and requirements.  It was looking good, reports showed religious ceremonies a go, restaurants a go, bars open. All looks good for a wedding!  It was just about now, at the one month that the SMOG started the Family Feud. Funny thing was, my Future SIL, his Step Mom, Brother, Cousin and sister had just aired on the game show “Family Feud”.  Anyhow… 1 month and all the drama with SMOG, this is one-week shy of Bridal Shower, and we all know how that went down.  We are now at 3 weeks out and venue says, hold your brakes!  They now can only have 75 people for a wedding, and no reception. Went from 207 guest invited, due to covid and traveling across US borders and some of the guest that are higher at risk as elders or have underlining conditions opted out.  We were at a solid 150.  How do we cut this in half? What about the reception, that’s the fun part where we get to celebrate the Bride and Groom?

This brings us to today 6-22-2020

So with only 75 people allowed, we are looking for a restaurant or venue to accommodate at least 100 people for a dinner or a small reception.  Original Garden venue also wants to charge $2000 for just a 75 person wedding?  Little steep in comparison to what we were getting before.  So we are at the starting line, trying to figure this out in a three-week time.

My final thoughts

I want my daughter to have the most beautiful wedding she can possibly have under the current conditions.  We have thousands of dollars already invested in vases, votive candles, napkins, venue, caterer, photographer, and all the furniture and lighting vendors, the dessert table… and so on.  It must make sense, and not steer to far from her vision or the budget.  I suggested a “Backyard” wedding, which I know sounds trashy.  I have a pretty large size backyard, and it’s a blank slate for however her vision can transform it into.  It can hold 100-120 and they could utilize all the items that are already paid for and they wouldn’t go to waste.  My brother had his reception here 22 years ago, and we could make this backyard wedding look like a tropical garden in the middle of our City if she wants. Believe me, I don’t want it at my home.  It would be a lot of work!  We are already exhausted from all the drama and just wish this damn Covid-19 would go away and stop interfering.  Just pray for my daughter and her soon to be husband, pray that they find a new venue that fits the vision they both have.  They will soon learn that marriage is hard, and it takes sacrifices, and compromising to make it last as long as my husband and my marriage has.  We will be celebrating 30 years next May.  COVID-19 may stop these two youngsters from taking a honeymoon until next year, maybe we can do a 2ndhoneymoon with their first! LOL

[whoistori]

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

Let’s start with how long it took me to finish this book. I was pretty much suffering this whole time. Yeah, I smiled two times during it, first was at one scene and the other one was when I finally finished it.

This book was published in 2006 and if you look at the Goodreads, you see two camps: Camp I-don’t-like-this-book and Camp OMG-this-is-the-best-book-ever. I think you can guess which camp I’m in...

I need to say, that this book had a few good things, but they were overpowered by the bad ones. This series has like 11 books (not all are related to the MC from the first book) and I’m not gonna read them.

Good things included:

- great story idea

- amazing description of Dublin (I actually loved that I could picture it perfectly)

- that’s it, I can’t think of another thing

Don’t come at me with ,,Oh but the second book is 100% better”, it wasn’t my cup of tea, end of discussion. This is solely my oppinion and if you don’t like it, leave.

Now to the bad things...

!!!THIS PART CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

Firstly, Prologue. Just one big spoiler. Reminded me of Fallen by Lauren Kate. I do want to find out that there are Faes, but not in first few pages! Maybe it’s just my preference, but it ultimately killed it for me. When there was scene where MC walks into bar and sees this gorgeous guy, but something seems off, you already know why. I expected it to unwrap slowly as the MC starts going deeper into the unknown world. I think it would make me like the MC a bit. Also another spoilers poped up at the end of almost every chapter. Example: ,,Or so I thought. It would turn out to be just one more of those things I was wrong about. Soon, we would be living inside each other’s hip pockets, whether we liked it or not. And believe you me, we didn’t.” It’s like telling the point of joke before you start.

