#accurate perspective is NOT real and it CANNOT hurt u

[codgod-moved]

gay and happy :]

[turnallthemirrors]

"SOUR is only about breakups" aside from being a lazy misogynistic criticism also misses the point. I've seen a lot of people say SOUR is a concept album centering on this breakup which is pretty accurate considering everything about how it has been branded. But I also think it makes the only two songs that aren't about the breakup, brutal and hope ur ok, all the more important.

First of all, they're the first and last songs on the albums, so they bookend the entire story. brutal serves as the thesis of the album, especially the perfect line "I'm so sick of seventeen, where's my fucking teenage dream." YES this is an album about a breakup, but it's more about being a teenager. That's why the album is called SOUR and she has this very teenagery vibe with the clothes and the stickers and the poses and the stylization of everything - it's not a breakup concept, it's a teenage girl who's a little bit sour concept album, which centers on a breakup, yes, but it is so so much more than that.

There's so much to brutal as well as an opening track. "Where's my fucking teenage dream" is clearly a reference to Katy Perry's Teenage Dream aka the 2010 pop album that defined the next decade of pop music. I haven't really thought about Katy Perry since 2010, but ever since hearing SOUR I cannot help but think about what it means in relationship to this album. I invite Katycats or anyone else to expand on this and I will probably have more thoughts too, but I think the gist of Olivia's point is that this glamourous sexy candypop vibe that Teenage Dream embodies in our collective imagery isn't real, even for a Disney star. She is deliberately referencing the 2010s pop girl scene throughout the entire album, which she openly talks about in interviews as well. In doing so, she evokes the imagery of this era but recenters it through her perspective as a teenager in 2021. One way she does this is by embodying an authentic teenage voice which Katy Perry, in her mid-20s and singing that she feels like she's in a teenage dream, was not at the time that the album was released. Olivia doesn't talk about sex, she just got her driver's license and can't parallel park, and says "I'm so insecure I think that I'll die before I drink" implying that she hasn't enjoyed any underage drinking she may have partaken in. She is singing about a first heartbreak, and people criticize her for being immature or obsessive or repetitive and it's like... first of all you're being a misogynist... second of all that's literally the point and she says that throughout the album. She's obsessive and insecure and angry and sad and she says that - because god, it sure is brutal out here for a teenage girl.

I'm not going to break down the breakup songs by track, but I honestly don't think they're repetitive. They explore different emotions - angry/sour (good 4 u), heartbroken (driver's license) - and songs like enough 4 u and happier create a very specific story about a single relationship which was unhealthy and tragic but Olivia still wants him to be happy but not too happy, which are all different facets of the same relationship. When Taylor Swift did this on 1989 that was awesome that won album of the year. And Taylor got shit for it too. We can't keep saying young women, especially teenage girls, aren't good writers for writing about relationships. It's tired. It's misogynistic. And it's just not true. Also the fact that I have seen Swifties use this argument against Olivia? Whew....

And our final track, hope ur ok. Aka the song that made me cry this morning aka seven by Taylor Swift's dear sister. Also not a breakup song, it's about people she used to know who had bad relationships with their parents and how she hasn't seen them in a while but she hopes that they're okay. The nostalgic song reflects on more ways that people can hurt other people in the name of love, and concludes the album with a wish of happiness for people she has loved.

At the end of the day, SOUR isn't just about a breakup. It's about being a teenage girl who has been through some shit and is working through it. And maybe the relationship is the focus for a lot of it, but think about it. When you were in high school, you had a lot going on because, again, it IS brutal out here. But certain relationships held up your focus - many of us cannot help but replay our high school friendships or romances or crushes when we listen to SOUR, because the album is about how it feels to be a, to quote brutal, "messy" teenager. It concludes with a memory of her old friends and wishing them well. Most of SOUR is about one relationship, but as a whole, it explores the facets of emotionally charged early relationships under the pressure of a changing world through the perspective of a teenage girl. She is dramatic, she is immature, she does reference other artists - that's the point! It's a brilliant debut album and I for one cannot wait to see where Olivia Rodrigo goes from here.

[lesbianrobin]

If you had to rank all the 14 ST characters in the main group from most to least fav what would your ranking look like? (And by main group i mean the characters including murray and erica, and excluding karen, basically everybody involved in the final battle in 3x08)

ok let me preface this by saying that i literally love all of these characters i don't hate any of them okay?? let's go... ascending order for the drama!!

14. murray. no explanation needed. no offense to brett gelman he's phenomenal and i honestly think murray is really funny, but he's more or less just a plot device with some comic relief slapped on top.

now things get spicy <3

13. erica. love her to death! but she's fairly one-dimensional, once again primarily a comic relief character. maybe in s4 she'll get some more depth like the older kids have, but for now she's sort of a default next-to-last :/

12. will... no tea no shade but the kid's barely in the show! i absolutely want good things for him but like. i barely even know him. yknow? he’s only above erica bc he’s gay and she’s a capitalist. also that scene in s1 right before he gets snatched by the demogorgon when he just runs straight to the shed and grabs a goddamn shotgun and loads it fully ready to defend himself... that shit slapped good for him!!

11. this Will be controversial among some and i Know this character is many people's favorite... if you follow me already this is probably not going to surprise you but. nancy. i just think her character is kind of inconsistent, so i have a hard time really clicking with her :/ sometimes i love her and i think she's so cool and funny and hot (that hospital scene in s3... my GOD what a badass!) and other times i would like to fistfight her.

also let me get this out of the way right now: i'm aware that jonathan's character is ALSO super inconsistent!! i know okay??? i know!!!! please nobody judge me for how high rat boy gets on this ranking okay i'm literally making this up as i go along so idk if he's next or if he's like in the top five but i have a disease called Unreasonably Invested In Wildly Speculative Meta-Analysis Of Stranger Things which makes it impossible for me to be normal about jonathan and this is my ranking so i pick the bad taste!!!

10. joyce! i love her bro she's MOM and she tries so fucking hard all the goddamn time and she's so STRONG and kind and adorable... joyce is honestly a very unique and refreshing character ESPECIALLY if you’re considering stranger things within the horror genre which is often defined by these very specific archetypes of mothers and motherhood that i can get into if anyone is interested but like basically. love her <3

9. dustin <3 what an icon... i love him i love how he straight up killed a man and hardly flinched because it was to protect his friends and i love how he and his little girlfriend have a song they sing together and i love how he either has an insanely warped perspective on things due to low self-esteem or he just sometimes flatout lies to gain sympathy either way he’s a BABY and he’s so FUNNY and KIND and even when he’s scared he keeps going... ugh god and i love how even when he doubts his friends’ devotion to him he NEVER ever questions his devotion to them and he never ever considers leaving them behind or not stepping up to help them... he’s so brave!

8. mike is such a fucking BITCH but even more than that he is an ANGEL... literally his range who is doing it like him??? nobody!!!! graffiti’d the bathroom stall at school... hates cops.... what a legend. also i like how fucking goofy and dumb his hair looks in s3. also he’s very soft with his friends and it makes me cry. ALSO he literally stepped off a fucking CLIFF he was ready to DIE FOR DUSTIN and i know all the kids have risked their lives for each other but this wasn’t even a monster yknow this was just... bullies.... threatening his friend..... and mike couldn’t fucking let it happen bro he was ready to just step off the edge to keep dustin safe and it’s SO MUCH... and god the kindness he showed el when they first met!!! he’s a total angel and a total shithead and it’s amazing.

7. lucas my tiny baby hero.... he’s so strong and cool and capable yet at the same time he’s such a COMPLETE dork!!! he very seriously believes his slingshot wrist rocket is a lethal weapon and then he ACTUALLY USES IT AS A LETHAL WEAPON TO SAVE HIMSELF AND HIS FRIENDS!!! he hacks off a giant monster’s freaky tentacle arm thing with an axe to save his friend AND he keeps a bunch of action figures and random dice on his bedside table bro he just thinks they’re neat!!! like... i genuinely love him so much god he cares so much about his friends and he’s so brave and smart and loving... i know he is not tiny anymore but he is my tiny baby hero okay...

6. hopper! big man care for little girl... protect and love kids... dance to dad music... be goofy and hot... have trauma.... admit his faults and attempt to grow from them.... what's not to love?

5. jonathan... look i can’t explain it except that he loves his goddamn baby brother so much and i’m a sucker with extensive headcanons alright!

4. el!!! feral little darling girl!!! i literally cannot articulate the love that floods my heart whenever i see her face or think about her for too long she’s just... so strong but more than that she’s so incredibly KIND!! when she has every reason to be selfish and cruel and yeah at times she does let herself get a little mean but on the whole she’s always so goddamn kind and loving and selfless no matter how afraid she is or how she’s hurting... and i hope that with her powers gone in s4 she’ll maybe learn how to see herself as more than a tool to protect those she loves yknow but that’s off topic skdncmn i just think that el is such an incredible character with such depth!! she can be so grave and mature yet she’s still such an innocent child at the same time, and i think that both the writing and mbb’s acting are handled such that both of these things WORK and feel real and they make el (and her trauma) so believable. i just love her to death.

3. robin, light of my lesbian little life!! unfortunately she's wayyy too much like me to snag the top spot lmao. maybe once we get another season with her she’ll trample the competition but for now my baby is in a solid third place <3 i’ve never seen a lesbian on screen who i felt so accurately represented me and my experiences!! she feels so real and in just one season she’s become one of my favorites on the whole show, and i cannot fucking wait to see what else we learn about her and what development we see from her in s4. 

2. as u may have guessed... max!! i know i said this was my subjective opinion but here i’ll just say it: max is objectively one of the best characters on the show. she’s so strong and funny and quick on her feet while harboring some real pain and insecurity at the same time, and both of these aspects of her character are married perfectly, logically connecting to one another and joining with sadie’s incredible acting to create an amazing character who feels just... so real!! i absolutely adore her and i CONSTANTLY tear up just from thinking about her skdncmn...

1. what if my number one wasn't steve. like can y'all imagine???? if i just said like will or some shit???? genuinely i did consider giving max or robin top billing here but i just Can't i've dedicated too goddamn much of my life to steve harrington to deny that he's my one and only. is there anything to say that hasn't already been said? look at the bitch. just look at him. 

what other answer could there be?

[muwur]

could i request an -oikawa-kuroo-suga- headcanons for a partner with autism/adhd? (autism and adhd in girls can be like, real hard to write if you dont have it or know someone who does so its 100% okay to say no wididnejfufhejrr) especially with like, being embarrassed about stimming in front of them or dealing with rejection sensitive dysphoria as a symptom 😗👉👈 thank yooooooooooou i owe u my liyef

haikyuu + s/o with autism/adhd headcanons

✧ hc’s ✧ for oikawa, kuroo, suga & tendou

❧ gn reader

✎ 1.3k words

a/n: i got u b! this is wut im here for, to help u feel a lil represented 😌 also ik u a special fren of mine so hehe here u go (happy birthday soon btw c; ily i hope you enjoy pls feel free to lmk if there’s smth youd like me to change ♡)! aLsO pLEASePLEAseplEASe anyone let me know if there is something I wrote in this that doesn’t sit well with you. as someone who does not have autism/adhd or has had much experience around people who do, i cannot portray it accurately. i do not intend to misrepresent anyone’s experiences. i love and care for you all; the last thing i want to do is hurt or offend anyone. thankfully anon + the internet were great sources for me to try to understand things better. tho that is not to say i can fully comprehend these conditions (cuz i never can unless i experience it myself)

n e ways, u r all loveli n i hope ur having an amazing day <3

just wanna preface that these bois would love anyone for who they are, and would do their best to support you in whatever ways possible <3

oikawa

✧ oikawa had been replying consistently to your messages before suddenly disappearing with no explanation,,,

✧ at first it seemed like nothing, but after several hours and follow up texts from yourself, you couldn’t help but think that maybe he just didn’t want to reply to you

✧ maybe he didn’t even like you anymore

✧ fear that every moment you shared together meant nothing settled in the pit of your stomach

✧ a while later you received a phone call from a very apologetic oikawa, who was explaining that he dropped his phone in the bowl of ramen he was eating and had to go to the store and wait for hours before finally getting a new one and--

✧ “a-are you crying? hey, what’s wrong? i’m sorry i was gone for so long. i’m here now.”

✧ will definitely come over immediately to give you reassuring cuddles

✧ “you mean the world to me. i never want to hurt you, and i never want to leave you, either.”

✧ makes sure to communicate very clearly with you to reassure you what he really means

✧ always reminding you how much he cares about you to reinforce in your head that he’s always going to be there for you

✧ does self-care days with you to destress because life is tough (*cue selfies with face masks and laying in bed for hours with each other’s comforting presence*)

✧ very quick to defend and protect you from people who hurt you. will ask, “excuse me, can i help you?” with a piercing glare that’ll get anyone to back down

✧ gives you constant reassurance about your stimming

✧ helps you interpret social cues and situations, gives you tips on how to handle your interactions with others and in under circumstances (as well as how to remain calm in your own mind)

✧ practices positive self-talk with you because he wants to help you see how great you are

✧ anyone who doesn’t see it is at a loss and is irrelevant, they don’t exist in oikawa’s book 💅

kuroo

✧ always educating himself so he knows how to be helpful

✧ unintentionally embarrassed you once by asking what you were doing when he caught you stimming once (which was when he found out about it)

✧ he was genuinely curious and meant no harm, and he apologized for bringing it up how he did

✧ however, he was glad he asked you so that he could be informed and reassure you that stimming is okay. he understands the importance of it and he’d prefer you have something to help you self-soothe. no judgment here, this is a safe space

✧ takes mental notes on all your favorite stims (verbal, visual, tactile, oral, proprioception, etc)

✧ even discovers new stims for you to try and buys you things to help with them (“here, this is a fidget spinner, y/n” or “you know they make CHEWABLE JEWLERY? they call it CHEWELRY. that’s genius. *typing on phone* what colors do you like, babe?” )

✧ encourages you to talk about your feelings and find additional coping strategies (“let’s try this neat breathing technique i learned about today!”)