Next one. The MC, her name is Mac (short for McKayla Lane). I hated her. I don’t mind barbie girls, but this one is just so bad. Like calling her barbie girl is an offence to the Barbie. Barbie at least has a brain and is good at multiple carriers. This gal was straight up dumb. I was surprised she survived first 50 pages. She learns that her sister was murdered in Dublin and the only logical thing is to go there. What. Next thing, she gots herself in danger, finds this bookshop with weird guy in it and stupidly lets him snatch her credit card, so he knows her real name. Like wtf girl. Then there’s this whole getting beaten by this guy thing and guess what. She freaking goes to him after that! Do you not have some self-preservation? It’s like saying to those girls that read it ,,Hey, if man beats you, just go after him!”.

That brings me to Jericho Barrons. I guess I can call him the love interest? This guy expects that Mac’ll tell him everything and not really sharing anything. Oh and the beating. Chef’s kisses. I’m quite dissapointed, that it didn’t beat any sense into her. Oh but at least when we learn, that the bookstore is his, we can see, that he is working, because his shop assistant (? I can say what is their relationship) gives him papers with reservations for books.

Last thing, sex Faes (Faes that make you want them sexually, that’s really cool idea). She (I mean Mac) freaking strips in the middle of the street, but no one notices?! What the hell? At least when she does it again in the museum, everyone sees that, thank god...

!!!END OF SPOILERS!!!

This book took me 2 weeks to finish. I’m not proud about that and I feel like a few of my braincells died. I’d give this...erm...piece rating of 1.5/10, just because of the good parts I mentioned above.

Honorable quotes:

,,I love to eat. Fortunately, it doesn’t show. I’m healthy through the bust and bottom, but slim through the waist and thighs.”

,,Before the call, I had no use for a word like “demarcation,” one of those fifty-cent words I knew only because I was an avid reader.”

,,He kicked the table between us aside, sending coffee-table books flying and stepped nose-to-nose with me.” (Jericho has some issues. Does this scare Mac away? Of course not! What a healthy relationship we have here.)

,,I was Barbie after all.”

,,Barrons’ mouth fell open. He gaped at me a long moment. Then he turned and punched the end of the bookcase so hard books went crashing to the floor, shelf after shelf.” (Aaaaand another one...)

,,...but personally, I’d never had any desire to save the world. Decorate it? Yes. Save it? No.”

,,No. Suck it up, Barrons. The least you can do is paint my nails while my arm’s broken. And I’m not asking you to do my toes at all.” (Personally my favourite. At this scene I actually unironically laughed a bit.)

Thank you for reading this. Hope you never have to read this book.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

My ratings of movies I’ve seen in 2017 (so far)

Keep in mind, I haven’t seen every major movie released this year.

Split: 2.5 out of 5 (problematic due to its portrayal of mental disorders but just as a thriller, it was alright. Bit too pretentious for me though) 

John Wick Chapter Two: 4.5 out of 5 (AMAZING MOVIE, highly recommend for anyone who hasn’t seen it) 

Get Out: 4.5 out of 5 (Really well done horror film. Nice to see some creativity and genuinely good ideas in a genre that really needs it) 

Logan: 4 out of 5 (I loved this movie when I first saw it but now that I had some time to think about it, I still like it but I don’t think I’d rewatch it. The movie drags a bit and it’s just not that fun to sit through again. Not that it SHOULD be fun to sit through since it’s a very dark, brutal movie but it’s not something I could just easily watch again. Does that make sense?) 

Kong: Skull Island: 2 out of 5 (I don’t think the movie is terrible but it’s not very memorable. There was just something about this movie that didn’t stick for me. The cast was just blah, Kong never really ‘popped’ like how Godzilla did in the 2014 movie, and the action was just average. Still, looking forward to Godzilla 2) 

Beauty and the Beast: 2.5 out of 5 (it’s literally just the animated movie but with some changes. While I didn’t hate it, I don’t think I got much out of the experience either. I don’t regret seeing it but I could live without it) 

Power Rangers: 1.5 out of 5 without nostalgia, 3 out of 5 with nostalgia (NOSTALGIA ASIDE, the movie really wasn’t that great. The jokes were too corny, the Krispy Kreme product placement was annoying, it was predictable, and there was a lot of ‘heavy’ emotional scenes that didn’t feel earned. But WITH NOSTALGIA, it’s great. I mean...the movie’s still dumb but if you’re a fan of the source material, this movie’s heaven. You can tell the producers really do have a love of the franchise, unlike Michael Bay whose Transformers movies barely resemble the original series) 

The Fate of the Furious: 4 out of 5 (this movie was surprisingly good. I mean, I liked every Fast movie since the 5th one but it’s amazing that they’re on such a hot streak. Great action, there’s some decent world building, the characters are fun and engaging, and it doesn’t feel old and stale, which is weird since we’re 8 movies into the franchise. You don’t feel like the series is out of ideas yet, which is good. The movie is also rewarding if you’ve seen the previous movies since F8 really builds on the previous ones) 

And that’s what I’ve seen so far. I’ll update this list sometime around August or September. 