✧ saves you from overwhelming situations (ie. pulling you out of a crowd, shutting down really noisy things, giving you space to clear your head and breathe)

✧ ruffles your hair as a sign of affection and calls you cute nicknames

✧ helps you study, make plans, and stay organized. tries to keep things interesting and interactive so you don’t lose interest/find it boring

✧ when you’re having an especially hard time focusing, he’ll pull you aside for a relaxing break like talking a small walk, watching an episode of y’alls favorite show, sharing a snack, playing a game, looking at memes or tik tok, chatting, etc

✧ makes sure to validate your feelings first and acknowledge your concerns before giving you his thoughts

✧ helps you view situations from a different perspective so you don’t assume rejection from others. when there is some form of rejection, he’s there to help you cope with the emotions 

✧ gives you a lot of hugs when you’re feeling dejected and lonely, reminding you he’ll never leave your side 

sugawara

✧ he’s quite perceptive, so when he noticed your unease, he asked you about it

✧ embarrassed but not wanting to lie, especially to suga, you admitted to being afraid of stimming around him and that you had been trying to hold back from it (even if it was hard)

✧ his eyes immediately soften as he tells you that there’s no reason to be embarrassed about it

✧ he just wants you to be yourself and feel comfortable

✧ learns about all of your stims. totally supports and normalizes them (however, if they’re ever self-injurous, he’ll do research and consult expert help to redirect the behavior)

✧ will absolutely take good care of you, he’s not sugamama for no reason

✧ a great listener! always hearing you out when you talk about your passions and interests

✧ wants you to express yourself however you can because he understands communication may not always be easy (reminder that communication and expression aren’t always verbal!)

✧ praises you and hypes you up all the time, going on about how there’s so much about you he loves

✧ has the most soothing voice ever. will whisper you sweet, reassuring words to calm and ease your mind

✧ will even just hum for you. lit rally anything. the suga juke box varies from lullabies to funky fresh songs

✧ very patient and will support you when you feel upset, frustrated, and/or have outbursts

✧ encourages you to talk about your feelings, but never pressures you. shares his own thoughts and feelings to help you open up, asks you thoughtful questions

✧ may be ultimate soft boi but gives anyone the look™ if they even just stare, and goes feral if someone’s ever rude to you in any way, calls them tf out and is #satisfied when he gets them to apologize

✧ also helps you study and be organized! good at creating schedules and encouraging you to stick with them

✧ constantly making sure you eat sufficient meals 😋 and get enough rest 😴 will nag you until you do

tendou

✧ MORE THAN HAPPY TO PROVIDE ALL THE STIMULATION YOU NEED, says it’s an opportunity to give each other mutual attention and bond

✧ but will also provide you an outlet for just relaxing and unwinding

✧ will talk to you for hours and hours about your favorite shows/movies/books

✧ BINGES THEM WITH YOU

✧ always treating you to your favorite snacks/flavors and discovering new things for you to try that will match your taste/texture preferences (only the best for u 😌)

✧ curious about how stims make you feel and asks you to describe those sensations to him  

✧ thinks it’s super cool when you can finish his sentences for him,,, cuz it’s like y’all on the same wavelength (you gellll)

✧ if anyone made you feel bad,,, o boy

✧ tendou would intimidate them to the point he would probably appear in their nightmares ffegjegk this is why you don’t fuck with this man or those who cares about 

✧ king of spontaneity and asks if you’re down to do the most random things

✧ “let’s buy a trampoline”

✧ *2 am* “you down for some fries and dip? and by dip i mean m i l k s h a k e s”

✧ of course he’ll never suggest things he knows you would be uncomfortable with. never puts you in a stressful situation and always makes sure you’re enjoying yourself

✧ invites you everywhere and makes sure you feel included. always by your side!

✧ squeezes your hand whenever he can tell you’re feeling anxious

✧ if you feel anxious about trying new things, he’s there to encourage you! recounts all the positive aspects 

✧ but if you’re really excited to try something, you bet he’ll match your excitement

✧ a very good listener. empathizes a lot with being misunderstood or seen as “different,” and is therefore a major source of comfort

✧ constantly showing you how to be yourself and that you shouldn’t feel ashamed about it, cuz that’s who he fell in love with

[wetalkinboutbooks]

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

Summary: Magic has a price—if you’re willing to pay.

Born into a family of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. But each year she fails to call forth her ancestral powers, while her ambitious mother watches with growing disapproval.

There’s only one thing Arrah hasn’t tried, a deadly last resort: trading years of her own life for scraps of magic. Until the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, and Arrah is desperate to find the culprit.

She uncovers something worse. The long-imprisoned Demon King is stirring. And if he rises, his hunger for souls will bring the world to its knees… unless Arrah pays the price for the magic to stop him. (Taken from Goodreads)

Our Ratings:  

 → Geena:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 → Kae: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️

Overall: Kingdom of Souls is full of worldbuilding and characters that draw you in, thought sometimes their actions want to make you rip you hair out. BUT! We really loved this book and are excited to see where this trilogy takes us! Oh also, we should mention there are a few trigger warnings that Rena Barron has listed on the goodreads. 

Spoiler-full review below!

The Good:

→ The Worldbuilding

Geena: So, one of the best things about reading this book was the amazing worldbuilding, which she based off of West African mythology. The kingdoms are complex, and the separation of the different people and their faiths was super easy to follow too. I’ve read so many books where they have some wildass worldbuilding that leaves you scratching your head but this author did a good job at making it easy to understand. Also, Rena Barron did such a good job at describing the magic system? When she introduced the witch doctors in the first few chapters I could just visualize how they were and it was like watching a movie in my head. Like I’m still thinking about that one witchdoctor and her tribe that came down on clouds….. Poetic cinema… 

Kae: OK, so! I really enjoyed reading the differences between the tribes and how they are distinguished from each other. Some people had their bodies covered in tattoos others were known for their tall and lean figure, light eyes, etc. it was very wonderfully written and I always knew who Rena was talking about when she was mentioning the characters or introducing new ones.  Sometimes others don’t do a very good job of separating characters by looks and they expect the reader to remember everything based off of personality, which is quite annoying. Rena did a wonderful job of giving all of the characters their own individuality so we wouldn’t have to struggle and figure out who was who even if they weren’t mentioned by name. The way she wrote the big city (which I cannot remember the name), was very well done and you could easily see the differences between the city and the tribal lands.  I also love the way she incorporated the religious ties to magic in this world and the origin story of how they got their magic. There was a war between the gods, and the God of gods gifted humans with his magic. There are even mentions of fallen angels technically. It was just really interesting altogether. 

Geena: Yesss, the origin story was also one of the coolest components of the book. Also, Rena Barron does this cool thing of interspersing chapters throughout the book that are from the perspectives of different gods and their opinions on whatever is going on in the book. I really enjoyed that even though the first time I read it I was lowkey confused.

→ Arrah

Kae: Arrah!! My sweet summer, very cursed child. Arrah is the daughter of two of the most powerful witch doctors in this world. Her mother, Arti,  comes from a tribe where she was known for being the next in line to be the chief and a high witch doctor. Her father, Oshhe; who is the son of the high priestess/witch doctor and his tribe, making him one of the highest as well. This lineage from which Arrah comes from, left many to have very high expectations for her and her magical abilities. Unfortunately for Arrah, no matter  how many magical rituals she went through, was not blessed with magic. She often beats herself up about it because she feels she has let her family down, and truthfully the only person she let down was her mother. Her mother is The high priestess, and I mean THE HIGH PRIESTESS The entire kingdom. So she often waves her daughter off and is not home most of the time anyway because she is fulfilling her duties at the temple. So our main character is very close with her father who is honestly everyone’s dream dad.  oshhe is the epitome of a perfect father. 

Geena: Reading about her relationship with her dad, I was like “it’s just not realistic.”

Kae: LMAO BUT HONESTLY THO!! So when the children start to go missing in the city people begin to worry. Arrah’s Self-proclaimed a little brother ends up going missing as well. This leads her to sell small pieces of her life in order to use magic for a short period of time and figure out who is stealing the children.

Geena: LMAO Kae’s “sweet summer, cursed child” is so accurate. All she wants to do is become a powerful witchdoctor so her mom will love her :(  Despite everyone around her saying that her magic (or lack of) doesn’t define her, Arrah lives in a constant state of anxiety where magic is on her mind. She isn’t the most perfect protagonist and I liked that about her, she made dumb decisions and recognized they were stupid… but did them anyways 💀 A big fucken mood… But then again a lot of what she does throughout the book is driven by her need to help others, like finding her self-proclaimed younger brother or selling more of her lifespan to find a way to free her father from her mother’s spell. Her personal relationships are a wreck too like this girl had a crush on Rudjek, the future royal vizier, it was very much a two way crush but the whole time Arrah was like “Idk does he :////” like u absolute dumbo… EVERY SIGN POINTED TO “YES”  AND SHE WAS STILL LIKE “I’m imagining things.”

→ Arrah’s Squad

Geena: Barron also wrote Arrah an amazing group of friends. Primarily, Sukar and Essnai, both her friends from the city who would travel to the tribal lands to visit their own tribes for the yearly magic ritual. Sukar was very much a himbo (like almost every guy in this book lmao) and Essnai was a wlw QUEEN who was the oNLY ONE WITH A STEADY RELATIONSHIP THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK. Barron really said lesbian rights by giving Essnai the most wholesome relationship. Sukar and Essnai didn't turn their backs on Arrah even after her family was banished from the kingdom for crimes that Arrah had nothing to do with, and even accompanied her when it was revealed that Arrah would have to die to set the world to its original state. Also…. Omg when Sukar, Essnai, and Rudjek found out that she gave some of her lifespan for magic they were literally that meme:

Arrah: So I did a thing

Them: What?

Arrah: Sold my life for 3 hours of magic

Them: 

Kae: LMAOOOOOOO BINCH 

Geena: I JUST LOVED HOW THEY WERE LIKE “U DUMB BITHC!!!!! I GUESS NOW WE ALL GOTTA HELP U DEAL WITH THIS” I loved their friendship so much :’) 

Kae: IT WAS REALISTIC AF. I’d also like to mention how everyone and her friend group was basically like “Did you and Rudjek finally kiss yet? No? Typical.” And they would tease Arrah and Rudjek CONSTANTLY. Arrah’s friends had her back through literally everything and were ready to die by her and Rudjek’s side. They were some real ride or die friends when it came down to it. THEY WERE WITH THE SHITS. 

Arrah and Rudjek: *standing near each other* 

The homies:

→ Arrah’s Dad

Kae: OK so we have Arrah’s father, Oshhe, who is honestly the kindest man that I have ever encountered. He is such a wonderful father to Arrah and does everything in his power to let her know that she is loved and that she does not need to possess magic in order to be loved. He is constantly showering her with the reassurance that she needs to have two accept who she is. Arrah is in love with the stories he tells her. He also allows her to hang out with Rudjek when they both know that Arti, Arrah’s mother, would forbid it. (Rudjeks father did some foul shit to Arti when they were young and she isn’t over it… which is understandable, considering he had her tortured.) sadly, Arti curses oshhe and he is under her spell. He tried to fight it, but his magic just isn’t as strong as hers. He is complicit in whatever Arti says while he is under her curse, but he is often sweating or staring off into the distance, because he is still trying to break free. He’s basically under my control, knows he’s under my control, but is stuck behind magical, mental bars watching everything go down well he can do nothing to stop it. It’s really fucked up.

Geena: Kae summed up Oshhe really well. We learn about how he met and married someone as unloving as Arti and it’s so sad. He’d always been in love with Arti from their time at the tribes, and he still loved her when she came to the kingdom and fell in love with the King. And he was the one there after Arti was freed from her torture, even though he knew that Arti would never love him back and that she wasn’t the same woman he’d fallen for. Also, when he tells Arrah something along the lines of that when she was born he knew she’d be the love of his life bc he loved his daughter so much it’s unREAL. He went to a dangerous forest and killed a mystical animal for her. And he would have killed the gods themselves if it had come to that. And like Kae mentioned he was under Arti’s mind control but was aware of the torture she was putting Arrah through, and when he finally gains back control at the VERY END… AND DIES RIGHT AFTER?????? BRO????? I WAS LIKE THE FUCK!!! HE DID NOT DESERVE THIS!!!!!

Kae: I WAS SILENTLY SCREAMING AT MY DESK 

Geena: GIRL RIGHT… IDK BUT HER DAD JUST WARMED MY HEART. HE DIDN’T DESERVE HIS DEATH… 

Kae: THAT SHIT HURTED. 

The Bad:

→ Arrah NOT CATCHING A BREAK  

Kae: So, I’m going to backtrack just a little bit. But when Arrah sells some of her so for magic, she does like this magic phantom walk and finds out that her mother is the child snatcher. Her mother discovers that Arrah knows this and curses her so she can never speak with ill intent against her mother. So whenever Arrah tries to get help or tell someone what’s going on she literally cannot talk. It’s pure agony for her. So her mother curses Oshhe, gets pregnant by a demon via possession of him, and is exiled from the country. So they take a boat and travel to this small town that is known for its unresting spirit activity. Time also doesn’t exist in this town so it’s very hard for her to keep track of minutes, days, months, etc. they get to like this hidden Temple where Arti gives birth to Efiya, the demon baby. Efiya grows rapidly. She is born, then she’s like 5 the next day, then she’s 10. Then she’s Arrah’s age, 16. Efiya is a SUPER powerful girl who has the power of actual Gods, and she is completely unstoppable. Arrah escapes, returns home to her friends, and they’re on a mission to try to stop Efiya. Rudjek dies, comes back, she and he ditch the homies because they don’t want the homies to get hurt. WELL!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotdamn EFIYA shape shifts to look like her sister, waits until Arrah leaves for a moment to collect herself after it gets a little HOT with Rudjek, and goes to take some herbs. OUR GIRL SAID I'M NOT GETTING PREGNANT. comes back and boom. She sees him having sex with her sister. She’s shooketh. And PISSED. And hurt. Then the homies find them, blah blah blah. And long story short, they find the temple of the Gods, she fights and Efiya and they  basically kill each other. BUT Arrah comes back and learns her and Rudjek can’t be together. BUT THEY KISS ANYWAY. THEY WERE LIKE FUCK IT. I'M HERE FOR A GOOD TIME NOT A LONG TIME. Oh, yeah… and Efiya killed her parents. That happened. And her grandmother. And all the elder witch doctors because she wanted to steal  their magic. 

Geena: Poor girl was just knocked around like a ping-pong ball. One tragedy to another 🤕 First, she can’t do magic for SHIT and her mom doesn’t love her because of that. Second, the guy she likes is her mom’s nemesis’ son. Third, every single person she cares about is taken from her one way or the other, from her adoptive lil bro to her dad. Like I thought the book couldn’t get any worse when she saw her dad be possessed, but then Rudjek dies? And when he comes back to life he ends up sleeping with her evil sister thinking it was Arrah. Right, we gotta mention… in an attempt to free the demon king Arrah’s mom has a half-demon half-god baby, aka Arrah’s sister 

Kae: SHE FUCKS A DEMON!!!!!