[weightlossand]

The First Post

SO! This is way over due and I am literally talking WAY bloody over due.

Ive been documenting pretty much most of my slimming world journey on my instagram: tpslimmingworld but I’ve decided to start a open blog for everyone to read. SIMPLE!

To start off this first post here’s a little story about me:

I’m 22, loud and love a party. That’s how people know me and that’s how I’ve always been PLUS, I’ve always been known as the chunky monkey. (Nobody’s ever actually called me that, even though I defiantly would’ve preferred that!) Throughout my school life I used to eat ALOT, get my mates to buy me all the canteen paninis , even when my mum and dad spent their mornings making me healthy lunches. I was a secret eater for a lot of my teen years, I carefully crafted out times when my parents would go to sleep to go make a mountain sarnie of ham, butter and crisps and then go and knick all the penguin bars and hide the wrappers under the sofa. (I once even ate a whole box of chocolate brownie nutri grains in about 2 minutes flat.)

Anyway! Besides all that, I loved food.

As unfortunately a lot of people do at school, I got bullied for my size. I’m not going to blame my whole entire overweight spiral from that because let’s face it, I just bloody loved a good sarnie... or 5.

I struggled a lot with depression as I grew into my teens, I never knew exactly where it stemmed from because I always had such amazing friends and a wicked family surrounding me but I guess, my feelings about my self esteem and my weight took me down that path. I struggled a lot with self harm which a lot of people never knew about (because let’s face It im bloody hilarious and I’m always the one to crack the jokes). I kept a lot of it to myself and food was always just a safety net for me.

As months went on, weight just gained and gained .. I stepped on the scales before I moved from home and I remember being around 14/15 st at 17 but me being me, I just swept it under the carpet. I never wanted to talk about my weight, I’ve always been very super sensitive about the topic and I just shoved anyone aside who said I needed to watch my weight.

I eventually moved to Brighton to start uni and lucky (if you can call it that ;)) met my girlfriend of 3 years, Courtaney.

Now we LOVED to eat. Fat roasts, McDonald’s, good food out, pies .... ANYTHING. We were as bad as each other and as you do when you’re in a happy relationship, you get comfortable. (Cheers for that babes)

This is when I got to my heaviest. On febuary of this year 2017, I weighed my heaviest. 17 STONE.

3 stone off of 20 stone at 21 years of age.

To me at the time, I always felt big but I just kinda’ again... brushed it under the carpet. (I was good at that)

Now a bit graphic for any lads who may be reading this, but I have always suffered with irregular periods. My whole teenage life, I’ve had a rough time. Either really painful ones, long ones sometimes for a month plus and just really bloody random ones - so, I decided to pluck up he courage and take myself to the doctor ....finally. I had a few blood tests (thanks to those numerous nurses who can NEVER find my veins and persevered haha), I had some tests and a very lovely nice and awkward smear kind of thing.

I was diagnosed this year with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) and Metabolic Syndrome. 2 quite common Syndromes in over weight women and also is really hard to loose weight with this.

I researched into a few bits and their are very tiny slim chances of having children..so to be told that at 22, didn’t leave me feeling all that lovely. BUT, I was advised by the doctor I had about 5.5 stone to loose before I was in a healthy weight catergory for my age and height. She started me on metformin which is a diabetic medicine to help kick start weight loss but as I like a drink I stopped taking them as they can react quite badly with alcohol. (Standard Taygan)

I was morbidly obese. I still am, but today writing this, I have lost 1.5 stone.