Geena: A DEMON IN HER HUSBAND’S BODY TOO… AND ARRAH WATCHES THIS HAPPEN IM SCREAM .. AT LEAST I THINK SHE DOES BC I HAD TO RE-READ THAT CHAPTER LIKE 2 TIMES

Kae: GIRL THAT SHIT WAS SO WILD WHAT THE  F U C K 

Geena: AND YEA…. TO TOP IT ALL OFF TURNS OUT ARRAH IS  THE REINCARNATION OF THE DEMON KING’S SOULMATE…. SO THERE’S THAT, NOT TO MENTION SHE AND RUDJEK ARE ILL-FATED BC TOUCHING EACH OTHER SAPS ARRAH’S MAGIC (which she acquires permanently after some wild rituals her grandma does before dying at Efiya’s hands). THE LIST OF EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG WITH ARRAH’S LIFE IS SO FUCKING LONG OH MY GOD I FORGOT HOW SHIT SHE HAD IT

The Ugly:  

→ Arti and Efiya

Geena:  The ugliest villains can be found in this book. We have Rudjek’s dad that had Arti tortured, which broke her mind and twisted her into an unloving and terrible person. Hearing Arti’s story pulled at your heartstrings, but did it justify her killing 12 underprivileged children to resurrect a demon with whom she’d have a baby with JUST so she could resurrect the demon king. In my opinion… no. Not even just that, but treating your own child like shit and basically ignoring she exists until the very end of the book where suddenly she feels regret for neglecting Arrah for 16 years. Overall, on a scale of 0-10 Arti is a -5 when it comes to the mom scale.  Also, Arti is a powerful witchdoctor, and she cant feign ignorance because I’m pretty sure she would’ve seen the future at one point and seen everything that goes down. The only good thing she did do was kill the man that tortured her and countless other women. I feel like I’m too harsh on her given what she’s gone through, but she essentially puts Arrah through the wringer by cursing her and forcing her to watch her dad lose his own body. I’M LIKE I DONT WANT PPL TO BE LIKE ‘UR JUS BEIN A BITCH, ARTI SUFFERED TOO’ LIKE yes she did suffer, but rather than taking action against those that put her through hell she chose to ruin the lives of innocents ju kno. 

Kae: YES!! Arti was on some bullshit and I get she got fucked up and the love of her life was against her. But like… don’t take that out on your daughter because you can’t use her to get back at your enemies. I think that’s exactly why she treated Arrah the way she did. Arti married Oshhe for his power in hopes to have a powerful child. When that didn’t happen, she was pissed and started planning for that damn demon baby. Her actions are all based on revenge and power and in the end, they kill everyone. Including Arrah, though she doesn’t stay dead for long. She literally is like “Nah, I got shit to do.” And the gods are like “Mmm ... we can’t let our sister be reincarnated into you again… soooo, no?” And Arrah is like “Too bad bitches!” And zooms back into her own body. 

And then there’s Efiya. Efiya is described as beautiful and looks much like their mother. She starts off as a sweet little girl who just likes being around her big sister. But once she learns human things, like playing and being a child, she gets interested in that, and begins to abuse her powers. 

Geena: I was kinda disappointed on how the Efiya storyline went because like Kae mentioned, she had started off as a sweet girl who loved Arrah. And I had thought Arrah would run away with Efiya and train her against Arti but bOY WAS I WRONG. Efiya is powerful and she knows it, she kills countless gods and absorbs their power, and when she kills Arrah’s grandma she tries to take her power too but for some reason it doesn’t take. Instead, Arrah ends up taking her grandma’s magic (along with every other powerful witch doctor). This annoyed the fuck out of Efiya, bc she’s supposed to more powerful than Arrah, prettier than Arrah, and just generally better at everything. So, Efiya is like ‘I can’t take your powers or see your future so I’ll fuck your man instead” …… very much 0-100. Near the end of the novel I still couldn’t tell, did Efiya really love Arti and Arrah? Because on the one hand it seemed like she hated the prospect of killing them, but on the other hand Efiya didn’t care about skewering Arti. She was a complex villain for sure, kinda in the same way Arti was. 

Kae:  OH. AND THE DEMON KING GAVE ARRAH SOME OF HER PAST LIFE MEMORIES BACK. So like, now a piece of Arrah feels torn because she loves everyone in her current life. But she was married to the Demon King in a past life and he is determined to have her love him again. And I feel like a very small piece of Arrah does. The Demon King wants her back so they can resurrect demons, kill the remaining Gods, and take over the world like they originally planned. SO. THERE’S  THAT. A big whammy for ya there. But yeah. Shits crazy. 

Geena:  KJDNFDS RIGHT THE WHOLE ‘MARRIED TO THE DEMON KING IN A PAST LIFE’ SCHTICK…. THE POTENTIAL FOR ANGST???? GOD I CAN’T WAIT. This is a love triangle I CAN get behind because it’s gonna be MESSY 

Kae: He also mentioned possibly trying to kill Rudjek. 

Geena: Oh yea oh man.... Wait... there is a meme for this 

Arrah seeing the Demon King and Rudjek throwing hands:

Conclusion

Kae: SO! In conclusion, we loved this book. The story was WILD from  Start to finish. Rena is such an amazing storyteller and her descriptions that were vivid without being overdone. You know how some others like to go on for 10 pages about the smell of the wind and the bark of a tree. But Ren does it right! My favourite part of the book has to be Arrah and Rudjek . being so awkward around each other and dodging the fact that they’re both in love with each other. It was really cute because neither of them wanted to ruin their friendship and I think that was very realistic. The friendships are also beautifully written as well. And the way Rena differentiates the cultures of the tribes from one another is amazing and I felt like I was there. 

Geena:  I agree to everything Kae said above, Barron does an amazing job in (like what we mentioned before) worldbuilding shit. AND YEA my favourite part was like when Sukar purposely hangs around Arrah to make Rudjek jealous JUST BECAUSE IT WAS SO FUNNY TO ME. But honest to god I’m so excited to see how it’ll go from here because it’s supposed to be a trilogy right, so there is SO MUCH that can happen and there are SO MANY paths this can take. 

[icharchivist]

Lavi anon: whoa thanks so much for the epic long reply. I love everything about it! Some stuff definitely caused me to think new things (so much I won't remember everything). 1st thing, The way I've always interpreted Roads Nightmare was that she accessed Lavi's dreams and let Lavi become his worst enemy letting all his fears fight back. Road meanwhile played a passive role by hiding in Allen. Afterall she didn't control bookmanJr. That was Lavi warring against his own mind. BookmanJr stuck-

2 around even after Lavi had stabbed Road. BookmanJr in my opinion was the one controlling the dream (thanks to Road, in return she controlled the body) trying to punish the part of him going astray. But BookmanJr (like you said) accepted Lavi and him were the same person when BJr heard Allen’s calls and tried to sacrifice himself to save his friend. But that’s my interpretation of Lavi’s worst fears and how even BJr couldn’t distort how Lavi sees Allen (you know it never occured to me how -

3 messed up it must have been for Lavi to stab dream Allen. Road could have been bias, but you’re right in that she could have seen how unchanged Allen was compared to the other’s and assumed Lavi would have treated dream Allen differently). 