Me and dad do boxing training once a week and we swim once a week. I occasionally punch him in the face at boxing (sorry mate) and You’ve probably all seen me on my little shitty bike pedalling around falling into the roads with shopping bags flying everywhere too. (I’m not professional yet)

I started with Slimming World about a year ago but have been on a rocky weight loss journey so far. My head is in the game and I have been absolutely motivated since I got told the news from the doctor but I have one hell of a journey in front of me.

And that is why I am starting this blog.

This is for every lady out there who suffers like me or anyone who really just struggles so much with loosing weight or being over weight.

I will log everything I do, everything I eat and my weight loss journey as time goes by.

If you want to change, I want to inspire and help people and hopefully one day you can look at this blog and say.... I did it too.

So simply. That’s it.

Xx

[bigdatanewsmagazine]

Doppelganger Discovery: How Baseball Sabermetrics Inspires Predictive Analytics – The Predictive Analytics Times

By Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

This author will present at Predictive Analytics World, Oct 29 – Nov 2 in New York. This article is excerpted from his book, Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are. The book delivers a fresh overview of big data with an emphasis on the intriguing insights revealed by Google search trends. The book also draws a new perspective on the power and peril of deployed machine learning (calling it “doppelganger discovery”). Click here for information about Seth’s upcoming PAW New York presentation.

Here’s how Bill Simmons, a sportswriter and passionate Boston Red Sox fan, described what was happening in the early months of the 2009 season: “It’s clear that David Ortiz no longer excels at baseball. . . . Beefy sluggers are like porn stars, wrestlers, NBA centers and trophy wives: When it goes, it goes.” Great sports fans trust their eyes, and Simmons’s eyes told him Ortiz was finished. In fact, Simmons predicted he would be benched or released shortly.

Was Ortiz really finished? If you’re the Boston general manager, in 2009, do you cut him? More generally, how can we predict how a baseball player will perform in the future? Even more generally, how can we use Big Data to predict what people will do in the future?

A theory that will get you far in data science is this: Look at what sabermetricians (those who have used data to study baseball) have done and expect it to spread out to other areas of data science. Baseball was among the first fields with comprehensive datasets on just about everything, and an army of smart people willing to devote their lives to making sense of that data. Now, just about every field is there or getting there. Baseball comes first; every other field follows. Sabermetrics eats the world.

The simplest way to predict a baseball player’s future is to assume he will continue performing as he currently is. If a player has struggled for the past 1.5 years, you might guess that he will struggle for the next 1.5 years.

By this methodology, Boston should have cut David Ortiz.

However, there might be more relevant information. In the 1980s, Bill James, who most consider the founder of sabermetrics, emphasized the importance of age. Baseball players, James found, peaked early—at around the age of twenty-seven. Teams tended to ignore just how much players decline as they age. They overpaid for aging players.

By this more advanced methodology, Boston should definitely have cut David Ortiz.

But this age adjustment might miss something. Not all players follow the same path through life. Some players might peak at twenty-three, others at thirty-two. Short players may age differently from tall players, fat players from skinny players. Baseball statisticians found that there were types of players, each following a different aging path. This story was even worse for Ortiz; “beefy sluggers” indeed do, on average, peak early and collapse shortly past thirty.

If Boston considered his recent past, his age, and his size, they should, without a doubt, have cut David Ortiz.

Then, in 2003, statistician Nate Silver introduced a new model, which he called PECOTA, to predict player performance. It proved to be the best—and, also, the coolest. Silver searched for players’ doppelgangers. Here’s how it works. Build a database of every Major League Baseball player ever, more than 18,000 men. And include everything you know about those players: Their height, age, and position; their home runs, batting average, walks, and strikeouts for each year of their careers. Now, find the twenty ballplayers who look most similar to Ortiz right up until that point in his career—those who played like he did when he was 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33. In other words, find his doppelgangers. Then see how Ortiz’s doppelgangers’ careers progressed.

A doppelganger search is another example of zooming in. It zooms in on the small subset of people most similar to a given person. And, as with all zooming in, it gets better the more data you have. It turns out, Ortiz’s doppelgangers gave a very different prediction for Ortiz’s future. Ortiz’s doppelgangers included Jorge Posada and Jim Thome. These players started their careers a bit slow; had amazing bursts in their late twenties, with world-class power; and then struggled in their early thirties.