(cutting it one mins again) first thank you for the nice word

Second, actually you’re right. I gave Road maybe a little too much credit on how much she manipulated the situation but considering the final manologue of how “Lavi” convinces “Bookman JR” you’re completely right: it was indeed more his internal self talking. 

I do think Road nudged a few things around. But it does lessen how much of her impact it was. And it says a lot about Lavi that this is how his fears manifests itself. How for everyone else in teh order it’s how much they’d judge him for him thinking of them like that, and all and so forth, but for Allen, what breaks him, is just how much of his emotional attachement to Allen was something his “duty self” had to reject and the fear of that one loss broke Lavi. 

But therefore if it’s really just Lavi’s fears coming out, Road probably only went into Allen because after seeing Lavi’s fears he knew she would be safer there. Like… if Road had all controle over the dreams and how she nudged it, she wouldn’t have just have let her Bias for Allen put her in a vulnerable situation. If we go with your interpretation (which the more i think about it, the more i think it’s accurate) it means Road saw the way Lavi wouldn’t even get to hurt Allen in those fears.  And you have also a point: considering how the nightmare evolved, i think perhaps the fears showed themselves by layers. And considering in the first layers, the first nightmares, Allen didn’t appear, Road probably put one and one together knowing that Allen would dig deeper into Lavi’s fears and consciousness. And now i’m sad.

It also says a lot about how much Lavi’s duty is challenged by Allen that it became the One “Ink” worth taking out. Worth killing by his duty self. Like in those fears it also acknowledge how this affection for Allen is the biggest risk against his duty. Guuuh it’s making me even sadder but that makes sense considering how it’s his grief about Allen that got called out by Bookman. (I think it’s a question of bad timing, but Bookman beat Lavi up with how he doesn’t need a heart over Allen’s loss, when Lenalee is crying for him - when Lenalee almost dies, there is no real time to lecture Lavi over his duty. Sure Lavi was still thinking about it,the whole thing was started in his mind, but Bookman didn’t act on it again due to the others stuff that kept happening. So even if this affection extended to Lenalee it was Allen who was the catalyst and therefore “the risk” in his nightmare. Funny enough considering Lenalee’s involvement in his nightmare were that her helplessness and how Lavi wanted to help her could be his downfall (but it wasn’t)- that echo how he was seeing the Lenalee’s situation on the boat. while Allen’s situation is fully on loss and it breaks him. Man. That hurts once put into that perspective.

Oh man Lavi’s right. No matter how much darkness ensnares Allen he’s such a creature of the light. Even kids see it better then adults. Timothy adores Allen. That girl Allen rescued in the Alma Arc thought his star was lucky. Another girl mistook Allen for-4 angel. It gets deeper when you realize a part of Lavi stopped emotionally/mentally aging when he became bookman jr and is the one who identifies Allen as dazzling Light. Even Kanda is getting in on being mesmerized by Allen’s white light image going by his expression from the last chap (Kanda’s 9 so…). I feel like Lavi’s observation was both a foreshadowing and resigned fear of losing Allen. Allen’s probably the best thing he’s ever recorded but he knows the natural state of the universe-5 is darkness with light only coming from sources. Humanity’s biggest light right now for Lavi is Allen. But even stars go out and Lavi probably wonders how long will Allen’s light shine for others until Allen himself goes out. I agree. Lavi is defintely overprotective at times. He freaked over Lenalee several times and during the Ark ark Allen was his main concern. Always staying close and getting jumpy when Noah attacked him. I’ll stop for now but I do love how Allen affected Lavi. X)

Nonny i love u and yes this is perfect. 

And tbh you have a point with especially resonating with children (although low blow for Kanda. Completely true and deserved and needed low blow but still). but it’s true that when “Lavi” gets to hear Allen’s voice and reason for a last time with his Bookman self against Road, his Bookman self turns back to a child. I think it meant a lot of having to face the values that had him start to be a Bookman to begin with. it’s apparently a decision Lavi took when he was 6 after all, before humanity made him numb to the “elder self” level. I think getting back to his Child self was a way to face back what were his original intentions by becoming a Bookman, trying to reconnect with that after years of losing yourself to cynism. But indeed it does create also an ongoing thing with younger people being carried away by Allen’s light in general and feeling hope in it.

But yes agreed, Lavi’s mention was really both foreshadowing and resigned fear of losing Allen. I think Lavi knows at this point, from almost losing Allen that it is something that will happen.

tbh even if we know Allen was “lost to his darkness” with Nea coming out, for Lavi, litterally, Allen “died” trying to save Suman after all. 

OKAY SO WAIT so as i was answering that i rewent to from chapter 55 to Allen’s death to notice what I wanted to say so: 

Timcanpy leaves VERY LATe the Tyki VS Allen showdown, and we know he recorded everything, so this is how much he saw. But here’s what happened:

Tyki killed Suman, making him explode from the butterflies. Allen was seriously injuried from the fight, right, and had to process all of that. Tyki eventually realizing who it was, started to show off his power: said Tease was only a weapon and he showed Allen how he could kill him, by tearing his heart out (so the whole scene of Tyki getting through Allen, litterally, and threatening to take his warm heart out, was reccorded by Timcanpy). THEN, Tyki destroys Allen’s innocence, STILL IN FRONT OF TIMCANPY (so that was reccorded). He also checks his hitman card to make sure and confirms that Allen is on his “to kill” list. But most importantly:The reason Tim left was that, while Tyki destroyed Allen’s innocence first, then headed to Suman’s, specifically talking about how he was looking to destroy the Heart. Allen knew at that point that he was on Tyki’s hit list. At this point, his innocence had already been destroyed, he saw Tyki’s destructive powers, and was too weak to try to fight back anyway.And what does Allen do? He asks Timcanpy to take Suman’s innocence and bring it back to the boat. Allen’s last action was to protect the innocence one last time. That’s what was recorded.

And also something I’ve never noticed until i looked for it but you know who is the first character we focus back on when Tyki is “killing” Allen? When Timcanpy leaves? Who is the first character from the boat we see again?

this is what serves as a transition from Timcanpy leaving Allen’s side to warn people on the boat, right before Allen gets killed. It’s Lavi who starts this “transition”. 

also this is right before they find Tim and I might need to scream at this reaction. Before being sure he died, he clentches his teeth remembering him and his kindness toward Suman before trying to believe that they will find them. He actually went througha  bit of denial there  g o d. I completely forgot. (also not helping the “memory effect” looks like it is fading away, a bit like light)

the point I wanted to make when i checked those out tho is that: Allen died “for the light” in a way. He died trying to protect, to save, and he spent his last minutes protecting the Innocence. In a way I can see why Lavi fears the Light swallowing allen more than the darkness: because to him, he saw Allen’s kindness taking him away. That Light that everyone sees in Allen, it had taken him away. 

Allen is a star, a light that is shining through and you’re entierely right: even those lights are doomed to fade away. And Lavi is aware of that, if only because it happened once. But he cannot hold hope for Allen even if he cares for this life. But ye at this point Allen is probably the best thing Lavi saw in his life and it hurts to think about how he might lose it at any moment like he already did.

And you’re right he does get overprotective, especially toward Lenalee and Allen. It still kills me that during the whole ark’s arc, while he remains mostly quiet, he spends most of his time stuck to Allen. It’s like,, dude,,, com’on,, you’re so scared to lose him again and you don’t even realize. He even felt for Allen when the Jasdebi were being vicious with him.

Man Lavi you care so much u fool. 

Everything about Lavi breaks my heart.

Take care!

[artbyabiola]

Last month I decided to take my very first solo trip and went to Cuba!!

If you google Cuba, the images that show up are paradise on earth like, go ahead google it, a series of enhanced images of the colorful buildings, colorful people and colorful cars is all you will see.

I have been infatuated with Cuba for a long time, partly because of their strong Nigerian cultural ties but mostly because for some odd reason, I was convinced that Cuba was THE place I would fit in, no questions asked. ( I was asked if I was Cuban quite a few times which made me very happy!)

Boy was I in for a big surprise! Before I start breaking down the many ways in which reality is not what I expected, let me start by saying that I absolutely LOVED my experience. 10 days, 4 cities, a lot of walked miles under my belt and I would do it all over again, but this time with a more realistic perspective. So here I present to you

10 things no one ever tells us about Cuba

1. It’s not love at first site

The moment I landed one thing was clear: 1st world problems were not going to be in sight for the rest of my stay. As I got of the plane and walked inside the airport – yup you read that right-  for a second I thought I had actually landed in Lagos, Nigeria instead (can you guess which on these is NOT Cuba?)

2. Buildings do not come with a filter

While getting lost in Havana, I couldn’t help but ask myself if people purposely ignored the non colorful part of the city because they made them uncomfortable. The city – the real city not the perfectly trimmed and curated touristic part of it – was gray and decrepit, certain corners smelled from people urinating, the risk of being hit by dirty water thrown out of a window was as high as the risk of stepping in dog poop and yet I found it absolutely beautiful.

3. People aren’t happy go lucky all the time

One thing I had my mind set on doing while in Cuba, was to take pictures of people. Beautiful faces caught off guard as they went about their happy colorful lives. Once there I noticed that those faces were closer to stressed and tired than happy.

Did you know the average salary is between $12-20 a month. I found that in Havana ( the country side had a lighter feel to it) a lot of time, once it was established that you are a tourist, people would smile and speak if they had ulterior motives. On my first day I met a young lady that “casually” took me around the neighborhood, by the end of the tour I some how ended up buying her drinks, dinner and more drinks for her friend, that just so happened to show up at the same place at the same time. When time came for me to leave, she asked for money and when I couldn’t help the smiles were done for the evening. I ran into her again on my last day, the smiles were still not there nor was a “hello”.

4. Shovinism to the tenth power

Prequel: I like to live an healthy life style and work out pretty consistently, prior to my trip I posted on facebook that my current fitness goal was for me to “only respond to mami” once in Cuba…yea, so that took a very different turn and not for the best.

Men in Havana can’t even bother to call you mami or any other noun for that matter, they go straight for the teeth sucking, whistle dog calling method. It was annoying and somewhat very degrading, but manageable, until the day that one particular “man” decided to take it to the next level by cat (dog?!) calling me, to then proceeding to masturbate while still attempting to call me and some how, in his twisted mind trying to get me to join him. Yea well, that obviously was not the outcome, I went to the first police officer I could find and described the perv, who saw me go to the police, and made a very quick U- turn the opposite direction. Needless to say that completely changed my mood for the day, the next man that fixed his mouth to whistle at me was the one that caught the wrath that had been building up until that point: “Do I look like a dog? No?! Then STOP calling me as if I were one” I screamed at him, and went about my business – that actually felt pretty darn good!

5. Amazing art world

I knew Cuba and specifically Havana was known for the architecture, but I had no idea of how fantastic the visual art world in that country was. Between the street art

the many local artists

and the artists on display at the Fabrica de Arte Cubano, I could not get enough.

6. The “innenet”

If you are like me or like majority of the modern population WIFI runs a big part of your daily routine. Well, not it Cuba it will not. I was aware, or rather I had been warned that wifi was not as readily available as what I am used to, what I did not know, is how it actually worked. If I think of an area with wifi, I think of something like Starbucks or any coffee shop really, where I show up with my devices and tah-daaaa I am online for free.

ok so THAT, is not how it works in Cuba – there are WIFI areas through out the city, and you would know because that’s where you will find . bunch of people sitting on the sidewalk or standing around staring at their phones or on their laptops – think Pokemon game phase. To be able to actually get online, everyone has to buy an internet card. They were 1 CUC for 1 hr (unless you did not know any better and bought them at an hotel and got charged 8CUC – yes I am the dummy ). To buy a card your information (name, DOB, country of origin if you are a foreigner, etc)  has to be written down, and your internet activity monitored by the government – let that synch in. What I actually realized in those 10 days was how much time I truly spend online on the daily basis and how much more time to just be and chase butterflies I was able to find without it.

7. Cubans ARE for Cubans

I have never been in a country where people were so strongly and genuinely for each other and their country. People lived life with their doors open to the outside, neighbors stopping by to simply talk through the window, children running around freely with not a worry in sight. Random people knowing the entire history of their country – granted I know they were trying to hustle me into a paying tour, and as far as I know they could have been making up all those facts, but they sounded pretty accurate nonetheless. Cubans have a different currency that tourists are not allowed to use, to ensure the cost of things are a lot lower and more affordable to them. There are Cuban only services but my favorite part is that there aren’t “white-cubans” “black-cubans” “asian- cuban” and so forth, but simply cubans all treated equally, all making the best of what they have.

8. Old Havana

Like most people that have visited Cuba I had to make my expected rounds in Old Havana and take the classic pictures…

  The city is beautiful, decadent and everything ever described online, but that as it turned out was such a small part of the whole story. the colorful buildings aren’t as vibrant as I thought ( damn you filters – insert fist shaking) and the rest of the city is far from the average google search result. It’s like tourist conveniently forgot to capture the reality around them….or they simply decided to focus on what didn’t make them uncomfortable.

9. The cars are old..like REALLY old

The same false advertisement I felt for the city scapes, goes for the cars. These old classics are beautiful and perfect for photo ops, I mean it is like jumping back to the ’70…once you get in and sit in one, you realize that the cars actually did come and stayed in the 70s. the inside of the cars are old and definitely went through a lot of lives and butts. I thought that was actually cool and an indication that somebody out there is a master car repair guy, because those cars were OLD!

10. There is so much more than Old Habana

In the 10 days I spent roaming Cuba I was able to visit Viñales, Trinidad and Cienfuegos. I honeslty ended up liking these country towns a lot more than La Habana.

I found people to be a lot more genuine and open. Prices were also a lot lower which never hurts, but mainly the views and the nature scapes I was able to explore were absolutely breath taking.

Viñales:

Viñales

Horse ride in Viñales

Viñales

Tobacco factory in Viñales

Trinidad:

Tobacco factory in Viñales

Cienfuegos:

If you go to Cuba, go with an open mind, explore get lost and meet Cubans, you can have a beach photoshoot ready vacation just as well in Miami – Veradero is the main beach resort (that i was told about) where everyone goes. After finding out that locals are not even allowed to enter the premises and the beach that is part of the resort, I decided to skip that destination all together, but what I found was so much better. Honestly i could write about this trip forever, but I wont don’t worry!

I cannot wait to go on my next solo trip!If you have any suggestion on destinations drop them in a comment!