Silver then predicted how Ortiz would do based on how these doppelgangers ended up doing. And here’s what he found: They regained their power. For trophy wives, Simmons may be right; when it goes, it goes. But for Ortiz’s doppelgangers, when it went, it came back.

The doppelganger search, the best methodology ever used to predict baseball player performance, said Boston should be patient with Ortiz. And Boston indeed was patient with their aging slugger. In 2010, Ortiz’s average rose to .270. He hit 32 home runs and made the All-Star team. This began a string of four consecutive All-Star games for Ortiz. In 2013, batting in his traditional third spot in the lineup, at the age of thirty-seven, Ortiz batted .688 as Boston defeated St. Louis, 4 games to 2, in the World Series. Ortiz was voted World Series MVP.

As soon as I finished reading Nate Silver’s approach to predicting the trajectory of ballplayers, I immediately began thinking about whether I might have a doppelganger, too.

Doppelganger searches are promising in many fields, not just athletics. Could I find the person who shares the most interests with me? Maybe if I found the person most similar to me, we could hang out. Maybe he would know some restaurants we would like. Maybe he could introduce me to things I had no idea I might have an affinity for.

A doppelganger search zooms in on individuals and even on the traits of individuals. And, as with all zooming in, it gets sharper the more data you have. Suppose I searched for my doppelganger in a dataset of ten or so people. I might find someone who shared my interest in books. Suppose I searched for my doppelganger in a dataset of a thousand or so people. I might find someone who had a thing for popular physics books. But suppose I searched for my doppelganger in a dataset of hundreds of millions of people. Then I might be able to find someone who was really, truly similar to me. One day, I went doppelganger hunting on social media. Using the entire corpus of Twitter profiles, I looked for the people on the planet who have the most common interests with me.

You can certainly tell a lot about my interests from whom I follow on my Twitter account. Overall, I follow some 250 people, showing my passions for sports, politics, comedy, science, and morose Jewish folksingers.

So is there anybody out there in the universe who follows all 250 of these accounts, my Twitter twin? Of course not. Doppelgangers aren’t identical to us, only similar. Nor is there anybody who follows 200 of the accounts I follow. Or even 150.

However, I did eventually find an account that followed an amazing 100 of the accounts I follow: Country Music Radio Today. Huh? It turns out, Country Music Radio Today was a bot (it no longer exists) that followed 750,000 Twitter profiles in the hope that they would follow back.

I have an ex-girlfriend who I suspect would get a kick out of this result. She once told me I was more like a robot than a human being.

All joking aside, my initial finding that my doppelganger was a bot that followed 750,000 random accounts does make an important point about doppelganger searches. For a doppelganger search to be truly accurate, you don’t want to find someone who merely likes the same things you like. You also want to find someone who dislikes the things you dislike.

My interests are apparent not just from the accounts I follow but from those I choose not to follow. I am interested in sports, politics, comedy, and science but not food, fashion, or theater. I follow shows that I like. Bernie Sanders but not Elizabeth Warren, Sarah Silverman but not Amy Schumer, the New Yorker but not the Atlantic, my friends Noah Popp, Emily Sands, and Josh Gottlieb but not my friend Sam Asher. (Sorry, Sam. But your Twitter feed is a snooze.)

Of all 200 million people on Twitter, who has the most similar profile to me? It turns out my doppelganger is Vox writer Dylan Matthews. This was kind of a letdown, for the purposes of improving my media consumption, as I already follow Matthews on Twitter and Facebook and compulsively read his Vox posts. So learning he was my doppelganger hasn’t really changed my life. But it’s still pretty cool to know the person most similar to you in the world, especially if it’s someone you admire. And when I finish this book and stop being a hermit, maybe Matthews and I can hang out and discuss the writings of James Surowiecki.

About the Author:

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is a New York Times op-ed contributor, a visiting lecturer at The Wharton School, and a former Google data scientist. He received a BA in philosophy from Stanford, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and a PhD in economics from Harvard. His research—which uses new, big data sources to uncover hidden behaviors and attitudes—has appeared in the Journal of Public Economics and other prestigious publications. He lives in New York City.

This article is excerpted from the book “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are.” Copyright ©2017 by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. Reprinted by permission of Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

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