Ciao for now,

Aby

In case you have not heard me speak about it enough....I went to Cuba I loved it, and now I wrote about it!:) Last month I decided to take my very first solo trip and went to Cuba!! If you…

[artbyabiola]

Last month I decided to take my very first solo trip and went to Cuba!!

If you google Cuba, the images that show up are paradise on earth like, go ahead google it, a series of enhanced images of the colorful buildings, colorful people and colorful cars is all you will see.

I have been infatuated with Cuba for a long time, partly because of their strong Nigerian cultural ties but mostly because for some odd reason, I was convinced that Cuba was THE place I would fit in, no questions asked. ( I was asked if I was Cuban quite a few times which made me very happy!)

Boy was I in for a big surprise! Before I start breaking down the many ways in which reality is not what I expected, let me start by saying that I absolutely LOVED my experience. 10 days, 4 cities, a lot of walked miles under my belt and I would do it all over again, but this time with a more realistic perspective. So here I present to you

10 things no one ever tells us about Cuba

1. It’s not love at first site

The moment I landed one thing was clear: 1st world problems were not going to be in sight for the rest of my stay. As I got of the plane and walked inside the airport – yup you read that right-  for a second I thought I had actually landed in Lagos, Nigeria instead (can you guess which on these is NOT Cuba?)

2. Buildings do not come with a filter

While getting lost in Havana, I couldn’t help but ask myself if people purposely ignored the non colorful part of the city because they made them uncomfortable. The city – the real city not the perfectly trimmed and curated touristic part of it – was gray and decrepit, certain corners smelled from people urinating, the risk of being hit by dirty water thrown out of a window was as high as the risk of stepping in dog poop and yet I found it absolutely beautiful.

3. People aren’t happy go lucky all the time

One thing I had my mind set on doing while in Cuba, was to take pictures of people. Beautiful faces caught off guard as they went about their happy colorful lives. Once there I noticed that those faces were closer to stressed and tired than happy.

Did you know the average salary is between $12-20 a month. I found that in Havana ( the country side had a lighter feel to it) a lot of time, once it was established that you are a tourist, people would smile and speak if they had ulterior motives. On my first day I met a young lady that “casually” took me around the neighborhood, by the end of the tour I some how ended up buying her drinks, dinner and more drinks for her friend, that just so happened to show up at the same place at the same time. When time came for me to leave, she asked for money and when I couldn’t help the smiles were done for the evening. I ran into her again on my last day, the smiles were still not there nor was a “hello”.

4. Shovinism to the tenth power

Prequel: I like to live an healthy life style and work out pretty consistently, prior to my trip I posted on facebook that my current fitness goal was for me to “only respond to mami” once in Cuba…yea, so that took a very different turn and not for the best.

Men in Havana can’t even bother to call you mami or any other noun for that matter, they go straight for the teeth sucking, whistle dog calling method. It was annoying and somewhat very degrading, but manageable, until the day that one particular “man” decided to take it to the next level by cat (dog?!) calling me, to then proceeding to masturbate while still attempting to call me and some how, in his twisted mind trying to get me to join him. Yea well, that obviously was not the outcome, I went to the first police officer I could find and described the perv, who saw me go to the police, and made a very quick U- turn the opposite direction. Needless to say that completely changed my mood for the day, the next man that fixed his mouth to whistle at me was the one that caught the wrath that had been building up until that point: “Do I look like a dog? No?! Then STOP calling me as if I were one” I screamed at him, and went about my business – that actually felt pretty darn good!

5. Amazing art world

I knew Cuba and specifically Havana was known for the architecture, but I had no idea of how fantastic the visual art world in that country was. Between the street art

the many local artists

and the artists on display at the Fabrica de Arte Cubano, I could not get enough.

6. The “innenet”

If you are like me or like majority of the modern population WIFI runs a big part of your daily routine. Well, not it Cuba it will not. I was aware, or rather I had been warned that wifi was not as readily available as what I am used to, what I did not know, is how it actually worked. If I think of an area with wifi, I think of something like Starbucks or any coffee shop really, where I show up with my devices and tah-daaaa I am online for free.

ok so THAT, is not how it works in Cuba – there are WIFI areas through out the city, and you would know because that’s where you will find . bunch of people sitting on the sidewalk or standing around staring at their phones or on their laptops – think Pokemon game phase. To be able to actually get online, everyone has to buy an internet card. They were 1 CUC for 1 hr (unless you did not know any better and bought them at an hotel and got charged 8CUC – yes I am the dummy ). To buy a card your information (name, DOB, country of origin if you are a foreigner, etc)  has to be written down, and your internet activity monitored by the government – let that synch in. What I actually realized in those 10 days was how much time I truly spend online on the daily basis and how much more time to just be and chase butterflies I was able to find without it.

7. Cubans ARE for Cubans

I have never been in a country where people were so strongly and genuinely for each other and their country. People lived life with their doors open to the outside, neighbors stopping by to simply talk through the window, children running around freely with not a worry in sight. Random people knowing the entire history of their country – granted I know they were trying to hustle me into a paying tour, and as far as I know they could have been making up all those facts, but they sounded pretty accurate nonetheless. Cubans have a different currency that tourists are not allowed to use, to ensure the cost of things are a lot lower and more affordable to them. There are Cuban only services but my favorite part is that there aren’t “white-cubans” “black-cubans” “asian- cuban” and so forth, but simply cubans all treated equally, all making the best of what they have.

8. Old Havana

Like most people that have visited Cuba I had to make my expected rounds in Old Havana and take the classic pictures…

  The city is beautiful, decadent and everything ever described online, but that as it turned out was such a small part of the whole story. the colorful buildings aren’t as vibrant as I thought ( damn you filters – insert fist shaking) and the rest of the city is far from the average google search result. It’s like tourist conveniently forgot to capture the reality around them….or they simply decided to focus on what didn’t make them uncomfortable.

9. The cars are old..like REALLY old

The same false advertisement I felt for the city scapes, goes for the cars. These old classics are beautiful and perfect for photo ops, I mean it is like jumping back to the ’70…once you get in and sit in one, you realize that the cars actually did come and stayed in the 70s. the inside of the cars are old and definitely went through a lot of lives and butts. I thought that was actually cool and an indication that somebody out there is a master car repair guy, because those cars were OLD!

10. There is so much more than Old Habana

In the 10 days I spent roaming Cuba I was able to visit Viñales, Trinidad and Cienfuegos. I honeslty ended up liking these country towns a lot more than La Habana.

I found people to be a lot more genuine and open. Prices were also a lot lower which never hurts, but mainly the views and the nature scapes I was able to explore were absolutely breath taking.

Viñales:

Viñales

Horse ride in Viñales

Viñales

Tobacco factory in Viñales

Trinidad:

Tobacco factory in Viñales

Cienfuegos:

If you go to Cuba, go with an open mind, explore get lost and meet Cubans, you can have a beach photoshoot ready vacation just as well in Miami – Veradero is the main beach resort (that i was told about) where everyone goes. After finding out that locals are not even allowed to enter the premises and the beach that is part of the resort, I decided to skip that destination all together, but what I found was so much better. Honestly i could write about this trip forever, but I wont don’t worry!

I cannot wait to go on my next solo trip!If you have any suggestion on destinations drop them in a comment!

Ciao for now,

Aby

10 things they don’t tell you about Cuba (they’re not all bad!) Last month I decided to take my very first solo trip and went to Cuba!! If you…